Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (27 page)

Energy drink is a wonderful thing for anyone wishing to extend a night of jubilation; the one thing it is not too great at helping with, is memory.  Lloyd had now completely forgotten any desire not to get too drunk and he had also pretty much forgotten ever going to the Royal Crown or having a curry. He did have some brief recollection of them all getting thrown out from the nightclub; because Allen had completely mistaken the DJ’s humour when he had called Bethany a hot
Ranga
. Lloyd had also missed the humour and it took Paul Watson to explain that the DJ was Australian and called gingers
Ranga
, being short for Orang-utan.

The gang now swayed arm in arm down the high street, trying to teach Bethany and Allen the words to the “Queen” song
Don’t Stop Me Now!
- while in search of some other venue for alcohol.

“I REALLY NEED TO GO TO THE LAVATORY!” Bethany screamed above the inharmonious mess.

“All of the pubs are closed now Bethany, you will have to go in an alley.” Paul Watson offered as a solution.

“PAUL WATSON I AM NOT WEEING IN AN ALLEY!” the redhead protested, poking a drunken finger in his chest.

“Bethany it’s not his fault” Allen said, feeling the need to defend Paul, who had behaved himself in terms of glances at Bethany, for the rest of the evening.

“OH BUT I’M BURSTING!” she pleaded.

“Beth, don’t worry, come to my shop” Jenny said taking the redhead by the arm and pulling her down the street. The vision of the two of them with Beth, high heeled shoes in hands, swaying down the pavement, was one of the few moments that Lloyd would remember from the evening.

After a short while, they arrived outside a funny little shop, its windows all in darkness. The black painted, slightly peeling, door was at the rear of a little porch. In the bay window there seemed to be lots of images and words, but through a combination of darkness and alcohol; it was hard to discern anything.

“Ere, let me get mi’keys” the drunken Jenny said fumbling in her tight jean pockets.

First there was a clang as she dropped them to the floor with a giggle, then a jingle as she finally located the key in the lock, then a clunk as the lock lever moved. She then opened the door and there was a click as she activated the light switch. The window suddenly illuminated, including a hand painted store sign above the window;
Hidden Lizard Tattoos and Piercings.

Lloyd woke up very slowly. At first he was aware that he was in a bed; this at least was a positive sign, secondly he was fully clothed; not necessarily a bad thing. He then opened his eyes and found a smelly foot about four inches from his face.

“Eww bloody hell!” he said sitting up with a grimace.

The bedroom was one he had visited before and he recalled that it was at Paul Watson’s house, or at least his parents; Paul still living at home. The foot belonged to his childhood friend and he flicked it to wake him up.

“Please tell me I’ve not missed the wedding? And please tell me you have pyjamas on?”

Paul yawned and slowly opened his eyes, his hair a mess, and looked towards his alarm clock.

“Sorry Lloyd, the good news is that it’s still a couple of hours to go, the bad news is that I am naked!” he chuckled at this before carefully standing out of the bed pulling the quilt cover with him.

“That was a bloody good night, we should do it more often” he grinned at his old school friend who was struggling to sit up.

“What happened to the others?” Lloyd asked.

“Well Reese and Jenny decided to crash out in her shop, Danny’s downstairs on the sofa and I chucked Bethany and Allen in a cab.”

“Good, so we all got home safely.”

“Yes, mind you though, not being nasty, but that Bethany is a nightmare when she is drunk!”

“Yeah, tell me about it; did she do her my soldier thing with Allen?” Lloyd asked with a weak smile.

“Nope, but she bloody insisted we all have this stupid tattoo” Paul said showing his upper right arm, which now had a tattoo of a dragon rearing upon it.

“We didn’t, did we?” Lloyd groaned. He then gingerly stood up, removed his top and felt a stab of pain as his left hand brushed his upper right arm, which confirmed the presence of the tattoo before he even saw it.

“Bloody hell, it’s not like it’s even particularly good!” he said.

