[Vankara Saga 03.0] War of Atonement

by SJ West

  “Well, I thought I should warn you both,” I said, reaching up to pet Aurora to bring her as much comfort as I could. “Maybe there will be a clue among her remains that will help you decipher what happened to her.”

  “Perhaps,” Seneca said, sounding doubtful over the prospect, “but make no mistake, I will find out what happened to Vorana. I will bring her killers to justice.”

  I didn’t doubt Seneca’s words in the slightest. If there was one thing I knew without any doubt about Aurora’s father, he was a dragon of his word.

  Thomas chose to ride with me on Vincent’s back again. This time I allowed the youngest member of our party a chance to revel in his joy of flying through the air on a dragon. How many people in the world could ever make such a claim and be telling the truth? After a while though, the excitement faded, and Thomas huddled underneath the Mantle of Vankara with me, allowing me to hold him close. Eventually, he succumbed to tiredness and fell asleep against me. I held him tightly, gaining comfort in his closeness.

  My mind drifted to Dena, and I wondered what she was doing with her Uncle Adam in his alternate reality at that moment.

  “I hope I made the right decision sending her there,” I told Aurora worriedly.

  “It is the safest place for her to be right now, Sarah,” Aurora said. “She will be fine. I’m more worried about you.”

  “Me? Why are you worried about me?”

  “I’m worried about how Gabriel made you feel back there.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, even though I knew I wasn’t. “I just didn’t like seeing him so sad. He’s always been someone I could count on, and now I’m not sure that’s true anymore.”

  “Why? Do you think he would betray you because you are unable to return his feelings?”

  “No. I don’t believe he would ever betray me, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to stay with us either. After this war is over and I marry John, I don’t think Gabriel will be able to make himself remain in Iron City, and I don’t have any right to ask him to stay somewhere he feels uncomfortable.”

  “Perhaps he will come to realize that John is the person you need in this life.”

  “I don’t think he’ll ever understand that,” I said with certainty. “I have a bad feeling that I’ll lose him once things have settled down.”

  “You will always have me, Sarah,” Aurora promised.

  “I know. It just makes me sad to think that Gabriel might not want to be a part of my life anymore, but I can’t be selfish and ask him to stay if he doesn’t want to. Kira needed to start a new life, and maybe that’s what Gabriel needs to do too.”

  “Sarah, perhaps now would be a good time to test out your talisman and contact John,” Aurora suggested. “I think talking to him would do you some good right now.”

  My heart smiled at the thought. “That’s a wonderful idea.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” Aurora proclaimed proudly. “To come up with brilliance!”

  I wasn’t exactly sure how this mental connection spell was supposed to work, but I closed my eyes and pictured Fallon’s face.

  “Sarah?” I heard him say to me.

  I kept my eyes closed and smiled.

  “Why do you have your eyes closed?”

  I opened my eyes and found myself staring directly at Fallon in physical form. As I let my eyes travel around the space we were in, I discovered that we were standing by the large tree in the courtyard right outside the queen’s quarters back at the palace in Iron City. I looked back at Fallon and reached out a hand to touch him, but my hand simply glided through the illusion of his body.

  “Well, this is strange,” I told him. “I didn’t realize mentally connecting to you would allow us to see one another.”

  “Neither did I,” Fallon said with a smile. “I only wish we were really together so I could kiss you right now. You look like you need one.”

  “I do,” I said forlornly. “I could really use a hug, too.”

  Fallon’s brows narrowed in worry. “Is everything all right? Has something gone wrong over there?”

  “Everything is going as planned,” I assured him. “We’re flying to the Fae side of the island right now to look for Lanai. I just really miss you.”

  “It’s only been a couple of hours,” Fallon said with a smile that showed he was pleased that I missed him already. “But I know how you feel. I miss you, too.”

  “How are things going there?” I asked.

  “We’re simply waiting for the ships to arrive.”

  “The dragons were sent out to deliver the instructions to the fleet. How long do you think it will take before you’re ready to start the assault on Iron City?”

  “From what we know right now, it will take at least a week before we’re ready. Hopefully, by that time, you will have found Lanai and convinced her to help us.”

  “Hopefully,” I agreed.

  “You can do it,” Fallon said confidently. “I know you can, Sarah.”

  “There was a time not so long ago when your faith in me wasn’t so strong.”

  “Well, no one is perfect, least of all me. I had a hard time adjusting to the loss of Emma. She was an important force in my life.”

  “How is Inara?” I asked, knowing someone else Emma had been important to. “Has she talked to you about me yet?”

  Fallon shook his head. “No. She hasn’t, but she left shortly after you did. She’s gone with Edmund and his men to prepare the site where the fleets are supposed to meet us. She said she would be back after things are set up.”

  “I’m sort of glad to be on this side of the island,” I admitted. “I’m not in the mood to deal with Aleksander right now.”

  “I’m sure it can be hard to deal with three suitors at one time,” Fallon jested, even though a shadow of worry entered his eyes.

