At learning the fate of Aiden, the queen burst into tears. She had known there was a great risk in what they were undertaking, but to lose three people she genuinely cared for in one go was a blow anyone would have difficulty dealing with. Criosa was less upset about learning of Terinus' demise, although pleased he was able to partially atone for his actions. She still blamed the wizard for the corruption of her father and would not forgive him, even after his death.
Sayana had debated with Robert how to explain Aiden's transformation, unsure if Criosa would be able to accept the strange event. They eventually decided to be open and forthcoming, and found the queen to be fully understanding. She had spoken earlier to Aiden at some length of his ongoing change, and the idea he had changed completely was not totally abhorrent to her. She did concede, however, if Aiden had returned, the royal court might have had difficulty accepting a dragon as their Queen's consort.
Dinner was a sombre affair, with Criosa stiffly holding on to protocol in front of her guests to avoid disolving into tears. A display of raw emotion from the new queen was not how she wanted to begin her rule of Aielund. Tomorrow, she would be officially crowned by the lords of the city and the reign of Queen Criosa the First would begin, long may she live.
After they had finished eating, Criosa excused herself from the table and, unable to hold her façade any longer, went to be alone with her grief. Sayana and Robert knew she needed time to grieve and headed out to the balcony to sit on a comfortable bench, and look up at the stars once more.
“Damnedest thing I've ever seen,” Robert remarked about the whole affair, even as he reached into a pocket and produced a cigar.
“You have to be kidding me,” Sayana exclaimed, grabbing the offensive little object before it could touch his lips. “You promised if you survived, you’d quit smoking these things.”
“Oh come on,” he protested, “one last stogie to celebrate our victory?” Sayana gave him a withering glance, and without thinking about it she ignited the cigar in her hand, incinerating it completely.
“Wait, I thought...” Robert blurted, thinking the same thing she was. “I mean, with your tatts gone, I figured you were done throwing fire around.”
“I think that's about all I can manage, now,” she remarked, extending one finger and creating a tiny flicker of flame on the tip. “Quite a fall from grace, is it not? Never mind, I’m jus tgrateful to be alive. Tomorrow, you're going to see whatever clerics the Church has left, and you're getting those lungs looked at. No excuses.”
“Yes ma'am,” Robert replied, attempting to stifle another cough while Sayana looked on in concern.
“You're retiring from the field, too,” she added. “I'll talk to Criosa about finding you a nice job behind a desk.”
“Right after I track down Osric,” Robert said firmly. “The little bastard got away from us, and he's out there somewhere with Veronique's magic in his grasp. I want him captured or dead before he gets a chance to use it again.”
“No argument here,” Sayana agreed. Having reached the pinnacle of sorcerous power, she was feeling very mortal now. But even if she only lived another fifty years, it was unlikely Robert would go the distance. He was older than her already, and looking weary and scarred from years of long campaigning. Still, she loved his honest, forthright nature and rough charms, and would stay with him until the end, whenever it might be.
As they sat companionably on the bench, lights began to shoot across the sky above, flaring up for a brief moment before fading away once more. There were a few at first, but more and more began to cascade across the sky. It was a beautiful end to the evening, and made Sayana recall the wonder she felt looking up at the world from the bridge of the Akashic Throne. The sky wasn't a blanket filled with holes at all, but a vast space with untold mysteries awaiting discovery.
“I want to learn more about what we saw up there,” Sayana whispered, leaning against Robert's chest as she watched the display of shooting stars. “It was so clear the stars seemed to go on forever, and the world… it was so beautiful to behold.” He responded with a snore, the events of the last two days finally catching up with him. She sighed as she returned her gaze to the heavens, content to rest there with the man she loved until sleep finally overcame her.
Just as she was beginning to nod off, a flare in the sky caught her attention as an especially large shooting star shot across the sky. More and more of them followed in its wake. They did not fade away, but streaked down towards the horizon as balls of fire.
Fire.
