by Lee Roland
They sat together in the finally peaceful night as Yarrow’s body faded, leaving only his lifestone and memory. Maeve stood, walked to the stone, and gently picked it up.
“Beloved.” The lifestone flashed and a single word came in her mind. A cool breeze spun across the meadow and lifted Yarrows ashes skyward in a gentle whirlwind.
Haven returned, changed form, and came to them.
“It’s time,” he said.
Maeve passed Harriet to Tana. Orcus rubbed his feline body around her legs, carefully avoiding Haven.
“Come to the house,” Tana said. “You should take Andovar too.”
“Haven, who are the Na’thumatal?” Maeve asked. “Do you know?”
“I know little. I have heard the name, though. Long ago, before my birth, the Iameth fought a battle far more ferocious than that of Ataro. It shattered the world before Sorath and Piron were born. The old ones spoke of a significant enemy from another place. Some of the survivors of that war went west, perhaps across into America.”
“We have to go find Flor.”
“Yes. She was the greatest surprise in all of this. No prophesies even hinted at her. Or Piron’s return.”
He placed his arm around her, and Maeve became aware of his nakedness. Only the blanket around her shoulders separated them. She reminded herself that she was a dragon, and that’s the way it was. A dragon wore clothing in human form only when required by appropriate manners, as it had when Raymond met Immal, and as Tana insisted they do in her house.
Tana walked out the back door as they reached the farmhouse, Andovar’s lifestone cradled gently in her hands. Maeve received it in her own hands and held it close.
“Come now,” Haven said. “Change shape for we must take Yarrow’s lifestone home.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
In the terror of flight and battle, Maeve had little time to observe the world through dragon eyes. Each leaf, each blade of grass etched in sharp relief. Night sounds came in whispers around her ears, and a profusion of scents, some familiar and others new, wafted across the meadow. Both witch and dragon, Maeve realized she could see two different sides of a reality she could never know if she were one or the other.
A dragon’s perception of the world around them followed a single line. No divergence, no complexities to muddy their lives. Witches, on the other hand, were devious and complex, with twists and turns of mind and will. Dragons cared nothing for the power witches hungered for like addicts hungered for their poison.
Using an incredibly flexible and sensitive tongue, Maeve placed Yarrow and Andovar’s life stones in her mouth. Haven led her to the top of the hill.
“We will practice before we try to fly over the mountains.” Haven gracefully took to the air.
Maeve gathered herself, pushed off, and promptly crashed. At least she landed on her feet this time.
Haven landed beside her. “Lift your wings like this.” He held his at a forty-five degree angle. “Take two steps, push up and bring them down.”
Two more steps and she was airborne—and headed straight for the trees. With a few furious flaps, though, she gained altitude.
“Now, lock your wings with the right one a little lower than the left.” Haven stayed beside her, but not too close.”
Maeve did as he bid her and began to circle. With an occasional push from her wings, she rose higher over the valley. She sliced through the clear cold sky now with no more effort than lifting a feather. The Earth Mother’s landscape fell away, though its magic reached for her. The witch in her would always be linked to the earth.
The wind caressed her and someone called her name.
“Sky Daughter.” Merisin acknowledged her presence.
“Father.” Maeve placed all her joy and love, tempered with the sadness of her burden, in that single word.
“Now come.” Haven instructed and then headed toward the mountains, toward Dragon’s Lair.
Maeve followed him the length of Elder to the mountains, over and then down toward the golden plain where the scent of the herds below caused her stomach to grumble. How long since she’d eaten and how did a dragon hunt and feed?
Steaming geysers and mud pots beckoned her. A warm bath would be nice to soak pain away. When a gas boil ran high and Maeve caught the stink, she realized the trip across the caldera with Yarrow should have clued her on her transformation. The copious gasses emitted by the steaming holes would poison a witch, yet Yarrow flew so low she had to breathe their essence.
