RevelationsandRetributionsRevelations and RetributionsSomeone just tried to kidnap me Aura answers with false cheer. An unguarded sense of protective anger, not completely stifled, passes through Lorius' mind, enough that Aura can pick it up in the call. He called me a child of Amber. I have him trussed up like a Christmas goose, and waiting for interrogation. His partner was someone using a glamor to look like me in order to snatch Nick. I snatched him back, obviously. But the accomplice is still on the loose. You want to tie on that sheet and come show me how to rip the information I want from this cockroach's brain? Gladly Lorius sends fiercely. Even before Aura has finished her request, Lorius is out of his bed, not quite wincing as he manages to get on a semblance of clothes nearby. Just say where and when, and I will be more than happy to tutor you in that Art. Lorius sends as he puts on the one piece Atlantean outfit that Lorius finds nearby. Green eyes glint. More than happy he adds. "Or maybe I will just observe this time," she says mildly. Frankly, he was a little scary at the moment. She held out a hand to him to bring him through to them. "We're at the glassworkers at the moment, but we can all portal to the palace dungeons from her." "Ah, yes. I remember giving Mother a lens they ground especially for me." Lorius says as he looks himself over briefly before accepting Aura's hand to step through into Aoenas' shop. Lorius beats Kovikin to the punch and gives a bow of the head. "While I would normally have something witty to say involving you and my dear cousin in greeting, Prince, I think circumstances today will cause me to hold my tongue." He pauses and then says. "I will simply say Good day to you." "Good Day." Kovikin replies neutrally, his tone suggesting to Aura that he's not completely sold on this. Lorius turns, gives Nick a thumbs up and a smile and then turns to look at the unconscious prisoner. After a moment, his green eyes espy the dagger, too. "Heelloo! You didn't tell me about *this*, Aura" Lorius says, his hand reaching out to hover above, but not touch, the dagger. "Separate issue, though. Let's get us all to the dungeons first, shall we? This will all be easier if our new acquaintance remains pacified." Lorius favors Aura with a expectant smile. Aura turns to Kovikin. "If you will open the portal, mon cher." "Certainly" Kovikin is far warmer to Aura than to Lorius. The crackle of energy begins as the Prince quickly constructs what is required. "Are you up to levitating him through, or shall I?" she asks as she turns to Lorius again. "The other can float that dagger through. Because I am not touching that until I know what the story is." Lorius gives Aura a serious nod. "You take care of the prisoner, Aura. The dagger, unless I am wrong about the dagger, and I am sure that I am not wrong, is extremely dangerous but will be equally useful. I'll take care of *that*" Lorius waits for Aura to get the prisoner lifted before turning to his own charge. The dagger at a sotto voce command from Lorius rises in the air slowly and steadily, until it is at Lorius' height. It slowly pitches until it is pointing blade side down. Kovikin stands by the now open portal, taking the form of a lozenge shaped whirlpool of air and energy. He gestures for Lorius to pass through, which he does, with the dagger floating in front of him. He gives Aura a smile for her, and waits for her, the prisoner and Nick to pass through before following her into a large guardroom not far away from the cells. The whirlpool of air closes behind him as Kovikin steps through. "Well." Lorius says with a grin to Aura. "You finally got me sent to Atlantis' dungeons." he says, looking around. "Where do we go?" Aura gives him a disdainful sniff and carelessly levitates the prisoner down the hallway carved from the bedrock of Atlantis. Kovikin has to supply the magic to light the way, as only the Royal family of Atlantis, and the Sword of Atlantis are recognized by the magics of this little used part of the palace. Atlantis' dungeons were rarely used, and the parts they were in now hadn't seen the light of use in decades - possibly centuries. And Kovikin does. He doesn't overilluminate the corridor, using an economy and minimum of lighting. For a lizard, Nick hated places like this, and made it known by taking refuge under Aura's hair around the back of her neck. She can feel him muttering, his small breaths tickling faintly and his tiny claws finding purchase near the roots of her hair. A barely whispered word from Kovikin opens a door in a wall that had seemed blank a moment before and Aura sends the prisoner through and unceremoniously