Storyboards: Salmissra

Salmissras

Salmissras
Salmissra toyed with a strand of hair, staring at her reflection in the mirror. A chalk-white face, framed by the loose, black coils of her hair, looked back at her with limpid, grey eyes.
Last night's vision was... Interesting. The woman in her vision with the white streak in her hair could be no other than Polgara. And the boy sitting next to her in her very own throne room? Who was he? Why would Polgara go through so much trouble to save a mere boy? The other vision was of Belgarath telling another Salmissra that the Rivan line still lived. So that meant the farm boy would become the next Rivan king. As for the last vision...
Salmissra shuddered, quickly glancing in the mirror. There would be no more Salmissras after her. She would be the last for eternity.
After another moment of contemplation, she snapped her fingers. The nearest kneeling eunuch quickly stood up, and shuffled forward in a stoop.
'Fetch the instructor,' she said dreamily. Maas lifted his blunt head, looking at her curiously.
'Ins-instructor, my Queen?' the eunuch stuttered, 'What instructor?'
'The Chief Instructor.'
Maas shifted, his scales rasping as coils slid past one another, his dull eyes following the eunuch out of the room. 'What do you intend to do?'
'Just a little planning ahead, Maas. Nothing more,' she purred, smoothing down the front of her gown. 'Ah, there he is.'
The wizened old eunuch tottered into the room. He lowered himself onto the ground in a dignified manner, but there was nothing deferential in the way he stared up at her. 'My Queen?' he asked, his musical speech slightly slurred.
'Dismiss the girls in training,' she commanded imperiously, matching him stare for stare. There was a faintest flicker of surprise.
'My Queen, it is essential that there will be a replacement.' he said, quickly regaining his composture. Around him, the eunuchs murmured. Maas merely tasted the air with a flick of his tongue.
'Ah, but I'm the one who received Issa's vision.'
'Praise be to Issa and his handmaiden!' whispered the eunuchs in awe. The instructor gave her a thin-lipped smile, clearly not impressed.
'But my Queen,' he began, but she let him get no further than that.
'But nothing!' she snapped, then her face softened into a warm smile, 'You will dismiss the girls, or I will.'
He gazed at her for a moment longer, then bowed his head. 'Yes, my Queen.'
'In one week.'
The instructor's head snapped up at that. There was a sudden hush, then chatter exploded among the eunuchs.
'Silence!' The voices died down. 'Maas?' Maas looked at her. 'To your left.' The large snake lunged forward, plunging his fangs into the fat eunuch's neck. The squeal died down to a gurgle. 'All of you. Out.' The eunuchs fled the room. The instructor rose and followed them. Then there was silence, except for the sound of Maas wrapping himself around the corpse.
She sat in her throne, admiring herself in the mirror. 'Maas, do you think I am beautiful?'
'You alwaysss will be.' Maas flicked his tongue over the blood oozing from the neck. 'If you hate the man ssso much, why don't you let me bite him?'
'Revenge is much sweeter this way.' She fingered the edge of the gem sewn on her gown, thinking. Then she said, 'Maas, there is something we must do.'
'Yess?'
She smiled.
'It will gain me Torak's favour.'
Maas left the throne room after she was done. The eunuchs filed in a moment later, as quietly as possible. One grovelled before her.
'Yes?'
'O Issa's Chosen, your medicine.'
'Medicine, is it? Am I sick?' She smiled dangerously at the quavering man.
His eyes bulged in terror. 'N-no, Eternal One. It... it's...'
'Come. Give it to me.'
'M... my Queen?' stammered the eunuch.
'You heard me.'
Shaking violently, the eunuch edged closer and lifted the glass of clear liquid. Almost negligently, she plucked it from his hand and drank half of it. The effect of the drugs set in almost immediately. She tipped her head back, luxuriating in the sudden lightness in her, and finished the rest.
Glass dangling from one hand, she closed her eyes. When the rush faded, she opened them again.
'Still here?' she asked softly. The eunuch bolted back to his place. 'Torak's love...' she said musingly to herself, and laughed softly.
The same old lie. But Polgara and Belgarath would buy it. After all, so many of her predecessors fell for the story. Bride of Torak. She sneered. They had no devotion to Issa. True, He was asleep, but so was Torak. If anything, she had a sneaking suspicion that the true bride of Torak would be Polgara. What other woman was powerful and beautiful?
She disliked lying to Maas, but there was no help for it. Surely no harm will come to him. She pursed her lips, staring into the mirror.
Someone shuffled into the throne room. Her gaze snapped to the entrance.