The jagged edges of the Firedrake Mountains passed under them, and they dropped into the valley. Great Master, don’t let me crash here, Maeve prayed as she descended. She didn’t, but it was close and less than graceful.
Haven twisted his neck and scanned the sky around the amphitheater. “Brothers! Come. Pay homage to your queen.”
Maeve couldn’t find words to express her shock.
One at a time, the dragons flew to the plateau and landed. She had never met these dragons, these strangers. Each came, rubbed his face against hers, and gave her his name. Two reds, a midnight blue, a silver like Raymond, and a green who could have been Andovar’s son.
When they finished, Maeve asked, “Haven, where are the others? The dragons who lived in Elder. Are they gone?”
“They left after the battle. They have all returned to the Circle of Souls. These are older than your Raymond, but still young. It is among them that your daughters must find mates.”
Her daughters. That was a heavy responsibility for a dragon who had yet to fine her mate.
“Haven, if the older dragons are gone, will these dragons come to Elder? It would be a lonely place without dragons.”
“They will come.” Haven changed to human form. Maeve deposited Yarrow and Andovar’s life stones on the ground and changed too. She picked up the stones and followed Haven on the trek through the mountain.
He did not need to lead her this time. The dark-sight of her dragon self remained. When they emerged in Merisin’s realm, they changed once more and lifted off, wings beating in rhythm as they crossed the milky ocean.
The air of this world smelled dry, as if the liquid below them was not water, but a microscopically fine dust. No sun appeared in the sky as it had before, but the light had not lessened. Seeing it through a dragon’s eyes altered the being of reality.
They landed on the pink beach, changed, and began the climb to the Circle.
“What shall I do if they won’t accept Andovar?” Maeve asked.
Haven stopped. “I do not know. Perhaps…we’ll decide when the time comes.”
As they came to the circle’s edge, the whirling stones sang with joy, and then stopped and fell silent. One shining silver stone left the others and came forward. Yarrow’s stone vibrated in Maeve’s hand.
Sybille.
Maeve held out her hand with Yarrow’s copper stone resting on her palm. The silver stone dropped to it, and Yarrow rose to meet his eternal mate.
She thought they would join the circle, but they did not. Instead, they hovered—flickering and touching, sending tiny lightnings through each stone.
“Maeve.” Haven’s dragon voice spoke in her mind. “Take your own life stone and hold it in your hand.”
“How?”
“Wish it to be there.”
Maeve closed her eyes and called her stone from her body, and she felt its weight settle the palm that had held Yarrow. Yarrow and Sybille’s stones moved in to gently touch it.
“My queen.” Sybille’s voice, Sybille’s spirit sounded in Maeve’s mind. It carried hints of Raymond and Maeve called on all her memories of her childhood friend.
She didn’t know what those in the circle of Souls could see from their resting place, but she wanted Sybille to know how much Raymond meant to her and how much she loved him.
Maeve offered images of Raymond holding her hands when she learned to walk, running along side on her first bicycle ride. Raymond giving her the gift of the air above Elder, all the memories she could find
to declare the lifelong love of a friend.
Sybille’s joy set the circle of souls spinning again, and the song soared.
She held her palm extended with her own life stone, the mingled dragon tears, hers and Yarrow’s. Sybille’s stone dropped and touched it for a moment and then moved away. Then she and Yarrow joined the Circle’s dance.
Maeve raised the hand holding Andovar and opened it. With no fuss at all, the green stone rose, and it too joined the Circle of Souls. In many ways, his sacrifice was the greatest of all. Nothing would have been achieved had he not gone against his true nature to aid Sorath.
She stared at her life stone and turned it in her hand. Yarrow’s single copper thread lay side by side with a silver strand.
“What does it mean, Haven?”
“They have given you their strength. They will not seek to rejoin the cycle of life, but will remain here until the Great Master sends the final call.”
“But I barely knew…I mean…I wish…”
Haven smiled and touched her arm. “Your young witch’s mind does not yet understand the dragon’s ways, or how we perceive time.” He gathered her in his arms and held her tight. “Shall I tell you something? It might make you happier.”
