Chapter Eighteen:

Chapter Eighteen:

Thea Harman looked about the First House of Dragons. She was here, actually standing inside the walls that had been home to the Legendary Prince. Thousands of years ago he had roamed these halls, several guards and guardians at his every beck and call.

It was enough to make Thea a bit dizzy.

Mother Cybele stood off to the side speaking with Thierry in soft tones. The plump woman seemed worried. Perhaps anxious. Thea narrowed her eyes a bit before looking around some more.

Blaise was staring at pillars, roaming along, almost floating, long black hair falling thickly down her back. She paused before a pillar, and ran slender fingers over the etchings and archaic writing.

The First House had a large dome of witch magic surrounding it, wards of protection. And they all stood inside of them now. Herself, the Mother, Thierry, her cousin Blaise, Winnie, Nissa and five witches the Mother had asked to accompany them. Also, two witch guards were at each entrance and the First House had two, the main in the front and a large stone staircase on the side. The marble and the porcelain used by the dragons long ago had been replaced with stone and from Chime's stolen memories Thea knew once the humans had renovated the First House had lost much of its beauty.

She still saw the rose bushes and cherry blossoms.

And she understood a bit of the layout as it had once been. This hall led to another long hall and then on to what could have been the prince's throne room, the direct center of the First House. And there were several large rooms surrounding that center room and hallway, all linked up around their core. It all seemed to be only a floor in height.

"Thea." Mother Cybele called.

She looked up from her lost thoughts and drifted over to the Mother and the Night Lord. Thierry's eyes were dark, hooded, and he himself seemed thoughtful. Quietly so.

Mother Cybele took Thea by the hand as she came up before her and led her down the hall toward the door. In Thea's mind she knew that coming hallway was where Chime had first met the Prince.

Thierry pushed open the wide doors.

The hallway here was even larger than the one before it. And there was a door at the other end, a very familiar door. Pillars all around stood magnificently, lovely stones with beautiful carvings, bordering the central pathway. And between the pillars, in the shadows, were several stone cases standing vertically against the walls.

They hadn't been there in Chime's memories.

Mother Cybele took her down the pathway slowly, clutching her hand. She paused halfway down the hall, looking toward the door but she instead veered toward the left. Thea followed reluctantly. She would have stopped if it hadn't meant having Thierry run into her from behind.

"You want to see where he lies, don't you?" Mother Cybele murmured, taking a few steps and hesitating once more.

Thea looked at the back of her head, stricken. "You mean…Rayne?" she asked hoarsely.

Mother Cybele motioned to the case before her. "Rayne Endymion." She said, motioning to spidery writing etched into the stone. "I can not open the coffin. There are too many wards surrounding it, it would take me hours. And even then I do not have the strength to move the lid."

Thea tore her eyes from the Mother and looked at the dusty stone coffin standing before her. It was large, the case, perhaps a good seven feet tall. Elegant etchings in its rounded face. And it looked old, an artifact from another world, another time. A time she was vaguely familiar with.

She found herself calling out, reaching to the coffin with her thoughts.

Are you there, Rayne? Can you hear me? Can you understand me?

Mother Cybele watched her as she gazed at the coffin, feeling the urge to cry. He was here, before her, the person Chime had spent so much time looking for. She wanted to do something but what could she really do? All she could do was hope that Chime didn't come here. It spelled disaster for her.

Do you even realize how much Chime has missed you?

"The coffins had been buried underground at first but through the years there has been much digging because of archeology." Mother Cybele said from beside her. "We made this house into a museum and then we brought the dragons back here. To the world the coffins are said to house the remains of the great Persian kings, Darius and Xerxes, but to us…these are our history, our link to the time when we were unequal."

Thea continued to stare at the coffins, hearing the sadness in the Mother's voice. It almost made her regret her anger. But then she closed her eyes and she realized she could imagine how Rayne looked in the coffin. Bathed in darkness, lean body resting against cushions, his head bowed and his features peaceful. Did he still wear his First House uniform?

"And the Prince?" Thea asked faintly. Her eyes left the cryptic writing on Rayne's tomb and focused on the Mother of Witches. "Where is he?"

Mother Cybele's hands clasped before her plump frame. "Down below."

Thea turned her body to face the Mother slowly. "Down below?" she questioned, eyes widening.

