* * * FRAGATTA – MARY * * *

Mary contemplated the three eyes hovering in a reddish haze. She had so far failed to keep them out. Not surprisingly, simple barriers didn’t work. Nor did enchanted or magical ones. She was getting irked.

She was aware that other her was working on an answer. Luckily the damned trio of peepers hadn’t caught on to her dual nature yet.

She reclined on her throne and waited impatiently. The latest experiment seemed to be promising. And the little coatl like sea snakes seemed very promising. They were very colourful too, which was a plus if she intended to have them inhabit her Gods Realm homes.

She kept glaring at the trio of eyes hovering near one of the few trees in her throne ‘room’. Finally it was time to try her latest variant. Six sea snakes with colourful feathered wings materialized under the surface of the bay. They rose to the surface, and then rose into the air, water cascading from the waterproof feathers of their wings. They darted at the hovering eyes.

Interestingly, the moment one of the eyes disappeared down the gullet of one of her winged snakes, the other two seemed to lose the ability to hover.

Mary watched as her snakes ate the last of the eyeballs, and smiled happily. Then she merged with herself. Something she had been putting off for far too long while under the observation of the eyes.

* * *

When Mary separated from herself, she checked that there had been no changes in her realm before turning her attention, once again to the feed of her spy satellites. She happily confirmed the location in the far north of Fragatta to create the Lovecraftian dungeon. The location was suitably rugged and would remain unpleasantly cold, even after her planetary reclamation was concluded.

No sooner had she confirmed her decision to Lewis than changes started to appear.

« What’s the hurry Lewis? »

« Why Ms Silvestre, aren’t you keeping up with happenings on Earth. We are going to need a dumping ground rather sooner than I expected. »

« What’s with the sarcasm Lewis? Things shouldn’t get that bad for a bit yet. »

« Let’s just say, I don’t want to dump anyone into the middle of your ocean dungeon on Tarifax. That just strikes me as murder. »

« Nobody asked ’em to attack me or mine Lewis. I don’t see the problem. »

« It’s just, that survivors can be useful for propaganda. »

« Yeah? And givin’ the idiots info ’bout our defences too? »

« The Moon’s mine Mary. »

« Fair ’nough. Just don’t let ’em hurt you. You an’ Alice are friends. »

« Thank you Mary. That’s nice to know. »

* * * TARIFAX – CONIMBRIGA * * *

Grey watched the confrontation between his friend Laariisa Silkhands and Silk. Laarissa had been overjoyed to see him alive and well. She had accepted them into the small ramshackle temple and hospice of Dilina the Compassionate. Silk had caused his friend much soul searching.

Laariisa had been attempting, most earnestly, to convince Ax’s friend, the winged cat Silk that killing things was anathema. In reply to her entreaties, Silk had just now presented her with a dead rat.

Ax hadn’t helped when he offered to take his friend and leave. Laariisa and her healers had tried, and failed to heal Ax in the past. And now, here Ax was, fully healed by the paws of a killer cat. Laariisa didn’t want to lose the possibility of gaining a talented healer. But her goddess was a pacifist. And Ax and Silk were anything but.

Laariisa was close to pulling her hair in frustration. “How can you kill things if you are a healer?” she demanded of Silk.

« How else am I supposed to get the life force I need to work, besides the meat is tasty, » replied Silk whilst licking his chops.

“The goddess provides, and vegetables can supply everything you need to live with a little help from Dilina,” explained Laariisa exasperatedly.

Silk blinked at her and yawned widely. « Mother provided me with the ability to find the life-force needed so I needn’t run to her for everything. I can stand on my own four paws, thank you very much. »

“As amusing as this is Grey, have you been able to find anything about the land?” asked Sue Wilkins.

Grey turned his attention to the agents he was escorting. “It looks like it was ceded to the city in lieu of taxes. Something that is happening increasingly often.”

“So can we buy it?” asked Sue.

“Yes. But you might have to buy rather more land than you would want. And nobody would want to buy the rest from you. The taxes will be excessive,” suggested Grey.