“Well she was six sheets to the wind when she did it, what do you expect?” Paul replied.

“I expect that both my Mum and Edala will muller me” Lloyd said with a sigh. He then made his way, slightly unsteadily, to the bathroom and heaved what remained of the alcohol in his system, into the toilet bowl.

“Here’s your suit Lloyd” Paul appeared in his underpants and hung Lloyd’s wedding suit in its protective cover on the back of the bathroom door.

The pale looking Sorcerer nodded his thanks, before stepping into the shower.

“Have you heard whether Lloyd made it back to Paul’s okay?” A concerned Edala asked Amy, who was currently applying the young bride’s makeup. The diminutive Dragon-Girl had already been up an hour, and the hairdresser had finished both her and Amy’s hair and was moving on to Boadaiska.

“Paul Watson’s Mum sent me a message last night to let me know that they had arrived safely, although very inebriated apparently” she said raising her eyebrows in amusement. She then eased back to look at her future daughter in law; “You know that from today, it will be your job to keep him on the straight and narrow?”

“Yes, I don’t imagine it’s going to be an easy ride. He can make upsetting mistakes on occasion.”

Amy knew that Edala was referring to the incident with Wendy Walsh on the beach, which had truly broken Edala’s heart. “I do not think that will happen again.”

Tears appeared in Edala’s eyes, “I really hope not Amy, because I think it would break me.”

“Don’t you cry and ruin your makeup!” Amy admonished her with a smile. At that moment the bedroom door opened and Themisia came in dragging a bedraggled Bethany.

The red haired air mage was wrapped in a huge dressing gown, with hair looking like she had been dragged backwards through a bush. She also had a pair of sunglasses on.

“You had better get in that shower Bethany, I can’t have my chief bridesmaid looking like she spent her night sleeping in the forest” Edala smiled.

“I’m sorry, I am never, ever, ever, going to drink again. Have you got any of that foundation stuff I can use for covering a couple of spots I have got coming?”

“Yes sure, here” Amy said passing the unsteady looking mage a small tub.

“Thanks” she responded before heading towards the bathroom.

An hour and a half later Ingemar’s deep voice called up the stairs.

“Are you ready my daughter, your carriage awaits?”

The giant man was standing at the foot of the stairs in a traditional dark morning suit, looking up for any sign of his daughter. When she appeared, the giant man’s anxious face turned to one of wonder and then a smile tinged with sadness spread across it.

Edala was dressed in the dress that Maria had made for her, it hugged her figure tightly, but not with discomfort; or in any way that showed she was pregnant. It was made with silk the colour of ivory and detailed with lace. It also had a small train and a sweetheart neckline; above this sat the small green emerald heart stone; of a simple necklace Amy had bought her.

“You look so much like your Mother, she would have been very proud” Ingemar smiled, Allen standing similarly suited beside him.

“You look beautiful Edala; if I wasn’t so wrapped up in that crazy redhead I would keep Lloyd on his toes!” Allen added with a grin; he too looked very handsome in his morning suit.

“Allen, son of Frank, you are spending too much time with Kenelm” she responded with a laugh.

Behind Edala came Bethany, Themisia and Boadaiska, the three bridesmaids. They too wore figure hugging lilac dresses, purchased from the local town; these, although nowhere near as amazing as Edala’s, made the bridal party an eye turning group.

They then made their way out to the two waiting horses and carriages that Ingemar had hired with Amy’s help.

At St. Saviours the sun was out and the church, its steeple and the cemetery surrounding it, looked ready to play its part on the important day.

Darrion stood with Amy, he in his morning suit and she in a pastel yellow dress with hat. They began to greet the local friends that Amy had invited, including a frail looking Mrs Bishop; Lloyd’s daytime carer as a child, who had given him the pencil box that was destroyed by the nasty child that had been Wendy Walsh.

“Have you ever heard anything of what happened to Wendy after the kidnapping incident?” Amy asked.

