Fugitives of the Realm: Part Seven

Horrified, I picked up her slight fragile body and transformed into my dragon self, Zanith. Off I flew with her dying form held gently in my claws as I left that accursed spot. I flew as the stars came out. Just to make sure and just because I needed as much luck as I could get I wished on every single one that she’d be okay. We made it to my cave all right, but that flight was the first I have ever made with only one thought and it having nothing to do with what a wonderful night it was for flying with the prevailing winds blowing at just the right speed and the temperature staying constant. I had no time for these thoughts until I landed. I paid attention to nothing but her. Her and the rate of her weak breathing and tired pulse. I felt like I was in a nightmare, only I wouldn’t, couldn’t, wake up.
I carried her limp peaceful form to a spare room with a nice comfy bed, which has plump pillows and soft blankets. Dawn was breaking as I set her in the bed and pulled the covers over her. Dawn’s breaking and she’s dying. She’s dying and it’s my fault.
“Toh nith ji,” she sighed through barely parted lips, “Za muel mip.”
A sad girl? Forsaken? No! Not forsaken! Not sad! Please, just let her live! I swear i’ll do anything! Anything! I didn’t even ever get to ask her . . . Nevermind. That’s not really important anymore. It will be. Maybe. But right now I just want her to live. To let her not die for something I did. A mistake I accidental made.
“Grat,” she murmured as if to contradict that thought, “Grat, plae miak mol baine.” If you really want to know the translation of that again it’s, “Please. Please, just let me die.”
Desperation gripped me in my panic. I grabbed her hand and held it tight as I said, tears apparent in my voice, “Toh aru poli! Toh aru poli! Lou phair igh likk . . . !”
A look of painful hopeless disbelief crossed her face as I swore to her that I loved her, only her. Her breathing grew hoarse and strangled. Her heartbeat faltered. I felt more tears of hopelessness rain down from my eyes. My hands still grasped her pale white hand as if determined to never let her go; that by holding on tight she might not die. A smoothly gliding shadow slid through the door to stand next to me.
My angry desperate gaze sought out this intruder. This was sacrilege; to disturb me as the only girl I’d ever could love died. Died without knowing I truly did care. Then something penetrated my deadened mind. It’s Aruari. I felt my stare harden, but I don’t think she noticed so I resorted to a verbal warning.
“Don’t touch her!” I snarled. Hasn’t this witch done enough damage? Why can’t she go and gloat somewhere else?
I think she picked up the hint, or maybe my voice was so ragged, so low, that she didn’t hear me properly. “Zanith,” she said, with those hateful violet eyes shining, “You’ve returned! My love, I—”
“What did you call me?” I heard my low despondent voice say, rising an octave in order to be heard. Cold raging fury echoed through my eyes and into hers. Such a message was impossible to not understand. How dare she! I loved only my little dying Thina like that. Dying. Death was final. I felt Aruari’s shock. I’m almost sorry if I gave her the impression that I loved her, but I really don’t know what was going on that night.
Aruari’s mouth opened in surprise. “You—”
“Are a twisted evil witch!” I growled, “Leave me alone! You’ve destroyed her and I; isn’t that enough?” I turned to stroke my poor little Thina’s ashen face. Her black eyes were open, not that I had ever seen them closed, and flashing. I’m not sure if it was with anger, more tears, or just the reflection of lantern light.
“No,” Aruari’s voice rang coldly through the stone room, “I also want your love. I thought, dreamed perhaps, that I had it. Since I obviously don’t; no one will!” Yeah, right. It’s a little late for that sentiment.
A strong clawed paw swept me away from the bed and the force of the blow propelled me into a stone wall with a crash. I made no effort to resist. What would life be without Acuthina anyway? Yeah. A pretty gloomy thought. Hey! I’ve had some extremely despairing moments recently! Cut me some slack; I can’t help those sorts of thoughts right now. I indifferently laid there, waiting for the crazy angry dragon’s ‘revenge’ to be exacted, but it didn’t come. Blood seeped down one cut and bruised arm and it tickled a bit as the drops of red slowly ran down to the carpeted floor. I raised my head with narrowed eyes to see what exactly that lunatic was going to do. I beheld a shocking scene.
Acuthina, still pale from remaining an inch from death for so long, was sitting up in bed with red glints in her eyes, black as pitch. She said something harsh in Drakish, but I wasn’t focused enough to catch it. I’m sure it wasn’t a compliment though. Aruari looked a bit afraid, but mostly resentful. Acuthina then shifted into her dragon shape quickly and with burning red-black eyes she silently sprang at Aruari.
