Taylor was enchanted by her claim. ‘Then I can hardly wait to achieve my objective and go home.’
‘Hear, hear,’ Lord Devere and I agreed; it seemed that Miss Koriche and Mr Taylor had both made great leaps upon their chosen paths of late.
‘Beyond that arch is the intersection we seek,’ Miss Koriche told us, and carefully began the descent down the steep rocky stairs that led to the bridge. Seeing her difficulty, Mr Taylor gripped hold of one of her hands to steady her passage.
The increasing goodwill between these two was obvious, and despite my grandchild growing in her belly, I had to wonder if Miss Koriche was pursuing the wrong man.
Mr Taylor, excited by his new fearless disposition, decided to negotiate the bridge first. My Lord Devere took the time to stop and inspect the support structure of the path before he would allow Miss Koriche or myself to pass.
‘My friend,’ he called to Taylor to prevent him being too rash. ‘This does not appear to be the sturdiest of structures.’
‘And yet we must chance it,’ Taylor reasoned with a carefree attitude, continuing on his merry way. Upon reaching the middle of the bridge, he jumped hard to check the stability of the construction. We all gasped at his brazen action, but the path remained firm beneath his feet. ‘I have a feeling this bridge has stood for a very long time,’ he called back to us.
‘It has indeed,’ Miss Koriche agreed, smothering her relief.
‘All the same, we should not push our luck,’ my lord suggested. ‘We shall proceed one at a time.’
Aware of our urgency, Mr Taylor made haste to the far side and then waved Miss Koriche forward.
I had a terrible feeling in my gut as Miss Koriche set off across the divide. ‘Something doesn’t feel right,’ I whispered to my husband, wondering if I should delay her until the cause of my unexpected dread could be determined.
‘I feel it too,’ Lord Devere concurred, and our fear turned to panic. ‘Miss Koriche,’ we called out to her.
She was now a quarter of the way across and the look of dismay upon her face as she turned to us verified that we were confirming her own negative premonition. She did an about-face to head back to us, but then her attention was drawn upwards and she began to run in the other direction, towards Taylor, who, upon sighting the cause of her dismay, shouted to her to move faster.
My lord and I looked up to see a large winged humanoid-lizard creature launching itself from the corridor at the top of the stairs above us. Spreading wide its bat-like wings, it swooped down upon Miss Koriche.
I retrieved the pistol from my holster, took aim, fired, and missed my target—but the creature was forced to change its course. It turned for another pass at Miss Koriche, who had now made it halfway across the bridge over the chasm.
Lord Devere headed off across the bridge himself, waving his arms in the hope of distracting the creature from its target. Mr Taylor was also making his way back to aid Miss Koriche to fend off her attacker.
I focused my will upon the creature in the hope that I could control its movements, if not its intent. The beast drew to a halt mid-flight and looked to me; I spied the horns on the creature’s head that gave it a devilish appearance. It laughed in mockery of my attempt at manipulation; clearly it functioned beyond the realm of my psychic influence.
The winged reptile resumed its dive towards Miss Koriche; this time it was on a collision course and not to be deterred.
It was obvious to Mr Taylor that he was not going to reach Miss Koriche in time to deflect her attacker. ‘You shall take her over my dead body,’ he snarled, and flung himself onto the creature’s back as it flew past him.
‘Taylor!’ Miss Koriche cried out. ‘You’re not a hero…what are you doing?’
Taylor, one arm securely fastened around the neck of the flying lizard, looked to the woman he would die for. ‘Finish the mission so we can all go home,’ he told her.
The creature, thrown off-balance by the unexpected additional weight, plummeted into the abyss, still struggling to rid itself of its passenger. Mr Taylor disappeared from our sight with it.
Miss Koriche sank to her knees on the narrow bridge, moved to tears by Taylor’s selfless act. My lord urged her to keep moving.
‘No, there must be something we can do,’ she appealed.
