

"...utterly believable and yet simultaneously fantastical! This is not unlike the styling of C.S. Lewis. It is an epic, fantasy tale that will hit home with all readers, and when the last page is reached, leave them with a thirst looking for more of Scott J. Toney's writings!"

– Laura A. Diaz, author of They Call Me Blanca

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**Thomas, the young King of Havilah, is drawn to a forest beyond his lands. Here he discovers seven figs, fruit from the long forgotten Eden.**

In the land of Cush, Princess Lilya suffers under the rule of her father, until the day when young King Thomas of Havilah invites her away to his lands. There, she hopes to find peace she has never known.

But Thomas has been drawn to a foreign land, to figs he hopes are from Eden and the Tree of Life. When he eats them to heal his wounds things change within him, distorting him in ways he could not predict.

Now Lilya must make a decision. Does she stand by Thomas' side or act to dispel the evil consuming his soul? Amidst this world Lilya has befriended a dragon. There are secrets within the beast that could determine all their fates.

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"When you think you have the book all figured out the author throws you in a different direction. The author had my imagination going wild, giving vivid descriptions of the characters and the land and left me guessing what was going to happen next. In the end I was left hooked and wanting more."

– Kelly Workman

Breakwater Harbor Books presents by Scott. J. Toney

Fantasy

The Ark of Humanity

Eden Legacy

Christian Fiction

Lazarus, Man

Poetry

Dusk Crescence

# Eden Legacy

Scott J. Toney

Breakwater Harbor Books, Inc.

Scott J. Toney and Cara Goldthorpe, Co-Founders

www.breakwaterharborbooks.weebly.com

Copyright © 2011 by Scott J. Toney

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Cover by David Lockhart

Author e-mail – poeticliscence@hotmail.com

Cover Artist e-mail – lockhartdesigns999@gmail.com

First Paperback Printing, October 2011

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

"A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.

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"Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'

"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."

\- The Book of Genesis

Dedication

This story is dedicated to Kathleen Schroeder, my Mom, who taught me from a young age what it means to be a good person and who has shown me by the way she lives life what a strong woman is and should be. Without her I would not be near the man I am today. I would not have the character and strength within me. It is her strength of character which taught me what to look for in my wife and has shown me what to teach my daughter.

Acknowledgments

A great thanks to Ivan Amberlake, who took on my book in its early stages and has been indispensible in hashing out punctuation. His care with and love for this work has pushed it beyond what it could have been without him. One could not ask for more in a fellow author.

My good friend, David Lockhart, designed my cover. He is a brilliant artist and I am honored to have his artwork for the covers of my books.

I am extremely grateful to Laura Toney, my beautiful wife, for all her hard work editing and the love she gives me each day. She helped knock the words "and" and "that" from my pages and her help with vocabulary was fantastic. To be her husband is a blessing beyond all things. She is my sunlight, my calming breeze and makes the rhythm in my soul dance.

I am thankful as well for my friend Kelly Workman. Her insight into wording and world construction added much to this work. To have her help with "substance" is something that was irreplaceable.

David Towne, my uncle, also helped with editing and I am honored to have had his assistance with both of my fantasy novels. To have an uncle as dedicated as him is a blessing.

1

The Fruit

Dense mist draped around Thomas, the young king of Havilah, as he rode his steed through an overgrown trail of serpentine vines and luscious vegetation. The gray air smelt of ash and honey. Flowers bloomed through the land's mists and fog. His personal guards; Pine, Juniper and Cypress, rode steadily behind him. Their horses had hair the color of coal.

"We should turn back, sire," Juniper spoke to his king as his horse neighed and threw its head, trying to dislodge its reigns. "There is nothing here but dense woods."

"No, just a short distance further," Thomas called back to his men, wiping dampness from his face. Why was it that he felt pulled to this land? He did not know what it was that had made him desire to leave his kingdom, but he had felt something unknown pulling him toward this foreign land for many days. He had sailed on the Pishon River to another river and then to this forest of great beauty and mists. But for what?

His horse stumbled on a decaying log and he had to force its head up to stop it from bolting. It picked its way through the roots and vines littering the ground. Thomas looked around him. There were no birds here, no animals of any kind that he could see. As he rode his horse farther, the lure he felt to this place grew. Some unknown attraction called to his soul from the earth below and the taste of ash grew in the air.

He was here.

He dismounted. His leather boots sank into a swamp-like mud. A sucking sensation tickled at their soles. Cautiously, Thomas stretched his cloaked arm into mists drifting about the ground next to a decaying tree. The tree's bark was charred and its crooked, rotting form leaned to the side. He felt around the cool air and moist soil until his hands touched on something firm but malleable. As he withdrew his hand from the mists there were three shriveled, greenish-brown objects in his palm.

"Figs sire?" Pine called to Thomas as he rode near. The guard's horse stomped its hooves in the swampy earth.

"Are they not wondrous," the king said. ''They rival any growing in our gardens and here they grow wild, without care." A surge of strength pulsed through Thomas's hand. They feel like sacks of skin, he thought. "I don't know how I know, but these are what we've come for."

"We should have care, my lord," Juniper said. "It shall be dark soon."

"Yes," he wondered at the figs. "We should make haste." Thomas collected seven figs from the ground and placed them in a sack strapped to his steed's side before remounting her. Eerie warmth exuded from the fruit as he turned his horse and headed back toward their ship. He felt grateful to have found what he had come for.

As the group of four rode quickly from the dense woods, leaves from trees around them became brittle and fell. Thomas and his guards reached the unknown river and the young king turned his steed around so that he could better see the land. Darkness hovered over the place and he suddenly saw shadows moving restlessly through the trees. "Board and pull up the plank quickly," he instructed his men.

Once their horses were safely led below deck Thomas helped lift anchor and secure the rigging. The rope braids burned against his hands as he worked them. There was something inherently wrong about this place and he didn't want to find out what those shadows were.

Below deck their horses whinnied as the men and their servants released grand white sails into the winds and began directing the vessel back to the river Pishon. At the port side of the bow of his ship, Thomas stood leaning against the sturdy wood of the railing. He listened to the sound of the sails catching the wind. He shivered as he watched the shadows leaping through the trees along the shore where they had come from. Beastly howls came from the shadows and the woods.

A cool nervousness ran up his spine.

2

First Sight

In the dark of her room, tucked warm beneath her covers, Princess Lilya of Cush shook with fear as someone beat against the outside of her room's door.

THOOM! THOOM! The noise echoed across the room's chilled stone walls. Lilya imagined the wood flexing with each beating.

"Let me in!" a voice demanded. It was the deep voice of one of her personal guards.

She remained silent and sank further into the darkness of her covers. Maybe the guard would just leave.

The noise stopped and then seconds later something came splintering through.

She could hear the guard's arm as it scraped past the splintered wood of the newly gashed hole to undo the lock.

There was a clicking sound and the door softly brushed open. "Where are you, princess?" the guard's low voice came. His footsteps trod heavily on the floor. "Lying down to sleep like a good girl? Your father has promised you will bed me tonight. He lost a game of cards in the keep." The guard's knee pressed into the cushion of the bed.

Lilya moved quickly to the opposite side.

This wasn't the first time her father had wagered her body in a bet.

"This won't take long!" The guard clamored with his large calloused hands until finding her wrists and pinning her against the bed.

Lilya shook violently and winced. The reek of beer consumed his breath as he huffed down upon her and clumsily touched her curves.

"Hold still!" he commanded before clutching her wrists with one arm and pulling down her under garments with the other.

"No!" Lilya balked and wailed causing the guard to lose his grip on her wrists. She clawed his face with her nails and attempted to escape but he pinned her legs down with his own.

"The more you fight, the longer this will take!" the guard bellowed as he repined her wrists. He ripped a hole in the front of his pants with his spare hand and approached her below.

"No!" Lilya screamed again before the guard's hand silenced her mouth. She bit him and thrust her right leg out from beneath him, bashing it into his groin.

The guard curled over in pain as Lilya fled from her bed and down the hall outside her room.

"You wench!" the guard screamed in pain.

He would soon follow her, Lilya knew. The torches burning against the castle walls blurred as she ran past their lights. "Help!" she called out. But no-one replied. Had the whole castle lain down to sleep?

The stone walls curled as she dashed in a circle and then down a flight of stairs. One foot after another, she descended the stairwell as her mind raced, certain that at any moment the drunk would catch her.

Suddenly her bare feet caught in a stone groove and she went careening to the floor.

From where she had come, the guard drunkenly stumbled toward her. "Now I'm going to hurt you as well!" His lips slumped on his face in his stupor. "Stay still wench, so I can drag you back to your room!"

Not tonight, Lilya thought while clamoring back to her feet and down the torch lit hall once more.

With a pivot on the cold floor she darted into the main hall where cloth tapestries depicting Cush's history rippled in a breeze against the walls. A knight in one of them seemed to look at her with a stern bravery on his face and a bone white sword clenched in his fists.

"If only you were here now," she whispered beneath her breath as she searched the great hall for somewhere to hide. Behind father's throne? No. Surely he'll look there.

If she hid anywhere in the hall, she decided, eventually the drunken guard would discover her. Her heart thumped rapidly against her ribcage. There were swords hanging with a shield against the far wall.

Within seconds she reached them. She pulled on a sword and it came loose from its brace. She could barely support its weight in her hands.

"Ha...!" the guard mocked her as he exited the stairwell and saw her struggling to wield the weapon. "A little role-playing before the festivities, young soldier?" His drooping smile revealed crooked rotting teeth. He licked them. The motion repulsed her. "Come to me, wench!"

Lilya held the sword in the guard's direction while walking backwards toward the main hall's massive outer doors. "Stay back," she warned him.

He followed closely a few feet from her blade.

As her back met the wooden doors she swayed her sword toward the guard and pulled with all her strength on the heavy door behind her. It slowly gave way and she slipped from the torch lit hall into the pitch-black night.

Where to go? The scent of spring flora wafted through the air. She remembered the labyrinth to the castle's side and darted for it.

"Not so fast, whore!" the guard's voice startled her as his massive hand clutched her wrist, throwing her to the ground.

As she rose and began running, she thought, He will come. Her weapon braced close in the black night. And when he comes I will run this steel through him.

"Here, kitty kitty!" the guard mocked her.

The darkness was silent.

Something warm overcame her and a light in the distance rapidly came her way. It dove from the sky above and crushed into the ground, quaking the earth beneath her.

There was a faint red glow and the scales around its winged body rippled in the breeze. Muscles in the creature's long face tensed as its pure nova white eyes pierced the guard's own stare.

The guard backed toward the castle doors, quaking with fear, and stumbled into them. He fell to the ground. As he lifted his head and brushed his unkempt hair from his face he mumbled to himself. His hands shook and he looked frantically around.

The dragon walked forward, tossing dirt with its claws. "Leave her be," the voice boomed forth from the dragon's mouth.

"It speaks!" The guard found confidence through his intoxication and strode toward the dragon as he mocked it. He lifted a cragged stone from the earth close by and chucking it against the creature's forehead. "All hail the great beast! Why don't you just leave me and this pretty maiden alone and I won't have my fellow guardsmen hunt you down and slay you."

"You assume I'll let you live." Smoke fumed from the beast's nose.

"This wench is my prize and I'm not leaving without her." The disheveled guard retrieved the decorative sword from Lilya's stunned hands and approached the scaly creature. "And besides..." He swung the sword in circles, passing it from hand to hand. "You assume I'll let you live."

"I warned you, boy." The dragon dislodged a paw from the ground, thrust it against his attacker, and plunged him amongst a plume of dust in the earth.

"Let... me... go..." howled the guard as he pushed with all his might against the dragon paw that pinned him. He reached for the sword that was just out of reach beside him, but was unable to free himself from the massive paw.

"This is your last chance. Go in the castle and leave me and this young lady alone."

As the dragon lifted his paw the guard clamored for the sword and rose in a threatening stance. He charged and opened his mouth to scream but never gasped a breath.

An inferno of light and flame exploded forth from the dragon's mouth, instantly dispensing the man's clothing in a puff of ash. His skin boiled before charring against his bones and soon in the licking flames of the dragon's breath all that was left of the soul that once was, were his blackened bones as they tumbled to the ground.

The fire sucked back into the mouth from where it had come. "You are safe now." The dragon's massive paws churned soil as he approached Lilya.

She fainted against a patch of lush grass.

With all the tenderness a dragon could muster the beast scooped the maiden into one of his front paws and stared at the soft beauty of her face. Slowly her head rolled to the side and rested in a groove of his palm. He would look after her tonight; at least until she awoke and could take care of herself once more.

With a gust of his wings he was airborne in the night sky. Earth below him disappeared in darkness as he soared above, destined for his lair in the mountainous cliffs outside Cush.

3

Flight and Cage

The dragon watched the sun rise in pastel pinks and blues on the horizon as the day began. He breathed in the dew that the morning air delivered and stretched out his stiff legs and tail across the cool cavern floor where he lay.

Yawning, his vast mouth opened and closed before he turned to look upon the maiden he had rescued the night before.

The princess lay on a bed of palm leaves where he had set her, her light brown hair curled about her slim body.

He wondered if she would be angry for bringing her here.

"Where..." the girl mumbled while waking slowly in the corner of the cave. When she saw the dragon she was startled and moved close against the cave wall. "Where am I?" she asked.

"I will not harm you." He backed away to show he was not a threat. "I saved you last night from the man who was chasing you. You passed out and so I brought you here until you would awaken. You are safe with me. We are in the mountains near your castle."

"Thank you... I guess." The girl looked less frightened. "What are you?"

"Who am I, you mean?" He grinned. "I am Alexander, a name I gave myself long ago, and I believe humans call me Dragon. I am the only one of my kind I have even known and I have lived a longer life than I can remember, possibly since the beginning of time."

"That's impossible, your age I mean." The girl stood and walked toward him to get a closer look. Her night garments lay around her curves in the beautiful light of sunrise. "Your scales are the color of sapphire blood," she said as she touched one of his outstretched paws.

Alexander could barely feel her hand there through his thick scaly armor.

"How did you know I needed you last night and where to find me?" She looked in wonder into his now peaceful green eyes.

"I heard you calling for help," he said. "I hear almost everything. My ears pick up the slightest sounds in all places. I just have to focus in to hear them clearly. I've told you my name. What is yours?"

"Lilya." The princess smiled and sat down, cross-legged, before the mouth of the cave. "Why did you focus in on my cries and not someone else?"

"I have listened to your cries and pleas for help many nights as the men of your father's castle took advantage of you." Alexander lay his head down on the cave floor next to where Lilya sat. "I could not take your pain anymore. I knew I needed to help you when I discovered you beyond the castle walls. How can men be so cruel?"

"They are men." Lilya looked sadly to her father's castle in the distance. "That is how I have always known most of them to be."

"Not all men are like them, Lilya." He looked at her and met her eyes. "I know I am not human, but I am male, and I assure you my heart is nothing like theirs. Someday you will meet a kind-hearted man to rule Cush or another realm beside and you will see."

"Not Cush!" The girl laughed. "I will never be able to find peace in this place."

There was a long silence between the two, and then Lilya spoke with hesitation. "Did you have to kill him?"

"The guard? He was coming at me with a sword! And besides, he deserved it for what he was going to do to you."

"Maybe so. But killing is killing. Please don't ever kill for me."

"I won't unless it is to save your life." Alexander wanted to change the subject. It had been so long since he had someone to talk to.

"What do you like?"

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"What a bizarre question!" Lilya thought for a second. "I like your smile."

Alexander's grin widened. "What else?"

"I like the heat of summer as it warms the gardens around Cush and a brisk rainfall as I run through its cooling spray." She smiled. "I like to paint pictures of the world around me and the things I see. I like the smiles of children as they play. What do you like, Alexander?"

"I like having you to talk to. I haven't had company in many years. I like poetry. I like the music of nature and the art of flight."

"Flight? It must be amazing." Lilya held her hand out past the cave's opening to feel the winds outside whip across her fingertips.

"Would you like to fly with me?"

She stood up with light glistening in her eyes. "Would it be safe?"

"How do you think you got here? I'll hold you in my hand and you will see Cush as you never have before." In a single motion he stood and cupped his paw for Lilya to climb into.

She grasped on the firm flesh of his hand and lifted herself into its embrace. It was odd to think that such a massive creature could be so caring in the way he held her. She feared all men and the ways they behaved, but she did not fear Alexander.

The crimson dragon leapt from the cavern's opening, dropped slightly and with a swoop of his wings glided through the open air from the mountain's face.

Lilya's hair whipped in the wind sweeping over her, as Alexander pumped his wings again and curved the muscles in them to swoop in a sideways glide. Rows and rows of crops moved beneath them as they flew. The farmers working the fields looked up at them with both fear and awe.

"I don't come out often during the day," Alexander told her as he pumped his wings, taking them soaring up into the heights of the clouds. "It's best that as few people as possible know I'm here."

White clouds puffed about them as they soared and sunlight shimmered on the horizon.

Faster and faster they skimmed the ocean of clouds below them.

"Woooo!" Lilya called out, bracing her body on Alexander's paw while stretching her hand down to touch the clouds beneath them. They puffed and swayed about her hand. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed as wind whipped across her body.

The sun shone crisp and radiant in the distance and on the horizon they could see birds soaring.

"Where should we go next?" Alexander grinned.

"Hmm..." Lilya thought. There were so many places that would be wonderful to fly to, but she knew she shouldn't be too long in getting back to the castle. Then she remembered the canyon along Cush's border. "How about flying through The Canyon of Eyes?" She smiled while looking up at Alexander's massive scaled neck.

The canyon had gotten its name because people who went there rarely returned. It was rumored that in the caves that dotted the canyon walls there were creatures that watched for stragglers from the community, torturing and devouring them. This was just a rumor though, Lilya believed, and besides they were in flight and she had a dragon as a companion so she would be protected.

"A beautiful place to fly," Alexander said before thrusting his wings in the air and cleaving the clouds below as he dove beneath them.

The towns and countryside below whipped by at fantastic speeds, blurring together in a quilt of browns and greens.

The castle was far behind them. "Look!" Lilya pointed to The Canyon of Eyes as it became larger and larger in their approach. Its cragged edges were eerily enticing.

With Lilya held gently in his paw, Alexander swooped to the side then upward, and then dove into the open canyon. His wings almost stretched from canyon wall to canyon wall but he had just enough room to soar in their opening.

He dove deep inside and Lilya marveled at the shimmering gems along the cavern wall as they flew. The place radiated in the sunlight and sea water glistened in the canyon's bottom. Beyond the canyon stretched the Caspian Sea.

Alexander slowed his flight so that they could both better observe their surroundings.

Sunlight reflected in mirror shimmers along the stone walls.

And then it caught on something that made Lilya's heart race. Were those shimmering orbs that the sunlight bounced across in the caves, eyes? "Do you know what creatures live in these caves?" she asked her companion as they flew past where she had seen the glowing things.

Alexander grinned as he flexed his wings and curled them up out of the canyon's depths. "Humans," he said simply. "Ones that do not wish to live under any monarch's rule and so they choose to live in a place where most of humanity dares not venture."

Lilya thought on this for long moments as Alexander skimmed the water below them. Many times she had wanted to run away from Cush and her father, but she understood that was not an option she had to choose from. Her father and his army would hunt her down and drag her back to the castle. Could she ask Alexander if she could live with him in the side of the mountain? Sure. And she knew Alexander would protect her, but she could never ask that of him.

Instead, she lay out on the dragon's palm and stared up at the sky moving by above her as the dragon flew them up from the canyon's depths. "I should be heading to the castle," she said. "If I don't go back soon my father will send knights to look for me."

Alexander curved in the winds and jutted toward the castle. "I'll be listening for you in case you need me," he said. "All you need do is speak my name and I will come."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me." Lilya watched as the castle grew in the distance. "Can we do this again sometime?"

"It would be wonderful to see you and to be able to talk to you again. Anytime you want to see me just call for me and I will come."

Lilya was comforted by what Alexander said. She liked that he wanted to see her again not for her body but for her friendship.

"Hold tight as we land," he spoke to her as they neared the castle. It was difficult landing with only three legs, but Alexander smoothly moved his wings to help him hover in the air and clutched the earth below with his claws as he cradled Lilya in his fourth paw.

The ground shook as he clutched to a stop in its soil. Several knights, who had been talking by the castle's front gates, came running toward them.

"I need to go before they reach us, but call for me when you want to see me again," Alexander spoke to her while softly laying the top of his paw against the ground for her to step off.

She stepped off gracefully, her gown flowing in the breeze, and turned toward him.

"Fare thee well, sweet lady," Alexander grinned and swooped in a bow.

"Fare thee well, good sir." Lilya returned the smile and turned to walk toward the castle doors. As she did so, the knights who had been approaching them reached her and one of them stretched out to grab her. She avoided his grasp with a shutter and ran for the castle doors.

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Alexander's eyes ignited with white nova flame as he met the knights' eyes. His claws burst into the earth below him. He knew that without even saying anything he was showing them that he was now this girl's protector. They were to leave her alone.

"Until we meet again, Lilya!" Alexander called out to her and with a flap of his wings ascended backwards into the sky, rocketing toward his mountain home.

The knights quivered in their armor and one of them fell to his knees. The beast had spoken their tongue.

҉

In her tower room Lilya stood, peering out its far window toward the vast mountain range in the distance, longing for something that was there.

It is ironic, she thought, that most girls dream of being rescued by a knight and swept away to a world where they can be free. Here I am, the daughter of a king, and I was rescued by a dragon from the dark desires of a knight. Certainly she was an unusual princess.

She longed so to leave this place. Lilya hated thinking of her father as a bad man but the things he let his knights do to her made her view him as such. How could he let them take advantage of her?

Could she ever escape this place? Could she call to the dragon and fly away forever on his wings?

Knock! Knock! Knock! A fist pounded against her door. Through the gaping hole, that the knight had kicked in it the night before, she could see the flow of a purple silk robe.

"Who is it?" she called out, afraid it might be another knight who'd come to use her. No, they usually come at night.

"Lilya! I need to talk to you!" a voice called through the door to her. It was her father. The ornate wooden door brushed open slowly and the king stepped into her room. His face had been unshaven for weeks and his eyes sunk in with black. His purple silken robe draped about his form. He moved with frailness.

"Where were you this morning, girl? We discovered one of our best knights incinerated beyond the castle walls and were afraid the same thing had happened to you."

Lilya's body relaxed, as she was relieved it was only her father who had come to her door. "I awoke early and went outside to explore," she sat down in a chair by the windowsill. He must have been so drunk last night that he doesn't remember sending that same knight here to take advantage of me.

"It's good to see you and know you're well." The king closed her door with his bony hand. "I have other things to speak with you about."

A strange look was in his eyes. Lilya stood and backed closer to the wall but the king stood still.

King Abishan took a moment and then sat on her bed. "You are of age to marry." He looked into her eyes. "And it is in Cush's best interest for us to take advantage of that."

I will not marry any man. I would rather die first, Lilya thought. She said nothing, out of fear of her father.

"The young king of Havilah will arrive within a day's time to decide if you are worthy of being his queen. Havilah has more riches than we could dream of having in Cush and its king would surely pay a fine dowry for a bride. The maids will dress you in your finest clothes and make you the most desirable girl in all of Cush. When he arrives, do anything he asks." A pause of chilly silence passed between father and daughter. "Please him. If you do, his riches will open for us."

Lilya stood, shivering against the wall in stunned disbelief.

The king rose from her bed and left the room.

Lilya's eyes welled up until the tears overflowed onto her pale cheeks.

4

Font of Beginnings

Thomas felt like a mixture of a madman and a giddy child as he paced about his room collecting his finest jewelry and robes to bring with him on his journey. The young king of Havilah was embarking on a quest to find his future queen and wanted to make sure he would make the best impression on the kingdoms he visited.

First his small fleet of ships would sail to Cush, a poor country with a worn and diminished king but he had heard great stories its princess's beauty. After spending a few days in Cush he would lift anchor and sail to the Tigris River where he would dock and investigate the glorious three princesses of Assyria. He had been assured by Pine, Juniper and Cypress that, here, he would find his queen.

After spending a week being pampered in Assyria they would load up and cast their sails, sailing to the Euphrates River where they would fish for the many bizarre creatures there. The Euphrates River wound beside the kingdom of Vane, but Thomas had no interest in the princesses there.

Little was known of Vane's people but they were rumored to be deformed and demented of mind. No one from Havilah, Cush or Assyria ever ventured into the land but there was great fishing to be had in the Euphrates' waters, which were avoided and unused by the people of Vane.

Finally King Thomas would come home on his own kingdom's river, the Pishon, where he would make one last stop.

On the far outskirts of Havilah there was a small cottage where a man, a woman and their daughter lived. Thomas's father had been a close friend of this family of his subjects for many years. Thomas didn't know why this close relationship had come to be. But when his father was on his deathbed, Thomas had promised him he would consider this family's daughter to be his bride.

The court of lords was up in arms at the idea that he would choose a commoner as his queen but he would at least meet the girl and honor his father's request.

"Hurry, sire!" Pine's voice beckoned him from the hallway beyond his door. "We must leave soon on our journey if we are to reach Cush by tomorrow's midday!"

Thomas grabbed his ornate traveling bag and stuffed a few more robes inside. He placed a roll of parchment within it along with containers of multicolored staining ink and a small bamboo writing wand. "This will have to do." He sighed, nervous that he had forgotten something he would later need.

With a yank on the bag's drawstrings he closed it up before sealing it with a knot. "Pine!" He called out his room into the hallway. "Come and bring my bag to the ship for me!"

The husky strong Pine stepped into Thomas's room and tossed the king's heavy bag over his back as if it were only filled with feathers. "Are you anxious yet, sire?" he asked while leaving the room. "You may soon meet your queen!"

Thomas grinned. Whoever she was, he had longed to know her; it seemed, since the day he was born. He looked around his room at the strands of gold that trickled like lace down his walls. He looked at the rubies and sapphires in his shimmering golden crown before he pulled it snug upon his head. Havilah had more riches than any kingdom in any land he had heard of, and he as its ruler, was the wealthiest man in the world.

But all wealth is nothing without a beautiful soul to share it with by your side, he thought. Once she is with me certainly the beauties of the world will open their magic to me in all aspects of life. What will she look like? he wondered. Surely her beauty will rival her mind.

The young king had yearned for a strong-minded girl to have by his side for some time now. He also couldn't deny his desire to pull a supple girl's body close to his.

He left his room in a stride of confidence. He would leave his castle and his country and when he returned he would know his future bride.

As Thomas stepped into the hall his soft shoes passed with whispers on a majestic ruby floor. He weaved in and out of Castle Ah's many hallways and down a series of stairwells into the main hall. All of the floors in the hallways of Castle Ah were made of pure ruby, mined from the caves dotting Havilah's landscape. The veins of Castle Ah exuberated Havilah's wealth. A team of cleaners polished them day in and out.

Diamond chandeliers twinkled as they hung high above the main hall's ruby floor as Thomas stepped into it, reflecting the sunlight shimmering in from the crystal ceiling above. His subjects came and went freely, often times leaving gifts of admiration for their young king on the stairs leading to a well in the center of the room. There was one more thing Thomas had to attend to before leaving on his quest. On one of the stairs to the well he had placed the figs he had collected from the far away land almost a month ago.

He walked to them and lifted one of the fruits in his hand. A surge of power swept through his arm. The fig's fleshy skin sent shivers through his back and neck. "Why hasn't it rotted or aged?" he spoke to himself.

"A good question, my sire!" A raspy woman's voice came from behind him.

He turned to find his personal Pan, or as some called her, 'Mystic', bent over her cane close to his side. Saliva trickled from her lips.

"Dora!" Thomas jumped, startled by her presence. "Why would this be?"

The wrinkled old woman grinned her cracked smile. "I have been thinking over this for weeks now. There is a religious sect in our kingdom which tells a tale that I believe could explain this."

"What religion?" Thomas placed the fig back in its bowl.

"The Hebrews." Dora's eyes twitched.

Thomas knew that the Hebrew religion was practiced, among others in Havilah. He knew little of their beliefs but had desired to research all the religions of his land when he had the free time to do so. "What does their tale say?" He began pacing with Dora by his side through the hall.

"It is a long story, and I need not trouble you with its entirety now, sire, but suffice it to say that it is the story of their God's creation of mankind and of humanity's rejection from their creator." Pan Dora's smiled wickedly as she grinned behind Thomas's sight. She cracked her deformed knuckles as she talked. "But in the Hebrews' tale they speak of two eternal trees, the 'Tree of Knowledge' and the 'Tree of Life.'

"The Tree of Knowledge produced a fruit which, when eaten, gave mankind understanding of many things in the world and injected humanity with the knowledge of, and desire, for sin. It is rumored that the fruit of this tree was apple.

"The Tree of Life produced a fruit that gave the first humans the ability to live forever without disease or injury. When their God discovered that humanity had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge he banished them from living near or ever eating from the Tree of Life again."

Thomas turned and held Dora's stare. "What fruit did the tree of life bear?"

"No-one knows." She picked a fig up and held it in her palm. The veins in her arms danced and quickened pulse.

"Fig?" Thomas took the fruit from her grasp and felt the swift energy he had felt before surging through his arm. "If it is true, do you know what diseases we could cure for my subjects? The pealed skin from one of these figs could be what rids this land of leprosy."

"Sire!" Dora gasped while clenching her bony hand on the king's arm. "Think of yourself! You could live forever! What greater blessing could this land ask for than to be forever ruled by the glory which is you?"

"You flatter me." Thomas shivered and moved away from her. "I would never wish for such a thing and curing my people of disease would be much more fulfilling." He set the fleshy fig back in its place and left Dora staring at his back as he made his way to the entranceway of the throne room.

His hand caressed the open oak doorway as he stared out into morning's sunlight glinting off the Pishon River in the distance. "Dora!" he called behind him back into the hall.

"Yes, my sire!"

"While I am away, speak with the Hebrews and try to learn more of these trees and their fruits. I may put the figs to use when I return."

"As you wish." Her voice was like a whisper.

5

Arise from the Depths

Sunlight shimmered off the oak sides of Thomas's vast boat, Anemon, as he walked the boardwalk beside it. Winds curled in the boat's sails where they had been tied with ropes to the towering posts above. The Pishon River's currents flowed about his boat's hull.

Behind his ship, six other boats from Havilah's fleet were docked. Men scurried on their decks, preparing the vessels for the journey to come.

"Ahoy, Thomas!" Juniper called down to his king from Anemon's deck. He waved his thick hand in excitement. "Board, sire, so that we may begin the quest for your queen!"

Warm sunlight seeped through the cloths upon Thomas's chest. "It's as if you have more excitement than I!" he called back toward his guard. "All in good time, my fellow! The most worthwhile things come with patience, not urgency!" The gangplank ebbed a little beneath him as he walked up its slant to the boat's deck.

Juniper gave him a friendly embrace.

"Is the entire crew aboard?" The young king eyed the men scurrying along the deck in search of Pine and Cypress.

A strapping pair of boys about his age pulled up the plank behind him as he walked toward the mast.

"Pine has been helping prepare the ship since sunrise and is below deck finishing his final inspection. Cypress arrived just before you with your bag, as you had wished."

One of the ship's galley boys ran up beside them with a tray of diced cedar-board seared salmon and sipping-glasses of wine.

"Thank you." Thomas took a piece of salmon and handed the boy a gold coin from his coin bag.

Pine burst up from below deck. "Good day, sire!" he exclaimed. "All is in order to lift anchor."

Cypress walked upon the upper deck close behind him.

Thomas lifted a tiny glass of wine from the tray while chewing the delectable salmon and beckoned his guards to his side. "Then let us take sail to find my queen!"

Pine, Juniper and Cypress all clutched wine glasses of their own, and toasted with their king.

The drink burned Thomas's throat as it trickled down.

"Lift anchor and let loose the sails, men!" Pine bellowed out along the deck and men with conch shells relayed the message down the fleet. "We set sail for Cush!"

Men on deck untied the ropes holding back the sails and the vast white sails curled and whipped in the wind.

With a sudden jolt Thomas could feel the ship moving beneath them. He looked back at the small fleet of ships following Anemon and sighed at their beauty. They looked strong and angelic in the river's currents. The morning sunlight shimmered across their sides as gulls hovered and dove about the vessels as they moved.

The king took a red cloak from Cypress's arms and draped it over his shoulders before making his way toward the front of Anemon's deck. There he sat on a strong wooden bench and enjoyed the countryside as it slowly moved by.

The villages of Havilah passed slowly by and Thomas waved to his people. At each town he would have the ship's men launch a bag of gold and jewels to his people to show his love for them. In return they gathered on the riverside and cheered his passing.

As they passed the final village Thomas noticed something out of the corner of his eye that moved him. He stood and hurried to the front deck where he yelled "Thank you!" to a man along the shore waving a horsehair paintbrush in the air and smiling. Beside him on a long stone wall was a portrait of the king and a quote Thomas was known for using, 'Beauty comes of all that is.'

Thomas took a ruby ring from his hand and thrust it into the air toward the man. It shimmered in the sky before skidding into the sand beside the painter, spitting sand up as it landed.

The painter reached down and lifted it from the sand, kissing it and then waving back in gratitude.

The quote the man had painted described the way Thomas constantly strived to be. He tried to find something beautiful and enjoyable in everything he encountered in the world and believed that everything possessed beauty whether he could see it or not. For this reason he treated everyone he encountered as if they were his closest family and gave the respect to the people of every land that he gave the people of his own.

As that final village disappeared into the distance behind him Thomas laid back in relaxation while watching the lush forest drift by along the boat's sides. With the sunlight above lulling his body, the king shut his eyes, drifting away into a world of sleep.

Hours passed.

Noon came and went before giving in to dusk.

He awoke to a haunting red fog with Pine and Cypress standing guard beside the bench he had fallen asleep on.

Howls echoed from the distance through the foggy crimson sky. Shuddering, Thomas pulled his blanket close to his body. He rose, instantly awake. "What are those sounds?" He turned to Pine.

"We don't know. They began soon after we entered the fog."

A series of howls echoed from the boat's sides but seemed to come from no direction at all. It was as if they had originated in his mind.

He knew where he had heard those haunting noises before. "Pine!" Thomas took a step forward while squinting to see through the fog.

"Yes, sire?" His massive guard replied.

"Are we near the unknown lands where we retrieved the figs?"

Pine thought for a second. "I believe so. Do you believe these noises to be coming from the creatures which chased our ship along the shore as we left that place?"

Before Thomas could reply, hoofed beasts swept through the red fog and landed upon the boat's deck. They had bodies and arms of men but goat-like legs and heads of wolves, rams, foxes and dogs.

Their beady eyes pierced Thomas's mind. In their hands were shields and swords. They cocked back their heads and howled in rage.

"My weapon!" the young king screamed to his guards who had formed a protective ring of three around him.

Juniper quickly placed his ruby sword in his hands.

"We should get you below deck," Cypress spoke to him as a dog-headed beast lunged upon them. With a swift motion of the guard's sword the creature was sent plunging over the ship's bow.

"I will not desert my men!" Thomas called out as two wolf-headed beasts and one fox-headed lurked toward the group.

Their swords thrust against the guards' own with force as sparks leaped from the reflective metals.

With all his strength Thomas plunged his sword through the belly of one of the attackers and the beast disintegrated into an eerie smoke.

"What...?" he gasped in confusion.

Human cries reached his ears from the direction of the remainder of his fleet. He prayed the beasts wouldn't sink his ships.

One of the creatures knocked Pine's sword from his grasp and the hulking guard clenched his fists around its neck before squeezing the life from it and causing it to burst into oily smoke.

Cypress cut through their other attacker with his massive sword.

"Daemons!" a man fighting for his life along the deck screamed before being beheaded and crumbling to the wood beneath him.

Thomas was glad it was too dark to see the blood spewing from his fallen body.

The boat rocked. His stomach churned. Lightning cracked from the dark clouds above.

"We must make our way out of these waters!" Pine called as he picked his sword off the deck and directed Thomas slowly toward the ship's wheel. "Man the sails!" he instructed Cypress and Juniper.

Pine splayed another beast as they made their way onward. His massive fists clenched the wheel and he instructed two other men close by to watch his and Thomas's backs.

Soon their vessel's pace quickened and Thomas could barely make out the shorelines. Two more creatures seemed to fly toward them as they howled and made their way across the deck. Steel met steel, and within seconds one of the men guarding him and Pine was slain. His body fell limply upon Thomas's feet, his eyes filling with blood, and the young king took the man's place in defense of Pine.

"Flee, sire!" Pine cried out. "Do not fight!"

Thomas blocked out the guard's words. It was too late to reconsider now. His ruby sword clashed against the beast's and its blood-red ram eyes burned through his consciousness.

A grinding sensation shrieked through Thomas's arms as he held back the beast's attack. His forearms felt as if they would give way. "Why do you haunt our ships, you ghosts of the woods?" Thomas parried and struck again. The hoofed beast did not waver. It was like striking his sword against a stone wall.

With a step to the left he struck again without avail and a deep growl reverberated in the monster's throat.

"YOU are THIEVES!" the beast growled while striking Thomas's legs.

Thomas agilely leapt into the air to avoid the blow and stumbled on the deck as he came down once more. The boat rocked, forcing the young king's feet out from beneath him before pummeling him to the deck. As his fingers slipped on the wet deck, his ruby sword slid from his grasp.

"NOW you MUST ANSWER for WHAT YOU have DONE!" The hoofed beast stomped down, pinning his wrist.

"AHHHH!" Thomas screamed in agony before staring up into the thing's eyes.

Behind the figure, he cringed as he saw the man who was fighting beside him be struck by his opponent through the shoulder and then kneed to the ground.

"Pine!" Thomas called out for his guard. "Help us!"

The ram-headed beast struck him with its paw. "STAND, HUMAN!" it commanded.

To his feet, Thomas slowly rose. As he stood at full height he looked to where Pine had been. He saw him contorted over backward on the deck with a sword lodged in his breastplate. Blood bubbled from his wound.

The ram-beast slowly brought its sword to Thomas's quivering neck before backing him up against a wall of planks behind him. "Leave us be! We've done nothing to you." Thomas mentally ran through different ideas on how to escape his captor. It was no use. There were others joining its side now.

"NOW!" It growled before sliding its sword's blade across his thin skin.

Thomas closed his eyes and braced for death. He began praying to any gods he had ever heard about.

"STOP IT!" the beast roared. "THERE is only ONE lord! WHERE ARE THE FRUITS of KN..." And with that the river's air fell silent except for waves and his people's cries on deck in agony.

Thomas opened his eyes to a dissipating oily black fog and sunset in the sky about him. The creatures were gone.

Along the banks birds sang.

"Sire!" he could hear Juniper calling from the bird's nest above. "Are you alright?"

The young king stumbled to Pine's side and touched his neck to feel for his heartbeat. "I am fine!" He called up to Juniper. "But Pine needs our help as I'm sure many others do on this ship! Where did those creatures disappear to?" Blood gushed from Pine's chest and pooled around Thomas's knees. The sunset shimmered in the curdling red bath.

"I don't know, sire!" Juniper called down as he quickly descended the bird nest's ladder. "One second I was battling a beast with vast wings and just as I thought it would best me it vanished in an oily plume! We must remain alert, for these creatures may still be among us even though we cannot see them." Juniper leapt from the ladder and his boots thumped upon the deck.

Within seconds he was at Thomas's side.

The ship's wounded moaned and cried to each other across the deck.

As Thomas knelt in Pine's blood he squinted across the deck and was overcome with nausea. His heart wretched in his chest, he thought he saw Pine's eyelids twitch, and as Juniper's massive hand laid down on his back, Thomas's mind filled with darkness and his body crashed upon the blood-splayed deck. His fingertips twitched and went limp.

҉

Moments before, in the darkness as the battle raged, a man with scale-plated webbed hands clasped onto the ship's front, down where it met the river's currents. Tiny suction cups on his fingers took hold of the boat's sleek wood while waves broke and thrashed about his legs.

His forked tongue skipped across his lips. "Ssssoon the angelssss will passsss.." The creature spoke to itself in an airy rasp. It smiled as fanged teeth writhed in its lips. "And I will remain."

The darkness around it was consumed by a plume of oily smoke and in that moment the man's arms and legs sucked into his body. His head shrunk along with his form until his body was that of a snake. "Ssssoon you will ssssee he issss mine," its tongue spat, as it seemed to address some unknown other.

As the newly shimmering sunset glistened across its form the serpent slithered up the ship's front and into the bust of a woman that looked out majestically from the vessel's mast.

It breathed in a deep breath of the men's fears on deck.

6

Within Stasis Change

Thomas's thoughts drifted through a haze of darkness. One second he felt as if he were floating in a black expanse of clouds and the next his stomach lurched causing him to feel as if an ocean churned around his body.

A pounding pulse throbbed in his mind. He cringed in the nothingness. BOOM Boom, BOOM Boom, BOOM Boom.

Pinpoint-thin light appeared like stars in the noir above. It was so small. He squinted to see it clearer. Where was it coming from? Where was he?

BOOM Boom, BOOM Boom. The specks of light seemed to flux with the throbbing pain in his mind.

Slivers of light swept like thin birds in the darkness above. A rancid odor curled through his sense of smell.

BOOM Boom, BOOM Boom. Thomas's stomach lurched as he stretched to try and see the flying light smears clearer.

Within a matter of seconds the luminous spots expanded to a blazing burst of nova bright sunlight, searing his eyes. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Thomas cried, clasping at his eyes to hold out the radiating sun. Red heat scalded his retinas.

"Sire!"

Juniper's strong hand braced on his shoulder as he suddenly became aware of netting crisscrossing his body beneath him.

"You're awake, sire!" Juniper shouted. "Pine, Cypress, come here! Thomas is waking!"

Thomas squinted in the sunlight as he felt with his hands about the hammock cradling him. Juniper's face blurrily came into view above. The hulking man had tears streaming from his eyes.

"How long was I unconscious?" The young king strained to see clearly.

"One day and one night." Juniper braced his king as he sat upright with the help of the guard's strong hands. "You gave us a scare when you passed out after the attack. Your eyes rolled back in your head and you shook so violently on deck that we thought we'd lost you."

"Pine... are you alright?" Thomas asked.

"I am fine, sire. My wound will heal."

Thomas's eyes focused and he saw all three of his guards and a few of his other men standing around him. The hammock he was lying on was on the vessel's front deck. To his sides were the outstretched river with the rest of his fleet and before him, rising proudly above the trees beyond a bustling river port, was a towering spire of Cush's castle stretching into the sky.

"When did we arrive?" The intricate beauty of the structure rising above the trees struck Thomas. It wasn't that he was unused to the overwhelming beauty of a castle; after all, he had grown up as the prince in his own castle in Havilah. The thing that struck him was the humble beauty of it. His own castle in Havilah was laced with gold and other shimmering gems, showing off his country's wealth. But this castle in the distance, instead of being ornate and shimmering with wealth, was serenely plain, peaceful and pure.

"We arrived late last night." Pine still looked concerned as he talked to Thomas, checking him over to make sure his king was well. "King Abishan sent a troop of his royal guard to greet us this morning and they are awaiting us in port for whenever you feel well enough to travel."

"We must not make them wait." Thomas sat up straight and began moving closer to the hammock's edge.

"You should rest, sire." Juniper continued to brace him.

"No. I am fine. Give me your arm." Thomas clasped Juniper's forearm as he extended it and used the man's strength to help himself to his feet. Gulls called above the ship's tied-down sails. "We will not make our host wait. And how would it look to the princess if we relaxed on the river's bank for days on end without meeting her? Surely that wouldn't show my excitement for the occasion."

He stood and began walking back to his cabin with Pine close to his side. "Dress in your finest garb and alert the rest of the fleet that we will go ashore in an hour," he spoke to Juniper and Cypress.

As he walked slowly along the boat's side he saw the young galley boy who had brought him diced salmon and wine earlier in the journey, scurrying in his direction. "Come here a second!" he called to the boy, not much younger than himself.

The boy quickly came to him and slightly bowed. "What can I do for you, my king?" the boy spoke with excitement.

Thomas grinned. An idea had come to him. "What is your name, boy?"

"Amari."

"Amari, how would you like to come to Cush with me and my men?"

Amari smiled. "How can I assist you, sire?"

Thomas continued walking along the deck and the young boy followed him. "I don't require your service. I only request your presence as a friend to experience this new kingdom with."

Amari's eyes glowed. "Thank you, sire. I would be honored."

Thomas turned to Pine. "Fit this young man in a set of my royal clothes and meet me out on deck in an hour's time." He could see the confusion on his guard's face but Pine led Amari toward a spare room on the vessel used for holding Thomas's royal garb.

After turning the cool golden knob on his chamber door, Thomas stepped into his room and walked over to his bed, lying back on it in relaxation. His head ached. His muscles were tense. He would have loved to rest a few days before going ashore but he was also anxious about meeting Cush's princess, the first young lady he had arranged to meet on this voyage.

Above him a diamond chandelier glimmered in the sunlight shimmering in from the cabin's open window. The boat rocked gently beneath him.

What to wear? To go too extravagant would make him look pompous but he wanted to make it appear like he was at least her equal in wealth.

In the corner of his room several garments hung in a cherry wood closet for him to choose from. One robe was top to bottom woven gold with intricate knot designs. Another was smooth red silk with golden inlays. Yet another was laced with emeralds and had been a gift from a village of farmers after he had his men redirect part of the Pishon River so the village could have better irrigation.

He settled however on a robe woven completely down the garment with tiny blue opal stones. On his wrists he wore golden bracelets and as he placed his gem filled crown on his head and looked in the mirror he smiled. Surely this would be fitting for the occasion.

The blue also gives me a calming look, he thought. With a few steps he went to his dresser and opened the top drawer. Inside was a small carved gold box he lifted, tossed in the air, and caught before placing it in his pocket. "I'll bring this in case you are the one," he said before walking to the door, swinging it open and breathing in a deep breath of cool fresh air.

From there Thomas strode to the front deck where he leaned against the railing and watched a group of children by the shore splashing each other and swinging out over the water on a thick vine.

"That looks like fun!" Juniper startled him and put his hand on the king's shoulder. "We should give that vine a swing before leaving port in a few days."

"It sounds great, but you'd better let me go first. You might snap it right out of the trees." Thomas gave Juniper a teasing jab to the stomach.

"You make fun but I bet I'll swing a lot farther than you and then cover you with a splash that soaks the sun from the sky."

They stood there together, two friends enjoying the day, until all were ready aboard ship to go ashore.

Thomas was the first to step onto the plank connecting Anemon's deck to the boardwalk below. His guards and Amari were close behind. The board was made of strong oak and stayed completely firm as his shoes hit the wood on the way down.

Close by, men from the rest of his fleet were also exiting their vessels to accompany him into Cush's realm. Thomas's guards stayed alert at all times.

As Thomas walked the boardwalk he passed a stand where a bearded local man was selling fresh fish. He imagined how delicious they might taste if cooked with some of the herbs they had brought on ship for their journey. I'll bet our fishermen will have enough caught to more than satisfy my hunger when we return, he thought.

Locals dressed in ragged clothes passed him and his group, turning their heads to stare in awe.

"Where are our guides to Cush's palace?" Thomas spoke to his guards, struck that no-one was there to greet them when they came off the ships.

"They're waiting in the local pub, sire." Pine pointed over to a small thatch-roofed shack. A man stumbled through its flowing grass door before swaying and plunging face first into the sand.

Thomas rolled his eyes. "I hope that's not one of them." As the young king approached the shack he could hear the noise of someone beating a set of hollowed out gourds and men arguing through slurred speech. He passed the scruffy man whose face was planted in the sand and out of the corner of his eye noted him bumbling and struggling to get up.

The hanging grass door brushed against Thomas's fingertips as he entered the dimly lit room. Although the sun shone brightly outside the blinds were pulled tight and only a few sparsely placed candles lit the tables and small bar before him.

A rather large bellied bartender turned from his wall of liqueurs and thrust his hands down on the bar. "Which ale are we filling your gullet with this day, boy?" The man grinned. He slid a beer down the bar to an elderly man who still had half of another glass and appeared to barely be able to hold his head up.

"I don't need anything, but thank you for the offer." Thomas scanned the room in search of the guides. A few drunks were scattered around the shack randomly.

One man in a dark corner appeared to be passed out, his head propped up between the corners of the wall and drool trickling down his scruffy cheek. Others flirted with and made lewd remarks to what Thomas assumed were prostitutes.

There was no sign, however, of anyone in royal garb that could have been sent as Thomas's escorts. He breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that Pine was wrong about where King Abishan's men were waiting for him. Pine, Juniper and Cypress had joined him inside. "Are you sure that this is where we were to meet?" he asked.

"This is the place." Cypress groaned before approaching the bartender. "Where are the king's lads who were in here earlier?"

