74. Guardian Shield

Dev was standing over the top edge of the tower, watching for assailants with his arms to hold back his broadened chest, just before Akshara entered the burning orchid. His icy blue eyes were alert to any sound coming from any direction, and his ears were alert to any sound coming from any direction. Ivan was singing a hymn.
"Ivan, stop polluting this atmosphere with your unbearable hymns," Dev said, despite Ivan's hymns being unpleasant and unbearable.
Ivan didn’t listen to Dev but continued tying some cloth around his feet. Dev asked about his action, "What are you doing?"
"When I last turned into a dragon, I burnt my shoes. So I am covering my feet." Ivan replied while tightening the cloth around his feet.
"Add two more layers; you might melt the castle with your heat-flaring feet." Dev mocked him, and before Ivan could reply, Dev added, "with your mouth shut. Don’t invite any intruders with your noise."
"Devvvv. I am Ivan, not a siren to sing a mesmerising song to attract any sailors into my trap..." When Ivan was blabbering without any pause, Dev heard a voice calling him.
When Dev looked in every direction for the source of the voice, he found nothing. He saw Ivan, who was still blabbering, so he covered his mouth and gestured to keep quiet. He thought the voice might be a device of distraction and scanned with his icy blue eyes.
"Is there a siren out there calling you, Dev?" Ivan chuckled, "You are handsome to get hunted by beauties."
Dev rolled his eyes after hearing the worst mockery from Ivan and resumed his action of tower-watching and smiled, nodding, "tsk, just in my mind."
"Devil!"
The same voice reached his ears, calling him exclusively, making him realise that it was the voice of Akshara. He called out, "Sara? Sara!"
"Sara? Are you talking about Axe, huh? Akshara, oh man, she is your siren? Does she sing now?" Ivan mocked Dev again and again.
Dev stared at him and waited for the voice to reach him to confirm that it was happening for real and not just in his mind.
"Devil!"
Dev heard it clearly and said, after realization, "It’s her. It’s her voice. I knew it."
"My dear hybrid friend, anyone can call you. How are you damn sure it’s your siren’s call? This may be the work of our ravens." Ivan remarked.
"Only she dares to call me a devil," Dev emphasised strongly.
"How can she call you now? I mean, even if she calls you, how can you hear from this far, Dev? You have been imagining her since the day you left her back in the castle, and you aren’t in your dreams."
"I know it’s her. It’s real. I can feel it." Dev rushed in every direction to glean the image of Akshara. "She, your sister, is as crazy as you to come here alone," Dev told Ivan and hustled his legs to find Akshara in the joy of seeing her after many months, with little anger involved for not informing him of her journey to the forbidden tower.
When she was nowhere to be found, Dev felt exhausted and yet he ran in all directions like a madman. Ivan caught him, "Dev, she can’t come here. Try to understand the fact."
Dev wasn’t convinced by her arrival or her voice. But Ivan repeatedly called for Dev to be conscious of his actions, "Dev, Dev..."
With a heavy heart, Dev resumed his actions of tower-watching. "I want to meet her now."
"Now? You can meet her at night like you always do." Ivan tried to convince Dev and decided to divert him from her thoughts, "Dev, what happened in the Las Oajar? My father told me that you were their topic."
Dev understood the real reason behind his question and answered him after calming his mind and heart, "They were talking about my coronation day."
"Your coronation day? Then you must be there until the court adjourns. Why did you leave in the halfway?"
"Why would I? My mother will take care of everything. I do need to be worried about anything. All I worried about was my Sara; I left her alone in the castle."
Ivan tried hard, but Dev jumped to the thoughts of Akshara, "Dev, I am aware that you are aware of the process of coronation?"
"I am well aware," Dev replied.
Ivan paused to think for a while and gestured to find something. He shook the shoulders of Dev to disclose his findings, "Dev, you must get married before being crowned as king."
Dev looked at Ivan with an irritation-filled face but relaxed the tension muscles on his face after hearing the word marriage. "Huh, I must give a grand wedding to Sara, as my mother said so. Ivan, what gift should I give her?"
