Chapter 105: Kreel Galore

"If there's anyone else out there,

Disillusioned just like me;

It's time we tried to turn the tide

With an overwhelming minority

The masses are numb, their ethics awry.

Nothing's so dumb as the Vox Populi."

The Antibody Politic - Skyclad

            "Ah, Caine, Dorian, I was waiting for you to return. I assume you're ready to leave for Amber now. You'll be taking Janice with you, won't you?"

            "Err…," I began, but fortunately Caine had a clearer presence of mind.

            "How is she?" he asked. Alexander made a non-committal gesture to the hospital bed behind him and shrugged.

            "I'm not an expert in these matters," he said, "but I haven't been able to detect any signs of deterioration."

            "There haven't been any other incidents?" Caine persisted. "No further attacks?"

            "None as far as I can tell."

            "But she hasn't come to either, has she?" Alex shook his head, his expression rather level. "We could ask Gerard to take a look at her, I suppose," Caine mused, "but it will have to wait…"

            "Well, I take it you will be going back to Amber now, won't you?" Alexander said again. I took a deep breath.

            "Alexander," I said, "there is another situation that requires our immediate attention. With that in mind, there are a few requests we'd like to put to you. First of all, we would like to leave Janice here in your care for just a little while longer."

            "Is that wise?" Alex interjected with a slightly worried expression. "After all, they didn't hesitate to attack her here in Galoria earlier. I think it would be better to take her away from here."

            "The fact that they haven't yet tried to strike at her again gives me cause to suspect that they won't be doing so anyway," I said. I wondered, however, whether this was because there was simply no further reason to attack her again. Had they managed to accomplish what they had set out to do with their first attack?

            "In light of our current situation, the risk of a second attack has become less relevant to our proceedings," Caine said firmly, sounding perhaps a bit more ruthless than he had intended.

            "I do not think, by the way, that you need to keep on watching over her personally, though," I added.

            "No, that's right," Caine said. "Just normal medical attention will do. Just have someone mind her and wait at her side until she regains consciousness."

            Alex momentarily looked like he was going to raise further objections, but instead he muttered: "Alright."

            "Okay," I said, "our second request has rather more far-reaching consequences, I'm afraid." Caine cleared his throat meaningfully, glancing around him. Fair enough, time for me to weave my Weave again. It wouldn't be the last time either. Since we were in a bit of a hurry, though, I made it a small one, encapsulating just the three of us. Meanwhile, Alexander waited silently, his gaze alternating between me, Caine, and Janice's motionless body.

            "Alexander," I began once more after I had finished my make-shift shield, "earlier this evening we had a little talk about Galoria's position of neutrality and the possibilities of seeking political asylum in your Kingdom. And at the end of this conversation you once again showed yourself to be more perceptive than I would have thought. Our request is this: we're going to need a place where we can safely leave both Random, Vialle, and Ruby."

            Although his expression changed but little, I could tell my cousin was truly surprised. I guess his earlier comment about Random's possible asylum here had only been made in jest. Well, he was about to find out that we weren't joking at all. While Alex was momentarily off his guard, I shot a quick glance at Caine, silently inquiring how much we were going to tell him. Caine's frown was enough of an answer for me: as little as we could get away with. Our brief exchange had given Alex just enough time to find his bearings, though.

            "We don't have any problems with granting asylum to the people you've just mentioned," he said, managing to sound as pompous as ever, "but in these cases it is customary for the individuals to put in the request themselves, or failing that, to have someone make the request for them by proxy. We wouldn't want to have anyone moved to Galoria under the banner of so-called 'political asylum', while they have in fact simply been kidnapped and are acting under duress."

            "Okay…," I said, looking at Caine again. This would really require some further explaining if we were to convince him. In return Caine gave just the tiniest of nods for me to go ahead. So, I told Alex the essentials: the Kreel, Vialle and Ruby, Benedict's solution, his hopefully imminent Regency, and Galoria as our most obvious place to leave Random and family.

            "Do you think there are a lot of Kreel here too, now that Lothair has established his embassy?" was the first thing Alex wanted to know. Of course he was primarily thinking of the good of his own Kingdom.

            "Oh, they're bound to be here alright, but not in any excessive numbers, I'd say. I don't think they would want to risk upsetting the balance of neutrality that easily."

