“But what will we do about the two kingdoms?” Amelia asked after Blaze pulled away from the kiss.
“You and I will stay here and rule Cierith where you belong. Bogdan wasn’t my real father and even though he left no other heir, it doesn’t feel right for me to succeed the throne in his place,” Blaze explained.
“So who will succeed the Daldussan throne if you won’t?” Amelia asked.
Just then, a familiar voice called out from behind her and said, “I will.”
Amelia turned to see Gavril also in new clothing and with a haircut. His hair was now slicked back out of his face as it was before, but it was cut just below his jawline and he still had facial hair.
“Gavril, you’re going to be the king of Daldussa?” Amelia asked in disbelief.
“I couldn’t care less about the throne or the crown; I volunteered to take Blaze’s place because I knew he wanted to stay here in Cierith with you. As my first act as his father, I am giving Blaze the chance I never had with his mother, a chance to be with the woman he loves,” Gavril said proudly.
Amelia embraced Gavril, who held her tightly in return.
“It has been an honor to protect and teach you, Amelia,” Gavril whispered.
“It’s been a privilege to be your friend,” Amelia whispered back.
They pulled away from each other and Amelia then lightheartedly watched as Gavril and Blaze embraced for the first time as father and son. She knew that Althea would rest in peace now that the two people she loved more than anything in the world were now united in the way they were meant to be.
Still embracing his son, Gavril asked mostly in a rhetorical manner, “I take it she said ‘yes?’”
“Yeah, she did,” Blaze replied, still embracing his father.
They finally let go of each other and Blaze returned to Crystal’s side. She held his hand and leaned against him.
“I’m really proud of you for your skills in the battle. You really saved the day,” Gavril told Amelia.
“We all saved the day, Gavril. You, Blaze, and everyone else who fought in the final battle as well as throughout the years have been more than brave and honorable,” Amelia replied.
“But if not for your holy magic, all would have been lost. You were able to forgive your worst enemy, and to be honest, I hope I can do the same someday,” Gavril replied.
“You mean you would be willing to forgive Bogdan?” Amelia asked.
“In a way, yes, because even though I suffered tremendously and lost the love of my life, I wouldn’t change what happened,” Gavril said.
“Why not?” Blaze asked.
“Well, you see, Amelia never knew the whole story about when her father found me and her mother healed me. That’s all true, of course, but there’s more to it than that. When August found me in the river and brought me to Cartigo, his chancellor, who was a mage, told him about the last holy mage in the City of Magi. The king requested her presence immediately and a week later, I awoke to Elaine smiling at me and telling me I was going to be all right. You see, Amelia’s parents never would have met and therefore she never would have been born if it had not been for my tragedy,” Gavril explained.
Amelia was stunned by this revelation. She bowed her head and thought about what he said. Her heart ached for Gavril and she couldn’t imagine the sadness he must have gone through watching her parents fall in love after losing his own lover. She then realized the strength he had to have in order to look past his own grief to be happy for them and she gained even more respect for him than she thought possible.
“Gavril . . .” she whispered.
“I don’t care what anyone says, Amelia. I wouldn’t take away your parents’ happiness for anything, and I know that Althea would feel the same way. I know I will see her again someday, and I treasure the time we had even more now that I know that something great came from our love,” Gavril said, and with the last words, he turned and looked at Blaze.
After smiling back at Gavril, Blaze then turned to Amelia and said, “After things are settled here, I will be going back to Daldussa for a week to get Gavril settled into the castle there and to publicly crown him as the new king. Once that is done, we will both come back to Cartigo and we can then have the wedding. Then Gavril will return to Daldussa afterward.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Amelia replied.
A little while later, Gavril bid Amelia and Blaze farewell and left them alone to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. The two of them relaxed on the stone bench with Amelia sitting up and Blaze lying on his back with his head rested on her lap.
After a few minutes of silently relaxing with the summer breeze lightly brushing their skin, Amelia then asked Blaze, “So after step two, what is step three going to be?”
