Lady Dragon, Tela Du

by Kendra E. Ardnek

  “I’m quite thankful for them myself,” Sylvia agreed. “Also, Sarah, I have something else for you.” She pulled an hourglass from a pocket and put it in front of Sarah. “Well, it’s more for your husband, but you’ll benefit from it too, I’m sure.”

  “What is it?” asked Sarah, picking it up.

  “The Borrowed Time that you were going to use to save King Niklas,” Petra said, recognizing the hourglass.

  “Yes,” said Sylvia. “King Niklas had nothing left to live for, so he wouldn’t let me use it on him. Sarah … I know Ritis is old, even by elven standards, and I know I stole from him – from both of you, really – many years where you weren’t yourselves. I can’t give those years back, but I can give you a few more years together. Borrowed Time extends a person’s life, reversing the effects of sickness, age, or injury.”

  Sarah slowly nodded, then glanced towards Petra. “So, ah, why didn’t we use this on her last night, then?”

  Sylvia tilted her head to the side. “To be honest, I wondered the same thing.”

  “Because the most that Borrowed Time can give a person is twenty years, and Petra needs more than twenty years,” Laura explained, spreading some butter on some rolls. “Also, it would interfere with resetting your age when you return to your own world. No, Petra most certainly didn’t need Borrowed Time. For Ritis, though, well, it’s up to the two of you. Borrowed Time isn’t always a blessing, but it isn’t always a curse, either.”

  “Which would it be for us?” asked Sarah.

  “I’m afraid that I can’t advise you on this decision,” said Laura. “You and Ritis must make it yourselves. But in case you do decide to use it, just break the glass and pour the sand over him. It’s not a complicated magic. Well, not to use. Making it was a different story.”

  “Sarah, I hope you do decide to use it,” said Sylvia. “King Niklas refused because he had nothing left to live for – but Ritis does. A country, his wife, his children … the promise of grandchildren…” She sighed. “I just want you to have a second chance to have what I took from you.”

  Sarah stared across the table at Sylvia, long and hard. “I’ll talk to Ritis about it. My feelings are mixed – as much as I’d like to have him younger again … I don’t like the idea of cheating.”

  “It’s not cheating, it’s borrowing,” said Laura. “And I’m doing the lending. Gathered up some loose bits of wayward time from between the worlds, packaged them up nicely, and here we go.”

  “It’s not something you’d want falling into the wrong hands,” observed Petra. “I’d much rather have Ritis use it than anyone else.”

  “I’ll talk with him,” said Sarah. She narrowed her eyes as she watched Sylvia. “You aren’t eating.”

  Sylvia shook her head. “I’ve not been feeling well,” she admitted. “Not since the battle, to be honest.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure mortality agrees with me. Dizzy half the time, tired most the time, even when I have slept well. Emotions … out of check. And I think I’ve been eating too much, since my dresses are getting tight. I couldn’t gain weight when my body couldn’t change, you know…”

  Petra glanced across the table to Laura, who shook her head.

  Sarah stood. “Well, maybe I couldn’t use my gift to heal Petra last night, but I can probably help you. Illness falls into the scope of healing.” With that, she walked around the table.

  “You don’t have to,” said Sylvia. “But if you want to, I wouldn’t turn it down. Don’t feel guilty, though … I’ll fight through it…”

  “I don’t foresee anyone getting majorly hurt today, so I’ll risk it,” said Sarah. She laid her hands on Sylvia’s shoulders and closed her eyes. Then she shook her head, opened her eyes, and withdrew her hands. “Sylvia, you’re not sick.”

  Sylvia’s shoulders sagged. “So what’s wrong with me? An allergic reaction to mortality?”

  Sarah pinched her lips together, glancing across the table to Petra, who immediately glanced down at her plate of pancakes. “Sylvia, what you described to me are common signs of pregnancy.”

  Petra felt the wave of shock that rolled off of Sylvia. “But … I’m barren,” she whispered. “I can’t have children.”

