The Forever Queen (Pendragon Book 2)

by Nicola S. Dorrington

  “Wyn!”

  I could hear Sam screaming his name, but before I could see him move the dragon exhaled again and I flung myself flat just in time to avoid the flames. I scrambled to my feet just as the dragon gave a roar of pain, and Percy danced back out of reach, his sword edged with black blood.

  The dragon wheeled on him and I raced forward, slicing Excalibur against the dragon’s haunch, drawing the dragon back to me as I made my way back towards the road, trying to draw him away from innocent bystanders, and Wyn, who I still couldn’t see moving.

  Percy circled around, trying to make it impossible for the dragon to focus solely on me. But to the dragon Percy was nothing but an annoying fly, it was me he wanted.

  I reached the road just as the dragon let out another stream of fire, and I dove for shelter behind the first burnt out car.

  “Are you going to hide from me, little Queen?”

  I leant my head back against the still hot metal of the car, closing my eyes and panting for breath. The hand grasping Excalibur was slick with sweat, and my other arm ached from the weight of the shield. I didn’t need to look to know the dragon was advancing towards me. Every step vibrated through the ground.

  I opened my eyes again and for a moment I didn’t believe what I was seeing. Anderson crouched behind another car not ten feet from me, pale and shaking. Rebecca clung to his arm. Our class had scattered when the dragon had first started approaching across the grass, and most of them had fled back across the road to the safety of the Palace of Westminster. I knew that because I could see Mackay and a few others watching from beyond the railings.

  Anderson must have stopped to watch, the fool that he was, and Rebecca had stopped with him. Now they were trapped right in the dragon’s path.

  I swore a few times, and almost just considered leaving them there, but then Anderson looked right at me. I hated him. No, I loathed him, with every fibre of my being, but I couldn’t just sit there and watch him die.

  The abandoned car in front of me was highly waxed and I could see the dragon’s reflection in the paint. Just a few more steps and it would reach Anderson and Rebecca, the car would be thrown aside and them with it. A flash of metal to the side of the dragon caught my eye as Percy jumped in to slash again at its haunches. As the dragon turned to roar at him I took my chance.

  I almost made it to the other car before the dragon turned back. Another blast of flames licked out as I dove for the ground. I wasn’t quite quick enough and the smell of burnt hair caught at the back of my throat.

  I looked up to find Anderson watching me. He was shaking and white as a sheet. Beside him Rebecca actually looked the calmer of the two, although her cheeks were streaked with black mascara.

  “You need to get out of here,” I hissed at them, getting up on one knee to check the dragon’s progress. I ducked as another fireball shot overhead, exploding against the car behind us.

  “But that thing will kill us.” Rebecca looked at Anderson for confirmation, but he was staring at me with wild eyes.

  “He doesn’t care about you,” I said quickly, grabbing Anderson’s arm and pulling him away from the car. “It’s me he wants. As soon as I move you both need to run to Mackay and the others.” I gestured towards the gates of Parliament. “Don’t stop, and don’t look back.”

  For a moment I didn’t think Anderson was going to obey; he seemed frozen by his fear. It was Rebecca who got him to move, tugging on his arm until he got up on his knees ready. I gave her a tight nod and she returned it.

  I was up and running before she could say anything. The dragon roared and I felt the heat as his fiery breath pursued me. I couldn’t look back to see if Anderson and Rebecca had made a run for it, I could only focus on not tripping as I ducked and weaved between abandoned cars.

  I threw myself behind another car and found I wasn’t alone. Wyn grinned at me from where he was crouched, using the wing mirror he’d broken off the side of the car to track the dragon. The right side of his face was covered in blood; his visor had cut into the skin above his eyebrow.

  “Wyn!” I couldn’t hide the relief in my voice. There’d been a moment when I hadn’t thought he was ever going to get up again.

  “I was trying to get to you, then I saw you running my way.” He waggled the mirror.

  “Where’s Percy?”

  Wyn grimaced. “Having far too much fun.”

