“And you are…?” He swung his legs over the side of the couch. He was still dressed in the clothes he had jumped through the Star Gate in, and Drago felt grimy and insignificant before these five beings.
“My name is Sheol,” said the woman, and smiled. “This is Raspu,” and indicated a dark-haired being with ruby eyes.
“I am your friend,” said Raspu, and bowed. There was a faint suggestion of pitting and scarring under his luminous skin, but it accented his beauty rather than marred it.
Not knowing how to respond, Drago merely inclined his head.
“And this is Mot.” Sheol indicated another of her companions, an ebony-eyed man who was painfully thin.
Drago nodded to him, and Mot smiled but did not speak.
“Barzula,” and a being with unruly brown curls and golden eyes nodded.
“And finally, Rox.” The last of the five, with black hair and ivory eyes, smiled and nodded.
“Who are you, Drago?” Raspu asked. “What are you? From whence have you come?”
“My name is Drago SunSoar,” Drago said, and hesitated as the five glanced at each other. “You know the name?”
“Indeed we know the SunSoar name,” Sheol said smoothly. “Please, continue.”
“I am the son of Axis SunSoar and Azhure SunSoar.” Again he hesitated, but the names apparently meant nothing to the five, for they gazed at him with bland eyes. “And I come from a land called Tencendor -”
“The land of the lakes?” Barzula interrupted. His tone was excited, eager, and Sheol laid a hand on his arm.
“There are lakes,” Drago replied. “Four Sacred Lakes.”
“Four!” the five exclaimed.
“Tell us about them,” Rox said, allowing his eagerness to carry him forward a step.
Drago looked about at them, but decided they were only over-curious, rather than threatening. “There is little to tell, for they remain mostly mystery. Legend has it they were formed aeons ago in a fire-storm when ancient gods fell from the stars -”
“He is from the land,” Barzula said, and his golden eyes blazed.
“Surely,” Mot agreed.
“No-one has ever investigated their depths?” Sheol asked, and there was a strange light in her eyes.
“No,” Drago said slowly. “Not that I am aware of.”
He slid forward so that he was on the very edge of the couch. “What are you? And why these questions?”
“We are the Questors,” said Raspu.
“And we quest towards your land of Tencendor,” Sheol added.
Drago nodded slowly, thinking he understood. “You want something in those lakes… is that what you quest for?”
“Yes!” Sheol clapped her hands delightedly, but Drago thought it an oddly childish gesture for one of her obvious sophistication and power. “Yes, we quest for what lies at the foot of those lakes. Ah, Drago…”
As one their faces fell into sadness.
“Drago,” Sheol continued, “before time had barely begun on your world we had something very precious stolen from us.”
“Taken from us,” the others echoed.
“By criminals, Drago. The Enemy. The Enemy stole from us and then fled through the universe only to come to grief on your world.”
“What lies at the foot of the lakes could destroy you,” Rox said sadly, but out of the corner of his eye Drago thought he saw a smile gleam momentarily on Barzula’s face. But when he turned to check this, the Questor’s face only reflected the sadness of the others.
“But we can remove it without harm to your people or your land,” Rox finished.
“If you help us recover what is ours,” Sheol said, “then we will be in your debt, and we will do anything in our power -”
Again Drago sensed vast amusement somewhere in this room, but he could not fix where it came from.
“- to aid you in your quest.”
“My quest,” Drago said slowly.
“My friend.” Sheol slid down on her knees before Drago and took his hands in hers. “We felt you come through the Star Gate, and we felt the sadness in your heart. We cushioned you from death, and we sent our friends to collect you and bring you to us.”
“Your friends?”
Sheol stood up and looked over Drago’s shoulder. “Our beloved friends,” she said very softly. “Behold, the Queen of Heaven.”
Drago twisted about on the couch, and then froze. A woman had entered this chamber. She was not the most beautiful woman Drago had ever seen, although her dark hair and pale complexion were beauteous enough, but she carried about her such an aura of allure and power that Drago felt an instant attraction.
