Discovered, page 20
As they got closer, Tarek saw why Karn was crying. Seated on one of the dragons with a long red stripe down its side, was Wren. He recognized it as the dragon called Bolong. Ruth was on another. Tarek knew it had to be Roar.
But it was the dragon with a red streak on its head that made him fall to his knees. Lady. And on her back was a woman waving to him. Meg had come home.
*******
Of course, the Eos didn’t leave the next day as planned. Instead, they stayed to celebrate the return of Meg, Roar, Ruth, Suzanne, and Wren.
But three days later, Rose, Jori, and Ian boarded the ship and headed to Edes.
Ibris and Tarek stood on the shore for a long time, watching them until they disappeared over the horizon. After hearing what was happening on Edes, they both knew that they might never see them again. But now that they knew that their families were safe, they could let them go.
Although everyone had been hungry to find out what had happened, Ibris had stepped in and insisted that the travelers rest first. Besides, Ibris knew that Karn and Wren, and Tarek and Meg were not interested in talking to anyone except each other.
All the dragons, touching down on the shore, had shifted back into the people they once were. However, they were no longer boys. They were now men.
Suzanne was their spokesperson. She did her best to answer questions, explaining that the men had been captives of Sawdi.
He had placed a spell on them to keep them dragons. The destruction of the ring had set them free. Falcon was also free, but he had stayed on Edes with Dax and Baywolf to help the people adjust to being free again.
That’s all anyone knew until Wren called a meeting of the Mages and the rebels. They met at the building they had stayed at on Lopel.
It seemed a fitting place for them to catch up with each other and talk about what each group didn’t know, like what happened on Edes or on the mountain.
While they waited for the meeting to begin, Karn and Bolong clapped each other on the back. Their plan had worked. And they both had lived. It was just one of the many celebrations that happened that day.
However, Tarek had hoped that they would also learn where all the missing people had gone after Wren took them away.
But Meg had told them it was up to Wren, whether she explained or not, and wasn’t it enough that they had returned?
Tarek hugged her and answered through his tears, that it was.
Sixty
Silke snuggled into Meg’s neck. It was a special day. She wondered if there had ever been a day so glorious in all the years that she had lived. The cold season had come and gone. Once again, the people of the Islands met each day in the Market.
She and Meg went every morning. But now Meg didn’t have to hide who she was or steal food to stay alive. She couldn’t have hidden if she wanted to. Everyone knew her. But not as the woman who had saved them and fulfilled a prophecy, but as Tarek’s future wife. And that was the way she wanted it.
It was Wren who had done that for her. First, she saved her and then hid what had happened, so that Meg could live an ordinary life, at least for a while, on the Islands. It was what Meg wanted, and Meg was grateful to Wren.
Only a few people knew what happened that day on the mountain. Everyone else had forgotten. Wren had seen to that, too.
Meg was no longer a shapeshifter, and she couldn’t have been happier. She loved watching Suzanne and Bolong play above the Islands as dragons but felt nothing but happiness for them.
Today was a special day for everyone. Today they were waiting for the Eos and the Soleis to return to the Islands. The two ships were bringing their friends and family to a celebration.
The Soleis was bringing Dax along with Rose, Ian, Jori, and Iris. Baywolf and Falcon said they could hold Edes together if Dax wanted to leave to see his cousin and friends married.
After the light flashed, and the wrist bands fell to the floor, both Dax and Aaron had collapsed. Baywolf had taken them to the Blessed Ones, where they were cared for despite what both of them had done.
Dax had recovered and, for the first time in his life, found a measure of peace. By the time Jori, Ian, and Rose arrived on Edes, Dax was busy helping Baywolf and Falcon return Thamon to how it was before Aaron, Stryker, and Sawdi decided to run it.
Although sometimes Dax still felt restless, he didn’t turn that into violence. Instead, he and his father worked with other members of the Kai-Via, who were recovering from Stryker’s training. Knowing that his father, Jori, was proud of him, went a long way towards Dax’s recovery.
Aaron never fully recovered. All his riches and power were gone. Both Stryker and Sawdi had died, and now that they didn’t influence him anymore, he became a shell of the man he used to be.
In a fitting turn of events, the women he had abused, and the children he planned to turn into his private army, cared for him. They built a small cottage for him in the middle of the garden, and Aaron seemed quite content to sit and watch it grow.
