Chapter 089: Angry Young Gods

"You'd like to be in my shoes,

Wouldn't you now?

Wouldn't you now?"

My Shoes - Spock's Beard

Right when I slid the keycard through its slot and moved to open the door, a shiver passed through me and I knew there was somebody inside my room. There was but little time to think, for whoever they were must have heard me and would be sure to react immediately if I decided to make a run for it. A thought crossed my mind: could Simon or someone else have followed me back to the hotel? It seemed unlikely, for I hadn't dawdled, so how had they managed to get to my room before I had?

No further time for deliberations, time to act. Left hand on the door-handle, my right one was already reaching in my coat pocket for the gun. Casually let the door swing inwards, but darkness inside. Yes, there was certainly somebody there, even emanating a peculiar aura of Power that I

but half sensed in my self-induced crippled state. I flipped the switch, crouched and swept the room with the gun. It settled on the single chair and its raven haired occupant.

"Come in," Miss Fabre said with a slight smile, "and close the door, will you?" Her coat lay folded on the little table beside her, and her relaxed posture seemed to indicate that she had been sitting here waiting for me for some time at least.

A bit sheepishly I did as she'd told me, putting the gun away as well. "That was quick," I remarked with a grin.

"Well, after I saw you talking to Simon, I intercepted him and managed to persuade him to reveal what you had agreed on. He told me all I needed to know."

"Aha," I replied, taking off my own coat and finding a seat on the edge of the bed. "How long have you been tailing me, if I may ask?"

"By now you know enough of the situation to understand my extreme caution," she said, smiling defensively. I realised that I had somehow nearly forgotten the beauty of that smile, but I couldn't dwell on it for too long if I was to pay attention to what she had to tell me. "I heard about what I believe to be the first time you returned to Quendor only indirectly, or at least, I haven't had word of any prior visits. The second time I actually got to see you, but that was during that unfortunate business with Fiona. I think anyone with the slightest sensitivity to Power must have picked up on that one, though. When I witnessed the outcome, I assumed sooner or later you'd be back to try and rescue her, so I decided to tag you just before you left." I frowned, as she continued with a slightly superior smile: "A very subtle one, of course. I don't suppose you noticed it was there. I wasn't able to follow you outside Quendor, but the minute you returned I was aware of it. Oh, and don't worry, I've taken the liberty to remove all the other tags." She squinted at me in temporary concentration and nodded. "Yes, mine is the only one left. It has been slightly weakened because you've spent some time away from here, but it's still there."

"It's a magic spell of some kind, I suppose?" Any local magic would neither have been active nor detectable whilst not in Quendor, and during the time I had been here I had taken great care not to use my Powers, so something so small could easily have slipped by me. It did make me feel rather uneasy and vulnerable, though.

"Yes and no," Miss Fabre replied. "It's not exactly the same kind of magic I've used before. There have been some changes."

"So I've noticed." She had indeed changed a bit during my absence, although I couldn't precisely say what was so different about her. Physically she was as stunning as ever, and she still seemed to have a preference for short skirts that showed off her legs. Perhaps it was something in the way she carried herself, the look in her eye. I guess I would find out soon enough.

I got myself a beer from the mini-bar, offering her something as well, but she declined. "Where to begin?" I mused, as I took a sip. "Perhaps some general statement of intent would help. You know, when I first returned here, my reasons were purely my own, that is it was mainly because of the deal we'd made, but this whole Fiona situation has put a different slant on it, an at least marginally official Amberite one, as it were."

"I see. Well, in light of the current circumstances I'm sure you understand that my priorities have shifted a bit as well. My first order of business is Quendor, and that requires all of my efforts for now. Aside from that, I've undergone some changes of a more personal nature which could likely prompt some positional reevaluation, but that's something that can wait. For the moment, I think it would be in our mutual interest to stay in touch and exchange as much information as possible."

"I agree completely. I'm really dying to find out about what really happened here after I'd left. I've just about had it up to here with the official version."

