《Alternate Worlds》Chapter Three: Guild Life and Lies

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Focused and determined as a life is on the line, Cin'aed puts everything she has in to doing this right. The air around them shimmies as she starts, slowly at first, but gaining speed till the tree's below slip past at incredible speed. They fly over forest, towns, a mountain and onward for hours. Hel calls out at the 3rd hour, "The city is coming up, you can see the tower of Mages and the castle from here, and mind the dragons!"

The Dragons in question all tried to circle the speeding wagon but she is going far faster than they can fly. Well till she starts to slow down and bring the wagon in for a landing, "Where is your guild hall ?" Cin'aed calls out. Brani who has been having a blast, points toward a large manor looking place with a huge courtyard full of people, some of them very flamboyant and more than a few intimidating looking. Cin'aed mutters "shades of Faery Tail" but heads in for a full landing, straight down. Once on the ground Cin'aed drops her field, then slides off the side of the wagon. A tall athletic looking elf leaps forward and catches her before she can hit the ground. Hel and Melisanda jump down and rush over, "Great catch Varnel, and thank you. I think she may have over done it getting us here." The tall elf nods, "Ah so that is how you were flying. Mind you some of them may want to try and buy your flying wagon though."

Melisanda, "No flying wagon, just a very powerful mage. We actually found her in the Dungeon of Doom. She was breaking all the traps she could find in there. Actually if not for her we would still be in there. She found the way out, but it was allot of crawling through very narrow passages and between lots of dangerous Gnome built machinery to." The elf nods as they head inside. The major domo, a short (even for his race) dwarf called Smudge comes up to them, "Did you find the Cube ?" He practically demands. Hel shakes her head, "No but we found a Mage and a potion that may help a little. The mage is very knowledgeable and may figure something out when she comes to. " Smudge makes a face at the poorly dressed woman lying unconscious in Varnel's arms. "What can that drunk do for the Master ?" the dwarf demands.

Varnel, "She is not drunk you moron, she is exhausted. She just used her magic to fly them and a wagon AND 2 horses from the Dungeon of Doom to here." Melisanda adds, "Made the whole of the trip, a normally 2 month journey in just over 3 hours to. So don't you go saying anything bad about her or we will let Brani loose in your room."

The dwarf comes to a complete stop, looking about for her, "Where is that hooligan ?" Hel, half way up the stairs with the other two following, "Outside with Aysun and Da'Rune taking care of our ride. And probably shooing off the dragons she was leaving behind cause they were flying so much slower than us."

Up the stairs and away from the overbearing dwarf the group approaches the Masters room. The guards, two large muscle brained but exceptionally loyal brutes block their path. "No Entry, No How for you."

Cin'aed opens an eye, looks at them and then waves her hand. They are ripped up from the floor and thrown down the hall, "Busy go away." she slurs. Melisanda looks at her and shakes her head, "She is not even conscious and is doing that." Varnel looks at the stunning beauty in his arms and nods, "Powerful indeed. The Master when he is well has been known to do things like that to."

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Hel says a string of soft words to the door. It swings open and lets them enter. Varnel looks surprised that Hel knew those words. They are a closely guarded secret in the guild. Sitting next to the Very Old man's bed is a woman in deep red robes with gold lines and figures on it. On the other side is a young man wearing black and holding some kind of staff with a snake on it. He looks up, "How did you get in here ?" He demands. Hel ignores him and rushes to the woman's side, "We found a mage of rare knowledge and a potion that may help. The Cube was gone before we got there." The woman, with dried tears in her eyes nods somberly and takes the bottle, looks at it then set's it to the side, "We have used 6 of these so far. They help some but do not break the curse. Also each time one is used there is a cumulative chance they will work in reverse. So we only use them when he is close to the end."

Hel nods as Varnel sets the mage in a chair. Hel explains about her, "She is called Cin'aed, I don't know her mage name, never thought to ask. She flew us home in what would have taken months she did in hours. She is also the reason we escaped the Dungeon of Doom. The place was designed to kill all who went in. The way out was actually more lethal than the way in."

Big man coming in to the room, "I told you we should have sent my men. We would have gotten there, retrieved the item and left."

Melisanda snorts, "You would have died there like all the men who went in before you. The place was made by an insane Gnome bent on killing everyone Bigger than him. The only way out, past the traps, was to crawl through the tunnels he used to fix or add to his trap collections. Your broad shoulders and big arms would never fit in to those tunnels. Only we slender girls could do it and it was still a tight fit in places."

Melisanda is waving smelling salts under Cin'aed's nose while trying not to get frozen.

The big man see's and decides to show her how it's done. "Give me those girl." He says, snatching them from her, then shoving them practically up Cin'aed's nose. Cin'aed Comes awake really fast and blast the massive man so hard he slams in to the wall next to the black robed man, then is hit again by a blast of ice, pinning him to the wall while Cin'aed works on coming to her senses.

The big man's goons try to come in to the room but end up wedging themselves in to the door as they are individually almost as wide as the door, forget both at once.

Cin'aed pops her neck, snorts out the foul smelling stuff, then rubs her neck and looks around with a yawn, "Ok what did I miss and who are the morons screaming at me from the door ?"

The woman stands up and walks over to the door, where she punches both men in the guts then pushes them out, slamming the door behind them.

"Sorry about that. The one you froze to my wall is Henrik, a general and all around annoying person who knows nothing of subtly or couth. Nice shot by the way, completely missed the doctor and only hit the general."

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Cin'aed nods, "Yeah, that was instinct. Having something shoved up my nose tends to make me aggressive. Got anything for a headache ? I got a beauty from flying here. Oh wait." starts digging through her bags till she finds a small white bottle and a large strange clear green bottle. Taking 2 pills from the smaller bottle, she uses the liquid in the large bottle to wash them down. "Ah, that should help in a bit." Puts them away then faces the room, her eyes going out of focus, "Well well, hm, First you need to remove the item inside his chest that is causing all that aging."

Everyone stares at her in shock, surprise, and in the case of the 'doctor' suspicion.

The woman speaks before he can, "The what ?"

Cin'aed walks over to the bed, on the opposite side of the one the 'doctor' is on. "Well from the energy readings I am seeing this guy's staff is affecting this medallion in his chest. I do mean IN It's below his sternum, looks like it may have been teleported in there as I see no sign of surgery." she gestures and the general drops off the wall. Having heard this he grabs both the staff and the doctor. The staff he passes to Cin'aed who looks it over, "I thought this symbol was the one used by healers." he states.

Cin'aed looks at it, "Similar but not it." she focuses and pulls up a simple set of images. With the names for each written in common over them.

"These are all the ones I know of. The colors do vary but that is cause this is how they were shown in the book I read on them. The last one is based on the staff the greek god of healing was said to carry."

She runs a hand along the staff the 'doctor' was using, "This one however is not any of them."

"Also this is a cobra, they are used as symbols of Immortality, regeneration and time magics. According to the inscriptions along the curve of this one, it and its associated medallion can age forward or backward the person who carries the medallion." Cin'aed takes the staff over to the bedside, reading the instructions. "I think I understand this." She holds it out mutters something in the arcane tongue and the old man in the bed starts to get noticeably younger by the minute, Cin'aed looks at that and something beyond their sight and slows down the reverse aging.

"From my guess" she says conversationally, "He started to age unexpectedly and then when you exhausted all normal means a 'specialist' came and This one is the only one who seemed to have any effect ?"

The woman nods. The general has the man's arms pinned to his side and a gloved hand over the mouth of the so called 'doctor'. Cin'aed continues in the same tone, "Good scam. Keep this guy alive and have a good life, milking you all for all he can get, probably him or an accomplice are or have taken many magical items or treasures in the hope of finding a 'cure', sending you all on quest for rare hard to find items to help in this so called cure ?"

The woman nods again, "Yes. You are a mage of rare knowledge indeed."

Shrugging, "Not really, I just like adventure stories and have read about this before. Not the first time someone has tried something similar. Though this is the first time I have come across someone using time magics. But the more I thought about it the more this scenario made sense."

Hel nods, "We all told her why we were where we were and she has been very helpful despite Da'Rune having destroyed a very expensive magical device belonging to her. The girl saw something she did not immediately recognize and threw a fire ball at it. Blew it up and a good chunk of the room it was in. She is only alive cause we were able to talk down Cin'aed from turning her in to an ice sculpture or using her to test traps on."

The woman rubs the bridge of her nose and sighs. "That girl had caused the guild allot of money in the 2 years she had been with us because she does not listen and jumps to the Wrong conclusion allot. She is a skilled and knowledgeable mage, but it's offset by her inability to learn about the real world."

The woman sighs, "How much did it cost this time."

Hel, "6000, but the bad part, it was a Luxury magical Carriage. The only saving grace is that Cin'aed got it second hand cause you know how much those cost new." The woman nods, "I think they top out around 150,000 gold for the top of the line ones."

Cin'aed is keeping quiet on this conversation.

As they are talking there is a quiet and low knock on the door.

Melisanda opens the door to the Major Domo, "Excuse please Madam, but there is an important visitor here."

Standing behind him in white and gold robes with a very nice silver crown studded with enough diamonds to Buy a country, is a tall beautiful red haired woman. The Madam looks up and smiles, "Anwen, welcome. You picked a good day. Hel found someone who is actually helpful."

