Chapter 21

Skyla had come back with a satisfied look on his face to tell them that Alberto was no more.

He had been horrified as he watched the demise of his Queen. He stood transfixed until Ricky called for him to come and help him and Micky.

Silver howled the whole time that Ricky tried to remove the shackle from her legs. Ricky had to get Skyla to hold her while he worked, so she stayed still long enough for him to get the spell to work. Even Micky had her arms wrapped around Silver’s neck.

Ricky wasn’t sure how much Micky’s caterwauling and constantly saying she was sorry was helping Silver, but then Skyla wasn’t exactly quiet with his sobs either. Ricky sucked back his own tears and worked at freeing Silver.

No one was able to stop Silver once he said that she was free. She pushed them all away and scrambled up and raced over to collapse on her mother’s body. Her sobs were heart-wrenching.

With sadness, Ricky went and knelt beside Fleur and gently touched her head. ‘Why did you confront him, my Queen, why?’ he thought. From what felt like a soft caress in his head, he heard her ask him to look after Silver for her.

“It is my honour and my duty to look after the Queen the of Dragons. Even more so when she already owns a pieced of my heart,” he replied aloud as he patted Fleur’s crest.

He then heard Fleur say, ‘Goodbye my daughter. Please heed Rickard’s council and try not to be as impetuous as I was in my youth.’

Ricky chuckled, “And not like she was in her old age, either.”

‘Why, mother, why?’ Silver sobbed in a most un-dragon like behaviour.

‘It was my time. I have had my revenge. I must go now,’ the voice faded from Silver’s and Ricky’s heads, and they both knew she truly had gone.

Ricky sat back, and as he did, he noticed something strange about the body. Quickly he got up and dragged Silver off her mother. “No,” she cried out aloud.

However, Ricky and Skyla both held her firmly. They all watched in fascination, as the body shrank and folded in on itself and within mere minutes it was reduced to ash.

Except that in the ash was a pink-gold object. It looked a bit like a 20cm high candlestick with a very large Quaz crystal sitting in the cone-shaped holder. Six large beautifully cut gems dotted around the holder. However, the base wasn’t flat, it was a ball on obsidian. The dowel-like section in the middle had spiralling grooves in it, and it was tapered where it joined the holder.

“Silver, is that what I think it is?” Ricky asked.

‘Yes,’ she sniffed. ‘But I can’t touch it.’

“Why can’t you touch it?” Micky asked.

‘Once I claim it, I am the Queen. My pride must split before I claim it, or they will all be trapped here with me until I die. Mother wants the tribe to split. She has worked towards this goal for so long I can’t disappoint her.’

“So, what do we do with the sceptre in the meantime? It can’t stay there,” Ricky replied.

‘You are the Paladin; you can take care of the Sceptre until the spring. Once we have seen off those who wish to leave, I can then claim the throne as my mother wished. For some reason, I don’t think you should touch it with your bare hands. Unless of course, you wish to be the Queen, so I don’t have to be.’

Ricky was not happy with this development.

Reluctantly, Ricky reached into his pack that was still strapped to his chest.

He rummaged around and pulled out a shirt that was just as loud as the one he wore. Its dominant background was blues and greens with a huge pink flower on the front, across where it buttoned up and another on the back.

Rickard shook out the shirt to lay it across the sceptre. Suddenly he was pushed from behind. As he went to fall forward, another hand tried to reach the sceptre before he could. Instinct alone had him tell the sceptre to come to him as he rolled in the direction he was pushed.

As his hand wrapped around the cool gold, he felt a massive shudder go through his body, and he convulsed. He continued rolling until he was on his side in a foetal position. His body shook and shivered for a minute until he lay still.

Simon scrabbled around on his knees and spread Fleur’s remains as he searched for the sceptre. He then realised Ricky had it and reached out to find Ricky’s arm to claim the sceptre.

Enraged at him desecrating the dragon’s ashes, and trying to hurt Ricky, Micky lashed out. She caught him under the jaw with her thick-soled, black boot and snapped his head back.

Simon flopped onto his back in a cloud of ash, his eyes rolled back, and he moved no more.

Micky and Silver both knelt down beside the prone Ricky.

Micky touched him, and he felt alive, so she tried to roll him on his back. She was then making funny ‘Humph’ noises as Ricky dragged her down to his lips and kissed her soundly.

Micky was finally able to extract herself from his lips and sat back, breathing heavily. “What was that about?” she grumbled.

Ricky sat up and flicked his longish silver hair back and looked at the others. “What?” he said innocently.

Wow!’ Silver said with large golden eyes as she stated at Ricky.

Skyla then did a dragon’s bow, ‘Greeting’s Queen Richard.’

“What?” squawked Ricky.

“Ricky, where is the Sceptre?” Micky asked him with her hands on her hips as she knelt in front of him.

Ricky held out his hand, and it appeared. “See, I have it.” It then disappeared again, and he had to call it back again. It stayed for a few seconds and disappeared again. “Now that is odd,” Ricky said.

“Ricky, why is your wand on the floor?” Micky asked him.

They all turned to see that his old wand was indeed on the floor beside the husk of Simon’s body. As they watched Simon’s body also finished disintegrating. Leaving a medallion and a ring for a three-gemmed mage in his pile of clothes.

The also realised that Joshua’s body had disintegrated as well, and they all wondered why the human bodies were doing this. It normally took several months for a body to become ash.

Micky got up, and she went and picked up the three magical items up. “They are all inert and broken.”

She gave them and the wand to Ricky, who realised that the wand didn’t belong to him anymore. Out of curiosity, he told his ring and his medallion to appear. His little audience gasped, and he soon could see why.

Both items had somehow acquired extra gems, so they now had six gems on them plus the Quaz crystals. Ricky looked at the items in his hand and realised the gems were now missing from them.

“You just need a diadem. Actually, shouldn’t it be a crown?” Micky said to the very perturbed new Queen.

They were all surprised when Ronan knelt at Ricky’s feet and offered him a diadem. It had five bands of different types of metals to make up the circlet. A diamond, an opal and a topaz were on it with the Quaz crystal. They were Ricky’s three strongest disciplines.

“It was Joshua’s. When the Queen killed him, the spells he had on us, released us. I think it also released us from your spell too, Queen Rickard. I’m not even sure when I came under his spells.”

“Simon introduced me to him, and it seems to me I’ve just worked for him ever since. I’m not even sure how long that has been.”

“What of the other two?” Ricky asked and moved to see what had happened to the guards. He walked over to where the shackles were and saw two rings on the floor in the dust and empty clothes. He absently put the diadem into his pack and not on his head.

“Ronan, can you pick up the old magical items and the clothes and put them in a bag so I can dispose of them later please.”

“Yes, Sire,” Ronan answered immediately and went to find a bag to comply with Ricky’s wishes.

“Wait, Ronan. Do you still wear any magical items?”

“Yes, Sire, I have a medallion that has three-gems and that odd obsidian gem at the top. Lord Joshua once told me that the gem didn’t care what spell you put on it once you were claimed by a master.”

“So, because I’m now a Regent and also wear that gem then your ownership was transferred to me?” Ricky questioned.

Ronan frowned. “I’m now quite sure it works that way. The spells Joshua had on the medallion to control me are gone. But as soon as I saw you, I knew that you would be a better master. Because the gem is now your signature gem as a Queen, hum, sorry, Regent. It just felt right to offer you my service.”