The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) (26 page)

‘Ashlee, no!’ My husband implored me to reclaim the pendant before it was too late.

Was I prepared to bet the lives of all my kindred that Taejax was bluffing? I glanced around those gathered in the chamber and in a split second appraised the consensus: my husband, Miss Koriche and Albray were clearly against trusting the reptilian. Then I looked to Levi, who was shaking his head, urging me not to reclaim the gift. Whose side was Thoth really on? It seemed to me that he wanted to be on everyone’s side, and so did I.

I stood and backed away from Taejax. ‘You do what you feel you must. I shall be waiting.’

The four warriors under his command were beginning to lose consciousness and yet Taejax was hesitant to use the escape route I had provided for them all. He had one last stab at inducing fear in me. ‘I mean what I say.’

‘So do I.’ I smiled warmly, whereupon he snarled in frustration. He returned the missing limbs to his fallen comrades and the intruders vanished from our midst.

‘Why?’ both my husband and Albray implored me at once.

Miss Koriche spoke up, having rethought her position on the matter. ‘Because the healing has to start somewhere.’

My husband embraced me, having feared for my soul during my duel with Taejax. His eyes turned to Albray, whom he again had to thank for saving our lives.
You have my sincerest gratitude.

I don’t want your gratitude, I want your trust!
Albray was furious that he had been left out of contact during our recent perils.

I swear I shall never doubt you again,
my lord promised.
I realise my jealousy is a curse, but I am only human after all.

I am your wife’s servant,
Albray insisted, then saw fit to humble himself a little.
Although it seems I have steered you both wrong in the past with regard to ORME consumption.

Thoth held up his palm to intervene. ‘That would be my fault. It was I who presented the secrets of ORME to the priesthoods as a means of speeding up the genetic blueprint of mankind’s angelic races, thus causing them to unwittingly damn the very souls that could save all humanity.’

Albray was utterly bewildered by the news.
Then all those teachers I respected and served without question were wrong?

‘Something we have in common, warrior.’ Miss Koriche stepped forward to reassure the ghostly knight and let us all know that she was also aware of his presence.

Thoth attempted to ease the knight’s remorse. ‘In choosing to serve the Ladies of the Elohim, however, at least in death you have been in the service of the righteous.’ He turned to the rest of us. ‘And it is to the service of the Elohim that I must go now. This antechamber has been violated and we must all depart before Taejax has the opportunity to send forth a larger force to ambush us.’

I got the distinct impression that this would be as far as we would be permitted to accompany Levi’s vessel; indeed, it was now plainly obvious to me, and to all in my company, I suspected, that we were a liability to Levi’s cause. I had always thought myself well versed in the psychic arts and their dominions, but plainly I knew nothing in comparison to all there was to know, learn and practise. And the sad truth was, if I was so very ignorant, then how much more ignorant was the rest of humanity?

Thoth wandered towards where the necklace Miss Koriche had given to Levi had been cast to the ground by Taejax. Retrieving it, he rose and approached Miss Koriche. ‘This has served its purpose so far as my quest is concerned, and I believe Levi wants you to have this, to give to your child.’

Miss Koriche was rather moved by the gesture, and accepted the gift graciously. ‘Thank you, lord,’ she spoke reverently to the being, having borne witness to his true character. ‘My child will wear it with pride.’

‘There shall be no threat to my mission beyond this point,’ Thoth said, stepping away from Miss Koriche to address us all, ‘provided you agree to
accompany me no further. I will give you one of my light orbs to lead you back to the surface. The passage I must take is of a frequency that is agony to the uninitiated. Not even a demon can breach the outer defences of the Amenti complex.’

This moment was a test; a test I had failed several times during my search for Levi. I had to trust in my son’s choices and let him go so that he may be of aid in the great conflict I was only just realising existed. I had always assumed that humanity was its own worst enemy, but it seemed we had far greater obstacles to overcome than just our own selfish desires and ignorance.

I left my husband’s side and approached the body of our son, my heart welling to bursting point at the thought of never seeing him again. ‘I believe I understand your treachery now,’ I told the entity within him; for I had returned Taejax’s pendant, which could be considered treachery in the eyes of my kindred, despite the possible benefits to the greater cause of humankind.

I looked back to Miss Koriche, whose eyes were full of tears as she nodded to confirm that she believed it was time to let Levi go so he could fulfil his destiny. She too was struggling to maintain her composure, for she finally had to face the fact that she would not be seeing her beloved again.

