by Scott Toney
Ever After
Alexander’s eyes were shut as the heat from his fire churned and extinguished within him. He breathed the ash and smoke from the fire out of his nose. It had to be done, he told himself. There was no other way. He found no joy in taking Thomas’s life. He only hoped that the boy’s soul would find peace in the life after.
Alexander opened his eyes and watched as smoke rose from the ground where Thomas had stood. Where the clover had been, around the king, there was now only ash.
A feeling of loneliness, of emptiness washed over him. Lilya is dead, he thought. He had felt the last of her life leaving her as he left Castle Ah. Why?
All creatures who do not live in the garden must die, another voice joined his thoughts. They live again with me.
And yet she is with you and I cannot die. There was a pain in his chest, a pain that went beyond feeling. I know I could not, but I wish I could have given her the fruit from the Tree of Life.
There is no power in the fruit. The power to save man, to give life where it weakens, is within man’s own soul and within you, Alexander.
There was silence for a long moment as Alexander watched the leaves in the woods beyond the clearing rustling in a breeze that was sweeping about them.
Go to her body. The garden is safe now.
“Thank you, Lord,” Alexander said aloud as he beat his vast wings and lifted above the woods. The treetops blurred beneath him as he watched his shadow move below.
Soon he was above the river, watching his reflection and reminiscing about flying with Lilya. It was as if something was missing from him now, without her. Life would never be the same, never hold the beauty that it once did. Time passed and soon he saw Ah’s spires rising through the clouds in the distance.
His heart raced as he angled his wings, feeling the wind part and curl off of them, gliding down to where he saw Juniper standing near Lilya’s body. Armored men moved about the city.
Wind whipped across his wings as he flew down, stopping his flight and hovering just above Juniper and Lilya’s body. Juniper greeted him with a wave. “Welcome, Alexander! We were worried that something had happened to you!”
The men on the ground about Juniper backed away as Alexander landed, clutching the earth with his paws. “Can I take her with me?” he asked with respect.
“You were connected with her more than any other.” Juniper walked closer to Lilya and looked at her for a moment before looking back up to Alexander. “It is only right that she goes with you.”
“Thank you.” Alexander dug his paw into the earth below her and lifted Lilya’s limp form into its embrace. She was beautiful even in death. They had cleaned the blood from her and there was only a dried wound from where Thomas’s sword had pierced her. He closed his eyes and felt sorrow welling in his heart. “I will return to you,” he told Juniper. “I will help repair Havilah. It is what Lilya would want.”
“We await your return,” Juniper said as Alexander beat his crimson wings and lifted into the sky with Lilya in his paw.
He raised high in the air as he flew, soaring as clouds burst about him, parting around his form. Alexander felt as if he would die at any moment because he would never be with her again. He had hoped there would be life in her heart when he found her but there was nothing there.
Alexander reached his destination, a cavern set in the mountain wall above where he and Lilya had spent time in the clover field, and clutched the cave’s edge with his free paws. He had never told her that he loved this place because it reminded him of Eden. Now it was too late.
As he held her in his paw he watched clouds pass between him and the land below, watched the sun shine through the clouds to the clover-covered earth. He looked to Lilya’s body as it curled to his scaled skin.
Alexander closed his eyes, letting the loss of her run through him. His chest quaked and he felt tears welling in his eyes. No. He tried to deny the emotion. No. It was like darkness was taking him as tears fled down his cheeks and dripped into the open air beyond the cave. He could taste the salt from them on his lips.
As he opened his eyes he saw a tear drip down and be blown by the wind to land on Lilya’s form. No, he thought again and shut his eyes. Suddenly there was movement in his palm. When he opened his eyes he saw Lilya’s hand open. A moment later her head turned and her eyes opened. He could sense her heart beating again.
“Alexander…” she spoke softly. “…I love you.”