Dear Readers,
I’m happy to present your very first sneak peek at the art for Chapter One of The Blood of Seven Queens. It’s quick, dirty, and unfinished, but I’m proud of the progress I’m making on the issue and I want to share.
In case you’re wondering, these are the so-called False Kings. They play an important role in the backstory of the series.
It’s only thanks to the support of you, my followers and patrons, that I’m able to power through the depression and anxiety brought on my current struggle with unemployment. It’s only thanks to your support that I’m making my lifelong dream of publishing a comic book a reality, in spite of all that the real world throws at me.
Before I get to this issue’s feature presentation, I have a small request for you. I’m trying to make it past the first round in World Anvil’s Worldbuilding Awards, and they’re allowing anyone with an email address to vote. Seeing as you’re reading this here email newsletter, I figure you probably have one of them new-fangled email addresses yourself. So, that being the case, I’d like to ask you—pretty, pretty please, with sugar on top—to click on the following links and give your old pal Chris a vote on each. The first round of voting closes on April 3.
Thanks bunches, my friends. And now, on with the feature attraction…
I am proud to present the script for Chapter Two of The Blood of Seven Queens. Free subscribers will be able to read the first six pages, while paid subscribers can read the whole gosh-darned thing.
Let me know if you spot any typos or glaring errors, or if you’re going to hold off until you can read the completed comic. I’ll see you back here in two weeks.
Yours,
Chris.
Chapter 2
1
Tier 1
Wide shot of Kester Thidos fighting Stagnekad the Defiler at the Battle of Frankburg Bridge. Loads of other Kindallans are around.
CAPTION: My mother and I are descended from some of history’s fiercest women.
CAPTION: For instance, this is General Kester Thidos—my fifth great-grandmother.
Tier 2
Kester dodges a swipe by Stagnekad.
CAPTION: In her lifetime, she’s saved the world more than once.
Kester slices at Stagnekad and sends him staggering backwards.
CAPTION: The histories tell us that she was as fearless as she was fierce.
Stagnekad sits in the mud at Kester’s feet, nursing the wound she dealt him and looking angry.
CAPTION: But the truth is, after she had herself a daughter, fear dominated her life.
CAPTION: Fear that the war would never end, fear that she’d never make it home, fear that one day her child would have to join the fight.
Tier 3
Kester asks Stagnekad to call off the attack, while Stag’s soldiers come from behind.
CAPTION: And that’s how she ended up here, battling Stagnekad the Defiler in single combat. She’d sought to end the war in the ancient way.
KESTER: Yield, fiend. You are beaten.
Stag’s soldiers leap at Kester.
CAPTION: But old Stag never was one for following the rules.
Repeat 2.3 from above, except now Stag looks maliciously pleased.
CAPTION: Kester should have known that. Perhaps, once upon a time, she did. But she was afraid. And fear has a way of overwhelming all else.
2
Tier 1
Wide shot of Kester fighting off three soldiers while Stagnekad crosses the bridge.
CAPTION: Fear had driven Stagnekad for far longer than it had driven Kester Thidos—long enough that he learned to master the emotion. To bury it.
Tier 2
Wide shot. Reverse of the above. Stagnekad stands on the other side of the bridge as his minions follow. Kester is still fighting, but losing.
CAPTION: Mostly.
Tier 3
Wide shot of Stagnekad, looking back over his shoulder at Kester as his army marches past him. Kester falls.
CAPTION: And yet, the fact that Kester Thidos came so close to killing him had given given new life to the emotion Stagnekad had hidden beneath decades of rage.
3
Tier 1
Wide shot of Stagnekad’s castle on the Island of Pirates.
CAPTION: Years later, after winning that battle but losing the war, Stagnekad hid himself away on an island in the Sea of Tears.
Tier 2
Establishing shot of Stagnekad’s throne room with an army of the undead standing at attention.
CAPTION: And after stewing on it for nearly a decade, the old fiend decided that the threat to his life had not ended with the slaying of Kester Thidos.
CAPTION: Anyone wielding her vorpal sword might find a way to best him—and, in particular, anyone who carried her spirit in their blood.
Stagnekad shakes fist and commands his people.
STAGNEKAD: Find her daughter, wherever they’ve hidden her, and kill her where she stands.
Reverse of the above, showing the dead-eyed stares of the soldiers. They are not excited. They are not inspired. They are zombie slaves.
STAGNEKAD: And find me the woman’s sword so that I may burn it to ash.
Tier 3
Repeat shot from Tier 1, except with the army marching.
CAPTION: For weeks, they scoured the island. For weeks, they found nothing. But then, just when they were about to board ships bound for the mainland…
4
Tier 1
Establishing shot of a small cottage in the middle of the woods and the Army of the Undead lurking in the foreground. Their backs are to the camera.
CAPTION: They found a small cottage on the eastern shore of Mermaid’s Lagoon
Tier 2
Reverse shot of the above. We are looking at the undead as they debate whether this is the place. It doesn’t look like a Bekiskapan domus, after all. Behind them: shadows.
CAPTION: It didn’t look like the domus of a Bekiskapan family, but it was one of the only signs of life they’d found.
UNDEAD CAPTAIN: The Defiler will have my head if we don’t at least have ourselves a look.
Tier 3
Repeat of the above shot, except now there are three Bekiskapan women standing behind the undead.
CAPTION: He was wrong.
5
Tier 1
Wide shot of battle breaking lose.
CAPTION: The Defiler wouldn’t get the chance to take his head.
Tier 2
Battle continues. One of the Bekiskapan makes a huge swing with her sword
CAPTION: The girls’ foster mothers took it first.
Battle continues, maybe with a severed head in the foreground.
Battle continues, but someone notices something. An orange glow from off-panel
CAPTION: But while the girl’s guardians were distracted…
Tier 3
A portal opens in front of the cottage door. Stagnekad walks out.
CAPTION: Stagnekad, confident that his foot soldiers had found their quarry, made his move.
The Bekiskapan Triad tries to fight their way back towards the cottage.
CAPTION: While the rabble kept the warriors distracted…
Stagnekad’s hand is on the door knob.
CAPTION: The Defiler would destroy the helpless girl. It would be quick. It would be easy. He was sure of it.
6
SPLASH PAGE: With Stagnekad in the foreground opening the door, AESLING O’BRIAR stands in a nightgown with her finger over the spindle of a spinning wheel. There should be a small dining setup for four somewhere in this room, as well as a fireplace. This will come into play at the end of the chapter.
CAPTION: He was wrong.
AESLING: Step into my parlor…
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