With sudden understanding, Sayana knew what she was looking at.
“It's the remnants of the Akashic Throne,” she whispered in awe. Robert remained asleep, oblivious to the event while Sayana figured something out. Something important.
“Dragons are immune to fire,” she muttered with a smile slowly spreading across her face. She ran back inside to find Criosa, while daring to hope for the impossible.
Coda
The warmth of the late summer sun clashed with the salty ocean air, as the Redoubtable pitched about in rough seas. The glowing orb sat just above the horizon, after a day of sailing to reach this usually forbidden location. Sayana Arai leaned against Robert Black as they stood on deck, gazing across the choppy waters at a bleak and desolate island. Sayana hated returning here, but the Isle of the Dead happened to be where most of the wreckage had fallen, and it was here that Criosa commanded they travel.
Even at a distance of several hundred yards, it was clear there was nothing but twisted, blackened metal strewn across the rocky beach, with larger pieces protruding from the water along the shore. Her initial hope that Aiden might have survived the fall ended when she saw the extent of the wreckage. Even now, a full day after witnessing the fireballs shooting from the sky, smoke and fires still seethed amongst the blackened metal.
“The good news,” Robert remarked as he held Sayana close, “is that none of those horrid monsters could have survived that crash. The bad news is that neither could anything else, dragon or otherwise.” He was speaking not just to Sayana, but to Criosa, who stood nearby, gazing at the scene without emotion.
“I just needed to see it for myself.” she said without emotion.
“Perhaps we could go ashore and search it more thoroughly?” Sayana suggested, looking at Criosa with concern. Her silence since arriving off the coast had been deafening.
“That could take weeks,” Robert advised, “and we still may not find anything at all.”
“I had hoped to find Aiden,” Criosa responded distantly, her eyes never leaving the shore, “lying on the beach, or perhaps floating in the water. We could save him and let him heal, maybe even reverse the affliction taking over his body.”
“He was pretty far gone,” Robert warned. “I don't think there was any coming back from what he'd become.”
“Perhaps, though perhaps not,” Criosa suggested. “We've come this far. Is it so wrong to go ashore and spend a few days searching?”
“Your Majesty, this is indulgent,” Robert counseled gruffly. “You don't have time for this. The effort we'd spend searching for him could be better spent securing your rule in Fairloch.”
“I know,” Criosa sighed, clearly torn between finding the remains of the man she loved, and her duty to the kingdom. Robert sensed this too, and made it clear which side of the issue he was on.
“You have to rebuild trust in both the government, and in the Crown, after your father's years of abuse,” he continued. “His less visible supporters in the government will try to disappear into the shadows and wait for a better time to act. You have to cut them out before that happens, and place people you trust in positions of power.”
“That will be your job, Mister Black,” Criosa responded, quickly switching from a forlorn girl, mourning her lost love, to the tactful leader she had become. “I need you to ferret out those people so I can put them on trial.”
“I was sort of planning on hunting down Osric,” Robert muttered,
sounding disappointed that his advice was backfiring on him.
“Don't worry, we will get him,” Criosa assured him with steely resolve. “I will commission a simple but accurate sketch of him, that we can display prominently throughout the kingdom, so people will be able to spot him when he shows up again.”
“I've memorized his face,” Sayana replied. “I like to draw, so I can probably sketch him for you. I don't exactly have much else going for me anymore.”
“Hey, you've got me,” Robert pointed out, giving her a reassuring squeeze, while ignoring her withering expression.
“You may no longer be the most powerful sorceress who ever lived, but I'll find a job for you,” Criosa offered with a wan smile. “Something close to my side. You made a few enemies when you threw around your power over the last week or so, and I'm not sure how they'll react if they learn you've lost your abilities. I don't suppose you're good with numbers?”
“Not especially,” Sayana responded.
