The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy)

19
^th
Century

Ashlee Granville, the Honourable Miss Granville
Heroine

Lord Thomas Granville, Baron of Suffolk
Ashlee’s Father

Lady Granville, Baroness of Suffolk (Margaret)
Ashlee’s Mother

Lord Eric Cavandish
Earl of Derby

Lady Vanessa Cavandish
Countess of Derby

Susan, The Honourable Miss Cavandish
The Earl of Derby’s daughter

Lord Simon Cavandish
The Earl of Derby’s son

Sir Damian Cavandish
The Earl of Derby’s brother

Mrs Beatrice Winston (Beat)
Ashlee’s nanny

Dr Rosen
Psychiatrist

Lady Charlotte, Dowager Countess Cavandish
Ashlee’s Governess

Lord James Devere
The Earl of Oxford

Mr Earnest Devere
The Earl of Oxford’s younger brother

Miss Catherine Devere
The Earl of Oxford’s sister

Lord Douglas Hamilton
Viscount of Herefordshire

Clarissa Hamilton
The Viscount of Herefordshire’s deceased wife

Mr Frederick Hamilton
The Viscount of Herefordshire’s cousin

Albray Devere
Spirit of the Red Gnome

Chiara
Dead gypsy witch

Christian Molier
Curator, Arsenal Library, Paris

Cingar Choron
Gypsy outlaw

Chavi Choron
Chiara’s granddaughter

Rumer Choron
Cingar’s sister

Gasgon de Guise
Duke of Orleans

Jessenia
Gypsy bride

Danior Terkari
Masked bandit

Falcone Bellacino (Captain Falco)
Italian mariner

Lord Malory
Grand Master of the Sangreal knighthood

Mr Banks
English Consul in Alexandria

21
^st
Century

Mia Montrose
Archaeologist/Ancient Languages

Andre Pierre
French Archaeologist

James Conally (JC) and Christian Molier
C & N Excavation

Tusca Resi
Molier’s secretary

Akbar
Guide in the Sinai

Kadar
Akbar’s subordinate

Kamali
Akbar’s subordinate

Marty
Chopper pilot

13
^th
Century

Lilitu du Lac
Lillet’s sister

Lillet du Lac
Guardian of the Keys

Pierre-Roger Mirepoix
Lord of Montsègur

Guillaume de Lahille
First Knight

Bernard de Saint-Martin
First Knight

Guillaume de Balaguire
First Knight

Jean Ray
Courier

Hugues de Archis
King’s man

Pierre Amiel, Archbishop of Narbonne
Inquisition Representative

Marie de Saint-Clair
Grand Master of Sion

Pierre de Saint-Martin
Credenti guardian

Albray Devere
Sion Knight

Christian Molier
Sion Knight

I cannot claim to be truly the author of this book, even though it is the second I have been commissioned to write in this trilogy. For the most part, I am the compiler and editor of information obtained from the journals of my foremothers, who in turn inspired me to continue the family tradition of chronicling—an obsession that I have passed to my daughter, Tamar, whose first hand-written journal has also contributed greatly to this work.

I have disguised these interconnected autobiographies as fantasy fiction for the lives of the members of my family line are the source of all the human legends and earthly mysteries that underpin this genre.

At the time I began chronicling my personal exploration into the bloodline of the Grail, it was not with the intent to be published. Yet as so many fascinating insights have been revealed to me since that time, I have been compelled to try to get this
information out to the general public for consideration. Even in the guise of a fantasy novel, some of this information will offer insight to others who might have had similar experiences, for I feel sure that I am not the only one who has seen a ghost, realised my own psychic potential or found a few supernatural skeletons hidden in the family closet.

During the course of the account to follow, you may wonder why, as a mother, I was not more concerned about my daughter’s role in these affairs. The truth is that before my little girl was even born I was forewarned of certain life-altering events that would come to pass once she reached womanhood. I had thought the prophecy concerning my daughter rather exaggerated at the time, but I see now that the predictions regarding her destiny were no understatement. As a mother is usually the last to know when some major occurrence is taking place in the life of her teenage daughter, on my daughter’s thirteenth birthday I presented her with her first hardcover, lock-up journal—something she was very excited about as paper and pen are so rare and expensive these days. I hoped that if she did not tell me of the extraordinary events unfolding in her life, she might at least confide in her journal, and thankfully I was not proven wrong. It is true that when my daughter began her account, she hoped to see some of it published, but by the time she handed her journal over to me, it was not her personal ego that was her motivation for sharing. She felt that the revelations she had stumbled upon would be food for thought for my readers. Like myself, she has no desire to attract fame and attention at this time, for she is
preoccupied in far more mysterious work; by the time this book comes to publication, that work will be completed.

