Prophesy

During the funeral of King Travin, the mysterious white raven utters surprising prophesies.

21.

Prophesy

 

 

Aedric ‘s mind was a blur as he found himself walking behind a bier carried by eight Elf archers, upon which the body of King Travin rested.   The past evening and night had been spent in preparations, consoling Queen Mathlyn, Mattleos and his sister Nansea as well as other relatives.

 

The Queen was deeply saddened, but still was a courteous hostess and made sure everyone from Westmark was accommodated.     She was particularly concerned about Mattleos and him, though he assured her that he was alright.   From her gentle eyes, he knew that she suspected he was lying.

 

But what could he really feel?   He had not known his Grandfather and had only met him once.   Yet still he felt pain and grief, which actually surprised him somewhat.   He almost felt guilty for grieving as if he had known Travin as well as those around him.   However, none of the royal family seemed to expect anything from him other than mourning.

 

He tried to comfort the others, and watched Queen Mathlyn closely, though she seemed to be extremely strong emotionally.   Snoe had hung close to him all evening, though she didn’t say much, and he was comforted by her presence.

 

Now though, all of the guests at the funeral service stood at the end of the processional, on each side of a large royal crypt.   It was the most unusual crypt he had ever seen.   It resembled a tall circle of large trees - cast in stone- with the carved stone roof seeming from the outside to be also a representation of leafy foliage.  But it was an actual building and it was the tomb of all the Kings and Queens of the Sylvan people.

 

The actual crypts were underneath the ground, accessed by a wide ramp constructed so that the procession could easily descend.   Now they slowly walked down the long avenue leading to the crypt, with three priests chanting the death prayers ahead of the bier and all of the royal family and nobles walking in the processional behind the bier.

Then there came the Elven archers and horsemen, like all in the processional, dressed in pure white hooded robes that were trimmed in green - the attire of mourning among the Sylvan people.

He walked with his head downcast, glancing from time to time at those of the Sylvan people that lined each side of the processional, who cried and chanted along with the priests as they passed.   It was a terribly sad, but reverent march.

 

Suddenly there was a great flapping of wings from directly above them.   Everyone looked up in time to see what first appeared to be an army of pure white eagles - huge and majestic, descending out of the heights in the crisp winter air to land upon the funeral bier.

 

The pallbearers immediately sat the bier down upon seeing the birds and the great eagles landed side by side, all around the edge of the bier, facing the body of Travin.   They did not squawk or move, but stood as still as statues around his body.

 

All the people fell reverently silent and the priests finished their chant then bowed their heads in respect.    Aedric felt Mathlyn take his hand and he glanced over to see her also grasping Mattleos’ hand.   She did not look at him but glanced upward as if waiting for something.

Aedric suspected he knew just what it was, and it was only a matter of moments before another snow white bird descended out of the sky.    It was a large raven, pure-white with crystal blue eyes, and when everyone saw it, a slight murmur of awe went through the crowd.

 

The bird spiraled downward almost lazily, and then landed to the side of the head of King Travin.   The eagles - it seemed to Aedric- all bowed to the Raven, who glanced around with a very intelligent expression and then looked down for a long moment at King Travin.

 

Abruptly it looked up and spoke in a loud clear voice, “Rex Travin bonum est Dominus silvarum!   Coniuncta cum patribus suis, et in atriis est Yesh!”

 

Beside him, Aedric heard Queen Mathlyn weeping, as one of the priests interpreted the Raven’s words, “This is King Travin the Good, Lord of the Sylvan!   Joined with his fathers in Yesh’s hall!”

 

The bird took flight again and swooped past the royal mourners until he reached the end of them.   He landed upon the shoulders of Nansea and again spoke, “Filia prudens Nansea custodis potest”.

“Princess Nansea the wise, keeper of the archives!”  The Priest interpreted, and the girl looked up surprised, as if the title was something new to her.   The raven moved on to Mattleos, who bowed his head as it landed on his shoulder.

“Mattleos princeps, princeps exercitus silvarum!”  The bird stated and Mattleos smiled at it, while the priest interpreted, “Prince Mattleos, Commander of the army of the Sylvan.”

The bird landed upon Queen Mathlyn’s shoulder next and again spoke, “Regina Mathlyn immortales, magna domina silvarum!”

“Queen Mathlyn the immortal, Great Lady of the Sylvan!”   The Priest shouted.

 

Aedric prepared for the bird to move to him next, but to his surprise, it flew past him and flew over into the crowd, landing upon the shoulder of King Kylheilm.

“Rex Kylheilm, magister militiæ Nanorum!”   It spoke, which the priest translated as “King Kylheilm, master of the Dwarven host!”

