Prologue: The Fall of Verania

 

 

ONCE UPON a time in the Kingdom of Verania, there was a kickass boy born in the slums of the City of Lockes. His parents were hardworking, and at times life could be difficult, but they were alive and had all their teeth. Which was very important.

One day the boy was chased into an alley by a group of teenage douchebags, only to accidentally turn them all to stone. Including, as fate would have it, the love of his life. Only the boy didn’t know about that then. In fact, the boy thought love was kind of gross, because his parents kissed all the time, and it looked rather messy. He didn’t want anyone eating his face like that.

It was probably for the best the boy didn’t know about the one who would be his cornerstone. Things might have gone down a different path, and not necessarily a better one.

A man in pointy pink shoes came for him in the alley, telling him he had magic inside him and that one day he would be a wizard.

“You will do wonderful things,” the man in the pointy pink shoes said. “I promise you.”

“I’m amazing,” the boy breathed. “I knew it!”

And the man would know, wouldn’t he? Because he was Morgan of Shadows, the King’s Wizard. But even more than that, he had an awesome beard.

The boy was taken from the slums along with his mother and father and given a life most would only ever dream of.

But no matter what happened, what adventures his new and exciting life would lead him on, the boy never forgot where he came from.

Sometimes he still wished upon the stars that others would be as fortunate as him.

And he grew! He grew and grew until he was a rather handsome young man. Yes, possibly his nose was a little crooked, and maybe his eyebrows were a little bushy, but hey, it was part of his natural charm. And besides, there were people out there who thought crooked noses and unibrows were dreamy, if the fan mail he got every now and then gave any indication. (“Aw, this nice woman wrote to me that she wants me to come to her house for tea and cake and a mature discussion about how she would like for me to sit on her face so she can lick my—wow, okay. That escalated quickly. I did not expect that. Yikes. Burn this. Burn this letter now.”)

It could have been a lonely life, given that the boy was taken from the slums into a world he had no clue about, but he didn’t have to do it alone. He had his parents and the King. He had Morgan. And he had more than that too, after the wizard sent him into the woods to find something unexpected. The boy came back with a hornless gay unicorn and a half-giant, and was given the name Sam of Wilds.

The unicorn and the half-giant became his constant companions, those who would stand by his side and have his back whenever he found himself in a precarious situation.

Which, to be fair, happened a lot.

“Why are you hanging in a net upside down in the tree?” Gary asked him one time, snorting pink and white sparks from his nose. “And why is there an unconscious man below you?”

Sam sighed. “It’s this whole—thing. I don’t know. All I was doing was minding my own business, and then this guy came up to me and said he wanted my autograph, and then I said sure, dude, sounds cool, and then he said step over here off the road away from everyone because I get shy in front of other people, and then I said that seems like a perfectly reasonable request and so I did, but then he said aha, I have you now, and I am going to hold you for ransom, and you will get me all the special edition centennial stamps issued by the postmaster last week to honor the anniversary of the Veranian accord with the Eastern Sea Mermaids. And then I said, dude, what are you even talking about? Stamps? This is all about stamps? And then he said it was all about stamps, which is stupid because who collects stamps? And then he started to monologue about how his father taught him philately—which is apparently the study of stamps, for fuck’s sakes—and that he wanted to honor his dad by getting the centennial ones. And you know how I feel about monologuing. And stamps.”

“I do,” Gary said. “Oddly enough, I know your position on both those topics quite well.”

“Tiggy know too,” Tiggy said. “Sam hate stamps.”

“You’re damn right I do!” Sam groused, still hanging upside down in a net in a tree. “And it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the postmaster laughed at me last month at the state dinner when I asked him to put my face on a stamp because of how spectacular I am. It is completely unrelated.”

“Of course, kitten,” Gary said. “Absolutely unrelated. So, how are you up in the tree?”

“I have no idea. One minute this doofus was talking about his dad and feelings and motherfucking stamps, and the next I was in a net made from vermilion root so I can’t use my magic. But I still managed to kick him in the head, and then he fell into the tree, and now here we are.”

“That pretty much sounds like a summary of your life,” Gary said.

“Boom,” Tiggy said, and fist/hoof-bumped the unicorn.

“So lame,” Sam muttered.

