The wait is over! Here it is peeps, the Prologue for the final book in the APK series! I know it is a little short but I hope you enjoy it and I hope it gives you some answers, (but not too many.) 

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Happy reading!!
Lots of Love as always,
Daisy xxx

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ARANEL

We are nearly there, Nelonimi. Be careful.

I clutched the precious bundle closer to my heart, feeling the smooth surface with my finger-tips. The air was cool as we flew, the sky a dark grey. I checked behind us again, paranoid that we were being followed but there was no one there.

I had not stuck around long enough to see the result of the sacrifice as much as I wanted to watch the traitor burn, the time that it offered for a clean getaway was too tempting not to take. I knew what would happen and knew that it would go smoothly, there would be no surprises, none that Zalas couldn't handle anyway. 

We had been travelling for a long time now. It was important to take a different route than normal so that we were able to shake my Brother if he decided to come after us. Part of me wanted him to. Part of me also wanted him to disappear off the face of the earth. It would make everything so much easier. I couldn't help but look over my shoulder again. He would know. He would know that I took the egg, how could he not? The traitor was no longer alive, there was no-one else for me to hide behind.

I wondered if he had told my Mother yet that it was missing, Unabonan knew, surely. And if Unabonan knew, the Dragon King knew, which meant my Mother would know also. I ran a hand through my hair. I had been aware it would be complicated, but at the time I had been so focused on carrying the plan through that I hadn't had a moment to think, a moment to analyse the enemies that we would be making. 

I glanced down at the precious egg that I held in my grasp and wondered at it's beauty. The relief that we had felt upon obtaining it at the Water Kingdom was immense. I had worried for its safety after I had first planted it on the traitor's ship; all it would have taken was for its hiding place to be discovered ... I shuddered.

There is no need to worry now Princess, Nelonimi's voice was calm. Everything worked out according to plan and the traitor paid fully for the crime that his Father committed. 

"I cannot believe that he was going to be pardoned." I said out loud. "Thank the Gods that Mother told me when she did, otherwise we would not have had time to formulate a plan before they left at the Air Kingdom, and then what would we have done?"

Hush now, remember that the traitor was still responsible for the fate of the Earth Kingdom. The Elven King would have dealt to him accordingly. And as for your other worries, there is no need, the plan will work, we have allies, we have a strategy, the hardest thing will be staying off the radar and so far we are succeeding at that as well.

You are right of course, I thought fondly. What would I ever do without you?

Nelonimi's internal voice was tender. We would be lost without each other Aranel.

"Indeed we would," I murmured. "Indeed we would."

*

The sky had turned black with night by the time we arrived. Scraggly rocks stretched down below us, mere shadows in the darkness but our trained eyes picked out the patch of deeper black where the rock split in two, forming a deep crevice that extended down below the water for hundreds of miles.

With precision we dove down and swooped into the crack, leaving the last of the light behind us. I trusted in Nelonimi's fantastic eyesight to keep us safe as gradually my eyes adjusted and the darkness lit up with the millions of glow bugs that made this place their home. High above us, the black sky was only a shade lighter than the rock around us and I shivered as I pushed away the tendrils of claustrophobia that crept their way delicately into my mind.

We flew a little further until the black water below us was replaced with rough wooden boards and we landed, Nelonimi's talons clicking on slippery surface.

"Light the torches."

Obediently she opened her jaws and a red flame poured forth, setting alight the torches that had been invisible before. In front of us, the wooden planks stretched out further into the crevice and in response to the light a muffled moaning echoed out through the cool night air.

Ignoring the sounds, I moved over to the left wall and tapped against the rock. There was a pause and then a grating sound. A door slid open in front of me and turned back to Nelonimi.

"Wait for me," I commanded. "I won't be long."

Taking the egg with me, slipped inside and the door shut behind me with a crunch. The cavern was warm and lit with torches. The interior consisted of a bed, a couch, a large bookshelf and a small kitchen.

"Keeping it tidy I see," I said casually.

"Did you bring me anything?"

