Monarchs of Krunich: Archives of Ysmira, #1

By S.J. Arseneau

Nothing has been the same for Heilige Königreich since the last two wars. Its people find themselves living in harsh conditions, further aggravated by the nobility. Sigrun finds her determination to help her people strengthened by guilt, after making a mistake that cost her brother's life. Through a turn of events, she becomes embroiled in a cataclysmic crisis where she is forced to make a great sacrifice. Sigrun and her friends must stand the test of honor, courage, and compassion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.J. Arseneau
• Release date: Jan 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386357667

Book preview

Chapter 1

In all of my years , this nation has changed tremendously. The immigration of many species has caused a trade boom with many goods I have never seen before. I am glad to have witnessed this much change in my lifetime. I know that one day, my children—Wilhelm or Theda—will inherit the throne and rule Heilige Königreich when I pass away from this world. My hope is that our people will make the right choice. Whoever rules Heilige Königreich shall affect all of Ysmira.

-from The Final Days of King Volker I by Hagan Sanz

The peasants were throwing stones, bricks, metal balls, daggers, and other small objects at the city guards. Give us our homes back! one of them yelled. We’re sick and tired of you people treating us like trash! You force yourselves into our homes and expect us to pay your taxes! We’ve lost our homes because of you!

Cut them down! Cut them down! a guard yelled to his men. They started decapitating the peasants with their swords and shooting through them with their bows.

Sigrun clenched her fists. She hated seeing the people being treated this way. They did not deserve this. These people were driven to this point because of how harshly they were treated. This had to stop. She turned to her father. Order them to stand down! she pleaded. Please, Dad! They don’t deserve to die. Her dad was a duke. He should have been able to do something.

Dirk shook his head. I can’t, he said. These men won’t listen to me. They answer to the baron. I’ve tried to stop a riot like this one before, and it didn’t work. Come on; let’s keep moving.

Sigrun was about to run to the guards. Dirk grabbed her arm. Please, he said. You’ll only get yourself hurt.

The peasants were running for their lives as they were shot in the back, and those who were bleeding out on the ground begged for the guards to stop. Their pleas were only answered with their throats being slit. Sigrun sighed and put her hand over her forehead. She wanted to do something about it, but Dirk was right: nothing could be done now. It was best to wait until they could talk to the baron about it. Sigrun did not like it at all, but that was the way it was. Stupid hierarchy, she thought. Not being able to do anything makes me feel powerless. This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the last two wars.

The two wars were the reasons that their country, Heilige Königreich, was in a terrible state. So much money was spent in those wars that most of the nobles were in debt. To pay it off, they taxed the people, but they taxed them far too much. They could barely afford anything now. That was why most of the peasants wore rags. Sigrun was a noble, and as such, she was well fed and strong due to her warrior training. The peasants were skinny and frail. Anyone could tell that most of them had barely eaten in the past few days. Sigrun had glistening red scales—common among females of her species—but the color in the scales of these beggars had lost its luster. Telnights were an aquatic, sapient species who used to live under water. Unlike other creatures from the ocean, they could breathe when outside of water and walk on two legs.

Sigrun was able to direct her thoughts away from the slaughter once it was out of sight, but not completely. The tiles on the houses in the baron’s neighborhood were a glistening blue and green. Most of them were on small islands of their own with sand surrounding them and palm trees at almost every corner. There were vine carvings along the walls. It looked authentic; and while it pleased Sigrun’s eyes, it almost felt distasteful. The nobles got to have fancy-looking homes, whereas many lower class people had no homes at all. It was pathetic. Her family, the Azkania, was among the nobles that were in debt, but they still put effort into helping them out.

Sigrun and her family arrived at the baron’s estate and were escorted to their quarters. The nobles were all having a small, late-morning party in the baron’s manor. They were mingling and catching up on the current events in other parts of Heilige Königreich.

Sigrun was garbed in her light-green tinted armor. She was not only wearing it to honor the fallen, but for herself as well. Sigrun was concerned about being ready for battle at any time. Regular clothing was not going to save her if an assassin attempted to stab through her ribs with a dagger, and she would hardly be prepared if an invasion ever occurred.

She became a warrior because she wanted to fight for her family and country. Sigrun felt that she was making a difference with her own hands more than she was meddling in politics with people who were too arrogant to reason with. Despite that, Sigrun was willing to do her best at putting up with them for today. She was going to talk to them about lowering the taxes. It may be futile, but it would be worth the effort if she succeeded. Her brother, Lars, would have wanted that if he were still alive.

He was killed more than a year ago during the last war, the Second Reject War.

They fought against the Rejects, a group of Telnights that embraced the old tribal ways and was against the new urban life. The change in their civilization was what they saw as a betrayal against their ancestors, especially because they no longer believed in the same god that they did.

Sigrun and Lars were with Prince Wilhelm Bache during the Battle of Versuch. They got separated from the rest of their group. As they searched for their allies, a Telnight ran into a warehouse. Sigrun recognized him as being a high-ranking military officer who betrayed Heilige Königreich to help the Rejects. She ran after him without thinking. She kept going, even when Lars and Wilhelm called for her. Inside the warehouse were five Reject warriors. The officer she chased was not among them; he had slipped away. Sigrun met her sword with one of the men while Lars and Prince Wilhelm rushed in to fight the others. Among the last flurry of swords, as they finished off their enemies, an arrow flew in Wilhelm’s direction. Lars pushed Wilhelm out of the way and the arrow pierced his