It was quite obvious Mother Cybele did not want to tell Thea. But she motioned to the side after a moment. "One of the side rooms has a staircase leading to a lower level, to what might have been a treasury. He lies there. With his brother and sister."

Thea took a step. "I want to see it."

Mother Cybele was in her way a moment later. "There is no reason for you to see it. I don't want anyone down there." She said firmly, and she meant business. Thea understood her fears. All that was needed was the Prince to awaken and then it would be the World of Dragons once more.

Thea stared at her, eyebrow arching a bit. Then her eyes flew toward Thierry but he remained wordless, face blank. There was no help there and she knew it.

Instead she whirled back to Rayne's coffin.

She'll find you and I will help her set you free. I promise it, she swore to the dragon lying inside.

Morgead looked at Chime cautiously, recoiled a bit in surprise at her new appearance. Beside him Kestrel turned just as slowly.

"You're still going?" the woman asked her, hawk eyes narrowing. "For what purpose? You can't wake him. You won't be able to see him. And you won't even be able to get in, the place has wards-"

"Just the kind of situation I thrive in." Chime said with a smile and she struck a pose. "How do I look?"

Morgead looked like he was coming close to sputtering. "Wards!" he said, echoing Kestrel. "You can't get in! It's a freaking suicide mission-"

Chime however was off in her own world. "The pants are still good, so are the boots. A black shirt is better than a bloodied blue one although if you drenched the blue one in blood it would also look black." She paused, looking at the blue shirt on the bed thoughtfully. "Maybe if I-"

"They're already there, just waiting! Mother Cybele and Thierry! If you go they'll get you for sure-" Morgead was saying.

"No, that's just disgusting. What was I thinking?" Chime laughed to herself. "Imagine soaking it in pigeon's blood! Can you just picture me at the window with my Sigs, shooting every bird in sight?" and with that she dissolved into louder peals of laughter.

Kestrel tried as well. "Are you crazy? Are you even listening?! You'll be killed! Don't you care what happens to you in there?"

"The leather jacket is messed up but I really like it, still." Chime continued on. "It fits quite nicely-" and she picked at a bullet hole in the leather along her shoulder, frowning delicately at it.

"Thierry sent us to convince you not to go-" Morgead said evenly, propping his hands on his hips.

"And boy, did you fail there." Chime shrugged, checking her Sigs and then running a hand through her cap of shiny black hair. "Where did that bandanna go?"

"Don't you care?!" Kestrel shouted, fuming. She threw her hands up in the air. "God, it's like talking to Jade! Not a damn word gets heard!" she snarled and her eyes gleamed as Chime merely looked at her innocently. "Thierry is putting everything on the line to help you win this! And the only way to win would be to survive! Don't you care about sacrifices made for you-"

"Only one was ever made." Chime said and her voice and face were suddenly very, very dark, morphing in the blink of an eye. Her eyes gleamed. "Only one sacrifice was ever made for me and it damned me to this existence without him. Don't you dare give me your crap on sacrifices because I make too many of them."

Morgead shook his head as Kestrel fell silent beside him. "And Thierry? He's helped you for so long. You would screw him over?" he asked her with an arched eyebrow.

Chime looked at him, stared at him searchingly. And then she looked down, bowing her head. "No." she answered softly. "No, I wouldn't." She smirked, chuckled humorlessly. "I'd just screw myself over."

Kestrel and Morgead gazed at her.

"Thank you." She whispered. She lifted her head to look at them both. "Thanks for helping me. For caring for me. But I can't stay. And I can't back down. Not now. And not anymore." She bent down and checked her boots for the pocket knives. "I need a way to get to Persepolis. A road goes there, right?"

Morgead glanced at Kestrel quickly. She stared back, eyes throwing him a meaning. Somebody had to stop her. But instead he sighed.

Then he was reaching into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys and holding them out to her. "My bike is outside. There's a general route that leads between cities here in Iran. Take the bike about five miles out of Shiraz and the first dirt path that veers off will lead to Persepolis."

Chime stared at the keys dangling before her then raised her eyes back to him. With a shallow swallow she moved forward, taking the keys into her hands and staring at him when he let her.

Kestrel sighed wearily as well. Obviously defeated. "Thierry is not going to like this," she murmured, plopping down on the bed.

