Heir To The Nova (Book 3) (36 page)

“She has accelerated the aging of your star. Rapidly, I might add,” my father gritted. “As she said, we have about eight minutes until it expands and turns into a red giant, engulfing this entire system in flames. Nothing will survive!”

“Ranther, we need to do something!” Mother shouted, tossing her hammer aside.

“I know, I know!” my father returned, sounding at least a little worried.”Well, there’s always…”

Both of them disappeared again. What the hell were they thinking? Could they actually stop this? Suddenly, the sky clouded over and the sun was obscured by clouds, thick boiling clouds so dense that I saw an eagle bounce off one. Not a star shown through to light the way.

I started running back up the hill to the infirmary. If I had only six or so minutes to live, I wanted to spend it with Maya. But before I even reached the secondary wall, the gloom started to lift. I stopped and looked curiously up at the sky as the dark clouds broke apart and warm clean sunlight fell upon my face shield. I watched the sun with my mage sight for a few seconds, and it didn’t seem to be getting any bigger. The only weird thing was…it had been just past dawn when I started running up to the keep, now the sun was firmly at high noon? I ripped my helmet off and verified the sight with my own two eyes. What the hell just happened?

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Maya

When I woke up, my side was killing me; thankfully, only in pain and not actual death. I was still weak as a pixie in a pastry shop, but just the realization that I was alive was a welcome surprise. Intuitively, I also knew that Alex was alive, and that helped even more.

Winya was on my wrist once again and was being her normal chatty self. Something big was definitely going on outside, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to move and check it out. I drifted back into a dozing fitful sleep.

I’m not sure how long I slept, but when I next woke up, a freshly-bathed Alex was standing over me dressed in his wizard robes. He leaned over and mouthed the words ‘I love you’. He then gently kissed my chapped lips, making sure he didn’t put any weight on me.

“Hey, no fair, Magic Boy! You got a bath and smell good, and I stink like rotten meat,” I whispered, shuddering and trying not to take too deep a breath.

He disappeared for a second, then came back dragging another cot next to mine. He groaned loudly as he settled down on it, lying on his side facing me. He grinned as he stroked my hair and ran his fingers gently over my lips. I smiled at him, enjoying the attention but still worried about what was happening.

“I’m hearing a lot of commotion out there; what’s going on?”

“Not too much. Undead army decimated, demons gone, Lifebane dead, and the Kerr has been dealt with.”

“Ah, well, that’s all good then,” I said, relaxing back down on my cot.

He chuckled nervously. “So tell me, do your people use the stars and constellations to navigate through the wilderness?”

I furrowed my brow; what an odd question. Ok, I’ll play this game. “Sometimes…why?”

“Oh, nothing much; you’ll just have to learn new ones.”

“New what?”

“New stars and constellations.”

“Why?”

“Well, my parents moved the planet to a different galaxy.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” I muttered, sleep starting to overtake me again. “Wait! What do you mean, they moved the planet?”

Alex

“Ow, Rosa, that’s too tight!” I grimaced as she finished buttoning the top of my dress shirt. I glanced around the second floor room in the newly repaired gatehouse where I had been sequestered, looking for a sympathetic face, but all I found was a pixie fluttering around with a sadistic grin. It was three weeks to the day since the Lifebane was vanquished, and today was the day of my ultimate payoff; I was marrying Maya Talmin in a little while.

“Stop being such a baby,” Rosa sniffled. “Oh, never mind; be as childish as you want. You and Maya are my babies in my mind, and nothing will ever change that!” she wailed, running off to the next room, an entire wad of handkerchiefs balled up in her hand.

“Oh, brother,” Nia sighed, shaking her head.

“Ok, what am I doing here in the gatehouse again?”

Nia pulled out a small scroll and perused it. “It’s a tradition called the ‘Blue Laddies Lament’. Essentially, in the last hour before the wedding, it’s a last ditch chance for the groom’s friends to stop by and try to talk him out of getting married and leaving their boyish clique. The groom is to station himself as close to the domicile’s exit as possible. This is to show the world that he could leave if he wanted to, but chooses to stay for his true love. In turn, his friends try to lure him away with bawdy tales of loose women and strong liquor, and sometimes even resorting to carting him away physically.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” I growled.

“I would hope not, considering Maya would definitely kill you; and almost all of your friends are women anyway, including your Best Man. Anyway, not to worry; it says here that the original tradition has fallen out of favor; go figure. And it is now a time when well-wishers of both sexes can stop by and wish the groom good fortune; punch and cookies recommended.”

“Ok, I think I can handle that.”

Nia perused more of the tiny scroll. “Just the last minute Best Man stuff left… Ok, champ, no need to be nervous. All you need to do is go out there and smooch your beloved dark elf in front of absolutely everyone you know. Make all those promises about loving her forever; in sickness, health, richer, poorer, lack of marmots, and the whole nine yards. And then be pronounced King of this entire land, when you will assume ultimate responsibility for hundreds, if not thousands, of people’s lives for a very, very long time. See there’s nothing to it!”