“Pity, I was going to put you in charge of the treasury. Never mind, I'll find someone suitable, preferably with wealthy contacts who can loan us funds, including a reward for the capture of Osric Davignon. Perhaps a thousand gold sovereigns would entice people to turn him in.”
“Do you even have that much left in the treasury?” Sayana asked as Robert's eyes seemed to bulge out of his head.
“Probably not,” Criosa lamented, “hence the need for loans. We have much to rebuild, all across the kingdom. And we can forget about building a new castle, the cost of that alone would put us in a century of debt.”
“The University was levelled as well,” Sayana pointed out.
“Yes, though it was thankfully empty at the time,” Criosa answered. “Unfortunately, that was because most of the wizards had been pressed into service on the front lines. I've no idea how many survived.”
“And all of the knowledge built up over centuries of study was lost when the tower was destroyed,” Sayana added.
“I had hoped to retrain a new generation of wizards, but without that knowledge, I don't even know if it’s possible,” Criosa said, rubbing one of her temples in thought. “It's going to take months to tally the real cost of this war.”
“I wish Nellise was here,” Sayana whispered to herself, though the others heard her anyway.
“I already miss her wisdom and insight,” Criosa agreed. “She was a good friend and valuable ally. She would have had the opportunity to reorganize the entire hierarchy of the Church of Aielund.”
“We may see her again in our lifetimes,” Sayana suggested, raising an eyebrow from Criosa. “She was exorcised from her body, not killed.”
“So, you're saying she's still alive in some fashion?” Criosa hesitantly asked.
“In whatever manner celestial beings exist, yes,” Sayana confirmed, drawing a slight smile from their young queen.
“That brings me a measure of comfort, at least,” she said quietly.
“Wait,” Robert interrupted, “the cathedral was destroyed, along with most of the Church's corrupt leaders. Is there anything left to reorganize, especially after they supported your father's twisted reign so fervently?”
“A few younger priests are around, though I like to think they were not so keen on the new direction of the Church,” Criosa replied. “I'll figure something out. It's number four hundred and fifteen on my list.” Her head slumped as she realized the enormity of what she now had to do, and it was this, more than anything else, that made their new queen realize it was time to go.
“I think we're done here,” she said to nobody in particular. Her eyes lingered on the distant shoreline a moment longer, before finally letting Aiden go. “Captain, take us home. There's nothing more to see here.”
“As you wish, Majesty,” Ronan Woulfe said in reply. “Next stop, Fairloch.” He had been recently promoted by royal decree, and was dressed in the attire of a captain of the Aielish Navy. He saluted and shouted out orders to the crew, who rushed about to get the Redoubtable under way. As the sun sank below the horizon, the first of the evening stars became visible in the clear sky, and Sayana stared up at them and wondered about all she had seen up there, beyond the sky.
“You know,” Robert pondered, “at the end of it all, Aiden had wings. Once he was back below the clouds, couldn't he have just flown off instead of crashing into the ground?”
“Assuming he was conscious, yes,” Sayana answered. Criosa looked at them with a spark of hope in her eyes, that quickly faded.
“But if that were true, why hasn't he come home?” she wondered. They had no answers, and a cursory glance at the sky showed no signs of their wayward friend. Resigned to wondering about his fate, Criosa's eyes searched the sky as the ship set off, with one hand curiously resting on her belly.
About the Author
Stephen L. Nowland resides in Frankston, Australia, where he spends his time creating stories, games and art to astound and entertain.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sln
Further information on this novel and upcoming titles can be found at his website, and you can follow his progress on Facebook and Twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/stephenlnowland
www.stephenlnowland.com.au
@stephennowland
The Aielund Saga
Soldiers of Winter
Soldiers of Avarice
Soldiers of the Crown
Soldiers of Ruin
Soldiers of Legend
Soldiers of Tyranny
Soldiers of the Heavens
Other titles by the same author
The Ballard Trilogy
In the Wake of War
The Fortress of Gold
Upon the Ashes of Empire
Soldiers of the Heavens Page 36
