CHAPTER VIII


ANNULUS OF CONCEPTION




	At the same time as Queen Fleuridi was delivering her speech to all the people of the 
region, Dego called his ministers and briefed them on the situation.  The threat from the border 
was pushing uncomfortably closer, and by all reckoning enemy troops would reach Okrane 
tomorrow night at the latest.  With no hope of Dominion troops coming to their rescue, they 
agreed to completely evacuate all citizens, soldiers and the Seat of Government to the safety of 
the forest land lying east of the hills, near the valley of the Fly Bay.  On the night after the fall of 
Merinburg, Dego was called to a secret session of the Fly Corps' command and briefed on the 
plans of a strike on Penari.  

	With repairs having been done to Deyron's damaged craft and another one ready on the 
assembly line the Corps had nine vessels as firepower.  The Corps will fly out in groups of twos 
and threes during the following night and swoop down on enemy headquarters wave upon wave.  
Meanwhile a fleet of ships had been deployed along the southwestern coast of the Atlantic and 
as the craft would turn back to their base for necessary repowering, the fleet would continue the 
assault on Penari.  A few hours earlier a D'Orrian flotilla had already managed to break through 
the Magni-Xandian blockade and set fire to enemy supply ships.  

	While Dego was deliberating pros and cons with the Fly Corps, evacuation of Okrane 
was already well advanced and the people, determined to safe Queen and Country, continued 
with the retreat throughout the night.  Beleaguered Vesparan troops continued pouring in from 
the north but instead of regrouping in the capital, they were ordered to fan out to the east.  As 
morning came and the sun looked down from the edge of red-rimmed clouds, it shone upon a 
dead and empty city where scores of slain gliders still lay in heaps on the streets, unburied, 
tossed aside to make way for retreating wagons and carriages.  

	Throughout the remainder of the day Magni-Xandians pressed on southwards from the 
northern frontier.  Stragglers of the retreating Vesparan border army were swiftly cut down.  On 
the open roads the forces were fortified with a fresh squadron of gliders, and encountering little 
resistance they broke through the barricades of Okrane and entered the heart of the Royal Capital 
by dusk.  

	Sporadic sniper fire halted the advance at certain intersections, but in the first blaze of 
victory these desperate pockets of resistance only came like darts glancing off an armour of steel.  
The Royal castle was soon occupied and established as the Headquarters of Occupation in 
Vespar.  

	This victory was channelled to the Paramount in Penari at the same time as another report 
was riding on the airwaves.  The Procerem of the Dominion of Aseur had decided that the 
intrusion across their southern frontier was a flagrant act of aggression and the bloodshed 
engulfing the Sovereignty of Queen Fleuridi a repugnant act of inhumanity.  Subsequently border 
troops had been ordered to cleanse Dominion territory, only, from all intruders and drive them 
back into the sea.  Meanwhile Okrane had already fallen into Carlomon's hands.  

	As Magni-Xandians were celebrating the taking of the Royal Capital a fleet of gleaming 
vessels soared into the darkening eastern sky.  

* * *

	Burning ships tossed and heaved in the choppy waters of the Main all around him and 
peaks of dark red, yellow and orange crowned the seething and surging waves.  The sun sank 
towards the western rim, flinging out a shroud of deep gold over the foam and swell of the sea.  
Eugene ordered his flotilla to join the fleet that was gathering in the north, while he himself took 
command of a fast Wavecleaver and told his officers not to follow him as he proceeded further 
westwards.  

	"This is suicide!" his officers vehemently protested but he had brushed it off with absent-
minded obstinacy.  

	"This is what I have to do," he said, "This is my destiny.  Farewell, all of you, you have 
served me well, and I thank you for your courage and your loyalty."  

	With these brusque and ominous words he sprang into the Wavecleaver and as his 
officers gloomily watched him, he vanished into the smoke of the heaving sea.  He melted away 
from their lives as suddenly and enigmatically as he had appeared on the sweltering battlefields 
of D'Or to lead them into victory.  There was nothing more for them to do but to join the 
growing fleet of Admiral Kolmarin along the northern stretch.  