Although I knew that my son’s soul was no longer attached to his physical form, I had to hold him close one last time. My gesture perplexed the demi-god, but he made some attempt to return my sentiment. Then my Lord Devere gently eased me away from our son’s vessel. Despite the fact that they would never see their loved one again, neither
Lord Devere or Miss Koriche felt compelled to embrace Levi’s physical remains.

‘Give our boy our love,’ Lord Devere told the entity. ‘Apologise on our behalf for not trusting that he knew full well what he was doing when he joined with you.’

My lord’s little compliment made me smile; we would not part with this being on a sour note.

‘Peace go with you both,’ Lord Devere concluded, his voice hoarse. The emotion of the moment was choking us all. He put his free arm around Miss Koriche to comfort her too.

The scribe nodded that he would pass on our tidings. ‘Now, follow the orb,’ he instructed, then waited for us to take our leave.

The sphere of light was hovering by an arched passageway on ground level, which I could have sworn was not there when we entered. Beyond it rose a stone staircase for as far as the eye could see.

As I sit here in our hotel suite in grand Cairo, several days after the events I have recorded above, it is hard to believe our adventures in the Holy Land were not a fabulous hallucination. But the large welts on my wrist, where the demon fastened its teeth around me, serve as proof that it did actually happen—I did not imagine it, I did not dream it. The elation that the journey inspired in me has been swallowed up by a gaping void of sorrow that has opened in my chest—I will never revel in Levi’s company again. My only hope lies in my experience in Ta-She-Ra El Amun: I can now aspire towards perfecting genetic structure naturally, through Miss Koriche’s photosonics. Perhaps one day I will be adept enough to make contact with my son.

I have to wonder if Lord Malory knew about Levi’s hidden agenda when he sent us off on this eye-opening quest. It is my intent to seek out the Sangreal brotherhood’s Grand Master immediately upon my return to London—which may not be for a little while yet.

Our exit from the antechamber of the Amenti complex beneath Giza was a similar experience to our arrival in Hebron from Ta-She-Ra El Amun. The light sphere led us to a door and then dissipated, leaving us in utter darkness. Upon opening the door we found ourselves in a backstreet of Cairo in the middle of the day. When we looked back, we saw that our passage had transformed into an earthen wall, so we could not retrace our steps to the underworld complex.

We sought accommodation in a hotel, but despite the fact that we had not slept in days, we were all so shell-shocked from our adventures that sleep would not come. Instead, Lord Devere, Miss Koriche, Albray and myself loitered in the sitting room of the private suite that my Lord Devere had secured for the two of us, and for a long time we were each borne away on our own silent reflection.

We had all lost someone dear to us during our flight from Persia; we mourned Levi and marvelled at the reckless abandon of Mr Taylor’s heroic deed.

‘I should never have agreed to this assignment,’ I said, breaking a long silence.

You are right,
Albray retorted,
our continued ignorance would have served the world far better.

‘But what good are these insights?’ I felt the cost I had paid was too high. ‘Even if I knew the whole truth, who would ever believe it? Who would want to? I have witnessed some of the dark hidden history of this planet and even I do not want to believe what I have seen.’

‘Everything happens for a reason, my love.’ My lord entered the debate. ‘There is good to be drawn from every adversity.’

This was my own philosophy being quoted to me and I realised I was not being very constructive. ‘But if all doctrine, ancient or otherwise, is corrupted, how can we as human beings ever hope to discover the whole truth?’ I mused.

Miss Koriche voiced her view. ‘If there is adversity in our lives, it is an energy we have projected there, for evil, goodness and every attribute in between are but a matter of frequency and it is only we who can transform that sonic vibration to resonate more positively.’

Perhaps that is the only truth worth knowing,
Albray pondered,
and whatever truth or reason we hope to extract from our lives, and beyond, is dependent on that one simple premise.

‘Hear, hear,’ Lord Devere agreed. ‘And judging from recent events, it would seem that we all have our work cut out for us in that regard.’

‘An exhausting thought, my lord.’ I smothered a yawn as my need for rest finally overwhelmed me.

Well, if you have no further need of me, I think it time I took my leave,
Albray suggested.

We thanked the knight for his aid during our journey, and he made us vow to summon him the moment we had need of him again.

I may not be as all-knowing as I once thought, but I am committed to your safety and wellbeing
, he told me.

