Return To Sky Raven (Book 2) (13 page)

We pulled up and stopped for some reason at the base of the short steps that led up to the throne platform. I felt my skin tingling and looked at Maya; she was unconsciously trying to rubs the hairs on her arms through her armor. Abruptly, a door at the back of the chamber swung open and a woman emerged. We all looked at her curiously, but for some reason we were unafraid of the unexpected visitor.

She was a little shorter than me, wearing a sapphire blue gown that any noblewoman would have been jealous of. She had brown, waist-length hair, tied back and styled. I would have placed her as a very well-preserved forty-year-old, and as she came closer, I noted her calm, beautiful features. Her eyes were locked entirely on mine, a shy tentative smile on her lips. Before any of us could say anything, I felt the twins rush past.

“It’s her!” The twins shouted gleefully and ran forward like delighted children. Startled, the woman put her hand over her heart in mock horror.

“Dawn and Dusk! Are you two girls trying to scare me to death?” The two dragons nearly tackled her in their excitement, and each slid under an arm and wrapped themselves around her with their eyes closed in bliss. After returning the hug with obvious genuine affection, she stepped away from the girls and continued to walk slowly up to me, her eyes never leaving my face, searching my eyes. It was as if she needed to be sure it was really me. Finally, she came to a halt in front of me and I could see her deep brown eyes fill with emotion. She raised her hand as if to say something and then dropped it as the dam holding back the tears suddenly burst, and she threw herself into my arms with a small cry.

I had no idea what was going on, but I had a gut feeling I knew this woman. After a second of holding her gently, I could smell her hair and perfume, and it was a smell that triggered a response in my consciousness. “Mother?” She pulled back, still fiercely holding on to my armor, and I could see the tears freely flowing down her face. She affixed me with a gaze that mirrored hope and great sadness at the same time. “You remember me?”

“I think so. I remember how you smelled.” The stream of tears turned into a river as she pressed her face into the chest plate of my armor. I could feel very strong waves of emotion flowing off her, and they seemed to be affecting everyone in the room as well. Soon, we were all blubbering idiots as I cradled her carefully in my arms, trying not to hurt her with the armor.

Finally, she pried herself away from my embrace and stared up at me again with glistening eyes. “It’s been twenty years since I was last able to hold you, Alex, so please forgive my behavior.”

I didn’t have words to say at this point, but Nia chimed in with her own observation. “No need to apologize, Mrs. Alex’s Mom. Lots of people like holding him,” she said, trying to hold back her own pixie tears which were threatening to soak her small dress to the point where it was more wet than dry.

My mother focused on Nia, still sitting emotionally on my shoulder and smiled brightly as she daubed away some of her own tears with a handkerchief that appeared out of nowhere. “Why hello, Neafauliateenix. May I call you Nia?” The pixie nodded eagerly, and my mother carefully wiped the tears from Nia’s face as well. “It’s so good to meet you finally in person. Unlike everyone else here, you are the only one I haven’t visited with in some form before now.”

I think both Nia’s and my mouth dropped open at the same time, what? My mother knows all my friends already? Nia finally leaned over to my ear and whispered in awe, “She knows my real name!”

My mother smiled and, raising her hand, caressed Nia’s wings ever so lightly. Nia, for her part, lit up brightly as if it were the most glorious day of her life. Turning her attention back to the twins, my mother embraced them again, giggled, and looked them over carefully with a measuring look and a soft affectionate smile.

“It's good to see you sisters again; you both seem to have gotten a lot healthier since we last spoke.” Both of the young dragons were blushing profusely and lamely attempting to look away or at the floor. “You didn’t tell them, did you?” Meekly, they both shook their heads. Mother rolled her eyes and turned back to me. “They were extremely malnourished on your birthday. It’s a good thing Merilda Martin is such a good cook; they might not have had the energy to make it back to Xarparion otherwise.”

“Alex and Nia are terrific cooks, too,” Dusk added, “and they are even teaching us to prepare meals on our own.” Dawn chimed in with a throaty, “Mmmm, bacon!” and everyone chuckled. My mother gave them one last caress each and then, as if suddenly remembering someone, whirled around looking for the last member of our party.

Maya was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t stop my mom. She held up her index finger to tell me silently that I should wait a second and gave me a little wink. Suddenly, she blinked out of sight and we heard a little yelp from behind a pillar at the rear of the room indicating that, despite the stealth armor, Maya had been caught. Defeated and without recourse, she succumbed to being dragged back to the main party. Once there, she was spun around to face my mother.

