Pandemonium: Chapter 4

The characters depicted herein-for the most part-belong to Ms. Cassandra Clare. Some characters that appear briefly belong to other authors. Other characters are "daggers of the mind, proceeding from the heat oppressed brain," that is to say they are creations of mine. I again implore you to please review; I really could use the help. Thanks, and enjoy!

Some Short Thoughts: Before I begin this chapter, I just want to remind you that a substantial portion of it will be spent in the realm of the framing device. That will be all in italics, as usual. Furthermore, the description of Jace during the sunrise last chapter made me think of this from Act II, Scene 2 Romeo and Juliet: "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon." Evidently somewhere in my mind Jace is now the equivalent of Juliet, though I don't think he'd appreciate that much.

The food arrived rather promptly. I hadn't realized how hungry I was till I began to eat. Then, with much haste I stuffed my face. It was only after devouring half my meal did I realize that the Professor was staring at me with a wide grin on his face. He quickly averted his gaze, and began to stuff his face in a fashion that resembled more beast than man. In fact, he jokingly referred to himself as Gregor Samsa. It took me 5 minutes to realize that he was slyly commenting on how the food tasted. Not that it was surprising; the food was pretty trashy.

With only a quarter of my meal left, I took my first swig of ale, and then decided that it was time to start talking. I laid out the rules to the Professor: For every question of his I answered, he had to answer one of my own. He agreed.

He began by asking me my name. He told me that it wouldn't appear in the story, and that I would only be called the storyteller. I almost considered lying, but then I quietly whispered "My name is Gabriel Bane." He didn't notice the significance of that, so we moved on to my question.

I asked him who he worked for. At first he looked everywhere in the room, but at him. He said it was for security purposes, whatever that meant. Then he leaned in to my ear and faintly said "The Archon." Flabbergasted, I began to stutter and ask him "H-H-H-How? W-W-Why? W-W-When?"

All I got from him was a cross look and the exclamation that this was not going to work. He began to get up and move away, when I regained my senses and begged him to stay. I told him that we could do this tomorrow, or another day.

We ate the remainder of our meal slowly and silently while the musicians in the tavern played a sordid rendition of "Moon River." As the nightly crowd began to dwindle, the Professor indicated that he wished to continue recording the story. With a nod, I relaxed my chair, and began again...

Alec was attacked from all sides with sounds and sights as he entered the city. All over he could see men and women buying and selling things, thieves trying to pickpocket wealth, oblivious nobles, and city guardsmen preparing for Prince Sebastian's funeral. While the main thoroughfares were interesting, it was on the sides that Alec found himself looking. There he found some very peculiar people and objects: a young redheaded man playing his lute so sweetly it caused everyone to shed a tear; a blue police box tucked neatly away in a corner, with an old, crazy haired man in a scarf looking intently at its side.

Despite all the confusion and ruckus of the city, nothing could take away the immensity of the Royal Palace. Unfortunately, he was not given an opportunity to appreciate its grandeur as he was ushered inside. His horse was taken from underneath him; servants pushed him to a room where he was changed into an appropriate dark outfit; he was then pushed unceremoniously into the grandest chamber in the world, and in front of him sitting upon a throne made from the most beautiful crystal ever sat an old wizened woman with the look of utter disgust on her face; she was Charlotte, Queen of Idris.

She immediately began insulting Alec. "Your eyes are too blue; your hair too long and dark; your face too angular. We don't know what these nobles saw in you to think you'd be a good successor to us. Pah! It's a good thing we don't plan on dying anytime soon."

Alec was taken aback. He didn't expect this kind of assault from the Queen, at least not this early. He did the only thing he thought he could; he bowed deeply, and said "Your Majesty, I apologize for my grievous deficiencies, and offer my humble condolences on the loss of your cousin, the Prince Sebastian."

The old hag rolled here eyes. "Yes, yes" she droned, "we must prepare for the announcement shortly. Get up and get ready. We have to pretend to like you, so look less like a scrawny rag-doll, and perhaps it will be more bearable for us."

With that he was dismissed and sent out the way he came in. Upon exiting, he was attacked by a barrage of servants, all of whom were asking him so many questions, that they just seemed to chitter on like birds. That was until Jace came in. Immediately all the servants backed away.

Casually, Jace asked him, "So how's the old bitch?"

Startled by his irreverence, Alec barely could make out a response; he quietly mumbled "terrible."

"Well, for what it's worth," Jace quickly added, "she was wrong about whatever she said to you. Come let me show you to your rooms."

Nodding vigorously, Alec fell in step behind Jace and headed up to his rooms. He knew he was supposed to be looking around the palace, his new home, but he found that his eyes had something else to stare at: Jace's very round, very firm ass. The moment Alec consciously realized where his gaze was, he quickly moved his eyes to the artwork on the walls. Unfortunately for him, the particular piece he deigned to look at was that of a nude angel, a well endowed nude angel.

Trying to get rid of the unseemly thoughts again, Alec looked straight ahead this time, trying to avoid any temptations, but for some reason his mind kept on returning to the thought of cupping that round, firm ass. Luckily he reached his chambers just in time to avoid any more awkward thoughts. Instead he was quickly met by a flock of servants, all of whom worked in tandem to disrobe him and put him in a hot bath.

For the first time since he woke up, Alec was alone. In that moment he realized how truly alone he was in this nearly foreign city. It was that realization that brought tears to his eyes. As he sat silently sobbing in the tub, a figure knocked on the washroom door. After drying his eyes momentarily and covering himself up, he allowed them to enter.

To his dismay it was Jace. Alec quickly turned bright red at the thought of Jace seeing him in such a state of undress; however, Jace paid it no mind. He was only there to tell Alec that a meeting of his newly appointed advisors was being held in 15 minutes, and he was expected to attend.

After Jace exited, the servants returned to quickly dress Alec and send him on his way to the advisory meeting. On his way he was distracted by the thought of seeing Jace in a similar state of undress, as Jace had just seen him, but as he entered the meeting room, his breath was taken away by someone else.

This tall dark man had skin the color of caramel and green eyes like that of a cat, but more than that, more than anything for that matter, he was scintillating. For the moment, all thoughts of Jace had vanished.

Next Chapter: Alec FINALLY meets Magnus, but can he get Jace out of his head?

Also, please review! It would be extremely helpful!