So the boy from the slums couldn’t have had a lonely life, because he was surrounded by people who loved him (mostly; Prince Justin hadn’t seemed to jump on that bandwagon yet, though not for lack of trying on Sam’s part. The Prince just didn’t seem to appreciate Sam’s finer qualities). He had friends, he had family, he had Morgan and the King and Pete the guard, and sure, Randall was terrifying and an asshole, but Sam could work with that. He didn’t need anything or anyone else.

“Who is that?” Sam breathed as he watched a new batch of knights enter the castle.

“Oh my gods,” Gary screeched. “Do you have a boner? Hey! Sam! Why do you have an erection right now!”

Everyone turned to look at Sam, including the recruit with blond hair and green eyes and an ass that looked like it should have pie eaten off it.

“Eep,” Sam said.

Maybe it wasn’t love. Not right away. It was certainly lust, sure; Sam was a teenager, after all, and pretty much anything turned him on.

“Why are mashed potatoes making me horny?” Sam muttered under his breath at a dinner for some visiting dignitary.

Morgan started choking next to him.

Sam helped by patting him on the back because that was what one did when another choked on mashed potatoes.

So no, it wasn’t love at first sight, because a teenage Sam of Wilds was ruled by hormones and sex-fueled fantasies of being stuck in a tower with really long hair and having a certain knight use said hair as a rope and climb up his tower and then suck his dick and then maybe cuddle or have some cake or whatever it was people did after fellatio. Sam wasn’t too sure on that part, but that didn’t stop him from wishing.

But it did grow. Whatever it was at the beginning became so much more. As Sam grew older, he understood that he had given his heart to a man who didn’t even know he existed.

Ryan Foxheart, the dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed.

Who then started dating Prince Justin, because life wasn’t fair.

“Why are you crying in the dark in your room and eating pudding topped with—are those… is that bacon? Sam? Are you crying in the dark in your room and eating a bowl of pudding with bacon on it?”

“Look away from me!” Sam wailed through a mouthful of pig meat and vanilla. “I’m hideous! And also, my heart has been shattered and I shall never love again.”

“Oh boy,” Tiggy said.

“Indeed,” Gary said.

Sam accepted Ryan’s disgusting and frankly bewildering decision to date the Prince like a mature and responsible wizard.

“Apprentice,” Gary coughed. “And also, you spent four hours yesterday trying to come up with a spell that would make Justin break out in boils.”

Sam accepted Ryan’s disgusting and frankly bewildering decision to date the Prince like a mature and responsible wizard. Besides, he didn’t need Ryan Foxheart! He was going to become the world’s best wizard, and he was going to pass the Trials by the time he was thirty, younger than anyone else had ever done it before. He didn’t have time for romance, no, sir! Not when his Grimoire still needed to be bound and completed and when Gary’s horn needed to be located. He had priorities.

But the heart doesn’t listen to the mind. Not always. There are days they move independently of each other, and even though he told himself he needed to move on, his heart still ached at the sight of Ryan and Justin smiling at each other like they were so in love that nothing else mattered.

And on one such day, when his heart ruled over his mind, he found himself in the Dark Woods.

And in these woods, he found a dead bird, a gash to its back.

It’s not fair.

Magic spilled forth.

The bird lived.

The earth beneath his feet did not.

And he never spoke a word of it to anyone.

But fate was a funny thing. Its threads might have seemed flimsy and weak, but there were already so many of them stretching around him, growing stronger and tighter. The boy from the slums didn’t know it then, but he was the center of the tapestry woven by the gods, the threads binding themselves to him, wrapping around his arms and legs and throat, trapping him in a web he could not shake himself from.

It was in the way that, while on a date with a man named Todd who had adorable ears, he stood against a group of Dark wizards, a knight at his side, his magic singing out finally, finally, finally.

It was in the way a great dragon stood above him, lips pulled back, teeth bared, and complained about his whizbangs and pretty sparkles before knocking him through a shed and kidnapping the Prince.

It was in the way the boy and his companions took to the road in the name of adventure to save the Prince of Verania from the clutches of the evil dragon.

It was in the way they slept under the stars, the fire flickering between them, Sam’s gaze lingering on Ryan Foxheart.

It was in the way the lightning coursed through his heart on a dusty road next to a field filled with corn.

It was in the way the dragon announced to the world his name was Kevin, and that he had come from the jungles in the east, looking for a place to call home.