“All I heard was that she moved back up to Kent. Her Mother left a contact address with me though, just in case there was any post to forward on to her.”

As Amy and Mrs Bishop chatted, Darrion’s thoughts drifted to the time, which seemed long ago now, when he had confronted Mordja in this very graveyard. Thinking of the Daemon made him instinctively activate his soul vision to inspect each and every guest. He knew, or at least suspected, that the creature had transported to this world and Lloyd would still be his best opportunity to opening a stable portal through which Mordja’s lord and Master, Hozjoh, could again enter the material plane of existence.

“Come on love, we should get in; Edala and the others should be on their way”. His wife’s gentle smile and arm on his shoulder brought him back to the here and now, in the well-kept churchyard with its tombstones dating back hundreds and hundreds of years.

The main entrance to the church was a set of double wooden doors, beyond which was a small porch with an arched ceiling and another heavy set single door into the chapel. In the porch was a notice board giving dates and times of the differing services and also other local news and events. Inside, the church was like many in England and also in that regard, like many of the Temples in Kalana. With your eyes closed the combination of the smell of the wooden pews and roof beams and also the hint of incense; told the visitor that this was a place of worship.

The pews were arranged on the left and right, leaving a central aisle for worshippers to walk down. At the back of the church, just inside the entrance and to the left hand side of the aisle, was a marble baptism bowl and plinth.

Amy, not being particularly religious, had always found the baptism font an interesting paradox. Here it was being used to baptise people into a religion, that many of the devout were convinced, suggested that the world was only several thousand years old. Yet in the marble, if one looked closely, were the fossilised marks and remains of sea creatures that had existed millions of years ago.

Fortunately, Reverend Taylor was a fairly contemporary type and had himself pointed out the fossils during a number of sermons.

“Bride or Groom?” Danny Pope asked with a cheeky smile, knowing full well who Amy was. As with everything in life, Danny undertook the role of Usher with a healthy dose of humour.

“Glad to see you made it home last night” Amy said.

“Well, I crashed on Paul’s sofa. Still waiting to hear from Reese and Jenny though. Oh here they are” he said gesturing behind Amy and Darrion.

Reese and his girlfriend could obviously take alcohol very well and neither seemed any more paler than usual. Jenny, as a mark of respect, wore a lilac head scarf to cover her Mohican and a long black dress to cover all of her tattoos. Reese was wearing a white shirt and tie and a pair of navy trousers.

Behind them a familiar voice boomed, “Friend Reese, I hope I did not miss out on too much action last night?” Kenelm asked, slapping the young army recruit on the back. “Friend Allen here tells me it was much fun” the monk said, gesturing to Allen who must have shared the car with them. Kenelm was wearing a morning suit and had on his arm an almost regal looking Susan; in her left arm she carried the baby Louise, in a car chair. The bonny child was sound asleep, having just been collected and driven from Amy’s house. Susan, like Amy, had a soft pastel dress.

“I assume you two had a good night?” Amy said to her friend, with a suggestive smile.

Susan did not blush at the innuendo that she and the monk had spent the night together; she just grinned back.

“It’s nice to know that everything still works, put it that way.”

They all made their way to the front pews, to sit on the right hand row for the groom, where Lloyd sat nervously along with Paul Watson. Amy sat next to her son and gave him a quick suit check.

“You’re looking good, but you won’t believe how stunning Edala is” she said, straightening his shirt collar.

At that moment, the grey haired Reverend Taylor, walked over to Lloyd and Paul.

“If you are ready you had better stand over here” he said pointing to the area between the front pews and the ceremonial altar. Above this hung the, imposing for some, inspiring for others, figure of Christ Crucified.

Paul and Lloyd stood nervously, and had just got to their position in front of the vicar, when the familiar music of “Here Comes the Bride” began.

