CHAPTER 4.5: THE MINER QUEEN

***The city of Montserrant, sometime in the past…***

A lone plane appeared at the skies of Montserrant and approached the only air strip that was open for landing. Upon circling the paved runway three times, the plane then slowly descended until it reached the ground. An arrester hook stopped it from overrunning the strip, and once it was safely taxied, the pilot removed her cap, revealing herself to be Paula Cole. As she alighted her plane, a pair of her servants approached her.

“Your Highness,” one of them greeted her by bowing. “Your father is looking for you.”

“What for?”

The first maid threw a stare to the second, who continued, “He needs to talk to you about something.”

The dwarf princess, once she heard the reason, let out an exhausted sigh, and then, jumped down from the wings of her plane, much to the surprise of the maids and her ground crew. The first servant rebuked her…

“Your Highness! You should be mindful of your position more!” she raised her voice a little, so as not to offend Paula. “You’re the heir to this guild, and yet, you act like you don’t care of your responsibilities.”

“I told you,” the princess, however, teased her by climbing again on the wings. Nevertheless, the ground crew acted and prevented her from gaining access to her plane. “Tch, you guys always worry for nothing. I mean, look at the height of the plane’s wings to the ground! And I’m not a child anymore!”

“I insist, Your Highness…” the maid reiterated, “…that you listen to us, especially your father. Do not increase his anxiety; if you want to be treated like an adult, you have to act like one.”

At that point, Paula said nothing, though nothing also remained in her thoughts. For one, she had no intention of succeeding her father, who was the ‘King’ of the Cole Miners’ Guild. She would rather fly in the sky than sit down all day talking with boring people, like their ministers and other government officials. And second, her father himself was proposing that they do away with the ‘hereditary leadership’ and instead emulate the ‘representative elections’ introduced by the Golden Hammer and was adopted by the other dwarf cities and guilds.

“We will never be like those corrupt church people,” the first maid reminded her. “Your family was chosen by the heavens to lead us, to lead this city, Montserrant. And to give up that mandate for an elective leadership system is an affront to the gods.”

“I don’t believe in gods,” Paula countered.

Of course, while it was definitely frowned upon, the maids couldn’t do something about her beliefs. After all, even when they viewed the Golden Hammer and his followers as their enemies, they couldn’t deny the effectiveness of the reforms he implemented. Still, the servant thought she should say something just to let their princess know that they didn’t approve of her statements, “Milady, please don’t say such things! Someone might hear you and report you to the Bishop of Montserrant.”

“Haha…” though, her face’s bored expression didn’t match her words.

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When they appeared at the main hall, where the King of the Miners’ Guild held his court, there were other people inside. Paula’s father was flanked by his ministers, while standing before him were dwarves from the Church of the Golden Hammer, including the Bishop of Montserrant himself. Apparently, they were in the middle of some heated discussion; the king was red in anger, and the soldiers of both the Church and the Guild had their war hammers and battle axes ready to be swung.

“What’s going on here, father?” Paula asked as she rushed to his side.

“Where have you been?” were the king’s first words for her. “Our esteemed guest, His Holiness the Bishop of Montserrant, is accusing us of violating the airspace over his temple. He says it’s a red plane with dark markings on the underside. Is that you, my daughter?”

“I admit to my mistake father,” the princess told the court. “However, please understand that it isn’t deliberate. A powerful gale caught my plane and I nearly crashed if I did a sudden maneuver to escape it. That’s why, in an attempt to gently shake off the wind from me, I intruded the air space of the bishop.”

“You idiot!” the king hit his daughter’s head. “I told you not to do stupid things with your plane! How many times will I tell you, the Bishop’s temple was surrounded by powerful gales; the only way to safely traverse that part of Equality is to have dirigibles shield the planes across until it reached the other side.”

“I-I’m sorry, father…ow!” Paula screeched as the king pinched her ears, and forced her to bow before the offended bishop.

“You better teach your princess some manners, Your Majesty,” the Bishop of Montserrant, however, provoked him more. “Oh, wait…how can you teach manners, when you yourself will point your weapons against a guest? And to think, I’m also a member of the Church of the Golden Hammer!”

“I sincerely apologize for my daughter’s mistake,” the king joined Paula in appeasing the church official. “And to show my sincerity, I will offer you more tribute when I pay it next time.”

When the bishop heard the words ‘increase’ and ‘tribute,’ his ‘anger’ quickly subsided. “Ah, you’re really a good and faithful servant of our great Golden Hammer, King Johann Cole. You know how to turn away the god’s wrath against your weak guild. Since it came from your mouth, I will expect your increased tribute.”

Paula could feel the indignation of her father for the punishing tax the bishop agreed to. Nevertheless, he said nothing, as the church official and his guards left the throne room.

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When everything finally settled down, the king called for his daughter once again. Thinking that he would scold her, Paula prepared for the worst; though, she was pleasantly surprised when her father said nothing the moment she came to his office.

“Sit down.” It was a firm, yet gentle voice. The type where one would still follow not because they were afraid, but rather, it elicited respect for the speaker. The dwarf princess, though she didn’t want to go, followed his words with sheepish silence.

The king of the Cole Miners’ Guild heaved a sigh, then said, “Take a look at this…” He gave her a ream of paper full of numbers and words Paula had difficulty in understanding. She could read, yes, but she had no idea what those words, and numbers, were for. Seeing her confusion, the king told her, “Those are projected increase in taxes for our city.”