‘We can keep going, as he requested,’ Lord Devere impressed on her. ‘The information you have stored in your being is infinitely more valuable than one man’s life—and he knew that.’ My lord took hold of Miss Koriche’s arm to help her to her feet. ‘And you know it too.’
The responsibility of her higher potential was suddenly a heavy burden. Repressing her own feelings, Miss Koriche completed her passage across the chasm. Once on the other side, Lord Devere quickly ushered her through the archway and into the greater safety of the sheltered annex.
I was not far behind my companions, but before I reached the archway I glanced once more into the black abyss below. There was little hope that Mr Taylor had survived, but still I uttered a wish for his wellbeing.
Beyond the arch was a round domed chamber that, much like the first room we had encountered upon entering the Cave of Mamer, appeared to have been carved out of the rock and reinforced with a coat of ORME gold. There were three other archways in the chamber, illuminated by cascades of liquid-light—a little like waterfalls of light—except, unlike water, the liquid did not pool once it reached the floor and was not lit from behind, but from within every single droplet.
‘Which archway leads to Giza?’ my lord asked Miss Koriche.
Miss Koriche, unable to summon the will to speak in the wake of Mr Taylor’s sacrifice, pointed to the middle of the three.
‘Do you know what that creature was?’ I said. My curiosity would not wait.
‘Not now, my love.’ Lord Devere grabbed my hand to urge me towards the porthole, and before I had the chance to become apprehensive, my husband had taken up Miss Koriche’s hand too and pulled us both into the watery light phenomenon.
The passage was as immediate as if we had just walked through a doorway. Bone dry and intact, we found ourselves in a large stone chamber that ascended before us in several long, curved stepped levels. On the highest of these was a rounded-off altar block. Levi’s body stood before it, his back to us.
My entire being was tingling, as if every atom in my body had been immediately charged upon setting foot in this chamber—the same kind of euphoria that a beneficial chant might induce, but far more intense. I was completely buzzing from the crown of my head to the tips of all my extremities; and despite how it tickled, I felt decidedly queasy.
‘We have a bone to pick with you, scribe,’ Lord Devere announced strongly, but I could tell from his body language that he was feeling a little strange too, as was Miss Koriche.
The demi-god turned to address us and I noted he held an object in his hand, which vanished before I could perceive what it was. ‘As fate would have it, here you are,’ he said, sounding disappointed but not surprised. ‘Did I not warn you that to bring the decoder here would be dangerous?’
‘You did,’ my lord confirmed, ‘but you failed to explain why.’
‘Your personal sonics are not yet developed enough to be of benefit here; you are all feeling the pressure of the higher sonic right now. I have just been injecting this antechamber and those that lie beyond it with frequencies high enough to protect this vessel from being sabotaged by undesirables.
Your very presence here is jeopardising our mission.’
The foreboding I had felt prior to the appearance of the strange winged creature over the chasm washed over me once again. My being ceased to buzz, seeming to indicate that the sonic frequency of this chamber was suddenly plummeting. My pistol needed reloading and so was useless to me, as was my sword without Albray. Quickly I took my ringstone in my hand and mentally summoned my knight. As I had not been wearing the ringstone next to my skin, Albray had no idea of my location and was completely bemused when he joined us.
My dear lady, where are we?
Beneath Giza, I suspect.
Giza! Albray looked to the vessel that had once been my son. We should not be here.
No sooner had my knight voiced his fears than several lizard warriors, identical to those I had seen when probing the atomic memory of the labyrinth of Mamer, appeared out of thin air.
Draconians, gasped Albray. Molier is a saint compared to these creatures!
