The Emerald Staff (21 page)

The dragon stepped forward until he was
standing just a few feet in front of them.

Faedra quivered inside but stood her ground;
not that she had much choice, Etyran was holding her in place with
his cast iron grip.

“Gatekeeper, we need passage into
Zutherindal. The human seeks an audience with Draconis,” Etyran
explained.

Faedra wasn’t too happy about being called
‘the human’ as if she were a soured piece of meat, but let it drop.
She decided she was in no position to gripe about it right then. At
that moment, she’d be happy if she got out of there in one piece
and not burned to a crisp like the Sunday dinner she’d once
attempted to cook.

Etyran’s statement was followed by a gaping
silence that filled the cavern with its emptiness. Then in the next
second, incredulous laughter echoed off the walls, so loud it made
Faedra’s ears ring. She put her free hand up to her ear to soften
the noisy blow.

“Have you lost your mind, Lightbender? You
have the audacity to ask such a thing? You know the history between
dragons and humans.”

Etyran opened his mouth to speak but Faedra
beat him to it. She was quaking in her boots but she thought if she
could at least ask him nicely, she’d have given it her best shot.
She stepped forward and tried to mask the tremble in her voice.

“Sir, I have been told of the history between
our two races and I am sorry for the way you were treated by us. I
know one apology doesn’t make up for years of wrong doing but, I
ask with the utmost respect, if you could please allow us to enter
Zutherindal.”

The dragon seemed to regard her with curious
interest. He brought a large taloned claw up to his chin and rubbed
it. Faedra stayed where she was even though she wanted to run.

The dragon lowered his head until his face
was level with hers. It took every ounce of her self-control to
stay put. His fierce green eyes pierced into hers, searching their
very depths to her soul.

“Little one, I am curious. It was no mean
feat for you to get this far in your quest, so the reason must hold
great importance. Why would you need to seek an audience with our
ruler?” His voice was softer this time.

“Someone has kidnapped my father and she’s
given me a week to hand over this, or she’ll kill him.” Faedra
lifted up the amulet to show the dragon, to which the dragon raised
an eyebrow in recognition and brought his claw up to rub his chin
again.

She also dug out the time-pebble that was
getting redder by the hour. “You see,” she said, “I don’t have much
time left.”

The dragon also raised an eyebrow at the
time-pebble, seeming to recognize it for the dark magic it
held.

“Hmm,” he pondered, “but you still haven’t
told me why you need to speak with Draconis.”

“The person who took my father did so with
the ruby staff.”

The dragon stood up straight raising his head
in surprise at her statement. “The ruby staff? But that was
destroyed when Savu was.”

“That’s what I’ve been told, but I assure you
it is still very much intact, and the only way I can find my father
is to borrow the emerald staff from Draconis.”

The dragon rubbed his chin again. “If I allow
you to walk through to our realm, Draconis will surely see you dead
before you speak.”

A cold shiver ran down her back and she
dropped her gaze to the floor. “I have to try,” she whispered.

The dragon took a moment in thought, pacing
back and forth in front of them. After what seemed like an
eternity, he finally spoke. “It is against my better judgment, but
I will allow you passage to Zutherindal. Let it be known I cannot
guarantee your safety when you set foot on our soil.” The dragon
gave Faedra a grave look as he spoke which made her throat dry up
again.

“That is all I ask, thank you,” she said.

The dragon inclined his head in
acknowledgment. “Follow me then.”

He led them to a sealed archway in the rock
wall and stood before it. After uttering some incantation in yet
another language Faedra had never heard before, the rock within the
archway turned to a luminescent liquid and started swirling in
mesmerizing patterns. To Faedra’s surprise, the dragon stuck his
head and neck into the liquid until only his body and tail were
visible. She looked down the length of him and watched his tail
slowly swish from side to side.

“He’s probably talking to the Gatekeeper on
the other side,” Etyran whispered in her ear.

Sure enough, a moment later the dragon pulled
his head and neck back and turned to the two travelers who stood
beside him waiting in anticipation.

