Return of the Dragonborn: The Complete Trilogy

by N. M. Howell

  Saeryn was elected to a special board that was put in charge of the city until a formal government could be established in the region. The board was responsible for creating new legislature and carrying out a total restructuring of the city’s cultural and historical institutions. The civilians made an honest effort to erase everything that disparaged or lied about the dragonborn. And since the dragonborn had been pulled from a past centuries before, they were perfect for helping to rewrite the history books to present the absolute truth.

  The professors, Searchers, monitors, battalion soldiers, and even the Sentinels were tried for high crimes against the city, the region, the dragonborn, and all of Noelle. The professors were stripped of their degrees and titles, banned from ever being in positions of power again. The Searchers were forced to hand over all weapons and to provide the special board with any and all knowledge of the kidnappings, disappearances, murders, and memory erasures they had perpetrated over the years.

  The result of those interviews was a harrowing collection of volumes listing too many evils to comprehend. The white fire and the deighilt were taken from the hooded monitors, who were also banned from any positions and forced to write detailed confessions. The battalion soldiers ceded their armor to the city. The Sentinels were shut down and hidden away where they couldn’t hurt anyone ever again.

  The trials took place over the weeks and the information that came out during those days was sickening. All of the people who had been willingly involved in Chancellor Mharú’s crimes were sentenced to prison, without any possibility of ever being released. In fact, they were sent to a holding facility until the dragonborn could help the city finish constructing a special prison with defenses that couldn’t hope to be outsmarted. Where they were going, there was no hope. Yet many thought they were still getting off easy; after all, if it hadn’t been for Saeryn all the conspirators would have been guilty of the murder of an entire city. Approximately six million people. In an odd turn of events, the dragonborn and members of the local police force had to protect the conspirators, lest the civilians have their way with them.

  The city had a hard time rebuilding itself. Saeryn and the dragonborn had given them back their lives, but there was still a lot of physical damage to the city. The chancellor’s final wave of magic, having been amplified enormously by his armor, had destroyed and completely blown out a number of buildings and he had already begun a widespread demolition of parts of the city in order to expand the new military University. Much had to be reconstructed and much could never hope to be salvaged.

  The University also had to be remodeled, stripped of all its propaganda and military aspirations. The chancellor had certainly left his mark on everything he touched and there was no denying that the people had a long way to go before they could rediscover normal.

  Chancellor of West Noelle, Myamar Mharú, became a name no one even whispered. His image and likeness was taken off of every wall, tossed out of every building, burned in the middle of the streets in large piles that burned all night and smoked all morning. His many laws and edicts were struck from the books and every office he had in the University or the city was cleaned out, destroyed and redesigned. Everything he’d left his mark or imprint on was destroyed and they performed this action again and again and again, all throughout the University and the city, until every trace of him was removed.

  The board decided to keep a special section with files on the chancellor and the horrors he had committed—they never wanted history to repeat itself. The costs would be too high.

  A search began for the soldiers that got away. Some of the men Andie had fought on the train were caught and imprisoned, but according to the battalion’s register quite a few got away. Some men had escaped during the night, but a large group of others had already been stationed at the edge of the city. By the time the dragonborn got there, the building was empty.

  A wider search began throughout the region, but no one had the first idea about where those men had gone. Many feared that Ashur would lead them back and another war would begin. It was made an even greater fear by Saeryn vowing to never again abuse the magic of blood and dragons to tempt fate. If anything like this ever happened again, the city would be in huge trouble.

  Yet the hardest chore of all was trying to decide how they would convince the rest of Noelle that the dragonborn were not only not a threat, but were allies. Saeryn was asked to send more telepathic messages, but she declined—she knew that the messages only worked the first time because those people in the city had seen firsthand what kind of man the chancellor was and she had brought them all back to life. Without those particular circumstances, the messages would only be seen as more lies.

  They thought it might be a good idea to send ambassadors, a mix of dragonborn and the most respected citizens of Arvall; perhaps a delegation of that composition would be well received, or at least received in the first place, and have a fighting chance at changing people’s mind. There was also talk of simply inviting people to Arvall to see the dragonborn in-person, get to know the people and see that they were completely kind and did not have wickedness in their nature. Many more plans were also put forth, but so far nothing had been selected as especially promising.

  Raesh and the others from the Hot Salts of Mithraldia had not yet arrived, but were hopefully only a few days out. It had taken so long because a sturdy ship had to be found that could survive the Gray Fold. It took that ship four weeks to reach the group where they were and would take even longer to get back. Several messages had been sent with the crew of the ship for the fighters, and news of the dragonborn victory elated them to no end. Instructions were also sent and Lymir began to prepare in earnest for his new position.

  Many of the fighters were ecstatic to be going home and to not have to fight, but there were still some concerns. A faction of them decided to go off on foot and look for the remainder of the battalion, taking some supplies from the new ship and saying goodbye to their friends. Kent and Lilja were among those who left. Lilja feared what might happen to her if she ever went back to Arvall; she was not convinced that she would be forgiven or pardoned, even though Raesh gave her his word. Kent went with her to keep her company and keep her strong.

