TheWarCouncilOfAtlantisThe War Council of AtlantisAura shakes her head. “No. My gardens will do nicely. I can get us where we need to be from there.” “Gardens of your home. Next to the big breadfruit tree.” Lorius says, making a decision. ”Please keep your seatbelts on and your seats in an upright position until the teleport spell has completed. Thank you for choosing Lorius Airlines, Limited.” The world around Aura, Nick and Lorius begins to spin. She finds that the three of them are in the still center of a whirlwind, a whirlwind that never touches a hair on her head. After about a minute of spinning, the blurred image around the three of them changes from a blur of Amber to a blur of a more lush, warm and tropical place. As the spin slows to a stop, the blur of location resolves to be the garden of Aura’s primary home. The breadfruit tree is right behind Lorius when the world returns to normal. “I think I prefer your teleporting.” Nick whispers to Aura. Swaying slightly until she gets her equilibrium back, Aura can’t help but agree with her lizard. ”Especially so soon after eating.” Lorius seems blissfully unaware of the dizzying effects of his teleport, as he quickly goes to a position a few inches off the ground and looks around in satisfaction. With her equilbrium finally back, Aura notices its late in the afternoon, here. Aura tosses her cloak over one shoulder and gives Kovikin a mental knock. It’s only polite - especially with the time differences. Goddess only knows how much time has passed for this place. Kovikin’s response is quick, and pleased. “Aura!” he says. “I was worried I wouldn’t hear from you for months. That floating cousin of yours has not embroiled you in trouble back in your family’s homeland, has he?” She looks sidelong to Lorius. ”Well… no.” Aura focuses back on Kovikin. “But we need to talk. Something has come up. Step back.” The mood of his tone turns quickly, like a typhoon’s course changing suddenly, serious and all business. “All right” he says. Aura gestures and the arch of light and magic opens before her. ”Lorius. Stop admiring my statuary and come on. We have places to be.” “I was not!” Lorius says. It must be noted for an independent, objective viewer that he is standing next to Aura’s statue depicting a half clothed pleiad looking around anxiously. She waits for her levitating relation and gives him a shove through the gate before moving through herself. Nick cheers as Lorius floats through, with coaxing, ahead of Aura. Aura, Lorius, and Nick have arrived at the Palace where Kovikin is standing. He is, in fact, standing in the glass-walled gardens that, while from a climatological point of view, is unnecessary, does provide a modicum of privacy. He is holding, in his hand, the somewhat infamous fruit that Aura has promised Chef Michael. Kovikin invitingly pats the marble bench that he is standing next. “We can, of course, speak with father if it is *that* serious.” Kovikin says. Aura chews her lower lip thoughtfully. ”I think we should. It has the potential to be exceedingly serious. In fact, we should take the meeting to the War Room and invoke the Privacy Protocols. My father will also need to be summoned in his official capacity. Might not hurt to summon the High Priestesses as well, but I will leave that decision to Ashram.” “Then we will go and see him.” Kovikin says. He turns all business, the fruit put down and the martial bearing of the Warlord of Atlantis taking its place. “Imminently.” She turns to Lorius, pausing a moment before asking a question he could plainly see it pained her to has to ask such a question in the middle of Atlantis. ”You know a spell to force a shape shifter into their true form?” “There are a few ways to do that” Lorius says. Nick rolls his eyes. Lorius seems to catch this gesture and he shakes his head. “Briefly, there are three arcane ways to force a shapeshifter into their true form. A cantrip, sometimes called a Power word. That works best for natural shifters. Chaosians and Weir. A dispel magic spell works best for shifters using some arcane power to do so. Faerie. Werewolves. Skintakers. What we want, if I read you correctly, Aura, is something a little wider range and more powerful. We want a Trueform spell, which will work on a wide range of targets.” “You have one of these Trueform spells?” Kovikin interrupts. “Yes” Lorius says. “All I need is to adapt it to the ambient Atlantis arcane field, and I, Aura or any competent sorcerer could employ it.” “It can be” he adds, with a touch of glee in his eyes “a rather painful forced reversion to true form, too.” “Good,” she smiles nastily. “It will be even more painful when they pass through the jaws of the kraken.” “We will teach the spell to Kovikin,” she declares. “And to Ashram, as well as whoever Thera feels can handle it from the Temple of Ashura.” She narrows her eyes thoughtfully. “I wonder if it can be incorporated into a ward - filtering out the Atlantean shapeshifters so it does not harm them. Something to decipher.” Lorius nods in agreement. “Shall we adjourn to the War Room?” “Yes” Kovikin says. “Once there we can get a hold of everyone we need and want.” “Will there be food?” Nick says. “Doesn’t matter. There’s spellcraft to be done. And politics. There are always politics. Even in Paradise.” “Atlantis” Kovikin corrects Lorius. Kovikin gestures for Aura to lead. Aura stalks through the mosaic lined hallways of the Atlantean Royal Palace as if she owns them. She knows the way blindfolded in the dark. In a way she feels she does own them. It has been her second home all her life, and the people in its walls more family to her heart than even Lorius (who she really was rather attached to). Now it was possibly threatened and she was not going to just flit about Rebma and let it happen. Kovikin walks by her side, on the side opposite the shoulder that Nick rides on. Behind them, flying more than floating, is Lorius. She sees no reason to wait until she arrives at the other end of the palace to summon Atlantis' Sword. Just as she had called Kovikin earlier, she now calls for her father. Lothian takes only a moment to answer, a speed faster than what Kovikin managed with his response. The look on his face is surprise, delight, and concern mixed into a paint for the features of his countenance. "Aura" he responds. The contact is not overwhelming, Aura can continue her progress through the marble beauty of the palace. "News from outside Atlantis?" "We need you at the Palace. In your official capacity," she says crisply. "We are making our way to the War Room now." Then she smiles slightly. "I spent several hours with Mother. There is much to share." "Such pleasantries, alas, will unfortunately have to wait, if Atlantis needs me as warlord" father says, staying all business, with a tinge of regret in his voice. "I will come to the War Room, directly." he adds. " If I know you, and I do, I would guess that you have already got a hold of Kovikin. Who else do we need?" "High Priestess Thera," Aura replies swiftly. She is well aware that Thera thinks her flighty, and Aura has never done a thing to dissuade the Battle Mage (who Aura thinks is too uptight) of that assessment. Thera's weapons were staff, tactics, sorcery and the Hand of the Goddess; Aura's were smiles, sex and her own magic woven with Pattern. They are two sides of the same Atlantean coin, but neither are likely to admit it to the other. Kovikin finds the whole thing terribly amusing. "Actually, she adds after a beat. "All five of the High Ones should be here for this." "All Five?" her father pauses a beat. "Very well. The full War Council, then." She sighs. "It is not a definite threat to Atlantis at this stage. But Lorius, Fiona and I feel that our information may be leading that way, and we must be prepared for the worst.." "I see. A matter involving your Mother's world." Lothian replies. "Worlds" he corrects after a moment. "It would seem, Aura, that your cousin's ungainly arrival recently has been the herald of bigger and greater things." She feels she must interject at this point; "But this time it was not his fault." "On the other hand, perhaps its time that my title should be something less than ceremonial as it has been for so long." Aura's father adds. She gives him a small smile. "I do not believe this is anything we cannot handle. Perhaps we can set a few surprises up for them. Just in case. I will see you shortly, " "Agreed, daughter. Until then." Lothian says. The Warlord of Atlantis severs the contact, quickly and easily. At this point, Lorius floats up next to Aura. "Okay, so we'll have your boyfriend, your father, and Thera. Who else is she going to bring, and who else makes up this Council?" Lorius asks Aura. "I can't believe you have so little knowledge of who actually runs Atlantis, given how often you plague Aura." Kovikin says, with a tone of exasperation. "You bother Aura with a visit nearly every season, near as I can figure. I bet that Aura doesn't tell me the half of your visits." "Believe it, baby." Nick says. "Well, sometimes you're busy!" she protests to Kovikin. "And more than once you have informed me that you did not want to know when he was here because you get all fretful over whatever havoc he's causing and it distracts you from whatever project you're working on." Then she huffs and looks at Lorius. But only after flicking her fingers to cast a privacy ward. "Naturally the Empress will be there since she is the one who actually rules. The other four High Priestesses will also be in attendance - with their Firebirds. They command the Seas, and the Air, and the Earthen defenses, just as Thera commands the Fires and the War Mages - as you should know by now. As the Sword of Atlantis, Father will also bring Jason, Atlantis' Navel Commander. Kovikin is not here because he is my 'boyfriend' -" the word was spoken with an odd lilt; as if the word itself were foreign and the concept had no real meaning to her. Or to Kovikin for that matter, judging by the look on his face. "I told you we needed him for this; he is the one who commands the Krakens. They guard one of the places we need to access." "And this time, please try to not antagonize the Firebirds," she says sweetly. "Just because you cannot understand them does not mean they are not intelligent beings. They are not interested in your 'crackers'. Though I do seem to remember Aietos wondering what eyeball of Amberite would taste like after you tried to steal one of his tail feathers." "I understand them" Lorius says. "I am just bemused by them. They remind me of parrots, or very small Ruqs." he says. "I was interested in the esoteric uses of a tail feather, and getting a shed one is just not the same." "Aietos is the Air Priestesses' firebird...isn't he?" Aura looks seriously indignant. "They look nothing like parrots! One day, you will go too far and wake up at the bottom of the harbor guardian chained to bedrock." She frowns at him and her ward with a wave of her hand to continue to their destination. She gives him a haughty sniff and spins on her heel, heading to the War Room. Nick laughs behind Lorius, who remains uncharacteristically quiet after Aura's rebuke. Aura can also sense Kovikin's pleasure and bemusement, but he remains silent for the remainder of the way to the War Room. Just before reaching the room, Aura reminds Kovikin to send off a messanger spell to the steward to let him know there is a meeting in the War Room and refreshments need to be sent immedietly. Just because this was short notice didn't mean the palace's hospitality shouldn't be it's best. Firebirds get testy when they don't have their expected fruit. Like any room in Atlantis, the War Room is a work of art, as beautiful as it is functional. Nick's eyes roam around as Aura, Kovikin, and Lorius enter the marbled tiled room. Already here, and waiting for them is Thera and the Priestess of Earth, Yadia. The former greets Aura and Kovikin formally, the latter is at once more laconic and more warm in her greetings. Both of them have their Firebirds, in beautiful plumage, on their left shoulders. While on friendly terms with Yadia, Aura still chooses to give both representitives a formal bow. This is a meeting on official business, and frankly, Thera can be scary when she is in her High Priestess mindset. Aura is still not certain what special powers are in the command of the descendents of the founding Goddesses and she does try not to provoke the woman so she won't find out the hard way. Technically, Kovikin called the meeting, so she leaves the greetings and small talk to him while she goes and rummages through the maps for one in particular. While Aura goes to look at the maps, she can hear Kovikin handling greetings and managing the court of the War Room. "...and of course, High Priestess Thera, you will remember Aura's guest, but Priestess Yadia, I do not believe you have met Aura's cousin on her mother's side. Prince Lorius" (and it must be said, Kovikin manages to say that politely and smoothly), please meet the Priestess of Earth, "Yadia of Piraeus." "It's a pleasure to meet one of the esteemed quartet.' Lorius says "Aura speaks highly of you and your work..." "So what map are we looking for?" Nick whispers to Aura, stifling a laugh. She eyes Nick sideways a moment. "Do you remember why we're here? The maps have been updated since I set my own protections on this place. Atlantis is every changing, you know, and it has been years since I was last there. I don't want to teleport us too close to any key locations, since magic can be tracked. Since they are looking for me I would imagine they have at least a good idea of the resonance of my particular magics. I will need to show Kovikin where we are going on the ones we are taking him along on. I will have to recruit someone else part way through. No one person here should know all of them; in case something happens to them, or they fall into the wrong hands.." "I remember why we're here, doll" Nick says placatingly. He gives a