“You know, Nia, when you put it that way…you lost me at the smooch part. Thanks for the pep talk, though.”

“I know, I know. By the way since you’re in such a good mood today, have you given any more thought to your littlest daughter’s teeny tiny request?” She giggled merrily.

“Are we still talking about your plan to plant your Mother Tree in the keep’s formal garden?”

“Yes, Father, dearest!”

I chuckled, “And what did my darling elf, your new mother, say about that?”

Nia scowled, remembering. “Well, Mr. Alex, her exact words were, ‘Hell, no! I’m not having a thousand randy pixies descending on Sky Raven twice a year!’ But I think that’s very unfair. I even cried big pixie tears, but she wasn’t swayed. I must be losing my touch, either that or it only works on you.”

“Give it up, Nia,” Lin snorted as she and Jules floated into the room in their newest finery, matching buttercup yellow dresses. “We’ve already told you the tree wants to be planted in the Dashern Lake forest. You’re just trying to save yourself a lot of flight time between here and there.”

“But…” she protested.

Jules just shook her curly head firmly. “We’ve already picked out the perfect location, and she can’t wait to set her roots. In twenty years or so, you can start what you call pollinating; but I’m pretty sure if we looked into it, it would be more akin to…”

“Hey, hey, hey! Not so personal, Aunties!” Nia squeaked and hid her face, turning cherry red.

Helping out my best friend, I changed the subject. “I hear you two are headed out soon on another adventure.”

“Day after tomorrow,” Lin confirmed confidently. “Headed to the dwarf capital. It seems Elsa is bribing her brother with our services. We’re to try and teach their farmers to grow something besides kalo root and barley. Even adding potatoes and corn to their crop mixture would help. Elsa claims that alone will make him the most popular dwarf King in the past thousand years.”

“Hmmm, and what exactly does Elsa get out of this deal?”

“You mean other than making her big brother grovel shamelessly? She’s arranged for him to send troops and engineers to the old seaport to clean out any remaining undead and get the place operational again, all free of charge to you, my King!” She smirked with a low, one-armed formal bow, and I marveled at the tousle-headed young woman before me. Three weeks ago she was dying and had lost her right arm. Most people would still be in a haze of loss and self-pity. But not Lin, she seems to thrive at the challenge, and hasn’t let it slow her down at all. And, if anything, she and Jules are closer than ever.

“Don’t you two still have classes of some kind?”

“Nope, school’s out forever; still no druid teachers.”

“Forever might be an exaggeration,” a calm male voice spoke from out in the hall. Hons, dressed in his finest green Primus robes, strode in and smiled at the girls devilishly. “You see, with the restoration of the flow of magic to the world, Rosa figures in about ten years or so we are going to have druid candidates coming out our ears.” He grinned at me. “And guess who I’m going to hunt down to teach those rotten little shape-shifting varmints?”

“Us, teach?” Jules said incredulously.

“Yes,” Hons chuckled, and he made a big production of looking out the window to gage the time. “You’ve got exactly ten years to get all this adventuring nonsense out of your blood…starting…now!”

Both girls giggled and ran to the door, then changed their minds and ran back to grab me and pull me down to their level. Each gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek, and Jules whispered, “By the way, Somnus has been bothering us all day. Let’s just say he has a number of suggestions about improving your wedding night performance that should definitely not be repeated in polite company. But he’s being very insistent that we pass them along.”

“I really didn’t need to hear that.”

“That’s what she said,” Lin cackled, pointing at Jules, “but I thought some of them had merit!”

Julia blushed and poked Lin in the ribs, after which, she turned to me and smiled brightly. “You will be awesome today, Brother; and you better save us each a dance at the party tonight or you’re in big trouble. That pigeon still owes me a favor, you know.” With that, they fled out the door, gossiping merrily the entire way down the hall.

Hons just shook his head in utter amazement, and I agreed, but started a new line of discussion. “So…youngest Headmaster in the history of Xarparion, huh?” I grinned, shaking his hand.

Hons sighed nervously. “Yes, well, I don’t think I’m ready. But Rosa is determined to pass over the reins to someone soon, and she picked me.”

“I don’t think she could have made a better choice.”

“But not only do we have to repopulate and rebuild the school, there are a ton of much-needed reforms that must be implemented. Rosa wants the tower system and its segregation of the disciplines abolished. From now on, most core magic classes will be attended by all the students, without regard to whether they are a healer or a fire wizard; it’s just magic.” He stopped and mopped his brow absently. “And then there’s the requirement that all wizards receive hand-to-hand combat training. She’s even changing the tournament format From now on it will be team events only, and each team member has to be from a different magic.”

I nodded. “Those are all needed changes. I would also push for getting the students more real world experience as well. I think we can all agree that despite the hardships, most of the students we have at Sky Raven have learned more in the past few months than they did in years at Xarparion.”

