The Emerald Staff (23 page)

Faen held her closer when he noticed her
stiffen a little. “So, tell me about the egg.”

Faedra dug out the time-pebble from her
pocket. Even though she couldn’t make out the color variation in
the dark, she knew she was running out of time to find her dad.

“Draconis lost his only heir in a bet about a
thousand years ago to a man named Ralph De Gael. He wants me to
find it and take it to him before he’ll lend me the emerald staff.
The only clue he could give me was that the guy just inherited a
castle at the time.”

“Why did he bet his only heir?” Faen couldn’t
help but be bemused at her statement.

“All he said is that he was young and foolish
at the time. Savu killed his mate so there is not much hope of him
creating another heir and he said he could lose the kingdom.”

“Dragon lore can be very convoluted, at
times.” Faen responded.

“All I know is that I need to get online and
see if anything comes up when I do a search on this guy. Is it
going to take long to get home?”

“Be assured, Faedra I will fly us as fast as
I can. You must be exhausted. You should try and get some sleep
while you can. I have a feeling that we are going to be very busy
as soon as we get back to the World of Men.”

Faedra hadn’t thought about being tired until
her Guardian mentioned it. She couldn’t think how long it had been
since she last slept. The sky was changing color on the horizon in
preparation for welcoming another day, and her eyes were starting
to feel very heavy. Maybe she would just rest her eyes for a few
moments.

The next thing she knew, Faen had landed and
was waking her as he lowered her legs, allowing her feet to make
contact with the lush green grass in front of the portal that would
take them back to behind the church.

She rubbed her eyes and looked up into the
face of her Guardian. Then she remembered something and her cheeks
drained of all color.

Faen frowned. “What is the matter?”

“Um, I kind of had to, um, knock your sister
out.” Faedra admitted rather sheepishly.

Faen tried to hide a smile threatening to
curve his lips.

“I had to. She insisted on coming with me and
I didn’t want to put her in any danger, so I kind of zapped her and
leaned her up against a head stone. Oh, God, she’s going to kill
me, isn’t she?”

Faen lost the battle and not only smiled but
laughed as well. “I dare say she will get over it. I have to admit,
there has been the odd time I would not have minded doing that
myself.”

Faedra dreaded the thought of having to face
Jocelyn in just a few seconds as they stepped through the portal.
She held her breath looking sheepish as she felt the crunch of
gravel under her feet and knew they were back behind the church. To
her surprise they weren’t greeted by an angry young fairy, which
caused Faedra relief and concern all at the same time.

“I left her over there, Faen, I promise.” She
pointed towards a large granite headstone where she had leaned the
young fairy before heading through the portal. “Where is she?”

“Do not worry, Faedra, she has probably gone
back to the house to wait for you.”

“But why would she wait for me there? She
knows I would have to come back through this way.” Faedra started
to worry a little more.

“Not necessarily, there are more portals to
Azran than this one. For all she knew, you could be coming out of
another,” Faen reassured her.

“Okay, I just hope she’s alright. I feel
awful enough at knocking her out, I’d never forgive myself if
anything happened to her.”

“She will be fine. Is your car here?”

“Yes, let’s get back to the house so I can
look up that guy.”

As they headed towards the car park,
something prompted Faedra to look towards a stand of trees. She was
almost certain she saw the vicar pull his head back behind a tree
trunk when she looked in that direction. She wondered if the vicar
had seen them appear from nowhere, but didn’t have time to worry
about it right then. She had to find out if Ralph De Gael did in
fact exist at one time, and, if so, on what corner of the planet.
His name sounded French which gave her a bit of hope. In the big
scheme of things, France wasn’t that far away.

Faedra gave a fleeting thought as to how
empty the cottage was when they walked through the door, but didn’t
allow herself to dwell on it. She could see the blinking red light
on the answer machine as she dashed past it on the way to her
bedroom. She wasn’t about to stop and listen to any messages. They
were probably all from her uncle, anyway, wondering where she and
her dad were.

