Court of Immortals

The Announcement – Part One

    King Cerril was sitting in his office, looking over paperwork and requests that had come in from business dealings that he had to sign off on. Since the mortals and casters merged together, each of the kings decided that their people would be best served if there were no longer a true monarchy with only one ruler; especially considering neither of them would bow to the other.  Instead, they each kept their titles and were both leaders of their nations, but they were more like co-presidents than anything else. They had also implemented a joint cabinet of advisors, representatives for each of the areas within their borders, and a justice system that would hear grievances.

    The kings still had the power to veto any laws that they did not deem as fit for their people to abide by, and they led a joint military. In the beginning they were ruling their people from separate castles, which led to confusion and a period of dysfunction. They both agreed rather quickly that it would be better for the both of them to share a castle, so they could come to an accord on all matters that affected their people. Instead of leaving one castle vacant, they decided that one castle should be used for the royal families, and the other would house the noblemen that had inhabited both castles previously. That way, they would be able to run their newly joint nations and the noblemen wouldn’t have to give up living a lifestyle they were already accustomed to.

    Suddenly, all throughout the castle, there was a low buzz of whispers and shuffling feet. The din started when a messenger delivered a notice from the court of immortals addressed to King Cerril. The messenger delivering the notice confided in the one that received the message that it was of the utmost importance and must be read as soon as possible.

        “Do you know what the message is? So that I may convey the gravity of it to his highness?” Lawrence, the steward, asked.

        “Sorry, Sir, I do not. I only know that the court had asked that it be delivered post haste and I was not to stop or rest until I had dutifully delivered the message.”

    Since neither of the two were brave enough to break the seal to find out what the news was, they left it at that. Soon, all the service staff were busying themselves speculating what the news could be. No one working in the castle had ever seen a notice from the court be delivered before. However, every one of them knew that the council, or elders as they are also known, serve many purposes. None of which would exactly spell out good news for the recipient of whichever message they were sending. Even though they knew that the mail piece couldn’t possibly be about any of them specifically, many of them worried that the arrival of the mysterious letter would still affect them one way or another.

    A soft knock at King Cerril’s office door drew his attention away from the paperwork he had in front of him. Sighing as he set everything down, King Cerril answered, “You may enter.”

        “Pardon the interruption, your highness, my sincerest apologies. There is a letter that has been delivered for you. I have been assured that its contents are time sensitive and of the greatest importance.” Lawrence stated before crossing the room to hand the sealed envelope over to the king.

    King Cerril looked at the face of the envelope to see who the sender was. Furrowing his brows, the king felt a shiver run down his spine as he registered who the message had come from. Still looking at the writing, he waved a hand in the air absentmindedly, “Thank you, Lawrence. You may leave.”

        “The court of immortals… it can’t be. What could they possibly have sent notice about? We haven’t had any news of any uprising, nor have we petitioned them for approval of any new land acquisitions or border changes.” King Cerril thought to himself as he deftly sliced open the top of the envelope with a miniature sword. The king couldn’t help but feel an impending sense of doom as he took the letter out of the envelope and started to unfold it. The letter was short, to the point and left no room for doubt as to what was required of the king.

        “King Cerril, this letter is to inform you that the court seer has been blessed with a vision and this vision has produced a new prophecy. While we cannot disclose what the prophecy is, we can tell you that it if you do not comply there will be consequences. Princess Ciara is to marry Prince Stefan. King Aurelius has been notified of this as well. All members of the court have agreed to allow your families one year to prepare everything needed to wed Prince Stefan and Princess Ciara.”

    King Cerril felt the color draining from his face as his blood began to run cold. “How could the court do this to us! Why my daughter? How could her marrying Prince Stefan possibly benefit their nation, let alone ours?!” Closing his eyes, King Cerril took a deep, steadying breath. He may be a king, but the court of immortals reigned over all nations and their demands had to be obeyed, no matter one’s status. They had already made an example of the vampire king’s father many, many years ago.

    King Cerril knew better than to try to defy them. If the court felt affronted or betrayed, their punishments were swift, severe, and without a second thought. The elders that made up the court of immortals had absolutely zero tolerance for being disobeyed and most everyone had no problem with obeying them. Especially since they only ever did what was for the greatest and highest good of all people; regardless of what nation they belonged to, or where they came from. Even though the court was severe in their punishments, they were also unwaveringly fair.  

    King Cerril just had to accept that his daughter was to be given to the prince of vampires. For whatever reason, the court thought that the arranged marriage between them was in the best interest of all beings. King Cerril gave a resigned sigh, as he folded the paper again and placed it back into the envelope it came in. Even though he was not happy with the idea at all, he had to have faith that it would truly be in everyone’s best interest, especially Ciara’s. Finally coming to terms with what he had just read, King Cerril picked up his cell to call his daughter and see where she was.

        “Hey dad, what’s up?” Ciara answered her phone cheerfully.

    King Cerril felt a twinge of guilt for having to tell her something that would surely destroy her happiness the moment he finished relaying the news that had come from the court.

        “Nothing much, buttercup. Listen, where are you? Are your mother and brother with you, or do you know where they are?” Cerril asked as cheerfully as he could muster, ignoring the giant ball of nerves that were sitting in the pit of his stomach.

        “No, sorry. I’m not sure where they are, but I’m in the drawing room working on a painting.” Ciara paused, then asked, “Why, is everything alright?”

        “Huh? Oh, yes, yes. Of course, everything is alright” King Cerril lied through his teeth. “There’s just something I have to tell you all. So, if you don’t mind, please come to my office. I’ll call your mother. Do you mind giving your brother a call and asking him to join us as well?”

