They’re free. All of the souls are free.
Asha’s vision shifted. The sky became bright blue and the road became pale gray. She looked at the man in the green robe, who had taken several uncertain steps backward. For a moment she imagined impaling him on the broken shards of his own sword, of shredding his flesh with her claws, of throwing his mangled corpse into the sea. She held up her blood-red talons in a curled half-fist.
“Asha?” Priya’s voice was soft but clear, and very near.
Asha swallowed.
I take refuge in the Buddha.
The golden scales on her hand melted back into her smooth brown skin, and the claws slipped back into her soft fingertips.
No, not the Buddha. Or Shiva, or any god. I take refuge in the forests. I take refuge in the mountains. I take refuge in the harmony of all living things. I take refuge in the wind and the water, and the sun and the stars.
The dragon’s spirit fell quiet, nestling back down deep inside her, returning to its own refuge within her soul. She shivered in her own skin, still dripping from the harbor. Asha exhaled and looked at the frightened man. “Go back to your masters in Alexandria. Tell them what I did here. Tell them to repent what they have done. And tell them that I am coming.”
“Why? What do you want? Who are you?” He stumbled back another step.
“I’m the woman hunting you. I’m the woman who isn’t afraid of you. And I’m the woman you can’t hurt.” She reached up to push her hair back behind her golden ear and said, “I am Asha of Kathmandu.”
Epilogue: The Crossroads
Nadira saw him sitting on the little stone pillar at the crossroads, his legs dangling back and forth above the dusty road. The same old bronze greaves flashed on his shins, but the rest of his clothing was new. Brown trousers and jacket, white shirt, and a bronze gauntlet on his right arm. But then, he was always changing, always traveling, always restless. And yet somehow, after two thousand years, he still looked so young, so bright, so new.
She took her time. Her padded clothes and heavy armor chafed her shoulders and hips, and sweat ran freely down the small of her back. The helmet felt like it was cooking her head.
Overhead, enormous white clouds sailed across the deep blue sky casting gigantic shadows across the face of the earth. Thick shrubs lined the road, many of them dotted with red berries. Large brown hares chased each other across the road, darting in and out of sight. Huge red hawks glided across the sky.
When she finally stepped into the intersection of the Damascus highway and the country lane, she saw Gideon was beaming at her. That same smile.
He hopped down off the marker and held out his arms. “It’s been so long. It’s so wonderful to see you again, Nadira. How are you?”
She stopped short of his arms and pulled off her helmet. “Hot and sweaty. What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you, of course. I heard about the siege at Constantia and I figured you’d be coming this way, sooner or later.” He glanced over his shoulder to the north. “The army passed by about four hours ago.”
Nadira nodded. She shuffled past him and sat down with her back against the little stone pillar he had been sitting on. It was slightly cooler there in the shadow of the bushes. “Why are you here, really?”
Gideon winked at her. “Can’t I just want to see you?”
She sighed and squinted up at him. “That? Again? Really?”
“Is it so wrong that I’m attracted to women my own age?”
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly as the humor around his eyes faded away. “All right then. I wanted to warn you. I met a woman a short while ago. She had an Osirian following her, and I dealt with him. But this woman, Asha, is very special, and she may be coming your way one day.”
“She’s already come and gone.” Nadira spat in the bushes and pulled her flask from her belt.
“Oh.” Gideon frowned. “Already? I suppose I lost track of time. Sorry. So you met her?”
“Yeah, I did.” Nadira took a drink.
“And she’s doing all right?”
Nadira laughed. “We killed a dragon together.”
“Did you really?” He squatted down beside her with a bit of boyish glee in his eyes. “A big one?”
“The biggest. We did hit a snag, though.” Nadira sighed and wiped the sweat from her face. “It possessed her. Asha. And I don’t just mean that ear of hers. The whole damned snake got inside her.”
“Oh no,” Gideon whispered.
“Oh yes. And what the hell is that thing?” Nadira pointed at the brass gauntlet on his right arm.
“It’s my sword,” he muttered, his eyes wandering the ground aimlessly. “Possessed? Did she change? Did you have to kill her?”
