by Alison Pensy
The dragon lowered his head until his face was level with hers. It took every ounce of her self-control to stay put. His fierce green eyes pierced into hers, searching their very depths to her soul.
“Little one, I am curious. It was no mean feat for you to get this far in your quest, so the reason must hold great importance. Why would you need to seek an audience with our ruler?” His voice was softer this time.
“Someone has kidnapped my father and she’s given me a week to hand over this, or she’ll kill him.” Faedra lifted up the amulet to show the dragon, to which the dragon raised an eyebrow in recognition and brought his claw up to rub his chin again.
She also dug out the time-pebble that was getting redder by the hour. “You see,” she said, “I don’t have much time left.”
The dragon also raised an eyebrow at the time-pebble, seeming to recognize it for the dark magic it held.
“Hmm,” he pondered, “but you still haven’t told me why you need to speak with Draconis.”
“The person who took my father did so with the ruby staff.”
The dragon stood up straight raising his head in surprise at her statement. “The ruby staff? But that was destroyed when Savu was.”
“That’s what I’ve been told, but I assure you it is still very much intact, and the only way I can find my father is to borrow the emerald staff from Draconis.”
The dragon rubbed his chin again. “If I allow you to walk through to our realm, Draconis will surely see you dead before you speak.”
A cold shiver ran down her back and she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I have to try,” she whispered.
The dragon took a moment in thought, pacing back and forth in front of them. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke. “It is against my better judgment, but I will allow you passage to Zutherindal. Let it be known I cannot guarantee your safety when you set foot on our soil.” The dragon gave Faedra a grave look as he spoke which made her throat dry up again.
“That is all I ask, thank you,” she said.
The dragon inclined his head in acknowledgment. “Follow me then.”
He led them to a sealed archway in the rock wall and stood before it. After uttering some incantation in yet another language Faedra had never heard before, the rock within the archway turned to a luminescent liquid and started swirling in mesmerizing patterns. To Faedra’s surprise, the dragon stuck his head and neck into the liquid until only his body and tail were visible. She looked down the length of him and watched his tail slowly swish from side to side.
“He’s probably talking to the Gatekeeper on the other side,” Etyran whispered in her ear.
Sure enough, a moment later the dragon pulled his head and neck back and turned to the two travelers who stood beside him waiting in anticipation.
“I have talked to Alaris on the other side. He will see you safely to Draconis but I cannot secure your safety after that point.”
Faedra nodded her understanding. “Thank you.”
The dragon held his arm out to direct them though the archway. Faedra’s stomach did a flip-flop as she took a step forward. She held her hand up to the wall and, after a moment’s hesitation, reached out to touch it. She was surprised to find that it didn’t feel like liquid at all. It was more like a cool mist swirling around her hand. She withdrew her hand and looked down at it, then took a deep breath and looked at Etyran who gave her an encouraging, barely discernable nod and a warm smile. Just as they were about to step through, the dragon spoke again.
“Custodian.”
Faedra turned. “Yes?”
“Good luck.”
Faedra gave him a hesitant smile before stepping through the swirling liquid with Etyran close by her side.
Once on the other side, Faedra did a quick glance down her body. It was a stupid thought but she needed to check and make sure she was still in one piece.
“So, you’re the Custodian.” Another gravelly voice interrupted her thoughts.
Faedra looked up to see a stunning royal blue dragon this time, whose emerald green eyes were no less intense than the other Gatekeeper’s had been. She couldn’t be sure, but this dragon looked like he was sneering at her with intense dislike. As soon as he finished raking his gaze up and down her body, he whipped around, almost swiping them with his tail. If it hadn’t been for Etyran’s quick reflexes pulling her back a foot or so, the dragon’s tail would have surely hit Faedra in the side of the head.
“Follow me,” the dragon ordered as he marched out of the smaller cavern they were now standing in.
“A human in Zutherindal, I’ve never seen the like in all my years,” he grumbled to himself as Faedra and Etyran followed him down a dimly lit corridor. Then he stopped suddenly and swung his immense neck and head around until he was inches away from Faedra’s face. She sucked in a breath and stared at the dragon, eyes wide and frozen to the spot.
“Suicide mission, that’s what you’re on!” He stared at her for a long moment, eyes searching into her soul just like the other dragon had done. Then he raised an eyebrow and just as swiftly turned his head and neck to face the front, and started moving forward again.
Faedra let out the breath she’d been holding and continued on behind him. She was hanging onto her resolve by the skin of her teeth. Inside, she felt like a gibbering wreck, but all the while was imagining her father going through much worse at the hands of Vivianna. That thought was the only thing allowing her body to put one foot in front of the other.
As they journeyed further along the corridor, Faedra noticed the walls changed from carved out rock to neatly laid brick. They must have walked from a cave into a building of some sort. The further they walked, the more elaborate the décor became. The wall torches were made of wrought iron with decorative scrollwork. There were now tapestries hanging from the walls. The stone used for bricks was pale in color bringing a lightness to their surroundings. They started to pass big wooden doors, all of which were closed thus far.