  I smiled despite everything. “Perhaps we should give him a little help?”

  “You go left, I’ll go right.”

  I nodded and we both leapt out from behind the car. The dragon had been waiting, closer than either of us had realised, and suddenly he was in front of me, mere feet away. His hot breath, stinking of sulphur, washed over me.

  “Have you finally finished running, Little Queen? Will you fight me now?”

  My heart hammered in my chest, and I tightened my sweat slicked hand on Excalibur. The sound of heavy trucks and wailing sirens were getting closer. It wasn’t a stunt any longer, they’d called in reinforcements. I was running out of time. If humans attacked the dragon would retaliate and London would burn. I sucked in a deep breath and lowered Excalibur. “I don’t want to fight you.”

  “Again, that choice is mine.”

  “You are the last of your kind. Do you think I want to see you dead?”

  “You are very confident, little Queen. What makes you possibly think you could defeat me?”

  I raised Excalibur. “Dragon forged, and therefore one of the only things of any use against your kind. But I don’t want to use it.”

  A blast of fire shot my way and I flung up the shield. The heat seared my legs, but the shield deflected the worst of it.

  “You will fight me,” he roared.

  “And what if I won’t? What if I won’t do it? I won’t kill you.”

  He swung, snarling, towards me. “What? So you will just die, without a fight?”

  “If that’s what it takes, yes. I can’t kill you. You’re the last of your kind.”

  He roared again in frustration. “No. You must fight me. I want to see you suffer for what you did.”

  “I didn’t do anything. It wasn’t me. It was more than a thousand years ago. In a different world. You kill me and then what? What do you do next?”

  “Whatever I desire. I will roam the skies, rain down terror should they try to stop me.”

  “For how long?” I was still trying to edge around him, trying to get him to turn away from my family. “With the gateways sealed the magic is fading. How long do you think it will last? And then what? You’ll die anyway. Besides, they have more powerful weapons now than you can possibly imagine. They’ll find a way to kill you. You made sure I sealed the gateways, so open them again. Go back to Avalon and live. Live forever.” It was only a vague hope that the dragon could break the spell he’d cast, but it was worth a try.

  “Even I cannot open the gateways. The spell is not one that is meant to be broken. But even if I could do you think I would return to Avalon alone? Forever the last of my kind? Whilst the line of Pendragon continues on in this world, untouched by what they did?”

  “Better than simply fading away in this world.” I was begging now and I knew it, but I couldn’t see any other way out of it.

  The dragon lowered his head, snaking his neck out until his muzzle was mere inches away from me. His eyes were like many faceted rubies as he gazed at me. There was something in the depths of them, an ancient, desperate sadness that made my throat close up to see, but at least he seemed to be considering it, weighing up death and loneliness. “Then I shall make you a deal,” He said at last, his voice soft and rumbling in my head. “We shall go together –into Avalon. The Last Dragon and the Last Pendragon. The last remnants of a world best forgotten. There we shall suffer my fate together. The dragon who never dies and the forever Queen. If magic is to leave this world then you should go with it. If you have a way of opening a gateway that is?”

  I thought of the Silver Bough. I
had planned to use it to send the dragon back anyway, but to go as well? I had said goodbye to Lance, but was this now our chance at being together, there in Avalon? It wouldn’t be so bad would it? To go to a world where we would never die?

  I thought of the life I had planned for myself. University and a job. A career and perhaps a family one day. I would be giving it all up. My entire future, gone. But in return I would get forever, in a world of magic, with Lancelot.

  After all, could I really live in this world once the magic was gone? It was a part of me that I had embraced, which had made me feel whole. Did I even remember how to be Cara Page anymore? Would I be able to have a normal life anyway? And perhaps, one day, the world would change, and magic would be welcomed back again and the spell sealing the barriers would weaken.

  The dragon was still watching me, his red eyes glowing with an inner fire. He seemed content to let me work it out on my own.

  “And if I don’t come?”

