Rangers magic 3, p.36
Ranger's Magic 3, page 36
But in the years since the reoccupation of Highbough, the space had been turned into a wide, open garden. It was protected from the wind by a stone wall on one side and the mountain on the other, but for all that, it was still an exposed place, and the plants that did best here were low, sturdy ones: scented heathers, beds of mint and flowering thyme, and rockeries thick with gleaming green mosses.
Meandering paths traversed the beds of plants, and their view from over the wall was breathtaking. In winter, the garden did not see much use, but in spring and summer, it was a favorite retreat for many in the city, and it was open to everyone.
They stepped out into the late summer afternoon, and Akhen stopped. Standing near the wall, there was a group of figures who turned to face Ralnor and Akhen as they emerged from the doorway.
Ralnor raised a hand to conceal a smile as Akhen glared. Awaiting them by the wall were General Farlo, Queen Lana, and High Mage Sena. With them were Lana and Farlo’s three children, and the three children of Ralnor and Lana were there also. Ralnor’s eldest son, Prince Jahden, shifted his feet and stared at the ground.
“Jahden told you all?” Akhen guessed.
“He did,” Lana said, glaring at him. “And we guessed you would come up here once you were finished talking to Ralnor about it. And you!” she said to Ralnor, poking him in the chest. “You would have just let him do it without telling us!”
“It’s his choice.” Ralnor shrugged.
“You slippery old trickster,” Lana said, gently slapping Akhen’s head so the old fellow glowered at her. “You thought you would say goodbye to all of us then slip off quietly with only Ralnor as your accomplice? But you’ve misjudged how much we care about you, Akhen. We won’t stop you from leaving if that’s what you want to do, but we want to be with you when you go.”
Akhen suddenly broke out in a grin and cackled loudly. “You’ve learned to be wise to my tricks at last, then,” he said, then he suddenly rushed over to Jahden and prodded him hard in the ribs. “You, young fellow, have a lot to answer for, upsetting my plans like this.”
“I’m glad he did so,” Farlo put in, leaning over and placing a heavy hand on Jahden’s shoulder. “Initiative is what I look for in a pupil—and particularly a pupil of Jahden’s position. He will be king one day. He cannot be intimidated into secrecy by a grouchy old half-elf like you.”
Farlo had grown over the years. He had always been tall and strong, but now he was broad as a giant, and he had—much to Ralnor’s initial horror—grown a long, brown beard. “Sena likes it,” Farlo had said with a shrug when Ralnor had teased his friend about it, and there had been nothing Ralnor could say to counter that.
The group was like family. They crowded around Akhen, the young people familiar and joking with him, and the older folk reminiscing one last time about the adventures they had shared together.
Ralnor kept apart from this, observing with a smile though not participating. He had already had a good long talk with Akhen about the old times. He would let the others have their turn. He watched, and as he did so, he saw that Prince Jahden was also standing back from the others, watching fondly as they said their goodbyes.
Jahden raised his eyes and met his father’s gaze. He smiled, and Ralnor dropped him a swift wink. Jahden’s smile grew as he understood that his father approved of what he’d done.
At last, Akhen stepped away. He smiled around at them all and then looked at the sky. For a moment, there was a total hush as they all waited to see what would happen.
Akhen stood still, looking upward, his eyes open, smiling, his hands at his sides. Then, slowly, he began to rise into the air. Up, he rose, and up again until he was nothing more than a black speck like an eagle in the blue of the summer sky.
Then, just as he was about to vanish from view completely, there was an enormous white flash high up in the heavens. The light expanded outward like a fireball, sending bolts of lightning back and forth across the clear sky. A moment later, they heard a great rolling boom as of distant thunder, and the light was gone.
They all stood, gazing upward. Ralnor felt Lana’s hand slip into his, and he turned to look at her.
“I’ll miss him,” she said, “but I understand why he had to go.”
“You do?” Ralnor said. “I’m glad. I’m not certain that I do fully myself, though I get that he had his reasons.”
“Why, Mother?” It was Sharlo who spoke—Ralnor and Lana’s youngest. “Why did he have to go?”
Lana leaned over and spoke to her youngest daughter in a voice that was intimate but also clear enough for all the others to hear.
“He had to go, child, because his task here was done, and it was time to go home. Everyone has their part to play—everyone. He had played his part and played it well. Now, it is time for others to play theirs.”
She put her arm around Sharlo’s shoulders and turned to gaze out over the view. Ships moved to and fro in the harbor, and travelers moved back and forth on the roads. Work went on in the urban sprawl below them, and far off on the other side of the river, folk were expanding, building new villages and settlements to work the river trade routes and to take advantage of the pasture land farther from the city.
It was true, Ralnor thought. Akhen had played his part and played it well. And Ralnor himself had played his own role, and he had succeeded. The old elven realms were established, peace and trade flourished throughout the known world, and the humans and elves lived in harmony, trading ideas and knowledge as well as goods between the lands.
And the dungeons thrived. Magic was flourishing in the world, and no one viewed it as an abomination anymore. It was becoming normal for everyone to have at least some magic, and new kinds of magic and new uses for magic were being discovered all the time.
But his work was not done. Ralnor had been king ever since Harald’s death, about five years after the defeat of Gaur and the peace treaty between the elves and the humans. Ralnor the young Ranger had laid the foundations, but it was King Ralnor the First, and those who would come after him, who would build on those foundations.
“Come along,” King Ralnor said. The others turned away from the view with him, and with his family around him, King Ralnor headed back down into Highbough City.
End of Ranger’s Magic
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DB King, Ranger's Magic 3