A sly grin spread across the man's face as he pointed to a back room with another flowing grass door.

"Wait here," Cypress instructed before heavily walking into the back room. There was a commotion, men's slurred voices and the sound of a chair crashing against the floor. "Get up!" his voice bellowed out. He walked through the flowing grass and back into view. "Let us wait outside, sire. They'll be right out."

Thomas was anxious to be out of the bar and back into the sunlight once more. The man who had fallen into the sand before they had entered had since scampered away and Thomas's troop of men waited with their king between the shack and the river bank.

"This is ridiculous, sire." Cypress was clearly disturbed by the way his king had been greeted. "If this is what Abishan thinks of us then perhaps we should just lift anchor and head to Assyria. Surely you will be greeted with more affection there."

Thomas held his patience in check. "Just because his men treat us discourteously does not mean the king means for them to be that way. And besides, it is Abishan's daughter I am here to court and it would be wrong of us to judge her by the behaviors of these men."

As if they had heard their calling, the escorts sent to Thomas to lead him through the realm of Cush stumbled from the shack with their eyes glazed over, drunk and still in full armor. "We thought you would be a few days resting!" The largest man of the three spoke loudly as he swayed and almost walked into a small child who was chasing his friends through the group. "Thank goodness you found us before we got drunk!"

The second of the men snickered at this. "Yes! Thank goodness!"

The first man swung his arm back into the second's stomach, making him hack and spit.

"These men will be useless, sire," Pine spoke lowly to Thomas as the three drunkards walked in their direction. "We should leave them here and head to Cush on our own. Surely it can't be that difficult to follow the castle's spire until we reach its walls."

The first of the guides reached out his hand to greet Thomas as he shifted his feet to regain his balance. "I am Repaor, knight of Cush, and it is good to meet you."

His grip was tight yet sloppy and as Thomas looked in his eyes he could see them red with strain. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Repaor." He shook the knight's hand for a long moment before the knight finally let it go. An awkward silence sat between the men before Thomas said more.

"It was gracious of you to come and escort us, and we appreciate your hospitality, but I have spoken with my guards and we've decided we would like to explore your country on our own as we make our way to the castle." Thomas slid his hand down into a silk change pouch hanging to his side. After a few seconds he withdrew three gold coins and held them out in his palm. They shone in the sunlight. "These are for your efforts."

Repaor held out his hand anxiously and Thomas dropped the coins from his palm into Repaor's own. "Well... if you insist!" The drunken knight swayed as he turned to face the other two. "A round of drinks on me, boys!"

With devious grins the other two grabbed their coins from their leader and ran back into the shack.

Repaor stumbled through the grass door after them.

"This is the company King Abishan keeps?" Pine spoke to Thomas as the young king turned to him. "Surely this realm has little to offer. Should we not travel on to Assyria?"

"This is where we are meant to be. I have already told you this." Thomas reentered the boardwalk with his rather large royal company close behind him. "Now let's get some enjoyment exploring Cush before we reach the castle."

They hired a guide named Drinsnel from a fisherman's peer along the river's edge. With a toothless grin the tattered shirted man had agreed to show them the way through Cush in exchange for meals, lodging and two crates of fresh fish when they returned to the ship once more.

Drinsnel led them through the forest along a well cleared path. He clutched a carved oak cane in his boney hand as he went. He didn't appear to really need the cane to walk but seemed to get great enjoyment out of using it to swat at the leaves of trees as he went along. Softly, he sung a tune about the water sprites that were rumored to live along the riverbank's edge.

"There once was but a land so pure

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

That the souls there knew no ill

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

And though they had all things

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

They wanted much more still

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm"

He had no clue what the tune was about, but Thomas found that its rhythmic melody made his legs want to move. It filled his heart with energy.

Behind him, his company walked or rode horses they had brought with them on their ships. Thomas chose to walk however. He liked feeling the land beneath him and insisted to his group that he could get more fulfillment out of their journey by taking it slow, walking and breathing-in the world.

In the woods beside him and his guards, Amari skipped to Drinsnel's flowing melody.

"Now the souls in this blessed land

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Ruled o'er all living things

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

And by the good Lord's blessed will

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

They ate of the life giving tree

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm"

Thomas was skipping and gallivanting now in the woods with Amari, letting the rhythm of the tune carry his footsteps. Leaves flung up from where he danced and he smiled at the sunlight glistening through the boughs of the trees above.

Drinsnel swatted pebbles in his path with the walking stick as he sang, beginning to place an airy breath in his vocals.

Something slithered through the underbrush by Thomas's feet. He was oblivious to the thing and to Drinsnel's words, and was instead lost in the song's melody.

"Of one other fruit in this land

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

These souls were told to never touch

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

But their curiosity overcame them

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

And they were enticed by a serpent

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm"

The melody continued on, and as Thomas danced, deeper and deeper into the wood he went. The emerald green foliage was dense here and the eyes of little creatures peered at him as he moved.

In the distance he could hear the rhythm of Drinsnel's voice and could vaguely make out his words.

He was happy he had brought Amari along. The boy's youthful spirit had encouraged his own to let his boy-like soul enjoy itself. Why is it that I am almost the same age as him and yet I feel so much older? He knew the answer. His father had died. There had to be a king and that king needed to grow up, at least to some extent, faster than he normally would have.

Thomas ran playfully now, darting between a series of closely lined trees and leaping over their roots as he went.

Overhead a flying squirrel leapt from branch to branch as if it were moving with him.

The young king stretched his arms out like a bird and laughed as he felt the breeze curl about them. My future queen will have a young soul, whoever she is. That way she can help me to be young at heart too.

His left foot splashed into a small puddle as he ran, sending beads of water splaying through the air. A mocking bird in a nearby tree called out its tune.

He could barely hear a voice in the distance.

Was someone calling him?

Thomas stopped running and turned toward the road they had been traveling on. He had wandered far from the rest of the group.

"Thomas!" he heard Juniper's strong voice careening through the woods. "Please come closer to us, sire!"

He turned to call back but choked on his own voice as he saw a massive ruby and orange hued snake slithering toward him. Its scales rippled, rising and falling along its body, showing its oily black skin beneath as its muscles flexed it over the forest terrain.

Thomas stumbled backwards, and mid-turn, crashed hands first to the moist soil below. "Help!!!" he screamed as the serpent clutched his legs with its writhing body, he could feel the blood squeeze from his veins as it wrapped around.

Squirming and digging his fingers in the ground, Thomas struggled to escape.

The blood the snake had pushed from his legs pressed upwards in his body, causing his brain to ache and pulse. "Sssssssssss..." the serpent sang.

Thomas's hands went down to the snake's oily body in an effort to pry it off but instead of loosening its grasp the snake rolled its coils over his hands, pining them to his sides. His knuckles popped and cracked as it tightened its hold.

He opened his mouth to scream but found that his voice only scratched and cracked with his attempt. Mud churned up in his mouth. He tried to cough it out but his ribcage was pulled too tight to move.

"Sire?" he heard in the distance.

His sight was leaving him now as splotches of darkness seeped into his vision. His chest burned as the serpent tightened its coils.

"Sssssssssss..." the creature sang, its slimy body caressing Thomas's cheek as the young king thrashed his head in an attempt to see.

"Sire!" a voice bellowed out, closer this time.

His sight returned just in time to look into the eyes of the fire hued snake.

Its slitted irises burned with heat as they bored into his mind. Its scales seemed to leap with flame. A voice like that of the noise of a seashell held up to the ear, rushed from the snake's mouth. "Oooooooooooo..." The serpent's slim forked tongue flicked from its scaled lips and slowly licked up Thomas's chin.

Thomas thrashed up and down, thrusting his head again and again into the mud beneath him in an attempt to free himself.

The snake swept its slick body beneath his neck, popping it as his head jutted upward, raised its head high above the boy, and careened its thick fangs down past his shoulder blades and into his spinal cord.

Thomas's back went erect as he felt the burning snake venom surging into his spine. He would have screamed but his lungs and the rest of his body were paralyzed. His sight went blood red.

...h...e...l...p... he thought as he watched the serpent slither away before him. He felt as if his entire body was still crushed in the thing's coils. ...h...e...l...p...

It wound up a nearby tree before perching on a limb and setting its eyes once more on his own.

Moments later Thomas heard the footsteps of men racing toward him, their boots sucking at the wet ground as they ran. Soon he could see legs and feet in his red vision before him.

"Thomas!"

Juniper's burly arms came into view as they came toward his body.

He couldn't feel the man's touch.

"Is he alright?"

Three more sets of boots came sputtering to a stop through his field of sight.

"What happened?"

Through his blood red vision Thomas could see the serpent in the tree, its tail swaying back and forth. Was it smiling at him? Its eyes burned like black stars.

"I don't know but he's stiff as a board. Help me roll him over."

The boots moved out of his sight and his vision spun. He couldn't move his head but in his sight he could barely make out arms touching his body and chest. The men's faces were twisted and distorted, as if they were demonic beings from the afterlife.

"His heart's still going! Help me lift him and bring him to the horses! We need to get him to the castle as soon as possible!"

He rose toward the sky and their twisted faces came nearer and nearer. In his mind he screamed, but his lips would not move.

The boughs of the trees above sped by, splotches of bright crimson seeping through the breaks in their leaves. Through the overhanging limbs sweeping by, beady little eyes peered out, boring into his mind.

Where was he? What had happened?

He could hear the heavy breaths of the beings carrying him, rushing through the woods. His eyes were heavy. He succumbed to darkness.

His eyes awoke once more to crimson sight. One of the beasts which had carried him was over him, strapping him to something. His body was still numb and immobile and before him was the whisking of a horse's tail. Much more was just outside his field of vision, possibly other horses, but they were blurs in his sight.

"You will be alright, sire," a heavy voice said behind him. "I swear it."

Who was he? He couldn't remember.

Moments passed.

"Go! Quickly!" he heard called and soon his vision shook up and down rapidly as horse hooves kicked in his sight in front of some sort of plank of wood. Shimmering black dust kicked up and over his vision from the horse's hooves. The world appeared to bleed its red hue.

Noises jumbled together. What was that? A song? Forgetting who he was, and hoping the song would hold a key, he strained to make out its words.

"And so the guardians of the tree

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Forever their land doth stand watch

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Forbidding any mortal

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Of tempted hand to touch

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

"And their spirits doth these lands swim

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Amongst our river's tides

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

In watch of those who within

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Have deviant seeking minds

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

"So none shall touch the tree

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Else the spirits take their hold

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

And vanquish to death's realm

Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm

Those tainted, tempted souls...

The song ended, the raspy voice singing it trailing its words off into nothingness. There was no hint of what or who he was. He tried to close his eyes to escape the burning trees and black dusk pouring through their limbs as the demon horse before him dragged him along, but it was no use. His body was stiff and beyond his control.

Below the boards he was tied to, a dark river of ooze seemed to flow, thrashing up at him, jolting his sight and body to and fro. Where was he going?

An eternity of time seemed to lapse as the darkness ate at his mind. Once, a long horn beaked bird latched onto him with its claws, thrusting at him with its cragged beak as it tried to clasp onto one of his eyes. One moment the winged beast was thrashing at him, the next moment something spliced through its neck and the writhing corpse was thrust off of him onto the ground. Ruby crimson blood spewed from its wound.

Darkness... fire... voices... demonic eyes peering at him from the trees. He was lost.

A crackling voice called from above him. "We are near the castle! Quicken your horses! We must get the king to a healer with haste!"

The dark spewing forth from the trees consumed his sight. His senses now were all gone.

And in the nothingness a pain emerged, striking sharply through his mind. At first it was just a needle of pain. But it expanded, like the strike of an axe, cracking his skull as it went. He wanted to scream. All words left his thoughts, and all that was left was agony.

Fire flowed from his skull down his spine and seared out through his veins. An inferno erupted from his chest. All he wanted was to rip free of his body to escape.

Everything left him.

It was dark.

A cool wind blew on him in the darkness.

What had just happened?

Thomas opened his eyes. There, above him, was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her soft light brown curls fell around her shoulders as she stood over him.

Her beautiful blue eyes made his heart race.

7

Souls' Introducing Waltz

Early morning sunlight rippled through an ornate window and flowed along Lilya's hands as she sat on a plain wooden chair beside Thomas's sick bed. He had arrived just before sunset the night before and had been rushed to one of Westwood Castle's finest rooms to be looked after.

She was both relieved and worried. Her father's words about how she should do anything to secure Thomas's hand and her seat next to him on his throne had stricken her with fear. How could her father ransom her out like a harlot just because their marriage could secure him a large dowry? Thomas's illness gave her time to think and she hoped that because of his condition he wouldn't have the strength to force himself upon her.

She was worried for him though. She may not know the young king, but he did journey all the way from Havilah to meet her and consider her to be his queen. He looked frail there, lying in the bed as she sat beside him. His skin was ghastly pale and there were scratches of dried blood across his face.

He is truly a boy, Lilya thought.

One of the boy king's guards, Cypress she had heard him called, stood sternly silent against the room's door. He was nearly twice her height and had not spoken more than a few words since she had come to the room shortly after his arrival.

Hours before Thomas had come; Lilya had been primped and pampered by her maids. A tight corset hugged her waist and overtop of it she wore a flowing dress of violet and emerald green. As they were coloring her cheeks with soft dyes made from rose petals a messenger had burst into her room with word that Havilah's king had arrived and was injured. Her father insisted she come immediately to be by Thomas's side.

Here, in this room by the moonlight, she had prayed over this boy she did not yet even know. She stayed by his side all night without sleep. She had watched as his breath had been hoarse and as he sweated through a horrible fever. His hands had even curled and he cried out in agony. The tears streaming down his dreaming face had pulled so greatly at her heart.

Lilya did not know Thomas, but she did know his pain. She was just thankful now that he seemed to be at peace. And she was nervous because she didn't know what she would do once he awoke.

"What is he like?" Lilya lifted her head and asked the stiff guard standing motionless by the door.

For a few moments there was silence, and then Cypress grinned. "He has a kind heart. He cares for everything and everyone and looks for the good in all that he sees. He is a king who does not behave like one."

Lilya thought for a second. "Would he hurt me?"

Cypress was clearly taken aback by the question. "No! No... he has the gentlest heart. Why do you ask, princess?"

At this moment Thomas moaned. He shivered in his bed, his head rolled back and forth and his eyes quivered behind their lids.

"I think he's waking," Lilya spoke, surprised. "Where are the nursemaids?"

"They're having breakfast in the dining hall!" Cypress was already out the door and running full tilt on his way to get them when he called again. "Take care of my king!"

Thomas's body calmed and he let out a peaceful waking moan.

As Lilya moved nearer she reached out her hand to touch Thomas's own in an effort to calm him. Then, just as her fingers almost touched his, his eyes opened wide. He looked almost inhuman for a moment, as if the eyes looking at her were not that of a man but were instead some immortal thing peering through her soul.

She stepped back, quickly removing her hand from beside his, and as she did so his eyelids shut a little and his eyes calmed.

"Who...?" he asked in a young voice. "Where am I?"

"You'll be alright," Lilya said. "One of your guards is getting your nursemaids. I'm Lilya."

She could see he was still exhausted and weak but Thomas managed a small smile. "You are so beautiful," he said.

Flattery... It is what men do to get what they want, Lilya thought. What does this man want? "What happened to you?" she asked.

Thomas looked as if he could barely keep his eyes open. "I... I don't know. I remember running through the woods and dancing to a song our guide was singing. Someone was calling my name... and I don't know what happened after that." He struggled to sit up on the bed. His body shook as he slowly sat upright and his elbows almost buckled beneath his weight. "And now I'm here."

Wearily he looked down, then up at her again. "This is a horrible way to meet. Look at me. I am sick, filthy and exhausted. Surely you must think so little of me."

This struck Lilya. How can a king think someone would think little of him? she thought. Why would he even care if they did? Could this boy actually be different than other men? "It will come back to you in time," she said. "And if it doesn't, you are here and safe and that is all that matters." She picked up a crystal pitcher from a table close by and poured the crisp water into a crystal glass next to where the pitcher had been. She lifted the glass as she poured.

As the water filled the glass she felt it, cool, on her palm. She needed this to calm her nerves. Surely this injured boy king was harmless. She should give him a chance.

"Drink this." Lilya handed the glass to Thomas. With a gentle touch she brought his hand to the glass. "You need your nourishment. Once the nursemaids have arrived we'll gather you something to eat too."

She watched as Thomas stared down into the crystal glass. Its fluid swayed back and forth as he braced it, lifted it to his mouth and drank. He didn't stop until he drained the crystal glass dry.

"Thank you." Thomas set the empty glass beside him on the bed. "Here." He held out his thin arms slowly. "Could you help me up? I need to be alive. I need to move."

Lilya held out her hands and clasped them around his warm wrists, bracing him as he pulled himself around so he could slide his legs off the side of the bed. She continued to brace Thomas as he attempted to stand. But he could not rise. His legs quivered beneath him as he tried to place weight on them.

"You should rest," Lilya said, hoping he would listen to her.

"No. I'll be alright. I just need... another minute," his voice quivered as his legs quaked and his torso curled over.

He's in so much pain, Lilya thought.

"Aaa..." Thomas moaned. He sat with his head in his hands as footsteps came nearer and nearer to them up the adjoining hall.

"Thomas!" Juniper burst into the room, closely followed by three scurrying nursemaids and his other two guards. "You're awake, sire! We were so worried for you."

Thomas lifted his head from his shivering hands as the nursemaids began taking his pulse, checking his eyes and examining in other ways to make sure he was alright.

Lilya stepped back from the bed so as not to get in their way.

"What's happened to me?" he asked.

"It's hard to say for sure sire." Pine responded while walking over into his king's view. "We were on our way to Westwood Castle. You were running through the woods as we were all listening to the song of the man we met along the shore. And as he sang and we traveled I watched you running and dancing farther and farther away. We became worried because you had gone so far away so Juniper called out, asking if you would come back closer to us.

"For a moment you stopped and looked to us and then you disappeared from our sight and down to the forest foliage below. Mere seconds passed and then we heard you screaming for help so myself, Juniper, Cypress and a few others came rushing in your direction. But when we reached you your body was stiff as a board and you were unresponsive. That's why we lifted you and brought you here as quickly as we could. Do you remember any of this?"

Thomas stared toward the room's sun glistened window. "I remember nothing. The last thing I remember is standing on Anemon's deck with Juniper as we watched a boy swinging from a vine out over the river water. How long has it been since that time?"

"Only a mere day, sire." Juniper responded with a voice that spoke with a soft hint of awe. "But so much has happened since then."

"And do you know what has done this to me or if it will affect me again?" the young king asked the question in a broad way to all of his three massive guards. "Have you any ideas to share? Surely you saw or deduced something."

"The only clues of what has happened to you are two scabbed over circle wounds along your spine," Pine answered. "Perhaps you were bitten by something with the ability to paralyze. Some of our company has said they noticed a snake following us and that after you were injured they saw it no more. But this is only speculation. We can't know for sure."

He looks so frail and wounded there, sitting on the bed and not knowing at all what has happened to him, Lilya thought. She sipped cool water from her own glass. Surely there is some way to make him feel better.

The room was silent.

"It is in the past," Lilya spoke. "What has happened is what has happened, but surely there is nothing to be gained by being upset about it if there is no way of knowing what has occurred."

Thomas looked up and smiled an interested smile at her. She wasn't so sure what to make of it. "This beautiful lady is right. I need fresh air. Is there a place close by outside where we can take a stroll, if she'll have me for a stroll that is?"

"Some fresh air sounds good." Lilya was happy she was able to change the mood of this young king. "My own personal garden is not too far from here."

"No, sire, you are still too weak." Cypress approached Thomas. "You must stay and rest. You should have something to eat and replenish your body, and leave tomorrow for exploring Westwood Castle and its gardens."

"I am perfectly fine, trust me, Cypress. I know myself, and if I were not able I would not press myself to do anything but rest." Thomas met Lilya's eyes. "And besides, I am anxious to learn more about this beautiful girl. Now help me to my feet please. Lilya, could I meet you in this garden? I need to make myself look more suitable for you."

Lilya came to him and, taking the empty water glass from his hand, set it on the table. "Looks don't matter to me, Thomas, only who you are in your soul, but I will leave you to get ready and be waiting for you in my garden." As she left the room, out of the corner of her eye she saw the massive guards trying to help the young king to his feet with his legs shaking violently beneath him.

҉

In ponderous thought Lilya sat, on a stone bench in her personal garden which was positioned just down the hall from her own royal chambers. The garden had been planted in soil that had been hauled up the castle stairs and laid out on part of the castle's roof. She ran her soft fingers over the divots in the stone bench while breathing in a deep breath of air. She admired the way the sun's light illuminated the rainbow of flowers all about her and the bright green leaves of the shrubs that marked a path down the garden's center.

She tossed a handful of seeds, from a box that lay on the ground beside the bench, to a cardinal hopping around on the path before her. "You know, little birdie, this is all pointless. I won't marry any man, even if he does seem nicer than the ones around here."

The cute little bird chirped and hopped over toward a seed, which it quickly picked up in its beak.

"What I need is a place to hide away from them all, and to escape my father, his guards and every other man that is." She held out a hand with a few seeds in it and the cardinal slowly hopped over toward it and snatched the morsels from her palm.

"But what am I to do... I've thought about running off with the dragon. Perhaps I should run off and make myself a home in The Canyon of Eyes. Surely no-one would come looking for me there."

"Lilya." Thomas entered through the castle's large stone entrance way, but was not walking, as she had expected him to be. Instead he was in a wooden wheelchair and was being pushed in by one of his guards. "I apologize for how long it took for me to arrive. I would have been here sooner but," he looked down to his legs, "it appears that my legs are still not quite so willing to listen to what my mind tells them to do."

Lilya breathed in the warm crisp air of the garden and could smell a slight hint of honeysuckle in the breeze. As the guard, who introduced himself as Pine, wheeled Thomas over she stood. "How are you feeling otherwise?"

"A little achy, but I will be alright. I'm sure your company will make me feel even better." Thomas looked up at Pine. "You can leave us now. I'll send for you when I come inside."

"But sire..." Pine protested.

"I'll be alright. I promise that if I start feeling ill then Lilya and I will send someone to come get you right away."

Pine placed his firm hand on the young man's shoulder. "If you insist then I will go, but please be careful, Thomas. I could not forgive myself if something would happen to you." He turned to Lilya. "Make sure he is alright, princess." Soon he was walking out of the garden through the tall, ornate stone doorway and had disappeared into the castle's inner halls, leaving the royal pair alone in the luscious green garden.

The songs of birds could be heard singing their own melody about them and a single dove flew by above.

"So what do we talk about?" Thomas broke the silence between them.

"Don't ask me." Lilya looked up at the dove as it passed. "You're the one who traveled all this way to meet me."

"Hmmm..." Thomas placed his hands on the wooden wheels of his chair and began to slowly move them. "What do you like?"

The question took Lilya aback. What did she like? Wasn't that the same question Alexander had asked her? How bizarre that they both would ask her the same thing. "Do you mean in general or about something specific?"

"In general." He plucked a baby leaf from one of the bushes beside him on the path as he passed it. "I like being here with you. You have a calming yet energy-filling presence. Does that make any sense?"

Lilya walked beside him as he wheeled up the path in his chair, always keeping an arm's distance from him, careful not to get too close or to make him think she was showing him affection. "I guess," she said. "What do I like?" She thought back to her answer to Alexander. She had had such a magical time with him. "I like running in the rain and feeling it gently patter down."

Thomas curled the little leaf he was holding in his fingers and folded it in half. "Have you ever heard the sound of rain pattering on a tin roof? It sounds so beautiful. Sometimes when it rains I leave my castle with the guards and go out on a small tin roofed boat I keep docked in the Pishon's waters. I lie back on the floor of the boat in a small room and listen to the raindrops echoing off of the tin roof above. I love simple things like that."

"I've never had the pleasure of experiencing that. It sounds so beautiful." They were nearing the edge of her garden now. They looked out over the garden wall, which looked out over the castle's side. Over the ledge the castle wall dropped down three stories. From here they had a view straight over the treetops of the entire forest surrounding the castle and all the way out to the river beyond. The sun was cresting just over the treetops and its bright orb glow beamed magnificently. "Isn't it amazing up here? There is no view like it in all of Cush."

There was silence as they both looked on in awe. "Wow." Thomas exhaled. "It is so beautiful."

Birds tweeted in the trees below as Lilya motioned for Thomas to follow her over toward a bench close to the edge of the garden. A small green vine was twisted around its side. "Here we can sit and talk as we watch the sun rise in to the sky to greet the day."

And there they sat through the day, Lilya on the ornate stone bench and Thomas in his wooden wheel chair beside her, talking about their lives, their thoughts and their dreams. Lilya spoke of her paintings and of how she longed to escape the confines of the castle to someplace where she was free to be herself. She did not tell Thomas though of her father's use of her as a betting tool. She was ashamed, for herself and her life, and did not know what he would think or say.

She did tell him of Alexander and of what an amazing feeling it was to soar high in the sky in his embrace. She described being washed by the cool wind whipping about her as the clouds rolled by. She told Thomas she had only seen the dragon once but that she thought he could be a great friend.

He was nervous to hear of the dragon, taken aback for a moment, but told her that he trusted what she said of the creature.

Thomas spoke of the kind hearts of his people and of how one of his favorite things to do was to walk among them and do whatever he could to give of himself to them and help with whatever needs they had. "There is no better way to bring happiness to your own soul than to do things to help others," he told her.

They talked and talked about anything and everything in their worlds, eating fruit and nuts from the garden's small trees when they were hungry and drinking water from a clear spring that had somehow been directed up through the castle and into the garden, to quench their thirst.

The sun rose high in the sky, basking the world in its brilliant warmth, and then slowly made its way down toward the horizon.

In their interest in each other they had lost track of time and as the sun was setting and shimmering its crisp pink hue across the clouds above them they finally realized the hour it had gotten to be. "We should turn in for the night," Lilya said as she watched the vibrant pink sky begin to fade. "Surely they'll come looking for us soon if we don't. How long will you be staying in Cush?" She looked toward Thomas and saw a pensive look. What was he thinking?

"I will leave mid-day tomorrow for Assyria, as I have promised to meet their king in two days' time." Thomas clasped the wooden wheels of his chair strongly and his body shook as he attempted to move.

"Are you alright?" Lilya reached for him.

"Yes." Thomas grinned a pained grin. "Wait for a moment." His body shook and quaked in on itself as he slowly pulled himself off of the chair and on the ground before her. He held one hand to the stone bench where she sat, supporting himself, and fished with his other hand in one of the deep pockets of his robe. Within moments he lifted a small ornate golden box from his endless pocket.

Lilya wanted to tell him to put it away. She wanted to stand and leave him. What was he doing? They had just met.

Thomas's thin fingers shook as he moved them along where the box would split to open, and 'snap' it flipped wide revealing an intricately carved golden ring with beautiful diamonds laced around its carvings. "This was my grandmother's." His arm shook as he held it before her. "Since the moment we first met, even though it was only this morning, I have been in love with you. You are so caring, interesting, beautiful and full of life, and I know that I need not search farther for my future queen if you would have me. Lilya, would you be my queen?"

"I..." Lilya stood and began to walk backwards away from him. She would not marry any man, no matter how kind he seemed to be, especially not one she had only met this morning. She began to move quickly toward the castle's entrance.

And then she heard his pained scream as his strength gave out and his body went crashing to the walk. She had to help. With quick strides she ran to his side and lifted him up and into his chair. He lifted his head as best he could.

"Thank you," he said. And for moments there was silence between them. "Does this mean that the answer is no?"

"I..." Lilya stammered. She needed time to think. "I don't know. Can I have some time?" She lifted the ornate box from where it had tumbled to the ground and placed the ring back inside before placing it back in Thomas's hands. "There are things you don't know about me. I'm not sure that I'll ever marry any man."

Thomas closed the golden box and slid it back into his robe pocket. "I realize we have just met. I would be willing to wait for you. You could even come to Havilah and get to know me better before saying yes."

He looked to her with such love in his eyes. How could he have those feelings for her so soon?

Even if she told him about what she had endured at the hands of her father's men she didn't think he would understand. She could never be any man's wife or queen. A thought came to her. Anything would be better than being in this place. Who knew what would happen to her here?

"Can I have some time to think?" Lilya looked to Thomas. Instantly she felt upset that she was getting his hopes up and unsure of why she had asked the words.

Thomas smiled. It was as if a great gift had been given to him, one greater than any he had had before. "Just the fact that you are considering being my queen fills me with so much joy."

Lilya could see strength coming into his soul through his eyes as he looked at her. It frightened her, but she did not know why.

"I will go to Assyria with my men and tell their king I am not interested in his daughters and then go fishing in the Euphrates River in the waters beyond Vane for a few days before returning to Cush." He reached out to put her hands in his but she pulled them away from him.

"I... I'm sorry," she spoke.

"Don't be sorry. I apologize if I overstepped my boundaries." Thomas paused for a few moments again before looking up at the now starlit sky. "Look up there at the stars," he said.

She did. They were so tiny and yet tranquil at the same time. Why couldn't men be like that, beautiful and also staying their distances so that she would never have to worry about them being too close to her? "When will you be back?" she asked.

"Is five days enough time?"

Lilya watched as a star shot across the sky. She wondered if he had made a wish. "I will have an answer for you by then."

They sat there for a while longer watching the stars above as darkness set in, barely speaking to each other, and after some time had passed they went back, side by side, through the darkness of the garden and into Westwood Castle once more.

From here they would retire to their own rooms, with Lilya's insistence that he not escort her to hers. In the morning when Thomas would depart for Assyria Lilya would not see him away from port, not wanting to give him false hopes for his return.

8

Fishing with Friends

Thomas sat in his wheelchair on Anemon's deck. He breathed in the Euphrates River's swift breeze as he looked out over the boat's side and through the river's cool clear waters. Shimmering purple and green fish that were the size of his forearm danced below. There were long whiskers trailing down from their cheeks that almost appeared to be fangs.

Time had moved so quickly since they had departed Cush. His guards had not lied when they described to him the beauty of the three princesses of Assyria. As he had met them a few days ago he had been stunned by their looks. But where they had looks, Lilya had intellect, beauty and grace, and he knew that his instant attraction to her was something more than purely physical.

Assyria's king had been disappointed at Thomas's insistence that he had already met his future queen and would not consider the girls, but in the end he had wished him the best as he left for fishing in the Euphrates.

Sunlight warmed his arms as he held his bamboo fishing pole in his hands, holding it steady as he waited for a bite. His guards, also fishing, stood close by and ready to assist him in pulling in whatever he may catch because his strength still had not returned. "In two more days I'll be by her side once more," Thomas spoke to Pine, Juniper and Cypress.

Pine stood close to his side. "Sire, I don't mean to worry you, but what makes you so sure that Lilya will decide to be your bride? She didn't even see us off from Cush's port." His sturdy feet moved to the right and his pole flexed as he cranked the reel to pull in whatever he had caught on the other end of the line. "She is intriguing, there is no denying that, but from what I can see she holds little interest in you. Why not return to Assyria to court one of the princesses there?"

"Because they are not for me, my friend." Thomas rolled his chair close to the deck's rail with one hand while holding the bamboo pole with the other. "But seeing as you seem to have taken a liking to them, we can return for you to court them if you wish. The red-haired one seemed to take a liking to you."

Pine pulled on his pole hard and soon a glistening purple fish flew through the air before slapping and floundering on Anemon's deck.

"That is not what any of us want, sire." Juniper secured his rod in a latch on deck before walking closer to his king and Pine, admiring Pine's catch. "But what we don't understand is why you've fallen so completely for this Lilya after only spending one day with her. What is so special about her? She seems no more magnificent to me than any common girl in our kingdom."

Thomas looked back to Juniper now. "Maybe I'm not looking for magnificence. Maybe I'm looking for pureness, truth and life. Lilya has all these qualities. I can see them in her eyes and hear them in the words she speaks. You do not know love, Juniper, because you have never felt it, and I had not until the other day when I first looked into her eyes, but I know now that true love can be known instantly."

"True love is learned, not some fantasy to be swept away by." Pine thrust a dagger into the fish as he took its life away, putting it out of its agony.

Cypress looked back from his spot now. "And what would you know of love, Pine? Do you have a loving wife and a brood of little ones at home that I've yet to meet? And your pet wolf doesn't count by the way!" He winked. "Who are we to judge Thomas's love? I for one, believe in love at first sight!"

"We will stand firm by your side no matter what happens," Pine said while securing his fresh catch in a bag to keep it from attracting insects. "I was just trying to look out for you in case we return and she does not return your interest."

"You will see." Thomas smiled a youthful smile of sureness. "She loves me too, I can tell, even if she cannot admit it yet, in time she will know her love for me and we will be together as husband and wife."

Pine was walking with his catch back toward the boat's galley so that the ship's chef could begin its preparation for their meal. "And what if she never loves you, Thomas? How will you react then?"

"You're being such a pessimist, Pine!" Thomas answered. "She loves me deep inside, I can feel it. And to answer your question, even if she never tells me she loves me then I will let her go and at least, hopefully, a great friendship will blossom." Suddenly he felt the strength of something on the end of his fishing line, pulling strongly at his arms. "Help!" he called out to his guards. "I've got something!"

Juniper and Cypress rushed to his side and Pine had turned also to return to them. The thing on the end of Thomas's rod thrust with all its might to get away, pulling him up out of his chair and dragging his limp-legged body toward the boat's side rail. "Help!" he cried out again.

Juniper was first to his side and took the rod before Cypress placed his hands below the young king's arms and helped him into his chair once more.

"Whoa!" Juniper exclaimed as he tried reeling in the catch. "What did you get, a whale? This thing isn't giving an inch!"

"Do you need the help of someone a little stronger than you?" Pine teased him.

"Maybe!" The bamboo rod flexed and whatever was on the other end of it was pulling so hard now that even Juniper began to lose ground. With a crack the rod snapped in half and the part not still in Juniper's hands whipped up and off the port bow. "What was that thing?" he called while running to the bow in an effort to try and see what had gotten the best of him.

There, with its back glistening with sunlit hues, was a beautiful dolphin as it leapt in and out of the water and away from the vessel.

Thomas moved his chair to Juniper's side. "What a unique dinner that would have made." He smiled as he watched the beautiful creature swim toward the horizon.

"What a shame." Pine placed his strong hand on Thomas's shoulder. "Sometimes the greatest catch is the one you can't reel in."

9

Pondering

Lilya stood at the edge of her garden with green foliage gently moving in the warm breeze around her. It had been four days since Thomas's departure and soon he would return to Cush for her answer. Why had she made him think there was a chance that she would agree to be his queen? Or even to go with him to Havilah? Because you need desperately to get away from this place, your father and his knights, that's why, she thought to herself.

Lilya looked down to the streets below the castle walls, bustling with life. Venders had set up shop below selling vegetables and various trinkets they had forged in their workshops. She smiled as she watched them gaily conversing in the streets. Their happiness gave her some comfort in this haunting place.

Her sight lifted from the streets, over Cush's vast forest and to the towering mountain ranges far away on the horizon. Was Alexander there? She walked to the corner of her garden where she found a small cherry tree and plucked one of its delicious fruits, biting into it and enjoying its sweet taste as it passed by her tongue. She needed to speak with him and to ask his advice.

Was it a bizarre thing to seek out the advice of a massive scaled beastlike creature? No, she thought. And Alexander was not that to her. He had become her friend that night he had saved her, and friends were something she did not have many of. She looked out at the jagged, mountainous horizon. "Alexander," she spoke. "If you can hear me and can come, I need to speak to you and would love to spend some time with you, my friend."

For a moment there was silence. The warm wind brushed by her face. The market's hustle and bustle collected in her ears and birds were still chirping all about her garden but nothing had changed. "He has left us," the words came in a whisper from her lips, and then along the mountainous sun-goldened horizon she saw a winged shape getting larger and larger as it came from the cliffs. Slowly the shape grew as its wings beat toward her.

"Alexander, thank goodness you're still here," Lilya spoke.

He dipped from the sky as he neared and skimmed the tops of the forest, causing leaves to churn up about him, his crimson wings reflecting the sunlight. Then suddenly his broad chest arched as he shot high into the sky and then glided down toward her.

The people in the streets had noticed him now and were scurrying for cover. She wished that they could understand that he was her friend and would cause them no harm.

As he came to her his wings beat gently. He hovered with an outstretched paw before her as he spoke. "I would never leave you, princess. It is a pleasure to be in your presence once more. Come with me and we will fly."

"Alexander," Lilya spoke, "it is so good to see you." She stepped toward his massive paw, grabbing onto one of his smooth warm claws and hoisting herself up. There she lay close to the folds of his palm, ready to soar into the sky with him. "Let's go somewhere where we can talk."

Alexander's large crimson head swung from the direction of the garden and up towards the clouds in the distance. "There is no better place to talk than the clouds and sky," he said in his voice's deep song. "Only the birds will hear our words there." A smile stretched across his lips. "And of course they are all my friends and will keep our words to themselves."

With one strong beat of his wings the pair rose swiftly to the clouds above and Lilya watched as Westwood Castle and all of Cush's surrounding villages shrunk below.

Up, Alexander flew, bursting through the fog of clouds just above them and then curving his wings as he sent pulses through them, his body cruising gently above their misty white sheets. "What do you need to talk about?" he asked with care in his voice.

Lilya breathed in the smooth air whisking across her face. "Do you know about the young king who came to consider me for his queen?"

"I would like to say that I hadn't known of him until you just told me, but my ears picked up your voice when you were out in your garden a few days back and I listened to be sure that you were in safe hands."

Lilya turned now in his paw so that she was no longer facing the wind. Her hair whipped before her eyes. "It's alright. I had hoped you were listening, just in case I needed you." She pulled her hair back and pinned it between her back and his paw. "Thomas seems to be a good man, or rather a good boy, but it's so hard for me to trust any man. And I certainly don't love him."

Alexander turned his head as he curved across the clouds and Lilya squinted as she peered into the crisp blue sky and radiant light gleaming from the sun above.

"And yet you left him thinking that you may go with him when he returns. Why?" the dragon asked.

"I don't know exactly. I guess... I guess that I just started to think that maybe this was my chance to escape Cush and everything that has happened to me here. But trying to escape something is not a good reason to tell someone that you'll marry them."

"That's true," Alexander said, "and it would not be right to do to the boy either."

"So what do I do? I want so badly to escape this place."

The dragon swooped down through the sheen of clouds and a vast body of water spread out before them. "If I remember correctly Thomas said that you could come to Havilah with him to get to know him better and see if you would fall in love with him or not."

"But I won't. I know I won't and I don't want to give him hopes."

"Is there a possibility?" he asked.

She sat up again in his palm now. "That I would grow to love him? I suppose anything is possible, but I worry about breaking his heart."

"He is a king. Surely he would understand and respect your decision."

"You obviously do not know kings like I do, Alexander." She held out a hand to the winds and felt the speckles of water flicking off of the water some distance below them. "Sometimes their hearts can be the weakest and most intolerable of all."

"He is not your father."

"My father and his guards are all that I have known." Lilya was silent for a moment as they glided above the pure blue waters below. "I suppose I am afraid of Thomas even more because he is a king."

"Do you trust me, princess?"

The question came as a surprise to her. What did her trust of Alexander have to do with anything? "Why do you ask?" she questioned him.

"Do you trust me?" His deep voice was strong and comforting.

"Of course I do. You rescued me from my father's guard the other night, and the simple fact that you are close by has brought some comfort to me since then."

"If you trust me then know this, I will protect you. No matter where you go I will be there to protect you."

She thought for a moment. "Does that mean you would go to Havilah with me?" she asked. She hadn't thought of it before but she suddenly realized that she could not leave Cush without Alexander. Even though they had just recently met there was a connection between the two of them that she would not be able to leave behind. Not only was he one of the only beings she considered to be a friend, he was also the only one she trusted.

"If you asked, I would go." He swooped down toward the waters now. "Think about what you wish to do. I will be with you whatever your choice."

Lilya lay flat against his palm again, breathing the breeze rushing past her within her lungs. She felt as if she was weightless in his supporting strength.

"Can I show you something?" Alexander asked.

"What?"

"Hold your breath!"

He hugged her close to his chest and dove swiftly toward the waters below. Lilya inhaled deeply and held it just as the dragon boomed into the liquid bath. She could hear the muffled sound of water splashing on the water's surface above as they glided gently through the underwater currents and she opened her eyes to see sunlight glistening through the blue and shimmering off the scales of fish below her.

Alexander's muscular neck curved upwards, splitting the water above in waves as his wings pulsed and sent them soaring high into the sky once more. A burst of steam leapt from his lips before flicking with ash-like flecks of fire and then dissipating to nothing. They were soaring toward the clouds once more.

"Wow," Lilya said in amazement as she breathed a deep breath. Water whispered like a mist from her clothes and skin as the wind pealed it from her form. "I didn't expect that. I didn't know you could go underwater." Alexander wove up and up into the cool clouds so that she could only barely make out the land below them now.

"I am and can do many things, Lilya, and many things about myself are still a mystery even to me."

She watched as they followed the line of a river far below them as they flew. "How could that be? How can you not know things about yourself?"

"I can't explain it. I only have foggy glimpses of memory of being before a small time back. My eyes opened, I was in the woods, and something was calling me. And then I lost the signal, but when whatever was calling me vanished I came to your mountains to try and make sense of it all."

"And that is when you heard my voice," she spoke almost to herself now. "Well, it is amazing that you can dive beneath the waves like that. How long can you hold your breath?"

"I don't know," he said. "For as long as I like I suppose."

The river below opened up and connected to another, and there in its largest point Lilya saw a fleet of ships, beautiful and shimmering in the sunlight. She could barely make out people scurrying along the vessel's decks.
"He's down there," Alexander's strong voice spoke. "We could surprise them and say hello if you'd like."

Lilya's heart caught in her throat. "Thomas? N... no, we can see him when he returns."

Alexander pumped his vast wings and lifted him and Lilya high into the clouds and out of the vessel's sights. "And when Thomas returns, what will your answer be then?"

10

Going Adrift from the Known

Lilya stood at the end of Westwood Castle's main hall. Her knees locked beneath her and her hands went clammy as she let them hang in the cool air beside her flowing green velvet dress.

Behind her was her chair, a rising seat of carved oak, and beside it was her father, seated on his throne. Her mother's death while she was still a young girl left the queen's seat vacant at his side.

Her father fidgeted with the rings on his swollen, hairy fingers. "Remember to kneel before him when he arrives. Men like women who show they submit to their control." He spat a dark liquid to a pot at his side as he chewed on some locally grown root.

She stood silently. More and more... she hated her father.

One of the commoners who were kneeling in rows from the doorway to the throne coughed and the sound echoed in the silence. A boy giggled on the opposite side of the hall.

"Silence!" her father bellowed and shifted in his seat.

Lilya's sight traced the wall and her eyes caught on the sword she had used to defend herself with the night she first met Alexander. What am I doing here? All of these people want to know my answer to Thomas and I don't even know what it will be. She backed up to rest her legs in her chair and her father grunted at her to stay her place. She filled with frustration.

Moments passed and the massive wooden doors moaned as four guards pushed them open to reveal Thomas and his own guards in the doorway, sunlight shimmering across their shoulders from outside.

The court jester bounced around the open aisle from the door to the throne and blew loud into his horn to announce Thomas's arrival.

"Thomas!" King Abishan roared from his chair. "We are blessed by your return, my son! We have anxiously awaited your arrival!"

A chorus of musicians began to play near the throne and as Thomas strode toward Abishan yellow flower petals were tossed in the air about the young boy king.

The moment is coming, Lilya thought to herself. I will have to make a decision. What would father say if I said no?

Thomas stopped and looked at one of the girls throwing petals his way. One of the petals caught on his nose and he blew it off. "There is no need for all of this pomp, Abishan," he spoke. "We are both kings. What's more, we are both men and I am not here to be treated like someone who is to be held up, like someone who is something more than all the rest."

One of Abishan's gruff guards came forward from the throne. "You dare to speak that way to our king?" He drew his sword from its hilt and the ring of steel sang through the air.

"Targ!" Abishan burst out and stood. "Thomas is a guest in our house, and the Gods be blessed one day soon he will take my daughter as his queen. If he requests that we not greet him in this manner then we will honor his wishes."

Targ sheathed his sword and joined his king's side.

Thomas approached the end of the aisle now, and coming to a stop he looked up deeply into Lilya's eyes. His gaze gave her shivers and her heart beat heavily. His blue robe moved in a slight breeze that was flowing along the castle walls. "Have you thought about my question, Lilya?" he asked gently. "I would treat you well as my queen. I want to share my life with none other than you."

Abishan smirked, showing his yellowed teeth. "Yes, daughter, what do you have to say to this young man?"

Was she moving her feet? They were moving, but she was barely sure that they were in her control. Soon she had reached the stairs, which descended from the throne area to where Thomas and his guards now stood. For long moments she did not move and stared at them blankly.

"Kneel to him," Abishan groaned from his chair, clicking his rings on its arms. "He is a king! Kneel!"

Lilya's knees quaked with fear of her father and she was about to kneel but as she lowered her eyes Thomas's caught her own.

"No," he spoke kindly and kneeled, bowing before her in unison with his guards. "It is I who has come here seeking your hand, not you seeking mine, and I would never wish for you to bow to me."

Abishan stood. "There is no need for this, Thomas. You are above her."

Still kneeling to Lilya, Thomas replied, "Do you still wish for me to marry your daughter, sir?"

Lilya's father took a step forward. "Of course..."

"Then I'd suggest you sit back down and keep silent," Thomas spoke.

At this Pine rose and gave Abishan a stern stare and the man returned to his throne.

"I..." Lilya began. She was feeling brave now and had started to see that Thomas may not be like her father at all. "I will go with you, Thomas, but on my own terms."

"All you need to do is ask, princess," Thomas replied.

Lilya descended a few steps of the stairs and came closer to him. "I will go with you. But I am not sure that I am in love with you yet and so I will not yet be your queen. We need time to get to know each other. Would you have me as your friend for now?"

"What?" Abishan's voice came howling from behind her. "I apologize for my daughter's insolence."

Thomas lifted his head up to stare at the king. "This is the last time I'm warning you, sir. Do not worry, no matter what, if Lilya comes with me then you will get your dowry." He looked now to her eyes. "Having you close by and getting to know you better would be something I would cherish so much."

"And there is one more thing." Lilya placed her hand on his shoulder and motioned for him and his guards to rise. "Do you remember the dragon I told you about that I am friends with?"

Thomas rose. "Yes," he spoke plainly as his guards gave her an inquisitive look.

"I also request that he be welcomed to come to Havilah with me. He is a dear friend and I would not be able to part Cush without him."

With a smile, the young king responded to her, "As you wish. Let me know how long you will need to gather your things and say goodbye to your friends and family. We will stay docked in Cush's port until then."

"We can leave now," Lilya said and walked the rest of the way down the stairs. She did not look back to her father. "My things are packed and I have maids waiting to bring them to us. If you must give my father the dowry he was promised, then leave it for him, but he does not deserve it." She strode down the aisle toward the rear doors.

"You will go nowhere unless I am paid!" Abishan's voice echoed behind her.

She would not stop though, not until she was free of her father and this cursed place.

"You will have your dowry," Thomas calmly answered. "I am a man of my word, but from this day on you will only have contact with your daughter if she wishes it to be so."

"Keep the little ingrate for all I care! As long as I am compensated."

Her father's words filled Lilya's heart with sadness, sadness for herself and also for her father. He did not understand how much she truly wanted him to be a good man and for things to be different between them. If mother was alive, would he be a different man? she wondered. Tears trickled from her eyes and down her cheeks.

Soon, she was out of the castle doors and into the sunlight of the day. One of her maids, that she had instructed to wait in the labyrinth close by in case she was in need of her, ran out to meet her princess. "Lilya!" she came calling to her. "King Thomas is such a handsome man! Are we going with them?"

"Go and tell the other girls to gather our things, Tessera, we leave with haste to our new home." Lilya turned to see Thomas and his guards coming to her. The young king still had a limp.

Her maid hurried away and in through the castle doors. "We will bring your things shortly, milady," she called.

Soon Thomas and his three hulking guards were by her side. Seeing that Lilya was upset, Thomas looked steadily at her. "I don't know what that was about, and now may not be the time to talk about it, but just know that if you ever wish to tell me then I will be here for you." He reached his hand up and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Thank you." She smiled. "But I will be much better when we are away from here. When can we leave?"

"The boats won't take long to prepare once we reach them, and we can leave as soon as you are ready to go." As Thomas finished his words Tessera and two other maids raced from the doors and toward them with ornate bags filled with their possessions.