  Smoke furled out of his nostrils. “I will burn London to the ground. I will hunt you down and kill everyone around you. Until you finally fight me, and one of us will die.”

  With shaking hands I slid Excalibur into its sheath. “Then we go to Avalon.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  In the confusion that took over London when the dragon suddenly took to the sky and vanished, no one noticed a group of teenagers and a middle aged couple leaving the park. With the dragon gone Wyn and Percy’s protective magic reinstated itself and they were back to their jeans and t-shirts, and Excalibur and the shield became invisible again.

  I knew Thomas and Mackay would be looking for me but all I cared about was getting out of London. Mum and Dad had come down on the train, but we managed to squeeze all of us into the 4x4, though Percy had to sprawl out in the boot.

  The streets were clogged, but slowly, steadily we made our way out of the city. I could feel eyes on me the whole way, but no one spoke, and I was too busy thinking about what was going to come next.

  The Silver Bough could only be used where the barriers were weakest, which meant a fey gateway. None of us liked the idea of taking the dragon to the Lake, and I had no desire to go back to Stonehenge. And so we were going home, for what would be the last time. For me anyway.

  Not far from my town was a little known stone circle. It was one of the smaller fairy circles, but we hoped it would do the job.

  I had agreed to meet the dragon there at dawn the next day. We both knew we would keep our bargain.

  We got home just in time for the 10 o’clock news. The main story was the disturbance in London. Yet no one seemed entirely sure what had happened. The magic had made people’s recollections hazy. Some eye witnesses said they’d seen a dragon and a man in armour, others said they’d only seen some kind of blimp crash into the green. The magic also played havoc with electronic devices and the smart phone footage that had been gathered was shaky and filled with enough static to make the picture almost impossible to make out.

  In the end it was Thomas who cleared it all up. He took part in a press conference at the end of the segment looking a far cry from the man I had met. He looked smaller, frailer, and was leaning on the cane more than ever. But above all, he looked defeated. Nothing had gone his way. People had seen me pull the sword from the stone, but they had simply passed it off as some kind of stunt. They had seen the dragon with their own eyes, but still didn’t want to believe it.

  As much as he wanted the power and magic of the Pendragon line back on the throne, I think he had finally accepted that the world was no longer able to accept magic. It would never have worked.

  He told the gathered media that it had been a St George’s day stunt that had gone a little wrong. The ‘dragon’ was nothing more than an animatronic that they had lost control of, hence the damage to Big Ben’s clock tower and the cars. The armoured knight was an actor. He apologised for the disruption caused and left. The reporters seemed less than impressed with the excuses, but would any of them push for the truth?

  I knew enough to know that there would be conspiracy theories for the next few years for sure. There would always be one or two people, people who had some tiny remnants of magic in their blood who would know what they had seen was real, but who would listen to them? They would be branded as crazies, and the world would return to being blithely unaware of the existence of magic.

  As Dad switched off the T.V I turned to face them all. Wyn and Percy lurked in the doorway, looking huge and out of place in my little suburban home. Sam curled herself into one of the armchairs, her arms locked around her knees. Dad stood by the French doors out into the garden, his eyes fixed on the dark glass.

  But I only had eyes for Mum. Seeing her sitting there on the couch was something I had dreamed off for so long. A part of me could barely believe it was real.

  She gave me a small, soft smile. “So what now, my sweet Caronwyn?”

  I crossed the room and knelt in front of her. “I have to go to Avalon. It’s the deal I made with the dragon. I – I won’t be coming back.”

  She nodded. “I know.” Her fingers locked around mine. “Will you have room for one more to make this crossing?”

  My head shot up. “What? I – yes – but –“

  “Oh come now, Caronwyn. Do you really think that I would stay here? What does this world have to offer me? A lifetime of doctors prodding and poking me, exclaiming over my miraculous recovery? Or worse, a regression? No I think I like the sound of this world of magic and myth and wonder.”