            Alex nodded, but he still looked pensive. "My main problem," he said, "is that you're really telling me that you're somehow going to kidnap Random, Vialle, and Ruby, and that you simply want to stash them here in Galoria, while calling it political asylum. To put not too fine a point to it, you'd be guilty of kidnapping the King of Amber himself."

            "If we're right," I sighed, "Random will not be under the control of the Kreel himself…"

            "You'd still be kidnapping him, wouldn't you?" Damn, he could be annoyingly persistent.

            "Alright," I said, "let me put it this way: if we bring Random, Vialle, and Ruby to you, and Random himself puts in a request for political asylum, not only for himself, but for his wife and daughter too, would that do the trick?"

            "Yes, in that case the request would be granted. The other option I can think of would be for Benedict to corroborate your story and to explain that asylum here in Galoria would be for the best. I have enough faith in Benedict to know that he won't agree to anything that he would not fully support himself."

            "Well, Benedict agrees with our plans thus far, but let's be realistic, there's still a chance that we're totally mistaken." Not that we were, I was a hundred percent sure of that, but it didn't hurt to play devil's advocate now and again. "If we are wrong, we won't have to rely on any kind of asylum procedure. We would simply be too busy with other problems."

            "Our first task is to get the evidence we need," Caine said. "Then we will try and convince each of our relatives individually, and Benedict will tally the votes."

            "I assume, however, that you first want to try and kidnap them, and then try and discover the required evidence, don't you?" Alex said.

            "No, we're going in and try and discover the truth right away."

            "Gerard will be going with us to determine the truth of the matter for himself," Caine added. "And if you have any doubts as to his integrity, I suggest you tell him so. We've gathered a strike force consisting of enough people of different allegiances, so that we will have sufficient credibility with the rest of the Family, and people will not just think this to be a coup of yet another small cabal."

            "Ultimately, it is not our goal to remove Random from the Throne permanently," I said, trying to take the edge off of Caine's sarcasm a little.

            "If Random himself asks for asylum, it will be granted," Alexander assured us again. "Otherwise, Benedict's word will suffice."

            "Well, either one or the other should be within the realm of possibility," Caine said. "Your cooperation is greatly appreciated." I couldn't tell whether he was still being sarcastic, though, and Alex let it pass in any case, going straight on to discuss the arrangements he was to make for Random's imminent arrival, with regard to both comfort and security. Caine had no problem going into this in some detail, even bringing up the possibilities of Random taking some part in Galorian court life at some later stage. I, however, was fairly sure that Alex would make all the proper preparations, and I'd just as soon leave the details all up to him. Still, some security measures would indeed be necessary and they required some careful thought, that was true. It wouldn't do for someone to try and assassinate Random while he was here. I didn't think Benedict would want to stay on as Regent indefinitely, so that would lead us straight back to the struggle for Throne we had taken such pains to put behind us. Then again, I figured it wasn't really my place to worry about such things. It wasn't as if Galoria was my responsibility.

            Before we left, Alexander offered us the option of Trumping him directly once we had got hold of the King and his family. I smiled and thanked him, but I didn't tell him we were already making some other arrangements. Meanwhile, Caine had walked over to take one final look at Janice. He seemed strangely wistful, or at least that was how I interpreted the long and silent stare. I wondered. The fact that he had taken her along to the party earlier had just seemed an act of convenience, considering how they had both been working on finding ways to sniff out the Kreel, but perhaps it had been a little more than that. Hmm. I caught myself frowning, and realised that I didn't know what to think of this. I guess I didn't rightly know what my true feelings for Janice were, but they must entail more than just friendship for me to feel such a sudden pang of jealousy. I shook my head, temporarily dismissing these unwanted emotions, and tugged at Caine's sleeve, beckoning him to come along. We had work to do, and our love lives could wait.

