SteppingBackInIndex | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | Stepping Back In (Continued from Stepping Out)
~It's Vikund's.~ Goran urgently shot back without saying a word. ~I have Baroness Helgram and Princess Islain on both hands with Duke Helgram paces away. Can we come through?~ After a beat, Merlin felt the clarification, ~Just us obviously. Not him.~ ~It had better not include him,~ retorted Merlin, grimly. ~And what is his response likely to be to the sudden disappearance of his niece from under his nose? A little antsy, perhaps?~ ~I'm not leaving her here, Majesty~ Goran thought back stubbornly, though because they were communicating with thought and not voice, Merlin picked up a hint of desperation. ~It'd be like handing him a machine gun. If you won't bring us through, tell me now. I'll take her somewhere else.~ Merlin sighed. "And let the Duke do his worst on my city? All right. Pass her through. Then Islain. And hurry." He reached out his hand. Solitaire, who had been absorbed until that moment, opened her eyes and smiled. "She's coming," she said. "She should only be a moment." She took Sparrow's hand and held it gently, to await Goran's instruction. A quizzical look passed over her pale face upon seeing the troubled lines on his brow. "Is everything okay?" "Yep," Goran replied curtly, thrusting her hand forward. Rainbow light crackled around her wrist and she could now see Merlin in the connection beyond, holding his hand out to her. Tasha fled through the gate and into the street, looking for Tear. (Tasha enters from A Full House)
"Tear! Tear! Don't leave without me!" Tasha called, running toward her friend. Solitaire turned toward the voice and waved at Tasha, "Over here, Tasha! Goran and the Princess will help you across. See you on the other side." Her gaze narrowed on Goran with violet intensity. "You make certain she gets through, Goran. I'm counting on you." Her lips moved silently, as saying something to him, but it was lost as she took hold of Merlin's hand and disappeared across the silvery threshold. Merlin spoke impatiently as Solitaire and then Sparrow disappeared (presumably to land beside him). "Goran - I said you, Tear and Islain - not half the lower cit ... " And then suddenly the connection was cut with a sharp snap. (Solitaire exits to Collecting the Ambassador)
Goran cursed roundly at the sudden loss of connection, seemingly oblivious to the presence of ladies. Dropping Islain's arm, he shoved his hand into an inside pocket of his coat and drew forth a small stack of cards. "You're Tasha?" he curtly asked the young girl who approached them, his concentration focused on finding the proper card. "What did you do!?" Tasha demanded, not answering the obvious, as she skidded to a stop in front of the stranger, her eyes darkening with anger and fear. "What did you do with my friend?" Frantically she sniffed the air, but Tear's lingering scent was already fading without leaving behind a trail to follow. "Did you ... trump ... her away?" "She's fine. I trumped her to the Castle," Goran replied as he glanced up at her, trying but failing to hide his impatience. He found the card he was looking for and again offered Princess Islain his arm for the transport. "Tear told me to bring you, but I'll not take you against your will," he said to Tasha. "You wanna stay down here with the mob, it's up to you. If you want to go to the castle with us, take my arm." He offered his other arm to Tasha. Tasha looked at him suspiciously, but when she had sniffed for Tear's scent, she couldn't help but notice that this man smelled rather good. He didn't smell of danger to her, only of anxiety and impatience. "You are going where Tear went?" She asked to clarify; her ruffled hackles began to smooth and the blackness ebb from her eyes. His smell of anxiety worried her, though, "I need to go with her ... I promised her very nice Uncle that I'd watch her back, and I can't watch it if I'm not with her. ... And I don't want to wait for the mob, I don't think they'd like me ... I'm Chaosian, you know? And they said they want to hang Chaosians, and I wouldn't like them to try that ... Someone could get hurt!" Tasha put a fist in her mouth to quell the flow of words, her blue eyes growing very wide. She could still hear the sounds of breaking glass and shouting in the street. Goran regarded her with feigned patience, like a parent waiting through a long story to get a child moving. "I'll take that as a 'yes' then," he said when she finished and offered his arm again. Islain's eyes narrowed at "her very nice uncle" but all she did was smile and