  I beamed, indescribably happy. I had been most scared of leaving my family behind. Now I didn’t have to. “Then there is definitely room for one more.” I glanced up towards Dad and my smile faded.

  “Not me, Cara. I’ll be staying.”

  “Dad.” I crossed the room to him in two steps. “But – why?”

  He cupped my chin and smiled sadly. “It’s your world, and your mother’s, not mine. I have no magic in my blood, and, to be honest, I don’t think I’m ready for it.”

  Tears blurred my vision. “But Daddy-.”

  “I’ve always known you were both special, too good for this world. The first time I met your mother I thought that she reminded me of a fairy, now I know why. Somehow I’ve always known I wouldn’t get to keep you with me forever.”

  “I’ll never see you again.” The truth of it hit me like a hammer. I would never see him again.

  He chuckled sadly. “Now I know that’s not true. If you really want to see me, I’m sure you’ll find a way. But this way at least I’ll know that you are safe and well for the rest of my life. I will miss you every day, my sweet little girl, but you’ll be right here.” He touched his heart.

  It felt as though my heart was shattering. I didn’t want to leave him behind, but I knew that in a way he was right. Avalon was not his world. He was as mortal and human as they came, even now I could see the glances he shot towards Wyn and Percy, even the way he looked at me sometimes. All of it was too much for him.

  My eyes locked with Sam and she sighed. “I guess I don’t even get a choice.”

  “I’m sorry, Sam.” She may have wanted to go with me then, but I knew she would regret it. It was a sacrifice she wasn’t ready to make.

  She looked towards Wyn and then down into her hands, but not before I saw the tears glistening in her eyes.

  I also glanced towards Wyn and Percy, they both nodded back, but there was an odd look in Wyn’s eyes, and I realised how deeply he and Sam had connected. He would miss her.

  “The – boys – can sleep down here tonight,” Dad said, glancing towards them too. “You’ll need an early start in the morning.”

  I gave him a tiny smile and then glanced towards Sam.

  “She can stay too.”

  In the end we all slept down in the living room. Apart from Mum and Dad. Mum took my bed, Sam took the couch and Wyn and Percy stretched out on the floor. I sat curled up in one of the armchairs. I was torn. Part of me wanted to sleep, in the hop
es that I might dream of Lance, and I could tell him the long separation was over and I was coming to him, but another part of me didn’t want to miss a minute of this world, when I knew I had so little time left.

  I wasn’t sad to be going, not really, but I was sad that I would be leaving Sam and my father behind. It was hard to imagine my life without them, even though Sam had only recently come back into it. The tears came unbidden in the early hours of the morning, and I slipped out into the garden so I wouldn’t wake the others. I cried for the people I was leaving behind, and the life I was giving up. It wasn’t easy. As much as I loved Lancelot I was scared. In Avalon I would never age, never grow old, but did I really want to be seventeen for ever? But the choice wasn’t mine. If I refused to go the dragon would enact his revenge on this world, and I couldn’t have the loss of lives on my shoulders. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that the dragon would just let things go once we reached Avalon, but there at least he could do no harm.

  I was making a sacrifice, but I knew it was for all the right reasons.

  “Cara?”

  I turned and saw Percy slip through the French doors. His hair was tousled and his eyes were hooded with sleep. He scrubbed one hand over his face.

  “Is everything OK?” His version of a whisper still carried through the night air.

  I brushed away the wetness on my cheeks. “Yeah. Go back to sleep.”

  He ignored me and covered the distance between us in a few steps, wrapping me up in a bear hug. For a moment I was going to push him away, I was worried he’d think me weak, but then I just buried myself in his chest.

  “It’s going to be all right, Cara,” he murmured against my hair. “You’ll see. Avalon will be – Ok.”

  I tipped my head back to look at him, smiling through my tears at his less than enthusiastic word choice. “Ok?”

  He shrugged. “I understand what you’re giving up, and Avalon isn’t going to replace that. But you’re doing it for the right reasons. And – well – Lancelot will be there.”