Autumn 4997, 25 Midomoth 

Weeks after the defeat of the Warlocks, Prince Corwin exited the gate from his Guild to the captured Central Talon. He sniffed derisively, gray eyes scanning the knights, soldiers, and Mages that continued to swarm through the maze of halls, exploring and mapping their own way, not trusting the Firewyrm's scribbles. Despite the complete domination of the long-time Warlock headquarters, they'd found little of use in the time since the fateful battle with the Warlock leaders.

The Master Archmage flinched at the mere memory of the room of jars. He'd really thought they'd found something useful there. Until half the flesh samples melted in fluid turned acidic and the other half led them to a room full of chickens and three mutilated corpses. The horror hadn't stopped there either, as a frustrated Horsa Paladin had slain one of the chickens only to have the body transform into a human.

Corwin growled in frustration. The mirror room the Warlocks had used to communicate had also been destroyed. Destroyed by the Waterwyrm... 

Silently he cursed the foolishness of his cousin. Tristen had disobeyed a direct order to capture the Wyrms... It didn't matter to Corwin that his brother and king had forgiven the Paladin, under the circumstances, allowing him to atone and reaffirm his Oaths. All that mattered was that the Wyrms were still free to threaten his kingdom, his people, with their destructive, untrained, undisciplined, unearned, elemental magic.

As far as Corwin was concerned, his cousin was nearly as bad as the Sorcerer Shon, who hadn't even managed to sacrifice himself properly. It was only a matter of time before the soldier would betray them for his lover. For a dragon, a monster who would see the human population as decimated as its own kind. A dragon that by all accounts now ruled the Warlocks...

"We've removed the head only to find we're fighting a hydra..." He grumbled. 

Corwin's angry musings were interrupted by a Paladin of Saint Giorgos running up to him and striking a hasty salute. The Prince glared at the knight and the young man, probably freshly Oath sworn, blushed and corrected his mistake with a bow, spluttering an excuse for his haste "Your majesty, I've found the Leaders' rooms." 

Corwin bit back a curse. The fact that they'd been searching these twisting tunnels for weeks and had only now found the leader's chambers was another source of great frustration to the Master Archmage. 

"Show me," he ordered shortly, following the young Paladin to the rooms in question. 

"I haven't touched anything," The Paladin tried to assure him as they approached a door leading to a well-appointed living room. Two doors were open off it, each leading to what he presumed were the bedrooms of the twin leaders, though they only contained chairs. Apparently, they hadn't needed to sleep.

In the center of the shared room, as if set up specifically for them to find, was a small table containing a very very old book. 

Corwin mumbled a short spell, revealing only a preserving enchantment placed on it. So not trapped. Leaning over he began to read, his eyes narrowing in thought and confusion as he translated the ancient script. It was a journal, the date on the page over five thousand years old, and the contents... the contents were the musings of someone who planned to complete the ritual to become a Warlock...

Corwin scooped up the book, turning first to the last page, then to the first, then looking at the cover. His eyes went wide and he spun on the Paladin standing ready at the door. "Who else has seen this?" 

The Paladin snapped to attention, staring through the Prince to the wall ahead, "No one your majesty." 

"And did you read it?" Corwin demanded.

"No your majesty." 

Corwin breathed a sigh of relief, slipping the book into his robes, "Good. Tell no one."

The Paladin furrowed his brow in concern and Prince Corwin snapped, "This is an order from the Master Archmage of the senior counsel and the Crowned Prince of your kingdom! You will tell no one." 

"The king..." The Paladin muttered.

Corwin grit his teeth in frustration but allowed, "You will say nothing unless asked directly by his highness. I outrank everyone else, including your General." which luckily seemed to ease the Young man's worries as he answered,

"Yes sir."

***

Lily's mind thrashed through an endless episode of nightmares and sleep paralysis. Sometimes she swore she heard people near her, other times she thought she saw familiar faces hallowed in shifting colors and stars, Shon, his team, Rose, a woman with facial tattoos, Shaloon... But no. Shaloon was dead... wasn't she? 

She couldn't tell what was nightmare and what was memory. She remembered fighting, but had she actually fought, or was it merely a result of planning for the fight? Had she even met the team? Or was she sleeping on the top of the library tower still?

Lily managed to twitch, first her fingers, then shaking her head, feeling a soft pillow beneath her cheeks. A familiar female voice echoed off the walls, "Cleric! She's moving! I think she's awake. Hurry!"

Perla? So she wasn't on the roof. Had the kingdom captured her?

Lily opened her eyes, then closed them again as the light assaulted her, making her hiss on instinct. Another voice, just as familiar but male spoke from her other side. "Slowly now my dear, you've been asleep for some time now..." The Cleric of Lune... So she was with the Warlocks after all. 

He helped her sit up, his hand under the pillow, just enough to press a cup to her lips. Lily sipped the concoction and grimaced, opening her eyes once more and blinking past the dim light to see the Cleric and a large standing mirror reflecting the Warlock spy.

