Princeps

Gorla was the first to scream with joy as Velelik became visible in the distance. Then she puked over the edge. And then she puked some more, just to be safe. Others gleefully teased her, wondering if she broke the vow before the wedding and is already carrying a baby in her belly.

- Piss off fools! My day, my wedding, I can do whatever I want!

- We’ll see what Bortos has to say to that!

- I bet he’ll slap you around a bit just for fun.

- He won’t dare lay a finger on her! – Iusufal grunted from the front, trying to establish whether the village decorations for the festive day were to his liking.

- Maybe not in front of you, but tonight! – someone teased.

- Not tonight! Not tomorrow night, not any night for as long as he is alive.

- Sheesh, alright Iusufal, don’t ruin the mood. I was only joking.

- In my house we don’t joke about those kinds of things. Better get that mouth occupied with whatever’s left to chomp and chug than talk stupid.

Atef ignored the exchange, siding in principle with Iusufal, although the bosses in the pit would definitely give Gorla a reckoning. He proceeded to observe the village, to anticipate what it will be like inside. It would be his first time in a settlement and he was still feeling tipsy, maybe even drunk. All those drinks that were offered to him over the past few hours since they’ve started moving were boiling within him causing all sorts of unprecedented feelings. The most immediately concerning was that the village was actually quite blurry, which made trying to guess what the pit he was looking at a game in itself. It was far from the forest, but he could still glance the towering treetops in the distance. The area to the opposite of the village was hilly, making it impossible to know what hid beyond. Therefore, Velelik was tucked in between these two barriers, opening itself up to their little convoy which was coming from the grassy meadows. It all looked as if a grassland was a sort of a river flowing between the forest and the hills and Velelik was a shiny rock in the middle of it breaking the flow, slowly growing to an era when it will completely cut it in two. The village was already enlarging, pushing more towards the hill side than the forest for the time being. Atef could see something being built but wasn’t sure what exactly.

As they were closer and closer, Atef also learned that Velelik is a stack of houses arranged in a cross with two intersecting streets which form a large square. This makes anyone’s passing everyone’s business, as most of the social life was happening on the square anyways. So will be the case with the wedding of Gorla, hailing from Linden Vale, and Bortos, a local petty land owner and goat herder. At the entry of the village, the locals have stretched ropes between houses and studded them with colored and patterned blankets, tablecloths and handkerchiefs. Women have also displayed their best embroidery works on their windows trying to embellish the houses in a festive competition of who did it better. At the entrance of the village, the welcome crowd has been busy around a small arena where a cock and a cat were fighting it out. They only snapped out of their entertainment as the oxen and the blob made their presence known as soon as they were within earshot. Cheers without an end ushered the wedding party into the village and now Atef and Erleia could see the square.

A wreath around a wooden frame was the portal into the festive area. It was encased in roses, lilies, irises, dahlias, and carnations, creating a lavish tapestry of boundless beauty. A bull to the left and a cow to the right of the portal were the locals’ sincere wish for the successful and fertile marriage. Just past it, a dugout filled with ash, which emitted the heat of hellfire, was roasting rabbits, chickens, pigs and even a small ox. Opposite it, the women were preparing dips and sauces from crushed vegetables mixing everything with a lot of salt, the golden currency they procured at premium prices from passing merchants. Everyone was in their best festive garments, colorful with their funny hats which sat flat on the heads with a pointy extension on the left side which was adorned with tassels in red and yellow. The men wore decorative sheaths with short daggers which were in their families for generations, oftentimes with visibly worn out handles as this region provided the Empire with more than few soldiers in the past. Most recently in the War of the Tricolors.

The guests left the carts at the portal, and just as they passed through, their blob merged with its larger counterpart dissipating drunk and happy Linden Vale’s visitors in the crowd like specks of pollen on a drop of honey. Erleia stuck with Atef smiling dreamily while his mind was completely blown away. A sassy girl eyeing Atef approached them and attached rosemary twigs to their attire and welcomed them to Velelik. Though paltry dressed, somehow no one paid them no mind. A bit ahead of them, Iusufal was walking Gorla to the platform erected in the middle, where Bortos was sitting and smoking bitter tobacco from his most prized possession, a pipe with a carved lion head. Gorla jumped away from Iusufal’s grip that steadied her wobbling and ran to Bortos’ embrace. In front of the platform she stumbled and hit her chin on the wood planks. Bortos ran to her aid and picked her up, aided from behind by Iusufal. Rising, Gorla spat bloody gob in his face, laughed out loud and kissed him passionately.

- Missed me honey? Your bride to be, your darling gift from beyond Ermewal is here.

