BOOK ONE
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Prince napped happily on the grassy hillside, his head resting on Sasha’s lap. A grey dragon had tended to their wounds, and thanks to his aptitude for accelerating the healing process, what might have taken weeks happened in only a couple of days. Flori, her body almost fully back to normal, played nearby with a golden sparrow that had followed them to this place. Its delicate, shimmering wings entranced Sasha.
“You know, from what you told us, I got the impression you were invincible,” Sasha mentioned.
“Kin has a lower melting point than gold,” Flori explained. “When exposed to heat, the two separate from one another and I lose the capacity to control my form and movements. My father experimented with this when I was still young, melting animals down completely, only to watch them reconstitute themselves over days or weeks, experiencing a strange sort of agony, unable to understand what was happening them. Eventually, they healed and forgot.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Why didn’t I confess my greatest weakness to people I just met?”
“Yes!” Sasha chided. Flori gave a small laugh. Sasha went on, “So, you can’t cry and you can’t sleep, but you can laugh. That’s something, isn’t it?”
“Not enough, though,” Flori replied. “I must be honest with you. I didn’t join you just to be of help. The talisman you described sounds like one I came across in my studies, one that can simply take away life, just remove it from a body, no killing required. I joined you because when the time comes, I hope to be able to use this object on myself.” Flori and Sasha watched the sparrow play.
“I understand,” said Sasha eventually. “But know this, I will spend every moment between now and then trying to convince you to stay.”
“Fair enough,” Flori responded, challenge accepted. They laid back in the grass and stared up at the sky. An unnatural gust of wind washed over them. Jove, the blue dragon that saved them from the assassins, stood before them, all petulance.
“Are you all well enough yet to come with me?” he asked. They were. Jove led Flori, Sasha and the Prince to a great meeting hall filled wall to wall with dragons. The orange-ish one called Orion came to meet them.
“Thank you for coming. I hope you have been comfortable while recovering from your injuries,” he said graciously. They all nodded, but were distracted by the intensity with which the other dragons stared. “You are all familiar, I understand, with the singular power bestowed upon Moriandra at her birth?” They nodded again. “In years gone by, Moriandra used that power copiously rather than wisely, and I fear there are few of us present who live untouched by it. In light of recent events---”
“What do you see, Orion?” one of the dragons asked impatiently. Orion gestured for him to shut up.
“Flori,” Orion said in a voice so buttery you could have spread it on toast. “You have developed an intriguing theory regarding the North Star, have you not?”
“Well, uh, I have developed a theory, in fact, yes,” Flori said, perplexed.
“Would you mind sharing it?” Orion asked.
“I think I need more information first, actually. How did you know that?” Flori asked.
“I possess the ability to understand the minds of others.”
“You hear thoughts?” Flori asked excitedly.
“The mind does not think in words alone,” Orion twinkled.
“Fascinating.”
“Boring!” shouted a nearby dragon.
Orion continued, “You have an idea though, about how North Star repaired your friend.”
“I do. I believe the Prince is the key,” Flori stated definitively. The Prince was afraid of this.
“Won’t you come with me, Prince?” Orion asked, his voice calming. The crowd parted revealing a dragon in the corner who seemed different than the others, wild like an animal, but the most beautiful by far, the color of a summer sea with an opalescent sheen. “Why don’t you walk us through what happened with Barnaby?”
“Not much to it, I’m afraid. He was upset; the North Star made him better.” Orion handed the Prince the Star and gestured that he offer it to the feral creature in front of him. Timidly, the Prince placed the diamond on the ground, the animal sniffed it, paused, then took it in his mouth, but no magical change occurred. All the dragons who had gathered around sighed in disappointment. The Prince felt guilty for failing.
“Be easy on yourself. The fact that you want to help us makes me like you,” Orion confided to the Prince softly. “Let me help you find it. Close your eyes and think again about what happened with Barnaby.” The Prince searched his memory; Orion tuned in to his thoughts. After a minute or two, Orion instructed Moriandra to tell the Prince about Cicero. Mo gave Orion a weary look. “Trust me,” Orion assured her.
