She smiled as she stood back and listened to the general snap off orders to get as much iron as they could collect.
That would help them.
She turned to Trevor. “Okay, that will give them a chance.”
He touched her cheek, “My goddess.”
She laughed, “No. you hellion. Come on, the Queen calls.”
They shifted in and found all the Royals gathered with the two Queens in what had been set up as a war room.
Three dimensional blueprints of Morrigu’s Castle had been laid out on the long dark oak table and everyone stood staring down at them as Deimne shifted into the chamber.
A flick of his wrist produced yet another blueprint only he did not set it down, but raised it to eye level for contemplation.
“Why has Pestale enlarged the dungeon from its original size? It extends into a tunnel of sorts that was not there before,” Trevor pointed out.
“An escape route for his non-shifters?” Jazz asked.
“No, my love. I don’t see an exit,” Trevor said thoughtfully.
Breslyn said grimly, “I don’t like this. What can he be planning?”
Radzia walked around the lifelike prints, hands on her hips, “what is that huge gold chain thing for?” She pointed. “There…in the wall of the tunnel.”
Aaibhe turned to Mab who shook her head and said, “It is impossible to see into the mind of a deranged Dark Fae, for Pestale is no more than that.”
“With all due respect Queen Mab, I disagree,” Jazz answered while frowning. “To allow ourselves to fall into the trap of underestimating Pestale simply because he is evil would be a mistake.” She shook her head. “If he has enlarged the original dungeon, Pestale must has a very good reason. It is important to remember that while we may not understand his line of thinking, he is very clever.”
Jazz stood back and Trevor ran a hand down her back as they waited for the Queen to speak. Aaibhe looked at Mab who looked concerned, but folded her hands together and nodded her head for Aaibhe to proceed. “What do you think he could possibly want to use this new alteration of the castle dungeon for?”
“To house something he needs,” Breslyn said thoughtfully.
“Indeed. That may be so, my Prince, but what?” Aaibhe said.
“Pestale has had a long time to gather his trinkets—artifacts that belonged to the Dark King. I am new to all of this and can only imagine how powerful those artifacts are. You, my Queens,” Jazz said careful to give them both their due, “would know what the Dark King had in his possession and perhaps left behind for his Princes to find. We can only speculate what Pestale means to do with those artifacts. We do have to be ready to counteract anything he throws at us. The fact that he has some gold chain in a tunnel adjacent to a dungeon that he had enlarged has to worry us,” Jazz concluded.
“He means to capture something—someone and hold them there, but why enlarge the tunnel? All the Royal Seelie could have fit in the original dungeon,” Trevor mused.
“The gold chain is key. I know of no gold chain that ever was used to control or trap a Royal Seelie. There is nothing in our past to…” Breslyn mused more to himself than to anyone.
Aaibhe gasped and all eyes centered on her as she spoke. “I remember the story of the Dark King and Queen Bridget.” She looked at Deimne. “When the Gorka tore through Danu skies and we lost so many.”
Deimne frowned. “The Gorka was captured and taken to a secret location while we still had our Danu. The dimension that holds the beast was created by Queen Bridget and the Dark King before their final falling out.” He shook his head. “How would Pestale know of it? How?”
“Because at one time,” Z said, “when I was in the Dark Realm I learned how he was a welcome son at the Retreat the Dark King kept with Crystal—before he tried to seduce his father’s woman.” She shrugged. “Who knows what he learned during those early years.”
“Yes, but I doubt that the Dark King would have told him where the Gorka was kept. He always understood the importance of that secret. Even I do not know where they located the Realm that holds the Gorka,” Aaibhe said thoughtfully.
“But my cousin, I remember stories about a gold chain created from a spelled chalice and Danu dust…” Mab interjected.
All conversation ceased as the implication of this was driven home.
“Pestale means to capture the Gorka and bring it here to the Human Realm,” Deimne breathed in horror.
“To set it upon us, to destroy all the Royals,” Aaibhe said grimly and turned to Mab. “We must retire immediately and find a way to spell an artifact just as Queen Bridget did.”
“We can’t do it without the Danu Dust or the Twalla,” Mab said. “The Gorka was impervious to most of our magic.”