They took a horse-drawn carriage through the woods to the bank of the Gihon River. Thomas and Pine were guiding the horses while Juniper and Cypress were galloping along on the backs of royal stallions beside the chariot. A contingent of Abishan's knights accompanied them as a show of protection.

Lilya could hear the clopping of the horses' hooves as she sat in the rickety wooden hull of the vehicle with her three maids. The wind in the chariot's blinds rippled as they moved. Her maids were talking about Havilah and making all kinds of guesses at what their lives might be like there. They were excited, they were nervous, but Lilya paid them little mind and had been quiet thus far.

She had told Alexander of what she might do, accepting Thomas's offer but with terms of her own. She was desperate to escape Cush, at almost any cost, and her father's behavior had put that decision to where she was now. She only hoped that Alexander would see that she was leaving and that he would be true to his word and follow her.

"I hear they're rich in Havilah," Tessera said in an almost giddy tone to Lilya's other maids. "I wonder if we'll be issued new jewelry."

"What kind of gems do you think they have there?" a maid a little younger than Tessera, named Sydney, asked. They all bobbed in their seats as the carriage sped along the bumpy forest road.

Outside the carriage window Lilya watched as the trees passed by. She hoped that there would be trees with these vibrant green hues in Havilah. Will it have the beauty of Cush? she thought.

"Look in the sky, sire!" She heard Juniper call out and she turned in the carriage to see him riding on his galloping steed and pointing straight above him toward the sky. "I have never seen anything like that in all my days!"

"Wow!" Thomas proclaimed in awe. "Lilya, is that Alexander?"

Bracing her hands to the warm wooden windowsills, Lilya stuck her head through the swaying curtains and looked up into the sky. Above the trees a crimson dragon's wings appeared to glow as the sunlight shone through them. They beat gently and gracefully with his muscular form. "That's Alexander!" she called back to Thomas over the sound of the carriage rumbling along beneath them.

"He is so beautiful!" Thomas replied. "What a majestic creature!"

"He's a little frightening if you ask me!" Cypress called from her other side.

The dragon's neck and head curved and his shimmering eyes looked down at them as he flew. "Hello, princess!" his deep voice bellowed. "I see that you're leaving! I hope you don't mind the company!"

Even from far above them she could see his smile. "It's good to see you friend," she spoke in a voice that only she and him could hear.

Cypress rode his steed up close to the carriage and Lilya. "He doesn't eat cattle, does he?" he asked in a worried tone.

"In all my time with him I've never seen any evidence of that," she assured the guard with a grin.

"Not only do I have the most beautiful girl in all the land coming to my kingdom," Thomas spoke, "but I also have the honor of having this majestic creature coming to be with us there too."

"I am honored that you would speak of me like that," Alexander spoke to him as he glided above. "I will meet you at the port, Lilya," he said. And with a massive beat of his wings he sped along the treetops and out of sight above. The tree leaves reverberated in the winds of his passing.

"What a sight!" Lilya's third maid, a dark-haired girl named June, said as Lilya pulled her head back inside the carriage. "I have heard of him, princess, but only terrifying things from some of the guards that have seen him. He is a little overwhelming, but so beautiful too."

Lilya looked in the girl's eyes, seeing more maturity in this girl than perhaps she saw in the other two. "He is beautiful, yes," she said. "But I have learned that he is more than that. He is a better friend and a better man than the others that I have known."

The rest of the carriage ride through the forest of Cush went quickly as Lilya sat and listened to her three maids chatter about what they thought their lives would be like in their new home. She, herself, did not hope for much. A room of her own, food, time to spend with Alexander and freedom from the physical desires of men was all she wanted.

It was still morning when they reached Cush's docks, with crisp sunlight shimmering off of the rippling waters, and before Lilya knew it she was on Anemon's deck watching the mainland of Cush fade away into a blur of green in the distance. She would miss her homeland, its rich foliage and life, but she would not miss the men she had grown to hate there, including her father.

҉

Far above Thomas's fleet of ships Alexander beat his wings, breathing in the cool air about him through his warm lungs. Why was it that the nearer they came to Havilah, the more he felt a sense of wrongness within him? He felt darkly connected to the place in a way he could not explain.

11

Family

One man and one guard remained in Westwood Castle's main hall as mid-day arrived. Abishan paced the hard stone floor, his footfalls echoing along the hall's sparsely decorated interior as his main guard, Targ, slumped lazily in a chair in the middle of the vast room.

"He'd better pay me," Abishan muttered to himself.

Targ stood and stared at the chamber's massive doors that led to the outer world. "He will."

"When?" Abishan thundered, his voice echoing through the emptiness. "He took my daughter! I want payment!"

The room's outer doors slowly creaked open, revealing a large cart filled with gold and gems that had been brought to him by some of his men from Thomas. They glistened in the sunlight ribboning in from outside. The reds of the rubies and greens of the emeralds reflected along the inner walls and on the faces of the men themselves. The cart was pulled into the chamber by mules and then four brawny men in tattered clothes lifted up one side of the cart and dumped the treasure to the ground.

Golden coins raced on their edges all about the room before spiraling to rest on the cool stone floor. Abishan walked amongst them as he approached the dowry he had so desired. "What a trade." He grinned and stepped upon the golden pile. The king reached the mound's top and kneeled, digging his stubby fingers into the jewels, sending them flowing over his hands as he lifted them to his face to stare into their gleam. "Welcome to my kingdom, my children," he spoke to them. "We will treat you well here." With a thrust of his arms Abishan scattered them into the air above.

12

A Promise Kept

Adrift in the narrowing waterways of Havilah, Anemon lulled through the daylight and into the sunset which blessed the skies with sheens of pink and orange. The vessel was nearing a place that Thomas insisted they stop before Lilya's arrival at her new home.

"There are people that I must visit before I return," Thomas had told her as they ate lunch upon the deck, gulls swirling above their ship. "A man and his wife live there with their daughter. I promised I would meet with them on this journey."

"Meet with them to consider their daughter to be your wife?" she asked him.

He smiled. "On my father's death bed I promised him that I would consider her. The girl's father, a man named Oston, was a great friend and confidant of my father's. It was his wish that I look after this man's family and that I also consider the girl. But I have found my queen in you, or at least I hope I have, if you will have me."

"Won't this be an awkward meeting then?" She wondered why he didn't just send message that he had already found the girl he desired, or at least visit the family without her.

"I promised that I will see her on this voyage," he said. "And I am a man of my word, even if I cannot consider her for my bride."

The reeds along the riverbank rustled as Anemon pulled into a small dock. A long boardwalk stretched from the dock over a vast plain of tall grass.

"Is this the place?" Lilya asked Thomas as his men busied themselves with tying the sails down, weighing anchor and lowering the plank from their ship. The boat rocked as the plank connected with the boards of the walk below.

"I have only been here once." Thomas peered out into the beautiful sunset. "Once when I was a child we had come to visit Oston and all I remember from that time is the sound of crickets in the grassy fields. This is where my guards say he lives."

"I'll go first, sire, to make sure the boardwalk's planks are sturdy," Pine said and descended the ship's plank, with Thomas, Lilya and the other two guards following soon after.

It was growing chilly, Lilya realized as she walked the boards between the tall grasses. And what Thomas had said was true. Crickets chirped all about them as the pink hue of the setting sun skimmed the world.

"Ribbit, Ribbit," the song of frogs and croaking toads came and every now and then one would jump above the grass or across the walk and startle them in the near dark.

Slowly they came upon a thatched house with torches lit with vibrant flames. The light danced and licked the air. The bane of a dog's howl sang from inside.

Thomas put his hand on Pine's shoulder. "Are you sure this is the place?"

Before the guard could respond the house's front door opened to reveal a thin man dressed in tattered clothes. "Thomas?" the man called unsurely. "Is that you?"

"Oston?" Thomas called back.

"Step into the house, boy, and out of the night's cold air. We've a wood stove to heat your body and soul." Oston waved them onward and into his well lit home. "Don't mind the smells in the air. We use them to keep away the critters."

Lilya sniffed and indeed there was a pungent scent wafting through the room. A girl just slightly younger than her caught her eye as she entered, with beautiful red wavy curls and eyes of deep green. She wore common clothes like Oston himself, but there was something far from common about her. Will Thomas choose her now that he has met her? Lilya wondered to herself. Then she wondered if she even cared. Hopefully Thomas would permit her to live in his kingdom if he decided to marry the girl.

"This is my daughter, Clare," Oston said as the girl rose gracefully to shake Thomas's hand.

He embraced it warmly, blushing and bowing his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Clare. Before anything else I need to tell you something. I have already found my future queen. I know that I said I would come here on this journey but I have already found the girl I hope will be my bride one day and I do not wish to make you think otherwise." He reached his arm out for Lilya to join him. "This is Princess Lilya of Cush."

She could see the disappointment in Clare's eyes, but the girl tried to hold her composure as she shook Lilya's hand.

"It is wonderful to meet you," she said. "That is alright, my king. She is a beautiful choice. I haven't truly thought there was a real possibility you would choose me for your queen. It is an honor in itself that you would come here."

Lilya felt a pang of guilt for coming with Thomas and having no intent of being his bride. She could see in the girl's face how much she wanted to be Thomas's queen. There was an awkward silence. "Would you like to come with us to the castle as one of my maids?" she asked. "It would be nice to have a girl who knew the land and the people here."

"I would be honored." Clare curtsied. "Father?" she asked his approval.

"It would be a wonderful opportunity for you and if it is what you desire then you have my approval to go." Oston patted Thomas's shoulder. "It is good to see you again; you have grown into a strapping young man. The way you have treated this country since your father's passing assures me he would be proud of his son."

"I am honored that you say such things. Would you mind if we warmed ourselves?" Thomas made his way across the room.

They sat by the stove and its flames wove about each other, heating the room as the royal company shared stories from their lives, with Clare, Oston and his wife Evon. They drank a sweet tea of spiced roots and as the night passed on, the world outside the hut became somber with its darkness.

"Would you honor me by spending the night in my home?" Oston proposed to Thomas as the night became late.

"Do you have the room for us?" Thomas asked.

Oston smiled. "At first glance this looks like a small home but we have rooms in the back of the house for people when they come. There are no inns for people to stay in out here in the grasslands so we have room for our guests."

Clare and Evon shook his and Lilya's hands before retiring to the back of the house and Clare made a point of specifically thanking Lilya for inviting her to the castle.

"Then we would be honored." Thomas put his arm around the man's shoulders.

҉

That night Lilya lay in a cool dark room all her own, snuggled up warm under many layers of cover. For long hours she lay awake, listening to the crickets outside. This is so different from the castle in Cush, she thought. And for the first night in a long time she felt relaxed and safe as she went to bed.

She trusted Thomas, she realized, and even trusted his guards too. Is this how life will be for now on? She could not know what was to come, and would not spend this relaxing night in pondering it. Lilya's breaths were deep as she closed her eyes and relaxed into sleep.

Outside in the marsh fields a little ways off Alexander's strong winged body rested in their grasses. Water rippled around his wings, he did not sleep as he listened, alert.

13

Humility and Pride

The day was warm and vibrant as Lilya walked behind Thomas and his guards down the gangplank with her maids. The clear Pishon River stretched out to her sides as far as she could see and before her the kingdom of Havilah displayed its beautiful city and landscape, sunlight shimmering off of the gems in Castle Ah's spires. Crowds of people thronged the streets with colorful streamers and beautiful flowers of all shapes and sizes.

"Princess Lilya!" the crowd sang in overlapping calls over and over again.

Thomas had sent three of his ships ahead the night before to tell the people they were coming and that their new queen would be with him.

She joined Thomas's side as they crossed the boardwalk and met the crowds. Pink and white rose petals were thrown in the air above them. "Wow," Lilya said to herself.

"They are good people," Thomas told her as they walked. "We all have our faults of course, but I admire them and the love they have in their hearts. I do what I can to help them when they are in need and they give so much to me in return. I try to be the best king that I can be for them."

As they walked in a lane that the crowds left open for them, Lilya took in the scents of delicious baked goods and fruits the vendors had brought into the streets to sell to the masses. I can't wait to go out on my own and discover Havilah for myself. I wonder what foods and customs they have here that we don't have back in Cush.

She was amazed at how close Castle Ah was to the Pishon River bank. She stared up at its reflective, gemmed spires as she walked toward the main doors.

A small girl burst through the crowd and tugged on Lilya's dress as she held a daisy in her other hand. Her young eyes looked up adorably. "For you, Pincess Wilya, I picked it wif my fwiends."

"You are so sweet," Lilya said as she kneeled and took the daisy from the little girl. "Thank you, and tell your friends I said to thank them, too." She smiled as she saw a boy even smaller than the youth in front of her holding tight to a man's leg close by. She turned back to the girl. "Can you do me a favor, little one?"

The child smiled, shook her head and blushed.

"I'll be walking through your city soon and getting to know your people. If you see me, please come and say hello."

"Alwight," the little girl said. "Bye!" And with that she ran off giggling into the crowd, grabbing the little boy's arm and dragging him by her side as she went.

Pine and Cypress opened the massive oak doors to Castle Ah's main keep as they approached. Lilya was struck by the beauty of their inner ruby floors. Daylight rippled across them and they shone majestically, catching the light and reflecting its beams along the room's walls. As she entered the crowd's calls behind her faded into the background.

"It's beautiful," she said. "I've never seen anything like it." She walked to and admired the well in the center of the room. Down in its births she watched water rippling from a spring.

"It is a bit gaudy," Thomas said as he followed her. "My ancestors, many years ago, had this castle built with their riches. My father gave much back to the people and I try to follow his path. Sometimes I wish I lived in a place that was a little more modest than this."

Lilya looked in his eyes and saw he was sincere. "Seeing how much your people adore you shows me that you have been good to them. I would love to walk in the streets and see Havilah up close. Would you escort me sometime soon?"

"It would be my pleasure," Thomas said. "I would love to introduce you to our world." She could see the affection he had for her in his eyes. "Would you like to see your quarters now and the quarters where your maids will live?"

That would be wonderful, Lilya thought. She was exhausted from everything that had been going on in the last few days. All she wanted to do was lie down on a bed and rest. "I'd like that," she said.

"Could you show the young lady to her rooms?" Thomas asked Juniper.

"Follow me, milady." The strong guard smiled and motioned for her to come with him. As he walked through a doorway leading toward her chambers his head barely missed the top of the frame.

As Lilya and her maids followed Juniper into an ivory walled hall, she turned back to look at the young king. "Thank you for all of your kindness, Thomas," she said.

Thomas bowed. "It is my pleasure. I will send Juniper to you when lunch is being prepared."

Excitement filled her as she weaved through the white halls with ruby floors, looking out the windows as she passed to the beautiful city beyond Ah.

҉

As Lilya left the keep, Thomas stood for another moment at the well, looking down at the deep waters. Were they changing from blue to black? He looked up into the room and then down again and the waters flowed a cool blue.

Suddenly a pain struck his legs and he crumbled to the floor, his arms barely saving his head from a bash with the stone of the well. "Ah..." he moaned. "Pine, help..." Thomas's arm stretched out to his guard as his legs stung with fire. "My legs feel like they're being ripped from my body."

Pine and Cypress both hurried to his side. "Could you take me to the throne?" he asked. The guards put their arms beneath Thomas's shoulders and hoisted him in the air. Soon he was on the soft cushion of his throne. His legs just seemed to burn more.

"Get the nursemaids!" Cypress yelled frantically to some of the men who had returned with them from the ship and who were looking startled at Thomas. Two of them hurried through an adjoining passageway.

A moment later a woman came from where the men had run. "Sire," the hunched over woman said, her deformed body lumbering his way. "Perhaps I could help."

"Dora..." Thomas half moaned in pain.

She made her way slowly to his side and he could see out of his cringing eyes that she had a leather bag clasped tight in one of her twisted, bony hands. A pained sweat dripped from his head. His thoughts drifted in and out of confusion.

"Remember the figs, sire," her crackled voice spoke to him. "I have spoken to Hebrews who say these could be the fruit of Eden." Her hands shook as she reached inside the leather hide, drawing from it one of the figs he had brought back from the unknown land. Her arm pulsed and filled with youthful life. "They have not aged one day."

Thomas moaned and held his head in his hands. "I do not want magic." Moments passed. "I want health."

"This is not magic, sire." Dora's twisted hand came to his. "This is religion."

"I..." A pain seared through his legs and up his side. "I... if what you say is true... these should be for the people." He braced his legs with his hands and held back tears.

"Surely your people would wish health for their king." She slid the fig from her youthful looking hand back into the hide sack and her hand shriveled and was once more deformed. "Besides," Pan Dora smiled a crooked grin, "I could just skin one fruit and give that skin for you to eat. Surely if the stories are true then even that small amount will quicken your healing."

It couldn't hurt to try, Thomas thought through the pain. Something was happening. His eyes were searing now. "Yes," he said. "Please... anything to relieve this pain."

Dora's hand slipped beneath her cloak and a second later came back with a carved bone knife in its clasp. Her other hand retrieved the fig from her leather pouch and her arm came alive with pulsing youth once more. With a caress she sliced the blade into the fruit's skin, shedding it from its meat, causing the fruit's dark red juice to ooze down her hand. Where it hit the floor the ruby stone turned black, sizzling with steam. "Eat and you will be healed."

The Pan curled the fig's fleshy skin and brought it to Thomas's lips and he could feel the fruit's life pulsing against them.

"Open your mouth and eat," she spoke, the blood of the fruit still dripping to the floor.

His body seared with pain as he opened his lips and accepted the fig skin from Dora's hand. He chewed it. It tore, and as he swallowed it down his mouth pulsed, bursting with energy. Within seconds the searing pain was gone and in its place was a feeling of euphoria. "That's amazing!" he said as he sat upright in his throne. "I am the most fantastic king in the world for finding this fruit for my people." His legs and arms felt stronger than they had ever felt before. "Surely I deserve to at least eat one whole fig before sharing them with our people."

Dora grinned a crooked smile. "Yes, sire. You deserve them all if you wish."

She handed him the rest of the bloody fig and his arm filled with vigor. He lifted the fruit to his mouth and bit through its chewy flesh, its seeds vibrating as he crunched them and they passed across his tongue. The fruit's luxurious sweet juices trickled down his throat. He consumed every last piece of the fig's flesh and when he was finished he found he was craving more.

҉

Lilya stood on the marble balcony outside of her royal chamber, the cool morning breeze kissing her face, as she watched the day's pastel pink sunrise greeting the horizon. She hadn't seen the young king since their arrival. She had only seen the maids who had brought her food, and she was beginning to wonder why. "Why hasn't he come?" she spoke to herself. She decided she would go looking for him if she didn't hear from him before mid-day.

As she stood in the morning air, sunlight caressing her skin and her gown, she thought she saw Alexander's shadow slice through the distant sun. Was it him? She held her hand above her eyes and squinted to see. Again the shadow dove across the brilliant orb.

I cannot come to you now, Alexander's deep voice resonated in her head and she shook with a quick startle.

"Alexander?" she asked the open world before her. He was gone from her vision now. "How are you speaking to me?"

I am sorry to startle you, Lilya heard his voice again. I cannot hear your thoughts but I can speak to you in your mind. I wanted to come to you and see how you've been doing but I don't want to startle the people of Havilah before Thomas has the chance to properly tell them about me.

"When can I see you?" she asked. A wind gusted through the balcony, rustling the leaves of trees beyond.

When you go for your walk with Thomas, walk beyond the main city's streets and listen for my voice, Alexander's deep voice spoke in her mind. I will meet you there.

His voice did not come back to her, and for long moments she remained on the balcony, taking in the sounds of birds and of the people in the city beginning to stir in the streets.

Then a gentle knock came on the door across her chamber's main room. She quickly went to it. "Who's there?"

"It's Juniper. The king was wondering if he might partake of a walk with you through the city's thoroughfares as you had requested."

She smiled. Had she become fond of him? She wondered. It was nice to see that he had not forgotten about her.

҉

The sun rose high in the sky as Lilya and Thomas, followed by Pine, Cypress and Juniper, walked down Havilah's main road, the stones beneath their feet shimmering in the sunlight.

What an amazing place, Lilya thought as she watched a man to her left take a long flaming sword and lower it slowly into his mouth from above. Other, smaller men juggled flaming batons and rings around him and nearby a young boy strummed on an intricately designed mandolin. "They are so fantastic," she said in awe.

"Here in Havilah, you will find we have the best of everything," Thomas said as he walked over to a fruit vendor and purchased a few apples from the boy tending the stand. "Here are a few extra coins for your pocket," he told the lad as glimmering golden coins fell from Thomas's hand and into the vendor's own. "Have one." He handed her a luscious red fruit as he returned, gave apples to the guards, and crunched into his own.

She took it and bit in, not realizing how truly hungry she was until she tasted its sweet goodness. "Mmmm. It's wonderful," she said before eating the rest.

As they walked through the city, Lilya marveled at the tall buildings laced in gems and the vendors merrily doing business in the streets, selling all kinds of things from wooden toys and shimmering jewelry to fresh fish, fishing nets, ripe fruit and vegetables. "Your people are so happy," she said to Thomas as she admired a man with a jolly belly laughing at a joke with a thin man peddling grapes close by.

"That is because they live in the most prosperous kingdom on earth." The king grinned at her. "Because of how great we are, they are able to be happy."

This comment took Lilya a little aback, and she walked with some distance between her and Thomas after he said it. He does not seem like the same boy that came to me in Cush. He speaks with a pompous air. She hoped that this Thomas and the way he was speaking would return to the one she knew, but she made a mental note to herself to not let down her guard. If he was capable of changing his personality so quickly then there was no telling what other ways he could surprise her.

They walked through the city, through an open field of swaying grass and onto a wooden bridge over a calmly flowing stream.

Here Thomas took a few balls of red gel candy that he had purchased in the city and held them in the air in his palm. He then pursed his lips and made buzzing and chirping noises.

There was a moment of silence. Then from the foliage of a bush on the edge of the stream three small, green, crimson-necked birds like Lilya had never seen before came and hovered before them in the air, their wings beating so fast that she could barely see them, a faint humming sound vibrating from their wings. They hovered up, down and eventually came close to Thomas's hand. As they hovered there Thomas smiled and spoke to them. "Come," he said in a calm voice. "It's alright. I won't harm you."

One bird flew forward, buzzed in, and tapped at one of the candies with its beak before flying around the young king's head and then perching on the hand's edge. It looked to Thomas. "Go ahead," he told it, and the bird quickly poked its long, thin beak into red gel sphere.

The candy deflated as Lilya watched and soon the humming bird had popped its beak out and into another in Thomas's palm. The other two birds buzzed in, quickly perching on the far edges of his hand and joining their friend. Lilya watched in wonder as they devoured the treats. "It's amazing that they'll perch on your hand like that," she said. "They have such trust in you."

Thomas looked to her as the birds continued their feast. "They come to me because I am the king," he said proudly. "That is what makes them know they are safe in my hands."

After he spoke the birds quickly left their treats and flew away into the foliage they had come from.

Lilya could feel herself filling with frustration. "You are so arrogant today." She tried to keep herself calm. "Where is the boy that asked me to come with him to Havilah, a place he said was made wonderful not by the way he ruled there but by the people themselves? Where is the boy who said he did not think himself a great king, but he said he did what he could do?"

Thomas came toward her, a hand outstretched toward her own. "I'm here. I'm the same man."

"Not today." Lilya backed away, a chilling gust of wind passing between them. "Something is different today. I'm going on, on my own."

"You can't," Thomas said. His procession toward her had stopped now. "You don't know your way around the land."

"Excuse me?" She shot him a look. "I am my own person and I will do what I want to do."

"I didn't mean that you shouldn't do what you want. I was just worrying about you because you don't know Havilah well yet."

He looked forlorn and worried. Lilya could see it in his eyes. She breathed a sigh. "I know. I'm sorry if I was harsh. I just need some time on my own to think and Alexander is watching out for me." She looked to the sky. "He will see that I come to no harm."

The boy looked to her longingly but in the end resigned to let her travel through the lands alone. "Just be careful," he said to her. "And if you do not return to the castle tonight I will send all of my men in search of you."

Lilya smiled to him. "Thank you for your concern, Thomas," she said.

҉

It was in the fields of flowing grain beyond the bridge, after Thomas and his guards had returned to the city's streets, that Lilya caught sight of Alexander, the muscles of his vibrant red wings rippling in the sunlight as he dove over an outcropping of trees in the far field.

Lilya, it is so good to see you again, he spoke through her mind, his voice deep and soothing. Quickly, he swept through the air to her side, grain bending to the wind from his wings as his claws clutched into the earth about their roots. "How have you been? How do you like Havilah?" He calmed his body and lay flat against the field's floor.

"Alexander," Lilya grinned, "it is so good to see you, too. Havilah is beautiful and the people here that I've seen are filled with such life and happiness." She walked to his side and placed a hand on his scaled, warm neck. She could feel his heartbeat rippling through him. "And Thomas has treated me well." There was a pause.

"I sense a 'but' in what you've said." Alexander reached a paw out and rolled it over for her to lie in and she sat and rested in his embrace. "What is troubling you?"

She looked up to the sun, streaming its light through the sky and making a group of birds overhead appear as shadows swimming through the air. "It is Thomas," she finally said. "He was such a sweet boy when I met him, innocent seeming in a way, with no sense of arrogance in him."

"And he's different now?" the dragon asked.

"He is not the same man. He still does the same things and is caring and giving to his people but something has changed that makes him seem completely different than before. He speaks as if he is the center of the world and everything he touches is blessed by the gods." She lay back and relaxed more in his palm, watching as a grasshopper clutched to a sprig of wheat close by. She could feel a sense of contemplation in her friend.

"There is only one God," Alexander said after a moment of silence. "I can't explain how I know this but it is a truth I know through my soul. But it is interesting that Thomas has changed so in only a few days' time. I wonder if it is something here that has done this to him."

"I haven't noticed anything." Lilya sighed. "Hopefully he was just having an awkward day and he'll be back to his normal self tomorrow. When I talked to him about it he seemed sorry for the way he was behaving."

Alexander's tail swayed gently in the wheat. "Hopefully that is true. No matter what happens remember that if you need me all you have to do is speak to me and I will come to your side."

"Thank you for your friendship," she told him. "I feel so safe with you."

"It is my pleasure, milady. And now I have something I'd like to show you. Would you come with me?"

"Where are we going?" Lilya asked as she lay flat on his hand, bracing tight to it in anticipation of their takeoff.

Alexander stood strongly on his free legs. "To a place of beauty I've discovered nearby." He thrust his massive wings and with a burst he was in the air, soaring above the fields and groves of trees into the high mountains nearby.

The cragged stone of the mountain face swept by below as Lilya looked on its rushing gray mass. Up, up, up they flew, and then from seemingly nowhere a vast crater in the mountain opened to her view and in its basin she saw a field of green. "What is it?" she asked as Alexander opened his wings to catch the wind and slowly glide down. Lilya's hair was flowing in the winds about her.

"It's called clover," Alexander said as he landed gently in the crater's center.

As Lilya stepped from the dragon's hand and kneeled in the clover she ran her hand gently through its tips. She picked one and stood. "It's beautiful," she said as she looked out on the clover-covered basin. "It's beautiful in its own way, not in vibrant colors but in the uniqueness of its shape, and what are the white dots speckling about us?"

"They look like the stars of the earth to me," Alexander said with a smile. "That is what I thought when I first saw them from above, but with you amongst them they are made even more beautiful."

"I am not that beautiful." Lilya blushed. "But thank you for the compliment. Are they part of the clover itself?"

"They are the clover's flowers. Their petals curl up like the shimmers of the stars in the sky."

For hours the dragon and the princess lay in the field of clover talking, lost in interest in one another. Lilya reached into a bag she had been carrying and ate bread and dried meats that were packed for her by one of her maids for whenever she was hungry. As they talked, the vibrant colors of the sunset streamed across the sky and led the way into the darkness of night and the true starlight above.

As crickets chirped in the field about them Lilya climbed into Alexander's paw and watched the clover's flowers beneath her glowing in the moonlight as they lifted off into the sky toward home.

14

Kindness and Envy

As months passed Thomas's humbleness returned to him and Lilya found she enjoyed his company more and more. She joined him as he spread grain and vegetables that were donated to him, to the poorer parts of Havilah and then also to Cush. After a storm had destroyed most of a town they took a troop of Thomas's knights and went to rebuild homes for villagers on the edge of Havilah. One of her favorite things they had begun to do was to hold concerts in a garden within Castle Ah's walls that were open for any of Thomas's subjects to attend.

On this day they had awoken early in the morning to help harvest grain in one of the fields close to the castle. The farmers who owned the land did not have enough manpower to gather all of their crops and the rainy season would be upon them soon.

Lilya kneeled, sickle in hand, in the field of golden yellow grain and pulled the sickle through the strong, thin grain stalks as they bent to her blade and fell to the ground. Behind her she could hear the sounds of Thomas, Clare, and Amari's blades cutting too. The sun beat on her shoulders and beneath her straw hat sweat dripped down her brow. She knew it would be a long day but soon there would be enough grain again to share with the poor and to replenish the family who owned this land's coffers.

It is a small thing to help with the harvest, she thought. As royalty we have so much so surely we can find time to help others with the things they need so that they can make a living. Again she sliced her sickle through the grain.

"Lilya, look up!" Clare called from behind her and she stood to see Alexander soaring toward them through the sky.

"Every time I see him he still takes my breath away," Thomas said as the dragon neared.

Alexander came to a hover above the grain before them, his wings beating gently and the grain swaying in the gusts of wind coming from them. "Can I help, milady?" he asked. "Perhaps I can cut the grain with the edges of my wings. I can harden my scales so that they make a sharp blade and then dive through the sky at the grain to cut it."

Thomas stepped to Lilya's side. "We would be honored to have your help, dragon," he said.

Alexander grinned. "Thank you, Thomas." His deep, pure eyes looked to Lilya. "Would you like to ride my back while I cut the grain?"

"I'd love to," she said and placed her sickle on the ground. "Can you watch my blade for me while I'm with Alexander?" she asked Clare.

"Gladly, princess," the beautiful red-haired girl said and moved the sickle next to a basket they had packed full of food for their mid-day meal.

Still in flight, Alexander extended his paw down to Lilya and she climbed into its embrace. He lifted her above his beating wings and soon she found herself on his back for the first time. His scales were warm from the heating of the sun as she lay flush against his backside, her hands holding tight to grooves on his shoulders. "I will fly carefully," he told her. "Do not fear."

As Alexander lifted slowly into the sky she could feel his muscles pulsing beneath her, thrusting his wings up and down.

"We will go to the far fields where the harvesters have not yet gone," he spoke. Soon they were gliding through the winds over the sweeping fields below, flying beyond the fields then turning toward them again. "Hold on," Alexander said and she gripped tight to his shoulders.

Her stomach lurched as they dipped downward. She saw the expanse between her and the earth open before them, and with a shot of wind they were soaring toward the land below. Her hat flew off into the sky leaving her hair to flip around in her face. With a quick swoop and glide they skimmed the ground, sweeping into the grain field as Alexander's sharp, stiff wings clipped the grain from the earth and sent it flying in the air around her, its golden stalks lit with sunlight.

They glided the length of the field before Alexander thrust his legs into the ground, beating his wings and taking to the sky once more. As he soared into the sky Lilya looked back at all the grain they had cut, lying in sheets where it had stood just moments before. "Wow," she exclaimed in astonishment at what they had done so quickly while the others were still below them slowly cutting stalk by stalk in the grain fields. "We'll have this done in time for the mid-day meal if we keep up this pace," she called in a raised voice over the gusts of wind careening past.

Within what seemed like a breath they had flown back across the field and soared toward the grain once more. "Hold on tight," Alexander spoke to her. With a heart-jumping swoop they dove within the golden stalks, slicing them and throwing them in the air.

Suddenly Alexander jerked and swooped up out of the field unexpectedly, almost throwing Lilya from his back as her fingers dug tight into his scales and her legs clutched to his form. "Alexander!" she screamed in frightened panic. She could feel his heart beating rapidly in his body beneath her. "Are you alright?"

Instantly his heart slowed and his flight became smooth again. "Yes," he said to her in a distant tone. "But look down there." They were high above the fields now and his large paw pointed with one clawed finger outstretched toward where Thomas, Amari and Clare were. Farmers were racing from all points in the grain toward someone who appeared to be crippled on the ground. "It's Thomas," he said as he began a swift glide down toward the commotion. "I heard him calling out in pain."

As Alexander came to a hover above the grain he held his paw beside where Lilya clutched on his back and she quickly made her way into it and was lowered to just above the ground. She leapt from it and with a plume of dust landed on the earth below. Thomas was just a little away and she pealed her feet into the earth, darting to his side.

"Thomas!" she called, her heart pounding as she came to him. "Thomas, what happened? What can I do?" She felt queasy as she noticed blood seeping from his eyes and nose.

"The... pain..." Thomas moaned and writhed before her. "Why..."

Amari kneeled beside the young king. "I was talking with Thomas and cutting grain and then he just collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony. I can't get him to say what's hurting or what happened."

"Dora..." Thomas moaned. "Dora..."

"The healer?" Amari looked to Thomas's eyes. "Where is she?"

Thomas grabbed at his own stomach, grappling with his flesh as if trying to remove something. "AHHHHHH!"

Clare looked to Lilya from the crowd of farmhands about them. "I think she's at the farm house."

"Then we've got to get him there. Help me, Amari." Without hesitation Lilya went to Thomas's head and hoisted his shoulders up. "We're going to get you to her, Thomas," she told him as Amari lifted his legs. "Make way!" she shouted to the farmers surrounding them and the group quickly opened up for them to come through.

"Watch out for rocks and ditches," she told Amari as they carried Thomas as quick as they could over the already cut field toward the farm house in the distance, her feet sticking in the ground as she went. "And watch not to slip on cut stalks of wheat!"

In her peripheral vision above she could see Alexander keeping their pace, his flowing shadow soaring on the field about them.

Thomas choked and spat blood into the air as his body bobbed up and down. "Faster!" Lilya called out. "Run!" What was wrong with him? He had seemed sick when she met him but since then he had been so healthy with no sign that he was ailed by anything at all. She ran sideways now, with Thomas's upper body in her arms, and all her muscles burnt with exhausting pain. Her hands went numb and she wanted badly to just drop him to the ground and relieve the feeling. I have to go on, she thought to herself.

Looking down at his face as she ran, she could see his head rolling, unconsciously bobbing on his neck. The ground whizzed by in a blur below.

They were about half way to the farmhouse now and their full-on run had begun to slow.

"I don't know..." Amari huffed and breathed hard. "...how much longer I can hold him. My arms are failing me."

"You have to! We have to get him to the healer!" Her legs continued to move even though her body was telling her to stop.

Then, as her speed was picking up again, Amari's foot slammed into a stone and he crashed to the ground, throwing the king's legs as he dropped.

Lilya struggled with Thomas's weight and felt as if she were being pulled like taffy as his body flew from her grasp and thumped to the ground, rolling as it landed. "Amari?" she called and as the boy slowly rose she raced to Thomas to lift him up again.

Amari held his own left arm with his right hand, moving the left hand's fingers slowly. "I can barely move my arm." He looked to her worriedly. "I can't feel it. What can we do?"

Lilya looked to Thomas's limp body, his head motionless and face down in the dirt. The day's heat radiated about them. "Can you help me hoist him on my back?" she asked.

"I can try, but will you be able to carry him all the way to the farm house?" Amari asked and came as quick as he could, helping her lift Thomas's limp body upright with the use of his one good arm.

"I will have to," she said and noticed Alexander's shadow on the ground getting smaller and smaller, as if he were coming down to them. "Can you put your shoulder beneath him and push him up on my back?" she asked.

Amari quickly got beneath the boy-king's propped up body and took Thomas's weight on his back while Lilya turned to grasp onto Thomas when Amari had lifted him against her.

Amari thrust Thomas up against her back and she reached her arms back to grasp onto Thomas's arms, stumbling as she did, but couldn't reach them. "Can you push him higher?" she asked. A gust of wind flowed about her and then she felt Thomas's body being pushed up her back to where she needed it so that she could lock her arms around his to carry his weight.

"I thought I'd lend a claw," she heard Alexander's voice behind her. "I'd carry him myself but I'd be afraid of injuring him more."

"Thanks," she groaned as she supported Thomas's full weight, her arms locking his torso tight to her. Placing one step, then another she began to move again slowly as her feet sank into the earth. There was still half of a field of cut grain to go across before she would reach her destination. After a few more steps she was able to gain momentum again, using Thomas's weight to propel her forward, and soon her walk was a belabored run.

Moments seemed like hours and her muscles inflamed but soon she was nearing the farmhouse and saw an old woman sitting at a table outside its doors. Lilya's muscles gave out as she neared the woman and saw Pine, Juniper and Cypress running toward her from a stable nearby. She rolled Thomas off her back and he thumped to the ground before she let herself also tumble onto the dusty soil.

She could see the old woman standing up out of the corner of her vision. "Thomas," the hag said in a scratchy, knowing voice. "You are in pain."

The boy moaned but did not move.

As Lilya lifted herself from the ground she got a better look at the woman. She had seen her in the halls of Castle Ah a few times but realized she knew nothing about her. Why would she be uninformed about a healer that Amari seemed so quick to recognize? Who was this woman?

"I can restore your health," the woman spoke and came to kneel beside the young king as she placed her crippled hand on his limp shoulder. "All it would take is one more fig..."

Instantly Thomas's body came to life and he screamed in anguish, curling in the fetal position. After a few moments he felt a small surge of strength and went to stand, then grabbed his side and slumped back to the ground. "Where... are they?" His expression resembled that of a begging child.

"I have them here, my king." Dora went back to the desk and lifted an oak box from its top. "Here," she said and opened the container before him. "Pick one and I will prepare it for you."

"What manner of healing is this?" Lilya asked and went quickly to their side. "This is some kind of sorcery. Thomas, don't eat these. We will find a real way of healing you."

Thomas looked to her and she cringed as once more she saw blood streaming from his eyes' bloodshot stare.

"Thomas..." she pleaded with him, but his pained gaze caused her words to trail off.

"They... are safe," he spoke to her in a whispered rasp. "I discovered them myself," he choked for a moment, lowered his head and then raised it again to look at her, "...in woods beyond our lands."

"No matter where they came from, there is nothing natural about using figs as a miracle cure." Lilya pointed toward the hunched-over old woman. "And she is up to something. I can see it in her eyes." Suddenly Lilya wished that she had not brought Thomas here and had instead brought him to a common healer in the town outside the castle.

"She's right, sire," Cypress said and began to approach.

Lilya looked to the hag and saw a black fire burst behind her eyes. "Silence!" the Pan screamed in a cackle.

With her outburst all three guards were headed to apprehend her now.

"No..." Thomas's pitiful order came. "She is out of place... but she will heal me. Leave her be." With that Thomas's weak arm reached toward the dark oaken box and he withdrew the smallest fig of the six it held, placing it in Dora's deformed hand.

"Thank you, sire," she said. "I only wish to serve you." She reached within her garments and drew out her carved bone knife, taking it to the fig and peeling off its skin with her blade. The red juice of the fruit dripped to the ground and sizzled in the soil as she rolled the skin between her bony fingers and slipped it through his lips like a mother feeding her child.

In horror, Lilya thought she saw the remaining fruit in Dora's hand pulsing like a bloody, veiny heart. Surely I am seeing things. Surely this is all a dream. But it was not a dream. She knew that in her heart. Something must be done, she thought and tried to approach Thomas but something, some spell perhaps, was holding her in her place. Her words would not leave her lips either. Let him be! The words were a whispered silence in her thoughts.

Within a few breaths' time Dora had brought the bloody fig to Thomas's mouth and forced the whole thing past his lips. He chewed it, letting its juices run down his mouth. He seemed to be savoring its pulse.

And with a large gulp it was over. The blood coming from his eyes vanished. His eyes returned to their normal color and he stood up straight, as if nothing had ever been wrong. "See, I am healed," he said and smiled at his guards and Lilya.

"It is not natural," Lilya told him. "And I will show you that."

Dora cackled and walked away from them. "You will show him nothing," she said in a low voice. He is already mine.

The last words came to Lilya through her mind, the same way that Alexander spoke to her sometimes, but she knew this hag was something else entirely. And with her last words the old woman disappeared around the farmhouse walls.

"If you wish to talk to me, I am going back to the castle for some relaxation and I'd love to have your company as I walk back," Thomas told her.

Lilya needed to speak with Thomas. But more than that, she knew she needed time to think. Hopefully Alexander could make some sense of what just happened. She turned around to see her dragon friend hovering behind her with a perplexed look in his features. "I am going with Alexander to finish reaping the crop." She turned back to Thomas and saw a sad expression on his face. "But we should talk tonight when I return," she added. "Please do not eat any more figs, and be wary of that healer of yours. I don't trust her."

Thomas walked, slumped shoulders, away from them all, towards the woods between the farm and Castle Ah. "I will wait for you," he said, not looking at her. "And I feel amazing now so I will have no need of my Pan."

She watched him as he walked to the wood, with Juniper quickly following after him.

"And there is something I don't understand..." Thomas stopped and turned around. "Why do you spend all of your time with that beast?"

"Thomas, he's my friend, and you knew that when I came here." She would have said more but he turned from her, pushing a small sapling out of his way and disappearing within the foliage of the woods.

҉

Thomas's thoughts raced as he walked through the woods. How dare she question Dora's skills and my discovery? He stomped on a small seedling that was sprouting through the ground. How dare she spend all of her time with that animal? "It's not Dora that can't be trusted, it's that be-damned dragon," he muttered to himself. "How dare that thing try and steal my girl?"

He was mad. No. He was furious. Lilya should be here with him right now. Wasn't it him that had just been curled over in pain? Why was she so quick to desert him for another? "I saved her from her father," he said. "She owes me her company, whether she thinks so or not."

Beautiful emerald green light shimmered through the leaves of the tree boughs above and came to rest on the ground about him but Thomas was blind to the beauty. His mind was fixed on the injustice he thought he had been served and nothing else.

"Thomas!" Juniper said as he caught up with his king, placing one massive hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Leave me be," Thomas said, shrugging the hand off and moving faster through the trees.

Juniper stopped and stared ahead. "She didn't mean to insult you, sire," he said and left a pause so that Thomas could think about his words. "She cares for you but she is concerned just like the rest of us are. You need to understand where she is coming from."

Thomas turned toward Juniper and threw his hands up in the air. "If she cares then she should not be with him. That's just the truth of it. I was in pain and I need her here by my side now. She is so insulting sometimes." He turned and continued his trek through the woods toward the rising Castle Ah in the distance. "And stop following me! I need to have her by my side or I need to be alone to think."

His hulking guard stopped, standing silent and still where he was. What was becoming of his king? Would the boy ever be the way he once was?

Thomas stomped through the woods in a jealous, envious rage all the way back to the keep, and then all the way back to his quarters from there. He spoke to no-one and thought over and over again about how mad he was with Lilya that she would spend time with a monster instead of the king.

When she would come calling later he would ignore the rap on his door, not because he did not want to see her, but because of the bitter envy that burned within his soul and the fear he had that he would take out anger on her because of it.

҉

High in the sky after they had finished reaping the grain crop for the farm owners Alexander and Lilya talked about what had happened with Thomas. They had been talking about it ever since Lilya had taken to the air once more with her friend.

Clouds skimmed along Lilya's face in a misty fog as sunlight swept in sheens through the vapor.

She could feel Alexander's deep voice rumble in his body beneath her before his words came through his lips. "The thing that worries me the most," he said, "is the fact that I was unable to see her. I couldn't hear the healer or smell her either and when Thomas ate the fig a part of him seemed to become opaque in my mind."

"What could it mean?" Lilya shivered. "Could she have been wearing some kind of magical cloak so that you would not sense her?"

"There is no such thing as magic." Alexander's voice held strength to its tone. "There is only one thing that could make something like her invisibility to me true, and I would love for that fact to be wrong."

"No such thing as magic?" Lilya asked and held back a small laugh. "I've heard that about dragons before and yet here I am riding on your back. But if it was not magic, then what could it have been?"

Alexander swooped up through the clouds, toward the sun and then glided forward slowly in its radiant light. "Do you remember when I told you that there is only one God?"

"Yes," she answered. "But I don't see what that could have to do with this."

"Well, that one God has a rival, a servant who fell from his good graces when the servant challenged the one God for his throne." Alexander paused. "The only creature that I know of who could block my sight is that fallen servant. I'm not saying that is who the healer is, only that I suspect she is in league with him."

"What can we do?" Lilya asked.

Alexander moved his head around so that she could look into his deep, worried eyes. "We do whatever we can do to try and save Thomas's soul from this presence."

15

Temperance and Gluttony

A week had passed since they had helped cut the grain crop for the local farm, and since then Lilya had seen little of the healer, Dora. She had only seen glimpses of her out of the corner of her eyes as the old woman stalked the castle's halls, but those glimpses were enough to keep her distrustful. She felt the hag at her back, watching her, even when she knew she wasn't there.

Thomas had not changed with time. He was so jealous of Alexander that he would question her constantly about her friendship with the dragon and would mope around whenever she was going to see him. The king had become depressed in his envy and Lilya found it hard to get him out of his emotions in order to convince him to banish Dora from his realm.

This morning, she had been invited along with her maids to breakfast with him and his guards in the keep. As she walked through the hallways toward the keep, with her maids close behind her, Lilya watched the ruby floor beneath her flowing with shimmering light, reflecting from the windows in the outer walls.

She walked softly in slippers on its surface. Why did the original builders of Ah choose a ruby floor? she wondered. How egotistical do you have to be to use a gem as your floor when men and women, at the time that this place was built, in other lands were starving and would have loved those jewels so that they could purchase food for their families?

As they walked behind her the three maids she had brought with her from Cush were giggling and gushing over a knight that had recently come into Thomas's service.

They are so immature, Lilya thought as Clare came up and joined her side.

"Princess," the beautiful girl said. "Amari came to me yesterday and told me of a family that lives along the Pishon's banks. They are a poor family and the fruits and vegetables that they were farming were destroyed by a flood from the river's banks earlier this season. Amari says that their youngest son has also fallen ill."

Lilya smiled. She could always count on Clare for a companion with substance. When she had first come to Havilah she had definitely not expected one of Thomas's other possible choices for his bride to become her closest human friend and confidante.

They were rounding the hall opening into the main room now. "It seems like an answer to their problem is on your mind," Lilya said.

"Yes," Clare replied. "Amari and I were wondering if we could take some of the castle's food stores to these people, some healing herbs and possibly some gold after breakfast this morning."

Lilya turned to her and smiled as they entered the main room with its vast ruby floor. "I'm sure that I can convince Thomas to give you those things and possibly a contingent of knights to help deliver them. If you don't mind I think I'll come along too."

"We would be honored to have your company, princess," the girl said and fell back in line behind Lilya.

As Lilya looked around her she was shocked. Before her stretched a dining table covered in lavish foods, some things that she hardly would have ever considered eating for breakfast. There was roast hen, pork, deer, mounds of berries and apples, pots of soup with gaudy golden ladles rising from their insides, trays of sweet candies and multiple loaves of bread. There was enough food to feed all of the people who were under the castle's employ, but only seven chairs surrounded the table.

"Welcome to the feast! Please take a seat!" Thomas spoke cheerily as he looked at them over a half eaten partridge carcass that he held in his hands.

Lilya walked slowly to the opposite side of the table from Thomas, pulled out a chair and sat. Crystal plates, mugs and silverware shimmered before her. What has gotten into him now? she pondered. The head of a boar whose mouth was stuffed with an apple eyed her on the tabletop. A small part of her wondered if Dora had positioned it that way.

The maids took their seats at the table and Amari shortly joined them.

"Isn't this a little much for breakfast?" Lilya asked Thomas over the mounds of food. "I would have been pleased with toast, jam and a side of eggs."

Tessera, one of Lilya's maids, let out a giggle. "I love it." She turned to Thomas. "We are royalty and we should feast at every meal."

"So we shall from now on," Thomas said as he looked at Lilya's eyes only. "You deserve that, princess. I want to give you the entire world. The least that I can do is to make sure that you never lack for what you desire to eat."

"You are hardly royalty, Tessera." Lilya rolled her eyes at her flighty maid. "All people in our kingdom should share what we have equally. We shouldn't feast within these walls if every person in this kingdom or even in the world does not feast this morning." Suddenly she noticed Dora come quickly toward Thomas from a hidden corridor. As she reached him he handed her a small bowl.

"Do not fear, Lilya, my people are well fed," Thomas said and as Dora left them she stumbled, dropping the bowl to the floor and it shattered with a sharp clash of noise, sending a sheen of red juice flying through the air.

