We walked a bit farther before she broke the silence again. “You still haven’t asked me about my hair ornaments. I’m sure you’ve noticed them.”
They glowed with a powerful enchantment, and this was the second time she had worn them. “I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”
“You could at least act curious,” she lamented, and then she gripped the metal cap at the end of each braid. Tugging them, they pulled free, drawing the metal cord with them. The metal straightened as it left her hair, and the end caps became handles for two strange rod-like weapons, each slightly longer than two feet in length.
“Those look rather dangerous,” I said, noting the shimmering magic that enshrouded each of the metal weapons.
“They are,” she agreed as she demonstrated by swinging idly at a lamp post we were passing. Only the tip grazed it, but it cut a shallow gash through the wood with almost effortless ease. “Elaine thought them up so I’d have something inconspicuous to take to your trial, but I have to admit they have one major drawback.”
“What’s that?”
She pointed at her hair, loose and wavy where the braids had come apart. “There’s no sheath, and re-braiding my hair takes a while.”
I laughed and leaned over to give her a kiss. The world seemed a much brighter place now that we were alone, and I looked forward to seeing our children once we got back to Cameron.
Epilogue
The years passed quietly, rolling from the future, through the present, and into the past smoothly, without the turbulence that had characterized my life since first learning of my magical ability. I didn’t miss it at all. Adventure, at least as I had come to know it, was just a nice way of saying that people were going to die.
Matthew and Moira were thirteen years old now, Conall was nine and Irene seven. Conall and Irene had yet to show any sign of magical ability, but that was to be expected. I wasn’t even sure if I could handle it when they did. The twins were already quite a handful, and if they weren’t fairly level headed, I don’t know how I would have kept them from killing themselves.
Moira was still as sweet as ever, but her moods had begun to swing in sometimes unpredictable patterns. With me it wasn’t too bad, but she and Penny seemed to alternate between best friends and antagonistic allies. I say ‘antagonistic allies’ because I had learned, even if they were fighting, the last thing I (or Matthew) wanted to do, was get involved. They’d turn on either of us like wild tigers if we stepped into their mysterious quarrels.
That being said, my daughter was still fairly easy going, especially compared to other girls her age. It might have been my own optimism, but I saw no sign of her becoming anywhere near as volatile as Elaine had been when she developed into a woman. Her skills as a wizard were developing rapidly. It helped a great deal that she had a father, plus a number of other wizards around to help her learn. Watching her grow, I could only imagine how much easier it would have been for me if I had had the same guidance.
Her skill at enchanting was adequate, but she didn’t show too much interest in that area, at least not yet, though her special skills as a descendent of the Centyr line were quite evident. She no longer kept a bevy of intelligent stuffed animals, but she still had two or three that served her as close friends and advisors. They were the complex kind and required some maintenance every few weeks. She could also quickly and spontaneously create lesser ones from nothing but magic alone, with what seemed to be minimal effort. I constantly had to be on my guard, for her tiny allies often followed me about, spying upon my every move. It was a game that my daughter enjoyed, although it sometimes became annoying.
Matthew was as different from her as night from day. His personality was quiet, reflective, and more introverted. His magical strength was stronger than his sister’s, and as he matured I began to wonder if he would grow even stronger than me. He possessed a keen interest in enchanting. That was something we had in common, although his mind often went in directions I had never considered. Every day seemed to bring surprises as he began to develop his own ideas. I knew a father’s pride watching him and I hoped his inventions would someday change the world.
He and his sister had become somewhat competitive with the advent of their teenage years, especially since she seemed to be developing into an archmage. Her senses were as keen as my own, and she had already begun to hear the voice of the earth.
They remained the best of friends, but neither of them would admit to it in front of their mother or me. I could only hope that their sibling rivalry would subside as they got older, but being an only child myself, I couldn’t really understand it.
The Order of the Stone continued, but it was much smaller now. Cyhan had remained in my service, but Harold had accepted the Queen’s offer, and now led the new Order of the Thorn. He was still on the rolls of the Order of the Stone, but his full loyalty now lay with the crown. Sir Egan, Sir William, and Sir Thomas joined him, which left Cyhan as the only member to refuse the Queen’s invitation.
Cyhan was starting to show his age now, but it didn’t seem to bother him much. He took over as the grandmaster of the Order of Stone and continued to train my soldiers and new knights. Whenever I asked him why he had stayed with an ‘out of favor’ nobleman rather than take service with the Queen, he would just give me a flat stare.
The only response he ever gave me was, “At least now I have a lord who matches my temperament.”
I left it alone after that. He was right after all. I still didn’t know the secrets of his past, but I guessed that we must have similar scars inside.
None of the knights had the earth-bond these days. Each of them had to give it up eventually, or risk suffering a fate like Dorian’s. I politely refused all suggestions that I should create more of them. The world was at peace now, and I had better alternatives.
Ariadne’s bond with her dragon, Carwyn, provided her with much the same effect as the earth-bond, but without the troubling side-effects. Her senses were improved, her body was stronger and faster. Most importantly, she had a dragon companion. The new dragons I had created each possessed nearly a full Celior of aythar. Because of the nature of the enchantment that created them, they had abilities similar to the old ‘Shining Gods’, but unlike them, they had living, flesh and blood bodies.
After hatching, one of the new dragons would grow rapidly until it reached full size, generally over the course of a couple of years. The enchantment that I designed to anchor their artificial minds was much the same as the old god-enchantment, but it had a lot of additional modifications and contingencies. Each of them would ‘bond’ with an individual, assuming the right conditions were met. They would live as long as their partner, but would undergo a regressive transformation once that person died. It was meant to be an approximation of death; the body would die and the mind would contract into a new ‘egg’, returning them to stasis.
