Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (23 page)

When they returned, Edala and her other sisters were already sat around the breakfast table, along with Bethany and the ebony girl Themisia. Seeing the two redheads, sitting next to each other was a strange sight; their skin colours being so completely opposite.

There seemed to be a serious tone to the room when Amelia, Allen and Lloyd entered to join them; Edala seemed to be telling a story which held the others attention. When she noticed them enter she looked up at Lloyd and blushed.

Lloyd felt very nervous as he took a seat facing his love. Amelia chose a seat between Justina and a frowning Maria.  Allen sat down next to Bethany and gave her a quizzical
what’s going on look;
her eyes and smile, when she looked back at him, however, were sad.

“And you are sure of this, child?” Maria finally asked Edala, who blushed again.

“Yes, I am sure that it was no dream” she said, holding the older sisters gaze.

“I also thought I had a dream, well more of a nightmare really” Bethany added, in a quiet voice, before Lloyd could ask what was going on. “And in mine I saw the same battle that Edala described, but it was earlier. I saw the attack of the white soldiers with red eyes; and the white hot magic the strange mages used. Sometimes it made people crumble to dust, in a second. Other times, punching a hole clean through a body...I saw one such beam punch a hole right through Allen’s chest. In this vision I knew that we were husband and wife” she stumbled over the last few words, tears dropping down each cheek; she did not turn to face the young soldier sitting beside her.

“Will someone please tell us what’s going on?” Lloyd could hold back his exasperation no more. Allen stood behind the Sorcerer; an unreadable look on his face, as he studied Bethany.

It was Justina, composed and witty as ever, who replied, “Well, young master Sorcerer, it sounds like, to me, that pretty much as soon as you had dumped your seed into my little sister here, that she and Bethany were paid a visit by two ebony Daemen, one of whom was the male creature that raped copper top over there.”

Both Bethany and Themisia looked up with indignation.

“What happened then? Did he hurt you?” Lloyd asked with a mixture of fear and concern.

“No, I’m fine. But somehow they have the Pendant of Daria; and they used it to show me memories, but not of the past, they were memories of what is to come. I am with child Lloyd...your child, and in probably about nine months time, both me and the child will die during labour.” All manner of emotions had washed across her face as she had spoken.

Lloyd’s face was showing just one emotion; utter shock! He looked at Edala with distant eyes, mouth hanging slightly agape. The others waited for some reaction from him; when none came, Amelia stood from her chair and came around the table to stand behind Lloyd.

“Lloyd, why don’t you give Edala the gift you bought her?” she said gently, finally coaxing some sign of intelligence into his vacant stare.

The young Sorcerer’s blush, confirmed that some sense was returning. He put his hand in his jean pocket to retrieve the ring, and made his way around to where Edala sat looking at him inquisitively.

When he reached her side he mumbled to Amelia “I suppose I had better do this properly”. The tall Dragon-Girl nodded. Lloyd sighed and went down on one knee, taking Edala’s left hand with his right; he finally took a deep breath for courage and looked up at her, lifting the ring between their two faces.

“Edala, you haven't told me all that you dreamed; and that can wait for later, but what I do know is, I saved you once before and I will do everything in my power to do so again. I never want to be apart from you again; the time since you first turned into your Dragon Form has been like a slow never-ending nightmare. Will you, therefore, please do me the honour of becoming my wife?” he concluded finally.

Edala’s eyes filled with tears of happiness, as she replied “Yes I would love to be your wife”. She then cupped his face with her hands and kissed him gently. “Ooh you need another shave!” she added with a cheeky grin.

“There will be no more shaving, or middle of the night shenanigans, while you are under my roof!” Maria said sternly; up until now she had been silent, ruminating over both Edala and Bethany’s story. Edala and Lloyd blushed, in union, at her statement.

“Ah, leave them be Maria! Based on our father’s track record of leaving bastards here there and everywhere, we have no right to judge them for having fun out of wedlock” Justina defended the betrothed.

“Not under my roof!” Maria replied fiercely, locking eyes with her younger sister.

“You two behave,” Umaia interrupted the potential téte-á-téte “we should be more concerned about the nature of these ebony Daemon. From what you are saying they come with memories from a time yet to be. How is such a thing possible, you child, do you know?” she directed this question at Themisia who had been listening quietly to the conversation.

The ebony girl contemplated for a moment before answering. “There are many types of Daemen, not all as evil as your legends make us out to be. But just because I am a Daemon does not mean I know everything about my kind.”

“Just tell us if you know of a Daemon like this or not!” Justina said impatiently.

Themisia threw the dragon daughter a frightened look before replying “No, not anymore, but our legends tell of a time, not long after the creation, when the Daemen Fathers and Mothers walked our realms; they were said to be able to both make and unmake things at will, perhaps the being that raped me and this female are one of these?”

“And you think that you are maybe carrying a child of this being?” Maria asked.

“I do not know for certain, as I am not due to bleed for another week, but if I am with child I am very scared of what it will be capable of; the mistress would not have let my strain be diluted by a weaker Daemon” she replied.

“What about magic, is there a spell that can allow one to snatch memories from the future?” Umaia asked.

Lloyd, who had been listening intently, kissed Edala again before returning to his seat. “Well if there was any such spell, it would be in the forbidden tomes, and although I have only read parts in detail, I did have a skim through all of them and I can’t remember anything about a spell to travel through time, or even one to predict the future” he paused in thought for a moment, remembering the description of the mysterious beings.

“You did mention they were covered in tattoos of mystical symbols and I do remember briefly reading about a spell, which could store large amounts of magical energy within tattoos, a bit like how a battery would store electricity back home”. Lloyd decided to ignore their blank looks, “Maybe they do have a spell for time travel and to do it takes a lot more energy than one can draw through a soul portal.”