  “I can tell you from a genetic standpoint that you shouldn’t have a problem,” said Sarah. “And when I scanned you for illness, I would have picked up on any lingering injury that could have prevented you. I dug that deep.”

  “Silver, I told you weeks ago that all of the Queens of Luna were barren because they were frozen in time,” said Laura. “You’re not anymore.” She glanced across the table to Petra and nodded. “You can tell her now.”

  “You are pregnant,” confirmed Petra. “I’ve known … well, when you were unconscious following the battle, I was monitoring your life very closely. It was the strangest thing, but I actually felt the spark of new life within you. It was actually the turning point, because up until that moment, I honestly thought we would lose you. I’ve wanted to say something, but Laura warned me not to tell you until you found out for yourself.”

  “But I…”

  “You’re having twins, by the way,” Petra added.

  “Twins…”

  “This is the other reason I was adamant about not sending her home,” said Petra, glancing over to Sarah. “Teenage pregnancy is frowned upon where we are, and even more so teen marriages. You may be six thousand years old, but you only look sixteen.”

  Sylvia just shook her head. “I’m going to be a mother.”

  “Yes, a wonderful mother, at that,” said Laura. “Now, would you like to go tell your husband the news?”

  Sylvia managed a nod. “After six thousand years…”

  “Eh, in a couple years, you’ll be wondering why you ever wanted this in the first place,” said Sarah, shaking her head with a mischievous grin. “Don’t get too excited. Oh, and in the next few months you can look forward to—”

  “Enough of that from you,” said Laura, standing. She put a hand on Sylvia’s shoulder and glared at Sarah until the two were both out of the room.

  Petra messaged Reuben to let him know that Sylvia and Laura were headed their way. He responded with a message of his own.

  “They’ve finished the meeting,” Petra informed Sarah. “The other four kings and queens accepted the decision. You get to stay here in Rizkaland. Now they’re just talking. Sylvia and Laura won’t be interrupting anything.”

  Sarah nodded. “So what about you and Reuben? It’s been over sixty years since Rizkaland last celebrated the birth of a royal heir.”

  “Reuben and I would like to wait a year or two before we add parenthood to ruling a kingdom,” Petra answered. “And even though what the three of you did for me last night seems to have worked, Reuben wants to make sure that I healed properly. But … as far as I’m concerned, if it happens, it happens.”

  Sarah’s playful expression fell, and she leaned back in her chair. “I’m so sorry. Here I am so unwilling to forgive Sylvia, who didn’t know what she was doing, when I … last night…”

  “You thought you were doing what was right for Rizkaland,” said Petra. “And I’d been so busy focusing on Sylvia, I failed to realize the extent to which you were hurting. I should have done more to help you…”

  “It’s not your job to solve everyone’s problems,” said Sarah, shaking her head. She glanced down at the Borrowed Time. “I have a husband of my own to talk to. Will you be all right in here all by yourself?”

  “I have chocolate. I should be.”

  Sarah shook her head. “I’ll send Laura back in here for you to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. And don’t eat too much chocolate.”

  “I’ll save it for after I finish my molasses pancakes and eat a steak,” said Petra. “I need some protein to go with my iron.”

  Sarah shook her head. “You do that.” She moved the Borrowed Time to a counter and then disappeared in a burst of glitter.

  Petra turned back to the table and concentrated on ea
ting after she let Reuben know to expect Sarah as well.

  At length, Laura returned and took the chair next to Petra’s.

  “Well, that’s done. It’s time for me to move on now.”

  Petra blinked as she felt a sharp stab of disappointment. “You really can stay longer, if you want to…”

  Laura shook her head. “I’ll be back – I’ll always be back – but I can never stay in one place for very long. You must understand that.”

  Petra nodded. “Well, be safe then.”

  “I can’t promise that one, either,” said Laura. “I’m known to be reckless – knowing one’s death does that to a person. However, there is one more thing you need to know before I leave. You can tell Reuben. In fact, you should tell Reuben…”

  “Reuben and I don’t keep secrets from each other,” said Petra. “It’s all but impossible now that we’re mentally connected.”