say quietly, "Before I take your arm again, where are you trumping us, dear boy?" Goran smiled sheepishly, and for an instant, the smile looked familiar to Islain. "To the castle, Highness. I'm not sure exactly where it comes out. I've never used this one before. But I'm told by the person who drew it for me that it's an 'interesting location.'" He held the trump out so Islain could see it also. It appeared to be of a quiet corner of a garden, surrounded by flowering shrubs and shaded with an arbor covered in morning glories. Tasha looked at the stranger dubiously, but he didn't seem to be trying to lie to her; his scent was one of annoyance, not deception, as far as she could tell, not knowing him at all. Tear had trusted him to trump her through to somewhere, so she guessed she should trust him as well. Tasha also looked at the card. She had been in the gardens with Lord Jurt earlier that day. "My sort of entrance," Islain said, though she looked a bit wary as she placed her left hand lightly on his arm. "Lead on." With a lady on each arm, Goran concentrated on the trump. When the connection solidified, he stepped through. The trump did indeed bring them into a quiet alcove shaded with climbing flowers. They faced an ivy-covered wall with a well-used stone bench set against it. The scent of hydrangea wafted through the air and a bee buzzed, close enough to be heard over the gurgle of a nearby fountain. The place, while pleasant, did not seem particularly interesting until Goran turned around. "Huh," he grunted with an amused smirk. "Typical." Between them and the rest of the castle gardens stood the fountain they heard upon their entry. But what a fountain it was! Water trickled over the shoulder and between the bare breasts of a lovely, voluptuous woman. Her arms were entwined with those of a man who was quite obviously her lover. Despite the tastefully draped garments that covered all the important bits, there was no question from their pose what they were about to be up to. "So ... ladies," Goran began, changing the unspoken subject, "I believe we are somewhere in the castle gardens. Highness, perhaps you could lead us to the King? I've never come in from this direction," he suggested with a well-practiced straight face. Tasha smiled and relaxed at the sight of the fountain. "Oh, I know where we are. Lord Jurt showed this to me earlier today!" But she looked at the princess to lead them onward, though she might have been able to sniff out the path she had taken earlier. Goran looked down at Tasha, surprised. "You do?" he asked. He glanced over at Islain, who had released his arm and stepped away upon their entrance. Thinking that a princess should not have to serve as a tour guide, he said, "On second thought, Highness, I'm sure you have more important things to do in this time of crisis. Lady Tasha can lead me where I need to go." He turned to Tasha and smiled politely. "If it would not be an imposition, of course." "Oh, I can get us to the dining hall, and perhaps we can find the scent to tell us where the King has gone from there." With the unerring tracking of the wolf, Tasha turned from the statue and headed off into the maze of the garden, assuming that the others would follow her out. Goran followed her, his long-legged stride easily keeping up her pace. "Scent?" he asked, though he wasn't sure why he was surprised. She was Chaosian. Who knew what demonform lurked beneath her youthful beauty. At the entrance to the Castle buildings they were briefly halted by guards. Seeing the Princess Islain, they were permitted to proceed - but with a guard escort. Goran held the door for the ladies and nodded respectfully to the guards as they entered. Tasha followed along the corridors without question, her ears picking up conversations of servants that were cut off as they approached. Her sensitive nose also tested the air for traces of scents she might recognize. Goran strode through the corridors silently but purposefully, without the deference that might be expected of a mere security guard from the Ramblin' Queen. He observed everything without seeming excessively interested - their route from door to throne room, the manner and expressions of guards and servants alike, the way Tasha's head occasionally cocked or her nose wrinkled at things unknown to him but perceived by her. His hands remained always in plain sight. As they approached the throne room itself, they saw Morgan heading towards it from the opposite direction. (The group joins In the Castle: Morgan and Yelaski, already in progress.)
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