The Feast (Part 4)

King Razzasbel thought Gress' father had long been dead. He knew the population had grown and welcomed the larger caravans even with their additional rowdiness and the way they had taken th main kitchen. He liked the cuisine. 

At that point, Good King Razz looked around for the emissary from Gress' people who had come with the crown's representative for the region. Neither of them had told him anything about this, and now the King couldn't find any of them in the great hall either.

Queen Rhyeza, meanwhile, was overwhelmed with joy to see Lapa, though she was confused that her cousin was a bride, and to some brute, her sister in law's husband's father. She'd heard about him from her and Zejja's other lover during one of their quiet rendezvous in the dungeons.

Neither one of them was there at the feast, but the queen knew that. They were in the dungeons below.

-What's the meaning of this? King Razzasbel finally asked Gress' father. 

This one, Gress' father began, holding up Lapa's hand by her wrist, came up on us at the outer walls, after being pursued by the King's rangers.

A wave of muttering crossed the hall. 

The King looked angrily at the chief guard at the end of the royal table but the chief guard looked back cluelessly. He had no idea what Gress' father was talking about, but the King was looking to him for an answer so he stood up to shout at Gress' father. 

-They're are no rangers outside the outer walls, the chief guard yelled. 

-Then they were bandits! Gress' father yelled. That's even worse!

King Razzasbel looked around again, this time trying to find Gress and yell at him, but Gress had followed Nita to see how she might coax his wife out of her room with the infant Prince. 

The King turned instead to his other brother-in-law, a warrior like Gress.

-Handle this, the King growled. 

But the men of Gress' village had already positioned themselves to block the royal guards and knocked the King's brother in law to the ground before he could get to Gress' father, who had approached the seat of Good King Razz.

-What kind of welcome is that? he asked the King as he looked over at the man who had been knocked to the ground. I am your father as much as I am Gress'. This palace, he added, is in disarray. 

Just then more muttering reverberated across the hall, this time originating at the far wall, where someone appeared to have scribbled something in a foreign looking script. 

One of the women had collapsed in shocks and the attendees near her swore the writing wrote itself on the wall.

They asked each other if they could recognize it but no one said anything. 

King Razzasbell and Gress' father made their way through the crowd to get a closer look.

-I know this tongue, a voice called out over the din of the hall. It is ancient. 

It was Nita, holding the infant Prince in her arms. 

-Judgment, Nita said, has been delivered. You've been weighed, she said as she pointed to the King.