The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) (53 page)

Albray carried me into the empty park, but there was no sign of the
Kleio
. ‘Well, I hope you’re going to tell us your ship is cloaked, or else—ouch!’ Albray’s head collided with something hard and metal.

‘I said to follow me,’ Sinclair said, pointing out that Albray was making his own way to our destination. ‘And yes,
Kleio
is cloaked.’

‘You are so like Devere,’ Albray observed.

‘Funny about that,’ Sinclair grinned and, passing by the bins, he vanished.

On board the
Kleio
, I was laid in a cabin on a very comfortable bed beside my daughter, who appeared to be unconscious.

Albray sat down beside Tamar and stroked her hair, thankful beyond belief to see her. ‘Is she asleep?’

‘I believe she is in a deep meditative state,’ the captain advised.

Albray refrained from disturbing her further. ‘So what is the plan, captain?’

‘Well, if the mountain cannot come to Mohammed, we will just have to take Mohammed to the mountain.’

‘The Hall of Time Codes,’ Albray said, instantly understanding what the captain had in mind.

‘It is a trap,’ Tamar said without disturbing her relaxed state of being. Her voice was somewhat more sultry and mature than that of our teenage daughter.

‘I am aware of that,’ Sinclair assured her. ‘And now that we know of our enemy’s incapacitating darts, we will take steps to combat the threat.’

I knew that the Staff of Amenti, despite our exposure to the blue flame, were not truly immortal. For in truth, no one could be immortal on the physical Earth plane, or any of Earth’s planes, for time here had a beginning and an end. Amenti’s staff were a thousand times more resilient than the average human being—they healed faster and had limitless stamina—but we were still affected by any drug, weapon or illness that was damaging to man. We felt the same pain as any human did when wounded; we just had a far better chance of surviving an attack.

‘We need only hold off the Dracon long enough for you to integrate the last codes,’ the captain concluded.

‘Indeed.’ Tamar smiled, her eyes still closed. ‘Provide me with that window of opportunity, Polaris, and I will turn the tide of this war.’

By the time
Kleio
was parked inside the Cave of Mamer once more, outside the labyrinth that led to the Hall of Time Codes, I was starting to regain control of my fingers and my head, but the rest of my body was useless. ‘Please do not leave me here,’ I begged my husband.

Albray frowned apologetically. ‘It’s too dangerous to take you in this state,’ he reasoned and I knew he was right.

It was heartbreaking—I’d given my all to raising Tamar and now I couldn’t be present for what would be one of the most significant and perilous moments of her life. I wanted to protect her just one last time, before she became the ultimate being in self-sufficiency. As it was, I couldn’t lift my arm, let alone wield a weapon.

Tamar rose from her meditation and came to stand over me, her face devoid of expression. ‘We would like our mother with us,’ she said and touched my forehead. Instantly, the debilitating serum oozed out of the tiny hole in my leg where the dart had embedded itself and full control of my form was returned to me. I floated to standing, no
will required, as though a great weight of gravity had been lifted from me.

‘Sweet goddess,’ I said and hugged my daughter tight to me. ‘Tamar.’

But Tamar did not hug me back, nor did she protest my affection—she was completely impartial. ‘We should go,’ she informed me and exited, leaving Albray and myself bemused by the transformation in our daughter.

‘We must remember that this is Kali in control. She has not fully integrated with our sweet daughter yet,’ Albray said hopefully.

He was right: there didn’t seem to be any trace of our daughter in the goddess’s demeanour at present. Still, Tamar must have had some influence subconsciously or Kali would not have bothered to heal me.

‘Then let us ensure she gets that equalising opportunity,’ I said.

Albray’s work clothes transformed into a black rubber all-body suit that had the resilience of steel. Its collar sat high around his neck, forming a protective barrier against the Dracon’s fatal ORME spikes. I willed my clothes to assume the same form. My shoes stretched up to my knees and the heels flattened out into rugged black boots. Albray handed me my knife belt and I strapped it on, then we pursued our daughter into the cavern beyond the ship.

The captain had gone on ahead to check in with our staff-mates, who were scattered throughout the labyrinth that led to the hall of codes. We followed our daughter up the cavern stairs to where Ashlee stood guard, her labrys in hand.

‘Kali,’ she said, and nodded to acknowledge the
Anunnaki Queen as she passed into the tunnel system.

‘Solarian.’ Tamar returned the gesture.

‘Arcturus.’ Ashlee greeted Albray with a smile, which became wary as she looked to me. ‘Meridon. No sign of reptiles.’ She backed up to follow us through the labyrinth.

The next vital turn was guarded by Levi and Lillet. The pair acknowledged our daughter in the same manner Ashlee had.

‘Thana,’ Tamar replied with a nod of respect to Lillet, then her partner. ‘Levi.’

Levi’s celestial name was the same as that of his incarnation as Ashlee Granville-Devere’s son, which was why as a child he had insisted on changing it from Thomas, even though he did not consciously know why until he’d walked the Halls of Amenti.

