Chapter Text

Xenk stared down at the letter that lay on the table before him.

• Edgin Darvis, *

• I regret imposing so greatly on the valuable time of you and your companions, but I am in great need of assistance. While I would not venture to call us allies, I have enough surety of the strength, skill and moral virtue of you and any who choose to accompany you to feel confident in calling upon you for aid. *

• I have, entirely against my will and despite my best efforts to escape, found myself entangled in a situation from which I cannot escape without outside aid. Due to a series of events too long-lasting and complicated to explain in this letter I have become engaged to the princess of the small kingdom of B’eluahe. This is the motivation for my correspondence; I require your aid to free me from this most unfortunate situation. All my attempts have been unsuccessful due to my imprisonment and a spell that has left me unable to speak. *

• The vows I have taken compel me to complete honesty. I cannot promise that any attempt to end the engagement will not be met with violence. The risks are many and if you feel that the presence of danger outweighs my importance to you, then burn this letter and forget me. *

• My wedding is due to take place at noon on the fourteenth day of the spring. Enclosed are four invitations. *

• I hope I will see you there, *

• Xenk Yendar *

There. That was it written, a carrier dove was waiting between the bars of the window. The only thing left to do was to send it.

And yet… Xenk couldn’t help but feel irrationally self-conscious about it. His handwriting was perfect, the spelling and grammar were impeccable but the idea of what Edgin would think about it kept tugging at the corners of his thoughts.

That was irrelevant. The emotional and personal impact of the letter were not factors of importance. Edgin’s opinion of him, which Xenk was more than sure was overwhelmingly negative, was not of importance.

Xenk frowned, and tried to dismiss any thoughts of Edgin’s thoughts on him. It didn’t work. Instead he folded the letter and inserted it alongside the invitations into the envelope. With a soft coo from the dove, he rolled the envelope up and tied it around the bird’s leg.

He whispered a few words to the bird. The dove fluttered away from the window and soared up into the sky. A white blot against a red sunset and darkening sky.

***

The past few days had been a blur. Xenk’s letter had arrived while Edgin alone was at home. Kira’s school term didn’t end for another two months, Holga was visiting an old friend three towns over, Simon and Doric were on a herb-gathering trip.

Edgin had momentarily considered not going, leaving the paladin to figure it out like he always seemed to. But Xenk had sounded so sure of their aid and a forced marriage felt like a personal insult to Edgin.

So he had sighed, deliberated, paced and eventually grabbed his lute, pack and borrowed a horse from the wizard in the woods who made him promise three drops of blood and a lock of hair when he returned. It seemed like an ominous promise, but whatever. He’d met worse wizards.

Then there was the journey. The horse was the fastest Edgin had ever seen and he was glad to have it, even if it did eat any mammals it could kill and gazed at Edgin in a way that made him distinctly uncomfortable.

But it had done the job and led to the steps of a dark, ominous church. A wedding march leaked out of the stained glass window. Whoever was playing was a phenomenal organist. Edgin really must speak to them. After the wedding.

Right. Shit. The wedding he was here to stop. Okay, right. Right. Yes. The music meant… that the vows were imminent. No time to start a fire, no Doric to turn into an owlbear, no Simon to start going blurry or something, no Holga to start bashing heads together which also, now he pondered it, Xenk would object to.

Right. Yes. Wedding. Stop it. Plan. Shit, why is he in charge of plans? He could…

Before Edgin could do anything, the horse apparently decided that this was all this indecision too much to bear. It reared, almost throwing Edgin into a tree, whinnied, bolted and threw all of its not inconsiderable weight into the church doors.

The doors were strong enough to keep out a man, but not a horse. They swung open; the horse continued to gallop all the way down the ridiculously long aisle.

There was a chorus of shrieks and gasps from the vast number of guests as a horse passed their pews with a rather scruffy looking human clinging to its back. The bride - a young, pretty woman in a white dress - screamed and tried to grab the hands of her somber groom who stood opposite her.

The groom, Xenk Yendar who was * obviously *looking stunning in his blue-green outfit and silver crown, didn’t notice this gesture and instead turned to look at the chaos that was erupting. His eyes widened and he smiled a wide, genuine smile that made Edgin’s heart go warm and his stomach all fluttery. Edgin found himself smiling back and for a moment it was lovely.

Then the horse kicked its back legs up and sent Edgin over its ears.

His left shoulder hit the floor first and did a pretty good job of absorbing the impact. Mind reeling, shoulder throbbing and heart beating the fastest it had since Holga’s rather temporary death, Edgin hauled himself up to stand. He stumbled, caught himself against a pew from which a very well-dressed lady stared up in horror, and cleared his throat.

Stop the wedding, he thought, that is what’s important right now. Not your shoulder, not Xenk’s stupidly handsome smile and not the horse that was beginning to eye a small child and lick its lips.

“You can’t marry him.” Edgin said. His voice echoed in the otherwise silent church and every eye on the room was boring into him. The bride was glaring daggers. Xenk was silent; probably due to the curse of silence mentioned in the letter. This was all on Edgin, then.

“Who in the nine layers of Hell are you to decide that?” Demand the bride in a sharp, spiteful voice.

Edgin was silent for a moment, weighing up his options. Run - and betray Xenk’s trust - or cause a scene with fire or something - could still hurt people, limited resources, guards nearby and no magic - or… No, that was terrible idea. But it would work, maybe. And it would keep mostly within Xenk’s perfect moral code bar a little bit of lying here and there which could be left almost entirely up to Edgin.

So Edgin took a deep breath, sent up a quick prayer to whatever God or Gods Xenk followed and stood up straight. Shit, his shoulder felt like it had popped out of place. He took a few very deliberate steps towards the altar.

The bride glowered and repeated herself. “I am Adelpha, soon-to-be queen of these lands, and I asked who in the nine layers of Hell are you to decide whether or not I marry this man?”

Edgin was out of options. It was go big or go home. So he calmed his nerves, threw a quick prayer to whatever god would take it and finally, after what felt like hours of silence, spoke.

“No one important. Just, you know, his husband.”