They spent a month searching for Rebecca. They failed to find her and she was presumed dead. The three friends grieved her – even Danielle, who hadn’t known her for too long – grieved the loss of the young queen. The memorial service was – to say the least – beautiful. They erected a monument to honour Rebecca’s memory: a large statue of her blade, the Angelheart Blade. Without a queen, a Steward had to be elected, and that Steward was Samuel. Although he didn’t want to take the throne – even if it was temporary (assuming that Rebecca was alive and able to take the throne again) – he had no wish to be a ruler.
“I’m just a knight,” he said. “Not a ruler.”
But Danielle and Mary were adamant. “You have to,” Danielle said. “Do it for Rebecca.”
“Yes,” said Mary. “Rebecca would have wanted you to do this.”
Thus Samuel Neocene became the Steward of Trivadia.
And then it happened – Dythragor attacked.
*-*-*-*-*-*
The city was badly damaged; fires were breaking out all over the place and the dead numbered in hundreds. Three people were fighting Dythragor, but they were losing – badly.
Samuel clutched the handle of the Edana, ignoring the dull pain in his chest and head. Mary had healed him as best she could a minute ago, but this dragon was powerful – too powerful for them. The Edana, being an enchanted sword, was able to cut into the thick hide of the dragon – as could Danielle’s Elven blade. But Mary only had the Staff, and it was almost completely useless against the dragon. Samuel took a deep, painful breath and ran at the dragon again, bringing his sword down in an arc and opening another wound in its leg. Dythragor used his tail to simply knock Samuel away like an insect. Danielle loosed a blast of wind at the dragon, but he just slammed her underneath his paw and prepared to breathe Dragonfire on her…
…Only Kiki intervened. She may have been young and seemed frail, but the massive blast of pure power that erupted from her outstretched hands said otherwise. It was a golden beam of energy, and it slammed right into Dythragor’s side with enough force to actually toss him back six feet. He glared at Kiki, his mouth bared in a vicious snarl despite the noticeable lack of scales where the beam of energy had struck him. He lunged at Kiki, but she simply moved aside and watched idly as the dragon turned to attack again. This time, Kiki didn’t move.
She smiled sweetly at the oncoming dragon, her eyes shining with power as an amber aura surrounded her body. She raised a hand – still smiling – and loosed a blast of power that slammed into Dythragor head on, the golden energy ripping through his scales like a scythe through wheat, and then it burned the meat from his bones.
Ash flew by Kiki, who stood calmly as if nothing had happened. She turned and regarded the wounded trio calmly before sighing. “I know you have questions,” she said. “But you need to be healed first, and I doubt that Mary has the strength left to do so.”
She raised her hands, palms facing outwards towards them and sighed. A golden light surrounded the three warriors, and their wounds were healed and their combat-induced fatigue vanished, leaving them feeling as though they had just woken up from a long sleep. Actually, they were feeling tired.
The last thing they remembered before falling to sleep was Kiki’s soft voice assuring them that the worst was over and that they could sleep…
End
of Book Two