“Well,” Blaze replied, “I can’t give you back the family you lost, so step three will be giving you a new family.”
Amelia smiled at the thought of little children running through the castle and Blaze swooping them up in his big arms.
Amelia brushed Blaze’s hair softly with her hand and said, “Well, I think we will both have a lot to learn about being parents, but I think that we should treat each day like a new journey and cherish it.”
“There is also a step four, by the way. It’s the final and most important step,” Blaze added.
“What is step four?” Amelia asked.
Blaze paused, sat up, and looked Amelia in the eyes before answering, “I will love you and our children until the day I die.”
Amelia felt her heart flutter after what he said. She kissed him again for some time and when she pulled away slowly, the only words that could escape her lips were, “I’ll be looking forward to doing the same.”
EPILOGUE
“There he is, Lorn! Don’t miss this time!” whispered an excited eight-year-old boy.
“Hush, Gareth! He’ll hear us!” a younger, calmer boy whispered. He was only six years old and was pointing a loaded slingshot at a disgruntled dwarf. The two boys hid behind a thick brush in the castle courtyard in Cartigo, Cierith. When the dwarf had his back turned, the little boy named Lorn released his grip and the slingshot flung a pebble right into the dwarf’s metal shoulder armor and made a loud dinging sound.
“Where are you blasted kids?” the old dwarf angrily shouted. The two boys giggled as quietly as they could, but the older boy accidently let out a loud snort that gave away their hiding place.
“AHA! There you are!” the dwarf shouted and then trotted in their direction.
“RUN!” the older boy cried.
The dwarf was always their main target for pranks because the boys always got a laugh at how red his ears became when he was angered.
“Sigurd sounds really mad this time!” Lorn cried. His brown, curly hair flopped around back and forth as he ran through the castle corridors.
“Just keep running!” Gareth replied. He had black hair that was straight and neater than the other boy, who just so happened to be his younger brother.
“Mom and Dad are gonna kill us!” Lorn whined.
The brothers ran through the corridors of the castle towards the front entrance. They were in the foyer when they realized that they lost track of Sigurd, so they stopped running to catch their breath.
“Let’s get to the festival in the town square.” Gareth said, “We can tell Mom and Dad we were there the whole time.”
“You know better than to lie to your parents, Gareth.”
The boys jerked when they saw their father standing at the top of the stairs looking down at them with his arms crossed. He was in his early thirties and was tall with black hair and intense blue eyes. Although Gareth resembled his father quite a bit, his eyes were green like his mother’s. Their parents were in fact the king and queen of Cierith.
“Oh . . . uh . . . hi Dad!” Gareth stuttered out.
“You two weren’t playing pranks again, were you?” the king asked.
Before the brothers had a chance to make up an excuse, S
igurd came waddling into the room out of breath. When the dwarf saw the king, he blurted out, “Dammit, Blaze, your boys were pelting me with pebbles again!”
King Blaze Fletcher walked down the steps and glared down at his two sons, who hung their heads and avoided eye contact with him. He grabbed them both by each an arm sternly, but not enough to hurt them. He faced them towards the dwarf, and said, “Tell Sigurd you are sorry, now.”
The boys both stammered out apologies to the old dwarf, who snorted, but said, “Fine, fine.”
“Good, now let’s go to the town square to meet your mother and sister,” Blaze said, releasing his grip on their arms.
“Is grandpa here yet?” Gareth asked.
“Yes. I already greeted him and he just left to go into town,” Blaze answered.
“Good, I wanted to greet him too. I haven’t seen the bloke since your youngest was born,” Sigurd said with a grin.
“Yeah, let’s go meet him!” Gareth cheered.
Blaze then led his two sons across the drawbridge and into the town with Sigurd trailing a ways behind them. The streets were covered in decorations and littered with people dancing and celebrating. He happened to glance over at the stables and saw his horse, Bear, and a smile grew on his face. His wife was right; Bear was a reminder of the time the two of them spent growing closer.
