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The Perils of Lorindar
The following morning found us approaching the large crack in the ground that the three princesses had identified as Malindar's Chasm, apparently created when a prominent human sorcerer had threatened to destroy Lorindar during a war with the fairies long ago. According to Snow, we were now close enough to Fairytown to at least potentially attract interest from the fairies without being so close as to attract the magical attention of anyone particularly powerful, based on the search criteria that the Doctor had provided for us when everyone woke up this morning; if Omega was anywhere, he'd be here.
"You're sure about this?" Talia asked, studying our surroundings with a critical expression. "We haven't seen any more of those guards…"
"Considering what Omega's been through before now, his ability to create those things is most likely limited; he's probably saving those for when he needs them," the Doctor put in as he looked over at Talia. "He had centuries to establish his control of the anti-matter universe before he dispatched those things anywhere, and I basically destroyed his world during our first encounter; he's had a few centuries to rebuild since then, but it still took him millennia to reach that point."
"And he's not used to doing it this way, right?" I asked. "Using magic, I mean."
"Bingo," the Doctor said, smiling over at me before critically shaking his head at himself. "Anyway, he'd have to be outside Fairytown if he wanted to avoid attracting the direct attention of the king and queen, and then there's that Duchess you mentioned to consider. He's a definite threat, but right now he's just gathering his strength for his main assault; he wouldn't want to risk provoking a confrontation if he wasn't sure of the outcome."
"Gathering strength?" Snow repeated, looking curiously at the Doctor. "So… just to be sure we're all on the same page here, is Omega likely to have much magic of his own?"
"Mmmm… not really," the Doctor replied after a moment's contemplation, a thoughtful expression on his face suggesting that he was taking more care to pick his words right now. "Unlike me, he never really had much training in magic before- he was never in a position where he'd need it- so while he may have spent some time harnessing raw power if my theories are correct, he won't really know how to use it unless someone's been teaching him."
"And if fairies are disappearing in the numbers that Arlorran implies they have been, I think we can safely assume that there aren't any teachers available for him," Snow said. "They wouldn't let themselves be trapped like that."
"You're sure?" I asked, looking curiously at Snow. "I mean, it's not like humans always get along with each other either…"
"It's the same reason why the Duchess couldn't be behind the disappearances; there's only so much even the most skilled magic-user can do against superior numbers," Snow explained. "A fairy might be forced to give Omega some lessons in a few spells if he harnessed enough magic to try and perform them, but they'd never stick around long enough to give him a complete crash course in magic unless he gave them something in return; assuming you're correct about this Omega's abilities, he must be abducting the fairies and getting them to teach him some key spells before he… kills them."
"And I can't think of anything he'd have to offer that someone here would want, so either they'd escape eventually or he'd have to kill them…" the Doctor noted, nodding reflectively for a moment before he re-focused his attention on Snow. "Just to be sure, you've placed a lot of emphasise on fairies giving Omega lessons; I assume that means that any other type of sorcerer in this vicinity would soon be noticed?"
"Unless they were well-protected, yes," Snow said. "My mother was able to conceal her presence from me when she was here, but that was with the additional assistance of the Duchess, and she wasn't actively harming any fairies anyway; fairies would take it more personally if their own kind were in danger."
"But… why does Omega need to be outside Fairytown?" I asked, as the thought suddenly came to me. "Couldn't he use that… nobility clause thing we were thinking of using? I mean, if he's-"
"He's not," the Doctor interrupted.
"Not what?" Talia asked.
"Not a lord," the Doctor said. "Omega was widely regarded as one of the greatest of my race, but when he was lost he was only a common man with brilliant ideas; most of his titles were conferred posthumously rather than when he was known to be alive, and he's never officially returned to Gallifrey to claim them."
"Ah, technicalities," Snow said, smiling warmly at the Doctor. "You've got to love them."
"When they're in our favour," Talia noted grimly.