I was in my human form now so I changed too and tried to come over to help, but I wasn’t needed. At least, I don’t think so. Acuthina drove Aruari out of the cave at a dead run. She’d be killed! I had to stop her! I suppose she was going to die anyway, but . . . I caught up to Acuthina at the cave mouth.
My poor little Thina was in her human form again and Aruari was nowhere in sight. I slowly, as a human, walked up to that sweet girl that was lovely even as she lay there on the cold hard stone. Her hair glinted in the setting sun’s light. Her eyes are shut and there are no signs of life. Then I noticed a weak intake of air. She holding onto life by a thread. The scissors are coming closer and I can’t halt or slow them. Why do I have to feel so helpless? Why can’t I save her? No thanks to me; she’s alive. Barely. Not for much longer, but that is because of me. At least the nearness of the event is.
I knelt beside her. “Toh aru poli,” I murmured softly.
“Toh aru poli, Ashirn,” she said through sobs. Tears ran down her cheeks, but her eyes stayed blank and black. She said again, despairing, “Grat, plae miak mol baine . . . miak mol baine . . .”
“Nel!” I said, with tears of my own falling from both eyes as I refused to let her ‘just die’. Never! I picked up her frail body and brought her to the room we had been in with Lore. The one with the table and the fireplace. I sat in a chair and held her, feeling her life slip through my trembling fingers. She’s so light, so very breakable.
“Falnor,” she murmured wit her black eyes sparkling with tears, “Good-bye.”
“Nel!” I begged with a broken heart hanging heavily in my pained soul, “Grat! Grat, nel!”
“Air mol,” she sighed, an equally broken heart echoing through her voice and eyes, “Kiss me.”
“Toh mai,” I said, my voice so soft that not even I could hear it. One last time. To tell her one last time that I loved her more than anything and everything. To console both of our broken hearts and make up as much I could for Aruari. To ease her dying soul that I had shattered. To tell her that I was truly sorry.
As we came apart I saw her face. There was no pain and her eyes remained black, but then it changed. Her eyes became a warm brown again and the crippling pain came back to crumple up the happy face the black-eyed girl had had.
“Zanith?” she asked me, puzzled and weak.
“Yes?” I asked, full of love for her, my little Thina.
Her eyes once again closed in agony and she whispered, the pain returning full force, “What on earth . . . ?”

**

They wouldn’t stop kissing. Once wasn’t enough, was it. That image had remained there until the darkness dimmed and Zanith’s tear-streaked, but peaceful face came into my view.
What . . . ? What’s going on? Didn’t he love Aruari? Why was I in his cave? . . . Or more importantly, his arms? Okay. An explaination would be nice, but if it makes him set me down I don’t know that I want to ask for one.
I recalled that image that had been in my mind; Zanith and Aruari, pulling each other closer in a warm embrace. To kiss. My eyes squeezed tightly shut, but two tears seeped out despite my valiant efforts.
“What’s the matter?” he asked me anxiously, “Do you remember anything recent? What’s wrong?” There was an underlying desperate despair that kept edging into his tone.
“You . . . you . . . and . . .” I sobbed, “You . . . and . . . and . . .” Coherency was obviously absolutely impossible. It was out of the question that I frame an intelligible phrase right now. He might think I’m all right.
“Shh . . .” he soothed me, stroking my face, probably out of compassion, and calming me, “I’ll tell you everything. Calm down. Everything is all right now. Apparently you don’t remember much.” Whether he really meant any of that or not I felt immediately assuaged.
“I remember enough,” I murmured, my heart breaking. Again.
“Can we not go over that part again?” Zanith asked, with a flare of uncustomary anguish and a bit of anger, not directed at me, entering his tone. His hands are trembling and his voice is low and weak. He looked . . . I don’t dare say self-loathing, but he definitely looked unwell. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and a grim light in his eyes. He looked like a guy who’d been pushed to the edge of disaster and was prepared to battle anything to get away from it. There was no way this was the same Zanith I’d known before. This one was more cautious, more serious, more mature.
