The Crimson Throne

Prologue

Prologue

1868

The camp was covered in blood. Thousands of men and women were screaming, as they were being separated from their loved ones. All the children were huddled into a corner surrounded by snow from the first winter that came last week.

"Attention!" Everyone stood on edge as the Striad walked into the forest, their blue/black cloaks flowing behind them in the wind. There was one woman leading in a row of thousands of men, all following her lead. The woman had long black hair, piercing green eyes, and blood red lips.

As soon as the people saw the woman, they all bowed their heads, because they had heard the rumors of the mistress of death. The one who ruled all over the creatures she had made with her magic. She was commonly known as a necromancer. Someone who brought back the dead. She simply thought of it as giving someone a second chance at life.

"Mistress. Why are you here? This camp has done nothing to you, to warrant this cruelty." The woman looked at the outspoken man who had been the only one who hadn't bowed his head. "I'm looking for my sister Mishina. I was led to believe that she would be here."

"We've not met anyone with that name mistress." The man said, keeping an eye on the men surrounding the mistress. Everyone knew how well protected she was. Nobody really knew how she came to be, except that she fought her way to lead the Striad from a very young age.

She gave the man a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Now why don't I believe that?" The man fell down to his knees in front of her. "I'm begging you mistress. I'm telling the truth.. We don't know your sister!" With a nod to her men, two of them pulled the man away from their leader, and forcibly kept him on his knees, with a sword to his throat.

The mistress then turned her eyes to all the people watching. She memorized every eye that was weeping, every eye that was focusing on her with nothing but anger, every face that only blurred into only one the more she looked. "I'm not a patient person. If I don't get what I want, there will be consequences." She pointed her finger at the man on his knees.

"If I don't get the information I require, this man will die here right now! Let it be a lesson that you will never forget. I always get what I want!"

"We don't know anything!" "Go away!" "Leave us alone!" The mistress listened calmly to the shouting towards her. She could always tell when someone was lying to her, and these people truly didn't know where to find her precious baby sister. She turned and began walking away. She was done here.

She turned to her soldiers, waiting for her command. "Ubit 'ikh vsekh " she whispered. She began heading to the next village, listening to the screams, as her soldiers cut down every single person she had left behind.