**

            We found the other members of our strike force waiting in my guest room in the palace, or at least three of them were. Boadice was working hard on a Trump of this room that would serve as our emergency exit from Castle Amber, while Gerard was preparing the magic spells he would need to determine whether Vialle and Ruby were still Vialle and Ruby and nothing more than that. Justin was sitting on the bed, watching the two of them at their chores, and he told us Julian had left temporarily to fetch Boadice some more practical clothes than the ill-fitting dress and Galorian dressing gown she was currently wearing. And indeed, Julian returned but a few minutes later, Trumped through by Caine, holding a neat pile of what turned out to be a spotlessly clean Ranger uniform. It was just the right size too, and it came complete with the traditional weapons of the Ranger infantry, that is a longbow with quiver and arrows and a short sword. There was even a new pair of boots to top it all off. Boadice thanked him for his trouble, but she frowned momentarily, and I knew what she was thinking: whatever our goals here, this would mean her entering Castle Amber wearing Julian's colours! That was something that could easily be misconstrued as some kind of sign that she was supporting him instead of Bleys. Julian smiled broadly, clearly reading her thoughts, and told her that this was unfortunately the only thing he had been able to come up with at such short notice. Boa shrugged and went into the bathroom to change.

            Meanwhile, there had been something that we had discovered when we had been going over the way we were going to handle communications during the mission. Sonehow I had completely failed to notice this earlier on, but apparently Adrian's Trump, which had stopped working upon the moment of his death, could now effectively be used to Trump Justin. It wasn't an entirely steady connection, and neither did it seem to be working all of the time, but nevertheless it appeared that we now had at least some way of getting in touch with him. Boadice and Caine had done some theorizing over how and why Adrian's Trump might now be behaving in the way it was, but my own knowledge of Trumps was too limited for me to add anything to the conversation, and it all seemed a bit beside the point anyway. The Trump worked, that was the important part.

            The Trump Boadice had quickly sketched of the room was operational too, as we ascertained while she was busy changing. When she came back, Gerard was just about ready as well, and we could go over the final details of our plan. I suggested that we'd nominate one of our group as the mission commander, who would be making all the quick emergency decisions, if that was necessary. Not that I thought any of us weren't capable enough, but I didn't want to risk any unexpected clashes of egos while we were busy either. Everybody seemed to think it was a good idea, and Julian suggested that Caine'd take the lead, since these commando-style missions were more of his expertise. Besides, I would be too busy getting us in and weaving our Shield, Gerard would be too busy checking up on both Ruby and Vialle, and Boadice would be too busy handling Trump communications.

            As far as Trump was concerned, I specifically mentioned that my Weave would be significantly interfering with any Trump contacts, so Boadice and I agreed on some signals that would indicate when it would be clear to Trump or not. These would hopefully help us to make a more speedy escape. Everyone also made sure to put everyone else's cards at the top of their decks, just in case, and we all added Random's card too, since we could not be certain that he would actually be close enough to the room where we hoped to find Ruby and Vialle. We also figured that we would have to provide some source of light, for Boadice had checked one of her Trumps and had reported back that it was about six o'clock in the morning back in Amber, which meant it might well still be dark in the Royal bedrooms. Both Boadice and Gerard had some illumination spells ready, though, and we reckoned that we would easily be able to find some more mundane solution, like candles, too. Once everyone had made one final check of their werapons and equipment, I started to concentrate and shifted my awareness back to Castle Amber in order to find us some place to get in.

            It wasn't all that easy, though. Normally, I didn't have too much difficulty getting to and from my own chambers, but that was simply because that part of the castle was not really warded. The Royal Suites, which were in another wing than all the other Family rooms, were quite a different matter. Fiona had put up some very strong wards here, and even though she had not been around for a while to tend to them, they were still not easily dispelled. Trying to gauge their strength, I reckoned that I would be able to work my way through, but it would take me quite a bit of time-consuming effort. The effort didn't worry me too much, but time was of the essence, and I estimated that I would be busy for anything between a quarter of an hour to two full hours to put us down directly in the Royal bedchambers. That was simply not an option, and I said as much to Caine.

            The closest place to the Royal Suites that was unwarded and that I would be able to take us to without any problems would be in the corridor leading up to the Royal wing. This meant that we would have to deal with at least four Amber Castle guards: two at the entrance of the Royal Suites, at least one in front of Random's door, and one making his regular rounds through the wing. Julian estimated that there would be a substantial risk of one, more, or even all of them being under the control of the Kreel, and he thought for that matter that the Head of the Guard could very well be affected too. However, it shouldn't be too hard for a Prince of Amber to claim some sort of urgency as a reason to gain entrance to the Royal Suites. Even if the guards were Kreel, it would take them at least a while to raise the alarm and take furter action against us. By that time we would hopefully have found what we were looking for and would be ready to leave again. And after all, we even had three Princes, two Dukes, and a Duchess to bluff our way through.