glance backward at Kovikin, the priestesses, and everyone else assembling before returning to look at Aura and the maps. "We can't pick Lorius' Nick says "Your boyfriend, your father...and everyone else would have a heart attack if you did." he says. "Although it would be funny to have him try and outrace the krakens..." He then sobers up. "Seriously, Aura, what about Thera? You are just enough not friends with her, and she is certainly competent enough to be trusted with the information. The water priestess, too, might be a choice. Nahlah. And *she* is one fine looking doll." He glances back behind Aura and the maps. "She just came in." Aura looks over her shoulder and gives the woman in the pale blue and silver costume a respectful nod. "I see your point with Thera," she speaks lowly to the pale amphibian on her shoulder. "But she has a connection to the Royal family, remember. She too was raised in these halls alongside Kovikin and his sister after her parents died. She is the closest to him after myself." "Nuts' Nick says "I thought she would be perfect since no one would ever get the two of you to collude. But I guess, Aura, that she would be a poor choice." Nick glances at the map that Aura has found. "The air priestess, maybe? Isn't she from Etruscan parentage?" "Her father," Aura murmurs. "Which may disqualify her right off. I'm actually considering Margraine, the Chief Healer. She may be the least controversial person to ever walk the island, she's hardly what one would consider adventurous, rarely leaves the Temple, and has no close association with me or my first tier of friends and associates. Well, I think she was the attending Healer when Kovikin and his sister. But that was only to be expected." "Is she coming here to the council?" Nick asks, putting a green hand on the edge of the map. "Or should we call her? Oh, speaking of the air priestess, she's arrived." Aura turns and bows to newly arrived. But then she is back to the maps. Or at least pretending. As is Nick, clearly. Gossip has won out over business. "And have we considered, baby" Nick adds with mischievous grin. "how we are going to distract Lorius when you go and Margraine go off? Mischa's eldest daughter, the silver haired one, perhaps? Maybe her sister, too, the fraternal twin, let them fight over him. I think, doll, that could be fun, and keep Lorius out of your hair, and everyone else's." "Actually, I was planning on sending him with Kovikin," Aura smirks. "Although I suppose we do have time, considering how fast the rate is here in relation to Amber. A few hours with a pair of silver blonde bookends would be good for him." "If they can't tone him down, nothing and no one can." Nick says with satisfaction. He whispers. "I can't tell them apart some of the time." he admits. "Although as far as your boyfriend..." Nick stops whispering. "some time with Lorius will either convince him to drop you like a hot potato, or else will solidify his desire to rescue you from your crazy Amber family." She snorts. "Kovikin knows me better than anyone else. Nothing Lorius says will change his mind." Aura pulls out two maps and rolls them together with a twitch of her fingers. Then she turns to see who all has arrived in case she missed anything. Lorius, noticeably not hovering in either sense of the word, stands a little bit apart from the knot of Atlanteans, his ears and attention turning towards the door as as the latest arrivals come into the Council. Striding into the room, dressed in full uniform and panoply, is the Warlord of Atlantis, Aura's father. Although not a small man by any standard (except perhaps in comparison to Gerard), behind Lothian, in his wake, the naval commander, Jason walks in behind him. Scanning the room, Aura's father takes a moment to pause, and while Jason heads toward Kovikin and the Priestesses, Lothian heads toward his daughter and Nick. Ceremony and decorum; pfft. Aura steps up to meet her father with a hug that threatens to dislodge Nick. "Papa...," is all she says. Silence is better for reveling in the security being home and in her father's arms after what she has already experienced. What with demons and kidnappers and idiot Chaosites. Or whatever the proper name for them is. No one vocalizes any objections on the lack of decorum and ceremony on Aura's part. And her father, for that matter. He sweeps Aura into the security of his arms and lifts her several inches off of the ground. "I'm glad you are safe, here at home, daughter." the Warlord of Atlantis, former and perhaps future lover of Princess Deirdre, the father of Aura, Lothian murmurs. Nick squeaks, narrowly avoiding being squeezed against Aura in the process. It is with reluctance that he lets Aura go. The rest of the room, the Priestesses, Lorius and Kovikin are universally, studiously ignoring the scene, or at least pretending to do so. "I have a memory for you," she murmurs. "Of my meeting with Mother. She explains more about what happened to her. She isn't back to her old self yet, but they are making sure she doesn't push herself too hard." "Do I have to kill someone?" Lothian says. He glances briefly in the direction of Lorius and then firmly back at Aura. "As soon as this business is done, I will want to see that Pearl. And start to lay plans with you to have her convalesce -here-." "Thank you, little one." he adds. She chuckles softly. "Maybe. But not Lorius. Perhaps one day." Aura sobers and adds. "We have uncovered the reasons behind the attempted kidnapping before I left. It involves Mother. That's why they tried to get me. It's why we worry for Atlantis now." "They tried to get to Deirdre through you, here." Lothian says. He finally lowers Aura to her feet but doesn't let her out of his embrace. "And they might try again. No, it would not do for that to occur." Father glances over at the Priestesses, flocking around Thera. Jason, Kovikin and Lorius are talking together, the latter with his usual expressive and effusive body language. " "The Empress should be here directly." Lothian adds after a moment. "And then this meeting will finally get to order." "What's your plan?" he adds. Aura looks over the room filled with people she had known all her life - or nearly so. It pains her to think they had reached a point where she needed to verify their identities. She hides the reluctance before she returns her gaze to her father. "I would rather explain it the one time, please." "All right" her father says. "This is your performance." That, and she wanted Lorius to make sure everyone was who they appeared to be before they revealed too much more. And then there is the sound of a D trumpet, a single sustained note. "She's here" Lothian says. "Showtime, daughter." Aglaia, The Empress of Atlantis, her august and serene majesty, has arrived in the room. Aura straightens and greets the Empress as is proper; with a deep bow. She doesn't have to look to know Nick is doing the same. Aglaia doesn't mind a cheeky lizard - she thinks he's funny. But everything has a place, and this isn't the one for Nick's sense of humor. Indeed, Nick is on his best behavior, and it almost goes without saying that Lorius is perfectly respectful and polite as well. The Empress nods to everyone, with a longer nod to Aura. "Under the rules of calling a War Council." The Empress says, drifting toward the elliptical shaped table, heading toward the royal seat. "She who called the Council to meeting is granted the right to speak first." In short order the Priestesses and other guests, save Lorius, stand behind the chairs along the long sides of the ellipse, leaving the Annunciation Seat empty. Lorius glances at that chair for a moment, looks at Aura, and then moves to stand behind the chair closest to the Annunciation Seat. Aura sighs quietly and straightens her shoulders before moving to the hot seat. She stands there briefly until the Empress signals it is alright to take her seat. The Empress nods, allowing Aura to take her seat. Then the Empress does, and in short order, so does everyone else. She gives Lorius a sidelong look before she begins. "I am unsure how many of you are aware of the kidnapping attempt that occurred shortly before I left for Amber, or of the prisoner we captured and interrogated." She glances around the table, and if anyone needs more information, she will give it before turning to Kovikin. The looks on people's faces suggest that the kidnapping attempt is fairly well known. Aura gets everything from nods of recognition to outright looks of anger at the deed. "Is it still in the dungeon?" "The prisoner is still in the dungeon." Kovikin pipes up. "It is not in the best of health, through no outward fault of our own." "It's possible that the power of order here is not good for a Chaosian's health." Lorius says. "Especially without being able to take precautions." "We have not allowed the prisoner any opportunity to employ any arcana." The Empress says. "Unfortunately, to this point, especially given its poor health, further interrogation has been postponed." "Shall he be fetched?" Aglaia, Empress of Atlantis asks. "No, I think we got everything we needed between the excursion Lorius and I took through his mind earlier, combined with what I now have to show you - if you will give me a moment. I believe seeing the events will best get my concerns across." Aura lifted the strand of gently glowing pearls from around her neck. Unless she overwrote or deleted something, everything that transpired while she wore Memory Pearls would be retained. Which is why some of her jewelry had come off while she was with Gerard. For the moment, it rests between her hands. "But first, I need Lorius to do something. We have already discussed it with Prince Kovikin. I ask you not to be offended. But if you have heard the details of that first attempted kidnapping, you will understand why I ask my cousin now to be certain everyone is who they appear to be." Kovikin gives a nod to Aura and as she does, looks toward Fiona's son as Aura speaks. "Lorius, if you please." "Gladly" Lorius says. He stands up, floating up two inches. Closing his eyes for a moment, he begins speaking in a language not too far removed from Atlantean. There is a soft thunderclap, and a brief wave of blue light washes over Aura, Kovikin, and everyone else in the room for that matter. Aside from the pyrotechnics and acoustic effects, there appears to be no effect from Lorius' spell. Kovikin exhales a breath. And then everyone in the room hears a scream from down the hallway. Aura spares a startled look to Lorius, but then she is out of her seat and flying for the door, knowing Kovikin is on her heels. She would teleport, but she has no idea what the situation is out there. She contents herself with summoning up a binding spell in one hand while yanking open the door with the other. Assuming her father didn't get there first. With the five high priestesses in the room, the Empress was well protected, leaving Lothian free to deal with the threat.. Aura winds up with herself (with Nick), Kovikin, the Warlord and Lorius barreling toward the door. It is a photo finish between her and her father for the door, Lothian slowing at the last so as not to barrel over her daughter in the process. Kovikin and Lorius are just behind Lothian when Aura and Nick makes it out of the doorway. In the hallway, twenty feet away, there is one of the staff of the Castle standing in absolute shock. What has shocked him is evident at the far end of the hallway, heading for the nearest window. Orange scaled with scimitar like spinal knobs, winged, barbed tailed, and about the size of a large child, the creature seems poised to take flight and escape. Aura's spell is flung towards it before she even has time to register what exactly she's seeing. Fast in its wake is another spell meant to place a shield over the window to keep it from escaping. "Move!" she yells at the petrified staffer. Lothian and Kovikin don't bother with Sorcery, rushing toward the window, the demon, and the still petrified servant. While Aura's spells fire toward the demon, Lorius throws a different spell. The effect of his air punch is to knock the staffer into a side passage, clearing room for the Sword and the Warlord of Atlantis. In the meantime, Aura's first spell seems to have been resisted with little effect. The demon shakes its head and continues to try and escape the window. Her second spell, however, not directly affecting the creature, is far more efficiacious. A cupola of a force field, a translucent blue, slides into place. The demon is still trying to batter its way through this shield when Aura's father and Kovikin reach it. In short order, with flats of the blade and their strength, the demon is soon pummeled into unconsciousness. "Good work" Lothian says, turning back to Aura, as Kovikin picks the creature up, holding it in both hands. "Is that thing housebroken, doll?" Nick comments Aura sniffs as she smoothes her gown. "Probably not," she says tartly. "I am going to see who that creature was impersonating," she announces and then strides down the hall to see if the servant was still there. Lothian and Kovikin pass Aura, carrying the demon in the direction of the waiting Lorius. This gives Aura the time and opportunity to head into the side room. The servant, Marta, is still lying on the floor, although she is roused and starting to get up. "Lady" she says, a hand to her temple as her other hand braces herself against a nearby wall. "A..Andrea. He. He..changed into a demon!" "That was not Andrea," Aura informs her gravely from the doorway. Despite Lorius' spell, she was still edgy around people who were not where she could see them when he cast it after what just happened. She has no idea what the area effected is from a casting. She makes a note to ask as soon as she is back among them. "You will come with me and tell the Council exactly what you saw from your point of view." "The Council" Marta says, doubtfully at first and then her eyes and gaze harden. "Yes, Lady." Now