	Eugene steadfastly gazed westwards, the wind tugging at his chestnut hair and spindrift 
tingling his cheeks, and saw the purpose of his being clear for the first time.  He fingered the 
silver poniard at his belt with burning impatience.  No one is to blame except those who with 
murderous and power-hungry ambition sought to possess Starglory.  "I love you, father!" he cried 
into the whistling wind.  "I love you, and I am meeting my destiny!"  Even after becoming one 
he knew he would never be the same again.  He had tasted the savour of killing, and had killed 
and maimed without compunction.  Now there remained one final thing to complete: to rid 
himself of this consuming lust for revenge and find peace. 

	Without diminishing speed Eugene raced towards the coast of Penari.  No enemy ships 
obstructed him since the Magni-Xandian fleet was engaged elsewhere tightening the noose 
around Vespar.  Curls and billows of battle smoke floated along the wide surface of the Main 
and the east wind blew them in long, dark tentacles towards the southeastern shorelines of the 
Setting Continent.   Eugene reached the Penarian harbour almost at the same time as the 
contingent of Zippercraft swept down from the sky and pounced upon the city.  

* * *

	The Zippercraft zoomed down from the cloud covers with the wrath of a legion of 
gleaming eagles.  Beneath their wings the City of Penari lay glittering along the bay like an open 
shell displaying pearls.  

	"Admiral Kolmarin," Deyron spoke to his radio.  "Do you hear me?  Penari is before us.  
Ready your guns, we are attacking." 

	"My guns are waiting.  Fire away, Commander Deyron.  For Queen Fleuridi!"  

	"For Queen Fleuridi!" All crew in Deyron's craft cried out the stirring slogan which had 
become the rallying battle cry for all Vesparans since the Queen had made her impassioned plea 
to the people.  

	"Our first target," Deyron continued to direct, "will be the battle and supply ships 
anchored along the harbour.  We will wipe them out in the first wave, then regroup.  All right, 
Navigators and Controllers!  Here we go!"

	With the shrill howl of blasting wind, the Zippercraft smote down at a sharp angle, then 
swept the harbour in a smooth arc with torpedo fire spraying from their wings.  The waves of the 
bay steamed with the heat of the attack.  Ships and fortifications went up in the air and the 
harbour was thrown into a red and black inferno.  After the first burst of panic was contained, 
ground-to-air missiles spit into the sky with fiery tongues.

	"Take those missile launchers out," Deyron ordered, "upon the second sweep."  

	His voice was calm and so, astonishingly, was he.  His first baptism of battle in the 
defence of Okrane against dense clouds of incoming Gliders had been a squeamish and awful 
experience, when he had to cleave right through a mass of maddened, winged enemy soldiers 
like cleaving through raw meat and saw many of his comrades disintegrating in billows of smoke.  
After that everything became automatic and mechanical.  War had the effect of deadening the 
soul and emotions. 

	He began to understand and appreciate more and more the selection and training which 
was required for recruits into the Spacio Command, whose task was to defend a whole star 
system.  He no longer begrudged the special status enjoyed by Commanders who at any moment 
could be plunged into a war like this, spearheading the defence along the frontlines of Phylee-
Patre, Calitre and Vestre.  

	The sweep to destroy missile launching sites proved not as effortless as the Zippercraft's 
first strike along the coastal rims of Penari.  The sites were hidden and cunningly camouflaged on 
the slopes of the hills and under the greenery surrounding the outskirts of the city.  Even though 
the Fly Corps were not able to effectively put all missile launchers out of action, columns of 
smoke and further explosions rocking the city itself were clear indications that some of their 
firespitting might had demolished at least part of the missile artillery.  

	"One of our craft is down, Commander," reported Deyron's Controller. 

	Deyron hardly blinked an eye and he instructed the navigators:  "We take the 
headquarters of the Syndic's residence on the fifth sweep and then retreat."  

	Algar's voice came enthusiastically across the radio:  "Terrific show, Commander.  We 
can see the black smoke from here.  Penari is hard hit!  We have given the Magni-Xandians a 
dose of their own medicine."

	The explosions had knocked out part of Penari's power net and it lay now half-blinded in 
the darkness.  The leaping flames in the harbour were cast in blackish red and shivering splashes 
on walls and roofs of houses and buildings.  The shock of the assault threw up throngs of 
screaming citizens onto the streets, which aggravated the confusion of the defence forces.  Some 
of the guards started firing over the heads of the crowd to keep them under control.  

