A familiar grip rested on Ashley’s shoulder. Walter’s hot cheek pressed against hers. His voice breaking, he whispered in her ear. “Ashley, it’s over. She’s gone.”
Ashley sniffed again. “I just had to try one more time.”
“Of course you did,” Thigocia said. “I know exactly how you feel. Life is precious, and healers do all they can to preserve it.”
Trembling, Ashley laid Karen down and, with Walter’s help, pushed herself up to her feet. She brushed her hair back and looked around at the array of wounded and exhausted soldiers. Gabriel still lay unconscious at the pillar with Roxil sitting next to him caressing his head with the tip of her wing. Sapphira, her hand radiating heat, rubbed Thigocia’s bruised wing.
“Does the warmth help?” Sapphira asked.
“It does,” Thigocia replied. “I will soon be well. My injuries do not last long.”
“Mother,” Ashley said, her voice frail, “in all the excitement, I don’t think you noticed that you have another person to heal.”
“Another human?” Thigocia shook her head sadly. “I will try, but I have not had much success with humans.”
“With this one you might.” Ashley hobbled over to Gabriel, knelt next to him, and cradled his head. “Mother,” she said, her tears streaming anew, “would you please try to heal my brother … your son … Gabriel?”
Thigocia’s jaw opened slowly. Her red eyes sparkled. With a beat of her good wing, she shuffled close and extended her neck, gazing at the wounded boy’s face and sniffing his body. Finally, she stared at Ashley. “It is Gabriel!” She lifted her head and trumpeted a joyful arpeggio, so loud the three humans had to cover their ears.
When she finished her call, Thigocia quickly scooted closer and covered Gabriel with her wings. “Who will heat my scales?”
Walter withdrew Excalibur and looked at Roxil. “We’re both pretty tired. Want to give her a double dose to make sure?”
“It will be my pleasure.” Roxil backed away a few steps and breathed a weak stream of fire over Thigocia’s scales.
As Walter moved into position, Sapphira guided Ashley to a safe spot behind the pillar, then carefully dragged Karen’s body there as well. Walter lit up Excalibur’s beam and lowered it to the floor. The energy surged through the concrete and sizzled into Thigocia, combining the light with Roxil’s fire and covering the dragon healer with a glittering mix of sparks and flaming tongues.
After a few seconds, Thigocia thumped her tail on the floor. “Stop! I feel him moving.”
Walter doused the beam. Roxil snuffed her flames. As Thigocia uncovered Gabriel and reared back to give him breathing room, everyone drew closer.
Gabriel blinked at the five faces staring down at him. “What are you all looking at?” he asked, rubbing his cheek. “Am I on fire?”
“Close.” Walter reached down and latched on to Gabriel’s wrist. “Get up, lazybones. Your mother’s been trying to get you out of bed.”
Riding Walter’s upward pull, Gabriel rose and stood on wobbly legs. After stabilizing his body, he spread out his wings and smiled at Thigocia. “Dragon or not, I’d recognize you anywhere.” He took a tremulous step toward her and held out his arms.
With a quick sweep of her wing, she folded him in and nuzzled him cheek to cheek. “You’re still a teenager! I expected you to be much older!”
“It’s a long story. You see”
“Better hold that story,” Walter interrupted. “We have to get back to business.” He looked up at the beam connecting Earth to the land in the sky. Ashley followed his gaze. A huge red bolt split into five fingers and knifed into Earth, raising violent splashes of sparks and flames. As thunder shook the ground, Walter set his feet to ride it out. “I’ve got a feeling that if we don’t knock that tower down soon, we’re gonna be at ground zero for some serious fireworks. Anybody got any ideas?”
“I don’t, but maybe they do.” Sapphira’s blue eyes glistened as she watched the people up above. “I can still see Elam. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Maybe he could tell us what to do.”
“Too far to yell.” Walter picked up a splintered two-by-four. “And I don’t think smoke signals would work, either.”
“I could try to fly up there,” Gabriel offered, “but something tells me it could be lethal to cross the dimensional boundary.”
