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Ben Medinets / story2x

Chapter 24: Mysterious Guest

The crowd continued to murmur and continued with its visible displeasure with the uninvited guest.

King Leon rose up and roared, “what is the meaning of this? Identify yourself at once and state your business here. How dare you disturb the matrimonial merriment, especially a regal one at that.”

The guest just responded, “Now. Now. My Liege. Perhaps once I identify myself and state why I am here, perhaps you won’t be too upset.”

“Tut. Tut.” replied the King, still very much annoyed, “I’ll believe that when I find out the complete story.”

The guest continued, “Well, for starters, I am King Carlos of Avon’s representative...”

“...and then perhaps you should be looking for the missing monarch and not disturbing my festivities then, eh?” the still agitated King exclaimed.

The rest of the crowd turned from displeasure to mildly pleased at the King’s wit.

“Finding the King’s whereabouts is not a big issue at this time,” the representative said, “The key leaders of Avon know where his is at the moment, and they are not concerned. What is vital to Avon’s interest is the assistance in driving away the barbarian invaders off the north shore of Avon and the return of King Carlos’ true heir.”

He continued, “With the invasion of that cursed BLACK MAGE, King Carlos thought it be best to go into hiding. He declared martial law, and then promptly disappeared out of the country as the military took control of the country. However, since then the military has proved weak and ineffective and quite incapable of running the country in the King’s absence, that is why I am here to fetch his heir.”

King Leon, “What heir. Here. This I got to hear. I know nothing of the King of Avon’s heir dwelling in my presence.”

Before the representative could continue, Soren the Sage stepped forward. “Perhaps it is best, my Lord if we take this to a more intimate setting.”

So the King, Soren, and the Avonian Representative went upstairs to the King’s chamber to continue the discussion. The crowd was stunned at the intrusion of the strange foreigner and was curious at who would be the heir.

Soren spoke first before the representative could continue, “Perhaps now would be a good time to reveal the information that has been buried deep within my heart regarding this matter, my Lord.”

“Speak, most trusted friend and advisor,” the King answered, wondering what else his advisor had failed to disclose to him.

“It happened a long time ago,” Soren started, “I had received information that one from the royal house of Avon would need to be seperated from the rest of the family and taken out of the country (and put into hiding) so that later they could come back and be the true savior of their kingdom. As not only the GUILDMASTER of the MAGES at the time, as well as the top loyal advisor to the Once Mighty King of Avon, it was my job to make this happen.”

Soren then continued after a very brief pause, “I knew who was the future savior as there were two unmistakable signs, the first was a prolonged meteor shower this world has never seen before (and never has since). The second sign that the boy’s mother died of no apparent reason after giving birth to the child. At once, he was taken away and put into hiding. Then he was brought here. What then happened was I was put in charge of his personal safety and swore an oath to the Avonian Royal Family that the boy would be well taken care of. So when he was brought here, I, naturally became Wembly’s primary advisor.”

“Ah Hah! So that was why you were most insistant on coming here. I was actually tickled pink that a great wizard and advisor like yourself would come here. I was thoroughly convinced that you were coming here for my best interest.” the King replied.

Soren refuted the last statement the King made as a half-attempt at sarcasm against him, “Actually, it was for the best interests of Wembly, Avon, the Empire, and the whole world that I came here. Now, enough of tales and listen closely as I reveal to you first who the representative is looking for.”

So the king drew his head closer to Soren, and Soren cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered the name of the heir in the King’s ear. The King, after hearing the name was initially quite shocked and then slowly drew a wide smile across his face.

Seeing the reactions of the King, the representative was most curious at what information Soren had just passed on to the King when he needed to find out the information as well. But Soren would say nothing more. It would be up to the King to reveal the name in his own way. King Leon, before he said anything, went and got the two Princesses and their new husbands, Prince Benny and Prince Vic. Having four more people in the room, there was a sense of anxiety in the air and the representative could hardly wait to find out the information.

King Leon then told them all to keep quiet as he would tell as much as he knew or would care to share. As he mulled over what he was going to reveal, he was no longer in an entirely happy mood. In fact, he was beginning to battle tears in his eyes. He began, “There is two pieces of information. First, with my imminent departure for the war, I am in need of an apt person to take charge of my affairs here at home.”

To Vic he said, “I am naming you co-successor, in case I do not make it back from the war, I need your able rule to reign in my absence.”

Then a bit of excitement began to replace the sadness in his voice, “The other piece of information is probably what you are all dying to hear, so it has recently come to my attention that there is an heir to Avon’s throne living here in Wembly. Soren has just disclosed to me a few short moments ago that the heir is no other than my new Son-in-Law, Prince Benny, husband of my dear daughter, Princess Lisa. He will soon take his rightfull place as the ruler of Avon. However, in the mean time, he shall be my ward, and with all the resources I have, and with all my strength, I shall pledge to ensure his safety.”

With that, Benny, Vic, and the Princesses began to laugh. Benny then became embarassed. He was still very shocked and pleased to have just married Princess Lisa, but now he was soon going to be crowned king of an even larger realm than Wembly. The representative still did not wholly understand, so King Leon pointed to Benny and said, “He is who you are lookking for. He is the future savior of your country.”

So the representative then took out the circlet reserved for the Crown Prince of Avon and Soren took out the holy water. Soren administered the “Holy Oath of Kingship” to Benny, and Benny pledged to be a good monarch. Upon swearing the oath, Soren anointed Benny’s head with the holy water, and then the representative put the circlet on Benny’s head.

After putting the circlet on Benny’s head, the representative said, “I am the Representative from Avon, searching for the heir to bring him home, but it already appears to me that he is home.”

The rest of them just laughed at the statement and were quite happy that Benny had been revealed as the missing heir of Avon. After a few moments, all of them descended the stairs and returned to the hall, where it was formally announced that Benny was the heir of Avon, and had just accepted the title as the future king. Those attending the festivities were overjoyed that the King Leon’s son-in-law was now in line for the throne of Avon.

After a few more moments of fanfare and celebration, King Leon declared the festivites to a close, and dismissed all those attending the celebrations. It took a while to get everyone to leave, much to their dissatisfaction. Once everyone left the festivities, the married couples went to their chambers, and relaxed one last night before activities in the realm would pick up again, and those going to war would soon be leaving. Both newlywed couples soon drifted off to sleep for one last good night of slumber.

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