The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) (40 page)

‘I am going to be him some day,’ he says proudly as, without so much as a breath of wind, the huge vessel disappears in a blaze of light. Then he realises I am about to head in the opposite direction from that which leads to our salvation. ‘Where are you going?’ he says.

‘I promised the Master,’ I call back, already climbing the steep staircase that leads to the labyrinth.

Manetho tries to reason with me. ‘These tunnels may survive the forthcoming deluge, but without a society to sustain us, we will perish. We must return
to Giza before the porthole to the inner Earth is closed!’

‘I know,’ I yell back, ‘but I need to do this first.’

I pause to pull out the Master’s map, and wait for Manetho to catch up as he is still in possession of the torch. The path marked leads to a set of open double doors at the end of a corridor. My heart begins to pound in my chest as we run towards them.

We enter a huge rounded shrine carved out of the natural rock. There is a round altar in the centre holding a large metal bowl filled with oil. Manetho ignites it with the torch; by its light we are able to see that the central altar is at the head of an oval sarcophagus. Its lid is inset with a fullbody sculpture of the Master Hermes.

‘The Master is going to die.’ My tears well as I realise this truth.

‘
We
are going to die if you do not dispose of that book,’ Manetho says sternly, wishing to avoid a sentimental scene.

I lift the Emerald Book to place it on the sarcophagus. The stone hands of the sculpture reach out to take it from my grasp and I gasp, jumping back into Manetho’s embrace.

‘The Master’s magic knows no bounds,’ he says, grabbing my hand. ‘Time to get to safety.’

I run with Manetho back through the maze, down the stairs, across the cavern bridge and into the porthole that leads to Giza.

Upon entering the altar room, we are thrown from our feet by the violent shaking of the Earth. Guards are ushering people down a staircase that runs beneath the altar block, the huge stone pushed back this day to allow passage. ‘Hurry, your
Holinesses,’ the leader calls upon seeing us. He is ready to order the altar stone pushed back into place in his wake, but stalls the command to wait for us.

The stairs fall into darkness as the entrance is closed over, and for the longest time we descend in confined blackness, the passageway around us shaking violently. My only comfort is in knowing that these stairs have withstood this kind of abuse many times throughout history. Below, I see light and hear voices yelling warning of their intent to close the porthole.

‘We are the last,’ the guard with us calls out to stall them.

The light comes from an open porthole made of solid gold. We step through it into a long tubular passage with walls lined with running liquid-light, yet not one drop falls upon those who traverse it. I am running with all my might when a great rumble resounds through the tunnel and I am thrown to the ground. The passage begins to collapse behind us and the liquid-light swirls towards us at a frightening pace. Manetho drags me to my feet and I am gripped by fear as I realise we are not going to make it to the antechamber beyond the porthole.

Manetho embraces me as the pulverising force of the collapsing liquid-light field engulfs us. In an instant all the burdens of my mortal life are crushed into blissful oblivion. And Atlantis disappears forever.

‘You are a time pirate!’ I accused Captain Sinclair upon my return to the Amenti antechamber.

‘So, now you know. But I prefer the term “time lord” myself,’ he grinned.

‘Where did you get the ship?’ It was the most amazing form of transportation I had ever seen.

‘Polaris left it on Earth for me to find when I was ready,’ Sinclair explained, moving around to the next porthole. ‘It was hidden within my Signet Grid station, which is attuned to my personal sonic and will therefore open only for me.’

‘The Signet Grid,’ I repeated, recalling what I had learned of this stargate system during my last journey. ‘But Hermes had the Signet system shut down before Atlantis sank, didn’t he?’ I joined Sinclair in front of the pink-gold porthole.

‘I found and reactivated the Polaris station many centuries ago,’ the captain said, unable to resist an immodest smirk.

‘In Nova Scotia?’ I guessed, and Sinclair nodded, looking surprised. ‘I read up on you before leaving home,’ I admitted. ‘Legend has it you discovered America long before Columbus.’

‘Thank heavens—at least legend gets the story straight.’

Captain Sinclair was so like my Devere, but even more congenial if that were possible.

‘Are you going to kiss me?’ he asked, and I realised I had been gazing up at him like a lovesick schoolgirl.

‘Do you think I should?’ I said; the notion was rather attractive.

He grinned and indicated our spirit forms. ‘Here in Amenti that is not advised. That pleasure will have to wait until we have been reunited with our physical forms…at which time I would strongly advise you to act in accordance with any such desire you might have.’

It was a deliciously awkward moment. I ended it
by turning to face the pink-gold porthole. ‘Right then,’ I said.

