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Ben Medinets / story2n

Chapter 14: Another Soiree

It didn’t take long for Soren to fly back to the GUILD HALL. Things were still pretty normal and uneventful there. Tommy and the Imperial Guards that came with him were currently on duty. That meant that Benny, Lisa, and the Guards from Wembly were now “resting”.

That was only half right as the Princess had somehow found a nice-sized feather and was about to use it on a very sleeping and unsuspecting Benny. The Princess had a real hard time keeping quiet and not bursting out in laughter. she snuck up and began to tickle Benny’s exposed feet with the feather, especially on the bottom part of the heel, where it was really sensitive.

The still sleeping Benny stirred and involuntarily jerked the foot that had been tickled by the feather. After a couple of caressess with the feather touching his feet, the Princess began to touch his face with the feather. And then made the cardinal mistake of tickling the end of his nose. This made him sneeze, and then after sneezing, he surpringly grabbed the princess, and pulling her beside him. The Princess, caught momentarily off-guard, shrieked playfully. They ended in a warm and lenghty embrace.

They then heard a cough and then looked up to see the old sage, Soren. They let go of each other, and sat up so they could pay attention to what Soren had to say to them.

“I hope I wasn’t disturbing you two.” said Soren with a wide smirk on his face.

“No, Sir. we were just having a bit of fun on break.” Benny replied.

“Oh. I see. And how are your studies coming along?” Soren questioned.

“Pretty good. A lot better than when we first got here. This place is quite conducive to magic and the White Crystal is also quite helpful.” Benny again replied.

“Fine. Fine. I trust nothing bad happened here yet?” Soren asked.

“Nothing. Everything is boring but fine.” Benny said.

“I’ve got important news then. It has been revealed that the GREEN MAGE is no other than Sara,” Soren said directly to Princess Lisa, “your long lost, older sister, who is Princess Stephanie’s twin.”

Princess Lisa could hardly believe it. She thought the GREEN MAGE was still an enemy to the empire and to Wembly, a close ally. But then she thought how cool it would be to have another sister, especially now that she was older. The more she thought about it, the happier she felt about the situation. All that was able to escape her lips was a silent but amazed “WOW.”

“There’s more,” Soren had said.

“There’s even more?” Benny replied.

“Yes.” Soren countered, “His Royal Highness, the Imperial Crown Prince William, who is also the RED MAGE is now again able to speak. He was cured due you being able to take possession of the White Crystal. It magnified the ablilities of the other MAGES, and broke certain enchantments.

“Since being able to talk again, Prince William has gotten real close with Princess Sara in a very short manner of time. They grew so close that Prince William has asked for Princess Sara’s hand in marriage.

“King Leon, extremely daughter to have his daughter back and having her marry the Crown Prince of the Empire, has decided to hold a grand feast, as grand as his castle and his resources can afford. He has asked me to fetch you two as you, ofcourse, have been invited.

“I will have to talk with Tommy about the details, and that he will have sole responsibility of guarding the HALL. Perhaps, when things cool down and there is no longer a threat then maybe there can be a reconviening of the MAGES here, and a proper MAGE council again. Anyways, perhaps its best you guys start preparing to return to Wembly. The king is very anxious to start the celebrations.”

With that Soren left the Princess and Benny to prepare to travel. They would be gone about 5 days. The feast would last about 3 days, and it would take a day each way. They collected onlly their basic necessities,

While they were preparing to leave, soren was talking with Tommy about the current situation. Tommy would now be overall in charge, until Benny returned. Soren and Benny would make sure the Princess was protected, so the guards that King Leon sent to the GUILD HALL would stay and provide guard support.

When Dickie (Richard the Younger) heard he would be staying at the GUILD HALL, he became somewhat upset. The Princess tried her best to console him but he was still saddened. The other guards thought it was funny that he was making such a fuss.

Soren tried to urge her to quickly mount her horse. After she got on it, they quickly left the GUILD HALL and headed towards Wembly Castle. It would take a while for them to travel on horse-back. On top of that, the Princess wasn’t used to travelling at high-speed on horse-back, so that slowed them down even more.

Even though the pace wasn’t as fast as Benny or Soren would have liked, it was quick enough to make it to Wembly Castle before nightfall. Soren, again would stay at his usual night spot at the Ark Angel Inn, while Benny stayed at his house, which was still occupied by his good friend, Cletus.

Cletus was definitely happy to see his old friend. He had his own duties to attend to, and was generally quite busy. During his small amount of free time, he was quite happy to have Benny keep him company.

Inside the castle itself, there was still lots of work to do. Princess Lisa came at the right time, and her help couldn’t have come at a better time. She put down her things, and went into the hall right away to give help to Queen Beth, her step-mother, and to her sisters, Pricess Sara and Princess Stephanie, who were trying to finish the decorations. John, the Steward was in the kitchen helping the cook. King Leon went into the kitchen also, and was trying to help them out in their. Try is the operative word here.

