“I’m not a fuck-face,” the Star Dragon said. “You’re a fuck-face.”
Ryan squeaked next to me.
The Star Dragon peered at him. “What was that noise he made?”
I shook my head. “That was his Sam Is Mocking a Higher Being Directly to His Face Again noise.”
“You capitalized that,” Ryan whimpered, eyes bulging as he took in the constellation before us.
“Well yeah. Because it’s true.”
“I assume it happens often, then, if you’ve given it a name?” the Star Dragon asked.
“I tend to be insolent,” I admitted. “It’s something I’m aware of and will strive to be better about in the future.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“Go fuck yourself—I mean, oh gee. I can’t wait to prove you wrong.”
The lights were brighter now, and growing in number. They stopped rising about chest level, until it looked as if the clearing was covered in a sea of them. I reached out and touched one and felt—
thank you thank you thank you for keeping us safe
—something pulse just underneath my fingertips. It was benevolent and sweet, and I was shocked that it was directed toward me.
“What are these?” I asked.
“The hopes of your people,” the Star Dragon said simply.
“I don’t understand.”
“Heroes often don’t,” he said. “And that’s why you are one.”
I looked away from it. “I don’t feel very much like a hero right now.”
“And why is that?”
“I…. Surely you saw what I’m capable of. What I did. What I could have done.”
“The Darks.”
“Yes.”
“Your cornerstone.”
“Yes.”
“And the darkness within yourself.”
“Yes.”
The Star Dragon sighed. “It was always going to come down to this, Sam. No matter what way you spin this, it was always going to be you or them.”
“So I still didn’t have a choice,” I said bitterly, staring down at Myrin still trapped beneath the Star Dragon. His mouth was open in a silent scream.
“You did,” the Star Dragon said. “You could have disregarded all of this. Ignored your destiny. Ignored your dragons. Allowed Verania to fall into shadow.”
“Which it did.”
“But not because of you,” he said lightly. “Sam, you did what was asked of you. In the end, even after everything you’d been through, after losing people you love, you still accepted your destiny.”
I shook my head furiously. “I was running. Like always. I was angry and scared, and I ran.”
“And you came back. You came back to face those you’d left behind. You became the wizard you were always supposed to be.”
“I don’t understand. That’s not choice. That’s—”
“You were given a choice,” the Star Dragon said. “Unlimited power. You stood at the edge of a cliff. And yet you didn’t jump. I think your cornerstone had a little to do with that.”
I glanced at Ryan, who stood stock-still, eyeing the Star Dragon. “Uh,” he said.
I snorted. “Eloquent as always.”
“It’s a god,” he hissed at me. “What the hell am I supposed to say? You know what? No. I don’t need you to tell me. I got this.” He squared his shoulders as he stared up at the Star Dragon. “Hi. Hello. Uh. God. Sir. Star Dragon. Or whatever you are. My name is Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart. And you are very big. And made of stars.”
The Star Dragon squinted down at him. “Is he always like this?”
“He doesn’t do well with authority figures,” I said, patting Ryan on the arm. “He called Mama the Queen of the Fuck Palace when he met her for the first time.”
Ryan moaned. “Why would you tell a god that? He could smite us where we stand!”
“I could,” he said. “But that sounds like too much work.”
“Eep,” Ryan said.
“Why didn’t you take it?” the Star Dragon asked me. “You could have easily consumed Myrin’s magic and taken it for your own. What stopped you?”
I looked at the lights surrounding us. “I… I heard Ryan’s voice. And the promise he made to me once.”
“About what he wished for.”
“Yes.”
“And that pulled you back. From the Dark.”
“He tends to do that.”
“Even after you killed him. I must admit, even we didn’t see that one coming.”
“What can I say? Had to fulfill the prophecy somehow.”
“It kind of sucked,” Ryan said, before slapping a hand over his mouth.
I rolled my eyes.
The Star Dragon shifted his wings. “The Great White doesn’t believe in cornerstones.”
I felt the white light in my head mutter irritably.
“No,” I said slowly. “He doesn’t.”
“But even under his tutelage, you still had faith in the Knight Commander.”
“Always.”
“And that was your choice.”
I frowned. “What does that have to do—”
“It has always been about choice, Sam. You may not have thought so, but it has. You chose to go with Morgan that day in the alley. You chose to become his pupil. You chose to bring Gary and Tiggy back with you unexpectedly. You chose to rescue the Prince, to find a dragon and make him part of your family. You chose to rise up when a prophecy was placed upon your shoulders. You chose to gather the dragons of Verania. You chose to walk away from the Great White, only to choose to return to him. And in the end, you chose to ignore the magic within you and to listen to your cornerstone, to your lightning-struck heart, and let go of the shadows and the darkness that threatened to rise within you. And the others, your friends and family, your mentor and your King, chose to put their faith in you. This was never about a path set in stone, Sam. Because—”
“Stone crumbles,” I whispered.
