Mourning preparations

Aedric and the Sylvan Elves deal with the death of their King.

19.

Mourning preparations

 

“So what do you think I should do?”  Sophia asked Deborah, Aurei’s daughters, and Eioldth as the jet landed.   She had told them everything about what was happening down in Westmark, as well as the idea to speak to Yesh about sending a warning to the Westmark forces to not get caught up in the danger of trying to bind a greater demon.

The women all agreed that binding the demon would certainly help, but would probably not cause Torrin’s group to crumble or lose power.

“It’s too dangerous.”   Eioldth said, agreeing with others.

“Well, since we are all in agreement, I will go petition Yesh to allow us to intervene.   Eioldth, you will come with me to speak to Yesh.”

“Really?”  She replied, surprised that she would be allowed to go see Yesh so soon after her training began.

“Yes, I think you are ready. “

“How soon will we leave?”

 

Sophia didn’t answer for a moment, looking down at the display on a small tablet computer she carried, “We’ll leave as soon as we get back to the office.   I just checked my scrying program - it looks like an assassin just killed King Travin then took her life.”

“Oh no!”  Eioldth and the other women all exclaimed.

“It had to be some of Fortatius’ assassins.”  Deborah’s voice came over the intercom, “They use many women and are very ruthless and bold.”

 

Sophia shook her head, “Hopefully there won’t be more assassins trying to kill Eleazar, Aurei or my mother.   Deborah, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll teleport Eioldth and I on up to the office so we can get moving.”

“That’s fine, Sophia.   I’ll take Sirya and Aranthi to lunch.”

“I’m not really very hungry, ma’am.”   Sirya said, betraying her concern over her parents back in Synomenia.

The jet stopped suddenly upon the middle of the runway and through the cabin door came the Elven Watcher.   She immediately went over to the two Drow girls and knelt down beside them, taking both of their hands.

“Ladies, I understand your concern.   But sitting around worrying will not help you.   Talking about it with me might, however.”

 

Sirya looked at her sister and Aranthi nodded.

“Good,” Deborah said, “Let me taxi the plane back into the hanger and we’ll be off.   Sophia, please keep us informed if you learn of any more news from Westmark.”

“Certainly.   Don’t worry, girls; I’m sure your parents are on high alert status now.    Eioldth, are you ready?”

“I think so.” She went over and stood by the Drow sorceress and a moment later Sophia chanted a teleportation spell and they were gone; leaving the other women wondering what was going on back in Westmark.

 

****

 

Aedric stood numb at the edge of the room, listening only distantly to the conversation around him.   Duke Dullerm was telling those in the room about the assassination of King Travin, while his family stayed close to Mattleos and him.   His cousin stood next to him, as numb and shocked as Aedric felt, but at a far deeper level due to a lifetime living with his grandfather.

 

Aedric hurt to think about his new-found cousin’s deep grief.   He put his arm around his shoulder to show support, as the Duke expressed his sympathy and deep regret at the assassination.

“Reverend Zeatt cast a spell upon the corpse of the assassin which enabled her to ask it three questions.   We were able to learn that it was the Emperor who hired her to assassinate King Travin, and that she and three others, who we have now arrested, were acting without the knowledge of Earl Redburr.”

 

Aedric and Mattleos nodded in reply to the statement and the Duke continued, “I’ve taken the liberty to contact Queen Mathlyn via scrying device.   She has informed me that the Sylvan people conduct funeral services for their royalty the day following their death.   So we will suspend our quests until after we pay respect to King Travin.” 

“I have asked some of our wizards to use one of the few remaining teleportation scrolls that we have in our collection, to take the body of the King, as well as all of us, to Tarmard, to pay our respects.   They will join us soon to cast the spells.   Again, I am very sorry for his death.   He was a wise and kind leader and one of Westmark’s best allies.”

 

Aedric felt completely unsure of himself but joined Mattleos in thanking Duke Eleazar for his assistance.   The wizards arrived almost immediately, carrying three very old, frail pieces of parchment.

 

The mages told them that they would all have to form three groups, standing as close to each other as they could, in order for the teleportation spells to function properly.

 

Aedric followed Mattleos over to where a handful of the officers of the archers stood - they would not be able to teleport all of the Sylvan archers back for the funeral, so they had decided on just a representation of some from them.

 

“You need to know about the funeral ceremony.” Mattleos told him as everyone moved around to take their place.   As he spoke, Snoe came up to them and wrapped an arm around each of them, hugging them both at the same time and whispering “I’m so sorry.”

They thanked her, and then the young Sylvan lord continued his conversation about the ceremony.

“It is different then any funeral you have probably ever seen.   Much of it is a prophetic service.   There is an ancient tradition among the Sylvan -a connection with two types of nearly mystic birds.”

“Birds?”   Aedric asked, not sure that he’d heard him right.

“Yes - they are the heart of the ceremony.   Two types of birds are holy to the royalty of the Sylvan.   One type is a snow-white eagle that only appears at certain times.   When a royal child is born, during a royal wedding, and at a funeral.   They will seem to come out of nowhere and will land on the funeral bier during the service.   They always do this and this is very important.   As Grandfather was the 17^th King, there will be 17 of these great birds.”

“What about the other type of bird that you mentioned?”

“That is the most important one - and I mean ‘one’ as there will only be one.   We think it is the same bird that has appeared for several hundred years, but no bird should live that long.   It is a great raven, an albino, that has the power of speech.”

 

Unintentionally, they glanced at Snoe as Mattleos spoke; perhaps to visualize the bird’s color.

“The great raven will squawk out words that are prophetic and concern the royalty of the Sylvan or those who are the overlords of the Sylvan and their King.     Some of what the raven says will refer to the present time; others will be words that will be true in the future.   The bird will speak in the Linguam regali tongue and there will be a priest of Yesh Silimherum translating the prophetic words of the raven.”

“What will he speak about exactly?”

“First he will utter words about our Grandfather.   After that, I am not sure.  But it is a very reverent and holy ceremony.”

“Thanks for telling me.   Are you alright?   This was so shocking.”

 

The Sylvan lord shrugged, “It hurts me, as I’m sure it does you.”

“I wish I could have got to know him.”

“So you grieve for not knowing him, as I grieve for the memories of knowing him.   Both are hard to bear.”

 

The wizards began chanting the teleportation spell at that moment and conversation stopped as they prepared to travel to Tarmard.