*
Prince Karmalaine stood silently close to the Nested Throne where his father also brooded. The Prince hoped that Mortiune had good reason for the instructions he'd sent. Many feathers were ruffled as the hundreds of people who formed the kingdom’s elite were ushered out of hall following Captain Reyas’s announcement. Those members of the Silent Council who had not already been present were summoned and gathered: The Magister Elementis in his multi-coloured robes, Lord-Captain Vulthian Kel-Parr, Lemer Starys. Evessa Tremaine the Witch-Maker was also present. The leader of the Witches’ Guild was dressed in her customary black robe adorned with red stars.
Trodolkin was there too, he was second in command of the Whistlers Guild of Whistlewood who monitored the Dream Sea. He represented the King’s brother, Brukiel Geddon, on the Silent Council. Prince Brukiel rarely left Whistlewood.
It seemed like an age before Mortiune reached the Hall of Providence and made his slow way to its centre to address them. The ever-present ring of steel parted to allow him through.
King Corul Geddon cut straight through any formality and nicety with his first question. “Tell me what you know”, he commanded.
“My King, the dreamer which the talented jackals have taken from the Mercurial Chambers is a human male who goes by the name Anthony Hallow. He is from a city called London on Old Earth.” Mortiune licked his thin dry lips before continuing, “It is my opinion that the jackals believe this man to be the Sad Father, and that they intend to act in accordance with the Ayalla Prophecy.”
Magsiter Elementis shook his head, Evessa Tremaine’s beautiful face went pale and even Lemer Starys muttered some negative to himself. Vulthian Kel-Parr did not flinch, but with his kind it was difficult to tell what they were thinking behind the armour.
Much to his embarrassment, Karmalaine found himself to be the only person present who had never heard of the Ayalla prophecy, though thankfully he was not too proud to say so. “My apologies wise council, but my knowledge of such a prophecy is lacking, can you elaborate on its origins?” asked the prince, stepping forward.
It was not Mortiune but King Corul who answered, “The Ayalla prophecy was written by Ayalla Geddon, wife of my great uncle, the disgraced and defeated Arma who led his rebellion against my grandsire the Great Fenn. She wrote it on the walls of the grand hall of Magadoon just before that place fell and she was found dead. The words were written down but thereafter the Great Fenn banned their utterance and stated that all copies of the prophecy should be burned.”
There was a silence after he spoke until Mortiune spoke once more, “As you say My King, though in contravention of this decree some copies of the prophecy did survive. Following the passing of the Great Fenn one such copy found its way into the Lyng Library where your father decreed it should stay, stating that knowledge burned is knowledge forgotten and that we should never forget the enemies of our history.”
“My father and grandfather were at odds on that question. To my mind the existence of the prophecy in writing makes it no more or less likely to come true.”
“Yes Your Majesty. If you will permit me, I have a copy of the prophecy here, recorded in Pathanene’s The Raven and the Jackal. Might I read it to give those of us here gathered a better notion of what has inspired the jackals to go down this path?”
The King nodded his approval and Mortiune started to read from the large tome which he'd carried into the chamber:
That written in blood will be lived by the descendants of the words:
Lo, there will come a Sad Father who will wake into this world from another.
His woe will mark him as a man amongst the stars
For his sons were the children of the prayer
And his daughters were the children of the meadow
And all were claimed by the ocean of the ancients
And therein was his sadness writ upon his soul.
His coming will herald a time of reckoning during which all matters
Between the walls will be settled.
And in the silent aftermath the sea will reclaim the land
The Jackal, the Raven and the Lotus will sleep once more,
The children of the grey dawn will inherit the dream,
The tall men will turn to stone, the fire bellies will go out
The demons will rue their sin and the angels will walk in darkness.
Mortiune finished and closed the book.
Prince Karmalaine was the first to speak. “She wrote all that in her own blood?” he asked incredulously.
“Ayalla took her own life. Whilst her husband fought and fell upon the plains of Meregoth, she did herself in with a crystal blade. She wailed and cursed for many minutes in her death and before she finally fell she daubed her life-force across the walls of Arma's throne room. These words she wrote and then she fell straight down at the close”, said King Corul sullenly.
Karmalaine took the book and read through the words again. “There is something I don't understand”, he said.
“Share your query and we will attempt to unburden you my prince”, said Lemer Starys of the Octaris. Starys was a tall thin being; he looked to be a cross-breed of several different dreams. His legs resembled those of a fawn, his torso was skeletal where every bone could be seen, there was very little skin or flesh to his abdomen, his neck was equally thin and sinuous, his head was catlike and covered in fur with large slit-like eyes of deep golden yellow.
The Octaris was a strange order, one of the oldest guilds in Avalen, and tasked with one of the most important jobs. Many people said that the Dreamstone Wall was of a strength that meant it did not need defending, but despite its height and width the immense wall which the Great Fenn had built around his kingdom was still subject to attempts to breach it.
The Whistlers’ Guild fished the wall at Whistlewood to bring dreamers into Avalen, but the Octaris defended the rest of the wall from the nightmares which often tried to scale it and cause carnage in the land.
Prince Karmalaine had known Lemer Starys for many years, once you got past his odd physical appearance he was a dutiful and loyal defender of the realm. The Prince proceeded to explain his confusion: “What credence can there be for such a prophecy? Was Ayalla a dream seer? Could she walk the path of the many futures?”
“Little was known and that which was known was lost following the fall of Malladoon. Your great uncle Arma was a mysterious type, he made many friends and acquaintances amongst the fell beings of Bloodren as well as many odd folk from beyond the Dreamstone Wall. Ayalla was one such, a beautiful but fragile creature”, replied Lemer
“Then why do the talented jackals believe in her words, and more importantly judging from the seriousness of this discussion, why do we?” asked the prince.
At that question his father spoke again, “My grandfather’s final words are why they believe it, and indeed those words are what give any semblance of credibility to what Ayalla wrote.”
“The kingdom is the world?” said Karmalaine, echoing the Great Fenn’s final words.
Even through his stony passive façade the King managed to look uncomfortable.
“May I, My King?” asked Magister Elementis.
“You may”, replied the King.
Magister Elementis turned to Karmalaine. “This is a subject of some delicacy, My Prince.’The kingdom of the world' was in actual fact only the penultimate phrase uttered by the Great Fenn on his deathbed”, said the Magister. He was a rotund man with several chins which wobbled and competed with each other for room on his tiny head.
He was the descendant of a Lizarial and his skin was a very light green covered in very subtle scales. Like the other members of the Silent Council he'd held his position since the elder days.
King Fenn Corul Geddon inherited the Council from his father, Fenn Dray Geddon, who had inherited it from his father, Lor, twin brother of Arma and son of the original Fenn. For over twenty centuries they'd provided counsel to the Geddon kings, and kept their secr
ets too. Karmalaine was intrigued to hear that his great grandfather’s last words were in fact not his last words, particularly since he knew they were inscribed above the doorway of one of the five doors to the Hall of Providence.
“Then pray tell me, what did he say at the end?” asked Karmalaine.
“He said, 'That written in blood cannot be washed away by more'. Then he passed from Avalen and left a great sadness in his wake”, said the Magister.
“A great sadness and many questions; word of what he whispered was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, yet it got out somehow. The jackals have known for years”, grumbled King Corus who then continued: “Was he saying that her words were true and that we should not resist their meaning? That would be the main question, and one which we have agonised over, on and off for many years. He may not even have been referring to the prophecy.”
“But we cannot take that risk”, interjected Vulthian, his first contribution to the discussion so far.
“But we cannot take that risk”, repeated the King and no one there present could ignore the profound implications contained in those words.