The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) (25 page)

‘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.

This proved time enough for Taejax’s demon to stretch out and snatch the sword from our possession. I was quick to will it back to us before it reached our opponent’s grasp, stretching out my astral arm to grip its hilt. The sword was suspended mid-flight, but then the demon lunged forth and bit into the extended wrist of my subtle form. Its teeth burned into me upon contact and a blistering welt erupted on my wrist. Despite the torture I hung on and tugged the demon from its host, who was racing towards us with his needle-device held high.

With my free hand, I willed the pendant bearing the winged-serpent insignia into my possession. The chain slipped over Taejax’s head and flew into my grasp. The reptilian immediately dropped to the floor at my feet, where he squirmed in sonic agony.

Now that I held the pendant that shielded Taejax from the high frequencies of this chamber, the demon vanished, unwilling to share the physical pain Taejax was experiencing.

‘No! We had a deal!’ Taejax wailed as his last shot at redemption dissolved into thin air.

Thoth came to stand over the reptilian. ‘Surely you did not expect loyalty from a demon! All your relationships are destined to end thus, Taejax, so long as you remain faithful to the Old World order.’

The scribe removed the warrior’s weapons and, fiddling with the switches on the side of the pulse gun, fired upon my associates and myself, releasing us from our confinement. I regained control just as Albray stepped out of my body and left me tottering.

The lizard creatures lay on the ground vomiting black muck, their blood turning the floor a new shade of slime green. The sight and the smell was horrendous.

‘Just leave,’ I appealed to the reptile in charge. I could not bear to watch his men suffer any longer.

‘I cannot,’ Taejax forced out, his sharp teeth gritted together. ‘I need the pendant.’

It is a trick,
Albray advised me.
The pendant could have other functions, and besides, the death of this lot could only be beneficial.

‘That is precisely the attitude that has fuelled the age-old conflict on this planet,’ the scribe pointed out, clearly aware of Albray’s presence. He leaned
over the reptilian to ensure he had his attention. ‘I too was once led to believe that I was beyond redemption and bound to employ the dark arts to survive. But I am here to tell you, Taejax, it was just a control tactic based on a huge web of lies.’

Taejax managed to take a swing at Thoth, who was quick to step out of range. ‘Go serve the Sovereign Integral and be with your angels, but you will never convince me to join their cause!’ He began vomiting up the same black muck as his associates.

‘Their cause is every soul’s cause,’ Thoth lectured his fallen opponent. ‘I thought you would have worked that out by now.’

‘As though I would believe any of your theories, traitor!’ Taejax hissed.

‘Such is my lot: whichever path I choose, I must betray someone,’ the demi-god said, glancing between Miss Koriche and the reptilian. ‘But if betraying your physical being means that I can ultimately save your immortal soul, then one day you will thank me for that betrayal.’

The reptilian appeared more hurt by these words than the physical torture he was feeling. ‘I have no soul, half-breed, and well you know it!’

The scribe did not seem to agree. ‘That would be convenient, wouldn’t it? That would justify all the torture and murder of innocents! But suppressed as it is, and despite what you have been led to believe, I can assure you that you do have a soul—and the willpower to free it from its fated fragmentation.’

The lizard attempted to block its small ears. ‘Your words are poison!’

‘A poison taken in small quantities may prove
extremely beneficial, old friend,’ the scribe concluded.

As I gazed at the hapless creature, wondering what was to be done with him, I was blinded by a vision of a beautiful young human girl under Dracon attack, and Taejax leaping to her rescue. The vision passed instantly, but in that moment I realised this was our opportunity to secure a future ally.

I walked towards the ailing warrior and, crouching at his feet, I reached out and touched his boot.

‘Mrs Devere…’ My husband made it clear that he was not comfortable with my being in such close proximity to a creature that had just attempted to damn me to hell.

But the old saying that one can never judge a person until you have walked a mile in his shoes sprang to mind, and upon making contact with the creature I sampled the pain of being exposed to a frequency that was way beyond my capacity to process. The atomic structure of my entire body was being violently shaken apart, whilst all my fear and hatred imploded inside me, manifesting as a dark liquid slime that burned a path through my interior as it was expelled from me via my mouth, nose and ears. But all that physical pain was nothing compared with the underlying spiritual anguish this being felt at knowing that one day he would cease to exist on every level of awareness.

‘Save yourself and your men,’ I said and, the protests of my companions ringing in my ears, handed Taejax his pendant.

The creature immediately regained his equilibrium and spat the remaining black gunk in his mouth into my face.

He was weak, however, and the foul-smelling bile dripped onto my clothes instead. ‘Like all females, you are a weak fool.’

I was tempted to withdraw yet I did not. ‘Is there not a female among your kind whom you deem worthy of respect?’ I asked.

‘There are no females of my kind,’ he informed me bluntly.

No wonder the Dracon had a problem feeling love. ‘Well, you may count on the fact that I shall not flee at the first sign of danger,’ I said.

‘If you think you are going to incite my gratitude, you are even more deluded,’ he snarled. ‘Show me mercy and I shall hunt you down and all those dearest to you. I will drain their vital fluids and scatter their souls to oblivion, until your entire line has been wiped from the evolutionary blueprint.’