Chapter 55
Chapter fifty-five
Lenna
Outside the throne room, the Great Hall had descended into pure panic.
Disorder and turmoil flooded the space, spilling out onto the balconies, down to the courtyards below.
Lenna darted past the thickest part of the fighting, cries of pain echoing in her ears, as she dodged flashes of magic and the clashing of swords.
Lenna was shoved to the side as a fae female ran by, screaming at someone to help her, to get a healer, as she dragged a moaning gargoyle towards the center of the hall, blood leaking from his thigh, painting the white tiles an unnervingly deep red.
Queen’s Guards, and those loyal to Adara, battled against the tide of beings who directed their anger at being tricked onto her closest supporters, pops of magic and the gurgles of the dying a quieter sound than the ringing of steel on steel, the shouts of betrayal and rage.
Heart hammering in her chest, Lenna backed away from the clamor, holding the Prism so tightly to her chest that her palm ached and the sharp planes of the stone cut into her fingers.
Unsheathing one of the daggers Esmeray had given her with her other hand, she shrank back into the shadows along the wall, her grasp around the hilt so clammy that she almost dropped it.
Behind the throne room doors, a roar shook the foundation of the Palace, answered almost immediately by a screeching bellow.
Sparrow had taken one look at the monster Adara shifted into and waned Lenna out of the throne room under the orders to hide until this was over. Or run–if the battle waged did not result in Esmeray winning the throne.
Lenna scrambled away, ducking behind a marble statue of a long-dead royal a split second before a blast of magic whizzed past, ripping away half the statue’s face.
Pulling her knees to her chest, Lenna panted, her mind bleating in terror. Curled up in a ball, she felt so utterly alone. Battles raged around her, and yet Lenna was frozen to the spot, petrified. She was not a warrior, not a battle-hardened gargoyle, nor a powerful fae.
She was just…Lenna.
Human, powerless, way too mortal to be involved in this fighting.
As tears spilled down her cheeks, a sharp poke to her stomach gave her pause.
The Prism dug painfully into the soft fold of her belly.
Grimly, she brought the Prism up to her eyes, wondering who would be activated upon her death.
At least she hadn’t failed to project the memory of the King and Queen’s murder.
At least she could be proud of herself for completing her task–even though she was no help after, and would probably die here, afraid and alone.
“Esmeray waned Adara out of the throne room, and we don’t know where she went.” Laurent’s voice broke in her head as her mind speak ring heated on her finger. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the Great Hall, hidden away from the fighting,” Lenna whispered back into Laurent’s mind, embarrassment heating her cheeks at the implication that she hadn’t been helpful after projecting the memory while others fought.
The Great Hall. Lenna jolted.
It looked…familiar.
Suddenly, Keerian’s voice began shouting through the ring, open to all six of them.
“Esmeray! WHERE are you? Please, please, gods, tell me where you went.” Over and over, Keerian roared down the ring for his mate.
It ripped into Lenna’s heart–his pleas for Esmeray to answer, the deafening silence as the Queen did not.
“We’ll come get you, stay where you are,” Merrick’s weary voice rumbled through her head. Lenna didn’t respond as she stared at the Prism in her hands.
Throwing herself into the Prism, Lenna flung herself down the thread of her past, searching for the strand that connected to Esmeray, barreling down its length to the Queen’s most recent memory–as close as Lenna dared to the glowing golden orb that would shove her back to reality.
Right at the cusp, Lenna dove into Esmeray’s thread.
A soft flurry of snow, so white it was almost blinding, came into view. Esmeray, back in her normal form, was panting and bleeding in front of temple ruins half-buried in snow.
Lenna blanched as she realized this was the setting of the nightmare she had in Doortan, of the monstrous black gargoyle hunting her.
But through this lens, the black gargoyle was Esmeray, in dire need of help, as the huge white Sentry stalked the perimeter, trying to locate the Queen.
Lenna’s eyes darted around, trying to discern any sort of landmark that could help locate Esmeray.
Lenna launched her mind higher, higher, towards the clouds.
There.
The black spires of the Obsidian Palace. Esmeray had waned Adara to the mountains above the Obsidian Palace for her final stand.
Yanking her mind out from the Prism, Lenna moved to touch the ring on her finger, to tell the others she located Esmeray.
But what could they do? Esmeray had waned to the Obsidian Palace, away from them, to keep the bloodshed between her and her sister.
It begged the question–did Esmeray want them to come?
Or was she getting Adara away from the throne room to finish the fight herself, without further endangering Merrick, Laurent, and Sparrow?
As another burst of magic fizzed by, Lenna flinched, stilling as she took in the destroyed face of the statue in front of her.