            On the other hand, the Duchess, Boadice that is, had apparently decided that it might not be such a good idea to get recognized by the Castle guards at this point, so she had disguised her features with some kind of illusion spell. Three Princes, two Dukes, and one nameless Ranger. Go figure.

            Anyway, Caine decide that we would take our chances with the guards. We would try to bluff our way through first, and if that didn't work we could always resort to more violent methods. The decision made, I shifted my awareness again and pulled the six of us through to the Castle. It took quite a bit of effort too, for Fiona's wards were still close by, but I managed it all the same.

We appeared in full view of the two guards at the entrance of the Royal Suites, but like true Castle guards they were hardly surprised to see the six of us appear out of thin air. Too much Main Hall duty would do that to a guard, I guess. Without any hesitation Julian stepped forward and ordered them to let us pass, saying that we needed to speak to the King right away. The guards saluted dutifully and stepped aside to open the doors. Before they could ask for any further explanation, we moved ahead into the corridor, straight to where we knew the bedchambers to be.

            Our footfalls were the only thing to be heard as we hurried down the twilight corridors. There was no sign of the patrolling guard, but as we turned the final corner we found two guards in front of the Royal bedchambers: one guarding Random's room, one in front of Vialle's. I suddenly remembered Uncle Jaro once telling me about this custom. Apparently, tradition held that the King and Queen would sleep separately, but if the King was inclined to spend the night with his wife, he was supposed to inform the guards. In that case there would only be one guard, usually in front of the Queen's chamber, for the King was expected to visit his wife and not vice versa. I didn't know whether Random still set much stock by this custom, but with Vialle in the clutches of the Kreel I hardly expected them to be spending many a cosy night together.

            The two guards, armed with halberds, eyed us a little curiously. Gerard immediately stepped forward, approaching the first one, which made the second one lean closer to hear what was being said. Gerard began to say something about us needing to see Random on some urgent matter, but then suddenly he sprang into action, as did Justin, who had somehow anticipated what was about to happen. Between the two of them, they overpowered the guards in no time, leaving them lying unconscious on the floor. Caine nodded and gestured us towards Vialle's door.

            Inside the Queen's bedchamber it was dark, but I could make out a few shapes in the faint twilight that was beginning to filter in through the window. With little regard for what the others were about to do, I started to weave an energy shield, for about the umpteenth time that night. This juggling with Power was starting to wear me out too, and I barely suppressed a sigh as I extended the lines of Pattern energy to surround the rooms of both Random, Vialle, and Ruby.

            Meanwhile, I was peripherally aware of the others moving about. Gerard had straight away headed for the door that led to Ruby's room. Justin had followed him as far as the threshold and was now watching him intently. Boadice and Caine had moved closer to Vialle's bed, which proved a good thing too, for suddenly there was movement there, and I faintly felt the stirrings of something very powerful. Damn! My Weave was not yet finished! I ground my teeth and redoubled my efforts, meanwhile hoping that the others would be able to contain the Kreel until I was done.

            Luckily, they seemed to have noticed it as well, and after a curt nod from Caine Boadice quickly stepped in. What she did next nearly broke my concentration, though, for in the near darkness I could just make out how she grabbed a pillow and started to subdue Vialle by smothering her with it. I could only hope that she would not get carried away here, and that Julian and Caine would not be overly tempted to let her carry on just a little too long. My suspicions were unfounded, though, for Julian briskly moved forward too, and after a moment or two he grabbed Boa's wrist, indicating that this was more than enough. Caine had also joined them and was trying to hold Vialle down. This proved none too easy, however. Apparently, Vialle was a fair bit stronger than she seemed, or perhaps the Kreel were also affecting her physical abilities.

            Suddenly, Boadice stumbled a few steps backwards, as if she had been hit in the face. I hadn't seen Vialle striking out at her, though, and I thought that Caine at least was keeping her arms down. Still, Boadice already seemed to be recovering, and there was no time to dwell upon it now: from the corridor outside I could hear the sound of footsteps coming closer. I was still struggling to finish the Weave, but Julian had heard the noise too. He beckoned Justin and the two of them exited to guard our backs.

            At last, the Weave was in place and I could afford to take some other actions. Quickly, I walked towards the open door and took a look a Gerard. He was holding Ruby and carefully wrapping some cloth around her eyes. Glancing up at me, he grimly shook his head. He had not wanted to believe us, but now his worst fears had been confirmed.