  “I think I’m going to lose Gabriel,” I told him, seeing no reason not to tell Fallon what happened between Gabriel and me at Ledmarrow. Once I was finished, I felt tears stream down my face in reality, but thankfully, in the phantom world Fallon and I were in, they didn’t materialize.

  “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you,” Fallon said, empathizing with my plight. “All I can do is assure you I’ll do my best to help you convince him to stay, if that’s what you truly want. Gabriel and I have had our differences in the past, but I can see how much he cares for you. I think he’ll stay if you want him to.”

  “That just seems so selfish though. …”

  “Not really. The baby you’re carrying more than likely belongs to him and not Aleksander. He may be able to bottle his feelings for you and stay for the child’s sake. I know I couldn’t leave a son of mine so easily, and I don’t think Gabriel will be able to either.”

  “How are we going to explain all of this to parliament? I can just see me telling Thaddeus Irondale that I’m carrying one man’s child, but that I intend to marry someone else.”

  “It will present a problem,” Fallon agreed, “but it isn’t one we can’t handle. We’ll make it right, Sarah. I don’t want you to worry about things that are that far in the future. Right now, concentrate on finding Lanai, and then concentrate on the attack on the Fae capital.”

  “Does their city not have a name?” I asked. “We’ve always just called it the Fae capital.”

  “It does have a name, but it isn’t one we Vankarans can pronounce,” Fallon explained. “The Fae had their own language at one time, but they adopted ours when we began to colonize their island. Over the centuries, their language is only known by a few. I don’t remember a lot about it, but I do remember being told that it used to consist of a lot of clicks of the tongue and whistles. I doubt many Fae even remember how to pronounce the old name, and they never bothered to give it a new one.”

  “Maybe we can change that once Lanai retakes the throne.”

  “Perhaps.”

  I knew I needed to break my connection with Fallon, but I didn’t want to, not yet.

  “What were
you doing when I made the connection with you?”

  “Listening to Thaddeus drone on about something.” The look of guilt on Fallon’s face told me that he had most likely tuned Thaddeus’ words out long before I called to him.

  “Did you have time to tell him I needed to speak with you?”

  “No. I’m still standing in front of him. He probably thinks I’m in a trance or something.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at the picture Fallon described. Fallon smiled.

  “At least I can leave you with a smile on your face,” he said, pleased.

  “Is it bad that I would rather stay here with you than return to the real world?”

  Fallon shook his head. “No, it’s not bad. It’s simply not practical. We’ll get our chance to be together, Sarah. I can promise you that much.”

  “Take care of yourself over there,” I told him. “When I come back home, your face is the first one I want to see.”

  Fallon smiled. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  “I love you, John.” I held out my hand to him, even though I knew we couldn’t touch.

  Fallon held his hand out too, allowing our phantom images to barely graze their fingertips together.

  “I love you, too, Sarah.”

  I felt myself pull out of the connection with Fallon and wasn’t sure if I felt better after the experience or worse.

  “It’s just because you miss him so much,” Aurora sympathized. “You’ll be with him again soon.”

  “I hope so. I’m ready for this war to be over with so I can start to live something resembling a normal life.”

  “I sincerely doubt your life will ever be like it was, but I’m sure we can find a way to make you feel content at the palace.”

  “As long as I have my family with me, I’ll be fine.”

  “Family is always most important,” Vincent agreed.

  “When do you think we’ll reach our destination, Vincent?”

  “I believe it will be near dusk, but we should have enough day left to make a camp before it gets too dark.”

  “Then we won’t be able to start searching for Lanai until the morning?”

  “I think that’s safest from what you have said about the feral dragons on that side of the island. Though, I’m not sure Gregoire will have the patience to wait that long to search one of those dragons out.”

  “He may not have to search one out. If there are any around in the same state of mind as Aurora’s mother, they’ll more than likely find us.”

  “That would actually be helpful,” Vincent said. “It would certainly save us time.”

  “I wonder how Lanai has lived by herself for so long among those dragons,” Aurora mused.

  “I have no idea, but maybe she can teach us her secret.”

  Vincent ended up being correct in his estimate on our arrival.

  The sun was just dipping past the horizon when we reached the road where Fallon and I had first encountered Vorana, Aurora’s mother. The exact position of our altercation wasn’t hard to find because the rotting carcass of Aurora’s mother was still lying in the road, exactly where we left it.

  I felt the intensity of Aurora’s sorrow right before she buried her head against my neck, unable to look upon the remains of her mother.

  “I didn’t think there would be much of her left,” I said to Vincent.

  “There shouldn’t have been after so many days,” Vincent agreed. “There should be nothing left but her bones.”

  “Why do you think the animals and insects haven’t touched it?”

  “I have no idea,” Vincent said thoughtfully, “but there has to be a reason.”

  As we made our descent, I scanned the area to see if any of the feral dragons might be lurking around. Gregoire and Seneca seemed to be thinking the same thing. I saw them continue to glide through the air around the area as if they were searching for something. The only problem was that the large trees that grew on this side of the island formed such large canopies with their limbs that it was hard to make out much hidden beneath them. I realized this would also make it virtually impossible to find Lanai’s home from the air. We would have to search for her on foot through the forest.

