Part 21
Rashel looked around her. After Arizan's strange stunt at the graveyard, Pandie had told them the nearest place they would be safe, was a house belonging to a lady called Cornelia. Pandie hadn't mentioned what her last name was, though. Somehow, from looking at the decorations, furnishings and artefacts she had around her house, Rashel had a feeling that Cornelia would have a shape shifter surname.
One artefact in particular caught her eye. From what Rashel could make out, it was a weapon of some sort. In fact it looked like some kind of decorative sword. The hilt was made of white gold, and was shaped in the form of a dragon, with the dragon's mouth itself open wide were the hilt met the blade, as if the blade flowed from the dragon's mouth like it was a blast of fire. To top it all off, the dragon's tail was decorated with dark coloured sapphires, with smaller dark sapphires on either side of the hilt, were the dragon's eyes were. As if the hilt itself was a work of art, the blade too was a masterpiece. It was curved and almost as long Rashel's arm, made of the same white gold as the hilt, with a small thin thread of silver running all the way to the tip, and intricate markings etched on either side. * It looks fascinating enough, * Rashel thought to herself, as she reached to touch the edge of the blade, * but is it affective as weapon. *
"Um, I wouldn't touch that, if I were you."
Rashel turned to see where the voice had come from, and saw what looked like a middle-aged woman with slightly greying black hair and dark brown eyes. "That's a dragon blade" the lady said calmly, as she walked up to Rashel, "It can cut through flesh and muscle like a knife through butter."
"Thanks," Rashel muttered as she pulled her hand away from the blade, "but I can handle it, though. I've had plenty of experience with..." Rashel paused and found herself gaping at the lady's forehead. Just below the lady's hairline were three downy bumps. Immediately Rashel found herself reaching for the silver dagger she kept inside her boot. The lady seemed to notice this, and smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry," she said, wincing slightly, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Cornelia Hashteher." Rashel's eyes narrowed.
"You're a dark dragon." she said in a cold hushed voice.
"That is correct" Cornelia sighed, her eyes looking strangely sad for a dark dragon, "But I'm nothing like most of my fellow dark dragons."
"You're awake?" Rashel said coldly. Cornelia laughed serenely. "Yes, I suppose you could say that" she said, as she walked over to a couch covered with deep green velvet and sat down, "That's not the answer, though. I don't use my dark power, like a lot of other dark dragons." Rashel frowned slightly.
"How does that make you different from them?" she asked in a puzzled voice, as she sat down on the edge of a nearby chair. Cornelia smiled warmly; a very rare thing for a dark dragon to do.
"Miss Jordan" she said, calling Rashel by her formal name for the first time since she'd walked into the room, "When a dark dragon uses its dark power, its heart becomes clouded with evil, and becomes cold, cruel and ruthless. When I was awoken, the group who had woke me up tried to make me kill a whole town full of witches. Do you want to know what I did?" Rashel sighed and rested her head in her hand.
"I guess you're going to tell me anyway" she said flatly. The dragoness nodded.
"I killed them instead" she said smiling dangerously for a moment, and then looked sad, "All except for their leader. Somehow she managed to get away."
"What do you do after that?"
"I moved to this house."
"And you've been living here for how long?"
"Since 1976."
Cornelia then laughed and shook her head in what looked like disbelief. "You sure ask a lot of questions, Miss Jordan" she said with a warm smile on her face.
"I just like to be careful" Rashel answered her casually; "I'm not really one for instantly trusting someone I don't know a lot about."
"That's understandable" Cornelia said with an understanding smile, "I never trusted too many strangers, when I was your age. Do you have anymore questions?"
"Yes, I do, I suppose" Rashel sighed, "What do you really want with us?"
The dark haired dragoness smiled and handed Rashel a piece of paper with something that looked like a prophecy written on it, then placed a small wooden box on the table in front of her. "I took the opportunity to translate one of the scrolls that you brought in with you," she said calmly, "and I've found it to be the ancient prophecy of the dragon guardians."
* The what? * Rashel thought puzzled to herself, and began to read out loud what was on the piece of paper.
"Power of the Sun Dragon to the lost dragon child
Power of the Moon Dragon to the daughter of the cat and the sage
Power of the Earth Dragon to the girl from the green wild
Power of the Air Dragon to the little mage
Power of the Fire Dragon to the dragoness reborn
Power of the Water Dragon to the child from the sea
All with the violet light are born
So it will be
So it shall be"
Rashel frowned and looked at Cornelia. "Is this for real?" she asked, not sure if what she'd just read out was a real prophecy or just something made up.