He has eaten a fig before our arrival this morning. Lilya shuddered. He knows I do not approve and did not want me to know. She noticed Dora looking to her with eyes that seemed like a mischievous cat's before the healer motioned for a young boy with a broom to come over and clean the mess.

Lilya turned back to Thomas. There was nothing she could do about Dora right now. "You may think that your people are all well-nourished but I have learned of at least one family that lives not far from here who would greatly appreciate this food. Instead of feasting like this you should look for people who desperately need this food and give it to them."

Just then the keep's main doors began to open and Lilya turned to see who would come through them.

"Ah, the entertainment has arrived," Thomas said from across the table and smiled, leaning back in his chair.

Soon the entrance was open wide and dozens of colorful costumed performers flooded into the room. Some immediately began twirling flaming batons, swallowing swords or juggling large gems. Others charmed snakes and did magic tricks. Belly dancers spread sporadically throughout the hall and eight large groups of musicians set up their instruments in the four corners and along the four walls in preparation of a mass production.

As the musicians began to play Lilya prepared a plate with some eggs and toast and ate them quickly. What has gotten into Thomas? she thought but said nothing. She knew if she showed anger to him he would not change his manner. He had been so different lately, but it was in odd ways. He would do different strange things but each would be totally unlike the last.

"I have an idea." Lilya turned to Clare after finishing her last piece on toast. "Along with the stores of food we should bring some of this fresh meal for the family you were telling me of earlier. That would give them something to nourish their bodies now and also something for later."

Down at the other end of the table Thomas was chewing on pork while shoveling heaps of mashed potatoes into his mouth. He looked transfixed on his food. The performers and musicians were a jumbled mess throughout the hall.

"Will Thomas grant us the food?" Clare asked, wiping her mouth with a cloth napkin. "He'll need to keep a lot of it here if he plans to eat like this every day."

Amari piped in then from Lilya's other side. "Don't worry. If he doesn't give us the food then we'll find it somewhere else. I'll purchase it if I have to, to help them out."

Lilya saw Clare blushing a little as Amari spoke to her. Was her maid falling in love? She thought it beautiful to see her maid looking at the boy like she was now. She also knew that she, herself, would never feel the same way for any boy or man.

"Thomas!" she raised her voice over the musicians in an attempt to take his attention away from the mound of food before him. "I was just speaking with Amari and Clare about that family I told you of. We were wondering if it would be alright if we took a good sum of this food and some of the castle's stores to them and other poor villagers along with a basket of jewels to give them some wealth so that they can purchase other things they need."

The boy-king looked up with a blank stare, then took a hefty bite out of a chicken leg and began to speak. "Why?" he spoke through his chewed food. "I tell you my people are healthy and well taken care of."

Lilya stood now and walked away from her chair, causing the entertainers to look at her as she went. "Look at all of this!" she exclaimed, holding her hands out toward the feast. "There is no reason why we need all of this food to eat. You are being selfish."

"I am the king. I deserve to have whatever pleases me," he replied.

"And I am the girl that you wish to marry, or at least you did. I would think that if you are still trying to court me then maybe you would listen to my requests. And the fact that you are the King of Havilah does not mean that your wants are any more important than the needs of your subjects."

This silenced him. "Fine," he said. "You may take half of the food on my table once you three are done eating and you may take a cart of the castle's provisions and as for gems, there is a pile of ruby shards left over from renovations that were done on the castle's floors. You may take those." Thomas turned to Pine and asked him to retrieve the rubies before looking to Lilya once more. "But this will not happen daily, princess," he said. "We are the richest kingdom in the world, but that does not mean we can afford to give it all away just because someone complains about not having enough. These things you ask for are mine. And I want more, not less." He took another hefty mouthful out of the greasy chicken leg and turned to watch a fire juggler beside him.

Lilya walked back to Amari and Clare. "He sickens me," she said as they looked to her. "I could never be his queen. I don't think that I can stay in his presence any longer this morning."

Lilya, Amari and Clare left the table quickly, asking Thomas's guards if they would gather whatever food from the table they would be allowed to take and meet them in the stables where they would load the gifts into a cart for their journey.

Thomas would stay in his keep all morning long, gorging himself on everything in front of him and then passing out on his plate from the sheer girth of all he had eaten, mashed potatoes smashed into his forehead. The jugglers juggled, the dancers danced and the minstrels and musicians played lively tunes until the evening came and Thomas's unconscious self would be carried from the keep to his chamber. His maids gently lifted his sheets over him as he lay comatose in bed.

҉

The sun shone high above Havilah as Lilya left Castle Ah's stable yard, guiding an old oak cart filled with food and rubies. Clare sat with her on a warm, rickety bench at the wagon's head as two black horses pulled them along. Amari and a castle medic named Barl rode steeds behind the cart.

They rode slowly through the city streets, waving at venders and shoppers as they passed and at one point Lilya stopped the cart and went into one of the trays from the morning meal to get chicken and biscuits to give to a poor boy that she saw hunched over in an alleyway. She also slipped a few rubies into his bag of possessions for him to find when he went through it later. She kissed him on his forehead before going on her way. "If you ever are hungry," she had told him, "come to the castle doors, ask for me, and I will see that you are fed."

They traveled along the bank of the river on a dirt road for hours before coming to the small structure that served as the home of the people they were bringing food to. As the company rode, the heat of the rising sun made them sweat. They swatted gnats and other bugs from their faces and bodies.

Midday had arrived and Lilya held her hand over her eyes, peering through streaming sunlight to see the small house. Its boards bent with weathered age and the roof turned in at one place to form a hole.

A man in worn clothes stumbled slowly from the house and an anorexically thin girl burst from the house's crooked door toward the company. "Hello," the weathered-looking man said. "What can I do for you?"

Lilya stopped the cart, gave Clare the horses' reins and stepped out onto muddy earth below. The river rushed and hissed next to the road close by. "We are here to help you." She held out her hand to shake the man's as he met her. "I am Lilya and this is Clare, Amari and Barl."

"You are here to help us?" he asked, baffled. "Pardon me. Where are my manners? I am Ban Var and this," he reached down and held his little girl's hand, "is my daughter Mae. Why is it that you have come?"

"King Thomas heard that you lost your crop in the floods and that your son is ill so we have brought both fresh and storable food for you. And Barl has come along as our medic to take a look at your son."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Ban fell to his knees and tears began to flow down his face. "I didn't know what to do. It has been so hard. It has been so hard to find food for my family since the waters rose."

"Papa?" Mae wrapped her arms around her frail father. Then her sunken eyes turned to Lilya.

Lilya helped Ban to rise. "I'll be right back," she said and retrieved a loaf of bread from the back of the cart. When she returned she broke it and gave a piece to Mae and the rest of the loaf to him. "Go back to your home and share this with your family. I will send Barl in soon to look at your son and we will set a feast for you, to replenish your bodies and spirits."

"I cannot thank you enough," Ban Var said and limped slowly back to his hut with his hand on Mae's shoulder as he went.

Once he had gone inside Lilya and the others unloaded their goods into a broken down shack behind the home, tied their horses to trees and took the sides off of the cart so that they could turn it into a table.

Barl then went inside with a leather satchel of medical tools to look at the boy and the three others set to work collecting fallen branches to build a fire with, so that they could re-heat the morning's meal.

An hour later they stood around the bed of their cart, which now vaguely resembled a table, and looked upon the food from this morning's feast they had prepared for Ban Var's family. There would be enough for them all to eat a decent meal, and Lilya hoped that this food and the stores they had brought with them would heal Ban's son and help his family back on their feet.

"I will let them know that the food is ready," Lilya said and walked across the muddy earth to the family's shack. As she reached it Barl moved aside a tattered cloth door and came to greet her. "How is the boy?" she asked.

Barl wiped sweat from his forehead. "I have done all that I can. He is fevered and has a wound on his leg that is infected, but I have cleansed and wrapped the wound. I'll leave herbs to help him heal and hopefully the food we've brought will help him."

"We do what we can." Lilya placed her hand on his shoulder. "Is the boy well enough to eat?"

"He will have to be. He needs nourishment." Barl looked back to the shack and then up to the sky, the sunlight radiating down on him. "If I can move him then he should eat out here, with us. The sunlight would do him good."

"Then tell them the meal we've prepared is ready. And Barl..."

Barl's weary eyes looked to her. "What, princess?"

"Thank you for coming with us."

"I do what I can, milady," Barl spoke and walked back into the hut.

Minutes later the frail Ban Var, Mae and Ban's wife Fiol came through the cloth door. Tears streamed down Fiol's face.

"Thank you so much for what you are doing for my family," Ban Var said. "You are truly blessings sent to our lives."

"Sit." Lilya pulled out oak stools they had brought with them from the castle. There weren't enough for the whole group to sit but Lilya and the others could stand. "You don't need to thank us. Someone should have been here before now to help you."

"We appreciate all that you have done for us," Ban said before helping his son to sit and then taking his seat beside the ill boy. He led them in saying thanks to the one God whom he said they worshiped.

They ate together, talking and sharing stories of their lives, and Lilya promised she would be back to check up on them and bring more food and healing herbs. As they were loading their cart back up to leave Lilya saw Amari smiling to Clare and Clare smiling back. Lilya's heart lifted. They had helped these people. They had left the red ruby shards in boxes for Ban Var to sell for money for his family and they had also left stores of food from the castle's keep.

As Lilya stepped up into their cart it creaked and she looked back at the family's hut and the sun setting on the horizon. Lightning bugs were lifting from the grasses by the river and speckling the world with their tiny lights. The air was dense with moisture. This was no place, she knew, to raise a family. Disease would easily find this family again and again here.

We have to do more, Lilya thought and stepped back out of the cart onto the moist earth. She went to Ban Var, who was waiting to wave goodbye to them. "I want you to come with us," she said.

"Princess?" Barl called from the cart and Ban Var instantly dropped to his knees.

"I didn't know that you were the princess," Ban said. "You honor us so greatly. How could I possibly accept?"

"Please rise," Lilya said, and as he did so she kneeled before him, feeling the moisture in the ground seeping through her garments. "Do you see how silly this is," she asked, "that one person should kneel before another?" She stood once more. "I know that your whole family cannot come with us now, because of your son's health, but we have room in Castle Ah for you. I want you to come there at least until we can find a better place for you to live."

"I am honored," Ban said. "My daughter and wife will go with you tonight and I will come with my son later, when he is good to travel."

Lilya looked in his weary eyes. "I will stay with you tonight also, so that you can rest. I will look after your son."

"Are you sure, Lilya?" Clare called from the cart. "Would you like me to stay with you so that you won't be alone?"

"I would love to have you by my side."

"Wait," Amari said and took Clare's hand, kissing it gently. "I will miss you until your return."

Clare blushed and stepped from the cart.

Soon Fiol and Mae gathered a few of their belongings and some of the ruby shards and settled in the cart.

Lilya stood with Clare, waving in the setting sunlight at the small party as they departed down the dirt road along the riverbank.

҉

That night Lilya sat on the floor of the family's hut, trembling in the cold, as the light of a single candle lit the room and the sickly boy's face as he slept in the only bed.

Clare looked up to her, lifting her head from a feed bag on the ground. "You did the right thing by coming here."

"We have so much," the princess said. "We should be doing so much more."

16

Chastity and Lust

Lilya walked slowly through the halls of Castle Ah, with the darkness of night pulsing around her and the faint light of sconces illuminating the castle walls and ruby floor. Something was off about this night. She could feel it in the air. Her arms pricked with goose bumps as a cold shiver went down her spine.

She walked quicker through the dimly lit space, peering through the darkness before her, expecting to find something but not knowing what. A rat scampered across her path, startling her.

A noise came from the hall across from her, a slow breathing sound. Soft footfalls followed.

Thomas burst from the darkness, pinning her against the cold wall. His eyes were crazed and bloodshot and his breath smelled of fig. His hands groped down her sides.

"What are you doing?" She elbowed him in the chest and then pushed him away.

"Please share my bed," he said almost desperately, his breath rushed.

He came for her again, and with a crack she punched him in the jaw, sending him tumbling to the ruby floor and sending his crown twirling on the floor's eerie reflection. "Do not touch me again!" she spoke sternly and walked away from him toward her quarters, her heart racing.

"Lilya!" Thomas called as he slowly rose. "Be with me!"

His stumbling footsteps echoed through the hall behind her as he ran for her now.

Lilya's heart pounded. She ran as fast as her feet would carry her. "Help!" she screamed. The torch lights marking the dark hall blurred as she ran past. The light danced and jumped across the stone. Thomas was nearing her. She could hear him getting close. "Help!"

A door creaked open as she passed, a hulking man stepping through it into the hall. "Thomas?" she heard Cypress questioning. "What are you..." Cypress reached out and stopped the boy, knocking the breath from Thomas's lungs. "Come with me," Cypress said and led Thomas into his rooms. The king was mumbling now.

Lilya didn't look back, didn't slow down. The torch flames licked the darkness. She was finally at her door and opened it quickly, closing it and locking three locks down the door's side.

Lilya, Alexander's voice spoke to her through her thoughts, come to your balcony. I am here.

She ran through her quarters and out on the balcony. Alexander rose from beneath the balcony and into her view, his crimson scales shimmering in the moonlight. "Are you alright?" he asked in his deep, caring voice.

"I need to go somewhere," Lilya said nervously. "I can't stay here tonight. I don't know what is happening to Thomas. I can't stay here tonight." Cool winds whipped around her but she couldn't feel them through her fear of what had just happened.

"Then climb into my paw," Alexander said and opened his palm for her to step into. "Stay in my cave tonight. I will light a flame to keep you warm."

She climbed onto the balcony's ledge and into his paw, lying down against his hand's embrace and holding tight to its form. "Thank you," she said. "Sometimes I feel like you are the only one I can fully trust. I need time to think. Thomas is changing, and I don't know if I'll be able to stay here any longer."

Alexander's lungs breathed a full breath and his wings beat steadily as he lifted them above Castle Ah. "I will be by your side wherever you go," he said. "Always know that you have a steadfast friend in me."

They flew through the moonlit night, barely visible to the villagers milling and reveling below. Lilya watched their torch lights marking the earth like stars. The stars in the sky watch over us, she thought. And what are these stars of flame doing?

Soon the torches were out of view and Alexander was swooping up the side of one of Havilah's great mountains. He held Lilya safe, next to his chest. The world was dark but she was warm in his embrace. With a dive he flew back off of the mountain's face and plunged into the mouth of a cavern below. Alexander slowed, landing gently on the cavern floor.

Lilya waited until she was sure his paw was down and then felt with her hand on the cold stone below his embrace. It was sturdy and smooth and she stepped out into the darkness. Something soft rubbed against her and she jumped with a start.

"Wrap yourself in this," Alexander told her. "It's a blanket I was given by a sheep herder for driving wolves away from his flock."

"Thank you," Lilya said, wrapping the cloth over her form and sitting on the cool floor. She could feel the air around her warming as Alexander moved something with his jaws. A gusting sound blew from his mouth as flames leapt from it and ignited a pile of logs, causing the wood to crackle and pop.

She looked into his eyes as he turned to her. "The fire will give you light to see," he said, "and my body naturally puts off heat, so you will not go without warmth. Can I do anything else to make this night comfortable?"

"No, this should be good," she said. "Thank you so much for all you do."

"Tomorrow we can talk," the dragon said as he closed his eyes. "Have sweet dreams, princess."

It's odd that I feel as relaxed as I do when I'm with Alexander, Lilya thought. What would I have done tonight if he hadn't come to me? How would I have found peace?

She thought of Thomas's advances and shivered. Something is wrong with him. Something is changing him. I wish that I could stay to help him fight whatever has him in its grasp, but I'm not sure that I can stand being in his presence any longer.

Light leaped from the fire to the cavern walls and shadows danced across Alexander's form.

In the distance, a wolf howled.

Lilya closed her eyes and let the night take her, comforted by having Alexander near.

҉

Lilya opened her eyes to sunlight shimmering through the cavern's entrance a distance before her. She lifted herself from the cool stone floor, wrapped the cloth over her shoulders and walked toward the light, where Alexander lay watching the sunrise.

"Good morning," he spoke as she approached. "Did you sleep well?"

"I have never slept better," she said as she reached the edge of the cavern's mouth.

Alexander looked to her and smiled. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"I'm not sure that I would like what you eat," Lilya said, not meaning any offense. She placed her hand on his warm crimson arm.

Alexander let out a low laugh. "You might be surprised and like what I eat, but I had something else in mind, maybe food from the marketplace to enjoy on a relaxing picnic out on Havilah's plains."

"Now that sounds delicious," she said and climbed into Alexander's crimson palm before he lifted them into the air.

In the market Lilya picked up eggs, fruit, a fresh loaf of bread, strawberry jam and dried meats for later in the day before meeting Alexander beyond the city's outskirts and soaring into the sky once more.

They had their picnic on grassy plains at the foot of Havilah's greatest mountain. Lilya stretched out a sheet she had purchased in the marketplace on a flat stone standing up from the grasses about them, and then broke a few chunks of bread from their loaf. The rich smell of fresh bread wafted into her senses.

"Place the eggs on the end of the stone," Alexander said and Lilya set them there, taking a step back. The dragon's feet fell heavily on the ground as he came close to her and the eggs. He opened his mouth just the slightest bit and a warm, concentrated steam flowed from his scaly lips across the shell spheres.

Their light brown hue grew slightly darker and Lilya could feel the edges of the steam curling about her. As Alexander closed his mouth she came to him. "What did you do?" She looked down at the eggs.

"I cooked them." Alexander grinned. "Let them cool, and when you peel off their shells you'll see that the insides are like a boiled egg."

"What will you eat?" she asked, somewhat afraid that he would drag one of the wolves he had spoken of earlier back and devour it in front of her.

Alexander let out a low laugh. "I don't actually eat much but my favorite thing is fruit, so a few of the melons you brought from the market will be perfect for me."

"Melons?" she questioned.

"I said that you might actually like what I eat. Could you toss one to me?" he asked, opening his mouth wide.

Lilya took a cantaloupe and launched it through the air, into his mouth, and with a quick gulp from Alexander it was gone. The eggs were delicious and warm. The sweet crispness of the cantaloupe went with them perfectly. She spread some of the strawberry jam on the fresh bread to finish off her meal.

When she had finished, Lilya lay back, just watching the clouds move in the sky, deep in thought about what to do about Thomas. She didn't want to stay near him any longer, but couldn't stand the thought of leaving the people of Havilah, knowing that Thomas was changing and not knowing what would come next.

"You are thinking about him, about what he has become." Alexander broke her train of thought.

"Yes," she said. "But more than that, I am worried for Havilah's people. I don't know what to do."

Alexander was silent for a moment. "Take some time today, relax, and let the answer come to you. You are safe here with me. I've even got something close by that you might enjoy."

Lilya looked to him inquisitively and the dragon pointed a claw over to a hidden spot, in the base of the rock she was lying on. She leapt from the rock down to the earth below and jogged to the spot he had pointed to. There, hidden by foliage growing around it, were vibrant colors, blue, red and orange. She moved the grass and weeds aside to find containers of paint. Two horse hair brushes leaned beside the paints against the rock.

"You remembered," she said, thinking of how she had told him that she loved to paint.

"The things you like are important to me," he said.

Lilya thought it was amazing that when she looked at him he didn't look like a beast. His features moved like those of a person, but in a much more caring way. "Can I paint you?" she asked.

He smiled. "How would you like me, princess?"

"Just lay in the grasses however is comfortable for you."

With a swift thrust of his wings Alexander lifted into the air, made a wide loop in the sky and came back to land close to their rock plateau, his wings rested handsomely in the grasses about him. His deep eyes looked to Lilya's own.

She used the flat space on the stone as her canvas, sometimes making wide strokes with her brushes for effect and sometimes spending an hour on the smallest of details. She studied him, as the sun shone and radiated against his crimson form.

He is the perfect man, she found herself thinking. He's kind, loving, interesting, honest, appreciates the little things and remembers the things that are important to me. There was something else that was on her mind. And he is a dragon, so there is no way that he could ever try and lie with me. That's the thing, she thought. He's a dragon. If he was a man and was all those things I could love him. But would I?

Lilya looked into Alexander's emerald eyes, eyes of knowing that she trusted. How do you capture that with paint? You can't. Why can't Thomas be like him? There was the answer to her question of if she should stay in Havilah. Thomas would never be like Alexander. She needed to get away from him.

She worked throughout the day, stopping to eat the leftovers from breakfast, painting Alexander's form on the stone plateau. As the sun began to set she called Alexander to her side. "What do you think?" she asked.

"It's amazing," he said. "Is that what I look like?"

"Haven't you seen yourself before?"

"Only in the reflective surfaces of lakes and rivers as I fly above," he said as he admired the painting. "You make such beautiful art. I love how you captured the sun in the sky behind me and the beautiful flow of the grass."

"It's you that makes this painting special," she told him as she admired his painted form. "And it's not just the color of your scales that I'm talking about, it's the expression in your face and your eyes. You shine through."

"Whatever the reason, and I think you compliment me more than I am due, your painting is an amazing work. You have such talent." Alexander looked deep in thought as Lilya lifted her last piece of bread and spread strawberry jam on it. "Did painting help you come to a decision?"

Lilya took a bite, savoring the richness of the strawberry jam on her tongue. "I'll stay in my quarters in Castle Ah tonight, and tomorrow I'll tell Thomas that I'm leaving. Whatever is wrong with him, he won't change, and I'm not helping anyone by staying. I can do more good from the safety of some other place. I'd leave now without returning but I want to invite Clare and Amari along with us."

"Be careful," Alexander warned as the sun descended behind him. "I will listen through the castle's walls and come to you if you need me."

Lilya gathered the paints and brushes and climbed in Alexander's paw.

The dragon lifted them into the sky, his strong wings beating and reflecting the rays of the sunset, catching the night's breeze and soaring through the sky towards Lilya's balcony in Castle Ah.

҉

Lilya sat on her bed in the center of her room, the light of candles flickering in the corners of her chamber, and her reflection looking back to her from a mirror. Calm down, she told herself. Your door is locked. You're safe. The silence was getting to her though, the eerie unknowing of where Thomas was in the castle and the thought that he was coming for her. A cold draft blew in beneath the doors to her balcony.

She blew out her candles one by one, watching the smoke from each flame waft through the air until she had extinguished the final flame. As she lay back, her pillow was soft against her head, lulling her to sleep.

What was that in the silence? The faint sound of a scream whispered through her door from the hall.

Lilya stood from her bed and walked to her chamber door, placing her hands and an ear against the smooth wood. She barely heard something, distant and muffled. She knew she'd regret it, but she had to go into the hall. What if someone needed her help? She had to go.

As she entered the ruby-floored hall, candlelight and silence greeted her. She walked slowly, toward Thomas and his guards' quarters, and shivers raced down her body. Each step seemed to take hours. Her feet echoed in the silence with the crackling flames in the sconces. Then suddenly she heard a girl's voice scream from Thomas's chambers. It was a painful, horror-filled scream.

Lilya raced down the corridor, and as she neared Thomas's chamber a girl ran into her, tumbling to her knees. Around her legs blood stained the girl's dress. Her fingers were bruised and gashed. Stunned, Lilya knelt beside the girl. To her horror, Clare's bloodshot eyes turned to look back into hers. "What has he done?" Lilya asked.

"He... he..." Then Clare screamed as Thomas burst out of his chamber and ran after her.

"Don't move! Don't you dare come closer!" Lilya yelled at him. "What have you done to her?" Lilya was outraged now and Thomas kept coming. She lifted Clare back up to stand and began pulling her in a direction away from Thomas. Clare was limping as tears flowed down her face.

"This is none of your business," Thomas spoke coldly to Lilya. "You wouldn't be with me, so I've found someone else to fulfill my needs."

Clare's knees buckled beneath her and she collapsed to the ground.

"Leave us!" Thomas spat at Lilya, lust boiling in his eyes, sweat seeping through his pores.

He was near them now, only a few steps away, and Lilya would defend Clare with her life. No man would harm a woman in her presence ever again.

Thomas thrust his arm out to grab Lilya's own and suddenly the wall behind them exploded inward, blasting stones in all directions. A crimson dragon paw burst toward them, clutching Thomas's body in its fist and lifting him into the air.

Run, Lilya! Alexander's voice came into Lilya's thoughts. She didn't hesitate; lifted Clare over her shoulders, and ran down the hall toward the stairs.

"Let me go, beast!" Thomas yelled at Alexander.

"Who's the beast, boy? You'd better calm down or else I might just squeeze you harder than you'd like."

"I'll have you killed for this!" Thomas shouted, enraged.

Alexander let out a low laugh, muzzled the boy king's mouth with his large scaled finger, and waited for Lilya to be safely away.

Lilya ran heavily through Castle Ah, down halls and corridors, breathing deep as she hauled Clare in her arms. Clare was awake, but in a stunned state. As she reached the keep Lilya kneeled down and rolled Clare off of her back. Exhaustion was coming for her and she could no longer support the girl's weight.

"Can you walk?" she asked as she looked down into her young maid's tear-filled eyes.

"I... I..." the girl began as someone pounded down the stairwell behind them.

Pine emerged from the doorway, his massive form coming quickly for them. Lilya stepped between him and Clare. "Go away," she said, fear slipping through in her voice.

"No," Pine said as he halted before her. "Thomas is mad. I won't leave him, but we need to get you away from here. I'll carry her to the stables and you can take a cart and supplies to the river from there. Juniper and Cypress are already locating Amari so that he can go with you. We heard you fighting, from our chambers."

"Thank you." Lilya breathed a sigh of relief. She stepped out of the way as Pine lifted Clare in his arms, the girl quivering in fear, blood dripping from her dress to the ruby floor.

They went through another series of halls before entering a tunnel that led beneath Castle Ah to the stables. As they entered the stables they saw Juniper, Cypress and Amari loading straw and supplies into a cart. Thomas's two best horses were at its lead.

"Clare!" Amari called, running toward them. He knew they would be leaving but had not known about what had happened. He embraced her as Pine laid her in the cart, blood staining his arms as he pulled away. "What happened to you?" he asked her, panic in his eyes.

"Thomas, he..." Clare's words trailed off.

"I'll kill him!" Amari yelled, charging toward the tunnels leading into Ah.

"You can do no good by attacking the king," Pine said as he lifted Amari by his shirt into the air, dragging the struggling boy back to the cart. "I can't approve of what he has done but I won't allow you to harm him. Clare needs you. Do what you can here and don't waste your life in blind rage."

"I'll come for him," Amari raved. "He won't get away with this!"

"And I will be here waiting for you," Pine spoke coldly as the boy gave him a hateful stare. "Juniper and Cypress will go with you to assure you leave Havilah safely and arrive well wherever you are going."

Cypress, who was half holding the boy back, looked Amari in the eyes. "Clare will be alright," he said. "We won't leave your side until she is."

Lilya threw a bag of grain into the cart and pulled herself inside. "There is a difference between being physically alright and mentally alright, Cypress," she said. "I've been where Clare is. There is no coming back from this."

"Then we will stay by your side for as long as you need us," Juniper responded.

Donning cloaks, Cypress, Juniper, Clare, Amari and Lilya rode in their cart out of the royal stables, beneath an intricate golden archway above. Pine watched them darkly from the shadowed stables.

Lilya comforted Clare, the cart shaking on the cobblestones as they rode toward the Pishon's bank. There were few people in the streets this dark night, and the ones they did see eyed them with suspicion.

"That's one of the royal carts," she heard someone say from the shadows cast by the moonlight. "Who knows what he's up to now?"

The person they were speaking to hushed them and lowered their head.

As they neared the riverbank Cypress directed the horses and their cart up a plank that Juniper had lowered, and on to a small vessel. Lilya helped hoist the sails and lift anchor, then watched as the ship pulled away from the docks.

Where is Alexander? she thought. Why hasn't he joined us? She watched Castle Ah in the distance, looking for his form gliding in the moonlight or igniting a flame into the sky, but saw nothing unusual there. In the river beside the boat a school of fish leapt in the vessel's rippling wake as Juniper joined her side.

"Where do we go from here, princess?" he asked as he also looked to Castle Ah, his massive hands bracing the rail.

"There is only one place that I know of, to go," she said as she shivered in cold winds as they whipped her hair in their chill. "We head for Cush, make camp in the forest, and devise a plan from there. If you have any suggestions I'm open to hear them."

"Cush sounds as safe as any place." Juniper turned from her, walking back toward the boat's tin-roof shelter. "Make no mistake though, Thomas will come after us no matter where we are. And who knows what man Thomas will be when he arrives."

The wind gusted in Lilya's ears as she watched the river's currents curling in the moonlight behind the boat. Hours passed in the silence of the night as Lilya sat on the back deck of the vessel in a wooden chair she had discovered onboard. The stars faded above as her mind drifted into the world of dreams.

She awoke with a jolt as the boat shifted beneath her, its boards creaking as the horizon seemed to lower before her in the distance. Then, above, she saw Alexander's massive body, his wings thrusting in the air as his claws clasped into the vessel's sides. He was lifting them up, out of the river and into the sky.

We can travel much faster in the air, his voice spoke in her mind.

"I was worried for you," she said, rising to check on the others and tell them not to be alarmed.

They are all asleep except for Amari, who watches over Clare with such a heavy heart.

"Where were you?" She walked to the back rail, watching the river drop away beneath her, water running off their vessel's hull. "I looked for you by the castle, but couldn't see you there."

I wanted to give you time to escape, so I took Thomas for a little flight around his realm. Lilya could hear humor in his words. I'll have to say, he didn't enjoy it. When I saw that your ship was well away I set him down in his gardens and came to join you on the river.

Lilya watched the moon as the boat soared in Alexander's grasp. "What happened to the boy I met in Cush?"

There is more going on with him than we could understand.

"You say that, but I have this feeling that you know more about what's changed him than you say," she spoke as she watched the sky. "You read thoughts and feel people's emotions. Surely you have discovered what is doing this to him. That knowledge could help us save him."

Alexander was silent as they soared above the land and winding river in the darkness.

"Say something," she said.

Footsteps sounded on the deck behind her, startling her. "Lilya," Amari's voice came. "I don't know what to do."

Don't think I'm done asking about what you know, she thought in her mind to Alexander. I know there's something you're not saying. And I know you're listening to my thoughts. She looked in Amari's worried eyes. "You are doing all that you can, standing by Clare's side and wanting to help her heal. She will need that in days to come. Even if she tries to push you out of her life, stay strong by her side. Together we will make it through whatever is to come."

They made their way to the boat's front deck and watched as they soared in the clouds, Alexander's wings beating above them. Hours would pass as Havilah was left behind and they flew above Cush's lands.

After Lilya and Amari had made their way beneath the vessel's tin shelter, to find sleep on the boat's hard wooden floor, Alexander found a heavily wooded forest and gently set the boat down in the boughs of its trees.

He would rest beneath the vessel, guarding them through the night.

17

Crimson

Pine stood in the woods, watching the sun rise into the sky through the gaps in the tree leaves above him. The sunlight streamed into the forest in a lit crimson glow as the new day came. It was the morning after Clare's rape. Things will never be the same after this, Pine thought. Our world will never be as it was, no matter what we do. "Thomas," he spoke to the open air. "What have you done?"

He had come here to clear his thoughts, to take in all that had happened in recent months. There was no response. Even the birds were quiet this morning.

Pine stood, his feet planted firmly on the earth beneath him. And Juniper and Cypress have gone as well. He took in a deep breath, smelling honeysuckle in the breeze. He opened and closed his clenched hands, trying to soothe his nerves.

A stick cracked behind him, something thumped heavily against his back, and then his eyesight faded to pure darkness. The man they called Pine was no more.

҉

Thomas let go of his axe's handle, looking at where the weapon's blade lodged in Pine's thick back, he wondered at how the man's body didn't move after the attack. He couldn't explain it, but Thomas knew that he had struck Pine's heart, killing him instantly.

With a kick to his guard's knees, Pine crashed to the ground, leaves beneath him jumping into the air.

"You shouldn't have betrayed me." Thomas's bloodshot eyes burned with hatred as he watched blood bubbling from the man's back. "You were the first, but they will all pay."

He reached down, grabbing the axe's handle and pulling it until its blade leapt up into the air. Red globules speckled his royal garb. Thomas walked with the bloody axe clutched hard in his hand. He walked until he reached the river, where Dora awaited to row him back to Castle Ah.

As the sun burned in the sky, wolves found Pine's dead body, blood seeping from his wound. They tore at his flesh and devoured his corpse, leaving behind his carcass and a puddle of blood.

18

From Air to Stone

Lilya awoke to the sound of a light rain echoing off of the tin roof above her. She opened her eyes to see the others asleep on the floorboards around and Clare asleep on one of the few cots the boat had. She stood and walked outside, stretching her arms wide and feeling the drizzle streaming down her palms and exposed skin.

What a beautiful way to begin the day, she thought as she stared out over the tree tops for miles before her. What have you done, Alexander? Lilya smiled. Where have you taken us?

Just as she was thinking these thoughts his wide crimson wings wrapped up around the boat from below. We're in the forests of Cush, above them actually, he spoke to her through her thoughts. Here we are safe from the world around us and are not at the mercy of the river's currents.

"I never thought that I would wake up with trees below us," she almost laughed as she walked to the rail of the deck. She reached out her arm in the sun gazed drizzle and plucked a leaf from one of the tree limbs stretching about them. She held up the leaf before the sun and watched how the sun illuminated its skin and veins.

"Lilya!" Amari called from behind her as he came outside. "Where are we?"

"Above Cush's forest," she said, watching as Juniper and Cypress followed out behind him.

"Look to the sky," Alexander's deep voice came from beneath the boat, making its boards reverberate as he spoke.

As she looked around through the light rain Lilya saw a vibrant rainbow stretching before them in the distance. It extended down from the sky and came to rest in the river beyond the boughs of the trees. "Clare has to see this," she said and walked inside to get her friend. "She needs to see the beauty this new day brings."

Inside, she found Clare curled in her cot and staring blankly at the walls of the structure. "Come outside with me," Lilya said. "The fresh air will do you good."

"How could he..." Clare asked, a tear running down her face.

Lilya wiped away the tear and held her for a moment. Her hair fell around Lilya's arms. "We're in Cush now, and he is far away. You are safe. We will help you get through this."

"I..." Clare was beyond words.

"Just come with me." Lilya took the girl's hand, getting her to stand, then walked with her slowly out into the sunlight. The drizzle had just stopped. "The green stretching out in the distance is the tops of Cush's trees. Look at the rainbow stretching through the sky," she said. "This is our new world, Clare. You are safe with us here."

Clare walked to the edge of the back deck, just standing and watching the rainbow as it shimmered in the sky.

"So where do we go from here?" Lilya asked the others.

Juniper had gone in their shelter and returned with dried pork and apples he had packed in a bag for them to eat. He passed their breakfast around. "You know these lands better than any of us, princess. Where would you suggest?"

"Can I make a suggestion?" Alexander asked from beneath the boat.

"I'm at a loss, so I would love to hear your thoughts." Lilya looked down over the railing, through the branches, at him.

"I can take us to The Canyon of Eyes. It would make a good place to rest and hide until we can think of another solution."

Amari gave Lilya a worried look, "The Canyon of Eyes?"

"It's a place on the outskirts of Cush, by the ocean, where outcasts live undisturbed. It makes sense to go there. But we don't know what they are like, whether or not it is dangerous or if they would even accept us. The people of Cush fear The Canyon of Eyes." Lilya took a bite out of her apple, savoring its juices.

"It sounds as good a place as any," Juniper said as the rainbow disappeared in the distance. "And we must leave soon. Surely the people of Cush have seen us and are on their way to investigate."

The boat suddenly rocked and its boards creaked in the tree boughs, causing Lilya to grasp hard to the rail. "Alexander!" she called.

"Sorry," his voice came as he burst up from the foliage before them, leaves bursting up around his wings and swaying through the air. His handsome eyes looked into Lilya's own. "We are on our way!" He swooped down and then hovered above them, his wings beating, as he clasped his claws onto the ship's side rails. He lifted the vessel out of the tree tops and into the pure blue sky.

Cypress looked pale as they rose. "I think I'm going to be sick," he said, walking beneath the shelter and groaning.

Lilya, on the other hand, took it all in as she walked to the boat's back and put her arm around Clare. "I'll never get tired of how beautiful it is from up here," she said as she touched the girl's hand on the rail.

"You'll help me?" the girl asked.

"You have my word." Lilya watched the treetops fall away beneath them before convincing Clare to come to the front of the ship to be with Amari and Juniper.

Soon they were above Cush's plains, then its vast farmlands where they could see people far below them either running away in terror or pointing up in awe. It was the marshlands they crossed next and then the outskirts of the city itself.

"Where is this canyon?" Juniper asked.

"We are close now," Alexander answered from above, his claws tightening their grasp as he lifted higher and turned them sharply to the side.

Squinting in the sunlight, Lilya could see the canyon's cragged edge on the end of a deserted plain. The canyon, she knew, dropped steeply and eventually led to the sea. As Alexander swooped down toward it the wind was dry on her face and she could taste salt in the air. "Don't take us down into it yet," she instructed him. "I want to make sure they'll accept us among them before we enter." The wind on her face calmed as Alexander flew slower now and hovered down toward the canyon's lip.

Amari grinned. "How do we get their attention?" he asked. "Do we just toss something off of the cliff at them?"

Alexander chuckled lowly, his stomach pulsing as he did and the boat jostling in his grasp. "I don't think that's a good idea. They'll find us soon enough."

Lilya took a step back with the rest of her company as two massive hawks lifted out of the canyon's depths. The birds were a third the size of Alexander, their deep brown feathers majestically draping their forms. On their backs she saw men twice the size of Juniper or Cypress, their hands grasping ropes that wrapped around the birds so that they could control them.

The man closest to them gave them a deep glare. "What do you want from The Canyon of Eyes?" His hawk opened its beak wide, then snapped it shut and stared down at Alexander.

"We look for shelter and peace," the dragon spoke. "We flee the land of Havilah and its mad King Thomas."

"And what are the problems of Havilah's people to us?" the man replied as he tightened his controls on his hawk and brought it closer.

Lilya spoke up now. "The problems of any man are the problems of all men. One evil will trickle down and affect the lives of many people far from where that evil began."

"What you say may be true, but you have yet to tell us exactly why you fled Havilah. From what I have heard, it is a peaceful land."

She thought for a second, then made sure she had his sight locked into hers. "I was born Princess Lilya of Cush. My father abused me and gave me away to Thomas, who is no better than my father. Surely that makes me one of you, an outcast of Cush, possibly the biggest outcast of all."

The man's expression changed instantly. "I have heard many things." He turned his hawk toward the canyon. The other hawk rider did the same. "You and your friends are welcome here. You have more than earned the right to be one of us." His hawk cawed into the sky and they dove into the canyon's depths. "There will be people who wish to speak with you!" She barely heard him shouting in the wind left from their birds.

Juniper smiled. "These people should make for interesting company." He turned back to the boat's shelter. "Hold on tight, Cypress! Something tells me we're in for a good jostling!"

"Follow them," Lilya told Alexander and the dragon angled his crimson wings downward, letting the wind whipping through them carry him and their boat down into the canyon. He clutched tight with his claws to the boat and glided the group in a spiral down, coming close to the cliff walls.

She breathed a deep breath as she took in the beauty of The Canyon of Eyes once more. Jewels shimmered from the canyon's coarse stone walls. People, huddling in caves that had been bored out of the cliff, gave them leery looks as they flew by. "We will have to win these people's trust," she told Juniper as he stood behind her.

With a gust the hawk rider, who she originally spoke with, burst up beside her. His long braided hair whipped in the funnel of wind about them. "Tell your dragon to set the boat in the water in the bottom of our canyon. We have ladders there that will allow you to climb into the rest of our city. The dragon can stay with our hawks in their cave if he likes."

Lilya swept hair from her eyes as she spoke. "Alexander speaks for himself. But I am sure that he's heard. He is a being just like you or I, and you'd probably do best to remember that in the future."

"We will see," the hawk rider spoke, then dove swiftly on his bird.

He didn't mean anything by what he said, Alexander said through Lilya's thoughts.

"I know," she told him. "But you are one of us, and they need to learn that quickly."

Soon they were at the canyon's bottom, and beneath them was an inlet of water that, outside the canyon, opened up to the sea. The taste of salt was stronger in the air as Alexander set the vessel into the sea waters. It bobbed and creaked as he let loose his grasp on its rail.

Before them was a vast cave lit by flaming sconces and flowing with a river of sea water. Standing on a stone walkway at the cave's entrance were the two hawk riders that had greeted them, along with a few other, smaller men, who were stumpy with long beards. The hawks flew in a hover outside the cavern, cawing again and again at Alexander.

"I'll follow the birds," Alexander said. "Sail inside and meet these people. I will be listening to your thoughts if you need me."

The hawks soared above them and Alexander flew in their wake, eventually entering a large cave about halfway up the cliff wall.

To Lilya's surprise, air suction came from inside the cave before them, drawing their vessel into its mouth.

The two hawk riders leapt onto the deck with a thud, leaving the stumpy men alone on the walkway. "Watch for others," the man with the braided hair told them. "Who knows if they come alone?"

One of the bearded men gave a nod.

Lilya shook the first man's hand as the cave's darkness swallowed them, the sconces barely illuminating the boat's river-path. "You know my name. This is Juniper, Amari and Clare and we have another companion named Cypress who is in the shelter. What are your names?" she asked.

The braided-haired man looked at her for a moment, as if examining her. "I am Alinar, and my companion is Vansir. Our ancestors came here long ago to be free of rule. We have lived all our lives in these caves, leaving only to gather food from trusted allies on the surface."

Lilya marveled at Alinar and Vansir's massive builds and height. It was amazing to see people who dwarfed even Cypress and Juniper, amazing and unnerving at the same time. "Who rules here?" she asked.

"No-one," Alinar replied as he touched a feather that hung from a chain on his neck. "We are free, like our hawks, making our own rules for our lives, and respecting the others around us. We live by the basic rules of man, and any who cross the line are voted out by our society and sent to live back in the lands of Cush. That is enough to keep the deviants at bay."

"Then who will we be meeting with?" A blue iridescence from beneath the vessel's hull illuminated the darkness. Lilya looked overboard and saw jellyfish glowing vibrantly about them.

Alinar watched her as she watched the fish. "They are from the deep waters. We don't know why they come here, but they are certainly beautiful." There was silence for a moment before he spoke again. "To answer your question, you will meet with three of our elders. They will decide if you can stay. From there you will live under your own rule."

Bats flew through the cavern overhead, shrieking, their wings beating together in the blue iridescence created by the jellyfish. Cypress came heavily out of the boat's cabin, his face looking sickly even in the darkness. "I think I've had my fill of flying," he said while eying Alinar.

"You shouldn't have to fly for quite some time." Lilya gave him a smirk.

He walked to the deck and looked to the illuminated waters beneath them. "If it comes down to it, I'll walk to wherever we go, or ride a horse instead."

The boat was pulled slowly in the waters by the suction around them. Long moments of silence passed as it sailed, until finally they came to a dock cut out of stone. Alinar and Vansir leapt from the ship as they came close, using a rope connected to the deck to tie the vessel off to a stalagmite.

"Come with us," Alinar said, reaching down his hand to give Lilya a lift up.

"Thank you." She took his hand, stepping to the cavern floor. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vansir reach down to help Clare. The girl stepped back on the deck, away from him. "It's nothing personal," Lilya told him. "Help someone else, Vansir."

"I'm sorry, milady," Vansir told Clare, then reached a hand to help Amari up.

Amari gave Clare a hand.

Juniper and Cypress grabbed a few sacks of necessities and began to follow the group through the cavern.

Lilya shivered in the cold walkways cut out of the cavern's depths. They walked in silence, not sure what to say to each other, still feeling one another out. Fire licked the walls from sconces as they passed. Then, moments later, they entered a room with a vast ceiling. In its center were three people standing side by side in the emptiness. Only stalagmites, stalactites and torches marked the floor and ceiling of the chamber.

One man was larger than Alinar and wore a flowing blue robe. "Welcome," he spoke in a booming voice. "What a surprise it is to see you here, young Lilya."

She looked at him for a moment, measuring him. She knew this man from somewhere.

He took a step toward her. "Do you recognize me? Years ago, I frequented your father's castle halls, to beg for donations of food for the poor of Cush's countryside. I did not look like this, though." He motioned to his clothes. "I came wearing rags, so that he would believe I was one of them."

"I remember you now." She came up to him, shaking his massive hand and feeling dwarfed by his size. "I apologize for his lack of caring for others."

"Do not apologize for your father. I have heard that you were very different from him in Havilah. It is an honor to have you among us."

Lilya looked closer at the other two elders now. One man was short like the two who greeted them at the cavern's entrance. He was wrinkled with age, but still looked extremely strong. The other, dressed in a cloak and a red hood, was about her size. Beneath the hood she saw gentle eyes looking to her own.

Those eyes, she thought. How could those be the eyes of an elder?

"Greetings, my name is Felicia," the cloaked one said, pulling her red hood down to reveal a youthful woman's face. Her beauty was entrancing, even to Lilya. Who was this woman?

Lilya shook her hand. "How can you be an elder?" she asked. "You are so young."

"I am very old. Perhaps I will explain why I look like this, at some other time, perhaps not." Felicia grinned, something unreadable behind her eyes. "Regardless, I welcome you to our world. I have heard much of you, and even of your companions. I assume that these two with you are two of Thomas's guards from Havilah."

"We are, milady," Cypress said, kneeling, as if to kiss her hand.

"Stand," Felicia said. "No-one rules here. Remember that."

The tall elder reached into a pocket in his robe and pulled out something. "Here is a map of the tunnels, although they stretch beyond what is scribed here. By the way, my name is Afaris. I apologize for not giving my name sooner."

Lilya reached out, taking the folded parchment in her palm. "And where do we stay?"

The short old man, dressed in worn workman's clothes, stepped up to greet her. "I am Coal." His shake was firm. His hand felt like stone as it formed to hers. "I will show you to your rooms."

19

Greed

Gems and gold glistened in piles about Thomas's throne room as he stood in the center of it, an ornate dagger clenched in his hand. "I want more!" he shouted, his heart beating heavily in his chest. His sight pulsed, going from blur to clear over and over again. Don't these imbeciles know that when I say I want all of the riches in Havilah, I mean it? "Find more!"

A heavily armored knight lumbered up to him, blood streaming from a gash on the man's neck. The wound had been caused by a peddler who fought him when he demanded that the man give him all the gems he had on him. "If we take any more," the knight gave him a weary look, "then there will be nothing left to sustain your people. They will starve."

Thomas's sight blurred again, then came back to him. "Take everything they own. And when I have all of Havilah's riches our armies will take all of the wealth in Cush and Assyria for our own too! It is all mine!" He stumbled and almost fell into a pile of gold coins beneath him. His vision blurred again. "I want it all!"

"But sire," the knight pleaded. "Your people will turn on you. The rulers of Cush and Assyria will turn on you."

Thomas toppled into the coins now, his dagger tumbling out of his hand. "I..." he stuttered. "I..." His bloodshot eyes looked up to the knight.

"Do you doubt your king?" an old woman's voice came from a dark corner of the throne room. Dora came slowly through the mounds of gems, a cane in her hand and her shoes clacking on the ruby floor. "Do you doubt that he deserves what he demands?"

The knight looked enraged. "I do not doubt anything. I only want what is best for him."

Thomas's vision pulsed back to him again. "You question me?" He put his arms beneath him and slowly lifted himself up. "Collect my riches, or pay with your life!" He stumbled and fell into the coins and gems once more, his vision going to a complete blur.

"I will have your knights do as you ask," he could hear the knight say as he tried to focus. The throne room's doors creaked open, then boomed closed.

Thomas struggled to see through his hazy sight.

"Here. Eat the rest of your fig," Dora's wrinkled hand closed on his own as she placed the remains of the fruit he had begun eating that morning into his palm. His blood pulsed beneath his skin as it touched the fruit. It burned with life. "Eat it. It will make you feel better."

He brought it to his mouth, chewing the fleshy fruit as it pulsed like a tiny heart on his palate. Everything is mine, the thought raced through his mind. Everything should be mine. Strength surged through his veins. He could almost feel the fruit breathing in his throat as he swallowed it down. Thomas stood and his eyesight suddenly flashed back to crispness. Dora was gone.

I want it all, he thought as his heart raced. These jewels are nothing. I can take so much more. He snatched his dagger from the gold pieces beneath him. I should have more, now!

He paced the hall, only him and his jewels in the hollow room. Must have more, the thought burst into his mind. Where?

He looked around the room, sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows. Then his sight fixed on a doorway with emeralds spilling into its opening. Them, he thought. 'They' have them. They're mine!

Thomas stormed across the throne room and into the hall, walking quickly through sunlight as it flowed through the hallway's windows. A servant jumped out of his way as Thomas hurried past him.