“Possibly,” Edala added “but I could make out no sign of a normal soul portal, but I definitely did see a black one, very similar to that used by that insect like Daemon; there’s no telling what is achievable with that.”

“No, and both you and Justina did say that you felt very heavy and pulled towards it, maybe it’s a portal that uses gravity?” Lloyd replied.

“What’s Gravity?” Bethany asked.

“It’s the force that keeps us on the ground and the planets spinning around the sun and the sun spinning around the galaxy” Lloyd stopped when he could see their eyes glazing over in confusion.

“Ahhh SCIENCE!” said Justina “tedious stuff!”

“So what are we going to do to prevent Edala’s death?” Allen asked.

“And yours!” Bethany added with concern.

It was Edala who replied; “In the dream I was definitely in the palace at Seadawn and Lloyd had gone to get his Mother because of my condition. Maybe if your Mother had been on hand right from the start, our child and I would have lived?”

Lloyd nodded across the table at his beloved “I will see if I can contact my Mum, let me just go fetch my crystal ball from my room.”

Amy had been sitting with Darrion on one of the flowery slopes near the entrance to
Dragon-home,
as she now called it, when the voice of her son had come into her head to relay the horrific story.

She had told Lloyd that she felt it would be best to return to Earth with Edala and see her pregnancy through there. It had been a difficult conversation for a parent to have with their child, with revelations that anyone would normally keep to themselves; the most uneasy feeling of all, however, was the thought of becoming a grandparent.

She was now re-telling the story to her husband.  This proved to be a good distraction; from his relentless agonising over his actions, which had killed and injured so many at Arrenloft.

“So we will wait here until they return; but it might be a week or two, as Lloyd just wants to make sure that there will be no repercussions from the Emperor, against Edala’s sisters.”

Fortunately, when contact was initiated by the Emperor, it was not in an aggressive, or reactionary way, to the events that had happened nearly a week before. Three sharp raps on the door of the sister’s house, was the first that they knew. It was Umaia who had answered, and brought the stranger upstairs to the area where the sisters and guests tended to meet together, at certain times of the day. Currently only Lloyd, Allen, Justina and Maria were in there.

“Allen, your father is here to see you; everyone, this is Ambassador Frank of Kalana,”

The man who entered had his son’s sad brown eyes, but he had none of the physical presence that Allen had; in fact he looked very frail for a man who was only in his mid-fifties. He had wild white wiry hair and dressed in a somewhat scruffy way for a man of his station. Although his gold circular badge of office, showing an engraved map of Kalana, could be clearly seen pinned to the brown coat he wore. Despite the fact he was very frail, he had a happy disposition and a twinkle appeared in his eyes as he looked at his son.

“Father, you look ill!” Allen said quickly, making his way across the room to shake his father's hand.

“Come here my boy!” the old man said, pulling his son into an embrace.

“I’ve not been too good, I must admit, I’ve been suffering with the Emperor’s shakes, as they call it in the empire, terrible fevers followed by terrible shivers.”

“Here have a seat” Umaia offered kindly, pulling out a chair opposite from Lloyd. The old man sat down and nodded with gratitude.

“Here have a sip of this wine, it has berries of the jahroot tree within it, and will ease some of the pain that Emperors shake can bring.”

As Umaia poured, the old man examined Lloyd.

“I can see both your Father and Mother in you Prince Cullen.” he acknowledged, “It was a noble thing you did, allowing Hegan to become King. I did have my doubts that he would be too like his father, but he is a shrewd young man who has won the respect of his people.”

“I do not know my brother as much as I would like,” Lloyd responded “but I could see that he placed the needs of the people above his own.”

“How did you find us father?” Allen interrupted.

“I had a summons from the Emperor a day after you paid him a visit. Luckily, I wouldn’t say you had angered him, but you certainly scared six days of dinner out of him” Ambassador Frank said with a smile.

“We spoke at length about you and the Sorcerer here, plus of course the dragon that destroyed the palace gates; I presume that is one of you ladies or another in this building?” he asked; and Lloyd immediately felt tension rise in the room.

“What do you mean?” Maria asked as calmly as she could, but Lloyd could see fear in her eyes.

“Don’t be alarmed good lady...Maria…I believe my spies said your name was; the Emperor knows nothing of this, but there were stories of a girl turning into a dragon at the battle of the Southgate, plus rumours in the streets since that time, of a large creature flying over the city. Also, of course, a young man and a woman wearing strange white shoes like that,” he said pointing at Lloyd’s trainers “were not that difficult to trace.”

Lloyd flushed a little; although wearing the blanket tunics they had made, which had been relatively successful in keeping them concealed, he had not considered how alien a pair of modern thick soled white sports shoes would look.

“Anyway, enough of how I found you. I am here to bring you a letter from the Emperor” he said, handing Allen a rolled parchment, sealed with wax, embossed with the Emperor’s seal.

Allen broke the seal, and slowly unrolled the message, which read:

“To Allen Son of Frank,

The arrival of you and your mysterious friends has placed me at a great disadvantage, but I must be thankful that you and the Sorcerer freed me from the grip of some strange witchery.

I understand that Prince Cullen has relinquished his right to the throne; so I will not seek to approach him, with regards improving relationship between our countries, plus of course his existence coinciding with a dragon at my door; scares me beyond belief.

Your father has always been a noble man to deal with; but his failing health is a concern for us all, and at this time with Daemen at large in the world, I think it is essential that the Empire and Kalana work together far more closely. Your father has, therefore, written to King Hegan requesting that you replace him as Kalanan Ambassador.

I fully endorse this, as I would like to work closely with one who has such unusual friends!

His excellence, the Emperor Celeon”

Allen handed the letter to Lloyd with a sigh.