Once our party had passed, Levi and Lillet fell in behind us, to aid Ashlee to cover our rear.

At the spot where the labyrinth stretched into a long tunnel, the original Dragon Queen, Lilith, awaited, broadsword in hand; although she had designed the original labrys
,
the sword had always served her well. On guard with her was her partner, Akbar.

‘Denera, Zalman.’ Tamar greeted them as she passed.

At the entrance to the hall was Lady Susan and the key incarnation of her husband, James Devere, who went by the name Arthur.

‘Talori, Castor,’ Tamar greeted them.

‘Welcome, Kali,’ said Lady Susan excitedly as Tamar moved past her and into the hall. ‘We cleaned up a bit.’

The Hall of Time Codes had been completely restored to mint condition. Only the ceiling of the structure differed from Ashlee’s description of the hall as it had existed upon Tara: the glass windows that had once flooded the hall with sunlight had been replaced by great glowing slabs of crystal that cast a lovely subtle light over the chamber.

‘You no longer need ankhs,’ Tamar gathered as she gazed at the ceiling.

Once upon a time, only ankhs could manipulate physical matter so perfectly. But after our time beneath the blue flame, the Staff of Amenti no longer needed these tools to manipulate physical matter; we were all now personal channels for fifthdimensional energy.

‘Magnificent,’ Tamar said, nodding to Susan and her twin flame. Then she strode into the centre of the gallery, where Ajalae Koriche stood waiting. ‘Vespera, your work has never looked better.’ Tamar turned circles to view all the vibrant time codes imprinted on the walls, her face full of admiration.

Once Ajalae had made her journey through the Halls of Amenti, she realised that
The Emerald Book of Thoth
had done nothing but awaken her own memory. She knew how photosonics worked because, as Vespera of Tara, she had developed the technique with her partner, Dexter.

Tamar looked to the entry at the far end of the hall, which Polaris, Taejax and Taylor were guarding. In the void that was the entrance, a solid barrier of stone manifested. Once all Amenti’s staff were assembled in the hall of codes, the entrance to the labyrinth was also sealed by stone. Satisfied that all was as secure as it could be, Tamar approached the second last of the time codes that she had to
integrate. Then she hesitated and looked back to us. ‘There is one of us missing. Where is Mathu?’

‘No one is sure.’ Levi volunteered the sad news.

‘The elders?’ Tamar asked.

‘They say he has not returned to Sirius B,’ Levi informed her, ‘but that is not to say that his soulmind has perished. I summoned him back from the ethers over a hundred years ago and allowed him to use my body to destroy his Emerald Book.’

‘And where did his soul proceed to from there?’

Levi shrugged. ‘The scribe told me that he needed to make amends for his past mistakes in order that he might again be permitted to incarnate into human form, but whether he did or not, I cannot say.’

‘Did any of you phone me recently and warn me of danger?’ Tamar queried of all the staff members, and when each assured her we had not, she smiled in knowing.

‘He has not perished,’ she assured us all, for without Mathu none of us would return home. ‘My prince will find us in time for Amenti’s opening.’

My fellow Dragon Queens and I formed a circle of protection around Tamar, and the men positioned themselves near the entrances, keeping watchful and alert.

I had to admire my daughter as she turned to her code work. Our tall, slender girl was fast transforming into an image of a living goddess—her olive skin had darkened many shades, her already dark hair was now jet black, and her ebony eyes had turned a haunting shade of violet, a trait indicative of the Anu. She had grown into the most perfectly beautiful creature I had ever seen, but my little girl was gone forever. I had known this
would happen, but I was going to miss being needed by her.

Tamar had moved to the final activation when I sensed a disturbing presence—a sensation I had felt before, in Giza. I knew it was not Molier, as Albray and I had disposed of him before Tamar was born.

‘Pintar!’ all the Dragon Queens concluded at once, and the force swirled around us, stirring up the atmosphere.

‘Use your third eye, people,’ Ashlee advised, ‘and he’s perfectly visible.’

Just as I caught sight of the seething thoughtform of dark grey energy that was Pintar, it darted out through the stone wall entrance guarded by Sinclair and company. Moments later the stone barrier began rippling from the centre like fluid and from beyond the thinning void a screeching noise echoed. A large winged Dracon came swooping through the breach and into the hall and grabbed Captain Sinclair’s dart gun from his holster on its way past.

‘Watch out, it has my gun!’ the captain cried in warning.

Taylor remained focused on the doorway, straining to will the stone to harden once more. ‘They must have stolen some ankhs,’ he suggested, for it was the only possible explanation for their breach of the barrier.

Zalman and Levi raced to aid Taylor, while Taejax, able to move faster than any human, wasted no time in racing the winged Dracon to its target. Before we even realised what was happening, Taejax had launched himself into the path of the liquid nitrogen dart that was headed straight for
Tamar. The reptilian took the dart in the chest, froze, and then splintered into a thousand pieces as he hit the floor.

