"What?"
DragonStar did not answer. An Icarii birdwoman was spiralling above them in the sky, and DragonStar beckoned her down.
"This is WolfStar SunSoar," he said, and the birdwoman paled. "He is injured. Can you arrange that he be taken where his injuries can be healed? But, ware! Do not trust him."
She shook her head violently.
"I ask also that Axis and Azhure supervise his care," DragonStar said.
The birdwoman nodded soberly and rose back in the air. DragonStar waited impatiently — refusing to respond to any of WolfStar's taunts or answer any of his questions — until he could see Axis and a group of four or five men draw near with a stretcher. He nodded to the group and smiled to his father, then he stepped back into Spiredore without further ado, the Song Book still in his grasp.
DragonStar had someone he needed to talk to.
Someone who could confirm what DragonStar had finally realised was probably the true purpose of the Enchanted Song Book.
The bridge at Spiredore was in mourning. Her sister was gone — a necessary precaution — but the bridge still missed her.
She was immensely grateful when she felt DragonStar's feet upon her back.
"StarSon! You have come home!"
"Only briefly, bridge. I admit myself glad you still stand."
"I can resist the Demons a while longer, StarSon."
He nodded, looking about. Sigholt was still standing, but it looked wan, as if its life was draining away.
"None of us will last for much longer," the bridge said, sadly.
DragonStar's attention re-sharpened on the bridge. "None of you? What about Spiredore?"
"She also will die," the bridge said. "The Enemy's heritage has passed into you, StarSon, and none of us have much purpose left."
Spiredore would die? But what would that mean? He'd be trapped either in Sanctuary, or in the wasteland.
And either would be fatal, both to him and to his witches, and, eventually, to Tencendor.
"Do you feel strong enough for a last request, bridge?"
"A conversation?" she said hopefully.
DragonStar smiled, but it was sad. "Yes ... but not with you, bridge. I would like to speak to the trap you harbour within you."
"That effort will kill me," she said, and DragonStar felt tears spring to his eyes.
"I know," he said.
The bridge hesitated. "I will do it for you. StarSon?"
"Yes?"
"Win for us."
"I will," he whispered. "Bridge ... bridge, know that you go with the love of many."
She did not speak, but he could feel her emotion shuddering through her, and he stepped onto the roadway that led into HoldHard Pass.
"Goodbye," she said ... and transformed.
Not into her arachnoid form, but into the shape of an archway constructed of pale, unmortared blocks of stone.
Goodbye bridge...
The archway formed over the moat between the road and Sigholt, its lip touching the ground several paces away from DragonStar.
A man walked out of the arch.
He was white-haired and emaciated, and his entire form trembled as he walked. His face was deeply lined, his eyes faded and tired.
"Who are you?" he said, stopping a pace before DragonStar.
"My name is DragonStar SunSoar," he said, "and I am the result of your mistakes."
The old man cackled with laughter. "DragonStar? What kind of a name is that?"
He peered about him. "Where are we? Topside again?"
DragonStar wondered if the old man still thought he was on his home world. "What is your name?"
