Hidden Ashes, a Wings of Equinox Short Story, Part Four: I See the King

True to his word, Eaglecloud did show her around the territory. There was much to see. Waterfalls and rivers glittered like glass from the air. Greenness spread far and wide over the territory with the growth of grass.

She soon found herself spending every spare minute she had with Eaglecloud. Life settled into a rhythm. She began to merge into the herd and they finally accepted her as one of them. The more she learned about the truth of the Shakira, the less she wanted to go back. Here there weren’t any rules about who you had to be, whether you could fight. You had a choice.

She liked the choice.

Perhaps she could have forgotten it all if it hadn’t been for the flashbacks. And the idea still nagging at her soul that the death of Kestrelmist was her fault.

Because it was. If she hadn’t been such a wimp, or a showoff, then she would have been able to save her. The bloodied green and pink feathers lingered in her mind and her soul tortured her til the morning with possible scenarios of how it happened.

But in every single one of her dreams and flashbacks, the dragon was there. His evil orange eyes pulsed and glowed. They gripped her and choked her.

She would always wake up at the brink of her death.

“So, where do you want to go today?” She asked as Eaglecloud came up to the large tree. “The Mirror Pool? The river?”

Eaglecloud smiled. “I actually have a different idea today. I have something that I have to go to, and I want you to come with me.”

“Is it a mission?” Mapleberry asked.

“No. It’s just across the field.” Eaglecloud pawed the earth. “So? Are you coming or not?”

Mapleberry turned to Morningbird. The mare nodded. “Go on. I have an idea about what this “something” is and I say it’s worth going to.”

Mapleberry nickered and jostled Eaglecloud’s shoulder. “Come on! We’ll race.”

He shook his head. “Not today, MB.”

MB. The nickname that had slowly stuck over the weeks she’d been here was filled with a curious tone. She snorted. “What, are you too good for racing now?”

“Today’s a different kind of day.” He said. “You’ll see.”

They walked across the field. Mapleberry looked from side to side and noticed that the herd was gathering in the center around the chief stallion Rowansun. Next to him stood Emberpine, his lead mare, tucking their colt Nightleaf under her wing. The foal’s blue eyes and white face stood out against his black coat.

Grayfeather was standing next to Rainsun, something like pride burning on his wisened face. “Eaglecloud, my son.” He grunted. “Today is the day you become a commander.”

A commander! Mapleberry turned to Eaglecloud. “This is what you wanted me to come to?”

He nodded. “I wanted you to be here.”

Something in his gaze tickled her heart. She looked away, feeling heat spread across her face.

“Eaglecloud, son of the late Ravenfeather and Larkshade, today you are a member of the Commanders of Prairie Tribe. From this day forward, you are no longer Eaglecloud, son of a Commander, but Eaglefeather, Prairie Tribe Commander!”

The uproar that followed was monstrous, as all of Prairie Tribe chanted his new title. Eaglecloud– Eaglefeather, dipped his head, and every pegasus in the tribe whooped and reared, flapping their wings to celebrate the achievement of the stallion.

But not her. As soon as she saw the rearing and flapping, her mind reverted back to the day of the battle.

Suddenly, she was there again. The blood, the bodies, her sister fighting, meeting Eaglefeather.

Then Abaddon came again.

Why do you think you can escape me? He asked, flicking his large black tongue at her almost as if he were tasting her skin. You are never safe from my reach. You may go to the ends of the earth, the corners of the universe, but beware! I shall always find you. I shall always have a hold on you, and I shall drag you down to the depths of my kingdom of fire. You burned your sister, so I shall burn you.

He blew the softest of breaths, but it shrouded her in fire, burning her alive. She screamed and threw herself to the ground, trying to put it out, but only being successful in watching herself burn.

“Mapleberry!” Eaglefeather’s scream of horror was somewhere far off. It jerked at her mind, almost drawing her back to the present, but the dragon reached out a scaly paw and dragged her towards him.

Escape is futile.

“MAPLEBERRY!” Fainter and fainter grew Eaglefeather’s voice as the dragon’s breath shrouded her and burned the last of herself.

Then it ended. She was sweating and on the ground, several concerned faces staring at her. Eaglefeather looked completely horrified. “What happened?”

She jerked upright. “I… I’m fine… please… I don’t want to talk about it.”

She shoved her way through the crowd, ignoring Eaglefeather’s pleas to come back.

She would never be able to be rid of this darkness.

***

She worked in silence alongside Morningbird. The old mare kept giving her curious, blind glances, but Mapleberry ignored the silent questions of what was wrong. It was something she needed to figure out herself.

“We need more mallow.” She said. “Your supply is running low.”

Morningbird sighed and folded her wings. “I heard about yesterday.”

Mapleberry pinned her ears. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I understand.” Morningbird nodded. “I just know a way that you can get rid of that dragon inside your head. That lie, that you keep holding on to.”

Mapleberry jerked around, eyes wide. “How… how do you…”

Morningbird smiled. “I’ve been blind since birth. I know how to see in more ways than one. I walk with the King, thus He is my eyes.”

The King again. That repulsed feeling squirmed in her stomach.

“How do you know it’s a lie?” Mapleberry asked. “It’s the truth. It’s my fault that Kestrelmist is dead.”

“And why is that?”

“If I wasn’t so upset by the fighting… I wouldn’t have challenged Eagleclo– Eaglefeather. Then I wouldn’t have gotten hurt. And I might have been able to protect Kestrelmist when she was attacked.”

