Queens of Airidan

An excerpt from Edward Leeton’s notations on the country of Airidan, visited in his 30th year, after he had been traveling through Gates for 13 years.

 . . . The people of Airidan have a curious history.  I am not sure how much is based on fact and how much is myth, but it’s undoubtedly a fantastical one.  Their main historical documentation is written by members of the ruling House of Auriel, however you can get a recitation from any passing citizen.  They live and breathe the memory of their queens.  I have endeavored to sum it up as accurately as possible, taking into consideration that their language has been slightly difficult for me to grasp.

Queen Jun was the first of the queens of Airidan.  Before her reign, no woman had ever held a position of power in Airidan, for it was considered unfit and unholy for any woman to rule over a man.

Miehn, the last King of Airidan, died sonless.  His wives had borne him eight daughters.  The first was Jun.  The rest he killed in anger and frustration at their births, and they were buried nameless.

The night he died, he gave Jun in marriage to the Prince of Lsi, who was to then become king.  When the Prince came to the marriagebed to claim his bride, Jun killed him with a Look.  She then cut off his head and took it to her father on his deathbed, where she told him that she would permit no man to touch her, and that she would rule Airidan as Queen.  Miehn, apoplectic with rage, died of a brain aneurysm.

The Lords of Airidan — save for the house of Auriel — sought to contest Jun’s right to the throne, and the King of Lsi gathered his armies to march against Airidan in order to avenge the Prince’s death.  But Jun feared no one — with her Look she killed any man who stood against her.  And so, the Lords of Airidan, out of fear, bowed to her and accepted her as Queen.

Now, in the days of the Kings of Airidan, there was magic in the land.  But when Miehn killed his seven younger daughters and buried them nameless, the land refused to accept their souls, and the magic in the land disappeared.  The wizards of Airidan became powerless, and were afraid of the armies of Lsi.  Lsi had no magic, but Airidan had always depended on its wizards, so their army was weak.  In the beginning, the battles went ill for them.

Then Queen Jun rode out on the battlefield and decimated the army of Lsi with her Look.  Filled with fear, Lsi fled back to its borders, and there was peace until the end of Jun’s reign.

Jun lived for seven hundred years.  She took no husband and had no children, but before her death she gave to the House of Auriel the task of finding a successor to the throne.

Jun was a wise woman, and it is said she could foresee the future.  She gave the House of Auriel a prophesy, that if they carried out her wishes faithfully, she would return from the grave to rule over Airidan once more.  Seven queens, she said, would rule — seven queens for seven murdered daughters — and each would be more powerful than the last.

Then she, Jun, would return.

And so this is the task that has bound the sons and daughters of Auriel for thousands of years:

When Jun died, Yal Auriel took the throne as steward, while many more sons and daughters of Auriel journeyed abroad to search for a woman such as Jun had described to them.  This woman, she said, must be possessed of seven attributes —

One, that she be strong in spirit, mind, and body

Two, that she possess a gift of magic

Three, that she come from a long lived race, but not be an immortal

Four, that she be chaste and never permit a man to touch her

Five, that she be capable of killing those who stand against her

Six, that she be born to a land outside Airidan

Seven, that the heirs of Auriel know her when they see her

In the 70th year after the death of Jun, the Heirs of Auriel found the new Queen.  The armies of Airidan and Lsi had been fighting fiercely for seven decades, for the seven hundred year old grudge between them never forgotten, and was renewed upon Jun’s death.

Ilina of Persh was the Queen of One.  She could wrestle mountain lions, outrun a gazelle, and the arrows from her bow never missed their mark.  She roused the spirits of the Airidani soldiers, and they routed the Lsians, who fled in fear when they saw that Airidan had a Queen again.  She lived one hundred and forty-seven years.

The Heirs of Auriel searched again for fifteen years.

Maxou of Cline was the Queen of Two.  She could speak to the animals, and they did her will.  The men of Lsi were harried and beset by all manner of bird and beast, on the battlefield and wherever they camped.  For as long as Maxou lived, Lsi dared not face all the living creatures of Airidan in battle.  She lived two hundred and twenty years.

The Heirs of Auriel searched again for thirty-five years.

Anjuli of Ducotta was the Queen of Three.  She could harness the winds and rain to her will, creating mighty thunderstorms, conjuring tornadoes, floods, even earthquakes.  It was impossible to fight any battle in Airidan, and the Lsians dared not attempt it.  Anjuli lived three hundred and seventy-five years.

The Heirs of Auriel searched again for one hundred and ninety-eight years.

Ameri of South Farat was the Queen of Four.  She was a daughter of the Desert Witches of Farat, considered a monster by the people of her land.  It was said her father was not human, but a creature roused from the depths of the desert caverns by the witches.  Ameri stood eight feet tall, had four arms with which she wielded four swords, and a snake’s tongue and a wolf’s fangs.  In Farat and its neighboring lands she was a nighttime terror, a legend to keep children in line.  She soon struck the same terror in the people of Lsi, and truth be told, of Airidan.  She lived four hundred and ten years.

The Heirs of Auriel searched again for thirty-three years.

Avalana of Ib was the Queen of Five.  She was known as the Most Beautiful Queen of Airidan.  She was a master of illusion.  She harried the enemy with visions of monsters, storms, gaping pits and black abysses.  She could make a dozen men appear as though they were a thousand strong.  She could make a thousand men appear as only a dozen, and a deep pit seem like perfectly safe ground.  The Lsians grew weary of these visions, never knowing what was real and what was not, what was safe and what was certain death, and so they retreated to Lsi where a man could believe his eyes.  Avalana lived for five hundred and thirty-seven years.

The Heirs of Auriel searched again for fifty-eight years.

Duran of Dezang was the Queen of Six.  She came from the land of dragons, and had dragon blood in her family.  She could create living beings made of fire, and she made a vast army from the fires of Mount Airidan.  All of Lsi could not stand against an army of living fire.  Duran lived for six hundred and ninety-three years.

Two thousand years passed, and the Heirs of Auriel did not find the Queen of Seven.  In that time, all who had lived in the time of Duran of Dezang died, and the younger generations began to question whether the Queens of Airidan had ever existed.  The House of Auriel ruled Airidan and fought the ongoing wars with Lsi, and little by little, less and less of the Heirs went out searching for the Queen.  Many of the Heirs who had gone, never came back.

But there are still those who believe, and who search.

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