drops him on the cold stone floor, completely ignoring the bed off to the side. Lorius follows behind, waiting for everyone else to enter before he strolls in. He looks around at the spartan cell and gives a nod. "We reflect strangely in shadow sometimes, cousin." Lorius says. Kovikin raises an eyebrow at this nonsequitur from Aura's cousin, but Lorius keeps going. "Once, in travelling shadow, I ran across a reflection of you. You were High Princess of some potentate or another, lady and ruler. And merciless when you wanted to be, too. I was 'invited' to witness the methods your double used to extract information from a spy from a neighboring land. Lorius pauses and then says it. "Bore worms." "Bore worms." Kovikin repeats, in utter disbelief of Lorius' tale. "We, however." Lorius floats the dagger off to a corner of the cell and lowers it to the ground. "don't need to be so barbaric. Mom has her own special methods to do this sort of interrogation. However, I have my own, which is more portable." Lorius perches himself on the bed, close enough to reach over and pull the mostly sleeping prisoner to a kneeling position. He looks up at Aura. "You seemed ambivalent about wanting to participate. Last chance before I begin." Lorius says. "If you want in, Aura, get up on the bed here. If not, I'll begin a running commentary." Green eyes flicker questioningly at Aura. She snorts. "Do you listen to anyone but yourself, dear?" she asks as she perches beside him. "I did call you to run this show and show me this. Because if I get my hands on that person wearing a glamor of me, they are going to be on the receiving end of my interrogation." "I do listen, but I was afraid that my intensity might have given you second thoughts." Lorius replies. "Its very simple, Aura. *I'm* allowed to tease and torment you. I'm family. Your beau here gets to do it for similar reasons." Kovikin ignores Lorius' jape. "When a stranger decides to do you harm, well, you're family and I take that seriously. They don't have the right to mess with a Princess of Amber." Aura sighs and makes a motion with her hand for him to get on with it. She seriously hopes everyone in the family wasn't so prone to prattle. "Anyway." Lorius laughs. "Help me open this guy's eyes. We're attempting to get into his mind, and the shortest and simplest route is through the optic nerve. Plus, it has the advantage of being already configured to transmit images to us. We're just reversing the usual flow." Aura makes a noise of agreement and grabs a handful of the guy's hair with one hand to hold his head still. Lorius uses a thumb on a free hand to hold open the right eye of the still sleeping individual and waits for Aura to do the same. "Now, what you do is stare into the eyes, willing up your mind to force entry into his thoughts thereby. We'll do it simultaneously and establish our dominance over his mind. With him sleeping, his active defenses will be degraded, although it might take a little longer to find what we want because much of the mind is dark." "If you don't have any questions, stare into his eye and we'll begin." Lorius instructs. Aura is none too gentle as she forces the man's eye open and leans closer to get a better view. She glances at her cousin and takes her cue from him before she forces her mind and her will into the prisoner's. Lorius seems finished with hearing the sound of his voice, for he only gives a nod to Aura as she gets into position. The eye continually tries to rotate away from sight, and it takes active effort from Aura to actually keep it forward. As Aura feels her mind make contact with Lyron, for his name is easily divined through the process, she senses Lorius' mind docking at the same time. Like two separate waves crashing onto a sand bar, the force of Aura's mind washes into Lyron's, as does Lorius'. There is resistance, wards and protections of some sort. Lorius' choice of entrance, however, allows Aura to overcome obstacles to the free ranging of Aura's mind through the man's. Images and thoughts percolate back to Aura's consciousness. Images of stark and strange buildings, creatures which are bipedal but far from human. A sky unlike any in Atlantis or Amber, a color wheel rotating around an unseen pole. Images of people apparently important to Lyorn flash by too, parents, perhaps a lover or two, friends. There are even more outre images in the torrent that Aura receives through his eye. A bowl of what look like fishing worms, but larger. A long black road in a grey landscape, running to the horizon. A breastplate, with a red scorpion painted on its gleaming metal. A white sandy beach. A skein of swords hanging from a ceiling. A tall, blue, rectangular object with an open door to its interior. Its all a jumble.