"You mean Lucius's propaganda?" she snorted. "I'm not surprised." She took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts, and commenced her tale. "The not-so-official version begins not long after you had left Quendor. As you may or may not know by now, Quendor has a Magic Council that rules the country in all matters magical. Well, 'rules' is perhaps not the right word, for it's really more of an advisory council for the worldly authorities. For a long time there has existed in Quendor this rather uneasy alliance between the forces of magic and those of technology; on the whole they coexist peacefully enough, but the basic division remains, and some political leaders sadly lack any experience with magical powers. That's where the Council comes in: it advises the elected officials, as well as directing and monitoring the efforts of its own community, seeing to it that the powers of magic are never put to any abusive or unethical use. If history has taught us anything it is that such an abuse of power can be extremely dangerous, for it can eventually lead to witch hunts and even pogroms, which the magicians stand no chance of surviving. The problem is there are always too few born with the talent, and if there's enough fear you'll never be able to survive the mob, unless you go into hiding. That's the sort of situation we've been trying to avoid over the years.

"When all of this started I wasn't yet a full member of the Council, more of a possible candidate. I had not really been nominated, but if a position had become vacant I think I'd have stood a fair chance of being elected for the job. At a certain moment the discovery was made of some large-scale magical distortion just outside the city. The first reports to come in told us of some kind of crystal structure that seemed to be growing of its own accord, on the Lablanche estate of all places. Since no one actually knew what it was except that it was clearly magical in nature, the Council decided to send in a team to investigate. Only the most capable of magicians were chosen, for we realised it might be some phenomenon that was not native to our world. I was asked to come along, because I'd had more substansive prior experience with forms of magic that are not indigenous to Quendor. Lucius, who had been the one to propose such an investigative team, would be the leader of our group, which also included some other Council members.

"As far as I've been able to piece things together in hindsight, I think we arrived at the structure and entered it just as it had nearly been completed, but when its defenses had not yet been activated. Whether this was intentional I cannot say. It's hard to guess how much of what happened had been arranged in advance. I can hardly imagine that the course of events that would ensue had ever been planned this way, but on the other hand, if I look at the eventual outcome, I wonder." Her gaze turned inward for a moment, before she shrugged off her temporary hesitation.

"As I said, we entered the Crystal Structure. This was still possible at that time, for there was some kind of opening at its base. It immediately started to… affect our minds. In all kinds of strange and unforseen ways. As soon as we were inside, any kind of normal investigation had become impossible, instead all kinds of things…" She stumbled, momentarily at a loss for words to describe her experience, her usual air of competence all but gone. A shiver seemed to pass through her as she continued: "We got to see one another in various situations, under different possible circumstances, and I'm sure we all sensed the huge potential Power we were facing. And we felt how the simple act of entering the structure had changed all of us down to the cores of our being."

I strove to keep a calm appearance, but if what she was telling me was true, she and the others had somehow been initiated in this perverted Nexus Power which Aurelia and her ilk had mastered. If so, Miss Fabre would indeed have been altered, to much the same extent as we Amberites were altered by our walking of the Pattern or the Chaosians by traversing the Logrus. Of course, with my Pattern effectively shut down, I wasn't able to gauge the actual change in her, but I had been right when I'd remarked earlier on how her attitude towards me had changed. This initiation had elevated her to my level, so to speak, and I sensed that she now regarded me as more of an equal.

"I suppose an initiation is as good a word as any for what we experienced," she said, as if guessing my very thoughts. "It has unleashed new powers in us that have given us some form of control over the stuff of reality itself. The Crystal Structure functions as an amplifier for a new Power that I have not had full opportunity really to get to know yet. We're still trying to figure it out, but naturally this is far from easy, since there isn't anyone to instruct us in its uses. In any case, we have discovered that it allows us to travel, to use it in a certain way to go from one world to another. And it augments all our magical abilities, changing them as well. I don't precisely know how to put it, but it seems as if we have become realer, for lack of better words, than anything else in Quendor."

Yes, she and the others had taken a sort of leap from mere Shadow dwellers to Real people. Random had been all too right when he had called the Enemy a force to be reckoned with, and I could see as well why Miss Fabre wondered whether their transformation had not been intended this way all along. Somehow it was more reassuring to think of it as having been an accident.

