Chapter 39: A Bride, a Wedding and a Widow - The End of a Journey

They had dismounted their horses, and as they now walked towards the three negotiators Athea watched them dismounting their horses as well. They all were tall, of pale complexion and it was difficult to guess their ages. Coming closer she could discern more details. Athea remembered Sureyssa’s remarks. She could not smell them like the cat, but now she understood the meaning of young bodies, but old minds. Their dark red heavy armors did not look shabby, but as if they had worn them for centuries. Also their swords looked more like ancient artifacts than the weapons she had seen the Norgar or Manthakin use. Everything about them looked old, everything but their faces; to Athea it seemed they were wearing masks, only their eyes were real, and they looked the oldest. Their armors also disguised that they were rather thin. Something made them look haggard and hungry.

“I am Kayron Siz, and with me are my sister, Shaya Toa, and my brother Varunas Siz. You are Athea Maghon, may I presume?” The man in the middle of the three vampires asked with a smile.

“You may; and with me are my brother, Roban, and his daughter, Menja. Also my dear friends Kassja, Rhabina and Hassika,” Athea finished her introduction and returned the smile.

“And Bosko; Bosko is my hunting dog,” Menja added.

“I’m glad to make your acquaintance, but a bit sad, that the one we wanted to meet the most is not with you,” Kayron Siz replied.

“I can assure you that Jenaya is very eager to make your acquaintance as well. She is just a bit shy, easily explicable for such a young vampire. So I hope you’ll pardon her absence,” Athea explained.

“Yes, Jenaya, a very young vampire indeed; and if we’re informed correctly your brother, Roban, is her sire.” With that remark Kayron turned to Roban. “I am deeply honored to make your acquaintance, Roban Maghon, a God and the Sire of the only vampire not born in Gol-Gunthay. A family member we did not know existed, until recently. You cannot imagine the delight that news brought into our home; the miraculous conversion of a fourth generation vampire, into the first of a new bloodline. Jenaya Maghon, your daughter, is a royal vampire of the highest magnificence. So you should not feel surprised, that we immediately went out to find our lost family member. And here we are, to take her home.”

Roban moved his hammer off his shoulder, lowered the hammerhead to the ground and leaned on its shaft. “Yeah, I thought as much. I actually came out here to meet you for the same reason; because you want to take her with you.” His voice was cool, or rather frosty.

“You have to excuse my brother. He, like every father, is very protective of his daughters. You know fathers, they even tend to jealously guard their darling daughters,” Athea sighed. “Personally I’ve no doubt; you came here with nothing but noble intentions. That said, telling a father you came to take away his daughter might not have been the best choice to introduce yourself.”

Kayron Siz still frowned looking at the hammer in Roban’s hand, but his sister laughed in response to Athea’s note.

“I am a daughter too and know exactly what you mean. We came here to readopt a lost family member into the bosom of our family. But with our army at your gates, it must look to you like we came to abduct one of your family members. The tragedy is, because of our nature, we can’t stay away from our home for long. Jenaya is a vampire, so I assume you know the problems I am talking about. Let me assure you in the name of my family, we are not here to forcibly take Jenaya away from you. To the contrary, we hope we can unite our families. My younger brother, Varunas, was smitten by the image of Jenaya since the day he first heard of her. Through our search and journey, his feelings even intensified. This may sound ill-conceived to you, but I give you my word, it is the truth; maybe it is destiny. There is nothing he desires more than to become Jenaya’s mate.”

“Well, your brother’s feelings for Jenaya don’t surprise me as much as you might think. The truth is, astonishingly Jenaya also harbors intensive feelings for your brother. Maybe it is destiny; she has surprised me time and time again. However, Jenaya is a highly treasured member of my family, and you can’t expect we will simply hand her over and bid you a farewell. Far be it from us to stand in the way of Jenaya’s happiness, but we need to be sure she is protected and as highly valued by you as she is by us. The practice of courtship is tradition for a reason. As I am also painfully aware of a vampire’s needs, and the resulting problems, we will succumb, and accept a very short courtship, but we will demand a wedding, before her groom will be allowed to take his bride home with him.” Athea expounded.

“How short a courtship will you accept, and when can a wedding be arranged?” Kayron Siz reentered the negotiations.

“It’s still early in the day. The courtship will start and end today, and tonight we will have a wedding.” Athea easily proclaimed.

“A big wedding, the bestest wedding ever!” Menja enthusiastically agreed.

“You will welcome us into the town, all of us?” Kayron skeptically asked, watching the less than enthusiastic looking father of the bride.

“Of course, I told you, your arrival was no surprise,” Athea answered smiling.

“Can I see Jenaya before the wedding?” Varunas Siz made his presence known, suddenly but very eager.

