Once upon a time there lived a Queen, who was only fifteen years old, in a land named Paxpopulas. Their land had been named that since they were such peaceful people. However, these people weren’t being peaceful right now. They burned with rage. They thought having a fifteen year old as a queen was an outrage. Most of the people of Paxpopulas didn’t believe they would be in the good hands of the queen.

But, the Queen’s parents weren’t stupid. They knew that their daughter Paxina would be a great Queen when they died. Their daughter was a wise young woman, and knew how to make her choices. Although Queen Paxina was wise, the people of Paxpoulas didn’t believe it. They believed that the former King’s brother, Aron, should be king. Since he was much older than Paxina.

Aron denied it. He had no wisdom of how to control people. Aron believed that Paxina would make a great queen with all her wisdom.

A young boy named Ronald lived in the outskirts of the land of Paxpopulas. He wasn’t as wealthy as those who lived there, and he liked being isolated from them. Everyone who knew Ronoald always called him Ron, for short. Ron lived lonely. His father had died in his work while mining, and his mother had died in childbirth. She had been giving birth to Ron’s brother, Richard. But, neither of them survived. 

His mother had died before his father. His father died shortly after. He was only ten years old. Ron was lucky that his father had taught him how to hunt, and how to look for the right berries, or he’d be dead by now. After Ron’s parents died, he moved into the little house he lived in now. Before he lived in the town, they weren’t wealthy, but they were average.

Once he moved there, a nice kind-hearted woman, not far from where he lived, brought him bread every day. She still did. And Ron would eat it for breakfast. The woman would spend time with him. She was like a second mother to him. The woman had no children of her own, so she had enough time to stay with him. They spent years with each other. When Ron was fifteen, the woman didn’t stay with him often. Ron was much older by then and was able to live on his own. But, she still visited him every morning and gave him a loaf of bread. In return, Ron would hunt her for some food. But she still gave him money in return for that, she told him to keep it, not to return anything for it. He listened. He would do that every day.

Today, Ronald decided to do something else. He was finished with his hunting. Ron looked at his hunting supplies. He only had a bow and arrow, a knife, and a sharp stick. Ron decided he needed a sword. So, Ronald went into town looking for a sword shop.

Ronald eventually found one near a blacksmith shop. He went into the shop and watched in awe at all the swords. All the swords were of different sizes and shapes, different colors, different shades, and various sharpness. But, all the swords had one thing in common, they were all expensive. Luckily, Ron had saved enough money to buy one. He chose one with a short bronze handle, a long blade, and it was really sharp. When he was returning home, he saw a huge mob in front of the castle. He went toward the crowd and asked one of the people what they were doing.

“What are you doing?” Ron asked.

“Were trying to kill the Queen that way her uncle can take over, it’s better to have him as the king, than having a fifteen-year-old be a Queen. You might as well join us, you have a sword,” the man said.

Kill the Queen? Ron thought. He was in no way going to do that. The Queen was wise, and so were her parents, there was no reason to kill her. He thought to do the complete opposite, he would protect her.

As soon as the gates opened, he ran through the crowd and got in first. Somehow he knew the castle so well, that he was running as fast as he could to the throne room. Everyone was even following him thinking he knew the way. So he ran faster, and at last, he found the throne room. He ran right to the Queen. The Queen thought he was about to kill her so she held her hands up. But she was surprised that he had turned around his back facing her.

“Aren’t you going to kill me?” She asked.

“No,” Ron replied.

“What are you doing here?” The Queen asked.

“I have come to protect you,” Ronald said.

“How come?” She asked.

“Because I don’t believe what they do.”

“What’s your name?”

“Ronald, you can call me Ron.”

Just that moment the crowd came rushing in. But they stopped when they saw Ron with his sword. Half of the crowd ran back to the town. Half still remained. They came to him and attacked. Ron was lucky he also learned Martial Arts. He was able to kick and punch some away, which made them run, so only a quarter of them remained. Even though Ron kicked and punched them, the last quarter wouldn’t leave, so he had no choice but to kill them. 

He swiped his sword in front of him and caught many by surprise. He jumped up and sliced his sword through the crowd. He went forward, killing more and more as he ran. Blood dripped to his clothes. People spat blood at him, he had never seen so much blood in his life. It was a war.

