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Malachai, Celeste, Tazik, and the four musketeers pass through the trump gate to Serena's current prison, and wards immediately start trying to crush them. Celeste keeps the wards at bay, and Malachai picks up the jar holding Serena's brain.
Malachai ties a rope to Galantine and throws it at the chains holding Serena's body. It slides off the chains and digs a divot out of the stone wall.
Malachai trumps Serena. Serena tells him to leave - this is a trap. The kid took her body when he left, and he tried to take her mind, but grabbed the wrong jar.
They go back through the trump gate. Celeste goes last and shuts the gate behind here. She starts trying to draw a trump of the kid. It's really hard - she concentrates.
Malachai chats with Serena's brain. She tells him the story of their capture - they were testing perfumes, and then everything went black for her. She also tells him that the kid was constantly looking out the window and muttering under his breath about white horses. Malachai puts his hand on Tazik's shoulder, and Serena and Tazik chat.
Celeste has finished with her trump, and thinks that it might work. Malachai and Celeste decide to concentrate the trump together, and chat with the troops a bit. The conversation is too silly to be entered in these logs in its entirety, as these logs are not a silly place.
"So, there must be some kind of bird in charge of those men?"
"No, he's a priest!"
They make the mistake of asking the musketeers their names. The names are too silly to be entered in these logs, as these logs are a not a silly place.
They try the trump, and it is a most difficult trump to try. Celeste is putting her shoulder into it; Malachai has a finger on her back. They reach something, but it's definitely not the little boy. It feels cool and calculating, and familiar to Celeste. She slams the trump contact shut.
Malachai - "But... but... but..."
Celeste - "You're shit out of luck, son."
Malachai - "What was that?"
Celeste - "Naaasty."
Celeste explains that the thing behind the thing that took Serena is probably also the thing that had her daughter. They decide that they definitely need backup. Malachai tells her that he lost Corwin and Merlin in a snowstorm while he was looking for Serena.
Celeste trumps Darkstar. Nothing. Same blockage as when she tried to reach Faythe. Celeste tries to reach Clarissa on the god channels. She gets a recorded message from Verra. "Hi. If you're one of my dedicated followers, feel free to push this and you'll get me. On the other hand, if you're that annoying devotee of Clarissa's either make a deal or get off the channel and stop bothering me." Celeste gets off the channel.
Celeste tells Malachai about Verra. Malachai pulls out his trump deck and starts trying people. Corwin, Bleys, Flora, nothing. Celeste drops a hand on his shoulder and helps, and they get through to Flora. Flora is surprised that they made it through the trump block. She gives them a status report. Benedict had to go out again and deal with some things, Caine is half-way down the mountain, Random and Zack haven't reported back, Corwin is reportedly in the Courts of Chaos looking for allies there.
They try to trump Gerard, and get through. Celeste has never felt a more palpable feeling of terror in her life. There is no conscious mind or physical form there, just pure terror. Malachai feels that someone on the other end is afraid. Malachai drops the contact at Celeste's urging.
They try Cassandra, unreachable. Celeste notices that it's the same block she hit trying to reach Darkstar.
Malachai tries to trump Stormy, but the trump card is just a card.
Celeste starts preparing to trump Julian, but is dissuaded from doing so by Malachai. "You don't get along with Julian?" "Julian doesn't get along with me."
They try to trump Rhiannon, and get the same thing as Bleys's and Fiona's.
They try Corwin, connect, and hear a 'Bide, please'. Corwin dispatches the enemy soldier that he is fighting, tosses the corpse to some dead soldiers behind him, and steps backwards into the midst of the dead soldiers. "Celeste! Malachai!" They can see that Corwin is fighting with two copies of Greyswandir and has multiple Jewels of Judgment slung about his person. They chat. Corwin is willing to go through to them, but insists that they try to put him back when they're done.
There is a brief moment when there is a form of electrical discharge through the contact, and then Corwin comes through. Malachai fills Corwin in on recent events.
Norton, Ilk, Osric, and Andron have just walked into the room with Imagio, Mandor, Snarsht, and a bunch of other powerful types. About thirty high-powered people are here, mostly old folk.
Snarsht greets Norton. Imagio and Andron wander off and conference. Osric recognizes Imagio from his old days in the Courts, and goes over to chat. Imagio says that the plans for this hideaway were made with Suhuy ages ago, but Suhuy is long overdue to show up.
Ilk and Norton wander over to chat with Mandor. They warn Mandor not to be surprised if House Chanicut thanks him for his aid in saving their house, and give him a brief synopsis of his heroic deeds. Norton takes on Mandor's form at Mandor's request; Mandor gives him tips to improve the shape. Mandor tells Norton that he can hang onto the ring for now. Norton and Ilk give Mandor his arm back, and Norton reattaches it. They tell Mandor about their most recent run-in with Toram, and Mandor informs Ilk that he has been composing a ballad about his recent actions. Ilk is curious to know about which actions Mandor is composing.
