The Adversary

Princess Rana's words proved truthful. Lord Vrag arrived not long after they returned to the tower and Krav hid in the mahogany wardrobe. She chanted words in an archaic language, as energy in hues of violet and red swirled around her in dense channels and siphoned into the goblet of crimson liquid, indistinguishable from blood. She had mixed the wine with blood, but from the heart of a dead man, so that it could absorb the curse she hoped to purge. She poured the flask of Living water into the vessel. The chant ended, when the door to her chamber opened. 

This new guest did not need introduction. Tiny round eyes scanned the room, as if searching for intruders. Rana's heart sank to her stomach. To her luck, the scrutinizing gaze had been pleased with their solitude. 

"My child." Vrag spoke with a gravely, raspy voice. "Your solitude is unexpected."

"You left me without food, father." She didn't fall for the provocation. "I had no choice, except to feast on the guards you left me."

The creature huffed in response. The black mantle, adorning his shoulders swept the floor and raised dust motes to fly through the stale air. He never took it off, but the parchment-like skin still peeked on the backdrop of darkness.

"Do you take me for a fool?" 

The question caught both her and Krav off guard. 

"I wouldn't think about it, even."

"I have managed to replenish the water sources of this realm. I found the gate to the underworld and I found the Fountain of Living Water. Without your help. Now, tell me what use I have for you, when you were so uncooperative thus far?"

"I tried my best..."

"But it isn't enough!"

Fists slammed against the mahogany table, set with plates of gold with morbid raw hearts piled onto them. The decanter of wine rattled. Candles flickered. Rana flinched in her chair.

"Where were you?"

"Please, let's discuss it over dinner, dear father."

Despite the uneased tension, Vrag obeyed. He sat down with a heavy thud. The stench of rot and decay whiffed off him and invaded the stagnant air. He did not eat nor drink for a long moment, waiting for her explanation. 

"I know where you went. You were in the underworld, in search for the same thing as me. But you found nothing, did you?" Rana didn't utter a sound. He watched her over the rim of his goblet. So close... Tip it once. And it will be over. "You want to betray me, after I gave you a choice. But I think not. Enjoy the last morsels of your food, before you see the last moments of your miserable..."

Tragedies and celebrations happen in a fleeting moment. It takes one second for one's life to change for the better or worse. He choked, as if thorns dug into his throat. Rana lunged at him with a table knife and stabbed the dull edge through his neck. Krav rushed out the wardrobe. 

Only a single split-second decision was enough to change one's world. 

The sun shone again, as the dense fog scarcened. The thorns dried out and shattered. The plagues? Banished, as a bright new day began for the new queen of Belgora. Water returned to feed the dry, cracked earth of the fields, plains and valleys. And the Lamia? Slain by her loyal knight, who stayed with her until the bittersweet end. The kingdom was safe once again, as Krav desired and by his sword, he ensured nothing ever threatened the land again. Mistakes must be paid for, even if they are corrected. And the consequence for queen Rana came in the form of spending eternity, searching for new ways to return her mortality.