“Again?” I opened my eyes and the tears flowed freely. “But it’s the most important part! It helps summarize everything else and make everything a lot simpler and less complicated. You . . . you don’t love me!” At this last phrase I burst into uncontrollable tears and he held me close as he stood up to bring me into a bedroom. His new tears mingling with mine. I held him too. Desperate for these last moments I could spend with him. The desperation being motivated by that scene that kept coming up again and again.
“Yes, I do!” he said with the same despair as before, but it being less masked by concern, “I do love you! I do! I do! I swear I do! I swear I still love you!” I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but my heart yearned to make it so.
“You love Aruari!” I sobbed, but using a hand to stem the flow. The hated image kept popping up again in my mind and I needed to fill my eyes with something else.Why again? I had seen it enough, hadn’t I? Why again?
At this accusation he suddenly became cold and full of icy fury. I was relieved when I realized he wasn’t angry with me! “Don’t say that witch’s name!” he growled, his hands coming to protectively cup one of my feeble hands, “ She . . . she . . .” She made him to angry for words! This, of course, delighted me. “She almost killed you by, somehow . . .” he said with the hint of the former despair that had been hinted at in our previous conversation.
“Me?” I must’ve looked surprised because I sure felt it.
“Yeah,” he explained, “I don’t know what happened. I woke up to your scream and she . . . she . . . It was terrible.”
“I could tell you what happened,” I said through another few tears that had decided to join the river, “but I didn’t know that I screamed. I sure felt like it though.”
“I think I was given something to keep me asleep and I thought she was you, or something. She had called me down to that room using her mind,” he said with poorly disguised self-loathing that echoed in his eyes that remind me of pieces of sky, “but that’s a terrible excuse.”
I shuddered and said quietly, “Do you remember?”
“Yes,” he whispered, with fear taking the place of despair, “Don’t you?”
I shuddered again. “Don’t remind me, but that’s all I could remember. The entire time. You and her. In each other’s arms. You and her . . .” I broke off sobbing. We could probably have an ocean by now if we caught all of our tears. Salt water and all. You’d just have to donate the fish.
His eyes took on a haunted look as he said softly, “You went mad. Berserk, or something. Your eyes went all dark. Black. The last look I had of you was you with those black eyes and a blank numb expression that became so pain-filled that I felt it myself. The last I heard was a scream of complete despair. You can’t imagine how I felt . . . thinking I’d never see you again. Never explain. Never apologize. Never have another chance to let you know how I feel. Never, never, never. Just everlasting horror and guilt everywhere.”
I felt my eyes close wearily as I said, “All I felt was pure pain. I wanted to die. Anything to end the pain.”
Zanith pulled another blanket over me. This bed is so warm and soft. “You should sleep,” he insisted quietly, “You almost died.” He got up to leave.
“No!” my voice was hysterical as I pled, “No! Don’t leave me! Don’t make me sleep! All that . . .” I shuddered and he came quickly back to sit in the chair beside me again.
I noticed his arm. “Your arm! What happened?”
“I need to start at the beginning . . .” he said patiently, his eyes brimming with love.
“We’ve been over the beginning,” I said, cautiously allowing love to radiate back at him through my eyes, the tears stopping abruptly, “Skip to a part I haven’t heard yet, or seen.”
He shot me a grateful glance and told me all about his anguished search. I remembered nothing of what he told me, but truth was in his yes and I believed him. My heart ached during his despairing tale of grief and many times tears came unbidden to our eyes, of sorrow and relief. In the end he told me about Aruari and how she had tried to kill him.
I thought about this carefully. “I think I remember a part of that,” I said.
“Which part?”He asked, his eyes still narrowed and his teeth still clenched from the memory of Aruari’s attack.
“I remember two blue eyes piercing the . . . the scene. The . . . image dissolved and all I saw were those two blue eyes, so full of despair,” I told him, looking up at the same eyes that I had seen, but that no longer held that anxious despair. “They helped to soothe the pain in some ways, but somehow they made it worse in some other ways. I remember that they disappeared after a while and, as I recall, I felt just as despairing as before, but I felt too protective and angry to let it take over for a while for some odd reason. Then, for a short time . . . that . . . scene came back, and so did the pain.”
We were quiet for a minute, reflecting on the despair we had previously been consumed with, but only for a moment. We turned to brighter topics after that. We renewed our love by reminding each other that Aruari had just been another one of those obstacles that we had expected, although not specifically. I even slept for a few hours while Zanith left to go get some food and water.
When I woke up I all of my previous weariness had fallen away and I felt a raving hunger along with a raging thirst. Luckily, Zanith came in a minute later with the food and drink he had gone to go get while I slept. I ate and drank until I was satisfied. Then Zanith led me to the mouth of the cave, slowly, of course, as he didn’t believe that I felt fine.
We flew, or rather Zanith did and he made me ride on his back. He won’t even let me fly on my own! It’s nice of him to be concerned for me, but I’m not a china doll! I suppose, though, if he almost died like I did I would be the same, if not worse! It feels good—unbelievably good—to know he still loves me. The happiness still glows in my eyes.
We made it back to the mountain that evening. Neither of us felt like facing Mu-ka just then to tell her exactly what had just happened so we just strolled around together by a beautiful lily-covered pond at the base of the mountain. Fireflies twinkled in the misty woods and gave it a sparkling mysterious appearance. The still water reflected the stars above perfectly.
We sat there together and watched the moon rise higher above the treetops. It’s a crescent moon and it brings out the glow of myriads of stars.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked Zanith as he looked up at those brilliant celestial lights. He seemed to be impatient, as if waiting for something to happen up there in the sky.
He glanced at me with a slight smile that seemed to whisper to me of a secret that remained untold. “I’m thanking every single star. On the flight to my cave, while you were dying, I wished on every single one that you’d be okay. They granted it so it seemed polite to thank them all since I don’t know which, if not all, granted it.” I had a feeling this wasn’t the entire reason.
“Yeah,” I said with a smile in my tone, “Thanks stars. I owe you one.”
We laughed and lay back to make looking up at them easier. We watched those heavenly gems stuck top the roof of the world. I tried to count them, but when I reached four hundred eighty-one I lost track of where I was. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, that Zanith seemed to still be watching the sky as if waiting for something, not just merely enjoying the view. This was odd because Zanith never had really been one for great views. I mean, he’s seen so many that he just says that it’s just another sunrise, or mountain, or something. We walked around that starlit pond several times. We talked about our travels, adventures, Nu-ash, and other things like that.
“Zanith?” I finally asked after an awed conversation about Lore, “Are you ever going to tell me what he told you? That night? In the separate room?”
He was quiet and then said slowly, “Yes.”
“When?” I asked, very curious at his behavior and what it was all about and, as usual, none too patient.
“Soon,” he said with a mysterious smile, “Very soon, I think.”
“Okay,” I said with an only partially satisfied nod, “Just as long as you get around to it eventually. I’m impatient to know. I must be distantly related to cats.”
He just laughed and turned into his dragon self. He actually let me fly up the mountain! All by myself! Finally . . .

**

The next morning I met him at breakfast. He said that if I wanted we could leave that night to go on in our journey. I agreed and we spent the day with a relieved Mu-ka, Cotton, and Thief. That afternoon we packed. Mu-ka, Cotton, and Thief all insisted that they come along for the trip. I was surprised that Mu-ka could as she’s the Queen of Dragon’s now, but she explained that she’d only spend about a month with us and then she had to leave and the others probably would too.
Mu-ka and Cotton have gotten pretty close. In fact, they’re even in love! Not like any of that surprises me anymore . . . I mean, I’m half of one of the most impossible romances happening! Zanith’s supposed to have been married quite a while ago and ruling dragons as their King! And I? I am supposed to be sewing quilts and feeding llamas. See the difference?
Our group traveled as humans for about a week and as dragons for about the same. Then I started to recognize things. I had been here before, but when? On a side adventure with Zanith and his troop? On our journey to Kiia?
After another day I realized where I was, home! Zanith is taking me back to see my family! I brought him to the back of the group.
“Hey, Zanith,” I said, a grateful smile on my lips, “Wait a second.”
“Yeah?” he asked, a mischievous grin on his knowing face, “What is it?”
“You’re bringing me to my family!” I said, unable to stay quiet, “You’re bringing me back to visit!” He was so good at surprising me with just the right thing and at just the right time!
“We are in the vicinity; aren’t we?” he said, feigning ignorance, “Well . . . I guess we could stop by real quick . . .”
“Oh, you silly!” I said as I gave him an affectionate hug, “You brought me back on purpose! Stop teasing me!”
“Okay,” he said, smiling hugely, “I brought you back . . . So?”
“So?” I asked, feigning surprise with wide shocked eyes and an only partially covered grin of amusement as I baited him again, “You don’t want me to thank you properly?”