It was, unfortunately, a long time before any of the people in the castle went to sleep that night. A couple hours after midnight, eventually one by one, the royal family went to sleep. Right after dawn, the castle resumed preparations. At about noon, the royal family stopped their tasks, and went to change and get themselves ready for the feast, while the rest of the staff continued.

Soren, Benny, and Cletus were all close friends to the Royal Family so they were, naturally, invited. Since the Emperor was due to visit the feast, the King invited Sir Richard the Elder. Sir Richard decided to bring his daughter, Dickie’s older sister Rachel, who still not married. There wasn’t a lot of room, but King Leon allowed her to come anyways.

At mid-afternoon, Benny, Cletus, Soren, and Imperial Crown Prince William arrived at the castle. They waited in the hall for the Royal Family to descend from their quarters. Next to arrive was Sir Richard the Elder with his daughter Rachel in a very stunning evening gown.

Cletus was taken breathless at the sight of the fairly young maiden in such an elegant garment. Cletus then walked up to Sir Richard and Sir Richard properly introduced him to his daughter. As neighbours, Cletus noticed her a couple of times, but had never taken initiative to formally meet her until today.

Cletus took her hand, and then said he was pleased to meet her. Then he took her hand and kissed the back of her palm. She blushed, and then politely asked to be excused. Then Cletus went back to where Benny and the others were standing.

John the Steward came down escorting Queen Beth. After they had entered, he bowed to the Queen, and then excused himself. Then he went to Benny, and asked him to go upstairs so that he could escort his girlfriend, Princess Lisa down the stairs. So Benny went upstairs, and saw that she looked absolutely stunning.

He met her at the top of the stairs. Behind her stood Vic with his fiance, Princess Stephanie. Behind her stood King Leon, and the guest of honor, Princess Sara. Benny asked for Princess Lisa’s hand, and then kissed it. He then escorted her down the stairs to be with the others.

After Benny and Princess Lisa had descended, then Vic and Princess Stephanie descended. Soon after, King Leon and Princess Sara descended. The King escorted her to her fiance, Prince William who would spend the remaining festivities with her.

At this point, there was just some mingling, light drinking of wine, and the partaking of hors d’oerves. Not long after the king had made his entrance when the royal balladeer rang out his trumpet. That was the signal that the Emperor had made his rather belated entrance into the castle. He was escorted in by John the Steward. As the Emperor entered the hall, everyone there, including King Leon bowed in respect.

The Emperor gestured to return to what they were doing by raising his hand. “Let the party begin,” he said in a voice that was as regal as was possible. He picked up a goblet of wine, and said, “To my beloved son, you couldn’t have picked a more suitable lady to be your bride. And to the charming bride-to-be, I wish you a happy and prosperous life ahead.”

At this, the entire group lifted their own goblets, and joined the Emperor with his toast, downing the wine. Then Norbert, the castle’s chef brought out the beginning of the dinner. There was fish that was cooked perfectly, noodles, bread, a good deal of chicken, and a very tasty dish of rice with a savory but delicate sauce on it. And there was plenty of wine and ale to keep everyone’s spirits up. Unfortunately, the party was over far too soon.

On the last night of the party, Benny and Cletus stayed as long as they could. Benny stayed so he could help Princess Lisa begin to clean up. While Cletus stayed so he could spend as much time as possible with Richard’s daughter Rachel, which he had grown attatched to. They stayed until the rise of dawn.

When dawn hit, Cletus escorted her to her house, and went to his (well Benny’s) home to catch a quick cat-nap before he had to go to work. Benny fell asleep while he and Princess Lisa took a much needed break just a little bit before dawn. At mid- morning, they were woken up, and at which time, Benny sent Princess Lisa to bed, while he returned to his house to also have a nap.

While Benny and Princess Lisa slept, Princesses Sara and Stephanie helped Queen Beth clean up the hall from the party. Just after noon, Benny entered the castle. He was wide awake and just about ready to go travel back to the GUILD HALL. Soren would meet them at the castle gates and they would then travel back.

Benny woke up Princess Lisa from her nap, and she packed up her things. They soon were ready to go back. They said their goodbyes to the rest of the royal family, and the King wished them both, health and safety, kissed his youngest daughter on her head, and then gave Benny a giant bear hug. After the King let go, Benny did the only thing that came to his mind, and that was to give the King a deep bow.

The King answered this by saying, “Get out of here, you little rascal.” Then he started laughing very heartily.

Benny and Princess Lisa left the hall and then joined up with Soren for the long journey back. All too soon they had made it back to the GUILD HALL, but something wasn’t right, there were no guards around. At least, none that were living. There were 2 dead, Imperial Troops, and no one else. What took place while they were gone?

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