Ryan hadn’t realized she had a preference but wasn’t surprised. He responded warmly and genuinely. “I can assure you I made every attempt to spare the dragon’s life and avoid her death. It was very regrettable.”
The look she gave him made it clear she didn’t believe a word of it, her knuckles white from clenching the arms of the chair. “What happened when you sealed the gate?”
Matt responded, “Very little. No dragons were pulled into it, so Nir’lion was the only one here.”
The queen nodded. “But you’re certain the gate is now closed?”
“Yes.”
One hand on his big belly, Sonneri asked, “What did you learn about who opened the gate?”
Ryan replied, “We believe that a wizard named Raith opened it. He is the one who stole the scroll and learned its contents, which gave him motive.”
Queen Lorella asked, “What motive is that? I thought simply freeing the dragons was the reason.”
Realizing his mistake, Ryan admitted, “Yes, it was, since Raith was a Dragon Cult member, but in reading the scroll he discovered the existence of soclarin ore on the world where the dragons are imprisoned.”
Seeming satisfied, she asked, “Will this wizard be able to open the gate again?”
“No,” Matt answered. “He was present during the battle and stepped through the gate before we shut it. He is now trapped on the other side.”
With arched eyebrows, the queen considered that in silence.
The next morning, the champions made their final preparations for leaving, saying goodbye to Lorian. Word of their success had spread so that those armies threatening war against Kingdom Alunia had stood down. Castle Darlonon and the forest had been cleared out by the elves and Alunia’s forces. Everything was returning to normal here and they hoped their own lives were next on the list. They suspected they’d been reported missing.
It was standing room only as they ascended the steps to the dais and turned to face those they’d saved from destruction. As before, only the rich and privileged attended, but many more such people gathered now. The queen bade them farewell with a last speech, and in the applause that followed, Sonneri cast a stern look at the crowd to be quiet. Turning to the book before him on a podium, he began to speak so quietly none could hear, but Matt tried to read his lips, another skill he’d picked up for his deaf mother because she often read his. He tried to memorize the words and gestures, realizing he’d lost the opportunity to learn that spell and should’ve thought of that, but hopefully he’d never need it.
The stone pillars around them began to glow with words of blue fire, the decorative markings on the floor turning white beneath their feet. Soliander’s staff sent a continuous pulse up Matt’s arm, letting him know magic was afoot, and the wizard knew he’d miss the power he’d come to wield here. Of the four, he’d done the most amazing things and would return to a life far more ordinary, and only his eyes were sad as the pillars burst into flames with a loud whoosh and the room around them disappeared.
Chapter 17 – Resolutions
Jack Riley stood just inside the door of Anna’s condo in Gaithersburg Maryland, not sure where to begin but sure he didn’t want to start at all. No friend would want the task before him and it felt premature. It certainly didn’t offer hope. Packing Anna’s things as if she was never returning just felt wrong. He wasn’t ready to let go and didn’t understand her father’s decision. Maybe he just wanted some action to break the frustration of getting no answers, no resolution, nothing to change, even if this particular action suggested an abandonment of hope. The weeks of waiting and wondering were unpleasant, certainly, but this wasn’t the way to go. What would Anna say if she returned? You waited just weeks before deciding I was gone forever? Gee, thanks.
He smiled at the thought. They went back a long way – he and Matt, too – growing up in the same neighborhood. Unlike with many friendships, time had not forced them apart, and while he wasn’t part of the foursome, he certainly knew the others, too. It was hard to know one but not all, they did so much together, but Jack had a life elsewhere. A less secure guy might have felt he was a fifth wheel with all the inside jokes and you-had-to-be-there references, but he was fine with that. They had shared adventures with him as well, but for weeks he’d been wondering if they were now sharing some nightmare instead.
More than two weeks had passed since Anna Lynn Sumner, Eric Foster, Matt Sorenson, and Ryan LaRue had disappeared in England, their van found abandoned by the side of the road. A motive for their return to the monoliths after hours remained unknown. No security cameras existed at Stonehenge and the British authorities had found little to help their investigation. No witnesses or signs of foul play turned up and the volume of footprints nearby eliminated any signs of theirs. Only the digital camera found in the car, with its few pictures of the happy friends in their last moments, proved they had really been here, but they shed no light on the situation. The best guess – and that was all they had – was that they had been abducted and taken away in another car.
A ransom had first been suspected, with the wealthy Ryan the target and the others just bystanders, but one never appeared. Nor had any bodies, thankfully. No terrorist organization or anti-American group had claimed responsibility, and no signs of mental instability or unhappiness existed among the four. There had been nothing to go on and nothing had changed since finding the abandoned SUV.
The mystery had captured not only