“Wh—” he began, pretending to be confused with an astonishingly realistic expression, but tinted with a faint smile in his gaze. I knew that this kiss was probably one of the reasons he brought me at all, but he didn’t understand. He didn’t exactly have a caring family life. I still don’t know anything about his mother.
I kissed his cheek lightly and said conversationally, “Now would you look at that! We’re going to be left behind if we don’t catch up soon! C’mon!”
Zanith rolled his eyes and said, playing along, “Yeah. We’ll never find our way home if we don’t hurry on . . .”
I glared at him with mock severity. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it!” he said earnestly and I promptly burst into giggles. It’s so unfair that he can keep such a straight face. He won’t laugh until I start because it is a matter of contest. The problem is that he always wins. It’s not fair! Guys need to let the girls win every once in a while. It’s only fair that we take turns. We girls are perfectly okay if they want to win a lot, but we need our turn too. I need to bring this up with Zanith some day.
Nu-ash, in her present condition, can’t really come up and be introduced to my parents and sisters so I suggested that she go ahead and meet us up the road in a few days.
The next day I was walking up the little dirt path up to my cozy childhood home. My mother saw me first and shrieked with delight. Sobbing with happiness she ran out and hugged me, completely ignoring my group until we released our warm embrace. Then she looked up at the incredibly handsome Zanith who had a polite humble expression that was very uncommon for him. I was surprised by this new side, but he winked at me as soon as she had turned her back. Oh . . . Hah! He’s trying to impress my parents! I almost laughed aloud!
My sweet mother excitedly dragged me inside to see the family and invited the others to come in as well even though she seemed incredibly nervous around them, but that’s understandable as I disappeared for about two years and then turn up with this strangely assorted band.
Louise, Molli, Penny and Amber were all there! Jen was there too, but with a new addition! She has a little one-year-old son named Darkir, but we all call him Thimble because that’s exactly what he carries with him everywhere; a tiny silver thimble. Jen doesn’t know where he got it, but she thinks that he may have found it when he was playing in the yard.
Mother ran into town to drag Father out of the bakery so he could see me. I was so happy to see all of them, but I pretty much kept the answers vague.
When I introduced Zanith to Jen she smiled smugly at me. I blushed as she whispered to me, “I told you so. I told you a guy would come along one day and you’d fall for him. I did; I told you!”
“You sure did,” I whispered back, “Whatever.” It’s impossible the things she remembers . . . I mean, come on! How long ago was that?
Louise was so pleased to see me again. She told me later, “We thought you had died! Where were you?” It’s a long story . . .
I murmured another inexplicit response and turned to other subjects like the adorable new Darkir who was tottering around and smiling with his proud grin of a few white teeth.
“We thought we’d never see you again!” Louise said as she sank into a cushioned armchair.
Zanith heard this and winced slightly. I knew what he was thinking and I was thinking it too. You almost didn’t.

**

We spent a few days at my old house and then we had to move on. I promised to come back and stay even longer, but then we were on our way once again. We were only a slow day’s hike from my family’s home and dinner was finished for the night as was the conversation. Everyone was crawling into their separate tents, the girls’ tent and the boys’ tent. The fire was only glowing embers by now and the crickets were chirping as the shadows lengthened. I was turning toward my tent when a hand touched my shoulder to bring me back around. It was Zanith.
“Come on,” he said quietly, “Let’s go for a walk.”
“Okay,” I said as I immediately followed him. I loved our nighttime rambles across the countryside. The woods we saw were always amazing and peaceful. We’d find hidden dells and groves that looked as if Dryads had just been startled from a midnight dance and frolic. Dales of hollyhock and daffodils we had claimed. We had
We backtracked a little as dragons, but then, as humans, he led me into a familiar clearing.
“Where’s the fort?” I asked. I smiled. Now I know how it was built so fast!
Zanith shrugged, unconcerned by the loss of his wooden castle. “It has been a while so any number things might’ve happened to it. I don’t know for sure.”
“I suppose,” I agreed.
It was quiet for a couple minutes as we walked around that huge glade and enjoyed the cool night breezes. It was surrounded by noble pines and gentle firs. Another night breeze blew past and fluttered through my hair. My skirt ruffled and my brown hair blew back over my shoulder like a flag. We walked along, hand in hand, heart to heart, soul by soul. Sundown is my favorite time. It’s the time everything, even nature, is full of unworldly splendor and grace and it seems to possess the true essence of who or what each of us truly are. Everything seems clearer to me at that time of day.