Anwen comes in and nods to the Madam, "Good to see you Hildi. So you found someone to help, glad to hear it." She glances over at the woman in the raggedy looking cloak holding the staff over the younger getting man. Then she takes a harder look and comes over, "Hello." she says in english.

Without moving, "Hello, busy this takes a bit of concentration, if I go to fast it could cause damage to his heart." Anwen nods, "I just recognized the cloak your wearing. I have one like it at home. They are very nice to have. Especially to travelers."

Hel glares, "You can't have it Anwen, no talking her out of her stuff. Bad Dragon."

That gets Cin'aed to look over at the gold and white dressed woman in the very high black boots. Cin'aed's eyes are still out of focus, "ah, so that's what that vibration means. Please step back your aura is messing with the magic here." Anwen does so and grins.

To the Madam, "So this mage takes no prisoners type ?"

Madam nods, "From what I have seen, she is the type who can use magic in her sleep. Like my son there. She feels threatened and whatever it is ends up flattened then frozen."

Anwen's eyes go wide, "Good defenses"

Cin'aed comment, "Ice makes it so I can talk to whatever annoyed me when I wake up. Found fire tended to make that more difficult."

Anwen smiles and nods, "True"

Cin'aed puts down the staff, the man in the bed looks about 40 now. "Not sure how young to make him. I can take him down about 2 more decades before he will need to learn about shaving again."

The woman comes over and looks, "about another 10 years and he will be at the age when this started."

Cin'aed Nods and works the staff again. A few minutes later she stops, having taken him to the physical age of 25. "Ok if I am reading this right, Physically he is about 25. I did not mess with his memories though. But someone has been trying to get him to recall certain things from what I see here. Not sure what they pried out of him."

Anwen comes back over and Looks at him, then at the Doctor.

Madam "How do we get the medallion out without killing him ?"

Anwen looks up, "What medallion ?"

Cin'aed explains, "Using a form of x-ray vision I found a medallion in his chest, just under the sternum, here." the points. Anwen holds her hand over the spot, then concentrates and the medallion rises through his chest and in to her hand. She looks at it, "Indian magics, interesting."

Cin'aed nods, "The staff and Medallion are a set, the don't do much with out the other. Someone was attempting to create a form of immortality is my guess."

Anwen nods then turns to the mage, "Oh proper Introductions. I am Queen Anwen Cin'aed Goldenheart of the Dragon Lands." she states regally.

Cin'aed nods, "Cin'aed from the United States of America."

Anwen looks surprised then just sits down hard. Everyone jumps except Cin'aed. She just nods, "I thought so, I have read some of your story. Well book 1, the one with you, the Egyptian Gods, Kitty and Althea and all that. "

Anwen nods, "Variant dimensions, yes I can see my story being fiction in one or more of them."

Cin'aed, "In my timeline Trump won the election. built some space stuff and all the crap he pulled started a chain reaction to the point that some stupid shit he did is causing the sun to have massive solar storms, screwing both technology and magic up massively. It was one of those surges that dropped me in to the world. Caused my car to crash in to a wall Inside a dungeon. Was damaged but repairable, till this Da'Rune girl decided the dome light was monster eyes and blew it up." (*She blames Trump for anything that goes wrong no matter how impossible it is or would be.)

Anwen flinches. "Oh no, total loss ?"

"Fortunately I had emptied most everything I had from it and was off looking for the exit when she happened on it."

Anwen nods in sympathy. "What kind of car was it ?"

Cin'aed sighs, "1999 Buick Century limited. Older model but still nice car."

Anwen Winces, "OH, I had that exact same model to. They are nice cars and so many still on the road despite the age on them."

Cin'aed nods then yawns. "Pardon me, I am running on adrenalin at the moment. I over did on the way here. Levitating a wagon, horses, the girls and all our stuff at 300 mph is no easy thing. Especially for over 3 hour flight."

Anwen turns to the Madam, "She needs rest now. I suggest you get her a very nice room and probably a very nice meal or 3 when for when she wakes."

The Madam nods, "Yes of course, I am tired myself or I would have thought of it."

The General and Vernal have already removed the bad man and locked him up in such a way that he is going Nowhere anytime soon.

Melisanda is now checking over the Guild Master, Hel comes over, "With your permission mam I will see to it." The woman turns and writes an order and hands it to Hel, "Here you will need this. Don't show it to the bookends, they can't read. Though they will try and claim they can."

Hel reads the note, eyes going a little wide then nods, "Yes mam." She collects Cin'aed just as the woman gets her bags and takes the staff. (telekinetically picking Anwens pocket for the medallion to) and using the staff to lean on follows Hel out the door, yawning widely as she goes.

