Prince of Time

Epilogue

 

The line of children spread across the square, a cluster of boys and girls around nine or ten years of age. They all wore their best, heads held high, secretly shaking with nerves.

 

  Today was the day when their futures would be decided. The Masters would walk amongst them, selecting the ones to apprentice until only an unlucky few would be left behind. You could refuse to be chosen, of course, but why would you?

 

 Juniper shifted her feet anxiously, smoothing down her skirt. It was already creased, her blouse coming untucked at the back. Her shoes pinched her toes and rubbed her heels, too small these past three months.

 

  Her mother had made an effort. Juniper’s puff of dark hair lay flat, only one curl escaping to drop into her eyes. She was clean, her clothes fresh and smart. If only Juniper’s natural untidiness hadn’t invaded, she might have been quite presentable.

 

  Juniper couldn’t resist turning as the royals arrived on their platform. The elderly Queen Eglantine floated up to a carved chair, her periwinkle gown spreading out around her like mist. Jewels shone in her greying hair. From this distance she was still beautiful, her age scarcely showing.

 

  Then there was the king, tall and proud and beautiful. He glowed in deep blue, his hair wild around his face. He was still young, a trace of recklessness, almost savagery, lingering about him. Juniper gazed at him, fascinated.

 

   King Tobiah was famed for his temper and his ruthlessness. Politically, Juniper knew, the young man was feared across the world. But Merdia adored him. Under his rule, the little kingdom had flourished, her influence spreading.

 

  With him came an assortment of others, wild-looking and strange. They were young like the king, all wearing traveller’s clothes, all bearing arms. The wider world had left marks on them. They weren’t like anybody else Juniper had ever seen.

 

  They were famous, those four sitting down on the floor beside the laughing king. They were his only friends, the only people in the history of Merdia to defy order. They were heroes, daredevils, the tellers of stories, adventurers.

 

  Juniper wished that was her future. She wished, in fact, that she had any future.

 

She knew all four of them. There was the dark-haired man, the former dragon rider named Nicanor. His dragon would be up in the skies somewhere, looking down, not wanting to frighten the local herds. His wife stood by Eglantine’s throne, talking to the woman with her eyebrows raised.

 

  There was the girl whose unicorn stood at the side of the square, horn gleaming. Her name was Ane. There was the man whose hair fell over his face, the one nobody full understood. Zeno, the former magician. And there was the red-headed warrior, Maple, who just now threw her head back laughing.

 

  The Masters entered the square unattended. Juniper’s heart fell into her boots. Her knees shook, quivering with fear. What if she wasn’t chosen? What if she was left abandoned forever? What if there was no future for her?

 

  She found herself praying to no god in particular. Any Master. It didn’t have to be First Tier. Just any Master. Anyone. She would do anything. Any work. It didn’t matter. The Masters walked up and down the line but did not stop.

 

  Juniper glanced at the royal platform and Maple caught her eye. Juniper couldn’t understand it but it looked, just for a moment, as if the once-warrior smiled and winked at her. But that couldn’t be.

 

  A hand fell on her shoulder. Juniper’s eyes darted upwards into a scarred face. She swallowed hard.

 

“Do you want to be a dragon rider?” the Master of Dragons asked.

 

Juniper’s world flipped over. “Yes, sir.”

 

“Then you are chosen.”

 

As Juniper stepped forward she glanced back towards the platform and Maple nodded once in her direction. The girl smiled and turned away, set forward on a future.