Zanith sat beneath a large sapling and I sat down beside him. I listened to a nightingale sing and rested my head on his shoulder. He gently leaned his head over to mine and put his arm around me. We sat there for the longest time, basking in the beauty of mother nature and all the glory of a woodland stroll at nightfall.
Finally Zanith pulled away. He stood up, but I remained sitting for a while. He smiled and offered a me a hand to help me get up.
“Sorry,” I said, “I was just thinking.” I took his hand and stood up.
“About what?” he asked.
“Just this clearing.” I shrugged. “This aspen wasn’t here before.”
He grinned mischievously and said , “It’s a birch.”
“Whatever,” I said as I rolled my eyes at him, “Is there a difference?”
We had reached the other side of the clearing when I realized Zanith looked frustrated. He’d open his mouth to say something and stop. Eventually we sat down again in the grassy center of the clearing.
“Is this soon?” I asked mysteriously, “Or very soon?”
“Huh?” Zanith asked, startled as he wasn’t thinking along those lines.
“You said you’d tell me what Lore told you,” I reminded him, “Will you now? Is it soon?”
“Sooner,” he replied with a wink and a grin, but I sensed a great unrest about him. Whatever Lore had told him was very important to him and something was stopping him from telling me. I knew I was curious, but now I was getting really confused by his obvious frustration with something.
I sighed with exaggerated mock tragedy. “I’ve been cursed with curiosity and impatience.”
Zanith chuckled. “What a tragic combination.”
“I know; isn’t it?” I smiled, glad to make him laugh.
“Yeah.” He sighed, staring up at an especially bright star. It winked and blinked its starlight at us and dazzled me momentarily with its celestial serenity. I sat beside Zanith as he lay back in the cool refreshing grass. I stroked his hand absentmindedly and watched his slightly agitated blue eyes scan the skies. He searched the heavens as if something were coming from way up there. A star, perhaps, or an angel. He deserves an angel. He is one himself!
Slowly Zanith sat up. Our faces were almost directly across from each other and our eyes shone in the night.
“I wish . . .” Zanith mumbled softly, almost to himself, “I wish . . .”
“I wish stars sang,” I murmured, looking at the ones reflected in his eyes, “I’m sure their voices would perfect to express things in a much clearer and more beautiful way than we can.”
“I wish kisses could be stored for rainy days.” Zanith smiled, his eyes singing like stars for me. “Then they wouldn’t seem so muddy.”
“The kisses or the rainy days?” I asked with a sudden giggle.
He grinned and closed his eyes for a second. “The rainy days; I’ve never had, nor do I have any remote desire to have, a muddy kiss.” We laughed for a while and a lone cloud covered the sky for a few minutes.
“I wish flowers could dance,” I said dreamily, imagining that field of daisies hopping up to dance, “The lilacs would waltz, the daisies would polka, the daffodils would jig, the roses would tango . . .”
“I wish everyone got a happy ending,” Zanith said almost sadly, staring up at the stars again with a kind of expectancy, “The world would be so much nicer.”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug, “Some people don’t deserve happy endings, some would do terrible things to get their happy endings. You’d never learn either, if you never had any problems. Life would just be. You’d just exist.”
“Maybe,” he agreed reluctantly, “but if flowers danced people couldn’t have gardens. Remember, you told me about Laudanum. The girl in your town who is blind and can’t go or do anything so she has her garden. She tends her flowers and that is her life. She’ll never have anything more, but her garden is full of the most beautiful flowers in the world. If her flowers danced off then where would she be? Her life would be even less colorless and meaningless than before.”
“Okay,” I admitted, “So some wishes aren’t for the best, but would be fun for a little while.” It is fun to imagine flowers dancing though. They would have a ball every spring . . .
“Of course.” He nodded. I could tell he wanted to say something more, but he stopped again. What on earth was up with him? I was going to go crazy if I didn’t find out anything sooner than the soon he was waiting for.
I hesitated, but then said softly “I wish angels existed. Then I could give one to you.” I had thought it out loud. The thought I had been thinking about forever and a half. I watched more clouds curl around the stars and cover the sky.
“They do exist!” he said laughingly, eyes too full of love to sing anymore, “How else could you be here?”
I blushed and smiled as I reached for his hand. My heart staggered as it always did when I was near him. “I’m not an angel. They have voices so lovely that flowers would bloom in winter for them and fire would freeze into ice, or stone, or both.”