at her feet, she heads in the direction of the doorway, and Aura. She leans out into the hallway and looks up and down the corridor with a frown. "And then we can hear why the Royal Guard was nowhere to be seen." And there is still no sign of the Royal Guard. A very careful listening does reveal that there are the sounds of activity, distantly, in other ends of the expansive palace. And, finally, as Marta joins Aura at the doorway, a guard comes into view , sword out, and looking around warily. Aura gently ushers Marta towards the council room before she swings around to give the guard an earful. She draws herself up to her full height (scant though it is) and fixes the man with a paint peeling glower. "Is there a reason there were no Royal Guards on the floor with the Empress?" "Lady!" The guard begins, somewhat out of breath. "We've..." She holds up a swift hand. "No. Wait. You can explain it to Kovikin and The Sword." Aura gestures towards the council door. "If you please." "The guard takes a second or two of sputtering and half started words before he follows Aura, and Marta, into the War Room. Once there, Aura can see Kovikin, Lothian, Lorius and Yadia leaning over the demon, spread eagled on the table. It appears to be invisibly bound. "Witnesses, I think" Lorius says to Lothian as the two of them look up at Aura's arrival. After a reassuring nod from the latter and a smile from the former, They look back down at the demon. "What do we have, Aura?" The Empress, standing not far away from the scene at the table, says to her. "I am not entirely sure, Your Glory," she answered after sneering down at the bound demon. "Marta says this creature was impersonating Andrea. We will need to determine where the real Andrea is." Marta manages a curtsy, but no words, as Aura continues speaking. She gestures at the guard. "He only just arrived on the floor. I believe he may have something to tell us." She turns to the guard with a raised eyebrow. The guard salutes, shakily, warily. "Your Majesty, I came up here on behalf of the guard captain. Its pandemonium downstairs, your Majesty." "Pandemonium?" The Empress inquires. "Yes, your Majesty.. Miladies. Milords." The guard gulps. "There has been an outbreak of... creatures on the first floor of the palace. Causing damage, knocking things over, getting the guards occupied. My captain, Captain Anthimos, thought it might be a diversion for something up here, so he sent me to see if everyone was all right." Aura just gets angrier the longer he speaks. "With Your Glory's approval, Lorius should work with the High Priestesses to come up with a ward to keep these creatures out of here, as he is more familiar with their magics than I. Getting word to Nasir in Persa would not be a bad idea either. I suspect it would be even easier for them to slip in and hide among his D'jinn and their Imps." "A disquieting thought, Aura" The Empress responds. "You are right, we should warn him." "Some one should go and help round up these things downstairs. I am hesitant to take any of the assembled protection away from Your Presence, however. Though I am sure Lorius, Kovikin and myself could deal with things downstairs - leaving the rest to insure your safety until we return?" "This is clearly a coordinated attack." The Empress says. She then looks and snaps at Lorius.. "How far did your spell extend?" she says sharply at him. Lorius looks up from the creature, gives Aura a glance and then looks at the Empress. "I erred on the side of caution. The spell's range extended to just outside of the palace." he says. "It seems to me that I stirred up a hornet's nest. Wait, there are hornets here, right?" "Yes" Kovikin says, impatiently. "Anyway" Lorius says. "I agree with my cousin. Send me, her, and Kovikin to mop up these creatures that my spell revealed. Keep everyone else here, wary for Chaosian mischief in the meantime." "Very well" The Empress of Atlantis dismisses "Aura, take Kovikin, and Lorius and remove the creatures. Use whatever force you deem necessary, since it seems we already have one for interrogation and likely do not need more, unless you find someone of rank." Nick chuckles. "These Chaosians,doll, are certainly full of *that*." Aura huffs at her familiar before bowing quickly to the Empress before adding in High Atlantean. "I would not let anyone in but us." "I don't intend to." The Empress of Atlantis replies curtly. Aura turns on the guard. "You are with us." "Yes, Lady." he replies, bowing from the waist. "I should bring you back to my Captain. He will know what has transpired in my absence. And he'll be happy everyone here is safe." "Gentlemen," she says with a half crazed smile to Lorius and Kovikin. Aura laces her fingers together and cracks her knuckles. "Let us go fumigate an infestation." Lorius glances at the creature at the table and then grins at Aura. "Preliminary study of that one showed that we're dealing with some Percipi Demons." Lorius says, floating toward the door. "Maybe there are other types running around down there too. We'll get them all." "After all, Mom might want one or more for study. And, really" Lorius says, now at the threshold of the door. "I'd hate for them to drop the property value in your shadow, Aura." "Is their hide leather-y? I might like a pair of boots," Aura says as she steps into the hall to wait for Kovikin "I wonder if they come in purple?" She looks at the guard. "What part of the palace? Teleporting will be faster." "I've never teleported before." the guard protests. "First time for everything." Lorius says. "And, yes, Aura, the skin of Percipi things could be tanned. There's a really funny story about that..." Lorius stops at a glare from Kovikin. He then resumes "that can await for another time." "Captain is in one of the reception rooms, lady." The guard finally says. "The one with the eight pointed star embedded on the floor." Without preamble, Aura grabs onto the guard with one hand, steps a bit in front of Kovikin so he can rest a hand on her shoulder, and then completes the chain by looping her arm through her cousin's. The arrangement leaves the soldier's sword arm free and Lorius a free hand for casting if he needs it. On his home turf, Kovikin doesn't need gestures. She doesn't bother to warn anyone. She just moves them. And quickly, silently and without the vertigo associated with her cousin's method of teleport, Aura's transport of the group to the sitting room indicated by the guard is flawless and without complaint from anyone, even the guard. The sitting room, usually reserved for guests to the Palace, has been transformed into a headquarters for the Royal Guard. Around them, guards are filing in and out, speaking with officers Such is their attention to their detail that while everyone is clearly aware of the group’s arrival, it takes ten seconds for the guards to interact with the arrivals. In that time, Aura turns to Kovikin and speaks quietly. "It won't be popular, but we need to seal off the Tetra crystals until we can do something to block these things. You cannot risk them." "We can't" Kovikin says. "But I think I'd rather have you tell the Priestesses that I did it. They will not be happen, even if they later see the logic. I'll see to it." As it so happens, as indicated by his uniform, this must be the guard’s Captain. Captain Vikentios, to be precise, as Aura recalls his name easily. The curly black hair, aquiline nose, and large eyes are memorable. Kovikin gives a nod, in recognition. “My Lord. Milady.” The Captain says. He looks at Lorius and furrows his eyebrows, as if taking a moment to recall him, and succeeding. He looks at the guard. “Thank you, Marxani.” he says to the guard. “We are attempting to deal with the situation here.” he continues., returning his gaze back to Aura and Kovikin. “ The first floor of the palace has been infested with entities of unknown origin.” "We are aware of their origin, Captain. Sadly. How many do you suspect, and are they contained to the first floor of the palace?" Aura shoots out at the man in a clipped tone reminisicent of her father. Or her mother when she is being commanding. Captain Vikentios salutes smartly, just as if he was addressing the Warlord of Atlantis rather than his daughter. Aura gets his entire attention. From the Captain's point of view, Kovikin, Lorius and even Nick do not seem to exist. "We have counted more than two dozen entities, Princess" the captain replies. "We have taken great pains to keep the entities from exiting out of the city, or reaching the second floor. We have several casualties but no fatalities at this time, and are attempting to defeat the entities piecemeal." She nods and quirks an eyebrow at her cousin. "We have seen direct magic doesn't do much of anything. What would you suggest? I have very little experience with magic resistant creatures." "Creatures and demons which are resistant to sorcery *are* a bother" Lorius admits. He looks away from Aura for a moment to see Kovikin depart the room, walking with purpose and then returns to look at Aura and Nick. "We don't want to wreck the Palace in order to clear these demons out." "Certainly not!" Captain Vikentios blurts out. Lorius ignores the interruption, keeping his gaze on Aura. "The Captain and his guards mundane efforts are one classic way of handling this." Lorius admits. "Of course that is distinctly not my style." "Not your scene." Nick agrees "So what's the plan?" Lorius grins at Nick, and then looks at Aura. "Very few creatures which are resistant to direct magic can dispel spells not specifically targeted at them. That's a rare trick, Aura. What we do, then, is target around them. What we need to use here are force field spells. Cubes and walls of force. A few Detrudo cavea spells, too. "Bottle the demons up, and then we can deal with them as we like." Lorius grins. "Get you those boots. Maybe a set of gloves for your dad." Aura smirks. "I have an invisible hamster ball spell. Pity it would leave them mobile." "We can convert it from a globe to something less mobile.' Lorius says confidently. She turns to the officer. "Where would you like us to start? The one nearest escape, or the ones closest to important areas on this floor/" "Most of the people on the floor has been evacuated or are in safe zones." Captain Vikentios "There is a knot of demons nearby, in the Court of the Vestibule, that have proven difficult to deal with." "Not the fountain!" Nick exclaims in horror. Aura frowns. "Right then. We will start there. Make sure there aren't any more holed up in meetings rooms and in cupboards." "We will continue to contain the threats as best we can whille you deal with them directly, Highness." The captain replies. She gestures her cousin towards the door. "Lorius? Once we have them sealed in a bubble, can we just shrink the bubble? Or trap them inside with fire? Although.. they are demons; will they even burn?" "Fire depends on the demon. Some would be killed, but some types would just love a fire bath." Lorius says, frowning. "There aren't many universal methods of destroying demons, cousin.. Compressing the fields might work for this level of demon though.." Lorius' eyes light up. "Yes! Compress the demons far enough down to liquefy them, and we could, with alchemical refinement, get some chalcanth out of this entire mess. Lots of sorcerous uses for that, although the really good stuff requires dealing with higher ranked demons than this lot. Still, not a bad idea, Aura. I must be rubbing off on you again." Nick rolls his eyes. "Of course you are," she smirks. "And I'm flattered, really. But do you really think this is the best time to confess?" Lorius smiles wickedly. "After you, Mademoiselle." Lorius turns his smile to a grin, gesturing for Aura to lead. Aura preceded him out into the hall, leading the way to Nick's fountain. She flexes her fingers and while mentally calling up the spells she wants. "Let's get this over with. When Kovikin gets back, you will need that spell again. I don't like letting him go off by himself in the middle of this mess." "You are being paranoid and cautious." Lorius says, floating beside Aura into the hallway. "And, unfortunately" Lorius adds. "entirely sensible. I'll have the anti-shaping spell primed for when he gets back." The corridor to the Court of the Vestibule is uneventful. The end of the corridor, which opens into the large oval room, is flanked by three guards, enchanted spears in hand. Behind them, the winged form of Chaosian demons occasionally soar into view, mostly passing left to right. The guards seem more inclined to conduct a holding action than moving in to engage with the creatures. "You go left, I go right and we fire until our spells go dry?" Lorius suggests. Aura just nods. She can't contemplate her spells going dry. It hasn't happened yet. She takes a breath, squares her shoulders and swings into the room firing spells from both hands as soon as she spots quarry. She knows they were flying, so she's focused upwards instead of eyelevel. Nick can warn her if something's coming at her from under the radar. The next twelve minutes are pandemonium. The sheer chaos of a double dozen swooping demons is considerable. The first couple of minutes is taken just finding a spot to fire spells from safely. Aura quickly discovers that this set of demons are more irritant and annoyance than mortal danger. Having Nick give her warning when the demons try to attack from multiple vectors is a very good thing. Aura does gets a scrape from a thrown vase (such a lovely blue and white vase, too, it was a gift from Etrusca). Lorius gets a cut across the forehead when five of the creatures try to swarm him at once. At the end of ten minutes more, the room is full of Aura's hamster balls, and a variety of platonic solids, all floating in air with a combined spell from Aura and Lorius. Each of them has one of the demons. If someone were keeping score, Aura's greater command of the local magic level has given her an 15 to 13 "victory" over