"So… can we just see about finding where we're going here?" I asked, looking between the assorted princesses and the Doctor. "I mean, even if Omega is in this chasm, how do we get him out? I know you're all good at what you do, but I'm not that comfortable facing someone this powerful on his home ground, no matter how weak he might be…"
"Which is why I'll be taking a look first," the Doctor said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver with a smile as he glanced over the edge of the cliff.
"You are?" Snow asked. "Care to explain why?"
"We need to know what Omega's working with in there so that we can have some kind of plan," the Doctor explained, studying the chasm below us in a thoughtful manner before he nodded. "There are a few promising-looking caves down there, anyway; once we've identified which one of those is his hiding-place, we can focus on finding out how he got here and forcing him back; I'd rather not kill him unless we have to, even assuming it's possible to do so…"
"Because of the fact that he may be made of anti-matter?" I asked, glad that I could make a contribution to the discussion once again.
"That's a problem?" Danielle asked.
"You remember how the Doctor told you yesterday that anti-matter is the opposite of the matter around us?" I asked her (I couldn't believe that I was basically giving Cinderella a science lesson!).
"Oh, right; if the two should meet they'll… explode, right?" Danielle asked, nodding in recollection.
"Precisely," the Doctor said, nodding at the two of us in approval. "Assuming he's in a similar shape to the last time he tried to escape the anti-matter world, Omega must be shielding himself somehow; we don't want to accidentally damage the equipment he's using to do that while we're trying to stop him. Now then, I'll get down there and-"
"No," Talia interjected, looking firmly at the Doctor.
"Pardon?" the Doctor said, looking at her in surprise.
"If we're dealing with something as dangerous as you're implying, we don't want him to know we're here until we're ready to fight him," Talia said grimly. "He knows you, but I've never met him before; give me that… thing… and I'll take a look at the cave."
"You'll go?" Danielle repeated, looking at Talia in surprise. "But you don't know how to work that… thing?"
"Even if I can't figure out what it does, I'm sure that I can take a look with it and then the Doctor can study it to his heart's content when I get back," Talia pointed out, taking the screwdriver from the Doctor as she spoke. "If we're trying to get in and out without being detected, I think I'm better-qualified to try that than he is; I am fully aware of what my body's doing, after all."
"Good point," the Doctor admitted after a moment's thought, walking over to hold the screwdriver along with Talia as his fingers moved to reset the relevant controls. "Once you get inside that cave, keep going until you find something or can't go any further without attracting attention, and then use the screwdriver to analyse it; I'll be able to go over everything when you get back."
"And the reason she can't just look at the information herself is…?" Snow asked curiously.
"Well… part of this tool's power lies in the fact that it's linked to my mind so that I can directly process everything it finds," the Doctor explained, as he held up the screwdriver (I wondered briefly if he was lying about that, but concluded that it didn't matter; even if Talia could look at whatever the screwdriver found, she probably wouldn't be able to understand it). "If Talia uses it to analyse everything in that cave, I can process what she finds when I get it back, but as it stands she just isn't… well, she doesn't have the right senses to process it."
"Like when we became undine and could sense the water more easily, right?" Snow asked, smiling at the Doctor.
"Well… that's probably a good analogy, so yes," the Doctor said, nodding at Snow before looking back at Talia. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Talia said, before she turned and began to climb down the side of the chasm, moving with an ease about her manner that was almost vampire-like in its grace. The four of us initially leant over the side to watch her descend, but as she passed the point where light from above could easily reach the bottom of the chasm, I decided to look away; heights where I couldn't see the bottom brought back bad memories of the state I'd been in before I met the Doctor.
As Talia vanished from view, the Doctor, Danielle and Snow moved away to sit around me, the four of us waiting in silence for a time until the Doctor struck up a conversation to discuss some of the other details of this word's history. I was pleased to learn that at least the story of Jack the Giant-Killer had been accurate enough- as well as the explanation that the giant had stolen his money from the people for centuries; at least Jack hadn't just robbed the giant for eating people- and hearing more about Danielle and Snow's histories was fascinating in a strange way, as I found myself enjoying tales I'd long grown out of back on Earth, appreciating my new perspective on them now that I knew that everything I was learning about was real…
I wasn't sure how long we'd spent talking about our respective histories- even allowing for his inability to discuss aliens, the Doctor had some interesting stories to tell the princesses in return about some of his own experiences- but eventually the conversation ended as Talia climbed back up from the chasm, looking between us all with a slight smile.
"Tricky, but do-able," she said, smiling slightly at the Doctor. "I have to give this 'Omega' credit; for a person with no magic, he created some interesting natural defences."
"He started out with virtually nothing; he's used to working from the ground up," the Doctor said, taking the screwdriver back from Talia with a smile before starting in surprise as Talia also handed him a piece of parchment with something drawn on it. I was only able to get a brief glance at the picture before the Doctor started to study it intently, but I quickly realised that it was an image that looked very much like what I'd imagined the interior of the cave would look like, filled with all kinds of high-tech-looking equipment that seemed even more out of place in this world than it would have been in any of the other occasions I'd visited with the Doctor, mixed in with some cages holding what I assumed were fairies.
"You can draw?" Danielle said, looking between Talia and the picture in surprise.
"Perfect muscle memory and a clear awareness of my surroundings; it gives me a very steady hand when making sketches," Talia explained, shrugging dismissively as the Doctor thoughtfully studied the sketch and the screwdriver. "I'm not very good if you want me to be creative, but I can copy something down quickly enough."
"Very nice work," the Doctor said, the paper in one hand as he held the screwdriver to his ear with the other. "Looks like it's all what I was expecting, which is something; the cages seem straightforward enough- a few things the sonic can't quite place, but magic's always been tricky for it to understand- and there are a few samples of quad radiation…"
"What's that?" I asked.
"Basically, a substance that should shield anti-matter from the matter around us," the Doctor explained. "It's tricky to control normally, but from what Talia sketched here, it looks like he's using a combination of magic and science to contain the anti-matter while he's working on transferring his essence into a magical form… which is where this comes in…"
"That?" I said, looking in confusion at the device the Doctor had indicated, which reminded me of a washing machine on its back with the glass sticking out. "What is it?"
"Molecular disintegration analyser," the Doctor said coldly.
"What?" I said, staring at the Doctor in horror; I might not recognise the device, but the terms the Doctor had just mentioned made its purpose disturbingly clear. "Who… why would anyone make something like that?"
"Unfortunately, a few people come up with it at various points on various worlds," the Doctor said grimly. "It's not the most thorough way to analyse particularly unique specimens, but it is remarkably efficient, and even the best species produce the occasional… aberration… who prefer to break something new down rather than keep it alive for later."
"Sorry, but I think we missed something here; what's so bad about this… thing?" Danielle asked, looking at the Doctor and I in confusion.
"Essentially, it studies living things," the Doctor explained as he looked back at Danielle, his tone clearly conveying his contempt for anyone who would use the device he was describing. "However, it 'studies' them by breaking them down to their smallest possible components and then taking a very close look at the pieces; any fairies that Omega's managed to capture since he came here are certainly dead, unless there's something about their biology that allows them to survive that kind of treatment."
"N… no…" Danielle said, shaking her head in horror as she took in what the Doctor had just told us. "Who would…?"
"Like I said, some ideas are so terrible that it takes the most twisted minds to conceive of them, but there are few things more powerful than a truly bad idea that occurs to the right mind," the Doctor said solemnly, before he turned back to Talia. "Anyway, his captives aside, you didn't see anything to suggest that he has additional guards or defences?"
"Not a thing," Talia said, shaking her head firmly.
"Good to know," the Doctor said, smiling gratefully at her before turning his attention back to the sketch. "All right, then; since Omega knows I'm here, but doesn't know what I know about magic, here's the plan…"