“Oh please…anything.” Maeve drew her lifestone back into her body and returned his embrace.
He laughed, a slow chuckle that sounded as warm as anything she’d ever heard from a dragon. “I witnessed your entrance into this life. The only time I have left Elder since we came from Europe. You came into the world screaming, raging and already a witch. You scattered all the stones in the sacred circle built for your birth and knocked down several trees. I knew you were a dragon too, because, for a moment, I saw your wings.”
Maeve laughed and cried at the same time.
****
She and Haven flew back to Elder in silence. Haven and the five young dragons followed her, but when they crossed the mountains, the young ones went north to the hot springs. She and Haven went south and landed in Tana’s backyard. Raymond waited there in human form, and Alex stood beside him. A bit surprising, but maybe not. The young man from Arizona had quickly assimilated into the Iameth. Maeve and Haven changed and went to them.
“When do we leave?” Raymond asked. His eyes had lost their silver glow, and his voice carried the weight of sorrow. “Alex says he can find the door—”
“Might be able to find the door.” Alex said. “I heard the stories and Grandpa drove me to the petroglyph canyon. I saw it, but I was only six.”
Alex kept averting his eyes, and Maeve didn’t realize she was naked until Tana hurried up to her with a robe.
Maeve digested the information. Flor said she was the last of her people, and yet this young man had seen the Chiuato. She’d talk to both him and Tana later, and try to get more information.
“We’ll leave as soon as we can. I think we need to travel in human form, so that means clothes and a vehicle.” Maeve glanced at Haven. “What do you…”
Haven bowed. “I follow you, my queen. If Piron lives, then perhaps my Alirice is with her.” Maeve wasn’t sure that was a good idea. It would leave the young dragons he introduced her to without a guiding authority.
“Haven do you know how much trouble I—” Maeve stopped abruptly when Flor’s memory burst in. Stop whining, Maeve. “Well, we better get ready then.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Tana’s kitchen table had been the scene of many an argument, but this was strangest Maeve had ever endured. For once, she wasn’t the one on the hot seat. They even asked her for advice a couple of times.
Erik sat in a chair, arms crossed and staring at the wall. Tana and Claire had healed his hand, and now he wanted to go with Maeve, to make certain Sethos was dead. As High Witch, Claire refused to allow it. Maeve agreed. In Elder, Tana and Claire could control him. Erik, though restrained, remained dangerous. If he went outside and, as Sethos’ heir, gained control of SETH, he could cause endless problems.
“You think I’m going to let you out where you can hurt more people?” Claire’s voice was cold. “I know you, remember. You may be blocked from using magic—”
“Which means he’s alive,” Erik said.
Maeve decided to take a part of the burden. “Erik, you’re talking to the wrong people. I’m the one who says who goes and who stays. I say no, you can’t come.”
Erik turned his killer’s eyes on her. “Why?”
“I don’t trust you, I don’t like you, and I don’t want you bullying Alex.”
He glared at Alex who leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Would I bully you, Hania?” Erik spoke in a soft, arrogant voice.
Alex shrugged and Maeve silently cursed the boy. Did Alex actually want Erik to accompany them? That wouldn’t work.
Erik stood.
“Erik,” Claire said. The power and authority of the High Witch of Elder resonated in her voice. “If you try to leave Elder, I’ll kill you. Your actions in the factory bought you another chance, not forgiveness.”
He watched her, his face plainly judging her resolve. He issued no challenge. “As you wish, Ancient Mother.” He rose and stalked out the backdoor.
****
Early one morning, Maeve passed Harlan in the hall as he left the room he shared with Claire. Claire wanted to stay in the farmhouse, and Maeve suspected she wanted time to ease Tana’s injured feelings. Harlan didn’t mind because it allowed him to keep a close eye on his remaining troops while they integrated their lives into the fabric of Elder. All traces of Sethos presence were being erased. The fences, the extra buildings, only the power plant on Ogre Mountain would remain. Electricity for the town would be far cheaper in the future.