Ivan looked at Dev with a combination of all types of emotions, "Dev! Wake up man; you can’t simply take your siren’s hand when you are crowned. It has some rituals to follow. The Ayruzglow kingdom has some ethics to follow. Don’t you aware of that?"
"No, I am not. How come I am not aware of that?" Dev asked himself while his body started sweating.
"You wouldn’t when you locked yourself in the wine falls of Frozen Crescent," Ivan complained about Dev’s extra-curricular activities.
"What are the rituals or ethics, Ivan? Tell me. (Dev coughed) I need to alert Sara about..." Dev blabbered while coughing and swabbed his sweat from his head. But Ivan cut his talk and replied, "That’s what I warned you about when you decided to be your bride and when you decided to bring her into the castle."
Dev felt excessive heat around his body and choked heavily while breathing. He bent to hold his knees for support, and Ivan moved to hold him. "Dev, what’s happening?"
"Sara (coughed) Sara (coughed)..." Dev called Akshara and told Ivan, "Something is wrong with her. She is suffocating to death. I need to heal her."
Dev stood straight, closed his eyes and called her inwardly, trying to connect with her mentally, "Sara?"
He waited for some time when his heart pumped loudly. His worry for Akshara frightened him, "What might happen to her? Sara, respond to me?" he shouted.
Ivan consoled his friend, "What happened, Dev? You are sweating?"
"Devil." her response came. Dev dived into his mind to connect with her.
Dev stretched his hands in the darkness to get hold of Akshara. He searched for her with wide open arms and found some liquid dripping on his hands. Before he realised those liquids were tears, in a fraction of a second, Akshara fell into his arms with a partial conscience.
Dev was terrified to receive Akshara in that miserable condition. He found her with burnt skin and heat marks on her face. On seeing them, his heart raced with beats, "Sara, Sara..."
As she didn’t respond to anything, Dev was freaked out in terror of losing her. "Sara, I won’t let anything happen to you." He uttered and placed his hand over her amulet and transferred some of his healing power to heal her.
His icy blue eyes turned crystal blue as he transferred his powers. Akshara opened her eyes slowly and glimpsed the wizard form of Dev. The amulet radiated cool blue flames, forming layers of protection, and he transferred more energy to her to heal, but he found some external disturbance around her.
He joined his hands together and formed a blue flaming ball. He directed the ball to the layers that protected her. The blue flaming ball was shaped into a white dragon that floated and roamed to consume the blazing fire.
Dev witnessed her wounds healing and placed his kiss on her forehead. Akshara opened her eyes partially and looked at him. She opened her soft lips to confess, "Devil, I don’t know whether I will survive to meet you."
Dev kissed her on her lips to stop her saying it, "Don’t say that. You are my bride, my queen, my wife, and my life."
Akshara chuckled, "You asked me once; if I got my memories back, would I still choose you?"
Dev looked at her with love-flowing eyes and said, "Hmm."
"My answer is (paused) yes. I choose you. I choose to be with you." Akshara confessed her love, and it made Dev swoon in ecstasy. She continued, "No matter what happened in my past, no matter I may have been whoever to whom in my past life, I still love you, I will never stop loving you."
"Sara, I..." Dev delighted in joy.
Dev was out of words and struggling to reply to her instantly. Akshara held his hands in her palms and continued her confession, "You gave your dragon scale, ripping it from your skin (she touched his heart with the scars) as a token of your love. (Dev caressed her face). I give you my heart as a token of my love in return, with or without my memories. I would love to fall in love with you for eternity."
Dev held her close to his heart and felt happy for her verbal confirmation of her love for him. He whispered in her ears, "I will soon present you with a royal title and make you mine."
Akshara smiled at him and found comfort in his embrace. "Devil, come to me soon."
Dev blinked his eyes in the gesture of remembering something and whispered in her ears. Then Dev opened his eyes and found Ivan standing before him with a worried face in the forbidden tower.
"What happened, Dev?" Ivan asked in a much more worrying tone.
"Sara is in danger. We must hurry to the castle. Come, let’s complete the energy shield as soon as possible." Dev instructed Ivan, and Ivan instructed the dragon warriors to help reconstruct the damaged energy shield.
*****