Here and queer

There once were two kingdoms, constantly at war. The kings, rival brothers who would verbal spar but never brought arms. Until one day when one struck the other, and when blood had been spilled the tension only escalated.

The brothers were the rulers of separate nations, and one day the younger brother marched on his older brother’s land, only to find tall walls built around his home. The younger brother’s soldiers began to hack at the wood, but the older brother’s soldiers began to drop stones and heavy objects down onto their heads, crushing them one by one.

So the younger left defeated.

When he returned home, he too had walls built around his land. Then his older brother came with his army, and the younger stood tall among his men, grinning. Until his older brother brought forth his next invention, archers.

Arrows rained from the sky over the wall, killing dozens more men and forcing the younger to cry for a truce. The older agreed and walked away smugly, his men following behind.

So the younger was left defeated.

His young wife came to him, begging him to end this bitter rivalry that had lead to the loss of so many young men. Husbands and sons, those who never got to see the birth of their own children.

But he could not let go of this bitter hatred, so the queen let go of her hope. She left his bedside and refused his company, spending her time with the maidens and widows of her kingdom.

And when the brothers met again on the battlefield, the younger was killed.

The new queen gathered her allies, all the women who had been wronged, those who had been imprisoned by her husband, and all those whom the elder king had outcast. She drew them all to her, a young woman with no husband or children.

The elder king requested an audience with his sister-in-law, asking for her hand in marriage as his wife had been unfaithful and had been executed for such. The fair young queen agreed, and she brought her newly found friends with her to the wedding.

The night of the wedding, the newlyweds lay in their wedding bed, and as the king turned his back to her, he heard screaming in the hallways. He shook his bride awake and pulled her into the hallway, only to find his guards killed and his brides handmaidens lining the halls. 

His bride pulled away and joined her servants, the fire in all their eyes terrifying the older man and keeping him still in his movements. Then his bride pulled her own knife and swung it through the air, cutting his throat and leaving him dead.

So the older brother was defeated.

And both kingdoms learned a very wise and cautious saying, that lasted through generation upon generation: