The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (34 page)

'Do you think they’re real too?' she asked as she studied it.

'Probably,' Loi peered over her shoulder. 'It seems that anything we consider ‘mythical’ exists here.'

Sian leaned against the wall.

'I can’t wait to see a dragon up close.'

'They might not be friendly in real life,' I warned.

We continued down the corridor, pausing at an enormous set of doors with a guard in front.

I wonder if that’s the throne room, thought Loi as she studied the doors. Made of wood they were a real work of art. At first glance she’d thought it was stone, it was so highly polished. The doors were arched and had ornate pillars at either side. Vines were carved into the pillars and trailed the length of them. Tiny gems glittered down the edges of each vine. It created a beautiful image and made the door shimmer.

The guard at the door smiled at them and their obvious admiration.

'Would you like to look in at the throne room?' he asked and pushed one door open.

Just the workmanship of the doorway alone was incredible. I watched the way the immense door silently swung open. We stepped into the room and stared about in awe. The throne room had a dark polished wooden floor. Like the doors, thousands of tiny gemstones glittered up at us, embedded within it. I had to resist the urge to kneel and run my hands over it, it was an enchanting effect.

The room was very large and could easily accommodate a large throng of people. At the end of the room, or the ‘head’ of it, were two thrones. They looked to be made of the same white stone as the castle; heavily inlaid with gold in an intricate pattern that offered flashes of the white underneath. A canopy of deep purple silk was draped high above the thrones and framed them beautifully.

A large ornamental shield was set above the canopy. It was black with silver edging; a deep red rose was in the center with a rising phoenix on the right and a seated griffon on the left. The colors were spectacular; the images glowed like a Raphael painting.

The guard noticed my attention on the shield.

'That shield has been with the Thalian line since their first coronation. It was redesigned after the Norard War when the griffons allied with us. It was then they were added to the shield. The phoenix represents the Thalian ability to constantly renew themselves, no matter the situation. The rose is a symbol of their passion of their realm and the griffon, of course, represents strength and friendship.'

I stepped closer to study it.

Sian looked around the room and stopped at the huge portraits of King Nikias and Queen Ariadwen. The King had been a handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes, though not as blue as Alek’s. The Queen had strawberry blond hair and had been a beauty. Alek didn’t appear to take after either of his parents in particular. Cat wandered over with Loi and Kassie and they all silently studied the portraits.

The guard stared up at them too and shook his head.

'It was a real tragedy losing the King like that. Especially for the Prince.'

Sian glanced at Cat, reflecting on what Elena had told them.

'How did the prince handle it?' Cat tentatively asked.

The guard sighed and shook his head again.

'Not well. Not well at all. The Archduchess immediately declared herself regent, as was expected, and the prince completely withdrew. He spent most of the time with his griffon. It’s been only in recent years that he’s been back in the public eye. And now, of course, he’s head of the Griffon Guard. He’s refused the crown until he rids the world of those damn evil DeNagas. It’ll be a bloody good thing too. Not a family alive hasn’t lost someone during their attempts to take over this realm. The sooner they’re dead the better!'

The man almost snarled the words, his face ruddy with anger, then he seemed to remember his audience and apologized, the color fading from his face.

'But there’s no need for me to get excited. His Royal Highness always keeps his word, so all will be well.'

It was interesting to see another's perspective on it.

I wonder if everyone has such a hate of the DeNaga's, thought Sian.

'We should be on our way,' Loi flashed him a dazzling smile. 'Can you point us in the direction of the Solar?'

The guard blinked, appearing stunned by Loi’s charms, and the rest of us exchanged knowing looks.

'The Solar?'

The guard suddenly looked more interested and a cunning smile spread over his weathered face.

'So you’re the women close to the Prince and the rest of the Guard,' he shook his head in amusement. 'You’d better watch your backs, all the women in the castle are furious at the reports that the Prince has found himself someone special. They’ve all tried to entice him and his friends.'

Sian nearly laughed aloud at the look on Cat’s face and was amused at the idea of rivals for Daron’s affections.

Too late girls, she thought smugly, he’s all mine now. The guard pointed them in the right direction and they headed off.

'All tried to entice him?' hissed Cat. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean? How hard did they try?'

Kassie started to laugh.

'C’mon, Cat, you’re not jealous are you? That’s really not necessary. We’ve all seen how Alek looks at you.'

'Well aren’t you guys bothered?' I demanded, feeling like a silly fourteen year old all of a sudden, who just happened to be crushing on the hottest guy at school.

'Nope.' sang Sian. 'I love it. Cause Daron’s all mine.'

Loi and Kassie gave approving whoops and whistles.

Grow up Catherine,
my rational voice snapped,
you’ll see soon enough if he has eyes for another.

The other voice wailed at the thought of some blond temptress oozing herself all over him.

I pulled myself together as we rounded the corner to the Solar. Loi halted abruptly in front of us, and I had to stop so fast that Audi ran into the back of my calf with a startled yelp.

'Loi, what the heck?' I demanded.

'LOOK.' She hissed so we all peered around her and gasped.

There, not six meters from us, was a dragon. We hastily backed up so we were behind the corner and just our heads peeked around. Even Audi peeked, crouched beneath me.

'Oh my Goddess,' breathed Sian as she watched the creature who fussed about the fireplace.

The dragon was just a bit bigger than Audi and apparently could switch from all fours to its hind legs with no discomfort. Its front arms had dexterous claws that it seemed to use like fingers.

The dragon paused in its grumbling to glance their way, and the women froze. Muttering to itself, it turned back to the fireplace using its long tail to prod at it, like a poker.

In the solar Rumal heard something and walked to the doorway. He was greeted with a bizarre sight. The four girls and Audi peeked around the corner at Nnelg, the fire dragon, their eyes as wide as saucers and Kassie’s mouth was open in amazement.

He leaned back and called quietly to the others.

'Come look at this.'

Alek, Sabyn, and Daron walked over. Rumal held a finger to his lips then pointed out the doorway. Peering past him, they caught sight of them.

'They’ll be sorry,' Daron said in a quiet sing song and the others chuckled, knowing what came next.

I could hear Sian whispering to herself as we studied the little dragon. It was the most beautiful blue with scales that were dark blue at the roots and lightened toward the ends, creating a stunning shimmer. And it was so fluid and graceful in its movements, I leaned forward to see it a little better.

A strange voice grumbled in my ears.

'Nosey creatures, I’ll teach you.'

I turned to Kassie in confusion.

'Did you say something?'

She looked surprised and shook her head. I had just turned my attention back to the little dragon, when it turned to look at us and then—vanished!

'What?' We cried in surprise.

'Where did it go?'

Sian looked up at the ceiling and Kassie and Loi crept forward to look around. Audrey cried frantically and spun round and round, hunting for it. I stood with my hand against the wall, staring in disbelief at where it’d just disappeared from when…

WOOOOOSSSSSHHH!

We screamed in shock and dove out of the way as a blast of fire roared over our heads. Kassie and I, jammed up against the wall, stared at each other in shock when that strange voice spoke up again.

'That’ll show them, bet they won’t forget that anytime soon,'

And the little blue dragon sashayed past.

Loud laughter caught Kassie’s attention and detangling herself from Cat she sat up. The four men must have watched the whole episode from the Solar doorway because they were laughing so hard they almost fell over.

'Very funny,' Cat grumbled as she straightened up.

'So are you going to introduce us?' Kassie demanded to Rumal as Cat coaxed Audi out from under a chair. Sian and Laura dusted themselves down and watched the dragon cautiously.

Rumal stepped forward.

'Ladies, may I introduce you to Nnelg, our castle’s esteemed Fire dragon, and, Nnelg,' he said with a firm look. 'May I introduce you to Kassandra, Catherine, Sian, and Laura, Elena’s special guests.'

'Humph,'
huffed Nnelg.
'Where did they get their manners from?'

'They’re new to our world,' Alek said. 'They mean you no harm.'

Audrey crept toward Nnelg on her belly and he spun to face her.

'What does the dog want?'
Nnelg sounded a little alarmed.

'Just to be friends,' Cat said as she watched Audi continue in her commando crawl. Nnelg regarded the dog suspiciously for a moment then leaned forward when she was within reach and the two touched noses. He jerked back and cocked his head while regarding Audi with a curiously playful look and swish of his tail.

'Catch me if you can.'
Nnelg’s voice flashed out then he vanished again.

Audrey let out a yelp of excitement and shot out of the room. The silence after the piecing bark from Audrey was striking, and we stood motionless for a moment.

Then Sabyn said with a teasing smile, 'So apart from meeting Nnelg did you girls want something?'

'You boys are supposed to be showing us the castle for the next couple of days,' Sian smiled sweetly at the men, who all blanched at the term boys. Daron feigned annoyance as he stared at her but an adoring smile quickly spread on his face.

Yep, thought Sian with pleasure. All mine, and she beamed back.

There was a momentary silence as Daron and Sian gave each other mushy smiles. I rolled my eyes at Kassie and Loi. Kassie raised hers to the ceiling then winked at Rumal and Loi just wrinkled her nose at me. I suddenly remembered something.

'Oh! Where are my manners?' I cried and I bowed elaborately to Alek.

'Your Royal
Highness
.'

Alek winced at the tone of Cat’s voice and closed his eyes for a moment.