Page 115 of Golden Queen
One of them was the crypt that contained my parents, though I wasn't sure which one since I had no idea what direction we were even going. Most of the tombs looked the same with only a gold plaque, or on some, a marble bust to identify which ruler lay in which tomb.
The mages walked slower than I would have liked, their careful footfalls echoing through the vaulted chamber. I longed for them to hurry, feeling some foreboding sense that we should make haste away from the tombs. Asif something powerful lurked there, and I thought it might rise up at any moment to catch us unaware. It was a ridiculous thought.
I saw the dragon's white blur far ahead, still flying through the massive domed crypt. She was so far ahead I couldn't even hear her wing beats.
"Where is my uncle?" I asked, quietly. "And how did you find me?"
"Your uncle opened the gates for them," Britaxia said derisively from just ahead. "If not for the guardsmen who fought against him, Penjan would be in the castle already."
I'd had plenty of time to consider Markus' betrayal and develop my plans for how I would make him pay for what he'd done, so Britaxia's words did not surprise me.I will make him suffer for betraying Windemere, I had sworn to myself a hundred thousand times by then.
"Markus is in the inner keep with the doors barred against the small number of the guard who stood against him—the ones who closed the fortress gates after he opened them," Io supplied. "Your minister was the one who told us where to find you."
"Your dragon is the one who came to findusthough, to let us know something was wrong," Aben interjected, looking back and smiling that devastating smile of his.
I realized where we were when the mages led us up a set of wide marble steps. It was the crypt entrance at the back of the cathedral. The steps turned halfway up. To the left was the inner sanctum of the cathedral, and straight ahead led out through the tall gold painted gates into the city of Albiyn.
As we neared the gates, I smelled burning and heard the sounds of chaos. The city was on fire. Dark-clad soldiers with two handed broadswords and unfamiliar armor were striking people down in the streets.
There were screams as people died and the sound of metal-on-metal clashing. It was mayhem and death in the choking black smoke of burning buildings.
I couldn't understand how so many people had chosen to remain in the city. Everywhere I looked, someone was fleeing ahead of those strange warriors, many of them with tufts of what looked like human hair attached to their armor.
I wanted to demand that the mages do something, panic rising to see so many scenes of horror among my people. But I could already see there were far too many soldiers. They would pour in and overwhelm us in an instant if we opened the gate.
A royal guard stood to the side, his long gold and white cloak stained with red. He turned as though he had been expecting us and made no move to reach for his sword. "I'm sorry, Your Highness," he said, speaking to Io. “We could not keep the way clear. We were overwhelmed. I had to close the gate. My men moved into the castle to try and find another way."
His eyes darted to me, but he looked away quickly as though uncomfortable to hold my gaze.
I flinched as the gate behind the soldier rattled. A man was pushed against it violently, a sword shoved through his throat, protruding into the cathedral through the thick golden bars.
A rough looking fighter with a black painted face appeared over the man's shoulder, his lips pulled back from his sharpened teeth in a snarl. He peered through the gate, eyes flashing as his blood drenched mouth shifted into a horrific smile.
Aben took two strides toward the gate and slid his sword through the shoulder of the dead man and straight into the throat of the sharp-toothed soldier just as his mouth opened to shout.
The sound died away to a strangled, bloody croak.
Aben pulled his sword free, and both men slumped to the ground outside the gate. The big dragon mage smiled and winked at me as the soldier pointed us in the direction of the stairs leading into the cathedral.
As we reached the top step, wind buffeted my hair as the dragon flapped past over our heads. She circled around the domed ceiling of the cathedral and then dove back towards us, landing at Io's feet as we stepped out onto the marble floor of the chamber.
The statues of the gods and goddesses stared back at us as we followed the soldier past the Presarion's holy idols. We headed in the direction of the corridor leading to the castle, but Io paused, hesitating as the sound of intense fighting filtered down the hallway.
The soldier stopped as well, drawing his sword and turning to Io. "There is no other way, Your Highness. We will have to fight through."
Io shook his head. “If they are in the castle, we will be facing the whole of their army. Is there a way onto the roof?" he asked.
"Yes," I said before the soldier could answer.
"What are you thinking, My Lord?" Britaxia asked with narrowed eyes. The sound of clashing swords was growing closer.
"We call the dragons."
"Raya is not close," Aben said. As far as I could tell, Raya was the rider who tagged along in case they ever needed to carry someone on dragon back. As a Dragon Knight, instead of a dragon dider, her gray dragon would accept passengers.
"Veles will carry her," Io said. He looked down at me. "Show me the way, Sera."
"Veles carried her once. That does not mean he will do it again," Britaxia said with a bitter sneer in my direction. "You are taking a very big risk of us being trapped on the roof if he decides he does not like the way she smells today."
