by Bryan Davis
Arxad wrapped a wing around her and held her close again. “You are the first human I ever truly loved, and that love will never falter. You will always be welcome in my home.”
“And we will gather our own honey,” Xenith said, smiling. “No more bee adventures for you.”
After Arxad, Fellina, Xenith, and Koren laughed together for a moment, Arxad spread out his wings and gestured for attention. “We have spoken of love and mercy, so with those blessings in mind, may I suggest that the king of this land should make a proclamation regarding the slaves? It seems to me that since the army from Major Four has triumphed and dragons have been conquered, capitulation is in order.”
Magnar, who had been quietly scanning his devastated domain, turned toward the group. “Are you asking for a formal surrender?”
Arxad nodded. “It seems appropriate, considering the circumstances.”
“Agreed, but I will do even more.” Magnar extended his neck toward Koren and lowered his head to the ground. “Starlighter, if you would give me the honor, I will take you to the Zodiac’s remains, where we will address the people together.”
Koren spread out her cloak and bent her knee. “The honor is mine, good dragon.” She climbed up his neck and settled on his back, her scorched cloak flowing behind her.
“Follow us, my friends.” Magnar spread out his wings and flew over the battlefield toward the pile of rubble.
Xenith nudged Jason with a wing. “You and Elyssa look like you need a ride, too.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Smiling at Elyssa, he curled his ring finger around hers. “We’ll walk.”
“Very well.” Xenith flew toward the Zodiac.
“If you do not mind,” Arxad said, “Fellina and I would like to walk with you. It will take some time for Magnar and Koren to gather such a large crowd.”
“Please do.” Jason and Elyssa set out at a slow pace, Arxad and Fellina to their right. Arxad bent his neck toward Jason and Elyssa as they walked. “When the difficulties in your world are settled, will you return to us? We hope to establish peaceful relations between our worlds. The two of you would make excellent ambassadors.”
“Thank you,” Jason said. “I don’t know about being an ambassador, but I hope we return someday.”
By the time they neared the remains of the Zodiac, Magnar and Koren were standing side by side on the debris with hundreds of slaves and soldiers looking on. Koren shifted her weight from foot to foot, her eyes darting. Her face radiated her familiar glow, but her clothes and cloak were torn and dirty. With the glittering crown of light on her head, she looked like a shining angel disguised as a peasant.
The street was now clear of casualties. The original soldiers had moved the dead human bodies and smaller dragon parts away, perhaps to the Basilica. The fire there still burned, a good place to incinerate the dead.
At Magnar’s request, the crowd made room for Jason and the others to come to the front. As Jason passed, he glanced from face to face, each one clear of symptoms. He didn’t bother to try to count them to verify Elyssa’s number. At this point, it didn’t really matter.
When everyone settled again, Magnar waved a wing and spoke with a loud voice. “I will be brief. This is a day of new beginnings, and it behooves us all to move on. It is impossible to express my regret for all the evil I have committed, and it is equally impossible for me to amend every wrong, but I will do all that is in my power. My mate and I will retire in peace to a place where we will no longer be a scourge to anyone.”
Magnar bowed his head. “I hereby formally surrender to the liberators from Major Four. I release all claims to ownership of any humans, and I abdicate my rule and hand it over to Koren the Starlighter.”
Koren jerked her head toward him. “What?”
The crowd erupted in cheers, drowning out Magnar’s reply. When the noise subsided, Magnar shuffled close to Koren and cupped a wing around her. “As the new queen of Starlight do you have anything to say?”
Koren stood stiffly for a moment. After scanning the crowd, she cleared her throat. “Well, the first thing that comes to mind is whether or not I will have any humans with me.”
“You have at least one.” Wallace pushed to the front, climbed the mound, and joined Koren. “I hear the barrier wall is gone. We’re free to live anywhere we want.”
Excited chatter erupted until Magnar gestured with his wings for quiet. “I beg your pardon. I forgot to mention an important detail or two. Alaph, the king of the Northlands, has passed away.” He waited through another surge of chatter. “Before he died, he told me that the great castle is to be given to Koren if she chooses to remain as the sovereign of this world.”