"As you can understand," she continued, "the change left us all in quite a state of bewilderment. None of us had expected anything like this. As soon as we got back, Lucius proposed that we should study the structure further, and I believe he even tried to gain control over it himself. Aside from Peruvius, the leader of the Council, who had not come along on this mission, Lucius is, or was at that time, really the strongest of the Council mages."

"Who else besides you and Lucius went out to investigate?" I inquired. How many others were around here in Quendor with this corrupted Nexus?

"Well, there was Jean Talion, Eva Marsala, Andria Karlan, Patrick Raven, Glen Terr, and Theira LaRue. As a matter of fact, Peruvius was the only member of the Council who had not joined the mission." Great, so everyone who had been anyone had now severely become Someone. "Anyway, there was quite a commotion in the Council over what course of action to take, and before any of us knew it Lucius seized the moment by murdering Jean. When we got wind of his plans to take out anyone who had gained this new Power, we fled and tried to take countermeasures. In all the confusion he used his non-magical connections to take control over the whole of Quendor.

"At first we were all stunned by the speed with which things were happening, but now I know that almost immediately after the initiation he must have made contact with Aurelia, who has taught him the further uses of his Power. As far as I'm aware none of the others have managed to attain anything beyond our first, unguided initiation. So, Lucius rules over Quendor now under the lofty title of Thaumos. Everyone has gone into hiding, except for Glenn and Theira who have chosen to join Lucius and work for him.

"By now it has become clear that Aurelia is the real power behind the throne, though. True, Lucius has the Power, just like the rest of us, but she's the one who really knows what to do with it. Although I didn't have much time, I managed to catch something of what she did to Fiona during your last exchange. Somehow she was able to form a direct link with the Crystal Structure and use its amplifier function on her own magic spells, exponentionally increasing their effect. The mind-altering spell she used on Fiona has become so powerful due to the Crystal that it may well have become nigh permanent. Ordinarily, these kinds of spells can only briefly be maintained, but the effect of the Structure is such that within Quendor it will be nearly impossible to dispell this particular one.

"As you have seen, Lucius has right away started a new p.r. campaign. I don't really know what Aurelia thinks to accomplish by letting him do all this, but in any case it seems to be some kind of provocation towards Amber."

"Oh, I don't think it's solely aimed at Amber," I said. "There are a few things I can tell you about all of that, but first I would like to know whether Aurelia is the only one of the current Lablanche family whom you've seen about."

"Let's say I haven't met anyone else who's given me the same odd sensations as she has. I'm certain, however, that this amplifier isn't the only one out there. If you're using the Power to travel, you can feel it connecting to other Structures out there on different worlds, creating a sort of network that guides you where you want to go."

"How many of these Structures would you say there are?" I asked worriedly.

"I can't say exactly, and I don't know in what stage of development each of them is. All I know is that there are more of them out there." Great. That sounded at least than more than just the one near Galoria which Random had mentioned. "Anyway," Miss Fabre said somewhat bitterly, "Lucius is right in the middle of his new great publicity stunt: Eugenie Lablanche, who will be his, thus restoring the ancient bond of Quendor, blah, blah, blah. The fact that she's Marie Lablanche's spitting image doesn't hurt his case either."

"Well, this mess is mostly her own fault," I said.

"I dare say she didn't expect anything like this would happen."

"No, but she could have been a lot more careful in any case, couldn't she?" I sighed, then turned to give her a staight look and said: "What are your current plans, if I may ask? I mean, I've been given to understand that the lot of you have gone underground, and I figure you're keeping in touch with one another, but do you have a real strategy for dealing with this situation?"

"There's a decided lack of consensus," she said, looking both weary and a bit annoyed. "One option is really to organise a resistance group aimed specifically at dethroning Lucius and restoring Quendor more or less to its original state, but the latter will undoubtedly be hampered by the presence of the Crystal Structure. We aren't really sure we would be able to get rid of the thing even if we tried, and the problem is that some of us actually don't want to get rid of it at all. After all, it has given us this new Power, which could be used to strengthen Quendor's overall position." I noticed how she kept her expression quite neutral as she disclosed their considerations to me, so I wouldn't be able to fathom her own opinions on the matter.

"The other option we have discussed," she said, "concerns Aurelia. Ultimately, she's the one in charge here in Quendor, and Lucius represents only one way of running the place. Some of us have put forward the tentative belief that it ought to be possible to negotiate with Aurelia herself,

guaranteeing her an even stronger power base in Quendor if she does away with Lucius and reinstates the Magic Council instead. The down side to this would be that we wouldn't be able to revert to the original situation anyway, but with Aurelia on our side we would be in a position to get some further instruction in our new Power. However, it would mean that we'd be working for her, and not everyone is entirely happy with that idea.

"Those are just about the two possibilities we've discussed up till now." She sighed wistfully. "It would be nice, of course, to think of what things would be like if this had never happened at all, but now that it has it can't be changed. The Crystal is here and it will be very hard to get rid of. We'll just have to make the best of things."

"So you're still undecided about your next course of action," I mused.

"Well, I don't know whether I would like for Aurelia to be holding my leash, if you know what I mean." I couldn't be certain, but I got the feeling that Aurelia's capture of Fiona had made quite an impression on Miss Fabre, and not one for the best.

I shook my head. "You can only get rid of Aurelia, if you get rid of the Spire. It's as simple as that."

"If only we knew who she really is and what kind of interests she represents."

"I can't tell you what she is, because I simply don't know myself, but I do know that she's not from around here, that is, she's part of a group who come from outside our Reality." I briefly explained the concept of alternative Realities to her, which she accepted with remarkable equanimity. I also told her of my first meeting with Lothair and Aurelia, and of how I had finally come face to face with Lothair again during the Cardane crisis, of which I had mentioned a little to her before. "As for how many of them there are in this group," I said, "or what their true intentions are, I just can't say. They've never bothered to send out any statements or demands, at least not as far as King Random could tell. The only thing we know for sure is that they're here, and it looks like they're going to stay."

"By the looks of it, they're getting more and more entrenched."

"That much is clear. They've somehow managed to take over and corrupt a part of the Nexus, one of the other Major Powers like the Pattern of Amber or the Logrus of Chaos, but one more suited to travel between different Realities. It's more or less the same Power they're now projecting through the Crystal Spire. And as far as their objectives are concerned, I can only say that their attitude towards anyone else in this Reality appears far from friendly."

"In other words," Miss Fabre said, "if we should choose to ally ourselves with Aurelia, we immediately get ourselves involved in a major conflict with both Amber and the Courts."

"It's even worse, I'd say. No matter what you choose to do, you're already involved. The fact that they've chosen Quendor as one of the places to erect such a Spire has got you involved. The fact that Fiona and Bleys used to come here more often, as well as my own frequent recent visits have only moved the whole process forward."

"Look," Miss Fabre sighed, "I've been outside Quendor often enough to realise that we're in a dangerous situation. I can't predict what my fellow Council members will decide upon, but I'm less than eager to start working for Aurelia. Of course, I have some possible alternatives available." This with a slight smile at me. Was I simply the lesser evil, I wonder? "It will be hard to leave Quendor, though. Lucius's reign is not doing it any good. But to alter the entire situation once again… I don't know. Perhaps Aurelia isn't even to be reasoned with."

"I must say that the last time we met she seemed quite a different person from the fist time I'd spoken to her," I said. "But maybe that doesn't say all that much either."

"She may simply have been putting on a role for you. But now that you know about my plans, what about your own?"

"Well, I can safely say that both Amber's and my own priorities lie in getting Fiona well out of here. The sooner, the better."

"As far as that is concerned, my fellow mages will certainly support any effort you're willing to make. Nobody's happy with this kind of propaganda, for it only reinforces Lucius's position. Preventing the upcoming marriage will be a profitable move for all of us, it seems."

"I don't know whether it will be of any help, but I can clarify Amber's official position in this conflict a little, if you like." She nodded, so I continued: "Random is very, very cautious, as always. That's just typically him, I think. Officially, Quendor has been more or less neutral territory up till now, that is, it's doesn't lie within the effective reach of any of the Major Powers."