“Cicero was the youngest among us next to me, and the most romantic dragon Hades ever created. When everyone started turning their backs on me, he supported me fiercely. As things devolved between me and the others, he suggested that we run away together. He said he loved me, and would do anything to make me happy. I hated his devotion, so one night, while he was sleeping, I used the North Star to make him stop loving me. When he awoke, he was like this. I got kicked out, and I deserved it. On this score, I have nothing but regret.” The Prince felt intense pity for this poor creature. He looked at Cicero, and the North Star began to glow, then grew radiant like the sun, blinding the room, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. When the light died, they discovered Cicero standing upright, holding the North Star, lucid once again.
The Prince healed the dragons one by one. For most, the fix was small; for some, more significant. With practice, the Prince became skillful and quick and in no time at all, every last dragon got what he or she wanted. Once finished, Moriandra stepped forward hopefully. The Prince looked puzzled. He concentrated. Nothing. Mo looked at him imploringly.
“You fixed them. Now fix me,” she ordered.
“It’s not working,” the Prince apologized.
Orion nodded knowingly. “Flori, why don’t you share your theory with us now?” he asked.
“Fine, though it’s still only a theory,” Flori disclaimed. Everyone turned their ears to the gold girl. “I’m not sure where to begin…As we’ve seen today, the North Star by itself can do nothing– it is a tool that must be wielded.”
“But no one else could ever use it but me,” Mo argued, disappointed and frustrated. “Why can the Prince use it? What does he have to do with anything?” Flori didn’t how to explain.
“Moriandra, just listen,” Orion said soothingly.
“I will get to that. My theory has two parts...the first is that when Mo operated the Star, she changed the will of another, but in order to change that will the Star had to remove certain obstacles that existed in the other person or dragon’s psyche. But instead of destroying these obstacles, the Star sort of, well, kept them, and today the Prince returned them to their rightful owners.” Flori looked around to see if people understood. Tentative nods bobbed around the room. “The second part is that when the Star is active it acts as a bridge between two minds. It’s power can flow both ways.” Flori stopped for a moment.
“So, you’re saying any of the dragons here today could have tried using the Star on me,” the Prince guessed.
“Yes.”
“But why would they?” asked Mo.
“Exactly. Which is why they didn’t,” Flori answered.
“What didn’t they do though?” Sasha added.
“Why can’t they use it right now?” the Prince asked.
“How exactly does the Star work?” Jove added. Questions bubbled up from every corner of the room.
“Please, everyone, settle down,” Orion said, over the crowd. “Allow Flori to go through it step by step, and save questions for the end.” The room quieted studiously. Flori went on.
“I imagine most of the North Star’s victims were taken off guard, making resistance impossible. But somehow the Queen, she figured it out, she prepared herself, she fought back, and that led to unforeseen consequences. I believe the reason you cannot be healed, Moriandra, is because whatever was taken from you is not actually in the Star, it is in the Queen.” Flori took a deep breath, even though she had no need for air. “I believe your ability to use the diamond moved from you to her, and her unborn son gained the power as well.” Mo stood there, flabbergasted.
“But, but, but--I could never fix anyone,” Mo stammered. “I tried and tried.”
“Power of this nature is complicated. You may have been able to but you didn’t know it. It could have been hidden, or in a part of your brain you couldn’t access. Possibly when the transfer happened, the destructive and restorative properties separated into the two heartbeats.”
“But, but--”
“The point is this: if I’m right, a part of you lives within the Queen, it has been there for decades, and from what I understand not the pleasant bits, the angry, bullying, hateful bits. I’m not sure if she could even be aware of...”
“She hears voices…,” the Prince interjected, “…a voice.” Mo’s mind hit a wall.
“But how did the Queen overcome me?” Mo asked. “I took down Hades and he is a God. The Queen’s only human.” The humans tried not to take this personally.