‘Try not to miss me too much.’ Sinclair’s words made me laugh as I stepped onto the activation plate.

‘Oh.’ I turned back as there was one question I needed to ask about the time zone I had just relived. ‘Did Hermes manage to kill Poseidonis as planned?’

‘We believe so,’ the captain said. ‘Hermes died to ensure the creature perished with him, and Poseidonis has not been encountered since.’

After penning the account of my mother’s past lives in two of Amenti’s halls, I was fatigued, hungry and mentally distracted. I wondered how Lady Susan was coping with the massive intake of information—we had not had time to converse, nor to read much of each other’s sessions under the influence of the ring; that would have to wait until my mother’s journey was over.

Once Lady Susan arrived, I withdrew to my chamber to eat, hoping that Mathu might join me for a pleasant interlude and a little conversation. I had promised Albray I would not be late to relieve Lady Susan from her chronicling shift, and so the knight had been kind enough to agree not to bother me in my private quarters—unless there was an emergency, and even then a knock of announcement was required.

‘How are you holding up?’ Mathu emerged from a stream of evening sunlight through my window and manifested into solid form to address me.

‘Very well,’ I assured him. ‘I am enjoying the task immensely, as I have been writing about Master
Hermes and the fall of Atlantis.’ Then I continued to eat, not wanting to pursue the topic unless he chose to.

‘Ah,’ he said warily. ‘Then you must have questions for me.’

‘I understand if you would rather not dig up the past.’ Now that Mathu was close, my desire to have him join with me again was taking precedence over my curiosity.

He took a seat in the other chair at my tiny dining table. ‘What would you like to know?’

‘We can talk later if you have more pressing concerns,’ I suggested shamelessly.

‘But then you might wonder whether I seduced you to avoid discussing my past.’ Mathu cocked an eyebrow in challenge and perhaps he was right.

‘Fair enough.’ I returned to picking at my food as I considered my questions. ‘Did you help to begin the Dracon rebellion as Taejax claims?’

He looked remorseful. ‘It is true that I aided the Dracon to perfect the dark arts that came to be a major force in their rebellion,’ he admitted. ‘At the time I believed that without ORME I would cease to be—a problem shared by my materialistic Nefilim forefathers, the Dracon and their drones. I was told that only humans had the emotional potential to braid their atomic structure up the evolutionary ladder and out of this finite universe. So eventually humans would ascend to the next harmonic universe and my kind would be left behind, with no means to transcend the physical world.’

‘But did the Master Enki not evolve into spirit form?’ I queried.

‘It was a death sentence even to mention the name of Ki back then,’ Mathu explained.

‘Enki?’ I needed to be sure we were discussing the same entity.

‘Ki,’ Mathu confirmed. ‘En was a title meaning Lord.’

I nodded, enlightened. ‘Do go on.’

‘As far as I knew, the Master had perished whilst in exile. I became resentful and jealous of my human half-brothers, just as the Dracon did, so I helped devise natural and supernatural means to torture and permanently eradicate human souls.’

I was horrified by this confession, and yet I felt for Mathu as he obviously carried so much guilt. ‘What changed your view about humanity?’ I asked.

My lover’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You did…or rather your first incarnation did.’

I was so touched I was speechless.

‘You spoke to me in a ghostly visitation, after you had taken your own life. Your suicide was unprecedented among the Anunnaki, for our fallen kindred and their allies fear death above all else. I was standing right beside you when you ripped your own heart out.’ His tears overflowed and rolled down his face.

‘Mathu, you are crying.’ I moved to collect his precious tears on my fingers—the Anu didn’t usually feel emotion so intensely as to weep.

He laughed, which was also unusual behaviour for one of his ilk. ‘Ever since our union, my emotions have been surging out of control,’ he explained. ‘I have cried out my sadness until only joy remains—the joy I have felt since finding you again, sweet Kali.’

I closed the distance between us by taking a seat on his lap facing him. ‘Was Kali my name when first you knew me?’

‘Kali is the name to which your soul answers,’ he said. ‘Our spiritual father knew this, and gave you the name during your first lifetime on Earth.’

I was fascinated to learn this. ‘Would you tell me more about Kali? She appeared to you in spirit form, you say. So she proved the Anunnaki do have souls, as her spirit was not expunged upon death?’ I realised now how Kali had changed Mathu’s beliefs.

