A Single Candle (Cerah of Quadar Book 3)

by S. J. Varengo

  Now Ban and Preena joined the group. “Slurr, is it time?” the boy asked his brother.

  “Yes,” the older lad said. “The journey to Melsa is not a short one. Yarren, are you sure you’re up to ferrying the First Brat of the Army?”

  Yarren smiled. “Ban and I have much to discuss,” he said. “The miles will go by quickly with him as my passenger. I will be hard pressed to match the intricacies of his mind.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating,” said Ban, “but I am looking forward to it as well.”

  “And dear Preena,” said Parnasus. “Rarely have Dardaan and I had the honor of transporting one so noble and so crucial to the history of our planet. I expect you and I will find much to speak about as well.”

  Preena bowed her head in respect to the First Elder. “The honor will be mine, kind sir.”

  “Well then, I suggest we mount our rides and fly west. The comforts of our home are calling!” the First Elder declared.

  The final six adventurers climbed upon the final three dragons and with a call of “Home, Dard!” they were aloft.

  Cerah noticed after the first day of their journey to Melsa that Tressida was being extremely quiet. At one point, Slurr snoozed upon her back as they winged west, and Cerah decided to ask her what was wrong.

  “There is nothing wrong, really,” the queen said into her mind. “Although there is much I am working through.”

  “Tell me, dearest. We have often been able to help each other with weighty issues in the past. Perhaps I can aid you now.”

  “Your kindness towards me never falters. Very well, I will tell you what weighs upon me. First, and I don’t think this will surprise you, there is Szalmi.”

  “No, I knew he would be on your mind.”

  “Twice in my life my connection with you has been severed, first when you were pulled into the Under Plane, and then when Surok struck you down. In the first instance I suffered, but I believed in my heart we would find each other again. However, when you fell on the cliffs of Andoor I was convinced that I had lost you, and every fiber of my body was torn asunder. I could not, for all my queenly wisdom, have imagined a pain could be so horrible, so complete.”

  “I’m sorry you suffered so,” Cerah said.

  “My suffering is nothing,” Tress said, “compared to Szalmi’s. He knows, as do we all, that Kern will not be coming back as you did. His bond is broken forever more. Szalmi will most likely live for many centuries, but each of the days that make up those eons will be tinted with sorrow. He will never forget his match-mate.”

  “It is so with all of the riderless,” Cerah said.

  “It is. But Szalmi is beloved to me. I would do anything to ease his pain, to see him frolic and act like a fool once more.”

  “Tress, I understand this loss. When I was taken from you, especially the first time, the loss of our connection was like a tear in my soul. But I cannot pretend to know the depth of Szalmi’s suffering. Still, I know that your affection for him will slowly, gradually work as a balm upon his pain. Though dragons cannot use magic, they can use love. And that, I have learned, is the strongest magic that Ma’uzzi has given us. And he has given it to all his creation, not just the wizards of Melsa, and certainly not just the Chosen One.”

  “Do you really think I can help him?”

  “I believe you will help him. And Slurr and I will bathe him in our love as well. He has been our friend for many years. We will not leave him to suffer alone.”

  Cerah felt a warmth radiate from her match-mate. “It is well,” Tressida said. “I shall worry less about him now. There is another matter, though.”

  “Tell me, love.”

  “It is Brala, the ancient queen that you released from Surok’s evil sway.”

  “How exciting it must be for you to have another of your station! And you said that she could speak to you as we speak, yes?”

  “Just as clearly as I hear you now,” the queen said. “This both excites and challenges me. For it does not really shock me that another queen might be able to communicate mentally. Of course, until this past week, I was the only queen I knew.”

  Cerah laughed. Brala had flown with the riderless back to Melsa days before.

  “Having another, especially one with so many years of experience will no doubt be a vital and amazing treasure to me. But I fear for her spirit. One thousand years in bondage to Surok must surely leave its mark, even upon one so grand.”

  Now Cerah felt a shiver from her match-mate as she considered Brala’s many years of captivity.

  “Again,” Cerah said, “I believe you will be the key element in her recovery as well. Much like your connection with all other dragons, I’m sure Brala could make only rudimentary mental contact with them. To have one with whom she can actually converse will be a blessing. You will be a treasure to her.”

  “I hope I can be. And hearing her gives me another thought as well. Must we forever be satisfied with only passing images and impressions to the others of our kind? Last year you and I did something no one had ever done before. We taught riderless dragons how to act as a coordinated unit, independent of their long-lost wizards. Do you recall that when we begin working with them, Parnasus held no assurance that we would succeed.”

  “Yes, I remember,” Cerah replied. “It was brutally difficult work, but in the end, we turned them into something that the creatures of darkness did not anticipate. They were a vital cog in our success.”