Lorius. Behind Aura, she can hear the guards swear in amazement as they enter the room. "If you had a gun, doll, you could blow the smoke off of the muzzle now." Nick snickers. Aura grins and makes a gun with her hand, winks at her familiar, and blows across the tip of her forefinger. "We make a good team." "You remind me of Caine's daughter." Lorius grins. "Not the pirate one, either." She looks over at Lorius. "Any reason we need to stay with this lot? There are more to track down, I believe." "No real reason to." Lorius confirms. "We can collect our captures later and finish the job. Besides, I want to tally the varieties we get out of this mess. And any demon likely able to get out of either of our spells is not likely to have been caged so easily in the first place. I figure this will be easy until we get to any of the heavier hitters." "Then" Lorius grins at Aura "we might even work up a real sweat. You know the Palace backwards and forwards, so I figure I will just follow you. Or we both look for crowds of cowed guards." "Either way," she agrees before sweeping back out into the hallway. She taps two soldiers on the shoulders as she passes them. "Yes, Highness?" One of the guards asks. "Come. Scout ahead and find any pockets of resistance. Not too far ahead though. I want you in sight at all times. One room at a time. We shall head for the Throne Room first. It has lots of little hiding places." "You are entirely correct" the second guard says. "Of course she is. Not sure about the redheaded sorcerer, though." the first guard says, with an exaggerated stage whisper to the second. "We stand to follow you " both of them add, in perfect harmony. Nick chuckles. "They're like a double act" Lorius comments. The trip to the throne room, however, turns out to be no laughing matter. No less than three rooms require Lorius, Aura and Nick's attention. Spells fire fast and often as more demons, mostly of the same species, fall under the rain of their spells. Martyn and Rowan, the two guards, lead them through it all. And then, finally, there is the throne room. A knot of nervous guards are at the entrance. "What is happening?" Rowan asks. "There is just one demon in this room" one of the guards says. "It's killed Leofric and Alfas!" "Come in, Children of Amber." booms a voice. From here, Aura can see a very large figure sitting on the dais of the throne, although its far too large to sit in it. With the head of an Oryx and the muscular body of a hill giant, he is picking his teeth with the head of a broken Atlantean spear. Aura gives the thing a look of outraged malice before she turns to her cousin and grabs his arm to pull him out of the doorway and a few yards dawn the hallway. Lorius, starting at the creature with narrowed eyes does need Aura's manhandling to be drawn away from the entrance and to a spot about 15 feet from the entrance. He shakes his head, as if dazed. "What is that, and what do you know about it?" "Trouble." Lorius says. "I was trying to break into its mind, to no avail. I don't know its truename, but its a Secundus demon, Aura . Big on martial prowess, and strong preternatural senses. That's why he knew *what* we were. I think we've been collecting his component souls in our progress here, those small gargoyle demons must be bound to him." "His children?" Nick says. "No" Lorius says. "Pieces of his soul." Aura wrinkles her nose in disgust. "I do not often say this, but that's just unnatural. Would destroying them weaken it? We do have five top of the heap Atlantean Mages upstairs twiddling their thumbs." "It would, I think, which is why I mentioned it." Lorius replies. "We haven't killed the ones we Bobble, but to kill them would change the demon's nature, weaken and diminish it in the process. We might get something unexpected..." "That sounds like a bad scene, baby." Nick interjects This is already a 'bad scene'," she replies drily "Too right." Lorius agrees. "Back to the problem at hand, the demon would be weaker, though" Lorius adds. "Sort of like chopping off most of the length of a sword and reforging the remainder as a dagger. If we were really lucky, he would forget what we were after the process is complete, and make it easier for the two of us to tackle." As if on cue...comes the booming voice of the demon. "I'm waiting for you!" 'Keep your shirt on!" Aura booms right back. "I broke a nail, and my hair is a wreckl! That room has a dress code!" Lorius laughs. She smirks at Lorius and then plucks Nick off her shoulder. "I am going to send you to Father. Tell Her Glory what is happening and what we need," she whispers sternly. "Do not embellish or try and make it an exciting tale of daring on your part. Clear?" "Tell her that we are facing a big demon, and we need your dad to kill the little ones so you and Lorius can squash this one like a dung beetle from Shadow Abydos." Aura opens a gate directly to her father and waits for him to accept the familiar magic before she sends her familiar scurrying through. The gate is small, and quick, and Nick climbs through it, from her shoulder, through the portal, and directly onto the Sword of Atlantis' shoulder. A wave of her hand and Aura is attired in the formal court dress of an Atlantean dignitary once again - what there is of it. She raises an eyebrow at her cousin as she makes a minute adjustment to her diadem. "Whenever you're ready..." "I would ask if you got that spell from Asteria, but you haven't met her." Lorius says. He looks at his sorcerer's robe. "You are going to make me dress up for this, aren't you? I suppose I need the practice." he says with a sigh. Lorius' transformation is a blur of air and light and when it clears, he is wearing a white shirt, a dark brown (some might say bronze colored) suit, black pants and shoes, and a bowtie in forest green. A monogrammed unicorn, in white, adorns the single hankerchief pocket of the suit. "There" Lorius says. "Let's go in." "Not bad," she notes. "But a bow tie?" "Bow ties are cool." Lorius says with a wide grin.¹ Lorius and Aura get several paces into the room before the demon booms. "That's far enough" He leans his Oryx head forward and shows flat, blunt teeth that look more suited to crunching through bone and metal than cutting. There are bloodstains and bloody streaks all around the room, and discarded weapons that suggest the fate of Leofric and Alfas. Aura doesn't do more than take note of the evidence. She slams down her mental shields. Now is not the best time for psychic echoes to start playing in her mind. But someone would pay, oh yes they would. "Are you here to bribe me to leave this squalid little shadow, little denizens of Order?" the demon says. "I admit that the quality of opposition is weak, at best. And surely children of Amber do not wish physical harm to themselves in battle." Aura arches a haughty brow. "What are you doing here to begin with?" "Stay out of *mind*, sorcerer brat." the Demon says, glaring at an unrepentant Lorius. He then looks at Aura. "Why am I here, little Amberite?" the demon says. "Why wouldn't I want to come to this beautiful, pleasant veil that you have here. A tad too staid, but I think the redecoration I am doing..." He stops and glares at Lorius and growls. "SECOND warning, sorcerer." He looks at Aura agan. "As I was saying, the redecoration of me and my fellows is changing that. My summoners certainly appreciate the decor change." Aura's expression doesn't change, though she does attempt to open a mental communication with her father and hope is in a position to accept it. "We like it the way it is, and we don't care at all about your summoner's wishes. What do you want?"
"What I want?"The demon says. "To fulfill the bounds of the contract that brought me out of the Pit and into Shadow. To see the lamentation of your shadow folk, to cause pain and anguish where I desire. To..." Lorius gives a glance toward Aura, and as she seeks the mental communication with her father, she can also sense that Lorius is aware of what she is trying to do. Lorius then interrupts the demon, loudly. "Yes, yes. Crush the lesser shadow beings! Conquer the shadow! Unimaginable power! Unlimited rice pudding! Et cetera! Et cetera!" Lorius is waving his arms around, and taking all of the attention of the creature. She lets herself smile at her cousin's antics. It won't do for her to just zone right out of the conversation entirely. Aura can feel the mental communication with her father complete.
says. *What do you need, precisely, from me?* he asks.
have trapped the lesser demons in. They are currently individually packaged for easy disposal. But you have to be quick. Lorius thinks that the loss of them will weaken the one we have in the Throne Room to the point where he is easily handled. Without a lot of collateral damage.*
"All right. Delay and befuddle that demon, but don't let yourself get hurt in the process. Nick, I, and the guards will handle the rest of the lesser demons. I will call you or send Nick.' he says "once the lesser demons are dealt with." "Good luck, Aura" he says, and ends the contact. Only a few seconds have passed, as Aura's attention is back on the room. She can see Lorius shoot her a look and mouth the words 'trust me'. There is a brief shimmer over him, but the effect ends and Lorius returns to face the Oryx-headed monstrosity. "Surely this one has prattled enough." the demon growls, turning a horned head toward Aura. "Perhaps you will buy the two of you a few more minutes of life." Feigning boredom, Aura examines her nails. "Veils and Tridents. You are just a walking cliche, aren't you? Do you blow smoke when you're angry?" She looks up and smiles slyly. "Or perhaps you are also an incubus. I'm sure I can find a few interested parties if you are..." Lorius chuckles. "By the Pit, the two of you are impertinent, children of Amber. Do I have to kill more of these shadow dwellers to make you, the two of you, respect me?" The demon's face turned and has stayed red, ever since Aura's mention of the word 'incubus'. She sighs the sigh of the long suffering and rubs a non existent spot on one nail. "Violence is not the way to go if it is our respect you want, Demon." "Are the two of you lovers?" the demon challenges in return. "If you are, I cannot see why the two of you have not yet strangled each other." Aura looks up from her intensive nail examination and smiles, showing her teeth. "Mon cher, Creation would not survive the two of us." The next fifteen minutes passes in this way, with banter from Aura and Lorius keeping the demon from actually engaging in active hostility. Every so often, though, Aura can see the demon is shrinking, somewhat, and losing some of his obvious strength. When Nick strides into the room, the demon looks at Nick with sudden realization. He looks ready to strike at Aura's familiar, but his attention is soon averted. "My fault!" Lorius says gleefully. "I sent my cousin's familiar as my herald. It's all me, you impotent, pusillanimous and pugilistically poor excuse for a Pit bloodline. Your strength is fading fast, and soon a pair of addled schoolchildren could wipe the floor..." "I will show you, sorcerer!" the demon bellows. He strikes quickly, suddenly, and grabs Lorius bodily, lifting him in a horned fist triumphantly. Lorius is seemingly unable to escape the grasp of the demon as he wiggles in the fist like a worm on a hook. The demon's attention is, naturally, completely off of Aura and Nick at this stage. She quickly scoops up Nick and sets him on her shoulder. "Show off, that one," she mutters. "I hope he's paying attention." Aura pulls as much of the stored power as she can hold from her the glimmering pearls of her necklace. An invisible wind of power whips around her as it builds swiftly. Electric purple lightening arches between her hands until she thrusts them forward, releasing the spell to race forward and strike the demon. Even as the energy from the lightning strike builds, the demon is completely oblivious to Aura's exertions. He is focusing on the caught Lorius. squeezing him as one might an overripe grape. Lorius doesn't seem intent on anything physical or overt, instead relying on a continuous stream of invectives and disparaging remarks regarding the creature's strength, origins, ancestry (Demons from Chaos aren't descended from diseased goats, vipers, and bighorn sheep, are they?) and more. As Aura releases his spell, Nick cheering as she does so the demon drops Lorius to the floor. He lands in a heap and does not move. The force, physical and elemental from the power, however, makes the Demon's victory last only one and a quarter seconds. Whatever the ultimate reason for it, the demon's strength at this stage is a paper tiger. The lightning hits the demon square, and a nimbus of electrical energy surrounds the demon, from horns to hooves. The smell of ozone, burned hair and skin fills Aura's nostrils. More importantly, whatever the creature has for heart, or hearts, the electricity stops them. The demon falls forward, senseless, forward, the lifeless look of death in his eyes as he shakes the room as his corpse hits the floor next to where Lorius has fallen. Coughing, she waves a hand to clear the air in the room. The breeze that comes up this time smells much less of ozone as she swirls around the space and through the high open archways that lead to the gardens. "Nick, go find my father." Nick is off Aura's shoulder in a beat. He does pause to look at the bodies, or corpses, perhaps, of the demon and Lorius before he heads out one of the entrances in a streak. Aura starts to take a step, then thinks better of it. Instead she leans against the wall and summons Lorius to slide gently across the smooth marble so he isn't so close to the demon. She's not trusting that it's as well done as it looks. Aura's summoning simply does not work.She can't seem to get a grasp on Lorius' body. It doesn't budge. One additional bit of Aura's effort, though, changes matters entirely. There is a popping sound, and then a second, and the lifeless body of Lorius vanishes before Aura's eyes. It is and was, apparently a chimera. An illusion. Aura's magical manipulations caused it to finally disappear. And causes something, someone, to appear out of the corner of Aura's eye. Looking bruised and battered--but far less injured than the deception,propped up against a nearby wall, is Lorius. He lifts his head towards Aura and grins, weakly. "Meanas worked." he gasps, as if trying to gulp air after holding his breath underwater for two minutes. The Demon still has (not yet?) visibly stirred. "Idiot," she huffs as she pushes herself off the wall and moves across to check on her cousin. "I think it is dead," she says while kneeling beside him. "But I don't care to get so close as to check. I sent Nick after people with blades." "Prudent." Lorius replies. "What did you do, exactly?" Lorius blinks his eyes. "I figured that demon could level one of us, even with it weakened, before we could finish the Pit-begotten thing off. I didn't want it to decide to take