Wallace raised a hand. “All hail Queen Koren!”
The crowd echoed, “All hail Queen Koren!” After two repetitions, each one louder than the previous, they settled down.
Koren’s face glowed red. “I …” She licked her lips. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Accept!” Wallace shouted. “Be our queen!”
After dozens of yeses rose from the crowd, silence ensued. Everyone stared at Koren while Magnar and Wallace drew back. She walked down from the debris and stood at street level only a few paces from the closest onlooker.
Spreading out her cloak, she dipped into a low curtsy. When she rose, she shifted her gaze from face to face. “I accept on one condition—that you will be my friends and not my subjects. We will learn how to be free together under a new kind of rule. Remember the prophesy. ‘In honor of this treasured hour, we celebrate Creator’s power. The dawn of paradise will bring an age of peace beside our king.’ And our king is not a dragon or a human. Our king is the Creator himself.” Cheers erupted. While Koren waited for the noise to settle, she continued scanning the crowd. When her gaze locked on Jason’s, she smiled. “And in this newfound freedom, I hope to get a lot of help from our friends from another world who have sacrificed so much to bring us liberty.”
She ran to Jason and wrapped him in her arms. As warmth spread across his skin, he slid his arms around her and held her close.
When she pulled back, she looked up into his eyes, tears magnifying her emerald irises. “I can’t stand the thought of you leaving, Jason. From the moment I saw you through the black egg, I knew somehow you would set us free, that you would break my chains. And now …” Her face twisted in grief. “And now you’re leaving.”
“Only for a while.” Jason gestured for Elyssa to join them. As the three embraced, Jason whispered, “I will cherish the day we met, Koren. Anytime you need help, we’re just a portal hop away. Don’t ever forget that.”
“We’re closer than sisters now,” Elyssa said. “Don’t be surprised when I stop by the castle uninvited.”
A new voice chimed in. “And I’ll make sure the castle is spotless for your visit.” A glimmering girl appeared at Koren’s side, her fists on her hips. “When that crystal exploded, it sent me flying almost to the mountains! I thought I’d never make it back here!”
“Deference!” all three said at once.
Smiling broadly, she curtsied. “I heard you need help with the wounded, but I thought I’d let you know I’m here.” She spun toward the butcher’s shop and hurried away.
Arxad joined the three and touched Jason’s shoulder with a wing tip. “The portal is open, and the path is clear. Those who wish to go with you to your world will follow. I have already discussed the situation with your captain, and he will conduct the soldiers home when all is settled here and the dead and wounded are ready to be transported.”
“Including Tibalt and Uriel?” Jason asked.
“Yes, they will not leave any resident of your world behind.”
“Then I’m ready,” Jason said. “We need to go.”
“Good-bye.” Koren kissed Elyssa on the cheek, then Jason, and backed away slowly. She mouthed the words, “I love you, Jason Masters. You will always have a special place in my heart.”
Jason laid his hand on his chest
and formed a silent response on his lips. “And you are in mine forever. I love you, Koren … my Starlighter.”
Smiling, Koren climbed back to the debris mound and spread out her cloak. “Our friends are leaving. Whoever wishes to go with them is free to follow.” As tears flowed, she shouted, “Did you hear that? You are free!”
The loudest cheer yet erupted from the crowd. Men shook hands and embraced, women hugged and wept together, and children squealed for joy.
While those wanting to go to Major Four collected their few belongings, Elyssa treated those with the most serious wounds. Later, Arxad and the other surviving dragons flew her and several of the Major Four warriors, including Jason and his father and brothers, to the river to get cleaned up and refreshed.
The former slaves gathered food from the homes of the dead dragons and distributed it freely to the survivors. While eating, Edison and Captain Reed decided that that the soldiers who arrived from the mesa portal should stay in the Southlands for a while to make sure they were free of disease symptoms. Since they had no opportunity to take a stardrop, it seemed prudent to make sure they didn’t carry the disease back to Major Four.
