“I don’t think you understand,” Cove began. “He is the Sea Child. He can do whatever he pleases to you!”
The truth was, none of them really wanted to attack Nox. Despite all he had done, how could they possibly fight him? It was ten against one.
“Nox, as you know I am here for a reason! It is time for me to overthrow your reign. You are so cruel and wicked that you have threatened the offspring of the others. There is more than one god of the sea, there are several gods of the mountains, and of the sun. You—you wanted it all to yourself and you knew that the new generation had grown weak. I couldn’t let you hurt them. You had your time as the God of Darkness, did you not? And what did you accomplish? Was it all for nothing? It was—it was all for nothing. I am here now and I am making all the generations stronger than they have ever been before. You are no good for anyone and for that reason you will grow old and die as nothing but a human. I’m not sure that you deserve to live, Nox! I certainly do not! What shall I do with you after all the trouble you have caused?”
“I’m going to destroy you!” He doubled his fist and made a large circle with them that became a large ball of fire. He released his hands and tried to throw the ball at the Sea Child. The Sea Child held out his hands in mid-air and blocked it from moving any further. “Do what you wish with him!” The Sea Child instructed the others. “I gave him his chance. Destroy him!”
The nine gods came towards him. He held his hands over his head. “Please! Stop, I will do anything you ask,” he pleaded. But it was too late. When they moved away from him there was nothing left of him. Nox was gone for good.
“Hurray!” cried the gods.
“It’s over Staysia! Never will the Gods be at war!” Dara exclaimed with a smile.
“You two? Gods?” Staysia joked.
“Believe it or not! You are too!” Warrick told his daughter.
Staysia laughed and hugged both of her parents.
Cove rode upon his Sea creature towards Staysia. When he was in front of her he said, “Hello Miss Staysia, Goddess of the Stars! I have something or rather someone for you.”
“Isis?”
“Who else?” Cove whistled and Isis came running around the corner and into her arms.
“Isis! I’ve missed you so much!” Staysia said as she threw her arms around her unicorn once again. “I don’t believe it!” She gave Isis a kiss on the nose. Gabriel gave Isis a hug as well, and looked into the eyes of Staysia.
“What’s next, Staysia?” he asked her.
Staysia shrugged her shoulders. “Happiness?” she said.
“Sounds good, sounds really, really good! I’m so lucky to have met a woman like you, a Goddess, no less.”
“Gabriel, you are a wonderful man. I may have had my doubts about you, but I feel like I have always known you now. I feel I can trust you with anything.”
“I am going to have a talk with your parents, I will be back!”
“A talk with my parents?”
“A talk with us?” her mother asked.
“Yes, I need to speak with you and your husband alone for a moment, please!”
“Of course!” Staysia’a father said, and they walked away from her.
Will You — Name My Horse?
Just then, a troll and a woman could be seen walking towards them in the distance. They were panting and looked exhausted. The female troll’s shirt was halfway un-tucked and the woman’s black hair was an awful mess. She blew her hair and smiled. The troll waved and smiled with her big, red painted lips.
“Emerald?” Jasper said in astonishment. “Emerald?” he said again.
Staysia recognized the woman. “Aren’t you the woman who answered the door at Griffon’s place?”
The black-haired woman moved her hair away from her face. “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.” She looked over Staysia’s shoulder at Tristen. Her eyes widened. She hid her face behind Staysia again and whispered, “We came here for Tristen and Jasper. Do I look okay?”
Staysia glanced back at Tristen, who was speaking with Cove before saying, “You mean you came all of the way over here for Tristen?” She raised her brows.
“Yes why? I’m not his type am I? Oh, I shouldn’t have come.”
“Girls,” Emerald interrupted. “I need to go see my Jasper! I will be back . . . or maybe I won’t! Hee! Hee!” she laughed.
Stasia and the black-haired woman laughed with her. And off Emerald went to see her Jasper.
