by S. E. Smith
“Pai!” Nali called.
Ashure stepped back as a large male hippogriff rose from where he had been lying near a large fireplace. The creature shook his massive gray and white wings. His sleek body resembled some of the noblest steeds from the Isle of the Giants while his exquisite head and sharp eyes resembled an eagle. Those sharp eyes were attentively watching them.
“Pai will carry you,” she instructed.
Ashure’s throat tightened, and he nodded. Nali bent her knees, pushed off the ground, and soared through the air at an incredible speed. He followed her flight with worried eyes as she sped upwards through the center of the cave. The ceiling shimmered for a split second before Nali swept through it and disappeared from sight.
A nudge against his chest drew his attention back to Pai. The hippogriff rubbed his beak against the front of his shirt as if understanding his pain. He reached out and stroked the hippogriff’s jaw.
“How fast can you fly, my friend?” he inquired.
“Almost as fast as the Empress, your Majesty,” Pai replied.
“I will hold you to that, Pai,” Ashure quietly stated.
Pai stepped back and shook his head before kneeling. Ashure stepped forward and mounted the hippogriff between his shoulders and the wings. The hippogriff stood and began running in the direction of the massive doors.
Ashure waved his hand toward the doors, and they opened before the two Cyclops that guarded the palace’s inner sanctuary reached them. The guards barely managed to jump out of the way of the massive iron and wood doors. The clattering of Pai’s sharp talons against the polished floor and his roar warned any who might get in his path to clear the way.
Ashure leaned forward and gripped the thick, long feathers along Pai’s neck when he felt the creature’s muscles tense and the powerful wings begin to flap. Pai sprang from the top step into the air. Below them, the residents of the Isle of the Monsters turned and stared up at them as they flew over the port.
“You might want to hold on a bit tighter, your Majesty. I know you wish to be with your mate as quickly as possible,” Pai recommended, turning his head slightly and looking sideways at Ashure.
“As swiftly as you can fly, Pai,” he agreed, tightening his grip.
Pai took him at his word. Ashure bowed his head against the sudden force that threatened to unseat him. The muscles of his thighs tensed, gripping Pai as the hippogriff increased his speed.
They soared through the clouds, over treacherous mountain peaks, valleys, streams, and rivers. With each mile they flew, he was aware of the time counting down for Tonya. Magna had said she hoped the spell would last an hour, but what if it didn’t? What if he did not make it to her in time?
The possibility of losing Tonya was almost too much for his mind and heart to endure. His grip on Pai’s neck loosened before he realized it, and he started to slide when Pai suddenly banked to the left. He shook his head, regained his grip, and looked down.
Below them was a vast meadow in the crater of an extinct volcano. A wide river meandered through it until the water fell over the edge in a series of waterfalls that tumbled for thousands of feet. Memories of his youth flooded him—the perilous climb to the top, the discovery of the meadow, and waking to find a unicorn standing over him. At that time, he had climbed the volcano to touch the clouds, hoping he would see the place where the Goddess lived. The journey had become a test of his determination to see if he could reach the top. It had changed to a journey of survival, and finally, it became a passage to acceptance that his curiosity and adventurous spirit would probably end up killing him.
And no one would have known or cared at the time, he thought.
It was ironic that the place where he had thought he would die when he was young was the place where he might still perish. He now understood what Simon had meant about finding his other half. He could never go back to the half-life he’d been living, pretending that life was a game.
Bleu had been more perceptive than he in that regard. His former friend had known Simon longer and studied the life of The Pirate King. There had never been any possibility that Simon or his beloved Amadeen would end up in the Cauldron of Spirits. Their love and the binding of their souls ensured that. He and Tonya had not yet performed the binding ceremony that would not only marry them, but join their souls together—making him whole and calming the shadows within. If Tonya died, there was a chance—regardless of his desires—that he could inadvertently condemn her to the Cauldron simply by loving her and wanting her to be near him. That thought frightened him more than his own destiny within the shadow world.