	The Five Green Steeples of the Syndic heaved and shuddered when the Zippercraft 
bombarded his residence with their torpedoes.  Craters were blasted in towers and walls, and a 
shower of sparks rained down on the adjacent square and streets.  The structure was belching 
smoke but its sturdiness was still keeping the walls together.  The Command of the Zippercraft 
had already calculated it would be impossible to try to demolish the Syndic's residence in one 
sweeping assault; the intention was just to shake the enemy headquarters long enough to distract 
them from counter-attacking the Vesparan fleet who were now training their guns on Penari and 
advancing towards the coast. 

	"I am hit, Commander," came Navigator St-Jaq's voice over the communicator.  

	"Head back to base now, St-Jaq," Deyron ordered.  "The whole corps will retreat shortly 
after we make a final sweep along the hills."  

	A sharp crackling disturbed the communication momentarily, after which St-Jaq's weary 
voice came again:  "The craft is burning like hell.  All my crew is dead and I think I am not going 
to make it myself to the base.  There is only one thing to do.  Farewell, Commander Deyron.  I 
feel privileged knowing you.  You have taught me so many of your skills.  Farewell!  For Queen 
Fleuridi!"

	A wrenching static came after the last words.  "Farewell, my dear friend," whispered 
Deyron and gave the order for the final sweep of attack along the outlying hills of Penari to give 
the missile launchers another dose of Zippercraft might.

* * *

	When the first ferocity of the Zippercraft's assault rippled throughout the city with the 
crash of lightning and the rumble of thunder storms, burning buildings along the harbour strips 
disgorged streams of people who fled to the Inner Centrum of Penari where the attack had so far 
not reached.  The explosions along the coast were so intense the shocks could even be felt around 
the Syndic's residence to where people were swarming.  As the craft, glimmering like islands of 
stars in the nightsky, winged down and attacked the residence tower itself with spears and 
arrows of fire, the crowd broke apart with screams and flooded down the streets and alleys 
where it had come from.

	Eugene pushed and elbowed his way through the terror-smitten masses.  As Penarians 
were fleeing from the inferno at the Five Green Steeples he was forcing his way towards it.  
Arriving on the steps of the Residence he asked a frightened guard, as casually as he could, 
where he could find the Magni-Xandian Paramount.  The guard told him the Paramount was still 
in his headquarters in the upper storeys of the third spire of the Residence but denied him entry. 

	Eugene quickly disposed of him with a quick thrust of his poniard.  Running up the steps 
and into the front hall he melted into the reign of smoke and confusion tightening throughout the 
halls and corridors of the Residence Tower.  Some sections were flung into a sea of flames.  
Rushing headlong up the staircase leading to the third spire he came upon a much diminished 
platoon of sweating and nervous guards.  Furious jets of rephar fire quickly put them out of the 
way.

	Along a wide passageway filled with bitter smoke he encountered a mixture of guards 
and officials who hardly took notice of him as they hurried in panic back and forth.  Finally 
before a massive door markedly guarded by two soldiers, he halted.  The soldiers tumbled on the 
floor under the red rain of Eugene's spitting rephar.  Kicking the door open he entered the room.  

* * *

	Carlomon was alone, had been so ever since the first alarm was sounded.  The Penarian 
Syndic had gone away, wailing and wringing his hands.  The other officers had also gone to 
strengthen the defences of the launchers and prepare a contingent of gliders to launch a counter-
attack, although Carlomon harboured misgivings as to the effectiveness of his gliders at the 
present moment.  The troops lacked the eagle-like manoeuverability of the Zippercraft and they 
could not climb as high into the clouds.  

	The attack had come as a complete surprise particularly when things were going so well in 
his way.  With the capture of Okrane the Seat of Vespar had come under his absolute control.  
Yet, the Vesparans refused to buckle under even in face of inevitable defeat, as if they were 
driven to suicide in the same way he had driven his troops to suicidal madness.  

	But the Vesparan model of suicide, he sombrely reflected, had a kind of well-thought 
structure, well-planned, well-coordinated.  Well guided.  A Vesparan fleet which had been 
mustered on the Atlantic had attacked his convoy almost at the same instant the Zippercraft had 
blasted the Penarian coastal lines.  The Vesparan fleet had disintegrated the blockade around 
D'Or, effectively isolating the Magni-Xandians dug in along the northern rims of the Geosphere.

