The Last of the Firedrakes (42 page)

“The voice told me there would be a price to pay,” I said quietly, hanging my head in shame, “but I didn’t listen.”

“Yes,” said Uncle Gabriel. “Now about this voice. Has it ever spoken to you before that night?”

I shook my head. “No, only when I was nearly killed by Morgana.”

“Well, I am glad the voice helped you,” said Uncle Gabriel. “Nevertheless, you must be very careful. We don’t know who it is.”

“He has only helped me so far,” I said defiantly. I don’t know why I trusted the voice, but, strangely enough, I did.

“Yes, but if the voice speaks to you again, I want to know immediately,” said Uncle Gabriel sternly. “We don’t know who or what we are dealing with, and we must always be on our guard. Now, with Lilith back, our chances of defeating Morgana have become even less.”

“Why?” I asked, wide-eyed. What had I done now?

“Because Lilith is half demon, she is immortal,” said Uncle Gabriel. “That is why she was able to return. She is still weak in her wraith form. She needs a host, but she will not find it difficult to find some poor soul who will not be able to resist her powers.”

I sat up straighter in my bed. “But that means that she could be anyone!”

Uncle Gabriel nodded. “Yes, although she will keep changing bodies until she finds the one that suits her purposes. And, if I am correct in my guess, the body she will choose to inhabit finally will be Morgana’s.”

I gasped. “Will Morgana let her do that?”

“We cannot possibly know for sure, but Morgana is hungry for power, and Lilith is her mother,” said Uncle Gabriel. “Lilith’s immortal demon magic will make Morgana’s powers increase a hundredfold, and Morgana will be more powerful than ever. Once Lilith’s wraith merges with Morgana’s soul, she will be virtually unstoppable, even by you.”

I hung my head. What had I done? Instead of helping, I had just made matters worse. I had to do something. This was my mess, and I was the one who should clean it up.

“There must be a way to stop Lilith and Morgana,” I said, trying to think of something, but my mind came up blank.

“There might be,” said Uncle Gabriel, thinking for a moment before going on, “but the answers we need are not to be found here. We must journey at the earliest to Elfi, and meet with Isadora. You must learn the true extent of your magic. The old magic of the fae is the only thing that can help us now.”

“Then we will leave right away,” I said, trying to be brave, but all I wanted to do was sleep for a week.

Uncle Gabriel smiled. “You have gone through a prolonged and horrific ordeal, Aurora. You will rest for a few days, until your wounds have healed completely. The journey to Elfi is long and arduous, and I would have you at your full strength.”

Uncle Gabriel got up to leave.

“Rest now. You have been very brave, and I am astonished at what you have achieved in such a short time. Your parents would have been very proud to see the young fae-mage you have become,” said Uncle Gabriel, leaving the room and shutting the door.

I smiled, tears pooling in my eyes and threatening to spill, as I sat on my bed and contemplated the rest of my life. I was no longer the scared little girl who was dragged through the tapestry in Redstone Manor. I had changed and grown up, finally accepting who I was and what my place was in this world. I was the true Queen of Illiador, descended from Avalonia’s greatest dynasty, and I was at long last ready to fight for my kingdom and take back my throne.

29

The Dagger of Dragath

The next day, Penelope let me out of bed for a short walk, but now four palace guards followed me everywhere I went, and they had been instructed never to leave their posts for any reason. I made my way to the palace library, looking for Uncle Gabriel, since one of the footmen had seen him head there that morning.

I found him sitting on a chair, a pile of big, leather-bound books with yellowing pages, in various states of being read, lying all over the huge rectangular oak table in the center of the room.

I looked around.

The library was a wonderful two-storied room with a wooden gallery running along one side that could be reached by a large spiral staircase. It was bright and spacious, with shelves upon shelves of beautiful, leather-bound books adorning the walls. A set of doors led out onto a large balcony that overlooked one of the palace’s inner courtyards.

“Is there something you needed, Aurora?” said Uncle Gabriel, looking up at me for a second as I entered the library before going back to studying his books.

“I was thinking, Uncle Gabriel,” I said, sitting down in the chair beside him.

Uncle Gabriel closed the book he was reading, raised one eyebrow, and looked at me patiently. “Yes, well, that is never a good thing with you,” he said, but his eyes looked like he was holding back a smile.