Once I have all of the wealth in the world, then, Lilya will return to me. He clenched the dagger tight in his fist, passing doors upon doors of servants and maids. He barely felt anything, physically or mentally. His thumb fiddled with a diamond inlaid within the blade.

The door he was looking for came into view. He stopped at it, examining the grooves of the oak and its bronze handle. Mine. The thought raced through his mind, a thought that was his, but at the same time was not. Mine.

"Open the door!" Thomas banged against the course wood with his free fist, sending reverberating echoes through the hall. His hand stung as he pounded. "Open the door for your king!" He kicked hard against the wood.

"Sire..." a man's voice came from inside. The door slowly opened to reveal Ban Var. His wife and son were backed against the far wall of their chamber by the balcony. His daughter, Mae, peered fearfully over the edge of the bed.

They're here, the thought raced through Thomas's mind. "Give them to me!" he shouted into the room, his eyes crazed.

Ban Var looked warily at him as he stepped away. "You can't have my family. I'll die defending them."

"Not your family, you fool," he laughed. "Give me my ruby shards!"

"We... we spent those," Ban Var's wife, Fiol, said fearfully, "and gave them to the needy in the market place." She held her son close.

"Give me my rubies!" Thomas grabbed Ban Var, thrusting his dagger against the man's quivering neck. "Give me my rubies or he dies!"

"We don't have them!" Fiol took a step toward the balcony. "Please! Please let him go!"

"I warned you, woman!" Thomas spoke coldly. He dug the tip of his dagger into Ban Var's trembling neck and blood streamed down the man's body, seeping into his clothes. With a swift motion Thomas spliced across Var's neck, cutting it deep.

Ban choked and convulsed, his body pounding against the floor as Thomas let him go. Blood spewed from his neck. "Run..." he managed to rasp before his eyes rolled back in his head and life left him.

Fiol shrieked and Thomas came farther into the chamber, grabbing Mae by the arm as she tried to run past. "Where are they?" he yelled. He held the girl tight, bracing the dagger against her ribs. He watched as Fiol looked to her bloodied husband lying limp behind them, then back to Mae. "I'll do it," he told her. "And then I'll come for your son. Where are my ruby shards?"

"Mae..." Fiol sobbed. "Mae..."

"Where?" Thomas shouted, digging the knife into her ribs. The girl thrashed and screamed. "Tell me!" He enjoyed feeling the child squirm in pain. He enjoyed the sheer power of it. He dug the dagger deeper into the girl. She screamed even louder.

"Mommy!" Mae wailed.

He expected Fiol to come for him at any moment, to try and free her daughter. He was ready to kill them both. Instead, Thomas was surprised to watch Fiol moving out on the balcony with her son.

"Go!" Fiol shouted as the boy ran the balcony's length, and then leapt over its rail. "Don't let us die in vain!"

She came for Thomas then, charging into the chamber and grabbing a fire poker that was braced against the wall.

He thrust the dagger into Mae's ribs, then dropped her lifeless body to the floor.

20

Jonah's Run

As Jonah fell from the balcony he could hear his mother screaming. Air pushed up all around him. His breath was heavy as his heart caught in his chest. He was in a state of panic and could barely comprehend what had just happened.
Crack! His back thrashed against a tree limb, knocking it free. Snap! Crack! His neck hit a smaller limb, and then his legs thrashed into another. Crack! Crack! He knocked two more limbs free, and felt the air go out of him as a large limb punched against his stomach and he suddenly found himself going quickly to the ground.

Thump! Sudden pain shot through his skull. All went dark.

҉

A bright light shone into Jonah's eyes as he slowly opened them. His head pulsed with searing pain. He could have been unconscious for moments or hours, he had no way of telling. Why? he thought. Why did we have to come here? My family...

The city's bells tolled and he looked to the sun above. It seared his eyes. Noon, he thought as he pushed himself up from the dry earthen street. I've got to get out of here before Thomas's knights find me.

Jonah ran quickly through the streets, hugging the shadows of buildings and stealing a few apples and dried meat from peddler's carts so that he'd have something to nourish himself in the days to come. He headed for the river, the only place he could think of to go, the place where his home had once been.

The boy waited by the docks in a patch of tall reeds. Where to go? Tears streamed from his eyes. He still could barely believe that his family was dead. He could vividly picture his father's body lying on the ground as blood gushed from his neck. He lay low on the bank, trying to decide his next move.

Day passed to night and Jonah ran along the riverbank in the moonlight. His feet kicked up the moist ground as he ran. He could hear crickets and frogs singing throughout the night. It wasn't until he was deep into Havilah's wild-lands that he allowed himself to rest in the center of a large bush, his head lying on a moist pile of leaves.

Days passed and gave way to months as Jonah lived off of whatever he could capture and kill, often dining on crickets and worms. On good days he would catch fish or kill a deer and cook and eat as much of it as he could before it spoiled.

After three months, he was famished.

Then, one crisp morning, he awoke to men's voices nearby where he lay, in a field of tall grasses.

"We should go back," one man said. "Thomas will be merciless if we leave."

"We can't now, even if we want to," a second, deeper voice, replied. "Surely he would have our heads. Besides, Havilah is no longer our home. The mercenaries he hired from beyond the Euphrates River to replace us are nothing like our people. Thomas is not a king that I will serve any longer."

Jonah lifted his head just slightly in the swaying grasses. He could make out the armor of two of Thomas's knights before him. Sunlight gleamed off of their armor's plates.

"Then where will we go?" the first knight asked.

"A company of defectors is heading for Cush. I plan to be on their ship. Maybe we can protect Cush's people from the raids Thomas is sending into their lands to take jewels and gold for his coffers."

"I will come with you, if you will have me," the first knight did not hesitate.

They walked away from Jonah now, and he could barely see the tops of their heads in the morning sun.

To Cush? Isn't that where they said Lilya went? Someone should warn her of what's going on here. A cool breeze whipped through his tattered clothes. Should I make myself known?

Jonah thought about this for a long while, following the two men silently in the grasslands as he made his decision. When he finally made his choice he decided he would go with them. But he would sneak onto their vessel in case there were spies aboard who were working for Thomas and would report back to him.

҉

Days later, Jonah waited patiently on a riverbank by docks on the outskirts of Havilah for the boat of defecting knights to sail by. He had picked a narrow part of the river where the ship would be forced to come close to him. He huddled low in the grass with a hollow reed clutched tight in his hand.

At midday the boat came, and all its men wore brown robes that covered them so that no one could tell who they were. Even the men working the sails and the man in the crow's nest were disguised.

It's now or never, Jonah thought as he leaned into the river and kicked like a frog beneath its waters. He held the reed to his lips, with its top above the river, and breathed in air as he moved slowly toward the ship, hoping not to be seen.

He could see the bottom of the vessel before him, slowly lumbering past, and thought how strange it was to not hear these men singing songs as their boat pulled away. This day is truly filled with sadness for them. They leave their homes and their people, all they have ever known. This is just such a day for me. Everything I've ever loved is gone.

"Don't let us die in vain!" his mother's words echoed in his mind as fish swam about him and the back of the boat came into view. I won't, mother, he thought, taking a full breath of air through the reed.

With a swift motion, he swept his arm through the waters and grabbed a board of the ship that was not quite flush with the rest of the hull. He held tight to it, letting his reed be swept off into the river and lifting his head above the water and into the air once more. He breathed another slow, but deep breath.

Hand over hand he climbed the back of the vessel until he neared a dark window in the lower deck of the ship. He listened for people inside. When he heard nothing, he tightened his muscles and swung inside of the boat's hull.

21

Stowaway

Jonah sat silent and still inside a hidden compartment he had discovered in a closet of the boat headed for Cush. There was barely room to breathe, let alone think. He had lived off of dried plants and a small amount of fruit he had brought with him, for days, but would soon need to venture out and find something to keep him from hunger. He had no idea how far away Cush was as he placed his last bit of dried basil in his mouth.

What will they do with me if I'm discovered? It might be better to jump into the river now.

He sat for a moment, contemplating his future and trying to stretch his toes in the close space, when he was startled by loud thuds and shouting coming from the deck above him. Splashes came from outside of the room he was hiding in.

His head bumped on the hidden door above him and he cursed under his breath, hoping nobody had heard.

Metal clanged, men yelled and loud noises seemed to come from everywhere. Then all was silent except for the voice of one man that he could not make out.

Surely they were being robbed. Questions raced through his mind. Who had won? If they had been overtaken then would they be allowed to survive? What should his next move be?

There are probably men watching the waters. If I jump overboard I could find an arrow in my back.

He placed a hand on the coarse wood door above and slowly lifted it, peering cautiously about the chamber before him. A barely made bed was directly in his sight and a cat lying lazily on its mattress, but no knights were in view.

This may fall to me. I should check what's going on.

He slowly stood and walked out of the hiding place in the closet, stretching his muscles and feeling pain sear through his bones as his body had room to move for the first time in days. He clasped a slim sword that leaned against a wall of the room.

Meow!

"Shh.." he silenced the feline. It stretched its paws, lazily rolling over and closing its eyes once more.

His shoes were soft soled, which was a blessing as he slowly made his way through the hall of the vessel's lower deck. With each step his heart raced and he swore that he could hear it about to explode out of him. Then he came to the stairs leading topside, and stopped.

"What a find!" a scratchy voice boomed from above. "Here, we were sent to plunder the wealth of Cush, and what do we find but the knights and armor of Havilah!" A roar of applause burst out along the deck. "Thomas will be so pleased! Something tells me though, it's ye armor he wants and not ye minds and skins!"

Jonah's heart raced. What should he do? Should he turn back and hide again beneath the closet's trapdoor? "Don't let us die in vain!" his mother's voice entered his thoughts again. I have to do something. He took a step onto the stairs leading to the upper deck.

He went one step after another, hugging the edge of the stairwell so that the boards wouldn't creak, and then stopped when he could barely see the upper deck. Shivers ran through his body as he saw the knights of Havilah tied up next to the far rail of the ship and men who looked like barbarians holding swords to their throats.

"I'll enjoy killing ye," a massive man with a red bandana around his head and markings on his back spoke. His arms moved as he talked and Jonah was horrified to see that he had four arms moving from his sides. In three of his hands the man clenched swords. "But the pleasure won't come out of vengeance for Thomas. No. We'll enjoy ye deaths just for the fun of watching ye die."

This was clearly their leader. If I attack him, Jonah thought, then surely they will kill me quickly. But if I don't try I'll probably be found and killed anyway.

With a thrust of his legs Jonah burst onto deck, charging for the four-armed man's back with his sword. He could hear muscle tear and bone break as he plunged his blade between the man's shoulder blades, hoping to get his heart.

The barbarian roared, flailing his swords in the air and stumbling around to see who had attacked him.

Jonah stood unarmed before him, his sword still lodged through the man's back and out of his chest.

"Kill him!" the man bellowed, coming at Jonah with his swords.

Jonah backed up quickly; searching for something he could use to defend himself with. Then, from above, a single arrow shot down and lodged between the barbarian's eyes and through his skull. Blood spewed out from the impact and the four-armed man fell, his body booming lifelessly on the deck, his swords scattering toward the restrained knights.

"Now is our chance!" a young boy's voice called from the crow's nest above as three more arrows zipped down and stuck in the skulls of two mercenaries and the neck of another. "Free yourselves or they will kill us all!"

Jonah looked around and shuttered as he realized that all of the barbaric mercenaries were deformed like their leader. Some had extremely large hands, one had three legs and yet another had only one eye in the center of his giant forehead. Jonah ran towards the cyclops as the cyclops came for him. He threw his body into the man's legs, knocking him to the ground.

Nearby, one of the knights had been able to kick one of the leader's swords near himself and use its blade to set him and some of the others free. The knights attacked the mercenaries hand to hand until they could disarm a few of their enemies and get swords to defend themselves with. Soon both knights and mercenaries lay dying beneath the battle raging on deck.

Jonah ran from the cyclops, knowing he would be killed any moment now, but happy that he had been able to accomplish something meaningful with his sacrifice. He ran to the front of the ship, praying to discover something to use as a weapon there.

The cyclops lumbered toward him, his sword clutched in his massive hands.

Please God, whatever God you are, please save me, Jonah thought. He backed against the front rail, ready to leap overboard.

Then, just as the cyclops raised his sword to deal his death blow, an arrow shot through the man's head and stopped halfway out of his skull. The mercenary collapsed on deck before him.

"Take his sword!" the boy shouted from the crow's nest. "They need you in the battle!"

"Thank you!" Jonah shouted as he pried the weapon loose from the cyclops's calloused hand. He scanned the deck and headed for the closest pocket of battle, where the knights were barely outnumbered.

Clang! Clang! The sound of steel beating against steel rang across deck.

Jonah was near the battle now, looking for a hole so that he could engage the mercenaries, when a sword came through the knight in front of him and then was drawn back through his body. Jonah quickly thrust his blade into the battle, hitting the knight's attacker's sword and allowing the man to limp in retreat across deck.

Clang! Clang! Sweat flew from his forehead as he battled with the attacker. It seemed the man could meet any move he made. He was only thankful that so far he was able to defend himself and do the same. Clang! Clang! Another man behind him came at him with a sword. Clang! He fended off the man's blow.

"Need a hand?" a knight beside him asked as he tossed his opponent over the vessel's rail. He then cut at Jonah's first opponent's leg with his sword and the man pulled himself overboard instead of risk further injury.

"Thanks," Jonah breathed heavily as he beat back his new opponent's sword. Clang! Clang! The battle raged on. After a few more moments of fending off his opponent's attack Jonah cut into the man's ribcage.

As the mercenary turned to run a knight cut him down. "We almost have the ship back," the knight said. He was the knight that Jonah had first heard talking in the field. "I have never been so happy to discover a stowaway on board in my life!"

They headed for the center of the ship now, where a few mercenaries still held their ground. There were many more knights than mercenaries now and they quickly took the lives of four of the final five men. The last man, a man whose shoulders looked like they were made of stone, was taken hostage to question later. He had a circular tattoo in the center of his forehead and gave a loathing look to Jonah as he was walked in rope restraints below deck.

Jonah looked about him. Bodies and blood covered the deck. The bodies of at least eight knights were strewn about and the bodies of at least the same amount of mercenaries were being lobbed overboard. They splashed while bursting into the water below. He looked over the boat's side and saw a kind of dock on the edge of the river. Blood stained the water beside it. "Is that where they boarded?" he asked.

The knight who had slain Jonah's final man turned to him, his face red with exhaustion. "They were waiting for us, or waiting to pillage whatever ship may come along at least. But to make it here before us they must have come straight from Vane, the land beyond the Euphrates River, never stopping in Havilah to speak with Thomas. I fear what we will find once we reach Cush."

"Lift anchor! Man the sails!" a voice called over the commotion as men wrapped their wounds all around them. "We must make haste before the survivors gather others! Surely they'll come down the river after us!"

"And this time we'll be ready for them," the knight said to Jonah. "Do I know you from somewhere, young man?"

Jonah felt the weight of the sword in his hand, the weight of the life he had taken bearing down on his soul. "I lived with my family in Castle Ah until Thomas murdered them. I would have died too, had I not jumped from the balcony and escaped."

The knight clutched Jonah's free hand with his own. "I heard what Thomas did. That is part of the reason I left his service. He wasn't always that kind of a man."

Jonah's hand shook in the man's strong grip. "If I cross his path again, I will kill him. I will avenge my family."

"And I won't fault you for that." The knight looked to the sky. "May I be fortunate enough to be there with you and help you deliver the final blow. The man that Thomas has become is a man who does not deserve his life. Come, boy, let us see if we can find some armor for you in case we are attacked again. We traveled without armor before so that we wouldn't be discovered. Now we must be prepared for anything."

Dark clouds rolled over in the sky above as Jonah followed the man below deck. Wind whipped across his skin and the vessel's men hailed him with praise, happy that this stowaway had provided them with at least a few more days of life.

22

Interrogation

Carn sat in a wooden chair below deck in the captain's quarters, his arms bound behind him by a thick rope. A gull sang in the distance. He clenched his calloused hands and flexed the rocklike muscles in his back. The circle tattoo in the center of his forehead burned as he sensed the feelings of the men around him.

One knight garbed in crimson armor leaned against a desk. Another held the blade of a dagger to Carn's throat.

"Tell us why we shouldn't kill you." The man in the crimson armor gave him a hard look, not the look of a man who was pleased to be interrogating him, but instead the look of one who was doing what had to be done.

The man dug his dagger into his neck, not drawing blood, just scratching at his rough hide. Carn arrogantly grinned. "I'd kill me. Ye will try."

"I'd watch my words if I were you." The knight stood, his hand going to his sword's hilt. He drew it slowly from its scabbard. "Do you know anything that could convince us to spare your life? We already know that you've been sent to pillage Cush and Assyria."

Carn cracked muscles up his spine. He could break out of these ropes, kill his captors and be out the window and into the river before help arrived. He thought about his options. "I know nothing. I am here to get paid. I am here to get fed and to survive. Ye wouldn't understand the world I'm from."

"I wouldn't try to understand the mind of a mercenary." The knight placed the tip of his sword against Carn's chest. His chest lifted and fell steadily beneath the cold steel. "Do you have nothing to say, no way to plead for your life?" the knight asked.

He could escape, but where would he go? His group had been scattered and killed. Carn grinned deviously.

"Fine," the knight said as he dug his sword slightly into Carn's chest, causing blood to trickle down the man's skin. "If you will be no help to us then I will kill you myself." The knight's sword dug deeper into his body and the other man's dagger held firmly to his neck.

Suddenly Carn flexed his arms, ripping loose of his rope restraints and sending the knight behind him flying across the room and thudding to the floor. Carn swung his fist around, forcing the sword's tip from his body and grabbing the red armored knight by the neck with his massive hand. The ring on his forehead burned with heat. "Now who will die? Ye should have killed me and thrown me overboard." He thrust the knight against the desk. The man choked in his grasp, gagging for breath.

"I'll tell ye how this will go!" Carn pressed down hard on the man as he spoke, letting him feel the power he possessed. "I'll join and fight with ye, wherever ye go, and in return I'll be paid well and fed better. These are my terms. And in return I'll let ye and ye man live. Is it a deal?"

The knight choked and squirmed helplessly as his fellow knight lay unconscious on the floor behind them. His face began to turn red and Carn clutched his neck tighter.

"What answer ye?" Carn grinned, letting go of the knight's neck and then hefting the sword up from the ground.

The man breathed staggeringly. "I... yes..."

"That's what I thought." Carn held the sword firm in his grasp.

The knight backed away from him, behind the desk, then grabbed a dagger from its drawer. "But... we must know... that we can trust you. The men... will not take well to this."

"I am a mercenary." Carn smiled. "Pay me the highest and I will be more loyal to ye than ye finest man. Besides, there are things between me and my people that ye cannot know. There have been... certain wrongs, I guess you would say. I have scores to settle. And with ye I will have plenty of opportunities to do what needs to be done. Here, as a show of faith." The massive man laid the sword down on the desk between them, and then held his hand out to shake the knight's. "To friendship," he said as the boat rocked and creaked beneath them.

The crimson armored man took his hand and shook it, holding it for a moment and looking into Carn's eyes. "To justice for the people of Cush and Assyria, and to trust in whatever mercenary honor lies within your soul."

23

Inferno

Smoke wafted through the trees as Jonah walked cautiously through the woods of Cush, armor on his back and sword in hand. Knights flanked him on all sides and the mercenary named Carn was with their company. They were headed for Cush's main castle to try and save its king.

When they had arrived in Cush's port the river towns had been ablaze about them, and the fishing boats sunken and charred. Bodies of dead men, women and children littered the shoreline.

As they headed through the forest, a thick smoky fog lay about them. "Cush is aflame," he spoke softly.

"Hopefully we aren't too late to do some good," the knight beside him responded.

Flames exploded above the trees in the distance and then receded back out of view. As they walked the men breathed heavily, choking on the ashy fog.

Jonah heard something in the woods and his eyes shot in the direction of the noise but he could see nothing but trees and smoke. His arms shook as he braced his sword. "What was that?" he asked.

"It could be anything," the man beside him said.

Carn was the only one who seemed unworried, which was strange to Jonah because although he carried a sword the man had been given no armor. And three knights kept close to him in case he tried to escape or turn on the company.

There were about forty men-at-arms here and a smaller group had stayed behind to see if they could help survivors in the river towns.

Another noise came from his left and Jonah turned to face it. Suddenly a charred man burst from the foliage and ran at them, falling in their way.

"Run!" the man shouted as cinders burst about him. "Run! They're coming!" He choked and spat in the dirt. "It's too late for me and my family!"

There were boils all over his face and the stench of burnt flesh hung about him. Jonah almost hurled.

"Help me with him," one knight said to another and the two hoisted him into the air.

They moved quickly through the woods, unsure of what was before or behind them, worried that they were being watched.

Jonah leapt over a mossy tree trunk that lay in his path and his feet landed heavily on the ground as he continued moving. Smoke curled past his face and then his vision cleared. He almost ran into the trunk of a tree but spun away just in time.

When can I catch my breath? he thought. They ran and ran through the trees and foliage. Jonah came up beside Carn and turned to look at the hulking man as he moved. The man's eyes exuded hate. What are we doing by bringing him along? He fell back to get away.

A blaze rushed through the forest in the distance and Jonah stumbled, catching himself on the shoulder of a man beside him and then moving with the group in a different direction than the blaze.

Jonah closed his eyes as they burned in the ashen air. He choked, and as he opened his eyes once more a group of deformed men with torches came at them from the burning woods.

"We must make a stand," a knight beside him said.

Carn turned back to them, "Let me go first and prove my worth."

"Be my guest," the knight responded, "but know that we will kill you if you turn on us."

Seconds passed before the men were on them. Carn slammed his blade against the blade of a man with crimson skin and horns protruding from his head. "Carn..." the beast hissed. "Why do you fight for them?"

The hulking man parried the mercenary's blows and drove him back the way he had come. "I have my reasons!" he shouted. "Ye will die at my hands and never know!"

Steel clashed with steel and sparks flew into the ashen air, filled with even more smoke because the mercenaries had tossed their torches to the ground as they attacked.

Soon Jonah and two of the knights were fending off another man. Jonah looked up into a tall man's eyes and struck his blade against the man's own as it swung down at him from above. Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound of battle rang through the woods and Jonah saw the man's sword coming at him again, almost lodging in his head. "Help me!" he shouted to the men around him. Suddenly a sword swept in beside him, knocking away the giant's sword. Another sword crashed against the mercenary's armor.

"You called?" the man beside him joked at he beat back the massive man's blows. Suddenly the giant brought his blade down, cutting through one of the man's wrists and sending him screaming to the forest floor. The giant kicked him in the chest and the knight fell silent, his head buried in the dirt.

"You will all die," the giant said in a resonant voice and approached Jonah once more. "Run, boy, while you still can."

Jonah looked to the knight beside him and then thrust his sword after the mercenary once more. Clang! Clang! The battle raged and the knight beside him kept slicing at the giant's armor, trying to find a weakness in its plates.

A burst of flames swept through the woods nearby and Jonah saw Carn and three knights pursuing the horned mercenary through the inferno and disappearing in its heat. I hope he doesn't turn on us, he thought. What a mistake it will have been to let him live.

Jonah's sword clashed again and again with the giant's, but he and the knight at his side were driven into the woods, almost completely away from the rest of the battle.

"Run! We can't take him!" the knight called and as the knight turned to flee the mercenary's blade almost struck his head.

Seeing his opportunity, Jonah drove his blade into the mercenary's neck and the hulk of a man crashed to the forest floor with Jonah's blade still lodged inside him. Without thinking, Jonah grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it out of the man. The other knight turned back.

"We have to rejoin the battle. We're losing men," Jonah said and ran to attack one of the other mercenaries, slamming his blade against the man's own. There were five of the mercenaries left now.

Clang! Clang! The sound of steel rang in the air as Jonah took turns with the knights of their company defending blows. Sweat poured down his brow and as a pain shot through his side he stumbled backward away from the battle. He held his hand where the pain had been, afraid of what he would find there. It took him a second but he realized that it was only a cramp.

He stepped on the hand of one of the knights who had fallen and looked through the man's visor into his eyes, a stare there that was unflinching and hollow. "Ahhh!" Jonah yelled as he charged with his sword back into battle.

One of their enemies was bludgeoned through the back and crashed against the earth. Then another was cut off from his body at the knees where they were able to dislodge his armor.

Now about thirty knights remained alive and only three of their enemies. Suddenly Jonah spotted one of the mercenary's torches still ablaze in the center of a large stone. Moss burned on the stone's face and Jonah ran to it, picking up the torch and charging with it toward the mercenaries. He stayed out of range of the main fighting, letting the knights handle the attack, and when he saw his moment he charged at a mercenary with scales for skin and tossed the torch into the man's face.

Flames burst in the man's plated skin and he fled at once into the woods.

"Thank you," one of the knights said to Jonah as they both attacked their final two enemies.

It was only a matter of time now before the two would fall. Why they didn't turn and flee, Jonah didn't know.

One knight was decapitated by a slim attacker with four arms. Another knight was dealt a death blow through his chest. Then the two remaining enemies fell to the blades of the remaining knights. Their bodies soon would lie mutilated and lifeless on the ground.

Jonah watched the flames surging through the woods around them, searching for the enemy that had run off, or for Carn and the knights that had gone with him. Where is he? What pact have we made? Jonah thought as he breathed heavily, his sword weighing down his arms. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched from the woods.

A thick smoke poured through the trees, choking him, and he kneeled close to the ground to escape it. Are you even a man, Carn? Or are you some beast from the world beyond?

҉

Carn breathed in the smoke and ash swirling around him, basking in the heat scalding across his face. The ring in the center of his forehead burned with life. "Ye cannot escape me," he spoke to the horned mercenary just beyond the flames. He motioned to the three knights to follow him and saw them shielding their eyes from the heat with their hands. They would never survive without him, he realized.

"You follow me into flame? Surely you know you'll not survive," the horned man taunted him in a raspy voice as flames danced over his form.

"Time will tell." Carn grinned and lunged through the flames. His sword found nothing, slicing through scalding fire and air.

The mercenary laughed. Then one of the knights following Carn burst past him to attack and was run through. The man screamed and was consumed by the writhing flame beneath him.

"Stay back," Carn told the other two knights as he stepped slowly toward the mercenary. The ring on his forehead burned more with each step closer to the red-skinned, horned man. Sweat dripped down his brow then evaporated into steam. He thrust his sword once more toward the figure.

Clang! Clang! Clang! They traded blows and Carn was able to send the man farther back into the ignited woods. A gust of smoke swept past him and he breathed in its charred aroma.

"Ye forget," said Carn. "I know ye secrets. I am one of ye."

Clang! Clang! He attacked the man once more.

The red man's eyes glowed with orange rage as he fended off the blows. "I am the only one of me," the man hissed. "And I will see you dead for betraying me." A forked tongue slithered from the man's mouth and he dropped his sword into the raging fire about him. "I'll ssssee you ssssoon."

Carn's muscles burned as he swept his sword through the air. His blade hit the man, a reverberation going through him as if he had just struck the ground. Instantly his enemy turned to charred wood and then exploded into ash, wafting upwards in the air.

"I'll be waiting," Carn said and turned to find the two knights behind him still shielding their eyes from the flame. One was coughing on smoke.

"Thank you," the other knight said. "You have earned your place with us."

Carn plunged his sword through the knight's armor and into his lungs. "Ye should have stayed alert," he spoke. "I am no man's brother."

The knight choked as blood filled his lungs. He fell against a flaming tree beside him and his body was consumed by fire.

Then the other knight came at him, still coughing on smoke. Clang! Clang! They parried and the knight's sword slammed against Carn's shoulder blade and ricocheted off.

Seeing his chance, Carn lifted his sword and hacked off the knight's head. He grinned and walked over his body, stepping into the inferno around them. "What a shame to lose three men," he said. "But worth it to save this land."

He walked through pulsing flames for long moments before finding the company of knights on the trail they had taken. They had bested his fellow mercenaries and were now coughing and regrouping before moving on. The boy who had saved them on the ship kneeled on the ground. He seemed to be staring directly into Carn's eyes.

"Ye are mine, boy," Carn spoke in the swirling ash and flame. He waited another moment, and then stepped out of the flames and into the clearing.

"Carn? Is that you?" the knight he had spoken with on the ship called and came to him with a hand outstretched.

How easy it would be to cut off that arm, Carn thought. "I killed the horned one," he said as he shook the knight's hand and came into their group. "But he slew the three knights who were with me." Carn stopped and looked toward Jonah's leery eyes. "I couldn't save them."

Above them storm clouds brewed, twisting and darkening the sky.

24

A Chill in the Keep

The day before

Fields of wheat stretched for miles in all directions about Lilya as she stood, arrow cocked against her bow, her eyes focusing on a target some distance before her. Vansir and Alinar had just shot their weapons and now it was her turn.

The sun in the sky half blinded her sight as she felt the firm shaft of the arrow in her hand. She let go and in a second the arrow whizzed through the air and struck firmly in the bull's-eye beside Vansir's.

"I'll have to admit," Vansir smiled at her, "you've improved."

"For a girl," Alinar laughed.

"A girl who's outshot you," Vansir remarked. Their massive hawks stretched their wings nearby. Sunlight reflected off of their forms.

Lilya patted Alinar on the back as the man towered over her. "Let's try again. Maybe this time you'll have better luck." Since arriving at The Canyon of Eyes Lilya had been training extensively with the bow and arrow. She had learned the bow was the hawk riders' weapon of choice and thought that the skill could come in handy. "What do you say? Do you think you can outshoot a girl?" she prodded him.

Vansir chuckled under his breath and cocked an arrow of his own. It whizzed forward, striking just beside the bull's-eye. "Good luck," he told his friend.

Alinar then cocked his arrow and let it fly through the air. It struck between Vansir and Lilya's last arrows, right in the center of the bull's-eye. "It's alright, Lilya. You don't have to shoot."

She cocked an arrow and lifted her bow toward the target, peering through the sunlight at Alinar's last arrow. This would be a hard shot. In an instant she let go of the arrow and watched it splice through the air before her and into the back of Alinar's, splitting it in two.

"How did you do that?" he stared, confounded.

Lilya walked to the target and pulled her arrows out. "Well, you knew you weren't going to win. Something had to happen." Then out of the corner of her eye she saw smoke rising in the air over the trees in the distance. That was where the market was. She hoped they would have enough water there to put out the flames. "Look." She pointed at the smoke. "Can we do anything?"

"We walk such a fine line as outcasts," Vansir told her. "I want to help, but if we're discovered by your father then who knows what troubles we'll face. The market is just too close to the castle."

Suddenly shouts came from the fields in the direction of the smoke and Lilya saw a ragged boy, or was it a man, running full speed toward them.

He toppled into the wheat just before reaching her. "Help!" he cried. "Help!"

Lilya ran to his side, braced her arm beneath his shoulder and helped him up. There were dark circles around his eyes and his body shook as she supported him. He was about her age, she realized, but she had not seen him before. "What's wrong?" she asked as Vansir and Alinar joined them. "Have you come from the fire?"

"Men who are half beast attack the villages and the market." His look was that of a man who didn't fully believe what he was saying. "They say King Thomas of Havilah has sent them. The people... the people in the market, they need help. My father was slain while I escaped into the woods."

Lilya looked to the smoke rising above the trees. It was thicker now than it was when she first saw it. "We must help Cush's people, no matter the cost to us," she told her companions. "Go with your hawks and defend them. I will follow soon with Alexander and will send for others."

"How will he know?" Alinar asked.

"We have our ways," she said. "Go. Trust me."

With that Vansir and Alinar ran to their birds, climbing the birds' sides and hoisting themselves on their backs. "Good luck!" Vansir shouted over the caws of their birds as their wings stretched to their sides and they flew elegantly into the sky. Soon the pair was above the forest and headed toward the billowing smoke.

Alexander, Lilya spoke to him through her thoughts. Did you hear what this boy has said?

I've told the others in the canyon and am coming for you. Soon I will be with you.

Lilya turned to the shaking boy, now standing on his own. "You have seen and done enough," she told him. "Go from here. Run away from this battle and trust that we will do all we can to save our people."

"I must help," he said.

"You are exhausted. If you die, then what good will come of it?" She put her arms around him and tears streamed down his face and into her shirt.

He lifted his head and took a step back, trying to calm himself. "If my family and friends die and I have not done all I could to protect them then I have no reason to live."

"Come with us then," she said as she watched something red coming toward them in the sky. Soon she could make out his wings beating in the air as he soared. Alexander dipped low and thrust into the ground, his claws digging up earth as he landed.

"The boy comes with us?" he asked as his vibrant eyes looked to the young man. "Climb into my paw."

He turned over his paw and opened it for them to step into. Lilya ran to it, climbing up and reaching down to help her new companion up beside her. "What's your name?" she asked him as he joined her side, looking at Alexander in disbelief. "I might as well know it if we're flying together."

"Timothy," he said. "And yours?"

"Princess Lilya."

The boy had a look of awe in his eyes now as Alexander beat his massive wings, pushed off with his free paws against the ground and soared in the sky.

"Hold tight," Lilya told Timothy as she clutched one of Alexander's claws. The boy was blown back by the wind and lay flat against the dragon's palm. Lilya watched as the earth dropped away beneath them. Soon they soared above the forest and she saw things moving in the woods below. She smelled the smoke in the distance and saw flames leaping through the trees.

Alexander rose high in the air and the mist of a cloud passed around Lilya's body. He dipped down and curved over until he was soaring above a main roadway.

"Look!" She pointed at the road below them where people ran, some stumbling in their mad rush away from Westwood Castle and the marketplace.

"They are the lucky ones. They've escaped for now," Timothy said as he hugged tight to Alexander's palm, peering over its edge to the street below. "The things that attack us are more beast than man."

Lilya looked down to him. "We'll do what we can to hold them off," she assured him.

Alexander soared over the dirt road as more people ran away from the city beneath them.

Soon the sound of screams filled Lilya's ears and the forest opened up to reveal the market place below. The forest itself crackled with flame and she could see deformed men attacking the peddlers. "Take us closer," she told Alexander.

"Be careful," he spoke to her and dipped over the burning woods so that they were just above the market now.

Lilya took a deep breath and drew an arrow, cocking it back against her bowstring. Some of the attackers were staring up now and pointing at Alexander. "Leave my people alone!" she shouted through the smoke over the sound of screams, letting her arrow free. It struck a barbaric looking man in the back and he turned around in shock to see who had shot him. Another arrow from her bow lodged in his chest and he fell to the earth, writhing. "Leave!" she shouted as Alexander curved through the air.

She saw Vansir and Alinar in the corner of her vision, perched upon their massive hawks. The birds cried out as they dove toward the fighting below. As Vansir and Alinar shot arrows into the battle their hawks swooped in, clutched men in their talons and soared back up into the sky.

Lilya's heart dropped in her chest as she watched the birds release the men, their bodies careening to the ground and smashing into the earth.

"What do we do to stop this madness?" she asked, half to Alexander and half to no-one at all. She drew another arrow and shot it into the fighting, watching it ricochet off of a peddler's cart and into the ground.

"Soon others from The Canyon of Eyes will join us and we can drive them back, at least enough to rescue some of the peddlers and secure the castle until other help arrives."

She hadn't thought of the castle. Her father was there. Why aren't his knights out here defending their people? Is he alright? She drew another arrow and shot it into the skull of a man who was chasing a child across the field. The man instantly crashed to the ground.

"They'll start fighting us," Timothy said as he cowered in the dragon's paw, wind whipping around them. "Surely they have archers among them."

As if their enemies had heard him, arrows zipped through the air around them and Lilya ducked close to Alexander's paw. The arrows bounced off of his scales and fell back down to earth.

"I promised you that I would not harm another in your name, Lilya," Alexander spoke steadily. "I ask you to rethink that, at least for today."

"Yes. Please," she said, grasping her bow tight and standing once more. Her heart beat heavily in her chest. She loosed two more arrows into the fighting and watched the hawk riders aim their arrows and make another pass. Their birds dove and clutched men in their talons, lifting up and then letting the men crash to the earth below.

More arrows zipped past, almost striking Lilya in her hand.

"They're in the trees," Alexander said. Lilya could barely make out the forms of archers perched in the tree limbs around the market. They were concealed by smoke that plumed up from the forest. "No more," Alexander spoke and flew toward the trees, knocking Lilya off balance. "Duck and hold tight to my palm."

His vast wings shone in the sunlight as he hovered above the tree line. A wave of arrows zipped toward them as his head thrust forward and fire burst from his mouth, turning the wooden shafts to ash and devouring the treetops and the archers in them. Men wailed out in pain and dropped to their deaths below. A few more arrows shot up and Alexander let out another burst of fire.

Lilya could feel the heat of his flame licking at her skin and she crawled to the side of his palm that was farthest from the treetops. "Timothy, come here," she called to the boy and pointed toward a road leading out of the woods into the market.

Timothy quickly joined her. "Who are they?" he asked as they saw people in armor wielding axes, swords and bows charging into the market.

"They're from The Canyon of Eyes," she replied.

The boy held tight to one of Alexander's claws as the dragon pulled up in the air and flew toward the newcomers. "There are so many. How can so many people live in the canyon?"

"They live deep in caves cut out of the canyon walls." Lilya watched the group as they joined the battle, the swordsmen and axe wielders parrying blows with their enemies and the archers standing back and launching arrows from a distance. "We need to join them," she called up to Alexander.

"I'll set you down by the archers," he said while slanting to the side and soaring down toward them. "Be careful. Call for me if the fighting near you gets too intense. No matter what I'm doing I'll come for you."

He flew just behind the archers, his wings beating heavily, and Lilya and Timothy leapt down to solid earth. "Take care of yourself!" she called to Alexander as he lifted back into the sky. "Try to hold the enemy back so we can free Cush's people and make a run for the castle!"

There was no time to think, only react, as Lilya ran beside the rest of the archers. They were extremely tall, like Alinar and Vansir, and shot arrows at a rate she knew she could not match.

She kept Timothy close to her side and cocked an arrow, shooting it at one of the skulls of a two-headed man in battle with one of the canyon's people. It burst through the side of his skull, leaving the head bobbing limply while the creature's other head shot around and looked at her. The being plunged its sword into the man it was fighting and then came lumbering toward her.

"You will regret that!" he called in a scratchy tone as he spun his sword through the air.

"Aim true," Lilya spoke under her breath, drew another arrow and then let it fly at the man's second head. She missed and watched her arrow disappear into the battle before them.

The man laughed and charged her, enraged.

"Help!" Lilya shouted to the men around her as she launched another arrow and watched it bounce off of the being's armor.

It raised its sword and Lilya stumbled on a stone behind her, falling to the dusty ground. "Help!" she called again as sunlight split in sheens across her attacker's shadowlike form.

Time seemed to stand still.

This is it, she thought, bracing for death. Then suddenly the dark form of her attacker staggered, the blade of an axe piercing his stomach as he tumbled down. Standing in his place was a dwarf, one of the races of the canyon. The short, burly man clasped his hands on the axe and withdrew its bloodstained blade from their enemy.

"Thank you," Lilya said as she took Timothy's hand and stood. The dwarf nodded and then charged at another attacker, his blade clanging against the man's. "Take the sword," she told Timothy. "You'll need something to defend yourself with."

As Timothy lifted the weapon Lilya pulled an arrow back in her bow and charged through the battle until she reached Coal, the old dwarf she had met back in the caves. "Coal, we need to head to Westwood Castle!" she shouted and shot her arrow at a man coming Coal's way.

It struck the attacker in the stomach and Coal swung his axe back, deflecting the man's blade. With a second stroke of his axe Coal cut off the man's legs and the man fell to the ground, writhing as blood flowed from his body. "We have to free Cush's people!" Coal called back as Lilya pulled another arrow back in her bow.

"Leave that to me," she said. Can you hear me, Alexander? she spoke to her dragon companion through her mind.

I hear everything, Lilya. What can I do for you?

She could see his crimson form soaring through the sky above alongside the hawks. Flame exploded from his mouth to the ground. We are retreating to Westwood Castle until more reinforcements can join us. Can you hold off their forces with your flame so that Cush's people can follow us?

Gladly! That sounds like a good plan, his voice sounded in her mind as she watched him curve in the sky and come toward her.

The earth shook as he landed in an open span of ground. "People of Cush, retreat to the castle!" Alexander's voice boomed over all other noise.

"Retreat!" Coal shouted, hacking a man's shoulder with his axe. "We'll hold our position there!"

As Lilya turned to run she saw fire blasting in short bursts from Alexander's mouth. The flames landed on their enemies, scorching their bodies and freeing the remaining civilians to retreat to the castle.

With all the strength in her body she ran across the destroyed market place, leaping over the fallen bodies of her people and of the men who had attacked them. Once, her foot thumped into the chest of a dead market peddler, almost sending her to the ground. Please be with us, she found herself thinking to whatever deity was above them in the universe.

Step after step she ran for Westwood Castle's doors, sure that at any moment an arrow would find her back. Smoke filled the air about her, swimming through her lungs. There had been fire before their arrival, but she was sure that the inferno Alexander was breathing down on their enemies would destroy the forests for miles around.

She looked up as she neared the castle, happy to see that no enemies were there to stop them from entering. Her gamble was paying off. "Go inside!" she shouted as the warriors from The Canyon of Eyes flooded into the castle's doors. Lilya turned, waving her hands in the air and motioning for the civilians to follow their saviors.

"They'll break in and kill us," a worn-looking peddler with a bloody gash down his face said as he passed.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Lilya said as others ran by her. She felt for an arrow in her pack, grabbed its firm shaft and pulled it back in her bow. She aimed through the smoke at a massive man who was chasing down a child that was fleeing for the castle.

With a snap of the bowstring on her fingers the arrow flew, finding its target and lodging in his knee. "Leave him alone!" she called over the sound of flame crackling in the air and the shouts and screams coming from both sides. Lilya pulled another arrow into her bow and charged the man, moving in front of the small boy he was chasing and letting an arrow fly toward his forehead. To her surprise it ricocheted off.

Her enemy grinned, coming at her and the boy with a battle-axe.

"Run," she told the boy. "Run for the castle doors. Don't look back." She could hear the boy's footsteps bounding away behind her and she braced for the coming blow. She pulled back for an arrow and then watched as her attacker burst into flames, turning to ash and blowing away as smoke and ash into the sky.

In the smoke before her was Alexander. "No one will harm you. I've given my word."

He let down his paw and Lilya stepped into it, stunned to see their enemies keeping a clear distance from them because of their fear of what Alexander could do. "Can you take me to the castle?" she asked as he lifted her into the sky.

"Yes. You'll be safe there. I'll protect you."

The earth blurred by below them as Alexander took her to Westwood Castle's doors. As she stepped back down from his paw she looked into the market and was happy to see that no one else was coming to the castle. They were all inside.

"I'll guard the doors. Go."

"I..." she said, stopping for a second to look into his beautiful eyes. She reached her hand up and he lowered his head to her. "Thank you," she said and then kissed his scaled cheek.

"It's my pleasure. Now go."

As he turned to face a horde of enemies Lilya ran through the castle doors. "Shut them!" she called as a group of worn-out dwarves and giant looking men from the canyon shut the doors and barricaded them with chairs and tables they had brought from the main hall.

Where is father? she instinctively thought. "Has anyone seen the king or his knights?"

"Behind the throne," a young man told her as he rushed past with a plank to add to the rubble against the doors.

As she made her way toward the throne she noticed dead knights lying on the cold stone floor. No... she thought no... There were jewels littering the floor about their bodies and they had been stripped of most of their armor. Westwood Castle must have been ransacked long before we arrived.

"Father!" Lilya called out. "Father! Are you alright?"

Silence.

She ran toward the throne, her feet echoing on the floor, and then she stumbled and caught herself on the throne's back as she stared at her father's dead form lying crumpled on the floor behind the throne. He was not mutilated. In fact Lilya could barely see the small stream of blood trickling down his breastplate, but she knew instantly that he was dead.

"Father..." she almost whispered as a tear flowed down her cheek. "I did not wish..." She knelt down and braced his head with her hand, stroking his hair with her other hand.

She kissed his forehead, feeling the cold chill of his clammy skin on her lips.

25

Nova Blaze

Alexander stood his ground in front of the castle doors, looking out at the inferno consuming the forests. Those flames are mine, he thought. That destruction is mine. He breathed in the smoky air and tried to use it to cool down his body. They know what I am. He watched the mercenaries lumbering toward him. Half of their number lay dead in the market place, their bodies burned down to ash and coals.

"Let us pass, dragon!" a giant man called to him, a sword in each of his hands. The man threatened but did not approach. Surely they knew that he would kill them if they came near.

"Go back to your lands! Or go to Havilah, to your new king! But you are not welcome here! You will die if you come to me!"

"Is that ssso?" A man emerged from their number. His skin was crimson and horns stretched from his forehead toward the sky. The man walked toward him, a sword clenched in his fist. "I'd like to see thisss."

"Even you cannot pass." Alexander stepped forward and stretched his wings. His muscles burned. The fire was igniting within him.

The crimson man stopped feet away from him. "Kill me if you can. Or die at my hands. Your God cannot save you." The man lifted his blade.

God's will shall prevail, Alexander thought, opening his mouth and feeling fire sear his throat as a blast of flame burst from his mouth and consumed the man.

The flames seared the red man's skin and boils burst upon his flesh but he only grinned. "All you do is make me more powerful, dragon." His skin radiated a deep orange and white glow, flickering and almost blinding Alexander. "Now feel my wrath." Talons stretched from the man's fingers and he dropped his sword. "Death comes for you!"

Be with me, Lord, Alexander thought as his flames intensified.

The horned man's body burned white-hot as Alexander's flames beat against him, flesh peeling from his form. He held his taloned hands before him and slowly walked through the inferno, then leapt at Alexander with his claws outstretched.

"You will not prevail." Alexander lifted his paw, driving the horned mercenary to the ground and pinning him against it. "Leave from here. This is not your place." He could feel the hatred and strength in the man pulsing through him. His heart raced as the man's talons dug through his scales. Was he to die here? What more could he have done? "No!" the dragon roared.

Suddenly the man beneath his paw quaked, his body pulsing with light and fire. His talons withdrew from Alexander's scales. "I will be back. I will never die," he spoke in a rasp.

"But you will never be greater than Him." Fire consumed Alexander's sight as the man burst into white-hot nova flame. Alexander was blinded by light. His irises burned and all breath was pushed from his lungs as inferno left his lips and consumed all in its wake.

Long moments passed as Alexander wrestled in his mind to see, to feel the world about him. Heat and pain consumed his chest.

Suddenly he was back. His eyes opened to smoke consuming the air, writhing about him. The mercenary army was gone. Have I killed them? he thought. It's more likely that he's carried them away. He watched the forest blazing in the distance. He listened to the crackle of its flame and the sounds of foliage crashing to the ground.

26

Two into One

Lilya sat in Westwood Castle's main hall, leaning against a chilled stone wall close to the room's main doors. A day had passed since the battle. In that time, they had buried her father and his knights in catacombs beneath the castle and gathered whatever weapons their enemy had not taken.

She prayed they would have no more need of these weapons. Alexander spoke to her through her thoughts and told her he sensed nothing of their enemy's army since they barricaded themselves within the castle walls.

Where are they? she thought. Did she expect a response? Surely Alexander didn't listen to her thoughts at all times.

I do not know, princess, his thought came to her.

There was something else. The people they had rescued from the market began to ask her if she would be queen, now that her father was dead. She wanted nothing of it. Would she never find peace?

The sound of rain beating against the castle whispered through the hall. It had been raining for hours and the noise it made had an eerie feel. "At least the rain will help to quell the fires," she whispered to herself.

"What was that, princess?" Vansir asked. He and Alinar had instructed their hawks to keep their distance as they joined the others in the castle.

She breathed a sigh as she looked to his worried face. "It's nothing. I was just speaking to myself about the rain."

A crack of thunder echoed above them. She startled at the sound.

"We should return to the canyon," Vansir said. "If our enemy has truly left the forest near the castle then our people could be in danger."

"You can go," she said. "But I will wait until Alexander thinks it is safe to leave, not just for us but also for the people we've rescued."

"Then we will wait with you," Vansir replied as another crack of thunder shook the castle.

Lilya closed her eyes and imagined she was outside in the rain, its cool shower falling upon her form and droplets of water running down her. How peaceful it would be to be consumed by the rain and to stop worrying about anything at all.

Lilya, Alexander's voice entered her thoughts, someone is approaching us from the woods.

She opened her eyes and stood, her hand reaching for her bow. "Who?" she asked out loud, not thinking that Alexander was speaking through her thoughts.

"Who?" Vansir looked to her. "What are you asking?"