“Father?” Paula nearly fell from her chair upon hearing that. “You’re going to increase the taxes again?”

“And the production, yes,” he admitted.

“But, what for?”

“Well, this is the consequence of your irresponsible actions.”

“H-Huh?” Color left her face, as Paula slowly realized the gravity of her behavior earlier.

“Ah…Paula, haven’t I told you not to go near the Bishop’s temple? Yet, you didn’t listen,” the king explained, though his gentle voice confused her if he was really mad. “As a result, I promised the Bishop to increase our tribute to his god, at the cost of the people’s earnings.”

“B-But, Your Majesty, won’t our guild get angry at such measure?” she desperately reasoned. “They are innocent from my actions!”

“Yes, they might. However, to save you, I have to do this. After all, no parent would want their child get into harm’s way, don’t you agree?”

“N-No…father…”

“So, Paula, next time, think of your actions before you do them,” the king got up and gave his shocked daughter a head pat. “I do not blame you; your youth is having you act reckless. But, see, in everything we do, it’s hard not to drag others if we did something irrational. My daughter, please promise me that from now on, you’ll think of your actions before doing them…”

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***The city of Montserrant, present day…***

A few hours after the retreat of the crusaders, the entire city of the Cole Miners’ Guild was jubilant and relieved. This was because they avoided yet another potential bloodshed in their community, and what was even more impressive was how ‘total’ the defeat the northerners suffered at the hands of the Black God. At once, impromptu street parties were held, that the leaders of Montserrant eventually organized a ‘proper’ celebration at the city cafeteria a few days later.

“…”

Meanwhile, while every dwarf citizen of the city joined the fun, the miner queen and her ministers gathered at one of the isolated parts of Montserrant to discuss something that was urgent. The victory of the Lord Kuro at the foot of the mountain was hard to ignore, and droves of their people came to see him as a reliable god and ally. However, there were still factions within Cole leadership that were cautious, and it was causing a rift in the unity of Queen Paula’s forces.

“You still would not believe what you have seen?” one of the miner queen’s loyal ministers bellowed at the opposing faction. “The Lord Kuro literally turned the crusaders’ equipment into dust! What proof do you still require?”

“It is obvious that we are not questioning the validity of what we have witnessed,” countered one of the leaders of the other side. “However, we are expressing our caution to that man; while the Lord Kuro is truly powerful, how can we be assured that he will work for our interests, and not of his kind?”

“Outside of this land, His Holy Majesty is well-known. The humans, beastfolk, demons, and even elves vouch for his exploits, and his formidable wisdom!”

“Those are not dwarves!”

“I can’t believe we’re even talking about this! So, what if they are not dwarves? They were treated the same!”

At that point, the miner queen—tired of all the pointless bickering—suddenly stood up from her seat. That caused both sides to be silent, as her face already told them that she was annoyed at their bickering. Nevertheless, Queen Paula addressed the council, “My kindred, I believe we are not achieving anything by this constant trade of arguments. How about we get back to the root of this issue and think of solutions?”

The leaders of both sides nodded, and returned to their seats once they saw their queen taking charge of the floor.

“Your Majesty,” the leader of the opposition began, “we are only worried of our beloved guild. As we all know, this is not the only time we are dealing with a powerful human. Of course, just like in the times of your father, we only wish for the best of this guild; hence, we sound the alarm. Aren’t we trusting too much on the Lord Kuro? Sure, he does what is best to protect us; isn’t the Golden Hammer the same at first? Protect us, get our trust, and then strike us like venomous viper, just like many other humans.”

“While the Golden Hammer is truly deceitful, poisoning our people with his ‘progressive’ lies, the Lord Kuro hasn’t done anything that would offend our sensibilities. In fact, he would consider our culture before he makes any decision,” was the counter-argument of the dwarves in favor of the Black God.

The miner queen spoke, “Since we keep on hearing the same argument over and over again, I will presume that nothing will be done unless I did something. Well then, I won’t question the doubts being cast on the Lord Kuro, for the opposing side has made their point; just like the poisonous tongue of the Golden Hammer, they only dread the time we will put our trust in the Lord Kuro, only to suffer betrayal at the end. A reasonable doubt, if you ask me, for humans are truly full of lies just to get their desire. On the other hand, the friends of the Black God also gave their reasons, which I find fair. The Lord Kuro has been a ‘friend’ to other races, even going against his fellow humans during the conflicts to unify Cherwind. As such, I will present you a guarantee…”

There was deafening silence as another dwarf wrote down the words of their queen amidst the assembly. After making sure that she had everyone’s attention, Queen Paula continued, “I’ve weighed this decision. Considered its benefits and liabilities to us, the Cole Miner dwarves of Montserrant. And this is what I came up with; we will continue our support to the Lord Kuro and his fledgling church…”

A round of applause was heard across the room, and there were even cheers on the supporters of the Church of the Black God. Still, the miner queen wasn’t finished…

“…yet, true to the words of my father, who bequeathed you—my people—to me, I guarantee your safety to criticize him and oppose his measures, should you deem it harmful to our city and guild. If anything happens even to a single strand of your hair telling your mind against the Black God, then my life shall be forfeit.”