The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy)

by Traci Harding

‘Time is wasting,’ Taejax said, reclaiming my attention. ‘You are going to die tonight. We must—’

  ‘Is that a prediction?’ I queried his certainty.

  ‘It is fact.’ The lizard warrior reassumed his Dracon guise. ‘I know because in another interdimensional reality I murdered you.’

  I gasped.

  ‘And in another reality again, you committed suicide.’

  I stared at him, shocked.

  He stared back at me, with those soulful Anu eyes that had yet to resume their dark disguise. ‘We cannot afford to get this wrong again,’ he said. ‘Our window of opportunity to access this century is closing. If you do not take your position amongst the Staff of Amenti this time, chances are the Anu will lose this war.’

  The conviction in his voice compelled me to place all my questions and doubts aside. ‘What must I do?’

  ‘Mathu knows.’ Taejax placed the two rings in my hand. ‘When we meet again I will appear as your enemy, but remember that you are more powerful than the most adept of my ilk. You were created to lead the Dracon, not to be subject to them.’

  I was overawed by his conviction, but nodded to confirm I would remember his advice. Taejax placed a hand over his Dracon pendant and vanished.

  ‘Time to get you organised, key-holder.’ Mathu placed a hand on my shoulder to guide me towards the door.

  ‘But Charlotte…’ I was still concerned for her safety.

  I shall stay and watch over Charlotte, Albray advised, until she finishes penning your tale, and beyond if necessary.

  ‘And if you leave me the ringstone,’ Charlotte added, plainly aware of Albray’s presence, ‘I shall see it returned to your secret journal so that your knight may complete his quest in the future.’

  ‘How do you know about the ringstone?’ I said, surprised. I had certainly never told her of it.

  ‘You are not the only mind-reader in the family,’ grinned Charlotte as she approached and took hold of both my hands. ‘Your time has finally come, Mama. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; this is a once-in-a-soultime chance to leave your mark upon this universe.’ She took one of the rings from my palm and slipped it on her finger. ‘I shall be with you all the way. Have no concern about leaving this life behind; your call to arms is of vital importance to the plan.’

  ‘Is that what this is—my conscription to join the inter-time war?’ The idea incited such anticipation in me that I could hardly breathe.

  ‘You are not being conscripted,’ Mathu corrected, ‘you volunteered. Did you not just decide that all you really want now is to seek the truth about yourself?’

  ‘Indeed.’

  I looked to Albray, who had aided me to this resolve.

  Be clear, he instructed me, both to reinforce the lesson and hide his welling emotions. He clearly believed this was to be the final parting of the ways for us.

  ‘You shall see each other again,’ Mathu said, feeling we were wasting time. ‘We shall all meet again in Amenti.’

  His eyes drifted to Charlotte and suddenly I suspected that there was more to their relationship than had been made apparent to me.

  REVELATION 17

  THE GREAT EVOLUTIONARY DIVIDE

  CHARLOTTE GRANVILLE-DEVERE JOURNALISING ON BEHALF OF LADY ASHLEE GRANVILLE-DEVERE

  Mathu and I awaited the approach of dawn in the lower drawing room. The gateway between the third dimension and the fourth was only accessible in the twilight hours. I had changed from my regular clothes into my green velvet adventuring garments and was now ready, in body at least, to leave my family home in Suffolk, England. Many memories, good and bad, haunted my leaving. I regretted that I would not have the opportunity to say farewell to my other two children. Yet if I had been murdered this night or compelled to take my own life, then I would not have had this chance to say goodbye to Charlotte either—and my journals would end without any reference to the Halls of Amenti, preventing my daughters and their daughters from ever gaining access to the mystery.

  During the hours beforehand, I had brought my journals up to date in preparation for handing over their writing to Charlotte. My daughter was already wearing one of the ORME rings Taejax had given us. I was still toying with mine, shy of awarding her full perception of my thoughts whilst still in her company.

  ‘Should we not test the rings?’ Charlotte invited, opening my journal and dipping her pen into the inkpot. ‘I should really capture your last perceptions of your home in Suffolk, England, 1866.’

