Authors: Rain Oxford
The god looked at me and I nodded. It was true.
Vivian and Nano reappeared at the same moment Avoli
disappeared. Vivian looked irritated and Nano looked worried.
“It smells like they had just had an argument,”
Mordon informed me.
I nodded my understanding as Vivian took Sammy and
marched off into the cabin. Nano went to go hide in the woods. As he passed me,
I smelled blood.
Before anyone else could move to go inside, there was
a loud cracking sound and Blood appeared, wounded but alive. He had blood on
his nuzzle, which I assumed was the blood of another animal, and his leg was at
an odd angle. The wound on his leg looked pretty bad and I wondered what the
poor creature had gotten up to.
“Krayer,” Mordon said. I looked at him. “I remember.
I was about four when he told me his name, but I remember it now. Krayer.”
Even as he was remembering his past, I was healing
the dragon. When I finished, he tested his leg by putting pressure on it, then
rubbed his nuzzle against my chest.
I looked down at the blood on my shirt and sighed.
That was the second time this dragon wiped his nose on me and disguised it as
affection. The dragon backed away when Mordon came towards us.
“What’s wrong? You know me,” he said.
“Rojan is probably freaking him out,” I supplied.
“Rojan won’t hurt you,” Mordon said gently. When the
dragon lowered his head, Mordon held out his hand. Slowly, the dragon crept
forward until Mordon could just barely touch him. Blood relaxed when Mordon
didn’t move to grab him, but then stretched out his wings and took flight. With
no hesitation, the dragon disappeared in the night. Mordon looked insulted.
“He probably has a life to return to,” I said.
When Divina and Edward went into the cabin, Ronez
grabbed my arm to hold me back. Mordon stopped, but faced the cabin as if guarding
us while not being intrusive. He would always have my back.
“You need to watch Sammy and keep him away from your
enemies,” Ronez told me.
I was almost offended. “I would never let him get
hurt.”
“That isn’t what I mean at all. He is an
extraordinarily powerful person. You are human and sago with Iadnah power.
Amazing, yeah, but he is something more; the magic is not just in his mind or
blood, it’s in his DNA. You weren’t even able to use your Iadnah power until
recently. I think he may actually be part Iadnah.”
“But that’s impossible. The Iadnah are not compatible
with people.” If they were, it would be possible to have children with Divina.
“I agree, but there he is, whatever he is, and you do
not want your enemies turning him against you.”
“But I don’t have enemies,” I insisted, a little
desperately.
He gave me a smile that told me I was being stupid.
“You are extremely powerful and extremely kind; you definitely have enemies.
Remember that the universe must balance itself out. When you deal with magic at
this depth, everything you do has an equal and opposite action. You were born,
so I, who was equally powerful at the time, had to die. You became even more
powerful, so Vretial had to be destroyed. Unfortunately, that was too much of a
shock to the universe. What are the consequences of Sammy?”
When I had no response, he went inside. Mordon waited
for me. “That baby adores you, and he’s smart. Nothing could turn him against
you. On the other hand, your girlfriend may want to watch herself; he has a
habit of tossing people around who mess with you.”
When we were just about to go inside, Edward opened
the door and stepped out. Mordon and Edward shared a look, but I was pretty
sure it was Rojan who nodded and went inside.
Edward grabbed my arm to pull me away from the door.
“I think we may need to talk,” he said gently.
My blood froze. All I could think about was that this
was it. After everything that happened this day, he was going to kick me out.
Maybe he had already found a new apprentice. Maybe he wanted to be alone. Maybe
having Ronez and/or Sammy around made him decide he was tired of me.
“Get that scared look off your face, child,” he
demanded severely.
When he spoke softly, I freaked and thought the
worst; when he snapped at me, everything was okay. What kind of backwards life
had I lived?
“I never thought for a moment that you would fear me
kicking you out. I am not like your mother; I will not leave you to fend for
yourself. You will decide to go and live with Divina, I know, and it is the
natural process of life, but I will miss you when you are gone and look forward
to you returning home for visits. You still have to come home for holidays,
which may or may not be made up by me as an excuse to make you visit. If you get
in an argument with Divina, I expect you to show up in the middle of the night
and I will make your favorite for breakfast.”