        “Okay, sure. I’ll call Adrian and have him meet us there. Are you sure everything is okay?” Ciara asked.

    Cerril hated lying to his daughter. He knew that she was going to know something was up because he never asked them to meet in the office all at once, especially not this suddenly. “Everything is okay, I promise. I just need you all here because I have news that involves the entire family, love. That is all.”

        “Oh, okay. Well, I’ll call him, and we will be there soon.” Princess Ciara answered, still feeling as confused as she sounded.

    After hanging up with her father, Princess Ciara immediately dialed her brother to see where he was. As the line started ringing, she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Something about the way their father needed to speak to all of them, all of the sudden, didn’t feel right. She knew he was lying about nothing being wrong with him, she could hear it in his voice, but she didn’t know why he was trying to hide it. Whatever it was, he was about to tell the lot of them all at once, so she didn’t try to press him to give her any more details than he already had.

        “Whoa, ha ha, careful there… Hello?” answered Prince Adrian, still chuckling about something that was happening on the other side of the phone.

        “Hey, Adrian. Are you busy?” Ciara asked coolly. She didn’t want to give too much away, and unlike her father, she was good at masking the concern she felt.

        “Oh, uh, no. Not busy. Why, what’s up?” Adrian responded, still clearly distracted by something else.

        “Okay, good. Dad wants to see us in his office right away. So, stop whatever it is that you’re not occupied with and meet us there.” Ciara quickly hung up the phone so that Adrian wouldn’t have enough time to whine or protest.

    Meanwhile, Cerril was trying to get Queen Sofia on the phone, rather unsuccessfully. He had already tried her cell twice, and was calling for a third time, but was quickly losing hope in getting a response.

    Right when he was about to hang up, Queen Sofia answered, sounding strained, “Hello? Cerril? I’m in the middle of getting fitted for a new suit, is everything alright?” Sofia had been unable to answer the phone the first couple times it rang because she was currently standing on a pedestal as the royal tailers were pinning and cutting material to make form-fitting pattern pieces to her, and her phone was across the room. She felt her stomach drop with worry when one of the tailor’s aides handed her the phone and she saw her husband was the one calling her back to back.

        “Yes, everything is fine. What are you doing? Are you going to be long?”

    Sofia stiffened at the question. “Cerril, you never ask after me like that. What’s going on?” Instead of allowing King Cerril a moment to answer her question, she spoke again, abruptly to an unknown third party who was in the room with her. “Can you help me get out of this, please, I need to take this call.”

    Cerril smiled despite himself as he listened to Sofia muttering and sounding disgruntled for a few moments. He couldn’t help but love her. She was strong willed, domineering and direct. Such personality traits were funnily juxtaposed to the panting and struggling Cerril heard from her over the phone.

    Letting out a final huff, Sofia spoke to Cerril once more. “Okay, I’m free from that confounded contraption. What’s going on, dear?”

        “Something has come up. I need you to come to the office as soon as you can. This is something that will affect everyone, so I want to tell everyone at the same time.”

        “Okay love, I’ll be right there.”

    Cerril sat in his office, leaned forward with his elbows on his desk and his hands cradling his head. He knew that his family was going to react just as poorly, but he also knew that they, too, would understand the severity of a court order. He didn’t have to wait long before Ciara, Adrian and Sofia were all present in the office, waiting to hear what the news was.

        “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I wouldn’t have brought you all into a family meeting so urgently if this were anything else.” Cerril drew a deep breath and then spoke again.

    “The court has sent an order. It arrived this morning, shortly after ten. I don’t know how to say this in a way that will make it any easier to bear. So, I’m just going to give it to you all plain and simple.”

        “So, everything wasn’t actually alright!” Ciara spoke up. “I knew you were lying, but I didn’t know why… what’s going on?” Even though Ciara couldn’t have guessed what the order was about, she knew that it was no small thing to receive one. She was immediately filled with dread and couldn’t shake the sense of impending doom that was hovering over her like a black cloud.

    “You’re right, Ciara. Maybe right now it will feel as if nothing is alright, but we have to have faith that it will be.”

    Ciara just stared back at her father expectantly while Adrian and Sofia looked at each other, then back at Cerril.

    “Well?” demanded Sofia, “What’s going on? What is the order?” She had grown impatient, feeling the sudden fear radiating from Ciara. Even though Ciara looked totally unbothered on the outside, Sofia could feel everything emanating from her daughter. The sense of helplessness she picked up on sent her protective instincts into overdrive, causing her to be more aggressive that she would have liked to be.

        Cerril looked down for a second, pulling out the letter he had previously put away and handing it over to Sofia to read for herself. She quickly read through it and looked up at Cerril in shock, with tears in her eyes. Shaking with a mixture of sadness, rage and adrenaline, Sofia whispered, “This cannot be happening.”

    Ciara and Adrian both felt their pulses quicken at the reaction of their mother and looked to their father with pleading expressions. “Please, tell us what is going on.” Ciara said, trying to keep her voice stoic even though she felt like crying.

    With a somber and serious tone, King Cerril finally told them both the news. “The court has ordered that Ciara be married to Prince Stefan. We have one year to prepare Ciara, come to an agreement with the vampires, prepare the wedding and have their marriage finalized.”.

    Adrian felt like the wind had been knocked out of him when their dad told them what the court wanted and couldn’t form any sort of response. Ciara felt her heart drop, and suddenly could no longer hold back the tears that had been threatening to fall. She couldn’t help but feel like this was some cruel joke. Lip quivering and tears spilling down her flushed cheeks, she looked at her parents imploringly.

        “Please… Please don’t make me do this.”