Ian had restored sight to the rest of the Blessed Ones. Most of them wanted to keep the scar on the shoulders where Sawdi had stabbed them to test them.
They didn’t want to forget. They vowed never to let something like that happen again on Thamon. And even though there were still those that worshiped Aaron, not wanting to give up their beliefs, they were free to do so. But not control others in the process.
The Eos was bringing Leon, some of his men, and Udore and his wife, for the ceremony.
The two ships arrived early in the morning, both ships helped along by the wizards on board. By the time the Eos and Soleis started lowering rowboats filled with the visitors, a crowd had gathered. Silke sat on Tarek’s shoulder as they watched their families come ashore.
As soon as everyone greeted one another, and rivers of happy tears were shed, the entire crowd moved to the Temple where the Mages had been busy setting it up for the ceremony.
Today would be a day like no other. Not only would Tarek and Meg be married, but Wren and Karn were renewing their vows, and Suzanne and Bolong would also wed.
Ruth and Roar were in charge of everything, which was what everyone wanted. Every Islander was invited. The Mages were in charge of making sure there was enough food, Samis and his friends were in charge of making sure everyone found a place to stand or sit.
This was not just a wedding. It was a celebration of the power of love, diversity, and community.
At midday, Ibris stood in front of the crowd. Behind him stood seven men, all of them smiling. They weren’t the Kai-Via or the Preacher. They were friends of the wedding party.
Wren and Karn, Tarek and Meg, Suzanne and Bolong, stood in front of Ibris and the seven men from their families, and said their vows. Above them, the blue light flashed, and the people of the Islands cheered.
*******
Later, after the crowds had gone, the three couples and Silke sat together on Ibris’ favorite bench. The night was clear, and the stars filled the sky.
No one spoke. Their hearts were full of the love that had been shared that day.
It was Meg who asked the question. “Will we be staying?”
Wren looked up at the sky before asking, “How many places do you think those brothers did those experiments?”
No one answered because no one knew the answer.
What the seven of them did know was that someday they might have to find out.
In the meantime, the Islands were their home. And today was the beginning of the rest of their lives together.
After Discovered, What’s Next?
Throughout the Chronicles of Thamon series, there were references to the lives that Meg and Suzanne had before coming to Thamon.
If reading this series has aroused your curiosity, you might try out my fantasy series called The Return To Erda series where Suzanne first learned about the bored brothers. Erda is also where her friend Hannah, aka Princess Kara Beth, defeated them.
If you would like to start at the beginning, try The Karass Chronicles, a Magical Realism series set in contemporary earth time, where you will meet characters that you will encounter in my other series.
Suzanne references this time in the Earth Realm as the time when she was an ambassador between the Earth and Erda dimensions.
If you join my mailing list at becalewis.com/fantasy, you can get the free short story that answers so many questions about how the Karass, Erda, and Thamon series are related. Yes, Suzanne is in all of them. How is that possible?
And, as you noticed, this book leaves open a few questions.
Where did Wren take Meg and Silke? What happened there? And will the seven explore other dimensions and planets?
If you sign up for my mailing list and/or follow me on your favorite author platform, you will be the first to know the answers to those questions.
Author’s Note
I was editing this book as the coronavirus first hit the world. Within days, my life, like yours, was entirely different from just a few months before when I started writing Discovered.
Then I was writing in various coffee houses as I attempted to get away from my home, which called me to do the laundry or read another book instead of writing one.
I would go very early as it opened. Often, I was the only one there for the first few hours, which was fine with me.
However, even though I get lost in the world of writing, I would often overhear conversations, and sometimes that conversation would spark an idea that ended up in the book—like the name Meg—yes, named after a lovely barista at my favorite Starbucks store.
Every book tells me more about myself.
I discovered, as I wrote my first fiction novel, Karass, that my point of view that shows up in my non-fiction, spiritual self-help books (The Shift Series), could not be shut off as I thought it could.
The characters reflected what I believe about the forces of good and evil. Or more accurately, how Good is the only power. Everything else that is not in harmony with the idea of consistent, universal, and infinite good dissolves.
But we each have to choose to make that stand within ourselves, and in the end, it is never a fight with someone else.
That’s why, as much as I think I want to have one, there is never a traditional battle scene. I try to write them. In this book, I planned to write one towards the end. But no.
As the words flowed out onto my keyboard, I found that I was ending the book—once again—with the “good” guys choosing another way to dissolve the evil that had taken over their world.
