Epilogue

Zebulun and Ruth married in high summer. The sun shone brighter and hotter than on any day in recent memory. The citizens of Azulan celebrated their new queen for days.

The next seven years were times of trouble. Dragons resisted the new law. Lords and princes refused to pay their taxes. They stirred up trouble on all sides of the kingdom. Bandits and pirates took advantage of the chaos. Assassins made numerous attempts on Zebulun’s life, and even one on Amalek’s. All attempts failed.

In time, with Davion and Amalek advising him, King Zebulun consolidated his rule. He improved the roads and bridges of the kingdom. He built ports and canals. He built an army and navy strong enough to defend the kingdom, but not big enough to invade other lands. Zebulun made generals of William, David, and the dragon Nahash. He tasked them to deal with the bandits, pirates, and rebellious dragons. They did.

After seven years, the builders completed the Temple of Ur. King Zebulun named Brother Mark High Keeper of the Temple. Mark and his followers wore silver ankhs to identify themselves as Keepers of The Law. Zebulun visited the temple every seventh day to heal the sick and injured.

Zebulun declared the eastern forest to be the Protectorate of Eastwood. The forest folk traded meat, furs, and timber from their lands for metal tools and grains from the kingdom.

With the forest folk’s permission, the cyclopes rebuilt their colony in our world. They would trade goods and stories with denizens of the forest and the Kingdom of Ur. The one-eyed giants learned from the fates of their ancestors; they treated men with respect.

The king forged trade agreements with Kanaark, Axolotl, and the myriad island kingdoms. He strove to keep the peace among all. Every nation prospered, Ur most of all.

Amalek convinced the warlord Zan to guard their western flank. The gold and cattle granted him by the kingdom made his cowboys the undisputed masters of the western wilds.

Daniel, the former madman, went south to the coast and founded a home for the troubled and insane. He showed eternal patience for the most lunatic and violent. He did what he could to ease their suffering.

Quinn convinced Zebulun and Davion to put their equines out to pasture. Loyal servants Othniel, Samson, Ganymede, Friendship, and Zeke spent the remainder of their days munching sweet grass in the field, free from duty or burden.

Kulth-Ing hunted near sunset when he caught a whiff of something strange in the air. He followed the scent until he heard the call: a loud growl. He answered. There, in a clearing, sat a beautiful, lithe female of his species. Her name was Lochnessa. She rolled around like a cat in heat, then presented herself. Kulth-Ing and Lochnessa traveled and hunted together for days before going separate ways. Ninety-nine days later, Lochnessa gave birth to four healthy cubs, two of which were as black as their father.

The first creature Zebulun healed, the red wolf, found himself a lone female. They founded a new pack and had generations of children. Their descendants hunt the eastern forest to this day.

Quinn’s kuchibu, Bigfoot and Sugar, lived long, happy lives. Sugar bore him many cubs, all of which would go on to be little agents of chaos.

Zebulun sired three sons: Asher, William, and David. Ruth bore him four daughters: Jael, Sarah, Rachel, and Leah. King Zebulun would reign for thirty-one years. He abdicated at the age of sixty-seven and retired to a ranch near the village of Koh. The Council of Elders chose his son Asher to succeed him.

Zebulun lived to be eighty-nine. He died in bed, his wife Ruth at his side, surrounded by their children and grandchildren.

Davion never married or sired children, but he did found his academy. He taught mathematics and philosophy to students from all over the known world. He taught magery only to those he saw as the most intelligent and noble. He raised up seven apprentices in his time.

Davion lived to be one hundred seven years old. He died quietly, in the middle of the night, while writing at his desk. Three hundred seventy-three current and former students attended his funeral.

Quinn mastered sorcery and became a legendary performer. Folks flocked from all over to see him in action. No one understood how he performed such amazing tricks. Rumors swirled that he was in league with dark forces — rumors possibly spread by Quinn himself. He would travel the kingdom and to lands beyond. One day, when he was forty-three, he sailed away on a ship and never returned.

Quinn never married, before he vanished, but he sired sons and daughters all over the known world, with women of all shapes, sizes, and colors. His descendants number the Earth like the grains of sand in the desert to this day.