Five reptilian humanoids were ranged around the chamber and toted weapons I had never before seen. However, one of the intruders I recognised from my perception of Mamer’s history, for it was the very lizard warrior that had spotted me and hissed at me. These lizard beings had distinctive individual features, just as humans do. They were large in stature, seven to eight foot tall, and extremely muscular. Their feet and hands were clawed, and their skin was smoothly scaled in a rusty brown to deep evergreen shades. Their eyes had a cold glare like that of a snake or a shark, but the rest of their facial features were humanlike, except for their fleshy brow that curved around their forehead like a headband. They were dressed in a skintight uniform made of what looked like dull grey rubber and they wore chest armour. Most of the intruders bore the insignia of a flying serpent on the left shoulder of their uniform; however, the warrior familiar to me bore the insignia on a large medallion that hung on a gold chain around his neck. From this I assumed he outranked his company. All the insignia slowly pulsed with light.
‘How nice of you to deliver the decoder and the biological remains of the latest key-holder into our possession,’ the leader said. ‘What fine angelic specimens.’ His reptilian eyes raked us disconcertingly, but he appeared most interested in Miss Koriche. ‘And the decoder is already impregnated with a little genetic delicacy…yummy.’
‘Traitor!’ Miss Koriche cried out to the scribe, fearful for her unborn child and angry that she had played right into the hands of the enemy.
‘I told your associates to keep you away!’ Thoth pointed out in his own defence. ‘I don’t know how we were discovered, but I was not the informant.’
The lizard warrior seemed amused by our confusion. His dark, cold eyes turned to me. ‘Does he lie, princess?’
All eyes turned my way. I was rendered mute by the implication that I was the one who had sabotaged this mission.
‘Mrs Devere?’ My husband knew I was suppressing something as I was too slow to refute the implication.
‘I suspect that I may be to blame,’ I confessed reluctantly, not wanting to believe I had unwittingly betrayed us all.
‘Only maybe?’ the lizard taunted, confirming my fears.
It was now horribly clear that if we had trusted the scribe, Levi’s body would be safely on its way to residing in the Signet Grid.
‘But how is that possible,’ I wondered, ‘unless…unless you are immortal?’ An even scarier thought occurred. ‘Or you are inter-time intruders.’
‘Right on both counts,’ the beastly warrior confirmed. ‘But it is your kind who are the intruders; we were here first!’
‘This planet was never destined for your habitation,’ Thoth corrected, and looked to us. ‘Do not be intimidated. These beings are not immortal; they live off human fear and use the dark arts to absorb the vitality of their victims.’
‘And who was it that taught us that little trick?’ the reptilian taunted the scribe. We all gasped at the extent of Thoth’s treachery.
The demi-god nodded, shamefaced, to confirm the truth of it. ‘Still, without the use of technological gadgets and misguided demons, Taejax and his friends would be back in the pre-Stone Age where they belong! Their cosmic violations have nothing to do with me.’
‘I belong to the past, the present and the future of this planet!’ the lizard hissed back.
‘If you and your kind get your way, there will not be a future for this planet beyond the year 2976,’ the scribe retorted.
‘That is a lie!’ The reptilian, riled, aimed the barrel of his weapon at us.
Although we knew we were in danger, Lord Devere, Miss Koriche and myself were mesmerised by the lights around the barrel of the weapon that pulsated as the creature fired upon us. Instead of harming us physically, whatever invisible amunition the weapon fired struck us motionless as statues.
The lizard warrior focused on the scribe again. ‘So, old friend, it seems you have a decision to make. You can defend this key-holder’s body and also suffer the fate we have planned for him, or you can depart his form and hand it over to me without a fuss.’
The rest of the reptilian warriors moved in to surround the scribe, but he seemed amused by the ultimatum rather than afraid. He laughed in Taejax’s face.
I was distracted from the scene by Albray’s voice in my mind.
I need permission to join with you, my Lady Suffolk, for I operate beyond the laws of the physical realm and therefore—
Just do it, Albray! I stressed; he could explain the physics to me later.
Your psychic aptitude is not constrained either, Albray advised as he slipped into my form and I was freed to move again.
But I tried enforcing my will upon the winged reptilian that attacked us on the bridge, and it laughed at me, I said.