As a crowd of excited men, women, and children gathered between the ruins of the Basilica and the Zodiac, Jason called together his father, Elyssa, Koren, Adrian, Frederick, Randall, and Marcelle on the south side of the crowd and faced the mesa.
Jason laid a hand on his father’s back. “We have a lot to be thankful for. Will you do the honors?”
“Gladly.” Edison lifted his face toward the sky. “Creator,” he said, his voice streaked with emotion, “you have brought us this far. There are many broken bodies and broken hearts, and we ask that you mend each one. We will look forward to seeing our lost loved ones again in our heavenly home, and we trust that slavery in both worlds has come to an end. Thank you for guidance, protection, and most of all, for freedom.”
Edison knelt and plunged his dagger into the ground. “The battles are over. Let the suffering be forgotten, and let the rejoicing begin.”
After a moment of silence, Jason hugged Koren, Adrian, and Marcelle. Elyssa did the same. When all the good-byes were said, Koren led Adrian and Marcelle toward Arxad’s cave, where the two planned to wait until they were sure they were disease-free.
Jason took Elyssa’s hand. “I think we’re ready.”
“You’re right. We’re ready.” She grinned. “Should I say it?”
“If you don’t,” Jason said, “I’m not going.” Elyssa pointed toward the portal. “Lead the way, warrior!”
Twenty-Four
Koren stood on a stage three steps up from the main floor in Mesolantrum’s Cathedral, holding a bouquet of yellow and purple flowers. Dressed in a sky-blue gown that covered her in silk from neck to ankles, she stared down at the hundreds of onlookers sitting on cushioned benches and absorbed the wonder. Only five years ago, she lay on a thin mat after a grueling evening of collecting honey from angry bees and hauling it to Arxad’s cave. At that time, she wore ratty short trousers and a hole-infested tunic, and home was little more than an opening in the side of a rocky hill. Now she stood in the midst of abundance, waiting to celebrate a coming union, a marriage of choice rather than one of necessity.
Jason stood on the same stage a few steps away. As she glanced at him, he smiled and winked. Wearing a perfectly pressed military uniform, white gloves, and polished black shoes, he was handsome indeed. Earlier, he had said that his father wore that uniform decades ago on his wedding day, Adrian wore it when he married Marcelle shortly after the liberation of Starlight, and now it was Jason’s turn.
He flashed Koren a smile and mouthed, “Thank you for coming.”
She dipped her head and silently formed, “I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world.”
While they waited for the bride’s entry, Koren looked around. Edison stood at Jason’s side as best man. Frederick and Adrian were stationed at the rear door as “heralds,” a Mesolantrum custom. When the bride was ready, they would perform their duties.
A few steps behind Jason and Koren, a dark blue curtain veiled the rest of the stage floor. Hundreds of flower arrangements stood in front of it near the sides of the stage, giving the wedding party only a small area on which to stand. Carrying baskets of flower petals, Natalla and Solace stood quietly at each side of the curtain, their grins wide.
A quick scan of the crowd revealed Wallace, Randall, Marcelle, and several former cattle children, including the two boys Jason rescued—Basil and Oliver. Everyone was dressed in finery, reflecting the Masters family’s generosity in sharing the great reward the kingdom had bestowed on them for liberating the slaves.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Adrian called from the door. “It is my honor and pleasure to introduce to you, Elyssa Cantor, daughter of Meredith Cantor.”
At the other side of the door, Frederick added, “Because Elyssa’s father has gone on to be with the Creator, she will be escorted by another, someone whom you all will recognize.”
Adrian lifted a hand. “All rise!”
Everyone stood and angled toward the rear. Frederick’s cryptic announcement hung in the air like a prize no one could quite grasp.
In unison, Adrian and Frederick pulled the doors. Elyssa stood at the center of the opening. Her bridal gown, dazzling white and covered with silky lace, draped her body from just below her neck down to the floor. A thin veil covered her face, but it couldn’t hide her glowing smile. A train of white stretched out behind her, shimmering like Solarus on still water.
