Queen Ileosa announces another public address about a week after the defeat of the plague. In attendance at this address at the queen’s side are her bodyguard Sabina Merrin (clad in her breathtaking and intimidating suit of Gray Maiden armor), her new advisor and ally Togomor (whom she announces has taken up the duties of castle seneschal), the commander of the Korvosan Guard Cressida Kroft, and the commandant of the Sable Company Marcus Endrin.
The Queen reports that the Order of the Nail has showed its true colors and fled like cowards into Citadel Vraid. Worse, both the Korvosan Guard and the Sable Company have suffered terrible losses over the past weeks. Neither group is fully capable of continuing as Korvosa’s protectors, and thus, to shore up this fault, Queen Ileosa names her newly created order of Gray Maidens as the new protectors of Korvosa, appointing Sabina Merrin as the new General of Korvosa. As a ripple of concerned whispers spreads, Queen Ileosa continues her speech, saying that she has decided to dissolve the Sable Company and that the remaining marines will be folded into the Korvosan Guard. At this point, she asks Commandant Endrin to step forth to surrender his badge of office.
As Endrin does so, he trembles. He reaches for his badge, but instead of handing it over, he throws it at the queen, striking her in the cheek with it. Everyone (queen included) is shocked into paralysis for a few moments, long enough for Endrin to bellow out, "You have said nothing of the true heroes who cured the plague and who fought their way through your temple of death and decay. Caled, one of the finest members of my Company was murdered in your name! Your shameful reign ends now! Korvosa will be free again!” An instant later, his crossbow is in his hands, aimed at the still-shocked queen. Endrin pulls the trigger. His aim is true. The crossbow strikes Queen Ileosa in the temple.
Yet she does not fall. With incredible speed, she regains her composure and yanks the bolt from her skull. Before the blood from the wound has time to run all the way down to her shoulder, she’s standing before Endrin. Her free hand whips out and seizes him by the throat, lifting him off the ground as she holds him up for all to see. An instant later, she buries Endrin’s own bolt between his eyes with a single powerful blow. As Endrin’s lifeless body crumples to the ground and Ileosa imperiously shakes his blood from her hand, she cries out in a strong, clear voice—“This shall be the fate of all enemies of Korvosa! Mark well his death! It is only the first!”
A moment later, Togomor steps forward, taking Ileosa’s hand and teleporting her back into the Castle. The resulting riot is quelled quickly and brutally by the Gray Maidens. Shocked by the turn of events, Field Marshal Cressida Kroft flees to Citadel Volshyenek, stunned and horrified by what she witnessed, desperate to tell the only people she trusts anymore.
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