It was in the way a boy and his knight stood atop a dragon’s keep, the words echoing into the dark as voices broke with a bittersweet ache: Because it’s always been you, Sam. I promise. I promise. I promise, because when I look upon these stars, there is nothing I wish for more than you.

These were the moments bound by fate.

And that was just the beginning.

Even then, deep in the Dark Woods, a seal was cracking, shadows leaking out. All it needed was a key.

 

 

THE BOY from the slums got his happy ending, didn’t he? Sure, Ryan had waited until he was literally about to marry someone else like a douchebag, but still. Ryan Foxheart loved Sam of Wilds and announced it for all the kingdom to hear.

That should have been it.

That should have been the end.

But the threads were pulling tighter.

The phuro came from the desert with a story of a destiny written in the stars, bringing with her a man named Ruv, who she claimed was Sam’s true cornerstone.

And sure, she bad-touched her grandson to get her point across, but who hasn’t had that happen to them? It wasn’t as if it meant anything. Neither did Ruv, no matter how bendy he could be or how Sam’s magic seemed to pull in his direction.

What did mean something, however, were the secrets that had been kept from him. Stories of visions of star dragons, of Vadoma instructing Morgan of a boy who would be born in the slums. Of a knight who would fall and rest upon a stone slab no matter what Sam did. Of a brother and a cornerstone who chose a path into the Dark against the pleadings of those who loved him most.

Morgan’s brother.

Randall’s cornerstone.

It didn’t help that the will of the people seemed to turn against him. And yes, Lady Tina DeSilva was the worst human being on the planet, and one day Sam was going to curse her so she turned inside out, but it wasn’t all her. She had merely tapped into an undercurrent of rage that had been long simmering against a mixed-blood boy from the slums who had had everything handed to him.

Or so they all thought.

The wizard’s apprentice and his merry band of misfits fled the City of Lockes to the Luri Desert in the west. They went to the forgotten castle in the sands, and Sam unleashed his powers against villains who tried to take what was his.

And then, just because it was the way his life seemed to go, he was chased by a teenage emo snake dragon monster thing named Zero Ravyn Moonfire who thought everything was lame and no one understood the crows in his soul, or some such nonsense Sam did not have time for.

But the snake dragon monster thing eventually agreed to help the boy, only because he wanted a place to grow his forest and to make beautiful things.

Sam didn’t understand, even then. Just how much bigger all of this was. How far the tapestry stretched. He knew of his Destiny of Dragons (capitalized to make it true, even though he hated it), and he understood the implications of what Myrin could bring, but he was still young. Naïve. He was doing this for those closest to him, and nothing more. Under the stars of the desert, he wished to be mortal so that he would never have to leave his beloved’s side.

But Sam was already caught in the threads, and they were growing stronger.

Tighter.

And he came, then. For Sam.

The man in shadows.

Myrin.

A lightning-struck heart is a funny thing. It beats with strength unexpected. Sam was still just a boy, but his heart was wondrous. Even when it ruled over his mind, it was true and brave and wild, crackling with electricity.

And Myrin wanted to consume it.

He tried.

And failed.

He had underestimated Sam of Wilds. Still, he left the marks upon the young wizard’s skin, wrapping down his chest and stomach like roots from a tree, lightning-scarred and thunderstruck.

Things moved quickly after that.

Meridian City.

Mama.

Letnia.

Feng.

Morgan had contained. Compressed.

Castle Freeze Your Ass Off.

Every secret Sam of Wilds had ever had spilled forth to Randall.

And in return, Randall of Dragons gave his own.

Because Randall loved. He had been loved. And it had nearly destroyed him. He had banished his cornerstone to the realm of shadows, and with it, parts of his heart and soul. He had brought back the King of Sorrows from the depths of madness, an action that almost cost him his sanity. And he had gone to the North then, and for a time, had turned Dark.

But he had come out on the other side, crawling out of the darkness and back into the light.

Then came the mated Northern dragons, covered in feathers and able to cause dreamwalking. They too had expected the young wizard. Had tested him. Had pledged themselves to his cause after deeming him worthy.

The last dragon, however, had not.

The Great White had told Sam this, even before he’d stepped outside the City of Lockes. He had rumbled deep in the Dark Woods, warning Sam of Wilds: you are not ready.

And as Sam finally stood before him, the Great White said the wizard knew nothing of sacrifice, that a cornerstone was not the be-all end-all. But even then, he made an offer.

Come away with me, O human child.

In this forest deep, in the dark of the wild.

Where in these woods, you’ll face your fear,

as time doth stretch toward a year.

The boy from the slums said no.

Later, after everything that followed, he wondered what would have changed had he agreed. If he’d gone with the Great White then. With a heart that had been shattered like glass, he would think it was his fault. That it all could have been avoided had he left with the Great White, had he done what had been asked of him.

Fate can be a terrible thing.

Caleb, the son of the truth-corn leader.

Lady Tina, the wicked bitch of Lockes.

Ruv. Yes, Sam should have seen that one coming.

And when Ruv had taken Ryan’s own sword and thrust it into the knight’s chest?

Sam knew pain unlike anything else he’d ever experienced.

And it only got worse from there.

Myrin.

And Morgan.

Do you remember the day I came to your house for the first time? You stood in your room with such wide eyes. I loved you, Sam of Wilds. Even then. Remember that when the world seems dark. Remember that you have always been loved. You need to run.

Sam had known sacrifice then, hadn’t he?

He’d known when he stood above the love of his life, the healers flitting around him like little birds, telling him in hushed voices that they’d done all they could and that it was up to the Knight Commander now.

He’d known when he stood above a slab of stone, another love of his life looking pale and peaceful, even though death had taken him across the veil.

He’d known then.

What was required of him.

What was expected.

And so the boy from the slums, the wizard’s apprentice known as Sam of Wilds, made the only choice he could.

He accepted his destiny.

 

 

RYAN—

You will wake up. I know you will. There’s no other choice. And when you do, I’m not going to be there. I’m sorry for that. You’re going to be mad. I don’t blame you. I’d be pissed at you if you were doing this to me.

But I think, maybe, after the anger has faded just a little, I’d understand.

I’m hoping you can do that for me.

I don’t want to leave you.

But I think this is bigger than just you or me.

It’s my destiny.

And I still hate that word so, so much.

Because it’s not fair.

I never wanted this.

I never asked for this.

But it was given to me, regardless.

Morgan’s gone.

Randall is missing.

And if I’m going to have the strength I need to stop Myrin, then I need the Great White.

And in order to get him on our side, I need to do what he’s asking of me.

A year, Ryan. At the most.

Hold on, okay?

Just hold on.

Because one day, and one day soon, I am going to come back for you.

And I will never let you go.

I love you.

The world’s biggest Foxy Lady—

Sam

 

 

THE BOY from the slums, who had one day wished upon the stars to do something that mattered, went to the Dark Woods.

Eventually he was joined by the Dark Woods fairies, their lights bright and warm in such an unforgiving forest.

Are you sure about this, Sam?

Yes.

Then we shall guide you and stay with you until the end.

And that was a promise kept.

Sam of Wilds was a great many things. He was careless. Reckless. Inexperienced. Clever and smart, though probably too much by half.

But he loved those he cared about, and fiercely so. He would do anything for them. Regardless of whatever else could be said about him, he loved deeply.

Which is why he stood in front of the Great White for the third time, this creature who had mentored Randall, who was said to have built the entire world off his back.

And agreed to the year.

Because he loved with his whole heart.

The others were there.

Kevin.

Pat.

Leslie.

Zero.

The dragons of Verania, together at last.

And as the Great White’s eyes began to glow with a powerful light, the dragons roared around Sam of Wilds, and he felt his magic explode.

Eventually the light faded.

The dragons and Sam were gone.

The fairies disappeared into the trees, their lights flickering out.

 

 

ONCE UPON a time, there lived a boy from the slums who had a destiny.

One day he disappeared.

And in a billowing white room, a Knight Commander named Ryan Foxheart opened his eyes and said, “Sam.”

Verania held her breath.

And then—

The Darks descended, pouring out from the trees.

Meridian City fell first.

Then the villages.

Then the Port.

The City of Lockes was the last stronghold.

But eventually it fell too.

Six months after the disappearance of Sam of Wilds, the King was locked away in the dungeons and the Prince had gone underground with a knight, a hornless unicorn, and a half-giant at his side. They kept to the shadows, looking for ways to rise up. To fight back.

And Myrin?

Well.

Myrin sat on the King’s throne in Castle Lockes.

And as Verania fell before him, he smiled.