Hel comes along her side and helps her down the stairs, "They are putting you in one of the nicer guest rooms. It's a little back from the main area, but quiet. Little smaller to but also near the water closet, which is one of the reason it's Better than some of the fancier rooms." Cin'aed nods and stifles another yawn, "I agree, having access to a place to pee is important when you need rest. Get up, hit closet, pee, return to bed. If water closet is too far away your to awake to get proper sleep otherwise." Hel smiles and nods. Cin'aed is about to ask a question when two massive heavily armed and armored but dim looking men get between Hel and Cin'aed and the passage they need to go to, "You ain't allowed in here punks." The other opens his mouth and suddenly they are not there. Hel and Cin'aed turn around and find Varnel there with the bookends pinned to a wall, "Now you two know better than too upset a guest of the Madam. The smaller red head is a Guest of the guild, so why don't you to go away before I do something permanent to you."

Hel grins at him, even as the bookends run away. Varnel shakes his head, "Big, strong, and so stupid."

Cin'aed yawns again and starts to go down, Varnel is quick enough to get over and help Hel get her up. Hel nods, "Good timing Varnel. Teleporting them out of the way was a good trick." He nods, fully picking up Cin'aed, "Well can't have the hero of the hour be manhandled by those morons. Looks like her little burst of energy is all gone to. So where to ?" Hel shows him the note and he raises his eyes, "Wow, have not used that room in a while. Though I can see why. I think I will stay with her till she wakes though. Would not do for her to go wandering and running in to those two again." Hel nods, "Yeah they may not survive her if she is awake. She has a temper but it's cold like her powers." He nods, "Fire hair with a cold burn temper, dangerous." he agrees. Hel sighs, "Better tell her your there to keep Brani out of her stuff though. She is not the most trusting of souls. But given what she has been through I can understand it." He nods.

Back in the Masters room Anwen looks at the Guild Mother, "You had her put in the Special Room didn't you ?"

The Madam nods, "Of course. Someone who cast magic while asleep is dangerous, you know that."

Anwen nods, "I know, Just be careful, she could be a powerful ally or terrible enemy. Right now she likes those whom she traveled here with. She has a good heart. But if you damage her trust …" she cocks her head and lets the idea sink in.

The Madam nods, "The Medallion please" she says with her hand out. Anwen reaches in to her pocket, then the other pocket, then empties out all her pockets then laugh, "Seems she is a very skilled pick pocket to." she shakes her head, "I did not even notice and that is a sad state for someone like me."

Madams eyes narrow, "Hel."

Anwen looks surprised, "No need to swear."

Madam shakes her head, "The hooded woman is called Hel. She is a skilled rogue. I would not be surprised that she took it. She feels like my son is her surrogate grandfather. She is protective of him to a fault at times. Her having the medallion means she has a way to protect him. Well for now it is safe in her hands." she sighs, "She would kill anyone whom she sees as a threat to him or the guild. In that order to."

Melisanda comes over, "He is sleeping now, I suspect he will wake this evening but I would make him take it easy on eating anything. Keep it light, soups and such for a few days. While he is younger than when he started his body is still adjusting." Madam nods, "Anything else ?"

"Cin'aed, she is the one who took the medallion. I did not notice it at first but looking back on it I realized what I saw. She used a touch of her telekinesis to pull it to her. It's a wonder she was able to walk out of here given the level of exhaustion she must be feeling. She is more a psion than a mage, but she does have enough training to read Da'Rune's spell book. Only thing that really stopped her from learning spells from it is Da'Rune's terrible handwriting."

Madam nods, "Girls code is crap, her handwriting though is even worse. Better defense than a code."

Anwen nods and smiles, "The more I hear of her the more I think your guild should recruit her. And that she never visits the Dragon Lands. So many dragons losing all their shinies cause she paid them a visit, keeps running through my mind." Melisanda and the Madam both smile at that thought to, though for different reasons.

Cin'aed did wake for a little bit, talked to Varnel, used the water closet then went back to sleep. She slept about 36 hours only waking 3 times to pee. Then she is up and hungry and Varnel is not there. So she tries the door and finds it locked from the outside and something about the room is interfering with her powers, so she just used a martial arts trick and Kicked the door open. The bookends come running when they hear the noise. She is coming down the hall, her bags over her shoulders, "Hello. The door was stuck" is as far as she gets before they try and tackle her. She goes from friendly to offensive in that moment. Not using her powers, just decades of martial arts training, she kicks the shit out of the two giant guards. Then skips over their unconscious bodies and heads in to the guild proper, looking for food.

