Merlin Proves a Popular DestinationIndex | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | Merlin Proves a Popular Destination
It was indeed, with Chadwick hovering dutifully - and a rather good looking young man (who Larissa might recognise, but Clytemnestra didn't know at all, although he scarcely looked like the usual castle footmen) was opening the door to usher them inside. [Chadwick] paced the tile while Flora waited patiently. This had been a most confusing and confusing day. He paused and wondered if there was something in Haraden he could be attending to at the moment. Bleys appeared in the doorway and smiled beneficiently. "A family gathering," he said. "And I find myself a little de trop ...Please ... feast your eyes on the patient - I had better change before the inevitable meeting for recriminations and random spite. You ... what's your name ... come with me. I need a message taken to the Queen." This last was addressed to Goran - who he clearly recognised as one of the employees. "Yes, Your Highness," Goran replied dutifully, falling in behind Bleys as the prince made his way through the gathering crowd. Larissa and Clytemnestra joined the family pileup in the doorway. For her part, Larissa displayed not a whit of the fear a lesser being might have felt at the possibility of confronting Flora. "Auntie. Uncle. Chad. If I'd known there was to be a line, I'd have made reservations." Chadwick gave a chuckle at Rissa's comment. "Welcome to Chez Merlin's," he said quietly, hoping his mother wouldn't hear him or pay much attention to him. Flora favoured them both with a Look, and then swept into the bedroom. King's bedrooms being, well, kingly, there was plenty of room for her to sweep - and for the others to follow, if they chose. Clytemnestra shivered slightly. She knew this Look. Chadwick shrank from it, trying to not have his mother disapprove of him. This was proving a very trying day, in that regard. Larissa, already heading down the corridor after Bleys, didn't notice.
"I'll get you some water, Merl," Morgan said, turning back to the table to do so. He poured himself a glass of water as well. Merlin pulled himself far enough in bed to take a sip and then winced, as though the taste displeased him. He pushed the glass back at Morgan. "I wanna sleep," he said almopst petulantly - and then suddenly he gave a faint echo of his rueful grin. "Sorry, Morg. Didn't mean to flake out ... Thought I was holding it together." Changing his mind, he reached for the water and sipped it, dark eyes watching the doorway over the rim of the glass. "Oh *hell*," he said softly. "The whole crew's turning up. Can you hold them off till I've slept this headache off? I feel weak too ... weak as a kitten. Haven't felt like this since ... oh, fardles, I don't know. The Logrus, probably." Morgan shook his head. "Not gonna happen, Merl. You collapsed when Rissa used the Pattern down on the docks. Theory is that it's some kind of imbalance between Logrus and Pattern energies. They all want to poke you personally to see how you are. And whether this is a weakness they can exploit, probably." Merlin gave a groan that was not wholly the result of physical pain. "If you suspects that anyone starts zapping me, you have my royal warrant to slug 'em." He pushed his glass back hurriedly into Morgan's hand, hissed, "I'm asleep," and gave every appearance of being so - even down to an artictically positioned little snore as Floora approached the bed and fixed Morgan with a gimlet eye of ice blue. "Well?" she said. Cly moved to the foot of the bed, looking at Merlin, then Morgan, then frowned slightly. "Shhh!" Morgan hissed, taking a step away from the bed. "Bleys said he needs to sleep to recover," he said quietly. "He said not to let anyone disturb him until he wakes naturally. Something about his body recovering its natural balance or something." He shrugged, then took a sip from one of the two glasses he was holding. Flora's son kept his distance. The Look had kept him at bay and he didn't want to trip over anything his mother was attempting, should his day suddenly become far worse. Flora regarded him with narrowed eyes, as though judging the truth of his words. Finally she gave a curt nod. "Good," she said. "And while Merlin rests, perhaps we can discuss your taking my son to a bordello." "Sure thing," Morgan answered. "How did that work out for him?" Chad's features went from concerned to confused in 2.3 seconds. He wasn't vocalizing it yet, but one could read 'what's a bordello' on his face. A finger rose to his lips and tapped them, as if he'd misplaced a thought. Perhaps he'd work that word out on his own. Flora's perfect eyebrow arched. "You went to all that trouble and you didn't ask him, so that you and Merlin could snigger together over it later?" She turned and looked at her son. "Dearest, do tell. How was it for you?" He was still working on the word Brothel when his mother spoke. He'd been in many buildings, but he had the lurking suspicion that they were talking about the ship. He'd never heard of a type of ship named a 'Brothel'. Perhaps it was like a 'Rigger' or some such. To the others he might have appeared distant, and slightly confused. "Umm... it was... fun. There was some food, but I didn't eat any. Lot's of pictures. I saw some incredible work... a Caine original! The unicorn, not the real unicorn but a picture of it, was hidden. Oh, mother, you really should have been there! And there were boardgames, and we played a mystery game that was... well, quite charming." "And it turned out to be very lucky he was there," Morgan added. "While he's probably to modest to say so himself, it was his fast thinking and organization that kept the docks from burning down this morning when Johann set off his fire bomb. The people down there are calling your son a hero, Aunt." "Well, of course he is," said Flora, as though this was a mere commonplace. "Because he doesn't waste his time in taverns and brothels. I've had word from Mandor that we are to gather in the throne room in an hour. I trust, Morgan, that you will be able to leave a suitable guard with Merlin and attend yourself?" Cly looked suprised. "Just an hour? Oh... dear. I really must get ready." Morgan nodded. "Yep, that's not much time. Mandy must want to have the trial and execution fast, before anyone can manage a rescue of Johnny Boy." He lifted three fingers from one of the glasses he held and waved them. "Don't let me hold you up," he said. "Sure everyone has things to do. Chad, you might want to take a shower. Don't you think so, Auntie?" "My son's hygeine arrangements are no concern of yours," said Flora icily. "Chadwick, come with me." And she swept out of the room, clearly expecting Chadwick to follow. Chadwick dutifully followed his mother, giving Morgan and Cly a clandestine smile as he exited the room.
Morgan returned Chadwick's smile, then looked at Clytemestra. "Anything else I should hear about, cous?" Cly gave Merlin another look, a frown crossing her features. "Noo," she said slowly. "Nothing before the meeting..." "Think Johann will still be alive by then?" Morgan asked her in a mildly curious tone. "Or will our beloved Prime Minister have already removed this troublesome blot, and simply ask the king's privy council to rubber-stamp his action?" He frowned. "I can never remember where I put my rubber stamp," he complained. "I think I may have lost it in a card game." A ghost of a smile, which vanished quickly. "I'm still not sure if I want to talk to you, Morgan," Cly said. "After all, anyone who would refer to me as 'Clyttie' in the midst of council can't possibly have that much respect for me..." Morgan laughed. "Wasn't Mandor's expression priceless?" he asked. "It's times like that I wished cameras worked here." Cly nodded. "It was," she said, "though you have all the finesse of a sledgehammer. As for Johann... he was a fool. He deserves whatever happens to him." She glanced towards the bed and added, "I serve on the council at the pleasure of the king, not my father. Since he won't be there, I think you're exactly right. Father will do whatever he wants, and then come to us afterward to tell us what plan he's put into place." She moved towards the door, then hesitated to glance back at Morgan; of course, she picked the exact spot where the torchlight picked out the silhouette of her body under the dress. "Pity it won't include a plan for him to go bugger himself. I'll see you there." Then she exited. Morgan admired her shape as she stood in the light, then stepped forward and closed the door once she left the room. He sighed then, and rubbed his forehead, then turned and walked back to stand beside Merlin's bed. "So, you want I should kill anyone? Or just try to find you some asprin?" Merlin regarded him blearily. "Asprin. And then start killing people. Morg - what the hell am I going to do? If my enemies in Chaos get hold of this ... Hell, what am I saying? They already have." Morgan handed him one of the glasses of water, then walked to an end table and set the other glass down. He opened an ornately carved wooden box, then took out the small glass bottle within it. "The story's spreading already, I'm sure," he said, shaking four small white pills out into his hand. "At Mandy's