“No. Her little friend helped her get the beast under control.” Nadira took another drink and offered the flask to him. “For now.”
He waved the flask away. “That poor girl. Where is she now?”
“No idea. I mentioned the Aegyptians to her, so she might be heading for Alexandria.”
“With a dragon inside her? What about Lilith?!”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I told her about Lilith.” Nadira belched.
Gideon sighed and sat down beside her. “Nadira.” He reached for her hand, but she pulled it back to scratch roughly under her breast. He sighed and took back his hand. “Nadira, please. It breaks my heart to see you like this. We were so happy once. Do you even remember that? Do you remember what it means to be happy?”
Nadira fell very still and quiet, her eyes fixed on the horizon. “Yes, I remember. I remember everything. Every day, every touch. Every damned second of it.”
“But you’re still angry,” he said slowly.
“No.” She shook her head. “No, I’m not angry.”
“But you still don’t want me.”
“No.” She turned to look at him. “I don’t want anyone. I don’t want anything. Why would I? Everything ends.”
“You don’t. I don’t. We’re forever, you and me.”
“But love isn’t forever. Happiness isn’t forever. And I don’t like losing things. I’m tired of watching things break and fall apart.”
He frowned and looked away. “So no more things? No more me? No more love?”
She snorted. “Shut up, Gideon.” Nadira stood up, slapping the dust from her trousers. She rested her hand on the pommel of her saber and turned to look up the long road to the north.
He stood up and rested his hand on her shoulder. “There must be something for you. Something more than haunting Damascus and wading across battlefields. It’s a big world out there.”
Nadira shrugged his hand off. “I did like the dragon. It scared me. I’d never seen anything like it before. And for a minute, I really thought it might kill me. It was terrifying. And I felt…”
“Alive,” Gideon said.
“Alive.” Nadira nodded. “Do you think there are more dragons out there?”
“Probably. And other things stranger than dragons. Who knows?”
“You’ve never been?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been as far east as Ming. But there’s a lot more out there. Hundreds of islands to the south and the east.”
“Where you’ve never been?”
“Never.”
Nadira smiled. She unhooked her sword from her belt and rested it on her shoulder. “Then maybe when this business in Constantia is over, I’ll take a little walk to the east and see if I can find some more dragons to slay.” She started walking away, and over her shoulder she said, “What about you?”
“I thought I might head back to Alexandria. It’s probably time for me to clean out that nest of vipers again anyway,” he said.
She paused. “You like her? Asha?” She looked back at him.
He grinned. “Take care of yourself, Nadira.”
She dragged her sleeve across her nose and sniffed. “You too, old man.” And she walked away, smiling.
Appendix
Aegyptus – Fiction: One of the provinces of the Empire of Eran located in the south-east corner of the Middle Sea region. Fact: This location corresponds with the modern nation of Egypt. Aegyptus was the Roman/Latin name for it.
Aether – Fiction: A mysterious vapor most often seen in cold climates that allows the spirits of the dead to become visible. Fact: In the ancient world, philosophers believed there were five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and aether.
Afghanistan – Fiction: One of the provinces of the Empire of Eran located in east near Rajasthan. Fact: A country located in central Asia between Iran and Pakistan.
Ahura Mazda – Fiction: One of the names of God in the Middle Sea region, most often used by Eranians and the followers of the Mazdan Temple. Fact: This is the name of God in Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion of Iran that is still practiced today.
Alexandria – Fiction: A port city on the northern coast of Aegyptus. Fact: A real location in Egypt, named for Alexander the Great.
Asha – Fiction: Born in Kathmandu, this herbalist was trained by Ming doctors after recovering from a dragon’s venomous bite. Fact: The Sanskrit name Asha means desire or hope.
Ayurveda – Fiction: The traditional form of medicine in India. Fact: Same.
Bansuri flute – Fiction: A type of bamboo flute common in India. Fact: Same.
Bashir – Fiction: The first person to discover sun-steel and the art of soul-breaking to become immortal, who then traveled the world and made other people immortal as well. Fact: The Arabic name Bashir means wise.