The dragon turned a corner and they followed behind for several paces more before it came to a stop in front of a set of huge double doors that seemed to take up the whole wall.
Alaris rapped hard on the doors and Faedra heard a sound from the other side. This was it; they were at their destination. In a few moments she would either be toast, literally, or she would persuade the dragon to loan her the emerald staff. She focused on the outcome being the latter of the two options and tried to quiet her pounding heart. She didn’t think even her energy could outdo a dragon.
The doors swung open revealing another cavernous room that was lit with numerous blazing torches lining the walls within.
“What is it Alaris?” A loud, irritated voice boomed.
Faedra and Etyran were still standing behind the dragon at the entrance to the room and neither could see to whom the voice belonged.
“You have, err, guests, My Lord.”
“Guests? Guests? I didn’t invite any guests today. Send them away!” The irritated voice boomed again.
“Begging your pardon, My Lord, but I have a feeling you would want to accept an audience with this particular guest.”
“Hmm, indeed? You have piqued my interest. Oh, very well, send them in.”
The dragon walked inside the room and stepped aside revealing Faedra and Etyran.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Faedra’s eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and awe as she took in the view before her. Draconis was standing on a dais at the end of the room. His onyx black scales shimmered in the light from the torches. His immense stature towered above that of the two other dragons she’d seen that day. When shimmering emerald eyes lay upon her, his gaze mirrored hers. Disbelief. In the next second, he let out an ear splitting roar, forcing Faedra to clap her hands over her ears. His gaze turned to hatred in the next second and Faedra’s heart almost stopped with fear.
“What is the meaning of this?” Draconis bellowed at Alaris. “You dare to let a human enter my realm
?”
“The Gatekeeper deemed her request reason enough to allow passage through, My Lord.” Alaris remained calm, even though it looked to Faedra as if Draconis was about to rip him to shreds.
“No reason could be enough to allow a human into our realm. I’ll end this farce before taking another breath.” He rose up and with just a couple of fluid movements, was towering a few feet away from the terrified Custodian. He raised a claw with long lethal talons outstretched and ready to strike. Faedra scrunched her eyes closed; this was it, she was about to meet her maker.
“Wait!” Etyran yelled, and stepped in front of Faedra without a thought for his own safety.
Draconis hesitated, still poised and ready to strike.
A moment later when Faedra realized she was still intact and breathing, she cracked open an eye to see Etyran’s body in front of her. For a split second it gave her hope.
“Out of my way, fae. I have no quarrel with your kind.” Draconis commanded.
“No, I am sworn to protect her.”
“Then so be it, you give me no choice.” Draconis started to swipe with his huge taloned claw. Faedra scrunched her eyes closed again and her whole body tensed up in anticipation of the strike. After a few heartbeats when nothing happened, she dared herself to again open one eye, then a few seconds later the other. When she let her gaze wander up, she was surprised by what she saw. Draconis had stopped his lethal swipe just inches from her head. His claw was frozen in mid-air and a look of confusion swept across his face. He took two loud sniffs of the air before slowly lowering his claw. He then turned his attention on Faedra, his intense emerald eyes bore into hers. Faedra was frozen to the spot; she couldn’t take her eyes off him even though her body was screaming at her to make a run for it now while she had the chance.
Draconis brought his head down until his face was just inches away from the young Custodian’s. It took everything she had to not close her eyes and expect the worst. Maybe he’d decided to grill her like a kebab instead.
He sniffed the air around her again, his exhalation blowing her hair and fanning her face. It was not fiery hot as she’d expected but pleasantly warm instead.
“Interesting, very interesting,” Draconis mused after a moment of internal speculation.
He moved around her, inspecting her from every angle until he was standing on the other side of her where he sniffed again. Two loud snorts echoed around the cavernous room.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” he asked, his voice much softer now.
Faedra gulped as she looked into his eyes again. “Um, what do you mean?”
“You, little one, have fae blood running through your veins, and if I’m not mistaken, royal blood at that.” Draconis stated.
Etyran turned and gave her a questioning look. She glanced at him but didn’t respond to his unspoken question.
Turning her attention back to Draconis she said, “Yes, I know.”
“What? How? Why didn’t you tell me?” Etyran spluttered, completely taken by surprise.
“Well, this changes things somewhat,” Draconis said as he backed away from the two. “ I find myself in a very unusual position. On the one hand, you are half fae and we have no quarrel with your kind. On the other, you are half human and I should kill you where you stand.”
“Um, actually, Sir, I’m a little more that half fae, I come from a Celtic bloodline that were originally fae, as well,” Faedra said, hoping that the extra one or two percent over half would help sway his decision.
“I thought fae were forbidden to bear children with humans.” Draconis mused.
Faedra sighed. “Try telling that to my father. He made the rule so I guess he thought he was entitled to break it.” She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm at bay.
“What?!” Etyran said, as the relevance of Faedra’s statement sunk in. “Oh, that’s just bloody great, he’s going to kill me this time. I would never have agreed to bring you here if I’d known.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. And, anyway, I only found out yesterday, so it doesn’t really count.”
