1/3/1348
Madrid
late evening

A knock at her inner sanctum door startled Callas. The guard on duty--his name was Matthew, she thought--stuck his head in the door.

"Mistress?"

"Yes?" Callas replied.

"The archives dropped off these files for you. Something you requested, they said."

"Thank you, Matthew. Set them down on my desk."

Matthew crossed the room, he couldn't have been much older than Callas. Probably early twenties, his face was so youthful, so full of hope. He looked at Callas as if she could right every wrong in the world. Oh, if it were so simple as blind faith. That's what they give me, they expect me to solve all their problems, all the world's problems. But all I feel like doing is surrendering, just so it is all over. But I can't, not yet anyway. Maybe someday. I wonder if I ever looked like I had very few cares in the world. I see lines in the mirror that have grown overnight. Worry lines crisscrossing my face.

Matthew closed the door again, bowing.

Callas reached for the files. They were marked simply Headmaster Aru of the Andorran Temple of Epona, 584 to 1066. It was a large file, full of papers, even Aru's headmaster appointment papers. It was filled with files, most beyond boring. Requisitions of supplies, a note of a recommendation for cleaning out a nest of orcs, a peace treaty signed by Aru with the rest of the white dragons and the Headmaster of the Epona order in 785.

Callas paused for a second, then set that file aside. She sifted on, until the later years. Here were the files that she was searching for, the first mention of Beatrice in 1055. A new acolyte to Epona in Andorra, her becoming a priestess in 1059, her assignment to the headmasters personal horses. That was interesting. The order wasn't signed by Aru but his second, a Jonas Shorl. In 1061, there is an entry of the forthcoming marriage of Aru and Beatrice. Later that same year, a marriage drawing, this is what Callas had been looking for. Jonas presided and he drew the picture. She was beautiful, a long dark haired beauty. Her drawing was almost exactly the same as the one that hung on Callas's wall, the rendition of Epona. Callas got up and pulled the drawing off the wall. Same smile, same hair, same everything. Mother? Another of Mother's children, I would bet, my sister. She put the picture down on the desk. Mother, your libido is going to kill us all one day. The picture was stacked on top of the files, which had grown in a haphazard pile on Callas's desk and it was the last straw. The files and the picture toppled. Callas scrambled to catch them and caught quite a few but the picture fell to the ground with a thump, landing facedown. Callas got up and grabbed the picture off the floor, there was writing on the back--the artist's signature. Jonas Shorl, read the scrawl, and a date, 1253. That's odd, Aru's second. He couldn't have still been alive, unless he was a dragon himself, quite possible for Aru to have chosen another dragon to be his second.

Callas reached back for the unread files. An entry for the birth of Aru's child in 1065 and then a few more files on nothing important, then nothing more after 10/31/1066, the day that Beatrice died. Just a list of the dead, over five hundred names listed there of the bodies that were recovered and presumed dead. Callas scanned the list, looking for Jonas. She found it, presumed dead. Jonas, where have you gone, and who were you? Why was it than whenever Callas searched for answers, she only found more mysteries that couldn't be answered?

Callas closed her eyes and prayed. Lost in thought, she called for her mother. "Mother, can you hear me? Tonight I need more than your granting of my spells. I need to hear your voice. I need to know how to help Father."

"Child, you already know several ways to help your father. Its always been within you, you just need to see them all." The voice came from everywhere at once, "You need to decide what you it is that you want."

"I want my father to live."

"I know, child, so do I."

"Then save him!" Callas shouted.

"I did once, selfishly for myself. I have made his life miserable. He has spent an eternity tied to an artifact protecting it when it called, pulled from his life, time and time again. He has children he doesn't even remember, some of mine, some of his other wives and I have not helped child. I have only made it worse. People pray to us, looking for wisdom and guidance. Placing us up on a pedestal, but what were we? Mortals ourselves and all these millennia have passed under the bridge and what do we do? We do things for love and greed. We are petty and self-serving. I, child, have just as many doubts as you do about what we do. But I do the best that I can, and so do you. You know how to save and how to kill him. It's always been a matter of choice. But you are ignoring the most obvious choice."

"What choice? The orb I have thought about."

"No child, the orb is an artifact in itself. I personally don't want to mess with those artifacts. I did once, and see what it got me. Your father pulled through time with me."

"What other choice is there? Either you save him or I kill him."

"What about the choice of you saving him?"

"I can't save him."

"Yes you can, with the very thing that binds him."

"The ark?"

"The ark of the Covenant can do anything you want it to do. All you have to do is open it. Life is all about choices, some good, some bad, and some that are no-win. I do it everyday and now it's your turn. Wish him back if you want, or kill him if you think that is best for him--but either way you will have to do what your conscience tells you and deal with the consequences. We all do."