“It does,” the Star Dragon said. “All of these choices, from the very beginning, led to this moment. You are as you are now because of them. Because of the people you surround yourself with. Because of the strength that has always resided within you.” He nodded toward the lights that swirled around us. “And the people of Verania have made their choices too. Many of them turned away from you. They berated you. They shunned you. They arguably fought against you. But people often fear what they don’t understand, and Sam, they were scared. But even now, they’re wishing upon the stars for your safe return to them. You are all such complex creatures, capable of the brightest of lights and the darkest of nights. Your Prince said that hope is a weapon. And what you see before you are your people taking up arms in your name. In the name of hope. In the name of Sam of Dragons.”
I stared at the lights in wonder. “I don’t—how can I deserve this?”
The Star Dragon smiled. “No one has ever deserved it more. You may not believe it, but that’s okay. Because they believe it for you. As do I.”
I hung my head. Ryan was there, pressed up against me, whispering words of faith and love in my ear, telling me how proud he was, that no matter what happened, his wish had always been me, and if he had to do it all over again, he’d wish for the same.
“I’m angry,” I admitted. “For what was taken from me.”
“You’re human,” the Star Dragon said. “You’re allowed to be.” He hesitated. Then, “But….”
“But?”
“There is magic everywhere, Sam.”
“I know. Morgan taught me that.”
“And Myrin forgot it. He took something that didn’t belong to him.”
My eyes burned. “And I don’t know that I can ever forgive him for that.”
“Do you remember what you wished for? In the desert?”
Make me mortal. When all is said and done. I will protect my King, this one and the next. I will protect my kingdom. I will do all that you ask, but I want a mortal life for my happy e
nding. This is my wish.
“Yes.”
“And you did that on your own.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I guess I couldn’t wait.”
The Star Dragon chuckled. “If you could have one wish, what would it be?”
My head snapped up. My breath hitched in my chest. “Truly?”
The Star Dragon nodded. “Not all those who are lost are gone forever. Especially when a piece of them remains.”
“Sam?” Ryan asked. “What is he talking about?”
“And him?” I said, nodding at Myrin. “What will become of him?”
The Star Dragon looked down. “For another story to begin, there must first be an ending. I think it’s time for Myrin to end, don’t you?”
He lifted the Dark wizard off the ground. Myrin didn’t struggle. His limbs hung loose between claws made of stars.
The Star Dragon tilted his head back…
…and swallowed Myrin whole.
Ryan gave a shout of surprise as we watched Myrin slide down the Star Dragon’s translucent throat, his singed hair floating around him. When he reached the dragon’s belly, the stars began to shift, alighting on his skin and covering him completely. At the last moment, awareness seeped in and I swore Myrin looked… relieved.
And then he burst brightly.
I shielded my eyes as the clearing lit up around us.
Eventually, it faded.
I dropped my hand as I looked back at the Star Dragon. Two lights burned within him. One a sickly yellow, and another that felt like home.
“You have done us a great service, Sam of Dragons. You have sacrificed much. Your heart is as wild as it was the day Morgan of Shadows found you in the alley. And for that, we will bestow upon you one wish. Choose wisely, child, because once done, it can never be undone.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I wish—”
I GASPED as I opened my eyes.
The sky above was clear, the storm past. The stars shone brightly, David’s Dragon the brightest of all.
I sat up, groaning at the stiffness in my back. I looked to my left, where Ryan was grunting, blinking rapidly. “Did that really just happen?”
“I… think so? I mean, I feel like I’ve had the shit beaten out of me, so I—”
Myrin.
I looked toward where I’d seen him last in the alley.
He was gone.
I sighed in relief. “Fuck. Dude, I think we won.”
Ryan pushed himself up, his armor dented and scuffed. He picked up his sword and frowned at it. “I just stood in the presence of a god.”
“Yeah. Made a good impression too.”
“Shut up.”
“It was, like, my fourth or fifth time, so that’s why I was so smooth.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if I’d call you smooth.”
“Bullshit. I’m awesome. I just totally saved the day and stuff.”
He snorted. “And stuff. Maybe you need to be reminded that it was me that stopped you from going all psycho villain.”
I grinned at him. “Because of your love for me. You saved me with the power of your love.”
“So dumb,” he muttered, but he was blushing, so I knew he was full of shit. “I don’t… what happened? In the end. I didn’t hear what you wished for.”
Oh fuck. “We gotta get to the castle!”
He blinked. “What? Why? What’s going—”
I stood up quickly, looking skyward. “Kevin!” I bellowed as my magic burst.
I heard the answering roar of a dragon.
“Huh,” I said. “I didn’t think that’d work. Neat. Why are you just standing there? We have to go!”
“I just helped you face down the biggest Dark wizard of all time. I think I’m allowed to stand still for a little bit—and what in the fucking fuck is that!”
I glared at him. “Look, just because you love me so much that you pulled me from the brink does not mean you get to—what in the fucking fuck is that!”
Sometimes in life, you see something so ridiculous that it immediately defies all logic and causes all the synapses in your brain to misfire at the same time. These moments are extraordinarily rare, and once seen, can never be unseen.
