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Cailin and Natasha hear a scuffle outside their stall while they are otherwise occupied. When they are done, Beldin knocks on the door and tells them that someone wanted to interrupt them, but he dropped the intruder into stasis by modifying the time rate of the local shadow.
Beldin pulls the intruder out of the zone of stasis. The intruder appears to be one of the people from the shadow that was blown up, and claims to be here to help. The intruder is stuffed back into the slow-time area so Cailin can contact Darkstar to ask for trumps of the intruder and Cagliostro. Darkstar comes through the contact and starts working on a trump for the intruder. Cailin sends a bird to Cagliostro. The bird turns into a salamander, so is given a hang glider.
A member of the Assassins' Guild has brought a person to Cagliostro for interrogation. With some effort and help from the assassin, he gets five or six hundred years of memory from the subject. The assassin kills the subject once the interrogation is complete. Cagliostro scans the memory, and determines that this guy seems to have been the ringleader.
Cagliostro and the assassin chat, and the assassin pushes the corpse into the ground.
Planning for the three-pronged assault. Absolom and the new mage, backed up by one of the expeditionary forces, continuing tracing in the place that was blown up and everyone was buried. Roland and Cagliostro and Cagliostro's people are backup.
Someone approaches Cagliostro, claiming to be investigating the shaping problems. He reaches out, and one of Cagliostro's demons starts to coalesce around him and shreds the guy.
Fun with shapeshifters and Roland's Pattern blade ensues.
Cailin sends Darkstar to draw a trump of Cagliostro. Cagliostro notices a bug fly in but pretends not to until the bug is leaving, at which point he englobes it. "Can I help you?" The bug disappears.
Darkstar trumps Cailin and hands him a trump of Cagliostro.
Cailin's mob goes to the tree place.
Cagliostro is summoned to his gate. There is a guy there in out-dated clothing. Roland doesn't recognize him.
"All he'll say is that he is here to answer your question. He won't give a name or state his business."
Cagliostro goes out to check in on the visitor, who turns out to be Darkstar. That form is introduced as Colin; the bug form is introduced as Darkstar.
The Serpent's Apprentice is outside the shadow where Etienne is holed up inside a pyramid.
An assassin appears near him and bows. "My mistress has an interesting problem before her and wishes your advice." Ilk looks for Princess Chandra. She is currently sitting on the porch outside Thelbane. Ilk sets the messenger to watch that shadow and goes to Thelbane.
Princess Chandra asks Ilk to find a protector for Cagliostro, and suggests Kintani and his charge.
Kintani is waiting in the council chambers, bored. The Council is debating the last message that Kintani brought to them.
Kintani and Ilk chat. Ilk frightens the Council a bit, then leaves with Kintani.
They go to the Serpent's Antechamber, where the Serpent is having a story read to him and an orbital ridge scratched by Kieron. Once the story is done, the Serpent's Apprentice receives permission to take Kieron on a field trip. Kieron climbs onto Kintani's back, the Serpent's Apprentice swallows them both and heads into shadow.
He spits out Kintani and Kieron over Castle Cagliostro and tendri's out.
A member of Cagliostro's castle staff pounds hurredly on the door. "Dragons! In the sky!"
Roland hands his sword to Cagliostro and runs off. Colin turns into a bug and zips up to the dragon. All of the ninjas have assumed defensive positions on the roof and walls.
Colin knocks on the door and re-enters Cagliostro's room. Colin claims that the dragon has been hired to protect him.
Someone calls Cagliostro's private line and claims that St. George (or at least his armor) has just gotten up and are now walking around.
Roland exits the castle and greets Kintani. Roland explains the local situation. Roland introduces himself to Kieron as "Uncle Roland".
Kieron is taken inside by Roland, and returns with a mob of kids who can't understand him and are frightened of the dragon. Ilk casts a translator spell on Kieron.
Roland returns to the room and takes the Pattern blade back from Cagliostro. Colin enters the room and says that he will be willing to perform introductions as he has known this dragon for some time.
Cagliostro walks out and introduces himself to Kieron and the dragon.
Ilk wonders how to get Kintani to fit into the castle, and thinks that he might break shadow when distorting it to hold Kintani. Serpent's Apprentice puts in a low-priority request for one of Shiryu's apprentices. One that Ilk recognizes arrives in a few moments, bows to people appropriately, and modifies the area around Kintani so that he will fit.
Kieron heads off to investigate the talking tree with a group of kids. Kintani and Cagliostro head into the castle, and stop at the door of the room with the bits.
Colin finishes the trump. Cagliostro concentrates on the trunp, and Colin scrapes bits together until there is a conscious mind with memory. Cagliostro grabs. The mind is a sewer. There are thousands of years of memory there, and it's all about gleefully torturing animals. He was planning on turning Cagliostro inside-out and then starting in on the nerve endings. Cagliostro fills about 25 crystals with 1,000 years of memory each before reaching his childhood. Snarsht apparently terrified him in his youth. Cagliostro starts the wipe, and discovers that the wiped bits are filling in behind it.
Cagliostro tells Roland to have fun. Colin steps between Cagliostro and the trump, breaking the contact. Roland sticks his sword into the guy, quickly reducing him to a greasy smear. Fred was one of this guy's earlier victims, and Fred was talking a blue streak during the process.
Cagliostro fills in the bottle. "Kintani is okay." "Fred's family and Guild will be informed."
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