Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

drowsiness out of his head. His emerald scales shimmered brightly where the Rainbow had touched them. Julia was standing beside the dragon, happily flexing her newly healed hand, and staring about her in open wonder. Rupert went over to her, and took her in his arms, and the rising sun was like a benediction. King John sat beside the decaying throne with his head in his hands, and wept for the loss of his friend.

Chapter 10
    ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS
    Out in the Forest, birds were singing. Leaves had begun to appear on some of the trees around the clearing, and the air was full of clean, familiar Forest smells. Sunlight poured down through the slowly widening break in the canopy overhead, and the early morning sky was so brilliant a blue it almost hurt Rupert's eyes to look at it. High above the Forest, the dragon soared effortlessly on the gentle morning winds, his scales shimmering brightly in the golden sunlight. Rupert could feel the winter cold finally leaving his bones, and the sun was warm on his face. All around him he could hear the quiet, furtive sounds of animals emerging from their hiding places to investigate the returning Forest. And yet for every tree that stood wreathed in green or bronze, another stood stark and dead, its wood eaten away from within. For some, for all too many, the Rainbow had come too late.
    'Half the Forest's still dead,' said Julia. 'I thought that once the Demon Prince was gone, everything would just return to normal.'
    Rupert shook his head slowly. 'Not even the Rainbow can bring back the dead, and some of these trees have stood in darkness for a very long time. The Darkwood may be gone, but it'll take the Forest centuries to recover from the damage done to it. No, lass, we're rid of the Demon Prince, but we still have to deal with the legacy he left us.'
    Julia suddenly stumbled over something lying hidden in the long grass, and bent down to pick it up.
    'What have you got there?' asked Rupert.
    'I'm not sure,' said Julia. 'Looks like a piece of bone, or horn, or something.'
    'A horn? Let me see that.' Rupert reached out a hand for the object. Julia went to pass it to him, and then almost dropped it as her newly healed fingers refused to co-operate. Rupert caught the horn just in time, and smiled sympathetically at Julia. 'How's your hand now, lass? Still stiff?'
    'Yeah,' said Julia wryly, kneading her injured hand with her good one. 'The Rainbow healed the damage all right, just like before, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of exercise before this hand is supple enough to use a sword again.'
    'I know what you mean,' said Rupert, wincing slightly as a too sudden movement brought him a warning twinge from his newly healed ribs.
    'I wish the Rainbow could have done something for your eye,' said Julia.
    Rupert shrugged carefully. 'So do I, lass, but then again, I'm happy just to be alive.' He studied the piece of horn in his hand. It was almost two feet long and thickly curlicued, the creamy white ivory cracked and discoloured. Rupert nodded grimly. 'I thought so.'
    'What is it?'
    'It's the unicorn's horn. He lost it to a demon in the Darkwood, remember? The Demon Prince used it to spread his plague.'
    Julia looked at the horn warily. 'Is it still dangerous? Maybe we ought to destroy it.'
    'The High Warlock will know what to do with it,' said Rupert, slipping the horn into the top of his boot.
    'I'll give it to him when we get back to the Castle. Maybe he can find some way to fix it back on to the unicorn.'
    'Rupert,' said Julia gently, 'we can't be sure that either of them survived that last attack from the demons.'
    'Damn, 'said Rupert. 'Oh damn. I'm sorry, Julia, I didn't think. . . It just doesn't seem possible that so many people could have died in so short a time.'
    Julia put an arm round Rupert's shoulders, and he hugged her to him. They stood together a while, staring about them, enjoying the sunshine and breathing in great lungfuls of the fresh, untainted air. Losing themselves in the morning, so they could forget the horrors of the night.
    'It's hard to believe it's finally over,' said Rupert.
    'It isn't over,' said a quiet voice, and Rupert and Julia looked quickly at King John, sitting alone at the edge of the clearing and staring at the ground with empty eyes. 'The Demon Prince isn't dead. All the Rainbow did was drive him back to whatever dark hell he came from. Since the Astrologer and I were responsible for summoning him out of the darkness, only we can truly