Sue looked out at the entrance to the temple with the swirling grey evil tasting fog. She watched as two people carried a local youth into the temple. They looked to be his parents. Laariisa stopped glaring at Silk and hurried over.

Sue shrugged one shoulder, “We really need that land. What if we bid for the plot we want, and offer more that its worth?”

Grey noted that Silk lowered his hind leg and stopped washing himself. “It is worth a try. I’ll get Ax and Mesca to escort you to the Land Office.”

“Won’t Silk cause problems?” asked Sue as she watched Silk glide over to where the two parents were all but wailing with worry over their child, who was currently hacking up blood.

“Shouldn’t, mages often have weird familiars. People will assume he’s Mesca’s familiar,” explained Grey.

“Why the anguish over there. Can’t Laariisa fix the kid?” asked Sue idly,

“There are costs to Dilina’s healing. Slum residents have difficulty paying them. Pacifists don’t do well in the slums,” replied Grey sadly.

Silk was looking up at the priestess; he turned his back on her and jumped onto the youth. A faint glow settled on the youth’s chest and neck. Then Silk jumped off and leapt aside as the youth abruptly sat up and coughed up a black mess. The youngster sat there panting with a look of dawning hope on his face.

Ax wandered over, “You can thank the Mother of Monsters, and there is no need to stop hunting. Or fighting.”

Laarissa glared at Ax. “Alright, that’s it. Leave now. Dilina is no longer willing to accommodate you, or your ambitious goddess in her temple.”

Ax smiled lazily and stroked Silk. He turned and strolled out of Dilina’s temple with Silk riding on his shoulder. The Young man who had just been cured jerked to his feet, and followed Ax as if compelled. The young man’s father grabbed up a crude breather mask and dashed after his son to hand it to him.

Grey sighed again even as he grabbed one of his horns in frustration. “Mesca, I guess it is time to hit the land registry office. I’ll try to sort out alternate accommodations.”

Mesca and the two agents tasked with the purchase left the temple in Ax’s wake. Grey turned to his friend Laarissa and opened his mouth only to be interrupted.

“Don’t bother Grey. I’m sorry too, but, Dilina can’t accept a rival healing goddess...”

Grey looked stupefied. “Huh! The mother of Monsters is the goddess of the Seas and the other goddess of the Drow. The one they call the balancer. She is not a healer, though she has created two species that can heal.”

“Two? Why two?” asked Laariisa.

“Because her first creation capable of healing, will only consent to heal young children. The people on her world demanded that she produce...”

“Demanded? No wonder those cats need to kill to heal.”

Grey noted the way the remaining two agents were intent on following their conversation. He grabbed his horns with both hands and shook his head.

* * * PARTHIA – MEADOWS * * *

Meadows looked around at his original team. He was relieved to note they were all present, well, all bar Tod. “First, I have news of Tod. He phoned a few days ago to say he was fine, and that he had found a suitable location for his dungeon.”

Meadows sipped his coffee. “Tod wanted you to know about it, but he asked us not to betray his location beyond those present. Let’s just say, his dungeon is new and as such not particularly formidable.”

“So can we visit?” asked Jo. “Would that even work?”

Meadows looked at her, “You could. But he is currently too low levelled to have an avatar. So I don’t know how much point there would be. I have his email address and phone number. I believe the phone will not be of much use until he manages to create an avatar. Please only ask me for them if you intend to respect his wishes.”

The various people assembled in the room talked softly amongst themselves and finally reached an agreement. They all requested Tod’s contact details.

“Well then, Tod’s dungeon is a short way south of Vaar’s Beach. I believe that the White Dolphin Shipping Company ships will maintain a semi regular service to that location,” explained Meadows.

“Now for the official part of this briefing. Admiral Forrester has been confirmed as the US ambassador to The Isles and Parthia. He will be arriving within the week. Please make him, and his family welcome. Before that, a team of Marines will be arriving to take over the security of the embassy, and we will be reverting to our previous job.

“In other words, we still have the thankless and impossible task, of keeping an eye on Mary.”