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Chapter 155: Indigestion
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Vlad did not approach the Elysian ship.
He had gotten Daniel back to his allies, and out of the Bends. That's what he and Daniel had agreed to. Actually, if he thought about it, he had only agreed to get Daniel and his friends out of the bends. By guarding their retreat to the ship, he had done more than enough, he had gone above and beyond.
Even so, Vlad doubted he would be welcomed by Daniel's allies with open arms. The Elysians they had encountered in the Bends had given him enough askance looks to last an afterlife, even if they hadn't directly confronted him or his presence.
He watched the ships slowly pull away, and disappear behind the mists and boulders of the Grinder. He didn't feel the need to follow. Daniel would be fine, now.
In the meantime, well, Vlad had a few things to talk to his advocate about.
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Danny settled in a comfortable-looking chair, then shuffled around for several minutes upon finding out it wasn't terribly comfortable, at least not in the position he wanted to sit in. He sighed, and wrapped himself more tightly around his ice pillow.
Other people walked into the conference room, and sat down. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Ellie, Pandora, Dr. Iceclaw, the ship's captain, a handful of engineers, the navigator, one of the Elysian commanders, and a bandage-wrapped representative from the Egyptian ship.
They started talking. Danny was glad that he was here, that he had been invited to this conference, but he was honestly miserable, and was having trouble following everything the engineers were saying. It basically boiled down to both ships having taken a lot of damage, but-
"How many weeks?!" exclaimed Dr. Iceclaw.
"Three," repeated the chief engineer, calmly. "At least. There's too much damage to go faster, and we can't fix everything with what we have on-board. I barely managed to salvage the rudder, and steering is going to take a lot of positive thinking."
Iceclaw turned to the Egyptians.
The representative shrugged. "Our ship wasn't as fast as this one to begin with. We're no quicker now."
"Three weeks isn't fast enough," said Iceclaw. "Is there somewhere we can get to faster? The Far Frozen?"
"The Far Frozen is even farther from here," said the navigator, "and we'd have to find a way around or through the Sanzu Currents to even get to the Lands of Ice."
"The Drowned Quarter?"
"Closer, but humans can't breathe underwater."
Iceclaw bit his lip. "Is there any medically advanced community nearer here than Elysium?"
"After the science wars? I can't speak to individual lairs, of course, but Elysium is the closest community."
"Dr. Iceclaw," said Pandora, "is Daniel's situation that severe?"
Although Danny had already given the doctor permission to talk about him, Iceclaw looked at Danny. Danny nodded.
"Yes. Ideally, the great one would already be in the Far Frozen."
"What about carrying?" asked Ellie. "The boat's-"
"The ship," interjected the captain.
"-just for Danny's classmates. Most of us can fly faster than this."
"That would also make whoever went more vulnerable to attack," said the Elysian commander. He nodded to Danny. "Someone is trying very hard to end you."
"What would be necessary, to care for Daniel on such a journey?" asked Pandora.
"Ice," said Iceclaw. "A great deal of it. I would have to come with you."
"A larger party would travel more slowly," said the commander, tone that of warning.
"Hm. Yes," said Pandora. "What would your estimate on travel time be?"
"Ah," said the commander, thinking, leaning back to cross both sets of arms. He turned to Iceclaw. "How often would the group have to stop, and for how long?"
"At least once every six hours, for an hour."
"And needs other than ice? Food?"
"Ideally, he should not eat until the amulet is removed from his stomach. But..." He glanced at Danny. "The amulet may be interfering with his ability to pull in ectoplasmic sustenance. I will need to take a few more readings to be sure, but if that is the case, he should eat. Sparingly. Cold liquids only, like broth, or juice."
"How often?"
"If the journey lasts more than two days, then at least once a day."
The commander nodded. "Assuming we were not attacked, and only the swiftest and strongest of us made the journey, it would take a week."
"That's too long. Far too long," said Iceclaw. "Even once in Elysium, I'm not sure I can find all the tools I need. I was planning on sending out to the Far Frozen, but..."
"What about doors? Portals?" asked Ellie. "You know. Shortcuts."
"Not well mapped," said the navigator, "and they tend to change."
"There is a reason the Infini-Map is so sought after," said one of the engineers.
"Yeah," agreed another, "even if it is a myth."
Danny looked at Iceclaw. He had a very strange expression on his face. Okay then.
"Sure," said Ellie, "but is there one that could take us closer to where we want to go? Elysium or the Far Frozen?"
"Or Mattingly?" added Jazz. "Dora might be able to help with the amulet."
The navigator flipped through her maps. "None that I see... Mattingly... One of the Time-Locked Lands, wasn't it? Doldrums of Time, and all that. Those never had much of a presence here."
"What about Long Now?" asked Danny.
"Lord Clockwork's lair? That doesn't show up on maps."
"Oh," said Danny, disappointed.
"We could get a door to Method," said Ellie. There are tons of them there. "They have doctors and stuff there, don't they?"
"Yes," said Pandora, slowly. "But although the scientists there are more moral than those here, that doesn't mean they are precisely trustworthy."
"Yeah, but, you can get the stuff you need from there, right? And it has a lot of doors to other places."
It looked like Iceclaw hadn't considered that.
"Or," said Ellie, "if we go back to the Digressed Tower, Fifty-Three Card Jake at the casino owes me a boat."
"That's not a good idea," said the commander. "There are likely still mercenaries in the area, not to mention the animals. In any case, I believe the casino was damaged and evacuated during the battle."
"Oh. I didn't see that."
"We could go through the Library of Tongues, if we can get to Method," suggested Danny. "They have lots of doors to a lot of places. They have a door near the Far Frozen, I think."