Aura gives a mental nod and turned her Focus on who this man followed. Who was he intending to take her to? Why did they want her? Who was his accomplice-what did they look like? Where were they all from? Tell me about that dagger... And so she does. There is a bit of guidance that Aura feels from Lorius, in perfecting some of her thoughts and wishes. For the most part, however, Lorius allows Aura to get the practice herself, only intervening when her newness to the technique causes her to falter. and only then. And so the images stop their inexplicable cascade, and start appearing in more logical sequence, in response to Aura's demands for information. A tall woman appears, a vision of regality, given that she is sitting on a throne of some sort. Black jet hair, and features echoing her own, although not so much as Aura might be mistaken for her. "I want her children, Lyorn. They will be brought here." comes the commanding voice of the woman, whose vantage point suggests that he is kneeling before that throne. "Start with the daughter. Take Melcanthe with you." At the mention of the name, jumping with association, there is a vision of a woman with white hair. More images come, of Lyorn, regarding Melcanthe as they stand in what looks like a city in Etrusca. "I will glamour myself." Melcanthe tells Lyron. " You will capture her familiar and use it as bait." A shimmer, and Melcanthe's features and form change, to a familiar one--Aura's. "An excellent disguise." Lyorn rumbles. "We'll travel to Atlantis, and when she leaves the Palace on one of her shopping trips..." The dagger comes to mind, rotating and shimmering in his mind. There is a flashback to one of those figures seen in the whirl of images before. By this point, though, Aura notices that the images she demands, even with Lorius' aid, are coming with more reluctance. "A fine dagger for a fine member of her Court, Lyorn." comes the near purr of the purple haired, elfin looking woman, who presents the blade to him on a gold and white pillow. "Imported from one of the Great Houses, or so it is said. Its blade will not harm you, but it will grievously hurt your rivals should you be challenged..." And then one final whirling image of Lyorn standing underneath a bleak looking cliff under an iron colored sky and beside a dull steel colored sea. "By the Nine Who Founded,as a Scion of same, admit me into House Ledaal!" And as he says this, a boulder rolls away from an entrance, and Lyorn steps inside. Emotion and thought floods this image--the thought of going back home. At this point, the images have come much more slowly to Aura's demands for information, and in point of fact, the image of Lyorn hangs in her sight like a painted frieze. Aura pushes Lyorn away from her with a growl, fury burning in her pale green eyes as she turns them on Kovikin. "Get word to my father. I am leaving in the morning. They are trying to get at my mother through her children. I'll be damned if I allow it." "You will do what you have to do." Kovikin says, giving a glance at the bound prisoner before closing his eyes, ostensibly to send a mental message to the Warlord. She turned on Lorius. "What do we do with the Scion of House Ledaal? Kovikin has a lovely spell that will put him into a snowglobe for a few weeks." "We should keep him alive and unspoiled." Lorius pauses and then his green eyes turn almost as bright as Aura's fury and his smile is unnerving. "Which is not to say that we can't make him suffer a bit." Aura scowled. UNspoiled meant she has to discard half the nasty spells she had been planning on using. "He'll be useful in the endgame, Aura." Lorius continues. "When the Emperor, or whatever Major House Ledaal clings to gets upset when we start knocking heads, we'll need to be able to produce him as evidence that Ledaal started this nonsense first." "Your father wishes you luck and success and completely understands. He tells me to tell you to do him proud, but he knows that you will." Kovikin informs Aura. He looks at Lorius. "He has to live?" Lorius looks slightly displeased at the thought but nods. "He has to live." Kovikin looks at Aura. "I'll take good care of him for you Aura. And I will tell my father what has happened. He won't be amused by this intrusion, either." She nods sharply. "Keep him in stasis. Have Sagraine come and make it stick. We do not wish his mind to start working its way out of this sluggishness. Then you should have one of the Earth Mages come and ward this cell so no one seeking with mental magic so can find him. I will put a Pattern ward on it as well." "That