	The Vesparans were fighting back with every ounce of their remaining strength, but in 
vain, Carlomon thought coldly, in vain.  His Durus nets had captured enough Unliving to 
unloosen them as maniacal hordes on the unwary Vesparans as long as the night lasted.  Their 
hypnotic orchestra would drive the enemy, and everyone else, over the edge of irreparable 
lunacy. If he were to reign over a world filled with lunatics, then so be it.  

	The crash of the doors broke his intense concentration.  Swinging round from the table 
where he was pondering his next strategy, he locked his smouldering eyes on the intruder. 

	"You!" he exclaimed, and the lines of his dark face deepened and hardened. "You."  

	"Me," Eugene said, "finally." 

	"I should have killed you."

	Eugene bared his teeth in a savage and sardonic grin. "Yes, ironic, is it not?  You were 
filled with desire to destroy Trajan who might have spared you.  But me, that is an altogether 
different matter.  Long ago you have already corrupted and tainted my honour with dreams of 
impossible deeds, a life of adventure in the unknown, as I saw it then, conquest and bloodshed 
as you still see it now.  Even after becoming One, the side you corrupted has predominated.  I 
congratulate you on your re-education of me, Carlomon!"  

	"Eugene," Carlomon said in his smooth, coaxing voice, "or Lar Trevarthen, as I may 
address you so, I congratulate you on your resourcefulness in finding me here in the midst of the 
Penarian Syndic's stronghold, but do not hope of ever leaving it alive.  Even though it may 
surprise you, I too can be merciful.  I am aware of your tormented spirits, my boy.  You, to 
whom Starglory was bequeathed on your birth; you, the rightful owner who has to relinquish the 
treasure of your life to an unknown upstart who only by means of his own doubtful powers was 
able to wrest Starglory from you.  He is the one who has caused you torment, not me." 

	"Once," Eugene said in a dreamlike voice and with a faraway look in his eyes as though 
he was seeing again a past event which had formed the core of his vengeance, "you used 
Starglory to break my spirit.  You are the upstart, Carlomon, jealous of all the powers he was not 
due.  Instead of learning how to master noble qualities, you spurn and hate them."

	A speartip of light sprung forth from Eugene's body and traced his Praecel outlines from 
head to toe like a bluish shining finger.  "Trajan is my brother.  We came from the same father.  
He has given me the Power, whom you so covet, to protect me.  Shall I blast you with its fury as 
you have once blasted me almost to death?"  

	Carlomon did not move and his eyes looked like gurgling pools of tar on his phantom 
face. "Is this how it ends?"  

	Eugene declared, smiling serenely, "This is how we end, but I will not dirty Trajan's 
power with your blood." 
 
	A platoon of black-clad guards burst into the room with spewing automatic weapons, as 
Eugene slammed the silver blade into Carlomon's heart, driving it in to the hilt, as St-Jaq's 
fuming craft smashed with a resounding boom and a torrent of flames into the walls of the 
Syndic's residence and took out three of the Five Green Steeples. 

* * *

	From beneath the blackness of night and clouds of smoke and amidst the flames and the 
rubble a blue globe was stirring, disentangling itself from carnage and wreckage obeying the 
command as it soared like a blade of starlight into the night.  "Starglory, come to me!"

	In the tortured masses of the Smaze where fog curtains tangled and billowed like sails in 
a windstorm, their tails whipping and whirling and spurting folds of haze and steam that churned 
into the hissing waves of a boiling sea, and the volumes of Unliving chorussed in the agony of 
mind and soul, Starglory rendezvoused with its Custodian Host and the Host's father. 

	"Father, I have to Rejoin, I am tired."  

	Lord Schurell smiled at the eyes of his son.  "And I have to seek the Exiles and join 
them."  

	"Why can't you stay?  Come back with me to Iucari-Tres."

	"Trajan, my dear son," Lord Schurell said, "you defy me and you love me.  I felt your 
heart beating against mine as I held you in my arms and you have shown me your skills, as a 
Commander and a Lar.  My time in this Essence has finished, and I have no regrets.  The 
Annulus of Conception has been completed beyond all foretellings.  Go back to Krystan, Trajan, 
you are exhausted.  Krystan will be your Teacher, but remember me as you have seen me: stern, 
authoritative, tormented, suffering, but always loving you, loving you as your mother loved you 
and me.  You made me whole again."

	"And I will always love you, father."