"There's a door to the Library of Tongues here," said the navigator. "But it doesn't matter. They don't let in people who haven't at least been vetted by members, not to mention payment..."
"We're Library members," said Ellie and Danny in stereo.
"You are?" asked Jazz.
"Hey, don't sound so surprised," said Danny. "We speak a few dozen languages apiece."
"And what would the payment be for, say, ten others coming with you?" asked Pandora.
"They'd probably just want us to translate some books..." Danny's brain, as slow as it was currently being, located a problem. "Oh. They'd probably want us to do it up front. That's not going to work..."
"Would they though?" said Ellie. "They like us there. They like you. If they know we're trying to get you help, I think they would let us through."
"Let's table that for a moment," said Pandora. "What are our other options?"
Ellie paused for a minute. "If we could get to Method, we could take the Architect's Gate to the Goblin Market. It should be passing right by Mattingly at this time of year."
"It is," said Danny. "At least, it was going that way when I visited a couple weeks ago."
"It was?" asked the navigator. "I didn't think the Goblin Market- Or, no, Mattingly isn't one of the Time-Locked Lands anymore, is it?" She scratched his head vigorously with one hand while the other three were occupied with maps. "Where did it move to..?"
"It's on the outskirts, and moving on," said Danny, "sort of towards Folkvangr and the Hills? Not towards the Barrens, anyway... Makes it hard to get to, sometimes... But not directly away from it, anyway. I don't know. Yeah."
"Towards Folkvangr... Yes, the Goblin Market does skim along there."
"I think Dora put Mattingly on the Goblin Market's path on purpose," said Sam. She shrugged.
"That sounds like her," said Jazz.
"That does seem to be a relatively short jump," said the navigator. "Perhaps two days at the absolute most, assuming individual flight, rather than a vehicle. Then the overall journey time depends on how quickly we can get to the Architect's Gate from here." More rustling of maps. "Could do the library, but the internal distance and payment is difficult, and the door in is a quarter of the way around Missing Theory... That'd take a while... That one only works in June... Only works if you're a dervish..." The navigator trailed off, muttering in Greek.
"What about the Tutors?" asked Ellie, suddenly. "I almost forgot about them."
"Who?" asked Danny.
"I used their door one time when I was with Vlad," said Ellie. She leaned forward across the table, toward the navigator. "That's a stable door, right? It comes out sort of near the Architect's Gate, right?"
The navigator made a sour face, but sorted through her papers. "I suppose it isn't entirely unreliable, but I don't think it's on this side of the Missing Theory at this time of... Oh," she finished, with a touch of displeasure. "I was mistaken. The Tutors' Door is only two hours away, if we change course now. Then the overall travel time... Depending on conditions in Method... Three or four days. But both the Tutors' Door and the Architect's Gate have tolls. I don't know how much, or what they will want, or how long it will take to pay them."
"We would have to take a variety of payment with us," said the commander, "along with whatever other supplies Dr. Iceclaw deems necessary."
Pandora nodded. "The Architect's Gate has a number of destinations other than the Goblin Market. Nineteen of them, if I recall correctly. The Drowned Quarter, and Dis, for example. Cynosura," said Pandora, addressing the navigator, "do you have a list of destinations?"
"Mhm. Yes," said the navigator, handing Pandora a rather creased piece of paper. "Here."
Pandora examined the sheet, and gave it to Dr. Iceclaw in turn. "Would any of these be more useful than the Goblin Market and Mattingly?"
Iceclaw spent several minutes looking at the sheet. "No, I don't think so. Princess Dorathea's familiarity with the amulet outweighs most other considerations. I will have to send someone to get a few things once in Method. I didn't expect to be doing this kind of operation when I packed, sadly. I'll make a list."
"About that," said the navigator, "the Tutors' Door is small. Big enough to fit you, yes, but not anything larger. Meaning we will have to carry anything we want to bring through."
"Yes," said Pandora. "Leaving aside that we would have to do that anyway, considering our other passengers."
"Yes, dragging a herd of humans across all the Realms would not be pleasant... No offense to current company," amended the commander quickly.
"Wait," said Sam, "not that I'm disagreeing about it being a pain to deal with our classmates, but we're not letting Danny go off on his own again."
"He won't be on his own," said Ellie. "I'm going with him."
"As will I, Dr. Iceclaw, and as many others as are necessary," said Pandora. "Sadly, you three cannot fly as we can."
"We've gotten better at the falling thing," said Tucker, "and I think we can fly a little, if we try..." He shook his head. "Sorry, I know, it's a speed thing. We'd slow you down."
Sam looked like she wanted to argue, but instead, she sighed, and slouched back in her chair. "You're right," she said, angrily.
"We will send you a message as soon as we get there," said Pandora, comfortingly, "by the fastest route possible."
"I just feel like he'll get kidnapped, or half-killed, or whatever again as soon as we take our eyes off of him," grumbled Sam.
"Me too," said Danny. "But I need it out. I feel like that time we in sixth grade when we went to that Thai place because Dad thought it might be haunted, and I had the fire sauce and I put on too much, but, like, a thousand times worse."
Jazz made a face. "Worse?" She was the only one present who had been there for that incident.
"Yeah," said Danny. "So, what are we doing? Are we seeing Dora, or trying to get to Elysium, or what?"
Pandora smiled. "We'll be going to Mattingly. In the meantime, you should be getting some rest."
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Hemlock regarded the Elysian woman with a look of disbelief. He had come to speak with Daniel about how the preliminary committee was progressing.
"What do you mean, my client was kidnapped?"
