The King's Collie

Part III, Chapter 1: Benedictus

PART III
Regarding virtues.
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It was five days exactly after the return to Valentia. The sun shone beautifully through the renowned stained glass windows of the church, brilliantly illuminating both the sanctuary within and the people inside. The organ played a soft tune. In any other case, on a day like this, it would be at full stops, with its happy and heavenly noise. Presently, however, it was contemplative. It evoked remembrance, with a lone trumpeter emphasizing the melody.

It was a funeral chorale, evident by the casket front and center. At the funeral were only the most prolific people invited. It was one of the extremely rare cases in which the spacious Church was closed to the general public, a fact Iago particularly didn't like. However, this sort of sad yet beautiful ceremony would, of course, require an invitation.

Among those present were none other than the King and Queen of Cambria themselves. The king was a lithe, dark-scaled dragon, as was his wife, save that her head's scales were a light blue. She had wings, while he, a drake, did not. They both mourned, having known this corgi knight and his wonderful deeds for both their kingdom and the world. Their good few princes and princesses each did the same, if not more intensely so. The corgi was special to every one of them, having been their guardian when royal affairs took parental attention.

Also there, of course, were the Valentian royals, Felix and Ophelia. They sat next to the other royals, and seemed to share in many of their emotions. Felix had his handkerchief out, which he occasionally wiped his eyes with.

The Cardinal Iago, along with the lesser of the Kingdom's holy figures under his wing necessary to be present, officiated the funeral. The choir had been reciting the appropriate songs at the appropriate times, but it sounded stale and emotionless when it came to these standards.

Cameron wished there was a little more polyphony. He wasn't exactly invited to the funeral, a fact that he found to be ill-fitting for the situation. Afon was close enough to confess his true purpose to him in what would be one of the corgi's final hours, he reasoned, and that was enough to justify the otherwise outrageous act of sneaking into this noble-only event. He stood in a discreet spot, a convenient cove behind a veil.

"What's the plan, again?" Marco asked, having also snuck along, standing what would usually be uncomfortably close.

"Quiet," the collie rebutted, immersed in the ceremony from this viewpoint. He took quick peeks, trying to remain under cover, one of the reasons he also instructed to be quiet.

"When do we go out?" the wolf asked again.

"At the final blessing," Cameron answered, and waited. What he started to hear was interesting enough to describe:

"May He forever acknowledge a sacrifice of blood to His name," Iago nodded, and started to read off a long phrase in the church language.

"Bloody sacrifices?" the Cambrian queen whispered to Queen Ophelia.

"He's very dramatic," Ophelia replied, embarrassedly.

It seemed the long Latin passage was done, and Iago closed his book. "Peace be with you," he finished off a final speech and blessing.

Then, Marco and Cameron stepped out, with Felix gasping. The King and Queen of Cambria, meanwhile, seemed confused for a second, until Cameron picked up a lute, and Marco had the utter audacity to heft over an entire cello. How he got it there beforehand, nobody knew. It was then that everybody except Iago knew that an unprecedented musical offering was to be made for an unprecedented necessity for one. The room seemed to light up with the unexpectedly bright plucks of the strings to start the song off. Marco began first, then Cameron joined in with some bright harmonies, sounding much like the holy cants recited a few moments ago, and yet with far more meaning. Finally, over luscious cello, the lyrics twice sung were familiar:

It is the old covenant that we die,

and the new that we live eternal.

Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord God;

today, I join Him in Paradise.

It was over as soon as it seemed to start. Tears flowed, but they were not the sorrowful sort. Surely they were sad, but this was a sweeter sadness, much like the song was. The memories came back, lingered, and came to a now-resolute end.

With holy words like these, grief permeated that comforting amount less.

Iago, startled, turned around, and would have heartily nagged the young men behind him, but not even he not wanted to break this suddenly beautiful atmosphere. Then, after a good few minutes of silence and remembrance, the King and Queen of Cambria started to get up, and leave, wishing to say nothing more. One of their children, meanwhile, went to Marco and gave him a shy "thank you," while another laid their eyes upon Afon for one last time.

Cameron sensed a smile on the knight's peaceful visage, saw this, and smiled back, knowing that he had honored a fallen as only he could. The melody, after all, was his own, as truly ancient as the words were.

Felix, along with the dragon royals and his own collie company, too took this final look, and stayed until the sanctuary was otherwise empty. The young dragons went to catch up with their parents, while Cameron and the King made their short way back to the castle with Ophelia.

"Who wrote that song?" Felix asked, now that the trio were back in the halls they called home.

"I did," Cameron answered.

"Really? You should get Marco to jot it down, in that case," Felix insisted. "It was beautiful beyond words."

"I already did; he taught me how," Cameron answered yet again, quite proud that he now acquired this skill of musical composition.

"Oh," the King nodded. "Take it to me, and I'll try to get it published. And, hey... I thought that it was really thoughtful, how you wrote it," Felix elaborated, "and brave, how you did all of it. How—" he had a final question.

"Yeah?" Cameron tilted his head.

"How did Marco sneak a whole cello back there?" the lion smiled as he got the question out.

"Seriously, no idea," the young dog barked back, scratching at his own head.