Once in her bedroom, she scooted around the
bed to her desk and fired up her computer, tapping her fingers on
the desk with an impatient air while she waited for her pc to whirr
through the start-up cycle.

“Come on, come on,” she whispered testily, as
if her words would have any bearing on the speed of her pc. She
could feel Faen’s presence just inches from her back as he looked
over her shoulder. His nearness gave her some much-needed comfort,
especially, in the event that she couldn’t find anything on this
man?

“At last,” she sighed as she clicked onto the
Internet and typed “Ralph De Gael” into the search engine.

Within seconds several sites with his name
were listed. Relief washed over her.

“Well, it looks like he definitely existed,”
she said to Faen as she clicked on a site that looked promising.
“It says here that he was born around 1040 and was the Earl of …no
way!”

“The Earl of Norway?” Faen asked, not
realizing Norway had Earls.

“What? No, he was the Earl of East Anglia. He
lived right here in Norfolk. Oh, I can’t possibly be this lucky. It
says that he inherited a castle from his father-in-law. You’ll
never guess which one.”

Faen raised his eyebrows waiting for her to
tell him.

“Norwich Castle!” Faedra shrieked with
excitement. “The egg could be hidden right here in Norwich Castle!
It has to be there, it just has to be!”

She looked at the time and shoved her chair
back from the desk so hard Faen had to make evasive maneuvers to
save his toes from being rolled over.

Faedra looked up at Faen who was hovering a
couple of feet from the floor and wrinkled her eyebrows in
question. “What are you doing up there? Come on let’s go, they
should still be open.”

Faen looked heavenward as he lowered himself
to the floor and followed his excited charge out of the house to
her car.

Leaving a spray of gravel behind them, Faedra
made a hasty exit up the driveway and headed towards the city.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“I think they close at five; we’re going to
make it just in time,” Faedra stated as they walked towards the
castle with ten minutes to spare. The castle, in its modern day
role, acted as a museum and was open to the public. Faedra visited
it on a school outing once but never paid it much attention beyond
that. It was always just there, standing tall and proud in the
middle of the city. People walked past it every day, probably
without giving it a second glance, but she was paying attention now
and all of a sudden the castle seemed much much larger than she
remembered. The majestic pale stone building was perched high on
its mound and seemed to loom over her, taunting her with its
secrets, secrets she was sure it wouldn’t give up without a
fight.

Her throat went dry, she hadn’t given the
first thought about how she was going to find something so small in
something so big. Something that could have been found by
archeologists a long time ago. No, she couldn’t think that way, it
had to be in there somewhere, it just had to be. She dug out the
time-pebble and checked the color. She still had time, but not
much.

They crossed the bridge that led to the
museum’s entrance, stopping outside the huge revolving oak and
glass door, and looked at the fee schedule.

“Oh, no, I left in such a hurry I didn’t
think to bring any money with me,” she said, dismayed. “Faen, do
you have any money for the entrance fee?”

He gave her an odd look, “I am fae, we have
no need of money.”

“Course not, silly me,” Faedra retorted.
“Much as I hate to do this you’re going to have to glamour us
then.”

“As you wish, but I think it best if we do
not disappear right in front of the door, the lady behind the desk
is watching us.”

“Good point.” Faedra said as Faen moved her
to one side and did a quick look around to see if anyone else was
watching before he cloaked them with glamour.

It was a tight squeeze for both of them to
fit into one of the compartments of the revolving door but they
managed it and shuffled their way round until they were inside.
Faedra noticed the clerk’s eyes grow wide.

“Joe,” she said to the security guard who was
standing a few feet from the desk. “That door just moved on its
own.”

Joe tossed a nonchalant glance towards the
door. “Probably just the wind, nothing to worry about, there’s
obviously no one there.”

“Probably just the wind? The leaves aren’t
even moving on that tree outside, and it’s because there’s no one
there that’s creeping me out.” The clerk was starting to sound a
little panicky at that point.