‘I never doubted that,’ I assured him; for in my heart, I never had—and I never would.

For many days, Miss Koriche locked herself away in her hotel room, writing and painting her translations of the data passed on to her via
The Emerald Book of Thoth
. I was offered a glimpse of her illustration of the Ec-ka-sha code, which appeared
exact in every detail, so far as I can recall; she has been meticulous in keeping the colours true to their depiction in the Hall of Time Codes. Her written work is equally inspiring and I can hardly wait to begin a serious study of her data.

Lord Devere and myself are not the lady scribe’s only eager pupils.

It took less than a day for Miss Koriche’s order to learn of her return to Cairo. Three veiled women came to visit her, dressed in white from head to toe bar a small slit in their head-cover that allowed them to see. I was with Miss Koriche when the party was announced, and although I offered to stay by her during the visit, she graciously declined, assuring me that she was no longer threatened by her past.

Miss Koriche was not the only one whose presence in the city had been noted. Whilst she was in conference with her sisterhood, Lord Devere and I received an invitation cum summons from the representative of the Holy See in Cairo, Cardinal Guarino Antonazzi—the very same Church dignitary who had left my husband to rot in a hole at Ur. As the invitation was addressed to both my husband and myself, it appeared that his Holiness knew of Lord Devere’s deliverance. There was little point in attempting to evade the audience, as the Church of Rome was far too widespread to hide from for long; better to allow the cardinal to air whatever was on his mind. We took the precaution of making our presence in the city known to the British consulate in Cairo before proceeding, just in case we mysteriously disappeared. It wasn’t much of a safety net, for as we well knew, when the church wanted information to go missing, it was as if it had never existed.

Our audience with the cardinal was to be conducted in a church dedicated to Saint Mercurius. This was the largest church in the district known as the Abu Sayfayn Cloister, just to the north of the Fortress of Babylon in Old Cairo.

Upon arrival at the appointed meeting place, Lord Devere and I were escorted into the church proper. After much genuflecting and crossing of themselves by our guides—which my lord and I did not participate in—we were led straight to a door in the north aisle of the structure, which granted entry into a courtyard. Within the courtyard we were confronted by a handful of the cardinal’s guards and some dignitaries, who stood outside a small building that hosted several intimate sanctuaries and a baptistry. We were escorted into one of these small sanctuaries to find Cardinal Guarino Antonazzi seated in a throne-like chair, with only his personal bodyguard in attendance.

‘Lord and Lady Suffolk,’ he acknowledged as the door was closed behind us. ‘What a surprise it is to see you both safe and well.’

‘God’s compassion must be shining on us,’ my husband replied.

‘Indeed,’ said his Holiness, seeming slightly vexed by the fact. ‘I have requested this meeting to question your intent regarding your archaeological investigations in Persia.’

Typical, I thought, the man’s not even the least bit concerned that we might accuse him of attempted murder; all that matters is suppressing the find.

‘We are not obliged to answer your concerns,’ my husband pointed out, beating me to the mark.

‘Oh, but you are,’ his Holiness insisted, suppressing a smug grin. ‘For although the peril for you in Persia has passed, my Lord Suffolk, I believe your wife is currently being hunted by the Shah for several offences.’

‘This is blackmail,’ I said, infuriated by the predictability of the proceedings.

‘I like to think of it as cooperation, Lady Suffolk,’ the cardinal replied.

I inhaled deeply to control my rising temper. After one glance at me, my husband took over the negotiations.

‘Whether you silence us this day or not, that site is going to be unearthed sooner or later, and the texts of those tablets will be made available for public scrutiny.’

‘You really have no idea what you are dealing with,’ Cardinal Antonazzi cautioned.

‘Whether you refer to the source of the tablets, or the church’s attempt to suppress them, I am well aware on both counts,’ my lord corrected.

‘I doubt that very much.’ The cardinal seemed altogether too confident.

‘I realise that the text is but half-truths,’ my husband persisted, ‘but that is better than no truth at all.’

‘And what is
the truth
, Lord Suffolk?’ his Holiness queried. ‘Would you know
the truth
if it was staring you in the face?’

I was becoming increasingly angry with this man, and it wasn’t just that I deplored all that he stood for; there was something about his personal presence that bothered me.

‘The truth
is
staring me in the face,’ Lord Devere said, as if suddenly enlightened. ‘And my
understanding of it is vastly different from that which you are putting forward…or at least my truth is far more extensive.’