  ‘A fair request.’ I swallowed my reservations and placed the ring on my finger. The telepathic connection was only one way—from my mind to Charlotte’s—so that I would not be distracted from my quest by her ponderings. The connection could be broken at any time by the removal of the ring, which meant any events occurring in my conscious perception whilst Charlotte was not wearing the ring would be lost. I would have to bear in mind my chronicler’s physical need to rest, eat and refresh herself if I wished my tales to be told in their entirety. If my quest did not allow me to make rest time for my scribe, Charlotte could hand the ring to someone else who was willing and able to record my movements, whilst she took some repose. There was no one in the house at present who fitted the criteria, but Charlotte had already sent word to my dear friend, Lady Susan Devere, who had supplemented my journals with her own work before. Susan had only just left us for home so we were confident of her return within the day.

  ‘Are you perceiving me?’ I stared at Charlotte to gauge her reaction.

  Her eyes were closed as she homed in on my thoughts. ‘How odd,’ she said and grinned, ‘I can see myself—but underlying your perception…’ Then she put her head down and began to write.

  Her concentration was disconcerting; what could she be writing? But I didn’t wish to block her flow by asking, so I turned my attention to quizzing Mathu. ‘Tell me more of the cosmic order and my Anu kindred,’ I requested.

  ‘The souls of the Anunnaki who have learned compassion, love and divine wisdom are spared from spiritual fragmentation upon death via a secret passage known as the Hall of Amorea,’ he explained, ‘which was built by the Staff of Amenti specifically to accommodate the soul-minds of the Anu. You see, the Anunnaki, the Nefilim and the Dracon are not human and therefore cannot evolve back to Tara via the Sphere of Amenti, which contains the human morphogenetic blueprint. The Anunnaki need to evolve back through a soul-mind consciousness akin to our own—like that of the Anu, whose Amorean system, located in the astral realm on Sirius B, serves the same function as the Amenti system does here on Earth. The Hall of Amorea is the bridge between the lower etheric realms of Earth and the astral planes of Sirius B. Once we are sufficiently emotionally evolved, we are permitted to descend through the Hall of Amorea back to Earth to amend our karma on this planet and guide the development of humanity to speed the return to Tara for all. As an astral race of beings, we Anu can only assume an outward physical form that feels nothing, lest the Anunnaki genes inside us be seduced by the pleasures of the physical world again. We would then be compelled to ingest ORME to descend into true physical manifestation, where our souls will be damned once more,’ Mathu continued. ‘We can share the physical form of select humans incarnate, those of the Grail bloodline. Only their human bodies are equipped with the potential to accommodate our high sonic frequency.’

  ‘And if a human son of the blood does not have a vibratory rate high enough to accommodate an Anu soul-mind, then some brotherhoods, disposed towards your cause, might feed him ORME so that he may serve as a temporary host for you,’ I said sharply, for I knew this had been the case with my own father.

  ‘Mama!’ Charlotte broke from her writing, shocked at my rudeness.

  ‘Desperate times have called for desperate measures,’ Mathu admitted, shocking Charlotte still further.

  But then her expression changed to one of interest. ‘Really? So, in that event, you feel what your human host feels?’

  Mathu nodded, his eyes intent upon Charlotte,
whose heart chakra was fast flushing the deep pink shade of attraction.

  ‘Human beings are not cattle!’ I said sternly, infuriated on my father’s behalf and annoyed by the amorous interest that was building between Mathu and my daughter. ‘Papa could have been genetically damaged by the process. He never did manage to impregnate my mother again, despite his desire for a son—not to mention the psychological damage.’

  ‘You had to be brought into the world, and that was the only way to create a body that could withstand hosting your soul-mind.’ Mathu tried to justify my real father’s actions. He looked from Charlotte to Albray and back to me, and added, ‘None of the blood could ever hope to achieve earthly greatness without what our father gave of himself to advance human development. So when judging him, first consider that to aid mankind he gave up his own evolution and the physical rulership of the Earth in order to gain spiritual rulership of Amenti. And if we fail to open Amenti and raise the spiritual frequency of the collective consciousness of this planet by the close of the year 2017, the Dracon will finally succeed in destroying the Earth in the year 2976.’

  From the picture Mathu had painted of our father, it seemed he could well be the entity known in esoteric circles as the Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the Earth. I felt Mathu was being over-dramatic.

  ‘I would hardly say that I had achieved a greatness befitting a daughter of the blood,’ I said.

  And I certainly haven’t, Albray scoffed with me.

  ‘Yet,’ Mathu emphasised, which made Albray laugh. Being dead, he felt his chance to achieve worldly greatness had passed. ‘Trust me, you shall all have your chance to save the world,’ Mathu went on.

  Even me? Albray wanted to be convinced.

  Mathu was happy to oblige. ‘I assure you, Shining One, that the best days of your life still lie ahead of you.’

  My knight seemed stunned by the response, so I seized the opportunity to ask a question of my own. ‘What did Taejax mean when he referred to me as a key-holder?’

  ‘Once you have negotiated the Halls of Amenti your soul-mind will resonate a sonic code that will unlock one of twelve stargates on the Earth grid system, all of which must be opened by December 2017. You each hold one of the keys to the planetary grid.’

  ‘But I shall be dead by the nominated time?’ I hated to state the obvious.

  I am dead already! Albray echoed my confusion.

  ‘You have a lot of trouble seeing past that event,’ Mathu said, and Albray looked taken aback by the flippant comment. ‘I have said more than I should already, but in time you will know that I was honest and sincere in what I told you this day,’ Mathu concluded. Then, having given us all food for thought, he glanced out the window at the night and decided it was time to deliver me to my destiny.

  I had mixed emotions in the wake of farewelling my youngest daughter and my knight, but Mathu kept telling me that we would all meet again in Amenti, and as that was where I was bound, my inner excitement began to override my heavy heart and fill me with a sense of myself in my younger days. As Mathu led the way across the chilly moonlit gardens of our family estate towards the outlying woodland, I considered what he had told me of the Anu’s capacity to manifest on the Earth plane. ‘So you cannot physically feel anything right now?’ I asked. The cold night wind had seeped through my attire and was starting to chill my bones.

  ‘Not a thing,’ he confirmed.

  I was tempted to test his claim, but I refrained. Still, I could not resist prodding him regarding the connection I had detected between him and my daughter.

  ‘You still experience emotion, do you not?’

  ‘My entire evolution is emotional,’ Mathu told me, as we entered the woodland area. I looked down, forced to tread more carefully. ‘Human beings are fortunate in that your physical evolution awards you many experiences to advance your emotional understanding. Your emotions grow through feeling, whereas mine develop via empathy, perception and intuition. So yes, I experience emotion but without any physical sensory enhancements.’

  He sounded mournful about this fact. I imagined how it might have been to know my dear Devere without ever feeling myself enfolded in the warmth of his embrace, or never savouring the sweet all-consuming pleasure of his kisses and lovemaking.

  ‘I asked because you have the aura of a star-crossed lover,’ I went on. ‘Would your doleful insight have anything to do with my daughter?’

  A look of shock crossed my half-brother’s face, yet he seemed shyly disposed towards confiding in me. Were the Anu not accustomed to speaking of the affairs of the heart? I wondered. If there was no death beyond the physical, then there was no birth, and probably no reason to be intimately involved with another; perhaps there were rarely affairs of the heart to be discussed.

  But as Mathu replied his voice trembled and I realised I had put a crack in a mighty dam that was about to flood all over me. ‘My complete devotion was hers long before she was ever your earthly daughter,’ he said. ‘She was the first of the Anu to follow the path of our father, whom the Nefilim Pantheon banished from Earth as a traitor. She was the first to break free of the ORME-induced soullessness inherent from our Nefilim parents. She sacrificed herself to prove that the Anunnaki had souls just as humans did, and that the key needed to reconnect to our soul-minds was the emotion of compassion. She is the Great Mother of creation and the only Anu who has the ability to fully integrate into a physical form. She has had many incarnations but her time of reckoning is yet to come.’

  ‘Charlotte is the flame-bearer that Taejax spoke of?’ I guessed.