‘I can keep this up all day, I have plenty of ammunition,’ Pintar gloated. He had inhabited the Dracon’s body in order to launch his assault.

Many more winged Dracon soared into the chamber and we were suddenly busy deflecting the predators away from my daughter. Each of us had our own unique way of disposing of the reptilians, using fighting and psychic skills developed during various incarnations in past and future time.

Lillet launched an arrow spiked with a dose of the same liquid nitrogen serum from her crossbow and brought Taejax’s killer to the ground in a shattering mess. However, I could see with my third eye that Pintar had not been destroyed. The dark mist of his thought-form merely leapt to another Dracon.

Lady Susan had a very neat trick that nearly got her killed by one of my blades. Her key incarnation was a shape-shifting princess, Mèlusine, and unbeknownst to me she used this skill to transform into a Dracon to confuse the enemy. Thankfully she transformed back into her human form a heartbeat before I cast my knife at her.

‘An honest mistake,’ she called to me as she unleashed her whip and latched it around the waist of a flying Dracon. A strong jerk brought the creature crashing to the floor, giving me the opportunity to stab my knife deep into the spine at the base of its neck. Susan cheered our teamwork.

Captain Sinclair had raced to reclaim his dart gun after Pintar dropped it, but another winged demon got there before him. ‘Still here?’ it taunted
in a voice that was all too familiar and aimed the dart gun at the captain.

An axe-blade severed the creature’s head from its shoulders. Its body fell to the ground, revealing Ashlee behind the strike. She reclaimed the captain’s gun and tossed it to him with a grin. ‘Pintar is jumping from drone to drone,’ she informed him. ‘We’ll have to destroy every reptile in the hall to be rid of him.’

Taylor, Zalman and Levi were unable to hold the stone entranceway intact and Dracon foot soldiers began slipping through. It was only a matter of moments before we would be overrun by our enemy; all our superhuman strength and psychic ability could not hold the swarm of creatures back. Our greatest fear was that one of them would reach Tamar and grant Pintar his chance to prevent her transformation.

Tamar, who had been quietly chanting her activations, suddenly raised her voice. The sound was so stirring that it brought tears to my eyes and to the eyes of my allies—and to my surprise I saw there were more of those in the room than I could have imagined. The angelic song sent half the Dracon present into a fitful frenzy, particularly the winged beasts. However, many of the foot soldiers assumed semi-Anu forms at the sound and turned to attack their former brothers. It seemed Taejax had left a powerful legacy. Pintar may have discovered and destroyed our double agent, but it seemed there were plenty more to step into his place. If these creatures could see their way to bettering themselves for the greater good, then perhaps this planet stood a fighting chance of survival after all.

In that moment of commotion, one of the winged Dracon slipped through our defences and landed next to Tamar. It activated the ORME spike on its wrist, pushed Tamar’s head forward and placed the spike at her neck. ‘My only regret is that Mathu is not here to see this,’ the creature yelled.

I slit the throat of the reptilian detaining me and raced towards my daughter, only to be knocked to the ground by one of the winged beasts and then engaged in battle with several foot soldiers, who intended to rip me apart with the etheric blades that extended from their knuckles.

Tamar sang louder, which aggravated the beasts all the more, including the creature Pintar inhabited; it seemed the frequency was too high, too pure, for them to tolerate. Then I realised that something more than Tamar’s song was delaying Pintar’s strike against my daughter; he seemed to be embroiled in a mental debate with himself.

‘Did you really think you could be rid of your light?’ said a voice, and I recognised it as Mathu’s. It seemed Pintar had not completely shaken his good side as he’d boasted. ‘I accept you, Pintar, as the part of myself that needs to be loved, embraced and understood,’ Mathu continued.

‘No!’ Pintar cried out in panic, and dug the claws of the creature he was inhabiting into its own flesh, attempting to gouge out the positive spirit that shared this body with him. In doing so, he was ripping the beast apart, mortally wounding it.

As Tamar’s chant became even more loving, the Dracon began to flee on foot and wing, the developing Anu recruits hot on their heels. Mathu kept Pintar pinned inside the one remaining bloodied creature.

‘I revoke my wish to be rid of you,’ he said, countering the creature’s violent attack on itself by hugging his arms around his body. ‘It is only through my pain, my bad experiences and mistakes, that I can truly learn how to care for another.’ The creature raised his eyes to look upon my daughter. ‘Before us stands my queen in all her glory; she is my strength, my hope, my rapture.’

‘Stop!’ But Pintar’s appeal for mercy was weak; he tried to wriggle free of Mathu’s embrace but was fading rapidly.

Tamar finally spoke. ‘I know you have been through great trial and torment, but no matter how heinous your crimes, it is never too late to repent.’

Mathu was reduced to tears. ‘I forgive myself. I have learned better and have no need to fear my past self any longer.’ The green blood of the winged Dracon ran red, and this time there was no protest from Pintar.