Several people bowed as Blaze and his sons walked by, and he felt comfortable now that the people had seemed to have forgiven him for the past. Ever since Bogdan’s death, Blaze not only took his true father’s last name, but he also spent the last ten years keeping the promise he made all those years ago.
“So how long has it been since Cierith was freed?” Gareth asked.
“Ten years today,” Blaze answered. He found it hard to believe that ten years had passed already, it still seemed like it had only just happened the day before. He then added, “It all happened before your mother and I were even married.”
“I don’t understand, did Grandpa take over Cierith?” Lorn asked.
“No, Lorn. It was a very bad man who ruled the throne before Grandpa that invaded Cierith twenty years ago,” Blaze replied.
“But then how did Grandpa become king of Daldussa and you became king of Cierith?” Lorn asked.
Blaze chuckled and replied, “It’s a very long and complicated story, but I promise I will explain it one day when you are older. For now, let’s just enjoy today.”
Blaze then grinned and picked up Lorn and slung the little boy over his shoulder playfully. Lorn laughed and pretended to be flying while Gareth trailed behind and made funny faces at him. Lorn then pretended to shoot invisible rocks at Gareth with the empty slingshot. Gareth comically pretended to be hit in a very overly dramatic manner.
They finally reached the town square and after a quick scan, Blaze spotted his wife, Amelia, and his daughter, Alene. Alene was their youngest child at only three years old and she had long wavy black hair and big blue eyes. They were kneeling and praying before an enormous stone memorial in the middle of the town square. The memorial was erected not long after the liberation of the kingdom and it had the names of all the people who gave their lives in the fight to save Cierith.
The statue atop the memorial was in the shape of two crossed swords and a large dove perched in between them. This was meant to symbolize the newfound peace the two kingdoms, Daldussa and Cierith, thanks to the sacrifices made by the people whose names were listed on the plaques below it.
“There you two are!” Amelia said when she looked up saw her sons.
“Hi Mom!” they both exclaimed and embraced their mother. Amelia was now thirty years old and her tiny daughter sat in her lap clutching a doll. The little princess’s eyes lit up when she saw her father approach and she immediately and ran to him. Her little white dress bounced around her feet as the tiny girl ran excitedly, and Blaze couldn’t help but smile and laugh.
“Daddy!” she cried.
Blaze laughed and scooped Alene up in his arms. She giggled as she hung onto his neck with her tiny arms and Amelia couldn’t help but smile at the gentle way her husband held his little daughter. It was a familiar experience to her, and it always warmed her heart to see that Blaze kept his promise he made to her own father.
Gavril then suddenly walked up to the memorial and said, “Well, I hope I get a hug too.”
“Grandpa!” the princes both cried out in unison.
King Gavril Fletcher then bent down to catch his grandsons as they ran for him. In his mid-fifties now, Gavril’s hair had much more gray than black, but his warm brown eyes and heartening smile never changed.
The boys released their grip on their grandfather and he stood up to walk back to their mother with them.
“How are things in Daldussa, Gavril?” Amelia asked.
“Surprisingly well these days. At first, a lot of people were so used to Bogdan’s way of doing things that everyone had a hard time understanding why I was suddenly crowned as king in Blaze’s place. I never got any complaints, but I could see in their faces that they were weary of trusting me. Eventually, though, things got a little easier, in more ways than one,” Gavril explained.
“What do you mean?” Blaze asked.
Just then, Maryn and Taryn approached the group and greeted everyone.
“Hey Gavril, long time no see!” Taryn exclaimed. After ten years, it seemed that both he and Maryn only aged about three or four years, and even then, Gareth and Lorn were already taller than the twins. They also wore nicer clothes, but Maryn, ever the tomboy, still wore trousers.
“We’ve missed you!” Maryn added.
“My, you two have grown!” Gavril commented.
