The angle of his position reflected the pure white marble of the palace across the lake’s surface, making it look like a great pool of rippling milk. The sparkles and spray from the fountain caught the green of the forest park and the blue of the sky, making it look as if emeralds and sapphires were spewing up out of the lake, and falling back into it. Hyden figured that after sunset, it would be an even more spectacular sight, because the yellows and reds of the stained glass panels, would lend their colors to the mix as well.
The droplets and rolling ripples danced a colorful and mesmerizing dance that soon pulled Hyden into a hypnotic state of tranquility. His mind began to empty of all but the dazzle before him. His worry for Mikahl, and the situation that they were in, slipped away, and a hazy voluptuous shape began to form in the mist of the fountain’s spray. She turned slowly toward him, opening her arms as she did so, and a sad smile crept across her beautiful, mist-formed face.
“You’ve found the right place at the right time, I think,” she said to him, in a soft musical voice. “Your heart has led you well.”
“My friend…he…oh, milady, I don’t…” Hyden had no idea what to say, or how to say it, so he blurted out what was in his heart. “Can you help him? Can you help me help him? He is so close to death, and I don’t know what to do. My heart tells me to stand and fight against this great evil that hunts the sword, but…but…” He wiped a stray tear from his cheek. “Without Mikahl to wield the sword, I don’t think we stand a chance.”
“Where there is hope, there’s always a chance,” she told him. “As for Mikahl, he is locked in a battle within himself, as well as without. The Dragon’s Prophecy says that an unknown son of the blood of Kings will take up Errion Spightre and replace the true heir to his father’s throne. This contradicts the situation, and since the core of prophecy has been fractured, I cannot decide what is best for Mikahl.”
“Mikahl is the true heir!” Hyden said defensively.
“Isn’t he also the unknown son? Or did King Balton have another?” the Goddess asked. “Mikahl’s fate will be decided by the victor of the battle going on inside him. The elf has set out to find the sword’s cradle, and replenish its power, but you, Hyden Hawk of the Skyler Clan, friend of the feathered, and the fanged as well, must prepare yourself for your own battles. Your heart has told you that you must fight that which has been hunting you and your companions. This dark force grows stronger each day, and it will not relent in its quest to destroy love and hope. With or without Mikahl and his sword, the demon must be sent back into that black place from which it came.”
“But how?” Hyden asked. His head was swimming with confusion. He had no idea what to do.
“There is a crystal shard, in Dahg Mahn’s tower, that can force the evil that has broken free to go back and rejoin its other half in the Nethers. The crystal must be dissolved into the grooves of the Seal that Pavreal carved up in the Dragon’s Tooth Spire. Doing this will make the demon whole again, but it will also close the Seal forever – with the demon trapped behind it.”
The White Goddess reached out towards Hyden and trailed a misty finger down his cheek. “This is no easy task Hyden Hawk Skyler. Just getting into Pratchert’s tower will be a trial. How to get the shard to the Dragon Spire, before the demon destroys Xwarda, and makes use of the Wardstone, is what you must figure.” Her tone became motherly, and full of love. “Use your wits, and your cunning, and have faith that the kind deeds, and hard work you have done will be rewarded.”
Hyden tried to absorb the information, but something was nagging at him. He had no proof of it, but he felt it inside his heart.
“What about Gerard and the ring? My brother went to the Dragon Spire. A soothsayer told him that he would find the power to lead legions down inside it. I know my brother. Gerard couldn’t – wouldn’t resist such a temptation.”
“He has taken the ring, which belongs on your finger, into the Nethers?” the Goddess asked, with sudden alarm in her voice.
“I cannot swear it Lady, but my heart tells me it’s true,” Hyden answered solemnly. “Either he went into the depths of the Dragon Spire, or he tried to, and died.”
“Then victory now might mean disaster later,” she whispered, more to herself than to Hyden. Then directly to him, she said. “The core of prophecy is truly broken, for there is no clear path I can see for you to follow. I know not how to direct you, other than what I’ve already told you. You must follow your heart and your hawkling familiar. There is no certain way for you to go.”
“What of Pratchert’s…I mean Dahg Mahn’s tower, then?” Hyden asked, trying desperately to find a morsel of hope in what she was telling him.
“To gain entry, you must only be who, and what, you are.” Her tone softened, and she took on a curious look, as she continued. “Remember this: you are as much your familiar, as your familiar is you. Becoming one together, will help you see what’s truly ahead of you.”