Joe leaned to one side so that he could see
the tree to which the clerk was referring, and gave a disinterested
shrug when he saw the leaves were unmoving in the calm afternoon
air. “What do you want me to say, that the place isn’t haunted?
It’s nearly a thousand years old, Mary. To be honest, I’d be more
surprised if things like that didn’t happen.”

“Oh don’t say that, it’s my turn to check the
ladies loos before lock up tonight. I’m sure I’m being watched in
there.”

Joe gave the woman a knowing smile before
turning to leave. “Well, I best go and do my rounds. Make sure the
dungeons and battlements are empty before we close. Last thing we
need is someone to die of fright after being stuck in the dungeons
all night.” He gave a chuckle as he walked away.

Faedra noticed the clerk shudder as she
looked down at her watch. At least they knew where not to hide
until the museum closed, not that it really mattered. As long as
Faen had them in glamour they could stand in a corner until the
place was empty and no one would know. Which is exactly what they
did.

After the announcement over the loudspeaker
that the museum would be closing in five minutes, visitors started
meandering past the two on their way out, chatting to one another
about what they’d seen. Faedra and Faen waited a while longer and
watched as the security guard named Joe held the door open for the
employees to leave and locked it up behind the last one. He then
made his way past them, down a corridor and into a room, muttering
something to himself about putting the kettle on and watching the
soccer match on TV. He shut the door behind him.

As soon as everyone had gone, the castle was
blanketed in an eerie silence. It was now dark outside, made even
more noticeable by the fact that the bright lights suddenly dimmed,
casting ominous shadows everywhere. Faedra gathered her nerves for
the task ahead of them.

“Much as I hate to say this, I think we are
going to have to go into the dungeons. It’s probably the oldest
place in the castle, so I think it will be a good place to start,”
Faedra whispered as she looked up at the signage on the wall.
“Looks like they’re down that way.”

Her feet dragged a little on their way down
the corridor where the site map had shown the dungeons to be
located. Dungeons by their very nature were dark and damp and she
didn’t relish the thought of exploring one after hours. They found
the entrance to the dungeons and Faedra followed her Guardian down
some steps and through a door. The musty smell that greeted her
nostrils indicated they’d arrived at their destination.

There were no lights on and even her energy
balls weren’t bright enough to light up the foreboding, all
consuming blackness. In fact, the glow from her balls seemed to
make matters worse as they cast an eerie light over torture
implements and chains that hung from the walls in the first room
they entered. She gave an involuntary shudder.

“There must be a light switch in here
somewhere,” she said to Faen who was brushing his hands along the
wall searching as she spoke. They stepped into another room and the
dank musty smell grew stronger. Faedra could make out low arches
with bars imbedded in the stone, creating tiny cells. Behind one
set of bars she could distinguish the silhouette of a mannequin
sitting on some straw on the floor. It was just a little too
life-like for her liking. Behind another row of bars there was a
set of shelves that were home to six death heads. Wax castings of
the faces of people who had been executed. She shuddered again
realizing these molds were of actual people who had been hanged for
some terrible crime they’d committed in the past.

She looked for Faen who was still trying to
find a light switch. “I don’t think there is one down here, it must
be up in the security guard’s room. He probably controls all the
lighting from in there. I will go and sneak in and turn it on.” He
moved to leave.

“You’re not leaving me here on my own,”
Faedra stated and turned to follow him.

“Well, that’s just bloody charming, Stafford.
Looks like our company’s not good enough for the little lady,” a
gruff voice echoed through the darkness.

Faedra froze. “Who said that?”

Faen stopped. “Who said what?”

“You didn’t hear that?” she asked.

Faen shook his head. “Hear what?”

“Hey, Stafford, the little lady can ‘ear us,
we can have some fun with this one,” the gruff voice spoke
again.

“Faen, tell me you heard
that
.” Faedra
said.