Perla smiled in obvious relief, and at Lily's cocked head explained in a rush, "The others all took their turns watching over you. I wanted to help too but couldn't come so Mistress Rose agreed to set this up for me." 

Lily managed a grin, wondering what the Warlock would've done if the Cleric hadn't been here with her. Waving the man away, Lily sat up fully on her own, though not without a groan. He let her, but again cautioned, "Move slowly Miss Lily. You've been unconscious for nearly three weeks and may have suffered some short-term memory loss."

"What happened?" Lily asked them, looking around the room for her clothes. 

"You fought the Master Archmages, they're dead." The Cleric answered.

"You were pulled into the outer planes!" Perla added quickly, "how did you get back?"

Lily shook her head slowly, "I don't know... I... I don't remember." And yet she felt a sense of dread at the mention of the outer planes... something had happened there. Or maybe before... Or after? Damn it, she didn't know. "Where's the team?" She thought she remembered a bloody corpse... and swallowed in fear, whispering, "Shon?"

With a grimace that had Lily reaching for her pants, Perla asked, "The Hengist representative?" Lily's belt with the hidden pocket and teleport stone to Oane was still there, but her bags were gone. Was that how she'd gone to the outer planes? Bits and pieces seemed to be coming back, but she still couldn't tell what was true memory and what was remembered dreams.

Perla was hesitating but finally answered, "He survived... though barely. Lily! Wait!" Lily had thrown her blankets off and was dressing as quickly as her fumbling fingers would allow.

"Where are you going!?" the Cleric and Perla called in unison as Lily stumbled toward the door. 

She managed to find her balance, taking one steadying breath before she opened the door and called back, "Deim!" 

She was in an underground hall, they'd put her in the same room she'd used as a child, the spiral stairs leading up the tower just to her left. Lily dashed up, taking the steps two at a time until she emerged in the library above and stopped dead. Warlocks swarmed the shelves, many reading the texts where they stood.

She dodged aside as Tolinar passed, his nose in a book and a thin white hen perched on his head, "Good morning, Lily," he mumbled to her, causing the other Warlocks to stop what they were doing and look her way. 

Lily blinked around at all the staring faces, then blurted, "I need a gate to Deim. Now!" 

"Lily!" it was Rose. The water woman descended the stairs from the second-story walkways in a rush, wrapping Lily in a brief though tight hug, "What are you talking about? You just woke up. You need to recover. Need to res-"

"I need to see Shon. He was hurt, barely survived." Lily interrupted. 

Rose pursed her lips in disapproval, but looked around and waved Cairn down. 

The Warlock came, but hesitantly and even argued, "But Mistress..." 

"If we don't take her she'll just rush the walls herself." Rose stated, "Open the gate. And you," she addressed Lily, "Don't do anything else stupid. Take this," she pressed a whisper stone in Lily's palm, and Lily hid it away in the second pocket meant for the teleport stone to Halakon she'd already used. "Call us when you're ready to return. We need you." then quieter, only for Lily's ears, "I need you. I can't lead them on my own." 

Lily managed a strained smile, then scowled at Cairn, who hadn't opened the gate yet. He flinched at the look, bowed with a whispered, "Mistress..." then summoned his black dagger. The sight of the blade caused a shiver to run up Lily's spine, though she couldn't say why. 

He seemed to be taking his time to draw the circle but eventually finished. Lily waved a quick thank you, saying, "Don't bother to hold it open." Before she stepped through. 

She found herself in the rented room they always used for such transportation and was startled by a bark. Lily spun, squinting through the falling ash of the closed gate and gasping a stunned, "Blink?" 

The familiar sat in front of the door, his tongue lolling out in a doggy grin. Behind him, the door opened to reveal his other half. Sasha smiled at Lily's shock, closing the door behind her, "I'm glad I hurried. Perla seemed to think I would be too late to stop you."

Lily returned the grin, answering, "It doesn't matter how early or late you are, you won't stop me."

Sasha rolled her eyes and shook her head, asking, "You're here to see Shon?" Which just caused Lily to lunge forward, grasping the Rogue's hand desperately, 

"How is he? Where is he? Please, Sasha, don't try to stop me. I don't want to hurt you."

Sasha just smiled, pulling her hand free and using it to stroke Lily's cheek, "He's fine, and he's not here. Which is why I needed to stop you." she gestured for the beds, "have a seat and I'll tell you what I know." The Rogue grinned, then corrected herself, "Well... Some of it." 

Lily sat, falling onto the mattress and leaning forward to plead with her eyes for more information. Sasha took her own seat on the bed across from her, setting down a bag at her feet, and laughing when she saw Lily's expression, "Don't worry, He's fine! The Church sent him home last week and he woke up about three days ago." She shook her head, "He was just as eager to start moving as you were apparently because Sir Tristen had to threaten to call his Master if he didn't stop training and slow down to recover." She shrugged, "Well that ended up biting the Paladin in the ass because when he did end up calling Shon's Master, the man just asked to have Shon sent to him for properly paced recovery training. That's where he is now, in Oane." 