He looked down when Pai descended. Below them, he could see Nali with Tonya. From the edge of the forest, the blindingly white herd of unicorns, led by a silver-haired mare, emerged and walked forward to form a circle around the two women.
“There they are,” he urgently hissed to Pai.
Pai chuckled. “I saw them the moment we crested the rim, your Majesty,” the hippogriff stated.
Pai spread his wings and glided in a circle until he was less than a hundred yards from where Nali knelt next to Tonya. Ashure could see the delicate elder mare bending her head. He dismounted before Pai had a chance to come to a complete stop. He ran through the thick, tall grass, rapidly closing the distance to the herd. He could hear Nali quietly speaking to the mare as the herd turned to protect their leader, Nali, and Tonya.
“This is Ashure,” Nali was saying.
A chorus of whinnies swept through the herd. He stepped past the herd when a gap formed. The mare, her coat silver with age, nodded her head.
“I remember the young boy who risked his life to touch the clouds,” the mare replied.
“Hello, Xyrie,” Ashure respectfully greeted before he turned his attention to Tonya.
He walked forward and sank to his knees beside her. She looked like a sleeping princess. He bent and tenderly kissed her lips.
“I love you, Tonya,” he whispered, gently caressing her cheek. He sat back on his haunches and imploringly looked up at Xyrie. “Can you heal her?”
A shiver ran through Xyrie’s body. He didn’t know if that was her way of saying no. He held Tonya’s hand as the mare’s silence continued.
“Walk with Nali, Cloud Hunter,” Xyrie finally ordered softly.
Ashure shook his head in denial. The protest on his lips died when Nali reached down and squeezed his shoulder. She squatted beside him.
“Xyrie is old, and Tonya’s wounds are severe. Some of the others will have to help her,” she murmured.
“I heard that,” Xyrie said with a shake of her head that sent her long mane flying outward.
Nali rose to her feet and held her hand out to Ashure. “But you are as wise and powerful as ever, my friend,” Nali softly amended.
“Take the boy. This may take a while,” Xyrie stated with a low snort.
Ashure reluctantly released Tonya’s hand and rose to his feet. She was deathly pale, and her chest barely moved. He stumbled slightly when Nali gripped his hand and guided him away. The herd parted for them to pass before closing around Tonya and Xyrie again. Pai had taken refuge from the sun under a shade tree near the edge of the forest. Ashure and Nali walked along a wide path made by the herd toward the river.
“I swear Pai would sleep the day away if he could,” Nali commented with an affectionate smile.
“He has been by your side for a long time,” Ashure reflected.
Nali nodded. “Yes. My parents appointed him as my protector the day I was born. We have been on many adventures together,” she said with a sigh.
“Nali, do you think Xyrie can save Tonya?” he quietly asked.
Nali stopped and looked at him. His shoulders slumped when she lifted her hand to caress his cheek. Once again fear knotted his stomach when she didn’t respond right away. She kissed his other cheek.
“You still wear your heart on your sleeve, Ashure. Yes, I think Tonya is in brilliant hooves. Xyrie once told me that the unicorns hav
e a direct line to the Goddess herself. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. I have seen just the hair from their manes heal injuries that the most powerful witches cannot. You’ve personally experienced the power they have. What does your heart tell you?” she asked.
“My heart is breaking. I’m terrified, Nali. I’ve never felt like this before,” he confessed.
Nali’s eyes shimmered with tears of compassion, and she wrapped her arms around him. He slid his arms around her waist and held her as emotion overcame him. Bowing his head, he took several deep, shuddering breaths.
“I love her so much, Nali. She’s my missing piece,” he choked.
Nali rubbed his back. “Everything will be alright, Ashure. You have to keep believing that,” she murmured.
After several minutes, he nodded, released her, and stepped back. She gripped his hand, and they walked down to the river. A sense of calm swept through him as they sat on a thick log and quietly reminisced.
