Vankara (Book 1) (25 page)

“I was happy where
I was,” I shrugged.  “I didn’t see the need to confuse matters.”

“So Chromis gave you
your first kiss,” Fallon shook his head like such a fact was shameful.  “Well,
how did you like it?”

“That is not an
appropriate question to ask a lady, Marshall Fallon.”

I held my head
high, refusing to denigrate myself any further.   

“That bad, uh?” He
asked knowingly.  “Well I can’t say I’m surprised.  Never figured Chromis was
as good a lover as he thinks he is.”

For some
unexplainable reason, I felt the need to defend Aleksander’s honor.  Perhaps I
was simply feeling the desire to protect a special first in my life.

“He was quite a
good kisser, if you really must know,” I confessed.

“So you
did
enjoy it,” Fallon grinned.

At least the
conversation was helping him forget about the pain he was in, which was the
whole purpose.

“Yes, I did,” I
admitted, to him and myself.  “Are you satisfied now?”

Fallon raised an
eyebrow at me.  “Not really.  I mean it was your first kiss.  You have nothing
to compare it to.  How can you know for a fact it was any good?”

“A woman knows
these things,” I could feel myself tipping off the precipice of revealing too
much information.  “He seemed very talented in the way he used his mouth... and
tongue.”

Fallon chuckled. 
“Darlin’ until you’ve been kissed by at least two men, you’ll never really know
how good or bad that first kiss was.  Trust me.”

“Can we just drop
this subject?” I asked.  “It really isn’t any of your business.  Besides
Aleksander thought he was kissing the Queen, not some spinsterish farm girl. 
Even my first kiss wasn’t really
my
first kiss.  It was meant for
someone else.”

“You shouldn’t
sell yourself short like that, Sarah.  You have a lot to offer someone.  You
just haven’t found the right person yet.”

“But don’t you
see?  I’ll never find someone who really knows me.  I might end up being Queen
Emma Vankar for the rest of my life: beautiful, powerful, everything a man
could dream of, but it will never truly be me he knows.  No one will ever know
who I really am.”

“I know who you
are,” he replied in a consoling voice.  “If I can see past the way you look, others
will too.  You are not Emma.  And that isn’t a bad thing, Sarah.  You’re
parents did a good job raising you.  You know who you are.  Not a lot of people
can say that about themselves.”

I didn’t reply
because I wanted to stop talking about such intimate matters with Fallon.  I
had to admit we had bonded further than I ever thought possible.  He seemed to
truly think of me as Sarah Harker, not Emma Vankar.

Chapter 16

The sun was just
reaching its zenith in the pale blue sky overhead when we caught our first
glimpse of the fabled fae capital city
.
  To me, it wasn’t exactly what I
would have termed as a city.  There were no tall buildings made of stone or
factories and shops dotting paved streets of cobblestone or brick.  The city
simply looked like a continuation of the forest we had been traveling through
all day.  A multitude of giant redwood trees in the area seemed to be hallowed
out and made into dwellings for the fae.  White smoke rose from short stone
chimney’s built into the side of the trees indicating warm hearths within. 
Round doors of hammered gold marked the front entrances.  There were no windows
or other markings that would distinguish the trees from the rest of the forest.

As Fallon and I
cautiously walked our horses into the city, I felt somewhat disconcerted by the
fact there were no fae to be seen anywhere.  It was as if every fae within
shouting distance was hiding inside their homes. As we passed by one of the
redwoods, I saw a young girl, no older than four, standing just inside one of
the fae dwellings, peaking out through a small crack of an open door.  A woman
within the home yelled, startling the little girl just as the door was slammed
firmly shut effectively cutting off the child’s curiosity.

Had the fae been
forewarned of our coming and told to stay within their homes?  Their behavior
seemed unnatural and made a knot of uneasiness form in the pit of my stomach. 
If they intended to shun our existence even as we walked among their homes,
perhaps I had made a terrible miscalculation in seeking their help.