“It’s just,” I began, my hands fiddling with my amulet, “I’ve been thinking about my mother a lot after Morgana confirmed what really happened that night.”

“Oh,” said Uncle Gabriel, “and what is it you would like to know?”

“Penelope once told me that there are magical weapons that can kill an immortal. And that’s probably how Morgana killed my mother.”

“There are such weapons, yes,” said Uncle Gabriel, “but no one has ever seen one in centuries. What is your point?”

“Can’t we use one of those to kill Lilith?” I said.

“Possibly,” said Uncle Gabriel, thinking, “but the only weapon we know of is probably with Morgana, and we don’t even know what it is or what it looks like.”

“I do,” I said. “I know what it looks like.”

“And how, may I ask, did you manage that?” he asked, raising his eyebrows again.

“I haven’t told you everything,” I began.

“I surmised so,” said Uncle Gabriel sternly.

I was hesitant at first, but I finally told him about my dream. Having Morgana confirm that she stabbed my mother through the heart finally made me realize that the horrible nightmares I used to experience were a real memory, and I wanted to make sure my uncle knew the whole truth if we were to defeat Morgana and Lilith.

Uncle Gabriel heard me out patiently, but when I came to the part about the dagger, his eyes lit up.

“Are you sure?” he interrupted, quite unexpectedly. “In this dream, are you sure you saw Morgana stab Elayna with a dagger?”

I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “I think so. She was about to stab her, but in my dream I am always pulled away at the last second, and then there is a blinding flash of light.”

Uncle Gabriel nodded sagely, his hands stroking his clipped white beard. “You were being pulled into the portal. The flash was the portal closing after you went through. Such power is rarely seen. Only the fae can create such a gateway, but usually it takes over a dozen powerful fae to do what your mother did for you that day.”

Again tears welled up in my eyes, and I brushed them away, determined not to get waylaid by my emotions. My mother was gone. There was nothing I could do about it. I had to concentrate on the task at hand, which was finding a way to defeat Lilith.

“About the dagger,” said Uncle Gabriel, his eyes lighting up again, just like when I mentioned the weapon before. “Describe it.”

“Well,” I said trying to visualize it. “It was sort of curved . . .”

“Curved, or sort of curved?” asked Uncle Gabriel sternly. “There is a difference.”

I checked my memories again. “Yes curved, definitely curved,” I said finally.

“Good, good. Go on,” said Uncle Gabriel, sitting on the edge of his chair.

“And it was made entirely of gold, with a big red ruby on its hilt,” I finished.

Uncle Gabriel stood up and abruptly walked over to the door.

“Guards,” he bellowed.

I was startled. Why had he called the guards? The guards posted outside the door responded immediately.

“Summon my daughter and Mrs. Plumpleberry.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” said one guard as he marched off to do the Duke’s bidding. To the other guard, Uncle Gabriel said more quietly, “Ask the prince to meet me here. Let him know that it is an urgent matter.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” said the second guard and scurried off in the opposite direction.

“Why have you called them all here?” I asked, now thoroughly confused. What had I done now?

Uncle Gabriel was not listening. He was rummaging around on the shelves and trying to find a book; which one, I had no idea. He refused to speak to me.

Serena and Penelope arrived a few moments later.

“Father,” said Aunt Serena, “is everything all right?”

“It will be,” said Uncle Gabriel, still rummaging the shelves for a book.

“Is there some reason in particular you have asked us here, Your Grace?” said Penelope, coming over to me. “Is Aurora in any discomfort?”

She checked me for the tenth time that day.

“Yes. No, I mean. Yes, I have a reason, and no, she is not in any discomfort,” said Uncle Gabriel finally, pulling out a large, dusty, leather-bound book. “Found it!”

He opened the book. The pages looked worn and yellow, and Uncle Gabriel turned to a page that had a horrifying picture on it. A terrible, demon-like creature with curved horns, hooved feet, and reddish black skin held aloft a dagger, ready to stab it into the heart of a kneeling fae warrior. They were painted amidst a battlefield. And all over the page, bodies lay strewn in contorted poses and grizzly heaps at the demon’s feet.

I looked away at first, but there was no mistaking the dagger the hideous evil creature held in his clawed hand. It was definitely the same dagger, the one Morgana used to kill my mother in my dream.

“This is it,” I said, incredulously. “How did you know? This is the same dagger.”

