Page 106 of Triumph at Pemberley

“What excellent news!” Then reality came rushing back in. “We are not so fortunate here. In truth, we are packing up to leave Pemberley, because we are Napoleon’s next target. He has learned of the Nests here.” Her anger at Bingley still burned hot.

“Oh, no!” Frederica gasped. “Where will you go? What will you do? Oh, never mind all that. Perhaps this will help.” She picked up the satchel and held it out to Elizabeth.

Baffled, Elizabeth reached for it, but of course Hobbes was there first, grasping the bag for her. He might tolerate Frederica’s eccentricities, but allowing Elizabeth to carry luggage was clearly a step too far for him.

“No!” Frederica shrieked, just as the butler dropped the satchel as if it had burned him.

As apparently it had, given the way he was shaking his hand frantically.

Worried, Elizabeth asked, “Are you hurt?” What could have happened?

“It will go away in a minute or two,” Frederica said wearily, as if she had explained this many times. “You and I are the only ones who can hold it.”

Gingerly Elizabeth reached out a single finger and tapped the handle of the valise. When nothing happened, she placed her palm lightly on it. Only then did she grasp it and pick it up.

She laughed. “Oh, Frederica! How on earth did you stumble across an Artifact only we can touch?”

“A long story. And I am glad to finally have it in your custody! I am tired of having to carry it everywhere with me.” Frederica shook out her arms.

“What is it?” She dared not let her hopes rise.

“I will show you, but perhaps more privately.” Then she grinned, clearly excited for the prospect. “You might want to invite Cerridwen, too.”

Under Cerridwen’s watchful eye, Elizabeth set the satchel on a small table and opened it. It appeared to be full of fabric. She glanced up at Frederica.

With a flourish, Frederica pulled the wrappings off to reveal a small stone sculpture, no more than four inches high, with silver and onyx inlays. “This was stolen from the first Gate Opener, Iorweth the Bold, by the Wicked King. I wish I could be as clever with curses on his name as a dragon, since merely calling him wicked is truly insufficient! But here it is, the Artifact Iorweth used to open Gates.”

Stunned, Elizabeth could do nothing but stare. The missing Artifact! This could change everything.

She reached out to touch it, but Cerridwen nudged her hand away. The dragon leaned close and sniffed it, then tentatively touched it with a talon. “Yes,” she announced. “It smells of my bloodline.”

“Roderick says it was made by Taliesin the Seer. Are you not of his lineage?” Frederica asked.

“Indeed,” Cerridwen said absently, seeming absorbed in the Artifact.

Elizabeth studied it. “Iorweth’s journal speaks of using an arch for Gates. I have been trying to open a Gate through an archway. But this is also an arch. Could that be what he meant?”

“An arch,” Frederica said slowly. “Were those his exact words?”

“Let me check.” Elizabeth found the journal Roderick had translated for her and flipped it open. “No. It says he uses the arch. Perhaps he means this specific arch?”

Frederica said confidently. “He must. Anyone can make a mistake in English between ‘an arch’ and ‘the arch,’ but not in Welsh, where they have no word for ‘a’ or ‘an.’ Or for ‘no,’ either, but that is a different story! If you wanted an arch, you would say, ‘I want arch.’ So if Roderick translated it as ‘the arch,’ it means there is a particular arch. Which must be this one.”

Made by Taliesin the Seer for Iorweth the Bold, and now hers to use. With sudden decision, she reached out and grasped it with both hands. Power raced up her arms, circling within her before bonding deep in her bones.

Oh, yes. This Artifact was hers. She could feel it. Without looking away from her precious arch, Elizabeth said, “Cerridwen, pray tell Rana Akshaya I need to speak to her.”

In a newly hollowed-out room inside the new Nest, Elizabeth cradled the Artifact as she looked Rana Akshaya straight in the eye. Polite deflections never worked with the powerful dragon. “No. You may look at it, but I do not want anyone else touching it.”

Disapproval rolled off the great dragon in waves. “You wish me to risk myself and my Nest as you use it, without allowing me to examine it.”

If she expected Elizabeth to back down, she was in for a disappointment. The world’s only Gate-Opener need not answer to any dragon but her own, even if Rana Akshaya was the Eldest of Cerridwen’s new Nest. “I see no advantage to it, apart from satisfying your curiosity. I am the only one who can use it, assuming it does what we think. Quickthorn has already studied it, as has Cerridwen.”

“Then do it, Gate-Opener,” Rana Akshaya commanded. “Right there.” She pointed a talon towards one of the few undecorated walls remaining in the Pemberley Nest.

Cerridwen shook her head. “All the other Gates are in the middle of an open space. Otherwise someone who fails to go through would crash into the wall.”

Of course. Rana Akshaya had never been permitted inside the Dark Peak Nest because of their concern about security, so she would never have seen a permanent Gate before. In that, Elizabeth had more experience than she did.