"Thank you. Again." She nodded, the faint shadow of a smile beginning to cross her lips. She tossed the keys, catching them expertly and then began to turn away, heading toward the door.

But just as she made it to the door she said, "Ash."

Kestrel frowned, looking up from the bed.

"That's who you look like. Kestrel." Chime continued, facing the door. "Ash." And then she laughed. "And I wouldn't have killed you. The safeties were on. I'm surprised Morgead didn't notice it."

With that she left.

Kestrel threw Morgead a glare as the door closed behind her. "Why didn't you notice it?" she demanded.

Thea lifted her head from the writing on the pillar. She had moved into the throne room, had stared at the single throne at the back of the large room. And she could see the prince there, even imagined she saw Rayne at his side, laughing merrily. Had that scene ever existed in the past?

A sudden shiver raced down her spine and she frowned. It was eerie, the strange tingling. She normally didn't get such feelings but when she did she knew to trust them. She looked over her shoulder, staring from her cousin to Winnie, who was hovering close to Nissa, whispering. She looked at the five witches who had been asked to come along but they were just as interested in the pillars as she was, a pair of them laughing to the side. It did nothing to lighten the mood, however.

Something was about to go very, very wrong.

She looked around again, wishing the feeling would go away. But it wasn't going anywhere. It was just getting stronger, almost like a prickling now. The strange presence of something ominous wasn't coming from the Mother, wasn't coming from Thierry.

She looked toward the five witches as they grouped together and watched them as they began to move toward the door.

Them. It was coming from them, that strange sensation. Dark, that thick air. It surrounded them like a cloud. She moved to follow them, catching Blaise's eyes along the way.

Just as she made it to the door to follow the witches out the last of the five shoved her back into the room roughly. She stumbled back with a cry and the door slammed in her face.

"Hey!" she shouted and she sprang forward, throwing herself against the doors. They didn't budge at all. "Hey!" she cried again and she banged her fists against the doors angrily, alerting Thierry and Mother Cybele.

"What is it?" Cybele asked coming up behind her.

But she froze as chanting began from the other side of the door.

Selena Chimes allowed the motorcycle to fall onto the sand and dirt. The ride had been torture on her bottom and legs but the soreness simply lifted away as she stopped to stare at the vision before her.

She was seeing ghosts from her past. Pale ghosts with hollow circles under blank eyes. Witches. Dragons. Shape-shifters. Everything that had existed. Everything that had been her past was waking up now as she stood before the structure, jaw hanging open.

The First House of Dragons. She was here, after all these years. After hundreds of years of looking for him only to come back to where it had all begun. She swallowed, staring at the walls. The entrances were on the other side for she faced a back corner.

White pillars. Not these, these were stone. Ugly. But she could see strong white pillars in her mind. Vines tangled around fountains and marble springs. And the trees and bushes. Cherry blossoms. Rose petals flying through the air to lie at his feet as he came forward.

She could feel him. She came to a dead stop and just listened to the raspy wind as it flew over the sand, blew it into her hair. Something pulled at her, enveloping her and pleading with her to come forward. And it was him. She wasn't sure how she knew or how he did it, because he was asleep. She knew he was. And yet she felt him, his presence humming through every part of her being.

She swallowed and looked at the purple sparks that fizzed as sand flew too close to the First House. Wards. Her face darkened. She would get through those wards. She was not about to let witch magic keep her from her soulmate.

It was time to make a third entrance.

She closed her eyes, bowing her head. And she felt the weakness in her body, like a black cloud suffocating her. She felt the pain and soreness of her wounds, the tight bandages which inhibited free movement. It was all the same, all to hold her back. A physical and mental block.

Inside her body she called to her black power. She called and then summoned it angrily, forcing it to respond. She needed it now and she didn't care whether her body said it was all right. Mind over body.

Duty over love.

She clenched her eyes hut, feeling a swell of emotion, anger and sadness. Fury that he would risk her for him. And that fury gave her strength, made her not only feel her power but make it boil inside. She could almost hear the low rumble as it surged through her veins with her blood. She agitated it, suppressing it and compressing it yet working it into a tight frenzy. Given enough time it would come out in a powerful burst, breaking through the invisible barriers she had instilled to hold it in. And when it did it would have all her dragon power behind it, all her mental strength.

