“Don't bother,” Barney sighed. “She won't let you.”
“She who?"
“The Queen.”
“Martha?”
Laughing as if he’d just heard the best joke ever told, Barney was almost hysterical as he guffawed so loudly that it echoed off every rock, stone, and speck of dust. The dude was almost hysterical, and just when I was about to go over and shake him, he calmed enough to sarcastically chuckle, “No.” With a shake of his head, he added, “Not Martha.”
Stopping, his expression instantly changed to fear all over again, and he breathed, “Not yet.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded, immediately enraged and in need of answers.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You will tell me, or I’ll beat it out of you.
Shrugging, the Wyvern Shifter matter-of-factly stated, “You can hit me.” Looking at the scraped and bleeding skin of his knuckles, he went on, “Been hit. Been stabbed. Been electrocuted.”
Raising his eyes, the haunting look sent a chill down my spine. “I spent forty years in Purgatory. At this point, you're competing with every day that ends in y.”
“You escaped from prison.” I tried not to feel sorry for him, but it was getting harder by the minute.
“I escaped because nobody listened.” Waving his left hand through the air between us, he added, “If you knew what I knew and no one would listen, you would’ve escaped, too.”
Turning away from me, he motioned for me to follow… And as the lamb led to slaughter, I did.
Bending at the waist, I followed him through a small, cramped tunnel. Being six feet seven inches had never been a disadvantage until that very moment. Keeping my guard up, ready for Barney to turn on me, I shuffled and crept along the cold, stone shaft, feeling thousands of years of history and memories just waiting to be discovered.
Losing sight of Barney as he turned left, I cautiously turned the corner. Walking right into a huge chamber, I could not believe my eyes.
Hundreds of thousands of carvings covered every available surface. Approaching the farthest wall, the one that called to me, I tried to make sense of the images.
There were Queens and Dragons in all settings. There was a breathtaking coronation with all the regalia, spectacle, and splendor I could imagine.
There were bloody battles. The losses of both sides were always horrible. It didn’t matter that the Dragons always won. They suffered death just like their enemies.
Following the curve of the wall, I came to a screeching halt. The image before me made my heart skip a beat.
Women with lavender eyes and dark hair, their features all so similar that there was no way they weren’t family. Each and every one carried flames and bore the expression of warriors marching off to battle.
I froze. I couldn’t move. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I could breathe.
Then Barney whispered, “I told them.” He exhaled sharply. “I told all of them.”
You told them what?”
“That she was coming.” Walking to the opposite side of the chamber, he pointed to an entire wall covered with a chaotic combination of words, images, and places where someone, or something, had scratched out phrases and pictures.
Running his fingers along the words at the beginning, Barney read, “When the Queen returns...” He stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. I have no clue what he was looking for, but apparently he saw it and, with a single nod, returned to the carvings.
“Fire shall awaken. The veil shall thin. The Guardian shall fall. The World Below shall rise. There shall be…”
“There shall be what?” I asked, so enthralled with what he was saying that I had to know what came next.
But that was not to be. Barney had just stopped. So, I stepped in and took over.
Looking closely, I countered, “You're reading it wrong.”
