'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 2: Here Comes The Witches

The New Priests And Priestess

"Your Majesty, could we have a moment so we could discuss among ourselves first? We beg our pardon for our insolence, Your Majesty."

Penelope highlighted about the matters and I simply nodded my head as they discussed in low tones about what answer they would be providing for us.

The situation they were in was very crucial and they wanted to discuss what's best for the group as well as for their future. Their future heavily lies in the answers that they wish to agree on at the same time.

I was looking at Heather and she handed me the paper that she was writing on — actually more to drawing them instead. The piece of paper shows the name Penelope and beside it, she drew a tree.

Next would be Farah was she drew a big fire beside it. Imelda had a big cloud with roundish droplets of snow. Wendy had a picture of a cloud with a person riding on it.

I can't help but laugh at her drawings and the term she had written there. She could describe weight manipulation so she drew a person riding g on a cloud instead. How childish...!

The drawings against the names for the men didn't differ from the ladies. Here, Heather drew a Walter with some squiggly lines beside it that represents water, Earl with a stick figure of a man in top of a mountain of some sort, Hendry with a single eye and then a plant with a single flower and two leaves in its sides and lastly Michael, with a shape of a diamond beside it with a big thumbs up beside it too.

I laughed when I saw what Heather had drawn on the piece of paper since it was cartoonish and very childish. I passed the paper around to the Ministers and they snickered along too.

The group was surprised and thought that we were even passing sniding remarks about them, but when they saw the paper, even though they can't read the words, a picture definitely tells a thousand words.

They laughed at the pictures drawn by the Queen and even made remarks about the drawings like why Wendy was on top of a cloud riding it and why was Earl on top of a mountain.

When the group had seen what was drawn and had transpired, they returned the sheet of paper and Eagle handed it back to me. I looked at it once more and hoped that they would choose to stay here.

I thought about it and knew that the special abilities that they possess would be of great benefit to our community, one way or another. Right now the ball is in their court and all we could do was to wait for the ultimatum.

Finally, Penelope cleared her throat and addressed us, "Your Majesty, please pardon us for taking too much of your time to conclude on this matter. We wish to collaborate with each other before we give you the answer that we believe is the best we could think of at this moment."

"Your Majesty, with all due respect among us, the Pagan Witches and Sorcerers, we wish to seek shelter and protection as well as to serve the Majesty and be properly employed in areas you deem fit."

After Penelope had said her piece and everyone in the group held their breath in as they looked at us with crossed fingers. I think during that time, they not only had their fingers crossed, their arms and feet, as well as their eyes, were crossed too. Hahaha.

I smiled inwardly inside as I proclaimed, "Alright... If that's what your decisions are, welcome to Gracehaven Town and we welcome you to be our finest citizens here. Welcome aboard, everyone."

When I had finished speaking, the group was totally taken in by surprise and then they did something unexpected. THEY DANCED...! Yup, they danced a jig around the table, hugged each other and were jumping about jubilantly as if there was a maypole erected in the middle of the conference hall.

They were happy, in fact, they were very happy beyond words that they could ever describe. They were accepted... Finally accepted within the society and being in a town that was full of goodness and surprises for them.

If anyone were to witness the event, they might have thought that the Witches were having a Gathering right now, within the confines of the domain...! It was a sight to behold and after their celebration dance, they all slumped to the ground and wiped away those droplets of crystal that jerked at the corners of their eyes.

They then went to edge close to us on both knees and asseverate their gratification. "Your Majesty, we can't thank you enough. We really are jubilant when Your Majesty accepted us into society."

"Please lend us your protection and we would be at your service throughout our lives." Penelope, the leader of the Pagan, voiced her feelings which were exactly shared within the group at that precise moment.

"Everyone here is protected, the young, the newly married and old. Here, everyone is treated as equal, even if they are handicapped or from another ethnic group. However, I have a request, a request that you have to make right now."

"Which is — from this day forth, you would no longer be known as Witches and Sorcerers but be known as Priest and Priestess. Would that be alright? Using the term Witches would deem one to have a very wrong perception especially if they think that you would fly around on broomsticks."

"If they think you could be flying around on broomsticks, everyone would want one, am I right? Instead of walking, they would be zipping around in broomsticks and this could involve in crashes, injuries and other mishaps."

"Our infirmary only has like 10-12 beds, so no more labelling yourself as Witches and Sorcerers, would that be alright?" I had concluded that part of calling them as Priest and Priestess. I could see that Old Kayla, Gwen, Crystal and Heather was covering their mouths with their hands, their faces totally red, trying hard to stop themselves from laughing.

Ben, Frank and the others hung their head low but from their shrugging shoulders, I knew they too were trying hard to stifle their laughter. "If you could make a broomstick fly, I would want one myself too... Hahahaha."

