The Forever Queen (Pendragon Book 2)

by Nicola S. Dorrington

  The tour group was moving on, but I had questions. A lot of them.

  “Did you bring the dragon here? Did you seal the gateways?”

  He laughed. “You think I have that much power? Oh, no, you were the one who sealed the gateways.”

  “No. I put back the barriers. I drew the symbol Merlin showed me.”

  “No. You drew the symbol you’ve had in your subconscious your whole life. It’s similar to be sure. Similar enough that you drew it without even realising what you were drawing. The dragon couldn’t risk the Fair Folk involving themselves in his revenge. He’s been planning this even longer than Morgana. And unfortunately, you seem to be highly susceptible to people implanting visions and dreams in your head.”

  I felt a little sick. The Fair Folk had been right; I had been the one to seal the gateways, even if I hadn’t realised what I was doing at the time. Though clearly with a little help from the dragon. Did that mean together we might be able to break the spell after all? I pushed the spark of hope from my mind. The dragon wasn’t likely to help me out in any shape or form, and I had more important things to worry about. Besides I’d said my goodbyes to Lancelot already.

  “And you’re helping him? Why?”

  “Of course I’m not helping him.” Thomas looked offended at the very suggestion. “Oh, I admit, he thinks that he is using me. I went to him, when I felt his magic in the world. I pretended I was desperate, that I would do whatever it took for some of that magic. I swore that I would help him get to you in exchange for power. But the dragons do not understand the ways of men. They don’t understand that there is more than one type of power.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you? Oh dear. You’re going to need more help than I thought. Once you’re on the throne.”

  I wanted to hit him, but I figured the police roaming around might get a little unhappy if I punched the Deputy Prime Minister.

  My violent thoughts obviously showed on my face, because he quickly explained. “The country has come around to the idea that King Arthur may have existed, but that is not enough. We need to prove your right to rule. Much as Arthur once did.”

  He smiled and suddenly I was surrounded by police officers. One of them held my arms behind my back as Thomas reached out and unbuckled my sword belt. Whatever magic the dragon had given him allowed him to see past Excalibur’s protective magic.

  “You really shouldn’t be carrying a weapon within these halls. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get it back later.”

  I wanted to protest, but the officers blocked my way as I lunged towards him. I probably could have gotten past them, but we were already attracting a crowd of onlookers and I couldn’t afford to draw any more attention to myself.

  “I’d catch up with your tour group if I was you, Miss.”

  I looked around at the faces of the officers, and beyond them the faces of other visitors. I shrugged off the hands holding me and rushed to meet up with the rest of the group.

  Outwardly I tried to stay calm but inside I was on the verge of panic. Thomas had just taken my only weapon against the dragon. I had no idea what he was thinking. He said he was behind me, but everything he’d done so far had only made it worse.

  The rest of the tour passed in a blur. We were in one of the most incredible buildings in the world, but I barely saw any of it. All I was waiting for was the rush of wings and the fiery heat of a dragon’s breath.

  I didn’t understand how it had come to this. One minute my two worlds had been entirely separate, but now they were colliding in the most spectacular fashion imaginable.

  When we finally came out of the tour it was late afternoon. The sun was still out, but the temperature had dropped. The long winter wasn’t ready to let go completely just yet.

  There were still a few hours until the play started so we all gathered on the lawn opposite the Parliament buildings whilst we waited for Mackay and the other teacher to decide what to do next.

  I wasn’t paying attention to them, I was scanning the area for Wyn and Percy.

  Finally I spotted them, loitering at the edge of the lawn. I raised one hand in a wave to Wyn but he ignored me. His eyes were fixed on the sky.

  Around me more and more people were turning their eyes skyward, the low buzz of conversation rising in volume and intensity. I couldn’t bring myself to look up. I already had a good idea of what I would see, and although I knew it would do no good, I wanted nothing more than to delay the inevitable.