Taking Sapphira’s hand, Ashley watched the scene at the far end of the tunnel. A girl with white hair, a teenaged boy, an old man, and a horse stood around a shimmering oval. Ashley pointed. “Is that Elam between the girl and the old man?”
“Yes, and the girl is my sister Acacia.”
“She certainly resembles you, and the man looks familiar, like I’ve seen him” Ashley took a quick breath and pointed. “Elam is staring straight at us.”
Sapphira’s grip tightened on Ashley’s hand. “You’re right! He is!” She took several steps forward and gazed up at her long-lost friend, so close, yet still separated by a barrier neither one could cross. She lifted a hand and wiggled her fingers, their sign of love that began many centuries ago when she fed him and saved his life. Slowly, he raised his hand and wiggled his fingers. Trembling, Sapphira pressed her lips together, trying not to cry. Would she ever see him again? Would she ever get to whisper in his ear the words she longed to say?
Elam jerked around and glanced at Acacia, then frantically waved both arms at Sapphira.
Walter pulled Sapphira back. “I don’t like the looks of this. I think he’s telling us to run for it!”
As Timothy and Listener huddled near the cave entrance, a rustling sound, then a frantic call, pierced the forest. “Timothy!”
Timothy whispered to Listener. “It is almost time. Are you ready?”
She kissed Timothy’s cheek, and, after taking a deep breath, she leaned toward the tunnel.
He held her fast. “Not just yet. A few more seconds.” He withdrew the dagger from his belt and held it close to her neck, whispering, “Are you frightened?”
She shook her head slowly, but, even in the dim moonlight, he could see her throat move up and down in a tight swallow.
“Timothy! No!” Abraham broke through the shadows, followed by Angel. They halted and shielded their eyes from the tunnel’s blazing light. “Timothy! There has to be another way!”
Angel held out her arms for her daughter. “Listener! Come to me. He can’t make you do this!”
Listener shook her head and interlocked her fingers with Timothy’s. She rubbed her roughened cheek against his hand, then kissed his knuckles.
Angel’s lips trembled. She dropped to her knees and stretched out her arms, her face twisting in agony. “Listener! No!”
Timothy poised the dagger in front of Listener’s throat but kept the blade away from her skin. “Angel, I’m sorry to put you through this, but”
“How could you!” she wailed, her eyes wild with terror. “How could you condemn an innocent little lamb? She loves you! Candle loves you! And I …” She buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly, her head bobbing in time with her sobs.
Abraham knelt at her side and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Hush, my sweet child. I will put a stop to this.”
Timothy shuffled back a step. “You don’t understand. I have to do this. I had to bring Listener here and wait for you to witness the sacrifice. There is no other way.”
“Son.” Abraham stood and walked toward him, taking slow, careful steps, his hand extended. “Son, come back to the village. We will sort everything out. God would never ask”
“A lamb to be sacrificed?” Timothy shook his head hard. “No, Father. You’re wrong. God set this standard over two thousand years ago.” Now crying, he held Listener in front of him, one hand on her shoulder and the other still propping the dagger as they edged closer to the cave entrance. “If his children go astray, a father has to give everything he has to bring them back.”
Abraham shook his fist and shouted, ??
?But Listener doesn’t belong to you! She is not yours to give!”
“I know!” Timothy sidestepped into the tunnel’s light. Its radiance washed over him, filtering through his skin and piercing his heart. Love flowed through his mind and seemed to spill out through every pore. He bent over and wrapped Listener in his arms from behind. “She didn’t belong to me,” he replied softly, as he backed with her under the cave’s yawning arch, “but she has given herself to me freely.”
Angel reached out her clenched hands, shuffling forward on her knees. “Don’t take my little girl! Please don’t take my little girl!”