Brahma – Fiction: The Indian (Hindu) god of creation. One of the three principal deities of India, alongside Shiva and Vishnu. Fact: Same.
Buddha – Fiction: An ancient Indian prince-turned-philosopher or sage who taught a lifestyle of moderation, selflessness, and harmlessness. Fact: Same.
Buddhism – Fiction: An Indian philosophy-religion dedicated to ending human suffering by ending desire, greed, anger, and other vices. A vast body of monks and nuns striving to achieve and teach personal enlightenment, freedom from suffering, and a deeper understanding of the universe. Fact: Same.
Bull of Heaven – Fiction: A mythical creature from ancient Eran (Persia). Fact: In the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh, the king and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven to defy the gods.
Chandra – Fiction: A man living in eastern India with his son. Fact: The Sanskrit name Chandra means moon or shining.
Cockatrice – Fiction: An extremely rare animal, a hybrid of the Indian peacock and the Europan basilisk, a poisonous lizard. Its venom causes paralysis, coma, and death. Fact: A legendary animal, a cross between a rooster and a dragon with the power to turn people to stone.
Constantia – Fiction: An ancient and powerful city-state on the border of Hellas and the Eranian province of Turkiya. Ruled by the princess Lady Nerissa, the city is locked in unending conflict with the nearby Eranians who wish to claim the city. The Hellans are unwilling to defend the city too staunchly to avoid provoking a war with Eran. Fact: The city of Constantinople was founded on the city of Byzantium, located on the Bosporus Strait between modern Greece and Turkey, and which later became the modern city of Istanbul.
Cremation – Fiction: In India it is common to cremate the bodies of the dead instead of burying them. Fact: Most Indian religions require cremation, and it is common to spread the ashes in rivers, such as the Ganges.
Damascena – Fiction: The name of a mysterious warrior woman who protects the city of Damascus. The word itself means woman of Damascus. Fact: None.
Damascus – Fiction: The ancient capital city of Syria, a province of the Empire of Eran on the eastern edge of the Middle Sea. Fact: The capital of modern Syria, Damascus is over three thousand years old, and the area has been inhabited for thousands of years more.
Dharma – Fiction: The teachings of Buddha. Fact: Same.
Dhole – Fiction: A wild dog common in India, resembling a small red wolf. Fact: Same.
Dragon – Fiction: An extremely rare and dangerous animal, this reptile can grow to enormous size. When young, it has the unique ability to inject its prey with venom as well as a drop of its own soul, which allows the dragon to easily track an animal if it escapes and dies of the venom elsewhere. Adult dragons resemble gigantic snakes, but do have four small legs. Their heads are similar to those of horses, possess whiskers or beards around the mouth, and have slender antlers above the ears. Fact: This description most closely resembles the dragons of Chinese and Japanese myth.
Eran – Fiction: An empire that encompasses areas of North Ifrica, Arabia, and other eastern provinces. Previously known as the Persian Empire. Fact: The Persian Empire spanned many centuries under various names and rulers, centered around the modern nation of Iran. “Eran” is one of the early versions of the name Iran.
Europa – Fiction: A continent to the west of Asia, currently experiencing an Ice Age. Fact: While Europe emerged from the Ice Age long ago, it still has many glaciers in the Alps.
Ganesh – Fiction: An Indian (Hindu) god of art, science, wisdom, intelligence, and removing obstacles. Fact: Same.
Ghost – Fiction: When a person dies, their soul lives on outside the body as a ghost, which can only be seen by living people when there is enough aether mist in the area. Because aether can only be seen under cold conditions, ghosts are rarely seen in warm climates. Only a small fraction of souls choose to walk the earth as ghosts. Fact: None.
Gideon – Fiction: A soldier from Damascus who was made immortal by Bashir two thousand years ago. He was taught the science of sun-steel and now he wanders the earth, destroying sun-steel weapons to free enslaved souls. Fact: In the Bible, Gideon defeated the Midianites to free the Israelites.
