by N M Zoltack
Who would oppose you when you are the true leader of the Valkyries? Olympia asked dryly.
Vivian’s head snapped up. “No, that is Horatia—”
She can be your general and handle duties you cannot attend to when you are ruling as queen, but is this matter all settled? Oldrich and Rosalynne will rule Tenoch and Vivian and Marcellus Vincana?
“That is up to Ulric,” Rosalynne said breathlessly. “Do you wish to rule as Ulric or Oldrich?”
“Must I decide that now?” Ulric murmured. “All I can think about is wanting to kiss you.”
Rosalynne’s laugh was cut short as Ulric kissed her, and Rosalynne’s heart felt full to bursting.
79
Alchemist Tatum Hill
News that the last dragon had died and a new one had resurrected had spread throughout the castle.
Tatum learned this straight from Vivian.
“My sister wishes for you to check me over,” Vivian grumbled. “I am fine, but…”
“You do seem fine,” Tatum said slowly. “Why does she wish for me to examine you?”
“Maybe because Olympia resurrected me.”
“You were dead?” Tatum almost shrieked.
“Yes. Do not worry. I am not a wraith or anything like that. I am myself again. I was dead for a bit, but not any longer, and I have Olympia to thank.”
“Olympia?”
“Olympia Li. She is the new dragon.”
“Oh,” Tatum said faintly. “And where might the dragon… where might Olympia be?”
“I believe she remains where she was born. Reborn, I suppose.”
“And that is…”
“Outside of Atlan.”
Tatum strove to be a good friend and listen as Vivian began to talk about the battle and Marcellus, but as soon as she declared Vivian well and whole, the princess rushed off. Tatum trailed after her and left the keep and the castle walls. Her feet ached by the time she had walked all the way through Atlan, and then she realized she had not brought along Edmund’s ashes, but if the dragon could help her, she could go and fetch the glass receptacle.
The dragon was breathtaking, regal almost, as if a dragon princess, and Tatum curtsied deeply.
Tatum Hill.
A single fat tear wove a crooked path down her cheek. “I married the wrong… You do not know me, but—”
Did you and I ever meet? The dragon’s voice sounded amused. No, and yet I know your name.
“Yes, well, ah, I know you revived Vivian.” The alchemist slowly rose from her curtsey. “Might you… could you… Would it be possible for you to revive Edmund? To resurrect him? He sacrificed himself for love, and maybe if others sacrificed too… could they be brought back as well?”
I would, only I cannot.
“You cannot,” Tatum repeated dully. She hung her head.
You see, Vivian never should have died, and her faith, her hope, and her love endured even after her death. Without Edmund’s sacrifice, without Rase’s, without Bjorn’s… I would not be here.
Tatum shut her eyes and felt so very small.
There is one thing I can do for you and gladly. Olympia stood up tall, her head held up high. Henceforth, the curse on female alchemists is no more. You are the only alchemist in all of the world, and it is on you whether there will be more in the future, but male or female, none will face that affliction. The original dragons never should have allowed that curse to persist, but they were not perfect. Neither am I, certainly not, but I will strive to help change the world, and I truly believe you can do just that as well.
“Me? Truly, living has not been easy. Not for some time.”
I know your pain, Tatum. I can take it away, but that would require the memories of both Dudley and Edmund.
“No!”
I thought not. Know that Edmund loves you very much, even beyond death. A love like that does not just end. It continues on, surviving even when the flesh has been burned away.
Tatum opened her eyes as a few more tears fell. “Can you… Can you see him? Talk to him? Do not tell me if you can, but if you can… please tell him I will always love him.”
He knows this already, but I suspect you know that he does.
“We could have been together if only… We had been too… afraid, I think.”
Love can be frightening, the dragon said. I loved a man, and I never told him until right before he sacrificed himself.
“Rase?”
No. Rase… The dragon expelled a breath. That boy suffered a terrible existence, making one poor choice after another, but his heart, his soul, deep down, his intentions were pure. He wished to do all he could for his sister, for his ma, for those he cared about, and he attempted to turn things about, but with the state of Atlan, there were not many people for him to right wrongs.
“So the one you loved was…”
I say I loved a man, but that is not so. I still love him, and I always will. Bjorn and I… we did not have much time together, not as a couple, but I think we both had been afraid to admit even to ourselves that we cared for each other, let alone felt love. But love is a wonderful thing. Do not fret, and do not wallow in sorrow. Edmund gave his life for you. Go and live that life.
Tatum slowly nodded. “I will try.”
That is all both Edmund and I ask of you.
80
Princess Vivian Rivera
Everything was falling into place. Already, people were working to rebuild Atlan and the various cities and towns the previous dragons had destroyed. The Valkyries had asked to stay in Tenoch to help rebuild two cities in particular.
As the dragon had predicted, the rulers from Xalac and Zola soon reached the castle. At first, they had sought to fight with the Vincanans, as they had pledged, but they did not take orders kindly. They fought and broke apart and thought about returning to their islands, but once the dragons returned, they had been lost. Should they return to try to help their people if the dragons came? Should they fight with the Vincanans? Or fight separately to have their independence?