I tapped some Old magic to make an illusion of myself. It had to be strongly" Lorius pauses, pained. "It had to be strongly resonant with me, take on some of my essence. So I used a Warren, Meanas, to make an illusion connected to me. I figured to let the demon exhaust himself on my illusion, and leave you the opening to take his exhausted and weakened derriere out while he was distracted." "You did great." Lorius smiles at Aura. "You're a heroine." And then Lorius slumps unconscious, as the same time Atreus, guards, and Nick arrive, swords drawn. "I'm not the only one," she murmurs softly. "Idiot." Aura gently eases Lorius to lay the floor. She stands and turns to her father. "I would get a pyre built quickly and torch that thing," she says with a gesture. "And this room will need the attentions of the High Priestesses: Lorius and I weren't the only ones to commit violence in here." "And we need a Healer." Father looks at Lorius and then at the Demon. "Is your cousin making a habit of visiting the infirmary here, dear daughter? I suppose we should be grateful there wasn't any collateral damage like upon his arrival here." "I think he's trying to play on their need to pamper the helpless," she says, smiling slightly. "Or perhaps tell them stories of his exploits. He's such a boy sometimes." "He should be domesticated, then." Father says. "By us, if his mother will not do it." "But at least the demons are dead, including big, horned and ugly." Nick says. "Too right," Aura nods tiredly. It has been a long damn day from her perspective. Atreus soon shouts out orders and commands. In a whirlwind of action, wood and oil are brought to deal with the large demon, priestesses sweep in, guards start cleaning the area, and healers have arrived to minister to anyone injured. Even Aura gets a once over, on Father's strict instructions. While her instinct is to wave the woman off, Healers can be down right scary when they aren't allowed to fuss. So she takes it with tired grace. "We should make him pay for the charring of the floor." Atreus murmurs to Aura as the demon burns to ash. He coughs, as the acrid smoke sweeps over everyone. If it wasn't dead before, however, it is most definitively destroyed now. Priestesses are already cleansing the room and adjoining rooms, and one of the Healers, has Lorius's head propped up by a soft pillow and is ministering to him. "Her Imperial Majesty is proud of the way you handled this, Aura." Atreus adds. Aura looks up at her father and gives him a crooked smile. "It was not just me. If Lorius had not distracted it the way he did, we might still be waiting him out. Nick was terribly handy today. I shall have to think Kovikin again.... Is he back yet? I sent him to secure Tetra until we could get a handle on this attempted invasion." "He was heading back to report to the Queen having done so, Aura." Atreus says. "I understand he also fought a pair of minor demons in the Palace. Fortunately, all reports are that the demonic incursion has been limited to the palace and the Formal Garden at this point. The citizenry of the city have not been impacted." "We should get back and make our own reports," Aura says a bit uneasily. "These things can make themselves look like anyone and Lorius is unconscious and unable to cast that spell, nor have I had time to learn it." Astreus swears under his breath, as he glances over at the Healer tending Lorius. She turns to the Healer working on Lorius. "Move him to my rooms, he can rest there. If he goes to the Temple, we may not see him for a week." "We need him hale and ambulatory sooner rather than later." Atreus adds to the white haired woman. She looks nervously at the Warlord of Atlantis and his daughter, and finally gives a nod. With help of some porters, Lorius is soon borne off. "Now we get to tell the Empress we are real life heroes!" Nick pipes up, proudly. "That, or we're going to need all new floor tiles thanks to these demons." Aura looks at the less messy room and sighs. "Good people died here today. Just because some self important chit seeks to cause Mother trouble." She looks very calmly at her father as she smooths her skirt. "I will see them dead. One way or the other." "I would expect no less." Father replies. "Shall we go and speak to the Empress?" "Nick, guard Lorius. I need him in one piece and soon. Let me know as soon as he wakes. Send a page to inform me. There is no point in you scampering all over the palace looking for me." "Pages don't like listening to me." Nick says. "Why do you think, baby, that I do half of this legwork that I otherwise wouldna have to do? I'll make sure nothing and no one bothers him, doll, until its time for him to wake up." Nick then scampers off in the direction that the Healer and the porters are carrying Lorius. Atreus turns toward Aura expectantly. "Let us be about our business." She waves a hand to straighten her hair and headdress. "Let's. We need to discuss getting some wards up that incorporate that spell. We can start the matrix without Lorius, but we'll need him before we get too far in." Father nods. He moves without further adieu,grasping Aura's arm. His teleport spell is like a crack of thunder in a summer thunderstorm, sudden, powerful and implacable. Aura and Atreus are suddenly in front of the door to the War Room. The guards here, alarmed by the sudden teleportation, stand down once they recognize Aura and her father. They prove no barrier to the two of them entering the War Room. In contrast to the orderly council prior to the Incursion, the people here have divided into small groups. The Empress and Kovikin are already deep in conversation at a table. Several of the Priestesses are also talking together,Yadia holding court amongst them at the moment. Aura drops into a chair and summons over a glass and a new bottle of wine. The bottle, and a full glass of wine are there almost preternaturally fast. Nick gets a small thimbleful size glass as well. "It is done. Lorius is resting. If you approve, Your Glory, we need to start laying a ward matrix around Atlantis. It will need to incorporate that spell of my cousin's, but it can be started without him." "I do not want this to occur again." the Empress says. "Those who would harm Atlantis must be dissuaded from doing so." The Empress looks at Atreus for a long moment. Although no words are exchanged, the looks between the two say volumes. Finally, Aura's father sighs and bows his head to the Empress and regards her daughter. "Does Atlantis need to wage war outside of its borders, Aura?" Atreus says. Aura winces at the very idea. "I cannot say for certain. Such things have never been my strong suit, as you know. Amber may handle this, since it is basically an attack against a Princess of Amber. I will certainly make sure Amber is made aware of the lengths these upstarts have gone to so far. Amber's finest Sorceress is already aware that we believed an attack on Atlantis was planned; which is why Lorius and I returned so quickly. There was another attempt to kidnap me in Amber, and the perpetrators were rather thoroughly interrogated. Lorius' mother is rather ...inventive. When I say she wrung out all the information that the being held, I am being very literal." The Empress looks thoughtful at Aura's words and finally nods, clearly pleased by this. "Lorius has a better understanding of the enemy than I currently possess. We should speak with him when he wakes. He may be able to arrange for his mother to speak with whomever Your Glory sees fit in order to build a better defense. I would ask Mother, but she is still healing from a near death experience, and I am loathe to drag her further into this conflict than she already is as their ultimate target." "Princess Deirdre would be difficult to dissuade from engaging in the conflict, even if she were wounded still." Atreus comments. "I agree with my daughter; your Glory, if Atlantis is destined for a conflict with Chaos, we should engage other members of the Amber Royal Family to help do so." "It may mean allowing them access, albeit temporarily, to Atlantean soil." Atreus continues. "So be it." The Empress says. "In the meantime, you mentioned that you were going to start work on the protections. Aside from the wakefulness of your injured cousin, which can bide, what else do you need from Us to begin this work?" she asks Aura. She frowns thoughtfully while sipping her wine. "We are not just building a ward; which is something I know several of the higher mages here are familiar with." She inclines her head towards Thera specifically. War wards were among her specialties. Thera nods in response, in agreement with Aura's assessment. "We are also manipulating the stuff of Shadow. I can do that alone, but it will go much faster with Lorius' assistance. Neither Lorius, nor I can wield Tetra, though we can fake it. Also, the High Priestesses, with the depth of their specific imprints and relationship with their Element should be involved. I also need the most detailed maps you currently posses. Kovikin may wish to give some thought to waking the Krakens and having a talk with them." "Maps" The Empress repeats. " I know this may sound like overkill. But we are talking of keeping Chaos away from our borders. I do not think there is such a thing as too much." Aura doesn't necessarily believe they need all this, but it gives them something to do and keeps them from feeling they can't defend their own shores. "It is Our desire." The Empress says "that the forces of Chaos are unable to do this again, or cannot do it with ease if that is an impossible level of safety to achieve." "Eventually" she continues "Our neighbors should be protected as well, although if we are high handed about it, old fears of Atlantean Imperialism, long quenched, may be rekindled." she continues. "But that is a matter to consider once the safety of the kingdom is assured." She looks at Aura. "You should see to your own rest while the things you have asked for are gathered and obtained." The Empress looks at Aura sternly. "We bade you do so. You will be unable to protect Atlantis, and the matter of a few hours will not cause this realm to rise or fall." "This is Not a Suggestion." Aura's father and even Nick, who has apparently just appeared in the room, are not saying a word. Aura looks surprised. It has been quite a long time since she was sent to bed like this. But she smiles and rises to her feet. "Yes, Your Glory. Come along Nick. You have also had a busy day." She moves to give her father a kiss on the cheek before bowing to the room and taking her leave. It's not until she's on the stairs that she eyes her familiar. "Some welcome home, huh?" "Well, baby." Nick says, looking around from his perch on Aura's left shoulder "It coulda been worse. They coulda sent us to Persa or Etrusca to get rest." He looks around again in an exaggerated fashion. "We don't want to tell your father, or the Empress, that idea. She might like it." "Like you wouldn't," she snorts. "Every time we visit the Caliph, I have to track you down to the harem." Nick snickers. Once Aura gets into her quarters with Nick, Lorius is apparently once again sleeping peaceably on Aura's day-bed. One odd thing Aura notices is that the hair at his temples has turned from the usual red to a silver color. "He WAS awake, honest." Nick says. "That's what I was going to tell you until the Empress dropped the dime on ya. But I'll watch over him until you wake up, Doll." Nick says. "That's all right," she says dismissively while peering at Lorius' new hair style. Kovikin's had done that when he tested for his arch Mage title. Privately, she thinks it looks better on Kovikin's raven hair; Lorius's hair needs gold in it. "He obviously needs more rest." "For myself, I am going to order something to eat, pour a glass of wine and soak in a hot bath. I shall have them send you up those Q'lan seeds you like and an alcoholic flower or two." With a last glance at her cousin, she wafts off to do just that. Three hours later, Aura (and Nick) have eaten, relaxed, and Aura has managed some napping time in said hot bath. Nick has particularly enjoyed eating the Q'lan seeds, and explains that Lorius once told him that there was a fruit seed similar to these called a pomegranate. The pomegranate seeds, however, are a blood red, rather than the viridian shade of the Q'lan. It is when Aura exits the cooled bath to perhaps retire to her bed or rest in some other fashion when, as she heads out of the bathroom, she scents the smell of...fried chicken?? The smell turns out to lead Aura to an awake Lorius. Sitting crosslegged in a chair, he has a large red and white bucket that proclaims "Frankfort Fried Chicken." He stops masticating the drumstick he is eating, and beams at Aura and Nick. "Hello, Aura." he says, with a sleepy smile. "I didn't know how to order food in the Palace, so I conjured some." "Because using the bell pull by the fireplace is terribly taxing," she says dryly while