**

            Caine was still busy subduing Vialle, whose Kreel presence was now easily detectable, but since Boadice was at hand to help him, I strode to the other door and opened it. Random was awake and sitting up in bed, having just lighted a candle.

            "Time to leave, your Majesty," I said as he looked up at me.

            "Okay…," he sighed, "give me a quick run down of the situation."

            "We know of the Kreel, and of Vialle and Ruby. We're taking the three of you away from here."

            "Very well. Give me just a minute."

            I started to object that we couldn't afford to waste any time, but before I could do so Random had moved to the fireplace and had opened to secret compartment there, taking out the Jewel of Judgement, which was softly gleaming. Alright, I guess we could spare some time for such a trinket. As I was admiring the Jewel, Random quickly got dressed in a shirt and trousers, grabbing a sword and his Trumps almost as an afterthought.

            As Random rushed into Vialle's room, he cast one quick glance around and then hurried around the bed towards his wife. Apparently, he wasn't so sure about his dear brother Caine's way of handling Vialle, for he barked at him to be careful. Thinking this to be taken care of, I turned towards the door leading out to the corridor. I could hear the noise of battle coming from outside, and it seemed a good idea to see whether Julian and Justin could do with some extra assistance. In passing, I but barely registered the fact that Boadice was no longer helping Caine, but was now standing near the foot of the bed. In my hurry, however, I thought nothing of it.

            I had only just reached the doorway, when a series of unexpected noises made me swivel round. There was the tinkling sound of metal being torn, a curse from Random, and the sudden crash of something large going through a window. Looking behind me, I was just in time to see Random jump barefooted out through the broken window, shouting: "My Jewel!" Not the brightest of moves, considering it was a first storey window, but it seemed that something or someone had preceded him. That was the point when I realised there was not a trace of Boadice anywhere in the room.

            Fearing the worst, I rushed to the window. Outside, I saw Random nimbly land on the cobblestones of the courtyard, as if he did this sort of thing every day. Boadice was lying close by. She seemed not to have landed so well, and she didn't seem to be about to run off. In one hand she was clutching the Jewel by its broken chain, while in the other she had a Trump, but just when I thought she was going to Trump out she threw her head back and her eyes rolled away. It couldn't be, could it? She couldn't have been as careless as to let the Kreel take hold of her too, now could she? Apparently, she could.

            Random, meanwhile, was upon her in a flash, first of all grabbing the Jewel, and then beginning to restrain and blindfold her with straps torn from her own uniform. I realised that despite everything her illusion was still in place, so I quickly shouted down at him who it was that he was dealing with, and that we probably needed the Trump she was clutching in her other hand to get out of here. Random looked momentarily taken aback, but then continued to blindfold Boa, gathering her up in his arms when he was done and getting the Trump ready. Meanwhile, I made sure to take out Random's Trump myself.

            Gerard entered the room, carrying Ruby, and Caine seemed about ready with Vialle too, so I rushed towards the corridor to get the other two. Justin and Julian were fighting off what appeared to be a horde of various guards and servants, some of whom were coming at them with but makeshift weapons or even just their bare hands. Justin and Julian were trying to be careful not to inflict wounds that were too grievous, but this was getting harder and harder, as more and more people started piling into the corridor. A familiar face at the back of the crowd momentarily froze me in my tracks: Uncle Jaro! Only a few minutes ago I had been thinking of him, and here he was, as mindless and controlled as all the others. They were going to have to pay for this!

            For the moment there was no way to get at him, though, and even if I could have done so, I didn't know whether I could have helped him in any way. I heaved a sigh and instead beckoned Julian and Justin to retreat into the room. Inside, Gerard had quickly barricaded the other two doors, and once the three of us were in the clear, we could lock this last door as well. This would buy us just a little time, but it would be enough. With all exits blocked, I dropped the Weave and started concentrating on Random's Trump. He'd been waiting and came through right away, still carrying Boadice with him. Then we all began to concentrate on the Trump that Boa had drawn earlier of my room back in Galoria, and a few seconds later we had left Amber behind us.

            No rest for the wicked, though. No sooner had we arrived, or I once again started working on a Pattern Weave. Hopefully, this would be the last time tonight, for by now I could really do with a bit of a rest. Gerard and Caine, meanwhile, put the restrained forms of Vialle and Ruby down on the bed, and Random began to put Boadice to her feet. She had started to move again too, but as her hand reached to remove the blindfold, Random stopped her.

