Avandor's Gift
Uninvited Guests

I felt the slight shift in the universe. It was the sign I had been waiting for. With a swish of my hand I tore through the veil which created the illusion of distance. I saw him watching Tetje and Evander as they walked towards the palace.

The being within me flickered to life and my heart picked up pace. He is alive! She celebrated.

“Not for long,” I reminded her. I rubbed my chest as there was a sharp stab of pain in protest.

I watched as the two entered the palace. He was silently stalking them and opened another portal to follow. He tried to step out on the other side, knocking on the door of reality but it refused to open. I smiled and waited.

“You are here.” He said without turning around.

“I am.” I said stepping out of the shadows.

“Make it quick.” He said defeated.

I was disappointed, he didn’t even fight. It was good he never won the Great Race as I would have been forced to serve a weak master.

Swirls of lightening engulfed him and in less than a second he was gone.

That was too easy.

That’s because he isn’t dead. Said the woman whose body I lived in.

“How would you know?” I asked but she remained silent. “Very well he might not be dead but someone else is about to be. I felt the flare of her anger but it dimmed in comparison to my superior strength.

I smiled at the prospect of a bigger battle later on. I exited the portal and looked up at the castle walls of Indué. White spectres were seen scaling the sides and disappearing inside.

I was not invited to the wedding. But it was time I made my presence felt.

...

Am I doing the right thing? I asked myself for the thousandth time today. The feast was being prepared and hundreds of workers were about the palace setting up decorations, arranging music, all for my wedding.

This was billed to be the biggest event of the decade, the entire country was invited. The ingress of people into Indué in the last few days was enormous. The already sprawling city had taken on a new life. It had turned from an anthill to a raging dragons den. The green banner of Gé Addar floated alongside the gold ones of Rá Leat everywhere. Security would have been a nightmare, or so I thought. Scores of warriors and nobles from Rá Leat had come to pay fealty to me and the crown of Gé Addar after the news surfaced that I was to marry Garima.

Sonis had his hands full integrating the tall, bulky soldiers with boar-ish attitudes into our more subdued army. The wolves were my extra eyes today, spread out throughout the city and the bordering lands. At the first sign of trouble I would be alerted. Clashes were going to be inevitable and I would have to replace a way to settle that issue once and for all one day soon. Soon, but not today. Today I was getting married. Once I rolled the word married over in my mouth, my gut clenched in a tight cramp and a wave of nausea over took me.

“There has to be another way.” I mused quietly as I looked from the balcony into the churning sea.

“Not at this point son of Elmera’s-son. Not when a marriage spurned would result in great chaos and perhaps war.” I turned to see a heavily cloaked figure standing in the shadows. A huge axe poked above his shoulder and I could see the shimmer of green scales just at the opening of his sleeves.

“Bufrak Dominic, you have come.” I said walking up to him. “I thought that you would have come closer to dusk.”

“Many soft-skinned-nub-toothed men would think the same and plotted along those lines. We may no longer be at war but the hate between our races has not yet disappeared.”

I closed the door behind us. He then pulled off the hood of his cloak revealing his scaly head. His dark eyes searched my face and then he said flatly, “You are not Evander, but Gareth. What is the true nature of what is happening?”

“You know me quickly. I have taken the place of my brother many days now and not many know the difference.” I pointed towards the table for us to sit.

“Speak now or never again. Where is Evander and how is that you sit in his place? You died.”

“And now I am getting married and that to a Láetian princess.” I said taking up a decanter and pouring wine into a goblet and offered it to him and poured another for myself. “It is a strange telling but I will speak to you of it none the less.

“My desire to live ended with the death of Noräin as you must have heard or seen for yourself when I walked into the black cloud conjured by Rammon. I have thought about it much since my return and perhaps I didn’t die, but my body scattered...the mechanics I can only explain as being magic...and it was through magic I was brought back and made whole.”

“Magic must have one to control it. Who then brought you back son of Lacore?” he said absorbed in my telling.

“The changeling Tet told me that I was to take Evander’s place until he returned. My only other missive was to replace someone named Roland. This Roland fellow turn out to be a changeling called Tarrus who so happened to possess the gems of Mern again granting me Oaklanf’s gifts. That and an extra.”

“Extra?”

“I received five gems instead of four. The use of the fifth is yet to be determined.” I drained the goblet. “That is the story of my return.”

“And of your marriage?”