absently gesturing towards the narrow length of bead work in question. "How have you not ever summoned a servant during previous visits?" "I usually just go and get things from the kitchen or wherever." Lorius says with a lazy smile. He does give a glance in the direction of the fireplace, makes a soft sound and returns to looking at Aura. "Now you know why they complain about me so much. I don't use the servants in Castle Amber much. Why would I pester yours?" "Also, I sometimes ask Nick for help." Lorius adds, brightly "In exchange for teaching him things." He looks at Nick, who guiltily looks at Aura. Aura snorts. "That, I knew." She drops down onto the chaise across from him. "We will be meeting up with the mages as soon as you're up to it. We have to ward Atlantis, and I want that spell of yours incorporated into it." "Oh, thanks to that powernap, I am definitely up for it." Lorius says. "Just let me get some more protein in me." he takes an enthusiastic bite, masticates it, swallows and continues "and I will be right as rain. " "We have to shore up your defense here, get the Chaosians to punt, and then we can go all Air Coryell on them." Lorius says. "Or so Castor would say." "I have no idea what that means," says she blandly. Seeing as they're going to be a bit longer, she summons up a glass of Fire Wine, the colorful fires swirling in the dark depths of Atlantis' signature wine. "How long do you think this operation will take, and do we need any backup from Amber for it? We aren't thrilled with the idea, you understand. But I know so little about these Chaosians that I don't wish to speculate." "Fixing your shadow so that the Chaosians stop dropping in?" Lorius says with a shrug. "Two, three hours, tops. I have faith I can teach you that quickly and get it up and running. No need to call Mom or sis here to do that, never fear." "Taking the fight to the Chaosians will take longer." Lorius says after finishing yet another piece of chicken. " I'd prefer not to have to entangle your Shadow in that, and leave that to us. Maybe pull in another cousin. I wonder what Noys is up to. Or even Swan. She's the right kind of crazy to be gleeful at the prospect of helping to knock off a rogue minor House of Chaos." Aura makes an indecipherable noise as she studies the work in progress sitting on an easel across the room. "Well, my father sounds more than happy to go marching off to Chaos to show them why you don't mess with Atlantis, though I would rather he didn't. So I am more than happy to leave it to mother's side of the family. I'll offer to let Random know we can provide battle mages if he wants them, since they have offended us as a people." There is a sudden, loud, crunch as Nick takes a bite out of a piece of the fried chicken. Lorius blinks at him, and then grins. He then looks back at Aura. Aura winces. She finds it mildly disturbing for some reason. "Then we keep your father and the rest of your family here doing Home Guard duty." Lorius says. "We explain that we want to make sure the defenses hold, and have them ready for a counterattack, possibly against one of this scattering of shadows you have as neighbors." A gleam appears in Lorius' eyes. "We DID see that our Chaosian friends used nearby shadows as a staging ground. We could always explain that might happen again, especially when we kick over the hornet's nest." Lorius stands up, brushing off crumbs. "I'm ready to begin shadow work, now. I'd leave the rest of the chicken for your familiar, but I don't think you want a round-shaped lizard." Nick pouts. She smirks. "No. No I do not. You did just eat not an hour ago, you scaly glutton." Lorius nods his head twice, as Nick continues to pout. With a snap of his fingers, the remainder of the chicken, including the piece Nick is trying to eat, softly and silently vanishes away. "Let us depart then. We shall go collect the mages, you can make sure they are who they appear to be, and we can get on it. We should get Kovikin to give the Krakens additional instructions. I don't have a clue how, but I know they can tell those of the blood of Atlantis from everyone else. We can use that." "We can" Lorius says animatedly, following Aura. "It might be something as simple as smelling the blood, but I doubt it, given the dominance of Amberian genes. The Kraken should want to tear you apart. So it must be something more esoteric, something we can piggy-back onto programming the heuristics of the shadow-barrier to allow or deny entry. That sort of programming is the real key, cousin, to making a semi-permeable barrier. It's a pity I am not on better terms with Sand and Del, they are the real experts that even give Mother a run for her money. I once watched as..." In this fashion, with Lorius happily monologuing, Aura can lead him back to the War Room. The Empress is gone for the moment, as is her father, but Kovikin and the Mages are here, discussing matters. Kovikin crosses the distance immediately between him and Aura and sweeps her up in his arms. "Is your cousin ready to do so real work?" Kovikin asks. She smiles, rising on her toes to kiss him quickly. "Yes. He is very excited. Stay right here." Patting his chest fondly, she steps away and into the center of the room. "If everyone will please stand a few feet apart, we will get started. Lorius will demonstrate the first adjustment we will make to the wards." There are some soft murmurs, and looks (mainly directed at Lorius) but in short order, the Priestesses are arranged in a circle. Eerily, everyone manages to stay three feet apart from each other. Lorius watches, rubbing his hands. She steps back from them and turns to face her cousin. "Cast it," she says lowly. "I want to be utterly sure they are all who they are supposed to be before we start securing the Shadow." "I wouldn't have cast this without suggesting it to you first, if you hadn't mentioned it." Lorius reassures her. He looks at the assembled group, rubs his hands together again, and speaks a few words. The ripple that emanates from his hands starts small, like the ripple caused by a small stone dropped into a still pond. A translucent blue, this ripple grows in size as it spreads outwards both in diameter as well as height. Quickly, the height reaches the height of a woman (or a man), and it is at that height tthe wave washes over the assembled mages, and Kovikin. There is a shiver from all of them as the wave flows over them like surf on a beach. There is not the faintest shimmer, change or anything else, though as the wave continues to the walls. Yadia is surprised when the wave flows backward, like an ebb tide, to wash over everyone again before collapsing around Lorius. "No shapeshifters in the room, cousin." Lorius says with satisfaction. "We're clean." "Excellent," she beams before looking to the assemblage. "I had to be certain before we begin. But now we're all in order... Kovikin, I know your beasts can identify the Atlantis born; how do they do that? " "It is an esoteric sense that they have, I suppose." Kovikin says. "They can feel who was born here or was born of parents here. The child of our Ambassadors to Etrusca, who was born while they were away from Atlantis, does not provoke a reaction from them. The Ambassadress asked me to find out." Lorius nods and then speaks. "I see. If someone was not born in this shadow, by blood or location, can they gain immunity?" "Yes" Kovikin says "although the cases of this happening are rare." "Shadow resonance." Lorius says. "People born here, or of here, have a resonance with this shadow, Aura. You do. Kovikin does. Nick does. I do not. Probably not your mother..." Lorius' eyes gleam. Aura looks wary at that look in his eye; that is almost never a safe thing. Although it is often interesting. "Aura, have you ever considered the possibility that Atlantis is a Primal shadow?" Lorius says. "A *what*?" Yadia says. She blinks, frowns, give the carvings at the top of the wall behind Lorius a thought look while replying distractedly to Yadia. "A Primal Shadow is what Amber is. The Powers and Peoples of Primal Shadows are exceptionally strong anywhere...hmmm..." "Actually, it did briefly cross my mind when I started studying Tetra's Power and found out there were legends of Atlantis in several other Shadows. But then having been thoroughly lectured on "Amber is the One True World", I decided that Atlantis must just be a particularly strong and ancient world. Though now that you are forcing me to consider it again, I should point out that Tetra mages share many abilities with Pattern Initiates... and have others that Pattern wielders do not." Aura lowers her eyes to Lorius. "How would we determine this for certain?" "Two ways, one of which I can think we can dismiss out of hand." Lorius says. "The first way would be to let me try and manipulate the Essence flows here and see how resilient Tetra is to Pattern Manipulation. See if I can turn it off, change it, handle it." "Absolutely out of the question!" Yadia interrupts. Hard looks from Kovikin and the mages all turn Lorius' way. "Of course." Lorius says, raising a hand, as if deflecting them with but a gesture. Aura doesn't say a word; she's not going to even attempt to talk them into that one. Consequences don't even bear thinking about should there be any sort of problem. "The other way, cousin, is to do what we were planning to do--manipulate the fabric of the shadow to exclude Chaosians, or anyone else you don't want for that matter. I am certain I could tell if Atlantis is really a Primal Shadow. and we can adjust our program to not only take that into account, but take advantage of Atlantis' nature to better protect it." "I've done it before." Lorius adds confidently. She taps her finger against the back of a chair. "Not really anything to discuss in that case. We will just proceed with that plan and keep an even closer scrutiny of the results. But what happens in the broader scope of things if Atlantis is a Primal Shadow?" "That's huge, Aura" Lorius says. "Take full control of the shadow, as we are going to do, and you can not only modify Atlantis. but you are going to, if you want, have a whole host of ancillary influences on this region of shadow. In fact, it will be a matter of tampening them down if you don't want to mess with Etrusca and the rest of the lot." "So," she turns to Thera. "Current Ward schematics and maps? I know the location of Atlantis' anchors, but we'll need to see how to tie in what we want to do with what is already in place. With the Festival being only two moons past, the wards are currently at their strongest and most stable, so that's only going to help." "I thought you might need the maps." Thera replies. "I already obtained them when you and" she pauses as if reaching for a word and being dissatisfied "your cousin were resting. Here." she gestures to a table, and a map in an ornate ivory and onyx tube is soon rolled out. Nick doesn't quite jump on the map, but he perches on the edge, peering at the abstract lines that detail the network grid of Wards. The other Priestesses jockey subtly for position, although none crowd around Aura, with Kovikin on one side, and Lorius on the other. "I suspect that there is no word for utilitarian in Atlantean" Lorius says, looking at the lovingly crafted map that, really, like many Atlantean things, could double as a work of art. "It looks like to me that to really get this network up, we want to go to one of two places." "Here..." he points at one of the smaller, isolated peaks that sits at a crossroad of wards. "Or, here." he points to another crossroad, on a reef just off of one of the islands. "Getting to to the reef is no problem. I have been there, so teleporting over is easy. Not very big. Would our activities interfere with the ecosystem? There will hell to pay if we disturb the delicate balance of a reef system." "None if you do not linger." Thera says. "A short visit should do no harm, especially if you remain away from the reef mass." Aura nods and considers the spot contemplatively. [Aura] leans down to look closer at the indicators among the map details. "I have never been to that peak though," She looks up at Kovikin. "Is anything up there?" "Let me see." Kovikin looks at the map doubtfully. He runs a finger along one of the lines, and then another. In all he gives it a full minute of thought. "If I am right" Kovikin says. "then this peak is the site of Sacsayhuaman, an ancient temple which is said to be amongst the oldest signs of civilization in Atlantis." "Tropics or History?" Lorius says, looking at Aura. Aura turns from giving Kovikin an outraged look. "Well. Seeing as I have lived here all my life and have managed to miss out on one of the oldest sites of civilization on the continent, I vote for history." She sniffs at the Atlantean Prince, affronted. "Yeah, why didn't you show it to us before?" Nick pipes up. Kovikin looks taken aback by Aura and Nick's reaction. "Atlantean history is something that is both precious and controversial at the same time. The knowledge of it has not been exactly secret, but it hasn't been promoted, either." "No tours from the capital every week, then." Lorius says. "No" Thera says. "Absolutely not. I mislike disturbing the site as much as the idea of one of our reefs being trampled, but there is no help for it." she shoots a look at Kovikin. "We'll not stay long." Lorius says, looking at Aura. "Right?" "It's not like I am a tourist passing through on some vacation tour," she responds archly, finding herself supremely annoyed and insulted by this, and taking it out on Kovikin, since Thera is a bit scary when she gets on her high horse. "I was born here, to the Sword of Atlantis, in case you forgot. Have I *ever* given you the impression that I did not treasure and value all that Atlantis is any less than you? Even after finding out what all my mother's heritage meant for me, have I not continued to identify myself as Atlantean? I wouldn't have left at all if my mother hadn't needed me, and I didn't