Phoenix Gift

Part One: Chapter One

“Look maya, look. I’m on the purple one!” Alexis called. Now five years old, there was no sign that her entrance into the world had been difficult.[1]

Alexis wore a multicolor, knitted vest over a plain white shirt, gypsy leggings under a colorful riding skirt and short-heeled boots. A multicolored headband tamed her blonde hair from her face. Likewise, her mother also wore simple garments far below her station. There was little need for ceremony on their small island home. The other children had already retreated from the gardens, leaving the royal pair alone as evening approached. Akina sat on the bench, watching Alexis ride the jeweled carousel.

The carousel slowed and stopped. The violet horse Alexis rode slid down its gilded pole. She dismounted and ran along the line of carousel horses to a green one with a golden mane and tail. When her hand touched its polished hide, the horse slid down its pole, allowing her to climb onto the padded saddle. Alexis situated herself and sat quietly as the horse rose. Then the music chimed and the carousel turned.

“Look maya, I’m on the green one!”

Akina smiled. In her lap, a light green Castle Dragon slept. It was serpentine with a tapered muzzle. Its glowing ruby eyes were closed in afternoon slumber. Delicate wings were folded along its body and a pair of horns jutted vertically from its skull. A bronze bell, engraved with the dragon’s name, hung from a chain around its sinewy neck. The dragon shifted and purred while Akina stroked its smooth, shimmering scales and the short, webbed crest at the back of its head. The tip of its long tail contentedly twitched back and forth.

Akina’s mind drifted away from the carousel, beyond the low brick walls that separated the gardens from the rest of the courtyard. Her mind continued to the castle gates and the meadow rolling toward the forest. In her mind’s eye, she was floating and looking down on the isle of Milagros.

At its center was the meadow, with a lake of clear water at the northern end. Enclosing the meadow was an enchanted forest. Surrounding the interior of the island was an unbroken canyon ridge. Beyond the ridge was another forest, a beach with sand shimmering gold and then the clear, blue sea.

There were no villages or roads. Only the castle, stables, a few cultivated fields and a harbor of ships indicated that people existed there at all. Their presence was secondary to the creatures sharing their borders. Growing rarer in the outside world, Milagros was their last refuge.

The island was crescent in shape with its points reaching out into the water as if to embrace it. A coral reef connected the two points. The reef opposed the curve of the island so that the two, together; island and reef, created an unbroken circle, like the carousel.

Akina’s mind returned to the playful instrument as it came to another stop. She watched Alexis dismount, run to another jeweled horse, climb into the saddle and wait. The music began and the carousel turned.

“Look maya, I’m on the blue one!”

Akina smiled, looking at the sky. She felt her mind drift further from the island, beyond the magical barrier that separated Milagros from the rest of the lands of Nuwa. She was born on the Southern Continent and grew up following the ceaseless wanderings of her gypsy band.

* * *

A ray of light broke through the canopy and rained down on an egg. It gleamed as Akina knelt beside it. She could hear a clapping sound and muffled chirps. It shifted and a small hole formed. A beak appeared and slowly enlarged the hole. After several moments of tedious work, the shell finally cracked and split open.

A green dragon pup flopped onto its side. It was serpentine with short legs and delicate wings. A pair of small buds on its skull marked placement for future horns. The scaly pup laid exhausted and blinked orange eyes that would deepen to red as it matured. The creature gathered its limbs, looked up at her and chirped. She giggled at the ungainly creature.

* * *

Alexis’s laughter brought Akina back to the present. She awakened the dragon by gently shaking one of its long horns. It blinked, yawned and crawled off her lap to sit on the bench. Akina stood and walked toward the carousel. The dragon chirped. Leaping from the bench, it stretched its wings, hovered a moment, then landed and hurried after Akina. The carousel slowed to a stop with Alexis in front of her.

“Come now, time to go inside,” Akina said.

“Once more, please?”

“You’ve been riding since midday. The other children have already gone back to the castle for their supper.”

“Once more, please? Then I’ve ridden them all. Please?”

Akina smiled into her daughter’s expectant face and nodded, “All right, once more.”

“Thank you, maya!” Alexis slipped off the blue horse and ran to a pink one with a golden mane and tail. The music started as the carousel turned.

Akina stepped away from it and walked back to the bench, but did not sit down. She stared at the meadow through the open castle gates, watching the unicorns graze. Her mind drifted elsewhere, back to Nuwa, where unicorns were more elusive.

“Maya?”

Akina’s wandering gaze focused on the five-year-old beside her as she said, “Yes, my deerling?”[2]

“I’m ready now.”

Akina smiled. They turned and followed the meandering stone path as she asked, “Which horse is your favorite?”

“I like the green one because he’s fast, but the others are fast too, ‘cept the pink one. It likes to go slow. But I really like the blue one. He likes to jump and pretend he’s flying. The purple one—”

Akina smiled, but her thoughts drifted inward. In her mind, she was on the road, traveling with her band.

* * *

Unshod hooves shuffled along, kicking up dust and grit. The air was alive with the voices of goats and sheep, cattle, chickens, dogs and horses. Gypsy cattle were lighter than oxen and the bulls pulled wagons alongside the horses.

Ah, darling Treasure. The golden mare possessed a mane and tail as pale as light. Spirited, she could take her rider to the farthest horizon. Riding Treasure, Akina thought the horse would sprout wings and take to the sky.

* * *

“—Maya, where are we going?”

“Hmmm?” Akina blinked, realizing her mind had wandered too far.

“Where are we going?”

“Inside, it’s almost dinner time.”

“Oh. All right,” Alexis skipped ahead, waving a willow branch like a wand and singing.

The dragon scurried after her. Akina’s wandering eyes studied the surrounding scenery. Flowers of all hues grew in the cultivated beds where weeds did not grow. Each blossom gave off its own perfume so that the smells varied more than the color.

“Cadmus!”

Breathing deeply, Akina focused on her daughter. Alexis stood on the path, hands on her hips scolding the dragon as it hunted insects deeper into the plants.

“Maya, Cadmus isn’t listening,” Alexis turned to her mother.

Akina joined her and said, “Cadmus, kwende.”[3]

Leaves rustled as the dragon emerged from the foliage and hopped onto the path. The reptile barked. Alexis scooped him into her arms. Half of the serpentine creature hung over her shoulder. The dragon looked up at Akina, chirping.

“Good boy, Cadmus,” Akina scratched the dragon’s chin.

“Maya?” Alexis turned to her mother.

“Yes, my deerling?”

“Someone’s coming,” Alexis gazed past her mother with eyes that seemed to penetrate the castle walls.

“Coming?”

“Yes, two dragons, other animals and two men.”

“How do you know this?” Akina asked, thinking it one of Alexis’s games.

“I can hear their hearts beating. One of the men is old, and the other is really, really old. And they’re magical.”

“Magical? Are you certain?” Akina asked, startled by Alexis’s description of wizards.

“Yes.”

“Then, as Queen and Princess, it is only right we greet our guests,” Akina said.

It was not one of Alexis’s games. Worry pressured her mind, but Akina knew the magic of the island would protect them. There was nothing to fear, but her worry didn’t dissipate. Her head felt light, and her skin flushed with heat. The image of Deren flashed in her mind. Something had sent the unicorn away that day. Now, Akina felt the messenger drawing near again. This time, it would not be turned away.

Alexis set the dragon down and took her mother’s hand. They crossed the courtyard and walked through the castle gate, guarded by a pair of stone lions, and into the meadow. They stopped and stood on a small hill in front of the castle. Cadmus seated himself at their feet like a guard dog.