“You are,” he insisted, “Angels are the most beautiful creatures in the universe. They must be like you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’ve already told me that.”
“You’re being silly.”
“When am I not?”
“Good point.” He always twisted things when he was teasing.
“I’ll tell you, when I’m being serious.”
“What? When you’re being serious you aren’t being silly? I don’t think so!” He wasn’t the only one who was allowed to twist things like that!
“Hey!”
“Sorry, but you’re always being silly. Just accept it.”
“Whatever, but right now you’re the one being silly.”
“Who me? Unheard of. I’m never silly.”
It was quiet for a second. This time it was I who stood up first. He had that frustrated expression again. I wonder what he keeps thinking about.
“I wish . . .” he said softly again, “I wish . . .”

**

“Yes?” I asked, expectant.
“I wish Lore’s sign would come,” he finished smoothly, smugly grinning since he knew I had no idea of what he was going on about. He cheats so much.
“I wish you wouldn’t be cryptic!” I complained, “You aren’t going to explain that. Are you?”
“Not right now,” he said absentmindedly. He has been pretty out of it tonight.
“I thought not,” I said with a sigh.
He looked so perfect there on the grass. He was watching the stars again with a concentrated gaze. I don’t remember doing it, but I must’ve because of what happened next. I had took his hands in mine, pulled him to his feet in one fluid motion, and kissed him full on the lips. The scene was so familiar. A girl in his arms, looking into his blue, blue eyes, and wishing that time could stop there forever. Except, this time, it’s a different girl in his arms. Me. This time, instead of searing pain, I felt blissful. This must be what heaven is like.
After his initial tensed shock he relaxed and kissed me back. At this time, of all times, the clouds decide to pour. Rain pulls a wet curtain across our fervent embrace. My hair is soon soaking and his is dripping. Midnight is approaching and we walk slowly towards camp and our warm dry beds.
We were a little ways past the clearing. His hand tightened a bit and we slowed to a halt. He looked tormented again by that same agonizing frustration. What was so important about this sign? The rain soon subsided and the clouds cleared away to leave the night in peace.
He sighed impatiently and looked up at the stars again. The bright star I had noticed before now seemed extremely bright and it had a strange red tinge to it if you looked closely. He sighed again and looked over at me with a wry smile on his very nearly grim face. “I don’t know how much longer I will wait,” he said with the same cryptic tone as if he wished I’d guess it, “Much less, how long I can wait.”
“If you won’t explain yourself,” I told him, my mind infuriated by the mystery, “don’t bother to make me more curious than I already am! It’s not very nice.”
He grinned. A perfect set of white teeth splashed stardust in my direction. It’s seriously not fair! Why did he have to be so . . . well . . . perfect?!
We walked on, but a sense of foreboding hung like a limp thread in the shadows. It would tighten and snap a moment later when a tiny sharp knife flew through the the air. Slicing through the night air to strike Zanith in his side. It was his side farthest from me. He drew in a sharp breath and sank slowly to the ground where he leaned against a tree grimacing in pain.
“Zanith!” I screamed and dropped to my knees beside him. He jerked the knife out and I quickly bound the fountain of blood with strips of cloth from a jacket I was wearing and my dress. The skirt was shortened slightly, but it wasn’t a number one priority at the moment and it stemmed the flow of seeping red life.
Zanith lay there, staring at the knife in his hand and shuddering every once in a while. “A knife . . .” he gasped, his teeth clenched, “from . . . the Realm . . .”
I gasped in shock and confusion as I sorted this out.
“Poisoned . . .” he moaned, his body began to tremble in agony. No. He’s wrong. It can’t be poisoned. That would mean that he’ll die. He can’t. He . . . he . . .
“No!” I cried, looking around desperately for something to help. Something . . . some form of comfort in this rainy abandoned night. There was nothing. No magical fairy appeared to save him and no cure popped out of thin air for me to give him. That was when the tears came. I brushed them away and held his vibrating hand as his life slid through my fingers. The tighter I tried to hold on the less I caught. He was trying to think of something too, but I could see that nothing was coming.
I, in my blind desperation, called for the only person I knew of that could help. “Lore! Lore, I need your help! Please! Help me!” this was impossible. There was still a part of me that didn’t believe that one moment we could be walking hand in hand and the next we were toying with fate. The obstacles we came across were so totally unrealistic. Nobody gets this unlucky. Nobody . . . except us, of course. We were always being the exception. I hated being the exception. At least, this time.