“You are a SunSoar,” she said, and to his shock Drago realised she had the features and wings of an Icarü.
He nodded, realising who she must be. “And you are StarLaughter.”
She laughed, agreeing, then slid onto the couch beside him, hip to hip, her hand on his shoulder, her face close to his. Her eyes slid down over his body, and then back to his face. “Yes, I feel your SunSoar blood. Drago – what a strange name for a SunSoar – tell me your story.”
Drago began slowly, not sure how to tell so much in a short space of time, but with StarLaughter’s hand so hot on his shoulder, and her breath fanning across his cheek, Drago found his words tumbling out. Whenever he paused to take a breath, she tilted her head to one side and murmured encouragement.
He told her about the Prophecy of the Destroyer and the fight between Axis and Gorgrael. He told her of his own birth, and of Azhure’s punishment for his crime.
“My mother reversed my blood order, so that my enchanted Icarü blood was subjected to my mortal human blood.
“It was a cruel punishment,” he added, “and it has been hard to live with. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have been an Icarü Enchanter. I wish… I wish…”
“Ah,” StarLaughter said, and leaned back to look at the Questors briefly. “And so you have leapt through the Star Gate, hoping to re-find your power. Well, death is always one way to find that which is lost. But tell me, what was your birth name? What was Drago shortened from?”
Instantly Drago remembered that she and WolfStar had named their unborn son DragonStar, and he glanced at her belly. Smooth. She had lost the babe, then.
“My name had been DragonStar,” he said quietly.
He shocked her. StarLaughter leaned back and stared at him, her face paling, her chin trembling momentarily. Then she looked at the Questors. “That was my babe’s name!”
“We know, Queen of Heaven,” Sheol said soothingly. “How appropriate. How… fated.”
She turned to Raspu. “Is he usable?” she murmured.
The mood among the Questors and StarLaughter changed abruptly. StarLaughter tensed and sat forward, Drago forgotten for the moment.
Raspu knelt down before Drago and took the man’s face between his hands. “Peace, Drago. I will not harm you.”
A tingling passed through Raspu’s hands into Drago’s body. It did not hurt, but it was not entirely pleasant, either.
Raspu drew in a long breath and sat back. “Yes,” he said. “Yes he is. His Icarü power is still there, although cunningly hidden in twists and traps. But we can use it. He will be enough for the final leaps to the Star Gate.”
StarLaughter laughed, a sound of pure exultation, and threw her arms about Drago.
“I adore you!” she cried, and Drago laughed with her. Everything was going to be alright.
StarLaughter The Questors drifted off, claiming some matter they had to attend to, and Drago was left with StarLaughter.
“You are curious,” she said, leaning back from him but keeping her hand on his shoulder. “Come with me and I shall show you this place.”
Drago stood up, feeling a passing dizziness, but steadying himself almost immediately.
“You are still shaken from your journey through the Star Gate,” StarLaughter said. “Stand a while, get your bearings.”
Suddenly Drago remembered his sack. It lay on the floor by his feet and he bent down for it. The Sceptre might be gone, but the sack’s presence still somehow comforted Drago.
StarLaughter smirked. “What is it you dragged through with you from Tencendor, Drago? Here, let me see.”
And she snatched it from him.
Drago tried to hang on, but StarLaughter had moved too quickly, and she hefted the sack in her hands.
“What is this?” she said, and thrust a hand in the sack. “What?”
She drew out her hand and it was filled with silver coins.
“What?” Drago echoed, and seized the sack from StarLaughter. He emptied it out on the couch. All it contained was silver coins. Perhaps twenty-five or thirty. Almost dazed, Drago sifted them through his fingers. They were weighty, and each had stamped on one side a sword, and on the other a staff.
StarLaughter chuckled, and ran a hand through Drago’s hair. “Did you think to pay for your passage, my delightful man?”
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