The door stood open a crack, and Maeve tapped, then pushed it open. Claire, dressed in a white robe, lay on the bed. She blessed Maeve with a smile so warm Maeve had to go to her. She lay down beside her and buried her face in Claire’s glorious platinum hair as her mother gathered her in her arms.
“I know I’m too old for this, but—”
“No. Never too old,” Claire whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt you so much. Tana was everything to me, and I thought it would be enough for you.”
“Tana was everything—except a mother.”
Claire shivered.
“No,” Maeve said. “Please don’t. I didn’t mean…I understand. Claire…Mother.”
They lay close like that for a while, and then Claire sighed and said, “It hurts, but it had to be. If I had kept you…”
“I know. Can you talk about…him?”
“Yes, you have the right to know.” Claire stroked Maeve’s curls. “It was easy to get Sethos to marry me. He was in his corporate offices, right after World War II. The door wards were simple, so I smashed them and walked in and told him what I wanted, and what I was willing to give him in exchange.”
“Elder?”
“Yes. I didn’t know he had already begun to build his army by hunting down the few remaining Iameth in the world. Maybe the Elementals knew, but if they did, they didn’t tell me. By the time I did know, it was too late. We made mistakes. I had to watch while he injured my people. The Elementals are eternal. They don’t understand time as we know it.”
“And a child, for him to…” Maeve couldn’t say it.
“To possess. Oh no, darling, I would never have allowed that to happen.”
“Erik said—”
“Damn Erik,” Claire said. “Though a child of his would tempt me, I will never give Erik that kind of satisfaction.”
“Harlan’s jealous.” Maeve laughed softly.
“That’s my business, little dragon.”
“Yes, Mommy.” She snuggled closer, and they talked of less earth shattering events than those of the last few days. “You’re a sorceress,” she said.
Claire brushed her hand through Maeve’s curls. “Sorceress is only a word, darling.”
They talked until Tana came in with the news
that the first residents had returned to Elder, and asked if they would go with her to welcome them.
Chapter Fifty
The morning before they were to leave, Alex left Tana’s house and walked into Elder to purchase a few personal items. He studied the smooth ground where the factory had once blighted the earth and knew he was lucky to be alive. Should he tell someone what Sethos said about him not being human? No, it might change the dynamic of his situation, and he didn’t want that, so he would keep his mouth shut.
Alex had told Maeve and Tana what he knew of the Chiuato and his grandfather. Maeve told him he didn’t have to go, but he felt he had a responsibility. He had seen what she called the death-land, and he wouldn’t want anyone to stay there—except Sethos. Besides, if he stayed here, he would have to deal with Erik. That situation tore him apart.
Part of him missed the man like he would miss a roaring fire on a freezing night. His cruelty burned and battered, but when he was kind…he told himself to let it go.
The town bustled with activity. The temporary bridge allowed human residents to return, and a few children ran down the sidewalk or played ball in the street. Maeve told him the Council had a ferocious argument, some wanting to send the humans away and close the gate, and others saying the Iameth needed humankind to survive. Tana wanted humans there, and the High Witch agreed with her, so the people returned. He made his purchases and walked out to find Erik standing on the sidewalk waiting for him.
“Come on,” Erik said in a low voice. “I want to talk to you.”
Alex tried to say no, but his mouth dried out, and he couldn’t speak.
Erik led him into a small alley between the drugstore and the empty building next door. Before they exited the alley, he pushed open a door on the side of the empty building, caught Alex’s arm in an iron grip, and dragged him in. He slammed the door behind them.
“Tell me where you’re going.” The Commander held him close, tight.
Alex knew Claire and Tana weren’t going to let Erik leave Elder. But if he could… The tattoo, the Thunderbird on his back, shifted. Its time approached. Time when Alex would understand what it meant.