need to get to the bottom of that kidnapping attempt. Did I not leave Amber at the first hint my birthplace might be in danger? Without even taking the time to tell King Random we were leaving so shortly after he has given me an assignment, I might add. I cannot believe I am in a position when I feel I have to defend myself because you seem to think I could not possibly appreciate a place such as Sacsayhuaman for what it is and what it stands for." "It was not *my* idea" Kovikin replies. "And Lorius comes across as a casually arrogant rapscallion at times, I know. But he does have a healthy respect for magic and power, and me. He isn't going to do anything on purpose to harm this place, or draw my direct ire." Lorius nods his head vigorously but has the good sense for one not to actually open his mouth. Aura begins rolling up the ward map to take with them. "And no, we will not stay long. Just long enough to do what we must. These protections are too important and too time sensitive for me to take time to fill the obvious gaps in my Atlantean history." She snaps the scroll under her arm, holds out a hand for Nick, and turns to the High Priestess of Ashura. "We will get word to you when we are done with all the protections. Unless you plan on coming with us." Nick gets on Aura's hand is soon perched on her shoulder. Lorius slides over to stand next to Aura. His eyes are focused on Thera. Thera looks over Aura, Nick, and Lorius. She gives a glance at Kovikin. Aura doesn't miss the tiniest of head shakes on his part. The Priestess' body language softens. "I do not believe that will be necessary, Aura." Thera says. "Lest you need any aid when you are there, we will see each other again when you return." "Thank you." Aura gives a respectful (if stiff nod) that generally encompasses the other women before turning to Kovikin. "You will do the honors, as I am not familiar with the area and so cannot open a gate or teleport us." "Of course" Kovikin says. "I was uncertain, Aura, if you wanted me to accompany the three of you or not." "Why not?" Nick says. "Even if this is not the tropical island, it will be fun." "I did not know." Kovikin says seriously "if meddling with the fabric of the shadow is something that you wished me to see, even if only you and your cousin can actually manage the feat." "Let me get the gate going while you think about that." Kovikin says. In short order, he does construct a freestanding portal. Through it, Aura can see the tall temple, flush with and carved out of the gray rock out of the mountain. "Good form." Lorius says quietly. Aura smiles slightly. "In many things." "I think you should come," she informs Kovikin. "If it turns out this is a Primal Shadow, I imagine having someone attuned to Tetra will be of great help. If there is something we think it best you not watch, well, we shall worry about that when and if the time comes." "Very well, then. I shall gladly come." Kovikin says. "I have not seen Sacsayhuaman in a long time. Be careful when you step through, it is at some altitude." Since Kovikin has to enter last, Aura takes the lead and steps through into one of the few places on Atlantis her feet have not trod. Lorius pauses a moment before following Aura, and Aura can feel the esoteric result when Kovikin steps through, closing the gate as he does so. He places his hands on Aura's upper arms as he stands behind her. Aura, Lorius, Nick and Kovikin are standing in front of the massively tall temple whose relief is carved right out of the mountain. The architecture is less ornate than Atlantean designs Aura is familiar with. However, the columns, the one sided porch inside the columns( the peristasis) , the statuary carved above the columns, all are unmistakably Atlantean. "Sacsayhuaman" Kovikin says."There are a few other buildings of this type in other side canyons." "I have a friend, a sorcerer-archaeologist, who would be fascinated by this place." Lorius says. "You have friends?" Kovikin says, but his tone is mild, not sharp. Aura stares dumbfounded at the edifice in front of her. It was enough to make her annoyed at Kovikin all over again. She curses in Lumarian under her breath. "This is hardly the ruins I expected. If there was any record of this being a Primal Shadow, what are the chances it is in there?" "The other buildings are in less fine shape, and the interiors are a mess." Kovikin says. "I don't know what would say if it this is a Primal Shadow." "Still looks nothing like a ruin, baby." Nick puts in. Lorius hums and spins around once. "The intersection is right at in that building, so that is where we want to be, Aura. One hundred paces inside. We should investigate the building and then set up matters." Lorius takes two steps and then stops, turns and grins at his cousin. "Ladies first." he adds. "These sorts of places of power are best approached first by the locals." Aura tears her gaze from the carvings towering over them. She will be returning here one day; with out without the blessings of whoever. She reaches up and takes on of Kovikin's hands in her. "Come. You are the one imprinted with the local Powers. I only carry the blood of an ancient line." "Don't be angry" Kovikin says softly, low enough only for her and Nick to hear. "I wasn't even referring to that," she huffs quietly. "You carry a Power of this place that I never had time for." Using an Atlantean spell, she conjures up a ball of pale gold fire to illuminate the interior as they step inside. The enormous inside of the temple is as stunning as the outside. The floor is inlaid with a mosaic whose squares that appears to be made out of turquoise and other semiprecious stones. With the illumination of the globe, it seems to be depicting a gold-tipped trident against a background of blue and green. The ceiling rises to a series of barrel arches to support the weight. The room in total has a diameter of at least two hundred feet In addition to the columns needed to support the structure, there are many naves and alcoves as well, all of them filled with statuary similar to those on the outside of the temple, but on a larger scale, each of them easily 9 feet tall. A corridor heads deeper into the rock and the temple, the light only showing that the passage is long and equally decorated. Nick is speechless, and Aura can feel his claws adjust as his head cranes around to take it all in. "Unicorn's blood" Lorius says. "I've not felt a confluence of lines of power here outside of the Pattern, Logrus or the Fount, Aura." Lorius says, making a slow orbit around Aura and Kovikin like a planet around a close binary star. "I suspect that power is also keeping this place in its pristine state, too. It should be more decrepit, after thousands of years and not in a desert." "Celestra's nets," Aura breathes in amazement and awe, the power in the air nearly singing to her. She's sure if she bothered to check that her Fire Gem is blazing with color. Its blazing enough that even a peripheral look is enough for Aura to confirm that is indeed bright, nearly bright enough to obviate the need for the light spell. "The center of the room, right on the design is where the confluence is." Lorius adds "The trident is an ancient symbol of Atlantis." Kovikin says "although it has been supplanted by others." Aura eyes the design as she walks slowly towards it. "How do we do this?" "Very simply" Lorius says. "When you learned to shadowshift, you were taught to concentrate on motion, and to change the world one detail at a time. Motion is the key to traveling shadows." "The key to manipulating and making a single shadow your own is the reverse of that process." Lorius says. "We stand stock-still, bring up the Pattern and then, remaining still, attempt to shadowshift the shadow. Instead of moving to an adjacent shadow, you will start to work on this one, bending it to your will. Given we are at a node of power, what we, more likely you, will feel first is the reaction to the lines of power. Do it gently and firmly, and they will respond to the Pattern, and your will." "I am just going to provide energy and guidance, cousin." Lorius says, shooting a look at Kovikin. "I have neither intentions nor desire to take control over Atlantis. That's for you." The son of Fiona impulsively kisses Aura on the cheek. "For luck." and then offers his hands. She smiles crookedly and takes his hands. "Nick, you might want to be on the other side of the room for this. I'm not sure what this would do to you." "I am going to stand as far away as possible, Nick." Kovikin puts in. Nick takes this as invitation to jump to Kovikin's shoulder. Aura closes her eyes for only a moment before something occurs to her. She quirks an eyebrow at Lorius "I have a question: if this is a Primal Shadow, what will happen when we bring up the Pattern? We aren't going to start an earthquake or anything, right?" "An earthquake?" Kovikin repeats in disbelief. "No, no." Lorius says. "Now, if we tried this at the site of one of the four Tetra powers, the results would be possibly catastrophic. Here, we don't have a primal power erupting from the land to cause a fracture." "One thing you might be able to do, though, once you are plugged in." Lorius adds "is to change that and make this a Site for it. Get yourself initiated at the time. Oberon's brass balls, you would be the Creatrix of the Site. The Temple might suffer a bit..." Kovikin takes a step toward Lorius and Aura. "... But that's a more advanced lesson, I think." Lorius adds hastily. Aura snickers and once again closes her eyes. "To work then." She brings up the image of the Pattern in her mind's eye. She takes a moment to marvel again at the twisting spiral path that represents such Power; that is such Power. She thought her mother ridiculous when she first told her of it. Until she saw it with her own eyes and walked the path of blue fire. The sigil still gives her goosebumps. With the image firmly in mind, she begins gathering the fabric of Atlantis. With the design of the Pattern burning in her mind as is her right, her birthright, the manipulation of the fabric of Atlantis can begin in earnest. She can feel, too, the power that Lorius has in reserve, ready to hand to her when necessary. It soon becomes necessary. If moving through ordinary shadow was easy for Aura, if moving through the Golden Circle was more difficult, and if moving out of Amber frustrating and a hard-headed exercise that her mother took pains to teach her, more difficult still is the shadow manipulation as outlined by Lorius' plan. The shadowstuff, manipulating it as she stands in place is heavy, overbearing and difficult to wield. Always it wants to slip away from her, and reward the slightest movement by Aura with a movement out of Atlantis into a nearby shadow, even one a tiny distance away. Keeping up with Lorius' program is probably the hardest thing Aura has done with the Pattern since she walked that blue fire design. She can feel the energy from Lorius start to pour in as her energies flag. It will not be from lack of energy that she will fail. The Pattern in her mind blazes almost painfully bright, its energies necessary to flare at such a high level to tame a Primal Shadow. And slowly, like trying to stitch pieces of thick velvet, things start to take shape. The shadow stuff starts to deform, mold and respond to her will. The nature of the reality of Atlantis starts to bow down to her, and respond to her will.
desires. Barriers, restrictions, changes in the nature of the shadow. Only limited by your energy, time and imagination. Atlantis is now officially yours, in a way those Priestesses and the Queen can never know*
building into the fabric of this Shadow the protections they discussed. Lorius will have to build in his spell himself. And what was it that made this Shadow so difficult to mold?
would like to set the krakens at those ports, but should I leave that to Kovikin? He does command them.* "Commanding the Krakens would be hard for you to accomplish. It would take time." Lorius is splitting his attention three ways, speaking to Aura, working on his part of the defenses, and a piece of him aiding Aura's request. Making access points is easy, he shows, a matter of strengthening boundaries and pinching off those walls at specific spots. "You can even get clever, and have access points restricted by time and space. You could set that little beach south of the city with all of the horseshoe crabs as an entry point, but only accessible on the night of the New Moon, for example." "?As far as the Krakens" Lorius says as Aura works on the access points "you could command them given time, but I think leaving Kovikin to the Krakens for the nonce is the politically savvy thing to do. Or so Asteria would say." As far as the shadow molding problem--it is, really, a matter of the fundamental reality of this place. Atlantis is Old, and even more importantly, Real. Aura discovers those two factors are the reason for the heavy work. Even as she and Lorius work, however, she can see Kovikin, and Nick, watching them, even if Aura and Lorius are mainly standing in place. Aura meanwhile was pondering the usefulness of cleverly restricted access points. There had to remain at least one general entry which could be easily monitored unless they want trade to fall to zero. She chooses the main port through the Straits of Herakles right under the lighthouse. She can have Kovikin instruct the Krakens for their part. After warding it against everything she can think of and has any ability to ward against, she again questions her cousin. *How do I ward the entry point against shifters?* She points out to him the gate through the Straits. *It won't do to have a merchant ship from Etrusca turn out to be holding a horde of demons disguised as traders.*
entry point. *This way, anyone who comes out of Etrusca into Atlantis will be subjected to the True Form spell and revert to their true nature. If they are demons, let Kovikin's Krakens deal with them and sip a mojito on the beach."