            "Why have I been blindfolded?" Boa asked. "And who is this anyway?"

            "This is Random," he said, sounding not altogether sure that she was really to be trusted again.

            "Er…," she stammered, "I can explain about Brand and everything…"

            Random snorted a laugh. "That's not on the top of my list right now. However, I wouldn't mind hearing your explanation a bit later on, although I do have a feeling that you may have to do your explaining to somebody else."

            "What is it that you want to hear about right now then?"

            "How about the Kreel?"

            "Ah, well, I've managed to kick them out, so to speak."

            "And not a moment too soon either." Random grinned dangerously, and though she could not see his expression she caught enough from his tone.

            "What is it that I've done while I was out?" Boadice asked timidly.

            "How far do you want to go back in time with that question? No, never mind. I don't know when they got to you, I only know that you grabbed the Jewel of Judgement and jumped out of the window."

            Boa looked suitably embarrassed before grimacing in pain when she accidentally tried to put some weight on her wrong leg. Luckily, Random was still supporting her, for her ankle was clearly broken. By now Random was more or less convinced that this was really Boadice he was dealing with, but as he removed her blindfold he did one quick scan by looking deep into her eyes, just to be sure. Then he took a good look around himself for the first time and sighed.

            "Personally, I don't have anything against Galoria," he said, "but the decor… Those colours… Simply awful." He glanced back at Boadice. "Well, since we're here anyway, you might as well start explaining." And this time he meant the Brand situation, which did not make her all that happy. She tried to wriggle out of it, but this only made Random more adamant to hear her explanation right now, while he still was the rightful King of Amber and while she was still around. Finally, he did relent a bit, though, and allowed her to have her say in the privacy of the cramped bathroom, despite the interested expressions from Gerard, Julian, and Caine, and despite Random's assurance that her story would be going public very soon anyway. I heaved a sigh and thought to myself that it was a good thing that I had thought to include the bathroom in my current Weave.

            The explanation didn't last too long, though, and from their expression as they emerged I gathered that the experience hadn't been all that satisfying to either of them. Upon entering the room again, Random told Boa that he would be reporting her story to the new Regent or King, whereupon he immediately wanted to know whether we had already made our decision. He agreed that Benedict was at least a solid choice for stability, but he added wistfully that he wouldn't have minded seeing the struggle between Julian and Bleys be carried on through to the end. He surprised me a bit by mentioning that while he didn't actually remember having had our little conversation, he had left some marker in his memory that had allowed him at least to recall that he had discussed something of importance with me. Half mockingly he added that I had quite taken my time to act too, which was a bit asking too much, considering that not even a day had passed since he'd ordered me to take care of business. In return I grumbled a bit about the difficulty of getting everyone to agree to one course of action, and he exclaimed that he knew all too well what that was like.

            No one appeared to have any doubt left that both Vialle and Ruby were under

the control of the Kreel, and with Random on our side I didn't expect the part of us Trumping and convincing the various Amberites to be too much of a problem. However, I had erected this final Weave not just to keep us from prying eyes, but also because I hoped that perhaps something could be done about Vialle and Ruby right away. Random agreed that this would be as good an opportunity as any to give it a try. He said that he had tried to break through to Vialle's own mind once before, but that had been without any shielding, and after the Kreel had beaten him off he had been forced to settle for a new balance of power. After that he had not tried again.

            While a combined effort might have been a safer option, Random insisted on trying to liberate Vialle by himself, although Gerard would be standing by with some of his medical spells. Random removed her blindfold and looked deeply into her eyes, which seemed to be more focused than usually. There were a few minutes while we waited with bated breath, but finally Random emerged victorious. Now that we had all become aware of it, we could sense the Kreel presence dwindling and leaving Vialle's body. For Ruby Random enlisted his wife's support, since a little baby's mind was far more fragile than an adult's. Together they managed to set her free too, and at a first glance the possession didn't appear to have done any permanent damage to little Ruby's mind, which Gerard confirmed with one of his diagnostic spells.

            I regarded the happy reunion between the three of them with grim satisfaction. This entire affair had turned out better than I could have hoped for. And with Vialle and Ruby free, perhaps I could dare hope for Uncle Jaro too.