I hear them talking. It sounds like they are knights from Havilah.

Lilya relaxed her muscles. "Alexander has spoken to me through my thoughts. He says that knights from Havilah approach the castle from the woods. I wonder if it's possible that Thomas heard of the attack and sent his men to save us."

Vansir drew his bow and others around them drew their weapons as well. "I find it hard to believe that Thomas could have heard and sent men in time. Whoever is coming, I doubt it was Thomas that sent them."

"I hope for the best but fear the worst." Lilya pointed to a group of dwarves before her. "Open the doors. We will meet these men before they reach the castle."

The stalky dwarves pressed their shoulders into the castle doors, opening them wide so that Lilya could see sheets of rain falling outside, forming puddles in the market's muddy ground.

Alexander faced the woods before them, his scales a deep red as water rushed in streams down his back. Steam rolled off of his scales. "They see me," he said, then lifted into the sky.

As he flew above them Lilya stepped into the rain and looked to the tree-line in the distance. What was left of the woods looked like black bones protruding from the ground. "What has become of our world?" she asked.

"We are alive," Vansir said behind her. "That is the best that we could ask for."

Lilya squinted and held her hand above her eyes so she could better make out the tree-line. There, in the distance, she could see the men Alexander had spoken of. They wore the crimson color of Havilah. "Knights!" she shouted over the roar of the rain, certain that she could not be heard. "Who sends you?"

There was no response, none except for a burst of lighting through the sky and the boom of thunder following it. She led her company quickly through the rain. "Keep your weapons drawn in case of attack," she told them. Muddy water sloshed inside of her boots as the downpour beat down on her.

The knights in red were nearing them now and Lilya cocked an arrow back in her bow, unsure of how good her aim would be in a rainstorm. "Halt there!" she called out. "Who are you?"

The company in red stopped a distance away from them. "We are the knights of Havilah, but we do not come in the name of Thomas. Who are you?"

"We are Cush's people. How can we be sure that you are friend and not foe?" she asked and looked to the sky, seeing Alexander hovering above.

You can trust them... at least most of them, Alexander's thoughts entered her mind.

"Lilya!" a young voice called through the rain.

She lowered her bow. Who is that? Why do they sound familiar? Suddenly a thin figure came running from the group of knights toward them. As he did, her company braced their weapons high. "Let him pass," she said.

She could barely make out the figure's face as he rushed for her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Jonah," she gasped. "How in the world did you get here?"

He held her tight. "Thomas has killed my family. I am the only one still alive."

A pain shot through her chest.

Jonah took a step back and looked at her as tears and rain streamed down his face. "These men are the knights of Havilah. They have left Thomas and his mad ways. The mercenaries who have attacked you were hired by Thomas to pillage your people and their lands."

"My worst fears are realized," Lilya said, and then looked out at the silhouettes of Havilah's knights in the rain. "Come with us!" she called. "Come to our home! We will talk there! Something needs to be done about Thomas and his mad reign!"

They walked through the storm, headed back toward The Canyon of Eyes as Lilya led them. With each one of her footsteps her strength grew and so did her worry for what was to come.

27

Charity

Days later

Lilya walked through the sconce-lit darkness within the tunnels of the cliff walls. She held a basket filled with dried meats and vegetables, her legs tiring as she neared the cart they would take to one of Cush's villages. The food supplies there had been destroyed by the raiding mercenaries.

"We will do a lot of good with the food and gold we bring them," Juniper said as he followed her with a larger basket of his own. He and Cypress were to accompany her in delivering this load.

It was one of many loads of food and supplies they had given to Cush's people over recent days. She had learned the people in The Canyon of Eyes had filled large storerooms in case they ever had need for total isolation and could not come to the surface for basic necessities.

Deep in thought, Lilya finally said, "This is true," and rounded a corner, now able to see the cart she would load the remaining basket into. It set on an outstretched stone that served as a landing port for the hawks, out over the canyon's open expanse. "Forgive me, I cannot shake this mood."

The sky had been cloudy and overcast since the attack. She was sure it hadn't added to her cheerful demeanor.

She slid her basket on top of others and then helped Cypress and Juniper secure everything with a thick rope. She stepped up into an open space in the cart, closing her eyes as wind chilled her. "We're ready," she said softly as she pulled her shawl tight around her. She knew Alexander would be listening.

I'm close by, he told her through her thoughts. Try and find something to make you smile. Things will get better. Have faith.

Moments later his crimson form glided down from the sky above and he clasped onto the cart's sides with two of his massive paws.

"It's a fine day," he said as he lifted them off of the stone ledge and out of the canyon. They could see Cush's lands stretching in all directions. "Clear skies and sunny weather for us."

It was sunny. Lilya couldn't deny that. Hints of pink from the morning's sunrise still glinted off of the horizon. But where the sun would normally have lit up the beauty of Cush, it now illuminated the charred remains of Cush's forest and the desperation of her land's people. "Sun does not make the world better. It heals the earth but not its people." She slumped over and leaned her chin on her arms over the cart's side.

Open your mind, he spoke through her thoughts. If you let the sunlight in then it will help heal your soul.

They flew over the land quickly, warm winds flowing about them as they soared. Soon they were above the charred forest and Lilya could see the village they were headed to in the distance. She tried to let the sunlight on her skin help her to find some brightness in the day. "Thank you for coming with us," she told Juniper and Cypress.

"You're welcome," Juniper said as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Gladly," Cypress responded. "You need us. This is what we are here for."

They passed over the remains of the forest and then above a wide field that was half charred and still half lush with grain. Men and women ran from the village that connected to the field to greet them.

"Welcome!" one man shouted up to them.

"Thank you! Thank you!" a woman cried as her son ran beside her.

Alexander swooped down and gently set the cart in the charred part of the field. He took off then, not wanting to make the villagers nervous.

"Come!" Lilya called to them. "Help us unload these goods! There is meat to nourish you, clothes to keep you warm and gold for you to trade for whatever else you may need!"

The townsfolk surrounded them, hands outstretched. They took what was given to them and were thankful for the gifts she brought. They did not know who she was.

"Is this from the king?" a farmer asked as Lilya passed a basket of dried meats into his soil stained hands.

"The king was killed in the attacks," Lilya told him. She had torn feelings about her father's death. She could never forgive him for the things he allowed to happen to her, but he was her father. There was a kind of love for him even if she couldn't show it on the surface. "Don't worry. We will be alright. I am from The Canyon of Eyes. There are people there most of Cush's people never knew existed. We have enough stores put back to sustain Cush and rebuild it to what it once was."

"Who will rule us?" he asked. "Is there someone from where you're from that will be our new king?"

Lilya handed a basket of bread to another farmer. She thought for a moment. "No-one will rule us. We will rule ourselves. Do we need a king to rule, to take our food and tax our lands? What did the king do except take from us what we grew and owned?"

The farmer looked away, as if she was speaking blasphemy and he could be punished just for listening.

"He is dead. No-one can harm you," she told him. "There will possibly be a council to decide how to pay for repairing roads and keeping peace. That is all we need."

"Someone will always rise to power," the farmer said. "What if the king's daughter returns to rule?"

She knew better. She never wanted to be queen, not of Cush or Havilah or any other land. Because she had rights to the throne she hoped she would be able to set up a new form of governing, one where the people ruled themselves. "Do not worry. You can trust me. Our people will lead themselves."

When the baskets of food had been distributed Lilya spoke to Alexander through her thoughts once more as his crimson body swooped down out of the clouds above. Did you find anything here to brighten your day?

She stared up at his beautiful form, his muscles pulsing as he beat his wings in the sky. Then she looked to the villagers surrounding her and giving their thanks and good wishes. It is a new day, she thought as sunlight warmed her face. We can create something good out of this destruction.

"You were right, Alexander," she said softly. "All I needed to do was open my eyes so I could see the good around me." Was that a smile she saw pass across his scaled lips as he dipped down toward them?

Two of Alexander's paws clasped onto their cart and the ground fell away from them as he carried them into the clouds.

"Toward home to pick up another load?" Cypress asked as they flew toward the canyon.

Lilya looked out over Cush. Even with the burned forests in all directions below them she still found beauty in this land. Birds sang below.

They flew for a minute and then her sight set on Westwood Castle in the distance. It stood there, appearing untouched by the destruction in the land before it. Something within her made her want to go there. Maybe it was nostalgia, she couldn't say. "Could we go to the castle?" she asked.

Cypress came to stand next to her, looking out at the building in the distance. "Surely we can take a break between loads. It would probably be good to look in on the few people remaining in the castle as well."

"I'll gladly take us there," Alexander said as he turned them around and winds swirled from the course change, around her body.

What had made her want to go there? They came upon the castle quickly and Alexander set their cart down in the destroyed marketplace. Charred bones still littered the ground. He landed beside them, churning soil beneath his paws.

"I'm going inside," Lilya said as she walked toward the castle doors. They were half open.

"We'll come with you, princess," Juniper said as he and Cypress followed closely behind.

She walked through the doors, not even touching them, and looked to the vaulted ceiling above. It climbed upward and ended in a point. "A lot has changed since I left this place," she said and listened to her echo in the hall.

Then, against the far wall, she saw a boy sitting in a chair underneath a sheet of fabric. "Hello," she called to him. "What are you doing?"

She went closer and saw this was the same boy she had rescued during the attack. He had stayed behind and said his parents farmed lands close to the castle. "Why are you here?" she asked.

The boy looked up shyly and smiled when he saw who she was. "I'm working on something," he said. "Would you like to see?"

She noticed a needle in his hand and a string of thread stretching from it to the fabric on his lap. The boy was sewing.

"Yes. I'd love to." She stood next to him.

The boy proudly turned over the fabric and held it up for her to see. It was a banner of a woman holding a bow and arrow, as if ready to let the arrow fly.

Is that me? It is. She was speechless. "Thank you." She kissed him on the forehead. "I am so honored." She looked to the wall above them, to the banner of the man with a bone white sword. That was the banner she had looked to when she was being chased by the knight so many months back.

I wanted him to be alive, to be here to save me, she thought and smiled. I was that knight when I saved this boy. He sees me that way. I will stand and protect others when they are in need.

28

Sloth

A dim stream of daylight struck through the curtains in Thomas's bed chamber. It illuminated the ground as he lay in bed holding onto the pulsing flesh of a half-eaten fig. The sweetness of its juices still permeated his mouth from a bite he had taken a half-hour ago.

He didn't want to move his muscles or speak. All he wanted to do was rest. He closed his eyes and let himself be consumed by the darkness.

Minutes passed... then hours.

In his distant consciousness he could feel the steady pulse of the half fig in his palm.

"...Sire..." a voice came to him.

Who, he thought.

"...the mercenaries have returned from Cush and Assyria with gems and goods pillaged from their lands. You should see..."

Thomas let himself be taken once more by the darkness.

"...Sire..."

"Leave... me..." Thomas mumbled without opening his eyes.

"...your people..." the voice returned.

Dora's voice was in the room then. "...leave our king to rest..." she spoke in a softened hiss. "...he wishes to be alone. All will still be well when he awakes..."

Silence. He almost gave in to the darkness. He would sleep forever and all would be well.

"...Thomas..." Dora's voice came. "...eat the fruit, and then rest..."

It took everything in his body to lift the pulsing fruit to his mouth. Dreariness seemed to seep through the fruit and into his veins.

"...eat..." Dora spoke again.

He slid the fleshy fruit past his lips and chewed it slowly, drifting off into the darkness of slumber as he ate it. He could sleep with it in his mouth. It was time to rest.

"...good..." Dora said. She traced his forehead with her long fingernails. "...have sweet dreams, Thomas. I will watch over you..."

...darkness...

...sleep...

...rest...

҉

Dora stood at the edge of his bed as he gave in to nothingness, completely away from the world for days.

29

Diligence

The sun beat down on Lilya's back as she hammered a nail into the hull of a half constructed wooden vessel. She had been outside all day working on the construction of many ships and was sweating in the heat. They were constructing the ships to sail to Havilah.

It had been decided that something had to be done to stop Thomas's madness. They would build and train an army to join Assyria's knights in overthrowing Thomas and his mercenaries. Some of Cush wanted revenge, not Lilya. She had left the people of Havilah alone to deal with their mad king. She knew her heart wouldn't stop hurting for Havilah's people until something was done to rescue them from Thomas's rule.

Clang! Clang! The sound of swords clashing rang through the air from an open field close by where men and women were training to swordfight. The knights from Havilah had taken up the task of training Cush's civilians. They parried in the sunlight, thrusting swords against thick leather armor as they dealt blows.

"Watch the corner of your vision!" she could hear one knight calling to a man he was sparing with. "In a battle a second opponent could come at any time!"

Lilya picked another nail from the basket at her feet and held its tip against a plank being added to the boat's hull. She swung her hammer against the nail and pounded the nail tight into place. "Will these hold?" she turned and asked an elderly ship builder from the river town at Cush's edge.

"Aye, they will," the old man responded as he moved his fingers along the wood. "My family been building ships to sail this river since before Cush been formed. We'll pour a mud mixture between her planks to hold her firm."

Sweat dripped down Lilya's brow as she picked up another nail and drove it into the board. She took a step back. That board was firmly in place now. "One more board down," she said. "Where can I help next?"

"I could use your help bringing this one to the ship," Vansir said, leaning down to pick up the end of a massive board.

"I'll be right there." She walked to the other end of the board and dug her fingers into the earth beneath its end so she could get a better grasp. "One, two, three," she counted and hoisted the board into the air. Her muscles burned as she walked it to the side of the ship with Vansir and was greeted by ship builders who helped them fit it into place.

"Hold it firm. Bend it to the hull's form," one of the men said as she held the board with all of her strength. Soon several men were hammering around her and she could feel the board molding to the boat's side. "I can't believe we're building boats, that I'm helping to build boats. That's one thing I never thought I'd find myself doing," she said.

"Well, you're doing a fine job," a skilled ship maker beside her said as he drove nails into the board.

Soon the board was fixed to the ship's side and Lilya took a moment of rest beneath a large tree by the river's edge. She watched the water ripple as a cool breeze skimmed over it. The breeze felt good in the day's heat. "A part of me wishes Thomas was the man he seemed to be when I met him," she spoke to herself as she heard the clanging of swords close by. "He seemed so genuine."

A fish leapt from the river water and splashed back down from where it had come.

"Lilya!" Amari called as she heard his footsteps plodding toward her. "Come and spar with me! You've been working on the ships all day! Surely you need a change of pace and some practice with the sword!"

She braced her hand against the tree's trunk that she had been sitting under and slowly stood. Her muscles ached, but he was right, she could use some practice with the blade. "I'll whoop you. You know that, don't you?" she grinned.

"We haven't sparred for a few days," he smiled back. "I've learned a few things. You might be surprised."

Lilya walked beside the boat she had been working on and hefted a sword she had taken from the ground at Westwood Castle. "I'm going to teach Amari a lesson," she told Vansir. "But I'll be back later to help with the boat."

"I'm glad it's him and not me," Vansir said as he hefted a board from the ground with the help of another man. "I've seen you with a bow and arrow. If you're half as good with the sword as you are a marksman, then Amari is in for a swift defeat."

Lilya ran with the sword toward the field where the others were practicing. There were at least a hundred people practicing here, breathing heavily with exhaustion as their swords clashed. She wondered what was more tiring, building ships or sparring with swords. Probably sparring, she conceded.

A pile of leather armor lay nearby and she picked up a vest and arm and leg guards to protect her in case Amari slipped and hit her with his sword. "Can you help me get these on?" she asked him and he came to help her tie them onto her form.

She held her sword at waist level as he lifted his own once more. She had sparred a few times as of late and decided the bow and arrow was definitely her weapon of choice. Most swords were just too heavy to use for long and the lighter swords were easier to maneuver but were of little use when a larger sword clashed with them.

Lilya and Amari parried around the field, their eyes locked, as each of them looked for the perfect time to strike. Sunlight gleamed off their blades.

Suddenly Amari thrust for her and she jumped back, making sure she had steady footholds before she made an attack with her own blade.

Clang! Amari met it with his blade. Clang! Clang!

Lilya spun around, lifted her sword up and brought it down on top of Amari's blade. Clang! "Don't go easy on me," she told him as she knocked him off balance. "I fenced during my years in Westwood Castle. I may surprise you."

"I'm not going easy," Amari said as he stumbled backward and caught his footing. He took a step forward and swung his sword toward her. It was met by her blade. Clang! The sound of the blades colliding rang across the field.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Again and again Lilya fended off his blows. She struck at Amari and hit only air, the movement and weight of her blade throwing her off balance. She could see his sword coming down at her from above.

With all her strength she lifted her sword back into the air and struck his blade, knocking it away. Clang! Lilya breathed heavily and took the upper hand as she struck Amari's sword again and again, driving him back into the field. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

A worried look was on the boy's face. Is he close to defeat? She struck her sword toward him and he leaned back, totally avoiding the blow and lifting his sword out of her sword's way. She kept her balance and struck his blade with hers as he swung it in attack. Clang!

Amari's blade scraped from hers and he kept pressure behind it, sending it into her leg guard. He pulled it back just as it touched so she could barely feel the effect.

Lilya breathed a startled breath and retreated, still facing him. Her sword was braced at waist level as she anticipated any attack. In a battle I could have lost my leg, she shuttered. Or it's possible that my armor could have saved me. She needed to be more aware. Despite the weight of her sword she was handling it well. It's the unknown factors I need to be more aware of, she realized.

Amari came toward her with his sword braced for attack. "Are you alright?" he asked sincerely.

"I'm fine," she said. "But that was a close one." She held her ground and he did the same. "Don't give me a breather. If this was a real battle then I wouldn't get to catch my breath. We need practice for the real thing."

Amari grinned and came at her with his sword once more.

Clang! Clang! She defended his blows and felt the sword reverberating in her grasp. Her arms were sore. She quickstepped to the right and brought her blade down into his. Clang!

He sliced his sword for her legs again and she stopped it with her own. Clang!

She saw her chance and spun to the side. Before Amari could react she sliced her sword toward his waist and it dug into his leather armor, knocking him to the ground.

Amari lay there, breathing heavily. He looked panicked and then grinned. "Phew. That was rough. I give in. You win."

Lilya came to stand beside him. "You had me when you struck my leg. Let's call it even."

They were both breathing deeply. Lilya sat down in the grass beside Amari, then lay back and looked at the clouds as she felt her sword beside her. "I hope we're prepared when we meet Thomas's army."

"You were prepared when you fought the mercenaries in the marketplace," Amari said as he watched the others practicing.

"Yes, but I've had some training. So have you. Most of Cush's people have been farmers and tradesmen their whole lives. I wonder if we'll be able to train them well enough to stand their ground against the mercenaries when we meet them. We need to do something to help the people of Havilah. But the cost could be high."

Amari wiped sweat from his brow. "Princess, you know most of the people of Cush are going to war with Thomas for revenge, don't you? If they hadn't attacked us then Cush's people would be content to let Thomas reign."

Lilya sat up and clutched the hilt of her sword. "Whatever reason they fight, Thomas's cold heart will be removed from Havilah and he will no longer be allowed to hurt its people." She stood, pushing herself up with her sword. She extended a hand down to Amari and he took it, using it to rise.

"I have two reasons to fight Thomas," Amari said. "I fight for Havilah and I also fight to avenge Clare. He will regret what he did to her. I'll see to that."

"How is she?" Lilya asked.

Amari's face was reddening with the heat of the day. "She is depressed. She accepts me and I share most hours by her side but she never leaves The Canyon of Eyes. I was hopeful the rainbow we saw from the boat's deck would cheer her and help her through this, but she still seems consumed by what Thomas did to her."

Lilya put her hand on his shoulder. "She will come around. Give her time. I should visit her more. The world has changed so rapidly that I haven't had time to come and be with her. It shouldn't matter what we go through in the world, we should find time to be there for our friends no matter what."

"I'm sure she'll love to see you. Try and convince her to get some sunshine. I know that would help to lift her spirits. I don't know what I'll do when we go to attack Havilah. I don't know how I'll leave her side."

Lilya held her hand above her eyes, blocking the sunlight so that she could see Amari's eyes clearly. "Maybe you should stay with her. We need people to defend the canyon anyway. And she needs you. What if something happens to you in battle? How would she be without you?"

They were silent for a few minutes as they walked together outside the practice area. "I may." He looked at two men sparring close by. "But I'll feel guilty about letting others fight when I do nothing."

"Sometimes the most important things are not the wars we wage, but what we do for the ones we love." Lilya drew a deep breath and could smell honeysuckle in the air. "Care to spar again? I think I'm getting my second wind."

Amari scratched the back of his head. "I think one defeat at your hands is enough for me for one day. I'll take a few more minutes catching my breath and then go to work ship building."

"Suit yourself." Lilya smiled as she swirled her sword in the air.

"I'll duel with you, princess," Carn's low voice called to her as he advanced across the field. He wore no armor and clutched a sword that was twice her sword's size. "If you are practicing to go into battle with men from beyond the Euphrates River, then perhaps you should try your skill with a man from that place." Carn grinned as he approached. The circle in the center of his forehead glowed. His rock-like shoulder muscles ground against each other as he moved.

"Don't," Amari almost whispered to her. "You know the things Jonah has told us about him. Carn's just as likely to kill you in practice as he is in battle."

"I can hear you, boy," Carn said as he stabbed the ground with his sword. "Haven't I earned your respect by defending Cush against my people? What more do I have to do?"

"I don't trust him," Amari said.

"I'll spar with you," Lilya stepped into an open area of field, her sword held waist high before her. "You won't harm me, even if you want to. There are too many armed people here. They would kill you."

Carn laughed lowly as he withdrew his sword from the earth. "Very few men could kill me. I'd like to see them try." He slashed his sword through the air and displayed the sheer power in his arms. "Shall we?"

Lilya backed away and sized him up. What would be the best way to attack a man this large? "Don't you want to put on armor?" she asked.

"Ye won't land ye blade," he assured her. "And don't worry if ye do. My hide is as tough as stone. Ye cannot harm me."

He took a step toward her and she took another step back. She was clearly outmatched. Run. That was the thought racing through her mind. Run. There is no way to beat him. She held her stance, ready for his first blows.

Clang! His sword smashed down into hers and she was knocked back. She felt her heels dig into the ground as his blade forced hers downward. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! He beat blow after blow against her sword. She was certain her sword would break with one of his attacks and his sword would lodge in her stomach. With the pressure in his blows she knew the leather vest she wore wouldn't stop his attacks.

"I thought ye would have some fight in ye," Carn said as he rained down another blow.

Clang! She almost dropped her sword with the weight of the strike. She had to escape, had to give herself a second to think and reason a way of defeating him. Clang! She deflected another blow.

Lilya stumbled backward and then dodged Carn's blade. It came close to her head and she suddenly wasn't so sure he wouldn't kill her. She swept her sword toward his leg and he easily defended it away. Clang!

Carn took a step back and she saw her chance. Lilya pivoted and ran quickly across the field, weighed down by the leather armor strapped to her. Better some protection than no protection, though, she thought and looked to both sides, trying to think of a way to best Carn. There had to be something she could do.

"She runs!" Carn called. "Are ye not even man enough to stand ye ground, princess?"

Lilya looked over her shoulder to see Carn lumbering after her. Sometimes the way to win is not to stand your ground, but to find a different way. A large oak stood at the edge of the clearing and she ran for it. Half of the tree was lush with leaves and the other half was charred black from the blaze. The fact that half of the tree had lived was encouraging to her. It was proof of something overcoming a force much greater than it.

She ran to the tree's side and turned to face Carn.

"She stops. Ye will regret that. Ye should have hidden in the woods," he said as he came to her. Carn walked slowly toward her and held his sword high.

Lilya stepped behind the oak's massive trunk and listened for Carn's movements. With each step he took she stepped away from him around the trunk, waiting for him, for the perfect time to make her move.

"I should have known ye would do something like hide behind a tree," she heard him say. "I'll get ye. If I have to cut this tree down with my sword I'll win this duel."

"You may have to," Lilya smiled as she spoke, "because I'm not coming away from this tree until you leave."

Carn let out a deep noise as he slammed his blade into the tree, sending bark flying. He hacked again and again at both sides of its trunk.

There was no way he'd be able to hack through the tree but she was humored to see him trying. Lilya slid her sword between her back and the leather armor and gripped onto the bark. This will have to go just right, she thought as she climbed the tree's bark and limb stubs that protruded from its trunk. She was counting on the fact Carn would continue chopping his sword into the tree. The noise would allow her to climb without him hearing her.

Soon she was up in the tree and hidden in its remaining leaves. Lilya perched stealthily.

Crack! Crack! Carn hacked his blade into the tree as more bark flew from where it hit.

The limb beneath her shook with each hit. I need to get above him, she thought and grabbed a limb to her side, pulling herself up on it. She walked back on the limb toward the trunk and walked out onto another limb close by that stretched over Carn.

Crack! Crack! "Come out, girl!" Carn called and stood for a second, staring at the tree. "Ye won't get away."

Lilya barely breathed as she drew her sword from the leather armor. If he moved then her plan wouldn't work. She had to do this now. She took a deep breath and then stepped off of the limb with the sword's blade pointed to the sky.

Thump, she slammed the sword's hilt on the top of his skull as she fell and Carn crumbled to the ground beneath her. Lilya stumbled backward as she landed and caught her footing.

Carn didn't move but the circle in the center of his forehead still glowed a faint orange. Was he alright? She hadn't meant to kill him.

"Uhh..." the large man grunted as he stretched his hands and moved his head to the side. "Uhh..."

"Sometimes wit wins the day," Lilya said as she backed away. "I'll take this as a win."

"Uhh... wha...?" Carn grunted again and searched the ground for his sword as Lilya ran back to the sparring field.

҉

Later, as she was finishing off the work on the ship she had worked on earlier in the day, Lilya told Amari about how she had bested Carn. The sun was setting in the sky and a pink hue glistened off the river.

"I'm sure he never saw that coming," Amari said as he helped her apply a mixture to the boat's hull that would help waterproof it. "How did you think of that?"

Lilya smiled as she dipped a sponge into the water-repellent substance and wiped the ship's boards. They glistened as the dense liquid set on them. "I knew I wouldn't win a regular sword fight against him. He has a lot more experience and is so much stronger. So I tried to think of what he normally would come up against in a fight. Then I did everything but that."

Amari dipped his sponge and then applied the substance to the ship. "Well, I don't know if a tactic like that would work on the battlefield. But if we think the way you do then we may just stand a chance against Thomas's forces."

Lilya reached high and spread the substance on the boards above them. "However things happen, I just hope what is right and just is what we achieve."

They worked on the ship through the setting of the sun, later than most of the ship builders, and as the last hue of light faded to darkness, Lilya picked up the shaft of an unlit torch and lit it on a fire they had built up close by. "Care for a flight back?" she asked Amari as he covered their bowl of water repelling substance. "Alexander said he'd fly us back to the canyon when we were done for the night."

"Gladly," Amari said as he joined her side and walked toward the riverbank. "I can't wait to get back to Clare and eat a nice meal. Maybe I'll cook up one of the cave's jellyfish tonight. It sure is nice to have Alexander so we can fly back and don't have to live in tents here like the others while we prepare."

As they reached the river bank Lilya looked out at the reflections of the stars on the water. "We're ready for you," she said, knowing Alexander was listening.

I'm close by, his words came to her thoughts and she watched as a small red light appeared in the darkness where she knew a mountain range was in the distance.

"He'll be here soon," she told Amari as the light slowly became larger and larger.

"I think he cares for you as more than a friend," Amari said.

She turned to him in the torch's firelight. "Why would you say that?" she asked. She was more surprised than anything. How could a dragon have feelings for a woman?

"It's the way he looks at you, the way he speaks to you. I swear I've even seen him blush before when you were together."

The torch flame crackled and Lilya could hear frogs singing along the riverbank. She didn't want to say anything. She knew Alexander was listening. Now that she thought about it though, Alexander had seemed different with her than with other people. "I've told him before. I will love no man."

But is he truly a man? Could I stop myself if I did love him? She could choose to not show her emotions but she knew Alexander would know. "Maybe," she said. "Maybe."

As Alexander's light neared them Amari smirked at her. "Maybe? What does that mean?"

"Hello, Lilya," Alexander said as he dipped down to them and hovered above the river. A flame was lit in his mouth. That was what she had seen as he came to them. "It's good to be with you again. And Amari? I'm sure you both are ready to be home."

Amari stretched his arms. "I won't lie, it's been a long day." He looked to Lilya and smiled as he walked toward the river and stepped into Alexander's extended paw.

"It's good to see you too, my friend," Lilya said as she walked into his palm's embrace. "It'll be good to get back to the canyon and relax."

Lilya laid down on Alexander's palm as he flew into the darkness. Her torch blew out as winds rushed by. She rested her head on him and felt his skin warming her. She was so comfortable with him, so happy. Is Amari right? Does Alexander have feelings for me? There was something oddly comforting about the thought, something solid and calming.

Below them Lilya could see fires on the ground speckling the night. People sat around them or danced. I want someone to dance with, she thought and looked up to see Alexander's form flowing above her as he pulsed his wings. I could never love a man. But could I love Alexander? Could he be my dance partner?

Lilya continued to lie in the warmth of his palm, watching the night fly by. Soothed and calm, she slowly fell asleep in his embrace.

30

The Dragon's Words

Days later

Lilya was in a large hall that was carved out of the inside of The Canyon of Eyes. She sat on a stool beside Clare and Amari, listening to merry flutes playing with drums and maracas pulsing a beat. A woman and man's voices sounded beautiful in the hall as they sang together.

She had helped get this occasion together and hoped Clare would come. It seems to be lifting her spirits, she thought as she drank from a glass of grape juice and popped a vanilla pastry into her mouth. It's good for all of us. We needed something to think about other than preparations for war.

"Look at them dance!" Amari interrupted Lilya's thoughts as he pointed to a man spinning a woman on the dance floor. The man pulled her close and gave the woman a kiss. "I wish I could dance like that."

Lilya smiled. "All you have to do is let your body move with the rhythm. The flow of the music will come to you and carry you if you just give in to the music."

"Clare?" Amari bumped the girl with his elbow. "Does milady care to dance?"

Lilya bobbed her head to the beat of the maracas and tapped a toe on the stone floor.

"I don't know how to dance," Clare said and half smiled. It was more of a smile than they'd seen from her for months now.

"Come on," Lilya nudged her. "Surely he won't step on your feet too many times. There's nothing like a good song to fill your soul."

Amari nudged her again, then stood and offered his hand. "Please, milady."

"Alright," she half grinned again and took his outstretched hand.

He pulled her up from her stool and as they made their way to the dance floor Amari turned back to look at Lilya. "You should come dance too, you know? I'm sure Cypress and Juniper would gladly dance with you. And I'll bet Clare would spare my two left feet for a dance later as well."

"I promised I'd meet Alexander before sunset," Lilya said as she watched Amari swaying Clare to the music. "You too love birds have fun. If I'm back before the end of the dancing maybe I'll take you up on your offer."

"Alexander?" Amari grinned and gave her a sappy-eyed look.

"You're so full of it," Lilya responded as she stood, snatched a half-loaf of bread from the table nearby and headed for the hall's doors. She wouldn't give Amari the satisfaction of seeing her grin before she left. She had to admit her heart was fluttering a little bit though. A dragon? As a young girl I never would have believed a creature like that could get my heart going like this.

She walked through the hallway beyond the meeting hall and thought about the word "creature" as she admired the evening sunlight stretching through the hallway's windows and resting on the floor around her feet. He was a creature, something totally different from men, and yet what he was, was something so much more than them.

Lilya looked out of one of the windows as she passed it, glancing down at the ocean waters crashing off the canyon walls below. What a beautiful place, she thought as she tore a piece of bread from the half-loaf she carried, feeling the crust crumble as she tore it apart. She enjoyed the rich flavor of the bread as she chewed it. Alexander said he had something different planned. I wonder what he has in mind.

He told her to wear strong shoes but wouldn't say more about what they were doing. All he would say is it would be something that was both relaxing and would make her smile.

As she left the windowed area, Lilya took a torch from a bracket on the wall and walked through the dark corridors of the cave passageways. She wove through halls, sometimes illuminated by jellyfish swimming in pools of water close by and sometimes connecting to passageways that were as dark as any abyss of the world.

She knew where she was going. Lilya walked toward Alexander's chamber, the one he shared with the canyon's eagles. She had walked this route so many times she could maneuver it with her eyes closed.

Lilya, Alexander's voice entered her thoughts as she neared him. It's good to have you near.

She wove through a corridor that slowly lit with sunlight. As she entered the chamber she braced the torch in an empty bracket on the wall. "Hello, friend," Lilya said as she entered, admiring his beautiful crimson form as he stood before her. "So what did you have in mind for us to do?"

Alexander smiled. "It waits by the river for us. Would you care to come with me?" He extended his paw for her to climb into and she came to him and climbed into his embrace.

"What are we doing there?" She held onto one of his claws as he lifted them into the air and out of the cave's mouth. She watched the eagles moving restlessly over their massive nests.

"If I told, then that would take away part of the fun."

The evening sun shone gently in the sky as they flew above Cush's lands. Lilya breathed in the fresh air flowing past them. She held her hand out to catch more of the wind, then tore a piece of her bread free and savored the richness of its taste. "I wish we could share a picnic together," she told Alexander, "and you could enjoy the richness of the meal's flavors with me."

"I get to enjoy time with you." His wings beat strongly above her as he dipped them over the treetops and down into a clearing that extended to the river Gihon. "The rich flavor of our time together and the thoughts and words we share are much more important to me than anything else."

Sometimes he knows just what to say, she thought. Sometimes he takes my breath away.

Alexander landed gently in the clearing, barely disturbing the earth, and Lilya stepped out of his paw as he lowered it.

She looked around but could see nothing different. "What are you up to?" she asked.

"Walk with me to the river," he told her. "You'll see it there."

Lilya walked toward the water's edge and looked around her, expecting to see something.

As she walked, Alexander walked beside her. "Stand there and wait," he said as he reached the water's edge and lowered his head, almost touching it to the river. He opened his mouth and Lilya could see something that looked almost like steam rolling across his lips.

It was getting colder and she heard a crackling sound coming from the river. It sounds like... but surely it can't be. Lilya watched as Alexander's breath curled from his lips onto the river and the river slowly glossed over, turning into a sheet of ice. Amazing, she thought as she took a step toward the ice. Frost had covered the riverbank as well.

No. Wait. Let me finish it first so it is safe for you, he spoke through her mind.

Lilya stood and watched as Alexander breathed bits of frozen air onto the ice river's surface. Finally he stopped, lifted his head and turned to her with a smile.

"A sheet of ice for you to skate on," he offered her.

"How did you do that?" she asked. "I thought you breathed fire."

"There is something in me that allows me to breathe fire. I can change it; alter it so that I can produce extreme cold instead. I remembered once when you told me of a winter that was so cold it froze the river. You spoke of how much you enjoyed sliding across it. I wanted to recreate that time for you."

"You remember the simplest things, and yet they mean so much." Lilya walked to the river's edge, the soles of her feet crunching the frosted grass beneath them. She reached a finger out over the river and touched the ice. It was the most surreal sensation to feel the extreme cold of the ice and yet the warmth of the day radiating on her back.

"It won't remain solid for long," Alexander warned her, "only until the sun sets at best. I will watch the river and tell you if I see it weakening."

"Thank you," Lilya said as she stepped out onto the ice and slid across its surface. The frozen water didn't stretch the entire river, of course, but only about the length of Alexander's body. It took Lilya a few moments to get her bearings on the smooth surface but soon she slid all over the ice and swirled in circles a few times as she marveled at the substance beneath her. "The last time the river froze I was a little girl," she said. "I wanted it to remain that way forever but the fishermen only complained they were losing valuable time at their trade."

"There will always be time to work in the future. It is best to enjoy the little moments when they come." Alexander lay down beside the river and rested his head on his paws.

Lilya slid across the ice toward him, pushed off on the bank and slid the other way. An hour passed as she enjoyed the ice. She fell down only a few times and lifted herself right back up. When her hands touched the frigid substance she wished she could box some of it up to keep after the rest had melted. She knew it was a silly thought though.

Soon she looked to the sky and saw the pink hues of sunset racing across the clouds above. She leaned over and traced a fingertip on the smooth ice. Cool water collected on it from the melting surface.

"It won't be safe to be on much longer," Alexander said as he lifted his head and blew a chill air out over the frozen river. "Would you watch it evaporate with me?"

"That sounds wonderful," Lilya said as she moved her shoes on the smooth substance and slid across to where the bank met the ice. She lifted herself up onto the bank and walked to Alexander's side.

"Lie on my wing," he offered and curled it for her to relax on.

Lilya eased herself back against his wing and slid her fingers across the side of one of her shoes. She watched as fragments of ice crystal melted against her skin and evaporated as steam into the air. "What a beautiful night. Thank you so much." She could feel Alexander's heartbeat through his wings.

She watched as the sun set and was barely visible in the sky before them. Darkness would come soon. Steam rose from the river as the sheet of ice broke into smaller pieces and melted into the river once more. A cool breeze wafted from the river's shore.

"Do you know what I find so amazing?" she asked.

"What?"

"You remember everything. You remember my likes, dislikes and my dreams. You do things to make me smile because of what you know of me. You remembered I like to paint and loved the ice and you brought me those things. No matter what's going on, you find ways to make me smile. That's amazing. No man has ever been like that for me."

"It's my pleasure. You deserve that. I want to bring you happiness and a warm heart."

Lilya looked to the stars and enjoyed the warmth of being embraced in Alexander's wing. "Do you know what I remember? I remember you said you compose poetry. I'd like to hear your words sometime."

"Perhaps I could share a poem with you that has begun in my mind," Alexander said as he turned his head to look at her. The sunset reflected off of his beautiful eyes.

"I would love that," Lilya told him as she pulled closer into his warmth. A cool breeze swept over her. Lilya closed her eyes, listening intently for Alexander to begin.

"The wind

I feel it come to me

so close

I feel it bring me

its hope

And you and me,

We close our eyes and dream.

There's something magical in your touch

something unique

between us

And I find

sometimes it's hard to breathe

An emotion

swells in me

It blooms

It fills me with the scent of you

And I can't help but be revived tonight

The sunset in the distance glows

reminds me of

your beautiful soul

Your head rests on me, just so

And I feel both the race, and stop of time

Lovely Lady

Purest heart

whose eyes I see amongst the stars

I find I seek forever

together with your mind

In all the world I've wandered

In all the life I've lived

Not have I found another

whose heart

fits mine like this

I'm speaking to the heavens,

to the world which rests above

and find them whispering back

this one word"

Suddenly Alexander was silent. Lilya still lay in his wings, her eyes closed. What a beautiful poem, she thought. And even though her eyes were closed she could feel Alexander turn his head to look at her. Did he think she was asleep?

"love."

The poem was complete and Lilya felt warmth flowing through her. He loves me. She smiled as she lay with her eyes closed. I think I love him too. Her words weren't spoken. But somehow she knew Alexander understood.

Crickets sang. Frogs croaked along the river bank. Alexander held Lilya through the night as darkness came and they both dreamed.

31

The Seventh Fruit

Thomas stood in his gardens, his eyes searing with pain as he clutched a ruby cane, bracing himself to stand. The sun... It was so hot. He felt as if his body would burst into flames at any moment. The poison from the snake in Cush remained in his blood. He knew it. His blood burned and pulsed within him. "I thought this fruit was supposed to heal me," he spoke to Dora as she followed close behind him.

Pan Dora clutched the oaken box that contained the final fig. "They will, sire," she spoke in a scratched voice. "You must complete what you have begun. Once you have eaten the final fruit then all your aches will be healed." She was silent for a moment and crushed a caterpillar beneath her shoe. "You will live forever."

Thomas bent over and touched the hot stone table of a fountain near him. "I'm not sure I believe you any longer." A sharp pain swam up his spine. "Ahh..." he moaned. "But what choice do I have?"

"Do not worry, sire." Dora placed her boney hand on his shoulder and he felt pain leave the spot beneath her touch. "You can trust me. You will be healed."

Something in Thomas's gut clenched. His head pulsed and he could barely operate his mind. His eyes were forced shut.

When he opened them, forced through searing pain, he found he was curled on the ground before the fountain and shivering with sweat.

"Take thisss," Dora said as she lifted the final fig from the oaken box and held it out to him. The thing pulsed in her hand.

"No..." Thomas fought for clarity but could barely keep his body from collapsing completely on the ground. He tried to crawl away from her.

"Eat it." Some strange possession entered her voice as she clasped his hand and held it to the fig's flesh. "Eat it. Do as I say."

The fig's life pulsed through him and was combined with something he had never felt before. His veins throbbed with the fruit's heartbeat. What was that feeling? Would eating this last fruit cause him to live forever? "I will never die," he spoke as the pain in his body numbed.

Thomas was losing his grasp on something but he couldn't tell what. Oh well, he thought. Nothing is more important than life. He brought the fruit up to his lips as he leaned against the fountain's base. As he bit into it he tasted the succulent juices of the thing and longed to chew its flesh, to feel it within him. Soon he was savoring the chewy meat of its body in his jaws and swallowed it down, embracing the healing life that flowed back through his body.

Warmth flowed through his chest as he stood. The pain was gone. "Finally I am healed," he said. But some emotion was growing within him, something deeper and more powerful than anything he had felt before. His heart raced. He felt the blood vessels in his eyes pulse and expand.

"You are healed, my lord," Dora said as she came and placed a hand on his. She dropped the oaken box onto the walkway and brought his hand to her lips to kiss. "What do you feel?"

"Something is wrong," Thomas replied as hate grew in him, hate for his people, for Lilya and for all the wrongs the people around him had dealt him. "How dare they hide their riches from me? How dare she deny the King of Havilah her love? They will all pay. No one will stand against me again." He clenched his hand on Dora's, almost breaking her bones with the anger in his clutch.

The Pan pulled her hand from his and staggered back. "You see clearly now," she spoke. "I hear rumors that the people of Cush and Assyria assemble against us."

"Let them." Thomas glared through red sight. His muscles expanded as he clenched them all over his body. "They will die at my hands and I will force Lilya to be my own."

"You deserve her," Dora said. "They all deserve to pay."

Thomas walked through the garden and into Castle Ah, full of bitterness and rage.

In the garden where Dora had been all that remained was a snake curling on a cobblestone path.

32

Wrath

Thomas stood in Havilah's market, a torch in one hand and his sword braced in the other. Smoke billowed up from a thatched building before him as a fire ravaged its insides. He was filled with rage. "Spare no-one!" he shouted over the sound of buildings ablaze and people screaming in pain. He stepped over the body of a dead woman and spread the flame of his own torch over the building before him. The flame leapt up the building's side.

Thomas had instructed his mercenary army to burn Havilah's entire main city to the ground.

He stalked through the ash-covered thoroughfare, his sword scratching on the stone path. A scream came from a building to his right and he looked and saw a mercenary with horns protruding from his back dragging a woman by the hair out of its doorway.

"Please!" the woman cried. She looked up at the man. "Why are you doing this to us?" A young boy ran after them from the burning structure as it collapsed in swirling flame.

Red heat burned in Thomas's eyes and hate swelled in him. "Kill her!" he shouted. "Do not take sympathy on them! They know what they have done!"

The mercenary bludgeoned the woman with his sword and she dropped to the ground. Her body convulsed as blood curdled out of it. The man went for the boy next and the youth turned and fled down an alleyway.

"Leave him be," Thomas spoke to his hired man. "I will follow him." He began to run through the streets as fire leapt from building to building around him. He tracked the boy, watching him turn corners and then turning those same corners after him.

They won't insult me again, he thought as he continued after the youth. After a while longer he began to gain ground on him. We're reaching the edge of the city, the forests, he thought. I'll be able to catch the boy there.

Thomas slowed his pace. He would find the boy and show him the uselessness in fleeing. Dirt and stone churned in Thomas's footsteps as the young king made his way down an alleyway that became a path leading into the forest. An untouched hut stood next to him and Thomas brushed his torch against it as he passed, smiling as he watched fire roaring up to the roof.

He entered the woods at a slow walk, looking from side to side from the path. He was sure he would discover the boy hiding in the foliage about him. "Come out!" Thomas called to him. "It is useless to hide!"

He walked a while farther and stopped to listen again.

Suddenly there was a rustle down a slope to his left. There, he thought. I've found you. Thomas turned off the path and walked down the hill to his side. As he went he began to see a small pond at the bottom of the hill. "Come out, boy!" he called again.

There was more rustling and the boy ran out from behind a bush, almost tripping down the hill as he moved.

"Come back!" Thomas called. "There is no sense in running! It will only make this harder on you!" Thomas felt strength and anger surge through his body as he moved down the slope after the boy. He will pay, he thought as he neared level ground.

The boy looked back with fear in his eyes and tripped, crashing into a patch of weeds. "P...please..." the boy stuttered.

Thomas saw his chance, dropped his torch and grabbed the youth's hair as he reached him. He pressed his foot into the boy's back to hold him down. The fire from the torch extinguished in the earth where it had collided and smoke swirled in the air.

"Do you know why you will die, boy?" Thomas asked as he gave his hair a yank.

"P...please..." the youth stammered again.

"Do you?" A surge of rage swept through Thomas. He gripped tighter on the boy's hair and yanked it high into the air, almost ripping it from his scalp. The boy shrieked in pain and Thomas lowered his head once more.

Moments passed.

"No..." the boy's word could barely be heard through the dirt beneath his face. "They... they say you are possessed."

"Do they?" A hint of laughter was in Thomas's voice. "Possessed, because I demand respect from my people? Because I give them land to live in and they refuse to pay their taxes? I know what they say of me, how they mock me in the marketplace. No-one will disrespect me again." He lifted his foot from the boy but still clenched his hair. "Rise," he told him. "Look me in the eyes."

Tears streamed down the boy's face as he stood. Mud clung to his skin and clothes.

Good, Thomas thought. Now he will see.

"Mother..." the boy wept as Thomas lifted his sword to his neck.

"I took your parents' lives because they dared to plot against me and speak behind my back. They and those like them are a sickness in my land." Thomas slowly moved the boy backwards toward the pond. "I will not tolerate deception."

"I've done nothing," the boy pled as he wiped tears from his face and cried more.

"Nothing?" Thomas asked. "You would if you lived." With a yank of the youth's hair Thomas brought him to the pond's edge. He held his blade to his tender neck. "Go in."

"I... I can't swim."

"GO IN!" Thomas screamed. "Or else I will run you through with my sword."

"No... please..."

"Then I will push you in," Thomas said as he released the boy's hair and shoved him into the pond.

The boy hit the water with a splash and thrashed in the consuming substance. He sank as bubbles fled from his mouth toward the surface. Then he grabbed on to a root and pulled himself upward. "Ack..." the boy spat water as his head pushed above the surface and then thrust beneath it once more.

"No," Thomas said as he dropped his sword and waded into the pond himself. "You are mine." He grabbed the boy's throat, holding him underwater as he convulsed. Bubbles spewed out of his lips. Thomas could feel the boy gasping for breath as he drowned, his Adam's apple jerking against Thomas's palm. He looked into the boy's bloodshot eyes and was filled with rage for what the youth's family had forced him to do. "If they had only respected me..." the young king said as he watched the last bit of life drain from the boy. There was one more convulsion and the boy's body went heavy and limp.

Thomas released his grip on his neck and watched him sink to the pond's bottom. It couldn't have been more than five feet deep. The hollow look in the boy's eyes made him feel powerful. "It always feels good to take a life." Thomas smiled. These people had brought it upon themselves. They were paying now. That gave him some feeling of redemption for what they had done to him.

He casually turned and walked out of the pond, picking up a stone as he went, and skipping it across the surface. Time to go back, he thought. There is much more to be done. He lifted his sword and left his smoking torch beside the pond, ascending the hill through the woods back toward the market.

As Thomas walked, his bitterness consumed him. He thought of how Lilya had made him believe she would be his, and how she had deceived him and left him alone. He thought of Alexander and how that dragon had torn Lilya from him. They will pay. They will all pay, he thought. With each passing moment anger built within him toward the people of Cush and Assyria. How dare they deny me their riches? How dare they plot to dethrone me?

As he reached the market, fire crackled and raged in its buildings. He heard screams and watched as ash and smoke twisted in a hot breeze around him. "Soon the whole world will be like this," he said as he walked toward Castle Ah.

He didn't feel remorse for the deaths he caused, didn't feel anything except power and hatred coursing through his body.

He walked out of the marketplace's flames and found a large group of his mercenaries assembled there as if waiting for him. Dead civilians littered the streets and the bitter stench of death permeated the air.

"They must all die!" Thomas shouted to them. "Destroy the people of Havilah! And when you are finished with them, attack Cush and Assyria! This time we won't take their gems, we'll take their souls!"