In a zap of lightning he came. Riding a chariot of gold drawn by fairies and the dust of old memories that have sat on the shelf for too long and have faded with lack of usage.
“Yes, Acuthina?” Lore asked calmly, as if he had been here the whole time.
“Zanith!” I gasped hysterically, too panicked for Zanith to be surprised, “Poisoned! Save him!”
“ I can’t,” he said quietly. I wailed in despair. “But you can,” he added, continuing.
“How?” I begged, not daring to take my eyes off of Zanith now limply twitching body for fear that he should stop breathing as soon as I look away. His eyes were glazing over and his movements were weaker. He was mumbling feverishly, but his voice was fading.
“How much do you love him?” Lore asked me, his eyes radiating the seriousness of the answer I would give. “This is important so think carefully before you answer.”
I thought about that. At first I considered saying that I loved him more than life, but there is so much life on this planet that mine is of little or no consequence and of equal importance in the events of the surrounding world. I thought harder. Trying to corner a single phrase that would describe my love for Zanith. I tried to find a way to explain. I watched Zanith’s body grow limp and I experienced ultimate pain. The stuff I had experienced when he had kissed Aruari was nothing. A mere twinge. This was ultimate terror.
“Beyond words! Beyond life! Beyond anything and everything!” I sobbed, clasping Zanith’s hand in my own, desperately clinging to his last heartbeat, his last breath, his last pain, “there aren’t words for it . . . nothing . . . no way . . . can’t . . . no . . .” He was going to die because I couldn’t describe the way I felt about him.
Lore looked up at the sky. I moved over closer to Zanith. His eyes were slowly shutting and his breathing was very faint.
“Look up, Zanith,” Lore said with power infused in his tone, “Look at your star. It’s the sign.” This is so not the time to worry about signs in the stars. Zanith is dying. He’s not worried about a future unless he’s sure that he’ll have one!
Zanith’s snapped open. He saw me and his his gaze shifted to the sky. I looked too, now that the danger of his sudden death was past. I watched as the bright star grew bigger and brighter. Finally it exploded and color washed the heavens in waves of song and poetry. We saw tiny stars float down around us and the night was lit by the stardust as it settled around us on the grass.
When I looked back at him Zanith was standing up and watching me with a soft expression. I returned it, but with considerable relief spilling out to bring some anxiety into my eyes. Love shone around us in swirls, mixing in with the stardust to make an atmosphere to match the events that had taken place so recently.
He pulled me to my feet and embraced me in a tight squeeze. I hugged him and a few tears ran down my cheeks as I whispered, “You were dying. Dying . . . and I couldn’t stop you, but you’re alive now.” I was so happy that I hadn’t actually gotten him killed this time. It was nice to know that even though we had the worst of luck, we always got the best when trying to get out of a scrape.
I looked over to thank Lore for his timely appearance, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. What an amazing dragon!
I felt Zanith gently pull me away from him. Just enough to be able to look up at him and smile with gratitude and love streaming down my uplifted heart. My soul was saved; Zanith’s alive! His eyes were exultant, but with a shadow of doubt behind them. It was very faint. Too faint to matter very much. Too faint to impede my relief.
“I love you,” Zanith murmured with another smile, “You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I replied, my soaring heart beginning to sing as I heard those glorious words again, “I do know that, at least, and you know that I love you too.”
“Yes,” he said with a nod, his face reflecting the image of happiness and hope for a bright future, “I know that.”
For a moment we stood there, silent beneath a maple, but the stillness couldn’t last. He took my hands in his and looked down at my moonlit face. My eyes, drinking in his own features, shining—no, glowing—with love as they looked up into his. He seemed excited about something, but he also seemed more serious than I’d seen him tonight.
“I love you,” he repeated quietly, but in a way that he was using that beautiful sentence to get somewhere else, similar, but slightly different, “and I want . . . I was wishing . . .” He seemed very tense and slightly unsure of himself as he lowered himself onto one knee, but continued. “Will . . . will you . . . will you marry me?”
I felt ecstatic surprise jolt my heart, but it was covered by love. My answer? A kiss. It was one of several, but this one had only one word attached while the others had three. The word? “Yes.” I spoke it without doubt,softly, just before our lips touched.

THE END