The Third Nature -Book One of the Triad
Voyager fantasies by Taya 17 Janeway @ Nimgil
the watchers, the movers, the shakers
The wolfchild held the clear orb in her hand; pictures swam within it. Seated cross-legged on the cold marble floor opposite her friend, Calista watched as the Empress gave instructions to Kraala to direct troop movements towards Tiuagad in such a manner that her mother wouldn't know about it. The pair were cloistered in a disused storage room in the deep parts of the Palace, frequented by few save the cleaning servants. Falkner and Falda were standing guard outside the arched entrance, making sure no-one came their way. The seraphim twins had gone through their first growth spurt during the past few months, and now stood considerably taller, and with wingspans approaching five feet. With their fierce countenances and superior strength, they terrified the wits out of most of the Palace servants.
The wolfchild rotated the orb carefully, giving Calista another vantage of the conversation taking place. The voices of the Empress and Kraala, reproduced crystal clear by the object, echoed softly in the confines of the room. The wolfchild smiled, saying, "I told you it would work."
Calista smiled back. "And she doesn't know about it?"
The wolfchild bared her teeth at the challenge. "No."
Calista laughed softly. "Just checking." She turned her attention back to the orb. The Empress finished speaking to Kraala and dismissed her, then leaned back in her throne. "Where's the little wench today?"
The wolfchild shrugged. "Does it look like I care?"
"You should. For one thing, she isn't afraid of Falkner and Falda."
The wolfchild snarled. "No, but she's afraid of me." In the past few months, the wolfchild, too, had grown, and her hybrid heritage had given her sturdier musculature than her slender feline sister. And Jackelyn was only a wielder of Cerulean Ice, no match for the wolfchild's Scarlet Fire. When enraged, she was, if anything, even more terrifying than Falkner and Falda combined.
Calista nodded in deferment. "We should inform my mother of this as soon as possible."
Another smile broke out across the wolfchild's face. "This thing can do more tricks," she said, eager to show off the capabilities of her invention. "Instant replay." She focused her powers on the orb and moved the images backwards. "It has data storage properties as well."
Calista raised an eyebrow. "That's really interesting. If I looked at the orb when I stand in the bewitched corridor, do you think my mother will be able to see these images for herself?"
The wolfchild shrugged. "Only one way to find out," she said.
Myriam was in her room when she felt that same familiar prickling at the back of her subconsciousness: her daughter trying to contact her. She put down the scrolls she was reading on the cane table by the side of the room and went to the bed in the middle. She sat cross-legged upon it and gathered her energies, then plunged her awareness into the Fire Sphere. Almost immediately she caught the current her daughter was traversing, and their thoughts were linked as one.
Abruptly Myriam was standing in the middle of a tall arched corridor with pillars of gray marble, suffused with a dim, solemn light. She knew that this corridor was deep below ground, an abandoned walkway which used to connect the guest rooms in aeons past. When Calista had gone to Licknok Moor she had shown her how to bewitch the corridor to act as a transmitter for her thoughts: and how best to avoid detection by the Empress. So far, so good. She was seeing everything from her daughter's perspective: Calista turned slowly, and the wolfchild came into her field of vision. Myriam had gotten to know the wolfchild well in the years that Calista had been in the Palace, and she had sworn that the child would be taken into her clan when the war had been won. Despite being descended from Nayrn, the girl was fiercely loyal and honorable, and a valuable ally.
The wolfchild was holding a clear glass orb in her hands. As Myriam watched, an image coalesced in the midst of the orb: Nayrn in her throne room, shredding tapestries in an uncontrollable rage. Ingenious device. She smiled inwardly as the Empress paced, flexing her right hand. So she was worried? She had every reason to be. Myriam continued watching as Nayrn calmed down and called for her lieutenant, and planned the fortification of Licknor Moor. Even as she smiled, another part of her turned cold. So it was as she suspected... a spy in her close circle of confidantes. She had played it right, then—she had the Empress exactly where she wanted her to be.
She doesn't know still—that I'm spying on her and everything. Which means the spy in the Daer-On-Naiad still doesn't know about me, she said.
Myriam sighed. I'm afraid I know who the traitor is.
Who?
Do not trouble yourself with these facts; all will come clear in time. Myriam comforted her daughter. Rest assured that you will come to no harm.
There was silence from her daughter, then, What will you do now?
What we had originally intended. Attack Licknock Moor.