Suddenly, a
darkness blocked out the sun, causing us to look up to seek out the reason for
its sudden disappearance.  A dragon, two times larger than the one Fallon had
slain, sliced through the sky, its wings cracking the air like a whip.  For a
moment, I wondered if the dragon was the true reason all of the fae were hiding
inside their homes.  If it was, were they really as cold hearted as every vankaran
child was warned and just going to leave us to its mercy?

Fallon must have had
the same thoughts as I, unsheathing his sword and struggling to hold it up by
his side, prepared to fight even though we both knew he wasn’t in any condition
to be victorious a second time.

We watched as the
dragon inclined his body downward as if its intentions were to land right on
top of us.  Just as it was about to reach us, the dragon shifted its descent
upward causing a billow of wind in its wake and landed a few feet down the dirt
path from where we stood.  Now that we could see it properly, I couldn’t help
but be awed by its fierce beauty.  Its scales were a deep emerald green.  As it
lowered its body to the ground, I could have sworn I saw a shimmer of gold
glint across its scales.  Its pale yellow eyes watched us with an intelligence
I had not expected to see.  It was only then I remembered Lanai’s words about
the fae having domesticated some of the dragons in the area.

It wasn’t until
the beast laid its chin down against the ground that the dragon rider came into
view.  The rider sat in what looked like an ornate saddle made of polished wood
and inlaid gold.  It was strapped around the dragon’s neck and midsection by a
thick black leather belt decorated with gold studs.  The man swung his right
leg over the pommel of the saddle and leapt to the ground in one swift motion,
bending his knees gracefully as his feet impacted the ground.  He turned his
face towards us before rising to his full height, as though he were sizing us
up before leaving his relatively safe position.

Fallon turned his
head towards me with an unvoiced question in his eyes: friend or foe?

“I think if he
meant to harm us he would have just landed his dragon on top of us,” I said in
answer.

Fallon sheathed
his sword but kept a wary eye on the dragon rider.

The man started to
walk towards us.

He was dressed in
what looked like a suit made from the hide of a dragon.  Its color matched the
deep emerald green of the dragon he rode.  The jacket was high collared and
slim fitting to the waist, from there it flared out almost like a short skirt
to his knees.  Gold buttons centered with round sparkling emeralds emblazoned on
the front of the jacket from his neck to his waist.  His pants were of the same
material and slim fitting, disappearing into a pair of black leather boots. 
His long, one length dark brown hair was combed back from his face and fastened
into a ponytail which hung loosely down his back to his waist and swung from side
to side as he walked.  As he got closer to us, I noticed his eyes were a bright
purple-grey.  They were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen in my life.

He stood before us
looking from Fallon to me and back again.  We waited patiently to see if he
would greet us as friend or foe.

“I send you
greetings from Queen Nuala,” he finally said in a deep baritone voice.  “My
name is Kian.  I have been asked to escort you both to the palace.”

I took a step
towards Kian.  “I am Queen Emma Vankar and we heartily accept your gracious
offer of assistance.”

Kian bowed at the
waist to me.  “It is my pleasure, your majesty.”

He stood back up
and turned towards his dragon.

“Up!” He commanded
in a voice which expected nothing less than complete obedience.

Without
hesitation, the dragon rose to its feet and leapt into the air as if the action
of lifting its great weight were effortless.  It soared up past the top of the
trees and banked off to the right, disappearing from our sight.

“Please, follow
me.”  Kian said to us, walking down the winding path deeper through the fae
town.

Curiosity got the
best of me as the silence of the inhabitants of the town began to grate on my
nerves.

“Kian,” I said to
gain the others attention.

Kian was walking
in front of us and turned his head to peer at me over his shoulder.

“Are we the reason
all of your people are hiding in their homes?   Are they afraid of us?”

“Not exactly,” he
said coming to a stop to turn towards me while we conversed.  “Queen Nuala
asked everyone to stay inside until we knew what your intentions were for
coming here.  I hope you don’t take offense but considering the history between
our two peoples, it was a natural precaution.”

“No, I
understand.  But, how did you know we were coming?”

