Cador whispers back

"Absolutely brother...", Kierahn replied, having lost interest in the battle attempts on the field below.  He looked around to see what sort of amusements there were to be seen, that might be worth visiting, as he edged himself towards the doorway of the balcony.

In reply to Cador (msg # 131):

Branwen glances over to the center of the group, Mom and Dad and Caity and Marian and Oriana, then back to Cador as murmured conversation continues.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Mon 05 Nov 2018.

Cador shook his head and replied.  “

Frowning, Marian surfaced from her revere and immediately stepped forward towards her father and mother, leaning in to whisper to them.    She then looks up, noticing the conspiratorial looks from her siblings and adds a few more words to her parents.

Caitriona watched the match excitedly but when she looked around noticed that her siblings all seemed to be in some sort of conference with someone else. She wondered if this was a boring match and she just didn't know the difference.

"Cade... Branwen... why aren't you watching?" she asked. "Did something happen?"

Branwen observes her younger sister for a long moment without voicing an answer, her expression contemplative and... even indecisive?  That wouldn't be typically characteristic of Branwen, not by miles.  But it appears to be the case nonetheless.

Rather than a direct response to the question, she turns to Oriana and Marian.  "Are you guys going to tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Caitriona replies... almost demanding. "What's going on?"

"Something is lurking about," Tamlin tells Catriona, voice quiet but not whispering "Here and some ways off. If the King and Queen will permit, I'd like to take Kierahn and have a look. This work feels familiar."

He looked towards his seated parents and older siblings with a questioning look.

Erica asks Tamlin quietly, "Should I tag along?"

In reply to Caitriona (msg # 138):

“I don’t know what’s going on, but you should be ready for trouble.  If it starts, get behind me” Cador quietly tells Caitriona.

Cait nodded to Cador, but then looked to her parents and Oriana. "What is it really? What am I not being told?"

Tamlin seemed to weigh the question for a moment. His nod was slight.

Oriana heard the concern in her youngest aunt's voice and broke away from Corwin and Lorraine to come sit next to her. She gave her a gentle smile.

"The mystical defenses around the castle are starting to weaken, and some of your siblings and I have detected some sort of strange magic about your would-be suitor, Sir Tristan. We don't know exactly what yet, but we want to take precautions so that everyone is safe. If anything bad starts to happen, do what Cador said and get behind him. Marian and Branwen and Tamlin and I can use our powers to protect you"

Corwin stood at this point. "Tamlin, take Erica and Kierahn, warn the guards and then return, swift as you can. Be swift and careful." He looked to Cador. "Send word to the knights. Today's revels are ended."

Down on the field, the crowd was roaring with approval as Tristan overcame Sir Markham's defense and landed a telling but non-fatal blow, knocking him to the ground. Lorraine stood up at that point. "The victory to Sir Tristan! And now an intermission!"

She sat back down and looked to her family. "As soon as the field is cleared I want you to..."

There was a brilliant, blinding flash of blue light that filled the entire courtyard. Amongst the cries of the spectators came the blast of horns.

“Now! Caitriona!” Cador cries, standing at the sudden light.  He whistles loudly  for Aurelius, and claps his hand to the hilt of his sword.  Is this an attack or just someone’s way of making an entrance ?  Whichever it is, who has the power to do it?  More, enough power that they dare do it?

Kierahn launched from the balcony, heading towards the light with an alacrity that would be considered unnatural in most of the shadows.  His armour seem to flow around his body, allowing for him to move with an agility one would not have in such heavy armour, always flowing in a manner to insure he was unimpeded.  Whomever was coming through this portal, his natural assumption based on the horn blast, he intended to be the first thing they saw.

"Dammit, you impulsive little," Tamlin shouted after Kierahn as he took off after his brother although his route was more roundabout, "Erica, stay close. I handle weird, you take steel."

He cocked his head as he ran, listening to the horns. After a moment he went from running to flat out sprinting in a probably doomed effort to intercept Kierahn.

"Kierahn, stay in formation!" Erica shouted.  That seemed more polite than "come back, you idiot".  She moved slightly ahead of Tamlin, ready to intercept any physical threat to give her brother space to work magic.

Caitriona, momentarily blinded by the flash yelped in surprise. Then she heard her brother's orders and she moved behind him, but reached out for their father and mother.

"Mum... Dad? Are you okay?" she asked.

Marian straightened to allow her parents to take the lead and she was therefore looking 'up' as the blindingly bright light flashed overhead.  Fortunately it hadn't come as a surprise and she was able to close her eyes just in time.   Those however who can tell will notice that her sight is magical as she attempts to study what has damaged the wards and what might now be coming.