At the same time, the dragon’s memory would be wiped clean, leaving only the basic information I had initially implanted them with. When they finally found a new ‘master’ they would have no memory of their former life. It was the best answer I could come up with for the suffering that seemed to necessarily result from an immortal existence.
Some of the dragons I created to bond with normal humans. In each of those cases, I keyed them to their first partner using a drop of blood. From that point on, the only new partners they would accept would be descendants of their first bond-mate. Those that I made to bond with wizards were different, though.
As I had learned from my own experiences, a tightly woven bond, such as that with an Anath’Meridum or even an earth-bond, would interfere with a wizard’s abilities. To avoid that problem, the bond forged with a wizard was only a pseudo-bond, allowing the wizard to draw upon their aythar when necessary. It didn’t provide the physical enhancements that a full bond would, but it left them with the full use of their natural abilities.
So far I had only given out a few dragon eggs. One to Penny, to replace
her earth-bond, one each for Matthew and Moira, one for myself, and one for Gareth Gaelyn. Aside from those, only the Queen had one. The others I kept hidden, against any future need. I had offered one to Cyhan, but he refused.
I planned to give one to each of my two younger children when they were older and perhaps one to Gram someday, though I was uncertain how Rose would react to that. She had continued to steadfastly stick to her resolution that her son would never become a warrior, even though it was readily apparent that the boy desperately wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.
A simple bit of math would reveal that, while nearly twenty-two Celiors of the aythar we had taken from Mal’goroth had gone into the creation of my twenty-three dragons, another twenty five Celiors remained. I used some of that to provide a new stone to power the World Road, and I gave some to Gareth Gaelyn, to create a new shield around Albamarl, similar to the one I had around Castle Cameron.
The rest I hid, separating it into a variety of storage vessels. I split it up to reduce the risk of a major disaster, such as what had happened when Balinthor had been destroyed long ago, but I told no one where or how it was hidden. I had plans to share the information if it were ever necessary, and even if I died suddenly, I knew that Matthew would retain the knowledge by virtue of the loshti, which resided latently inside him, too.
Other than raising my children and my work and projects, life was simple and quite predictable. Until the Kriteck returned and deposited a new burden on me. Lyralliantha had finally grown large enough to bear her first fruit. According to the memories I received from the loshti they usually arrived fully grown, by human standards, but she and Tennick had chosen to create their first child in a slightly more juvenile form.
The girl they brought into Castle Cameron was roughly the same apparent age and size as my twins. She looked almost human, aside from the gently tapering points on her ears, which were mostly hidden by the shimmering silver hair that flowed down and past her shoulders. Like all the Illeniel She’Har, she had icy-blue eyes, and in them I could see far more maturity than a young girl should possess. She’Har children were born with much of the information that humans spent their youth acquiring, things such as language and basic social graces. What they generally lacked was knowledge of the past and experience of the present.
As their first child, Lynarralla would likely be chosen to receive the loshti, becoming the first new lore-warden of the reborn She’Har, but that would be many years in the future. For now, she was expected to learn about the new world that her people would share with humankind.
Tennick and Lyralliantha, having no older ‘children’ to assist, had chosen me to serve as their firstborn’s parent and teacher.
Oh joy.
***
We were sitting at the dinner table a few days after Lynarralla’s arrival, when the strange girl brought up the subject of Tennick’s origin.
“I was given to know that you are my father’s great-grandson, many times removed,” she began. “Does this mean we are related, even though we are of different species?”
I had been swallowing a large mouthful of roast beef, and I almost choked. I have no idea in hell how to answer that one, I thought to myself. “I’m not entirely sure,” I admitted. “In the physical sense, I think no, but because of our shared origins, and your presence here now, I think it would be safe to call you family.”
“How does my location relate to the question?” she asked.
Penny gave me an amused look but didn’t attempt to help, so I continued slowly, “I meant that since your parents chose to send you to us to care for, you are family. Family is about more than blood. Family is more about people caring and supporting one another.”
“She’Har do not have ‘parents’,” said Lynarralla solemnly. “That is why I am here.”
It took me a moment to figure out how to continue. “Exactly, so we’re sort of like foster parents. Caring for you will bring us all closer together. I believe that’s why Tennick sent you here, so that you could learn to understand humans, and perhaps vice-versa.”
“I am not sure about your reasoning. I don’t think I have any emotional attachment to your family, but I do not have enough experience to judge these things yet,” she answered.
She’s honest to a fault, I noted, but I had no idea how to respond. Fortunately she didn’t wait for me to continue the conversation.
“You bear the loshti. Can you tell me how Tennick became one of the She’Har?”
Everyone at the table stared at me with new interest. I rarely spoke of memories that the loshti gave me. Penny kept her eyes on her food, but I could tell she was listening intently. Matthew and Moira leaned forward with undisguised curiosity, while Conall watched them, unsure what the sudden change of mood meant. Irene continued to rearrange her food in the hope that we would think she had eaten more than she had.
“That’s a long story,” I said, considering how to answer her question. “To answer it fully, I will need to tell you about his early days, when he was still human.”
“I am patient,” said Lynarralla.
“Very well,” I replied, pushing myself back from the table a bit to make room for my full stomach. “I’ll start by telling you about Tyrion…”
Coming Soon:
The Mountains Rise
An exciting new series detailing the events of the first Illeniel, the creation of the Elentir Mountains, and the fall of the She’Har.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Epilogue
Michael G. Manning, Mageborn 05 The Final Redemption
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