“I have talked to Alaris on the other side.
He will see you safely to Draconis but I cannot secure your safety
after that point.”

Faedra nodded her understanding. “Thank
you.”

The dragon held his arm out to direct them
though the archway. Faedra’s stomach did a flip-flop as she took a
step forward. She held her hand up to the wall and, after a
moment’s hesitation, reached out to touch it. She was surprised to
find that it didn’t feel like liquid at all. It was more like a
cool mist swirling around her hand. She withdrew her hand and
looked down at it, then took a deep breath and looked at Etyran who
gave her an encouraging, barely discernable nod and a warm smile.
Just as they were about to step through, the dragon spoke
again.

“Custodian.”

Faedra turned. “Yes?”

“Good luck.”

Faedra gave him a hesitant smile before
stepping through the swirling liquid with Etyran close by her
side.

Once on the other side, Faedra did a quick
glance down her body. It was a stupid thought but she needed to
check and make sure she was still in one piece.

“So, you’re the Custodian.” Another gravelly
voice interrupted her thoughts.

Faedra looked up to see a stunning royal blue
dragon this time, whose emerald green eyes were no less intense
than the other Gatekeeper’s had been. She couldn’t be sure, but
this dragon looked like he was sneering at her with intense
dislike. As soon as he finished raking his gaze up and down her
body, he whipped around, almost swiping them with his tail. If it
hadn’t been for Etyran’s quick reflexes pulling her back a foot or
so, the dragon’s tail would have surely hit Faedra in the side of
the head.

“Follow me,” the dragon ordered as he marched
out of the smaller cavern they were now standing in.

“A human in Zutherindal, I’ve never seen the
like in all my years,” he grumbled to himself as Faedra and Etyran
followed him down a dimly lit corridor. Then he stopped suddenly
and swung his immense neck and head around until he was inches away
from Faedra’s face. She sucked in a breath and stared at the
dragon, eyes wide and frozen to the spot.

“Suicide mission, that’s what you’re on!” He
stared at her for a long moment, eyes searching into her soul just
like the other dragon had done. Then he raised an eyebrow and just
as swiftly turned his head and neck to face the front, and started
moving forward again.

Faedra let out the breath she’d been holding
and continued on behind him. She was hanging onto her resolve by
the skin of her teeth. Inside, she felt like a gibbering wreck, but
all the while was imagining her father going through much worse at
the hands of Vivianna. That thought was the only thing allowing her
body to put one foot in front of the other.

As they journeyed further along the corridor,
Faedra noticed the walls changed from carved out rock to neatly
laid brick. They must have walked from a cave into a building of
some sort. The further they walked, the more elaborate the décor
became. The wall torches were made of wrought iron with decorative
scrollwork. There were now tapestries hanging from the walls. The
stone used for bricks was pale in color bringing a lightness to
their surroundings. They started to pass big wooden doors, all of
which were closed thus far.

The dragon turned a corner and they followed
behind for several paces more before it came to a stop in front of
a set of huge double doors that seemed to take up the whole
wall.

Alaris rapped hard on the doors and Faedra
heard a sound from the other side. This was it; they were at their
destination. In a few moments she would either be toast, literally,
or she would persuade the dragon to loan her the emerald staff. She
focused on the outcome being the latter of the two options and
tried to quiet her pounding heart. She didn’t think even her energy
could outdo a dragon.

The doors swung open revealing another
cavernous room that was lit with numerous blazing torches lining
the walls within.

“What is it Alaris?” A loud, irritated voice
boomed.

Faedra and Etyran were still standing behind
the dragon at the entrance to the room and neither could see to
whom the voice belonged.

“You have, err, guests, My Lord.”

“Guests? Guests? I didn’t invite any guests
today. Send them away!” The irritated voice boomed again.

“Begging your pardon, My Lord, but I have a
feeling you would want to accept an audience with this particular
guest.”

“Hmm, indeed? You have piqued my interest.
Oh, very well, send them in.”