This was one of those moments.
Because above us, running on a bridge made of rainbows shooting from his horn, was Gary.
With Randall riding on his back.
And Tiggy.
Riding on Kevin.
“This might be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” I breathed fervently.
The rainbow bridge began to spiral downward toward us, Gary running along it. There was a possibility that he was singing. Randall looked ill and annoyed. Kevin was spouting something undoubtedly overtly sexual toward his husband, and Tiggy was just screaming, “GWAAAAHHH.”
“I love them so hard,” I told Ryan.
“I don’t know why stuff like this still surprises me,” he said with a sigh.
The rainbow slammed into the ground moments before Gary’s hooves hit the stone of the alleyway. “Did you see that shit?” he demanded.
“Well,” I said faintly. “I do have eyes.”
“You’re damn right you have eyes. Not that you are going to have them for very much longer because I am going to stab them out of your face, you little bitch. How dare you have a secret plan behind my back to make me think you’d actually turned evil and then killed Ryan, only to bring him back to life in a plot so ridiculous, your brain should be studied long after you’re dead to figure out why it’s so deranged.” His eyes filled with tears as Randall slid from his back, muttering that he wanted no part of this.
“Oh no,” I said.
“Oh yes!” he wailed. “Do you know how much you’ve aged me in the last four hours? Do you know what wrinkles look like on a unicorn, Sam? Do you? Because if you did, then you would realize the extent of your betrayal.”
“We crying?” Tiggy asked, bottom lip wobbling as he jumped down from Kevin’s back.
“No,” I said, voice breaking. “Okay, maybe.”
And then I burst into tears, because if you can’t have a good cry with your best friends after saving the world, then when can you?
Tiggy wrapped Gary and me up in his arms, holding us close as we blubbered all over each other.
“Ow,” I sobbed at Gary. “Your horn just poked me in the cheek.”
“You deserve it,” he cried. “You know what? I’m going to make a secret plan of my own about something and only tell Tiggy!”
“I’ll tell you,” Tiggy told me, great tears dripping down his cheeks. “I’ll tell you, Sam.”
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked from somewhere behind us. “Why are they crying?”
“You should know by now that it’s better not to ask,” Randall said. “Besides, if we ignore it, it’ll be over quicker.”
“I’m sorry!” I wailed. “I just thought if you knew, you’d never let me go through with it.”
“You’re damn right we wouldn’t have,” Gary snapped, eyes suddenly dry. “Because it was stupid, just like you! What the hell were you thinking?”
“Hey! It worked!”
He blinked. “It did? Oh. Well, then.” He pulled away from Tiggy’s arms. “That’s good. Now that that’s over with, can we please talk about me? Did you see me running on a rainbow?”
“I did,” I assured him, patting Tiggy on the arm as I stepped away. “You’re the most preposterous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Gary preened, puffing his chest out. “Right? I can’t wait to see what else I can do with this rainbow.”
“Like what, my love?” Kevin asked, keenly interested.
“I’m so glad you asked,” Gary said, prancing over to him. “Have you ever been to a bakery that had rainbow sprinkles on their pastries?”
“Ooh,” Kevin growled. “And what pastries would the sprinkles be on?”
“All of them,” Gary purred.
“Gods,” I said, trying hard not to
gag. “It didn’t take long for him to ruin his horn for me forever.”
“I blame you for most of this,” Ryan said, looking green.
“Stop! All of you!”
We turned just in time to see a Dark wizard pop out from behind Kevin at the entrance to the alley. He looked a little worse for wear, what with the fact that his eyebrows appeared to have been singed off.
“Huh,” I said. “One must have escaped. That sucks.”
“Aha!” he cried. “I have bested Sam of Dragons! I will be the supreme Dark wizard. If only my father could see me now. You see, he never respected—”
And that’s when Gary stabbed him in the chest with his horn, pinning him against the wall. “You just bought a one-way ticket to Gore City, bitch,” he snarled.
Everyone clapped except for me. “My catchphrases are so much better,” I muttered. “That was just stupid.”
“Sam.”
As Gary began to bitch and moan about Dark wizard gunk on his horn, I turned to Randall. He looked tense and wary. “I….”
“Is it done?”
I didn’t know quite what to say. “He’s… the Star Dragon. He—consumed him. Myrin was….”
Randall nodded tightly. “And you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.”
And then Randall hugged me.
I was so surprised, I didn’t know quite what to do. My arms were at my sides and I couldn’t even think, much less reciprocate.
“Are you going to make this even more awkward?” he muttered against my shoulder.
“Uh. No. No, I’m not.”
And I brought my arms up and hugged him back.
It was good.
The best, really.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “For doing what you had to. For doing what I could not.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. For not being able—I couldn’t—”
“I know,” he said. “But it was never about that. He made his choices. I’m just happy that you’re all right. Did he say anything else?”
“The Star Dragon?”
“Yes.”
“Just—” My eyes widened. “Holy shit.” I shoved Randall off me. “Suck me through your hole,” I demanded.