Page 65 of Stitches
“I’m sure.”
Ashmedai moved to stand beside Braxton, still with a clear view of the stage. “I don’t remember the last time you attended Festival Day. It is good to see you here, old friend.”
“And you… old friend. It felt a worthy night to celebrate.” Braxton motioned for Ashmedai to lean toward him and whispered, “I’ve done it.”
“You’re finished?” Ashmedai asked in his own fervid whisper. “You can….”
“Very soon. Only one small component remains, and then it will be time.” Braxton leaned away, bringing his voice back up to normal volume. “Perhaps then you will spare me a walk by the Black Lake, if I am so lucky.” He tapped his chair. “Maybe even in the daylight.”
“Attention!” Klarent’s voice drew Ashmedai back to the stage. “Please, join me for the inauguration of a brand-new celebration of creative talents, beginning with a reading from my newest historical account, and accompanied by young Levi’s masterful illusions.”
Applause sprang up as Klarent took center stage with a low bow and Levi gave a smaller bow from his position in the corner. The crowd quickly grew from a small gathering to a bustle of bodies, and Ashmedaishifted to make room.
Braxton was no longer beside him.
Before Ashmedai could look for where Braxton had gone, Daedlys took up the empty space.
“I truly am a miracle worker,” he said with a perusing glance down Ashmedai’s body.
“Indeed you are.” Ashmedai chuckled. “Thank you again, friend.”
“My pleasure.” Daedlys floated closer so that his head bobbed nearer to Ashmedai’s. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
“Oh? On what?”
“On how you and our sweet Stitches are soon to be godfathers.” He gestured up at Klarent, and Ashmedai turned to gape in wonder, for the implication was clear.
Another babe.
While the news might have added to the weight that for so long had sat in the pit of Ashmedai’s stomach, knowing now for certain that the curse would soon be behind them, all he felt was joy.
Then the performance began.
“Centuries past when a different world reigned,” Klarent started in a loud bellow that caused everyone gathered to silence—the signal for Levi to begin as well, “and denizens of Amethyst knew many mortal pains.”
Levi fired images from his fingertips, purposely unfocused at first like palettes of color, until the rainbow swooped in front of where Klarent stood, hovered in the air for all onlookers to see, and formed into a miniature depiction of how the Dark Kingdom once looked.
The image of the city was exaggerated, like children’s paintings from a storybook, but that this was Amethyst was still recognizable, even in the difference in the buildings, all normal angled and painted in an array of brighter pigments.
“Lo, these lands did sparkle so bright,” Klarent continued, theillusion of the old sunlit city leading the audience through its streets and down into the market, “but Shadow was what saved us with the dawning of the night.”
A lone figure appeared, simplistic in design per Klarent’s direction, but still clearly Ashmedai, given the colors and long black hair.
“Peace here, within, and for every mortal sin."
“Rest we hope for our long-lost prince,” Klarent went immediately into the next verse, and Levi added the figure of another walking beside Ashmedai, with violet clothes, half-elf ears, and brown hair, “and woe to the demon who took him from us hence.”
Where Ashmedai had been, a new figure pounced and pushed Ashmedai out of the frame, leaving behind a monstrous, hulking creature that towered over the Amethyst Prince, with the kingdom’s gemstone distinct in the background.
“Lo, the curse did spread from its source.”
The demon snatched the prince up and dove with him inside the gemstone, turning it black, and darkness spread from it, the view changing again to show the whole city as the Amethyst Kingdom was turned into the Shadow Lands they knew.
“Our bright shining gemstone that sent us on this course.
Peace here, within, and for all immortal sin.”
The illusion zoomed back in on the gemstone as the demon leapt from it, returning it to brilliant violet, and off the demon zipped toward the market steps, where Ashmedai was seen again, getting back up to his feet, and he began to follow.