Ron was feeling so much guilt as he was doing it, but he had no choice but to do so. He swiped it, struck it into their hearts. Struck it through their stomachs. Ron was surprised at how well he was doing, he had never learned how to fence. Just as he finished with one of the people, he saw someone rush past him in the corner of his eye. He ran to the Queen to see where the person he saw was, but he didn’t see him anywhere. When he turned around, he saw what he had really done. All the people he had killed were laying on the floor in a pool of blood. Blood was on the floor, on the wall, on his own clothes, and hands. Heads without their body were also on the floor. He felt like throwing up. He felt so guilty. He had turned into a monster. Ron had never ever dreamed in his life of doing something like this. He was going to be in huge trouble. He didn’t even want to face the consequences with the Queen. Ron thought he could beg for mercy. She might let him go.

Just as he was turning around, he didn’t see the man behind him. The man struck his sword right through his back to his stomach all the way out. Ron put his hand on his heart. He was scared to death. He breathed heavily. Ron just knew he was going to die. It was his last moment just like the other men he had killed. Ron only thought of one thing. To ask for mercy.

“I…I… beg you…” Ron said, breathing heavily, as he tried to speak. “I beg you for your mercy, your majesty.” And with that, he breathed his last breath and fell to the ground limply.

The Queen looked in shock, Ron had just died. So had many other people. But Ron had been a hero. She hadn’t ever seen him before. She looked around the room, she had just witnessed a massacre. The Queen turned over to the man, he had an evil grin, and his sword was pointing right at her. “You know, I could let you go if you begged for my mercy on you,” She said.

The man laughed a wicked one. With that, he was just about to strike her with his sword when someone else struck their sword right through his body and pulled it out. The man fell face-first to the floor and fell limp. He was dead.

The Queen looked up, her uncle had just saved her life. They both looked around, everywhere there was blood. The Queen turned over to her side and pucked. She had never seen so much blood in her life.

Her uncle called some of their servants to pick up all the men, clean them up, and send them to their church. Just as the servant went to pick up Ron, the Queen stopped him. “Leave him, don't pick him up.” The servant looked addled, he looked up at the uncle.

“Yes, leave him, but pick up all the rest,” The uncle said.

So the servant did. Once he put all the bodies into the cart, he left. “Why’d you stop him to pick up this boy?” Her uncle asked.

“This boy is a hero. I need to know more about him. He shall be given the funeral of a soldier,” The Queen said.

The uncle then called a maid to clean the floor and walls, and another servant to take the boy and get him ready for a soldier's funeral.

The Queen then sent a message to the town if they knew anyone whose name was Ronald and was short for Ron. Unfortunately, no one knew who the boy Ronald was until the news came to the woman who had taken care of him when he was a child.

When the woman heard, she and her husband both rushed to the kingdom. There they met the Queen’s advisor, her uncle. He brought them to the garden where funerals took place. The Queen was seated in her normal position, but she had a frown and looked as if she might cry.

“Good evening, I’m sorry if I have troubled you,” The Queen said.

“Good evening, no worries. Where’s Ron?” The woman said.

The Queen pointed to the box. The box was a coffin. It was opened. Surprisingly, the boy looked like he was smiling, but dead. The woman sat down right next to him, she took his hand to her cheek and cried “O my boy, what have you done?”

“I’m sorry for your loss of your son,” The Queen said.

“Oh, he’s not mine, your highness.”

“Oh. Then who is he?”

“I took care of him when he was a child. One day I saw him run to the outskirts of the town. He was crying and started to build a little house for himself. That day he finished his house, he sat on a rock and started to cry. The next day I brought some food for him and comforted him. I asked him what he was doing here. He said his parents died. He was only ten years old. It’s been eight years since he’s been lonely.”

Just hearing that made her remember her own parents who died. Except she wasn’t ten when that happened. Her father had died in the war, her mother had died when the kingdom was attacked. The Queen couldn’t believe, that his parents died when he was just ten. Then it came to her. The mine incident. That was his father. Henry Stratford. It had been said that he had a son named Ron. But the son had never been found. She didn’t know anything about the mother.

The woman and her husband left shortly after. The Queen went over to the boy. He had such a handsome face. Neat brown hair. And he was smiling. She brought his hand to her cheek and her tears fell down his arm. Such a young man, only eighteen years old, would sacrifice his life for hers. She cried more and more. Her uncle sat down next to her and rubbed her back. She went into his arms and cried. 

The next day, they had the funeral. Everyone was required to come since it was a soldier's funeral. Ronald was being honored as a soldier because of his sacrifice. As the pastor read some prayers, they all said amen. The Queen struggled to keep her tears back. Once everyone left, she broke into a meltdown. 

That night she went to bed. Queen Paxina dreamed of something slightly vivid, that she couldn’t quite tell what it was, but somehow she knew it was veracious.