“Dream on, lover boy. The gates will be open to you, but Jenaya won’t. She is a royal bride, no tavern wench.” Kassja rebuffed expressively.

“On that happy note I’ll return to town,” Roban grunted and left the gathering.

“Moron!” Shaya Toa hissed at her younger brother.

“Whatever, you’ll get your chance,” Varunas grumbled.

“Well, it seems our negotiations are concluded. Notabir’s gates will be open to you, and we will prepare the wedding festivities on the market place. I am happily looking forward to it. This wedding shall be praised and sung about for centuries to come.” Athea said with a smile.

The gathering dissolved after that. The leaving vampires looked much more doubtful about the prospect of a happy wedding than Menja, which was hardly surprising.

Athea, and all her supporters, had the wedding planned for weeks. Hundreds of workers built pavilions and stages; set up tents; or erected many large spits on which others already began roasting oxen, lambs and pigs; or they simply brought dozens of large tables and chairs to seat the wedding guests. Every tavern kitchen of the town prepared meals, and big barrels of wine and other beverages were transported to the market. Musicians, dancers and other artists had been appointed weeks ago to entertain at the wedding, just like everything else had been as much as possible prepared beforehand.

Those were the little things, and they went smoothly. The big problem was at their town house, brooding darkly and emitting sounds like a rumbling volcano.

“Don’t let him see Jenaya in her wedding dress before tonight. We need a few more hours, I think it’s time we have to make use of our last resource.” Althea told her friends in a gravely serious voice.

They nodded accepting her decision. Her friends looked sympathetically at the last resource, or tapped her on her shoulders in an encouraging gesture.

Roban sat alone on the bed in Athea’s room. He had undressed his armor and his hammer rested against the wall. He sat and blindly stared at nothing. The emptiness inside of him had come alive and danced around the dark fire in the center of his being. He didn’t doubt his decision any longer. It had to be done, to put an end to this once and for all.

The door creaked and opened, and Ynerca peeked inside before she entered. She silently closed the door behind her and slowly walked towards the bed, then sat down beside Roban.

“I’m very sorry; I know this is a bad moment. I talked to all our friends, even to Athea, and now I have to talk to you.” She took a deep breath before she continued. “The last couple of weeks I realized that this life isn’t for me. I mean I had good time and all, wouldn’t have wanted to miss it for the world, but... , “ She sighed even deeper. “During the festivities I met many new people, and ... I came really close to some of them,” she said and flinched when she heard the deep growling coming from Roban. “You know me, honey. I always had trouble to stay on the straight and narrow, and I’m really sorry but...”

Ynerca did not get any further. Roban had grasped her neck with one hand, lifted her off the bed and carried her until her back was against the wall.

“You know the routine,” he said, and used his other hand to unbuckle his belt.

His voice reminded Ynerca on the sound of an avalanche tumbling down a mountainside. She could not breathe and heard her blood rushing through her veins as she hastily grabbed the hem of her dress. It ripped as Ynerca frantically tried to pull it up and out of the way.

Athea and Kassja listened with their ears pressed against the door. They heard Ynerca screaming, and waited until her screaming changed to moaning.

“Iane will be waiting for her,” Athea said.

Then they grinned at each other and left.

Early in the evening Iane knocked on Athea’s door and entered without waiting for a response. She looked around the room. Roban was fastening the last buckles and straps on his battle plate armor, and Ynerca lay passed out on the crumpled bed.

“You getting ready for a wedding, or are you going to war, Master?” She asked grinning at Roban.

“Is there a difference?” He asked in return.

“I’m a lowly slave, I don’t know either,” Iane answered lightly.

“I assume you’re here to revive the sacrificial lamb?” He asked.

Iane smiled at him. “You’re a wise Master, I’m proud to be your slave.”

“Yeah, very wise and very easily distracted,” Roban grunted.

He grabbed his hammer and then went to a wedding.

When Roban walked towards the market through the town, he saw that the guards had closed and guarded all roads towards the market place. No spectators were allowed to pass. The sitting arrangements at the market place were traditional. A large table was placed on a podium, reserved for the closest family members of the bride and groom. Down before the podium stood many more tables for the rest of the wedding party. The most seats were already occupied and many dozens of servers busily placed plates of food or beverages in front the seated guests. Musicians were playing and some pretty dancers were balancing on the tables, casually avoiding kicking over plates and mugs.

As Roban walked through the tables towards the podium, everyone who noticed him stopped whatever he did, and looked at him. It was as if Roban radiated silence, and it spread. He walked on. One last instrument, a flute, bled a final note and the silence was complete. The table for the close family seated thirty people, the bride and groom in the middle. Aside from his place, next to the bride, only two other seats were also still vacant - Iane’s and Ynerca’s, obviously. He was not really dressed for a wedding, but the real reason for the silence he spread was his looming shadow, way too wide even for a big man like Roban. His shadow darkened a space a good third the size of the market place. With Roban in its center it encased the entire wedding party.