It was her reading of the journal of her foremother, Lady Ashlee Granville-Devere, that led my daughter to the realisation of her destiny, just as I suspected it would. The journal of inspiration was Lady Ashlee’s account of her explorations in Persia and Egypt beginning in the year 1856, many, many years after her Sinai adventure as documented in the first book of this trilogy. I have read to my daughter from many of the journals of our foremothers, but this particular volume I purposely set aside, knowing that the discoveries contained therein pertaining to the Staff of Amenti and the Dragon Queens of ancient myth would awaken dormant memories and powers in my child, and my young, innocent, bright-eyed daughter would be gone forever.

Finally I have you, the journal that will become the basis of my first family chronicle. Yet the moment of your bestowment was not at all as I imagined it would be, as my perfect parents were having their first full-blown argument in living memory.

Why did Dad’s little surprise for my mother have to be let out of the bag on the morning of my thirteenth birthday? Although it wasn’t really his fault that it wasn’t as well received as expected. Still, I had envisioned being doted upon all day by my adoring parents and being showered with gifts and other surprises. As it was, I only had the opportunity to open my first present (this lock-up journal) when the phone rang and threw my special day into complete chaos!

If I’d had to choose only one gift to receive today, however, this journal would have been my pick. I have been waiting for it since I was old enough to comprehend the purpose of a journal. I have kept diaries in the past in preparation for this moment—mainly electronic palm journals—however, the
typed word has proved less durable than the good old-fashioned written word. Convenient little electronic pocket devices have a way of getting lost or stolen, and they tend to stop working once they’ve been left in a pocket and put through the wash cycle. And, as the intention behind the penning of this journal is to pass information on to my descendants, I am aware that an electronic device will never stand the test of time. Technology moves so fast, parts fail, and one can never rely on finding the right-sized battery in the next decade, let alone a century or a millennium from now! Paper is so expensive in this year of 2017 that a penned manuscript is something altogether rare and precious, much as it was long ago.

The women of my family have been chronicling their life and times for centuries now. In our home library cum study, we have journals dating back as far as the twelfth century. Admittedly, there is a large gap in the family history until early in the nineteenth century, when my great foremother, the Baroness Lady Ashlee Granville-Devere, began recording the events of her lifetime. No ordinary Victorian woman, Lady Ashlee was a famed psychic who had links with many secret societies and was involved in some covert investigations carried out during this pious age of Church rule—investigations concerning the bloodline that was the basis of Grail and Fairy Lore. My mother has not allowed me to read the journals of Lady Granville-Devere, myself, but she has read to me from them. I suspect they contain sexual references that Mum feels she must censor—as if I don’t know what sex entails!

What I like most about Lady Ashlee’s tales is that they feature the ghost of a Crusader knight
named Albray Devere. This is my father’s name and, as he is also brave, dark and handsome, I have always imagined him to be the knight in the tales. My parents have never discouraged this belief; in fact, they perpetuate my little fantasy! Mum often refers to Dad as her knight, and my father unashamedly claims that he was brought back to life by the mystical Ladies of the Elohim because of his love for my mother. I used to believe their romantic fairytales as a child, and even though I am now a teenager, I still enjoy my parents’ yarns.

The reason my father is so good at playing the role of a twelfth-century Crusader knight is due to the fact that he lectures on the Crusades, having earned degrees in early European and Eastern History, and he has written numerous books on the period. Mum’s doctorate is in ancient languages, and during the course of her work on several archaeological explorations she’s also developed an interest in the scientific know-how of the ancients—as hinted at in many of the ancient texts she hasdeciphered and the investigations of Lady Ashlee, her peers and family. Thanks to these rare sources and insights, Mother realised that she was being awarded a unique opportunity to do what none of our foremothers was capable of: to seek an explanation of the ancient mysteries through the lens of the modern scientific microscope. Consequently, my mother has spent the last twelve years researching and chronicling information pertaining to the ancient enigmas surrounding our family’s bloodline.