" She's gone, Kyla is gone!" Estrella had went out to the garden to help her, and found the garden empty, she had ran all over screaming for her first born daughter, all to no avail.
Trae ran out the door, fear etched hard in his face, "I'm going to get my brothers, we will find her Shellan!"
They spent months looking for her, the Warriors scoured the woods, gone from their own homes for weeks at a time, coming back with empty hands and heavy hearts. "I don't understand, Shellan, it is like she vanished, we find nothing!" Estrella had cried over the weeks, cried for baby girl that she had birthed and lost, praying to Moldar that she be found unharmed, as each day passed, she knew that the chances of her being alive lessened. Finally she understood, the Warriors were no longer looking for her child, they were looking for a body.
A year had passed since Kyla disappeared, and finally all agreed that to search any longer was futile. The warriors returned to their families. " The girls are to be married Shellan." Trae knew it would be hard to tell Estrella the news, the twins were barely 17 years of age, still babes really.
He tried to brace himself for the anger he was certain would come from the words he spoke. Estrella stood up from the garden, and for the first time he noticed the lines in her face that had not been there before, the last year had aged her.
He had argued when Gideon announced it was time for his daughters to be married, he had argued long and hard, but in the end he had lost. "It's important that time not be wasted!" he was told, "We don't know what the ZeeGogs are up to, or how quickly they are gaining strength, we must mate our girls as soon as possible, then they appeal less to Moldak for they are no longer young virgins and there is less strength to be had from taking them."
"The weddings will take place in a month, it is out of our hands Shellan and now we must trust Moldar." He didn't like it any more then his Shellan did, but she must face it, just as he had. "Now we prepare, Gideon has chosen good males for each of our girls, they will protect them and love them I am certain!"
The sun shone down on the two brides as they prepared to meet their new husbands for the first time.
Each nervous and scared, they fidgeted with each other's dress and hair, trying to forget the life changing event that was to occur in just a few moments.
Laila the youngest of the twins was wearing her mother's gown and had her hair pinned up in loose falling curls around her face. Nesha had chosen a gown made of silk, it hung off of her slim frame in soft falling curtains, accentuating the best of her figure. Her hair like the gown was left soft and flowing.
A Fae wedding is never a small event and so the family had spent many sleepless nights preparing for the triple wedding. All the usual things had to be done, and a perfect location had to be selected for the nuptials. After scouting local spots the family decided to use the same location their mother and father had taken their vows in, it was the perfect place to start a new life. Since it was to be a double wedding a second arch was built. As the couples stood beneath their arches and said their vows the scene couldn't have been more ideal.
The wedding was beautiful in every way, everything seemed perfect, both brides were, of course, stunning in their gowns, and the grooms handsome and brave in their warrior uniforms.
The cakes were amazing confections each sporting layers of rich moist fruit cake, filled with creamy custards. The food was delicious, showcasing the finest of culinary delights available on their island prepared with care and love.
Yet despite the beautiful brides, brave warriors, and delicious banquet the wedding seemed shrouded in a heavy drapery of despair. Everyone in attendance knew the wedding ceremony was incomplete, there was a bride missing. The guests said farewell to the brides and grooms and headed back to their own homes, each wondering if Kyla the tiny girl that had stole all their hearts would ever return, or if this was just the beginning of a dark time on Moldaria.
No comments:
Post a Comment