"Don't bother to explain the rest," she interjected, "I can see where this is leading to. If he sends in the troops, he's immediately in a whole new bunch of trouble."

"Quite. So that's one thing he'll be certain not to do. He would think twice before sending in an invading army without any request for help from the local population anyway. On the other hand, there is this special relationship between Quendor and both Fiona and Bleys, historically speaking. I think the two of them… Well, I guess Fiona already had her shot at it and she failed, but should she be delivered from her current situation and be restored to her normal self, I'm sure she will want to remain involved in determining Quendor's future."

"That's a good point to consider," she said pensively.

"It could be one, I guess."

"However, you should realise by now that this situation will not be resolved by use of force. Do you have any idea how strong this Spire really is?"

"To a fair degree, I'd say. Fact is that I can't use my Pattern in any way here, and if I should try anyway, I'm fairly certain that they would notice immediately. Besides, even considering such a thing gives me an incredible headache."

"Yes, I can imagine it would be hard to use other Powers in its immediate vicinity, but that wasn't what I meant. Here, let me show you." She started to concentrate, and although I couldn't tell what she was doing, I suddenly realised I felt an almost overwhelming craving for cheese. As my eyes darted towards the phone with the idea of calling room service, she stopped concentrating, and immediately the sensation left me. I looked at her guardedly, waiting for an explanation. I wasn't at all sure I liked this new trick of hers.

"This is but a relatively harmless example of what I was getting at. The amplifier can easily be used to manipulate people's minds. Lucius doesn't know yet how to apply this on a larger scale, but I'm sure that if he continues like this in time he'll be able to get the population really under his control. It won't be easy, though. What I just did to you put quite a strain on me, so I can't keep it up all that long. Of course, it's harder with you since you're a Major Power user yourself. If you should try to bring an army to Quendor, however, there's no telling what might happen."

"It was never an option anyway, not after what happened to Fiona. Besides, the careless and reckless way in which they're employing armies themselves already indicates how little they care about such threats. Lothair didn't seem all that put out at losing his entire army during the Cardane crisis."

"Ultimately, armies are only as good as the people who are in command, I guess, and that's something that could change pretty quickly here. No, if there's a battle to be fought, it will be fought with Power. You can imagine that this will be a major problem for all the other people who try to resist Lucius's rule. However, it has become clear to us that these applications of Power are only possible within close proximity of the actual Crystal; in other words, it's not something that can be done all over Shadow." That was good to hear, anyway. I didn't relish the thought of people running around everywhere with these kind of mind control abilities. I might trust Miss Fabre as much as I trusted anyone, but I didn't know about her fellow mages or anyone else who'd gotten initiated at any of the other locations where they had erected these Spires.

"From what you're telling me I think it's necessary for your group to come to some kind of agreement before Amber or even I can commit to anything." I flashed her a wry smile. "If we're planning on some kind of action which your resistance movement isn't in favour of, I doubt we'll be able to get very far."

"I'll be sure not to put it to them like that," she replied, mirroring my smile. "But I believe that we all can agree on the merit of removing Fiona from the scene, since it will make Lucius look rather foolish and it will serve as a clear example to Quendor that his reign is not going to be unopposed. It'll certainly make his position a lot harder. And after all, he's only using this wedding as a symbol, the fairytale marriage of the century, him marrying Quendor and all that, so I'm sure they'll be willing to put a stop to it. But if you're expecting them to come to a complete agreement on all our targets, you're in for a long wait. And frankly, I dare not venture to guess at what our final objectives would be." She regarded me quite seriously. "I've tried to explain to you before how frustrating it is to have to deal with people who have real Power when you know you can never have it yourself. Now that we do have it, it doesn't mean that we'll be able to handle it responsibly. It's always tempting to abuse one's abilities, you know that as well as I do." That was true. And I sincerely doubted that she or her companions would be willing to part with their new Power, which would make the ultimate objective of taking out the Spire a lot harder. But I guess we would cross that particular bridge when we would come to it.

"Alright," I said, "I think you'd better propose this idea of trying to abduct Fiona to them. It's something that at least requires the assistance of several people."

"I assume that you will keep yourself available for participation in such an endeavour?"