Tonya will survive. There is so much that I still want to show her, he thought as a herd of winged horses flew down and grazed on the other side of the river.
27
Tonya felt like she was adrift at sea on a foggy day. The world around her floated in and out. She heard Ashure’s voice, and then she felt like she was flying. A short time later, something warm and soft tickled her against her cheek. She tried to move away from the silky hair, but her body felt like it was made of lead.
Maybe it is a seal.
The thought floated away along a gentle current of fog. Her next thought was that perhaps she was floating up to the sun. The world around her began to take on a golden hue that felt like the first rays of sunlight after a long, cold, dreary winter. Warmth surrounded her, taking away the bone-chilling cold.
I wonder if there really is a heaven, she pondered in awe when the fog cleared.
It now looked like she was standing in a planetarium where the projection system was displaying a virtual reality of the universe all around her. She stared around in wonderment at the brilliant hues as they moved past her. Turning in a circle, it occurred to her that she had never really thought of the universe as a colorful place. She had always imagined that space would be cold, dark, dreary, and well—a little like death—nothing like this.
“The universe contains every element needed for life. Life is colorful. Shouldn’t the universe reflect that?” an amused voice asked.
Tonya twisted around—or rather felt like she was twisting—and faced the voice’s owner. She imagined her mouth must be hanging open in shock at the vision before her. She lifted a translucent hand to check. Yep, her mouth was open.
A lone figure smoothly glided across space as if she was walking down the catwalk at a fashion show in New York. The figure—person—hallucination—whatever in the hell the entity was definitely had a feminine quality to it.
“Why are the coolest stories always the ones no one would ever believe?” she said with a sigh.
The woman stopped in front of her. Tonya slowly assessed the Golden Goddess. That was the only thing she could think to call her. The woman was completely gold from her hair, to her skin, to her Grecian-style gown.
The gold shimmered as if it were alive and reflected the colors of the stars, planets, and nebulas that were streaking by them. Tonya itched to reach out and touch the woman, but she had enough sense of decorum left in her subconscious to realize that would be rude. Still, both her good and her bad side were suggesting that a tiny touch might help her decide if she was alive or dead.
“You still live, Tonya,” the Goddess reassured her.
“Wouldn’t my dead-self try to convince my live-self of that? And what is it that keeps tickling me?” she growled in annoyance as she lifted a transparent hand to rub her cheek.
The Goddess chuckled. “Unicorns. They have the softest hair of any creature—besides rabbits, of course,” she explained.
“Unicorns? Don’t those go with dragons and mermaids?” she dryly replied before she remembered that Ashure had said both creatures were real. “Never mind, rhetorical question.”
“Yes, it is,” the Goddess replied.
“So, if I’m not dead, where am I, and who are you?” she tentatively asked.
The Goddess reached out and touched a planet as it passed by. Her fingers trailed through the cosmic image, scattering dust before it solidified and continued moving. The smile on the woman’s face was both mysterious and triumphant.
“Why did you do that?” Tonya asked, fascinated by the imagery.
“Sometimes life needs a little help,” the woman replied.
“You never answered my question,” Tonya pointed out.
The Goddess smiled again and looked back at her. “Some questions are best left unanswered. I will tell you that you are not dead,” she said.
“How can you know for sure?” Tonya whispered, her eyes darkening with fear.
The golden woman floated closer to Tonya and lifted her hand. “Because there is a certain Pirate King who loves you and needs you too much to let you go,” the Goddess quietly explained.
Before Tonya could ask another question, the woman reached out a gold finger and touched her chest right over her heart. Tonya parted her lips on a loud gasp as light and warmth filled her. Her body bowed back before she felt like she was falling.
The fog swirled around her, cushioning her, and she was gently lowered back to the ground. She instinctively lifted her hands to protect her damaged flesh, only to find smooth skin under her fingers. Shadows moved, and she turned her head away from the brilliant sunlight burning through her eyelids.