should be enough." Lorius agrees. "With all that, there are Helgram mages who would have a lot of trouble getting out, to say nothing of someone of Lyorn's rank and status." "Go and get yourself ready." Kovikin says, picking up Lyorn and dumping him roughly on the bed. The still unconscious chaosian doesn't seem to notice the handling. "You probably should wait on that Pattern ward until after an Earth Mage is done." Kovikin says. "I'll have Despina's daughter Melia do it." "An excellent choice," she agrees. "I'll contact her as soon as I finish up here and get Sagraine." Kovikin adds. "We'll take good care of this Lyorn Ledaal, Aura." Kovikin pauses. "If I need to contact you before you depart..." the Heir smiles. "I know how to reach you." Lorius does *not* roll his eyes, although Nick chuckles in Aura's ear. "We aren't leaving until the morning," Aura reminds him, ignoring the peanut gallery. "You had //better// reach me sometime tonight." "Don't worry." Kovikin says. "You won't sleep alone tonight." She sticks her tongue out at Lorius, kisses Kovikin because she can, and saunters out of the dungeons and makes the long trek towards her rooms to pack. Grumbling the whole way. With just Nick on her shoulder for company, Aura is not molested (although perhaps ogled briefly by a guard or two) for the long trek out of the dungeons and back into more pleasant areas of the palace. In due course, she has returned to her quarters and is at liberty to start preparations as she sees fit. Aura has her staff and her own sorcery packing her bags. She sends a message to Klotho to let her know she had a change of plans and would be leaving in the morning. If she could finish things up in time, fabulous. If not, just send them to the palace and Aura would get them later. She sent off people to pick up the things she had in mind as gifts, and spent the next few hours alternately glowering and grumbling, and fretting until dinner. By the time the rumbles of Aura's stomach indicate as well as any clock that dinner time has struck, staff and sorcery have served Aura's purposes well. With the exception of the clothes from Klotho, everything is packed, including the gifts. "Just what *are* we going to eat?" Nick says at this point, as a message from Klotho is delivered by one of Aura's staff. "And more importantly, with whom?" She sighs and pulls the bell to summon a page. "You sure eat a lot for such a little guy." Nick chuckles. "Gotta keep up my strength." He holds up his arms and bends his elbows at right angles and flexes his muscles. Aura, I heard through other means about the horrible incident in the market. That such ruffians should invade our realm is intolerable; that they should target you for their malice is horrible. I would not have you leave our realm dressed in anything less than the best. Your outfits will be ready and delivered by dawn. K. "Finally, some *good* news." Nick declares, peering over Aura's shoulder to read the missive. "Oui," she agrees. She folds it back up and drops it on her desk as the page enters. "Please bring dinner to my rooms," she orders. "Be sure and provide for Nick." "Immediately." The page hurries out. She sets Nick down on her desk as she sits down at it to work on some paperwork. "And I have not a clue if anyone is joining us. I am rather surprised Lorius has not stuck his nose back up here." "I can see a couple of possibilities" Nick says as he watches Aura work on her papers. "Either he found himself someone to spend time with." Nick shakes his head to show what he thinks of that possibility. "He's busy with working on the spells on our new friend from what did he call it...House Ledaal. Or..." "Or, perhaps." comes the voice of Kovikin in the doorway, followed by his form. "I told Lorius that if he was going to disturb us tonight, that he would find out firsthand and personally just what spells *you* were thinking of using on our new friend.""Hello, gorgeous." She laughs as she turns in her chair to face him. "I'm still partial to the snowglobe idea. Lorius would make a charming Yule ornament. Once we silenced him, of course." "If he could even be permanently silenced." the Prince replies with a laugh. Nick joins in and chuckles. Aura tilts her head up to kiss Kovikin. "What did your father have to say about our recent tourists?" Kovikin waits a few moments basking in the afterglow of the kiss before answering Aura. In the meantime, the page ducks back in, sees the Prince and ducks back out, clearly making mental notes to increase the size of dinner or something of the sort. "He is highly unamused by their untimely arrival. Personally, Aura, I think he's more than half convinced its