The Crown's Fire - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: More Time
The moment they arrived at the cave, Tarah dismounted from Vulcan before proceeding to vomit all over the floor. More often than not, receiving visions that were currently happening on the spot would cause her to either vomit or pass out. And while both options were far from ideal, she was glad that she only got to empty her stomach instead of completely losing consciousness.

‘Based on what I saw earlier, Queen Dana should be here shortly,’ she thought to herself. ‘I still have some time to prepare myself.’

With the dragon still firmly under her control, she commanded it to keep still and be quiet while she did her best to compose herself. She didn’t want to look like she just vomited in front of royalty, after all, and she also wanted to be ready just in case things went wrong during the process.

Making sure that she was ready, she went on a short walk outside the cave just in case there was anything she missed in keeping themselves hidden. Then, after she was done, she went back to the cave just in time to see a teleportation portal hanging by the mouth of their shelter.

“They must be here already then,” Tarah muttered to herself as she observed the portal. “They just arrived based on how new the portal is…”

With hope blooming in her chest, Tarah entered the cave. There, she saw both Queen Dana and Wizard Lurio standing in front of the dragon. They were clearly observing for now, the two of them muttering to each other as if they already had an idea of what was happening.

“Ah, Your Majesty,” Tarah greeted as she greeted Queen Dana and wizard Lurio. “You both finally arrived.”

The Queen turned to her with a faint smile. “It would seem that you already expected our arrival,” she pointed out. “Is there something that you want to say?”

“Nothing at all,” Tarah smiled back. “I’m just hoping that my hunch is correct and that you two both have the solution to our problem.”

At her words, the Queen smiled back before showing her a glowing bluebell flower. “Mineah found Ezekiel’s spirit,” she explained with a hopeful smile. “She gave it to me just now, and hopefully, I’ll be able to fix the problem right here and now.”

“Indeed,” Wizard Lurio nodded in agreement. “Thankfully, we arrived in time to help His Highness to return to his true form.”

“I’m glad you two arrived safely,” Tarah sincerely bowed. “However, I do think that we shouldn’t waste any more time talking.”

“I agree. My son needs to be freed from this dragon’s clutches. I wouldn’t bear a second more seeing him like this,” Queen Dana firmly stated. “I shall see to the process of merging Ezekiel’s spirit back to him. In the meantime, make sure that I’m not interrupted.”

Both Tarah and Lurio nodded in acknowledgment before they both took their own respective spots by the mouth of the cave, leaving the queen on her own for now while they made sure that she would not be disturbed. Still, they weren’t far enough that they couldn’t see what was happening to the dragon. Currently, the Queen was waving the glowing flower over its head while muttering some kind of language, and they could only assume that the process was working.

“We can only hope from here, my lady,” Lurio reassured her as they watched from afar. “The queen might be far from her peak, but she’s still a powerful mage in her own right. We can trust in her for now.”

“You’re right,” Tarah nodded back. “It’s only a matter of time before Prince Ezekiel will be with us once again.”

Or at least, that was what she hoped. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that things were not going to go as smoothly as they all hoped. She didn’t see that far into her vision to know, but she just had a feeling for some reason.

“Something the matter?” Lurio asked, having seemingly noticed her apprehension.

“Nothing,” she quickly replied. “Well, actually, can I ask how you do your teleportation spell?”

“Oh? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to teach it to you.”

Smiling, Tarah quickly jotted down his answer in her journal. It would come in handy in the future. Of that she was sure-

“U-UGH!”

Both Tarah and Lurio were alerted by Queen Dana’s pained grunts. Moving quickly, they both returned to the queen’s side, only to see her already slumped down on the ground, her strength having left her with nothing to show for it.

“What happened, Your Majesty?” Lurio quickly asked while looking over the queen for any injuries. “Are you hurt?”

“N-nothing of the sort… Just a small backlash…” the queen reassured them both. “I… I wasn’t strong enough to hold down Vulcan’s soul…”

“How? You were strong enough to bind it before, right?” Tarah couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m not as strong as I was back then,” the queen sighed as she pulled herself back up. “I could’ve done it easily before. But now… I suppose that age has finally caught up to me…” She then turned to the dragon and bowed her head. “I’m sorry, my son…”

Tarah felt her heart sink. So this was what she was feeling bad about. She thought that Ezekiel would finally return to them, only for Queen Dana to fail…

“What now?” she hesitantly asked. “Are we supposed to just give up?”

“Not yet,” the Queen quickly stated. “There’s still a way. I might not be strong enough anymore, but my daughter should be able to complete the process.”

Once again, Tarah felt hope bloom within her. Queen Dana’s daughter… It wasn’t Queen Xenia knowing that she was far from being inclined with magic, which meant that the older woman was talking about…

“Queen Mineah…” Tarah whispered aloud and right then another vision appeared before her eyes.

“That’s right,” Dana nodded. “For now, let me rest. We’ll get through this problem in the end. We just need more time to get all the right pieces together.”