“That I don’t know. She may simply have an extraordinary mind. It may be something you did. It may be a fluke. Whatever it was, know this--if given the opportunity, the Queen will be able to control the North Star.”
“You know, from what you told us, I got the impression you were invincible,” Sasha mentioned.
“Kin has a lower melting point than gold,” Flori explained. “When exposed to heat, the two separate from one another and I lose the capacity to control my form and movements. My father experimented with this when I was still young, melting animals down completely, only to watch them reconstitute themselves over days or weeks, experiencing a strange sort of agony, unable to understand what was happening them. Eventually, they healed and forgot.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Why didn’t I confess my greatest weakness to people I just met?”
“Yes!” Sasha chided. Flori gave a small laugh. Sasha went on, “So, you can’t cry and you can’t sleep, but you can laugh. That’s something, isn’t it?”
“Not enough, though,” Flori replied. “I must be honest with you. I didn’t join you just to be of help. The talisman you described sounds like one I came across in my studies, one that can simply take away life, just remove it from a body, no killing required. I joined you because when the time comes, I hope to be able to use this object on myself.” Flori and Sasha watched the sparrow play.
“I understand,” said Sasha eventually. “But know this, I will spend every moment between now and then trying to convince you to stay.”
“Fair enough,” Flori responded, challenge accepted. They laid back in the grass and stared up at the sky. An unnatural gust of wind washed over them. Jove, the blue dragon that saved them from the assassins, stood before them, all petulance.
“Are you all well enough yet to come with me?” he asked. They were. Jove led Flori, Sasha and the Prince to a great meeting hall filled wall to wall with dragons. The orange-ish one called Orion came to meet them.
“Thank you for coming. I hope you have been comfortable while recovering from your injuries,” he said graciously. They all nodded, but were distracted by the intensity with which the other dragons stared. “You are all familiar, I understand, with the singular power bestowed upon Moriandra at her birth?” They nodded again. “In years gone by, Moriandra used that power copiously rather than wisely, and I fear there are few of us present who live untouched by it. In light of recent events---”
“What do you see, Orion?” one of the dragons asked impatiently. Orion gestured for him to shut up.
“Flori,” Orion said in a voice so buttery you could have spread it on toast. “You have developed an intriguing theory regarding the North Star, have you not?”
“Well, uh, I have developed a theory, in fact, yes,” Flori said, perplexed.
“Would you mind sharing it?” Orion asked.
“I think I need more information first, actually. How did you know that?” Flori asked.
“I possess the ability to understand the minds of others.”
“You hear thoughts?” Flori asked excitedly.
“The mind does not think in words alone,” Orion twinkled.
“Fascinating.”
“Boring!” shouted a nearby dragon.
Orion continued, “You have an idea though, about how North Star repaired your friend.”
“I do. I believe the Prince is the key,” Flori stated definitively. The Prince was afraid of this.
“Won’t you come with me, Prince?” Orion asked, his voice calming. The crowd parted revealing a dragon in the corner who seemed different than the others, wild like an animal, but the most beautiful by far, the color of a summer sea with an opalescent sheen. “Why don’t you walk us through what happened with Barnaby?”
“Not much to it, I’m afraid. He was upset; the North Star made him better.” Orion handed the Prince the Star and gestured that he offer it to the feral creature in front of him. Timidly, the Prince placed the diamond on the ground, the animal sniffed it, paused, then took it in his mouth, but no magical change occurred. All the dragons who had gathered around sighed in disappointment. The Prince felt guilty for failing.
“Be easy on yourself. The fact that you want to help us makes me like you,” Orion confided to the Prince softly. “Let me help you find it. Close your eyes and think again about what happened with Barnaby.” The Prince searched his memory; Orion tuned in to his thoughts. After a minute or two, Orion instructed Moriandra to tell the Prince about Cicero. Mo gave Orion a weary look. “Trust me,” Orion assured her.
