Orchestral music drifts slowly into my ears, swirling and mingling with the dream I was having. The dragon I was conquering started to sway and blur before I could plunge my sword through his chest. A blinding light filled the back of my eyelids and I jump awake.
The music is loud and coherent. I gasp and leap out of bed. It's my birthday! And apparently, there's a party at the galla. A party I don't want, but I must attend. My dust wood-planked floor starts to boom and pulse as the band kicks in. I panic and rip off my pajamas.
"Pants, pants, where are my pants?!" I drop my nightcap onto the floor and search my dresser. I find my best pants in the lower left drawer, and slip into them, tripping over the pant leg and coming face-first with the floor. I groan and pull myself groggily to my feet, gripping the knobby bed-post for support.
A pounding sounds on the spiral staircase leading to my room and I panic more, ripping open the wardrobe and breaking its door straight off the hinges. I rip out the nearest shirt I can and shimmy into it. The door bursts open as I'm lacing up my dressing vest, I scream and jump to face them.
My uncle's kindly and round face, shining now with sweat over his brow and his green eyes magnified underneath his circular glasses. "Orpheus! My boy!" He chuckles deep and heartily, waddling into the bedroom and grabbing me by the back of my head, pulling me into his burly chest. "Fourteen! I can hardly believe it!" I laugh, now, too.
He pats my back and pushes me an arm's length away, his hands still connected to my shoulders. "You're going to make a fine man someday." He gave a look of sincerity and...fear? I could see a tension in him that was rarely their. I raise an eyebrow, tilting my head to look up at him. "Thanks, Uncle Therius. Is there--is there something you want to tell me?"
He looked startled, his sea green eyes flashing with caution. "No, my dear boy."
Taking a look around my room, he quickly looked back at me. "Not yet, anyway." A painful silence filled the room. He took a mindful breath. "Oh! I'd nearly forgotten what I'd come up for! You're late, really late for your birthday galla! Your mother will have your hide, let's go!" He slaps a large, beefy hand on my shoulder and drags me through the door behind him. Making a last attempt to fix my clothes as I'm being dragged down the spiral staircase, I lace up my leather vest and tuck in my shirt tail. We come to the bottom staircase, the thick wooden door with a brass knocker shadows my leather boots. For a minute, my uncle releases his grasp on me and I jump into them, lacing them up and hopping along behind him as he opens the door and saunters into the hallway.
The classical music suddenly thunders through the walls once again. We walk through the mansion, lacing our way down several hallways until we finally meet the great source of sound that is the galla. My uncle gives me an incredulous look, puts a hand on my shoulder, and says, "Chin up, chest out. The usual, go get 'em." And with that he shoves me through the open half of the great double dears with knockers too high to use.
Everyone stops and turns. Immediately, I straighten up and bow. "If you'll please excuse my extended absence, I was studying late last night with Uncle Therius. Please continue to enjoy yourselves, you are my guests today." For a single second, there was stunned silence. Then one person clapped, and suddenly the entire white marble galla was in applause. Flustered, I bowed again and murmured a "thank you" before sidestepping toward the food table.
I had nearly forgotten my hunger with uncle's strange behavior, which I wouldn't forget anytime soon. Taking a small saucer, I piled bacon, eggs, and sausage onto a slice of buttered toast. Scooping up a cup of apple juice in the crook of my arm, I set off to find an empty table to sit at. Everyone knew birthday gallas weren't really about you at all. It was just another chance to say you were invited to something in the royal manor. Then again, no one was specifically invited, all in the kingdom were allowed to attend. This made it particularly meaningless.
Sneaking my way through the crowd, I was met with a murmur of drunken "happy birthday"s and many murmured insults, "Watch it, bugger!", "Are you trying theive me, you delinquent!", "Have you forgotten your manners, or have you just not got any?!". Ignoring this banter, I plop into a seat at an undecorated table to the left of the atrium's entrance. I was silently hoping I were someone else, somewhere else.
I suck down my breakfast saucer and observe the crowd. All the kids Uncle Therius tutors are here, along with most of my extremely distant relatives. Through the crowd I can make out the mayor and the entire council here, dancing drunkenly with each other and blabbing about council projects none of them really care about.
There was a a large clatter and everything seemed to freeze. The crowd turned its attention to the center of the floor, where my mother had sunk to the ground, her face pale and her eyes out of focus. Everything happened in slow motion, panic filled the room haphazardly. People began sworming left and right, clogging the entrance to the atrium and the door leading into the great hall. I couldn't rationalize what was happening, adrenaline pumped through my body but there was no air to breath. Josteled this way and that, I sunk to the middle of the floor, too.
A coldness so bitter and sharp, like a blizzard, coursed through my vains. My lips became desperately dry. Sucking in rapid breaths, I lolled my head dumbly from side to side. It was as if death itself was breathing down my neck, freezing my nerves in permafrost. A dullness set over my conciousness and my eyes closed, heavy. I try to open them again, to grasp a ray of light one last time as the last breath in my lungs faded away, but the coldness plunged me into nonexistence.