'The Chief Instructor seeks your divine presence, Queen of the Land of Snakes,' the eunuchs intoned. She said nothing to that, merely giving a fraction of a nod. 'The Chosen One gives permission for an audience.'
Grey eyes met dark, brown. Neither looked away. Time passed, and the eunuchs began to fidget uncomfortably, glancing at each other.
'Approach.' Salmissra said at last, giving the instructor a frosty smile. The instructor bowed, moving forward in that hunched position, and knelt before her throne. She twirled with a lock of glistening hair, unmindful of the fragrant oil greasing her fingers. 'Speak.'
'Eternal One.' The title was spoken with a hint of irony. 'Where should we reassign the... former candidates to?'
'Where?' Salmissra arched an eyebrow. 'To their homes, of course.'
A smug smile crept onto his face. She stared at him impassively. 'Ah, but we hold no records of where they lived. We never... had any need.'
Salmissra inwardly cursed herself for the fool she was, but kept her face smooth. She should have expected this. 'If that is the case, question each girl about their home, and dispatch the intelligence to find the matching families.'
'This cannot be accomplished in two weeks.' A pause, and he added, almost as an afterthought, 'My Queen.'
So you think you've found a way out of this, have you? 'In that case...' She left it hanging there, to give herself time to think.
'My Queen!' one of the eunuchs squealed in excitement, unable to restrain himself. 'I could help him!' She gaze at him under hooded lids. His face immediately drained of colour.
'Your... eagerness is noted' was all she said. Colour flooded back to his cheeks in his relief. She turned her attention back to the Chief Instructor. 'You have three... no, four months to accomplish this task. You will... personally oversee the entire process and ensure that each girl returns to her own home safely. And to prevent anyone from using them to impersonate me... Give them sthallinis. If any harm befalls them, you will be... liable.'
Silence reigned in the room as the eunuchs and the instructor digested this information. Salmissra waited for it to sink in, knowing that to most this would seem reasonable. Four months was a long time in palace politics. Sthallinis was also a good choice of drug - it caused amnesia, giving the girls a new slate. It also caused their eye colour to change, generally to a darker shade tending to red or brown. The girls would also have time to allow the drugs to drain out of their bloodstream.
But the wet season was approaching, and so the sthallinis berries would rot, becoming scarcer than it already was. In addition, the drug had to be consumed within the first hour of extraction.
Also, families changed, and memories faded. Despite her wishes, she knew that the majority of the girls would probably never return home. The training was hard, tiring, and drove many into depression, and often close to insanity. All would distort their memories.
'Your Will will be done, My Queen,' the Chief Instructor eventually said, his eyes smouldering. Not only was he to chase a fool's errand around the entire country, he also had to monitor each and every step along the way.
When he had left the room, Salmissra twirled the empty glass, trying hard not to smile.
'All except Sadi will leave. Silently.' The eunuchs rose and bowed, then slowly made their way towards the door, hoping to catch a word or two of the conversation. Sadi remained prostate on the ground. 'Ezahh...'
A bright green snake emerged. An orange stripe ran from its nose to its tail. The brighter eunuchs quickly ran.
'Bite anyone who is still in the room in five seconds.'
And suddenly the room emptied. The doors shut. The thud echoed around the room. Sadi had not moved. Salmissra smiled to herself. She had chosen well.
'Rise, Sadi.' The eunuch got to his feet, his eyes darting from side to side apprehensively. His expression was smooth, but it was likely to be drug-induced. No matter. He was a clear thinker. 'What do you think he will do to me?'
'Poison you. Or send an assassin,' came the calm answer in a monotone.
'Then you know what to do,' she sighed happily, leaning back to recline on her throne.
'Yes, Chosen One.'
'You are aware of what happens if I die, don't you? Do tell me.'
'There will be a new Queen.'
'And what will happen to you?'
'I may be killed, or dismissed by the new Queen.'
'For?'
'Incompetency.'
She flashed him a sensual smile. 'I'm glad you're aware of the consequences.' Sadi was trembling by now, the drug no doubt beginning to wear off. 'Off you go.'
Sadi was at the door when she called him again. 'Oh, Sadi?' He visibly flinched.
'Yes, my Queen?'
'Have a nice day.'

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