  Of all people it was Anderson who finally made me look up, only because he was the closest to me when he swore loudly and pointed to the sky out over the river. “What the hell is that?”

  I looked up and for a moment I only saw what everyone else could see. A strange moving ripple in the air, a shadow cast where no shadow should be. Then the ring did its work and the dragon seemed to materialize out of thin air.

  It looked bigger than in my dreams. More than forty feet long from nose to long, sweeping tail. Sharp spines ran in a ridge along its back, and its bronze scales gleamed in the sun. The wings, spread to catch the updraft, were gossamer fine, almost see through and it rode the wind with its legs tucked up close to the body.

  I desperately wanted it all to be a dream, a vision again, but not this time. This time it was real.

  The dragon was a creature of the oldest magic, and it was really there in London. In a world that had long consigned its kind to myth and legend.

  A few shouts and screams told me I wasn’t the only one seeing the real thing anymore.

  The screams were not screams of terror, but rather surprise and even excitement, which confused me until I realised that most people probably thought it was some kind of super cool special effect. After all, dragons weren’t supposed to exist.

  I stared with the others as the dragon circled overhead a few times, then swopped in to land on top of Big Ben’s clock tower, just like it had in my vision, perching there like some kind of oversized pigeon. A big, heavy pigeon, I thought as it crushed masonry under its huge claws and some of it tumbled down to smash into the ground below.

  Then a few people screamed for real.

  He swung his head towards the sound and his eyes locked on me.

  I stood in the middle of a crowd of people but it felt like I was alone, exposed. I don’t know how he saw me, other than that magic called to magic and the air between us seemed full of it.

  He opened his mouth and let out a cry. It was a cross between the call of an eagle and the roar of a lion and it echoed off the tall buildings surrounding us. People all over the park clapped their hands over their ears at the deafening sound.

  Then he spoke. It was much the same as when the Griffin had spoken to me. The words were driven into my skull with the force of a sledgehammer. I knew I was the only one hearing him.

  “Pendragon.”

  I wanted to cower, or run away, but I knew that wasn’t an option, so instead I gave a mocking little bow. False bravado was better than none.

  He roared again, shifting his bulk so that more masonry tumbled and shattered on the ground below.

  Confusion reigned around me, but I stayed as calm as I could. Most people didn’t seem to know what to think, but the dragon held them in some kind of spell. No one was running, even if people were starting to look more scared than curious.

  Anderson muttered beside me about what effects were being used, refusing to believe the evidence of his own eyes. He wasn’t alone and I didn’t blame them. Dragons didn’t exist, they were telling themselves. Dragons were a myth. This had to be some kind of trick.

  Mackay stood watching me though, rather than the dragon. He wasn’t frightened, he was excited, brimming with anticipation, and I knew that the school organising a trip to London that day was no coincidence. Fate hadn’t been guiding me, the Order had.

  Wyn and Percy pushed through the crowd towards me. The presence of the dragon was affecting the magic that normally protected them, and their ar
mour and swords kept flickering into existence. As they reached me the magic gave out entirely and they stood beside me in all their armoured splendour.

  Sam also pushed towards me.

  “Get out of here,” I shouted at her when she reached me. “This is about to become Ground Zero.”

  She shook her head. “Not a chance. I’ve stuck with you this long, I’m not running now.”

  Wyn glanced her way, and for a moment I thought he was going to argue with her, but instead they exchanged a tight, private look, and he nodded, turning back to me.

  Our little group was starting to attract attention. Even with the dragon it was hard to ignore two guys in full armour appearing in their midst.

  “Where’s Excalibur?” Wyn demanded.

  I grimaced and as quickly as I could filled him in on the confrontation with Thomas. Wyn and Percy both started swearing. I wanted to join them, just to get a little nerves out, but the dragon roared again and my attention was pulled back to him.

  He spread his wings and leapt from the top of the clock tower, landing with a bone-jarring thud onto the middle of the road. The vibration seemed to spread like ripples in a pond and I saw people sway and stagger.

  All of the traffic had already come to a halt, but at the sight of the dragon people abandoned their cars, running for the park, though still no one seemed really frightened. It was the magic of the dragon, able to alter people’s perceptions of him, even though they saw him now, he was making sure they didn’t flee.

  I wanted to run though, his magic wasn’t working on me, but I held my ground.

  People began flooding out of the Houses of Parliament, word had reached them inside, and I searched desperately for any sign of Thomas. If ever I needed Excalibur it was right then.

  “Pendragon.” The dragon roared again. His tail lashed out and a car skidded across the road, crashing into the fence around Parliament. The armed police were there, but they seemed frozen with indecision.

  Shouting rose up behind us and I pulled my gaze off the dragon to look. Some people yanked a tarpaulin off what I’d thought was a statue in the middle of the green.

  It wasn’t a statue.

  A massive stone plinth rose five feet in the air with steps up the side. There, on top of the plinth, driven deep into a roughly hewn ball of stone, was Excalibur.

  Suddenly it all made sense. Thomas had said they needed to prove my right to rule, just as Arthur had.

  Part of it was fighting the dragon, but it was more than that.

  Legend said Arthur had once drawn the sword from the stone. I knew from Merlin that that sword hadn’t been Excalibur, and the whole thing had been orchestrated by Merlin. He had placed the sword in the stone, and helped by Nimue, had ensured that only the rightful king would be able to draw it free.

  Apparently Thomas wanted me to repeat that event.

  Excalibur would only allow me to pull it free. It had less to do with me being the rightful Queen of Albion and more to do with me being a Pendragon. The sword would have allowed Morgana to pull it free if she’d still been around.

  People were already moving towards the stone. I hung back. The last thing I wanted was to pull the sword from the stone. It was exactly the type of attention grabbing stunt I really didn’t want to be a part of.

  There were still a few laughs echoing around; some people still thought it was some kind of big stunt; maybe it was publicity for some new movie.

  The first person to mount the steps to the sword was a young guy who looked like he’d just rolled out of a pub. He was still clutching a beer in one hand and he had St George’s flags painted on his cheeks.

  His friends cheered him on, shouting for him to go for the sword. As he wrapped his hands around the hilt I turned back to the dragon. I didn’t need to watch to know that he’d fail.

  The dragon still stood in the middle of the road, his long neck snaking back and forth as he searched the crowd for me. He seemed content to take his time, after all chaos was as much his goal as killing me.

  The crowd around the stone grew as more and more people tried their hand at pulling it free. Some people started taking it more seriously. Others were treating it as a spectator sport, throwing bets on the likelihood of someone managing to pull it free.

  It was as though people thought they were at some kind of renaissance festival. It lasted until the dragon roared again and unleashed a ball of flames that engulfed a nearby abandoned car. As the car exploded the spell broke and people began to run. Stunt or not, it was getting dangerous.

  I knew I didn’t have a choice. I turned and ran towards the stone.

  The crowd around the stone had grown further, and when I reached it a man was at the top, yanking futilely at the sword. It wasn’t moving, not even a millimetre and he was swearing loudly.

  Another man pushed him aside to take his turn and I realised a whole queue had formed.

  I took a deep breath and started trying to push my way through.

  It seemed like I was fighting a losing battle. No one wanted to give ground.

  People were still torn between thinking it was a big stunt and panic. The milling confusion made everything even more difficult.

  I had just been pushed back by the tenth person when the dragon roared and finally began advancing across the green.

  Panic won out and people started backing away, abandoning the stone and the sword.

  They didn’t retreat far. It was like slowing down to look at an accident on the motorway. People knew it was dangerous, but they also wanted to watch. I could already see smart phones in most people’s hands as they recorded the dragon’s advance.

  Only a couple of people were left around the stone and the last man gave up on his attempt to draw the sword.