The mercenaries cheered and clanged their swords. Thomas felt rage and a thirst for revenge running hot through his veins.

"But Cush's Princess Lilya is not to die! Bring her back to me alive! She is my queen! I will have her, one way or the other!"

His heart raced in his chest as Pan Dora approached him from the mercenary group. "You are a man now," she spoke to him in a raspy voice. "And a man must be respected. A man's desires must be fulfilled."

33

Patience
Months later

Lilya sat on a cool stone bench in a dark room in The Canyon of Eyes. A fountain bubbled beside her. She looked around the room at luminescent worms crawling about the ceiling and glowing jellyfish swimming in the fountain's water. These creatures put off the only light in the room and gave the place a certain serenity.

It's so beautiful, she thought as she watched a jellyfish swim near her. It seems like I've been here for a long time now, but the glowing creatures in these caves still amaze me.

She had been called to have an audience with Felicia here. She hadn't seen much of the elders since her arrival to this place and wondered what the woman's purpose was in wanting to speak with her. Lilya slowly breathed in a breath of the cool cave air and then let it out, sighing and relaxing her body.

"Hello," a soft yet beautiful voice came to her as Lilya turned to find Felicia standing in the doorway of the chamber. A flowing blue robe fell about her form. "Welcome to one of my favorite chambers in these halls."

"It's amazing," Lilya said as she stood to greet the elder. She was still astounded by how young the woman looked.

"Please sit. There is no need to rise for me," Felicia said as she sat down beside Lilya. "You must be wondering why I summoned you here."

Lilya felt the cool stone bench beneath her hands. "I was thinking it might have something to do with the plans our people have been making to attack Havilah, with Assyria's people, and dethrone Thomas."

"You make it sound simple, yet there is so much more." Felicia's eyes betrayed her true age. They were deep with thought and seemed to scan beyond the room. "Did you know Havilah's mercenary army approached our border over a month ago and then retreated into Havilah's lands?"

"I did not," Lilya admitted.

"This is strange. Surely they meant to attack us. What has changed in King Thomas's land?" There was silence for a moment. "But even that is not what I wished to speak with you about. What the armies of Cush and Assyria are doing will accomplish nothing. I know you know little of me, but I come from a time ages past. I have seen things like this before. When wars are fought, all people lose. There will be death in all lands."

Lilya stood and paced the room. "Then what are we to do? Surely there is no way to halt our plans now."

"You are all too right, Lilya. The people of Cush are so blinded by thoughts of revenge they will go to war with Thomas and Havilah at all costs. There will be blood on both sides." Felicia held something out in her palm. "The people of Cush will not change their minds. It is you, I suggest, that should change your course."

Lilya walked to Felicia and looked down into her hand. There, reflecting the light of the glowing worms above them was a round ruby trinket.

"Take it," Felicia told her.

Lilya took it and held it up to see, watching the light of the creatures reflecting through the stone. "What is it?"

"Look closely," Felicia said as Lilya continued to inspect it.

"An apple?"

"It was created long ago. Maybe it was like that when the earth began. I honestly don't know. But this trinket is a reminder to me of something, of what humanity could have had if they had not taken the creator's generosity for granted." Felicia closed her eyes and a tear streamed down her cheek.

Lilya put the ruby apple in her pocket and sat down on the bench once more. She wrapped her arm around the elder's shoulder to comfort her. "What are you saying?"

"My name was not always Felicia. That is a name I chose years ago to conceal who I was. Although the irony is so many ages have passed no-one would remember my birth name if I had kept it. My name was Na'amah at birth and I am related by several generations to the first man and woman of this earth. Do you know their story?"

Lilya took her arm back from around Felicia's shoulder. Chills ran over her body. Is this woman mad? she thought as she took the elder's words in. "I have heard rumors of the beginning of time from people who practice the Hebrew faith in Cush. I've heard something of a garden and a curse."

Felicia smirked. Then the grin quickly left her features. "A curse? I suppose that's one way of looking at it. The story goes, the first man and woman were created by God and given the gift of infinite life and health as long as they took care of the animals in their garden and didn't eat of one tree. One tree..." she said in disbelief. "Was it truly that hard? They ate of that fruit, though, when they were tempted by the lord of all evil. And for that disrespect they gave the creator they were banished from their land and stripped of their eternal life."

Felicia extended her hand into the fountain and a jellyfish curled about it, its long tentacles wrapping and moving about her fingers as it swam away. "I am their descendant. And when I was old enough I fled their company and went to live on my own. I found that trinket soon after leaving them and have survived all these years as generations were born and died around me."

That couldn't be possible, Lilya told herself. There's no way she could have survived this long. "What does the trinket have to do with any of this?"

"They say there was another tree in the garden, one that bore a fruit that granted eternal life. Some say it bore figs. Others say plums." Felicia looked knowingly into the darkness. "I choose to believe apples were the fruit it bore and the trinket in your pocket was given to me by the creator to keep me alive. Maybe he had hope that I was worthy of what he tried to give my family before me."

Lilya took the ruby apple back out of her pocket and examined it in her hand. "Why do you tell me these things? Why should it matter what actions I choose to make?"

Felicia's beautiful eyes took hold of Lilya's eyes. "It is not because of you, child. It is because of the dragon and the significance he holds that I tell you these things. There are things about him you could not fathom, things I would not tell you unless he wished to speak of them. Let's just say, I know him from another time."

"Why should I believe you? What would you have me do instead of joining Cush's army in their campaign?" A rush of cold air came through the room's doorway and whirled about Lilya's body. She didn't know why but she suddenly felt like there was someone out there in the dark hallway listening to them. She wondered if Felicia had felt the same thing. Surely I'm imagining things, she thought.

"The silence of Havilah's army makes me think something is changing there," she continued. "I wonder if it's possible Thomas has changed, that whatever seemed to have taken hold of him has let him go. What I propose is you go with Alexander to Castle Ah and attempt to talk reason with Thomas. It is possible if you convince him to get his army to surrender when we attack then there will be much less bloodshed."

"I've tried," Lilya attempted to explain. "Thomas is possessed. And there is a woman who tends to him that seems to keep him under a spell." She continued to watch the darkness. "And yet a part of me does want to find another way to fix things in Havilah."

She felt Felicia's warm hand close over her own. "Just think about my words. I have seen much, far too many deaths. And there is something unnatural in Havilah. Possibly just by having Alexander there some disaster will be averted."

"Thank you," Lilya said as she looked around once more and took in the tranquil beauty of the room. "Thank you for sharing this peaceful place with me. I will consider what you've said."

"And keep the apple," Felicia told her. "I have carried its burden of life for far too long. It is time to rest. Hopefully it will serve you well."

Lilya stood and gave a small bow to Felicia before leaving the illuminated room and walking into the darkness. Her footfalls echoed gently as she made her way toward the common passageways. Is she telling the truth about where she is from or has she lost her sanity? Lilya wondered. Surely she couldn't be as old as she claims. And yet Alexander claims to be of such an age and I don't question him.

But the strangeness of her conversation with Felicia went beyond that. She claimed there was a tree with fruit giving eternal life. The elder believed the creator had given her this trinket to bless her with that life. No. There is no way that that can be true. She took a moment to take it all in. But the story of the trees would make sense. Thomas was injured before he ate the figs. Then he seemed healed after eating them.

Lilya's breath caught in her throat and she stumbled, catching her balance in the darkness, bracing herself with a hand against the tunnel wall. He thought he was eating fruit from the tree of life and ate fruit from the tree of knowledge instead. Can it be?

The feeling of being watched suddenly came back to her. She turned to look back quickly and saw a light flickering in the darkness. Was something following her in these halls?

"Lilya..." A low voice whispered to her. "Come..."

Do I scream? she thought, but instead walked toward the flickering light. It was as if it was drawing her closer even though she knew she should flee the other way. "Who are you?" she asked. Lilya was almost to the light now. It came from a passageway that led out of the tunnel where she was. Water dripped from the cavern above.

"Ye can trust me," the deep voice whispered.

Lilya put one foot in front of the other as she turned into the faintly lit passageway. The flickering fire light seemed to be coming from just a few feet away where the passageway turned a corner. Breathe, she thought to herself. And be careful.

"I am close," she said. "Show yourself."

Heavy footfalls echoed in the passageway as the firelight came in the form of a torch from behind where the wall turned. A large man carried it, a ring glowing in his forehead as he looked to her.

"Carn?" she asked and stepped backwards. Her face went pale.

"Do not fear me," he spoke as he took a step toward her.

"Stop," she said sharply. "If you come at me I'll scream. Felicia is still close by."

Carn stopped where he was, firelight flickering across his face. "I mean ye no harm. I only mean to offer ye something. No matter what ye think of me, I am no longer aligned with the people of Vane. For my own reasons I am one of ye now."

"For your own reasons," Lilya spoke with hesitation. "That is exactly why I don't trust you. Why are you here?" The darkness appeared to close in on Carn. It's only a trick of the torch's light, she assured herself.

"I came to see what the elder had summoned ye for. She... interests me. And when I heard her speak, I began to think of something."

"Come to the point." Lilya was losing her patience and wasn't sure how much longer she wanted to be in his presence. This man was capable of too much.

The illuminated ring in the center of Carn's forehead changed from an eerie red to cool blue. "If ye do what the elder suggested and fly to Havilah to convince King Thomas's army to surrender, then I offer my services. I will go with ye and protect ye from whatever stands in ye way. That is, of course, if ye will have me."

"You have done nothing to earn my trust," Lilya said. "I will consider your offer, because you know our enemy better than anyone. But I will have to give much thought to even listening to Felicia. What do you gain from this?"

A grin slipped across his lips. "I only wish to serve Cush, princess."

"If I am to consider you and take you seriously then I need your honesty. Be sure, I know better than to believe you have the good of others in your heart."

Carn gave a low laugh. "Ye doubt me so much." A long moment of silence lingered between them. "My other reason is my own, but because I wish for ye to trust me I'll share it wit ye. I am curious about... these fruit that King Thomas discovered. I've heard myths of such a thing and wish to see for myself if they really exist."

Lilya tried to examine the man's facial features, to look past his hardened eyes and see what was truly behind them. For the life of her, all she found there was a hollow soul. "You give me chills," she told him. "It has been a long day and an even longer night. I need time to think about all I've heard. I'm leaving now. Do not follow me."

"All I ask is that ye consider my offer, princess," Carn said. "I will not follow ye. I will remain here until I am sure ye have made it to the next hall."

"Goodnight," Lilya told him, quickly turning and walking away into the complete darkness of the passageway she had come from.

"A goodnight to ye, Lilya," Carn said as he extinguished the torch against the passageway's wall and smoke wafted through the air. Only ember's glowed in the torch's center.

Lilya walked a fast pace through the passageway, shivers crawling over her body as she thought of Carn and the fact that he was in the darkness behind her. I wish he had never come to our land and that we had never accepted him into The Canyon of Eyes. She almost stumbled in the darkness on a groove in the passageway's floor. She caught herself against the moist stone wall and quickened her pace once more. How could he think I'd accept him by my side in anything?

And yet she had to admit, if she were to go to Thomas with Alexander she would need someone by her side, someone capable of protecting her from the mercenaries Thomas had hired. And who better to fight them than one of their own? But can I trust him?

She found herself feeling guilty about her thoughts. What has he truly done to earn my disrespect? From what I've heard he played a large role in saving the knights from Havilah on their way here. The only reasons I distrust him are my gut and the leeriness that Jonah has for him.

There it was. She judged the man for his appearance and where he was from. Was there something deeper? How sure can I be about this man? Can I trust him to defend me if I choose him to be by my side? She would talk to Alexander in the morning about everything she had learned tonight. Maybe he would see something differently than she did and help her see her way through.

The passageway seemed to go on forever as her footsteps echoed through its darkness. When Lilya eventually made her way into another hall and lifted a crackling torch from its wall she breathed a sigh. She hoped that Carn was far behind her.

Her worries wouldn't leave her on the rest of her walk back, however. They stayed with her. Her fear of Carn haunted her in her dreams.

34

Matters of Trust

Lilya stood at the mouth of the cave Alexander and the hawks were living in. Her dress flowed in the wind that blew in from the opening and she breathed a deep breath of the evening air.

"We can't trust him," Alexander pled with her.

She had told him of Felicia's suggestion earlier in the day and he agreed it was a good idea if lives could be saved. He had promised to protect her no matter what her decision was. He had even agreed with the idea that someone should come with them for extra protection. But that was before she had spoken with Juniper and Cypress and realized neither of them could accompany her. They had been chosen as leaders for two of the companies to be sent in to attack Havilah.

"We have no choice," Lilya said with conviction. "Any warrior who would be up to the task has business elsewhere. Even Alinar and Vansir are needed to help in the attack."

"Surely Juniper or Cypress can be convinced to change their minds. Or maybe Jonah would come." Smoke rose into the tops of the cavern from Alexander's nostrils. "We can't trust Carn. I feel something in his soul running deep with things you do not understand."

"That is something else." Lilya turned around to look at him. "You allude to the idea we shouldn't trust Carn because he hides things from us. Yet you say things all the time, eluding to your past or things you know, and don't share those things with me. Why is it that I should trust your secrets and not his?" She was serious. She trusted him and did not trust Carn. But she felt guilty for feeling that way.

"There are things..." Alexander lowered his head and looked away from her, causing the hawks to call out and ruffle their feathers in the corner of the cave. "There are just some things I cannot speak of."

"And for now I can accept that. But if Carn is the one to come with us, then I need to know you will accept him as our partner." She could feel a headache coming on. There was so much to think about, to consider. "Why?" she asked, trying to be open minded. "Why are you so adamant that we not take him along? It would make sense to bring him. He's the only one with training against these mercenaries. Do you know something about him I don't?"

"That's what worries me." Alexander turned his head toward her once more and walked closer to her. The muscles in his crimson body flexed as he moved. "You know I can read your thoughts. I can read the thoughts of many humans. But Carn's thoughts I cannot read. I am worried he was forged from some unnatural blood. For you, I wish I could trust him."

Lilya couldn't meet his eyes. She looked away from him. "You know we are friends. If you say you don't trust him then I will ultimately listen to you and deny his company."

The word "friends" had rolled too quickly off her tongue, she realized. The hurt look in Alexander's eyes told her that he knew all too well what she had implied. Alexander is a man as well. He doesn't share things about himself with me. He hides who he truly is. He will hurt me like any other man.

She sat down on a stone bench nearby and looked at her hands as Alexander walked over nearer to her. She could feel heat exuding from his body. Is he listening to my thoughts now?

"I will respect you, Lilya. I will respect whatever decision you come to."

She lifted her head and looked sternly into his eyes. "What is it you're hiding from me? I know there is something. Felicia claims she knows you from some distant time. She claims to be close kin to the first people."

"There are certain things I cannot say." Alexander looked ashamed. "But I want to keep what we have. If I tell you some of what I keep to myself, will you... forgive me?"

"It would be a start." Lilya brushed a curl of brown hair away from her eyes. "The more open we are with each other, the stronger our relationship will be." She closed her eyes, taking in the darkness of her eyelids and the breeze flowing about her. She clenched her hand and felt her nails press against her palm. "I want to care for you."

"I care for you," he said and then hesitated. "I was born at the beginning of time, when the first creatures roamed the earth. I was the only one of my kind and there have been none like me since."

"How can that be?" Lilya opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You asked and I'm telling the truth. I was created to protect, to preserve. I cannot say more than that. But I hope someday I will. It is how I know things about what is happening to Thomas that no-one else could know." Alexander pulled his wings close against his sides.

"What things? I need to know what is happening so I can know exactly what I'm doing here."

Alexander said nothing. He looked away from her and relaxed his wings.

"I believe the figs Thomas has been eating are from something called the Tree of Knowledge, and eating them has possessed him with evil." Lilya looked to him questioningly. "Can you tell me anything?"

Smoke curled out of Alexander's nostrils as he closed his eyes and lay down on the cavern floor. "Yes, the fruit has possessed him with evil. I can say no more."

Lilya walked to Alexander, touched his cheek with her hand and kissed him there. "I am going to speak with Amari and Clare to see if they can help me to sort out what to do." She lifted her hand from his cheek and walked away from him, back into a passageway leading from his chamber and into the inner workings of the canyon.

"Will you support my decision? No matter what it is?" she called back to him.

"Yes," Alexander simply said. His voice was strong, but there was fear and weakness behind it.

What will these days bring? she thought worriedly. I thought when I left Cush for Havilah I would find peace in my life. Now I wonder if peace will ever come.

35

Onward to Havilah

A damp wind curled through the air as she stood at the docks, watching Cush's makeshift army loading into a dozen ships that would head to Havilah. Lilya sighed. Am I making the right choice by not going with them and in confronting Thomas on my own?

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cypress strode in her direction from the largest vessel, The Nave. It was a massive oak ship that had been a part of her father's small fleet when he ruled. Cypress and Juniper were both wearing thick armor from Westwood Castle's armory.

"It is something I have to do. I have to give Thomas this last chance. The fruit has changed him. Maybe he can be changed back." She took Cypress's massive hand and shook it firmly. "Be safe. Our enemy won't be easily beaten if I can't convince Thomas to surrender. If he is inconvincible, then Alexander and I will join you."

"Be leery of Carn," Cypress warned as he stepped back. "I'm not sure we can trust him. I wish I could go with you instead, but I am needed to direct our people."

"I will be," she assured him as several knights walked past her in full metal armor and a boy with leather armor struggled to keep up as he hauled a brown sack over his shoulder.

"I wish you well!" Cypress shouted to her over the bustle of people loading into the ships, as he walked away. "I love him like a son! I wish it had not come to this! Something must be done to stop him, though!"

A chill ran through Lilya's body and then a warm hand rested on her shoulder.

"I think you're doing the right thing," Amari spoke from behind her. She had convinced him to stay behind with Clare and he had come with her to see the ships off as they headed toward Assyria. "Don't get me wrong, for what Thomas did to Clare he deserves a painful death. But I don't wish the loss of more lives to achieve that. Thomas will pay for his sins no matter what happens here."

Strength grew in Lilya as she watched Cypress and Juniper raising the plank to their vessel and hauling the anchor up from the river. Vast white sails were raised and let fly above the ships. Soon I'll leave with Alexander, she thought. Soon the true test will begin.

҉

Jonah kneeled on the deck of The Nave, his leather armor braced tightly to him and a sword sheathed at his side. The other men and women of their makeshift army were waving to their families on the bank as the boats pulled away in the Pishon River's strong current. He scanned the crowd that had gathered and his eyes found Lilya. How could she not join them? Didn't she know having the dragon by their side could decide their victory or defeat?

He chewed a strong root in his back teeth and tasted its pungent juices running down his throat. Revenge, he was consumed by it. Thomas will pay for what he did to our family. I promised. He will pay.

Jonah stood, touched the dew-speckled rail and stared, stone-faced, as The Nave sailed away from Cush's docks. The people of Cush, who remained behind, disappeared in an outcropping of trees, out of sight.

A boy beside him wept into his hands. "Mother..." the boy sobbed.

Jonah walked away from him, toward the front of the vessel and sat on a bench. He didn't have time for the worried emotions of the young man. It wasn't that he didn't care. He just knew listening to the boy's sobs would only remind him of his own family, and he didn't want that to distract him from his purpose.

He unsheathed his sword, took a stone from his pocket and struck it against its blade. Again and again he rubbed and struck the sharpening stone against his sword. He was determined to have the blade sharp enough to pierce the best made armor before they reached Havilah.

They sailed for hours as the sun rose overhead and Jonah stayed on the upper deck. The sunlight warmed and seared his exposed skin.

As they neared Assyria, Jonah saw shimmering spires rising high above the trees. They were majestic, more beautiful than any structure he had seen in Havilah or Cush. Carvings seemed to run down their sides. "Amazing," he said as The Nave turned with the river and Assyria's main city was fully exposed. The Nave's sails puffed with wind above him.

Assyria's docks teemed with life as two dozen large ships were loaded with goods and men. These vessels were painted with vibrant colors and flew Assyria's golden flag. Large men climbed the ships' riggings and the knights that boarded their decks wore armor that seemed to possess a heavenly aura as the sun glinted off of it.

Surely these would prove to be great allies.

"Guide the ships into Assyria's docks!" Juniper called from behind him to the men working the riggings and the man at the helm. He called not only to their vessel but to the large and small ships around them. "We'll lay anchor and await our allies' readiness."

Jonah re-sheathed his sword and went to the riggings to help the crew with their work.

Soon they were anchored in Assyria's harbor, awaiting word of their departure on the Tigress River for Havilah.

҉

As a vibrant pink sun set in the sky, Assyria's massive fleet joined Cush's makeshift fleet in its journey toward Havilah. The winds whipped through their sails, thrusting the vessels into a hard rock as they moved through the darkness of night. The river was lit by cool starlight spreading about like a frost.

Some men slept beneath the shelters the boats provided. Others were awake in anticipation of what was to come.

Jonah was one of these. He listened intently to the wind and to the frogs croaking on the bank. What will happen in Havilah? he thought as the boat lurched beneath him. Will I survive to see Thomas's death? He clenched the cold steel of his sword and felt a pain sear through his chest. He had been experiencing pains since leaving Cush and was sure they were because of the anxiousness he felt.

A bird sang in the reeds along the bank and another one sang back in response.

Jonah stood completely still. Birds shouldn't be out this time of night, he thought, ducking just as an arrow whizzed by above him and struck into the ship's cabin wall. "Archer's on the riverbank!" he shouted to whoever would listen.

The man beside him was suddenly pierced with an arrow through the neck and tumbled overboard. Splash!

Others were struck and cried out in pain as the boat's archers hefted their bows and attempted to pick off the ambushers in the woods along the riverbank.

In the moonlight Jonah could barely make out a group of men huddled with their bows in an area of dense vegetation. They lit flames to the tips of their arrows. "Over there!" he pointed as one of their archers came beside him and let an arrow fly. It hit one of the men in the chest and the attacker fell beneath the foliage. Fire burst up around where he had fallen.

"There are men over here!" another voice called out from the front of the ship as flaming arrows struck down from the darkness above.

Two struck the deck and the fire was quickly stomped out. Another struck a man in the foot and the people around him worked to douse the flame.

"They're aiming for the sails!" a voice called from the crow's nest.

Juniper stepped up from the darkness beside Jonah. "Any men and women, who don't have bows, grab buckets and fill them with water! We can't let them burn our sails!" Their archers still knocked arrows at the riverbank, forcing their attackers to move and stalling them from releasing as many arrows. "Grab a bucket, boy." Juniper placed his large hand on Jonah's shoulder. "Use it to pull up water from the river."

Jonah ducked as he ran for The Nave's shelter and grabbed a bucket with rope tied to its handles. As he ran back out toward the ship's rail an arrow zipped by above his head and he ducked lower on impulse. He tossed the bucket over the boat's side and kneeled, using the rail as protection.

Rope burned his hands as he allowed the bucket to fly to the water. Splash! It collided with the surface and Jonah felt the bucket get heavy as it filled. He hoisted it up and stood. As arrows lit with flame struck The Nave Jonah hefted the bucket over the rail.

"They've hit the sails!" a woman shouted as flame curled about the bottom of their largest sail.

Jonah quickly ran toward the woman as she threw water from her bucket on the climbing fire. Water sloshed over his bucket onto his hand as he tossed his own. The fire smoldered and was almost extinguished. "We need more water!" he shouted as a man in full armor except a helmet tossed water from his bucket onto the flame. Smoke curled where the fire had been.

The attack lasted for hours as The Nave's archers launched their arrows at the enemy and burning arrows rained down on them. It only stopped because they were able to sail out of the enemy archers' range.

As Jonah helped douse the last fire on the deck, by pouring water from a freshly retrieved bucket, he felt exhaustion come over him. Surprisingly few of their people had been killed, but their arrows were severely depleted and they were weary with fatigue.

"Rest," Cypress told them. "Tomorrow we will reach Havilah. We will all need our strength."

Jonah's muscles ached as he found a corner in The Nave's shelter and closed his eyes. He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword and slowly succumbed to the darkness of sleep.

36

Extinguish

Felicia sat in her barely lit chamber reading a scroll stretched out over an oaken tabletop. Only the light of a few candles on her desk flickered in the darkness. Their wax melted down and spread over the wood as they burned. Their licking flames cast shadows on the wall.

She sensed someone in the darkness behind her, could hear the person's breath even though it was almost silent. "I know you're there," she said as she closed her eyes. "I've felt you in the shadows for days. I know why you have come."

An echoing wind swirled in her chamber, ruffling the scroll.

Felicia sighed and lowered her head. "I have lived a long life. You will not succeed. Know that."

She could hear soft footsteps behind her. "I will, ancient one," a deep voice spoke lowly. "And ye have sealed ye own fate."

A large hand thrust into her back, pressing her head against the table and knocking a few of the candles to the floor. One of the candles fell onto the desk and its flame spread as it ignited the wood. Felicia choked for breath as her stomach pressed against the desk's edge. "Take... my life... and give... me peace..."

"In a moment," the deep voice replied. "Do ye know who I am?" He shoved down on her back and made her choke once more.

Felicia thought for a moment. Should she tell him the truth? Bile churned up her throat and she swallowed it down. "No..."

The flames on the desk grew and came closer to her as the man grabbed her shoulders and lifted her from her chair. He carried her into the darkness of the room and thrust her back against the chamber's wall. It was stone and scraped her back as he held her there.

"Release me!" she cried out as she held her eyes shut. "Please!"

"Look at me!" the voice shouted at her.

Felicia opened her eyes to see a crimson ring glowing in the center of the man's head. The table burned behind him. Smoke began to fill the room.

"Now you know." The man grinned as he held her with one hand and withdrew a dagger from his side with the other. "Be released, witch of time." He thrust the dagger through her chest and into her heart. She convulsed as life quickly left her.

As darkness consumed her Felicia watched the blazing desk and scroll fade to black. The ring in the man's forehead was the last bit of light before complete darkness.

37

Silhouettes in the Dark

"That's amazing! Thank you so much!" Lilya said to Vansir and Alinar as she admired a large saddle strapped on Alexander's back. The two had fashioned the saddle after the ones they used with their hawks. She could see an ornate design carved in its straps and could only imagine what the seat of the saddle looked like. She had originally come to see them off as they left to join Cush's forces and had been surprised by the gift.

"You'll have better vision of the world as we fly," Alexander assured her. "We will share flight like never before."

"And there is room for another rider also," Vansir said as he loaded bundles of arrows into a pouch on the side of his hawk's saddle. The hawk's taloned feet stomped up and down on the stone as it made a faint twittering noise. "Be careful with Carn. Like Alexander, I'm not sure I trust him. I realize, though, you'll need protection in Havilah."

"I will," Lilya said as she came and gave Vansir and Alinar hugs. "Be careful, my friends. You'll be heading into a dangerous fight. We'll come to you if Thomas refuses to surrender."

One of the hawks ruffled its feathers.

Vansir and Alinar both mounted their hawks as the early morning sunlight reflected off of their armor from the vast cave's mouth. They wore lighter armor, and less of it, but still had the essential plates on their bodies and limbs, with bows strapped to their backs.

They look handsome, Lilya thought and found herself worrying if she would ever see them again. Anything can happen in this battle. What if they don't return to us? What if something happens to me?

"Watch the skies," Alexander warned them. "Just because they didn't have men in the air before, doesn't mean they haven't harnessed that ability now."

"They shouldn't," Alinar said. "But then we didn't believe in your existence for a long time either. Anything could await us where we go." The hawks extended their vast wings and cawed as they flew toward the cavern's mouth. "Be safe, Lilya!"

"Until we meet again, princess!" Vansir waved as they flew from the cavern and passed into the sunlight and sky. They disappeared out of sight as they flew above the cavern view.

"Carn should be here by now," Lilya said as she wrapped bundles of arrows with twine and loaded them into a leather holder she'd wear on her back. She picked up her bows and checked their strings to make sure they were stretched just right. She carried an extra bow in case something went wrong with the first one.

"I can't tell where he is. He's like a ghost to me." Alexander looked to the cavern ceiling and then back to Lilya. "While you're riding I'll try to keep an eye on him."

"Thank you." Lilya drew a dagger from its sheath on her side and ran her finger across its blade. The dagger's handle was carved out of dark stone and the blade was sharp enough to pierce armor. She'd worked for a long time sharpening it the night before after she had finished fashioning arrows.

"You are such a friend to me. I feel stronger for you than I have ever felt for a person," she said as she re-sheathed the dagger and placed a hand on Alexander's shoulder. Warmth pulsed through the dragon's scales. "Just know I feel that way, no matter what happens." Lilya felt as if she would cry, but held back the tears. This is a time to be strong, she told herself. Strength and compassion will see us through as they always do.

"I feel the same for you. We will be alright. I will make sure of it. If Thomas or his army tries to harm you I will stand in their way."

"And what if something happens to you?" She rubbed his shoulder with her hand. "What then?"

"I will be safe," he said and turned his head to see her better. His eyes were deep and beautiful. "I..."

Footsteps echoed from one of the passageways leading into the cavern. Carn emerged from the passageway's opening, sword clenched in his fist and a dagger sheathed at his side.

"I was beginning to wonder if you would come!" Lilya called to him and walked his direction.

He had an unnerving grin. "Ye would doubt me?" he asked. "There was business to attend to. I be ready to leave now, though." The man was bare-chested and his dagger's sheath was splotched with red stains.

Lilya shuddered. The stains looked fresh. "Where did the blood come from?" She pointed to the sheath as she spoke and took a step away from him, closer to Alexander.

"A doe in the woods last night," Carn drew the dagger with his free hand. The blade itself had been wiped clean, "and it was a fine gutting, too. I wouldn't worry about her. She won't be missed. Her blood was sweet."

҉

Jonah had been standing on the deck of The Nave since sunrise, sweating under his leather armor. Their fleet of ships stretched like a snake down the river. Their sails were full and they were making good time.

He looked out at the golden fields of wheat stretching before them and onward to the woods in the distance. They hadn't seen any enemy forces since the archers the night before, but he wondered if they hid in the woods or beneath the wheat, preparing some sort of assault.

Cypress and Juniper made their way to the center of the deck and as Cypress held his hand in the air the people turned to listen. "Men and women of Cush!" he called. "Soon we will reach Havilah's soil! We will go ashore on the outskirts of Havilah in hopes of catching our enemies off guard! The last thing we want is to be attacked by a large force while still on the water!"

Jonah moved in closer to listen, getting shoulder to shoulder with two large men. The smell of body odor was strong and one man scratched the stubble beneath his helmet.

Cypress waited until all were paying attention to speak more. "Once ashore we will separate into several parties. Our boat's people and those of several others will follow me, while the rest of our army will follow Juniper or Coal. We will branch off and fight alongside Assyria's forces. By doing this we keep our eyes on all fronts and combine our people's skills with theirs."

"When will the hawk riders join us?" a voice called from the back of The Nave. The boat was rocking slightly in the river's current.

Cypress seemed to find the man with his eyes and spoke directly to him. "They should be with us soon. It wouldn't have made any sense to have them follow us the entire route. The hawks would have had to find places to rest and they move much faster than us. Alinar and Vansir assured me they would meet us this morning."

"Will the dragon be with them?" another voice called.

The group began to talk amongst themselves and Cypress held up his hand to silence them. "Princess Lilya is going with the dragon to Castle Ah. She believes she can talk some sense into King Thomas and prevent bloodshed."

"The dragon would prevent more bloodshed here!" another man shouted angrily. "Don't they know what they could do to help us succeed? We could ignite Havilah's army in flames!"

"Silence!" Cypress bellowed. "Don't you think I've already discussed this with Lilya and the dragon? They will join us when they can. But the dragon has a mind of his own. He cannot be forced to join us and he follows Lilya's wishes. We need to prepare for what is to come. That is something we can do, now. Look!"

Cypress pointed out over the plains as Jonah and the others turned to see as well. The grain swayed in the breeze and the tree line beyond was dense. But Jonah could not see anything else.

"Look closely," Cypress said as he made his way to the deck's rail. "There are signs."

Jonah blocked the sunlight with his hand and tried to watch for anything. The grain swayed as sunlight radiated off of its golden stalks. Birds sang and he could hear the water lapping against the boat and the shore. What was he missing?

Then, in the distance, he saw black specks flying up from the grain. Birds, he thought. And why do birds flee in mass? Because they have been disturbed. He squinted and saw something moving between the wheat in the distance. "There!" He pointed in the direction.

"I see them too," a man beside him said gruffly.

"They are there," Cypress gave his assurance. "And they will be there when we make land. Ready your weapons. Ready your minds. Soon we will need them both."

It would be another hour, as the boats slowly made their way down the river toward Havilah, before the boats laid anchor and lowered their sails. Jonah had seen signs of the enemy amongst the grain. Once he had even seen a man on horseback in the woods.

Long gangplanks were extended over the riverbank and the armies of Cush and Assyria emptied their vessels, assembling in companies amongst the wheat.

Jonah marveled at the companies of Assyria that joined their own. These were men clearly versed in the ways of fighting. Their armor was elaborate and well put together. He looked with interest at the intricacy of the chain mail they wore between armor plates. He wished he had something like this instead of the leather armor that was strapped around him. Some knights of Assyria also rode horses they had brought aboard.

Heart will have to protect me, he thought while walking to the front of his company where Cypress and a bulky knight from Assyria faced them. The sun was breaking through the clouds above and heat radiated against Jonah's face and body.

"I am Barbarous," the knight from Assyria addressed them as he clutched his helmet in his armored hand. He rode high on his steed. "Cypress and I will lead you into battle. My men know me. They know my hand is firm and my sword swift. People of Cush, I will earn your trust as well. We are honored to fight by your side. Together we will show King Thomas of Havilah he can't raid our lands and be without repercussions. Our people will not let his tyranny reign in our lands or the land of Havilah."

Jonah cheered as a roar of approval burst up from the company. They pumped their swords in the air.

"Follow me to victory!" Barbarous bellowed as he reined his horse around and drove him forward across the field. "Onward through Havilah! There is no rest until Castle Ah!"

"Onward!" Cypress echoed and charged across the field.

It was loud as the armies charged through the swaying wheat. Men and horses trod on the land, flattening the golden stalks as they trampled over them, swords clanging against armor on their sides.

Jonah could see little at times over the taller knights around him and their pace slowed as they tried to save their energy for the enemy they knew must be close by. As Jonah huffed, his chest burned. He took a swig from a leather water flask to ease the pressure, and for just a moment he stopped to breathe.

Then, as a horse and rider clopped past him kicking up earth, he saw a man's torso high above the wheat in the distance. He had emerged from the tree line and stood almost as high as the trees themselves.

"Look!" Jonah shouted and dug his feet into the earth to make ground. "Is that one of the mercenaries?"

The huge man lumbered in their direction. Were those men in the wheat around him? Jonah could barely make out their forms but he was certain of what he saw.

"The mercenaries are there!" he called out and pointed in the direction as he ran at the edge of their company. He saw Barbarous look back at him from the knight's horse.

"We'll meet them head on!" Barbarous's bellow sang above the company's noise.

Jonah turned with the others and ran in the direction of the huge man. Wheat stalks slapped against his body as he moved. Several times his feet would get caught in a divot in the earth and he would almost be sent tumbling down.

Then, as sweat poured down his forehead and seeped through his clothes, the clang of steel against steel rang across the field. Jonah looked up to see a man with bones protruding from his arms charging toward him with his sword drawn.

Jonah felt the sun-warmed hilt of his sword and unsheathed it, holding it firm while defending a blow from his attacker. Clang! The sound of steel rang out as others found the blades of their own weapons meeting those of the enemy around them.

Clang! Clang! Jonah beat back his foe. His arms burned with each blow and his heels dug into the earth as he braced his legs. He pivoted as the mercenary's sword thrust for him and he thrust his own sword forward at the man. His opponent was unarmored and Jonah's blade cut a gash in his arm then scraped off the bone protruding from his skin.

The mercenary stumbled back and rushed for him again. "You'll pay for that with your life!"

Clang! Jonah held the first blow. Clang! Clang! He was driven back, stumbling on a stone as he tumbled to the ground. He rolled on moist ground as a sword thrust down at him, certain he would die. To his side, he saw the sword strike into the ground and then lift upward. He had lost his own sword in the fall.

"Help!" Jonah called out as he scrambled on all fours into the wheat.

"You're mine!" the mercenary shouted and sprinted after him as Jonah found his footing and stood to run.

The man thrust his sword at Jonah as the boy put up his arms and shifted in an impulse to block the blade. Suddenly he heard a faint thumping sound and saw an arrow protruding from the mercenary's chest, blood flying through the air, as he dropped his sword and crashed to the ground.

An archer waved to Jonah from the battle. "Take his sword!" a young voice called. "I'll cover for you!"

Jonah's heart beat heavily as he realized how close he had come to death. Without wasting time, he grabbed the fallen mercenary's sword. The man made a gurgled noise as Jonah drove the steel through his chest to be sure he would die. As he withdrew the sword from the body he saw one of the Assyrian knights lose his head to a mercenary at the edge of the battle. The head swung in the air, holding on by a swatch of skin as the body thumped to the ground.

To Jonah's horror, the mercenary ran for the archers in the back of the battle. The boy ran with all his strength. He had to help the archer who had saved his life.

Another Assyrian knight stepped out after killing his adversary and defended the archers while Jonah made his way to them. Clang! Clang! The Assyrian and the mercenary traded blows.

The mercenary clearly had more strength and with each collide of their swords the Assyrian stepped back.

Jonah reached them as their enemy bashed his sword into the Assyrian's side armor, causing the knight to stumble as he lifted his blade to fend off another blow.

With a dash Jonah leapt for the unsuspecting mercenary and sliced his blade into the barbarian's sword arm.

"Ahhh!" their adversary screamed in pain as the Assyrian put his shoulder into the man and drove his sword up through his ribs and out his back. The mercenary stumbled and tried to take his weapon with his left hand but Jonah sliced behind his knees with his sword.

Arrows flew above them into the battle as the mercenary rolled down into moist earth, his blood flowing from his wounds.

"Thank you..." the Assyrian breathed in exhaustion. "I don't know how much longer... I could have held him off." The knight pulled his sword out of the mercenary's body and turned with Jonah toward the battle once more. "And it's only just begun."

Jonah inhaled heavily as he clutched the sword he had taken from the other mercenary in his hand. "I have the feeling we'll all need the strength of others to survive this," he said. As he charged back into the fighting he heard shouts and screams of pain coming from the front.

The giant had reached them and was tearing through men, swinging his battleaxe through the fighting with no regard even for the mercenaries he was fighting with. Blood sprayed over the battle with a hack from the axe and a man's armored arm flew above him and thumped to the ground.

Jonah shook with fear and rage as he charged into the battle, trying to do what he could to help his comrades.

"We could use the dragon now!" a man shouted as Jonah met a mercenary's blade with his own.

How long can I last? he thought as they traded blows. Will I ever even see Castle Ah again?

Clang! Clang! Their swords collided as Jonah parried to the side to try and find better footing. Men around them were locked in combat as well. Suddenly, as a hacking sound came from the giant's splicing battleaxe, Jonah's blade missed the mercenary's and his opponent's sword chopped into his leather chest plate, cutting it almost in half and slicing a line into his stomach. Amazingly, Jonah held his footing and dug his sword into his opponent's side. He twisted the blade and drove the man to the ground.

"BACK! BACK!" a warrior from Cush shouted as he ran past through the battle. "The giant's slaughtering everything in its path! Get out of the way!"

HACK! The sound swept into his ears as gore and carnage sprayed the battlefield and the giant lumbered onward. Jonah pulled the sword out of his opponent's side and looked up to see the giant coming their way. Blood had been splattered over the huge man's chest.

"DIE!" it roared in a deep, rough voice.

Jonah stumbled backwards in disbelief and watched as the man he had been fighting stopped the blood coming from his chest with a hand and came slowly toward him with his sword braced in his other hand.

Clang! Clang! Jonah defended against the mercenary's blade and kept backing away from the giant. Men and women fled the giant in all directions across the bloody field but the mercenary Jonah was fighting paid the massive warrior no attention.

The giant swept his battleaxe down. HACK! Jonah leapt backward as the battleaxe cut through the mercenary's torso and the bodies of those around him. Jonah's eyes stung as he wiped blood from them.

"Now!" he heard Cypress's voice calling from behind him and saw dozens of arrows pump into the giant's body through his bloody sight. The goliath roared and stumbled backward before moving forward once more.

"Jonah! Get back now!" Cypress called to him as another wave of arrows pumped into the chest of the man.

Jonah turned and ran as arrows shot above him in a constant wave. The mercenaries that had escaped had dispersed into the field and were watching as their behemoth decimated the Assyrians and warriors of Cush.

The boy ran near the archers and turned to see Cypress signaling for them to go back further.

"Back! Retreat to the river!" his leader shouted as the survivors fled in all directions. Barbarous was nowhere to be seen. Jonah hoped he had fled on horseback and would return with reinforcements. He feared, though, the man was lying dead below the giant's feet.

"Run!" Cypress shouted as he dashed toward the archers. Another wave of arrows was fired into the goliath and it roared as it lifted its battleaxe and brought it down into the earth, splitting Cypress's body in half.

Jonah was stunned. He couldn't find his feet, couldn't move. The goliath lumbered toward him and the archers scrambled away. He was sure he was as good as dead.

The axe raised and a crazed grin was on the giant's mouth. "Boy," it spoke to him. "Die now."

Suddenly a tearing sound mixed in the air with the sound of cawing birds. There, in the thick air, was a massive hawk with its rider latching its talons into the goliath's back. Pure brown wings beat in the air behind the giant. Then another hawk with a rider dove in and dug its talons into the giant's chest.

Jonah was in disbelief that he might be saved. It was as if he were viewing things from beyond his own body, a spectator to a world he had already lost. The hawks will tear him in half, he thought as he looked on.

"Up!" Alinar called from his hawk to Vansir. The huge birds beat their wings so hard they began lifting the colossal man above the blood-soaked wheat field. The goliath struggled against their talons, dropping his battleaxe and reaching at the birds with his hands.

The axe thudded into the ground close to Jonah, startling him back to his senses, and the boy turned to the archers. "Aim at the beast's eyes!" he called to them. "We need to allow the hawk riders time to do what they need to do! It's our only chance!"

The archers took aim, letting their arrows fly but missing the giant's eyes. Instead they watched their arrows ricochet off his body.

Alinar and Vansir took aim from their perches on their hawks' backs. They pumped arrows into the giant's hands as the thing grasped at them. It threw the beast off guard enough for them to achieve their goal.

Higher and higher the hawks carried the goliath until he looked the size of a regular man amongst the clouds. Then the hawks withdrew their talons and the great beast fell.

The sound of crying hawks filled the air as Jonah looked up to see the great giant grow larger and larger as he careened down towards them. The giant cried out in a deep voice before pounding into the earth before the remaining warriors. The ground shook; knocking Jonah and many others down, and a great swarm of dirt filled the air.

There was silence for a moment as they stood. Only possibly a fourth of their original fighting party remained. He hoped the other parties had done better.

The hawks soared down from the sky and sunlight reflected in sheens off the birds' wings. The silhouettes of Alinar and Vansir in the sunlight reminded Jonah of gods.

38

Ashen Cusp

They were in Alexander's chambers in The Canyon of Eyes. Lilya felt strange sitting atop Alexander. She wasn't sure about the saddle. She thought about Alexander's paw. There, she felt the warmth of his embrace and closeness she felt nowhere else in the world. In the saddle she was still with him, but couldn't feel the direct contact of his warm body to hers.

We are as close as we have always been, Alexander assured her through her thoughts. We share our warmth no matter where we are.

His words in her thoughts comforted her and reassured their closeness.

Amari and Clare had come to wish them off and stood holding hands on the ground. "Be careful," Clare called up to her from below. "Don't trust Thomas. I wish you would reconsider and stay with us or join the fighting elsewhere." Wind from the chamber's mouth ruffled her dress and she held it still with her hands. There was fear in her eyes.

"I won't let him harm me, not the way he harmed you or any other way," Lilya said. "Although I am going to give him the chance to do the right thing by his people, I will never forgive him for the things he has done to you and others. He can change what he has become, but he can never erase what he was."

"It's you I worry about," Clare said. Her hand shook as she held a pleat of her dress. "I'm safe, at least with Amari by my side..."

"Thank you." Lilya touched her hand to Alexander's warm back, happy to feel something possibly similar with Alexander that Clare felt with Amari. "Soon we will be home and safe once more."

Amari sighed. "I only wish we shared your confidence. I would come with you myself, but I am needed here."

"I understand, Amari." Lilya eyed Carn as the large man approached Alexander. "I would have been honored to have you by my side." She eyed Carn and felt leery of him. If she had made a mistake in accepting his offer of protection then surely it was too late now to back out of the deal. "It's time," she told him as he strode toward them.

As Amari extended a hand to wish Carn well, Carn strode past, not even meeting his eyes.

"Then I am ready to fly." Carn grinned as he grabbed onto Alexander's scales, climbing the dragon's body until he reached the saddle. He barely fit in the seat behind Lilya and wrapped his arms around her waist for support. "Ye need not fear me," he spoke lowly in her ear. "Remember, I am here to protect ye."

Alexander began to move, walking heavily in the cavern and jostling the saddle from side to side as his shoulder blades rose and fell. "And don't forget whose back you ride on, boy. Above all, I protect the princess."

Yes, Lilya thought. I do feel safe. She turned toward Amari and Clare as Alexander walked to the chamber's edge. "Protect the canyon while we are away!" she called to them as they waved to her.

"Be safe!" Clare shouted out to her once more.

As Alexander reached the cave's edge, sunlight shone down on Lilya almost blinding her. Warmth flooded her skin.

"Hold on tight," Alexander said as he flexed his wings into the air beyond the chamber and beat them swiftly down, lifting them into the sky and up toward the clouds. The Canyon of Eyes fell away below them. "We should be at Castle Ah before evening." Alexander dipped one wing lower than the other and turned them in the sky.

"Flight never ceases to amaze me," Lilya tried to make conversation with Carn. "Isn't it beautiful from up here?" She held a hand before her and watched the mists of a cloud curve around her fingers.

"I find pleasure in other things." There was a strange tone in Carn's voice and he remained silent afterwards.

Lilya watched the land below as they flew. New foliage was abundant in the trees and bushes that had burned with the mercenaries' attack on Cush. It was refreshing to see her land which had seemed so desolate and destroyed now teeming with new life. Birds flew from the tops of the trees into the sky as Alexander passed them. The green of new birth is tranquil, she thought. What will new birth for Havilah look like once we have unseated Thomas from his throne?

If we achieve peace in Havilah and Thomas vacates the throne then Havilah's rebirth will be beautiful indeed, Alexander's words came to her thoughts unexpectedly, but she welcomed his conversation there.

Lilya looked down through parting clouds and saw Cush's forest stop, giving way to the Pishon River and then to the land beyond. River folk waved up to them as they passed and Lilya returned the gesture. She still hadn't told those outside of the canyon she was their princess, but was happy that she received their hearts and love, all the same.

"Be watchful and aware," Alexander spoke to them both as he pumped his wings, moving them faster over the land at the river side. "We will be flying a different route than the river flows and should avoid most opposition that way. But we fly above wild lands now and will be above Havilah before we know it. Thomas could have archers or perhaps something even more foreign in the woods. Prepare your bow, Lilya. I may need your skilled aim."

"I'll watch the land and trees," Lilya assured him as she reached her hand and pulled an arrow from the pack strapped to the saddle. The shaft was slim and strong and she held it, ready at a moment's need to use it with the bow over her shoulder.

"And if I am needed," Carn's deep voice came, "then I can go to the land below and fight there. I know these men. They may well wait in the wild lands. But I will face them all if that is what is called for."

"Hopefully it won't come to that." Lilya scanned the earth below. "We have Alexander's flame as well, but I appreciate the services you have offered."

The world below was silent as Alexander soared above it. Sometimes he would fly above the clouds and the sun's warmth radiated on Lilya's skin. Other times he would dip below their breaths and it was as if a ceiling of mists wove by above her. She felt the muscles of his back flexing below her when he adjusted his course. It brought an interesting and different feel to their journey.

Hours passed and they spied no enemies below, only foliage and luscious vegetation. Huts spotted the landscape and small farms around homesteads.

"Have all of Thomas's mercenaries left to fight our warriors?" Lilya asked as she let her guard down and relaxed as they soared through the sky.

"No. I sense them below," Alexander responded. "They go away from us though. Surely they know we are here, but have just decided there are other things more important than us to deal with."

"They will come for us. Ye will see." Carn drew his dagger and ran its blade across his palm, feeling the sharpness of the weapon. "My people will cherish the chance to take you down, dragon."