  “Yes, I suppose it is.” Laura took a pitcher from the table and poured herself a mug of its contents. “It’s about the … twins.” Her expression was grim.

  “What about them? Is there something wrong with them? Will there be complications with the pregnancy?” That was the last thing Sylvia needed right now, with her confidence so fragile.

  “The power of the cloths wasn’t undone when you and Reuben spoke Silver and Gold’s true names; you merely broke their hold on them. As you said, Sylvia’s life was held in the balance until she conceived – and that’s why. They absorbed the power of the cloths.” Laura took a long sip from her mug.

  “The cloths timelock a person’s body,” Petra observed.

  “The twins will age naturally until their sixteenth birthday,” said Laura. “That’s not the part you have to worry about. You see … they also absorbed the power of the dragon scale.”

  “Oh.” Petra leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. “So they…”

  “I’m telling you because, as queen of Rizkaland, you have a duty to protect your people. Don’t tell Silver and Gold until you have to, until they have had at least two or three children after the twins. It would shatter them, and they need to be the best parents they can be, show them love…”

  “And don’t tell Sarah, because her relationship with Sylvia is fragile,” Petra guessed. “And don’t tell anyone else because it would scare them.”

  Laura nodded. “I can’t say how the Dragon Scale will manifest, or even how long it will take. Just … watch them. And watch their parents too.”

  With that, she stood and disappeared through the nearest door.

  Epilogue

  30 Years Later

  Sylvia lowered herself onto the bench next to her husband and laid her head against his shoulder as she tried to tune out all the people and voices around them. She had faced many a dark day in her six thousand years, but not even the day when she’d awakened after the battle, or even the night that Petra almost died, could compare to this one.

  “Where did we go wrong, Richard?” she whispered.

  He put his arm around her and rested his head against the top of hers. His answer was the same one that he’d given her every other time she’d asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You went wrong when you took the scale’s powder in your hands and absorbed its essence immediately after it was destroyed,” Laura declared, plopping down beside Sylvia, an edge in her voice. “But you didn’t know what would happen, and you were in a very frenzied state of mind at that moment, so I can hardly blame you.”

  There was a part of Sylvia that was surprised at Laura’s sudden appearance, for the Doorkeeper hadn’t been at Loray in several weeks, as far as Sylvia was aware, but she was long-used to the way the girl came and went at whim.

  “I should have never taken up the scale, to begin with,” Sylvia whispered.

  “Silver, we have discussed this,” said Laura, her voice turning razor-sharp. “Regretting the past can’t change it. You are both wonderful parents. Yes, you made a mistake with the twins, but it was a mistake beyond your control.”

  “But it’s a mistake that has cost Rizkaland dearly,” Sylvia protested.

  “It’s a mistake that will cost Rizkaland dearly for many, many years to come, just like the mistake Adam and Eve made in the garden in the early days of Earth,” Laura answered. “The twins have your immortality, but they aren’t bound to the knife, and they can’t die until they are.”

  “What can we do?” asked Richard.

  “What you can when opportunity arises,” Laura answered, “the same as with any battle against evil.” She turned to Sylvia and shook her head sadly. “Even when your child is the center of it all.”

  “Is there any hope for us to save them, as Petra saved me?”

  Laura glanced away. “The scale’s powers are fused to their very beings. I’m sorry.”

  “But they…”

  “I’m sorry!” And there was anger in Laura’s voice now. She shook her head and dropped her gaze to her balled fists before she finally gained control over herself and met Sylvia’s eye again. “Queen Amorite released a powerful evil when she forged those cloths, but what she meant to do was far, far worse, you must understand. It would have rewritten the very nature of reality itself. I did the only thing I could to stop her. I told you once that only I could break the chain. Though it cost me greatly, the twins shall be the final link.”

  Sylvia didn’t have a chance to ask any more questions, for at that moment, there was a fanfare of trumpets, and an order to, “All rise in honor of their Majesties!” and everyone scrambled to obey.