	"I will always be with you, Trajan, even if you may not see me. You are Starglory and I 
am Starwind and we are linked through the continuum.  Know too that all Iucarians bear the 
Markings of the Exiles.  Go back in honour, dearest son, and live in honour always.  Before I 
depart for all earth's eternity, I have to do a little landscaping before returning Earth to 
Earthlings." 

	Trajan's Transient Disassociated Essence surged back with Starglory's spearglow cutting 
a path through the spinning mist voids of the Smaze, passing fissures and bottomless chasms 
belching plumes of steam smirched with sediments from the bowels of the earth, scattering knots 
of tumbling shadows.  The air was overhung with bursting parcels of moisture, and the sound of 
wind and breeze, hitherto non-existent in the Smaze, sizzled and whistled through the dough of 
heaving fog.  

	The silver-blue glow speared through the veranda into the chambers, striking his Blood 
Essence with such tremendous force Trajan gave a little gasp as he Rejoined.  He toppled 
backwards as he and the shimmering image of his body re-Associated.  	Krystan caught him 
by the armpits before he could hit the floor and lowered him down gently.  Trajan's eyes were 
wearily closing.  "We have done it," he whispered and fell unconscious on Krystan's lap. 

	Outside a battle of twilight against darkness was unfolding.  The milky walls of the 
Smaze were fracturing, first with scattered tears and slits, then as those rifts split further apart, 
with ever widening gaps and gulleys. Night beyond the Smaze poured into the yellow, so far 
impregnable, haze like jets of the darkest ink.  As the Smaze tossed in blankets of fumes and 
vapour, a mighty light summoned all the Shadows inhabiting the Barrier and laid them to rest in 
eternal peace.  

	With his hand comfortingly on Trajan's brow, Krystan listened to a sound which the 
smothered lands under the Smaze had not heard for long ages: the pattering of rain against the 
roofs of Lumentor, against the fallen arches and stones of its former glory. the clumps of 
shrivelled trees, the knotted woods of dragonweed, the hassocks of brown turf, the musty soil. 

* * *

	All the guns of Admiral Kolmarin's fleet were trained on the City of Penari, poised for 
the final attack.  In the Dominion of Aseur the people were demanding action and had provided 
food supplies and weaponry to neighbouring Vespar on their own volition.  At the dawn of 
another day, when the news of the strike on Penari shattered the deliberations of the Procerem, 
the Vicegerent rose to his feet before the assembly and demanded in a ringing voice if the 
Dominion could afford to retain the cowardice of idleness while right beside them so much 
desperate bravery was being performed.   

	The opinion of several ministers was that if Carlomon were to retake Vespar, they would 
only have to deal with one instead of two sovereignties; some politicians secretly harboured the 
wish Vespar could be retaken, but speedily.  As the days passed the conflict appeared to be 
everything what could be expected on the arena of war, but speed was not one of many 
calculations.  The debate of the Procerem developed into a protracted struggle of willpowers, and 
even with Okrane in enemy hands, the Regency government of Vespar was still intact and 
directing the resistance from deep forest land in the east.  What if Vesparan forces were able to 
turn the tide by the sheer power of their will.  What if?

	This gigantic If broke the deadlock of the Procerem's debate.  By noon the Dominion 
declared decisively they would join the war.  In the afternoon a huge fleet of Dominion battle 
ships augmented the Vesparan fleet who were sailing on the threshold of Penari and preparing to 
land on the shores. 

	The Fly Corps had sustained heavy damage.  In all they lost three with a fourth 
irreparably crippled.  The third Zippercraft had plunged into the sea but it was believed the entire 
crew had been rescued and taken aboard one of the Vesparan vessels.  With only five craft under 
his command Deyron decided to renew the attack on Penari as afternoon turned to dusk.  
Vesparan border armies were consolidating in the east for their march upon Okrane.  Along the 
north Dominion border troops were locked in fierce combat with Magni-Xandian armies. 

	Bars and flares of red and orange veined and dappled the labouring body of night and 
cast the flush of fever upon the pale face of the moon as the battle continued with increasing 
brutality and the warzones spread farther and farther away.  The sea was a sheet of fumes and 
flames and burning flotsam as ships exploded and splintered.  Along the northern rims of D'Or 
the entrenched Magni-Xandians maddened by their mind-controlling helmets refused to budge.  
From Okrane the Magni-Xandian headquarters of occupation directed more thrusts to the east 
and to the north to defy the Dominion.  More ships were despatched from the smouldering 
coastline of Merinburg with the intent to knife the Vesparans in the back as they battled across 
sea to reach Penari.  