Imagio tells Osric how the legend around Osric developed over the aeons, with some help from himself. It mostly involves Osric's pit diving days, and how artifacts retrieved by him proved to be crucial during crises over the years.
Norton and Ilk wander over to Snarsht. Norton fills Snarsht in on recent events, mind to mind. Snarsht declines to join their hunt for the adversary, saying that he is involved in a hunt of his own.
Ilk and Norton head to Imagio and company. Imagio has been working on opening the cocoons. They decide to leave the cocoons in Imagio's care, and leave.
They reach the next difficult piece. Ilk opens it. Andron, then Norton, then Osric, and then Ilk enter.
Norton is confronted with formlessness and shapelessness. It's not quite a shifter trap, but it's nasty.
Osric goes through. He sees Andron fighting something, he's not sure what. He sees Norton, a puddle on the ground. He sees a small glowing gem in the center of the room. He sees the lady this was all about rocking back and forth in a fetal position and holding something that appears to be a doll.
Ilk enters and sees the great-grand-daddy of all Logrus traps here. He starts parrying.
Osric sees Ilk enter and start doing something, apparently with Logrus. Osric walks over to the woman. The doll is well-crafted, and it looks like something. Osric waves a hand in front of the woman, and she doesn't react. He goes over to look at the glowing gem. It looks artificial, and is glowing white.
Osric goes over to Ilk and waves his hand in front of his face. "Ilk!" He taps Ilk on the shoulder, then trips him. No response. Norton is just a puddle on the floor, and Andron is definitely fighting something on a mental level.
There was no physical entrance to this room. Osric notices that he has a faint connection to the Fringe here, tries to gate out, and fails. Osric puts a shield around Ilk. Ilk doesn't seem to notice the shield, nor does it effect what he is doing.
Corwin takes out the half-dozen or so Jewels of Judgment and activates them all, unsheathes and sticks both Greyswandirs into the ground point-first, and holds out a hand for the trump of Serena.
Celeste hands him the trump. Corwin rests one of his hands on both of the swords, and takes the trump in the other. All of the Jewels glow brightly. Corwin disappears, along with both Greyswandirs.
Malachai is getting a trump call. It's Corwin. He says, "Catch", and throws Serena's body to Malachai. The contact breaks.
Celeste tries to figure out how to reattach Serena's mind to her body.
Celeste trumps Brandt, who shows up and takes them all to the party in Cobalt.
Malachai can tell that this is a room designed for parties that turn into orgies. Lots of clean, healthy, interesting-looking people doing interesting things. There is a definite family resemblance extant between the people at the party, and there is a slight resemblance to Random, who is over there talking with Vialle. Random is being browbeaten, apparently for not writing often enough. Malachai also notices some family resemblance to Kieron, the kid who was holding Serena.
"Well, it looks like we're in a party", Malachai says to the four horsemen. The horsemen declare that this must be a wizards' party, and therefore nobody here is bound by the codes of civilized conduct. They scatter and enjoy themselves.
Celeste and Malachai head to the infirmary. Celeste attracts Brandt and Damia's attention.
Damia - "Malachai."
Malachai - "Your Majesty."
Damia tells Celeste that Faythe is still being worked on. Brandt says that he took them here because he didn't want to overstress Damia, with the pregnancy and all. Damia is very annoyed. Brandt tells Damia about the four horsemen.
Damia - "Brandt! It's a family party!"
Malachai - "My horse is very well behaved."
Bast wanders in with a stunned look in her eyes, and asks Damia for some lubricant. "There's an amazing horse out there..."
Damia tells Celeste to round up the four soldiers of fortune and Random and get them all out of that party. Malachai offers to stay here and out of trouble, much to Damia's relief.
When Celeste reaches the party, Aurelia is dancing with Random. She's talking with him, somewhat seriously. Celeste eavesdrops long enough to learn they're talking about the care being given to Vialle. Celeste looks for Vialle, and finds her dancing with Hadrian. Celeste gestures to Hadrian, and he leads Vialle off to a quiet room.
Celeste returns to the infirmary and fills in Damia on her progress.
Malachai is in trump contact with Serena's mind, explaining things to her.
Damia examines Serena's body - the sorcery on it is Spiral sorcery, and it is in Lovi's style. Damia describes Kieron to Malachai. They discuss matters.
Osric pokes at the gem. It rolls around and ends up back in its original position, but with a different face up. He goes to look at the girl some more.