In the end, they had returned and then left again once they saw their islands had not been attacked, at least not yet. They sought peace.
Odium had hated that, naturally, which was why he had sent the Valkyries to slay the leaders. Thankfully, the Valkyries hadn’t.
Jarl Brynja, the leader of Tiapan, had not left her island, not to fight, not to ask for freedom, but Rosalynne had sent a ship there to grant the islanders freedom, the same as she had the other leaders, if that is what they wish. The messenger had not yet returned, but Vivian felt it in her heart that each island would be a free, separate kingdom, but Tenoch and Vincana, although so far away, would be willing to come to their allies' aid if there should be a need. All kingdoms, all five, were allies now.
The rest of the Vincanans had already sailed to Vincana, having been gone from home far too long.
As for Vivian and Marcellus, they were racing across Tenoch toward the Olacic Mountains.
“How long until we reach Olac?” Marcellus asked.
“Not too much longer,” she said.
“I cannot believe I allowed you to drag me all the way across Tenoch.”
“You’ve hardly even seen Tenoch,” Vivian protested.
“I know, but—”
“And it’s not as if I want to take you all the way up to Maloyan,” she pointed out.
“True, but—”
"And besides, do you not like spending time alone with me?"
“Of course.”
“Finally, no but.” She smirked at him and urged Swiftfire to pull ahead.
Once they finally reached Olac, Vivian gasped.
There had been a time, the last occasion she had been here, when the place had been deserted, almost as barren as Atlan had become. Scorch marks marred the facades of many buildings. The dragons had ventured to Olac before her previous trek here, but there was one significant difference.
More wraiths had been inside the city than there had been pe
ople. Vivian had warned Marcellus that there might be wraiths about, but she saw not a one.
The people were working together, the wealthy and the poor crossing over from one side of the city to the other, intermingling as they never had before. The River Texcoco split the city in half, and one side belonged to the wealthy and the other the poor, but not any more so it seemed.
Several persons nodded to Vivian and Marcellus as they passed, heading closer to the pyramid.
“Is that our destination?” Marcellus asked.
“No.”
“Can we go and see it, though?”
“I suppose. There are two pyramids in Tenoch. Here in Olac and then one in Maloyan.”
“Maloyan. That is where Bjorn came from, isn’t it?”
“Yes, far to the north.”
“Have you been?”
“Did you not listen to my tale of my adventures?” she demanded as she guided him away from the pyramid and toward the monastery.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Mayhap I hope to see Maloyan so that I can better understand your adventures.”
“Hmm.” She rolled her eyes and quickly brought them to their destination.
“You told me that the stained glass windows had been smashed,” he said, wonder coloring his voice. The monastery had always ever been a tall and majestic beauty of a building.
“They had been, but…” She slid down from Swiftfire and placed her hand against a window she knew had been reforged. The glass felt warm, almost hot to the touch.
Had Olympia restored the monastery somehow? Or had the people and the warmth was merely her imagination?
In reverenced silence, they entered. Although the place had been ransacked previously, Vivian had set everything back to rights, and still, that was the case.
“You wished to bury Garsea,” Marcellus said, his hands hovering above a collection of scrolls that he did not seem willing to touch.
“Yes. We can read later, perhaps, but for now…”
She led the way down to where she had located Garsea’s body. As before, this space felt ancient, primeval, and even more sacred than before.
There was Garsea, laying as he had been when she had last seen him, eyes still closed from when she had shut them, his expression still one of peace. The bloodied dragon claw still rested near him. His hands still rested over his self-inflicted fatal wound.
“He gave his life to bring the dragons back,” Vivian murmured. “I’m just grateful that he never knew all of the chaos and turmoil and utter devastation that wrought.”
“Yes, but now, things are finally returning back to normal.”
“A new normal, I suppose.”
“A wonderful normal.” Marcellus leaned over and kissed her.
She smiled and pressed a hand to his chest, but before he could cover her hand and perhaps kiss her some more, she pushed him back and fell to her knees near Garsea’s head. Vivian leaned over to kiss his forehead as she had previously.
“Shall we bury him in front of the monastery or behind?” Marcellus asked.
“Oh, I had not thought that far.” Vivian shifted back and stood. “We can go and walk about the property, and—”
“Vivian.”
Her name was a mere whisper on the wind, and Vivian thought she might have been mistaken when it came again.
“Vivian.”
She slowly turned about and stared at a translucent Garsea. His body remained on the floor, yet here he was. He was not alive, not as she was, but he was not a wraith either. A specter, she supposed, and she felt no fear. He would not ever be a frightening apparition, she knew. The man had only ever treated her with kindness, and she knew he would do the same now, even after he had been dead for some time. Death might have twisted and corrupted the original dragons, but that would not be the case for the last Keeper of the Flames. Vivian just knew he would be the same kind, caring man he had always been.
“Garsea,” she said warmly. “If I could, I would hug you.”
“If I could, I would return the embrace.” The specter turned and nodded to Marcellus. “It is good to meet you, King Marcellus.”
“Oh, I am not king yet,” Marcellus said.
