The prophecy, a young girl of humble means will rise up against tyranny. With no sword in hand, only the heart, the tyrant will end, balance restored, and peace once more to a war-torn land. -- Anon Guest
Tyrants generally mislike prophecies in which they get overthrown. It's a whole thing. One would think that, when faced with a prophecy about heroes with humble beginnings, a tyrant might actually eliminate any kind of humble setting by -say- affording their peasants some decent holdings and finances.
Tyrants never see it that way, alas.
Faced with a prophecy that a young girl will rise to defeat him, Malaevoa Pandemanis did the typical thing and imprisoned every girl child born until they were no longer girls. As an added "bonus", he also permitted his guards to make sure they weren't maidens or virgins when they were let out, either. This went about as well as one might expect.
"Humble" can mean anything. In the case of Algatrudis "Trudy" Diarmata, it meant living in her father's Folly[1], with as little as possible so that she might escape the Tyrant's notice.
This also went about as well as one might expect.
The Tyrant saw her, sent his soldiers, she escaped into the wilderness. You know the story. Acts of kindness, boons of unusual origin, and in this case - power over the heart that Malaevoa had magically removed from his body.
It took two years to find it and return, but Trudy did return.
She did not crush it and kill him. That was the way of cruelty, and also the way of Malaevoa. Trudy pushed it back into his chest, and let him feel all over again.
It had once been a kind heart, and it had never stopped bleeding. Once back where it belonged, Malaevoa had intense trouble stopping his tears.
He could barely move. He could no longer speak.
Trudy took the crown from his head and let him have a place where he might ease his sorrows in time. She freed the other ladies from their prison and tasked them with helping her mend all that had gone so very wrong.
Men generally expect women to fix things. This was little different.
[1] Obscenely rich lords used to install fake ruins on their estates to show off how rich they were. They sometimes hired people to pretend to be hermits in them. Since it was foolish to spend that much money on excess, the decorative elements were called "follies".
[Image by Simon Berger on Unsplash]
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