"Don't worry, I'm going to stick around for a while. Besides, I don't need to fill in Random about all the details right away. Just another question, though: how vulnerable is Lucius to more conventional methods?"

"Well, knowing that we are still on the loose, he will undoubtedly take defensive measures. He could for instance use a bit of Power to erect some wards. He knows we're going to have to do something. And he's still got Aurelia on his side."

"Yes, but what I meant was to what extent he will be expecting you to use regular firearms or other technological gadgets. I'm just wondering how aware Quendorian mages are of such devices." I knew she would not shirk from using technology herself whenever it suited her, but Miss Fabre may perhaps be an exception.

"I see," she said. "Yes, I would say that may be one of Lucius's weaknesses, and especially now that he's got his new toy he might just entirely focus all his efforts on the magical side of things. However, he can easily make wards to protect him from any physical threats, although he wouldn't be able to maintain them for very long. He would probably keep them up during public appearances, but if he were to be distracted he might just as quickly lower them again. Besides, he's had only little time to practise. Such wardings would have been inconceivable before, with only Quendor's ordinary level of magic, because no one would have had the raw power to keep

them in place. Now it would be a lot easier, but I don't know how long Lucius would be able to maintain them."

"That's something at least. It means he's not invulnerable." And we needed every vulnerability we could find to pull this off successfully. My worst fear was Aurelia herself becoming involved again. While I still didn't rightly know who she and her ilk were, I remembered how Lothair had not appeared all that impressed by physical threats, even when Benedict's sword had been poised at his throat. I wouldn't hazard a guess at what it might take really to threaten someone like him. Either he was that impervious, or he was simply immensely over-confident.

We decided that I would simply wait for Miss Fabre to contact her two fellow conspirators, Andria and Patrick, and inform them of my intentions. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to keep in touch with either Eva Marsala or Peruvius, and she had no idea where they were or what might have happened to them. There would be no time to search for them either, for the wedding was scheduled to take place only four days from now. Hopefully, the three of them and me would be enough to go up against all of Lucius's armed forces. There was but little hope in this thought, though, and it certainly didn't help me sleep soundly that night.

The following morning Miss Fabre returned with an invitation for a clandestine meeting in which we would decide upon the best course of action for thwarting the marriage and getting Fiona out of Quendor. There was a significant increase in the number of patrols on the streets that morning, and I learned from her that apparently someone had been detected using some kind of Power the night before. She had sensed it as well, although the instance had been too short for her to say who or what it might have been. It had been enough to set off the alarms, though, which explained the increased surveillance.

Fortunately, the cops failed to penetrate my disguise yet again, though I admit to being a bit surprised at Miss Fabre being able to walk around freely, for her efforts to mask her identity didn't appear to go much further than a simple pair of sunglasses. When asked, she explained that it wasn't too hard for her to affect the minds of anyone taking a closer look at her to the effect that they didn't think her to be anyone important. If she did this subtly enough, she could avoid setting off the Power alarms as well. The only thing she had to look out for were other Power users, who would not so easily be fooled by her tricks.

As it was, the mysterious trespasser became our first order of business as soon as we had reached the back room where the meeting was to be held. They right away wanted to know whether I knew anything about it, which I didn't of course, and whether I could think of anyone else who might have been messing about in Quendor, which unfortunately I could. I repeated to Patrick and Andria what I had already explained to Miss Fabre about the original Lablanche family, adding that last night's mystery intruder could very well have been Bleys. The prospect of another interfering Amberite wandering around did not please them, but there was little I could do to check whether it really had been my uncle without spoiling my disguise. When I inquired a bit further, though, it turned out that while there had been reports of a chase last night, apparently no one had been arrested, so whoever it had been had probably been cautious enough to leave Quendor before getting caught. I didn't know Bleys all that well, and although he might be as cautious as that, he was still a full brother of Fiona's, and Random had remarked upon their general impetuosity. In the end, I recommended to stay on the look out for anyone looking like Bleys and meanwhile just continue with our plans.

