I could have insisted that he was in no state to supervise the ritual, but that would have reduced our defensive capability to Allagahn, who despite his new flashy armour and sword has yet to demonstrate he is capable of using them as his father would. In fact he seems to have an aversion to pain or is it he just lacks a spine?
Giving Alfred the book also served to silence his bleating, although not until he'd settled himself down against a burnt out stump, and begun giving Sorcha orders.
The first part of the ritual seemed to go smoothly enough, enabling us to see the markings on the stones quite clearly. They'd also lost their dilapidated rough hewn look.The second part, activating each stone in a predefined sequence, also seemed to go without a hitch and resulted in a golden hued net shimmering above and around the grove.
As Sorcha started the last part, the actual summoning, Allagahn began shouting that we had company. As he launched himself into the air I followed the direction of his flight. About a mile away, silhouetted against the sky were perhaps a dozen winged shapes. I drew my sword and waited.
Allagahn's initial charge appeared to split them, although he did reduce the number heading in my direction, and one did appear to fall from the sky. As they drew closer I counted seven, this was going to be a very one sided fight.
What I hadn't expected was Allagahn to abandon the group he was fighting and chase the group closing on me. I also hadn't appreciated the full capabilities of his armour. As he slammed bodily into the formation the seven had adopted, I was forced to roll to avoid being body checked by the flying demon, although the gash I left in his leg caused him to scream, and crash into the shield over the grove. He didn't get up again.
Unfortunately for me I had chosen to roll the wrong way, and was left facing three of them, whilst Allagahn was in the clear with just two to worry about. I adopted a defensive stance and moved in. Taking advantage of a slight opening I slashed one opening a great wound in its chest but received several blows to my armour, with corresponding bruises as a result. I was now also suffering the effects of the earlier fight and was forced to start retreating. This was going to be a war of attrition, which they were likely to win. I took several more blows to the armour before Allagahn appeared behind them. I had also lost track of the three Allagahn had abandoned, who now tried to warn their comrades of their impending doom. This served as the necessary distraction and both fell to the ground bleeding. The remaining three recognizing they had lost turned and headed back the way they had come.
As Allagahn raced after them, two tried to block his path, without a great deal of success, and prevent him from catching the third. His passage through them wounded one, bringing it into range of my sword. The other seeing no hope of escape, flung itself at me.
The impact with the burned out tree stump winded me. and I lay there for several minutes. By the time I'd heaved myself to my feet and retrieved my sword Allagahn had returned, and Sorcha was now bound to an alter than had grown to 5 times its original size and migrated to the center of the grove. She looked in pain but was still managing to continue reciting the phrases. As she did so the air began to crackle and discharges started flashing about the edges of the grove.
After a brief discussion, Allagahn took off in the direction of the city to determine if we were likely to receive any more company. I returned my attention to the grove itself. The discharges had grown in intensity and I noticed that Alfred had also retreated from his former position. The wind had also picked up and the temperature was dropping. I looked up to see storm clouds boiling into the sky, lightening flashing between them, and a vortex beginning to form. I put another 10 yards between me and the grove.
It proved to be insufficient. The discharge and sound display continued as Sorcha continued with the ritual until she was no longer visible. The clouds became a hurricane vortex and lightening lashed down, and thunder roared. The air became charged and I could feel and see the energy manifest about me. I should have taken greater heed of the warning signs. I remember the final flash and the sonic boom, and then being flung into the air but after that it all goes black.
When I awoke it was evening and I was laid out on a bed, still in my armour. Alfred was laid out similarly a little distance away. Half a dozen empty beds, each with trunks and curtains also occupied the hall. 4 oil lanterns,two of which were lit, provided the meager levels of light. I hurt all over. Gingerly I sat up. Apart from the stiffness nothing screamed in agony. Sliding over the edge of the bed and using the corner post for support I pushed myself to my feet. The absence of shooting pains indicated nothing was broken, even if it felt like I'd spend several hours in a tumble drier. The light levels increased as my suit sensed the absence of light and the helmet illumination came on. So we were not in Amber or the Golden Circle. I throttled them back. The suit readouts indicated it was badly damaged. The power cells were also running dangerously low.
Half way across the room my leg went into spasm and I was forced to grab a bed for support. It didn't look like it had been used for several weeks. Exiting the dormitory I found myself in a windowed corridor skirting a courtyard. I turned right. I passed two more dormitories, one of which was occupied before finding what I was looking for.