Ginger – Fiction: The preferred snack of a certain herbalist to promote general health, lower anxiety, and cure headaches. Fact: Ginger has several confirmed and many unconfirmed health benefits.
Gurbir – Fiction: A small fruit with a bitter taste that desiccates the human body but keeps the eater alive indefinitely in a mostly delusional state. Fact: Gurbirs resemble strawberries (slightly) and are edible.
Gurjars – Fiction: An ethnic group in northwestern India and Rajasthan. Fact: Same.
Gurjaratra – Fiction: A region of northwestern India, home to the Gurjars. Fact: Same.
Hasika – Fiction: A woman living in eastern Rajasthan with her family, surviving on gurbirs. Fact: The Sanskrit name Hasika means laughing.
Herat – Fiction: A city in western Afghanistan. Fact: Same.
Herbalist – Fiction: A practitioner of traditional medicine, relying on the use of plants and animals to create effective treatments and not using invasive techniques such as surgery. Fact: Same.
Hindi – Fiction: The common and official language of India. Fact: Same.
Ifrica – Fiction: A continent to the south of the Middle Sea. Currently the most temperate and fertile region in the civilized world. Fact: The name “Africa” evolved from multiple sources, and the northern coast of Africa was called “Ifriqya” from the seventh to the sixteenth century. Thousands of years ago, the region we now call the Sahara Desert was in fact green and fertile and contained a massive inland sea.
India – Fiction: A large nation on the southern edge of central Asia. Fact: Same.
Iron – Fiction: A common metal with several uncommon properties and uses, including shielding a living person from ghosts. Fact: In European folklore, faeries and similar creatures fear and avoid iron objects and weapons.
Isle of Lanka – Fiction: A large island off the southeast coast of India. Fact: Same. The Sanskrit name Sri Lanka means venerable island.
Jagdish – Fiction: A mongoose that Asha found and that accompanies Priya
. Fact: The Sanskrit name Jagdish means king of the world.
Jaipur – Fiction: The capital city of Rajasthan. Fact: Same.
Jal Mahal – Fiction: The “Water Palace” of Jaipur. Fact: Same.
Kahina – Fiction: A Mazigh airship pilot employed by a wealthy gentleman in Damascus. Fact: The Arabic name Kahina means female seer.
Kathmandu – Fiction: A large city on the northern border of India near Ming, high in the mountains. Fact: The capital of Nepal, located between India and China in the Himalayan Mountains.
Kavi – Fiction: A boy who lived near the village of Kasar in Rajasthan before dying of tetanus. Fact: The Sanskrit name Kavi means sage or seer.
Kasar – Fiction: A village in Rajasthan. Fact: Same.
Kishan – Fiction: A boy living in eastern India with his mother in a village beside a mountain stream. Fact: This Sanskrit name means black and is a variant of Krishna.
Kolkata – Fiction: A city in eastern India. Fact: Same (also spelled Calcutta).
Lakshmi – Fiction: An Indian (Hindu) goddess of prosperity, courage, and beauty. Fact: Same.
Langur – Fiction: A monkey with white-gray fur and a black face. Fact: Same.
Lilith – Fiction: A royal courtesan from Damascus who was made immortal by Bashir two thousand years ago. She was taught the science of soul-breaking and has since disappeared, though some suspect she is conducting cruel experiments in Aegyptus. Fact: In Jewish mythology, Lilith was the first woman, but she rejected Adam in favor of an angel, and is sometimes depicted as a demon.
Lotus – Fiction: A water flower used by an angry ghost as a weapon. Fact: In India, the lotus is a symbol of purity and beauty.
Maharana – Fiction: An Indian title meaning king. Fact: Same.
Maharashtra – Fiction: A province of India to the south of Rajasthan. Fact: Same.
Mahua – Fiction: A tree that produces flowers, which when eaten have a powerful intoxicating effect. Fact: The mahua tree is used to produce alcoholic drinks, soap, butter, oil, fertilizer, and medicinal products.
The Dragon and the Lotus (Chimera #1) Page 24