“Emerald? What in the world are you doing here?” Jasper asked his love.
“I couldn’t bear to lose you again, Jasper. You see, I have always wondered what had become of you. So many years have gone by, but they haven’t changed my heart. I traveled from my bridge to Gnome Hills, where I met Cassandra,” she pointed to the woman with black hair. “And, well here I am!”
“Jasper caught Staysia watching them. She put her thumbs up and smiled wide. Jasper smiled at her and turned back to Emerald and gave her a long hug.
Staysia turned and watched Jasper and Emerald embrace one another. “Aren’t they the cutest thing?” Staysia squeaked.
Cassandra brushed her hair with her fingers. “Do I look okay?”
Staysia grabbed some of her hair that was behind her shoulders and brought it around. “You look beautiful!”
Cassandra took a deep breath and walked slowly towards Tristen. “Here goes nothing,” she said.
Staysia stood alone with Isis now. She turned to her and gave her a big hug and another kiss. “What in the world is Gabriel telling mother and father, Isis? I am so glad to have you back, girl!” She petted her from the bottom of her mane all the way to her tail.
It wasn’t long before Gabriel and her parents returned. “Do you want to go somewhere with me, Staysia, just you and I?”
“Where will we go?” Staysia asked.
“Well, remember the big guys, we did tell them we would be back. I just don’t think we should keep them waiting.”
“The giant apes?”
“Yeah, the giant apes!” Gabriel smiled.
“That is, if you guys don’t mind?” she said to her parents.
“Oh no, no, not at all, go on!” her mother and father said together.
Staysia hesitated and looked at her mother long, and then she stared at her father’s face. She gave them each a hug and said, “We will be back soon!”
“Are you ready to go?” Gabriel asked her.
“Just one more thing and I will be ready,” Staysia said as she hurried over to Tristen. Gabriel watched Tristen laugh and put something from his pocket into her hand. She put it in her bag and went back to where Gabriel waited for her.
“What did you get from him?” he asked.
Staysia pulled a handful of peppermints from the bag around her waist and showed them to him.
“Peppermints?”
“Yes! For those smelly beasts you have befriended!”
“Ah, I see! Good idea!” They laughed together.
She waved to her parents one more time and Gabriel grabbed her hand. Her father took her mother’s hand in his and they watched Gabriel and Staysia walk to the sea where Mirideous was swimming with only her head above the water. When she saw them coming towards her, she swam to them. They went beneath the sea and headed back towards the forest where the giant beasts had been before. Staysia held on to Gabriel tighter than ever. She was consumed with joy. She not only had Isis and her parents back, she had Gabriel now and many new friends. She had a whole new life.
When they arrived on land, Gabriel took her hand and they went into the forest. Gabriel stared at Staysia. She turned to him and smiled. He looked away and then looked at her again. She raised her brows and smiled again.
“This is a lot to take in for you, huh?”
“Oh yes, quite a bit to take in! I am in disbelief to tell you the truth. I am in absolute disbelief.”
He pulled on her hand and took her in a different direction.
“Where are we going?” she
asked him.
“See those trees over there?” he said as he pointed at a group of beautiful green trees with purple flowers on them.
“They’re beautiful!”
“That’s where we are going.”
“You’ve been here before?” she asked.
“Not hardly,” Gabriel said. “Your parents told me about the place.”
“And what are we going there for, Gabriel?”
“Ha! I’m not telling until we get there.”
Staysia had an idea of why he was taking her there, an she hoped she was right.
When they arrived, the place was more beautiful than either of them had expected. Gabriel took her to a spot underneath a tree, beside a bridge that was used to cross over a large pool of water with a waterfall above it. Staysia smiled. She moved her smile to one side of her face.
“It’s gorgeous!”
“You are gorgeous, Staysia!”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, Staysia. I hope to say those words to you every morning of every day from now until forever!”
“Every day until forever?” Staysia became fairly shy and moved her eyes to the water fall. “That’s a long time.”
