I'm running a little behind on comments; please accept my apologies. I will catch up with the Colony next, but re-reading a year's worth of entries takes some time and I might not have enough right now :)
The crater "I think," said Memnith, "that we're going to have to risk opening the gate without having any clue what's going on on the other side." "Isn't that always the case?" Elizabeth hadn't meant to snap, but Lord Vileburn smiled anyway. "Yes," he said. "But normally you don't have any indication that there are bad things going on that you might not want to be part of, either. I think it will be best if you open the gate and I stand ready for anything that happens."
Lord Derby descended the steps of the quarry very much wishing he wasn't. He couldn't see Grace, though the strange lighting and the swirling darkness made it hard to be sure what you were seeing anyway. He'd made no effort to hide his walk to the quarry, hoping that the Polish soldiers would realise the need to do this, but now he was hugging the side and hoping that Grace found it as hard to see as he did. And that Samual had been successful in finding the spear.
Labdaris had cleared the chamber again and laid out only a few tiny crumbs of minerals; opening a gate was mostly an exercise in braiding the Power and was usually done without any material support at all. But creating two spells that would interact entirely independently of him was new, and even though he was sure he'd worked it all out in his head, it made sense to have a couple of points where, if things went wrong, pressure could be released. Safety valves, just in case. Because, and he allowed himself a small smile, even geniuses could get overconfident.
Elizabeth held her breath while she reached for the Power and gently bent and twisted it to her will. As it all came together, neat geometric shapes snapping around one other, nesting like Russian dolls, there was a sensation of stretching in a direction that she couldn't point in, and she let her breath out. As she did so a Gate shimmered into existence, looking like a wrought iron garden gate. It was even surrounded by a trellis of ghostly roses, and the smell of freshly-cut grass washed over her. Memnith, whose whole stance suggested that he was just waiting for something to attack him, gazed through the Gate.
Lord Derby reached the bottom of the steps and looked back. Samual was following him, and appeared to be holding the spear. At the top of the steps, shadows that might be men were gathered. Somewhere across the quarry Grace was still chanting, and the chant was getting faster and deeper, sounding ominous with the strange acoustics of the abused stone.
Labdaris shivered as he touched the yellow Power, that provided by the King in Yellow. For all he thought he understood it, it still repulsed him. However, it flowed more easily that the true Power, and after a moment he had forgotten that he disliked it and was reaching for more of it, using it to feed the precious stones set into his body that were providing him with his lost youth. Then he caught himself and pushed it back, away. Only what is needed for the spell he murmured softly. My liege.
Memnith sighed. "Darkness and shadows," he said. "Night in Carcosa. All I tell you is that we seem to have a crater, and I truly hope it's not been caused by whatever happened with the last Gate. It seems that we'll have to cross over to learn anything useful. Are you ready?"
Labdaris stepped carefully out of the casting circle and released his hold on the Power. The second spell, released, started to unwind and in doing so released Power into the first spell, which completed a circle. That spell then started draining the energy from the second, and a Gate formed in the middle of the casting circle: a gold-framed mirror hanging in midair, a white, opalescent mist where the glass should be. It swirled for a moment, then tinged over with gold and cleared. "London," said Labdaris with satisfaction.
Memnith and Elizabeth stepped through the Gate into the strangeness in the quarry. The chanting was enough to make both of them immediately duck and scurry to cover, which they discovered to their unpleasant surprise was a pile of torn-apart bodies. "Carcosa," muttered Memnith with loathing.
The chanting was reaching fever pitch, and still the shadows at the top of the quarry steps hadn't moved. "Hurry," murmured Lord Derby, helplessly.
3 comments:
I'm running a little behind on comments; please accept my apologies. I will catch up with the Colony next, but re-reading a year's worth of entries takes some time and I might not have enough right now :)
The crater
"I think," said Memnith, "that we're going to have to risk opening the gate without having any clue what's going on on the other side."
"Isn't that always the case?" Elizabeth hadn't meant to snap, but Lord Vileburn smiled anyway.
"Yes," he said. "But normally you don't have any indication that there are bad things going on that you might not want to be part of, either. I think it will be best if you open the gate and I stand ready for anything that happens."
Lord Derby descended the steps of the quarry very much wishing he wasn't. He couldn't see Grace, though the strange lighting and the swirling darkness made it hard to be sure what you were seeing anyway. He'd made no effort to hide his walk to the quarry, hoping that the Polish soldiers would realise the need to do this, but now he was hugging the side and hoping that Grace found it as hard to see as he did. And that Samual had been successful in finding the spear.
Labdaris had cleared the chamber again and laid out only a few tiny crumbs of minerals; opening a gate was mostly an exercise in braiding the Power and was usually done without any material support at all. But creating two spells that would interact entirely independently of him was new, and even though he was sure he'd worked it all out in his head, it made sense to have a couple of points where, if things went wrong, pressure could be released. Safety valves, just in case. Because, and he allowed himself a small smile, even geniuses could get overconfident.
Elizabeth held her breath while she reached for the Power and gently bent and twisted it to her will. As it all came together, neat geometric shapes snapping around one other, nesting like Russian dolls, there was a sensation of stretching in a direction that she couldn't point in, and she let her breath out. As she did so a Gate shimmered into existence, looking like a wrought iron garden gate. It was even surrounded by a trellis of ghostly roses, and the smell of freshly-cut grass washed over her. Memnith, whose whole stance suggested that he was just waiting for something to attack him, gazed through the Gate.
Lord Derby reached the bottom of the steps and looked back. Samual was following him, and appeared to be holding the spear. At the top of the steps, shadows that might be men were gathered. Somewhere across the quarry Grace was still chanting, and the chant was getting faster and deeper, sounding ominous with the strange acoustics of the abused stone.
Labdaris shivered as he touched the yellow Power, that provided by the King in Yellow. For all he thought he understood it, it still repulsed him. However, it flowed more easily that the true Power, and after a moment he had forgotten that he disliked it and was reaching for more of it, using it to feed the precious stones set into his body that were providing him with his lost youth. Then he caught himself and pushed it back, away. Only what is needed for the spell he murmured softly. My liege.
Memnith sighed. "Darkness and shadows," he said. "Night in Carcosa. All I tell you is that we seem to have a crater, and I truly hope it's not been caused by whatever happened with the last Gate. It seems that we'll have to cross over to learn anything useful. Are you ready?"
Labdaris stepped carefully out of the casting circle and released his hold on the Power. The second spell, released, started to unwind and in doing so released Power into the first spell, which completed a circle. That spell then started draining the energy from the second, and a Gate formed in the middle of the casting circle: a gold-framed mirror hanging in midair, a white, opalescent mist where the glass should be. It swirled for a moment, then tinged over with gold and cleared.
"London," said Labdaris with satisfaction.
Memnith and Elizabeth stepped through the Gate into the strangeness in the quarry. The chanting was enough to make both of them immediately duck and scurry to cover, which they discovered to their unpleasant surprise was a pile of torn-apart bodies.
"Carcosa," muttered Memnith with loathing.
The chanting was reaching fever pitch, and still the shadows at the top of the quarry steps hadn't moved. "Hurry," murmured Lord Derby, helplessly.
Greg - yes, well, I may be skipping the Colony as well in my attempt to catch up on comments...
Ah. Ahhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh. Memnith and Elizabeth in Carcosa! Labdaris heading for London! Grace doing Grace things...
Man, this is so eventful and good and yay.
Ahem.
I mean, do carry on, good sir.
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