It was getting difficult to breathe; my chest hurt
worse with every word. I think it was with relief, because I felt happy.
“No matter what ever happens between you and Divina
or you and me, I am proud of you. You are the perfect son and anyone who ever
treated you as less than should burn alive and rot in the void.”
Edward was all about strong conclusions. His words
were short and loud and that drove it in even more because while he wasn’t
actually yelling at me, I could hear the honesty. My fear of him kicking me out
lost all ground and I couldn’t believe I thought he would. I had no right to
assume he was like the others. He may have been my uncle, but he was the
closest thing I ever needed to a father. Unlike Mordon’s father, he deserved
love and respect.
“If you have no questions, I’m going to go and shame
Divina for keeping secrets.”
“Okay. Thank you… for… you know. I have something I
need to do real quick,” I said. He nodded and went inside. I closed my eyes and
flashed to Mokii. Having been to Mordon’s home once and met his father, I was
not surprised by the familiar castle. What I was surprised by was the dreary
climate.
Mordon’s father had always tried to appear larger
than life. As he lay in his bed, white as a sheet, he was anything but. It was
dark since the curtains were pulled closed. There was no fresh air, no colors
to liven the room up, not even flowers from well-wishers. And it was silent, as
if the kingdom was already in mourning for the death of their king. But the man
was alive, if only barely.
I moved closer to the bed and noticed the picture. I
had seen pictures of Mordon’s mother before. This was one of her sitting in the
grass in bright sunlight and heavily pregnant. She looked extremely happy.
Beside her sat a young woman, very similar in appearance. The girl was leaning
against Mordon’s mother and smiling just as brightly.
I hesitated. The man in bed looked so horribly
defeated. Did he want to be saved? He had lost his wife and daughter, and then
his son ran away. I didn’t notice exactly when he woke because he didn’t move,
but when I examined his face, he was staring at me. The one time I had met him,
Mordon introduced me as a strong wizard. The man pretty much ignored me and
told Mordon not to do anything weird.
“He knows about Rojan. He knows you did something to
suppress the dragon,” I said.
“I only did it to help him; I did what I felt was
best for him.” His voice was weak.
“I know, and that’s why I’m going to help you. Your
death is not going to be on my friend’s conscience. However, he will not become
king. You may see him again, that is his choice to make, but you cannot trap or
guilt him into being king.”
“He will want to be king someday.”
“I highly doubt that, but again; it is his choice.
You cannot make him be something he is not. I’m giving you a different choice.
I can heal you. That would mean you have a slight chance of seeing him again,
but I cannot guarantee it. If I heal you, you must never interfere with his
life again. He can come to you, but you leave him alone. He’s happy.”
He sniffled, but I knew it was the loss of his
family, not his wounds that broke the old king. “I do not want to die, but why
should I live?”
“You can still do good as king. Instead of making the
throne more powerful, how about trying to make life better for the people? That
would include your son, now. Someday, you will be with your wife and daughter,
but Mordon is immortal, so you will probably never be with him after you die.”
“My son despises me,” he said.
“No, he doesn’t. He worked his whole life to make you
proud. You spent his whole life trying to trample part of him. Rojan never
wanted to be king of the dragons; you were trying to flame a part of Mordon
that wasn’t there, and he knew you felt he was lacking. I can save you, but I
need to know now if that is what you want.”
His breathing was labored as he nodded. I put one
hand on his chest and the other on his forehead, then concentrated on my desire
to save a person and pushed aside my disapproval for the man who mistreated my
best friend. Sure, I could have punished him and wanted to, but that would not
have helped Mordon. Mordon’s father still had a chance to make peace. The
internal damage was so extensive that if I had waited an hour, I would have
been too late. As it was, my magic was so efficient that it only took a few
minutes to heal him. He would be on his feet by the end of the day.
