The
Life of Queen Ilo and Her Sister
No
one really ever knew much about Daisy Janet's parents or why they
disappeared so suddenly one night. But Daisy didn't care (oh shock
horror!); she was twenty and quite capable of taking care of herself.
At twenty five she married a young man named Rowan Julian who lived
in Ilon, a town south of the south river.
When they had been married
only a year they got a baby from the baby plant and named him Iro. When he was four they got another baby and named her Illus. Iro was
very excited to have a sister and taught her everything he knew and
they became very close friends. When Illus was one and Iro was five,
their parents got twins and named them Ilo and Laurel. Thirteen years later the old queen Florinda died in mysterious circumstances, leaving
the territory to her daughter Rose, who was only twenty and not very
good at ruling. (She had actually killed her mother and had sympathies
with the immortals). Rose then made the worst decision ever, declaring
friendship with the immortals which was just the excuse they were
waiting for to attack. When they started marching over the mountains
to Centerton Queen Rose ran away to Across The Border. Everyone was
of course shocked but there was nothing they could do to get her back
so they opted for self defence. The battle was soon raging to the
west of the Eiderdown hills and calls were being sent out for more
troops. Iro went but was soon killed on a raid. Illus was stunned and
wouldn't talk to anyone outside the family for a month. Even getting a new little sister named Iris didn't cheer her up much. Neither
did the news that Ilo had been made part of the council. One day her
parents came into her room and told her that they were going away to
“help the war effort” and she was not to expect them back for a
while. They would leave on the next plane for Curo Village, a small
town just west of the Eiderdown hills on the north shore of the south
river.
The war had now been going for almost a year and Illus was
fifteen. She had never been apart from both her parents for very long. Her aunt Jonquil was coming up from Rock Island but the flight
was delayed an hour because of contrary winds, as was the flight to
Curo Village. As a result the Julians' flight was blown off course then shot down by immortal troops over the Eiderdown hills. All
survivors were taken prisoner. The news reached those in Ilon at 1st
12:45 when most were still in bed. This was terrible news which
wasn't helped by the fact that nearly a week afterward the immortals
began an attack on the city, during which Laurel and some of his
friends were killed. Ilo was so sad she wouldn't leave her bedroom
for a week. But she had to move eventually because everyone was
moving down to the caves through an underground tunnel. The next step
was to get word to Centerton and urge Queen Rose to act, as their
communications had been knocked out. Illus volunteered to go to
Across The Border with a team of helpers and Ilo was chosen as a
representative of the Ilon council to go to Centerton with a guard of
three people. They set out three days later and reached the cities in
four days, without incident. Illus was chosen to speak to the
queen who was in her winter castle. However, they had to wait for a
week as the queen was not in the mood for seeing people. The day
before Illus went to the castle she and her team received the news
that Ilo had been given control of the southern continent and was
just one step away from being made queen. Illus was very proud of her
sister.
The
Queen was sitting on her throne with a very sour expression on her
face when Illus entered the room and her expression only grew worse
throughout the conversation which followed.
“Your majesty.” Illus
bowed, the Queen nodded, “My name is Illus Julian. I have come to
speak to you.” The Queen raised her eyebrows,
“What do you wish
to speak to me about?”
“About the war, the war which you brought
about. You should never have befriended the immortals, you should know how
they feel about that sort of thing. You ran away when you should have
stayed to encourage your subjects. The people want to make my sister
Queen.”
“Is she the girl who I continually see on the television
who cannot talk in a coherent manner?” Queen Rose received a hard
slap on her cheek from Illus who had fired up at this speech and was
unable to contain her anger any longer. Ilo did stammer but not that much and Illus was very sensitive to criticism of her relations. The Queen slapped her back.
“So this is your answer?” Illus almost shouted.
“Yes!”
“Alright then!” She stomped out of the palace.
The next week the
city heard that Ilo had been made Queen. The war carried on in favor
of the immortals for two months, but at the beginning of the third
month the tide began to turn and they were driven back. To everyone's
surprise the immortals didn't seem to mind being driven back very
much and when the war was over there was not a sound from them about
being beaten. The fairies even began to hope that the old days were
returning when the only fighting between the two races had been done
with pillows and cushions. But they had no idea what horrors were in store.
On the third day after the war had ended,
the prisoners were returned to their families, including Rowan and
Daisy Julian. The reunion was a very joyful one but Ilo couldn't be
there as she was busy being the Queen. Queen Rose had mysteriously
disappeared. Most people, when questioned, said that they didn't know
and didn't really care either. Ilo remained Queen for three more
years and was then replaced by Queen Daffodil who reigned for many
years afterward. When Daffodil was made Queen, Ilo got a job looking
after children and plants. Illus became a space pilot and helped to
fly the great big exploration ships. When little sister Iris was old
enough she followed her sister and assisted in testing evacuation
ships to see if they were fit to journey in space. Rowan and Daisy
bought a farm and lived a quiet life there.
THE
END