  “Don’t bother,” he shouted as Wyn and Percy ran up.

  I ignored him and took the steps two at a time.

  The man stopped. “Seriously. It’s just a mock up. I’m not even sure the sword is real.”

  “It’s real,” I said, more to myself than to him. I wrapped my hand around the hilt, feeling the familiar tingle of magic flooding up my arm.

  I gave it a gentle tug and it slid smoothly out of the stone as though eager to be free.

  The man gaped at me. “How did you-“

  A voice rose from the crowd. I couldn’t see him, but I knew who it was.

  “Whosoever pulls this sword from this stone, shall be the rightful Queen of England.”

  I turned towards the crowd. Everyone looked confused and uncertain. There were a few snickers, a couple of outright laughs, but the dragon was still right there and that made people nervous.

  It was still a trick they thought, but a clever one.

  Behind me the dragon roared and I turned.

  “Pendragon! You dare wield the same sword that killed her?” He unleashed a stream of fire that blackened the grass, his swishing tail smashing a statue off its plinth. “The sword we forged turned against us. The line of Pendragon will finally pay today.”

  He advanced, each step accompanied by a swish of his tail that smashed cars and uprooted trees.

  “It wasn’t by choice. Arthur never wanted to kill her,” I shouted back. “You can’t punish all these people for it.”

  The dragon roared, but the sound was more like laughter.

  “I don’t want to punish them. Only you. And them.” His eyes settled on Wyn and Percy. “But it will please me greatly for these people to see their Queen destroyed. To show them my power.”

  I almost laughed. “I’m not their Queen. I’m just - I’m just me.”

  He roared again. “You are the daughter of Kings – of course you are their queen.”

  “No,” said the last voice I expected to hear. “She’s the daughter of David Page.”

  My father stepped out of the crowd behind me, his arm around my mother. She looked frail and delicate, but somehow almost ethereal in her paleness. She reminded me of one of the Fair Folk.

  “Dad?�
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  “When I arrived at Snedham your mother was all in a panic. She’d been having this dream. I was all set to ignore it, as just another of her delusions, but then – I decided to have faith in her, and you. We’re here to help.”

  I stared at them in wonder. It was stupid though, what could they really do to help? I was about to reply when I heard the dragon inhale. I knew what was coming next and threw myself off the plinth just as the dragon wreathed it in flames.

  People had backed further away until it was just us. Wyn and Percy beside Sam, my parents looking scared but stubborn, and the dragon and me.

  I rolled to my feet and raced for the others. “Sam, take care of my parents. I can’t afford the distraction.”

  She looked for a moment like she was going to resist, but then she nodded and hurried over to them, pulling them back away from the scorched earth where the dragon stood.

  The dragon’s magic had completely cancelled out Wyn and Percy’s protection and they stood in all their splendour. Their armour gleamed red in the setting sun, both of them impossibly tall and impossibly strong. But not enough. Not nearly enough. Even with all the knights of Arthur’s Round Table behind me I didn’t think I could win against the dragon

  Wyn nodded at me and held his shield out. I took it, strapping it onto my forearm as I turned to face the dragon.

  “No armour little Queen?”

  I shook my head.

  “No army of noble knights?”

  I shook my head again. “No. Just you and me.”

  He looked towards Wyn and Percy who had been edging in opposite directions to try and get behind the dragon. He breathed fire at Percy, but he ducked and rolled. “What about them?”

  I shrugged. “They rarely do what I tell them. But no one will die here today.”

  The dragon snorted, smoke billowing out of his muzzle. “I think that choice comes down to me.” He swiped with one great foreleg, his foot tipped with claws more than a foot long. The razor sharp tips missed me by inches as I flung myself backwards.

  Wyn darted in from the side but the dragon saw him coming and lashed out with his tail. It hit Wyn with the force of a steel beam, flinging him ten feet through the air. He landed with a heart stopping crunch of armour.