- Like the land misses the rain – he said all spotty and red.

- Like the flooded land misses it… – uttered whisperingly someone near Atef.

The happy couple’s smiles seemed ludicrous, wide with eyes signaling: “Get me out of here.” Everyone was looking at them, everyone was celebrating them; her drunk and him feeling out of place and awkward. Iusufal was by her side, fixing the dress with embroidered floral motives and tied on locks of hair that each woman in Linden Vale contributed. He was about to affix her veil back, when she pushed him away and asked for another drink. A bright looking, yet heavily drunk tender from the blob came to her side and brought a freshly filled cup. Everyone attended clapped celebrating her feistiness with different rhythm and vigor while their faces gave away nothing.

Erleia pulled Atef to follow her so that they can find a good enough place from which they can see the ceremony which was about to begin. The crowd was already packed around the platform so they had to see if they can find a convenient place on the front of the flanks. Bortos was taking his position, having one of his friends wiping his face, while Gorla drank the cup in one go and threw it into the crowd. She lifted her dress, showing her legs and started dancing while everyone was waiting for arumax to join the alderman in officiating the ceremony. Iusufal rushed to his sister to get her under control.

- Watch out Iusufal, she bites!

- Shrew is a peculiar kind of creature, hard to be tamed!

- Bortos I am upping your tab, you might need more liquor when the winter comes!

- Do you think you’ll be able to mount her tonight?! Seems like she’ll kick you away!

While the crowd was ridiculing, Iusufal took his sister off the platform, finding cover behind the alderman and arumax. Atef and Erliea, finally stationed at the side of the crowd, could see her bent over towards the ground; Iusufal pulling her hair downward and shouting into her ear.

- It’s always been like that – said a young woman, her voice somber.

- Whadda you mean? – asked Atef, turning his head towards her, attracting Erleia’s attention as well.

- He always used to tell us what to do.

- You his sister?

- How highly observant of you. Tell me, was it between two belches on that cart that you managed to find the time to spot me? I don’t remember even hearing your name.

- Sorry, I canna not see you from all the grub and booze and all the chatty ones, true. Sorry for your brother too.

- I sorry – interjected Erleia, sensing from the context that this was the right thing to say.

- Sympathy, pretty, but useless. Save it for someone more deserving, I am here just to get this over with.

- Why you mean?

- Reasons.

- Elaborate – suddenly interjected Erleia proud to high heavens with this word she picked up in her captivity.

- I can’t. This day is supposed to be happy.

- Then piss off – Atef concluded, with the same timbre in his voice Gorla used a little while back.

- Another brute, Iusufal was right to let you come to this sham! You two will get along just fine!

- We here for the grub, nadda more.

- Seems like a waste of good food. Girl, Erleia, right? Why are you following this moron around?

Erleia shrugged her shoulders, asking for Atef to explain what the bride’s sister meant.

- Oh you poor dear. Go, mingle, you will find a better lad among the dearly gathered here. I hear Amos even speaks some elven. Should I take you to him?

- She stays here!

- See, you are just like him! – the sister concluded and stormed off; a glimmer of a tear in her eye, not for anyone to see.

Both Gorla and her mysterious sister were tall redheads with green eyes and Atef was looking with delight at her swinging braid as she was walking away. He found their exchange exhilarating, her tone, her admonishing. He felt as if he was entertaining the idea to conquer her out of sheer spite, just so that he can enjoy her telling him what is right and what is wrong. And then he would fight her on every count. This feeling took him completely by surprise, this whole day was different to what he had hoped for, a meander from the path he was supposed to take. All the alcohol made him blind to the light seared into his eyelids. And now he felt foolishly enamored, though he lacked the faculties to interpret it correctly.

- Another drink. That’s the stuff.

Without word, he went searching for one and Erleia quickly followed, trying to express in all possible ways that they are missing the best part.

Bortos was holding up Gorla barely providing enough support with both of his arms. After Iusufal’s chastisement, she went numb and limp, gazing into the floor, seeking something in the splits between the planks. His anxious eyes signaled to alderman and arumax to rush through the rites.

- Children of the Twin Suns, we are gathered here today, to join in the holiest of bonds these two loving souls! Sur and Baor will witness their union and guard them in the light, while Lita will guide them in the night so that they never go astray… commenced arumax with his usual pious fervor.

Bortos twitched his mouth wide-eyed, signaling to jump through all the unnecessary parts. Arumax gave him a wrathful glare, but adhered given that he also didn’t want to stretch the ordeal beyond the absolutely necessary.

- And so, with blessings and sacred words, we anoint the bond of Bortos and Gorla wishing them a union that is just before the men and the gods, and in service of the Empire’s glory and the Twin Suns. Alderman please give the final blessing to the newly married.

