Dragon's Retribution

Book 9 in the POWER Series...

True to his word, at exactly one hour prior to the wedding ceremony Kulnarik had delivered the Veemon Flynn to Lillian’s chambers, just as she had requested.

And the moment she sighted him standing there in the open doorway, Lillian suddenly felt a wave of excitement washing in over her.

At long last, things might go according to plan.

With freshly bandaged wounds and dressed in a dapper red suit, Flynn looked incredible as he smiled and stepped in through the open doorway to join the young Queen.

“Wow Flynn, you look amazing.” Lillian complimented from where she was standing in the centre of the room as Sally and several other slaves fussed over her costume.

She too was all done up for the ceremony in a brilliantly vibrant gold and crimson gown made of silk and lace that made a statement of its own.

It had long golden lace sleeves, a jewel encrusted boddice made entirely of glistening rubies and her skirt cascaded down across the floor in an endless silken waterfall.

It was far too much for Lillian’s own taste, though she chose not to mention this for fear of enraging Kulnarik right before they could even begin to set their plan in motion.

And now that they had come together like this, they would do exactly that.

Flynn crossed the length of the room to come and stand before his Queen as the chamber doors were promptly closed and locked behind them.

“And you… Your Highness, words cannot describe just how radiant you look.” he remarked in awe.

Lillian blushed, smiling.

“It’s a bit too much for me.” she admitted.

“I think Kulnarik’s gone a bit overboard, personally. Still, soon it won’t matter, right?”

Flynn smiled and gave a nod, “Right.”

The Veemon then turned to look at Sally who met his gaze with instant understanding.

“Sally, give us the room?” Flynn suggested.

Smiling, Sally gave a knowing nod as she then began ushering the other slaves out of Lillian’s chambers one by one, until it was just Lillian and Flynn who remained.

And as soon as they were alone, Flynn started going over what he would need to do in order for them to attempt their escape before the ceremony, just as they had planned.

To refresh their memories in a way.

“Once we are invisible, I’ll begin creating the clones of us who will take our place throughout the wedding ceremony, while in the meantime we focus on escaping.” he added.

Lillian frowned.

“This is all so confusing. Are you sure it’ll work?” she enquired cautiously.

“If we are caught, I can’t even imagine what Kulnarik might do to us. Especially to you.”

Flynn placed his hand upon her shoulder in reassurance.

“Relax, I’ve created clones of myself hundreds of times before. It’s a great way to create a distraction and mislead an opponent.” he admitted.

“And turning invisible is child’s play.”

Lillian still wasn’t sure.

“But won’t you be using up all your magic by doing this?” she asked.

“I can’t imagine that creating clones and turning two people invisible would be an easy task. What if you overexert yourself?”

Flynn smiled back at her, that smile he did to reassure and calm her.

“It’ll all work, I promise.” he admitted.

“The only concern we might have, is that the clone I make of you will not be able to communicate with words.”

“What!” Lillian sounded baffled to hear this.

“What do you mean it won’t be able to communicate with words? As in no talking at all?”

Flynn nodded his head.

“Unfortunately, yes. They are purely for show and not exactly designed with the ability to speak or think too much for themselves.”

Now Lillian looked concerned.

She shook her head in disagreement as he went on to try and convince her.

“It won’t matter if they can’t talk, Lillian. Trust me. Kulnarik thinks that you’re going through with the wedding willingly, right?”

Lillian thought for a moment before replying, “Right.”

“So, he probably won’t even bat an eyelash if the clone of you doesn’t speak. He’ll probably just assume you’re unhappy about the marriage and leave it at that. It only needs to work long enough so that we can sneak our way out of the palace, that’s all.” Flynn explained.

As much as she trusted her Veemon friend, Lillian still felt somewhat unsure about their plan.

There were too many ways for it to fail.

And if they were indeed caught, she knew that the consequences would be dire for them both.

“Come on, we have to begin the incantations for invisibility. We’re running out of time.” Flynn pointed out, gesturing for her to turn around and stand with her back facing his front.

And now standing behind her, Flynn placed both his hands onto either of her shoulders and closed his eyes, focusing on summoning up his powers to begin the invisibility incantation.

Once again using the portal stone to aid in their transportation, both Freya and her father Bailiin finally arrived at the Sun Temple where they had planned to meet up with the sorceress Elaina once more.

There was a lot to discuss, and they were quickly running out of time.

As soon as they arrived Elaina came out to greet them by the entrance to the temple.

She appeared somewhat shocked to see them so soon.

“What’s happened? Why have you returned?” she enquired right away.

Bailiin smiled as he came to greet her, with Freya following close behind.

“We have news to share about Lillian’s current situation.” he announced as Elaina began leading them on inside the temple to somewhere where they could talk.

“How is she?” Elaina sounded very interested in how her daughter was doing.

“I’ve been trying to contact her but it’s almost as if she’s been mystically blocked somehow. Perhaps it’s the necklace’s powers over her, I’m not entirely sure.”

“We understand.” Freya reassured.

“But I’m afraid that Lillian’s situation has become much worse. You see, she and the emperor are now officially engaged to one another.”

“What?” Elaina sounded outraged by this.

“You can’t be serious.”

“It’s true.” Bailiin joined in.

“The bastard intends on marrying her later today in an official ceremony before the people. It’s a situation that Lillian won’t be able to escape I’m afraid.”

“We can’t allow that to happen.” Elaina protested.

“There must be something we can do to prevent the wedding from happening.”

“Draxus has already travelled to the Imperial Palace with plans to crash the wedding. We intend on joining him once we’ve finished here but we might need another portal stone from you.” Freya explained, holding up the one they had used up until now.

It was cracked and chipped away, looking a little worse for wear.

“Another portal stone, sure.” Elaina agreed as she then began leading them down one of the many winding hallways inside the temple.

“Hurry, come this way.”

Lillian stood in utter amazement as she stared at herself in the mirror.

Or rather, at the lack of a reflection.

“This is remarkable, Flynn.” she announced, moving around to see if she could see anything in the mirror’s reflection as she did so.

“Can anyone see us?”

Flynn shook his head as he gave his reply, “No, only you or I can see one another. I’ve made it that way.”

“Simply incredible… so what are you doing now?” she asked.

“I’m creating our clones.” he explained.

“First I’ll create yours as she’ll have more detail.”

Closing his eyes, he focused his energy upon the formation of the first clone as planned and before her very eyes, Lillian witnessed a copy of herself being created out of thin air.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

She watched on as the clone’s hair formed along with all the same jewelled trinkets sticking out of it.

And the clone’s gown formed slowly over the clone’s body, cascading down towards the floor as the sleeves simultaneously slid out over each of its arms.

She couldn’t believe it!

And after a minute or two, Flynn had done it; he had successfully created a clone of her.

Opening his eyes, the Veemon then took a moment to collect himself before he would then attempt to create his own clone.

Lillian in the meanwhile made her way over to stand before the clone, looking her dead in the eye as she waved her hand in front of the clone’s face.

“Can she see me?” she asked.

Flynn chuckled.

“You’re finding this fun, aren’t you?” he enquired, lifting his left brow at her.

“It’s a little intriguing, I’ll admit.” she replied.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. And it’s so detailed… so lifelike. It’s really remarkable.”

“Alright, now it’s my turn.” the Veemon announced, then proceeding to close his eyes and focusing on the formation of the second clone.

He had to hurry.