She spots Hel from the top of the landing she comes out of and waves but Hel is reading something and does not see. So Cin'aed looks around for another friendly face but does not see anyone she knows. So she starts wandering and runs in to this dwarf, big muscular and has the most wonderful beard, with gold rings woven in to it and so luxurious she almost wants to rub herself in it. "Pardon me sir ?" She says to him. He looks up at her then stands a little straighter, "Yes miss, something I can help you with." She nods, "I hope so. I am a guest here, but no one has told me where to go to get food." he smiles, "Yes that can get confusing. Well I was just waiting on a friend then we are heading down to lunch your welcome to join us if you want." She smiles, "Thank you, that is very kind of you." He smiles, "Not at all. I am called Mike. It's a bit of a nick-name as my full name is something of a mouthful." she nods, "I am called Cin'aed, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mike." she nods to him. A moment later coming out of a room is a tall narrow woman who almost storms up to them, "Mike who is This ?" the woman ask with enough suspicion and heat to melt glass. Mike looks at her, "Minerva meet Cin'aed, she is a guest here and got lost trying to find the mess hall. I invited her to join us." Minerva looks her up and down, noting the large chest and simple dress being held in place by two belts and the complete lack of shoes. The bags, she is carrying look all but empty and Minerva figures she is someone's servant or the like. She shrugs and Mike and Minerva lead the way. Mike grins at Cin'aed, "Don't mind Minerva, she is a bit sweet on me and gets jealous whenever another woman talks to me. Minerva works in the library here." he informs Cin'aed who nods. "Ah a librarian, excellent. That is a job that takes a lot of patents and care." Minerva nods but says nothing to the large chested servant, Mike on the other hand, "So what line of work do you do, and don't say adventurer, Almost everyone here does that. I mean other skills."

Cin'aed nods, "I am trained in several areas but predominately Armor, weapon, black smithing, smelting and leather working especially where armor or weapons are concerned." Mike looks impressed, "and so young to. Impressive."

Cin'aed, "I am older than I look. Got hit by a magical gate that not only transported me a great distance but made me Allot younger than I was when I went in to the gate." Mike nods, "Best way to get younger, no messy potions or experimental magics." Cin'aed shrugs. "Was a wild magic surge that did it actually. Hit the gate just as I was passing through it." Mike and Minerva wince at that. She nods, "Did not land where I was supposed to either. Came out underground, carriage hit a wall, end of carriage. Well it could have been repaired, the problem was how to get it out of the room it appeared in. The other problem was I did not know where I was. A group of your adventures came along and got me out of there. So here I am. I think that counts as the very very short version of a story." Minerva actually smiled at that. She was lovely when she smiled. Looking at her, "You have a great smile." And then she blushes and that adds to it to, "Thank you miss." Minerva finally says. Mike nods, "It was her smile that got me to talk to her. It just lights up the room when she smiles." That did it, she flirts lightly with him, playing with his beard. She confesses, "For me it's Mikes beard. He has the nicest beard I have ever seen on a man."

Cin'aed nods, "It really is the first thing I noticed about him actually. Normally I am not attracted to beards but Mike does have a nice one, then you talk to him and he is nice and it's hard not to like the combination isn't it." Cin'aed notices the jealous look in Minerva's eye coming back and Cin'aed continues, "Then you came out and he looked at you with such affection I could tell instantly you two are a couple. So I am a little jealous of the two of you. It's nice to see it you know." The gleam disappears and she nods, "We are an odd pair, we know it, but what can you do."

They arrive at the company mess hall. It is pretty crowded but Mike leads the way to the line and gets each lady a tray. Cin'aed whispers to Minerva she is a lucky lady to find such a gentleman. Minerva giggles and nods.

The food is not all that remarkable but they do offer choices of different things. Mike suggest various things of which only one does Cin'aed take. Minerva notices Cin'aed looking around the room as they are in line. "Problem ?" Cin'aed shrugs, "Keep hoping to see one of the people I came with. Only seen one so far but she was busy and did not see me. The only people I know here so far are the party I came with and Varnel and I only know him cause he showed me to the guild master when I got here."

Mike nods, "That Is unusual, normally that is done by the Major Domo." She nods, "He was busy but I did see him to." Minerva stage whispers to Mike, "Well she is a pretty girl and you know how Vernal is when he sees one. All nice and tries to get them to notice him." Mike grins but it does not reach his eyes, then nods. It's obvious to Cin'aed that Mike does not agree but does not want to argue with Minerva about it. Mike instead comments, "Well you're not likely to see him here, he would be in the officers mess. This is the common man's mess. Rank and File and employees of the guild you see. Have to say they are very progressive here. Most places don't have such fine dining for employee's or low ranking guild members." She nods, "I noticed and it has a good feeling to the place to. People seem in good spirits over all here. That is nice to see, I have been in guilds where people were not so happy." They both nod. Mike leads them to a long table off to one side that has an excellent view of the room. Cin'aed sits so she can see the best, "This is a really nice location. Can see most of the room from here." she noted the look the pair shared and then looked at them, "This is the outcast table isn't it ?" Mike slowly nods, "It's because I am a dwarf and Minerva isn't. We are some of the outcast around here."

