Sir Walter Smythe was sixty-one years old and, in spite of his age, as fit as a fiddle. He proudly boasted of running marathons into his fifties, although in the past decade he had retired completely from athletics in order to devote his entire attention to his church, the organisation for which he had been working since he was in his early twenties. Now one of the most senior members of the Auran church in Britain, he had reached the pinnacle of his career but refused to retire. The church was his life, and Sir Walter would give his all to it as long as there was breath left in his body.
The entourage had been granted him more due to his status within the church than his age, and he had no real neeed of it. Two Alliance-trained guards turned private temple personell accompanied him alongside a scribe and two high status (but decidedly inferior) priests through the magic portal in the Palace of Versailles. The high priest had been to other worlds in his time, but rather infrequently, and he had supposed that such foreign missions would be a thing of the past - but not so. The church had agreed that a senior priest was required for this mission, given its gravity, and Sir Walter had volunteered - in part to satisfy his own interest, if he were honest. To see the world where Aura was the uncontested creator goddess would be sacred journey in itself, but this mission took precedence even over that. Even so... as he laid eyes on the world of Shaman for the first time, Sir Walter could not help but think that he would have to put forward a motion for a holy ground here on his return to Earth. For those who could afford such travel, this would have to be the ultimate pilgrimage.
Directions to the castle were easily acquired, and it transpired the distance was not great. As a man who believed firmly in doing things for himself, Sir Walter would not allow his scribe to introduce him to the palace guards; he introduced himself, and frowned in the face of their obvious bemusement. He could not honestly say he was surprised. Communications from Earth to the King of Shaman had to go through the Council of Originals, and given the shambles that organisation was currently in, Sir Walter had half-expected that his letters would not have reached the palace. The current Chairman, Tsi, was not a favourite of the Auran elite - Sir Walter strongly suspected that many of his letters 'accidentally' found their way into the bin in the pantheon without ever reaching the castle.
"Please inform His Majesty that Sir Walter Smythe, the representative of the Auran church, is here to see him," he stated in a gravelly, no-nonsense sort of tone. Sir Walter was the type of man who radiated authority, and he had an air about him that expected his orders to be obeyed; the guards didn't hesitate. One of them left immediately to find the King while the other found himself apologising to the Auran entourage.
It wasn't too long before the guard returned and invited the party to follow him. The entourage were left in the grand hall to be accomodated by members of the royal court and Sir Walter, accompanied only by one of the temple guards, followed the royal guard through the winding passageways to the King's office. The royal guard knocked and introduced him, before stepping aside to allow Sir Walter to stride in. Both the royal and the temple guard waited outside the door, which clicked shut behind him.
"Your Majesty," Sir Walter acknowledged in his firm voice, inclining his head. "I must apologise for the intrusion; evidently you were not expecting me. My letters did not reach the castle, I see." He moved further into the room and stood before the desk, not presuming to seat himself until invited. "I am a high priest of the Auran church in Britain, here as the acting representative of the organisation as a whole to discuss a matter of some urgence." |