An arrow zipped by from below, shooting off above Lilya.

"Ready your bow," Alexander said as Lilya felt a heat growing in his body.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"We could keep flying to Castle Ah and we would probably be safe. But we have the chance to disrupt their army and divert some forces from joining the other mercenaries in fighting our warriors. I promise you we will survive. They have started this by attacking us first."

"Then we should meet them below." Lilya cocked an arrow in her bow and readied others from the saddle's pouch as Alexander curved to the side and dove downward. Wind gushed across her face as they flew toward a sparse patch of oak trees. She made out the figures of archers in the tree branches and could see other forms moving below.

"There they are!" she called out as an array of arrows zipped by above them. A few arrows ricocheted off Alexander's tough hide and one almost punched through Lilya's head before Carn saw it and pushed her head to the side. "Thank you," she said between deep breaths and fired several arrows into the tree tops. At least one of her arrows hit its mark, knocking an archer from the top of his tree to the ground.

As Alexander descended on the forest he opened his large mouth and released a blaze of flame into the woods. Arrows flew up around them and screams of men trapped in prisons of flaming tree limbs filled their ears. The leaves of the trees crackled as fire consumed them.

Lilya fired more arrows at the mercenaries on the ground, then leaned forward and held tight to Alexander's back as he flew in an arched circle around the mercenaries, releasing an inferno of flame upon them.

"That should slow them down," he said as he lifted up away from the raging fire. With a thrust of his wings he was out of range of their arrows.

Lilya lay still against his back and could feel the temperature of his body cooling as he flew. His wings moved up and down in large thrusts at his sides. "Are there more below us?" she asked as she looked back to the forest and watched as the blaze spread in all directions. Smoke already rose into the air.

"Very few," he assured her. "Rest assured the ones who are there see the flames and know not to cross us. We may still find trouble further on though and I sense more people of some kind between us and Ah."

They flew on over fields and forests, and over time felt the heat of the day recede as the sun began its descent in the sky. Midday had come and gone.

Lilya felt her heart sink in disgust as they flew above smoldering villages below. She could see bodies bloodied and mutilated on the ground and yet others run through with pikes and left to cook in the heat. What has Thomas unleashed? She almost wanted to come across mercenaries again so Alexander could exact revenge for the dead.

Alexander lowered one of his crimson wings and curved them to the side before lowering through a patch of clouds. As he did, Lilya could see Castle Ah rising from the ground in the distance, the Pishon River wrapping around before it. It was majestic as the sun shimmered off the jewels in the castle's face. She sighed and then her heart raced. We are here. What will my destiny bring? What lies ahead for all of us?

"I sense Thomas in Ah's main hall, but he is alone. There are no others in the castle," Alexander spoke to them.

"Why would that be?" Lilya wondered aloud as Carn shifted behind her. She suddenly got an uneasy feeling.

I sense something strange in Carn too, Alexander spoke through her mind. But I cannot see his thoughts. Watch him carefully. There is no telling who he truly serves.

As Alexander's wings pumped and a strong current of wind blew about them, they quickly approached Castle Ah. Havilah's market and surrounding village had been burned to the ground and nothing but charred ash, bones and beams of destroyed buildings marked the streets. There were also bodies on pikes before the castle's doors.

"May the gods help us," Lilya spoke under her breath and shook where she sat.

The one God will be with us wherever we are.

"Perhaps I should stay with the dragon," Carn's voice stunned her away from Alexander's words in her thoughts. "If what he says is true and only Thomas is inside the castle then surely ye can handle him on ye own. With Alexander I can watch for approaching enemies and we can stop them before they reach ye."

Lilya was stunned. "Why would you come with me and not guard me through the castle doors?" There was a portion of her that was relieved as well, the part that was becoming more and more leery of him.

Leave him with me, Alexander spoke through her thoughts. If he is up to something then I can watch over him.

But why would he want to stay? Lilya thought as Alexander curved in the winds and made a large circle around the castle and its lands. It worries me.

I can protect you better from Carn if he is with me and I will sense Thomas in the castle if he attacks you. I can hear his thoughts as well. He is different from the last time we were here. It feels as if a tension has been lifted from his soul, if that is possible.

Be careful, she spoke to Alexander through her mind before turning her head to look into Carn's eyes. The ring on his forehead glowed an eerie red and his eyes were dark and glossed over. "You are right." She acted as if she were conceding something but leaned cautiously forward. "You and Alexander can do more to protect me in the sky."

Lilya reached into the pack on the saddle's side and hefted up a rope. She held the girth of it in her lap as Alexander beat his wings and hovered in place in the air before the castle. "Pull up the rope once I'm down," she instructed Carn as she tied the free end to the saddle and tossed the coiled rope down, watching it uncurl until it flexed and the end swayed down near the ground.

She reached into the pack and withdrew her arrows before reaching behind her and loading them into the holder strapped to her shoulder. "Thank you for coming with us," she told Carn, "and thank you, Alexander, for all you are and do."

You're welcome, milady, she heard his deep, soothing voice in her mind as she held the rope tight and lifted her far leg over the saddle. Her muscles tightened as she held the rope's braids firm, dangling along the side of Alexander's body. She could feel his lungs moving as she put hand over hand down the rope and then was beneath him, hanging in open air. The wind from his wings swayed her beneath him.

Hand over hand she descended, being watchful at all times but seeing no archers or other mercenaries. Where is his protection? Why is he alone in the castle? Soon she reached the end of the rope, took a deep breath and let go before her boots thumped to the ground and she braced the dusty earth with her hands. As she stood she looked up to see Carn pulling the rope up and Alexander rising into the sky.

The skin of his wings was beautiful as sunlight shone through them. Lilya pulled a bow off her back and cocked an arrow back, holding it with her fingers in case someone surprised her as she approached the castle. She listened for every noise and aimed the arrow before her. Shivers ran up her arms.

Be aware, Alexander's voice entered her thoughts as she walked the path with caution toward Castle Ah's doors.

Her stomach churned as she realized she had stepped over bones that still had flesh on them. She saw the bodies propped up on pikes close by. She looked and wished she hadn't. There, with eyes picked out of their sockets by birds and dried blood on the body where the pike protruded from her chest, was one of Lilya's maids. It was Tessera. She had never liked the girl, but was sickened by what she saw. There were lashing scars down her exposed arms and legs. For the first time Lilya smelt the pure stench of rotten human flesh as it wafted through the air.

Stomach acid churned in her mouth as she gagged and swallowed it down. She continued walking but wished she could find a place to let herself cry for Havilah's people, for Thomas and what he had become.

Wasn't he a good man once? Where is the boy who seemed to love me, who despised what my father was? She saw Castle Ah's heavy doors were cracked open as she approached them and her heart beat heavy in her chest. Where is he? She hoped Alexander was listening to her thoughts.

He's on one of the steps near the well.

Thank you, she thought to him and moved to the doors. She closed her eyes. Please watch over me, she thought to whatever higher power was in the world and then aimed her arrow at the doorway and silently entered.

҉

An anxious rage flowed through Carn's body as he watched Lilya enter Castle Ah. He touched the hilt of his sword as he perched upon the dragon's back. He'd have to wait for the right time.

"I know what you are," the dragon said as he hovered in the air near the castle. "I haven't told the princess, but I know. What is it that you want? Why did you come with us?"

"I know what you are too, dragon." Carn listened for the beast's response. The heat of fire was growing in its body once more. "How do you know you can't trust me?"

"Because of what spawned you, because of the demon in your heart. When the garden was closed the serpent had children of its own with the evil it had unleashed in mankind. I cannot sense your thoughts but I sense you are one of those children. No good can come of you."

The dragon's wings beat differently now, harsher, and Carn drew his dagger from its holder at his side. His forehead burned with rage as he stood in the saddle, ran up the beast's back and pounded the dagger's point into its scaled neck. The dragon let out a cry of pain and thrashed in the air to try to dislodge him. Carn held tight, knowing that the moment he had waited for had finally come. Warm blood boiled up from the dragon's neck.

"You will pay!" the beast roared as it unleashed a blaze against its own body to drive him off.

Carn kept his grip tight on the dagger as he swung from the beast's neck and into open air. With a thrust of his arm he clasped onto one of its scales, pulling himself up and perching once more on its thick neck. He dislodged the dagger and thrust it through the dragon's scales higher on his neck causing more blood to flow from the beast's first wound.

With a thrash the dragon tried to dislodge him but Carn had too tight a grip on his dagger's hilt. No matter how hard the dragon moved its body or head, Carn was sure he had the upper hand. He was out of range from the beast's flame.

They were above the castle now. "I will have it all once you are gone," Carn said as he stood suddenly, letting go of the dagger and unsheathing his long sword from his side. The steel shone brilliantly in the sunlight as Carn ran up the dragon's neck.

"Lilya!" the beast cried as Carn thrust the ornate blade down into the center of its skull. He could feel the dragon's heartbeat through the steel as he let it go. The creature's body went limp as its wings stopped and it began plummeting downward toward the roof and the crystal ceiling of the castle's main room below.

With a thrust of his legs Carn leapt into the air away from Castle Ah, sure he would land soundly on the earth beyond its walls.

҉

The ruby-floored hall was littered with bodies as Lilya entered, and Thomas, the boy king, kneeled at the well in the center of it all. He held his head in his hands and he appeared to clutch his fingers in frustration or rage. He was sobbing and didn't look up as Lilya approached.

"Thomas," she almost whispered, aiming her arrow at his skull.

There was a sword sheathed at his side. "Lilya..." he stuttered and forced himself to look up. His face was worn red and the paths of his tears shone down it. "I... I have destroyed my land." Sunlight streamed through the crystal dome above and dispersed around the king.

"You can still change," Lilya told him and held her position. "I believe your Mystic is controlling you, or at least has poisoned you in a way. I believe the fruits you are eating possess poison that taints a person's soul."

Thomas stood, his knees quaking. He supported himself with an arm on the well. "She said the figs would give me life." Thomas's eyes welled with fresh tears. "I have killed so many, destroyed so much. Nothing can recover that, and the mercenaries of Vane are beyond my control."

She took a step forward, then another. "You can still change. I'll help you. And together we can heal Havilah."

"How?" Thomas stumbled as he let go of the well. "There is nothing left to save."

"Then I will save you." Lilya lowered her bow and retracted the arrow as she walked to him. "Together we will heal your soul. Through compassion and responsibility we will heal Havilah and by healing Havilah, heal you. I give you my word, Thomas, I will stay with you until you are well." She placed her bow on the floor and a whiff of rotting flesh rolled over her from a body in the corner of the room. Stand strong, she thought. Every person deserves compassion.

She held out her arms to Thomas and she could see some relief come over him. He rested his head on her shoulder and cried, trembling in her embrace. "Thank you," the muffled words came from Thomas as he buried his head in her shoulder.

She let him weep and felt his body relax against hers between quakes of emotion. "I think the spell the figs held over you has been lifted. I hate to say this but we need to confine Dora and work to regain Havilah. We need to see if the mercenaries will listen to you."

Suddenly a roar erupted above the castle and Lilya felt her mind convulse with pain. Alexander! she thought as both her and Thomas shook from the noise.

Thomas stepped away from her and wiped his red eyes, then unsheathed his ruby sword. "What was that?"

Was that you? Lilya called to Alexander in her mind and stared through the crystal dome into the sky above. She saw nothing, only sunlight glistening through the crystal filaments. "I think it was Alexander," she said as fear filled her and Alexander gave no answer. She picked up her bow and pulled an arrow back against its string, readying it to be used at a moment's notice. She shuddered and breathed a deep breath. "Should we go outside and see what's happening?"

"Wait a moment," Thomas said and backed toward her, his sword held waist level. "Alexander is above the dome. He's fighting something on his back."

"Lilya!" Alexander's voice boomed down from above, reverberating through the hall. His voice was a horrible, anguished noise.

Lilya lowered her bow and stepped forward as she looked up through the crystal dome, struck with fear as she watched Alexander's massive body plummeting down toward them. She dropped her bow to the floor. "No!" she screamed in horror, lunging forward as Thomas turned and his sword struck through the center of her chest in his attempt to flee.

A flash of blackness and pain burst through Lilya and she crashed to the floor as Alexander's massive body crushed down through the crystal dome and into the ruby floor. Crystal exploded across the room.

Lilya was thrown by the collision and opened her eyes to look through red sight. She tried to move, to stand, as pain seared through her in waves. It overwhelmed her. Alexander's skull was planted in the cracked ruby floor and blood flooded from it onto the red stone. It wove like veins down the shimmering ruby toward her and began pooling around her body and in the rest of the room.

"Lilya," she heard Thomas's voice but couldn't see him. He sounded far off, distant.

One of Alexander's paws curled as it hung limply through the ceiling. Then his large eyes shut, blood seeping through their corners as a puff of warm air filled the chamber.

Pain shot through Lilya and darkness pulsed through her sight. The scent of ash and honey swept into her as darkness consumed her and the last veins of light in her sight went out.

39

Awry

As blood pooled against him, flowing from Alexander's limp form, Thomas forced himself to stand. What had happened? He was in disbelief. He had to get to Lilya.

No! he thought as he saw her across the hall with his sword struck through her chest. She lay limp with her face against the bloody ruby floor. "Lilya!" he called out to her. "Lilya!" As the dragon had crashed through the dome he had turned to flee and had struck something with his sword. He prayed it hadn't been her.

He ran through the dragon's blood, spraying it with his footsteps, until he came to her and kneeled beside her form. With a hand to her neck he checked for some sign of life. There was no pulse, and though her body was still warm a chill ran over him. She came here to save me. And now look what I have done. A fire burned within him, hatred for all that fate had brought into his world.

He kissed Lilya's eyes as Alexander's blood traced down her face. Thomas closed his eyes and braced her body, pulling his sword from her chest as he held her against him. He set her limp body back into the pooling blood and walked through the hall, sheathing his sword. "Something must be done." He stared at the doors leading beyond the hall.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a small ruby apple rolling in the current of blood that filled the hall's floor. He walked to it as the warm blood seeped into his shoes and he reached into the blood and withdrew the trinket from its flow. A beam of light from the destroyed roof shimmered through it.

The fruit, his thoughts carried him somewhere else. If the figs are not the fruit that give eternal life then it's possible that the fruit is still in the unknown woods. If I ate of it then I could live long enough to see my kingdom restored. He stuffed the ruby apple in his pocket and walked numbly to the hall's open doors. Each step weighed on his soul. This fruit is the one chance to heal my realm, he thought as he placed his hand on the course grain of one of the hall's doors, lingering for a moment before heading into the harsh sunlight and toward the Pishon River.

If he had looked back as he left Castle Ah's main hall then he would have seen Alexander's limp form evaporate into a fine red mist and rise in a gust through Ah's open roof. But Thomas did not look back. He did not know what happened in his hall.

There was a blindness coursing through Thomas as he walked to the docks. The gravel path churned beneath his feet and he veered away from it into tall grasses, knowing he could reach the docks quicker through there.

Then he heard a rustling in the grass nearby. "Thomassss," Dora's voice beckoned him.

He turned to where he had heard her voice, drew his sword and parted the grasses with it. "I should take your life. You deceived me." He moved his blade against the ragged woman's throat and forced her down against the earth, digging the tip of his blade slightly into her wrinkled flesh. Blood trickled down her throat.

"Spare me, sire," she pled. "I did not know the figs were not the fruit of life. Let me live to serve you, to help you discover the true fruit."

"I should kill you," he said as he kept the tip of his sword in her throat. Anger flowed through him and his arm quivered with hate. He swallowed and withdrew his sword quickly, stepping away. "But there has been enough bloodshed in my land. No more blood will be shed at my hands. Leave, witch, and do not return. Flee to Vane or some other land. I do not care where you go but know that you will have no shelter in Havilah." He turned and made his way toward the docks, shaking as he went and wanting to take her life.

Dora morphed into a long black snake behind him and slithered off through the grasses and into the earth.

As he approached the docks Thomas spotted a small four-man boat rocking along the bank. Its oars were inside. It would be the best thing he could find for his journey to the unknown land. He approached it, stepping inside and beginning to untie the rope that held it to the river bank, when a large man approached from behind. He could hear the man's footfalls as his feet sank into the moist ground.

"Sire," a deep voice spoke to him as he turned and looked up.

"Who are you?" Thomas asked and moved his hand to his sword's hilt. The man was large and bare chested with a glowing circle in the middle of his forehead. The young king relaxed. This was clearly one of the mercenaries he had hired from Vane.

"Wherever you go, do you need a rower?" the man asked. "I am Carn, of Vane."

Thomas felt the weight of the oar in his hands as he lifted it. He was weak and would have trouble reaching the unknown woods on his own. He needed this man. Perhaps one of the mercenaries would still prove useful. "Please." He motioned before him and Carn stepped in at the front of the boat. It rocked greatly with his weight.

Soon they pushed out on the river and were carried swiftly by its currents toward their destination. Thomas struggled with his oar to keep the boat steady. He struggled with his emotions too, uncertain of what would happen when he reached the unknown riverbank.

40

By Force, Will and Fate

Juniper held his sword high as battle raged about him. He had slain one of the mercenary leaders and the man lay at his feet, bleeding from his slit neck. This was a hard-fought day and there was much fighting left to do.

"Watch my back," he instructed Jonah, who had been fighting behind him since joining their company. Jonah had informed him of Cypress's death and the slaughter they had endured. Thankfully the boy had brought the remains of his company, Alinar and Vansir with him. The hawk riders helped defend against new waves of mercenaries as they continuously attacked Juniper's men.

Heat seared what little exposed flesh Juniper had and sweat poured down his back. He was stricken by the loss of Cypress but had to hold strong until this war was done.

Suddenly a man burst through the fighting toward him. "Look alive!" Juniper called out to Jonah as he rained his sword down on the mercenary, bashing the attacker's sword to the side. Juniper's size had served him well this day.

"I have one at your back," he heard Jonah as the clanging of the boy's sword against another rang out behind him.

With a sidestep Juniper caused his attacker's blade to clash off his leg armor as he cut through the man's legs, sending him to the ground before plunging his sword through the man's chest. The attacker lay before him, choking on his own blood.

"Move!" Juniper shouted and stepped over his slain adversary. "We're in the center of Havilah now! We won't stop until we reach Ah!" The hawks cried out above them as they moved, forcing their way through their attackers.

Juniper's blade clashed with another man's and their blades were held by force before them. The attacker's animal-like hide was eerie in the sunlight. Juniper's muscles burned but he forced the mercenary's blade back, causing the attacker to step back into the fighting of two other men. The sword of one of Juniper's allies plunged into his side and Juniper struck his sword through the mercenary's neck as he cried out in anguish. The man fell and writhed on the ground.

Suddenly an arrow struck in the forehead of the mercenary that his ally was fighting and the man thrust backwards. Vansir let more arrows fly from above. Arrows from the hawk riders and the company's archers rained down on their enemies as Juniper and his men beat the mercenaries back across Havilah.

Hours passed in the heat and more of his men fell to the enemy's blades before their adversary's forces seemed to be depleted. The sun hung low in the sky as Juniper hacked through a man with his sword, sending blood in a spray across his view of the sky. There weren't many mercenaries left now to fight and he was mere miles away from Castle Ah. Its form rose into the sky before them. It was past the river in the distance.

Then, as he took on an opponent with scaled skin, he saw a force approaching them through the nearby woods. A giant with a battleaxe clutched in its fist was with the group. Juniper saw his destiny. He dispatched the scale skinned man's sword and sliced into his hand, sending the mercenary fleeing in pain. "We fight them head on!" he bellowed out and charged for the new enemy.

The grass below him blurred in the sunlight as he ran across the pitted terrain of the field. His men had fought well this day, losing minimal casualties when Cypress's forces had been decimated and Coal's forces seemed to have disappeared. Was he all that was left?

The hilt of his heavy sword cut off the circulation in his hand as he clutched it and ran, leaping over bodies that littered the field. Their enemy seemed to brace for his company's attack.

"Leave this land!" Juniper bellowed as he leapt with his sword and collided down, clashing swords with a well armored mercenary and trading him blow for blow. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound of steel against steel rang through the field.

The mercenary's red eyes peered through the slits of his helmet as he thrust his sword toward Juniper once more. Clang! "You will die at our hands. We cannot be defeated!" Clang! The mercenary's blade struck again.

Juniper felt soreness as his leg cramped, causing him to stumble. He swept his sword up to block another blow. Clang! This man had strength. "Retreat to Vane while you still have life!" he called out as he straightened himself and slammed his sword into the man's own. Clang!

"Need some assistance?" Jonah shouted to him as he watched the boy charging with his sword through the fighting. He leapt over a mercenary as the man plunged to the earth with an arrow in his head.

Juniper didn't respond, in hopes that the mercenary he was fighting hadn't heard the boy and would be caught off guard. Clang! Clang! They traded blows and then Juniper missed the mercenary's blade and felt his opponent's sword hammer into his chest plate. It was enough to knock the wind out of him but not enough to knock him off his feet. He held up his sword, just in time to block another blow. Clang!

Suddenly Jonah was at the mercenary and slamming his sword into the man's armor covered back. The mercenary whirled, hailing his sword down at Jonah as the boy blocked the blow.

Juniper had been worried about the boy ever since he had joined their company. He was extremely headstrong but was not well protected. "Leave... Him... Be...!" Juniper roared as he clubbed his sword into the mercenary's kneecaps, denting the man's armor and causing him to turn with a limp.

Jonah struck him from behind and the mercenary caved to the ground. All it took was a strike from Jonah's blade to the neck and the red in the mercenary's eyes turned to darkness. Blood seeped out of his helmet.

"We need... to retreat..." Jonah said as he breathed heavily. "A giant slaughtered our company. Alinar and Vansir will win this for us, but we need to get out of their way."

"Thank you," Juniper said as he looked to the field where the giant was lumbering toward them, "but he's mine. Retreat!" he bellowed out and watched as his men and allies fled the field around him.

"You commit yourself to death," Jonah pled with him. "Run while you can."

There was desperation in the boy's eyes. Juniper glanced at the hawks above. "They killed Cypress. This one's mine. Help me with the giant!" he shouted up to Alinar and Vansir as Jonah stood his ground beside him. The boy was trembling. I can only imagine what he has seen, Juniper thought.

"Then I will fight beside you, and die if it is to be so." Jonah took a step back as the goliath lumbered forward. It hacked a mercenary in half with his battleaxe as the man ran.

"He kills his own?" Juniper asked in surprise as he held his position and his sword firm in his hand. "I will not flee you!" he shouted to the towering man. The giant only grinned and pummeled its battleaxe down. Clang! The battleaxe slammed into Juniper's sword as he was almost knocked to the ground. It took all his strength to hold off the attack and he felt as if his shoulder blades would rip from his body at any moment. With all the strength in his body he fought the giant's force, willing the hulking man's weapon upward and then thrashing it away from himself and into the ground.

The giant hefted it up from the earth and chunks of grass and soil fell from the blade as the behemoth lifted it to the sky once more. Again the giant struck it down, this time with more force as Juniper met it with his sword. CLANG! The noise reverberated across the field as men stared in awe from the distance. The archers rained arrows down on the giant as battle raged in pockets of the terrain.

Juniper could barely hold off the battleaxe that pressed down above him. He sunk lower and lower to the ground. This will be my end, he thought as he closed his eyes and prepared for his arms to give and the giant axe to splice through his body. He would almost welcome the release. Suddenly the pressure from the axe eased. It was still there but something was clearly distracting the giant. Juniper opened his eyes to see Alinar and Vansir circling with their hawks above his adversary. "Praise the gods," Juniper said as he thrust the battleaxe away from him with his sword and watched the giant lift it to fend off the birds. The giant roared in anger.

Juniper looked over the beast from head to toe. It was covered in armor. "Is there no weakness?" he shouted to Jonah as the boy slowly neared him.

"There is a hole in his armor on the back of his neck!" Jonah shouted as he neared.

"Then we must reach it! Distract the beast while I try to scale him! Can you do that?" Juniper ran around the distracted giant's legs as he heard a hawk's screech in the air. The giant had hit it with his fist, sending Vansir and his bird down toward the earth. The hawk landed on its feet but clearly was wounded and unable to be air bound.

Jonah raised his sword above him. "Do I have a choice?"

"None of us do!" Juniper replied as Vansir launched arrows from the ground. Juniper sheathed his sword. With quickness he sprinted toward the giant and leapt against the back of its legs, clinging to the plates of armor lining the thing's body. The giant's legs lifted and he almost lost his grip as he climbed up farther. Steam rose from the giant's armor in the daylight. A horrible stench of body odor wafted over him. Juniper cringed from the stench as his arms burned. "Is there no release from this beast?"

Suddenly the goliath crushed its axe down from above, slamming it into the earth as Jonah rolled away just in time.

Alinar's hawk clawed at the giant's shoulder armor while Juniper climbed higher up its back.

The beast shook, reaching back with one arm for the hawk just as the bird released him and flew off into the sky.

"Return to the woods!" Jonah screamed from below as he hacked at one of the giant's armored hands with his sword. The giant grappled for the boy with his fist and got a handful of earth as Jonah rolled away.

Juniper barely clung to the giant's back armor as the beast moved after the boy. "Run, Jonah!" he shouted as Jonah dashed with all his might away from the giant. Seconds stretched into eternity as Juniper leapt from the goliath's back to its shoulders, clinging to the hot steel at the top of its back plating. There was a small open area between the back armor and the helmet.

The giant barely had time to thrust its arms upward as Juniper unsheathed his sword and thrust it into the beast's neck and spine. Bone crushed with the thrust and the giant roared once more as it quaked in pain and crashed to the ground, shaking the earth as his chest was split by his own battleaxe that was half submerged in the ground below.

Juniper was thrown by the impact and flew from the giant's back to the earth near Vansir's bird, his armor filling with soil as he slid to a stop and lay face down.

The world turned to black as Juniper's head pounded. He had to rise, had to find strength to stand before a sword found his back or an arrow found its way through his skull. His muscles burned as he pushed himself off the ground and rose to find a thin mercenary charging toward him, sword drawn. Juniper suddenly realized he had no weapon. "Help!" he shouted to Vansir as the man shot arrows into the battle. He ran in Vansir's direction.

An arrow suddenly burst through the mercenary's heart as he tumbled to the ground.

"Thank you!" Juniper shouted to Vansir as he ran to him. He assessed the field as he finally found a moment to breathe. His men had almost defeated this wave of the enemy.

As he reached Vansir the man let another arrow fly. "I'm running low on arrows," the tall archer told him. "And Alinar has not many more, himself. We need to replenish supplies. I do have a sword for you, though." Vansir unsheathed a sword from his belt and handed it to Juniper. It was a large blade, much like Juniper's own.

Juniper sheathed his new weapon. "You are right, we need to replenish our supplies and feed our warriors." He looked across the river in the distance, to Castle Ah beyond it. "The castle appears to be barren. We have not seen any mercenaries coming from that direction since the battle began. I would be surprised if even Thomas were there. Assuming there is no trap awaiting us, we could re-supply there and hold our own within the castle walls."

"I can think of no other way," Vansir said before wiping sweat from his forehead and letting another arrow fly.

"Then help me signal our men."

"Wait," Vansir told him and reached into a pack at his hawk's side, withdrawing a horn from it. The hawk lay limply on the ground but still looked lively, with eyes wide open. "We can use this."

Juniper took the smooth horn, watching sunlight reflect off of it as he pressed it to his lips. "To the castle!" he shouted as his voice was carried clear across the field. "Watch your backs but make haste!"

His company roared with approval and he saw them fleeing the battle toward him. Jonah led the charge.

"Alinar will peal the mercenaries off their backs," Vansir assured him.

"The hardest part will be swimming across the river," Juniper said and then looked to Vansir's hawk. "Can your bird move?"

Vansir made a series of clicking sounds to the hawk and the bird rose with strong legs. Juniper could see where the giant had gotten a hold of one of its wings, tearing feathers and skin at its tip. Droplets of blood collected where it had been wounded.

"He is a strong bird." Vansir ran his hand over the hawk's back and then mounted it. "He should be able to at least get us over the river. Come with us. He will be alright."

"Are you sure he can hold me, too?" Juniper looked worriedly at the hawk.

"There is not much time."

With a deep breath Juniper ran to the bird and mounted it like a horse behind Vansir. The bird moved beneath them and ruffled its feathers before charging over the land between them and the river. Its talons dug up the earth as it ran, flinging chunks of soil and grass into the air. It cawed and ruffled its wings as it moved. Juniper was amazed at how fast they moved.

Soon they approached the river and Juniper felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Will it be able to fly over the water? he wondered, more worried for the hawk than himself.

He felt a jolt as the hawk thrust its wings and pumped them up into the air, gliding in the winds as it soared above the river. He watched as the water currents rushed by below. "Flight never ceases to amaze me," he said as he thought of Alexander. A sudden fear came over him. Where are Lilya and Alexander? They should have joined us by now.

The hawk came down hard on the bank of the river and continued its charge for Ah, jostling them as it moved. With a quick glance behind, Juniper saw his company running toward the river on the opposite bank. Some men had already reached the bank, removing their armor and running for the water, while others searched for a bridge. They would find one a distance down the bank.

"Do we continue to the castle without them?" Vansir asked as they moved.

Wind whipped over their faces as Juniper noticed one of the castle doors half open. He had an eerie feeling. What is beyond those doors? he thought. "This city is barren." The words came off his tongue as he realized the market and city beyond had been burned to the ground. The sight of people left to rot on pikes in the sun's heat made his stomach wrench. "We enter now. I must see what has happened to my home."

As they neared the castle the hawk slowed and then came to a stop, ruffling its wings and then lying down on the ground. It was good to step from the bird. Juniper was not used to riding a thing that flew. Vansir dismounted as well.

"We should keep our weapons at the ready," Juniper said as he unsheathed his sword and held it before him while approaching the castle doors. The odor of rotting flesh rolled over him. Is what this land has become even worth saving? he thought. Yes. If there is even one child here that we can rescue from Havilah's madness then we will achieve something great.

As he approached Ah's entrance he noticed thick blood seeping through the open door and staining the ground. He took another step as his heart raced, and then another step, placing his hand on the open door and moving inside.

To his horror, Juniper saw bodies littering the hall in a bath of blood, so much blood that he could not think where it had come from. There was a massive hole in the hall's ceiling. The ruby floor below the hole was destroyed and coated with blood. Thomas was nowhere to be seen. "What have you done, Thomas?" Juniper spoke under his breath. "How could this be?"

"I see no-one living," Vansir said behind him with an arrow cocked in his bow.

Then suddenly Juniper lost his breath, his words, as he recognized Lilya's body almost covered by a pool of the blood. He ran to her as blood splashed up from his footsteps, feeling her neck for a pulse. He could find none and felt himself shudder as he wanted to cry.

There was no time to mourn, not now. Her body needs to be taken out of this place, he thought. The massive man dug his hands beneath her limp form and hefted her up into his arms, soaking him with blood as it drained off of her clothes and down his own. Placing one foot in front of the other, Juniper carried Lilya from the tomb of a hall, laying her body on the ground in the sunlight outside.

41

Silent Farewell

Carn had waited patiently for hours, rowing with this naive boy as anxiousness grew inside him. His plan had worked perfectly. The boy was leading him to the forbidden woods. He felt the ring on his forehead burning with life. Soon he would slit Thomas's throat and take the fruit of the land for himself.

"I can feel it in the air. We're here," Thomas said. "We'll dock on this bank. Help me row us to the root of that tree." The boy pointed as Carn brought his oar up, dipping it in the murky river and churning water back.

As Thomas tied the small vessel's rope to the tree root Carn went for his blade, and could not move. His muscles were no longer his own. It was as if he were a visitor in his own body. A hissing noise came from the bank.

"Wait here," Thomas instructed him as the boy grabbed onto another root and pulled himself out of the boat, rocking it as he left. "I will return soon."

Carn could look at him but could not respond as Thomas trudged into the woods, disappearing in the thick foliage. Fear grew in him.

"These are not your landssss," a hissing voice came from an oil black snake that slithered down the nearby tree and over its root. The serpent coiled across from him on the boat. "You asssspire to thingss which are forbidden to you. The garden isss not yoursss." Slowly, the serpent transformed into a man with crimson skin and horns rising from the flesh of his skull. "You thought to defy me." A smirk spread across the red man's face. "You should not defy your massster."

Carn knew there was no escape. This man he had served for so long had put a spell on his body. Why had he thought to try? With eternal life, I could have rivaled him.

Mists wove about the crimson-skinned man's outstretched hand and a bone dagger materialized in the man's palm. The man clasped it, and then thrust its blade through the bottom of the boat's hull. As the crimson-skinned man withdrew the blade, water began flooding up through the hole it had made.

"Thisss isss your end." The being gave a devious grin. "I will sssee you in the nether world." As the words hissed from its mouth it transformed back into the oily snake it had begun as and slithered over the boat's side into the river. Carn could hear the river move over the creature's slithering form as it entered the water.

He watched helplessly as river water slowly filled the boat and started seeping into his boots and pants until rising over his waist. It was chill to the touch and he saw small water bugs swimming over to him, biting at his skin.

Soon the boat tipped to the side. His body tumbled away from it and they both continued to sink into the murky river. He was still paralyzed, but could feel himself drowning. He could feel the air pulsing out of him and the water gurgling in. The black serpent coiled around his body as the dark river bottom overtook his sight and his mind was erased clean of all it had once been.

42

The Flaming Sword

"He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life."

  * Genesis 3:24

As Thomas walked through the dense woods, a sense of fear resonated through his body. He clenched his ruby sword at his side and breathed in a deep breath. Animals howled in the distance and a fog began rolling through the trees.

Memories came back to him of the beasts that attacked his ship on the journey to meet Lilya. What am I doing here? he thought. He reached forward with his free hand, moving branches away so that he could walk through. The woods seemed to pulse around him, taking on life of their own.

Grrrr, a low growl resonated close by and Thomas pivoted, ready for a beast to emerge through the dense trees. "YOU should NOT HAVE returned." A bear's paw burst through nearby limbs, crushing into his chest and knocking him to the ground. He barely held onto his sword in the fall.

A beast with the head of a bear and wings extending from its back was looming over him, pinning him with its massive paw to the earth. "WHY HAVE you RETURNED to the forbidden LAND?" it questioned him.

Thomas gulped as his heart raced. Every nerve in his body wanted to attack the beast. "I... I come for the fruit of the Tree of Life."

The half bear, half winged man, growled again. "WHY?"

Thomas felt stones in the ground digging into his back beneath him as mists curled above his eyes. The paw of the beast was heavy on his chest and the beast's claws dug into his skin. "If I could have eternal life, then I could restore my realm and live to see the wrongs I have committed righted." He barely found breath beneath the pressure of the creature.

A low growl resonated in the beast's chest. "YOU WILL leave THESE LANDS!" It snarled and puffed warm air from its nostrils onto his face.

With a surge of strength in his arm, Thomas lifted his sword and thrust it toward the winged beast, causing the thing to pulse its wings and lift into the air to escape his blade. Thomas took his opportunity and rose, bracing his sword above him in defense as the bear-faced creature flew above. "I will reach the tree," he told it. "I only care about living to see my land healed. You will not stop me."

The winged beast struck down with its paw and Thomas slammed his blade into its arm, slicing it open and causing the thing to roar.

As his heart raced Thomas turned and ran deeper into the woods. He leapt over a moss-covered log and then ducked beneath a fallen tree that was braced against a large rock. The faint smell of ash was in the air as he ran across the lush vine-riddled ground, certain the bear-thing would be on him at any moment. Then the smell of honey combined with that of the ash. He was close. This was what he had smelt when he discovered the fig tree, the tree that had filled him with evil desires.

"YOU go NO FARTHER!" a different voice boomed out from the woods ahead and a ram-headed beast with an ornate sword stepped out from behind an outcropping of rocks. Its feet were goat-like hooves.

Thomas looked up to see the winged bear-beast above him, soaring in the air. Was this the same ram-beast he had fought on his ship? With a strong hold on his sword Thomas ran at the beast, driving his blade down toward it. Clang! Their blades met and Thomas felt his arms burn with heat as the ram-beast drove his sword down. Thomas couldn't free the blade and it was knocked from his hands.

The sound of cracking tree limbs came from above as Thomas dodged one of the ram-beast's blows and was crushed to the ground by the flying bear creature. The bear thing's claws dug into his back and he could feel his muscles being torn.

"YOU were OFFERED your FREEDOM," the bear's rumbling voice came from above. "NOW your life IS OURS."

He watched as the ram-beast's sword struck into the earth before his eyes and then lifted. He soon felt its chilled blade on the back of his neck.

"No," a third voice spoke through the woods. It was tamer than that of the beasts. "Bring him to me. This young king has much to answer for."

Grrrr, the bear-headed thing growled above him.

"WE must LISTEN," the ram-beast told it. "RISE, BOY."

The bear's claws retracted from his back and it beat its wings, lifting into the air and away from him. Thomas stood slowly and felt blood flow down his back from where the claws had been. Pain seared through his veins.

"YOU WANT to see THE TREE?" the ram-headed thing asked as it kept its sword pointed toward Thomas.

"Yes," he replied, holding his voice strong.

The ram-beast grinned. "THEN follow ME."

Following the beast through the woods was surreal for Thomas. He had been forced to leave his sword on the forest floor behind him and was now certain that with each step he came closer and closer to death. What was the thing that spoke to save him?

"WE NEAR the CLEARING," the ram-headed thing spoke as he watched its hoofed feet leading the way. The smell of ash was stronger.

"Is the tree there?" Thomas asked as a shiver ran through his body. He watched as the woods opened up to a vast sunlit clearing. Its earth was covered in clover.

As he stepped out of the forest and into the open space he saw beasts with different animal heads standing like guards around the space's outer sides. Wings extended upward out of their backs and they held long swords.

There was a large tree at the far end of the garden with pure red apples amongst its leaves. Thomas reached into his pocket and felt the ruby apple he had discovered in his hall. This must be the tree, he thought and took a step toward it. He had never seen a tree so beautiful before. He felt drawn to it.

A sudden red mist curled through the boughs of the trees, rushing past the beasts and almost covering Thomas's sight as it passed him. It wove over itself in streams in the center of the clearing and began to take a form. Before his eyes, Thomas saw the mist solidify into the form of a crimson dragon.

"Alexander?" Thomas gasped in disbelief. He stepped forward with his hand outstretched, wanting to touch the dragon to know he was real.

"Stay where you are, Thomas," Alexander spoke. "Leave us. He is unarmed. I will deal with him," he told the beasts and waited as the creatures disappeared into the shadows of the woods.

"But I saw you die. I touched your blood." Thomas stood, grasping for some reality. "How can you be here?"

"I cannot die. I was placed in this land, Eden, to guard the Tree of Life. I am not to let any mortal eat of its fruit again." Smoke poured out of the dragon's nostrils and rose into the sky. "I was awoken from a long slumber when you took the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge from our land. Now you return to steal from the Tree of Life. You should never have come back to this place."

"I wish to have eternal life so that I can rebuild my kingdom and redeem myself for the wrongs I have committed against my people." Thomas shook with desire for the fruit and anger because Alexander dared stand in his way. Alexander took Lilya from me. Now he denies me this tree, he thought and clenched his fists.

"You cannot eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, Thomas. And you must pay for what you have done."

Thomas saw fire churning in the dragon's mouth as it spoke. "How can you hold what I have done against me?" he asked, enraged. "The figs of your land cursed me. If not for them, then my land would be spared."

"You have cursed yourself." Alexander's eyes flared with heat. "It was you that accepted them, you that allowed them to take you over. The sparks of your sins were within you and you chose to succumb to them. Do not blame a fruit for the evil you became. It was your free will which controlled you."

"It was the figs!" Thomas shouted at Alexander, his face red with hate.

"It is not for me to judge. It is the Lord you must ask forgiveness of."

"Enough!" he shouted and ran forward, rage guiding his steps and searing his chest as he went for the tree.

The world ignited around Thomas as flame exploded from Alexander's maw, scouring Thomas's body, boiling his skin and disintegrating his armor to ash. In an instant, pain seared through his body as his eyes burned to nothing and his body was charred to the bone in the scorching flames.

His scorched bones tumbled to the ground as a hot pulse burst throughout the clearing and Alexander's flames sucked back within his maw.

43

Ever After

Alexander's eyes were shut as the heat from his fire churned and extinguished within him. He breathed the ash and smoke from the fire out of his nose. It had to be done, he told himself. There was no other way. He found no joy in taking Thomas's life. He only hoped that the boy's soul would find peace in the life after.

Alexander opened his eyes and watched as smoke rose from the ground where Thomas had stood. Where the clover had been, around the king, there was now only ash.

A feeling of loneliness, of emptiness washed over him. Lilya is dead, he thought. He had felt the last of her life leaving her as he left Castle Ah. Why?

All creatures who do not live in the garden must die, another voice joined his thoughts. They live again with me.

And yet she is with you and I cannot die. There was a pain in his chest, a pain that went beyond feeling. I know I could not, but I wish I could have given her the fruit from the Tree of Life.

There is no power in the fruit. The power to save man, to give life where it weakens, is within man's own soul and within you, Alexander.

There was silence for a long moment as Alexander watched the leaves in the woods beyond the clearing rustling in a breeze that was sweeping about them.

Go to her body. The garden is safe now.

"Thank you, Lord," Alexander said aloud as he beat his vast wings and lifted above the woods. The treetops blurred beneath him as he watched his shadow move below.

Soon he was above the river, watching his reflection and reminiscing about flying with Lilya. It was as if something was missing from him now, without her. Life would never be the same, never hold the beauty that it once did. Time passed and soon he saw Ah's spires rising through the clouds in the distance.

His heart raced as he angled his wings, feeling the wind part and curl off of them, gliding down to where he saw Juniper standing near Lilya's body. Armored men moved about the city.

Wind whipped across his wings as he flew down, stopping his flight and hovering just above Juniper and Lilya's body. Juniper greeted him with a wave. "Welcome, Alexander! We were worried that something had happened to you!"

The men on the ground about Juniper backed away as Alexander landed, clutching the earth with his paws. "Can I take her with me?" he asked with respect.

"You were connected with her more than any other." Juniper walked closer to Lilya and looked at her for a moment before looking back up to Alexander. "It is only right that she goes with you."

"Thank you." Alexander dug his paw into the earth below her and lifted Lilya's limp form into its embrace. She was beautiful even in death. They had cleaned the blood from her and there was only a dried wound from where Thomas's sword had pierced her. He closed his eyes and felt sorrow welling in his heart. "I will return to you," he told Juniper. "I will help repair Havilah. It is what Lilya would want."

"We await your return," Juniper said as Alexander beat his crimson wings and lifted into the sky with Lilya in his paw.

He raised high in the air as he flew, soaring as clouds burst about him, parting around his form. Alexander felt as if he would die at any moment because he would never be with her again. He had hoped there would be life in her heart when he found her but there was nothing there.

Alexander reached his destination, a cavern set in the mountain wall above where he and Lilya had spent time in the clover field, and clutched the cave's edge with his free paws. He had never told her that he loved this place because it reminded him of Eden. Now it was too late.

As he held her in his paw he watched clouds pass between him and the land below, watched the sun shine through the clouds to the clover-covered earth. He looked to Lilya's body as it curled to his scaled skin.

Alexander closed his eyes, letting the loss of her run through him. His chest quaked and he felt tears welling in his eyes. No. He tried to deny the emotion. No. It was like darkness was taking him as tears fled down his cheeks and dripped into the open air beyond the cave. He could taste the salt from them on his lips.

As he opened his eyes he saw a tear drip down and be blown by the wind to land on Lilya's form. No, he thought again and shut his eyes. Suddenly there was movement in his palm. When he opened his eyes he saw Lilya's hand open. A moment later her head turned and her eyes opened. He could sense her heart beating again.

"Alexander..." she spoke softly. "...I love you."

"The gods we worship write their names

on our faces, be sure of that, and a man

will worship something - have no doubt

about that either. He may think that

his tribute is paid in secret in the

dark recesses of his heart – but it

will not. That which dominates will

determine his life and character.

Therefore, it behooves us to be careful

what we worship, for what we are

worshiping we are becoming."

\- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The poem that inspired the novel...

Alexander

One maiden lays of midst the hands

of a dragon

grasping o'er the sands

lain upon a mountain's pier

his sorrowed lips drape e'er the land

dripping off a wayward tear

and whispers flow

through morning's end

his wings of once a whispered tide

do drape of now from sorrows breathing, haunting cries

he dreams of days yet of her life

her kiss twould make

it all but right

she'd ride upon his rippling wings

and land upon

a field of only found in dreams

she'd prick a flower of in bloom

when given him

a sight to see

the dragon swooned

he'd blushed a million times before

but yet he'd blush but once a more

these two a pair of framed above

dragon

woman

and of their love

he blew a kiss but of the stars

and wept but of

their dreams beyond.

  * Scott J. Toney, Dusk Crescence

Characters

Abishan – Cush's King, Princess Lilya's father

Afaris – an elder in The Canyon of Eyes

Alexander – a dragon who befriends Lilya and whose origins are unknown

Alinar – a Hawk Rider from The Canyon of Eyes

Amari – King Thomas' galley boy

Ban Var – poor man from the outskirts of Havilah and father of Mae and Jonah

Barbarous – Assyrian knight

Barl – Castle Ah medic

Carn – mercenary from Vane

Clare – daughter of Oston, a longtime friend of Thomas' deceased father

Coal – an elder in The Canyon of Eyes

Cypress – one of King Thomas' three personal guards

Dora – King Thomas' personal "Pan" or Mystic

Drinsnel – guide for King Thomas' company in Cush

Evon – Oston's wife and Clare's mother

Felicia – an elder of mysterious origin in The Canyon of Eyes

Fiol – Ban Var's wife and Mae and Jonah's mother

Forest Beasts – beasts from the unknown woods where Thomas discovers the figs

Jonah – Ban Var's son

June – Lilya's maid

Juniper – one of King Thomas' three personal guards

Lilya – Princess of Cush and daughter of King Abishan

Mae – Ban Var's daughter

Na'amah – Felicia's birth name

Oston – Clare's father and an old friend of King Thomas' father

Pine – one of King Thomas' three personal guards

Repaor – knight of Cush

Sydney – Lilya's maid

Targ – King Abishan's personal guard

Tessera – Lilya's maid

Thomas – King of Havilah

Timothy – farm boy from Cush

Vansir – a Hawk Rider from The Canyon of Eyes

Places

Assyria – kingdom beside the Tigris River

Castle Ah – the main castle of Havilah

Cush – kingdom beside the Gihon River

Eden – land believed by the Hebrews to possess the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge

Havilah – kingdom beside the Pishon River

The Canyon of Eyes – canyon on Cush's edge that leads down into the sea

Vane – land beside the Euphrates River

Westwood Castle – the main castle of Cush

Rivers

Euphrates River – river running beside Vane

Gihon River – river running beside Cush

Pishon River – river running beside Havilah

Tigris River – river running beside Assyria

Unknown River – river running beside the undiscovered woods where Thomas discovered the seven figs. The Euphrates, Gihon, Pishon and Tigris rivers flow into the unknown river.

Things

Angemon – King Thomas' ship

Pan Dora's Box – box Pan Dora stores the seven figs in

Seven Figs – figs discovered by Thomas and believed by him to be from the Tree of Life

Tree of Knowledge – tree in Eden whose fruit is believed to grant knowledge of good and evil

Tree of Life – tree in Eden whose fruit is believed to give eternal life

Seven Deadly Sins – pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust

Seven Heavenly Virtues – humility, kindness, patience, diligence, charity, temperance and chastity

The Ark of Humanity, also by Scott J. Toney

God flooded the earth to annihilate humanity's sins. What if that sinful race didn't die when floodwaters covered them but instead adapted to breathe water?

"I can see comparisons to Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy in some of the themes raised [in The Ark of Humanity]. As with Pullman's 'daemons', the relationship between the beings and their companions who transport them is particularly enjoyable, a relationship which also reminded me of the dragons in the film 'Avatar'. I can see this as a fantastic storyboard for a Pixar film."

–HarperCollins

Other BHB books we recommend:

Fantasy

The Ark of Humanity, by Scott J. Toney

The Awakening: Dawn of Destruction, by Cara Goldthorpe

Eden Legacy, by Scott J. Toney

Horker's Law, by Mike Lee

The Beholder, by Ivan Amberlake

Sci-Fi

Fey, by Mike Lee

StarFire, by Mike Lee

Christian Historical Fiction

Lazarus, Man, by Scott J. Toney

Horror/Thriller

Doubles, by Melissa Simonson

Historical Fiction

Chasing Pharaohs, by CMTStibbe

Visit Breakwater Harbor Books for these and other great titles!

www.breakwaterharborbooks.weebly.com
