Sweet Waters Throne

Haniwa died a few seconds after Gandalf, she also bled in all the holes and finally laid down cold. Lady Elizabeth wept her eyes out crying for her daughter. What was supposed to be a happy occasion turned out to be a fatal one. Out of the five hundred Highborn guests invited to the feast, only two hundred survived and that’s because they didn’t eat the cake.

The cake was poisoned; it didn’t need a highly skilled person to know it. All those who ate the cake dropped down, bled out and died quickly. Yet those who survived claimed to not ate the cake and some weren’t even aware, they had gods on their side.

Aryan stayed right there in the garden with Gandalf in her arms till late, Olivia was lucky she didn’t take a bite of the cake because apparently she was waiting for Aryan so they may eat it together. Rush was completely heartbroken looking at Aryan weeping hysterically and she seemed to be in deep agony. The guards removed the dead bodies and offered to send them to their families with condolences.

Olivia remained right there under the open skies with Aryan, she never left her side not even once. None of them slept that night, neither Aryan nor the surviving guests who were still in trauma after what happened to their friends and families. Lord Cregan Lawsend however didn’t seem so shocked of the death of Gandalf, but rather he rejoiced discreetly in his chambers with his wife Laisa. He wasn’t the one who poisoned the cake but he was close to the baker who made it.

Even before the event happened, the baker had already left the palace and by the time Gandalf laid down cold the baker was miles away from Raven and sailing to the Liberty Cities with bag of gold, he was no longer a poor man and he knew a grand life was waiting for him across the Silent Sea.

Laisa praised Cregan for what he did, she knew that will mean they can finally go home with their daughter. “I told you I will never give up on our daughter” said Cregan kissing his wife passionately and while the whole palace was in mourning, these two had wild sex to celebrate their successful mission. Then they talked about acting ignorance for the next few days so as not to cause any doubts, Lord Cregan was ready to dwell in the palace for the next two weeks so as to wait the King’s burial ceremony.

The morning after the “Bleeding Feast” bells’ tintinnabulation was all over Raven. They rang for more than one hour to officially confirm the death of the Monarch. The first time bells rang in Raven was when Gandalf was crowned King, the second time was when he married Haniwa and now the third time when he laid down cold.

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From Bellward, Claydall to King’s City bells rang continuously and the realm was in great shock of what happened. The death of King Gandalf had come way too fast for the good folks to even articulate, this was their beloved King whom they treasured and loved. To Prophisians Gandalf was a hero who freed them from a tyrant Castellan Taelin.

For over a year Prophisians lived in peace and harmony, there was no more bloodshed, murdering of innocent men and threats. Gandalf ruled justly and his people loved him, and for that the streets of Raven flood out with sorrows. Two hundred thousand people gathered outside the main palace in Raven eager to bid farewell to their King, some travelled from far and cold villages just to see for themselves if Gandalf was really dead.

Women wept and cursed whoever poisoned the just and beloved King, they threw scented flowers outside the gates of the palace as a sign of love towards Gandalf. Whores in brothels also wept for Gandalf whom they considered their romantic King, in fact there was not even a single soul in Prophis who didn’t weep for Gandalf.

These tears and wailing reached out a long distance and finally landed in Maldonia three days after the “Bleeding Feast” and the first person to know of this huge catastrophe was Lord Balrus. The distance between Raven to Maldonia is a good seven to nine days on a horse, but Lord Balrus received the letter in three days because it was sent by ravens. One of his spies sent it the exact day Gandalf had fallen.

Quickly a small council was called upon to discuss this matter, just the four of them ─ Lord Angun, Lord Akirbus, Balrus himself and King Artemis. After Balrus read the letter, there was a shocking look on Artemis and his jaw dropped. “He’s dead?” he asked.

“Yes, Your Grace. So is his wife Queen Haniwa and his son Prince Landan Squire whom I believe the feast was on his name” replied Lord Balrus.

Lord Akirbus corrected Lord Balrus “It was both a feast and a name day celebration for the King and his twin sister I believe” he said calmly. “They were celebrating their twenty third name day”

“Who did it?” Artemis seemed confused by all this sudden news, and he wondered what will that mean for Princess Thelma especially after he just wrote to her. No one at the council chamber seemed to know who actually did it, but Lord Balrus had ideas.

Lord Balrus cleared his throat and faced Artemis “With all due respect Your Grace, I’m afraid I must ask… did you do it?” he asked with a straight face.

Artemis stuttered “What… I… I was here all along, in the capital” he said still stuttering and it’s obvious he was caught off-guard by Lord Balrus’s question.

“Lord Cregan Lawsend was at the Bleeding Feast too, and it’s within my knowledge that you two had a discreet meeting here in the palace. Did you not?”

“Yes we did, but all we talked was trade and… seas. That’s all!” Artemis tried to explain himself.

Then Lord Angun intervened “You promised Princess Thelma Taelin that you will help her defeat the Squires and all her foes. Is this your way of defeating them?” now it seemed like Artemis was sandwiched by his own trusted advisors and he completely lost it.

At first Artemis looked at Lord Balrus as if warning him why did he speak of their plans to his friends, Lord Akirbus wasn’t having it and he quickly averted his attention. “Your Grace if you keep having these discreet meetings and plans without considering your small council, I fear you may tear down your own realm and take us to war. You have dragons I don’t deny it but remember these same dragons were brought down by men like Prophisians, House Morrow was wiped out from the face of the Earth and they had ten dragons” he insisted.

Artemis wasn’t ready to be blamed for something he didn’t do, he kept on denying “I didn’t do it! I swear to you my lords. I wanted to fight Gandalf in a battle yes, but I didn’t poison him and murdered all those people. I am father too, I would never”

There was yet again a silent moment between the three lords as they articulate whether their King was responsible for the murder of another King of a powerful kingdom, or was he really innocent as he claimed to be. Then Angun sighed “Let’s pray the King’s letter makes it to the Princess, if somehow it gets lost and falls in wrong hands, I’m afraid we will have a war in our hands. Lady Aryan will crush our kingdom to the ground” he said.

Artemis was silent during this time, then he remembered Aurora’s visions and prophecy of his death. It was Aryan who he was battling and somehow she raised her sword and cut him in half, could this be the reason for the start of the war? Scared and confused, he suddenly stood up and walked away from he council chamber.

His Kingsguards were waiting for him on the front, he gave orders for them to prepare a palanquin and make a journey to Aurora’s Hill, he was very much confused. The biggest mistake he ever did was sending that letter to Princess Thelma, it had been days so it must have reached her, but what if it didn’t?