  Reuben and Petra entered first, their expressions stern – but her grip on his arm betrayed her emotion. Tyler and Summer followed, and then Noraeto and Ashna. The queens took their thrones first, then the kings, and then the rest of the room was to reclaim their seats.

  Bookholder Delta took a scroll from his desk and read the contents thereof.

  “We gather this day to determine the fates of Amethyst and Roselite, daughters of Sylvia and Richard, the former Dragon and her husband, guilty of the destruction of Ilthir village, the deaths of twenty-three, and the injuries of countless more.”

  A murmur rippled through the crowd. Reuben then spoke. “Bring them in.”

  Six guards flanked the girls as they were brought into a penned-off corner just below the Bookholder’s platform. Sylvia doubted the men would be much good if the twins decided to make a run for it.

  She’d been so proud when they’d first been laid in her arms, twenty-nine years ago, two such tiny, innocent bundles, with their father’s dark hair and complexion. They’d been her fresh start, a promise of a better life from thenceforth. Now they were a broken promise, everything that Amber had been before Petra had saved her.

  They wouldn’t be satisfied with one village. Their thirst for power and blood had been awakened but was unhindered by the shreds of love that Amber had retained for Granite.

  “What do you have to say for yourselves, girls?” said Petra. “Why did you take life so wantonly?”

  “It was Amy,” said Roselite, in her subtle, almost musical voice. “She was the one who burned down the village, not I.”

  “But you were on Amethyst’s back, which means that you were most certainly an accomplice, correct?” Petra pointed out.

  “She’s the one who said it was a good idea,” Amethyst protested, in her deeper, rougher voice. “She said it was meant to be.”

  “It obviously was, once the deed was done,” Petra admitted, her voice betraying the slightest edge of frustration. “But that didn’t mean that you had to do it.”

  “Oh, I suppose,” said Roselite. “But what would have been the fun in that?”

  “Killing people isn’t fun.” The frustration was stronger now. “It’s wrong.”

  “But we were bored,” said Roselite.

  Amethyst turned and looked Sylvia straight in the eye before she spoke. “And you know how hard it is to control the dragon.”

  
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br />   The trial didn’t take long. It was clear that Amethyst and Roselite were guilty, and they seemed uninterested in putting together any form of defense. That was the part that scared Sylvia. They had a plan – but what?

  They were given the typical Rizkan sentence of banishment to the island where Sylvia had spent so many years of her own long life. There really wasn’t anything else to be done, though all knew that they were just postponing a problem for another five hundred years for another generation. Since the twins rejected the offer to say their final good-byes – Roselite claimed that, for those to whom it mattered, it would not be a final goodbye – they chose to enact the sentence immediately.

  “I’m sorry, Sylv,” said Petra, coming to stand next to Sylvia and Richard while Reuben spoke the words of banishment that would send the twins to the island that would now be their home. “I just wish…”

  “There was nothing you could have done,” said Sylvia. “Apparently, they were doomed before they were born.”

  Petra glanced away, and her shoulders sagged in defeat. “I know. I knew. I just wish that I could have held this off longer.”

  “Held it off?” Sylvia repeated, knitting her brows in confusion.

  Petra gave a half-hearted shrug. “I’ve known for a while what they are. Indeed … well, let’s just say that I worked very hard to make sure it took as long as possible before they found out for themselves. Burying Roselite’s visions, suppressing Amethyst’s dragon rage … but I couldn’t hold it off forever.”

  “You … but I thought that was just the sort of thing that you don’t like doing with your power?”

  “I didn’t like doing it.” Petra lifted her chin, still not looking at Sylvia. “And, perhaps, in the long run, I’ve caused more harm than good. But I’m the queen of Rizkaland – I had a duty to protect the people from the potential threat for as long as possible. I talked with Reuben. We both agreed that it was our best option.”

  “You should have banished them as soon as you realized that they had inherited the dragon’s powers.” Sylvia hugged her arms against her chest. “You could have prevented this.”