I laughed and this broke the dam as floods of laughter waved across the domain. Even the straight-faced Eagle laughed out loud as well. There was complete pandemonium as everyone roared with laughter.

"Yes, Your Majesty, from today onwards we would be referred to as Priest and Priestess. It sounded more mild and respectable in this way."

Penelope replied after she had laughed out the loudest within the group. It had been many months since they felt this way and they had no problems dropping the terms Witches and Sorcerers. It was the first time they felt respected and accepted...!

"Alright... Let me introduce to you the main backbone structure of Gracehaven when it first started in late winter. This is...." I introduced all the Ministers and the roles and duties as well as Eagle as our Secretary.

After making the formal introduction, Heather was the one who took over and announced the remunerations of 5 silvers per person per month, even if they were involved with some simple work like maintaining the cleanliness around the residential houses, the courtyard or even tending to the farms and the herbs Garden et cetera.

"As long as you don't laze around in the first part of the morning, it would be considered as you had contributed to the community. No matter what, there would surely something to do in the mornings and once past mid-morning or lunchtime, you are free to tend to their own things."

"This is the second time I had heard that the remunerations or payment is 5 silvers per month per person. I am sure at this moment that I am not dreaming at all...! Thank the heavens above... " Earl remarked and was elated hearing the remunerations that were being paid out monthly. Just by doing some simple work, he could earn 5 silvers.

"If you have nothing in mind to purchase, you could keep your money. Your meals here are provided. In between meals can be purchased at the Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon which serves the town's best Crispy, Fluffy and Light Pan-Fried flatbread fresh from the hot wok... With dipping of curry and fillings if you want them."

"One more matter, please do not openly show your special abilities in the public until I had properly announced it in tonight's conference. We have these nightly conferences to inform the citizens of their accomplishments for the day and what to expect in the days to come."

"For example, the induction of the 9 of you within the society and the formal introduction minus your abilities. From there you would be known to others and you would slowly mingle with the rest of the community and learn a thing or two from them."

"Our Ministers would show you around the whole town, get to know some of our practices and then show your accommodation. Hmm, how do you prefer to be accommodated? Two people to a single house?"

I suggested and they liked the idea very much. Only Andy would have to share within the 4 men and he had no problems since none of the men snores as badly as his brother used to. Hahaha.

"Alright then, we will conclude this initial meeting and we let our Ministers walk the grounds with you to learn about the fundamentals of our town."

The Ministers then led the way on the left-hand side of the domain where the infirmary and classroom were. They showed the end of the path near the southern gate and explained the production areas.

Several women were tending the herbal and vegetable gardens and being Irish Travellers, they knew who these 8 people that were bring shown around the area.

The recently termed Priest and Priestess waved in a friendly manner towards the women who tended to the fields and were waved back as well.

"Do you reckon these people are Witches, don't you think so? Why would our Majesty usher them into the society here if they were shunned from other towns as well?" asked one of the hunter-gatherer to her colleague.

She was a bit disturbed at the notion that their Majesty would actually invite these Witches to live within the society.

However, who are they to question their King of such decision since whatever their Majesty decides, it would definitely better for the development and for the community of Gracehaven, wouldn't it?

The new group were brought to the courtyard once more and everyone in the group waved at the people around them, despite the fear of Witches within their hearts.

This was the first time these community had seen these weird group of people up close, each holding a bundle of possession under their armpits and used the stick that they had slung earlier as a trekking stick instead.

The group was introduced to the sawmill, the woodcutter's area, the cooking areas, the storage barns, the Bakeries as well as the stables.

There was Sir Blackie as well lying down lazily at the cooking area and when the group approached, it went near and took a good whiff at them and then chased its tail and danced around on its hind feet.

Imelda and Farah can't help but giggle at Sir Blackie's antics as they squatted down and petted its thick, lustrous fur and Sir Blackie sat in it haunches and relished the attention it got from the ladies.

The Irish Travellers noticed these and find that Sir Blackie didn't act hostile towards the group and that could mean one thing — These people do dressed up as Witches but they surely were not one...!

The 6 felines were also trying to get a bit of attention as it mewed loudly and purred while lying down on their sides and even asked for their tummies to be rubbed.

This actions by the animals wiped away all suspicions about the new group. Surely Witches would be scary and even animals would be frightful of them.

But seeing these happenings in the courtyard, their fears slowly diminished.

The Gracehaven's First Tailor and Loom, Gracehaven's General Store and Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon were soon introduced as Andy handed the coins over to Penelope and kept a single silver for himself.

"Here, this is for all of you. I got my share and still have those sewn in my tunic. I think it's high time for me to spend whatever I save here." Andy pressed 9 silver coins into Penelope's palms as he kept a silver for himself.

"Thank you, laddie, you're a good kid." Penelope thanked Andy for his generosity and his unselfish act and gave another coin to Andy as she distributed the rest to the group.