Red Wedding

Alexis paid Brayan a visit at his castle as he was preparing for the wedding ceremony. They hadn't seen or heard from each other in almost a decade. As expected Brayan wasn't really excited to see Alexis. He had been living in his shadows growing up and when Alexis left for Onis, he was no longer the second best. Seeing Alexis made him reminisce on how devastated and miserable he felt when Alexis was bettering him in everything, from archery, sword skills, horse racing, jousting, magic and even playing musical instruments. He did his best though to pretend to be happy to see him.

"Hello Alexis."

"Good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Brayan." Alexis replied.

"It's been ages."

"It's been a long time." Said Brayan with a forced slight grin.

"Congratulations on your wedding." Alexis said.

"I'm happy for you."

"Thank you." Brayan responded.

"How is it like to be wedded?" He curiously asked

"It's really beautiful, there are hardships along the way but you have to take the good with the bad." Alexis replied.

"I will be king someday so I don't think I will enjoy my wedding as much as I would have liked." Brayan smirked gleefully, rubbing the fact that he was inheriting a stolen crown on Alexis's face.

"You will enjoy it." Alexis responded

"Your wife with help you rule the kingdom."

"Anyway I came to give you this gold bracelets. Give them to your bride as a wedding gift." Alexis said as he taking out the two golden bracelets rendered with amethysts.

"Oh wow! they are beautiful." Brayan said.

"I have always heard that the silversmiths and goldsmiths of Onis are the best, but I didn't think they were this good."

"Thank you Alex."

"Anytime brother, anytime." Alexis replied.

"If you don't mind, send them to your bride so that she can wear them at the wedding ceremony."

"I would like to have her wear them to show the bond between me and you."

"Okay I will send them right away." Brayan said.

"I'm sure she would love them."

"Alright, let me leave you to prepare for the wedding ceremony." Said Alexis.

"Okay see you later." Brayan said and Alexis made his way out the castle to the lodge.

For the rest of the day, Alexis, Duncan, Omiros, Flavia, Yahto and Ahuiliz anxiously awaited the wedding ceremony to start. Everything they had planned seemed to have went well during the day but they just couldn't help but feel nervous about how things would play out. The fate of their kingdom solely relied in their hands. It was a matter of life or starvation.

After an eternity of waiting, the ceremony began at the temple. Alexis went with Duncan alone and the Onisians stayed put at lodge. They arrived at the temple just before the bride and bridegroom and they took their seats inside the temple. The temple walls were decorated with tapestries and the floor with rushes scattered with flowers. Multitudes of people gathered around the temple to watch the couple making vows before the priest.

The bride, Palesa was a ridiculously beautiful young lady with brown glowing skin. dark brown upturned eyes and short dark hair. The white elegant gown she was wearing complimented her perfectly sculptured hour glass body as she was gracefully walking down the petal decorated isle. The mesmerized crowd couldn't hide their adoration for her.

Her groom, Brayan was waiting for her at the altar grinning from ear to ear. He was ecstatic. It was the best day of his life so far. He couldn't yet believe that he was going to be married to such a perfect girl. His gaze was fixed on her all the time as she was slowly walking towards him. She stood in front of him and love gazed at each other in total admiration, smiling uncontrollably.

They were in love yet they didn't know each other a month ago. It was an arranged marriage between the two kingdoms but they fell in love the moment they laid eyes upon each other. Brayan had never seen such a beautiful, curvy woman before. It was as if she was sculpted to perfection by skilled sculptors and given life. She was perfection personified.

Immediately after the priest cited the vows, loud cheers and applauses erupted from the crowd when the bride and the groom both said "I do". They passionately kissed as the crowd chanted louder. Alexis watched the two lovebirds with a doleful look on his face. Just a few years ago it was him and Rosa marrying and now seeing this two made him wish their fate was different. He was very regretful about what was to come.

After the exchange of vows they went to the royal wedding ceremony at the king's hall. It was a vast hall big enough to fit 500 people. Outside the hall were about 2000 people. Alexis came with his Onisian men. It was the first time they were out in public with him and he soon learned just how loathed the Onisians were.

Alexis was given a seat at the nobles tables but his men were placed at the commoners section. He kindly refused the seat and went to his men at the commoners section. The commoners who were near the Onisians moved their tables further away from them. They abhorred them and they went to great lengths to express their hatred.

