Aiden's Quest
Page 29
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The servant approached the king and Daron Drake removed his helmet. The king shook his head and threw his helmet, shield, and sword upon the ground. “Where is Terrence?” he yelled.
Terrence removed his helmet and shouted back, “Here, king.”
The two joined up and then walked off the practice field away from the earshot of the others.
“Terrence, can ye talk some since into Tira?”
“Tira? What’s wrong with Tira? Is she okay?”
The king looked at Terrence with a very serious and annoyed expression. Terrence looked like he had just seen a ghost. After a moment, the king broke into a laugh.
“There’s nothing wrong with Tira; nothing that any man could understand.”
“Huh?”
“Look, Terrence, ye’re not supposed to see yer betrothed until she’s all dolled up and ye’re wedding her.”
“What? why?”
“It’s just how it is, here in Agedon. I can’t have ye and yer betrothed frolicking around together before ye’re married. Everyone would be ashamed, and it would make a scene. I know it’s done differently elsewhere, but that’s how it is here and I can’t make it different just for ye and she.”
“Okay…”
“But, ye got to speak with her before ye’re wed.”
“Oh. What’s the matter?”
“She’s got to give ye a gift, to wed ye. And ye, being refugees, ye know what I mean, didn’t really come with much, ye see. So, she, being so pretty and all, I figured that a portrait of her all dolled up would give ye a forever picture of her in her prime; forever an image of her beauty for ye to look at, even when ye’re old and, eh hum, not so beautiful anymore.”
“Oh, that sounds nice. So what’s wrong?”
“Who knows?”
Terrence looked at him funny.
“She practically threw our best portraitist out of her home. He’s never been so offended in his life. Touchy, those artist types are anyway. I’m not sure I can pay him enough to try again. But she’s unmovable. She won’t budge. No portrait of her will she allow to be made.”
“Why?”
“She’s yer betrothed. How should I know? So, if I sneak ye a visit with her, will ye talk some sense into her, eh?
Terrence didn’t answer. There was a lot bothering him before the conversation and even more bothering him then. He couldn’t see Tira until they wed, that was news to him. He’d been lied to thus far. Was she feeling better? When were they to wed? The king expected him to battle every moment of the day, there was no time. The men, they were horrible at battle. Things weren’t going well at the first, but here, in full battle armor, they were useless. They couldn’t move, they couldn’t fight, they could hardly lift their feet and arms. The king was undeterred. All practice was to be done in full armor. Terrence couldn’t even see the men’s faces to know who needed the most help and the most work. Worst of all, Terrence couldn’t fight any better in the armor than the other men. If the king wanted an equalizer, he had found it. Terrence had wanted to discuss with the king the idea of letting them practice for half the day out of the armor.
At this point, with the new revelations about Tira, Agedon culture, his wedding, every other concern was just a jumbled soup in his mind.
“Well, what do ye say?”
“My king, I have uprooted Tira from her people; I have taken her from her home, I have removed everything from her that she had previously enjoyed, and now you are asking me to tell her that she must do something else that she doesn’t want to do. I have not even seen her in health since we left Cardsten. I am to see her to tell her to do something that she doesn’t want to do? I fear the consequences of such action.”
“Very good, my boy, ye shall have a long and happy life together! But this doesn’t solve the problem ye see.”
“Perhaps I could see her first just to see how she is. I may have a greater power of persuasion were she to feel loved and cared for, and not controlled.”
“Yes, Terrence, ye are a negotiator. But see, I am not even to allow ye to be together. Once is trouble enough for me. See what ye can do, my boy!” He slapped Terrence’s’ armor on the back and made an awful clanging sound. “Let’s get out of the armor and see what we can do.”