“We received word
from one of our aerial scouts you were on your way.”

“Do you have a lot
of those dragons?” Fallon asked.  Even I knew Fallon wasn’t just making polite
small talk with his question.  The military man inside him wanted to better
understand what we were up against.

“We have a few,”
Kian replied before turning back around and continuing down the path. 

Fallon scowled
slightly at the evasiveness of the answer.  I had to press my lips together to
prevent a grin.  I felt sure if the tables were turned Fallon would have given
the same sort of answer, elusive enough to not give anything away and polite
enough not to ruffle many feathers. 

As we continued
down the dirt path, I wondered what sort of ruler Queen Nuala was.  Even though
I hadn’t known Lanai for very long, I felt sure her warnings concerning Queen
Nuala’s trustworthiness were well founded.  It was evident the fae Queen had a
great deal of control over her people considering we had only seen one curious
child and Kian since we entered their town.  That type of control could only be
caused by lacing well founded fear inside the hearts of people.  If the fae
were that afraid of being reprimanded by their Queen, then she was indeed
someone I would have to be careful dealing with.

As humans, we
often picture things in reference to how they are in our own lives and
surroundings.  So when Kian said he was taking us to the Queen’s palace, the
picture in my mind had instantly conjured up a building made of stone even
though I had already seen how the fae lived.

When we rounded a
bend on the road we were on, Kian announced, “Welcome to the Queen’s home.”

Although not what
I expected, the Queen’s palace was still breathtakingly beautiful and befitting
someone of her station.

It was composed of
what looked like ten giant redwoods which had grown so close together the base
of their trunks had fused into one giant fortress of wood.  A multitude of tree
limbs burst from the top of the trunk like water from a geyser.  The tree had a
surreal feeling surrounding it, like it wasn’t a natural part of the forest but
made to mimic its surroundings in order to fit in.  It glowed with an inner
beauty, not tangible with the naked eye yet awe inspiring to the soul.

There was no
visible door which led into the palace of the fae Queen.  Kian walked up to one
of the massive roots sprouting from the ground and gently pressed an open palm
against its rough bark.  As if alive, the root rose up from the earth and made
an archway revealing a black marble pathway underneath leading towards the
central trunk of the tree.  Walking down the path towards the great chamber,
the smell of the forest seemed stronger somehow.  The earthy aromas of fresh
earth, wood and water mingled together and triggered my mind to flash back to
the thick wooded forest surrounding my home in Peony. 

Ever since
accepting my role as Queen Emma Vankar, I had worried myself sick over not knowing
how to be a Queen.  I hadn’t been raised in a privileged household where my
every whim was immediately satisfied.  My mother and father taught me to
cherish what little I had to my name and how to make it on my own.  They taught
me right from wrong and how to work my way through the grey shadows between the
two.

Just as Kian led
us into the great chamber of the fae Queen’s palace, I finally realized being a
Queen wasn’t just about how much you had in material wealth.  It was about how
much faith you had in yourself and the decisions you had to make everyday for
the people who counted on you to do what was right for them.  Unknowingly, Liam
and Imogen Harker
had
raised a Queen who would hold the well being of
the people of Vankara above her own needs and desires.  I may not have been
born into the ancient lineage of Vankar blood but I
was
the Queen of
Vankara and knew without the fear of doubt that I would hold true to the values
of my parents no matter what adversity I might face as I tried to lead Vankara
into a brighter age of reason and prosperity.

I felt the peace
of fully knowing what the purpose of my life was as we entered the great
chamber of the fae Queen. 

My eyes were
immediately drawn to the Queen.  She sat serenely on a throne made of polished
redwood limbs entangled in a web of finely spun gold.  Her hair was long and
the color of fresh cinnamon.  Her commanding eyes were as green and alive as
the forest she lived in.  Her skin was fair with a sprinkling of sun kissed
freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheekbones.  She wore a white gown
made of cotton tightly fitting across her ample bosom and narrow down her slim
waist, flaring out across her legs to the floor.