  Everyone else who had been seriously injured in the explosion had woken up by the time the ship arrived. Except Carmen. Her condition was stable and her health hadn’t deteriorated any further, but something was clearly wrong. Everyone else was awake and for some reason Carmen simply wasn’t responding. They were hoping that something could be done for her in Arvall or that Saeryn might be able to help her.

  They set sail from the Hot Salts loaded down with provisions from the dragonborn people and a flurry of good wishes. The dragonborn were sad to see them go: the two races had learned a lot from each other in the weeks the fighters were among them.

  Since the University was going to be all-inclusive now, Raesh had offered himself as an instructor. He thought he might teach classes for people without the gift of magic—though he himself was a pearlblood, he’d spent most of his life pretending to be human and was probably the most qualified to teach those classes. He wanted to help people, but he also wanted another direction for his life. Fighting and secrets and death had had a hold over him for too long. He wanted to be something his father would have been proud of. He wanted to do something good, something worth remembering.

  He also wanted to finally publish his books, something he knew he should have done long ago, but hesitation was behind him now. The only other thing he wanted was Andie. They had been apart so much lately and it was as painful to him as watching his friends die. He needed her in ways he couldn’t explain and he only hoped she felt the same way.

  There was peace all around.

  The only person who wasn’t doing well was Andie. Not long after they’d defeated the chancellor and his battalion, a messenger bird arrived from the Hot Salts. It carried a torn tear-streaked letter addressed to Andie written in Raesh’s messy scri
bble.

  My cousin has yet to wake up.

  The traitor has been executed.

  Your father has passed on.

  Andie had to reread the message multiple times before she could fully comprehend what the letter was telling her. Her vision swam and her mind worked a league a minute as she processed her thoughts. Carmen was in a coma and Marvo had been executed. Well, not really, she thought, as he had blown himself up in his attack. But her eyes filled with tears as she read that last line over and over. Her father was dead. Her chest felt like it was going to implode. She wasn’t sure her body was able to take the news. Grief filled her very core and she began to shake, not wanting to accept the words as true. She had just lost a part of her.

  Your father has passed on.

  She didn’t want to believe it. He had looked to be doing so much better. No, she couldn’t believe it. She… Andie then read the line before it and dropped the letter on the floor.

  The traitor has been executed.

  Andie flustered, trying to recall the events of the past few days. Everything had happened so fast. The attacks, the magic, the death, the new life. She tried so desperately to remember her interactions with Raesh back at the ship, but she quickly realized she hadn’t communicated with him or anybody else since discovering the truth.

  “Yara,” Andie whispered as she fell to her knees.

  Marvo was the traitor, not Yara. Marvo was the one who betrayed them all, although not knowingly. It had been he who had been spelled, or so the chancellor had said. Raesh wouldn’t have known the truth. But everyone at the ship would still think Yara to be the one who betrayed them. Yara wasn’t the traitor. Yara was innocent.

  Yara was dead.

  For days on end, Andie refused to come out of the room they’d set up for her in the city. She couldn’t face herself after what she’d done. Her best friend was killed because Andie was too blinded by anger to bother confirming her suspicions. She had been killed for nothing. Andie couldn’t look herself in the mirror, let alone face anybody else. She felt broken. Betrayed by her own actions. She could never forgive herself.

  What was worse, is that beyond the anger and grief and self-loathing, she had an irreparable sadness for the loss of her father. A sadness she felt was unfair for her to feel, as how can someone who had done something so terrible be allowed to feel sorry for herself like she was. But still, despite her fierce determination to not allow herself to feel the sorrow that came from a parent’s death, she still mourned.

  Her father had been seriously injured, and he had given her the signs. She could have done something to prevent him from getting worse, but she didn’t. She left. He mentioned something about a headache and dizziness. Now he was dead, too, and it was all because of her.

  Carmen was just as tragic a thought. She should never had been in that cell, anyway, and if she hadn’t been so close to Marvo, she would still be conscious. Maybe even unharmed. She had taken Andie under her wing at the Academy and had shown her how to have fun and enjoy life. Now she was lying in a coma and there were no signs that she was ever going to wake up.

  Andie cursed herself for ever even doubting Carmen, for not believing in her and in the person that she had already proven herself to be. It was far, far less than a true friend and ally deserved. And now Andie was left with nothing but a collection of bitter memories that was made even more painful by how sweet and beautiful they were.

  Andie couldn’t stand herself. She felt sick, trapped inside the body of someone who had betrayed her friends and family. It was her fault that they were gone. She could never forgive herself for it.

  The days passed. And then the weeks. Soon enough a new year had come around and the University was getting very close to its reopening. The rebuilding of the city had come quite a long way, though there was still much work to be done.

  Still, the city was alive again. The people were happy, excited about the future. The dragonborn were still living on Brie, for the time being, and the ship was only a few days out from arriving at the port. Everything seemed to be advancing. Everyone seemed to be moving on.

