Page 7 of Triumph at Pemberley

She did not want to die. Nor did she want to have to face Napoleon, either in his mortal form or as a mad dragon, but she wanted to save her daughter even more. She would give more than her life for Jenny’s sake.

So she would keep trying because there was no other choice. Settling herself before the arch, she laid a hand on the ground and let her Talent sink deep into the earth. Down past the roots of gorse and heather, beyond the layers of bedrock below them, into that powerful place where she could perceive fuzzy lines of power running off into the cloudy distance, lit by occasional brighter sparks. She floated there, the power of the foundations throbbing through her. That dangerous, immeasurable force capable of destroying everything around her.

Taking great care, she pulled the power up through the land and into the sunlight, letting it expand to fill the arch. It flowed through her hands into the stone floor, making it hot under her fingers.

Then she imagined a door filling the arch – and opened it.

Air swirled around her, hot and cold at once, redolent of something metal and humid. Everything beyond the arch was blurry, lacking completely in form. She tried to grasp onto it, the sense of strangeness, but it poured away like water through a sieve, back down into the foundations, taking all her energy with her.

It was gone. There was nothing beyond the arch but the dark cave. The odd metallic scent lingered.

“Better,” Rana Akshaya said judiciously. “You reached a different place. Where was it?”

Elizabeth blinked, her eyelids feeling heavy. “Nowhere in particular. I was thinking about the foundations.”

“You must try it again,” the dragon said. “This time with an image in your mind, holding the vision of it clear.”

“But where? Would it not be dangerous?” The places she could picture in the most detail were ones she would never want to see destroyed.

A puff of smoke came from the great dragon’s nostrils. “I will give you a picture.”

“Perhaps next time. That was exhausting.”

Without asking permission, Rana Akshaya touched Elizabeth’s cheek with an enormous talon. Good heavens, it was practically as big as her head! From it came a vision, a remarkably detailed one of a large, windowless room with elaborately decorated walls. By the style of it and the number of dragons depicted in the artwork, it was likely somewhere in India and inside a dragon Nest.

Then heat poured from the talon, scouring her clean from the inside. A bright light filled her with strength and a sense of well-being. Just like the first time Rana Akshaya had given her energy, long ago at Netherfield.

Apparently Rana Akshaya was not accepting her refusal to continue. Her overbearing ways could be frustrating, and so unlike the English dragons. Sometimes it seemed as if she thought they were all her servants, both the mortals and the dragons.

If Cerridwen had not made it clear they needed her knowledge, Elizabeth would have rebelled.

But Rana Akshaya was the Eldest of Cerridwen’s new Nest, and as such deserved respect. Even when Elizabeth did not feel respectful.

At least now Elizabeth was brimful of magical force, more than she had started with. It was almost frightening how strong Rana Akshaya’s magic was.

She straightened and said, “Very well. I will try.” This time she placed her hand on the arch before letting her Talent drop down into the foundations.

She kept Rana Akshaya’s vision in her mind as she drew up the foundations, forcing herself to focus as she opened the imaginary door.

The archway filled with sparkling air. Just like the Gate she had gone through in France.

Astonished, she stepped closer to the arch, careful to keep at least a foot away. A waft of warm, dry air caressed her cheeks, and she could smell sandalwood. Elizabeth took a deep breath of it, staring in shock. Had she actually managed to create a gate half-way around the world? And without destroying everything around her?

Something flew from behind her. A scroll, tied to a silver ring, passed through the Gate and disappeared.

Startled, Elizabeth lost her connection to the foundations. The sparkles melted away and vanished.

But she had done it, even if only for a minute! She had created a Gate opening all the way at the other end of the empire. Or at least it had gone somewhere, since the scroll had vanished.

This was more than any human should be able to manage. It sent shivers through her skin. Even Cerridwen was radiating wordless shock.

Rana Akshaya’s aura, though, was replete with satisfaction – and hunger for more. “Well done. Once you have recovered, we will repeat the experiment to learn if it worked. If my letter went through, there should be a reply.”

“Next time, pray warn me you are planning to throw something,” Elizabeth said acidly. “It broke my concentration.”

“Or it might have distracted you to know my plan. But you did well.”

Elizabeth would have appreciated the rare praise more, except soon she would have to do it again.