Before he could say anything, I flashed back to my
home on Duran.
Sammy and Divina were playing on the floor with his
blocks. Nano sat at the table and Vivian sat in his lap, watching the baby. She
obviously wanted to go to him, but Nano wasn’t going to let her. Edward and
Ronez sat in the other two chairs at the table. Mordon was leaning against the
table and his expression told me he knew what I had done. He could probably
smell his father on me. I expected him to look away; I didn’t expect the relief
on his face.
Divina looked up at me and climbed to her feet,
picking Sammy up as she did. Edward and Ronez went downstairs and Vivian and
Nano went outside. Divina put Sammy in the large basket laden with blankets
that we used as a cradle.
“Mordon, would you give us some privacy?” she asked.
He hesitated before going outside. Shinobu bounced up
on the table and curled her tail in front of her.
“You have asked me several times to marry you,” she
said tentatively.
I froze. “Did you make a decision?” While I really
wanted her to say yes, that she would marry me, I wasn’t mentally prepared to
be turned down. Of course, my fear was apparent.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do you really think
I would reject you? I love you. You’re the only one I know who can put up with
me for days at a time. Of course I will. But you need to know… I didn’t want to
keep it a secret, I just wanted to make sure I was right and that I didn’t…
lose it.”
What could make the most powerful woman I know so
afraid to tell me something? “Anything you have to tell me, it’s okay. We can
handle it.”
“I don’t know that I can. Dylan…” She wrapped her
arms around me and pressed her forehead against my neck. “I’m pregnant.”
Obviously, I had to respond with decorum and wisdom.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She took my hand and pressed it to her stomach. Shock
was the only excuse I had for taking way too long to realize that her stomach
wasn’t completely flat. There was just a hint of a distention.
“Are you… What is that?”
She laughed. “I’m pregnant.”
“You… that’s a…”
“That’s a baby you feel.”
“A baby… Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,” she said.
I gaped at her and she laughed again. I’m glad she
was enjoying herself, because I could have been knocked down with a feather. “With…”
“With a baby!”
“My baby?”
“Yes, you stupid pillock!”
“My baby… That’s my baby in there?”
The door opened and Mordon stuck his head in. “I
don’t want to interrupt or anything, but Vivian and Nano are arguing out here,
can I come in now?”
“Mordon, look,” I said, not letting go of Divina’s
abdomen. “There’s a baby in there. My baby. Look. That’s my baby.”
Mordon smiled at us. “Congratulations. I’m going
downstairs. Let me know when you wake up from the shock,” he said, going
downstairs. When the door closed behind him, I just stared at the slight baby
bump.
“Is that why you told me to wait a few months so that
you could help me go after Mordon?” I asked.
She nodded. “There’s never been something like this.
Honestly, I know your Iadnah magic has something to do with this, but I have no
idea how it actually happened. Anything I do could be dangerous, from flashing
to… heavy lifting.”
“Why would you risk the baby to go into the void and
get Mordon?”
“Because you would have gotten yourself killed trying
to save him. There is one thing I fear more than raising this child, and that
is raising him without you,” she said.
I wanted to ask her if she was okay, but I couldn’t
stand to hear that she wasn’t. Luckily, she understood.
“It still scares me, but spending time with Sammy
helped, and knowing you will be there to fix my mistakes and keep the kid
healthy, I can deal with it. Being able to give you a child, though, makes me
happy. I don’t have faith in my mothering abilities, but I am excited. I am
happy about this.”
“I’m glad. How far along are you?”
“I have no idea. I only found out a month ago. I
don’t want to go to a physician because I have don’t know if it’s a normal sago
pregnancy.”
“You do need to make sure everything’s developing
correctly, though. I think there are prenatal vitamins and stuff. And chocolate.
I heard that pregnant women need chocolate. Maybe Vivian still has some from
when she was pregnant with Sammy. Oh! You have to keep off your feet. I read
that in a book once,” I said. I gently pushed her to sit in the chair and put
her legs up on the other chair.