  Everyone, part from Andie.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “This isn’t healthy,” Oren said, pacing back and forth. Since arriving back from spending some time on the ship with their allies he had been trying to speak with Andie, but she hadn’t allowed any visitors. He was growing impatient. “I’ve worried for her before, but never like this. When it came to the University and the chancellor’s many plots, she at least immersed herself in the support system around her. She allowed each of us to do our parts and in the end we succeeded. But she’s changed. It’s as if she thinks she’s alone now and she won’t speak to anyone. She barely even looks at you, and you’re the one person she looks up to.”

  “It was a victory for us, Oren,” Saeryn said softly. “But it was hard-won. The people of Arvall were all dead, she’d failed to save them. We managed to give them back their lives, but at great cost to our strength. Even I didn’t think we could have managed such a feat. Our beloved dragons gave them a second chance, despite the hate and evil that they had harbored for us before. But Andie’s friends, the fighters who left home and aligned themselves to our cause, they all died. And no one was there to revive them.”

  “She must surely see the good in what she’s done, though?” Oren finally stopped pacing and faced his Queen. “Surely she knows the deaths are not her fault.”

  “Her own father died,” she replied. “Her best friend is lost. Another is still sick. It must be hard on her to understand how all this was fair. She must also be thinking about how awful things would have been if the chancellor won, which he very nearly did. And now she’s supposed to teach in the very same building that housed the people who hated her most?”

  Oren slumped against the wall. He wore casual linens now, no longer requiring his dragon-scaled armor his people were renowned for. He was growing used to the simple life among the people in their strange, modern time. “I suppose it has been far harder on her than on anyone else.”

  “She still believes it’s her responsibility to save the world. She’s only just learning that we can’t save everyone, even if we’re only trying to protect the ones we love. Even in a war with an outcome as favorable as this there are consequences. I only wish she wasn’t the one who had to suffer them. She still believes she failed in regards to her father and her friends.”

  “Is it her father that has gotten to her the most?”

  Saeryn shrugged. “Perhaps. Although she does not seem one to lose herself to grief so strongly. No, I suspect it is her involvement in the loss of her friend that is eating away at her. Yara, the girl we punished for being the traitor.”

  “I must speak to her about that,” Oren said suddenly. “She knows not the truth of what happened.”

  Saeryn considered. “Perhaps that is wise. But not just this moment. We have things we need to attend to.”

  Saeryn and Oren turned and headed back into the University to finish overseeing the new design. Saeryn was met almost immediately by one of the other members of the board. He name was Stefan. He had been invited to Arvall City from Taline to the north. Now that the chancellor’s personal files had been opened and reviewed, it had been revealed that the University was responsible for every terrorist attack in Taline for the last twenty years. Chancellor Mharú’s unbelievable crimes had nearly destroyed the city that Stefan had worked so hard to protect. The other board members thought it only right that Stefan should be invited to the city to help define its new direction. He and Saeryn had become fast friends.

  “It’s a relief to know that something good is finally going to come from this place,” he said. “I’ve spent so many years wondering if or how Myamar was responsible for the tragedies that have plagued my city. Now I know.”

  “That one man did a great deal of evil against us all,” Saeryn replied. “But he’s gone now.”

  “And for that I’m grateful. I understa
nd that Andie Rogers is the girl I should thank for finally setting the world back on course.”

  “Indeed, she is.”

  “I was once on the council of Taline with her father. He was a good man. I was sorry to hear that he passed. I’m afraid I was once as nearsighted as the rest of the region. I regret it, but I had been taught that the dragonborn were evil, not to be trusted. I nearly harmed him and his wife once. You can imagine my shock and sadness when I learned later that she had been taken that very same night.”

  “The fact that you are here now tells me everything I need to know about you. My people and I are not in the habit of holding onto past grudges.”

  “That helps me a great deal to know. But I wonder about Andie. I can’t imagine what stories her father told her about me. I was never very open with him, but it was only because I took our sworn duty so seriously. I always thought very highly of him. And I never forgot the face of his wife, that beautiful woman who was so atrociously mistreated. I never met Andie. I’d like to meet her now. Soon, if she’d be up for it.”

  “I’m sure she will in time,” Saeryn said with a heavy sigh. “But right now, she is coming to terms with the terrible weight of her losses. Many lives and many dreams had to be sacrificed for this victory, and no one has had to bear the brunt of that pain more than Andie. But I will make sure she knows your intentions.”

  Stefan gave Saeryn a terrifically honorable bow and then disappeared down another hallway. Saeryn continued forward, lending her expertise wherever it was needed and stopping every so often just to encourage and reassure people. It was hard work and had taken a lot of effort, and would require still more later.

  Saeryn had offered any number of times to assist them, to help in any way she could, but the citizens thought her position as Queen was too majestic for menial chores. She tried explaining to them that among the dragonborn not even the Queen is above contributions and that she was no stranger to hard work, but they wouldn’t listen. They were just trying to pay her back in the only way they knew they could. And so, she fulfilled the role they crafted for her and made sure she was always around to boost morale.