The boy that stepped out of the shadows behind me was tall, his blonde hair messy on his head. I turned to him and his cold blue eyes met my white ones.

"As planned, I have brought the egg to you." I held the egg out and he gently took it in his arms, but his eyes never left my face. 

"What now?"

"Keep it safe. It will hatch in time, and when it does I want the Dragon to be kept here. This is crucial Tobias." My eyes narrowed. "We need this dragon on our side if we are to even attempt to carry out our plan."

He looked up at me. "I understand Aranel, we have spoken about this many times." Moving over to the fireplace he set the egg down in a basket lined with blankets. I smiled; he had been waiting for this for a while now.

He turned back towards me with expectation in his eyes and I moved over to him, reaching up to touch his cheek. "I was worried for you," He said, his cold blue eyes softening slightly.

"You needn't have been."

"This is dangerous territory that you are entering now Aranel. Your Brother won't go down without a fight. There is a difficult road ahead, you have already lost the trust of many important people in order to obtain the egg."

"I know that, but nothing can ever be gained if you don't fight for it. And when he is gone, I will be the only heir. You realise that don't you? You realise what that means?"

Our lips touched softly. "I do," He whispered. "But I worry that it won't matter if your Mother finds out too much." 

"She will be so blinded by hatred that she will accept me back with open arms. Family is family after all, and royals are not simply replaced." I said confidently. 

"If you say so,"

"I am doing this for you as well you know," I murmured. "I am hungry for your revenge, just as much as I am for my own."

"I know,"

"Once I am Queen I will declare war on the Water Kingdom and your Mother will pay for her choices, that is if my own Mother doesn't get there first."

He kissed my forehead. "I am counting on it, I will owe you everything and I already do. But Aranel, I have to ask. What are we going to do about my siblings?"

I smiled. "Circe is broken. Without her precious Obsidian Bones," I sneered at the name, "She is nothing. She won't fight us, she won't even see it coming. And as for your brother," I trailed off for a moment as I looked up into his face, a face that had become so familiar to me, but not for the normal reasons. "Although we failed to capture him, Nathaniel will not be a problem. He is weak willed and weak minded. Soft." I spoke the words and I tried to convince myself they were true. 

Tobias nodded. "Good. Although you must promise me that he will come to no harm. I must meet him first and try to sway his alliance. Family is family after all." He quoted me, but his face was stern and determined, so different to his brother yet so similar, it confused my heart and I had to look away.

I thought of Nathaniel, his kindness and his love for his sister, his smile and his sweet face. The words were on my tongue but I could not speak them. Nathaniel would never join us once he found out. The Nathaniel that I knew would sooner die than betray Circe, no matter what state she was in. But I couldn't tell Tobias that. Instead I turned back towards him and touched his face, smiling slightly.

"I am sure that he will feel the same way Tobias. I am sorry I failed to bring him to you before."

"You didn't fail, Aranel, the failure was my own. That I wasn't ready to do it myself." He moved towards the door then and grunting, shifted it out of the way. The cool air rushed in, making me shiver.

"Would you like to see him?"

I paused for a split second. "Alright, but only briefly, you know how it makes me feel."

"It wasn't you who captured them you know."

"I know, but I haven't released them either," I said bitterly. "It makes me just as bad."

"It's a sacrifice that needs to be made," Tobias said sombrely, pulling me close and kissing my hair as I walked by him. "If he were let out, our plan would be revealed and neither of us would get what we want."

"It kills me every time I look at my Mother, I hate keeping this from her."

"She thinks he is dead," We were walking towards the Nelonimi and the Dragon lifted her head from where it had been resting on the ground. "It would only hurt her more if she knew he was alive and anyway Aranel, you shouldn't be worried about hurting your Mother when soon you will be carrying out a plan that will hurt her far more."

The Boy is right Aranel.

I sighed and stroked Nelonimi's snout. "I know, I know."

"You aren't having second thoughts are you?"

"No," I snapped. "I'm not, let's get this over with."

