Chapter 53
Epilogue
Or
After It's All Over...
The sun was sparkling off of the waters of the River Ebro, in Southern Spain. It was hot and the air was filled with the soft buzzing of insects and birds swung above, as they flitted from tree to tree. And down on the sandy banks, a man was lying in the sand, sipping from a bottle as he watched the sparkling water. For a moment, there was a swirling and then, there came a blue-haired Valkyrie, rising slowly from the water like Aphrodite reborn. She was stunning, the water streaming down her naked form, as she stepped onto the beach and settled herself beside him.
"It's nice here" she said softly, as Jago put an arm around her and she pressed her cheek against his bare chest. "How did you find out about it?"
"I know a guy, who knows a guy..." he said, giving her a small smile. "And I have to agree, it's rather pretty here... although not as pretty as you".
"Flatterer!" she said but gave a small smile as she kissed him. He frowned however, as he pulled away and glanced down at her leg.
"What happened there?" he asked, running a hand across the big, red, semi-circular mark on her thigh.
"This river is full of fish... including some VERY large catfish. One of them thought that I might make a rather tasty morsel, until I... persuaded it otherwise". Jago chuckled and kissed her again.
"God I love you" he said and she giggled, which became a whoop of laughter as he rolled on top of her, pinning her in the sand.
"Oh you big ape!" she said, playfully slapping him on the chest. "Get off me!"
"Why don't you make me?" he said with a grin and she laughed, pushing up hard and flipping him over, so that she could straddle.
"You're so cruel to me sometimes..."
"Only because you're so cute!"
"Oh you bastard!" she said and kissed him one more time, before reaching over and picking up the bottle her husband had dropped in the sand. "Maybe a drink will soften me up a little though?" She put it to her lips but then frowned, tipping the bottle upside-down and watching with dismay as the last few drops ran into the sand. "Damn..."
"That was the last one too..." Jago said miserably and then sighed. "I suppose this means we'd better take another job or two from Weth then".
"Ok, ok..." Lind said, rooting around in their gear until she pulled out the data slate Weth had given them. "Ok... give me a shout when you hear something you like the sound of".
"Ok, sure" he said as he sat up and she took a seat beside him, so that he could peer over her shoulder. "What've you got?"
"Well we have a lost Gleaner that's buzzing around the elves and making the locals nervous.
"I think I got that one last week" he said, frowning at the slate. "What else?"
"Err... well... there's still a Humanist enclave, somewhere in the Sudan. Tanks and light armour... nothing more. And there's some kind of sea serpent on the loose around the Amazon".
"Not bad... although not quite what we're after yet".
"An ork warband? Mad demon king? A necromancer?"
"I like the sound of that one!" he said, grinning as he leaned over to get a better look at the slate. "The Necromancer of... of course; of Transylvania... Bringing back a legion of skeleton men, with the intention of taking over Europe... extremely dangerous for a human... highest level of risk, highest level of bounty... sounds ideal to me".
"It would, wouldn't it?" she said with a chuckle. "Ok, the Necromancer it is". With that, the pair stood and started collecting their gear together and dusting the sand off themselves, with Lind muttering about how it got into places that you could never get it out of. It was then however, that Jago felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Err... Master?" Lamb said coyly. "Haven't you forgotten something?"
"Forgotten? I don't think so" he said, frowning.
"Oh come on Master!" said Damascus, as she appeared on the angel's other side. "You MUST remember!"
"What about you Mistress?" the Mints said, as they appeared in either side of Lind. "Surely you must remember what was supposed to be going on today?"
"Err... sorry but you're drawing a blank here" Lind said, looking sheepish.
"Oh come on!" all four angels said, pouting at the pair. "The wedding?" And in the same instant, both Jago and Lind's eyes went wide.
"OH CRAP!"
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It had been nearly three years since the defeat of Gracious Penitence. Three years since the end of the war. And in the three years since then, the world had been rebuilt. Hervar ruled Heaven with a fair enough hand, while young Jarrett was learning to use and control his powers, in preparation for the day that he would take over the rule of Hell. As to the fighting that had been plaguing the world, Temeraire had put a stop to most of it. Even most of the former Humanist regions had been reintegrated with the rest of the world, especially after the destruction of the stolen fleet at Gibraltar, essentially ending what was left of their military strength. And now, Temeraire herself had her first day off in years. It was her wedding day.
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"Do you think he'll like it?" Temeraire asked, swirling her shining white gown around her, while her grandmother looked on with a smile.
"You look radiant" Valmeyar said with a smile. "I would say like a princess but I know how much you hate that term, so... I would say that you look like a queen". Temeraire blushes and fluttered her winglets shyly.
"Thank you Gran" she said, pausing to cock her head to her. "I never did ask you... how did you die?"
"I had a Helldrake dropped on me" the old Valkyrie said with a shrug. "Worse ways to go I suppose". Temeraire gave her a sheepish grin but then sighed, glancing down at her dress.
"Sorry" she said. "I don't mean to bring that sort of thing up... it's just..."
"You're nervous" her grandmother said soothingly. "What bride isn't on her wedding day?"
"You weren't" the girl said with a chuckle. "At least you didn't when you married grandfather..."
"When I married Tyr? You have to be joking!" The old Valkyrie blushed scarlet and gave an almost childish giggle. "I was scared out of my mind! Half a billion years a spinster and now a man had to see me naked!? You've got to be joking!"
"You're almost as silly as Dad is" Temeraire said with a chuckle. It was then that the door creaked open and she paused with a half smile on her lips, as her husband-to-be poked his head around the door. "Hello you" she said, as he gave them a sheepish, worried smile.
"Be gone!" Valmeyar cried, waving him away. "It's bad luck to see the bride in her dress, before the ceremony!"
