Free The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) by Traci Harding

evacuation! I felt the sensation of panic and a great urgency to scale the stone stairs beneath my feet. When I reached the top of the stairway, I entered the shrine of the great Ibis via an opening in the floor where the huge stone altar should have been. The huge, heavy block was floating directly overhead. Four older women, also dressed in scarlet, were focused intently upon the boulder and it was they who held it aloft. The last woman in the procession was not far behind me and in our wake the great stone altar was lowered to the ground to conceal the temple entrance.
    Without the sacred food the altar cannot be moved…the Key to Amenti is safe. I was deeply comforted by this knowledge.
    No sooner was the great altar in place than a horde of warriors came screaming down the corridor of the Ennead towards us—to my great horror, they were not human! Their eyes glowed yellow and their skin was scaled and green, like demonlizards. Several of the invaders grabbed hold of me and forced me to the ground. The serpent comb was ripped from my hair by one of my attackers, to be kept as a memento of the day’s conquest.
    At the sound of ripping fabric, I swiftly placed the comb back on the table, to escape witnessing the rape and murder of the priestesses of Ur by thesub-human creatures. Was it a nightmare I had perceived from the comb, I wondered. I couldn’t comprehend how the woman’s account could have been real. Still, if it was a true account of events, then there was a temple passage beneath the corridor of statues. And Levi’s dig team had just broken through the bricks that had once lined the floor of that same corridor. The fact sent waves of excitement surging through my body.
    I pondered the last thoughts of the young priestess: The Key to Amenti is safe . She had referred to the ‘sacred food’ required to levitate the altar; this ‘food’ was the Highward Fire-Stone. What, then, was the ‘key’ she was so concerned about protecting? And was it still buried beneath the ruined ziggurat?
    I looked up and caught Miss Koriche observing me from the other room.
    ‘Forgive my curiosity,’ she said, venturing back into the room I was occupying, ‘but what is your opinion on the comb?’
    I suspected that she was testing my ability to assess the piece. ‘I think this find could predate even the Larsa period. Was that your assessment, Miss Koriche?’
    ‘The symbol of the serpent eating its own tail was synonymous with the Dragon Court,’ Miss Koriche said. ‘In Egypt, the Dragon Court was established as a Pharaonic institution by Queen Sobeknefru of the Twelfth Dynasty in about 1785 BC, which is roughly where I estimate the Larsa period would fall.’
    ‘The Dragon Court?’ I asked curiously.
    ‘The Dragon Courts were academies dedicated to the teachings of Thoth, which existed from the time of King Raneb of the Second Dynasty, who isestimated to have reigned about 2800 BC. So, in reality, this hairpiece could have been fashioned anywhere in between.’ Miss Koriche confirmed my assessment.
    ‘The Dragon Court being an institution of the Dragon Queens?’ I hazarded a guess, my heart thumping in my chest as I made the connection.
    ‘Of course.’ Miss Koriche seemed stunned by the query.
    ‘Are you surprised by my knowledge or my interest?’ I smiled, hoping to set her at ease, as she obviously knew more about the Dragon Queens than I did.
    ‘Both!’
    ‘So who were the Dragon Queens?’ I put her on the spot with the question.
    Her reluctance to answer seemed to confirm she was hiding something. ‘I do not know very much about them,’ she stalled. ‘There are various theories…’
    ‘Such as?’
    ‘Well, the most popular theory is that the Dragon Queens were the female descendants of Cain, and, according to my translation of the text you read, the first of the Dragon Queens was—’
    ‘Luluwa,’ I said.
    ‘No,’ Miss Koriche corrected, ‘the royal line of Serpent Princes descended from