Chapter 100: Chapter One Hundred: To the Shrine

I had no idea where we were headed other than that it was called the shrine. For now, Siofra pulled me towards the food stalls in square at the foot of the guild’s steps. It was busy here, but nowhere near as crowded as it was inside of the guild hall. We stopped outside the first place that smelled nice and didn’t have a long queue. We were soon served and once we had all got our orders, we headed on again, eating as we went.

The shrine was located near the centre of the city and the closer we got, the thicker the crowds got. I was surprised by how many people had gathered just to see the procession to the shrine. It seemed it was treated as quite the important occasion. The place hadn’t even come into view yet and we were already having to squeeze our way through.

“There it is.” Siofra said pointing ahead, as we turned the corner.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure if what I was looking at was a building or not. A short way down the main street was what looked to be the largest tree I had ever seen. On closer inspection I realised that it incorporated a manmade structure within it. The interior of the tree was cut out and stretching out from its base in four directions were what looked to be wings of a cathedral. It was as if the giant tree was the spire at its centre. Much like the city itself, the building was mixture of natural and manmade construction.

“That’s quite something.” I said looking up at the shrine, not quite sure what to make of it.

“Impressive isn’t it. I’ve only ever seen it from outside. I can’t wait to see what it’s like inside.” Siofra said excitedly.

“You’ve never been inside before?”

“No, most people never get the chance… Come on.”

Siofra pressed through the crowd, pulling me along with her. I glanced behind to check we hadn’t lost the others in the mass of people. Luckily, they were still following closely behind. We pushed our way towards the main entrance. From where we were, I could see that a row of guards was keeping the main pathway clear for the carriages that arrived one after the other. Each one carrying someone important that had come to attend the ceremony.

It took us about ten minutes of slowly pushing our way through the crowd, until we reached the row of guards. Siofra was about to stride out into the main pathway, with me in tow, when our way was suddenly blocked. Two burley looking guards had stepped out and barred our way.

“You can’t go any further.” The one that looked to be in charge announced.

“But we’re here to attend the ceremony.” Complained Siofra.

“You and everyone else! Only those with an official invite are allowed past this point. I don’t suppose you have one of those do you?” He said sarcastically.

“We were invited!”

“Okay, let me see your paperwork then.” The man asked half joking holding out his.

Of course, Siofra didn’t have anything to show him. It was then that Lillia pushed forward from behind.

“I have our invitations here. I’d appreciate it you could hurry this. I don’t want us to be late.” Lillia said pressing five official documents into the man’s hand.

He didn’t even need to check the paperwork to realise who he was talking to. The look on his face, said immediately that he recognised who was talking. The uniforms on the guards here marked them out as important. My guess was that they were palace guards, so it shouldn’t be any surprise if they recognised the princess by sight.

“Your majesty, I didn’t realise you were here. Please forgive my rudeness. If we were expecting you and your associates to approach through the crowd, we would have kept a watch for you.”

I could understand his surprise. The last thing he was probably expecting, was anyone with an invite to approach through the crowd of riffraff around the shrine. Let alone the heir to the high throne, his attitude before said as much.

“Don’t worry, our arrival wasn’t announced. May we pass?”

“Of course.” He said passing Lillia back the documents.

The guards stood in front of us cleared the way so we could all pass through to the walkway without question. As soon as we stepped out onto the walkway, I became aware of the thousands of eyes baring down on us from all directions. They were probably all wondering just who the hell that was stepping in from the crowd. We must have looked a strange sight not arriving by a carriage just like all the other dignitaries.

None of this seemed to bother Altria, Lillia or Serin in the slightest. They seemed more or less used to this sort of thing, but I could feel some hesitation in Siofra’s step as we made our way to the shrine entrance. Lillia and Altria walked a little way ahead, probably to avoid us being stopped on our way in again. Serin hung back and walked with Siofra and me.

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“Siofra, you might want to stop holding Theo like that. Just while we visit the shrine.” Serin said politely as we walked.

“Oh yes, you’re right.”

She let go of my arm that had been pressed against her bosom up until that point. From then on in the three of us walked alongside each other, just behind the two princesses. As we walked up the steps to the main archway that led inside, we were met by two attendants. They both bowed to Lillia and Altria as they approached, instantly recognising the pair.

“Please stand.” Lillia told them.

They did just as she asked.

“We were expecting you princes Lillia, princess Altria.” One of the attendants said.

“Good. Are our seats ready?” Lillia asked.

“Yes. Simon will show you and your guests there.” He said signalling to the other attendant.

“Thank you.”

“Please follow me your highness.” Simon said, before heading up the main aisle.

All five of us slowly walked behind him, passing row after row of seats partially full of onlookers. All of which were presumably part of the nation’s elite, seeing just how hard it was to get admittance to the shrine for the ceremony. I kept on thinking that Simon would stop soon and tell us that these were our seats, but we kept on getting closer and closer to the central section inside of the giant tree. Finally, we reached the front row, where we were led out the front and direct to five open seats right in the middle.

“Here you are your highness.” Simon motioned with a bow.

“Thank you.” Replied Lillia before sitting down in the middle seat.

Simon left as the rest of the party sat down with Lillia. Altria sat to her right, with Siofra sat next to her, while Serin and I sat to her left. We were surrounded, by particularly important looking nobles. I was sure we caught the odd questioning glance, as they wondered just who these people were sat there with the two princesses.

“Is it really okay for us to be sitting here with you?” I whispered into Lillia’s ear.

“Of course, it is! You are my honoured guests. Nobody is going to question your right to be here.”

“Okay.”

That didn’t make me feel any less awkward. Sat right at the front of the seating and hemmed in on either side by dignitaries from all parts of the alliance. It almost felt as with we were going to be part of the ritual.

“Just sit and watch. Don’t let it bother you.” Serin advised from next to me.

From where we were sat, there would be no difficulty in viewing the ceremony. We were under a large archway that was carved into the giant tree. Right at the point where the manmade structure joined up with the natural. In front of us was a large circular room, under the spire formed by the tree. Soft light shone down from the windows high above. There were three other wings leading off from the central section. Just like where we were sat these were filled with rows of seats, occupied by dignitaries.

The area right in front of us, the very of the shrine had a circle of elegantly carved wooden seats. They were spaced evenly and set far apart from each other. Inside of the circle was a large stone slab, I guessed this to be an altar of some sorts. The light from above seemed to focus on this central point, bringing it to the centre of attention.

While we waited for the ceremony to begin, the shrine slowly filled to capacity as the guests arrived and took their seats. I didn’t want to lean over and look behind us, but the chamber in front of us and to either side was now almost entirely full. Despite how many people were in this place, it was surprisingly quiet. Just the faint murmur of hushed conversations here and there broke the silence. Just as I was beginning to wonder how long we would be sat here waiting for things to begin, total silence fell on the building all at once.

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