“But they haven’t matured one bit!” Sigurd growled as he came trotting up to the group, glaring at the twins.
“What do you mean?” Maryn asked innocently.
“I know it was you two who taught Gareth and Lorn to play pranks on me! They’ve been shooting pebbles at me all morning!” Sigurd barked.
The twins exchanged glances and Taryn said, “Aw come on, Sigurd. We don’t do that stuff anymore.”
“Yeah, ten years has really matured us!” Maryn said with a smile.
Sigurd glared at them again and then at the princes, who clutched Gavril’s hands and tried to look as innocent as possible.
“I’m onto you,” Sigurd growled at the twins.
The second he turned and walked away, the twin halflings walked up to the princes and smirked.
“Nice job with the slingshot!” Taryn said, laughing. He then gave each boy a high five and the four of them laughed until the three adults gave them hard looks.
“Uh . . . hey boys, let’s go see Kerali,” Maryn said.
“Yeah, he’s over there with Breuvial,” Taryn added, pointing in the direction of the tavern. Sure enough, Kerali was visiting with a group of dwarves with Breuvial, who was now his wife. They were both dressed in pale green and other earthy shades and Breuvial wore a long gown with her hair pale down. After the Daldussan soldier camps were cleared from the area, the elves returned to where the forest used to be and began to rebuild their homes and replant trees and all other forms of life.
The elders were also with Kerali and Breuvial, including the two new elders that were elected not long after Bogdan’s death. The halfling twins then led Gareth and Lorn over to greet the elves and elders and as soon as they were out of earshot, Gavril began to continue what he was saying.
“You know, at first I thought that staying alone in that castle would be too hard after what happened to Althea, but the first night I was there, she visited me in a dream,” Gavril stated.
“Really?” Amelia asked surprisingly. Blaze straightened up to listen.
“Yes.” Gavril replied, “She told me how proud she was of the man I’ve become and she knew that I would turn Daldussa into a great kingdom. And of course, she told me she still loved me, and before she disappeared, I told her that I would never stop loving her.”
Amelia nea
rly cried after hearing Gavril’s words and Blaze just smiled. Alene then beamed ear to ear and leaned away from her father and reached her tiny arms out for Gavril. The three adults laughed as Gavril accepted the little girl’s gesture.
“And this little one is definitely the spitting image of Althea,” Gavril stated while holding onto his granddaughter.
Alene brushed the side of Gavril’s face with her tiny hands, and he couldn’t help but smile and hold her onto his shoulder. It was indeed a heartwarming sight and Blaze and Amelia stood side by side and watched with light hearts as their daughter rested her head on her grandfather’s shoulder.
The festival continued throughout the day, and by sunset, a large group of children gathered around the king and queen as they once again told the story of Cierith’s liberation. Gareth and Lorn sat in front of the crowd and Alene sat on her mother’s lap.
Blaze began the story by saying, “Ten years ago, Queen Amelia fought valiantly against a man who once ruled Daldussa with cruelty and greed. He took her life away when she was only a child, but with the love of everyone around her, she was able to lead her people to defeat him. We hold this festival every year to celebrate the day she won our freedom.”
Amelia smiled and added, “But if King Blaze had not protected me and kept me going, I would not have been able to gain all the courage I had, nor would I have even been alive without King Gavril’s help. He was and still is worthy of succeeding the Daldussan throne.”
“Mom, who is going to rule Daldussa after Grandpa?” Gareth asked.
“Yeah, Gareth is going to be the king after you guys, right?” Lorn added, “So who will take Grandpa’s place?”
Gavril, sitting next to Blaze, answered, “You will, Lorn.”
“I’m going to be a king too?” Lorn asked with an excited smile.
“That’s right, Lorn.” Blaze replied, “You and your brother will rule each a kingdom. I want you both to always keep an alliance between the Cierith and Daldussa when you are both kings and if another kingdom threatens one of you, I want you to promise that you will come to the other’s aid and defend them.”
Deliverance Page 31