Every day, we all have to make this kind of choice. Is it possible to stop greed and power for power’s sake without fighting it? There has to be a way to do it. Otherwise, this battle will continue forever.
In my books, I get to work it out. Some people will say, well, it’s fantasy after all. Is it?
I don’t think so. It’s up to us to be the light that dissolves all darkness. Easy to write about in a book, harder to put into practice. But still, it can and must be done. See, there’s my point of view right there.
And now, at home, in the middle of a pandemic, I see that it is even more important to remember this Truth.
Standing with you, my dear reader, as we choose light.
Yours, Beca
PS
Once again, thank you for reading my books. Otherwise, it would just be me and the words, and although words are lovely, it’s the sharing of them that makes it all worthwhile.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I could never write a book without the help of my friends and my book community. Thank you, Jet Tucker, Jamie Lewis, Diana Cormier, and Barbara Budan for taking the time to do the final reader proof. You can’t imagine how much I appreciate it.
A huge thank you to Laura Moliter for her fantastic book editing.
Thank you to the fabulous Molly Phipps at wegotyoucoveredbookdesign.com for the beautiful book covers for this Thamon series.
Thank you to every other member of my Book Community who help me make so many decisions that help the book be the best book possible.
Thank you to all the people who tell me that they love to read these stories. Those random comments from friends and strangers are more valuable than gold.
And as always, thank you to my beloved husband, Del, for being my daily sounding board, for putting up with all my questions, my constant need to want to make things better, and for being the love of my life, in more than just this one lifetime.
OTHER BECA BOOKS
The Karass Chronicles - Magical Realism
Karass, Pragma, Jatismar, Exousia, Stemma,
Paragnosis, In-Between
The Return To Erda Series - Fantasy
Shatterskin, Deadsweep, Abbadon
The Chronicles of Thamon - Fantasy
Banished, Betrayed, Discovered
The Shift Series - Spiritual Self-Help
Living in Grace: The Shift to Spiritual Perception
The Daily Shift: Daily Lessons From Love To Money
The 4 Essential Questions: Choosing Spiritually Healthy
Habits
The 28 Day Shift To Wealth: A Daily Prosperity Plan
The Intent Course: Say Yes To What Moves You
Imagination Mastery: A Workbook For Shifting Your Reality
7 Steps To Right Thinking: A Thoughtful System for Healing
Perception Parables: - Fiction - very short stories
Love’s Silent Sweet Secret: A Fable About Love
Golden Chains And Silver Cords: A Fable About Letting Go
Advice: - Nonfiction
A Woman’s ABC’s of Life: Lessons in Love, Life and Career from Those Who Learned The Hard Way
ABOUT BECA LEWIS
Beca writes books that she hopes will change people’s perceptions of themselves and the world, and open possibilities to things and ideas that are waiting to be seen and experienced.
At sixteen, Beca founded her own dance studio. Later, she received a Master’s Degree in Dance in Choreography from UCLA and founded the Harbinger Dance Theatre, a multimedia dance company, while continuing to run her dance school.
After graduating—to better support her three children—Beca switched to the sales field, where she worked as an employee and independent contractor to many industries, excelling in each while perfecting and teaching her Shift® system, and writing books.
She joined the financial industry in 1983 and became an Associate Vice President of Investments at a major stock brokerage firm, and was a licensed Certified Financial Planner for more than twenty years.
This diversity, along with a variety of life challenges, helped fuel the desire to share what she’s learned by writing and speaking with the hope that it will make a difference in other people’s lives.
Beca grew up in State College, PA, with the dream of becoming a dancer and then a writer. She carried that dream forward as she fulfilled a childhood wish by moving to Southern California in 1969. Beca told her family she would never move back to the cold.
After living there for thirty years, she met her husband Delbert Lee Piper, Sr., at a retreat in Virginia, and everything changed. They decided to find a place they could call their own which sent them off traveling around the United States. For a year or so they lived and worked in a few different places before returning to live in the cold once again near Del’s family in a small town in Northeast Ohio, not too far from State College.
When not working and teaching together, they love to visit and play with their combined family of eight children and five grandchildren, read, study, do yoga or taiji, feed birds, work in their garden, and design things. Actually, designing things is what Beca loves to do. Del enjoys the end result.
Discovered
Beca Lewis
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