He nodded, with much admiration in his eyes. ‘She told me that if I starved myself of Ormus and started using my personal power for selfless and positive ends, I too could be saved. So I turned to the Kian philosophy of our spiritual father and began to nurture human knowledge and civilisation. I ceased ingesting Ormus and continued to live for hundreds of thousands of years. I travelled the globe to teach mankind and became known in many different lands by many different names. I taught humans how to use the ankh tools for construction and healing, and how to defend themselves against the dark arts and the Dracon. All the while I yearned to join you in the spirit world and I waited patiently for my earthly life to be taken from me.’

‘You cannot expect to save mankind all on your own,’ I said, appealing to him to forgive himself.

‘Why not? I managed to condemn mankind all on my own.’

‘Ha!’ I scoffed. ‘You have had plenty of help. And do not speak of mankind as if it were some innocent child with no choice in its own downfall. From what I have learned, you are only one of fourteen soul-minds sent here to
guide
, not
command
, the spiritual evolution of all on this planet. So you can cease to be so hard on yourself:
the final outcome in Tara’s saga is the responsibility of all, not just you.’

He stared blankly at me for a moment. Then he said, ‘It is so very good to know you again…you always did have a way of saying just what I needed to hear.’

‘Praise the universe for that.’ I smiled to reassure him. ‘You are a fine soul, Mathu, but you cannot do better than your best, and you have done your best since your redemption.’

‘How could you know that?’ He was delighted by my view, however uninformed.

‘It stands to reason that if you had not been good, fate would not have led you to me, your just reward.’

Clearly Mathu liked my reasoning, for he paled into his spirit form to join with me and claim his karmic prize.

My eyes were hanging out of my head from reading all day and my body had various aches and pains from supporting myself in various positions as I read. I’d even taken dinner into my room, so as to stay in the story. There seemed only a couple of chapters left to go, so I felt confident of finishing the journal tomorrow.

I lay back against my pillows to muse upon all the exotic images that had been implanted in my mind by reading Ashlee’s adventure. Could it all be real? The Dragon Queens, the Signet Grid, the intertime war? Was Captain Sinclair still time-hopping around? Was Mathu still watching over me?

I wondered whether my guardian angel might be tempted to visit me, and became aware that I was caressing my newly-formed breasts. I unbuttoned my shirt slowly, as I imagined he might, then I closed my eyes and slid my hands slowly over the fleshy mounds on my chest, my nipples hardening with the excitement welling deep in my gut.

My mother knocked and entered, and I quickly pulled closed my top to hide my developing breasts.

‘I’m so sorry.’ My mother was shocked. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d covered myself in her presence, when normally I wouldn’t have cared less, or the realisation that I had a bust worth covering.

‘No problem.’ I covered my panic. ‘What do you want me for—the dishes?’

‘No, no, I’ve done them,’ she said.

This was odd. The dishes were my chore, and I only got to avoid doing them by going out, having a birthday or being ill.

‘I was just wondering, if you’re feeling better now, whether you’d like to get out of the house for a bit tomorrow?’ she said.

‘Um…’ I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the idea. ‘I really want to finish this journal.’

Mum glanced at the volume on my bedside table to see where it was bookmarked. ‘That shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours,’ she said. ‘We can go shopping in the morning and be back by lunch.’

‘You want to take me shopping?’ I was almost insulted by how superficial that sounded, with all that might be going on in the world.

‘Well, honey…’ Mum looked down at my pyjama pants that left my ankles exposed, ‘I think you need a few new clothes…including a bra.’ She smiled as she said this, and we both burst out laughing.

‘You noticed then?’ I joked, a hot flush filling my cheeks.

‘Sweetie, you don’t have to be embarrassed.’ Mum hugged me. ‘If you ever need anything, please don’t wait for me to notice. Your father and I are so caught up in our work that you get overlooked sometimes.’

It seemed Mum thought that my development had been gradual and she’d failed to notice it, rather than something that had happened overnight.

‘So what do you say?’ She squeezed my hand in encouragement.

‘I guess I could use some stuff.’

‘Good. Pick you up at eight-thirty in the kitchen.’ She kissed my head and bade me goodnight.

By the next morning I had grown the same amount again and looked like a sixteen year old. ‘Oh my Goddess!’ I stared at my reflection in the mirror: I was absolutely gorgeous; how could this person possibly be me? What was more, there was no way I could hide this. I couldn’t help smiling, although my head was thumping and I felt nauseous and stretched.

I checked my diary for Kali’s entry for the day, but all it said was:
Tonight.

