The young woman raised an eyebrow for a moment before retaining her look of indifference.
“My name is Eloise.”
“That is such a pretty name, and I love your nails,” Damselfly blurted out.
“Quite,” Eloise snipped.
“Can we enter?” Damselfly posed.
“Don’t you know?” Eloise accused. “Only those who possess magic can get through the barrier; it is the only way in.”
“Oh, but we can’t do magic,” Damselfly fretted.
“Oh no.” Eloise made a face. “Then I guess you won’t be coming in.”
“Buttons was brought to life by magic,” Damselfly revealed.
The rabbit swelled up with pride, pulling his waistcoat tight against his protruding stomach that was currently rumbling with hunger.
“He is rather unusual.” Eloise emphasised the last word cruelly.
“Please let us in. My mother is dying and the Matriarch is the only person who can help us,” Damselfly pleaded.
“And just who told you that?”
“Uriel.”
The name had a profound effect on Eloise, whose serenity was completely broken as her face twisted in real concern. She seemed about to speak before changing her mind and creating a gap in the magic barrier.
“Come through, quickly now,” she instructed.
Eloise strode purposefully across the square, forcing Damselfly and Buttons to practically run to keep up. They approached a grand building in the north-east corner where a large oak door had been intricately decorated with moon and stars.
Eloise struck several of the stars in a specific pattern to announce their arrival. Damselfly wondered what would happen if someone knocked without knowing the right combination. The door swung open almost instantly, revealing a beautiful sorceress with fine silver hair, kind green eyes and an aura of authority.
“What is it, my dear?”
“Matriarch, this child claims to have spoken with Uriel,” Eloise reported.
For the first time the Matriarch noticed her guests. She looked at them curiously and Damselfly tried to hide her excitement at actually being in the Matriarch’s presence. “You had best come inside, all of you,” the Matriarch announced.
“Welcome to the Magician’s Guild,” the Matriarch said in a confident voice that filled the large atrium. “You are one of a very small number of non-magicians to ever step foot inside these walls.”
Damselfly was trying to take in everything at once, such was the extraordinary variety that adorned every inch of the space. A narrow spiral staircase wound up from the centre of the room. Around the edges were all kinds of strange and magical objects.
Damselfly was certain that a tapestry rug hanging on the wall could fly, before her eyes caught sight of a large bronze plaque listing the names of every guild member throughout history. She just had time to notice Luyna and Orion’s names before catching sight of one name that had been viciously scored out.
“We will talk in here.” The Matriarch marched them into a gigantic meeting hall filled with a mahogany banquet table capable of seating at least fifty people.
“There is currently no one else here other than us so we shall not be interrupted.”
The Matriarch took a seat, smoothing the layers of her emerald dress as she did so with slender, delicate hands. Damselfly hopped up onto a nearby seat before helping Buttons do the same. Eloise remained standing behind them, biting her ever-changing nails, which now seemed to be going from red to black repetitively.
“Start by telling me your names,” the Matriarch instructed.
“I am Princess Damselfly and this is my companion Buttontail.”
“You are the Princess of Thronegarden.” The Matriarch was shocked though she did not seem to doubt their identity.
“Yes,” Damselfly confirmed. “My mother, the queen, is very sick and I am on a mission to save her life.”
“My goodness, what kind of mission,” the Matriarch enquired.
“I must retrieve Death’s timepiece.”
“Who told you that?”
“Death.”
“You have spoken to the old king?” the Matriarch questioned.
“Yes, we made a deal,” Damselfly explained.
“His timepiece for my mother’s life.”
“No one has seen or heard from Death since he was dethroned,” the Matriarch stated, more to herself than anyone else.
Buttons, who was not so much interested in the mission as he was his own stomach, decided now would be an opportune moment to pursue his own agenda.
“Is there any food knocking about?” he raised.
“What?” the Matriarch responded distractedly. “My apologies, what a poor host I have been. You have rather taken me by surprise, which does not often happen.”
The Matriarch snapped her fingers producing a bowl of sugared pears crowned in whipped cream which Buttons fell upon with delight.
“He really is quite a remarkable creature,” the Matriarch observed.
“My mother asked Luyna to give him life, so I would have a friend,” Damselfly revealed shyly.
“Yes, I was aware Luyna was at the castle, though I do not see how Uriel comes into this tale.”
“She told us that you would help,” Damselfly replied. “Where is Uriel?”
Damselfly could not meet the Matriarch’s glare as she answered. “In the castle dungeons.”
Eloise gasped noisily before being silenced by a stern gaze from the Matriarch. “What is she accused of?”
“Attempting to enter the Evergarden,” Damselfly explained.
“I thought she knew better than that.” The Matriarch got up from her seat in agitation and paced, trying to control her thoughts and emotions.
Buttons, who was cleaning his whiskers of sugar crystals, was about to ask for more food, before the words formed in his greedy mouth, a plate of jelly appeared with real strawberries inside.
“There is little I can do,” the Matriarch announced. “You have to help her,” Eloise ventured.
“I do not have the power or authority to demand a prisoner’s release from the castle, especially if she is guilty of the crime.”
Eloise seemed close to tears; her mouth opened then closed defiantly before the young woman stormed out of the room. The Matriarch collapsed into her seat again, covering her mercurial face with both hands,