The moaning echoed out from the darkness, louder than before and as I stepped down the dim passage my eyes took a moment to adjust.

On either side of the crevice, there were holding cells carved into the rock, with metal bars jammed in between the ground and the ceiling of each cell. I only wanted to look into one, just for a moment, just to make sure he was still alive.

The lighting of the torches barely stretched to touch the grubby figure that stood in at the back of cell, alerted to my presence no doubt. He moved forward as I drew closer, his cheeks gaunt, but his eyes as piercing as always. Those eyes haunted me with memories of my childhood, but I just couldn't let him out. I couldn't.

"Come to free me Princess?"

I cleared the sudden lump that I felt in my throat. "No Uncle."

Something flickered in his gaze then. Anger? Sadness? Disappointment?

"Uncle you have to understand-"

He turned his face away. "No, I don't have to do anything Aranel. I have heard about what you are planning far too many times to count. It is despicable. You should be so, so ashamed of yourself."

"If you would just agree to my terms I could let you out,"

He moved forward so quickly that I almost flinched but I managed to hold my ground at the last moment and stared back at him stonily. His hands clutched at the bars of his cell and I felt Tobias move closer to me.

"I will never agree to your terms. To do so would be to betray my race, my family, my beliefs, the one I love ..." He hissed venomously as he let go of the bars and stared down his nose at me. "You will never get away with this; it is a foolish plan child. My sister will never allow you to begin a war with the Water Kingdom, even if you do manage to become Queen."

I grimaced. "She might if a Water Kingdom citizen kills Zalas," I said grimly. "The death of the precious Dragon Prince ... an ugly stain on the record of the Water Kingdoms History, I bet that would be enough to start a war."

His face turned to stone. "No-one from the Water Kingdom is powerful enough to take down your brother apart from one of the Royals and Evangeline would never-"

"I wasn't thinking of her." I said grimly.

"Circe wouldn't-"

I laughed. "Obviously you aren't up to date Uncle. Your daughter just watched the one she loved burn to death in front of her eyes and with the death of the Elven King, guess who is the only other one left responsible? My lovely brother of course, and I would bet right now that she would give anything to see him burn in exactly the same way." I paused for a moment, "Even if she doesn't go through with it of course there is always a Plan B."

"What will you do," He whispered.

"I'll help her with it of course." Smiling brightly I stepped back from the cell. "Don't worry Uncle, I'll make sure Circe takes all the credit."

His eyes narrowed to slits. "What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you!" I shouted. "Don't you understand that? I didn't put you here! I didn't make this place!" I growled in frustration but tried to calm down. "You know this very well Uncle, Zeus Gold put you here and he did it because you got in the way. Just like if I let you out now, you will get in the way of what I want. So you can see that I don't really have a choice." My voice began to rise again, "If I had found you under different circumstances, if you hadn't learnt what I was planning before I had a chance to free you, it could be different! But it's not! It's your fault you can't mind you own goddamn business Uncle," My chest heaved as I finished, glaring at him with my fists clenched.

He didn't say anything but his look was enough and unable to hold his gaze any longer I turned my face away.

Tobias whispered in my ear then."Do you want to see the other one?"

The moaning that had been in the background during my conversation suddenly increased and I shook my head. "No, I cannot bear to look at his face."

Tobias nodded, his hand resting on my shoulder. "Very well, you should be going then."

"Remember Uncle, you are free to leave at any time, if you would just agree to my terms. Think about who you could be with right now."

"I would be betraying them in every second by withholding the truth. I could never do that to my family," He spat out.

I shrugged and turned away, my nonchalant words hiding the sadness in my heart. "Very well," I turned to Tobias. "I must go and gather some things. It is important that we stay quiet until the Dragon has hatched. It will not take long for it to grow and learn, when it is ready, then we will make our move." I kissed him briefly. "I will be back."

"And I will be waiting," He said softly, watching as I lifted myself onto Nelonimi's back and with a flap of her mighty wings, we disappeared into the night.

The banishment might be over, but the real war had just begun.

*