“Doesn’t really count!? Are you out of your mind? You know what the king did to me last time and I was only trying it on with his daughter, not letting her risk getting bloody killed!”
“Oh, calm down! What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” Faedra retorted.
“Calm down? Calm down? You’re a bloody princess and I nearly got you killed.”
“No, you didn’t. It was my choice to come here not yours, remember?”
The sound of someone clearing their throat eventually got the attention of the two arguing so they shut up and turned to look at Draconis.
“I have no desire to start a war with the fae, Princess. You will come to no harm in my realm.”
Faedra cringed at being called a princess. That whole dynamic hadn’t even had the slightest chance of sinking in yet and it made her feel very uncomfortable.
“Thank you,” she replied, “but I’d prefer if you didn’t call me Princess. I’m really not.”
Draconis inclined his head. “Oh, but I’m afraid you are, little one. So you better get used to it. Anyway you must have come here for a reason. Why did you risk your life to seek an audience with me?”
Faedra shuffled her feet for a moment trying to find the right words to use. Then she took a deep breath, lifted her chin high and forced herself to look into the eyes of the creature that almost took her head off just a moment before.
“I have come to ask you if I may borrow something of yours,” she started. “You see my father has been kidnapped…”
“The King of Azran has been kidnapped?” Draconis interrupted.
“No, the man I grew up thinking was my father. He is kind and loving and he’s all I’ve got left after my mum was killed by redcaps when I was six.” Faedra bit back a tear that stung behind her eye. “It’s a long story but Vivianna found out about me, got in a major jealous rage and kidnapped my dad as revenge. She has given me a week to hand over this or she’ll kill him.” She showed him the amulet to which he raised an eyebrow in recognition.
“I can’t hand over the amulet for obvious reasons, so I need to try and rescue my dad but I don’t have much time left.” She dug out the time-pebble from her pocket to prove her point.
“Little one, what could I possibly possess that could help you rescue your father, and that you would risk your life coming here to borrow?” Draconis asked.
“She took him with the ruby staff.”
Draconis lifted his head in surprise. “No, that is not possible, the ruby staff was destroyed along with my brother.”
“I assure you, Sir, it is very much in one piece, I have seen it with my own eyes. The only way I can find my dad is to borrow the emerald staff, and I’ve been told that belongs to you.”
Draconis paced back and forth a few times, rubbing his chin with one of his claws. After a few more paces, he stopped in front of Faedra and lowered his head until it was level with hers.
“You are correct, I do possess the emerald staff, but as you also probably know, dragons do not lend their possessions without getting something in return. I will let you borrow the emerald staff but you must first do something for me.”
“Anything,” Faedra blurted without thinking of the possible consequences her words could hold.
“I need you to retrieve an object for me from your world. I did something very foolish in my younger days and it turns out that foolishness could cost me my kingdom. You see, I lost my mate. My brother Savu killed her many years ago, so the hope of producing another heir is remote, but I did produce an heir about nine hundred years ago. Actually it is just an egg until it incubates and it cannot do that unless the temperature is very high. So I am fairly certain that it is still viable, temperatures do not get hot enough in the World of Men.”
“You want me to find an egg, that could be hidden anywhere in my world?” Faedra’s heart sank. Needle in a haystack was an understatement
in this instance. “How did it end up in my world, anyway?”
Draconis gave Faedra what she thought was a sheepish look, if it were possible for a dragon to look sheepish.
“I lost it in a bet.”
“You did what?” Faedra and Etyran exclaimed together.
“I told you I was foolish,” the dragon shrugged it’s enormous shoulders. “But I can give you some information that may help you find it.”
“Nine hundred years on, I doubt it,” Faedra mumbled to herself, losing any hope of borrowing the emerald staff by the second.
“I lost it to a man named Ralph de Gael.”
“That’s it? All I have to go on is the name of a nine hundred year-old man? Can you at least give me some idea of where in the world he may have lived?”
Draconis looked thoughtful for a moment. “I remember he had just inherited a castle at the time.”
Faedra closed her eyes in defeat and blew out a sigh.
“Find me the egg and you can borrow the emerald staff.” Draconis said as he turned his back on them and walked towards the other end of the room, dismissing them as effectively as if he had shown them the door.
Alaris stepped forward and motioned for them to follow. Faedra’s feet felt like lead as they followed the blue dragon back towards the gateway to Azran.
Once they stepped through the swirling doorway into Azran, the Gatekeeper greeted them on the other side. Up until that time, Faedra hadn’t given a thought to how they would get back to the entrance. It was hard enough to get in, but surely the alarm would have been raised by now and the redcaps would be even more alert than before.
“You are still alive then,” the Gatekeeper noted, unsurprised by her re-appearance.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Faedra questioned.
“I was pretty certain, yes. I would never have allowed a full-blooded human through the gateway, no matter how compelling her request.”
“Thank you.”
The Gatekeeper inclined his head.
Faedra turned to Etyran, her expression weary. “How on earth are we going to get out of here? I hadn’t even given that a thought until now?”