I felt Albray’s shock like a bolt through my being.
You confronted a winged Dracon on your own? Why did you not call me?
Now is not the time for a lecture, my friend.
I sensed Albray’s nod of assent, and he turned his attention to the problem at hand. If you held no supernatural sway over the reptilian, then the Draconians must have developed a psychic shield of some description, he mused.
The scribe discreetly enlightened us as to our adversary’s weak spot. ‘You and I both know, Taejax, that all that prevents you from going mad in this chamber and in our presence is that snake charm you all wear.’
‘And all that prevents you from joining us is that sentimental trinket you wear around your neck!’ the lizard warrior retaliated. ‘Without it you would lose all devotion to your masterful friend and betray him just as you have all the others who were foolish enough to trust you.’ The creature sounded like it was speaking from personal experience. ‘Betrayal is something you taught me, scribe, and I shall not hesitate to return the favour if you do not disengage from that vessel.’
I was about to try willing the insignia of all the intruders into my possession, when I spotted, via my third eye, an etheric demon emerging from the reptilian leader’s person.
There is the source of their mysterious psychic immunity, Albray and I both realised at once. The demon would prevent me removing the insignia via psychic means; we’d have to physically remove their shields if we wanted them to leave.
Meanwhile, the demon had snatched the pendant from around Thoth’s neck. When the demi-god used his astral hand to prevent the theft, as he had when I tried the same stunt, the demon bit it. Thoth, not having felt physical pain in quite some time, was taken by surprise and the demon managed to secure the pendant and return it to its host’s possession.
My son’s face suddenly filled with alarm as Taejax swung the trinket before his eyes. ‘Now, what say you, great architect?’
Tears flooded my son’s eyes and silently rolled down his face. ‘I can help you, Taejax,’ he said. ‘None of us need be left behind.’
‘I have heard that before!’ snarled the reptilian, and, angered that the removal of Thoth’s charm had not softened his resolve as expected, Taejax cast the trinket aside and made a grab for Levi, who literally slipped through the creature’s clutches by levitating into the air.
It was the distraction we needed. In a heartbeat, Albray used my body to separate two of the lizards from their left arms. Divorced from their protective insignia, they fell to the ground shrieking in torment and pain.
Taejax turned his attention towards me and flicked a switch on a small device attached to his wrist. Out shot a long thin needle.
‘Beware,’ the scribe warned me. ‘That device is
filled with liquid ORME. If you are injected, the overdose will not only kill you but fragment your soul into tiny pieces!’
What! Albray was confused. As far as he knew, a daughter of the blood could not overdose on ORME. He wasn’t allowing any of the reptilian warriors the opportunity to get close to me in any case. Their technological prowess had made these warriors lazy and the other two reptilian thugs fell as quickly as their comrades, leaving only Taejax still upright and of sound body and mind. The lizard warrior circled me, unable to discern how I had defied the paralysing effect of his weapon; clearly he did not possess any true psychic talent, just as Thoth claimed.
How does one best a demon? I inquired of Albray.
With love.
With love? The tactic was rather perplexing to me in this instance.
Not to worry, I shall separate that pendant from its chain, my knight assured me as we narrowly avoided the reptilian’s stab at us. If what the scribe said is true, without the insignia the harmonics of this chamber will drive the Draconians from our midst.
But his friends haven’t departed, despite their obvious torment, I pointed out.
It is my guess that they cannot retreat before our friend here. Albray found the opportunity to slide his sword under the chain around Taejax’s neck and yanked with all his might. He nearly succeeded in choking our opponent, who was heaved right off his feet, but the chain did not snap.
ORME, I deduced. That makes things a little more difficult. Not really, contested Albray as Taejax quickly found his feet. I’ll just have to take off his head.
‘Wait!’ For a split second the scribe distracted our attention as he floated down to Earth, eager to prevent any more bloodshed in this sacred place.
The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) Page 24