Gabriel took both of her hands into his and knelt on one knee in front of her.
“Will you—name my horse?” he asked with a smile.
She laughed nervously and looked into his eyes. “No, I will not name your horse!”
“Will you marry me then?”
Staysia hesitated.
“I mean—if you want. If you don’t want to, I will understand.” He looked up at her hopefully.
“Yes Gabriel! Yes I will marry you!”
“You will?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. Yes, I would love to marry you! But, I will not name your horse. You have to do that yourself.”
“Oh Staysia! I am the happiest man alive!” He rose to his feet and squeezed her tight. He looked into her eyes and they had their very first kiss. They stood staring into one another’s eyes. There, underneath the tree, near the bridge, below the waterfall. “I thought for sure you had fallen for Tristen. I was so afraid when I saw him kiss you. I thought surely I had lost you. Thank you, thank you for choosing me.”
“Thank you for being the one I wanted.” Staysia replied.
He kissed her again and embraced her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head. “I’m so glad everything worked out for you. When I first met you I felt so bad for you. I wanted to take all of your pain away and knew that I couldn’t. That was a hard idea to get used to. I’m glad your pain is gone now. I am going to live my entire life to make you happy. That is all that matters to me. I just want to see you smile. I’ve seen you smile so many times, but there was always something missing. I don’t want anything to ever be missing from your gorgeous smile, Staysia. Ever.”
“Thank you for saying such a thing—” Staysia began.
“Shh.” Gabriel said. “Don’t thank me. No more thanking me.”
“I feel like this all happened for a reason. I feel like we were meant to meet each other. I feel like we were meant to be together.”
“Of course we were. I love you, Staysia.”
“And I love you, Gabriel the Great Beast Tamer.”
“Speaking of beast taming, are you ready to go visit our hairy friends?”
“Ha!” Staysia laughed. “I am! Are we going to actually be bringing them to the island to meet the Sea Child?”
“Absolutely!”
“If you say so!”
“You will understand once we get back!”
“Understand what?”
“You will see!” Gabriel kissed her on the cheek and took her hand in his, and they were on their way to look for their oversized friends.
“We are getting closer. It won’t be long before we run into them. Do you think they will be happy to see us?”
“Let’s hope so!” Gabriel laughed.
“I’m sorry that we couldn’t help you when that witch took you for her own. I wanted to—”
“Now, you are apologizing? Staysia, you are going to have to get used to me. I won’t let you thank me for anything that I was born to do, nor do I expect you to apologize for anything that you couldn’t help.”
“Well, maybe you need to get used to me too then, Gabriel.” She smiled at him before finishing. “It is going to be a challenge to get me to stop thanking you or apologizing on certain occasions where necessary.”
“Necessary? Why is it necessary that you apologize when you have already done everything you could? That, my lady is the exact reason why it will not be necessary! You will always try your best at everything you do and I know that!”
“Look at us. We are having our first disagreement!” Staysia laughed when she said this.
“Not hardly.” Gabriel said as he scooped her up into his arms. “You do remember when you thought I was a bad guy, don’t you?”
“Yes. I’m glad I found out otherwise.”
“So am I, believe me, so am I!”
Just then, they heard a growl coming from deeper inside the forest. It was followed by a deep laugh and a monkey sound.
“Aha!” Staysia said. “I bet I know who that is!”
“Who else?” Gabriel replied. They followed the sounds and when they heard movement quite close to them, they moved some brush so they could have a peek at them for curiosities sake. They both wanted to know what they did when no one was looking.
One of them was lying on its back. It must’ve been a female because she was sniffing a flower and batting her eyes at one of the others. The other one sat on a large silver stone and smiled down at her with his hands folded under his chin.
“Isn’t that sweet!” Staysia whispered.
The third one was shaking a tree. Coconuts fell on his head. Each time one would drop on his head he would rub his head briefly and shake the tree again. This went on, until finally he took a seat on the ground and began eating the coconuts.