 

Aedric began to feel a sense of relief - if the bird was truly prophetic and was acknowledging all the royalty at the funeral - as Mathlyn had assured him last night that the raven would do- then that meant that he was not considered part of the Sylvan royal family.   He would not have to worry about being Travin’s heir after all and that job could fall upon Mattleos.

 

He smiled a bit and watched as the bird left the Dwarf’s shoulder and flew over to land upon Aurei, Duchess of Dullerm.   The Drow lady looked surprised as the bird spoke, “Aurei immortales, Regina Marksylvania!”

 

“Aurei the immortal, Queen of Marksylvania!”   The Priest said, and the Drow lady looked totally confused at the title, but the bird moved on to Duke Eleazar.

“Eleazar immortalis, Rex Marksylvania!” it said, which then caused the priest to announce, “Eleazar the immortal, King of Marksylvania!”

He joined his wife in surprise, but the raven was not done yet.

 

The bird stepped from Eleazar’s shoulder so that it’s talon gently touched baby Aidan’s shoulder, whom Eleazar held.  “Aidan immortalis principis!”   Aedric already knew by now that this would be translated, “Princess Aidan the Immortal.”

The raven now flew over to Amala, who frowned slightly as it landed upon her shoulder and said, “Amala immortalis principis!”   She was now a princess too, and Aedric thought how annoyed she’d be when he addressed her by that title that she had - in male format-addressed him by several times.

 

It now flew over to Gamel’s shoulder and landed upon it, saying, “Gamel immortalis, Rex Marksylvania!  Imperator, qui ad imperium australem!”

A surprised gasp went up when the Priest interpreted it as, “Gamel the Immortal, King of Marksylvania!   Emperor of the Southern Empire!”

 

Aedric turned to say something to Queen Mathlyn, but the raven still had not finished.   He flew a short distance and landed upon Snoe’s shoulder.   She smiled at the bird, knowing she would be given the same title as her sisters.

“Regina Snoe immortals, Regina silvarum!” It announced, and another loud gasp of surprise crossed over those assembled as the Priest announced, “Queen Snoe the Immortal, Queen of the Sylvan!”

 

Aedric now turned again to his Grandmother and was about to ask about the validity of the prophetic utterances of the Raven when he heard a flutter of wings and heard the crowd fall silent.   He felt talons on his shoulder and held his breath as the Raven spoke.

“Rex immortalis Aedric, regnare silvarum!”  It said in a tone that seemed louder than the others, and before the Priest translated, a shout began to go up.

“King Aedric the Immortal, Reigning King of the Sylvan!”  The Priest shouted in joy.

Before his jaw could finish dropping open, the Sylvan people as one fell to one knee in homage and chanted, “Long live Aedric the King!   Long live Aedric the King!”

He tried to speak to protest to Mathlyn, but she too had dropped down on one knee before him.   He spun around to glare at the Raven who had spoken the words, but it had already flown away, having fulfilled his mission.

 

Aedric had no choice but to stand there, miserable in his glory, waiting impatiently for the chant to die down.

 

***

 

The Sylvan people’s joy did not last long, before they turned back to their reverence and the ceremony continued.    The White Eagles lifted up from the bier and flew up into the heavens.   The pallbearers shouldered the bier again and the procession continued into the crypt, then down the ramp into the burial chamber.

Aedric walked as if he were a zombie - numb and dazed at what had happened.   He wasn’t sure how he would get out of this situation.   His mind raced to think of a way out of his new title, but he knew there was no way to escape it.

 

Though the ceremony in the chamber was only for family members, Aedric was so thunderstruck at what had happened that he didn’t even think it was odd when he saw Snoe being escorted by Elven guards down to join them.   She had an equally stunned, rather scared look on her face and she came up to him very timidly.

Almost absentmindedly they found themselves clasping each other’s hands and staring blankly as the priests now began the final part of the burial ceremony by committing Travin’s mortal remains into the grave.

 

Aedric just watched it numbly, glancing to Snoe for support every once in a while.   She  smiled somewhat weakly at his glances, but squeezed his hand to reassure him.   Behind them, Mathlyn was smiling at them at the same time that she quietly wept as she faced her life without her husband.

 

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"It was a terribly sad, but solemn march." I'm sure that you were likely using the form of solemn that was saying that this was a dignified and serious sort of occasion, but with the "sad" before, it seems a little redundant.
"...only a matter of moments before descending out of the sky came another snow white bird." Perhaps, instead, "...before another snow white bird descended out of the sky."
"He joined his wife is surprise..." The "is" should be "in," I believe.
"...glancing for support every once in a while to Snoe..." Maybe "...glancing to Snoe for support every once in a while..."

This was such a wonderful chapter, Eddie! I thoroughly enjoyed it...

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina, it was a fun chapter to write, as I had it visualized so well in my mind before hand.