Constellations

To Meagan. My best friend and my Love. This is a tale that is all yours. Ours, I mean.

I love our adventures and those silent moments. Mostly, I love them because they are all with you.

Every moment of mine will be spent enjoying the beauty around us and in you.

The evening had been a drowsy one. All the various residents of Kemenbar were eager to nestle beneath some covers and chase after some dreams. The stars hung low, almost within reach. A fire crackled, though it wasn’t needed. A few hobbits were still warding off sleep and playing a game of checkers from beneath droopy eyelids. The tiles that patterned the floor grew cool to the touch. It was a welcome relief from all the heat the sun had put off that day.

            Up and down the halls snores could be heard. Down one hall you might hear the deep rumble of a dragon’s snore. Then down another you could hear the rasp of the Living Plants’ deep breathing. Through one specific door, Tortellini could be heard to mutter curses in his sleep. It is said that his subconscious found it useful to practice them so that they were always on the tip of his spiteful tongue.

            The castle glistened and gleamed. It relished the cool washing of moonlight. A person who knew what to listen for might have heard it sigh. And then that person might have heard the castle tense up again. For a door had just creaked open. And a hooded figure had crept out of that door.

            The hooded figure clutched a bundle of something and padded off down the echoing halls. It snuck around, careful not make a sound.

            Once, the shadowy figure walked past an open door. A low growl breathed out from the darkness. From beneath the hood, a female voice whispered, “Quiet, Clifford. It’s only me.” Clifford Jr. wagged his little raggedy tail. He began to pant in a way that showed the deepest admiration a dog can show. His tiny paws hurried to keep up with the girl.

            In a moment, she reached a door marked with a tiny, golden crown and stopped. She grasped for the door knob in the dark. Her fingers twisted the cold metal. Inside the abyss of darkness was only silence. Then a chainsaw-like breath erupted. This was King Nate’s room. Her hand felt for the light switch. Feeling it finally, she flicked it on.

            Nate grumbled and rolled over, throwing his blankets over his head. The girl took off her hood and revealed a dark brown head of wavy hair and muddy brown eyes. Queen Meg- the figure was indeed Meagan- grinned a dangerous sort of smile. It was both beautiful and deadly. She whispered something to Clifford Jr., who ran up and pounced on Nate’s sleeping body. He shot up and yelped. Meg shushed him in a perturbed tone. How dare he jeopardize their mission?

            “You weren’t supposed to fall asleep!” She berated him. A softness in her eyes gave away that she wasn’t really put off by his lazy behavior.

            “I know. I know,” Nate murmured. He slipped out of bed and rubbed his weary eyes. “Shall we be off?”

            Meg grabbed his hand, shot him a flash of her shining smile, and said, “We shall.”

            Together, they crept silently down the winding corridors and out into the gentle night. The moon beamed at them. They were his two favorite people. Actually, the moon (or Gregory, as he liked to be called) considered himself one of their subjects. Most moons tend to be a pale-yellowish color. Gregory was not. He was always, invariably a deep, radiating orange. Nate and Meg each waved at Gregory. Gregory beamed back.

            The royalty strode up to the top of a tall hill. At the very peak, a maple tree drooped over them. Its leaves varied slightly in color. Each of the rainbow’s colors were represented on the tree. In the night, moonlight pierced through them and made the colors vibrant. Meg spread out a blanket underneath the maple tree and its fluorescent leaves.

            Together they curled up on the blanket, sheltered by the charcoal branches of the tree. Nate sucked in a deep breath. He sighed. They hardly spoke. Any words might have shattered the perfect silence.

            Like two pairs of searchlights, their eyes hungrily examined every inch of sky. Each star seemed like a whole new person to speak to. The only noise on that hilltop was the occasional, hurried breath when they could no longer hold it in. Hands locked tightly, they squeezed them often at the pure joy of the moment.

            There they huddled in that spot for hours. The night wore on and Gregory skimmed across the sky, as if it were a giant, jet-black pond that was speckled with thousands of tiny, floating lanterns.

            After many hours of staring, Meg said from beneath exhausted, yet eager eyes, “Nathan?” She didn’t take her eyes off of the one far-away star she had been staring at for some time.

            “Yes, Meagan?” came the reply that was nearly as distant as the star he was looking at.

            “This is home,” she whispered, as though if she said the words too loudly, this moment would burst like an enormous soap bubble. “I want nothing else in the world, but for it to be just me, you, and the stars. It’s nice to hear silence. It’s nice to not have anyone telling us what they want or what we should be doing. It’s good just to be here.”

            King Nate would have agreed. His words, however, got misplaced on the tip of his tongue. Right as he opened his mouth to speak, the sky cracked and a swath of bright red light cut across it. It struck the ground at the foot of the hill in the same manner as a lightning bolt would have.

            The King and Queen sat upright. Standing there, at the bottom of the hill was a man and some other unrecognizable, hideous shape. The man cackled, which shattered the peaceful starry silence. Nate felt the stars retreat to what they thought was a safe distance. As the man and the hideous shape began to tread up the hill, the man called out to them, “I say! It’s been a long time, Nate, my twin.” He sounded jovial. Nate leapt up.

            It was Mel.

            Before Nate could do any of the million and one things he wanted to, great tongues of fire stretched across the hillside, lighting it up briefly. Nate saw a few things. The man was indeed Mel. Mel was holding a sword. And the hideous shape was an enormous, black dragon. The dragon’s fire winked out.

            Mel spoke again in the dark. “It’s time we got caught up.”

            The moment he said that, they were all caught up in another flash of red light. The only thing left on the hill was the black dragon. He roared and engulfed the tree with the rainbow leaves in a stream of white-hot fire. The leaves on it crackled and burned away.

            With a satisfied snort, the black dragon lumbered towards the castle.