by Bryan Davis
“It is not exactly the same as other dragons sing. I …” She looked up as if searching for a word. “I invented the last part, because my youngling was yet unborn, so it is not as good as the rest.”
“It’ll be fine,” Billy said. “Please sing it.”
“Very well.” Sorentine moved her head directly in front of Listener, and, looking into her eyes, sang in a low, yet feminine voice.
When younglings play so hard all day,
They need to rest in mother’s care.
Regain the light your play has spent;
My bed of gems I now will share.
So leave your eyes as open doors
To gather truth, to gather light,
For truth and light will call as one,
“Rebuke the false and scatter night.”
And now I call to you in song;
Regenerate within my womb.
Above all gems you are to me,
I call you from your hidden room.
Tears flowed down Listener’s cheeks. Sniffing, she petted Sorentine’s neck. “That’s the exact tune, and some of the meanings are the same, too.”
“Yes,” Patrick said. “The theme of calling to rebirth is similar in both.”
Billy let the lyrics sink in. I call to you … Above all gems … Your hidden room … There was so much there! Each word seemed to reach into his heart and play its note from within. Furrowing his brow tightly, he turned to Patrick. “Which gem is the most valuable?”
Sir Patrick tilted his head. “A surprising query, William, but the answer would depend on a number of factors, such as color and clarity and how it is cut.”
“Forget about cut.” Billy stared hard at the ground. “What if it had perfect color and perfect clarity?”
“I suppose it would be a ruby. A flawless ruby usually fetches a higher price than a diamond of equal size and quality.”
“A ruby?” Billy looked up at him. “Not a sapphire?”
“William, a sapphire is the same gem. They are both corundum. A red deposit is a ruby, and any other color is a sapphire. They have the same basic chemical composition, a type of aluminum oxide.”
While Billy pondered the words, Patrick added, “It seems to me that we have discovered the reason for Listener’s knowledge of the song.”
“We have?” Billy looked up at him again.
“Indeed. My guess is that a certain unborn dragon was not completely transformed when her mother underwent her transformation. After the youngling died as the result of her mother’s death, she resurrected here, much later, to be sure, but we haven’t learned much about the timing of these events, so that should be no surprise. Since Listener was born with two companions, one of which gave her dragonlike scales, there seems to be only one explanation. Listener and the youngling are one and the same. The song is the binding tie that proves the connection. After hearing it in her mother’s womb, Listener, who never forgets what she hears, remembers it to this day.”
Listener covered her mouth with her hand. As more tears flowed, she reached up and touched Sorentine’s cheek. “Mother?” she said meekly.
A large teardrop fell from the dragon’s eye. “My little one?”
Listener rose to her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around the dragon’s neck. “Mother!”
Sorentine wept. “Oh, my darling! At last we meet!”
As they nuzzled cheek to cheek, Listener spoke through her sobs. “Acacia said she thought my mother probably killed me before I was born. She wasn’t really sure, and I always hoped she was wrong, and now I know you never stopped loving me. Never!”
Billy bit his lip. If he kept watching these two, he would start crying with them. Poor Listener had lost two mothers, first Sorentine and then Angel. Yes, Mantika was a fine surrogate mother, but this was different, a bond that lasted for centuries, tied together by a song that a tiny youngling never forgot.
Billy pulled Patrick away again. “You mentioned that we needed corroborating evidence.” He nodded at Listener and the dragon. “Does it get any clearer?”
“If I am following your thinking, William, you are connecting the lyrics to our situation. Since Sapphira is linked to a sapphire, you are suggesting that we call her instead of Makaidos.”
“Exactly. I was hoping I could call Bonnie, but I guess we’ll have to wait for another time.”
“I see.” Patrick began stroking his chin again. “This is most extraordinary. I have to agree with your assessment.”
Billy spread out his hands. “Elam is the warrior chief. He told me to follow wisdom, but is this enough proof to go against his wishes?”
“If he heard the evidence, he would likely acquiesce, but we have already lost so much time. Searching for him now with an army pressing in on us would cause too much of a delay, especially with Pegasus nearly at the crucial point in the sky.”
“Then what do we do?”
Patrick raised a hand. “I will vouch for you. Since he long ago submitted to my authority as my servant, Markus, and has not rescinded that duty, he will trust my judgment. I hereby call upon you to change the name in the song from Makaidos to Sapphira.”
A flare arced across the sky, brightening the field. “The signal!” Billy withdrew Excalibur, lit up the beam, and took Listener’s hand. “We have to hurry.”
They ran into the garden, passed by the plump weed they had been protecting for Shiloh’s sake, dodged the dozen or so other plants, and stopped in front of the one Elam had grown from a seed.
Billy touched the soil with the beam, careful to avoid the plants. The light crawled across the garden like flame on a dry prairie. The bones began to glow, as if burning within and emanating a chemical fire that oozed radiance. Soon, the garden came alive with sparkling white embers, the bones of Makaidos again providing energy to the soils of rebirth.
After putting Excalibur away, Billy laid a hand on Listener’s head. “Sing it now, daughter of Sorentine. Sing it with all your heart.”