Callas paused, an unspoken question on her lips.

"I will always love you, Callas. No matter what you do. I chose you to do this for the world, because I have faith that only you can find the right balance. You can find the answers to all your questions. Listen to those around you and hear the words that you don't want to hear, see those things that are beautiful and ugly. You will find the right path."

Callas went to bed, her mother's words still in her mind. Dream found her a few minutes later.

"Took you long enough to decide to look in on Galvin." Dream said, holding his hand out to her to help her from her bed.

"Shut up, Dream."

"Wrong side of the bed, much?"

"Let's go, Dream."

"Small detour first. I think you need to know all the players in this game, before you see Galvin."

Marcus stood in a white world, surrounded by snow wherever you looked. His breath came through his scarf freezing to it as it hit. That which did escape, froze in his eyebrows, his hair and even started to cake his face. Marcus ignored it, his spells kept him alive but not all that warm. It would only be a matter of time before he too would succumb to the cold and die here somewhere so far north that he soon would step off the edge of the world. Marcus didn't come alone. Behind him Dwarves, a small party of them followed him, his spells protecting them as well. His air elemental had to be wrong. What would a blue dragon come so far north for? He should be heading for a desert, someplace warm, and that would have suited Marcus. It was damn cold out here. At least the queen of Sweden, at the mention of Arnljot's name, was willing to part with a few of her finest dwarves. Marcus had already sent a note to Gaviao, telling him the location of Galvin. His orders were to rescue him if he could or not if he couldn't. He could do it with the distraction of the dwarves but likely they would be buying time with their lives. The commander, Aragus Broadshield, was your typical dwarf, rough around the edges, but prone to laugh quickly.

"What do you think, Aragus?" Marcus asked.

"Looks like a suicide mission if you ask me." Aragus said, trying to shake ice from his beard, "Old blue wyrm, named Nikodemus. Needs a good killing if you ask me, but I ain't all that sure that its us that can do it."

"Might be right, but we have to try." Marcus replied.

"Why for? Is one man worth all this trouble?" Aragus replied.

"No, no he's not." Marcus responded looking at the entrance into the side of glacier that would probably be the death of them all.

"They why do it?"

"Because it's the right thing to do, Aragus. The fight for love is always the right thing to do. If nothing else, Callas deserves that much, even if I don't believe in what she is doing."

"That's certainly not the neutral thing to do, Marcus. Are you sure you are druid, anymore?" Aragus smiled at him.

Marcus shook his head, "I wonder about that myself sometimes. But I will do what is necessary to rescue Galvin."

"For love, for honor and a hell of a story if we get out of here. You first." Aragus smiled broadly.

"Actually, me first." The voice was deep and rumbling, tinged with anger. A voice you had heard many times. It could only be Aru.

Marcus's staff was up and pointing at Aru. "Arumaga."

"Put it down, Marcus. I am not the enemy."

"That's not what I heard."

"At least not today, then. I have to be here, just like you." Aru's white cloak flew in the wind. He was not the least concerned about the cold that froze the rest to the bone.

"You are part of the council. I can't trust you."

"I could have already given you away, Marcus. You are going to have to trust me."

Marcus squinted as if thinking, he nodded and then put down the staff, "Lead on."

Aru lead the way into the tunnel. Its cold white walls smoothed from the slithering body of a large reptile that used this place as torture chamber. There were no guards, who the hell would be crazy enough to do what they were attempting. The weather was the guard and a cruel guard at that unless you were a white dragon.

"Malik was much better than this than you are, Nikodemus." Galvin spat blood at the one eyed human that stood below him. His hands, wrapped in chains, suspended him from the ceiling about 50 feet above the ice floor. A wound in his shoulder had poured blood all down his left side, the wound still seeping a little blood from the torn muscles and skin.

"I may have lost my touch, but it's hard to do anything when you are freezing to death. By the way, how's that going? You frozen yet?"

"I am not as blue as you."

"Time is not your friend, you will freeze to death before the night." Nikodemus stood before a fire trying to warm himself, but it felt as if the cold was swallowing up the heat before it could get to him.

"What do you want?"

Nikodemus stepped under him and looked up, "That's the point, Galvin. I don't want anything from you. It's what you can bring me. Callas and company will come shortly and find you dead. That should take the wind out of their sails. But you can't die quite yet, they have to think that there is a chance you can be saved."

"Honestly, Nikodemus, you really have to stop revealing all your evil plots before you kill the hero." Arumaga said, his long white dragon head said stretching into the room.

"Arumaga, what are you doing here?" Nikodemus asked spinning around.