  The stench of Vorana’s rotting corpse was dreadful, to put it mildly. I suddenly became thankful that I hadn’t eaten very much that day. If I had, I felt sure it would not have stayed put inside my stomach.

  Vincent landed a good distance from Vorana. Unfortunately, it didn’t help lessen the rancid aroma that seemed to saturate the air. Seneca and Gregoire landed closer to her, but we were too far away to hear their thoughts. I saw Dracen and Gabriel walk off the backs of the other dragons and approach the remains. They seemed to have stomachs that were a lot stronger than mine.

  “You’re also pregnant,” Vincent reminded me.

  I felt Aurora shiver against my neck, and I could feel the pain of her sorrow.

  “I’m so sorry,” I told her, unable to think of any words of comfort that wouldn’t sound trite. She knew how much her grief caused me pain too. I didn’t really have to put how I felt into words.

  “What’s that smell?” Thomas said, being roused from his sleep by the fetid odor.

  “We found Aurora’s mother’s body,” I explained.

  “Oh,” Thomas said sympathetically as he looked at Aurora huddled against my neck. “I’m sorry, Aurora. I know what it’s like not to have a mom around.”

  I looked down at Thomas. “Are you an orphan?”

  Thomas nodded his head. “I never knew my parents. Someone left me at the Royal College right after I was born. The Royal Sage did a spell to see if I had magic and discovered that I did. I don’t know if that’s why I got left there or not.”

  I decided not to pry any deeper into Thomas’ sad beginning. Although, perhaps being left at the college was the best thing for him. At least he was able to grow up around people who understood his gift.

  I looked back towards the others and saw Seneca sit down next to his wife’s corpse and use his front legs to spread open what was left of her ribcage. He lowered one clawed foot towards something inside her. When he pulled it back out, his talons were covered in some sort of purplish goo.

  “Oh dear,” Vincent said, seeming to know what was going on.

  “What is it, Vincent?” I asked. “What did he find?”

  “Well, if that’s what I think it is,” he said cautiously, “it looks as if Seneca has found the cause of Vorana’s death. I’m afraid our suspicions are true about the others being responsible for her altered state of mind.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “It appears that she was poisoned.”

  When I looked back at Seneca, he was on his feet with his head pointed towards Gregoire as if he was telling him something. Gregoire nodded at whatever Seneca said and laid back down on the ground so Dracen and Gabriel could take their places on his back. He stood, looked over at Vincent, and lifted his head sharply as if silently telling Vincent to follow him.

  “Hold on,” Vincent warned me just before he took flight once again.

  As soon as we were back in the air, I felt a wave of heat and heard the rush of fire beneath us. When I looked back down, I could see that Seneca had used his fire breath to set Vorana’s corpse ablaze. The sight of her cremation against the twilight of a waning day was poignant, but I was grateful someone who loved her was finally able to put her to rest.

  We followed Gregoire to a small clearing near a lake. It looked like a good place to make camp, which is what I assumed we were doing.

  “Thomas,” I said, “why don’t you go see if the others need any help with unloading the supplies?”

  “Okay, Queen Emma.”

  While Thomas walked down Vincent’s wing, I sat silently and waited for Aurora to do or say something to let me know she was all right.

  A few minutes passed before she lifted her head from my neck and stroked its smooth scales against my cheek.

  “I wish I had kn
own her,” Aurora said as I felt the emptiness within her soul where memories of her mother should have been.

  I felt the stir of air above our heads as Seneca flew over us to land a few feet away.

  “You can know her,” I told my little dragonling. I stood up from my saddle and walked down Vincent’s wing. As we approached Seneca, his eyes remained steadfast on Aurora.

  “Aurora wants to know more about her mother,” I told him. “Would you mind telling us about her?”

  Seneca lay down on the soft, cool grass. “I would love to tell you about her life and how much you meant to her, little one.”

  For almost an hour, Aurora and I listened to Seneca tell us about Vorana’s life. I could feel Aurora’s heart become lighter with each story he told. Even though my little dragonling would never have memories of her own about her mother, at least she could feel a connection to her through her father. When I first met Seneca, I wasn’t sure he and I would ever find a way to be friends, but the gentle way he spoke to us about his wife showed me how deeply he could love. I knew that love extended to Aurora, and that our connection to her would act as a bridge to bind us to one another.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” I heard Dracen say sometime later as he came up to stand beside me. “I thought you might be hungry. Gabriel and I prepared something for supper.”

  “Sarah, would you mind if I stayed with my father for a while longer?” Aurora asked.

  “Of course I don’t mind,” I replied, kissing her on the top of her head. “I won’t be far if you need me.”

  Aurora flew off my shoulder and landed on Seneca’s outstretched front claws.

  I followed Dracen back to the makeshift campsite he and Gabriel had prepared. There was a campfire burning brightly and three small tents pitched around it.

  “Where are Gregoire and Vincent?” I asked, taking a seat on a blue wool blanket set out by the fire.

  “They went to hunt for their own food,” Gabriel told me, handing me a hammered iron plate with part of a roasted chicken breast and a thick, buttered slice of bread on it.