"I guessed you were going to ask that" Cornelia sighed, then opened up the small wooden box to reveal six jewelled pendants. Each pendant was shaped differently to the others. "These pendants were made to enhance the power of the Six Sister Dragons, when they were awake" Cornelia explained gently, "Now their purpose has been passed on to the dragon guardians. When each of the dragon guardians discovers their true power, one of these pendants will begin to glow." As soon as she said this, she lifted what looked like a small sun shaped pendant with a warm glowing yellow jewel in its centre, out of the box. "This pendant indicates that the Sun Dragon Guardian has discovered her true power." Cornelia said calmly as she placed the strange looking piece of jewellery on to the table, "I believe your young friend Arizan has the honour of that role." Then she took out another pendant from the box. This time the pendant didn't have any jewels, except for some small purple jewels around it circular rim. "This pendant belonged to the Moon Dragon" Cornelia explained, handing the pendant to Rashel to look at, "When the prophecy of the dragon guardians was first discovered, the two jewels that made up the crescent moon picture in the pendant, where taken out and hidden in two separate places where no one could find them."
"Why would they want to do that?"
"Miss Jordan" Cornelia said calmly, taking the pendant from Rashel's hand and placing it on the table beside the glowing sun shaped pendant, "It may not mention it in the prophecy, but the Moon Dragon Guardian is the link to finding all of the dragon guardians. Through her dreams, each of the dragon guardians' identities will become known. If this pendant were to become complete again, it could spell trouble. In the hands of the Moon Dragon Guardian, it would enhance her power, and give a better chance of finding the other dragon guardians. But in the wrong hands, it would give its owner extreme power, and enable them to search out and suck up every last drop of each of the dragon guardians' powers, making them almost indestructible."
"Where are the two jewels that make up the crescent moon in the pendant, hidden?" Rashel asked calmly, although she knew this was exactly something to be calm about.
"One of them is hidden in a deep underground cave, ten miles north from this town" Cornelia answered her.
"And the other one?" Rashel asked. Cornelia looked at her with a wry smile.
"It's in another world, in the past."
Rashel looked around her. After Arizan's strange stunt at the graveyard, Pandie had told them the nearest place they would be safe, was a house belonging to a lady called Cornelia. Pandie hadn't mentioned what her last name was, though. Somehow, from looking at the decorations, furnishings and artefacts she had around her house, Rashel had a feeling that Cornelia would have a shape shifter surname.
One artefact in particular caught her eye. From what Rashel could make out, it was a weapon of some sort. In fact it looked like some kind of decorative sword. The hilt was made of white gold, and was shaped in the form of a dragon, with the dragon's mouth itself open wide were the hilt met the blade, as if the blade flowed from the dragon's mouth like it was a blast of fire. To top it all off, the dragon's tail was decorated with dark coloured sapphires, with smaller dark sapphires on either side of the hilt, were the dragon's eyes were. As if the hilt itself was a work of art, the blade too was a masterpiece. It was curved and almost as long Rashel's arm, made of the same white gold as the hilt, with a small thin thread of silver running all the way to the tip, and intricate markings etched on either side. * It looks fascinating enough, * Rashel thought to herself, as she reached to touch the edge of the blade, * but is it affective as weapon. *
"Um, I wouldn't touch that, if I were you."
Rashel turned to see where the voice had come from, and saw what looked like a middle-aged woman with slightly greying black hair and dark brown eyes. "That's a dragon blade" the lady said calmly, as she walked up to Rashel, "It can cut through flesh and muscle like a knife through butter."
"Thanks," Rashel muttered as she pulled her hand away from the blade, "but I can handle it, though. I've had plenty of experience with..." Rashel paused and found herself gaping at the lady's forehead. Just below the lady's hairline were three downy bumps. Immediately Rashel found herself reaching for the silver dagger she kept inside her boot. The lady seemed to notice this, and smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry," she said, wincing slightly, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Cornelia Hashteher." Rashel's eyes narrowed.
"You're a dark dragon." she said in a cold hushed voice.
"That is correct" Cornelia sighed, her eyes looking strangely sad for a dark dragon, "But I'm nothing like most of my fellow dark dragons."
