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A/N and the story ends. i really hope everyone enjoyed it.

Shout outs at the bottom. But I must thank April again, loudly and from teh top of the page and the bottom of my heart. She is not just important to my writing she is imperitive.

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There is a legend. A legend of a creature in the mountains, a creature so powerful that even the greatest of Dakhannah's knights will not face it.

They say that she was spawned in the age of slayers long before the Great Reckoning when men still walked the earth. Some say she was the last slayer, some that she was the first. Others say she was the offspring of the Great Slayer and her Demon lover.

No one knows the truth. She is legend and she is reality, for she has been seen. I myself have seen her. She comes in times of imbalance when the scales of dark and light tip too far. She comes and balance is restored. It was she who brought the demon horde of Caramine to its knees and saved my people from annihilation. It was she who, millennia before my birth, cut down the Sun Wizard and freed the dark servants of Ramina from his power.

Yes, she is real enough and removed by virtue of her great power from the shackles of good or evil. She merely is, and such concepts are beneath her. That is why my people call her "Estandia," which means, "Of both light and dark."

I was fascinated with her legend long before I caught a glimpse of her as my mother fled the massacre of the Caramine. I have asked many tribes and races for their version of the tale. Each is different, and I am resigned to never knowing for certain which is truth.

I have heard one tale, told by the elders of the Shanroc people, that she was a warrior of light punished by the powers for giving herself to a demon and cursed with immortality. Another story goes that she was once one of the gods, cast out for loving a mortal creature and set upon the earth to do the work of all the gods, good and evil alike.

I prefer to believe what you have read here. That she was loved once and loved well in return. That she sacrificed herself for love and it was that sacrifice that saved all who have come after her. Perhaps she knew when she hid from her perusing lover in the mineshafts of what was then Russia, when she evaded him in Istanbul, that one day it would be his love for the Great Slayer that would be the key to defeating the all-destroying power of the Gahna. Perhaps she did not, and she merely wished him happiness.

One thing is certain, and I know this because I have seen it, too: she still weeps for him. Only the brave and the foolish venture up the mountain. My mother tells me I am both. But I did go, and I saw her as clearly as I see my mother now, sitting by the fire much as she was then. She was as beautiful in the flesh as she is in the paintings of the great artists of the past. With her midnight hair and golden eyes, her feet and hands cloven like the fossils my brothers and I unearthed as children and mother told us were the bones of ancient goats.

I think she knew that I was there, but she did not drive me away. She sang a song in the strange tongue of creatures long since extinct, and even though I did not understand the words, I knew it was a sad song. A melancholy tale of lost love and loneliness. There were tears on her face as she sang to the stars, and I think that she was crying for him.

And as I listened I wondered at the strange twists and turns of fate and love, twin conspirators in our destruction and our redemption. And I asked myself is love fates greatest weapon in our subjugation? Or is it love in all its bewildering power that breaks the iron manacles of fate and gifts us mastery over our own destiny?

Mother says I am a foolish romantic but I don't care. I believe in Estandia and I believe in the Great Slayer and her Demon. I believe that love has saved the world before, and that it will save the world again one day. I believe it is the only force that can.


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A/N thanks to everyone who read particularly...

April of course, I want to say more but I will sum her up as Amazing! Bloody Amazing! xxxxxxxxx


Enchantress, Shippy, Lizzy, Millsy and tayhaangel who's reviews early on got me going with a fic i was a little usure of.

Pin who has been leaving reviews that made me want to write even if it was just for her. She's been there from the begining. xxxx

CordyKitten - There from the start virtually a review every chapter and always something encouraging an dintelligent to say. xxxx

Vamps and her own unique brand of encuragement. i shiver at the mere mention of her licorice whip. grrr

ProhecyGirl whow joined a little later on and added her voice to the inspiring cries of "Write faster Damn YOU!" And was actually reviewing the last cahp in teh time it took me to write these thank yous xx

Beth who morphed into songal but kept the reviews coming and called for a happy ending for all. Softie

The other beth. cheers for reviewing

Melisa, Samic an djen who lept in towards the end and made me really want ti finish the story.

Bynee, ahigh, cecily, eboniter, CGH, heidi, annie, charlene, jane and the lady of spike for taking the time to review. I love my regulars to distraction but its nice to see new names too.

Hope I haven't missed anyone. thank you all so much for reading.

My furry little heart swells with love for all of you. Even the lazy blighters who didn't bother to feed the hungry review monster :)

See you soon look out for my upcoming fics. The Lotty Bear (crazy Mary Sue with a differrence)

And In Sheeps Clothing.

Plug and story finished thankyou and goodnight





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