The old geezer, inebriated as most of the crowd, presented a couple of bronze rings with the symbol of the twin suns and placed them on the hands of the couple, giving the wedlock a blessing from the community and by extension, from the Empire. He then meticulously, and with only a few spelling errors, placed their names into the village’s ledger. Meanwhile, the arumax invited the crowd to cheer as the couple kisses to mark the end of the ceremony. As the noise started, Gorla who was absent even while the ring was being placed on her finger, joined in, as if awoken from her transfixion. She led the cheer, jumping around the platform in circles and waving up with her arms. Bortos was eyeing Iusufal for advice but none came.

Finally, at the peak of claps and cheers she jumped to Bortos and grabbed his head pulling him towards her lips. The crowd went ecstatic, every single soul making sure they remember this poignant ruin of Bortos’ future and celebrate it with laughs and cheers.

The extorted, binding kiss confused Gorla’s throat, and as soon as it was over, she leaned over the edge of the platform and vomited, hopefully one last time.

- Woooohooooo! Let’s celebrate! – she announced and the crowd happily joined in.

Atef and Erleia had their backs turned for the most of the ceremony and only saw Gorla’s outburst. Now, they started fighting through the crowd to secure a good spot for the feast. Tables were quickly brought forth from houses and a semi-circle was being formed. In the very center, the focal point, the bride and the groom were to be seated with Iusufal and his mysterious sister as none had any other immediate kin still alive. It was a wedding of orphans.

Soon enough everything was ready and the guests started taking their places. However, as the Linden Vale’s blob has dispersed, there was no patron anymore for the boy and the she-elf, so they were denied seating in the first group. The shortage of chairs meant that the rest could spend their time either waiting, faced with all the wonderful food being brought out that is just out of reach, or they could frolic, drink and dance. Atef was visibly mad, fearful that there will be nothing of worth left for him when he is finally seated. So, in order to calm the nerves, he turned his back to the feast and slowly worked his way through a small jug of cider; a new divine drink he discovered. Erleia decided to dance, learning on the go. She kicked off her ridiculous footwear and started prancing around, constantly looking at other people’s feet while locking hands in the dancing circle.

The music was lively and loud; lute and flute facing off in concert between the powerful tabors’ beats which consistently sneakily took just half a note away from the other two instruments. Nonetheless, the eagerness of the tabors didn’t take away from the beauty of the melody, but they made it quite hard to hear one another. So Gorla had to signal for more with her raised cup as her cry outs for drink couldn’t be heard. She ate with her hands, greasing up her whole face, she spilled as she drank, she looked around with maddened, bulging eyes and she laughed while simultaneously cursing. Bortos just smiled, occasionally glancing over to Iusufal and his sister. It was a distraught look, emotionally emaciated and expressing wonder whether he will be up to the task. Iusufal whispered to his ear that his presence over the next couple of days will ensure Gorla’s transition into new life is smooth.

As Baor was touching the edge of the horizon the excess overpowered Gorla and Bortos gave the sign that it is high time for him to take her to her future home. Atef was just about to bite into a glazed rack of pork ribs when Erleia appeared beside him.

- Go! Up!

- Nah way! Looksy wha’ I have to eat! Finally!

- Please!

- Nah huh! Food, we’re here for food! I care none for them.

Erleia’s eyes pleaded, managing to radiate adamantly appealing warmth despite their dark hue. Atef succumbed, but nevertheless took his ribs with him as the crowd was slowly headed to Bortos’ house. While carrying her over, Gorla incessantly kissed and bit and squirmed in his arms.

- If I were you, the moment I’d take her through that door it’d be conjugal duties time!

- And it will you pig! – responded Gorla to the hackler.

- Bortos don’t forget to stuff her mouth!

- Better than hearing all that attitude! Though if you do your job right, tomorrow there will be nothing but smile on that pouting face of hers!

- Blow us a kiss darling, it’s the least you can give us before he makes you a woman!

- Drop dead you bastard! – flew off Gorla’s lips as an immediate retort.

Bortos’ eyes were set ahead towards the goal, elusive like those of a carved statue. Gorla was biting his ear and sticking her tongue in it between shout outs of swears and curses which fueled the provocations further.

- Enough you drunk bastards! Leave my sister alone or I will teach every single one of you a lesson! – finally exploded out of Iusufal, which was ill advised given that they were armed and he wasn’t. However, there was some semblance of a sense of decency in the drunk rabble and with solemn silence they saw through Bortos taking gloating Gorla over the threshold of her new home. Erleia looked at Atef with the first of many “Now what?” looks.