Jenaya, wearing a long white dress, rose from her seat and smiled at him. It was the happiest smile he ever had seen on her face, and his shadow darkened even more. He stepped up to the podium and walked behind the long table to his seat. Jenaya kissed his cheek when he reached his place. “Thank you daddy, this is the most wonderful day of my life,” she whispered in his ear, and then they both sat down. Now Athea rose from her seat at Roban’s side.

“Finally the father of the bride has arrived. Let the party begin. Music!” She shouted a merry command.

Haltingly the musicians took up playing once more. Athea pointedly looked at Hassika, seated a bit further down the table, and then at Menja next to her, before she sat down again. Hassika obeyed, stood up, walked over, lifted Menja off her chair and dropped her on Roban’s lap. Menja giggled as Hassika hastily returned to her seat.

“They think you’ll behave better if I keep an eye on you. Now behave, daddy, this is a happy wedding!” Menja ordered.

It took a while, but slowly the wedding guests resumed their conversations and the atmosphere relaxed. It was a happy wedding after all and there was lots to talk about.

Ynerca and Iane arrived a little later and took their places at the family table. Aside from bride and groom next to Roban and Athea in the middle, the other seats at the table were mixed between the groom and the bride’s families, to embolden intermingling. So when Ynerca sat down both her neighbors were vampires, a man and a woman. The man looked at Ynerca and smiled warmly.

“Good evening, my name is Lasus Siz, I am a nephew of the groom. It may seem bold, but I have to tell you, you are very beautiful. Our home, Gol-Gunthay, is surrounded by human countries. We take the most beautiful women and men of them to serve us, but you would still shine amongst them,” the man complimented.

“Thank you, kind sir. My name is Ynerca Canbierra, and that was very nice of you to say, especially as at the moment I feel a little too tired to shine,” Ynerca answered smiling.

“My name is Ghisella Tao, and my brother wasn’t exaggerating. There really is something special about you, and it’s not just your beauty, although you’re indeed exceptionally beautiful,” the woman added her opinion.

“Maybe it’s the result of my training,” Ynerca mused.

“Your training?” The man prodded curiously.

“Yes, I am trained, or maybe educated is a better word, to become most useful as a lover,” Ynerca answered.

“And how are you trained?” The woman asked, curious too now.

“With the sweetest carrot and the biggest stick you can imagine,” Ynerca said and laughed.

The vampires joined into the laughter of this beautiful but very strange woman.

Denyssa’s had been introduced to her neighbors when they took their seats. The man was a son of the groom and the woman his niece. Usually a groom with an adult son would be a little unusual, but since the groom was a two-thousand years old vampire, some eccentricities had to be expected.

“I’ve heard you became the High Priestess of the new divinity, you must be proud,” the man remarked politely.

“Denyssa didn’t simply ‘become’ the High Priestess of Destiny, she was appointed by Destiny herself! Ghania, Eyna, Zeroth; the Trinity of Destiny has chosen Denyssa. That is the greatest honor any priestess on Calmyra ever received or ever will receive.” Nigulla, two seats over from them, blurted out clearly offended.

“And she isn’t only a High Priestess; she is the High Priestess of High Priestesses, the Supreme Priestess! Every High Priestess on Calmyra has to come to her to receive Destiny’s grace through Denyssa.” Nigulla added just as outraged.

“A great honor indeed.” the vampire conceded smiling gently. “We vampires from Gol-Gunthay are not devoted to the gods. Our King and Queen are older than the gods of Atyseos. We don’t live in fear of the gods, and came here facing your gods without freight, and we did not bow to them.”

“No you didn’t,” Kassja agreed, sitting close enough to participate in the discussion. “For the two-hundred years I needed to build the Manthakin Empire, I lived among human wizards, seers and priests. Some of them shared your attitude. Mostly because they regarded their own power equal or even greater than the power of the gods. They were also very fond of all the magic trinkets they invented. Let me show you one I have used sometimes for my own task.”

Out of nowhere, a necklace appeared in her hand. The golden setting of the crystal attached to the necklace was delicate and beautiful, but the crystal itself was of a dull grey color without any brilliance.

“A wizard and a priest made this crystal for me. I used it to evaluate the power of a soul I considered using to lengthen the Emperor’s lifespan. Wearing it, color and brightness of the crystal changes. Here, you can try, it’s not dangerous.” Kassja said and held the necklace out to the vampire.