"Sorry" he said, unable to look any more sheepish if he tried. "But you see... well... someone wanted to see you". And the door was thrown open, as the rampant toddler came storming in, heading straight for her mother.
"Ma-ma!" the little girl cried, tackling Temeraire around the knees and hugging her tight.
"Uriel" she said softly and her daughter beamed up at her. She was a about a year-and-a-half now, with black hair and bright green eyes, which sparkled playfully as she pawed at her mother's dress.
"Up! Up!" the girl demanded and her mother chuckled, as Kamikaze appeared behind her, scooping Uriel up in her arms and cuddling her, as the girl reached out to flick the Seraph's winglets.
"Stop that" the angel said with a chuckle. "They're sensitive..."
"Sen-si-tive?" Uriel asked curiously and then giggled as the angel gave her a smile.
"That's right, sensitive" she said, tickling Uriel on her belly and making her laugh out loud. "See? You're sensitive too!" The girl laughed again and hugged Kamikaze, sticking out her tongue.
"Sen-si-tive!" she said again and giggled as the angel passed her over to her mother, who balanced her on her one good arm.
"Hello you" she said, kissing her on the forehead. "Have you been beating up your poor old father?" Beregond gave a small smile from the doorway, at which point Valmeyar flicked a tiny ball of lightning at him.
"OUT!" she barked and he disappeared out the door, as Uriel stuck out her tongue at him.
"Da-da out!" she commanded and Temeraire giggled, nudging her with her empty sleeve.
"You're quite the little bossy-boots, aren't you?" she said and the girl giggled, but then paused taking the empty sleeve in her pudgy, little hands.
"Hand?" she asked curiously but Temeraire shook her head.
"No... just one..."
"Why?" Temeraire paused and glanced at her mother, who shrugged.
"I'll... tell you some other time". The little girl looked disappointed but then shrugged and hugged her mother, before wriggling free and running off to whatever important business there was for a year-and-a-half year old goddess.
"She's even cuter than you were at that age" Valmeyar said with a smile.
"Oh Gran" Temeraire said with a smile, but then paused, glancing out at the window. "You don't suppose... that THEY'LL show up?"
"You mean you parents? Well nobody's seen them for more than a year..." Temeraire's face fell and it made Valmeyar wince. "But I wouldn't worry. After all, it IS your wedding day".
"I hope so..." she said and she held out her hand, so that her grandmother could help her down from her chair. "Ok, I think I'm ready".
"Good... because I think it's time".
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"Dearly beloved, we are gather here to join these two... err... four... souls, in holy matrimony" the priest intoned, as Temeraire leaned in to whisper softly to Beregond.
"They should be here! They promised!"
"I know, I know!" he hissed back. "But you know as well as I do that they're hardly around anymore..."
"They were here when Uriel was born... and I know that they've been seen since".
"Well maybe... they've forgotten?" Temeraire frowned at him and he winced. "Or perhaps they were... delayed? You know the sort of mission that they take now. Maybe they just can't here at the moment?" Temeraire sighed and turned back to the priest, as he started to read out the vows...
"Do you, Beregond Deaderuss-son, take this woman to be your wife?"
"Your father made it..." Temeraire hissed, glancing back at the crowd behind them, to where the dark god was lurking in one of the pews.
"I do" Beregond said and the priest smiled, turning to Temeraire.
"And you, Temeraire Lind-daughter, take this man to be your husband? To have and to hold, to honour and obey?" There was a moment of silence and Temeraire frowned.
"Well I don't know about that last bit..." That earned her a laugh from the crowd, at which point, she smiled and bowed her head to him. "I do..."
"Very well then... I hereby pronounce you man and-" It was at that moment that the doors to the church were thrown open, letting in a rush of warm air.
"Sorry we're late" Lind said, stepping in from the porch.
"We got a little held up..." Jago muttered, tipping his hat to them.
"Well it's about time you got here" Temeraire said, with mock annoyance. "I was wondering whether you'd make it at all!"
"Yeah... about that..." he father said, looking sheepish.
"We need you help Temmy..." Lind said and gestured to their cloths; both her combat leathers and Jago's clothes were torn and singed, leaving them battered and dishevelled, with more than a few visible wounds.
"There's a bit of a necromancer on the loose... turns out he's brought back Vlad the Impaler, who you might know as Count Dracula and is raising an army of skeleton men to take over the world".
"That sounds pretty bad..." Temeraire admitted. "But I don't see how that's my problem... well, aside from the taking over the world part".
"The buggers won't die!" Lind said. "We need someone who can counteract death magic and you're just about the only one who can do that". Temeraire gave a long pause, then sighed before turning to Beregond, her white gown disappearing to become her pale blue Seraph dress.
"Sorry my love... I've got to go".
"I understand" he said sadly. "You've got to go... and I'll be waiting here..."
"Don't worry" she said and kissed him on the lips. "I'll be back. After all... I'm Temeraire". She paused and gave him a smile. "You know what they say... who dares wins".
Authors Note: well then... nearly three years after I started, this story has finally come to an end. I'd like to thank all of you who have made it this far and have stuck through to the end. Hopefully this hasn't been too bad of a fic and as always, I'd like to ask you what you think. If you're reading this on Fanfiction, then please drop me a review; you don't even need a profile, just drop me one and I'll thank you for it.
Anyway, I can't say that I'll be continuing this series. I DO have some ideas for a sequel but as this story is already so far from the original series, I don't think that's really much of an idea. I've also got some other ideas for AMG fics, as well as maybe one or two from another series but honestly, I'm looking to start my own book series now and in fact, I've got my first few pages already done.
Hope to see you all again soon.
Jake
Saga: so... you think they've forgotten about us?
Eir: Probably... I'm not even sure if we're cannon characters...
Saga: oh... let's go and have a drink