The other male who sat on the stone spotted him eating away and got up from where he sat. He slowly walked towards him and when he got to him, he quickly nabbed a large coconut and stuck it behind his back. The other one got up and growled at him. He showed him all of his teeth and his eyes became fierce and full of anger. He swung his hand around and slapped the other one on the cheek.
“Stay here, I will be right back!”
“Gabriel, no! Not now. They will be angry.”
“It’ll be fine. I will be right back.”
Staysia shook her head, but waved her hand in the air and let him go on. She watched as Gabriel made his appearance by sitting on the ground Indian style. He took a half of a coconut that sat on the ground and began eating it. This made both of them growl at him. But the courageous beast tamer paid them no mind. He continued to eat as if they weren’t there at all.
Staysia closed her eyes. She did not want to see what happened next. When she heard a tree branch actually break, she slowly opened one eye. One of the sasquatches took the coconut from Gabriel.
Gabriel shrugged his shoulders and took another half from the ground. He began eating it instead. When they growled loudly at him this time, he held the coconut out to them. “Want some?” he asked the angry beasts.
“Some!” one of them said.
“Fine by me, take all you want!”
He took the coconut from Gabriel and began to eat it. “Some?” the other one asked the one who was eating the coconut that Gabriel had given him. Amazingly, he gave the coconut to him. Gabriel got another coconut off of the ground and gave it to the one who had none.
“I came back! Did you forget me all so soon?” Gabriel asked them.
“Back?” one of them said.
“Back!” said the other. They bent down at the same time to get a coconut for Gabriel. When they did, they bumped heads. When they bumped heads, they each doubled up a fist and growled deeply at one another. Gabriel grabbed two coconuts from off the ground a
nd gave one to each of them. They both pushed them away.
“For me?” Gabriel asked.
“Me!” the two beasts said together.
“Why, thank you!” Gabriel said with a smile.
They looked at one another and swapped coconuts and said, “Thank you,” to one another.
“Bravo!” Staysia said as she came out from behind the brush.
Gabriel pointed to Staysia. “Staysia,” he said.
The female beast got up from where she was, and they all three said, “Staysia!”
“Do you have names?” Gabriel asked them.
“Names,” is all they said.
“Looks like you have more than a horse to name!” Staysia told Gabriel.
“Ha! Very funny,” Gabriel replied. He then waved one of them to bend down so he could whisper something in his ear. When he stood up straight again, Gabriel put his finger over his lips and said, “Shh.” The giant beast mimicked him.
“A secret, huh?” Staysia said.
“That’s right and you are just going to have to wait!” He motioned the beasts to follow him and took Staysia’s hand, and the five of them walked together towards the sea. When they got there, Mirideous was awaiting them. Gabriel whistled for Zenya and she soon came to the shore.
“Are y’all ready?” Gabriel asked them. They looked at one another. Gabriel and Staysia walked towards Mirideous, but the beasts did not follow. They stared at the water and stayed where they stood.
“Uh-oh,” Gabriel said. “I think they are afraid of the water.
“I think you are right,” Staysia replied. She got in the water and began splashing them. They turned and ran away from the water. They turned around and watched Staysia playing in the water. Gabriel joined her and they splashed one another.
“Join us?” Gabriel asked them, but they said nothing in reply.
“C’mon, it’s not so bad!” Staysia told them.
Gabriel went deeper into the water. He held his chin above the water and when he stood, he had a fish in his hands. When they saw this, their eyes lit up. They slowly walked towards the water and hovered over it.
“C’mon in, just a little bit further,” Gabriel said as he threw the fish back in, in hopes that they would go after it. They slowly entered the water. The female lost her nerve and walked back to the shore while the two males searched with their eyes for fish. The male who had apparently given her a flower before, began splashing her. This made her angry and she ran to the sea and began splashing him in return. Staysia and Gabriel laughed at the sight.
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