"Oane," Lily breathed, then surged to her feet, fumbling at her belt for her teleport stone. It was linked to the small village closest to the Monks' summer home in Oane. 

"Wait!" Sasha called, then tossed the sack at Lily, distracting her and almost causing her to drop the teleport. 

Catching it, Lily tilted her head down at the bag, then to the other side at Sasha. Blink woofed a doggy laugh. "I got those for you last week," Sasha explained, waving a dismissive hand and huffing, "I thought I should keep up on my old burgling skills before they atrophy, but the Giorgos Paladins hardly made it a challenge."

Opening the sack, Lily found two new bags of holding and her collapsed staff. Sasha continued, "They gathered up your belongings, and had them locked in the Temple. I would be careful of tracking spells, considering how easy they were to take, " She shrugged, adding, "But spells like that won't work in the bags, so just don't take anything out until your somewhere you can dispel anything you find on them." 

Lily gave the wonderful woman a beaming smile, then dropped the bag to dive into a hug. Sasha laughed, patting Lily's head, her unusually powerful earth magic allowing Lily to hold on for as long as she wanted. 

When she finally pulled away Lily sniffled, whipping her eyes and saying, "Thank you, Sasha. I don't know how I'll ever repay you." 

"You can start by staying alive, and finish by saving the world." Sasha answered, her face turning serious, "Something is coming. I don't know what, but I can feel it."

Lily tried to hide her shiver by cocking her head at the Sorcerer, then nodding, "I'll do that." she answered, then stood, retrieving her belongings and returning them to her belt before taking up the teleport stone again and finishing, "After I see, Shon."

She crushed the glass in her fist and vanished in a flash of light.

***

Shon cursed himself for his weakness. He'd only been allowed to do half of his drills, at half speed, before being forced to rest and was exhausted despite his arguments to continue. Master Veon-Zih had heard none of it, ordering Shon in his teacher voice to sit while he and Master Velona discussed what they would purchase from the village while he recovered. 

And so Shon sat, his back to one of the solid support beams inside the Monks' tiny Oane house, careful not to put any pressure on the delicate lattice and paper walls. He closed his eyes, letting the Masters' voices wash around him as he thought, and remembered. 

He'd chosen life. This life. After all his daydreams of death, he'd turned away from his chance to find answers and rest to fight another day. Alone.

Even while surrounded by people, people who loved him, and he loved in return, Shon felt alone. Nothing had changed.

He remembered waking up in the manor. In a large bed that would never see another occupant to keep him warm. Alena had been there, dozing at his desk, and Oswall, leaning back in another chair, his boots resting on the bed. They'd leapt up at Ryuuko's whistle, calling for the others who all came in to greet him as they had Alena upon her waking. 

That same day, outside beside the training weapons, Tristen had threatened Shon with Master Veon-Zih. The next day, Shon found they'd removed the weapons, but that didn't stop Tristen from following through on his threat when he found Shon attempting pushups in his room. That night, the night before Shon left for Oane on Master Veon-Zih's orders, Oswall had come to Shon's room...

The Rogue told Shon that they'd been ordered not to tell him what had happened after he killed the Warlock Archmage, or what had happened to Lily... Shon had stopped Oswall from defying that order. Even as he longed to know, Shon realized it was probably better if he didn't. If anything had happened to Lily, he didn't know how he could go on, despite his decision to do just that. 

The Monks stopped talking suddenly, and Shon opened one eye as Velona whispered, "Did you hear that?" 

Veon-Zih nodded, moving towards the sliding door and asking, "What do you think-" Before he could reach the door it slid open with a slam that shook the entire house. And there, framed by the noon sun, stood the most beautiful sight in all the world. 

Shon attempted to stand but was forced back down as Lily dove for him, straddling his legs and nuzzling into his neck hard enough to push him back against the beam, her hands balled into fists in his shirt. "Shon, oh gods, Shon. I was told you were alright but I had to see, I had to know." She looked up but he'd only caught the barest glimpse of her face before she was kissing him. And he thought only of her heat and soft skin. 

Wrapping his arms around her he held her tight as if never to let her go again. Beyond them, Velona whispered to Veon-Zih, "Well, I guess we need to buy enough for four now."

Veon-Zih chuckled, "Shall we go then?"

"I think that's a splendid idea," Velona answered, then louder to the distracted couple she said, "We'll be gone for a few hours. Don't wait up for us."

Lily moaned in delight, either oblivious or uncaring as their Masters laughed and left them alone.

Alone... With Lily. He had time to recover before Tristen would retrieve him. Time to spend with her... Maybe the future held pleasure as well as pain after all.

"Finally," He breathed against her lips.

To be continued in the next volume, "The Gods of Dragons: Book 3, Trust and Betrayal"...