Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 330: The throne that is promised (2)

The King in exchange for peace and stability has used his childlessness as a diplomatic tool…. that Harald had to admit very potent in acquiring alliances and extracting promises.

In the course of the King life he has dangled the prospect of the succession in front of too many people

There is the family of Botticelli in Freya, the King of Zettel in the west and the most formidable of them all…the dragon that still sleeps in the Northern side of Vangua. And one last person...himself.

Harald understand the King logic but he doesn't have to like it. Of course during the King life, he kept this various power friendly while he lived but he should have realized he is storing up immeasurable problems for the future. 

Duke Arial, for one, had indicated even though he acts subtly, that he is serious in this matter. 

Harald understand the problem that lies in front of him if he were to take the throne that is promised to him. 

It mattered not that the King of Vangua had since changed his mind…this… Harald had no doubt. 

Lord Arial believe that the throne is promised to him, and so does the other Arrandians envoys.

To make matter worse, people knows that Arial has help him in that last crisis thus enforcing the opinion that Harald is a vassal of Arial, a notion fanned by that snake. 

Harald calm himself down. He looked and he could see Amelie is still offering prayers to her dead husband.

She is loyal to her husband and pious in her nature so resembling the King…the only vice she had is her lack of wiles like her sister…. or is that a blessing? Harald wondered. 

The other nobles also take glances to Harald. 

After all, after this prayer is done, a new King will emerge from the very same church that the last king of Vangua is laid to rest.

************************************************************************

A FEW HOURS EARLIER

KING EDWARD BEDCHAMBER

The billowing curtains blows slowly. Amelie pulled open the curtains and tied it back so that it will give his husband a little air to breath in his dying breath.

Edward is panting…. barely alive and in great pain. On his deathbed he looked at the ceiling, a wearisome, weakening man, waiting for Death to blow his kiss to him. 

Death comes to all, he realized. 

Kings or commoners. It comes to all. But today…it comes for the King. The Hooded Man will be taking his soul today to either the High Heaven or Oblivion.

'Amelie, held me up' the King said with a voice resembling a whisper. Amelie took one of the cushions and support the back of the King so he could sit up and speak. 

Amelie is somber in her expression, seated at the foot of the bed after supporting his husband back. 

There is one Priest who is leaning over to the King to catch the King's words. 

Amelie then sit on the floor, warming the king feet in her lap, her brother in law Harald is also present, Robert the steward of the royal palace also Priest Stigrand is also in the bedchamber still leaning and trying to interpret the King wishes. 

They are all ready to hear the last wishes of the King. They are being addressed by their dying king. 

For days Edward has been drifting out of consciousness. 

These few days Edward would awaken briefly, mumble something unintelligible and then fall once more under the shadow of a long sleep.

However, this day he woke up, and then he spoke to Amelie with a clear and healthy voice with fear in his tone, sweating in his forehead of the dream he had. josei

He dreams of a black dragon with red eyes that came to Vangua with fire and steel.

'Beware of the Black Dragon. Beware of his fiery breath, his crimson eyes, his sharp claws. He…. will shake this world to the core, a reckoning to cleanse the world of our sins'

The Priest, Harald, his wife and the other gathered around the bedchamber were sore afraid and stupefied and silence hangs in the air from the effect of terror when they heard him speak of this dire prophecy.

The Priest is seen visibly shaken, the first to be afraid and he said to Harald 

'The King is broken with disease and knew not what he said' he said as he whispered to the others, consoling himself as he consoles others.

Then Edward looking at his wife with misty eyes as he lay dying, a soft expression that shocked the people who know well of the King duplicitous nature and received by Amelie the same way, an affection of a husband and a wife and then he looked at Harald with a stern and rigid, a regal bearing of a King impression.

Edward stretch forth his hand to Harald and said 

"I…. commend Queen Amelie and all the Kingdom under your protection" the King said then suddenly the King voice then fell silent and he faltered slowly with a smile on his face and died on that very bed before he could make himself more clear with his word.

There is an eerie ambiguity in Edward word. Is Edward bequeathing the Kingdom to Harald? 

Or is he saying that Harald should acts as protector and regent for the young Queen? The witness, the living was left to decipher the King ambiguous words. 

The general view of everyone present including the Queen seem to have been that Harald, at the last moment, had been nominated as King.

*************************************************************************

PRESENT TIMES

The Council of Nobles who were also present in the funeral Procession in the Church of Diana the Apostle, has decided after hearing the statement of the witness.

Two Elder noble offers the crown to Harald. They began speaking. One is kneeling while one is handing the crown to Harald.

'Here is the crown for the Great and prosperous Vangua. It is the king last wishes that you be made King and we urge you to accept and to respect the right of the noble lords and devotion to God. Will you accept these hard responsibilities and be the protectors of this nation, to defend it with might, to shower it with love and to treat your people with divine compassion?'

However, Harald did not thrust his arm out to receive the crown, his hand on his hip, deliberating. 

Harald is a hesitant man, especially in such momentous moment and he is wondering what he had to do next.

To accept the crown, he already knows what he will face…. the dragon in the north of the border. he remembers that threat.

It is hard to forget after all. There are still many complications he has to unravel if he accepts the crow

But Harald could also see that the other noble trust him and it must have appeared to those present nobles, Harald who is known as the Vanquisher, is an experienced warrior and a great commander and is truly the man for the moment. 

There are also the memories of the oath he swore to Arial. Seeing this hesitation, the Priest Stigrand came to him. 

Harald in whispery voice tell the Priest of his concerns and the Priest listen with great attention convincing Harald that the oath he swore to Arial is involuntary and invalid- not only in the eye of man but in those of god as well. 

Convinced that Arial have no ground to dispute his rule, he said

'I accept' Harald said and is responded with great jubilant cheer. 

In any event, Harald does not think that Arrandians is hardly the sort of people whom you expect to invade Vangua. 

Who does Arial think he is? Harald said deep in his heart. He had been cornered into swearing that oath and he did not ask for the help. 

He would brazenly settle the matter, and he would do so in the robust manner possible.

Harald would be King of Vangua. He would accept the crown himself, just as the King had wished and the blood of Alan will once again rise, and occupy the most glorious office of the land. 

Smiling he look at the statue of Levitia near the stained glass of the church with a big smile in his face.

*************************************************************************