Chapter 47

Dakota wonders. “I know we said that we would stop by and visit Alexander and Chloe, but I’m wondering if we shouldn’t just cut through the Free and Wild Lands of the Goddess Andromeda.”

“Let’s wait, my love. I say on your next birthday we do a grand entrance to her gathering and really piss her off, and plus I wouldn’t mind getting a look at some of those tapestries that hang in her many museums and galleries. They sure showed a lot of celestial events.”

“Sounds good and besides Chloe said she has a really pretty gown that she wants to give me.”

“Ah, the bribery of royalty.” Dakota looks up quickly and then nods and giggles.

And then Dakota becomes serious for a second and then she says, “You know what? I do remembering seeing something like a floating crystal sphere in the sky in one of her paintings, which was actually inside the world with all the talking and dancing animals. Yeah, I think going back to the Crystalline City of Divinity is a must.”

“Plus it will be your nineteenth birthday and sometime shortly after that is when we will begin the final journey to fulfilling the Prophecy of the White Sorceress.”

“Sorbo, we may not know the correct questions to ask yet, but I’m still feeling like it is coming together as it is meant to.”

“Me, too, babygirl. Me, too. As long as you are at my side the world is right.” With tears in her beautiful blue eyes Dakota kisses her husband.

After they return to Kakara, and Dakota was able to get her some beaded jewelry, they give their heartfelt thanks to the Tribal Council of Elders. “Your legend of the old woman and the crystal ball is true. We saw Kara from outer space. Any idea what it could mean?”

“Sorry no, but the knowledge of the four elements and the four seasons will guide you along your path. Good luck.”

Sorbo and Dakota look at each other. “The four seasons? The number four sure is coming up a lot lately.”

“Yes it is, my pretty wife, the four elements, the four seasons, Odin telling me that my favorite number being four actually means something. When we get to Kaza we will have to look deeper into the Book of Odin. I think as you continue to read it page by page I’m going to randomly start skipping through it and maybe that is putting faith in our destiny and that will strengthen it or them or whatever.”

“I understand what you are saying, my dear husband, and I face the coming days with a new sense of hope and pride. Has everything that has happened had to happen? I don’t know, but all I know is together we are one.”

“Come, my precious girl, I can’t wait to see you in the beautiful gown Chloe has waiting for you.” Dakota smiles.

As they are leaving Kakara the elder Gray Wolf yells to them. “Remember, you can recant your words, but you cannot recant your actions.”

As Dakota and Sorbo are waving goodbye, Dakota turns to Sorbo and asks, “What does that mean?”

“I think we still have choices before us and when we move to make them we better be sure of them.”

“When have we been sure of anything we are doing?”

“I can only think of once.”

Dakota looks at him questioningly and then it dawns on her what he means and she smiles and then shortly there after she is riding in front of him with her Great Protector’s strong and loving arms wrapped securely around her.

It turns out the gown is a full-length red silk dress that hangs by spaghetti straps. It is form fitting and when Dakota turns for her husband he once and again falls in love with his pretty and petite wife’s firm round tushy.

“Hands off, we still have a royal ball to attend tonight.” Then Dakota bends over and pulls the dress up and over her head in one graceful move and drops the dress on the bed. “Okay, now you can caress me all you want.”

“Really?”

“Um hmm.” Sorbo tackles his wife onto the bed as Dakota yells out her laughter. “Sorbo!”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.” she says in her small sweet voice.

Several hours later Dakota and Sorbo are escorted down to the ball. Dakota glows brilliantly in her new red silk gown. At the top of the ten stairs leading down into the ballroom are several horns and an announcer. The horns trumpet their arrival and as all present turn and look their way the announcer says, “Hear ye, hear ye. The king and queen of Pralene have come.”

As they are walking down the stairs whispers and gasps of Dakota’s beauty spreads like wildfire. Sorbo loves it when people love and admire Dakota for being Dakota, not the White Sorceress.

“You look beautiful, Dakota.”

“Thank you, queen Chloe, for everything.”

“You are most welcome, dear. Come, the night is young.”

Sorbo never much cared for big crowds of anybody, but especially royalty because they usually have an inflated view of themselves. However, surprisingly Darian folk are down to Kara. Their common accent a little thicker in its rogue lilt. Still Sorbo would have imploded if not for being able to touch his beautiful wife every second of every moment. As they twirl across the dance floor there are no others but themselves in the whole world.

Sorbo fights his desire to want to leave so that Dakota can continue to dance and socialize her beautiful heart out. Seeing her smile makes him smile. Seeing her happy makes him happy. He never thought he could love Dakota more than he has since she was eight-years-old, but everyday his love grows for her.

“I am glad the Knights of Andromeda and the Knights of Odin have worked out their problems.”

“Yeah, me, too, Alexander. If my reports are accurate we are going to need each other very soon.”

“If you mean the army Swelter, Harod and Abara are putting together, I agree. My reports say that within a year they will be big enough to move against us, but only because the scorpion harpies, wolveris and Loki’s Dragons have joined with them.”

“Our friends are with us and...”

“You boys wouldn’t be talking business now would you?” asks the regal queen of Darian.

“Us? Never!” exclaims her king.

“Uh huh!” says Dakota, pulling Sorbo out onto the dance floor one more time. The music is soft and slow and they get lost in each other’s eyes before melting into each other.

Later that evening Sorbo is thoughtful. “Perspective, it changes with age and encounter.”

“What does that mean?”

“Actually, my dear pretty wife,” says Sorbo, as he and Dakota are lying side-by-side looking at the Book of Odin. “It is telling us why some things cannot be taught they must be lived. Some truths aren’t truths until you learn several other truths first.”

“Wonderful!”

“Yes.” Then Sorbo closes his eyes and blindly flips some pages and it lands on one title. “The Order of Life. Hmm, here it says that the gods did not create life, but life created the gods as it is with all things. Here it says creation created life. Here it says the gods feed creation. The order of life is the accumulation of knowledge and power in a certain order and that completes the circle of life starting it all over again.”