What at first might have looked like a hand reflexively flung before her eyes to shield them from the blinding blue flash seems to have been not that, or at least not exclusively that: her hand remained before her eyes well after the flash faded, her palm facing outward towards the tourney ground, her fingers spread apart, stiffened into a claw and moving in slow weaving motions, almost as if plucking at some unseen stringed instrument in the air before her.  She peered through the gap between two of her fingers down at Sir Tristan with an unmistakable intensity of focus: she was manipulating mystical forces as well.

Corwin and Lorraine had blades in hand, standing before Caitriona. Aurelius let out a screech as he swooped to Cador's side to be mounted. Tamlin and Erica raced through the palace, using their knowledge of the many secret shortcuts and hidden passages to reach the courtyard just as Kierahn got within striking range.

In the meantime, Tristan suddenly screamed in pain as Branwen's disjunction spell hit him. He dropped his axe and fell to his knees, letting out an almost inhuman howl of agony. His screaming rang out over the sound of horns, and when the flash of light cleared, he could be seen writhing at the feet of a very strange company.

At the head of the procession was a woman who was seven feet high. Her skin was alabaster and her form was clad in a tight-fitting armor of leaf-green and mottled black. The only part of her not armored was her face, which was framed by flowing red hair that set off golden eyes. Butterfly wings of transparent silver and gold emerged from her back.

Around her were a group of beings. All of them topped six feet in height at least, with some nearing eight. All of them were armored, in black and gold. All had wings. And all bore weapons and shields. And all of them were mounted atop great stags and horses that bore feathery white bird wings emerging from their torsos.

The woman in the lead knelt down and passed her hand over Tristan's writhing form. At once he stilled, then stopped moving entirely. She looked up then, at the royals of Avalon and Nolava. In a deep, rich voice, she spoke. "So it is as I feared. The arrogant humans who dare claim dominion of the realm of Faerie would just as soon maim and attack the rightful rulers of the realm than treat with them. I had hoped for better." She sniffed.

"Know you that you said in the presence of Titania, Empress of Faerie, rightful mistress over all land, sea, and sky as far as the sun may travel and the moon may wander. Long ago I watched the dandies of this court proclaim their rulership over that which is mine with amusement. How funny, these little talking apes be. I even thought it sport, to seed your realm with my own children, and see how would they develop absent the congenial airs of Faerie." She gestured, and Tristan began to float in the air before her, still stationary and possibly not breathing. "I had hoped that when you apes had tired of pretending to greatness there might be peace between our realms.

Instead, with each passing year, your "empire" expands. You cut down the sacred groves. You enslave the rivers to turn your waterwheels, to sluice out your middens. You claim the land in the skies above and befoul that with your leavings. No. This jest has grown stale. Know you that your self-proclaimed realm of Avalon is now at war with the Empire of Faerie. We will remind you apes of your proper place. But I am not without mercy. You are permitted this one chance to make amends and abase yourselves before your betters."

Without thinking and seeing Sir Tristan seemingly hurt, Caitriona sent out an immediate word of power, "LIEVZ, Sir Tristan" to give him a bit of a spark of life as he seemed quite nearly dead.

"Let me past, Mum," Cait said. "She did something to him... and he needs help. I brought my healing herbs."

This is a matter of policy, and not for Cador to decide - for war or peace.  Had he been the ranking member of the family present, he might do more.  But he is not.

“Aurelius.  Hold.” he commands.   He shoots Branwen a look, suspecting - but not certain - that the sorcery came from her.

Most importantly he looks to his father to see which course he should follow.  He cannot imagine Corwin bending the knee to these creatures,   But he might wish to seek an alternative to an immediate declaration of war.

Kierahn, who was closest to the Faerie Queen when she entered Avalon, was also the most impressed, "I like this one...", he admitted as he observed her and her entourage, she was near perfect, save for her insanity of course, "Wait... did she say we enslave the rivers?", he asks incredulously out loud, but obviously more talking to himself than to anyone in particular.

Thor, his armor, tried to grow wings like the newcomers, but seemed that it was something he'd have to practice and work on later... but he did like the effect.  Meanwhile Kierahn just barely held back the urge to look back at Lorraine and ask, "Can I keep her?", realizing that it was a diplomatic situation, and such a question would be far out of place.  So he remained still, ready to shield others from possible attack despite the fact that it seemed no attack was imminent. At least, not from the newcomers... not yet...