by Martin Owton
“Nor would he have understood a wedding of three,” said Aron, thankful that he didn’t have to explain it to Baldwin; Maldwyn would be easy by comparison.
Aron’s vision flickered for a moment and started to become hazy at the edges. Iduna reached out and caught his hands.
“It was good to see you again,” she said. “Keep me always in your heart and you will always find me.”
Her voice stayed with him as the scene faded out and, after a moment of darkness, he was back in the solar still holding Edith’s hand. Relief flowed through him as he opened his eyes. Edith stirred and he sat up. Lady Alice looked up from her embroidery.
“How did it go?” she asked.
Aron looked over to Celaine who was also stirring.
“Good… I think,” he said.
Celaine sat up and looked around, confusion in her eyes. Then her face lit up and she threw her arms around her mother. “Mummy!”
Edith squeezed Aron’s hand then leaned over and nudged the sleeping Maldwyn.
“We’re back, sleepyhead,” she said.
Maldwyn grunted, shook his head then sat up and looked around. “I wasn’t asleep. Did it work?”
“See for yourself,” said Aron.
Celaine released her mother and threw her arms around Maldwyn. Maldwyn clasped her awkwardly as she gasped her thanks between kisses. Then she similarly embraced Edith before turning to Aron.
“My hero,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I never doubted you’d come for me.”
Then she kissed him, a fierce lingering lover’s kiss quite unlike the sisterly kisses she’d had for Edith and Maldwyn. Aron held her, kissed her and thought of all the hardships they had endured to reach this day that he had doubted would ever dawn, and gave thanks to Iduna for it.
“How much do you remember?” asked Edith, seemingly unperturbed once they had finished.
Celaine thought for a moment before answering. “It’s strange. I know it all happened, but it’s far away as if it happened to someone else, and I only read about it.”
“Best not to think of it at all,” said Lady Alice. “We’re just very glad to have you back, Iduna be thanked. And now we should all seek our beds, dawn can’t be far away.”
Maldwyn caught Aron on the stairs.
“She seems returned to her old self,” he said. “But tell me what was the Goddess’s price?”
“Her price was a wedding,” said Aron.
“That’s seems easily paid.”
“Perhaps so, by her command I am to marry Celaine. Her love for me was what Iduna used to draw her back from the darkness. If she were to lose it then she could be lost again.”
“But what about Edith?”
“I am to marry her too.”
Maldwyn’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “What does Edith say?”
“She agreed to it before the Goddess.”
“And how do you feel about it?”
“I feel doubly blessed to follow Iduna’s will.”
“Could you do otherwise?”
“I’ve seen what can happen to those who incur Iduna’s displeasure. I would not advise going against her wishes.”
“And that would apply to me too?”
“It would.”
***
Aron’s experience of weddings was limited to one he had attended years ago in Darien; he remembered oaths sworn on naked blades, a lot of drinking and a couple of fights. Iduna’s rituals would most likely be different.
“Can’t have my sisters marrying a vagabond,” said Maldwyn. The best tailor in Nandor, from a choice of two, was sent for to suitably outfit Aron and he consented to a new shirt and trews.
Edith, Celaine and Lady Alice spent much time closeted with a dressmaker, but seemed blissfully happy when he did see them. His concerns about the difficulty of keeping a balance between them so far remained unfulfilled. As the wedding preparations moved ahead he busied himself with selecting the new recruits for the guard and beginning their training.
A large tent was unearthed from some storeroom and erected over the shrine against the possibility of rain. Aron was bustled away from it by Glynis when he tried to peer inside.
“Nothing to do with you until the day, my boy,” she said, though he could hardly fail to notice the barrow-loads of greenery being taken in to it.
The day of the wedding dawned cool and grey with the threat of rain. Aron took his breakfast with Maldwyn and the men of the guard, then he returned to his room to put on his new clothes. Of the ladies there was no sign.
As he sat in his room waiting to be summoned he thought back over all that had happened in the past few months. This was an outcome far better than any he had imagined. So many times he had feared that Celaine was beyond their reach and that none of them would return. It was good to know that Iduna had followed their progress, better to have known it at the time.
The castle bell began to toll and a knock came at the door. Aron opened the door to Maldwyn and a page. Maldwyn was better-dressed than Aron had ever seen him in a rich scarlet tunic and black hose.
“Looking good, my brother,” he said.
“And you,” replied Maldwyn.
They embraced and then Aron followed Maldwyn through the castle and out to the great tent. Maldwyn led him in and it seemed as if they had entered a forest glade so profuse was the greenery. But Aron had eyes only for the two figures clad in white with flowers in their dark hair that waited for him at the shrine. Edith and Celaine turned and smiled perfect radiant smiles. As he walked towards them a soft voice whispered ‘keep me always in your heart’.
THE END
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One