“I thought so,” said Uncle Gabriel, closing the book and sitting down in the chair. Aunt Serena and Penelope sat down too. They looked perturbed; Aunt Serena would not even look at the picture in the book.

The doors opened, and Rafe walked in. “What’s this about? Is Aurora okay?” he asked my granduncle.

“I’m here in the room,” I said, getting irritated. “You could ask me yourself.”

Rafe didn’t seem perturbed and looked straight into my eyes. “Well, if you didn’t run around the kingdom trying to get yourself killed all the time, then I wouldn’t have to keep asking how you are, would I?” he snapped.

I huffed at his answer and could not think of a suitable retort. Even if Vivienne was right, and he was concerned about me, why didn’t he come to see me? I was still angry with him. One minute he was saying how he couldn’t stay away from me, and then he wouldn’t see me for days. His moods were too confusing, and it was playing havoc with my emotions.

“Now, now, Aurora,” said Aunt Serena. “I am sure the prince meant no harm in asking about your health, my dear.”

Rafe smiled at me weakly. He did look a bit disheveled and not himself, but I was still upset that he hadn’t even come to see me even for a few minutes. Especially after he called me “my love” at the ruins. Did he say that to all the girls? Was that just the way he got them to fall madly in love with him, only to move on to the next one? So I just huffed childishly again and looked down at my lap.

“Sit down, Rafe,” said Uncle Gabriel. “This is important.”

Rafe suddenly became serious and sat down immediately.

“What is that dagger you just showed me?” I asked expectantly.

“That, my dear,” said Uncle Gabriel slowly, “is the Dagger of Dragath.”

“Dragath,” I said. “The same demon lord Dragath who ruled these lands before Auraken Firedrake?”

“The very same,” said Uncle Gabriel, but he wasn’t smiling.

“And what does the Dagger of Dragath have to do with Aurora and us?” asked Rafe, leaning forward in his chair.

Uncle Gabriel told Rafe, Serena, and Penelope about my dream.

Rafe looked astonished, a bit like he looked when I told him who I really was in the beginning.

“And you think Morgana used the Dagger of Dragath on Elayna?” said Rafe, his eyes narrowing.

“Precisely,” said Uncle Gabriel, smiling now.

“But that would mean . . .” said Penelope.

“That Queen Elayna is still very much alive,” finished Rafe, turning his head to look straight into my startled eyes.

I was stunned; I didn’t know what to say. My mother was alive! How was this even possible?

“How?” I asked, my voice a small, hopeful whisper. “Didn’t you just say that there are weapons that are capable of killing an Immortal?”

“Yes,” said Uncle Gabriel nodding, “but the Dagger of Dragath is not one of them. The legends say that the dagger was specifically crafted by the demon lord Dragath himself to trap, not kill, the immortal fae.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Magic in Avalonia was so complicated.

“Before Auraken Firedrake defeated Dragath and trapped him in his magical prison, Dragath used that dagger to trap countless fae warriors,” said Uncle Gabriel in disgust. “That was how he controlled them and their magic.”

I just stared at Uncle Gabriel.

“Are you saying that my mother is trapped in that dagger like some, some, genie?” I said finally.

“That is exactly what I am proposing,” said Uncle Gabriel. “That is why Morgana wants to open the Book of Abraxas. It all makes sense now.”

“How does this make sense?” I said, completely lost.

Rafe turned towards me. “Morgana’s plan is even more devious and elaborate than we had thought possible,” he said, getting up from his chair. “If Morgana has the dagger of Dragath and has Elayna trapped inside it, she will be able to use Elayna’s powers to release Dragath from his magical prison.”

My eyes widened. “But Morgana trapped my mother almost fifteen years ago, why didn’t she release Dragath then?”

“Because she has been waiting to get her hands on the Book of Abraxas,” Uncle Gabriel answered. “That is why she wants the keys to open it. Only then will Morgana finally be able to control Dragath. If she released him without possessing the secrets to controlling him, Dragath would destroy the world along with her in it.”

My mind had gone into overdrive, assimilating all this new information. My mother was alive, trapped and alone for over a decade. I had to find her. She had given up her life to save me, and now I must try and save her. Also, if I released my mother, then Morgana could not use the dagger to release Dragath. I had to do this for her, for my father, for his kingdom. Whatever it took, whatever the cost, I would find a way.