“I will sum that up with saying, it was a move to secure my brother’s throne and prevent another war. Garima found out that Evander was absent and I bought her silence through marriage.”

There was a slight knock on the door and Tarrus entered. “It’s time Your Highness.”

“I haven’t the strength.” I said.

“Maybe this will help.” He said giving me a strange flask.

“What is it?” I said sniffing at the red liquid inside.

“A restorative and in your case some liquid courage.” I shrugged and drank from the flask. A shock of warmth spread through my body and I immediately felt mellower.

“It is customary for a friend or relative to stand at the side of the groom during our marriage. If my brother was here, I believe he would have asked you Bufrak Dominic. I have explained the reason for this marriage and I understand if you refuse, but will you stand at my side?” I asked the Verdan king.

“So be it.” He said, surprising me as I thought for moment that he would refuse. He seemed preoccupied by the flask in my hand. “My people have only just started recovering from the effects of war and we might not survive another.” He said getting up.

“Now that is settled.” said Tarrus as he took the flask from me.

“I should be surprised that you are here Old Claw. But I am not.” said Dominic as he approached the changeling.

“You two have met before?” I asked looking at both men.

“I have a penchant of being present in one form or the other when events of epic proportion are about to unfold, but you already know that Gareth. Shall we?” he said as he exited.

“So it seems.” said Dominic in his waspish tongue as his eyes seemed to narrow slightly. Tarrus was several paces ahead of us down the hall. “Do you trust this Tarrus?” whispered in his tongue.

“Is there a reason that I shouldn’t?” I replied in his language.

“I am not yet sure. His actions have always resulted in the overall good...yet there is just something...not right.” He said looking pensive.

“He was the one who first implied that I should get married. Your insinuations might yet provide me the reason I need to escape this.” I said as I fidgeted with my coat.

“My insinuations aren’t proof of anything and it is too late now to escape your fate.” We stepped into the great hall which was now overflowing with flowers and many distinguished guests seated along a grandly decorated isle. Green, gold and white were the colour pallets chosen for this affair and the overall effect was pleasing to the eye.

Trumpets resounded and a great drum boomed on my entrance. The crowd turned around and as I proceeded to the front with Dominic by my side, all the guests bowed their heads in acknowledgement.

On reaching the altar, I faced the crowd and nodded giving them permission to sit. I then sat on a chair as I awaited the bride. My wait was not prolonged as the trumpets sounded once more and the crowd stood.

My heart thudded heavily as I focused on the gold clad female that stood at the other end of the hall. Two ladies in waiting trailed behind her keeping the fine lace trail in perfect order as she marched towards me. I stood as she got to the altar.

I took her hand and she then stooped and touched my feet publicly signalling her obedience to me as her future husband and king. We then sat together, her on the right while the priest came forward to read us our vows.

Her hand trembled in mine and I gave her a squeeze of reassurance. Nothing in her stiff frame acknowledged the gesture as she continued looking at the priest.

The offering of incense was made to Avandor and a prayer declaring our union to the gods and their blessing sought. The priest then carried the heavy crown that had graced the heads of my ancestors for eons and seated it upon my head. He then brought a smaller more feminine version and placed it in my hands. The gilded veil of the woman was taken away and for the first time I saw her face today.

She was beautiful, perfection really but I regretted that she wasn’t someone else. I swallowed back that emotion quickly.

“By giving you this crown, I Evander of Calabar, king of Gé Addar and Regent of Sebán and Rá Leat, swear before the gods and my people, that I will give you Garima princess of Rá Leat the protection of my hand, the privilege of being the sole cradle of my bloodline and loyalty of my subjects as queen of this realm. All this is yours if you choose to accept.”

Her eyes widened and there was a hushed murmur among the crowd. I had given her the opportunity to reject me. She searched my face and while she remained silent the muttering grew louder.

“I choose to accept,” she said finally. The tension in the gathering relaxed. She bowed her head and I lowered the crown on it and helped her to stand.

“Before Avandor and all men, all hail the king and queen of Gé Addar, Rá Leat and Sebán.”

“Hail! Hail! Hail!” shouted the crowd as they erupted in great applause. Trumpets were again sounded and throughout the city peals of bells could be heard miles throughout.

As I walked down the aisle I was suddenly stung with a sudden awareness. I searched through the hundreds of smiling faces until I hit upon one which was silent and steely cold. Anger flared in his gold flecked irises as he watched me just the same as I watched him.

My brother, the king had returned and he was not pleased.

Far from it.