“Come on now, off with the helmet, young lady,” she commanded. Maya glared at me and even only seeing her eyes, I knew I was in deep trouble later. Reluctantly, she pulled off her helmet and clipped it to the belt of her armor and taking a deep breath, faced her tormentor directly. My mother started the motion to enfold her in a big hug but then pulled up short and made a face.

“No, this absolutely won’t do at all!” She turned to face the stairs and tilted her head. As a small ball of what looked to be pure magical essence appeared in her palm, she whispered something to it and sent it flying off with a flourish. It disappeared through the ceiling and was gone.

We stood there watching her as she impatiently tapped her foot on the marble floor. After about a minute, a large man came walking down the stairs, not large as in fat, but large as in looks like he could lift a mountain. He had a long, braided beard and brown hair that only looked to have the smallest bit of gray in it. He was an imposing figure, but somehow his movements radiated relaxed goodwill.

His voice was deep and grainy, as though he had been working a forge all his life, and the blacksmith clothing he was wearing looked the same, but still it seemed familiar and calming to me. “I hope you didn’t call me down here to take care of another spider, dear…Alex?” He froze in his steps and looked at me and the rest of our group curiously. Suddenly regaining motor coordination, he bounded down the remainder of the steps laughing so deeply that I could feel the walls shake. “Alex, my boy!” His arms stretched out like he was about to squeeze us all in a bear hug.

But Mother flung herself around Maya and me first. “Don’t you dare touch our babies with those filthy work clothes! Clean yourself up and try not to embarrass us.”

He sighed but was still smiling. “Been married this long and she still doesn’t like seeing me get dirty.” Just like with Mother, there was a flash of light and he was suddenly wearing formal wear of the same style and color as Mother’s. She looked at him askance, and it was as if they were communicating like Rosa and I do.

My father mouthed, “I’m sorry,” before a flash of light blinded me momentarily. As the flash faded from my eyes, I could feel that I was no longer in my armor. Looking down at myself, I found that I was in one of the formal outfits Rosa had made for me to wear to a dance. Glancing over at Maya, I found that she, too, was no longer in her normal armor. She was wearing a brand new white sparing armor, with quilted padding and soft leather bits covering some of the vital areas. It was form fitting and actually extremely attractive on her. “Figured you wouldn’t want a dress, so I hope that works well enough,” he said, giving my dark elf a knowing wink.

My mother gave a little huff, as if she would speak to him about this later, then she proceeded to blanket an astonished Maya in a heartfelt hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Maya, I am so excited about having you both here! Not only have I gotten to hold the son I haven’t touched in twenty years, but now I’ve gained a daughter as well. You are everything we could possibly wish for Alex, and you are so gorgeous, too.” My girl was looking pretty uncomfortable at this point but, fortunately, my mother didn’t linger. Not skipping a beat, she went on to Winya. “Ah, Winya, my dear, you’re looking better than ever.”

“
I’m a sword. She does know I’m a sword, right?”

“Yes, I know you’re a sword, but you have to admit that you weren’t exactly the most stylish woman. But now look at you; you’re a stunning work of art!”

“
I…I don’t know where to go with that, so I’ll just take it as an insult and move on from there.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, we’re old friends now. There’s plenty of room in our relationship for a little bit of fun,”
my mother chuckled.

While this was all going on, I was getting the life crushed out of me by my father. Releasing me, he held me at arm’s length to look me over. “Ha, just look at you, lad! You’re almost as big as I am! And again, excellent job on the armor; you make me very proud.” He turned to Maya and gave her a gentle hug. “Maya, you’re looking absolutely radiant as always.”

“Um, thank you, I guess,” Maya replied sheepishly and shot me a look that said, “This is so weird and uncomfortable, I can hardly stand it!” My parents ceased all the hugging and drew themselves up as a couple with my father enfolding my mother’s small hand in his giant paw.

“Come, come, we have so very much to talk about, and I do believe the east dining hall is ready, is that right, dear?” said mother as she patted his hand. He nodded, and she ushered all of us down a hallway and into the room.

The inside turned out to be a large rectangular room with heavy wooden wainscoting and paneled walls. A few nondescript landscape portraits decorated the walls and a crackling fireplace anchored the far end of the room. The center of the room was dominated by a lone, very ornate wooden table at the center. Aside from some missing plates and cups, everything looked to be set for about twenty individuals, and set for show. All the furnishings and tableware in this room was of the highest quality - for 400 years ago, anyway. The long wall opposite the door featured a large glass window with a glass door that looked out onto a small stone courtyard and a vibrant, but overgrown, flower garden, which struck me as almost impossible considering the temperature of the air outside.

