Fiction
Lady Darlene’s face is looking at the trees intently in spite of the noisy carriage-wheels and horse-hooves. Her long dark hair sits neatly on her shoulders, occasionally disrupted by a gust of wind. The beauty of her youthful white face is dampened by her sad eyes. Queen Ebony is sitting across from her on the carriage, her head resting on her hands, staring at the long road. Lady Darlene takes her eyes from the trees and has them on their young driver. “Try going a bit faster please.”
“As you wish my lady…” He and the guardians surrounding pick up speed.
“I’m sorry if I’ve kept Your Majesty out too long.”
“Don’t apologize,” the queen says, laying her hand gently on Darlene’s. “I enjoyed our time with lord Mak and his family in Rijah.” Queen Ebony removes her hand and looks away. “I just don’t want to be late for my meeting with the king. With His Majesty and his court so involved in the affairs of the army, I hardly get to see him.”
Lady Darlene lowers her damp eyes. “Ever since last year, he’s distance himself from all of us. Almost as if he’s become a different person. He must be suffering immensely,” Darlene says, “and there’s nothing we can do to help.”
“I’ll find out what’s bothering him.”
Lady Darlene looks over at the queen as if examining her. “I’m sure you will do what you can…”
*
King Zach emerges from the throne room with General Keplee by his side. They’re both in uniform. The king at six-foot one-inch is still shorter than the mince general. They both possess black hair. The king is wearing a blue robe and cape while his general is in black. They’re walking with their hands behind their backs, their swords hanging by their sides. General Keplee speaks with his eyes on the king. “The army is still far from what we would like, but they are progressing.”
“The reports I’ve received from Zachora and the rest of the court have likewise been favorable, but say nothing to the other generals. I don’t want them supposing their work is done. Our men are still unfit for another confrontation with the Babolites.”
“Yes, Sire,” General Keplee returns. “But I hope Your Majesty feels confident enough to leave things in his generals’ hands.”
“Am I a nuisance?”
“Never, Sire. The men are merely concerned. For the past year, Your Majesty has been on your feet. They want you to relax—a little.”
“Relax?” the king returns with a smile. “I don’t think I remember how to do that anymore, but, I suppose, there are other responsibilities I have neglected. I can divide my time a bit more evenly to ease the men’s concerns.” The king leads the general to the door. “Good day General Keplee.”
The general bows to the king. “Thank you, Sire.” The king watches the general as he descends the long stairs, heading for his horse held by a royal attendant. King Zach bows his head gently and makes a fist. He turns around and begin heading for his room to change for his meeting with the queen.
The queen has taken off her sandals while sitting by the fountain, dipping her feet in the water. “I was nervous during our first meeting?” She looks up at him with a smile. “Were you nervous, too?”
The king’s mind is miles away and hears nothing beyond the pretty Nurian accent. “Did you say something, Queen Ebony?”
Her Majesty looks away while pouting her lips. “I did, but it wasn’t anything important.” She returns her gentle gaze on him with a hurt expression. “I understand if you have somewhere else you would rather be.”
“No, there isn’t. I promise. Please,” he says with a smile, “reiterate it for mine ears.”
Queen Ebony rises from the fountain and walks toward him. “What is bothering Your Majesty?”
King Zach turns sharply. “You will not understand.”
She takes his hand. “I might just surprise you.”
The king appears frustrated. I can’t help but think how Father and the nobles perished the same day the nameless stranger came preaching Christ to them. Those men perished, having rejected God’s message of salvation, but what about Queen Ebony, Zachora, my family and the people of Sanctuary? Father and his court heard, but what if death should take the others? Shouldn’t they know what’s awaiting them beyond death? The king faces her then turns to leave the courtyard out of apparent frustration but he becomes frozen
Take up your cross daily and follow me
The king closes his eyes and takes a gentle deep breath then turns and starts toward the queen who is still sitting on the fountain. “Let me ask Your Majesty a question.”
“Please, anything,” she says.
“Where do wrong desires come from and why do we have them?”
A frown immediately appears on her face. “Is Your Highness going to tell me who it is that you have these wrong desires for?”
The king’s face becomes red. “I’m not referring simply to that sort of wrong desire, but that and all others.” When he sees her perplexity, he clears his throat. “I am referring to sin in general. Why do people sin is what I'm trying to ask.”
“This is a very difficult question to answer.” The young queen becomes pensive. “But, if I must choose, I suppose I would say we learn it from our surroundings.”
“I don’t know that this is entirely true. Sin seems to be primarily an internal problem.”
“Please, my lord, explain.”
The king joins the queen on the fountain. “Have you not noticed that sometimes you are aware that certain things are good and right but you do the exact opposite?”
She looks up at him with wonder. “Regrettably, this is often the case.”
“The reason for this is there is an innate sinful-nature in us that entices us to sin. It is often triggered by our surroundings, but it is primarily internal.”