Osric shields the gem, and hears the sound of Mellor gathering and marching towards him. He drops the shield. No Mellor. Osric shields himself. He is now shielded. No Mellor.
Osric kicks Ilk, trying to distract him. Nothing. Osric goes over to Norton, and tries to spoon some of him up. No effect. Osric tries to trump Merlin, and fails.
Osric shapeshifts over the gem, trying to cover it completely. He feels a tug, as if he is being challenged by a shapeshifter's attack. He ignores the tug, and puts up a shield around himself and the gem. He feels the Mellor again, tries to ignore it, and waits. The feeling mounts, and he eventually drops the shield. The gem is slightly larger than it was before.
Osric looks into the gem - it's just a gem. He shifts his vision around, and spots some kind of rays leaving the gem and passing through him.
Osric takes out a crystal and examines a corpse that just appeared in the corner. It's not quite a Mellor, but it was trying to become one. It was created out of nothing.
Osric waffles.
Osric picks up Norton's mind control device and puts it on Ilk.
Ilk can now perceive Osric, his absolute lord and master. The Logrus attacks on him have apparently stopped.
Lily enters the room. She says that she and he were in the center, undoing it, then he threw her out and said, "Protect yourself", then he disappeared, and she can't reach him any more. She's sobbing.
Ilk can now see the others, and the gem. Osric removes the helmet, and Ilk resumes defending against the onrushing tendrils. Osric puts the helmet back on Ilk, and the attack stops. Ilk takes everyone out of the room, at Osric's command.
Norton reforms, notices that Ilk is wearing his mind control helmet, and takes it back. Ilk is himself again, and doesn't remember having worn the helmet, or anything that happened when he was doing so. Andron is holding Jenoir in his arms.
Ilk and Norton look at the doll. Ilk doesn't recognize it, it's not a shifted person, and there is some magic there.
They head back to the room containing Andron and the others.
Serena's first impulse when she wakes up in her own body is to kiss Malachai. Her second is to smash the jar that was housing her mind, and her third is to take a nap.
As Damia, Celeste, and Malachai congratulate each other, Brehndyn staggers carefully in, and asks for directions to the bathroom.
Malachai curls up next to Serena.
Damia goes to Terrance and cries on his shoulder. He feeds her.
Celeste tries to convince Columbine to make her not drunk. A long argument ensues. Celeste finally convinces her by claiming that the problem she is going to run off and deal with is not the one into which she invited the Cobalt family.
Celeste tries to find Brandt. He's not on the castle environs. Some people claim to have seen him bouncing around with his four new friends. She tries to trump him, and fails. Celeste finds all of Brandt's trumps and his other pocket-stuff on a tray in the infirmary, and takes her trumps back out of the stack. When she thumbs through the cards, she finds three trumps that she doesn't recognize. A male and a female look Hasteurish, and the other female doesn't look Comyn at all. The trumps are in Darkstar's hand.
Celeste tries to trump Cassandra, and hits the Barrier around Pearl. She tries to punch through it, and fails miserably.
She tries Brandt, and it's like the other end isn't there. She tries Bleys, and hits a hard block. She tries Darkstar, and hits the Barrier. She tries to trump Brand, and gets a ghostly echo.
Celeste tries to draw a trump of Titania, and fails completely. There is nothing trumpish about the picture at all.
Celeste tries to draw a trump of Brand, as she just saw him back in Faerie. It's trumpish. She tries it, and gets that same ghostly echo as when she tried Brand's trump. It's almost like she is trying to trump a dream.
Celeste falls asleep over another drawing. As she dreams, she gets a trump contact. It's Corwin, saying "Wakey, wakey, wakey". He's very insistent. Celeste wakes up. She's lying face-first, and drooling a bit, on a trump sketch. The lines have blurred a bit, and it looks like the picture of Brand is winking at her. She gets a trump call. It's Corwin. "That kid got reinforcements. Pull me through?" "Bide. DAMIA!"
Celeste contacts Damia via one of Damia's relations.
"Tell Damia that I've got Corwin on a trump contact. He's where the little kid is." "What do you need to disturb Damia for? We're the ones that are going to go through to deal with him."
A sizeable group of reinforcements, both magical and physical, gather and are sent through to Corwin.
Corwin expresses his hopes that the kid had no other prisoners, because he destroyed the place that the kid was in. Celeste asks Corwin to ask Cassandra to contact her the next time he goes into Pearl.
Celeste draws a trump sketch of the fast kitty, and hits the Barrier. She draws a sketch of Trialla, and makes contact. Celeste asks Trialla to relay the message to Cassandra. Trialla appears to be waiting for something.
Celeste falls asleep over another trump sketch of Brand.
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