“I haven’t taken Listener from you,” Timothy said, slowly pulling his arms away from her. “I brought her here so her willingness to die would be proven in front of witnesses. I want her sacrificial love to be remembered among your people forever.” Letting the dagger slip from his fingers, he grabbed one of Listener’s companions in one hand and his own in the other. With one last look at Abraham, he said, “Farewell, Father. I hope you understand why I have to do this.” He pushed Listener toward Angel, then ran into the tunnel, his eyes wide open. Frantic shouts of “Timothy! No!” faded away behind him. As the barrier came into view, the light turned to heat, then to fire. The beautiful white-haired girl stood behind the crystal wall, half smiling, half weeping. Extending an arm toward the scene behind her, she stepped out of the way.
As searing heat streamed all around, and as the companions scorched his palms, a view of a river and a power plant appeared behind the barrier. It seemed as though he were flying above it, floating perhaps a hundred feet in the air. On an exposed concrete floor, Ashley and Roxil stood together, both gazing at him.
Timothy gasped. They saw him! He was sure of it!
The fire burned away his skin, the pain so awful he could only spread out his arms, his hands opening as he fell to his knees, but he managed a weak smile as the vision of his lovely daughters faded away.
An explosion boomed from the sky. Flames gushed from the oval in front of Acacia and hurtled through the tunnel of light, cascading toward Earth like a fiery avalanche.
Thigocia and Roxil spread their wings. The humans ducked underneath and peeked out. A torrent of fire poured through the tunnel in a violent storm, incinerating the electrified walls of Mardon’s tower. The flames splashed against the top of the generator. Hundreds of fiery streams arced into the air, some landing on the dragons, but they easily shook them off.
After a few seconds, the fire fall ceased. A number of spotty flames remained, burning piles of debris as well as the Naphil on top of the generator. Still visible up above, Acacia held the shining oval. It expanded, stretching out in every direction until it filled half the sky with flames.
Ashley pushed Roxil’s wing out of the way. “I see a man’s face in that fire!”
“I see a red dragon,” Roxil said, “and he’s coming closer.”
“A dragon? He has skin and hair.” Ashley took Roxil’s clawed hand and held it against her chest. “I’ve seen him before … like in a dream. Do you recognize him?”
Roxil spewed out a weak stream of sparks. “Father! It is Makaidos! My father!”
“It is! It is our father!” Ashley’s knees buckled. “Daddy!”
As Walter and Gabriel scrambled out from under her wings, Thigocia gazed at the sky. “Do you see my husband up there? I don’t see anything.”
“He’s there, Mother!” Ashley cried. “He’s there!”
The man in the sky smiled and spread out his arms. In each palm, a wound blistered open. Blood poured out, fading from red to white to clear. It rained down on Ashley and Roxil as diamond-like crystals that scattered on the floor around them.
Ashley fell to her knees and lifted her own bleeding hands in the air. “Daddy!” she cried as she tried to catch the precious crystals. “I love you! Come back to me!”
Roxil roared a low lament, moans too deep for words. Hot dragon tears dripped to the ground.
Flames consumed their father’s body, charring his flesh to a black silhouette until only a joyful smile remained … and bones, a skeleton that flashed against the dark body until it finally crumbled as the vision in the sky evaporated and disappeared.
Ashley buried her face in her hands. “Daddy! Oh, dear God, my Daddy!” She sobbed uncontrollably, heaving so hard her ribs ached.
“What happened?” Thigocia called. “What happened?”
Roxil let out another wail before answering. “He burned, Mother! My father burned! He is gone!”
Thigocia trumpeted a soulful note and collapsed to the floor. “Makaidos! My Makaidos! What have you done?”
With a loud boom, the world above reeled back as if slung away by a rubber band. The hole between the two realms closed with a resounding clap, leaving a clear blue sky.
As Ashley continued weeping, warm hands pressed on her shoulders. “Ashley?” Sapphira’s fiery touch and satin voice caressed her aching heart. “Ashley, I have to show you something.”
Lowering her hands, Ashley turned her head. Sapphira knelt at her side, her snow white hair and blue eyes shining. The aged oracle scooped up a handful of tiny diamonds. As her limbs transformed into flaming tongs, she molded the crystals like clay. Opening her fingers, now flesh once again, she displayed a crystalline egg. It rocked back and forth in her palm, glowing with a brilliant white light.
