Chapter one
Loo loo loo
I’ll take you dreaming
Through the rainy night
To a place beyond the rain drops
Where the stars are bright
You may not find gold or silver
But a richer prize
Behind the rain drops
If you close your eyes
Tonight
Tonight
When all the worlds asleep
We will tip toe home
With a wondrous star
A star you can always keep
And years from now
When you go dreaming
When you’re very old
Though you’re crown be rich with rubies
Diamonds set in gold
None will shine as bright
As the star we’ll find
Tonight
Lorraine laid her young son, Eleazar Mercy the second, in his crib, stroking the soft blonde fuzz on his head. “I remember first singing that to his mother,” said a soothing voice in the doorway. Lorraine looked up to see her beloved husband of two years. “It is still as beautiful now as it was then… when you sing it” “Oh, and the Damsel cannot sing?” “No. Why do you ask?” She smiled, teasingly as he sat in a chair across from her on the other side of the low crib. “I seem to remember a large crowd screaming, ‘Bring back the Singer!!’ ” “And I remember a stuck up young man, jumping on stage with her, determined not to let her get all the glory.” He laughed lightly. “You would remember that, wouldn’t you?” “You know I would… Mercenary.” He sighed, “It has been a while since you called me that.” “I’ve wanted to. But the entire country expects me to call you Eleazar! I can’t get out of the habit of calling you Striker! Let alone Mercenary,” she whispered. He sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought. He always had a lot on his mind, ruling the entire country of Poema. The only thing that got him through this was his wife and good friends, whom we will speak of later. “I’ve been meaning to go back, one day. To travel over my old hunting grounds. Just to see it all again. The old Fox hide out. The inn. The cave where Lygia found Zaaman. Just to have a bit of fun. But I’d need a real reason to leave the people, if only for a week.” He thought back to his last adventure. When he had met Lorri. He thought of how they hated each other at first, then, somewhere along the way, it turned to love. He looked up to her, her eyes shining in the firelight, looking down to their child. It had been two years since that time. They had been married right away, and a year later, they found there would be an heir to the throne. He caressed the small child’s face, thinking of what he would be like in later years, hoping he would not be as reckless as he had been when he was Striker.
Chapter 2
“Sam!” Lygia yelled out the door. “SAM!! You and Ken better get in hear if you want pizza!!” shouted Safire. The young men came running into the house. The girls laughed. When pizza was mentioned, or any food for that matter, they came running. “How you girls doing?” Ken asked, wrapping his arms around Safire while Lygia dished up their food, licking the cheese that stuck to her fingers. “We’re fine. We we’re just talking. You know who we would really like to see again?” Sam looked up, all but one of his black curls pulled back out of his face, the single one falling into his eyes. “Striker, and Lorri, and the others?” Lygia nodded. She and Sam had been married early that year. Although two years had passed in Poema, only one had in this world. “I wonder how there getting along. I just can’t get used to King Striker,” she laughed. “He probably isn’t.” suggested Ken. He was tall, with dark hair and green eyes. He and Ruby had only been married two weeks. Back in the world he had come from He was know as Kenaz. And Sam was not always Sam. He had once been called Zaaman, but also called a filthy bloodsucker, for he had been a vampire. When they had arrived in this world, they picked out new names, Ken short for Kenaz, and Sam just because he liked it. “That was not his royally given name. He probably goes by the name he was born with, whatever that might be.” “I’ll bet you Lorri still calls him Mercenary!” said Safire. Lygia laughed. “I wonder how they’re getting along, all of them”