  “I believe Brala and I might be able to teach them to communicate as well. Perhaps not with the fluency we enjoy. But I must tell you a secret. In the months that Szalmi and I flew together I attempted constantly to speak into his mind. Not just to send him images and feelings, but actual words. He never responded, and I never thought I had broken through to him. But when Kern was killed and his screams joined mine, I clearly heard him call his match-mate’s name in my mind. He spoke that single word, ‘Kern.’”

  Cerah considered this silently for a few moments. “Perhaps, then,” she began, “Szalmi may be an even more important part of your life. Perhaps if you and Brala can continue to speak to him you will not only begin to learn the secret of communicating with the other dragons, but you will give him something on which to fix his mind other than his grief.”

  Tressida hadn’t contemplated this. “So you’re saying we can try to reach him, and in doing so aid in his healing?”

  “Exactly. Oh, Tress. What exciting days lie ahead for you!”

  The queen answered her match-mate with a long, happy chuckle. “You are in for some excitement as well. Before you know it, you will be as big around as a dragon’s belly!”

  “Augh! Let’s not focus upon that aspect of motherhood! I cherish the opportunity to bring new life, but I’m not looking forward to the mechanics of it!”

  “It would be so much easier if you could just lay a pair of eggs and be done with it! You who walk upon two legs could learn much from dragon-kind!”

  “We are not fortunate enough to hatch in the warm rookery on Melsa,” Cerah laughed.

  “Pity,” said Tress. “It is ever so superior.”

  “At any rate, I am excited about motherhood. Can you imagine what an amazing father Slurr will be?”

  “Your children will be most blessed to have you both as their parents.”

  “And you as their dragon godmother!”

  “Oh yes! I will keep a close eye upon them. And when they get into mischief, as I know any child of yours surely will, I shall warm their backsides with a puff of dragon-fire!”

  “Heavens! That may be a tad extreme, dear heart.”

  “Well, nevertheless, I shall hold them dear.”

  They flew in silence for a long time. Finally Tressida said, “Thank you, Cerah. My mind is much more at ease now. You were right to draw me out. I must always remember you are nearly as wise as I!”

  “Nearly, perhaps,” Cerah laughed.

  23

  A New Generation

  Four year
s later, Cerah Jacasta sat beside the Central Flame in the Elder’s Village, upon the green isle of Melsa. Beside her were the only three humans ever allowed to live permanently among the wizards, Slurr, Preena, and Ban. The fifth seat was occupied by Parnasus.

  All were laughing with delight, as they watched Cerah’s daughter, Jul, point at the blaze with her tiny outstretched finger, causing the flames to change colors and flare upward.

  For Cerah the period since the end of the war had been richly fulfilling. The absolute joy of parenthood went beyond even her most optimistic goals and dreams. Her two children had endowed her life with a new dimension, and she and Slurr were very happy.

  “Look, mommy!” the toddler cried with unbridled joy. “Pretty! So pretty!”

  “Very pretty, my precious one!” Cerah replied.

  Parnasus chuckled. “Well, it’s been more and more apparent each day,” he said, “but I’ll say it aloud for all to hear. Young Jul has received a full measure of your Spark!”

  “It’s true,” said Slurr. “Already the fields burst into bloom when she walks through them. Just like her mother, and her namesake.”

  “I foresee great things ahead for her,” the First Elder said. He held in his lap a sheath of papers and a magic quill, which moved itself across the page, even as they conversed, and never ran dry. For the past several months he had been transcribing many of the runes in the Hall of History into the common tongue. The War of Quadar had caused a great revival among the Free People, and they clamored to know more about Ma’uzzi and the long history of the planet. Stories of the ancient wizards enthralled them, and Parnasus had resolved to make the writings available to all who wished to know. He found the task amazingly rewarding, and with wizard kind in such an age of peace and acceptance among the humans, he had ample time to dedicate to the project.

  “I am not convinced that Kernz will not begin to show signs of Spark soon,” said Cerah, referring to Jul’s twin brother. It had surprised no one that Slurr named his son in honor of his dearest friend, but all were taken aback when he insisted upon adding the “z” to the end of the name in recognition of another wizard. For all the damage Zenk had done, Slurr would be forever indebted to him for saving his mother from the clutches of the Silestran with the jagged scar across his face.

  And, as Parnasus had said at the Battle of Andoor, he had redeemed himself when he saved Preena’s life at the cost of his own. Slurr would never forget that even though Zenk had led Silestra assassins to find Cerah, and had thereby brought about her brother Beru’s death, he had rescued his mother at the last possible second. When Cerah’s second baby had been born, and Slurr saw that the child was a boy, he was emphatic. “His name will be Kernz.” And in the end, no one dared contradict the man who had served the planet so well.

  And though no one had yet witnessed any nascent magic coming from the boy, his parents loved him just as dearly as they did his sister, older by three minutes and clearly gifted with a wizard’s spark.