“A gift from your father,” Sapphira whispered. “During your vision, Enoch spoke to me from Heaven. He said your father gave his life so that you might believe in the ultimate sacrifice.”
Her hands trembling, Ashley took the egg and caressed it with the tips of her fingers. As its warmth penetrated her skin, she clasped her hands around it and clutched it against her chest. Kissing her fingers, she wept again, quietly this time as the Oracle of Fire backed away.
Sapphira glided to Roxil and did the same with the diamonds that surrounded her, molding another egg that shone like a full moon. As she presented it to the weeping dragon, she said, “Release your bitterness and hostility toward the image of God and take hold of the ultimate gift that your father treasured and now bestows to you.”
Roxil extended her foreleg. “Do you mean I will …”
Nodding, Sapphira raised the egg to her fingertips. “If that is what you have embraced in your heart.”
As Roxil’s red eyes flashed, new tears fell in trails of steam. She enclosed the crystal in her claws. Its glow leaked through her grip and covered her scales, bathing them in an ivory wash. The scales flattened and smoothed over. The tawny coloring eased into Caucasian flesh tones. Crawling up her foreleg, the transforming glow created an arm, elbow, and shoulder, silky and creamy white.
Walter yanked off his borrowed coat and tossed it on the floor near Roxil. “I think you might need this,” he said, turning his back. Gabriel, too, faced the other way and stood next to Walter.
Thigocia raised her head and struggled to her haunches, her red eyes flashing. “I cannot believe what I am seeing!”
As the glow covered Roxil’s body, her frame shrank to human size. Scales vanished and spines morphed into auburn hair. Soon, an adult woman stood barefoot in front of Sapphira, her eyes wide as she ran a hand up and down her new body, the other still clutching the crystal. “I’m … I’m human again!”
Sapphira grabbed the coat and helped Roxil put it on. “Yes, you’re human, but you look very little like the Jasmine I once knew.”
After pushing her fist through the sleeve, she opened her hand. The egg, though remaining a beautiful crystalline gem, no longer glowed. “I am not Jasmine,” she said softly. “I want to be called …” Her eyes rolled upward for a moment, then returned to Sapphira. “I want to be called Abigail.”
Tears filled Sapphira’s eyes. “Abigail means, ‘My father is joy.’”
Ashley rose to her feet, still clasping her egg. She joined Sapphira and Abigail and spread out her hands. Her egg, too, had lost its glow.
S
apphira wrapped her fingers around Ashley’s wrist. “Your wounds are gone! And so are the stains!”
Shaking too hard to speak, she nodded. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the dime, the only remaining coin of the original three. As soon as she opened her hand and exposed it to the breeze, it crumbled to dust and blew away.
Intertwining her fingers with Abigail’s, Ashley pressed close and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad to have an older sister,” she whispered. “I need someone to keep me in line sometimes.”
Abigail smiled. “I will try to live up to your newfound confidence in me. I certainly deserved none before today.”
Thigocia lumbered to Abigail’s side. She spread a wing around each of her human daughters. “This is too much to take in. I have no idea what to say.”
“Hey!” Gabriel called. “Can we turn around now?”
Ashley laughed. “Our brother wants to join in.”
Zipping her bulky coat and pulling the bottom hem down near her knees, Abigail sang out, “You gentlemen may behold the new and improved dragon in your midst.”
When Walter and Gabriel turned, Abigail posed, dramatically spreading her arms. Gabriel laughed, but Walter just nodded grimly and slid his foot on the damp concrete. “That’s really cool. I guess with every disaster, we need something to give us hope.” He shuffled over to Karen and knelt beside her. “We’d better get out of here. No telling if Mardon will come back with his overgrown apes.”
Sapphira heaved a sigh. “You’re right. We’d better figure out who can ride with whom.”
Walter clutched Karen’s limp hand. “Thigocia’s in no shape to fly, so we’ll have to hoof it. Maybe we can find a cart and try to get Karen to a morgue or a funeral home.”
Sapphira continued her massage on Thigocia’s wing. “Abigail and I are the only uninjured ones here, so we won’t have a problem, but some of us are too weak to go very far.”