“Cicero was the youngest among us next to me, and the most romantic dragon Hades ever created. When everyone started turning their backs on me, he supported me fiercely. As things devolved between me and the others, he suggested that we run away together. He said he loved me, and would do anything to make me happy. I hated his devotion, so one night, while he was sleeping, I used the North Star to make him stop loving me. When he awoke, he was like this. I got kicked out, and I deserved it. On this score, I have nothing but regret.” The Prince felt intense pity for this poor creature. He looked at Cicero, and the North Star began to glow, then grew radiant like the sun, blinding the room, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. When the light died, they discovered Cicero standing upright, holding the North Star, lucid once again.
The Prince healed the dragons one by one. For most, the fix was small; for some, more significant. With practice, the Prince became skillful and quick and in no time at all, every last dragon got what he or she wanted. Once finished, Moriandra stepped forward hopefully. The Prince looked puzzled. He concentrated. Nothing. Mo looked at him imploringly.
“You fixed them. Now fix me,” she ordered.
“It’s not working,” the Prince apologized.
Orion nodded knowingly. “Flori, why don’t you share your theory with us now?” he asked.
“Fine, though it’s still only a theory,” Flori disclaimed. Everyone turned their ears to the gold girl. “I’m not sure where to begin…As we’ve seen today, the North Star by itself can do nothing– it is a tool that must be wielded.”
“But no one else could ever use it but me,” Mo argued, disappointed and frustrated. “Why can the Prince use it? What does he have to do with anything?” Flori didn’t how to explain.
“Moriandra, just listen,” Orion said soothingly.
“I will get to that. My theory has two parts...the first is that when Mo operated the Star, she changed the will of another, but in order to change that will the Star had to remove certain obstacles that existed in the other person or dragon’s psyche. But instead of destroying these obstacles, the Star sort of, well, kept them, and today the Prince returned them to their rightful owners.” Flori looked around to see if people understood. Tentative nods bobbed around the room. “The second part is that when the Star is active it acts as a bridge between two minds. It’s power can flow both ways.” Flori stopped for a moment.
“So, you’re saying any of the dragons here today could have tried using the Star on me,” the Prince guessed.
“Yes.”
“But why would they?” asked Mo.
“Exactly. Which is why they didn’t,” Flori answered.
“What didn’t they do though?” Sasha added.
“Why can’t they use it right now?” the Prince asked.
“How exactly does the Star work?” Jove added. Questions bubbled up from every corner of the room.
“Please, everyone, settle down,” Orion said, over the crowd. “Allow Flori to go through it step by step, and save questions for the end.” The room quieted studiously. Flori went on.
“I imagine most of the North Star’s victims were taken off guard, making resistance impossible. But somehow the Queen, she figured it out, she prepared herself, she fought back, and that led to unforeseen consequences. I believe the reason you cannot be healed, Moriandra, is because whatever was taken from you is not actually in the Star, it is in the Queen.” Flori took a deep breath, even though she had no need for air. “I believe your ability to use the diamond moved from you to her, and her unborn son gained the power as well.” Mo stood there, flabbergasted.
“But, but, but--I could never fix anyone,” Mo stammered. “I tried and tried.”
“Power of this nature is complicated. You may have been able to but you didn’t know it. It could have been hidden, or in a part of your brain you couldn’t access. Possibly when the transfer happened, the destructive and restorative properties separated into the two heartbeats.”
“But, but--”
“The point is this: if I’m right, a part of you lives within the Queen, it has been there for decades, and from what I understand not the pleasant bits, the angry, bullying, hateful bits. I’m not sure if she could even be aware of...”
“She hears voices…,” the Prince interjected, “…a voice.” Mo’s mind hit a wall.
“But how did the Queen overcome me?” Mo asked. “I took down Hades and he is a God. The Queen’s only human.” The humans tried not to take this personally.
“That I don’t know. She may simply have an extraordinary mind. It may be something you did. It may be a fluke. Whatever it was, know this--if given the opportunity, the Queen will be able to control the North Star.”
Our story continues in Chapter Eight...