  “Where has that boy gone off to, anyway?” asked his grandmother.

  “You know he likes to play near Dragon’s Walk,” Slurr said to Preena, referring to the vast open area that he and Beru, along with a host of wizards, had cleared for the riderless dragons to return to when the buildup for the war began. “I’m sure Yarren is keeping an eye on him.”

  As if in answer to hearing her husband’s name, the lovely wizard Russa, herself now great with child, waddled uneasily, and lowered herself into an unoccupied chair by the fire.

  “It won’t be long now, Russa, till I have the chance to return the favor and help you bring that baby into the world, just as you did for my twins.”

  “I would trust no other,” Russa said smiling, despite her obvious discomfort. “I hope I don’t worry you as much as you did me. Although you and the babies survived Surok’s attack, it wasn’t until I watched them both pink up that I was sure they were unscathed by his evil.”

  “If Yarren is half the father that he is wizard and ‘uncle’ to my two,” said Slurr, “he will be the model of that lofty position!”

  “Well, he’s had you to stand as example for four years,” said Russa. “Your children adore you!”

  “As well they should,” said Parnasus. “As well they should.”

  As they continued to enjoy the early evening fire, another child ran to join them. It was the son of Milenda and Kern himself, conceived only days before the great wizard’s death. The boy, only two months younger than the twins, was precocious and more than a little mischievous, every bit Kern’s legacy. Milenda chased after him, pushing back a stray strand of hair as she did.

  “Dear Milenda!” Cerah called. “That boy runs you ragged!”

  The older wizard caught up to him and gently grabbed his arm. “Behave, Little Slurr,” she said, “or I shall have big Slurr sit upon you!”

  The young man laughed and grabbed his namesake from his mother. He had been much honored when Milenda had said that she was certain Kern would have insisted the boy be so named. Holding the toddler upside down, much to his giggling delight, Slurr said, “Mind your mother, or all you will see will be my big bottom lowering itself down on you!”

  “No, Uncle Slurr! Not that!” the snickering boy squeeled. His laughter was infectious, and soon the Central Flame’s crackling was drowned by the merriment of all who sat by it.

  Not far away, Yarren was walking among the dragons who were frolicking in their Rest. He had become very involved with the training and breeding of the great beasts, and the past two classes of novice wizards to be matched had found their match-mates bigger, stronger and smarter than many of those who had come before. He had also worked with Cerah and the two queens as they gradually learned to draw actual speech out of many dragons, first among them Szalmi.

  As yet the dragons who had learned to speak only did so to the queens. No other wizard had yet heard a match-mate’s voice in her head as did Cerah, but they were hopeful that very soon a newly matched pairing might be the first.

  Szalmi, for his part, turned out to be as jovial verbally as he had been with his actions. Cerah continually heard Tressida’s laughter in her mind as the queen spent more and more time with the riderless red dragon. While Tress never deigned to take the place of Kern in Szalmi’s heart, he had opened himself to her love nonetheless and they were quite happy together.

  At the edge of the space, near a wooden fence, sat Kernz Jacasta. He watched the dragons for a while, then called to the wizard. “Uncle Yarren, can I go play in the field for a little bit.”

  Yarren looked to where the boy was already climbing through the fence. “For a few minutes. It will be dark soon, and we’ll need to head back to the village.”

  “Okay,” Kernz said.

  In the last rays of sunlight, the field was resplendent in color, as wildflowers bloomed across every inch. Kernz walked out among them. When he was far enough from Dragon’s Walk that Yarren could not see him, he found a comfortable place and sat amid the wild sea of color.

  As he did, the flowers near him began to wither and die. The child laughed to himself as he watched the petals fall to the ground as the stems drooped over. Soon a brown circle of wasted plant life surrounded him.

  A moment later he heard Yarren call his name. “Come on, Kernz. It’s time for dinner.”

  “Coming!” he called back in a cherubic voice, running out of the field. He looked over his shoulder at the swath of brown that trailed behind him. He laughed, then called out, “Here I am!”

  Yarren took the boy’s hand. “What are you laughing about, you rogue?” he asked.

  “I’m just happy to be alive!” the child said, secretly thinking to himself about how strong it made him feel to make the flowers wither.

  Yarren ran his hand playfully through the boy’s curly blonde hair.

  They walked together to the village, as the moon Giselle began to rise above the shimmering waters of the Mayduk Ocean.

  Also by S. J. Varengo

>   The Cerah of Quadar Series

  A Dark Clock

  Many Hidden Rooms

  A Single Candle

  The Clean Up Crew Thriller Series

  The Beauty of Bucharest

  The Count of Carolina

  The SpyCo Novella Series

  Assignment: Paris

  Assignment: Istanbul

  Assignment: Sydney

  Assignment: Dublin