Meeting a Queen

Draven and Sarah continued to travel, making love every chance they could. By the third night they came across a city that looked vastly different than the other cities they had seen in the distance. Towers rose up around the gates, each one radiating a strange, pulsing light as they stood twenty feet from the ground. Draven looked at the towers and smirked over at Sarah, "Are they trying to compensate for something with these towers?"
Sarah smiled briefly but shook her head, lowering the cowl of the cape lower over her face. "Let's just get through this as quickly as possible Draven."
Draven frowned as he looked at her, urging his horse forward and seeing that Sarah allowed her own horse to fall behind his. As they approached the gate, they saw two guards standing at the doors. There was a man sitting at a table, shuffling through paperwork that sat on the desk-like furniture. When they came closer the men pushed a white stone towards them and spoke in a bored, monotone voice, "Please dismount from your steads and present your paperwork as well as pick up the Truthstone, state your name and purpose for coming to our city."
Draven frowned and dismounted from his horse, from the corner of his eye he saw Sarah doing the same thing and approaching behind him. He cautiously picked up the white stone and held it in his hand. It was the size of his palm and river-worn smooth. It felt just like any other stone that might have been found in the bed of a river. Frowning he looked at the man in questioning as Sarah stepped forward and placed a packet of papers on the table. The man picked up the paperwork and started shuffling through them while Draven stated in a firm voice, "I am Draven La'Fon and my purpose is to pass through on my way home Kilra from spending several months on board The Black Calypso."
The man nodded his head and took the stone away from Draven, which remained white. Draven frowned in confusion as the man then made a notation on his own stack of papers and Sarah picked up the stone and spoke softly, "I am the Captain of the Black Calypso, escorting my crewman on his journey home."
The man nodded once more and then frowned as he picked up a piece of paper. Tapping his finger against his chin, he looked at the white stone in Sarah's hand and then at the paper again. "I have here a marriage certificate for one Draven La'Fon and a Sarah Manning Captain of The Black Calypso." Draven raised his eyebrow as Sarah flushed brightly. The man continued as he looked at them both, "Is it true? Have you snared our Sarah?"
Draven chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and looked as Sarah held the stone tightly in her hand, her fingers clenched tightly around the curve of the stone. "Yeah, she and I have gotten married and been celebrating on the way to meet my folks."
The man smiled brightly and stood to his feet. "Well in that case, welcome to the City of Nightfall. Our Queen will be wanting to meet you as well as give Sarah the money from the betting pool on when she would wed. I can tell you though, if you had waited another year I would have been the one who collected, but since you caught her on a day no one had guessed, she gets the pot." The man smiled warmly as he walked around the table and warmly shook Draven's hand. The guards in turn walked forward and shook Draven's hand as well. Draven then in turn smiled slightly and watched as Sarah climbed on her horse. He withdrew from the three men and climbed back on his own horse.
They rode into the city in silence and Draven could feel a slight pushing in his mind. Opening his mind he felt Sarah's presence enter his mind. The warmth of her personality was tinted slightly with a cool determination and a brief flash of uncertainty. "Let's hope that the gate keeper does not pass the word around too quickly. Especially if we want to be out of here quickly." Draven wondered as to why Sarah would want to leave the city quickly, but he sensed that there was something not right in this place.
"SARAH!" came the shrill shriek of a female voice. Draven winced as Sarah crouched down closer to her horse. "Sarah! So it IS true! You came back and you are MARRIED!" A female dressed in long flowing robes came rushing forward. Another female was with her, dressed in an odd skirt and pant combo as well as a form fitting blouse that appeared to have a corset pattern stitched in the sides. Sarah dismounted from her horse and sighed deeply as the women grabbed her arms and began talking rapidly. Draven could barely follow the conversation as Sarah was dragged away from him.
Shaking his head he gathered the reins of Sarah's horse and dismounted from his own horse, leading them both down the streets. As he progresses down the road he saw several groups of people walking around him, going about their daily business. His horse whinnied softly and shook its' mane, causing him to look forward and see a demure young woman approaching him. She had light golden-brown hair that curled tightly around her head, held back in a single braid going down her back. As she approached, she bowed towards him, "A greetings Husband to our Sarah. I have been sent to take your horses to the stables so that our Queen can speak with you."

*****This chapter, and the next following chapters, are fan fiction of my favorite book series written by Jean Johnson. I felt that her characters would fit in great as Draven and Sarah make their way across the land as they head to meet back with the ship.*****