Blinking away tears, Listener began the song, not bothering to look at the parchment.
When phantoms knock on doors of light
To open paths to worlds beyond,
A friend replies, “Insert the key
To leave the dark and greet the dawn.
“The key is light, the words of truth;
No lie can break the chains of death.
A whispered word of love avails
To bring new life, the spirit’s breath.”
So now I sing a key for you,
The phantom waiting at the door;
We call for you, Sapphira who
Will join us now in holy war.
As she rolled up the parchment and held it in her fist, the garden’s glow ran up her legs and painted an aura around her body. She was the new Paili, another prophetic songstress in a petite shell.
Billy steeled his shaking legs. What would happen now? She had called for Sapphira, but leaving Bonnie out felt like a stab in the heart. Could they call for two at once? No one had said they couldn’t. Bonnie’s name didn’t really fit the poem’s meter, but did that matter? Resurrection couldn’t hinge on singing perfectly placed syllables, could it?
Shaking his head, Billy glared at the shimmering soil. So many questions! And too few answers.
The ground shook. Just a few paces ahead, a bump formed between two rows. For a moment, it grew, like an expanding molehill. When it reached a foot tall, the soil began spilling away, revealing a head of hair, dirty, yet obviously white. Then, a face appeared, and two blue eyes blinked away the dirt.
Chapter 8
The Reunion
Sapphira!” Billy rushed forward, and taking her hand, helped her step out of the erupting garden.
Brushing dirt from her clothes, Sapphira looked around. “Where’s Bonnie?”
“Bonnie? I thought she might have been with you.”
Sapphira’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you call her?”
“Not yet. I wasn’t sure how—”
Billy lifted his arms and looked down at her soiled white hair. What a strange reaction! His heart racing, he stumbled through his words. “I … I do feel something. I just don’t know what to do about it. We thought you were the one we were supposed to call.”
“I was the one.” Sapphira released him and picked up one of the glowing bones. “Rebirth has its genesis in love. Makaidos demonstrated that love by dying for the sake of his daughters, and he left behind the power to bring others to life. Yes, the prophetic song is one way to call specific people back from the Valley of Souls.” She swept her arm across the garden. “But look around you. It is love that calls these little ones to spring forth from the valley of dead souls. Just sing your own song of love and call Bonnie from the valley.”
A shout sounded from the village. “Billy! The Vacants are attacking!”
Billy spotted Walter swinging a lantern at the edge of the village’s bordering forest. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“A minute!” Walter’s voice spiked. “We need Excalibur now! Goliath was seen flying this way!”
Billy gritted his teeth. War would have to wait. He spun toward Sorentine. “Are you willing to go with Walter?”
“Willing?” Sparks flew from her snout. “I will fight with the best of the dragons!” She dipped her head to the ground next to Listener. “Mount, my precious one. I will take you to safety, and then I must go to battle.”
Listener scrambled up her neck and settled on her back. New tears gleaming in her eyes, she nodded at Billy but said nothing. The potent mixture of emotional filling and catharsis had drained her of sound.
Sapphira took Billy’s hand. “You must call her now before it’s too late. I will pray for the words to leap from your heart.”
“Okay.” His heart still racing, he closed his eyes. Again, the song from his dream entered his mind, yet this time spoken in his own voice.
Call to me, and I will answer you;
Say my name, and my light will shine.
Draw me out, and I will rise again;
Take my hand, and I will be thine.
As he added the tune, he let his new thoughts fill in the words, and he sang them out.
Hear my call, and I will raise you up;
Heed my words, and look at my eyes.
He stretched out his arm, his hand open.
See my love, and know my words are true;
Bonnie Silver, I bid you rise.
The moment the last note died away, the ground shook again. Billy searched the soil for another rising bump, but the shadows cast by Pegasus overwhelmed Patrick’s lantern. He reached for Excalibur, but just as his fingers touched the hilt, something slammed into his body and knocked him flat.
Billy looked up from the ground, his head throbbing. “What was that?”
Spreading out her arms, Sapphira shielded him with a ring of fire. “Stay back, foul dragon!”
A deep growl sounded, but it was too dark to see the source. “I am not here to trifle with boys and girls. Stand aside so that I may collect my prize.”
Strong arms lifted Billy to his feet. “Get up, brave knight.” The voice was soft and gentle, but not Sapphira’s. “Don’t let this lizard defeat you with mere words.”
Billy tried to focus on his helper. “Bonnie?”
As a pair of wings spread out behind her, her beautiful smile shone in the moonlight. “I heard your call, and now I’m looking into your eyes. I see a man, not a boy, a man who can stand up to this scaly bag of hot air.”
Her words pulsed through his body, hardening his muscles. He embraced her and whispered into her ear. “I’m glad to see you, but I have to take care of business right now.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Go get him, tiger!”
Flexing his biceps, he turned toward the intruder. Now able to see the dragon in the shadows, he called out, “Goliath! Leave it to a coward like you to wait for the dragon guard to fly away.”
“I will wait no longer for my prize.” Flames shot from Goliath’s mouth and slammed into Sapphira. Her body bent backwards, and her hair and clothes streamed as if flapping in a strong gust of wind. The fire arced around her, missing Billy and Bonnie, but it splashed into three plants behind them.