“I agree with everything you and Rosa have said, but I still feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter. There’s going to be some heavy resistance.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be alone,” Rosa said, bustling back into the room, tears dried. “Not only will I be just on the other side of the permanent portal between the school and Sky Raven, but Mingt and some of the other teachers and former Primus’ who left the school early are going to come back for a while until you can build up a cadre of dependable teachers who will support the reforms.”

“Well, that makes me feel a little better, I suppose. I will take my leave and wish you the best, Alex. Besides, it looks like you have more people waiting to talk to you out in the hall,” Hons said, dragging a reluctant Ryliss inside as he was leaving. The young scholar was wearing a long yellow and black form-fitting dress, which showed off her height and figure, with soft leather riding boots.

“Ryliss, how is your father doing? Are all his wounds healed?”

“Oh, he’s quite well…my King.” She bowed formally, a shy hesitant smile on her face.

“Am I?” I countered, grinning at the dark elf girl.

For a moment she looked confused, but then quickly nodded in understanding. “You’re wondering where my allegiances stand. Whom do I serve? King Talmin of the dark elves or you?”

I smiled. “It is difficult to serve two masters, even if they are as close as Faeron and I are, both by friendship and, as of today, by family bonds. The real question here, Ryliss, is what do you seek? I heard you are not preparing to follow Lin and Julia to the dwarf capital, nor are you packed up to return with your father. Is it the Jag’uri that is preventing you from following your dreams?”

Her green eyes got very wide and she shook her sliver-blonde {silver-blonde} head vigorously. “No, my King, Naurakka is the true steward of my dreams; well, half of them anyway.”

I chuckled. She was having an awful time getting this out, and I wasn’t used to seeing the young scholar so tongue-tied. “There you go again with the ‘my King’ thing; and Ryliss, you still haven’t answered my question.”

She gulped air and put a shaky hand on her chest, willing herself to calm down. “I’m so sorry; I would never bother you on your special day if I had a choice. But my father insists I give him an answer, and he is returning to the capital with his guardsmen right after the ceremony.”

“I still don’t understand, an answer to what?”

Instead of replying, Ryliss adjusted her long dress and went down on one knee, bowing her head respectfully. I could see several tracks of wet tears running down her cheeks. “My King, I wish to stay here at Sky Raven, in whatever capacity you deem appropriate. If you require an oath of loyalty, I will gladly pledge it to you.”

“Ryliss, please stand,” I said, drawing her back to her feet and leading her over to one of the chairs near the drinks table. I poured two drinks and handed her one, then sat down next to her. She took a nervous sip and watched me apprehensively over the rim of the cup. “First, young lady, I will never ask for, nor accept, an oath of loyalty from you.” She was about to protest, but I held up a finger to silence her. “I’ve known you most of my life and Maya thinks of you as a sister, it is not necessary. So, of course, you may stay here for as long as you like. But you still haven’t explained why?”

Relief washed over her dusky face as she fumbled, trying to dry her tears with her fingers. “Thank you, my King! And I really mean exactly that. To finally answer your question, Lin and Jules really need their space right now; and their life paths and mine are not the same. Likewise, my people would never accept Naurakka living nearby, nor would they understand our bond. Even that aside, if I went back home, they would just stick me back into the library to do meaningless research. As much as I love my people and my father, I could never be content to do that anymore. Worse yet, if I slipped up and they found out I was a druid, well…”

“So what would you enjoy doing?”

“Well, a fortress this size should have a library of its own. I could start one for you,” she said hopefully, staring at the floor.

“But how is that an improvement over the dark elf library work?”

“I was hoping the library work would just be part time. What I would really like to do is become a field assistant.”

“A what?” Nia interjected, fluttering over to my shoulder. I also sensed Rosa across the room perk up and smile.

“A field assistant, someone you could send out to procure rare spell components, visit places of power in search of hidden passages, or just run errands outside the fortress. I could do all of that, “Ryliss gushed, finally looking happy with the direction of the conversation.

I was about to say that sounded far too dangerous for a young scholar, but Winya broke in through our link.

“Alex, don’t you dare tell any dark elf that something is too dangerous. That’s waving a red flag in front of a bull; have you learned nothing from Maya? Plus Ryliss is already older than Maya was when she left home to wander in the wilderness. And your beautiful bride didn’t have a Jag’uri puma escort either.”

When I heard the words ‘beautiful bride’, I must have gotten a silly grin on my face and locked up for a few seconds. Because when I looked up, I was stunned to see Rosa hugging Ryliss and the dark elf girl enthusiastically returning it.

Huh? What did I miss? Rosa must have read my confusion in my thoughts, because she turned to me and grinned like a Cheshire cat. “What you missed was your former Master hiring a new field assistant! It seems my former apprentice will be leaving me to go play King or some such drivel, and you can’t expect an old lady like me to keep going out into the wilderness to collect her own samples. The last time I did that, I picked up a stray dark elf, and we all know what a disaster that was. Besides with all the new enchanter magic I’ve found here at Sky Raven to analyze, I won’t have time.”