Having attended to one need I set out to satisfy the other. Two other light sources were visible, one appeared to be coming from what I guessed was the main house and the other from a stables, the latter being between my current position and the house.
I started in the direction of the house, and had just about reached the stables when Sorcha appeared.
"We were wondering how long you'd be out. Is Alfred conscious yet?"
I replied he wasn't. As we walked towards the house she explained some of what had happened.
As she'd completed the ritual there had been a discharge of energy. When her vision cleared a rather pissed off Unicorn stood in the grove. As punishment for summoning it, it had raped her. She now understood why only an accomplished shape shifter could survive, as it took all her effort to avoid going primal and adapt to the situation. Eventually she managed to establish control and block out what the unicorn was doing to her sufficiently to cast the binding ritual. It did its best to prevent her from completing it. Once completed it she found she had control and forced it to stop. Drained by her efforts she had fallen unconscious.
Allagahn had returned to the Grove sometime later to discover the bound Unicorn and all of us unconscious. He had spoken to it but it wasn't very helpful - not surprising really. Eventually a group of demons from the Black Road had shown up, apparently sent by the Kraken. They picked us up like sacks of meat and carried us down the Black Road. Allagahn had then gone off to locate transport and returned with the Carter, who on seeing the Unicorn had insisted we stay with him. I could understand why. His business would be extremely profitable in future.All this had happened over 24 hours ago Amber time. I was stunned to find out I'd been unconscious for that long.
The Carters house was reasonably well furnished, and his housekeeper was more than happy to sort us out something to eat. I asked where Allagahn was. Sorcha said he had become paranoid about leaving the Unicorn alone in case it ran off and was spending every opportunity to torment it with questions about the Pattern and its uses. Apart from the obvious, why was Allagahn tormenting it with questions regarding pattern I asked why it was likely to run off. She replied that although it had a bridal now there was no other physical means of preventing its escape, however she felt that it was unlikely to go anywhere. I asked her to explain why she felt that. She seemed to be of the opinion that until she released it, she wasn't sure of how she was to do this, it was bound to her and would remain in the vicinity of where she was and come if she called it. I decided not to put this to the test.
After eating we went out to the stable. Allagahn was hovering about the stall which housed the Unicorn. I was a substantial looking animal, at least 21 hands and not sleek like a race horse but muscled and stocky like a war horse. Something about it indicated that it was no slouch speed wise however. I had expected something bigger. It must have sensed my thoughts for I suddenly got the flash of something far bigger and far more sinister - something more akin to what was depicted on the back of Dworkin's trump.
I could now see why Allagahn was a little paranoid. A thin golden thread, less than one quarter of an inch thick, was wrapped around the head forming a bridal. From the bridal a leading rein, of the same thread, of about 7 feet in length hung, or would have done had somebody not hitched it around the stall post.
I extended my perception, and got the full force of the reality of the Unicorn. It took me several minutes to recover before I tried again this time applying a filter. In the same manner as the Unicorn hid its true appearance so did the cord. What you couldn't see unless you looked for it was that the cord was not physical at all, although it appeared to have a physical representation, but was meta-physical. the interesting thing was that it appeared to be trump sorcery with some form of inverted pattern imprint.
"Well? What have we here? You're an interesting thing. That's an interesting mark you have. And two patterns. And no how are you? Can you explain xyz?"
I looked at it. For all its so called power it was quite helpless now. I resisted the temptation to ask Sorcha to make it dance. I also didn't really want to know anything further at that time. I turned to Sorcha. You're feelings were correct. It can't go anywhere unless you release it. I suspect there's a ritual to do it. I don't recall seeing one in the book, so it was either in the section that got destroyed or never in there in the first place. I'm going to go and do something about my injuries. I'll see what I can do for Alfred. I'll see you in the morning.
By the time I'd healed those of my own injuries I could I wasn't sure I could do much for Alfred. Healing using Chi was difficult even for the most accomplished masters and I'd barely started. I resumed my trance, placed my hands above his sternum and began the process. After my own exertions I wasn't going to be able to keep this up for very long, but it would at least accelerate the healing process. After 10 minutes I was forced to stop and crawled back to my own bed. The comfort of sleep enveloped me.
When I awoke the following morning Alfred was already awake although he didn't appear to have been conscious for long. By the time I returned from the john he was conscious enough to follow me over to the kitchen. Sorcha was already there. Now all we needed was Allagahn to leave his precious Unicorn alone and we could work out what to do next.
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |