by J. C.
He would resist anyone who sought to use Leesil or Magiere. He would find his own answers for what lay ahead of them all.
Chap went back and pressed his nose against Lily, breathing in the rich earthen scent of her fur. It made him feel heavy and weak with sorrow.
But Leesil and Magiere and even Wynn still needed him.
Chap turned from Lily and ran for the coast. He could not bear to look back, even when he heard her howl fade into the forest.
Epilogue
The dreamer fell through boundless night, frigid wind ripping past. The night sky began to undulate. Rippling mounds arched within the darkness like black desert dunes and then sharpened into clarity. Stars became glints of reflected light upon black reptilian scales the size of small battle shields. Those scaled dunes shifted into mammoth reptilian coils, each larger than the height of a mounted rider. They turned and writhed on all sides of the dreamer, with no beginning, no end, and no space between.
The scales vanished, but the dreamer still fell. A coastline appeared below, fringed by high snow-packed mountains.
Here, a voice whispered above the roar of rushing air. It is here.
The dreamer tumbled downward, until high mountain peaks of perpetual ice rose like a jagged-toothed maw on all sides. Within that snowbound canyon stood a six-towered castle bordered by stone walls. The dreamer, in rapid descent, caught only a glimpse of high arched gates.
A white snowfield beyond rushed up.
Then impact.
No pain or darkness came, only shudders of fear, as to a child lost in the wilderness. The dreamer lay in crusted snow, staring up at twin gates of ornate iron curls. They joined together at their high tops in an arched point. Mottled with rust, the gates were still sound in their place. Beyond stood the castle's matching-shaped iron doors atop a wide cascade of steps.
A carrion crow sat upon the gates, watching the dreamer expectantly.
The castle dimmed from sight into darkness. Reptilian coils rose all around, their twisting and churning increasing in speed.
The orb is yours… I now give it to you alone… take it!
The dreamer tried to scramble across the snow, but then only the black coils remained, closing in, tighter and tighter.
Sister of the dead, lead on.
Magiere's eyes snapped open, as she gasped for breath and thrashed out of the bed. She scrambled across the floor and huddled naked and shaking in one corner of the elven inn's tiny room. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a harsh whisper.
"Leesil!"
He sat up quickly in the bed.
Black coils seemed to move in every shadow of the dark room as Magiere reached out for Leesil hurrying toward her.