I had a shower to ease the aches and pains in my body, but when it came to getting dressed I was stuck; absolutely nothing fitted me any more. I had to call for Mum. When she entered I got the shock of my life—she was radiating coloured light.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, then took a step back when she saw that I was now as tall as she was.

By this point I’d realised that what I was seeing was her aura. I covered my astonishment, recalling why I’d called her in here. ‘Nothing fits!’ I said.

To my mother’s credit, she didn’t freak out at this point and drag me off to some doctor to find out what was wrong with me. She simply smiled and said, ‘I think we might need to raid my wardrobe.’

Luckily, Dad had left the house early. I followed my mother into her room, still wrapped in a towel. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me what’s going on?’

‘I expect you’ll talk to me about it when you’re ready,’ she said, and slid open her wardrobe doors to expose the selection of clothes. ‘What about this?’ She pulled out a dark brown T-shirt dress. ‘It’d look great with these boots.’ She pulled out her brown suede boots that I’d always admired.

I held the dress in front of me, imagining that it would look rather good. ‘This is just like playing dress-ups in here when I was a kid,’ I said.

‘Only today my clothes will actually fit,’ she joked. Then her concern came through. ‘Are you in any pain?’

‘I’ve got a few aches and pains, but nothing worth complaining about.’ I pulled on the boots.

‘Would you list your symptoms for me? I’m not going to take you to a doctor,’ she added, ‘I’ll just do a little research.’

‘All right,’ I agreed, rather relieved that Mum was looking out for me, and ran through the list while she noted them down.

Our shopping trip was an interesting experience. I’d never seen a light-body before and suddenly I could see everybody’s, as well as the light-bodies of plants and animals. The other thing that was really odd was that I’d gone from being one of the unnoticed masses to someone who was stared at by men, admired by women and flirted with by teenage boys who thought me their age. I had never felt so powerful: if I dropped something, young men stopped to pick it up for me; if I wanted help with anything, people fell over themselves to assist. It was utterly amazing and very amusing to me; but although my mother played it cool and collected, I think she was a little horrified by the attention I was suddenly attracting.

There was a darker side to all this: stalkers. I repeatedly spotted two men whose auras were unlike those of the other people around me. Their light-bodies were entirely gold, and where most people’s light-bodies revolved around their light centres, these men seemed to have no chakras at all. I recalled Ashlee referring to people with these kinds of auras as abominations—vampires even. These two men seemed to be taking a keen interest in Mum and me and it freaked me out. I didn’t want to point them out to Mum in case I was just being paranoid, but they hadn’t escaped her attention.

‘Not to worry,’ she advised me with a smile. ‘Time for coffee.’

I was dumbfounded by her complacency. ‘Shouldn’t we—’

‘Trust me,’ she said. ‘We just need to stay in a public place until the problem resolves itself.’

We found a table in a café where we could observe our stalkers, and ordered coffee and cake. Mum’s assurance had made me curious. ‘You know more about what’s happening to me than you’re letting on,’ I accused.

‘I’ve read the journals too, Tamar,’ she said. ‘I can put two and two together, just as you can.’

She was right, but now that my psychic senses were more acute, I thought there was something else; something I wasn’t being told.

‘There we go.’ Mum nodded towards our stalkers who had been surrounded by several uniformed guards. ‘Security’s arrived. Time to go.’ She rose and collected her bags.

‘But what about our order?’

Mum slapped fifteen dollars on the table. ‘We’ll grab something when we get home. Stay close.’ She
set off through the crowds towards the car park. It was all very strange, but I was happy to be leaving the mall as with my heightened sensitivity to light and sound, I’d developed a splitting headache!

I couldn’t help but notice that Mum kept checking her rear-vision mirror on the drive home. ‘Do you think they might follow us?’ I asked.

‘No, of course not. I’m sure that the mall security team has taken care of them.’ But her tone wasn’t convincing.

‘But how did mall security even know about them?’ I was confused, and that wasn’t good with my throbbing head.

‘Huge malls like that have massive amounts of surveillance, honey.’

‘And you just trusted that those men would be spotted and picked up while we had a coffee?’ I wasn’t really buying her explanation.

‘Well, I come from a long line of psychics.’ She made light of my suspicions and so I passed on further interrogation until later, when I hoped my head would hurt less.

I noted Mum locked the door behind us when we got home, which she never usually did.

‘Shall I make you some lunch and bring it to you in your room?’ she asked. She knew I wanted to get back to my reading, yet I felt she was trying to get rid of me for some reason.

‘Could I have an aspirin too, please?’ I asked.

