Chapter Thirteen

 

 

He was naked. That was going to be a problem if he met anyone in the hallways as he dashed out the big doors of the throne room and turned right. He had hoped the wizard wouldn’t throw the knife, or, worse yet, utter a spell that froze him. But Pari thought he just might need his staff for that. However, just in case it simply hadn’t occurred to him, Pari took the very next turn in the hall as well.

Ahh. An open door just down and to his left. He could use that.

Yes. He would try.

He had to time this perfectly.

He slowed his pace knowing the old man that the wizard was could not keep up with him. Then, when Udalf came around the corner at the fastest sprint he was probably capable of, Pari dashed into that open door. He opened his hand and let the mirror he had been holding all this time fall to the floor just inside the doorway.

“Eotacirg, Eotacirg.”

The mirror grew to the size it had been before and Pari jumped into it, rolling out on the dirt on the other side. When Udalf turned to run into the room as well, no doubt believing he had trapped Pari, he dropped into the mirror instead, as if falling into a hole and ended up tumbling in front of Pari in the dungeon below the throne.

In the past where he couldn’t exist, according to the troll.

Udalf was confused at first as he scrambled to his feet. But then his chest began to glow. He glanced at himself then back up to Pari. “You bastard!” he screamed. “This can’t be happening.” He batted at the beams of light that were coming out of his eyes now, his back, even his feet. “A stupid, fucking Ruby tricked me! No! I can’t end like this…” but that was it. Light beams replaced his mouth and then an explosion rocked the room and sent Pari into the wall behind him.

A moment later Maxsim came running down the stairs. He gawked at Pari when he saw him but then ran to him and grabbed him and pulled him into a fierce hug.

“Pari, you asshole. I can’t believe you tried to leave me behind! What happened in here? What was that explosion?”

Pari laughed. He couldn’t really hear the prince, but he was able to make out all the words. He glanced to where the wizard had once stood. All that remained was a dip in the dirt. He wondered briefly if that explosion also took out the wizard in this era too.

But Maxsim was talking. Yelling actually. But oh, how beautiful it was he was doing it. Pari put his arms around him. “I love you.”

He stopped his yammering. “What?”

Pari pulled back to gaze up into his eyes. “I love you. I didn’t want you to come because I went to save the Pearl dragons in the future. But it wasn’t necessary. They didn’t even exist anymore.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t go anywhere. Well—you flew off and then disappeared by that garbage heap. I flew back here to get to this mirror because it somehow transports people, and I knew if I went through it, it would take me to you, but obviously you came back too… although I fly much faster than you and I didn’t see you… Wait. Where’s the mirror?”

Pari glanced at the wall where the mirror had once stood. There was nothing left of it. Not even dust. Of course, the explosion would have obliterated the mirror. That meant it was destroyed on the other side as well. “Gone. For good.”

Maxsim huffed. “What happened, Pari? I mean it. Tell me. Are we going to go to your future or not?”

Pari laughed again. “Not, big guy. It’s already been handled. And we are home. Well, our southern home.” He sobered. “We need to get back to the north though. See if that black snow…”

“So we aren’t going. Why?”

“Oh, my love, I’ve been there, took care of the problem, and come back. And another thing, having sex in mid-air as dragons…”

“Mating.”

“Okay yes, mating. What’s that supposed to do?”

“Pari, I can understand you not really knowing anything about dragons, because there were no dragons around while you were growing up. But surely your mother told you about the—how shall I say this—panaroos and the Wyverns?”

“A man becoming pregnant?”

“Two mating dragons begetting.”

“Two male dragons.”

“Of course. It’s natural. You’re my mate, I’m yours, we mate, we procreate. Simple biology.”

“In my time—well—it’s not that way.” But, of course, it was now.

“Really? We’re going to start with that nonsense again?”

“What nonsense?”

“About you being from another time. Pari, you were gone all of a minute. Maybe two. Yet you claim to have done away with the enemy?”

“Well—yes—time is… different there. It moves… slower.” He shook his head. Even he knew how that sounded. Crazy. “Never mind. It’s no longer important.” He gazed up at his mate, who was shaking his beautiful head, a smirk on his amazing lips.

“Can you fly?”

“Of course.”

“Good. We’re going north to see about the black snow. I have no worries though. The darkness has been lifted. Completely. So…” He wagged his eyebrows at Pari.

“What?”

“Soooo, we don’t have to hurry. We don’t have to get back right away.”

“We don’t have to hurry home? What would you want to do? I mean, we would be flying. What is it that we could do flying to pass the time?”

Maxsim frowned. “I could think of one thing.”

“Oh, me too! Sight-seeing! I didn’t get a chance to do that because, well, there was the mirror and then the time-travel. I just kind of popped in and out. Oh, oh, we could cloud surf! Have you ever done that? You soar through the clouds at great speed and you can’t see a thing! It’s fucking awesome! Oh, and maybe we could take a detour to the sea! I’ve never seen the…”

Maxsim took Pari into a strong embrace and covered Pari’s mouth with a deep kiss.

Well, to be fair, they had never done it in a dungeon.