Chapter 55: What Remains

[Eleanora].

I never thought I'd be reduced to this.

The first noble house that took us in was generous enough, but it soon proved to be their folly when within a week their home was reduced to rubble. A human slave having recognized us for who we are reported to the local rebellion leader and we watched in terror as a sun pattern was burned into their fields only to spread to their home and livestock. The dragons made it out okay. We are still not sure how many humans, cattle, or other beasts remain.

The second house to take us in faced a similar fate, only their master was also killed, their neck sliced in the night much like Prince Primus had suffered. The humans responsible killed themselves before we could question them.

After that, nobody else would take us in. None of the other royal houses wanted anything to do with a queen who brought fire and chaos in her wake. The Queen of Luxandra can demand hospitality from any house in the kingdom, but with our numbers diminished, without the help of the council, we are just another group of displaced nobles. Not even my father will allow me to return home, even though I carry the next heirs to the Luxandrian throne in my womb.

This is why I am bowing before them, exhausted, begging the council for a chance at even a taste of my previous power.

"You will need to be examined first of course," they insist. "To ensure that your clutch is viable, strong, and...untainted."

Standing proudly, I hold my head high and say in a strong, clear voice. "I carry within me the body royal. I fear no test you may bring, but know that I will also not suffer any unnecessary indignity." Staring at each one in the eye, I remind them of my dominance. I am in control. I am still queen.

"Careful Lady Eleanora, you overstep." the Council leader, an old sea drake reprimands me as he leans back on his seat of stone. "There are other fine ladies and other avenues we can pursue. Do not presume to tell us how to do our work."

"I am still Queen of Luxandra," I remind them all.

"Only if we will it," an old hawk of a drake sneers from his corner. "And only until your sons are born."

And then I won't be needed.

Bowing deeply, I take my usual, demure stance and beg their forgiveness for my overstep, redeclaring my devotion and loyalty to the council in all things.

Satisfied, the motioned for the nurse to come forward to begin the examination.

"Won't I be taken to another room," I ask timidly as the nurse unclasps my tunic. Placing my hands over my breast, I barely keep the fabric from falling around my ankles."

"We need to be sure that the examination is done properly," the lead councilman insists. "So we must all watch."

I open my mouth to protest, but I know that if I do I could be punished and any chance of regaining any privileges I had before will be lost. Just because I carry the heirs doesn't mean I get to do so with dignity. The only thing keeping them from harvesting these eggs and hatching them like a common sun dragon in an incubator is that they have enough respect for my family not to treat me like a common broodmare.

I am stripped down and the nurses check my openings to make sure that the womb is properly sealed. They then use their wands to poke and prod, getting a final count and determining the heritage of the eggs.

"5 eggs in all, a large and healthy clutch," they announce. "Not a single celestial in the bunch. All of good Terran stock."

"Five," one of the councilmen notices. "Is your family usually known for large clutches?"

"Sometimes," I guess. I honestly have no idea. I was one of two. "Why?"

"It's just that the Majere line usually doesn't lay more than two or three at a time," he smirks. "It's one of the reasons we encouraged King Maximus to try as many females as he could to extend his line. His wife never carried more than two, and there were many miscarriages."

"I must be exceptionally strong then," I hold my head a little higher. "To have such a big and strong clutch."

The council agreed to restore some of my privileges as Queen Mother of the next King of Luxandra. This afforded me income and comfort, as well as land of my own to tend until Imperial City could be rebuilt. "A quiet place" for me to brood, lay, and hatch my eggs, removed from most of the world.

"You'll be returning to your husband's duchy, Skyfall."

And so what remained of the court took up residency here, with a small contingent of council guards to augment what remains of my royal guard to keep me and my clutch safe. I am still several weeks away from laying, so it will be months yet before we will be free to move from here, that is if the castle is rebuilt in time for us to move back home.

Unfortunately, Skyfall was little more than cobwebs and dust. It has been abandoned since before the Skyfell War, and after it was discovered that Prince Primus had hidden his bride here to birth her brood, all of the staff had been removed and the site cleared.

It is as good a place as any to lick our wounds until we can come back stronger and take back what belongs to us. It just needs a bit of work.

"My Queen," Athony bows before me.

"Captain," I invite him to speak, waiting to hear whatever news he has from the old castle. What remains of my guard have been searching the rubble, looking for any remains of The Technician, my husband, Prince Primus, and Queen Carnelia.

"We found something, your grace. Are you," he looks at my stomach and then looks away quickly as if seeing me this way hurts, "Are you feeling well enough to fly."

He has been so cautious around me since that one night we shared as mates. He was never granted that right again, and over the last few weeks, learned to look away when spoken to and not take any liberties from me. He knows that if anyone even suspects that this clutch belongs to anyone but Segundus, our lives will be forfeit.

However, nothing I say or do can keep him from being protective of me like a drake waiting for his firstborn. It doesn't matter to him that these babies cannot be his, he still responds like a drake worried about his children, hiding it underneath concern for his queen.

"I can fly on my own," I insist, but he sees me wobble forward and scoops me into his arms.

"Let me help you," his eyes glow possessively before he remembers himself. Schooling his face into more of a blank expression, he lifts off with me in his arms, ignoring my protests.

Setting down in a field within the shadow of the great tree, he sets me down near a pile of burnt and melted rubble, including what looks like a strange, metal frame.

"What am I looking at?" I wonder aloud, waiting for one of my knights to explain.

"This," Athony holds up a piece of charred and twisted metal, "is all we found in the place where The Technician's workroom once was. It seems that the fire burned the hottest there, most likely because of all of the dangerous things inside." Athony explains. "Nothing else remains. No bodies. No containment tubs. It's almost as if it never existed."

"And the other thing I asked you to look into," I ask indirectly about Segundus' chamber, which had been stored away separately and was known to only myself, The Technician, and the captain of my guard.

"Gone."

The word hit me like a stone, stunning me into silence.

"Gone?" Maybe I heard him wrong.

"As if never there," he nods, "Like everything else."

I take deep, even breaths, trying to regain control as my mind spirals into a panic.

This can't be happening. I've lost the king. Worse, it's like he was stolen away.

Taken.

"And what do you think this might be?" I turn the twisted metal in my hands, trying to piece together what I am looking at.

"We can't be sure," he admits. "But it was in the Technician's sleeping quarters. Maybe a piece of the bed?"

The thick flattened metal extends out into 5 branches, each of those branches with several joints.

Like a hand.

Lifting my hand to the framework of what remains, I realize it is close to the same size.

"If I'm not mistaken," I surmise, "This is what remains of The Technician. Or at least, that's what it wants us to think."

The Technician is clever. But not clever enough.

"This is a trick, a decoy," I announce bitterly as I throw the framework to the ground. "The Technician must be out there somewhere."

"Find it, trap it, and bring it back here," I demand, turning towards my guard. "And when we do, we'll find what remains of what had been hidden."

"As you wish, My Queen," Athony bows, and the rest follow his lead.