Cin'aed nods, "Well then I am in good company. I have always been thought of that way to. I generally like people and take them on a by the person type thing over races and some people can't understand that. So poo on them." Minerva grins. "You stay her long enough and you'll find the rest of our people. The others who share the table. Speaking of which hide your purses, here comes one now."

Brani carrying a tray and bouncing through the crowd and around some rowdy types till, backing she reaches the table, she turns plops down her tray and looks up to greet Mike and Minerva and see's Cin'aed, she shrieks happily and hugs the other woman, "CIN'AED! Your awake, I was getting worried, you slept so long." She stands back and smiles, Cin'aed grins, "Nice to see you to, I will trade you back your purse for my stuff." Brani checks her belt and grins sardonically. She hands back Cin'aed's dagger and Cin'aed hands her the purse. Mike and Minerva share a look and grin, Mike comments, "So you know our little sneak I see and can play her game well." Brani nods, "This is the girl we found in the Dungeon of Doom I told you about yesterday."

Mike nods, "She found me while looking for the mess. Apparently they did not feed her."

While the two talk Cin'aed sits and eats. Noting the food is ok. Nothing special to be sure, but good and filling fare. Better than what she was expecting in this primitive world really. She wonders how much Anwen has had to do with the social advances in this world. Guilds like this one never happened in her world history but when they had guilds was centuries later than this time. She also hypothesizes that others have come to this world via portals or other magics.

About half way through the meal a loud bell sounds, many jump up and run off, but not this group so Cin'aed stays to, "What is up ?" Brani, "Alarm. Something happened and they are calling the fighters and such to come and aid. We three are not strong enough to bother with and well we get the crap jobs when we do answer." Minerva nods, "Someone will come back and we can ask what is going on."

Cin'aed nods and finishes her meal and sits back sipping her drink.

A tall 'barbarian' looking man comes back for the stuff he left at his table and Brani taps him, "What's up ?"

He turns and notices them, "Some visitor they had in one of the 'special' rooms is gone and the McGruder brothers are all beaten up. I would hate to meet who ever beat them up, they are formidable warriors."

Cin'aed ask, "Who are the McGruder brothers ?" Mike answers, "The Madam calls them the Bookends cause they dress the same."

Cin'aed nods, "Oh them, I happened to them. The door to my room was stuck so I forced it open and when I tried to talk to them to tell them they attacked me, so I took them down."

Brani winces, "Magicked them did you ?"

Cin'aed, "Naw to hungry at that time to use that, so I used my combat training. In the closed in halls I had the advantage as well. They were too large to really fight back all that well. I did not kill them, just knocked them out. Very rude men." Brani grins and nods and eats her food not in the least surprised that the very talented lady can fight.

The 'Barbarian' takes that in and nods, "Then your likely the person they are looking for." he takes off to tell them she has been found.

Brani shakes her head, "That Special room, your powers did not work right ?" Cin'aed nods, "That is cause that one is made to block magic and psionics. They probably locked you in. Just because you saved the Guild Master and caught the culprit does not mean the Madam will treat you well. From their point of view your too powerful to just let walk around free. Probably try to force you to join the guild. Though they will use Logic first."

Cin'aed nods, "Well they are off to a bad start then. I take it there is some kind of magic to keep me from just agreeing then walking off ?" Minerva nods, "Geas spell. You join a guild and your Geased to stay with the guild and take orders from those in charge. Varnel cast it."

Cin'aed nods, "Well if that is the case I think I will decline." She picks up her bags and nods to them. "Well thank you for the meal and conversation, but I think I will be on my way."

She makes it half way to the exit when the Madam and several very strong looking people get in the way, "Sorry dear but you're not going anywhere till we talk, and you hand over the guilds share of the magic you got in the mission you returned from."

Cin'aed looks at her, "You are stupid and I am leaving and if that means over your dead body so be it."

She grins and nods, 3 hulking brutes rush Cin'aed who just vanishes then moves away. The way she went is obvious when a large section of outside wall disintegrates under a barrage of ice and heat (well they See the ice and as such don't know about the Heat part of that formula). Varnel cast a detect invisible spell only it does not show her. He shakes his head, "She is fast and already gone." Brani calls out, "You all recall she can fly right ? Fast enough to outfly dragons and No one knows where she will go as she is not from around here."