suggestion we spread the story that you were just drunk, but there are enough people who know that's not true..." he shrugged as he walked back to Merlin and handed him the pills. "Did you know you'd react this badly to strong Pattern use that close to you? Or is this something new? Something changing in the balance of Order and Chaos, maybe?" "I've never felt a wallop like that before," said Merlin, frowning down at the pills in his hand. "But then, no-one's ever had a need to use it at that sort of amplification, have they?" He tossed the pills in his mouth, reached for the glass of water Morgan still held and took a slug to wash down the pills. "Of course, that's going to change now, isn't it?" he added bitterly as he slid back down in bed. "Everyone with a smdgeon of Pattern will be chucking it at me to see if I keel over. "As for the balance - I haven't the foggiest. But I don't want to be the white rat that gets used to find out." "Good luck with that," Morgan said. He shook his head. "Space it, Merl, I don't know what we're going to do about this. Are you going to have to buckle down and learn more about Pattern and Chaos manipulation just to keep them from killing you?" He scowled. "Not knowing more than you do has been one of the things that's kept them off your back all this time." Merlin looked at him in horror. "Learn? Study, you mean? Work? Practise? Blister it, cos, isn't enough having to do all the kinging? Couldn't someone be ... you know .. just a little grateful for once?" Morgan shrugged. "Well," he said, "You can always just rely on your brothers to protect you. Or your mother, maybe." Merlin's face, normally so easily amiable, was suddenly cold and hard. "Don't mention her," he said curtly. Morgan met his gaze calmly and held it for a long moment. Then he gave a very slight nod. "Moving on, Mandy's called a conference for an hour from now. Everyone thinks you're out of it, so you don't need to worry about attending. I've been pretty much told to show up, but I'll leave it to you whether you want me to go or not. It's probably just going to be Mandor telling us how he's planning to kill Johann, and maybe telling us about any traitors he's found if Johnny-boy has broken yet. If he hasn't, of course, then Mandy will probably be keeping him alive for a while longer, to finish breaking him." He shrugged again. "Could be amusing to see who is crazy enough to try breaking him out before the execution." "'Rissa," said Merlin promptly. "I'll put money on it - anyone who takes a pop at Mandor is going to be in her good books. Look after her, cos - we grandchildren of Faielle should look out for each other, even id her and my Dads were at daggers drawn." He yawned. "You'd better go to the meeting. I'll try and sleep. By the way - was I dreaming, or did you have someone from the Queen up here earlier?" "Yeah, one of Vince's boys. Goran. He was there at the docks, and drove you up. And he had already pegged it as being a reaction of the Logrus in your blood to the Pattern use right next to you. Says that Petra has given the crew lessons on the kinds of things they can expect from some of their more exotic customers. Since he already knew that, I figured it was better to have him in here than any of the castle guards." He shrugged. "Not as though he was going to learn any more to take back to the Queen than they were already going to get." Morgan set his water glass down on the table and stretched. "Right, then, off to make nice with the Council. Any other impossible instructions you want to give me, other than trying to keep Rissa out of trouble?" "Volunteering for three impossible things before breakfast?" responded Merlin, with a grin. Then his face darkened. "I imagine Jack Taroes bought it when the cafe went up. Hell, I could boil Johann in Jack's old chip fat for that myself. He was a decent old b@st@rd, Jack, and he didn't care if you were king or cabin boy." Morgan nodded. "I'll check on him," he said. "If he isn't dead, I'll see what he needs to set things right. If he is, I'll find out if he has any family." He gave a sardonic grin. "Don't worry, I'll keep our names out of it. No rumors of unseemly philanthropy will get out. "Get some rest, Merl. I'll put the fear of me in the guards, and tell them you aren't to be disturbed for anything less than Oberon come back from the dead again, on pain of Never Being Heard Of Again." "Keep him out too," muttered Merlin, sliding down between the sheets. "Can't imagine that he'd be conducive to a good nap. Let me know wha' ha ... " It seemed Merlin was already asleep.
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