Ekleipsis (Fantasy Romance - LGBT, manXman)

9.10 - the final part

They climbed the last hill and lingered for a moment, illuminated by the rising sun − beauty, strength and devotion incarnate, the future gods of this world.

And beyond the hill there was another world, as if they stepped over an invisible border. Behind was a boundless, silent steppe, and ahead of them suddenly were multitudes of people, tents, carts and wagons. It was still early in the morning, but it seemed all hell had been let loose: little flags and ribbons on the roped-off excavation pits flapped in the wind, shovels and mattocks threw piles of soil and dust in every direction, fences and poles jutted out from everywhere, cranes worked up and down, plans and schemes were being nailed down to wooden stands, mysterious instruments and devices being used, tarpaulin being spread out and dug-up objects laid upon it for examination and cleaning. Green uniforms of Creedan cavalrymen flashed by, and bronzed bodies of nomads, and red jackets of workers. Smoke from field kitchens rose to the sky, spreading the smell of spiced rice, boiled with milk and raisins. Clotheslines with drying laundry trembled, and above all that the banner of Creede soared, a bright white-and-gold spot against the azure skies.

At first the eye could not discern any individual faces in the motley crowd. But suddenly a tall fair-haired guy dressed (or rather, undressed) in the Essanti fashion, joyfully whistled with two fingers and turned out to be Renhiro.

They heard him yell, "Kintaro! Kintaro kiyoku! Kintaro da!"

And a many-voiced roar which could have come only from barbarian throats of cast iron, answered him. Kintaro saw Akira and Inagi, Tatsuya the Falcon, Hideo, Morita, Tsuroka, others − why, there was a good half of the Essanti tribe here!

A woman on horseback, dressed in green field uniform of Creedan cavalry, a matching pair of Kimdiss swords strapped to her back, turned round, and her face changed instantly and irrevocably like a garden washed with a warm spring rain. She gasped, pressing her palm to her mouth, laughed aloud, made her horse prance and dart forward. She rode closer, and now they could see the colonel's stripes, the golden hair, the shining blue eyes. She leaped down from her horse, grabbed Alva with both arms and turned out to be Leitis Lysander.

She still was a little taller than him, but only because she was wearing high-heeled boots. Excited, she tried to toss him up in the air, but even that broad-shouldered Lady-colonel of the cavalry couldn't do it since Chevalier Ahayrre had turned twenty.

The cavalrymen whistled and shouted from afar. Alva saw Captain Kano Kunedda, Lieutenants Nyarra, Vincente, Janet, Ramirez and a dozen other familiar faces from the garrison of Selkhir.

Ithildin embraced Leitis and kissed her on the lips. She laughed. "The last time there was a shy and quiet elf with you, who never looked me in the eye, what did you do with him?"

They walked to the camp, and she poured out words trying to tell them everything at once: this was Galadon, the elven city burned down by Ashurran the warrior princess four thousand years ago, that crazy archaeologist Ines Isabel had finally found it, not a shade of doubt, because only yesterday they dug down to the crest of the petrified dragon, it was considered a myth, a fairytale, but the dragon was real, it had only sunk thirty fathoms into the earth, and they sent an official invitation to the Ancient Race to join the digging, it could be the start of diplomatic relations between the two races, but no one had come from the Great Forest yet, except for...

A tall slender elf dressed in green, silver hair neatly plaited for travel, stood on a hillock. He looked like Ithildin's twin when he first appeared in Chevalier Ahayrre's house. The dispassionate elven face suddenly bloomed with joy, like the magical fern flower in the depths of the forest. Ithildin nearly stumbled and grabbed Lielle's arm for support, his eyes riveted to the other elf's face, and the expression on his face could not be described in words. He covered his face with his sleeve, forgetting that he was not wearing traditional elven attire with wide sleeves reaching the floor, but a plain linen shirt with narrow sleeves, insufficient for drying his tears of joy. The elf fell into his arms and turned out to be a girl, and Alva, astonished, uttered, "You never said your sister was your twin!" And they said nothing, not a word, just held each other in their arms silently.