David Farland - The Golden Queen

“It’s so beautiful!” she cried. Tears streamed from her eyes freely. Gallen squeezed her shaking hand, then looked up into her eyes. And in that moment, Everynne was transformed. She smiled so beatifically that she seemed to radiate light.

She breathed deeply and gave a rapid succession of sighs, crying out in wonder. At last it became too much for her, and she fainted.

Gallen watched it all and realized that part of him felt jealous. She had left him behind, traveled to a far place he could never reach.

And Gallen suddenly remembered being a child, running under the trees as his father rode away on a dark horse into the mountains. Gallen recalled how desperately he had wanted to follow. He felt the same now.

After Everynne fainted, Gallen and the others waited silently with her for nearly two hours. Orick simply held her hand, did not move from her side. But Gallen got up, walked around the dome, staring out at the stars. He wondered at them. He’d stood on worlds that orbited five of those stars. Maggie came and put her arm around his back, watched the sky with him.

A few minutes later, Orick said, “She’s waking up!”

Gallen and Maggie went back to Everynne’s side. Everynne stirred a bit and opened her eyes. She smiled at them, and she looked as if she had gained some contentment she had never before achieved. Her eyes were filled with a terrible light.

“Semarritte?” Gallen asked.

Everynne shook her head. “Semarritte is dead,” she said. “Her consciousness was stored in the omni-mind until I put it on. But she knew I feared her, so she welcomed me, and then she died.”

“How could she know that you feared her?” Orick asked.

“Maggie told her,” Everynne said. She leaned forward, patted Maggie’s hand, and did not explain herself. Gallen was left to stare at the two women, mystified.

That night, Everynne was invested publicly with the omni-mind before a multitude of Tharrin counselors and ambassadors from many worlds. And on that night, Maggie, the new Golden Queen, publicly named Everynne as her regent to the dronon, leaving her with that undesirable burden.

In a sense, that was almost the last that Gallen saw of Everynne.

Over the next few days, he tried to speak to Everynne again on several occasions, but found it difficult. In each conversation, she anticipated his words. She would answer questions without being asked, tell him more about himself than he wanted to know. And always there was that terrible light in her eyes, frightening in its intensity. In those days, he lost his desire to travel to Gort Ard and look upon the statue that Saint Kelly had carved. Gallen had only to gaze at Everynne to see the face of God.

On the morning of the ninth day, so many dignitaries began arriving that Everynne was constantly being pulled in several directions by those who sought her ear. Each night for the past five days, the lords of the worlds had thrown parties to celebrate, and Gallen saw the way that things would go. These parties would be held every night for years, and though at each party the dignitaries were eager to bestow honors upon him as Lord Escort, Gallen felt somewhat embarrassed by the whole affair, and he wanted only to get away.

So he went to Everynne and said, “I’m thinking of leaving. I can’t stand it here any longer.”

“You know you are welcome to stay as long as you like,” Everynne said. “And you are free to leave.”

“It’s my mother,” Gallen said. “She’s getting old and sickly, and I’m worried about her.”

Everynne nodded, smiled at him. “And there is something you want from me. You have more than earned any reward that I could give you. Is that what you have come for?”

“Yes,” he said. He expected her to ask what he wanted as payment for saving her life, for defeating the Lords of the Swarm. Among the things that she could offer there were many great treasures, but only one he desired. He feared that his price was excessive. He’d prepared all kinds of arguments for the occasion, but before he could ask, she said, “Yes, you may have a key to the Maze of Worlds, but only on one condition: you must put on your mantle often, and if I call for your aid, you must come.”

“Of course,” he said, grateful that she had agreed. But she touched his cheek, turned his face so that he had to look up into her eyes.

“Don’t make that promise lightly,” she warned. “You don’t know what I have in mind.”

And in her eyes he saw that terrible light, and fear struck him to the core of his soul. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a new medallion to wear in his mantle, a receiver that would let him hear her call, and she gave it to him along with the key. It appeared that she had only been waiting for him to ask for these things.

That evening, they went to a gathering in a large dome, where four thousand lords celebrated in a great throng. Gallen had seldom seen so many people in one place, and Orick stared across the crowd in wonder. All of the lords were dressed in their finery in a rainbow of colors. Hundreds of robotic servants had prepared vast sumptuous meals, and all evening long, people crowded around them, thanking and congratulating Gallen, Orick, and Maggie. Everynne was on the far side of the room, and at the end of the evening, Orick seemed worn.

Gallen escorted him out into the hall, and Orick said, “I’ve got to get out of here, Gallen. I’m feeling well enough to travel. I planned to stay for Everynne’s sake, not wanting to leave her alone. But she’s got so many of those Tharrin counselors around her now, I don’t think she needs me.”

“Perhaps,” Gallen said. “Why don’t you ask Everynne what she wants? She has many people at her ear, and all of them admire her, but you’re her friend.”

Orick grunted, went back into the great dome and pushed his way to Everynne. A moment later, the two of them got up and escaped to a side room together.

Late that night, Orick came to Gallen’s room, and the bear seemed ecstatic. “Do you know that those pills Maggie gave me will keep me alive for at least five hundred years?”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Gallen lied.

“And I talked to Everynne. She’s not going to stay here forever,” Orick said. “In ten years, another Tharrin will come take her place as regent, and she’s going to come back to Tihrglas to live for awhile. I promised to show her around.”

“Good,” Gallen said.

“So are you ready to go home?” Orick asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Orick said. “I’ll go tell Maggie. Everynne is going to lead us to a gate in a few minutes.”

Gallen bundled up his belongings-his outfit and weapons, along with the mantle and weapons that Veriasse had worn-and together the three went to meet Everynne one last time.

Everynne was dressed in her blue traveling robe, as if she might come with them. She said, “Next time you see me, I’ll be wearing this.” She led them down through unexplored passageways of the omni-mind, down to deep caverns that Everynne said even the dronon had never been told of. Behind a hidden door, they found an ancient gate the color of brass, covered with dust. It was marvelously decorated with images of people and creatures from many worlds, and Everynne told them, “This is the gate that leads to all worlds, all destinations. Enter, and I shall send you home.”

A pale green light shone under the arch. Gallen, Orick, and Maggie each hugged Everynne, said their last good-byes.

Then together they stepped through the cold mist between worlds.

They found themselves on a forest road, beneath large pine trees in the mountains. The morning sun was just breaking over the mountains, a radiant pink ball. Kiss-me-quick birds called from the edge of the roadside, and in the distance an owl hooted. The air tasted as sweet to Gallen as Maggie’s kisses, and he breathed in deeply.