The Puppet King

Epilogue

“It is time I returned to my homeland,” Alhana said. She bore the baby in the tai-thall. She and Samar were prepared to mount their griffons as the animals pranced restlessly on the outskirts of the city.

“If we find Porthios... his remains, I mean,” Laurana said tenderly, “he will be buried with honors, and we’ll let you know.”

“Thank you, Sister.” Alhana sighed. “Silvanesti will be suffering under Konnal, I fear. With my husband dead, there remains nothing for me here—and it may be that I can do some good in the land of my birth.”

“I bid you farewell, my queen,” Gilthas said.

“And may good fortune greet you in the land of your father,” Laurana added.

The two watched the griffons as they soared into the sky, finally vanishing into the east. Kerian’s arm tightened around Gilthas, and he turned toward the city and his new life as the king of the elves.

The wild elf warrior found the charred body in the stream. Aided by the poultices prepared by his wife, he carried the badly injured prince back to a streamside cave. For long weeks, he tended him, nursing him first to consciousness, and then to the point where the elven prince could move.

“My face,” groaned the prince, staring with horror at his reflection in the stream. “I am a freak, a monster.”

“Come,” Dallatar said, helping Porthios to make his way onto the winding, shaded trail. “Your home is in the forest now.”

“And I turned my back on that world and came here to live out my life in solitude and peace,” Aeren said. “I crept into my cave and slept”—he looked at Samar with narrowed eyes—“and slept well, until you poked me with that accursed spear.”

“We shall leave you to that peace, dragon,” said Silvanoshei. “I thank you for your story.”

He reached forward and touched a talon of the great foot. “I am sorry for the loss of Toxyria,” he added quietly.

“I, too,” said Aeren, lowering his head.

Only after a long pause, many heartbeats of reflection, did the two elves rise and make their way out of the cavern, back to the world of sun and sky and sea.