  Mathu shook his head. ‘Not in this life. As your daughter, she is here to pave the way for her next and final human incarnation, who will be born into your family when the time for Amenti’s opening is nigh. She will fling open Amenti’s door and—’ Mathu broke off, suddenly alert.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Shh!’ he urged, and his form decomposed into a breeze and blew away in the wind, leaving me astonished and alone.

  I looked around. The cloud cover partially exposed the full moon, which shone upon a huge old oak tree that stood in the centre of a clearing before me. I know this place, I thought. I’d often played here as a child, and according to my mother’s written confession I had been conceived here too. This place had always held a comforting and protective energy for me, so why did I feel so apprehensive now? Was it just the darkness and the cold? My skin prickled to warn me of danger as I observed many more large rocks scattered over the ground in the clearing than I recalled. The moon cleared the cloud completely to reveal that the huge obstructions were not boulders but bodies. I cautiously approached and crouched beside the closest to me and was shocked to find it a Dracon. I rose again to count twenty or so warriors sprawled unconscious before me. After seeing how easily the Anu had dispersed the Dracon who attacked my husband, it was not hard to imagine that this might be their handiwork.

  The moon was lost behind cloud again and the clearing fell into darkness. It bothered me that I could not discern whether any of the fallen were showing signs of life. Where had Mathu gone? I froze to remain silent, yet the sound of my breath and the thumping of my heart in my throat seemed loud against the sudden eerie silence of the woodland. Even the chilly predawn wind had retreated—any sound would surely be amplified through the darkness and my senses were on full alert. A moan some distance ahead drew my attention and heightened my fear. In that instant, a sense of someone standing nearby increased that fear tenfold. I looked to my right and saw the outline of a reptilian against the first dawn light; he was standing not a foot from me.

  ‘You have been identified, Solarian.’ It was Taejax and the name he spoke rang bells at the very nucleus of my being.

  Solarian. I heard the name in my mind and my heart leapt for joy. In my mind’s eye I remembered a beautiful sentient being imploring me to reconsider a mission I was volunteering for. Are you sure you want to do this? she warned. You will remember nothing, and risk everything you have ach
ieved spiritually.

  Everything is already at risk, I’d replied.

  ‘Obviously we cannot allow you to join the staff of your treacherous father.’ Taejax’s words broke into my vision and in the same moment he struck at me, his claws making a nasty gash across my cheek. Was our secret ally prepared to kill me, as he had my dear Devere, in order to maintain his cover?

  A rock flew out of the darkness to my right and knocked my attacker to the ground.

  Make haste to the tree hollow, Mathu called in my mind.

  A light began emanating from within the old oak tree. Between myself and my destination, the sea of Dracon bodies stirred and rose to life.

  ‘You cannot defeat us all by yourself, Mathu!’ Taejax launched himself forward to latch onto my foot and restrain my advance.

  Defeat you and your men on my own! Mathu’s voice and laughter echoed around the clearing, although he was still not visible. Why on Earth would I be required to do that here?

  Up through the leaf-littered ground shot the roots of the great oak, latching themselves around the reptilians to bind them and keep them from my path.

  Did you forget about our outer defence system? Mathu taunted.

  ‘If it lives, we can kill it, Fairy!’ Taejax let go of me to activate the deadly spike that extended from the gadget on his right wrist. I scampered beyond his reach but was unable to tear my attention from discovering his intent. The reptilian inserted the sharp metal spike into the thickest of the roots restraining him.

  NO! Mathu cried, but was not fast enough to prevent Taejax administering a fatal dose of ORME to the ancient tree. The poison had a petrifying effect on the root and spread like wildfire through its system. Mathu materialised, a large axe in his hand, and amputated the infected root before the poison could spread into the rest of the tree. Taejax broke free from his now-dead restraint to come after me. I turned to run.

  Ahead of me, the root-bound reptilians were following Taejax’s example and activating their death spikes. A ball of energy welled in the centre of the tree hollow, spitting forth a dozen streaks of light energy that manifested into male and female Anu warriors who promptly set about with axes to combat the threat to the timeworn guardian of this passage to the otherworld.