Varnel grins, "We have some of her magic, she will be back for that. Then we will have her."

Brani shakes her head, "You really are stupid. She has the only magical items she cares about the rest of that stuff, she does not even know what any of it does."

It's obvious to all that neither Varnel or the Guild Mother knew that. They just lost a very powerful recruit. The Queen was not going to be happy with them to be sure.

A hundred feet up the Queen of the dragons and her personal 'Flight' intercept the fleeing super mage. Anwen to Cin'aed, "Return to the guild. NOW" she commands. Cin'aed becomes visible and looks at her, "Fuck You. I am not being Forced in to anything. I am like you, strong will and will not be caged." White dragon comes around from behind and blast the impudent girl. The dragons watch to see the falling body only one does not fall from the ice cloud. When it clears Cin'aed is floating there with her hands on her hips, "Really, Cold blast against someone who uses Cold, you think I don't have defenses from that ?" The white (and a few others) look shocked that she lived.

Anwen sighs, "Fine, well your too stupid to know when your beat." she lets loose her own Very potent fire blast, only to get a Primal Ice spike shoved down her godly throat. Anwen in shock drops from the sky, grasping her throat. During the short burst of chaos that causes Cin'aed turns invisible again and fly's off in a random direction.

Coming to rest in an old building's open roof, Cin'aed decides to take stock of her supplies. She has the magic 'item' cloak, her bags and the boots she found. Her snacks, groceries, soda's and clothes. But the Box with all her jewelry and gems in it is gone as is her shield. But she has the staff and medallion of Time manipulation still. Which gives her an idea how to fight the dragon queen if they come against each other again. She thinks then works out a plan. She just hopes she can bluff as well as she makes up stories.

Using her invisibility and sticking closer to the streets she makes her way back to the guild, which is oddly quiet. She spots several 'hidden' guards and realizes they are expecting her to return. She hopes they are not expecting what she has planned however.

She has not ever tried this trick before, but in theory it Should work. Telekinesis is at its base a manipulation of energy. Add in she can manipulate or outright control heat (fire/ice) this adds to it. She is not fully sure what all her abilities are but hopes they are up to this task.

She pulls out the crystal cube and looks at it, she suspects it's some kind of scrying device and now she is going to test it. She focuses on the Guild and then locates Hel who shows up very clearly inside the cube. She is with the Guild Mother and does not look happy.

Guild Mother, "I know she is your friend but the Queen commanded that she join the guild, by force if necessary."

Hel nods, "I get that, but you could have tried Tact first you know. She is a good person, powerful sure. But you tried to bully her and she is not the sort that that will work on. Something I thought someone like you would know. .. You Want her to fight back don't you. Your scared of her, she has the sort of power and personality you find to be a threat to your position here."

The Guild Mother glares at her, "Don't make me invoke your bond girl and keep your foul mouth shut. You Will obey me or I will make you a happy little slut toy like I did your little thief friend. She is happy now to, putting herself out to every person who wants her isn't she."

Hel glares but nods, The Hate is very evident. "As you say Guild Mother." The Mother nods, "If that girl cannot be captured and Signed to the guild then it falls to you to kill her, or die trying. Either will work, killing you would break her spirit and make it " the Mother suddenly grabs her throat, starts to turn blue then suddenly her head spins around and is Ripped from her shoulders by an unseen force.

Varnel comes running, only to slam in to a wall, the one behind him as he is thrown from the room.

Cin'aed is no longer planning or thinking anything, she is just in a full on rage about what these Monsters have been doing to her friends. It will only be later she will realize that while she is so far away she was able to kill them because she could See them via the crystal.

As she is scanning she sees the Mother pick up her head and place it back on her body, as she reaches for Hel with the other hand, by that point it is too late for the fat cow, Cin'aed switches from TK to PK and turns the heffer in to a pile of ash in an instant. The last look of horrified surprise on the Heffers face and the look of Happy Glee on Hel's face made Cin'aed very happy.

Hel spins around, "I don't know if you can hear me but to free us from the Geas you need to destroy 3 things, I can show you the first two, but the 3rd I am forbidden from approaching but can point you in the right direction." Words written in fire appear before her, "Lead the way, any who try to stop you die!"

Hel shows her a large iron safe, The door melts off of it, and there is Cin'aed's treasure box. Hel gets that then points to the scrolls. They float in to the air and Cin'aed reads them over but does not destroy them. She instead sends a message this time in ice, "According to this, they need to be destroyed In a certain order or everyone will commit suicide." Hel blanches and nods. Taking the papers to and Heading toward the 2cd location, a wall safe in the Guild Masters room. He is Still unconscious which is wrong. But for the moment not important to the mission at hand.