Somehow this first part of our conversation and the suspicion both Patrick and Andria clearly felt towards me got us all off on the wrong foot. It became quickly evident that they cared little for Fiona's wellfare and that their only objective was to disrupt the marriage, undermining Lucius's authority as much as possible. They were dead set on staging some kind of raid on the day of the wedding, not minding the extra risks such an action might entail. However, they argued that after the wedding Lucius might simply do away with Fi altogether, since the possible danger she represented would by then outweigh her publicity value. I wasn't convinced right away, but when Miss Fabre added her voice to theirs, saying that Aurelia might simply insist on Fiona being taken out of the equation, I grudgingly gave in. Besides, as she pointed out, it would be far more difficult to gain entry to Lucius's palace than to try and snatch Fi away while they were out in the open.

Trying to arrange something before the wedding would be even harder, since all the publicity and photography sessions were solely being handled by the Thaumos's own staff. Also, it was implied that an abduction before the actual wedding might not be effective enough to aid their cause, since Lucius might simply arrange for a stand-in to take the bride's place and keep up the appearance of unchallenged authority. In other words, if I wanted these people to help me, I would have to go along with their wishes for optimal counter-propaganda.

For my part, I had to argue with all my might to keep Andria and especially Patrick from taking too many of what I deemed to be unnecessary risks. They were all too willing to go for the extra flashy options and seemed to have but little regard for the harm that could befall my helpless aunt. I'm afraid that tempers did flare now and again, mine as well as theirs, and at one point I was just about ready to leave them to their own devices and try a rescue attempt on my own, no matter how foolhardy this may have been. Fortunately, Miss Fabre was there to act as the voice of reason, urging everyone to remain calm and forcing the realisation that neither of us would be able to accomplish anything without help from the others.

Now that I think back to it, it was a rather strange situation. Miss Fabre was the only one of the three of them who had had any experience with Amberites, and despite our erstwhile frictions she treated me with a sufficient amount of respect. However, as powered-down as I was I made a sorry impression on the other two, and they were still getting used to their own new abilities, which I guess gave them a sense of superiority over just about anyone. And probably my own feelings of relative helplessness were keeping me more on edge than usual. No, if Miss Fabre had not been there, we would never have come to an agreement.

Several possibilities were discussed that morning. The schedule for the wedding would have the couple first travel from the palace to the City Hall, where the marriage would be sealed in a brief civil service. From there they would continue to Quendor's main temple, where a religious ceremony would be held. Not that the people of Quendor were still all that religious, but Lucius had simply decided on the greatest amount of ceremony possible, since the whole wedding was one big photo opportunity anyway. Finally, they would return to the palace for some kind of reception or party, but the details about this last part were still rather vague since no guest list or anything had yet been made available. All in all, the party sounded like our least surest bet, even though the likely presence of television crews would have given the rebels all the publicity they wanted.

As to the means we would use to disrupt the proceedings, they figured that the three of them together would be able to work some rather impressive magic that might be enough to overcome Lucius's defenses. However, as soon as they would try something like that, they would trigger all kinds of alarms and attract a lot of attention. Again, I broached the subject of employing some technological means to aid us, perhaps in concert with their magic. This was picked up and discussed in detail, until we finally came up with a plan that sounded like it might actually work for all of us. Since the Thaumacorps still partially consisted of former soldiers and policemen, their security measures were not to be discounted, and any attempts at direct violence would have to be staged with due regard. The plan we had settled on would have us firing a rocket or some other explosive missile at the Thaumos's carriage just after Lucius and his bride would have stepped out to walk up the steps to the City Hall, so before the actual marriage had taken place. The rocket would be guided magically, either by a direct spell or by one that would have been placed on it beforehand. The surprise and confusion that would ensue in the wake of the explosion would give us ample opportunity either to teleport Fi out or simply to grab her and run, after which I would be able to Trump all of us out to safety.

The plan was far from being a guaranteed success, I realised, but it was the best we could manage under the circumstances. There were still several details to be worked out, but we had a few days left in which to do so. We'd better make sure everthing would go as planned, though, for we would get only one shot at this, and there was no telling what would happen if we failed. Should it fail, though, there would be one thing I could be sure of: Random would not be amused.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Back to the index