“Might have.” Morningbird snorted, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

She shuffled around, sniffing herbs. Then she glanced at Mapleberry. “Did you see your sister fall? Do you know that she is dead?”

Mapleberry paused. “I… no. I only assumed because I saw the feathers. Green and pink, like mine. All bloody.”

A look swept over Morningbird’s face. “I was given a description of all the dead.”

“Really?”

Morningbird nodded. “I recall no green and pink feathers except for your own. You’d torn some scraping against the cliff.”

Mapleberry’s chest tightened. She tried to close her eyes, steady her breathing, but all she could see was fire. Death. Blood.

“My sister could still be dead. It means nothing.”

“My daughter, you are in the clutches of a lie. It is tearing you apart. It’s shredding your soul. Why do you hold so closely to the darkness?”

Why indeed? Mapleberry weaved as the burning sensation crept along her flesh. Darkness was pain. Torture. It was everything her family had stood for, trained for, lived for.

But there was no hope in darkness.

Morningbird came very close, her warm breath tingling on Mapleberry’s skin. “Let the light of the King in.” She whispered. “Let Adonai into your darkness. He can give you Light that never fades.”

Mapleberry skittered backwards, hyperventilating. Her vision was darkening and she was back on the battlefield, held down by the monstrous claws of Abaddon.

You pitiful soul. He sneered. Why do you constantly struggle against me? Give up and you shall have no more pain.

She struggled against the iron claws, writhing, but like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, she was trapped.

A horrible, ear-splitting cackle erupted from the dragon’s mouth. Give up! He screamed. Give up!

  She was weakening. Her heart slowed and her eyes dimmed as her nostrils filled with the scent of the poisonous dragon breath. Maybe I should…

Yes… give up. The dragon hissed. Be free of this torture…

She stopped resisting. She barely noticed the claws of the dragon tightening around her, filling her inner being with a pure, cold fear.

It burned worse than fire. It seeped into every corner until she was nothing more than ice. She shivered and screamed as it slowly consumed her.

YES!! The dragon laughed. YES!!!

But in the middle of the screeching howl, there came a most unusual noise.

A roar. It wasn’t a dragon’s roar, as she was used to, but a more powerful, throatier sound, filled with love and light and music and pure, righteous fury. It made the dragon stop and sneer.

You… He hissed, flicking his tongue.

She turned her head to follow his gaze.

A white lion, eyes burning turquoise, stared at the dragon. “Let her go, Abaddon!” He snarled, actually speaking out loud. “She is one of Mine.”

Her? The dragon glanced down at her with a sneer. What could you possibly want with such a worthless, runty thing? She cannot fight. She cannot kill. She is nobody, less than dirt.

“Silence!” The Lion roared. “You have no say in who she is.”

Oh yes… the dragon’s voice seeped with sarcasm. But she doesn’t know that. I can still fill her head with lies.

The Lion leapt forward. As he did, Mapleberry realized exactly how large the Lion really was. It was massive. Bigger than the dragon. Bigger than everything.

Either the Lion grew larger or they grew smaller.

“Your fate is in my grasp, Abaddon. You know what the end is. Leave!” The Lion roared.

NO! You cannot have her! Abaddon screeched desperately.

The Lion leapt forward, clawing at the dragon’s throat. Mapleberry was tossed out of the dragon’s claws and fell on the ground.

Lion and dragon tumbled around the valley. She closed her eyes as the Lion drew long lines of blood down the black scales of the dragon, shredding him. She winced as the dragon screamed in pain and fury.

Suddenly, the cacophony silenced. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the Lion, not a scratch on his white coat, and now only a little bigger than she.

“Rise.” He said softly to her. She did, scrabbling to her feet.

The lion’s gaze was as pure as the blue-green summer sea, soft, loving. “Tell me, little daughter, why do you tremble?”

“The dragon… he breathed on me.” Mapleberry’s teeth chattered. “He… he filled me with ice..”

The Lion stepped closer. “Would you like to be free of the darkness?”

Mapleberry’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Would you like me to free you?”

She shuddered. “You are a lion. You will eat me.”

“You are in no danger.” He whispered. 

“But you are so beautiful, so perfect, and I am so broken.”

“Well then, I can heal you.” He purred. “But I cannot help you if you do not ask.”

She blinked. Finally, she nodded. “Please… please free me.”

The Lion blew softly on her face. Unlike the breath of the dragon, it was warm and healing. It filled her lungs and seeped through her body. The scars slashed on her hide where the dragon’s claws cut her became like new.

He pressed his forehead to hers and the blackness in her mind was blasted with light. She felt a strange emotion… joy, rising inside of her. She never knew what that felt like.

She looked up at the Lion, eyes shining with tears. “How did you do that?”

The Lion smiled at her. “You know.”

Mapleberry stepped back, a realization flooding her soul. This was the King! The white lion that Morningbird spoke of.

“You are the King?” She whispered. “You are Adonai?”

The lion nodded. “And you are Mapleberry. My beloved. My chosen. My daughter.”

She blinked, inhaling sharply. “I never… I’m…I…”

“Hush.” He said. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I will leave you with these three things: you will see Kestrelmist again, you are mine, and you are healed.”

The Lion’s face melted away, back to the inside of Morningbird’s tree. Morningbird was standing in front of her. “Do you see now?” She asked. “Do you see the King?”

She nodded, slowly. “I do.” She whispered. “I see the King.”