Lloyd could only force himself to stare forward, for all of about five seconds, before turning to see his future wife making her way down the aisle, on the arm of her tall and proud father. His heart skipped a beat, when her almond shaped blue green eyes locked with his, and she smiled a nervous smile. Behind Edala was a sea of beauty, the three bridesmaids, Bethany, Boadaiska and Themisia looked amazing in their lilac dresses. Each had their hair beautifully arranged on top of their heads with little rivulets of curls dangling down.

As Edala came to stand beside Lloyd, she turned to her father who lifted her veil.

Reverend Taylor’s words, of the first part of the ceremony, were a blur to Lloyd, all he could focus on was the eyes of the girl he loved; that was until she jabbed him in the ribs and nodded towards the direction of the vicar, who laughed along with the congregation.

“Lloyd, I understand that both you and Edala have a personal pledge you would like to make before we do the final marriage vows?”

“Oh yeah, sorry” Lloyd blushed and had a mad five seconds, trying to find the crumpled piece of paper, with the carefully crafted words, he had been working on all week, which he had been unable to memorise. Finally he retrieved it from the inside pocket of his morning suit and carefully opened it out.

“Edala, since the moment I met you and you made me polish your boots, I have loved you more and more each day. Even though I have made mistakes, you have always forgiven me and I promise I will not make mistakes again. My world revolves around you, actually you are my world and I can’t wait to start the rest of our lives together.”

Edala smiled at him before replying, her eyes never diverting from his. Her words she had not prepared and instead came from her heart.

“Lloyd, you drive me crazy sometimes,” a ripple of laughter filled the church “but when I am with you I feel complete, I feel there is nothing I cannot share with you and I never want to be parted from you again...but about those mistakes and the forgiveness thing, break my heart again and I will stick you!”

A raucous eruption of laughter echoed around the room, especially from Boadaiska and Kenelm.

“Errrm, ok, let’s carry on then!” the Reverend Taylor recovered the situation.

“Lloyd, will you take Edala to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”

While Lloyd listened his eyes caught a glimpse of Ingemar who had taken a seat in the front row on the bride’s side. Rather than watching the ceremony, he was instead studying the gruesome crucifixion looking down upon them all. The giant man seemed intrigued to the point of almost being beguiled. Lloyd pulled his gaze back to his soon to be wife “I do” he said firmly with a smile while trying not to think about Ingemar looking at Christ.

“Edala, will you take Lloyd to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and protect him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?” asked the Reverend.

A cheeky hint of a smile appeared momentarily on Edala’s face, before she buried whatever humorous reply she had been contemplating and replied “I do.”

             
So absorbed were they in each other, that Lloyd and Edala hardly heard the rest of the ceremony, their vows they mumbled through appropriately and they exchanged the simple gold wedding rings which had been a gift to them from her father.

“In the presence of God, and before this congregation, Lloyd and Edala have given their consent and made their declarations and marriage vows to each other. They have declared their marriage by the joining of hands and by the giving and receiving of rings. I therefore proclaim that they are husband and wife” Reverend Taylor said and then placed Lloyd and Edala’s right hands together.

“Those whom God have joined together let no one put asunder!” he finally declared, followed by “You may now kiss the bride.”

A chorus of cheers and applause echoed around the church as Lloyd scooped his wife into an embrace and kissed her with gentle passion.

“Hello Mrs Brook, do you think we can skip the reception and just hit our hotel?”

“Why, Mr Brook, what are you suggesting? It’s a good idea, but we had better not upset our Mother” she grinned. The two of them were then ushered over to sign the necessary registration documents along with the witnesses.

As Boadaiska walked towards the exit of the church with Louise in her arms she turned to Bethany “That was a nice ceremony, but I think the clan way is better, everyone should be joined in front of the Lord Creator as naked as the day they were born.”

“If it’s fine by you this girl is going to keep her buns under wraps!” Bethany replied with a laugh.

Outside the church Lloyd and Edala were greeted with a hail of confetti and also an impressive electric light show from Bethany.

“It’s a new type of confetti!” Amy explained to several of the guests who were not aware of the magical abilities of some that were present.