Chapter 4: Stupidity

The ceremony had started and with unnatural calm Arram watched as the Lioness walked, happily towards a beaming Baron of Pirate Swoop. He had come to the wedding with one aim alone: to destroy it. Why was not yet clear to him but the part of his being that seethed with suppressed anger knew it wanted to obliterate something. It didn't seem to matter any more that he didn't even know Alanna or her future husband, it didn't matter that they had had no real part in his downfall, didn't matter that there was no logical reason for his actions. Unknowingly these people had evicted him from his home, from all he had ever known.

His mouth opened the first incantation on his lips.

"Do you, Alanna of Trebond and Olau, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health until death do you part?"

Arram shook his head. It was all a bit pathetic really, a shame it would be over in a few moments time.

"I do."

His eyes strayed to the place the happy couple stood surrounded by their friends. For a moment he repented. But where are my friends? He thought savagely. They betrayed me.

"And do you, George…"

The rest of the man's speech was wasted on Arram who stood, locked in a silent battle with himself.

These people were merely the tools. They do not deserve your vengeance. You don't need to do this.

"You're not going to do anything stupid are you?" Lindhall's voice asked, dimly from the past.

"They destroyed my life!" he yelled as several people turned to stare at him in amazement. Quickly the young mage paced away.

"Don't worry Lindhall. I'm not a fool," he heard himself replying.

"It's their fault," he murmured.

Lindhall's voice again: "Really? Sometimes I worry."

"I do": The Baron of Pirate's swoop.

"Do you think he's alright?" the watching children inquired.

He walked faster, away from the festivities.

"Don't worry Lindhall. I'm not a fool."

"Shut up!"

"Don't worry Lindhall. I'm not a fool."

The first of the tears streamed from his eyes, but he did not notice.

"Have you betrayed the state of Carthak?"

"I have not."

"Ozorne," he hissed, tasting salt on cracked lips.

"You control the laws of the state, Ozorne."

"This is Ozorne's fault," he gasped as the revelation struck him.

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

It was over then.