all Lorius' fault, either through his strange arrival, or being followed, or they being enemies of his. I talked him out of action against your cousin, but I think that Lorius should stay out of Atlantis for a while once the pair of you leave. He's gone back to his hospital room for the night now that we're done warding the cell of the kidnapper." Aura tutted. This time, at least, she was fairly certain it wasn't Lorius' fault. "They came looking for me. It is possible that my recent use of Pattern was what gave me away." "What I told Father." Kovikin agrees. He then continues. "As far as the other 'tourist', though, Father has a couple of mages watching the borders, in case she should make a break for it. And if she doesn't and remains within Atlantis, we'll find her all the quicker, now that we know they use glamours. He'd probably ask you to do that detail yourself, if you weren't leaving in the morning." "However." Kovikin lowers his voice to a hungry growl as he looks at Aura. "I think you should send Nick to go bother Lorius for the rest of the night." "Now why would you want to do that to Nick?" she smiled as she rises slowly from the chair to face him, completely violating his personal space. "Besides, she purrs. "We should eat first. You are going to need your strength tonight." Kovikin doesn't mind the violation, his grin widening, his look hungry. "I agree that we should eat first." he replies. "I suppose Nick can eat with us..." "Thanks a lot!" Nick pipes up and interrupts. Kovikin ignores Nick and continues. "As for the matter of strength, my enchanting little sorceress," Kovikin looks deeply into Aura's eyes. "You should look to replenishing your own. I'm not the only one who is going to need it. I promise you that.A *proper* send off before that cousin of yours drags you to the Goddesses know where." Aura smirks and brushes her body against his. "Is that so, mon cher? We shall see which of us is able to greet the sun, oui?" She walked her fingers up his arm slowly. "Your memories, they must last as long as mine..." "Indeed, they must." The orbit of Kovikin's arm encircles Aura in its artificial harbor, the fingers at the small of her back. "I am going to make sure you don't forget me amongst the barbaroi who live in Amber and in its train. No matter how pretty the girls, cute the boys or rugged the men..." Kovikin's other hand reaches further up, to Aura's hair. There is the soft breeze created by a door, somewhere nearby, opening. Moments later, there is a whisper in Aura's ear. "Food's here." comes the voice of Nick, now perched on her shoulder. "As Lorius would say, I'll get mine 'to go'." For his part, Kovikin is ignoring Nick's intrusion, instead deeply looking into Aura's eyes and reacting and responding to her touch with his own. With a thought, Aura teleported Nick to the table. Then she smiles up at Kovikin; a slow, sensual smile. "I think I am in the mood for dessert first..." "Who is to say I am going to argue with you?" the Heir to Atlantis replies. "The Dinner can wait, Aura..." And indeed, it can and will. Nick presumably vacates the premises, or makes himself unobtrusive for the next few hours, as Kovikin proceeds to make good on all of the promises he stated in the last few minutes, enthusiastically and energetically. There is food to be had in between, easily re-constituted and warmed by cantrips from either and both of them. And indeed, their appetites are only whetted by their offering and praise to Celestra. In the end, though, Aura's genes are better than his, and she wears him out, first. Kovikin lays in Aura's bed, curled and arranged in a fashion that might suggest to Aura a christian angel temporarily shorn of his wings. And so, with him lying there, somewhere between the eyes-closed stage and full slumber, does Aura have any other agenda for the night? Aura finishes off the glass of wine at her beside and curls up around Kovikin. She has no idea when she would be returning home. She intends to spend her remaining time here making every moment count. Even if it was just sleeping with her long time lover. It's relatively late in the morning that Aura and Kovikin are disturbed, in fact, judging from the slanting sunshine coming into the bedroom, sunrise has happened a couple of hours ago. The distant knocking on the door to her quarters slowly increases in volume. Kovikin growls as he stirs toward wakefulness. He is not fully awake, his eyes are still closed. A protective arm is around Aura where she is curled against him. "If that is your cousin, he is going to be fed to the Kraken." he says. The Heir remains in place. Of Nick, there is no outward sign. Backlinks Backlinks |