“No!” Billy lunged for one and batted the flames away with his hand. “You coward!” While Patrick ran to tend to the other burning plants, Billy rose to his feet, withdrew Excalibur, and took three heavy steps toward Goliath. Sapphira stood at his side, the balls of fire in her hands swelling.
“What is this prize you want?” Billy growled as he summoned the beam.
“Merely a weed. I am sure you have seen it.” Goliath reached down and wrapped his clawed hand around the supporting stem of one of the plants. “It is very different from this one, which I will incinerate if you do not put away that sword. I wager that I can kill its fruit before you can strike.”
Billy scowled at him. He didn’t have much choice. Goliath had already proven that he would kill these unborn babies without a thought.
He doused the beam. “Okay. What next?”
“That’s a good boy.” Goliath released the plant and stretched his neck to see around Billy. “There is my prize. Stand aside, and I will take it and be on my way.”
Billy glanced at the weed without moving his head. Of course, he didn’t care a whit about the plant itself, but if Goliath took it, what would happen to Shiloh? If Arramos created the life connection between them, did Goliath’s appearance mean that its fruit was ripe and could be harvested safely?
“I can’t let you uproot the plant,” Billy said. “I don’t want you touching it.”
“I understand what you fear. Open its leaves, and bring the fruit to me, but if you do harm to it, I will destroy every plant in this garden.”
Bonnie touched Billy’s shoulder. “I’ll do it. You and Sapphira can keep an eye on him.”
Billy nodded toward the plant. “It’s the ugly weed with a big pouch on top.”
Glancing back at Goliath, Bonnie hurried toward the edge of the garden and knelt. “This one?”
Patrick set his lantern down next to her. “Yes. We have been watching it for four years.”
While Billy and Sapphira eased closer to get a better look, Bonnie peeled back one of the leaves. A sac with a gauzelike, semi-transparent shell tipped into her hands. As she rose to her feet, she held it out for everyone to see.
Billy eyed the strange object, an egg the size of a large cantaloupe. The ovular sac began to glow. Inside, a man pressed his palms against the lining.
“It’s too fuzzy to see his face,” Bonnie said. “But it looks like he’s trying to get out.”
Goliath let out a low growl. “Bring it to me.”
She looked at Billy. “Should I?”
He tightened his hands into fists. “I guess we don’t have much choice.”
Beating her wings, she floated over the other plants. With every second, the egg grew larger and brighter. By the time she set it down next to Goliath, it had already doubled in size.
The dragon scooped it up, and as he rose into the air, he grabbed the back of Bonnie’s shirt with his clawed foot.
Bonnie screamed. As her outer shirt rode up to her armpits, she beat her wings and kicked wildly.
“Insurance,” Goliath said with a low rumble.
Billy thrust Excalibur back into its sheath and sprinted along a row, chasing them. Goliath rose higher. Bonnie’s feet dangled only six feet above the ground, but Billy couldn’t catch up enough to reach her. And with the dragon’s tail swinging back and forth, he had to duck to keep from getting swatted to the mud.
Finally, with a leap and a desperate stretch, he grabbed her shoe with one hand. As his fingers began slipping, he swung up with his other arm and latched o
nto her ankle.
A rip sounded. He looked up. Was that her shirt tearing? Another rip reached his ears. Suddenly, they dropped. Billy landed into a snowdrift, breaking his fall. Less than a second later, Bonnie landed softly next to him, her wings fanning the air.
Scattering the slush around him, Billy scrambled to his feet. “Sorry, but I have to leave you. There’s a war to fight.”
She glared up at the escaping dragon. “Get me a sword. I’m going with you.”
“A sword?” He laid an arm on her shoulder. When his fingers touched bare skin, he pulled back. “I’m not sure you understand. This is life or death fighting and—”
“Just trust me, Billy.” Bonnie pulled her torn shirt higher on her shoulder. “Sapphira and I have been training with an expert for four years.”
He took in a deep breath. “Okay. I trust you. Ask Patrick to take you to the outfitters and meet me at the rampart.”
“The rampart?”
He nodded at Sapphira and Patrick, who were now hustling toward them from the garden. “Patrick will show you.”
As Billy turned to run, Bonnie took his hand and pulled him back. “Thank you for calling me.”
Drawing closer, he took her hand into both of his. “I’m sorry. I called Sapphira first. There was this song—”
“Don’t explain. We watched everything from the Valley of Souls. You did exactly what you had to do, and you did call me. I heard every word.”
Her loving tone sent tremors through his body. “I hope Elam understands. I went against his wishes.”
She looked at their clasped hands and smiled. “You did?”
“I was supposed to call Makaidos.”
Her eyes snapped back to him. “And if you had called him, he would have died.”
“Died?” He squinted at her. “How? Why?”
“Just trust me.” She pulled his hands close and pressed them against her cheek. “Now get going. I’m looking forward to fighting alongside you.”
Billy ran toward the village with her face and shining eyes still in his mind. In spite of the warming temperature, a chill ran from his toes to his head. Bonnie’s alive! And she’s here in Second Eden!