The vampire took the necklace and looked skeptically at the dull grey crystal in his hand, then shrugged and pulled the long chain over his head and around his neck. The dull grey crystal changed to red and its now pulsing light immersed the vampire in its color, and also Denyssa and Nigulla sitting next to him.

“Impressive,” the vampire said and smiled.

“Indeed, you have a very powerful soul,” Kassja agreed. “Now give the crystal to Denyssa, please.”

Denyssa took the crystal. She looked at the people close to her, before she put the necklace on. The crystal changed into glaring white and so bright, it illuminated the entire podium dissolving Roban’s shadow. Suddenly the crystal exuded bright rays of light in every color of the rainbow. Then the crystal turned black swallowing all light around and everything turned dark. The sound of glass breaking was followed by the returning of the light, and everything looked normal again. Except the dull grey crystal, it had broken into three shards.

“Sorry!” Denyssa squeaked and blushed.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Denyssa, Supreme Priestess of Destiny; it happened exactly what I assumed would happen. Thank you,” Kassja said and smiled.

The vampire was not smiling, he looked somehow offended.

Later that evening, Athea looked past Roban and the wedding couple at Shaya Toa, the sister of the groom, sitting next to him.

“This morning we talked about the special needs of vampires. I was wondering about it too. Since every vampire needs the blood of his sire, how do you expect to meet Jenaya’s needs in that regard?” Athea asked the vampire.

Shaya Toa had a wine goblet lifted halfway to her lips and froze in her motion when she heard Athea’s question. She set the goblet down before she answered.

“We thought Jenaya would be free of the need. Like our parents, Ayfessara Toa and Khorgun Siz. Her Sire is a god, so Jenaya’s derivation seemed closer to that of our parents than to ours, their offspring. Is our assumption wrong?” Shaya Toa asked.

“Yes, very wrong, but Athea, Menja and my Sire made me a beautiful gift; a ring with a drop of his blood as a gem. I wear it, and now I don’t need to feed of daddy anymore. I can come with you to Gol-Gunthay, my new home,” Jenaya said and cast a beatific smile at the man by her side, Varunas Siz, her groom.

Shaya Toa and also her older brother, Kayron Siz, first looked at Jenaya and then at Athea.

“What a thoughtful present; I’m happy to hear that nothing will stand in the way of my brother’s and his bride’s happy future,” Kayron Siz remarked.

As Athea stared into his eyes he looked away to take his goblet and proposed a toast to the wedding couple.

“May their children be as strong as their blood!”

“May their blood never dry on their children’s lips!” Shaya Toa answered her brother’s toast.

“Hear! Hear!” The rest of the vampire wedding party joined in.

“Look, daddy crushed his wine goblet, now it looks like a bleeding stone.” Menja giggled.

Only very few others found that as funny as Menja.

“I understand you’re not happy to lose your daughter, Roban,” Shaya Toa said. “But remember, I told you we want to unite our families, not break yours apart. You will be always welcome in Gol-Gunthay. As Jenaya’s Sire it is as much your home as it will be your daughter’s. Please believe me, there are many vampire maiden that are more than eager to make your acquaintance. We never looked up to the gods, but you sired a vampire of pure blood. You could become our god. Do you understand?” Shaya Toa said, looking intensely at Roban.

“Yes, I understand, but you’ll have to talk to my sister, Athea. She usually handles my breeding schedule.” Roban answered coolly.

Unsurprisingly Roban’s remark was not well received. Everyone in hearing range froze and Athea slapped him at the back of his head. Unperturbed he dropped the bleeding stone on the table and called for a new wine goblet.

“I think it’s time the wedding couple receives Destiney’s blessing and then we release them to enjoy their wedding night,” Athea said glaring at Roban. “Denyssa, do your duty, before Roban ruins everything.”

Denyssa stood before the couple and looked into their eyes, then took their hands.

“In the name of Destiny I declare you, Varunas Siz, and you, Jenaya Maghon, husband and wife; from here on forth protected, but also judged, under the watchful eyes of the Trinity. May Ghania’s light elate you, Eyna’s favor guide you, and Zeroth grant your unity a merciful end.

Jubilation broke out while Rhabina took Jenaya’s hand and led her around one end of the table and a son of Varunas Siz led his father around the other end. They stopped by every guest and received a small wedding present. Although small did not mean cheap. Most of the guests gifted jewels and gems. When Jenaya came to Hassika, she handed her a dagger.

“You know this dagger, I think it always belonged to you, and I want you to have it. Menja told me all about it. The dagger’s name is ‘Mesamir’ or ‘Blood Oath’, Roban’s blood is burnt into its blade. His blood is alive, and it will do whatever Roban wants the dagger to do. Does that sound familiar? Keep it close to you, Jenaya,” Hassika whispered in her ear and then tightly hugged Jenaya as she kissed her passionately.