‘Oh, sweetie.’ Mum caressed the side of my face, sorry that I was feeling poorly. ‘Of course you can. You go and lie down and I’ll bring it right in.’ She was so obviously trying to get rid of me that I obliged straightaway, going to my room and shutting the door loudly so she knew I was in there.

Sure enough, when I crept back into the hall after a few moments and tracked Mum down to her office, I heard her whispering to someone on the phone, telling them about the men who had been following us.

‘Darling, I think she should know about Giza,’ she went on. There was only one person she ever called ‘darling’ so I knew she was speaking to Dad. I didn’t catch much else as Dad seemed to be doing most of the talking, so I tiptoed back to my room and closed the door. Then I sat on my bed to think.

The unusual light-bodies of those men in the mall was a result of taking too much of the ORME substance, which meant they were semi-human demons and to be feared. Mum must have known this, but surely she wouldn’t think a mall security team could keep such beings in check! A cold shiver ran through my body: I was in danger. But then I calmed myself: they couldn’t possibly know about my connection to Kali. Nobody did, but me.

When Mum brought me my lunch and some painkillers, my head was too sore to start drilling her about her odd behaviour at the mall. But after the food and aspirin, my headache eased and I felt well enough to carry on with my reading. I decided to leave my confrontation with Mum until later and settled down to finish the tale of Amenti.

I hide alone in the darkness, terrified, trembling uncontrollably. My guardian, Pierre de Saint-Martin,
has just been slain in his sleep by Sir Christian Molier. Molier claimed that he and his knights were sent to us by Marie de Saint-Clair, the Grand Master of the order of the Priory of Sion, to guide us here to the Chateau de Blanchefort, where we were to deliver a holy treasure of great significance into safekeeping. My sister, Lillet du Lac, and I, Lilitu, were aided in our escape from Montsègur by another knight, Sir Albray Devere, who also claimed to have been sent by the Grand Master. Molier claimed Devere was an impostor, and we believed him and allowed Molier’s men to drag him away. When Molier informed us earlier this night of Devere’s escape from his captors, I thought it was terrible news, but now he is my only hope.

I huddle in this closet across the hall from my deceased guardian’s sleeping quarters. I was on my way to speak with him when I heard the sound of several knights ascending the stairs. Fearful of being cornered by unfamiliar men this late at night, I hid in the closet. It petrifies me to think that had I not concealed myself, I would now be lying dead alongside my guardian. I hug the treasure in my charge to my person—a scroll, crafted from a resilient, lightweight metal that gives off a strange glow and is a mystery to all who see it. This scroll is said to hold ancient text of vital import, but as no one knows how to open its lock, no one really knows what it contains. Still, many people have died throughout the ages to ensure the treasure’s safety, and now my sister and I are its guardians.

Lillet. She is in danger. I must warn her.

I steel myself to open the closet and step outside, but then pause. My sister will kill me herself if I
jeopardise the treasure in my charge for the sake of her life. She will say I allowed selfish sentiment to outweigh my better judgement; Lillet cannot abide such weakness of character.

I must stay strong.

I wipe the tears from my face and steady my erratic breathing so I might listen for events unfolding in the chateau. I feel a wetness at my feet and realise that the blood of my guardian has flowed across the hall and under the door of the closet. I shrink away from its advance.

Suddenly I hear voices: Molier’s guards are everywhere, shouting orders to search every room, and I fear I shall be found. I grip the hilt of the dagger I wear on my girdle, knowing I do not have the courage to use it.

‘If Devere has taken the priestess, we won’t see them for dust,’ comments one of the knights as they work their way down the hallway towards my closet.

Devere has saved Lillet!
I breathe a sigh of relief.
But who will save me?

‘At least it gives us someone to pin de Saint-Martin’s murder on,’ another knight responds. They laugh at the fortunate coincidence. I am appalled by their blatant treachery, and wonder what lies they will tell about me after my murder.

‘I hope we find that other little priestess,’ says the first knight, ‘I could do with some entertainment.’

His desire is echoed by various others and I block my ears, not wishing to hear their foul suggestions. I wriggle to the back wall of the closet and into a corner where I hope I may not be spotted. My head collides with a hard metal object
and I am not quick enough to smother my pained cry of surprise.

‘Did you hear that?’ one of the knights asks. They know where I am; I hear them approaching.

I reach up to identify the item that has betrayed me—a long clothes hook. I grasp it for support, almost swooning at the thought of my imminent fate.
God help me,
I pray, and as I lean against the closet wall, the hook drops and a small door opens at my back. I fall through the void and land on my behind some distance below. The door closes, leaving me in utter darkness.