	At midnight when Admiral Kolmarin's forces had landed on the shores of Penari and his 
contingents were fighting before the gates of the city, a broadcast was received along all 
channels and communication lines.  

	"To all Magni-Xandian officers and soldiers fighting on all fronts, hear the voice of your 
new Paramount, Lisaloran of Fareyad.  Order a cease-fire at once and take your helmets off your 
heads.  A new government has been formed in Magni-Xandia who finds this bloodshed a 
revolting breach of honour and dignity.  Lay down your weapons, stop this mindless bloodshed, 
and listen to the new voice of peace.  Parents are waiting for their children and children for their 
parents: come home to us and a new life.

	"To the Sovereignty of Vespar, who has suffered so much and yet fought with so much 
courage, show mercy to my soldiers and let them return home in dignity.  As so many of your 
sons and daughters have been lost, so have likewise countless Magni-Xandian families lost 
parents and children, brothers and sisters.  This is the time for you to listen to the voice of mercy.  
The war is over!"

* * *

	In the ensuing hour Dego feverishly sent out messengers and communications, 
endeavouring to verify the truthfulness of the broadcast which came in together with a jumble of 
other confusing rumouring that Carlomon had been slain.  In a tent, pitched in a dell amidst tall 
fir trees, Dego conferred with his ministers and Queen Fleuridi, whose elven face had thinned 
with lack of sleep and fatigue, but who was holding on to the reins of responsibility with a 
resilience, uncommon to her young age.  Hours later, after prolonged discussion and wrangling 
with ministers, commanding officers and delegates from the Dominion truth was established 
when as sudden as a clap of thunder silence drowned the roars of the battlefields.  The Magni-
Xandian soldiers have laid down their weapons and were retreating from all fronts.  

	Immediately Dego ordered his grandson to abandon the final storming of Penari and 
retreat to the seas, and he halted also the planned advance upon Okrane.  In the dim hours 
preceding dawn Queen Fleuridi made another region-wide speech, solely directed to the people 
of Vespar and Geosphere D'Or, to act with wisdom and compassion and to allow the Magni-
Xandian soldiers to retreat unmolested and unharmed, with all their dead and their wounded.  
The war was finally over. 

	When retreating from the conference tent to catch a few hours of sleep in her own tent 
Queen Fleuridi remarked in passing to her Regent: "The wounds inflicted are deep and the scars 
will remain for long years, but in time we will build a bridge of mutual respect and 
understanding.  I can now speak to Lisaloran of Fareyad as woman to woman, and maybe in 
time, who knows, as sister to sister."  

	When the long night of vigil crawled into dawn, another news causing great sensation 
reached the temporary seat of Vesparan Government.  The Great Barrier Smaze was undergoing 
a change along the rim of the Zilch Zone and, it seemed, along all its boundaries. 

* * *

	Dego was unable to verify the truth of this latest piece of amazing, and alarming, 
communication for days to come as torrents of rain began washing down on the whole 
hemisphere.  It appeared that ferocious gales were blowing out from the midst of the Smaze, 
another startling phenomenon, casting dense fog and mist vessels across the face of the earth and 
into the atmosphere where they condensed in falls of rain.  

	The downpour put a halt to the total evacuation of Magni-Xandian troops from the whole 
of Vespar but the occupation headquarters in Okrane had surrendered to the Vesparans and the 
Royal Castle was reclaimed.  Most of the Magni-Xandian soldiers had already retreated to the 
coastlines where they would await ships to take them home.  

	On his grandfather's summons, Algar Kolmarin sped back to Okrane where he was 
reunited with the prominent members of the Fly Corps in the Royal Castle.  It was confirmed 
that all guns along all fronts had fallen silent.  In the heavy gusts of wind and rainstorm it was 
impossible however to do anything but wait for this strange behaviour of nature to stop.  The rain 
curtains appeared at times so dense and impregnable that for yards around nothing could be seen 
except sheets of pouring water. 

	In the Royal Castle life is slowly settling back into quiet routine.  The old friends 
gathered in a heated hall and told the amazing encounters they had during the war.  Here Dego 
Kolmarin recounted to the assembly the whole history of the Forbidden Legend, as he had 
researched it, and the shattered glory of mythical Lumentor.  