"You're awake?" Rashel said coldly. Cornelia laughed serenely. "Yes, I suppose you could say that" she said, as she walked over to a couch covered with deep green velvet and sat down, "That's not the answer, though. I don't use my dark power, like a lot of other dark dragons." Rashel frowned slightly.
"How does that make you different from them?" she asked in a puzzled voice, as she sat down on the edge of a nearby chair. Cornelia smiled warmly; a very rare thing for a dark dragon to do.
"Miss Jordan" she said, calling Rashel by her formal name for the first time since she'd walked into the room, "When a dark dragon uses its dark power, its heart becomes clouded with evil, and becomes cold, cruel and ruthless. When I was awoken, the group who had woke me up tried to make me kill a whole town full of witches. Do you want to know what I did?" Rashel sighed and rested her head in her hand.
"I guess you're going to tell me anyway" she said flatly. The dragoness nodded.
"I killed them instead" she said smiling dangerously for a moment, and then looked sad, "All except for their leader. Somehow she managed to get away."
"What do you do after that?"
"I moved to this house."
"And you've been living here for how long?"
"Since 1976."
Cornelia then laughed and shook her head in what looked like disbelief. "You sure ask a lot of questions, Miss Jordan" she said with a warm smile on her face.
"I just like to be careful" Rashel answered her casually; "I'm not really one for instantly trusting someone I don't know a lot about."
"That's understandable" Cornelia said with an understanding smile, "I never trusted too many strangers, when I was your age. Do you have anymore questions?"
"Yes, I do, I suppose" Rashel sighed, "What do you really want with us?"
The dark haired dragoness smiled and handed Rashel a piece of paper with something that looked like a prophecy written on it, then placed a small wooden box on the table in front of her. "I took the opportunity to translate one of the scrolls that you brought in with you," she said calmly, "and I've found it to be the ancient prophecy of the dragon guardians."
* The what? * Rashel thought puzzled to herself, and began to read out loud what was on the piece of paper.
"Power of the Sun Dragon to the lost dragon child
Power of the Moon Dragon to the daughter of the cat and the sage
Power of the Earth Dragon to the girl from the green wild
Power of the Air Dragon to the little mage
Power of the Fire Dragon to the dragoness reborn
Power of the Water Dragon to the child from the sea
All with the violet light are born
So it will be
So it shall be"
Rashel frowned and looked at Cornelia. "Is this for real?" she asked, not sure if what she'd just read out was a real prophecy or just something made up.
"I guessed you were going to ask that" Cornelia sighed, then opened up the small wooden box to reveal six jewelled pendants. Each pendant was shaped differently to the others. "These pendants were made to enhance the power of the Six Sister Dragons, when they were awake" Cornelia explained gently, "Now their purpose has been passed on to the dragon guardians. When each of the dragon guardians discovers their true power, one of these pendants will begin to glow." As soon as she said this, she lifted what looked like a small sun shaped pendant with a warm glowing yellow jewel in its centre, out of the box. "This pendant indicates that the Sun Dragon Guardian has discovered her true power." Cornelia said calmly as she placed the strange looking piece of jewellery on to the table, "I believe your young friend Arizan has the honour of that role." Then she took out another pendant from the box. This time the pendant didn't have any jewels, except for some small purple jewels around it circular rim. "This pendant belonged to the Moon Dragon" Cornelia explained, handing the pendant to Rashel to look at, "When the prophecy of the dragon guardians was first discovered, the two jewels that made up the crescent moon picture in the pendant, where taken out and hidden in two separate places where no one could find them."
"Why would they want to do that?"
"Miss Jordan" Cornelia said calmly, taking the pendant from Rashel's hand and placing it on the table beside the glowing sun shaped pendant, "It may not mention it in the prophecy, but the Moon Dragon Guardian is the link to finding all of the dragon guardians. Through her dreams, each of the dragon guardians' identities will become known. If this pendant were to become complete again, it could spell trouble. In the hands of the Moon Dragon Guardian, it would enhance her power, and give a better chance of finding the other dragon guardians. But in the wrong hands, it would give its owner extreme power, and enable them to search out and suck up every last drop of each of the dragon guardians' powers, making them almost indestructible."
"Where are the two jewels that make up the crescent moon in the pendant, hidden?" Rashel asked calmly, although she knew this was exactly something to be calm about.
"One of them is hidden in a deep underground cave, ten miles north from this town" Cornelia answered her.
"And the other one?" Rashel asked. Cornelia looked at her with a wry smile.
"It's in another world, in the past."