Ashley Stalworth

Ashley Stalworth

Ashley Stalworth is an anthrozil, the daughter of Makaidos and Thigocia. Her dragon traits are healing and super-intelligence. She loses them temporarily in Enoch's Ghost as the widow's mites that destroy the tower of the Nephilim. She gets penny-sized wounds in her palms as a result, in likeness to the scars on Jesus' hands. 

At the end of the book her wounds are healed and her traits are recovered.

Family and Background

Ashley Stalworth was born in 1986 as Ashley Drake, the youngest child of Hannah and Timothy Drake.  Though they were human at the time of Ashley's birth, Hannah and Timothy were also dragons (Thigocia and Makaidos, respectively), and they passed this blood along to their daughter.  Her dragon heritage gave Ashley the gifts of genius-caliber intelligence as well as the ability to heal.  In 1988, Timothy and Hannah were murdered by the dragon slayer Devin and his squire Palin as they were returning home from a night out.  Isaac Stalworth, a family friend who had been babysitting Ashley at the time, managed to escape with the little girl.  He soon adopted Ashley, and she grew up believing him to be her grandfather.   

The Candlestone

Ashley is first introduced here as the teenage assistant of Bonnie's father, Dr. Conner.  When Bonnie, Billy, and everyone first meet her, she is a junior in high school, likely seventeen years old.  Ashley is the brains behind Dr. Conner's underground laboratory and the machine used to travel in and out of the candlestone.  Along with her love for science and technology, Ashley helps Dr. Conner because Isaac Stalworth is ill and needs a treatment that Dr. Conner uses.  As she gets to know Bonnie, she begins to realize that though the research is supposedly helping people, she is using her sisters like glorified guinea pigs in the process.  Later, as Isaac Stalworth is dying, he reveals her entire past, including her dragon heritage.  This is a turning point for Ashley, and during the battle in the lab, she gives her own blood to bring Billy and Bonnie out of the Candlestone.  Ashley, as well as the girls Dr. Conner had been using for his experiments (Karen, Stacey, Rebecca, Monique), go back to Castlewood, West Virginia, with Billy's family.

Circles of Seven

Somewhere in the interim between The Candlestone and Circles of Seven, Marilyn Bannister officially adopts Ashley, Karen, Stacey, Rebecca, and Monique. In this book Ashley introduces two new inventions, Larry the supercomputer and Apollo, a device that can be used to travel through portals to other dimensions. Ashley and Walter Foley are called to England to help Professor Hamilton analyze a computer chip that the enemy was using. However, once the two reach England, they find an entirely different scenario. Billy and Bonnie have disappeared into another dimension. Ashley and Walter devise a system to track Billy and Bonnie. They also discover a way to partially enter the other dimension, and their efforts end up saving Billy's life. When cradling Bonnie's body atop Glastonbury Tor, a jolt of Excalibur's energy shoots through her, and Ashley unknowingly brings Bonnie back to life. Thus Ashley discovers that she has the power to heal.

Tears of a Dragon

Ashley is finally reunited with her mother Thigocia when the Watchers trap the dragons, humans, and anthrozils in a forest in West Virginia. Ashley then reveals her healing talent to the rest of the group when she heals Walter. When she hears that Pebbles (Monique) has been kidnapped by Morgan Le Faye, Ashley sneaks away from the others and "borrows" Merlin II to follow the instrcutions that Morgan gave. In return for Pebbles' safety, Ashley was to allow the Watchers to lead her to the place Pebbles was being kept, where she would be forced to bring Devin out of the candlestone. Unbeknownst to her, Walter stowed away on Merlin II, knowing that Ashley would take the plane. Walter then falls out of the plane in a crate, and one of the Watchers forces her out of the plane and crashes it near a lake in Maryland. Against her will, she gets Devin out of the candlestone and is set free, where she spends her time during the battle healing the wounded. After the destruction of the Watchers, she, Walter, Karen and Thigocia go on an adventure to search for Gabriel and Makaidos.

The Song of the Ovulum 

In the beginning of the story, fifteen years later after the end of Oracles of Fire, it is told that Ashley is now locked in a prison with Bonnie. Bonnie writes in her journal that Ashley nearly died the past winter do to how weak and cold she was getting. Later in the book through a series of events, Ashley escapes the prison with Lauren Bannister, Bonnie and Billy's daughter formerly known as Karen. Ashley and Walter reunite but the search for Bonnie continues as she's been brought to another unknown place.

Relationships

After their long journey in Enoch's Ghost, Walter and Ashley become partners. Through thick and thin they stick together and eventually become partners in the ultimate way, getting married.

Mother

Thigocia: "I sense a presence...a long lost love...Is it really you? Are you my beloved Ashley?"

Ashley: "Yes...Mother."

Thigocia: "Praise the Maker! My daughter is alive!"

-Tears of a Dragon

Thigocia was born before the Great Flood, and was one of the two dragons saved on Noah's Ark along with Makaidos, her good friend and eventual husband. After her husband was killed by the dragon slayer Devin, Thigocia was transformed into a human during the reign of King Arthur. Thigocia then changed her name to Hannah. Hundreds of years later, Makaidos returns as human Timothy Drake and Timothy and Hannah marry once again. Hannah was killed when Ashley was two years old, but is resurrected in dragon form years later from the seventh circle. Thigocia has many children, including those born as dragons (Goliath, Roxil, Chayil, Maven, Hartanna, Valcor, Sorentine, Alithia, Firedda, Yellinia, and Martinesse) and those born as anthrozils (Gabriel and Ashley).

Father

Sapphira: "Your father gave his life so that you might believe in the ultimate sacrifice."

-Enoch's Ghost

Makaidos was born before the Great Flood, the son of Arramos and Shachar. Along with Thigocia, his friend and future wife, he was saved on Noah's Ark. Along with his daughter Roxil, Makaidos destroyed the corrupt city of Shinar. In 492 AD, Makaidos and Roxil were killed by dragon slayer Devin and his squire Palin.

Roxil

Ashley: "Does that mean that I'm--"

Roxil: "Dead? Not necessarily. Other living humans have been abandoned here before."

Ashley: "Abandoned?"

Roxil: "Desolate. Deserted. Forsaken. Choose your own synonym."

-Enoch's Ghost

Roxil is the firstborn daughter of Thigocia and Makaidos, and Ashley's oldest sister. When Ashley and Roxil first meet in Enoch's Ghost, Ashley quickly learns that her sister is a pessimisstic dragon who despises humans for what they've done to dragons.

Walter Foley

Despite being several years younger, Walter becomes close friends with Ashley, as well as, eventually, her husband. The two first meet in The Candlestone, but it is not until the next book, Circles of Seven, that they really get to know each other, when they travel to England together to help Professor Hamilton.

Walter first confesses his love for Ashley when they are on the Endless Staircase three books later, in Enoch's Ghost, though he also confesses that neither of them are mature enough yet for a real relationship and he also wants to help find and save her father so he can ask his permission to "see a lot of more of" his "princess". As the series progresses, Ashley returns his feelings. In The Bones of Makaidos, they are engaged when Walter enacts a proposal scene with two snowmen he built on the roof of a greenhouse; in the final chapter of the book they are married in a triple wedding with Billy and Bonnie and Elam and Sapphira.

Quotes

"Too much information can make your brain choke." -- Ashley