Opening the Waygate

You are being led along a series of side passages through the keep, all of them tight, stone hallways. They are so narrow that you are shoulder-to-shoulder with Aurora as the King and one of his ministers leads your small group to the Waygate. Lines of runic script trace along the walls, interspersed with woven tapestries. Pictures of great battles and historic events that hang loosely, gathering dust. You wish Tri'lanna was here, so that she might provide a little backdrop to all the artifacts here, because the significance of this items are lost on you completely. Aurora is mostly quiet, except for the occasional glance and reassuring smile at you.

"My Liege, a-are you sure this is wise?!" Veritas stutters as he scrambles to stay next to the King.

"This young man here says we can win the war if we open the waygate and the Princess agrees with him." The king spoke up from out in front. "I trust my daughter's judgement, so I agree with him as well."

"But he's just a BOY, your Majesty! A peasant from some nameless heap of sticks out in the wilds!"

"He is also the only one in the entire isle that has directly challenged the Pretender and survived, and he knows more about His plans than any other man."

"But-"

King Lucian stops suddenly and whirls to face the nobleman. He moves towards him, until they are nearly nose-to-nose. The king is not a large man, but he carries a gravity about him that makes him tower over Veritas. "Are you telling me that Princess Aurora wrong? That you know better than her, and by logical extention, me? Your King?"

Veritas backpedaled, sweat beading his forehead. "Nonono, your Highness. Of course not. His Majesty is of the highest intellect and is without fault."

"Good. Now shut up, for Gods' sake."

"Yes...yes, of course."

Someone giggles behind you and Veritas glares icily in your direction. You lock eyes with him and the nobleman tries to stare you down, summoning up all of his pride and haughtyness to cow you through sheer willpower. You don't even make an effort to intimidate him, just wordlessly return his gaze as you follow behind the King. Veritas breaks eyecontact in less than a few seconds, too afraid to face the man who faced the Great Pretender's second-in-command in single combat and live to tell the tale. Twice.

"We're almost there now." Aurora's voice grabs your attention. "I hope you're right, Hans."

The stone hallway opens into a wide circular courtyard, deep within the castle keep. It looks to be an interior garden, with concentric circles of plants and flowers, but now overgrown and abandoned due to disuse. Weeds and untrimmed hedges spill out into the spiralling stone walkways giving the garden a wild, unkempt look. Most prominently though, is a large stone circle almost ten feet across, resting on its side, in the middle of the garden, propped up with stone wedges to keep from rolling away. This is the Waygate. You are certain of it. Your key and only hope to seeing Tri'lanna and Ceinwyn again.

The King's entourage began shuffling out immediately, already working around the waygate. Others are standing off to the side, such as Veritas, watching the entire process with disinterest.

Aurora looks once more to you before leaving, saying, "I should help with the preparations. It should only take a minute."

This left you alone with the King. As the two of you stand beside each other, watching as the procession fiddles with the waygate and as Princess Aurora supervises them, a long awkward silence begins to stretch between the two of you. As King, he is probably used to having someone entertain him and you know you should be saying something, but only a croaking noise grows in your throat. Any thoughts of conversation seem to have fled your mind, and the only thing you can think about now is how small he seems compared to you and yet how intimidating he feels.

"So it appears I have you to thank for saving my daughter's life."

"Your Majesty? Uh, yes?" You stutter, unprepared to be spoken to first.

"I said thank you," Lucian said, turning towards you, "For protecting Aurora."

"It was...nothing, your Highness." You manage say, averting your eyes downward respectfully, "I was just at the right place and made a stupid decision. Uh, I mean, it's not that saving the princess was stupid, it was just....it was just, that I wasn't thinking."

"Well, not thinking about the consequences is our privilege as men!" He replied, chuckling. "I remember there was once a young man like you. Long ago. Strong in arm, but not so much in the head. He got into one too many duels, jumped in to protect his loved ones far too often. Yes, I'd say he suffered a great many painful lessons before he finally got it in his thick skull to think with his head just as much as with his heart."

"What happened to that young man?"

A sly smile grew on King Lucian's face as he turned back to watch the waygate open. "Well, that man became king. So I'd say he's doing quite well now."

Suddenly, a flash of azure light floods the courtyard. The glow becomes so bright that you have to shield your eyes and flinch away from the source, which appears to be coming from the center of the room. When the light finally abates and your vision begins to return, you look back towards the waygate. The stone circle now glows with a faint golden hue and in the middle of the gate, instead of it being empty, there is an opaque screen that's softly glowing blue all along the ring, like a velvet cloth draped over an embroidery hoop. You can only assume that the waygate now lies open.

A half-dozen halberdiers form up in a defensive line in front of you and the king. "Prepare yourself." Lucian says to you, his brow furrowed tensely. "We don't know what could come out the other side."

Looking up at the shimmering blue portal, you slowly draw your battleaxe and wait.