"I don't want to sit next to this venomous monsters." One woman said in disgust.

"Why are they even here this vile creatures?" The other responded obnoxiously.

"They are here because they are starving, I hope the drought could kill them all." A disembodied voice of man resounded.

Alexis, Omiros, Flavia and all the others were all ears. The spearhead of those hurtful words pierced right through their emotional armor even though they tried their best to act tough. Their faces were woeful and forlorn. They knew they were detested by other kingdoms but just hearing the malicious comments made them feel the hate on a different level. The attention were on them than on the bride and groom. Even the nobles gave them sinister looks.

"The world would be a better place without this people." One noble said in abhorrence.

"They are a plaque sent to destroy us."

Flavia was more motivated to overkill them. Well he was already inspired to kill them but after hearing those comments, all he wanted was to overkill them and spill their blood all over their cities.

The ceremony commenced with magicians playing tricks and performances from musicians. They wowed the audience for a while until dinner was served.

Servants as many as 100 came with bowls and trays full of different cuisines and served the royal tables, down to the commoner's section. More servants came with jars of wine and filled jugs and glasses of everyone. After every table was set, Brayan stood on his feet and proposed a toast for his gorgeous bride, Palesa. He sighed deeply.

"I would like to make a toast to my wife , Palesa Kgafela, princess of Pilanesburg and the future queen of Adonisia."

'Future queen?' Alexis thought. He heard Brayan mention earlier that he was going to be king and now he was talking about it again.

'He seemed to have forgotten that I am the rightful heir to the throne.'

'I guess I will never inherit the throne as long as he too is alive.' He thought bitterly.

Alexis had been wrestling with his mind about how to go on with the attack. He thought of killing only King Loannis alone, but there was no way he could successfully do that without his followers fighting back. He wasn't sure either if he really had to kill Brayan but now he knew for sure he had to die.

As Brayan was still talking, the crowd started again with their taunts.

"I'm sure they can't wait to dig in the food this starving mambas." A woman said.

"I hope to never see them again." Another woman added.

"I hear Alexis has married one of them, he must be as poisonous as them now.' Another said in a hateful tone.

"He even has baby snakes with the Onisian woman." Another said in squalid voice.

"This drought is sent to destroy them because they are a plaque."

"I hope they all die." One said in an even louder voice.

The words shook Alexis to the core. He bitterly thought of Alecia and Roseo. They too carry the O toxin and they will never be safe as long as this people are alive. This people had decided their fate. All the second thoughts he had about killing them diminished. He knew he had to kill them and build a new kingdom. His dear father would not be proud but it was necessary. The future of his descendants relied upon this.

After making peace with the fate of this people, he secretly did hand signs and the amethyst in the bracelet he gave Palesa faintly glowed and almost immediately it returned back to normal.

Brayan continued with his speech.

"This is the first day of many days, weeks, months and years to come. I assure you that I will love you the same. I will cherish this moment as long as I live."

Palesa blushed as the crowd applauded cheerfully. They had found love in each other. It was the best moment of their lifes. King Amon was a very proud father. Everyone took a sip of the wine while thirstier ones gulped it down. It was as tasty as life itself.

Out of the blue a loud gasp resounded across the commoner's section. More gasps echoed and the king, Brayan and other nobles raised their heads. The people in the commoners section gulped down more wine than the nobles and royals because they don't normally get access to free wine. The king, his family and friends would soon learn why there were sudden unrest in the commoner's section.

As a minute passed, Brayan felt the chest pains, he struggled on the chair and it fell backwards. Palesa rushed to his aid. She thought he was choking on a piece of chicken he was chewing and she tried to help him but there was little she could do. She cried to the top of her lungs wondering what was happening to her groom. After a short while she noticed no one was coming to attend to the prince and there were growing cocophony sounds of falling chairs and screams all around the hall.

She got up and looked around. Her eyes wandered across the hall and to her shock, most people were dead on the floor from the commoner's section to the royal tables, while some were struggling on the floor. She saw Alexis standing tall above King Loannis who was laying prostrate on the floor with widened eyes.

"I knew of your plot to have me killed tonight." Alexis said.

"But I had a plan of my own."

King Loannis gasped. He was trying to say something but his mouth could not make any audible sound.

"I won't let the poison kill you." Alexis bellowed.

"I will kill you!"