Her Majesty becomes tense. “Yes, there are evil people in the world, but there are good people, too. I don’t think you would disagree?”
“So it would seem, but that cannot be, Queen Ebony. There is not a man in the world that has never committed sin because to be good in the truest since of the word is to be completely sinless.”
“Of course,” she says after thinking about it for a second, “we’re human. But would you deny that there are those who are worse than others?”
“No, I cannot, but that is another subject altogether. But if you agree that all are sinners, what do you make of guilt? Everyone has experienced it. Does guilt simply serves as our conscience’s instrument of punishment or does it indicate a deeper and more profound truth?”
The queen’s beautiful smile remains, but somewhat dampened. “But it does, O King. It does. The conscience keeps people in the right direction and keeps them from doing evil.”
“You have well said, Queen Ebony. Yet I will take your thoughts a little further. If our conscience, as you have said, serves as a tool that discerns evil then there must be consequences, which it seeks to keep us from? For where there is a warning, there must be danger. But what if the warning is taken lightly?”
“One can ruin his life, yet not only his, but the lives of others as well.”
“I will play the villain here. Let’s say I do not have regard for men and I enjoy my pleasures, even if they displease my conscience.”
“Then, my lord, I would say, under those circumstances, you would be a despicable man.”
“Yes, indeed I would be, but they are out there. Is that it then? I am a despicable man and because of that I can live however I choose.”
“That is why there are lawgivers and rulers such as Your Highness to see to it that such villains are punished.”
“But what if the man in power is a villain and an absolute tyrant? What then?”
The queen looks baffled. “Such is the world in which we live. There has and will always be tyrants.”
“Is that it? He has the power and so he is free to do as he pleases?”
“I do not know. It is a sad reality but what can we do?”
“This is where, O Queen, our original topic must once again be brought back. What role does our conscience play in all of this? Every man has a conscience. Some obey more and others obey less, but no one fully obeys. Is there a consequence for disobedience?”
“I don't know. What are your thoughts?”
“There are consequences for sin, Queen Ebony. Everything that we do in this world, we often give an account for them in this life—but certainly in the afterlife. Yet what if I told you that there was a man who was perfect in every way?”
Queen Ebony is smiling. “I would call for the chief of all physicians to tend to you, O King, for it is impossible for a man to be blameless.”
“You are correct. So what would you say of a man if he was perfect?”
“He cannot be a man because all men are sinners as you have said.”
“Would you doubt it if I told you He is God revealed in human form?”
“He would have to be a god.”
“There is a man named Jesus who walked this world and committed no sins. Even His worse enemies, O Queen, could not find a charge to bring against Him. Jesus had a man who traveled with him. After the man betrayed Him, he said, I betrayed innocent blood. No one brought a valid charge against Him as He was judged before the judges of the people.”
“Were you there? How do you know that he did nothing wrong? For all that you know, he probably did and his followers kept this hidden.”
“What you are saying is logical, but after looking at the testimony of men, this would leave one to wonder because such uprightness has not been heard in all of the earth. But Jesus did many great things, Queen Ebony. He healed lepers simply by laying his hand on them. He opened the eyes of the blind. He even raised the dead.”
“How do you know that these things are true of him?”
“You have heard of the Jews, I am sure? Sanctuary is a place of solitude but I know this is not so of Nuria.”
“I have heard many things of them. Some say there are men among them who can tell the future and perform visible wonders like calling fire down from heaven.”
“Yes, they are called prophets. The God of the Jews spoke to the people through His prophets and they are proven true sometimes through miracles but mostly through the fulfillment of their prophecies. Jesus was spoken of by many of these prophets and He has fulfilled many prophecies concerning Himself during His life, death and resurrection.”
“How did Your Highness hear of these things?”
“A preacher came to Sanctuary about a year ago, not many hours before we were breached by the Babolites. He preached Jesus to my father’s court. I heard and believed. He gave me scrolls with a lengthy letter inside referring me to the prophecies I just told you about and where to read concerning the Lord Jesus.”
“These are hard things to take in.”
“Yet they are true. You, more than I, should have heard of this. Queen Ebony, the death of Jesus, God's Son, was a sacrifice for sin. All can be forgiven of their sins by trusting Him and have their guilt removed.”
The queen is no longer smiling. “I suppose you are demanding that I believe…”
“No. I want you to consider Him. I cannot demand you believe. This must be your decision. If you are convinced that you are a sinner then God wants you to know that He died for you and if you are willing to trust Him for forgiveness, you will have everlasting life. But rejecting Him means condemnation. And if you die as an unrepentant sinner, you will go to hell and be judged for your sins forever in a lake of fire.”
When the queen hears of the lake of fire, her eyes widen and she begins trembling. “Please excuse me!”
The queen hurries past the king as tears begin running down her cheeks. “Ebony…” King Zach breathes as she rushes by.
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...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
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