Chapter 17

A bright sliver of light pierced the darkness of the room, if that wasn’t too kind a word for it, in which Erin, Jenny and Anna had been unceremoniously dumped by their captors. After what seemed a lifetime of fear and uncertainty in this dark closet, the light was blinding. Erin and the others held their hands up to shade their eyes from the glare.

“Lovely, lovely...” murmured a darkly oily voice from behind the light. “Sweet enough to eat whole isn’t she?” said Mordrant to an unseen other.

“Oh Aye, Highness” said the other, “and the smaller fry caught up in the net would make a fine meal as well.” Laughter rolled over the women like a wave of ice water.

“Whoever the hell you are, you’d better let us go!” shouted Erin at her unseen tormentors.

“My house, my rules.” purred Mordrant.

Something in his voice caused Erin to bite off her retort half-formed. An inner voice said that it was a bad idea to exchange words with this ‘thing’. Erin stared back defiantly into the light.

“Pity. This may take longer than I care. Perhaps persuasion is the next course of action.” Accompanied by another wave of laughter, Mordrant closed the door, again plunging them into darkness.

“Erin”, whispered Jenny after a moment, “at some point you will have to declare Anna and me as your ladies. Otherwise, Mordrant and his scum will separate us, and then our lives will be forfeit. We cannot protect you if we’re not allowed to be with you.”

“He wouldn’t dare harm you, would he?” said Erin. Almost immediately after saying it she suddenly realized that, yes, he couldn’t care less about them or any other life. Something about him was terribly wrong. “No, I guess he doesn’t give a good god-damn what happens to you, does he.”

“My Lady, at least this way we might have a chance.” whispered Anna.

“Yes, and if we can play simple and whimpering, he won’t take either of us as a threat.” said Jenny. “That would be his mistake, but one of your great warriors once said, ‘Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.’”

“Ok, this is your world. You know the rules to this game. Tell me what to do, and I’ll try like hell to do it.” said Erin, as she reached out and found their hands.

“This is how we’ll play it...” said Jenny, as they shifted into a tight circle of conspiracy.

In a quiet tower room, Emory prepared for the coming struggle. Calmly, he lit the last of the candles that marked the outline of his ward with the slightest of waves. The ring of candles softly guttered as the air temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Kneeling at the verge of the circle, he smoothly murmured the final incantation that completed the sealing of the ward. Brilliant rainbow-hued streamers of light formed a dome above the circle traced in chalky runes on the floor.

“Now, let us see what evil you are up to, you hateful little man.” murmured Emory as he peered into a scrying stone resting on a small table in the center of the warded circle. “Hmmmmm, now I see. Subtlety was never your strong suit, was it Mordrant?”

With a wave, he broke the wards, and a small clap of thunder echoed his actions. Striding for the door, it flew open out of his path before he reached it. Richard, who had been guarding the door, jumped back then quickly fell into step behind Emory as they pelted downstairs two at a time.

“We leave at once!” Emory said when he reached the great room. “He has taken refuge here.” He said as he reached for a map on a side table. A golden flame hovered a fingers’ breadth above the spot on the map. “In their world, a game arcade called “Wizard’s of the Coast” was once housed here. Mordrant just can’t help letting his ego get in his way.”

“Right, we ride at once!” Arthur shouted, and the command was taken up by the leaders of each strike team as warriors boiled into action like an ant hill overturned.

The sounds of hundreds of knights and men-at-arms smoothly moving into action soon filled the hall as riders made for their bikes and others made for the line of vehicles drawn up outside. Brun, Megan, and the others who would remain at the observatory awaiting news, gathered on the stairs to see them off. Four hundred strong, they poured out of the courtyard onto the street in a series of motorcades that snarled rush-hour traffic in the University district. Not since the WTO had Seattle seen anything like this.

A single tear slid slowly down Megan’s cheek as she turned from the courtyard to wait for Richard and the others to return.