“Oh, yes. Time is not quite what it had been for me.”
“When did… You were not here when I last came,” Vivian said.
"The dragon brought me back as such once she came to be. The Lady of Light and Darkness… Who knew that she was to become a dragon herself? I thought she might be you at one time, but the Li princess had crossed my mind as well."
“Everything is as it should be,” Vivian murmured.
“Indeed. You two will be very happy together,” Garsea said.
“You know the future?” Vivian asked. “Have we not free will?”
“Of some matters, I know, and others I assume, and still others, I might yet be surprised, but then, it is not hard to see the love you two feel for one another and for your kingdom.”
“I do have one fear,” Vivian murmured. She bit her lower lip.
Marcellus touched her chin, and she gazed up at him. “What do you fear, my love?”
“I fear the people of Tenoch will think I have betrayed them,” she whispered, having never admitted her sole fear prior to this moment.
“They—” Garsea started.
But Marcellus interrupted him. “They know that you died, that you came back to live, that you died for their queen, for them. How could they ever think badly of you?”
“Fear has no place in your life, Vivian,” Garsea said sternly. “When one is destined for greatness, there is no room for cowering and sulking.”
“I never sulk!” Vivian protested.
The two men—one flesh and blood, the other a specter—merely looked at her.
“Much,” Vivian muttered, and the men laughed. After a moment, Vivian did as well.
Peace had finally returned to all of Tenoch, to all of Vincana, to all of Dragoona, and all was as it should be at long last.
Epilogue
Olympia the Dragon
The day was most momentous indeed. The flowers were blooming, and so much of both Tenoch and Vincana were thriving. Most of the rebuilding had been settled, and now, it was time to look toward the future.
Three weeks prior, Queen Rosalynne let her intention be known that she would wed Ulric Cooper. The queen did not know that Ulric, who by then had learned how to read and write entirely, had altered the notices posted everywhere and sent out to faraway cities to have an addition made to it—that Ulric Cooper’s true name and heritage was Oldrich Li.
To say that Olympia the dragon was chuffed would be exactly so.
In lieu of a veil, Rosalynne had opted for her crown, naturally, but her chestnut-colored locks had been twisted into a long braid down her back, the interlocked sections of hair decorated with blue flowers.
Olympia hovered above the courtyard. Only because of her height and angle could she see the queen. The others gathered about the restored courtyard could not yet see the queen. There were many hushed whispers from the excited guests.
From the knowledge of being a dragon, Olympia knew that, traditionally, for Tenoch, her family would escort her, but her sister was even now in Vincana, about to be married and coronated herself. Her brother was dead, although the Fates allowed him to watch over as a specter that no one save Olympia could see.
As for Oldrich, she was here even if there was no room for her to stand beside him.
The groom wore the surcoat Olympia had saved all those years, the one with their family crest upon it. Never had her brother looked more handsome, and she tilted her head back and blew out fire to show her sheer joy.
At that, the wedding ceremony started. Rosalynne walked down the aisle alone, as regal as could be. Her gown was long with a train trailing behind it, cut in lace. The gown itself was a dark blue color that resembled Vivian’s eyes. Perhaps a way for her sister to be here despite her distance.
Oldrich stood beneath an arch of flow
ers, and a new vicar, a true vicar who served only the Fates and no other, proceeded to commence the wedding.
"Do you, Queen Rosalynne Rivera, pledge your life and your heart to this man?"
“I so swear.”
“And you, Oldrich Li, do you—”
“I would die for the queen, my wife, and for my kingdom.”
“I suppose that will suffice,” the vicar muttered, and the guests laughed.
The vicar then blessed the rings, and they placed them on each other’s right ring fingers. The vicar also tied a rope to join her left wrist to his right as a symbol of how their lives were forever interwoven as the rope had been.
Oldrich then kissed his bride, and everyone cheered, and Olympia gave another blast of fire. Sparks filtered down toward the happy couple, winking out before they could be touched by the dying flames.
Still, the celebration was not over. Olympia was not certain why the two had opted to wed before Oldrich was made king or why it could not be done as a part of the wedding, but then the vicar nodded to the queen and removed himself from his post. Rosalynne glided to stand where the vicar had, and then Olympia understood well enough as Oldrich kneeled before his queen and wife.
“It is with great happiness, the will of the Fates, and the sanctification of the dragon,” Rosalynne said, lifting a hand up toward Olympia above her, “that I grant you the title of King of Tenoch, husband. We will rule jointly, Rivera and Li, but no. No. Henceforth, I am no longer Rosalynne Rivera. I am Rosalynne Li. I will take my husband’s name, and I will do so gladly.”
With grand cheers, Rosalynne placed a gilded crown on Oldrich’s head, and Olympia encircled above them and blasted fire a third and final time.
Oldrich stood, and the couple embraced and kissed.
Rosalynne then lifted a hand toward Olympia again. “Give my sister my blessings!” she called.
I will. My blessings and love to you both.
Although Olympia knew there would be parades, a grand feast, and a special bridal ale, she flew directly south. She could not be late for the wedding and coronation of Vivian and Marcellus.