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Tessa
I'd been so dead to the world after everything that had happened that Kai had carried me back to the room and cleaned me up while I was half asleep, as well as had to explain to the others exactly what Timmon had pulled with the wedding ceremony. All of which I slept through.
Dawn had barely even broken when the priestess was knocking at our door. In a way, I was glad for it because it meant we were up and out before anybody even suspected anything.
I wasn't sure how far against Timmon's plan the priestess was going, but I wanted her to be safe, and the safest thing for her was to get this done as quickly as possible. The walk was longer than I had expected, and our entire group was silent. Even the priestess only occasionally looked back at me.
Finally, her curiosity became too much at some point, and she asked, "How do you know you're the key?"
Instead of answering her directly, I replied, "What do you know about the caretakers?"
Her brow furrowed slightly before she said, "I know that they're the guardians of the realms that, according to someone who saw your outburst at the dinner the other night, they are being slaughtered. Is that right?"
I nodded silently.
She shook her head sadly before she continued, "They're the keepers of magic. Without them, we have nothing."
It was exactly what I had needed to hear to convince me that if anybody was going to appreciate the dragons that I had living under my skin, it was her. Silently, I removed the bands on my arms as I mentally asked my fire dragon if he wanted to come out since removing the band on my leg wasn't feasible, given the pants I was wearing.
Unless I wanted to strip down in the middle of the forest, that is. Which I didn't. Especially not a forest where I didn't know which plants might kill me.
The three of them burst forth, spreading their wings and looking like jewels amidst the greenery of the forest. The dragon from Atlantis had never appeared so blue, so bright, and my dragon from Hyperborea was even more ethereal than I remembered. My fire dragon was too similar to the land he came from, and when he swooped around, it looked like he was hoping to find a battle on the outside.
The priestess gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, then her chest, just over her heart, covering each. "By the Maker," she whispered, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
All three came and perched on me, with my dragon from Atlantis landing on top of my head of all places, and the other two on each of my shoulders. "You see, I've been successful in obtaining the stones from the other three realms, and when I did, each one gifted me with a dragon that lives within me. The marks you had previously seen on my skin were evidence that they were there." Her awe at seeing the three dragons gave me hope that I'd made the right decision to show her.
"Were the other stones difficult to obtain?" she asked as she tentatively reached out to touch one of them. The dragon from Atlantis was by far the friendliest, and he leaped forward off my head, making me wince before he landed on her arm. "They're real." She spoke so quietly that I almost missed it, and if I hadn't been looking, I wouldn't have seen her wiping the tears away from her eyes either.
"The stones were difficult to get, yes. Each one presented its own challenge. Each one tried to kill me in its own way, and even though the challenge may have been obvious at first, it was never as easy as it might have seemed from the outside. I'm sure the stone from Agartha will be no different."
I was surprised when Kai spoke, "Timmon alluded to the fact that the vegetation around the stone was poisonous. Some of the deadliest that Agartha has to offer."
The priestess nodded slowly. "I'm not sure how you're going to reach it, but I can show you where it is." She hadn't taken her eyes off my little blue dragon, who seemed to be loving the extra attention.
"I appreciate that. After that, you should leave in case Timmon realizes what's happening. If he really had no intention of showing us where the stone was, then I don't want you to get in trouble." A tightness formed in my chest at the idea of this woman being punished for helping me.
"I appreciate that." The priestess bowed her head slightly. "But it's long past due when I should have stood up to him. He's held this realm in a brutal, bloody grip for too long, and to my shame, I have stood by and watched it happen, not feeling as though I had the power to stop it. Standing by idly made me just as guilty. When he started the rumors that the key would want to take over the realm and control it, she wasn't to be trusted since you were a person and not an object...I knew then he was more power-hungry than I ever dreamed. He would never willingly let Agartha out of his grip again. He had fought so hard to win it from the queen. He looked at his victory as everlasting instead of doing what was best for the people."
"Still, I've seen a fraction of what he's capable of, and I don't wish that for you."
"Thank you." She nodded once more. "We're here."
I frowned in confusion since it just looked like we were standing amidst a bunch of trees; not surprising since we were in Agartha, but still. As she indicated, the tree that she was talking about. I realized it was massive, much bigger than the other trees surrounding it. Not only that but there was, in fact, a hole going through the center of it.
The gap was filled with plants. Vines crept over the entrance, and it was hard to tell it was even there. It was only because I could see daylight coming from the other side through the breaks in the leaves that I realized there was a hole.
"Do you know for sure that the stone is in there?" Finn asked, looking skeptical.
"The vines weren't always there. According to our histories, people used to try and take the stone, like they were King Arthur and it was the sword. It seems that people believed that if they could extract it from the tree, they were the one prophesied to save the realms. So the tree became defensive. The stone itself is green and has what I believe are supposed to be gold lines going through it or something like that." My eyebrows rose as she spoke, so she explained, "We have illustrations in some of our history books from when it was visible."
"Thank you. I really appreciate what you've done today. You've helped me and probably helped save millions of lives." I gave her the warmest smile I could to let her know just how sincere I was.
"You're most welcome. You should have been treated with more respect since you arrived, and I'm sorry for what my realm has done. Please know that we are not all like this." I wasn't sure if it was the slight sensitivity I'd gained after Hyperborea, but I could swear that the shame was radiating from her.
I wanted her to feel better, so I said, "Every realm has had bad apples. It's not just Agartha." Without warning, my dragons all flew back to me, embedding themselves in me once more, which made me sigh with relief. Until we were safe, I hated when we were separated, even if it was only by inches.
She nodded, but there was still a sadness in her that I hated. Still, I didn't want to delay any more than necessary. I'd barely even taken a few steps toward the stone when I heard a twig snapping behind me.