Hel opens the safe and removes the next set of scrolls and some items. She opens the scrolls and holds them out from herself so Cin'aed can read them. The pages move in her hands and then roll up when she is done.

Finally Hel, after placing the scrolls in different pouches and places, heads down to the bottom of the place. She points to a door, "I don't know what is down there or where exactly but the last part of the Geas is in there. It is heavily warded though, so I don't know if you can get to it the way you're doing it."

Before Cin'aed can try. The Queen in human form comes out of thin air and attacks, "Oh no you don't you slut." She screams as she attacks.

Cin'aed does the unexpected though, As the queen comes at her with claws out, she calmly reaches out, grabs the queen and then body slams her in to a wall, "Direct attack against a kung fu master is foolish tactic girl." she says in a fake chinese master voice. She then punches the Queen with a tk encased fist stunning the goddess and letting Cin'aed get away.

Cin'aed grabbed her stuff and taking a chance jumps through the portal that Anwen came out of. On the other side is a small room with another patched cloak, a pretty but tied up girl and a mirror frame showing Anwen starting to get up. Taking a chance Cin'aed touches the frame and moves the image. Grinning as she knows what this is, she changes its focus to the dungeon and spirals it down looking for the most secured room or rooms down there. She finds 3. Each heavily warded and each with a different, very beaten, elven woman in them. Using her TK she breaks their bonds and float's their unconscious bodies through the mirror portal.

The bound girl is struggling against her bonds and trying to yell through her gag at Cin'aed. Wanting her to stop. Cin'aed does not. Instead once she has them she continues to search for the First piece of the geas spell. Under the dungeon she finds it and only because the bound girl managed to kick her, and accidently forced the image Down. There sitting in a room with all kinds of runes and dark looking magics is a huge gem of varying colors. She looks over the control runes and carefully starts to remove them by melting the stones around them and causing the runes to cease to be. Its hard work but soon one of the elven women wakes up and gets to her feet. She looks at the focused half elf then at the struggling girl. She slugs the bound girl till she stops moving. She does nothing to interfere or help Cin'aed though, intent on checking the other elven women.

It turns out each large section of Runes Cin'aed wipes out awakens one of the women, (or others kept captive above though she will not know that till later). She has them all but gone when there is a boom of something large landing outside of where ever they are. But by this time all the elves are up and looking Much better. A winged elf turns to look in the mirror, "One more then you can do something with that cursed crystal, don't break it though, that would be very bad. It's a prison for a very dangerous demon god. She was using it to bind all the others so she could control the world. To save it she says. Right, like we believe that." Never says who 'she' is though Cin'aed suspects she knows. Could be wrong she guesses but still.

Just as the last Rune is removed Anwen burst in, only to be blasted by the 3 who are waiting for her. They take their fight outside while Cin'aed tries to figure out what to do with the giant gem. In desperation she pulls it through the gate. But when it reaches Her side of the gate she finds it is only 2inches tall. It looked Huge when seen through the mirror gate. Weird. She dials the gate around, muttering "where's the best place to hide this where it will be safe and No one will find it for a long long long time, like till the End of time." then see's something that makes her smile. She focuses the gate on something interesting, steps through and does Something she intends to forget. When she returns she has her own Master Magic Mirror and a couple other nice 'lost' magic items. But left the gem behind.

The Realm of Lost Items. It is a nice dumping ground for things. It's where many items that have been lost in magic bag explosions end up. Lots of nice magic there and Only accessible if you have a magic mirror and know the right questions. Among the items she found are some spell books and other useful magic items and treasures. She is quite pleased with herself.

Meanwhile the guilds are going through a major change as the Geas suddenly stops working. People who were Forced by the geas to be different from their normal self, find they have their own self will and identity returned to them. Being suddenly free leaves many confused and wandering around in a sort of shocked state.

In Hel's guild, the Master suddenly wakes and Knows what has happened. He lays there and smiles. He was resistant to the Guild Mothers spells, so she drugged him and then bound him so she could control the guild for the Dragon Queen. He founded this guild, the first of its kind many years ago. Before the dragons came with a devious plot to over throw the human world. Using the Geas and people like the Guild Mother, vampires under the control of the Dragon Queen, they were conquering the world quietly. The Guilds had become there unwitting armies and now with the master geas destroyed the others would be free to. He is quite happy with that. Means the world is once more its own master and the Dragon Queen will have to go one the defensive for a while as those she controlled turn on her.

Too bad things are not as simple as he thinks. Most don't know anything about the vampires, or dragons or the quiet war the gods are fighting against the Dragon armies.

    people are reading<Alternate Worlds>
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