The hidden entrance to the dragon lairs are behind the marble statue of a Queen long dead.
The Hall was familiar–from the memory of young Esmeray and Sparrow. It all came flooding back. She’d been so numb after finding out Diana passed, had been so worried about Marlo and Orla, that the memory of Sparrow and Esmeray as children seemed trivial.
But she had thrown herself into the Prism, not really looking for anything particular, and wound up seeing that memory. As if Moirai had steered her there, knowing she’d need the knowledge for the future.
For this moment.
She was not only the Oracle of Terramere, but a seer as well. What if Moirai had nudged her to the memory of Sparrow and Esmeray, using the past to give her information helpful for this fight?
Lenna quickly got to her knees, running her hands against the curved wall behind her.
Adara was big.
But not as big as Resso.
If Lenna could get to the dragon lair…could she beg the dragon to help Esmeray take on Adara above the Palace?
Her fingers snagged on a small knot beneath the wall. Her breath hitched.
Tentatively, Lenna pressed her finger against it, the wall shivering before turning translucent.
Lenna slipped through without a second thought, praying she wouldn’t be stuck down here.
But she had come to care for the beings in the throne room fighting for the truth that she revealed. She could do this.
Jagged black rock walls and a narrow stone walkway that turned into steep stairs greeted her–the air musty and cold.
The moment she passed through the magic, only silence greeted her–all noise from the battle in the Great Hall cut off.
Sliding the Prism snugly between her breasts, Lenna palmed the second dagger and began the descent, the stagnant heaviness pressing into her nerves as the temperature dropped rapidly.
With a huff, Lenna followed the path the God of Sight sent her on.
Down, down, the air growing thinner as she wheezed, taking the tight, winding staircase as quickly as she dared, praying she wouldn’t trip.
A roiling black wall of smoke blocked her path, but she pushed through without a moment’s hesitation, her steps hurrying as the iciness of the barricade rubbed over her.
The staircase ended abruptly at a ledge, opening into an airy cavern. Lenna craned her head up, spotting the glimmering glass floor of the Obsidian Palace’s throne room high above her.
The magical barricade was a portal that connected the two Palaces together. She faintly remembered the vision-Esmeray saying something about that, but a whoosh of air was her only warning as Resso rose from the shadows below, his maw snaking out towards her curiously.
Hovering in place, his huge wings keeping him airborne, Resso appraised Lenna. His nostrils flared as if he was scenting her, and a spark of intrigue flickered in the dragon’s moon-colored eyes.
Lenna’s hands shook as she laid both daggers on the stone floor, keeping her eyes locked on the mighty dragon in front of her. She didn’t want Resso to consider her a threat–or dinner.
Resso growled. Lenna backed up, her spine colliding with the icy rock wall. Hands still trembling with fear, Lenna reached down her bodice, presenting the Prism to the ancient beast.
“I am the Oracle of Terramere,” Lenna whispered quietly, holding the Prism above her head, her curls buffeted in the bursts of wind coming off Resso’s wings. “And I need your help.”
She had no idea if the dragon remembered her from the throne room above, or if he even cared that she was the Oracle.
Her feet sidestepped towards the entrance to the stairs.
If Resso decided he wanted to eat her, she could escape up the staircase, run back through the weird portal, and pray that he didn’t unleash a torrent of fire to turn her to ash.
Resso cocked his head, staying level with the ledge.
Lenna wished her Oracle prowess included being able to mind speak with dragons.
“Queen Esmeray is in the mountains above this Palace, taking on Adara for the throne. Adara killed King Scottrell and Queen Elera.”
Resso’s slitted eyes seemed to widen. Queen Elera had ruled from the throne here. Lenna prayed the dragon liked the gargoyle Queen enough to care who her murderer was.
“I think I can show you, with the Prism, if you don’t believe me,” Lenna added, her voice cracking with fear. In response, the dragon snorted, white smoke curling out of his nostrils.
Then, without warning, Resso let out an ear-splitting screech and shot up, up, to the glass floor that trembled and shone as he disappeared through it. Lenna sent a prayer to whatever gods would listen from down here that Resso was on his way to aid Esmeray.
Lenna stayed rooted to the spot for a moment, until another roar shook the caverns.
Remembering then that Resso was not the only cave dragon down here, Lenna bolted, swiping both daggers up with one hand.
Gripping the Prism tightly in the other, she turned and ran back up the stone staircase, back through the magical portal, back into the Opal Palace.
She was not only Lenna. She was the Oracle of Terramere, and she would face whatever evil came for her and her friends. Even if that put her in league with the beasts from her nightmares.