	"I am convinced Lord Laris Schurell, who was also my Regent and our Governor 
General, has finally departed Earth for all eternity.  How I miss him!" were his last sad words but 
there, they all believed, in the heart of the changing Smaze, was someone dear who was still lost 
to them and whom they missed greatly.  And with growing impatience they waited for the rain 
to stop.

	On the evening of the third day after armistice had been declared, the fury of the storm 
eased, dying down by the hour into a drizzle and thence a breeze which blew its cool, dry breath 
throughout the night all across the drenched lands and sand of Vespar and D'Or.  As on the new 
day pale-yellow sunlight finally poked through the banks of clouds, a sense of anticipation 
gripped the residents of the Castle as they had never known before. 

	Deyron had a Zippercraft repowered and ready on the old Fly Bay which would take 
Dego Kolmarin, Eirini and Leoynar across Geosphere D'Or to the rim of the Smaze which was a 
Smaze no more.  The sun-filled morning brought reports that the Smaze had totally disintegrated 
and where were once fog and haze, lands and seas reached and swelled to the golden-hemmed 
eastern horizons, opening after so many dark years in the Smaze to the brilliant face of the sun.  

	Algar remained in the Royal Castle to oversee the final stages of evacuation of Magni-
Xandian soldiers to their homeland, while a speeding Zippercraft brought Dego and his 
companions over the wastelands of the Zilch Zone and across the now vanished barriers of the 
Smaze.  Looking down with incredulous eyes Dego saw nothing but plain upon plain of golden-
brown land, still barren with bloated tree stumps and dripping dragonweed knots, but lands that 
could be cultivated and inhabited.  The breakers of a virgin ocean lapped at beaches and shores 
of the lands, rippling away with waves tipped with gold and silver green to a hazy beyond where 
sky and sea met and land could not be seen how far the eye strained to look. 

	The Zippercraft's computer detected pulses of unknown beams and following the 
bearings of the indicator Deyron navigated the craft deeper over the lands, still farther over 
valleys and forests of twisted trees and thornbushes.  For an hour they flew and suddenly a 
spark, then a fistful of glitter, throbbed in the far distance like an oval diamond under the sun.  
Soaring into the oval ring they cast their amazed eyes upon a staunch shoulder of a tower of ruin, 
gleaming in blue and platinum splendour, as wide as a valley and as high as a cliff. 

	"Lumentor!" Dego exclaimed. 

	The Zippercraft landed vertically to a smooth halt near the site of its badly dented 
stranded companion who lay on its belly half-submerged in a pool of rainwater.

	"We know at least Trajan has arrived here!" Leoynar cried out as he rushed down the 
ramp.  When he ran up the paved road he was met halfway by someone weaving his way through the 
shards of the marble archways, someone whose eyes smiled at him with the magnificent blueness 
of Adilar Schurell's eyes.

	"My Lar Krystan Schurell!" gasped Leoynar and nearly bent a knee, "I am Leoynar 
Trevarthen."

	Krystan grasped his hand, stayed him, and laughed.  "My Lar Leoynar, brother-in-law!  I 
am a Lar Retired, I am afraid, but the new Lar Schurell is inside, still sleeping it off." 

	"I, I want to see him," Eirini faltered, impatiently waiting to rush past them. 

	"Eirini?" She blushed when Krystan smiled at her and nodded knowingly.  "I often heard 
your name on his lips as he dreams.  Go inside, dear youngslady, when you go through the front 
hall you will see a staircase behind a door at your right which will take you where you want to 
go." 

	Eirini needed no other persuasion and she dashed away.  Behind her Krystan made his 
acquaintance with the rest of the company with much laughter and many merry greetings.  She 
ran through the Grand Hall where the new sunshine crowned the tall ceilings and matted the 
floor, sped up the stairs and reached the room Krystan had indicated.  The oblong, avenue-wide 
chambers were swimming in pools of rediscovered sunlight, but an alcove remained shaded from 
the glare by a broad, jutting wall.  

	Behind the draperies of the alcove, amidst all the phenomenal rebirth of life in the Smaze, 
Trajan was asleep and sleeping in the innocence and peace of a child.  He did not even so much 
as stir when she bent over and pressed her lips against his.  "I will never leave you again," she 
told him with determination, "never, never!"