Tonya’s eyelids fluttered as she opened them and blinked several times to clear her vision. A confused frown creased her brow when she saw tall green grass and what looked like horses’ hooves. She slowly turned her head, looked up, and almost screamed when she saw a pink muzzle and white whiskers a hair’s breadth from her face.
“Horse—there’s a horse in my face,” she muttered with growing panic. “Nice horsey.”
“I’m not a horse. I’m a unicorn, and my name is Xyrie,” the unicorn replied.
The breath that Tonya had pulled into her lungs swooshed out. “Now I know that I’ve died and gone to—Fantasyland. Unicorns don’t talk—do they?” she hesitantly inquired as she tried to sit up.
Several snickers came from around her. Tonya pushed herself up into a sitting position. She frantically ran her hands over her chest and stomach, feeling for the gunshot wounds that TJ had inflicted. She pulled her blouse up and looked down at her chest. There was nothing—no blood, no scars that she could see. Even her blouse was undamaged.
“Xyrie, why doesn’t she have hair on her chest like she does on her head? Does she have bugs?” a child’s voice asked.
Tonya hastily pulled her blouse down and looked at a young colt curiously peering at her from between two larger horses—Unicorns, she quickly corrected herself. Horns, they have a horn. Unicorns have horns and they can—
“You healed me,” she blurted out, gazing at them.
“With a little help, yes,” the unicorn named Xyrie explained.
“You know her, don’t you? The Goddess,” she breathed.
“Yes,” Xyrie chuckled.
“How—how did I get here? I’m in the Seven Kingdoms, aren’t I? Where is Ashure? Is he alright?” Tonya asked, pushing up off the ground so that she could get a better look at where she was.
“She sure does ask a lot of questions,” the colt complained.
One of the mares turned and nipped at the colt. “Go play with Pai, Loo,” the mare instructed.
“Ah, mom, all he wants to do is sleep,” Loo protested.
Tonya watched with a bemused expression as the colt trotted over to a creature that looked like a huge eagle lying in the shade. She gawked, her mouth wide open, when the eagle stood up, shook, and shot the group of unicorns an irritated look of resignation. She lifted her hand and waved at the beast while looking back at Xyrie.
“Is that a—?” she hoarsely whispered.
Xyrie nodded her delicate white head. “A grouchy old hippogriff? Of course, he has been with Nali forever. Come with me. I think it is time for you to put King Ashure’s mind at rest,” Xyrie instructed.
Tonya could feel her head bobbing like one of those bobble-head figures that people put on their desks or the dashboards of their cars. With considerable effort, she pulled her eyes away from the colt and the hippogriff and silently followed Xyrie.
“Xyrie?” she asked as they walked along a wide path.
“Yes, Tonya,” the old mare responded.
“Am I dead?” she quietly asked.
The mare stopped and turned her long neck so that she could look at her. Tonya swore that if a unicorn could smile, Xyrie was doing just that. She reached out and rubbed Xyrie’s neck when the unicorn brushed her soft muzzle against Tonya’s cheek.
“Why don’t you ask him?” Xyrie suggested, stepping back.
Tonya looked in the direction that Xyrie was staring. She cried out when she saw Ashure standing there silently watching her as if he was afraid she would disappear. Her heart swelled at the love, fear, and hope in his eyes.
She took a step forward and then another until she was running. They met halfway. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. Sobs shook her as she held him like she would never let him go.
“I was so afraid,” they both murmured at the same time.
“I thought I had lost you,” he choked, holding her close.
“I thought so too,” she sniffed.
She leaned back a little and slid her hands along his neck up to his cheeks. She cupped his face, caressing it with her fingers as if she were trying to memorize every line and curve. She looked into his eyes and saw that the shadows were gone.
“The Lost Soul,” she exclaimed, her voice tinged with fear.
“Captured and sent to a place from where he will never escape again. The others are quiet. I think they fear a similar fate if they do not give me some peace at the moment,” he said.