The dragon walked inside the room and stepped
aside revealing Faedra and Etyran.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Faedra’s eyes grew wide with a mixture of
fear and awe as she took in the view before her. Draconis was
standing on a dais at the end of the room. His onyx black scales
shimmered in the light from the torches. His immense stature
towered above that of the two other dragons she’d seen that day.
When shimmering emerald eyes lay upon her, his gaze mirrored hers.
Disbelief. In the next second, he let out an ear splitting roar,
forcing Faedra to clap her hands over her ears. His gaze turned to
hatred in the next second and Faedra’s heart almost stopped with
fear.

“What is the meaning of this?” Draconis
bellowed at Alaris. “You dare to let a human enter
my
realm?”

“The Gatekeeper deemed her request reason
enough to allow passage through, My Lord.” Alaris remained calm,
even though it looked to Faedra as if Draconis was about to rip him
to shreds.

“No reason could be enough to allow a human
into our realm. I’ll end this farce before taking another breath.”
He rose up and with just a couple of fluid movements, was towering
a few feet away from the terrified Custodian. He raised a claw with
long lethal talons outstretched and ready to strike. Faedra
scrunched her eyes closed; this was it, she was about to meet her
maker.

“Wait!” Etyran yelled, and stepped in front
of Faedra without a thought for his own safety.

Draconis hesitated, still poised and ready to
strike.

A moment later when Faedra realized she was
still intact and breathing, she cracked open an eye to see Etyran’s
body in front of her. For a split second it gave her hope.

“Out of my way, fae. I have no quarrel with
your kind.” Draconis commanded.

“No, I am sworn to protect her.”

“Then so be it, you give me no choice.”
Draconis started to swipe with his huge taloned claw. Faedra
scrunched her eyes closed again and her whole body tensed up in
anticipation of the strike. After a few heartbeats when nothing
happened, she dared herself to again open one eye, then a few
seconds later the other. When she let her gaze wander up, she was
surprised by what she saw. Draconis had stopped his lethal swipe
just inches from her head. His claw was frozen in mid-air and a
look of confusion swept across his face. He took two loud sniffs of
the air before slowly lowering his claw. He then turned his
attention on Faedra, his intense emerald eyes bore into hers.
Faedra was frozen to the spot; she couldn’t take her eyes off him
even though her body was screaming at her to make a run for it now
while she had the chance.

Draconis brought his head down until his face
was just inches away from the young Custodian’s. It took everything
she had to not close her eyes and expect the worst. Maybe he’d
decided to grill her like a kebab instead.

He sniffed the air around her again, his
exhalation blowing her hair and fanning her face. It was not fiery
hot as she’d expected but pleasantly warm instead.

“Interesting, very interesting,” Draconis
mused after a moment of internal speculation.

He moved around her, inspecting her from
every angle until he was standing on the other side of her where he
sniffed again. Two loud snorts echoed around the cavernous
room.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he asked,
his voice much softer now.

Faedra gulped as she looked into his eyes
again. “Um, what do you mean?”

“You, little one, have fae blood running
through your veins, and if I’m not mistaken, royal blood at that.”
Draconis stated.

Etyran turned and gave her a questioning
look. She glanced at him but didn’t respond to his unspoken
question.

Turning her attention back to Draconis she
said, “Yes, I know.”

“What? How? Why didn’t you tell me?” Etyran
spluttered, completely taken by surprise.

“Well, this changes things somewhat,”
Draconis said as he backed away from the two. “ I find myself in a
very unusual position. On the one hand, you are half fae and we
have no quarrel with your kind. On the other, you are half human
and I should kill you where you stand.”

“Um, actually, Sir, I’m a little more that
half fae, I come from a Celtic bloodline that were originally fae,
as well,” Faedra said, hoping that the extra one or two percent
over half would help sway his decision.

“I thought fae were forbidden to bear
children with humans.” Draconis mused.

Faedra sighed. “Try telling that to my
father. He made the rule so I guess he thought he was entitled to
break it.” She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm at bay.