"For now, no." Lorius says with a grin. "I'm jealous of what you have here. But I should think the threat to Atlantis itself is now abated. For Chaos to get in here, they would have to do so openly and declare formal Vendetta. And run a gauntlet to even threaten anyplace in Atlantis beyond the Strait.* "Given that I would join in opposition in a Vendetta against you." Lorius says "and given what happened the last time a Chaosian declared Vendetta on me, they would not want to risk it." "Of course, it doesn't obviate the fact we are going to drop that House into the Abyss, does it?" he adds. Aura smirks. "Too right you are, mon petit cabbage." "You put your spell in the wards?" she asks even as she back tracks to check. "We did" Lorius clarifies. "Anyone entering Atlantis gets a dose of being reverted to their true form. Now, this will only last about 291 days or so before it has to be refreshed. Not by design, but because of the realness of Atlantis degrading the spell." "Job security." he adds with a grin. "And this place is? It is Old and very much Real. I hate to annoy Kovikin, but I am going to make a quick look around this site. What Thera doesn't know won't hurt her or any of us." "He is still watching us." Lorius says, not quite gesturing his head toward Kovikin and Nick. "I *could* put a spell on you, if you really wanted, and disappear you from sight and feed your boyfriend a cock and bull story while you sight see." "Of course" Lorius adds in a pout. "it means that I can't accompany you. But *that* might be a bridge too far for Kovikin to accept anyway." She shakes her head. "No. I will tell him why need to investigate further, and that I need you with me, since you are more familiar with Old Powers than I am. This is my home too; I am not going to sneak around like a thief in the night. But we need to know, in case of an attack by those upstarts. We may be able to bring more to the defenses, depending on what we may find. And let's face it; Amber's war with Chaos cost much. Atlantis shouldn't have to pay a similar price. Not in this situation." "Well reasoned." Lorius replies. "Now; before we finish, if we need to be back in 291 Atlantean days, I am going to need to slow this world down. At the moment, it runs ridiculously fast compared to Amber. This will not harm anything, will it?" "Hardly." Lorius says. "I modify the time flow in my own shadow up and down as I need, usually putting it as near to stasis as reasonable when I depart, and run it fast compared to Amber when I am en suite." "Generally" Lorius adds "you can push a shadow between 24:1 and 1:24 ratios without trouble. I'd guess right now its running 1 Atlantean day to 2 or 3 hours in Amber, isn't it?" "I told you; it's ridiculous." Aura shrugs. "But let's not do anything I have to use complicated math keep track of. I want to equal it to Amber, or perhaps half-speed in relation to Amber. That should be sufficient. No one can interfere with that behind my back, right?" Lorius shakes his head. "No one except a member of our Family, or a scion of Chaos could tamper with the speed rate. The latter can't get in here without you knowing about it thanks to the wards, and you keep this place pretty tightly held away from our prying aunts, uncles and cousins. Unicorn, I don't think you've even had your
changed again. There may be temporal drift due to the reality of this place, but that will happen on a time-frame of local years. Maybe ten years from now, you might have to adjust the flow again because its drifted back toward its ridiculous basal rate." "I didn't even know I had a brother until you told me," she points out. "You and mother are the only ones from Amber that have been here. I didn't want anyone coming in and deciding to play around here and stir up trouble. And that's probably wise now that we know this place is Real." "Doubly true."Lorius says. "I think I shall not...volunteer this information to Mother." Lorius decides. Aura focuses her attention on slowing down Atlantis' time flow to something manageable to keep track of that gives her plenty of time before she has to come back and do maintenance. While she's there, and as an afterthought, she allows for Atlantis' crystal communication to flow in and out so she won't be completely cut off from Kovikin and her father while she's away. At the moment she isn't worried about Trump, as Lorius is the only one besides herself that could even make one of Atlantis - if she understands them correctly and she's willing to admit she may not. "I think we're done." "Then we can take that tour of the place and get a feel for it." Lorius says brightly. "I am proud of you, cousin. Access restricted and controlled, spell laid, and time flow changed to 10 Amber days to 1 day in Atlantis. You've got some solid basics down on shadow manipulation, and some things that I need to teach you you would want to do somewhere other than Atlantis--changing polities and geographies, fauna and flora. Although he would never remember it was any different, it would be silly to turn Kovikin's Krakens into giant Octopi." "That's the danger to changing things like that." Lorius adds. "You really can play God if you want to, and its an intoxicating temptation. My sister tells me her research on one of the Aunts not mentioned in the Histories or Family Tree left Amber after a row with Grandfather over doing that in the Golden Circle." "I can't image someone who grew up outside of Amber would do such a thing on a whim," she sniffs. "I certainly won't. I love this place. But more than that, I am not going to rewrite my father." "Good" Lorius says. She releases the energies she had been holding and then releases Lorius. Aura turns to Kovikin and Nick. "Well. I am done with that. However.... I discovered something; Atlantis is not just old. It's Old. And it's Real. You recall when I explained the difference between Amber and Shadow? We really, really need to take a least a quick look around this temple complex. There may yet be something here that protect Atlantis more thoroughly." Kovikin sighs. "I told ya the Boss Lady was going to want to take a look" Nick says to Kovikin, even as he switches shoulders with a graceful leap to Aura's. "You did" Kovikin says, and looks at Lorius accusingly. "Hey!" Lorius protests. "I told her that you would be mad. But she's right. This place is odd and we need to take a look around. It could help your civilization against the Chaosians." Kovikin sighs again and looks at Aura. "All right, beautiful one. But I want to come with you. Just in case it is something that *I* need to know, as well as you and Lorius. Agreed?" Aura looks at him as if he is being rather slow and a bit dim-witted. Which he is. "Of course you're coming. Why on earth would you think I would not expect you? Did you really think we would make you wait out here while we prowled and poked around?" "It did cross my mind" Kovikin replies, but he is looking at Lorius as he says it. She tsks at him and reaches out for his hand. "Oh, and remind me later - since this place is Real, the Power is Real. And since I am half-Atlantean, I should probably try at least one Imprint, but I will need to make sure they won't clash with the Pattern. I will need to take up my studies again." She looks around for her light and directs into the darkness ahead. "What do you mean that this place is Real" Kovikin asks. He has fallen into place on Aura's right. Lorius trails slightly to Aura's left. Aura always hates when someone asks her that. "It is Real. It influences the Shadows around it. Things here are reflected Out There." She looks at him sideways. "Real is when I kiss you until your toes curl. When I blow you a kiss from across the room, that's a mere shadow of a kiss." "So Atlantis influences Etrusca and the other worlds nearby?" Kovikin says. "And beyond" Lorius says cheerfully. "Even far away in Aunt Flora's favorite shadow, there are legends of a place, lost to time, called Atlantis." "This disturbs me." Kovikin says. The single major corridor out of the giant temple rooms leads Aura, her lover, cousin and familiar deeper and deeper into the mountain. Right angle turns keep the corridor changing direction to the north, east and south, but always deeper into the mountain. The sculpted and painted rock along the corridor proves, to Aura's first glance, to be a historical record, or perhaps myth. By small boats, and by a long, underground tunnel, the figures in the frescos appear to be making a migration, or perhaps an Exodus, searching for and journeying to a new, better home reached with extreme difficulty: Atlantis. "Has no one been down here to document any of this?" she asks irritably. "Great Goddess. Either the mythology or the history taught in school is incomplete if this is true. Very incomplete." Aura can feel something else, too, the trip down the passage has started in her body, her feet and legs, anyway, a slow buildup of some sort of energy, like a static electricity charge obtained from a furry rug on a cold day. "Do either of you feel that?" she asks lowly, though she looks specifically at Kovikin. He is more in tuned with Atlantean magics than Lorius. Although Aura is not looking at Lorius, he shakes his head.. He stops his motion and squints. "I do feel it" Kovikin says. "In a very general way, Aura, it feels like some of the ambient energies that are present in four other locations in Atlantis--The locations of the Tetra" "That name may soon no longer be operative, if there are going to be five." Lorius says. "Too right, baby" Nick comments "They already have Earth, Air, Fire & Water. What would this be?" She quirks a darkly amused eyebrow at Kovikin. "Celestra does not have a crystal. Perhaps a new one will be Hers. Just imagine; a Primal Power for Hedonists. I may never leave again. I will defiantly have to lock this placer up tight against any of my other relatives. I'd likely never get rid of them." "I think you could define this one, if it is not already defined." Lorius says. "But we will have to do more study. It may not be ready to be assayed in any way, yet." [Aura] "'No point stopping now. Come on. But on the way out, I want to make use of some memory pearls for these murals. We will need to get this transcribed for study." "Documentation is important." Kovikin says. "Being able to study the murals without tramping in here again and again would make a certain someone pleased." "If this is a fifth node of Power, she may just have to suck it up," Aura points out tartly. "She can concentrate on her own damn node and Temple." This is all so easy to say when the crazy fire-ball wielding woman isn't around being imperious. Continuing down the corridor, that feeling continues its slow build. The corridor turns this way and that, always at right angles, but never branching. The mural's story continues in painstaking detail. After about twenty minutes of walking, illuminated only by Aura's spell, an opening ahead provides a prelude and preview that the relative monotony is about to change. At the end of the corridor is a small room that proves to be hexagonal in shape, the open corridor opening between two of the faces. Lorius halts his steps at the threshold and looks cautiously inside. That static electricity like feel has reached a plateau. Looking at the small room,one of the far walls are utterly black, enveloped in darkness resistant to Aura's light. Of the other five, one is waterlogged, with water pouring down ceaselessly. A second radiates heat even from here, and the stone of that wall is a brick red. A third appears to be made of ice, and a sonorous sound of wind emanates from it. The fourth wall, one of the two walls next to the opening, is a plain ordinary wall. The fifth wall, on the opposite side of the opening, is covered with vines and leaves. Aura also stands on the threshold and gapes at the room. She turns on her lover, fists planted firmly on her hips. "Seriously, Kovikin. Has no one been down here ever?" she demands. "I cannot believe a historian hasn't investigated this. Or one of the High Priestesses hasn't done more than peek in the blasted front door. I am having a hard time believing that no one knew this was here! Did the Ashurans put a veil of secrecy over this place so long ago no one remembers?" She purses her lips. "I bet Ashram knew. He was older than the Obelisk of Remembrance. He was the only mage living who remembered when Atla was a thriving city when I studied with him." No one knew what happened to the ancient mage. He had just not been there one day, and the next day messengers had delivered some of his effects to various people at his instructions. Most believed he had just decided to end his life on his own terms, as he always said he would. But it bothered Aura still. She had been his last student. Aura turns back to the room and gestures to the four 'living' walls. "Earth, Air, Fire and Water. I am uncertain what the black represents. I am inclined to say The Void. One remaining." She turns to Lorius. "Two too many. I am inclined to enter the room and see what it can tell me. I am stronger than Kovikin - who is too important to Atlantis to risk on the unknown, and you have no Atlantean in you at all." "I don't have any Atlantean in me at all." Lorius agrees. "And you are not the Heir..." he looks at Kovikin "So it sounds like you are the person to do it, cousin." "What about me?" Nick puts in. "You would probably be safe with Aura." Lorius concedes."Although your peace of mind might lead you to stay here." "Of course, we could turn around and *none* of us could go in." Kovikin offers. He glances at Aura. Aura shakes her head. "Not an option." "The probability of that occurring is, to first approximation, zero." Lorius says, dryly. He turns toward Aura. "I do think that this place has been deliberately hidden all this time.That suggests that entering the room has the potential to fully awaken Atlantis' underlying power." "Which means what?" Kovikin says. "I don't know." Lorius says, those three words clearly difficult for him to say. He continues on, however. "Those walls, though, with six aspects, suggest the Atlantean Tetra pattern is a subset of something even greater. Four Atlantean classical elements are a distillation of...whatever that room represents." "Hmmm..." Aura eyes the other walls thoughtfully. "Well, we won't ever know if we do not try. With Atlantis threatened, the chance to fully awaken its Power is a good thing. I'm going. We don't even know if anything will happen, but I am going to try." "As I said, probability zero." Lorius says. "I would in your place." [Aura} "Nick, stay or come?" Nick considers it for three seconds, perhaps a lifetime in the sometimes impulse-ridden familiar. At the conclusion of those three seconds, he leaps and lands on Aura's right shoulder. "That settles that, then." Lorius says. "Aura" he adds. "One last thing before you step in there." His tone is serious. "If that power tries to get uppity, tries to overwhelm you or do something you don't like, get your Pattern Defense up, and quick. Don't do it now, there is no sense in antagonizing whatever is in there by going in obviously warded and armed from the start." Backlinks |