Currently, the garden was being overrun by two very eager, aggressive young druids who seemed to be beside themselves. One would stop and inspect a plant only to have the other rush over and drag her away to look at another. This seemed to be an ongoing process and appeared to have the potential to go on for a very long time, especially when I spotted the dreaded sketchbooks coming out of their robes.

Smiling, Mother placed a hand on the window and watched the two of them work. “Ah, those two have already found the garden. They’re probably ecstatic right now as there are some very rare plants indeed out there.” She spun around to face the rest of us. “But I’ll talk to them later; right now I have my son and daughter to spend time with. I’ll see about getting us some refreshments and then we will get to the not-so-fun stuff.”

She snapped her fingers and suddenly Alera was in the room with us, facing the far wall, and apparently giving orders to that same wall.“No, I said that bed station goes there and this one goes here…and no one’s there. Great, now I’m crazy,” Alera muttered.

Mother cleared her throat, startling Alera so much she jumped almost a foot in the air. The now irritated and confused healer spun around angrily to yell at someone, but instantly her anger was replaced by confusion. “Alex, Maya, what are you doing here…where am I?” Then she spotted my parents and looked like she was going to die. “My…my King, Queen! I…I don’t know what to say!” She dropped to her knee and bowed her head reverently. “You honor me! Is there anything you need, my King and Queen? And, of course, also my Prince and Princess?”

Maya and I both were looking at my parents in confusion. I’d had a hunch by this time, but that just confirmed it. But both of them were laughing. “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag on that one! If you would be so kind as to open a portal, that would be wonderful.”

My mother, after a fond look at the healer, turned back to us and explained, “Alera’s grandfather was a nebulia who fell in love with a human healer. Their daughter took up the healing arts, and lovely Alera is the next generation. We are all very proud of what she has accomplished.”

After Alera finished casting the spell and the portal appeared in the corner of the room, she added wistfully, “I was raised with a foot in both worlds but, unfortunately, never belonging wholly to either.”

“Well, that explains your protector,” I said.

“Yes, as you can imagine, anyone with a bent or sensitivity for evil recognizes me for what I am. Since healers have no real combat skills, I was assigned Nydard as my protector.”

My mother motioned for us to sit, the portal opened and several female nebulia in long golden dresses flowed out with their inhuman grace. Each was of a different type; some had the heads of hounds, one was a fox and the other two were eagles or hawks. Most were carrying golden platters with large covers, the rest had either wine bottles and goblets or were pushing small carts loaded with plates and other utensils. Silently, they bowed slightly and placed the platters in front of each of us and stepped back. A few of them went back into the portal leaving nine in the room with us. One stood behind each of us with one behind an empty chair and one standing next to Alera. The hound nebulia motioned for her to take a seat next to Dawn to our left.

We sat silently for a bit, seemingly waiting for something. Then suddenly the fox standing behind the open chair spun around and opened the door. And there was Rosa, standing with her hand in the air ready to knock on the door. “Well, I guess I was expected. And you two must be Alex’s parents whom I’ve heard so much about.”

Their smiles brightened, and Mother just motioned for her to take her seat. Wearily, she sat where the fox instructed. Once seated, Mother looked over her shoulder and gazed at the window. Following her gaze, I found that she was interested in two muddy-footed marmots that had their furry faces pressed against the glass looking in at our dinner party. With a chuckle, she nodded to the eagle maiden standing behind her. Bowing, the nebulia ducked away and quickly opened the door to the patio. Realizing the game was up, the two marmots dashed off in opposite directions, eluding the first snatch by the eagle maiden, who was now in hot pursuit. Back and forth she chased them as we all got up from our chairs and moved to the window to watch. The nebulia was inhumanly fast and very graceful, but she was hampered greatly by the long formal gown and high-heeled shoes she was wearing. Every time she was about to reach down and grab one of the rodents, the act of bending down gave them just enough time to bolt out of reach. Apparently, nebulia are too refined to make a diving grab like I would have done to catch a piglet back in Foalshead. This continued comically for several minutes. I was speechless, Maya was openly snickering, and poor Rosa couldn’t help herself and was braying like one of the donkeys. Even Alera had her hand over her mouth and was shaking like a leaf.