Jason gasped, then gulped. As he looked on his bride, his lips trembled.
A man walked up to Elyssa’s side and took her arm in his. Amid gasps from the crowd, an organ began playing a lovely march that set the processional’s slow pace.
Koren grinned. It seemed that no one could believe that Counselor Orion would escort this young woman, the very girl he once accused of being an evil Diviner. After five years of seclusion in which he walked the slave trails on Starlight—tramping the tear-stained path of the cattle camp children, sleeping on the mats in the grottoes, and eating only what he could find in the forest or in the dragons’ garbage — he emerged a changed man.
Her gaze firmly set on Jason, Elyssa strode along a red carpet through a scattering of white petals, her body erect and her shoulders back. Her pendant rested in the middle of her chest with the closed hands on the front. As if activated by a recent healing, the pendant shone with an orange glow.
Jason stared back at Elyssa, now composed. It seemed that they communicated silently, a heart-to-heart connection that needed no words.
When Elyssa and Orion arrived at the front, they stopped and waited, facing the stage. Jason and Elyssa smiled at each other, then at Koren and Edison. The crowd murmured. So far, no one had come to the stage to officiate.
A rumbling voice boomed from behind the curtain. “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”
Orion bowed his head. “Her mother, Meredith Cantor, and I do.”
Still grinning, Natalla and Solace ran to the middle of the curtain and pulled the panels to the sides. Arxad stood on the stage. His freshly polished scales glimmered in the Cathedral’s gas-powered lights.
As new murmurs passed across the crowd, a hint of a smile bent Arxad’s lips. “Let us begin.”
Jason descended the steps, took Elyssa’s hand, and guided her up to the stage, while Koren made sure the dress’s train didn’t catch on anything. They faced Arxad, their index fingers hooked together.
Still on the main floor, Orion turned to the audience. “As a counselor of Mesolantrum, by law I am vested with the privilege of sanctioning marriages until I die. Although a dragon priest from Starlight is officiating, I am overseeing the ceremony, so the uniting of these two will be legal and binding.” He then took a seat on the front row.
The rest of the ceremony seemed a blur. Natalla sang a lovely hymn. Frederick played a melody on a wooden reed-like instrument, and the audience
joined in with the lyrics. Edison read from the Code. Jason and Elyssa exchanged rings of gold. Arxad led them in reciting their vows of mutual love and fidelity, of life-long service to one another.
Koren drank in the words. Such beautiful poetry! And knowing Jason and Elyssa, they would never fail to live up to the promises.
Finally, Arxad said, “After hearing their sacred vows and witnessing the binding symbol of rings, I declare that these two are husband and wife.”
Arxad nodded at Jason. “You may now kiss your bride.”
Jason raised Elyssa’s pendant and turned it to the other side, revealing the open hands and the liberated dove. He then lifted her veil and hooked their ring fingers together. Jason and Elyssa kissed, a long, tender kiss that seemed to stop time.
A knock sounded at the door.
Koren stepped back from the stage and waved at the scene. Jason and Elyssa, the Cathedral, Arxad, and all the people melted away, leaving a room of white.
“Come in,” she called.
One of the tall white doors opened, and Wallace strolled in. With each step, the whiteness gave way to dark wood floors, ivory colored walls and ceiling, and Koren’s desk and high-backed chair. Flames crackled in the nearby fireplace, and several wooden figurines stood on the mantel.
“I finally finished it.” Wallace held up a box big enough to hold one of his sandals.
Koren clapped her hands. “Wonderful!”
“Once I found a big enough hunk of ivory, it took only a few weeks.” He pulled the lid off the box and withdrew a sculpture of a dragon. White and void of scales, it looked exactly like Alaph. From the tip of his tail to his magnificent wings to his noble face, every detail was perfect.
His single eye scanning his masterpiece, Wallace pointed at the thin red lines coursing across the figurine’s surface. “It took hours to paint these. I had to use a single hair for my brush.”
“Oh, Wallace, it’s beautiful!” She kissed his cheek. “Thank you so much!”