‘There is only one truth, Lord Devere, and that is the truth according to God,’ the cardinal said dryly.

I focused my third eye upon the cardinal to see what his light-body had to say about him. I was shocked to discover a sparkling golden aura with no sign of any light centres. This man was an abomination, just as Molier had been, for this kind of light-body was the by-product of an ORME addiction! Only in this case, the subtle body hiding within the cardinal was several feet taller than its physical host. I couldn’t make out the details of its appearance, but I was fairly certain it was not human, and yet it did not have the characteristics of a Dracon either.
Could he be one of the Nefilim?
I was terrified even to consider the possibility, for I knew not the extent of their power and influence.

‘God has not penned a definitive work of truth, so far as I am aware,’ Lord Devere was saying. ‘God’s truth is set to paper by men, none of them perfect.’

The cardinal was not interested in debating matters of faith. ‘I am a busy man, my Lord Suffolk. Do we have an understanding?’

‘We do,’ I was quick to reply, for I felt the need to distance us from the presence of this dark being.

Lord Devere was only momentarily surprised by my reaction; perhaps he had also psychically perceived the truth about this being and had come to the same conclusion to withdraw. And it was clear that I would be safe from persecution by the Shah only so long as we kept our discoveries in Persia a secret. My husband seconded our
agreement. ‘We shall keep our observations to ourselves.’

‘Very good,’ the cardinal concluded. ‘And you need not worry yourselves about the text in your find being circulated in the future. His Holiness the Pope is currently rewriting the guidelines for the funding bodies behind Europe’s thriving archaeological enterprises.’

I could not believe the man’s arrogance. ‘Most excavations are funded and controlled by the universities,’ I countered.

‘And the most prestigious universities are answerable to whom?’ Cardinal Antonazzi replied.

It was true: the church controlled the universities, and any scholar who desired to advance in society needed at least to appear to be a devout Catholic. Forty years ago the work of Lord Hereford in the Sinai had been completely banned and discredited in England, and suppressed throughout most of Europe, because it conflicted with the accounts of the Old Testament.

The cardinal did not question us about Miss Koriche; perhaps as a young woman she was not a threat, for anything she said could be easily dismissed or discredited. But we were surprised when his Holiness made reference to our other companion.

‘I was very sorry to hear you misplaced Mr Taylor. He was such a helpful fellow.’

I wondered how the cardinal could know Mr Taylor was missing. Perhaps it was merely the fact that he had not been in our company when we entered the city. Yet the cardinal did not ask about his current whereabouts.

‘I feel sure you will not find him so helpful upon
your next meeting,’ my husband said, giving nothing away.

The cardinal looked amused by the comeback. ‘I feel sure Mr Taylor has learned better than to challenge me.’ And he waved a hand to dismiss us.

I was very relieved to depart the cardinal’s company for his personal sonic frequency was literally making me sick.

‘Are you all right?’ my husband inquired as we exited the church; I feared I looked as ill as I felt.

‘That man is not human,’ I said, taking deep breaths to control the fear that had been incited by exposure to a low-grade presence.

‘I noticed,’ my lord confirmed. ‘I couldn’t make out its true appearance, but I am guessing it was one of the Nefilim.’

‘I second that.’ I looked at my husband with a worried frown. If the enemies of humankind had infiltrated our society and in such major positions of power, how could we hope to steer humanity in the right direction? ‘What do we do?’

My lord smiled. ‘Well, we never said we wouldn’t document our finds.’

‘Do you think he knows something about Taylor’s fate?’ I asked. It was a question I found most troubling.

‘For Taylor’s sake, I hope not.’

Miss Koriche spent twelve hours in conference with the women from her sisterhood. They had food and drink brought to them in the room, which was across the hallway from our own.

Lord Devere and I were starting to fret that something might be amiss, when we heard Miss Koriche’s three visitors finally departing. We rushed
to open our door and witnessed the sisters bowing to Miss Koriche in gratitude; this was not quite the exit we’d been expecting.

Miss Koriche was absolutely beaming, and my third eye vision confirmed that her three visitors were far more cheerful in comparison to the three sullen, repressed souls who had arrived. I was so relieved that there had been a positive outcome.

‘What did you do to them?’ I asked as Miss Koriche invited Lord Devere and myself into her room.

‘I told them the truth,’ the young woman informed me with glee, ‘and nothing but the truth. Give me a few years and I shall restore our ancient doctrine to what it always should have been.’