It would be enough to blow the roof off.

She opened her eyes, irises dark, and silver flashed in their depths. Then she took a step forward, into the wards, and she was suddenly dragging an incredible weight with her. She was dragging the wards, she realized. Her body, emanating the black energy was clashing with the wards, pulling and trying to break it down, break it apart. And the protective witch barriers were visible now, smooth walls of clear, purple light. Sunlight threw rainbows across its surface and it fizzed as her shield of black energy clashed with it. She pushed, with her body and mind, clenching her jaw and shoving her way forward. It was like trying to walk down the street when the rain and wind were pushing you back. And the wards resembled the surfaces of a bubble, shimmering with a soapy sheen. Something so fragile and yet she was feeling the immense strain it took to break through. She forced more strength, biting down on the insides of her cheeks. She had to get through and she had to do it quickly. Chances were great that there were witch guards and if they caught her she would be weak from trying to break through. She had to get through now.

And then, miraculously, something cracked and shattered.

The walls of witch magic burst outward behind her as her dragon energy exploded from within. Like glass it shattered, pieces shooting out. And as if time had stopped the pieces hung in the air, frozen in space, splinters of witch ward.

Selena felt her features shift at her release. Not back into herself but through all her passed disguises. Through all the people she had been, dating back to her old life in the World of Dragons. Her hair lengthened, shortened, brightened and blackened once again. And her irises raced through every single color of the spectrum, remaining a single color for no more than a few seconds.

She felt a second release and she pitched forward, the pull of the wards letting go, allowing her entrance. She stumbled a bit, legs weakening and she nearly fell to the ground. Her black power exploded from her once more, a third time, a short burst from her body, cleansing in its release.

The stone wall of the First House cracked and crumbled inward before her, leaving behind a large gaping hole as her entrance. And as she looked behind her she saw the shining slivers of witch ward pull back and close over, melt to form the impenetrable wall once more.

Mother Cybele raised her head, hands clasped before her as she leaned toward the door. "It's the Old Language. I barely understand it." She whispered, straining to hear. "But they do not honor the Goddess."

Thierry had his arms crossed over his chest. "No, they don't." he agreed. "They're putting up more wards to hold us in here-" he explained, looking towards the Mother. "Powerful wards."

Thea glanced at him. Of course he would know. Before he had become a vampire he had been a witch.

A sudden shiver ran down Thea's spine and it seemed to be transferred through every witch in the room for they all looked about in confusion. It was a bit like the eerie feeling she had felt moments before the witches had trapped them in, although this was an entirely ominous tingle.

The message was plain however. All was not right.

It was Winnie who understood. "The dragon," she said quietly, looking at the Mother. "The wards…" she swallowed. "She's through."

Thea whirled on her. "Chime?" she demanded. But before Winnie could answer she turned to the Mother. "Why can't we get out?" She placed a hand to the door and a sudden electrical charge jolted through her, forcing her to recoil with a cry.

"Witch magic." Cybele murmured, Thierry gazing at the door with a quizzical frown.

"They have us trapped." Thea stated, hands on hips. "Can't we break through? There are only five of them. We have enough between us to get through-" she said, motioning to the group.

Cybele suddenly looked at the door again, head snapping. And her eyes widened a split second before the large crack. She stumbled back a step, dragging Thea, Thierry ducking his head and scooting back with them. And for a moment they stared at the zigzagging streak in the stone of the wall.

Then the wall exploded.

A cry tore from Thea as pure air and stone smashed into her and she went flying, crashing in a heap on the floor, rolling. Several shouts and shrieks rang out in the group as pebbles and rocks pelted them, forcing them back. Then there was silence, nothing but the faint patter of stone and the gentle swoosh of air and dust.

Thierry coughed, rolling over onto his rear slowly. He peeked through the dust, a hand lifted to cover his face and where the door and wall had been was now a wall of pulsing purple witch magic. He rose slowly, eyes narrowed, and patted the dust from him. Four women were outside the wall of magic, looking in, heads bowed in intense concentration.

Cybele sat up with a frown, squinting through the dust.

But Thierry was the first to see and recognize the fifth witch as she came around the line of dark witches. His eyes widened and he felt floored as she smiled at him, dark hair and eyes gleaming.

"Cassandra…"