Arumaga moved his head closer to Nikodemus until they were nearly dragon nose to human nose. White fury came from that throat, Nikodemus was lifted from the ground and thrown across the room. He came to sudden and abrupt stop against the far wall. Nik's form started to contort, human skin changing to blue scales.

Nik's blast from his own throat shot across the room, Marcus stepped in front of it, staff held high. The lightning rippled across the room and sparkled into the staff. The staff glowed a strange blue as all the power was channeled into it. Aru moved quickly, slamming into Nik. Blood flew as fang and claw drew rivers of red down each other. The dwarves chopped at Nik, like tiny loggers attacking a redwood. Still every little bit helped. Marcus weaved a spell quickly and then as easily as climbing stairs he climbed into the air, trying to get to Galvin. A second icy breath weapon went off. Its frost tinging the blue scales. Nik twisted his head trying to get a clear shot at Aru but Aru slammed his head upward at the last second. The lightning struck the ceiling of the cavern, near the chains where Galvin hung. Electricity surged down the chains. Galvin's scream could be heard for miles. The ice cavern roof didn't hold from the blast. Large chunks pelted down, the chains snapped and dropped Galvin to the floor. Nik took the second that Aru's attention was turned to Galvin to break free. He shot from the floor, heading for the opening in the ceiling. Marcus saw Galvin's body dropping and Nik trying to escape. Ice was falling all around him. He lifted his staff and pointed it toward the fleeing blue dragon. A blast of heat in a fine point shot from the staff point. Marcus never got to see if he hit anything or not. Nik's escape brought down the rest of the roof. A large chunk of ice impacted on Marcus, bearing him to the ground with a thump. He tried to rise, blood pouring down into his eyes, but he closed them to keep it out of his face. He found he couldn't open them again and sank to the ground, unconscious.

The heat beam raced across Nikodemus's back, shearing scales from his flesh and then it passed through the bone that attached his right wing to him. Like a flag flown loose from is castle wall, a blue dragon wing fluttered down on top of Aru. Aru grabbed it and flung it to the side, he looked up, his feet set to launch himself into the air. Then he looked down and saw dwarves, Marcus and Galvin laying in broken piles around him. He came to Marcus first, a quick check assured him that he would live, but with a massive headache, a probably a broken collarbone. Galvin lay still, arms burned beyond recognition. If he lived, he would never cast a spell again. Aru shrunk to human sized, now naked in the cold. He reached his hand out to touch Galvin's chest, he pulled it back after resting his hands on it for a few seconds. Shaking his head, he stepped away from him, "Its probably best you didn't survive, Galvin. And Nik, it's time for you to not survive as well. Gaius, hear me. Nikodemus is heading for a gate in Finland less than 12 miles from my current position. Marcus ripped a wing off him, he has to travel by gate. He will travel to Versailles in France. You have to get to him before he reports to Morgan Le Fay. He is heavily damaged. You have to kill him, Gaius. If he makes it to the gates of Versailles, it's all over. We will never get to Morgan if he lives to report. He still has St. George's lance on him. Use it to avenge Galvin."

Aru put his head in his hands as he slid to the ground, "Why do you do this Epona? Why? Another headmaster, another lover, dead because they loved too hard. Why do you make me watch again? She will go the same way I did, and I don't think there will be a Callas for her as there was for me."

Aru crawled across the floor and pulled Galvin into his lap, cradling him, "Epona, its been three hundred years since I last prayed to you. Don't let this happen again, not now. Epona, there has to be something that can be done, I know you can. I have worked your miracles through me before. There has to be one more that you can do. Just one more."

Epona's figure appeared ghostlike behind Aru. She placed her transparent hands on Aru's back. Aru never moved just sat holding Galvin's body. Epona's hands slipped into Aru's body. His hands lifted, fingers moving through very familiar patterns. "Es pito qui es pito. Shant e mente. Quasi yenti." It became a chant that toned in the chamber. Epona's hands slipped from Aru's body. Aru's hands continued moving more quickly and words made of magic slipped from his mouth. A blue glow surrounded him and Galvin. Epona stepped back and back, fading as she went, a small smile on her lips.

Skin shot down Galvin's arms, fingers formed, cuts sealed, color returned. Galvin coughed himself awake. Lifting one eye open he looked into the white eyes of Aru, "Aru?"

"Welcome back, Galvin."

"Will you do me a favor, Aru?"

"What?" Aru answered.

Galvin's voice was rough and a bit halting. "Never tell Callas, that I was sitting in your lap, while you were naked."

Aru smiled, "It will never pass my lips."

Callas sat up in bed, dawn streaking her windows, tears streaking her cheeks.

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