Re: Part 66b - Chaotic diplomacy
Finndo, out of Dworkin's eye-line, looks distinctly relieved at Roman's answer.
Dworkin, on the other hand, appears much more disappointed. "Ah, well, so be it. Try not to stay too long though. Oberon released a... a... what did it call itself again? Ahah! Yes, an Archon. Oberon released the Archon, and the blonde woman released the scre'ath."
"Between the two of them, Amber is probably doomed. What the Archon doesn't destroy, the scre'ath will consume. Good luck to you Finndo, and to you too, Roman of Galstad."
The old hunchback starts to shuffle away. He gets no more than five or six paces, before stopping to peer into a mirror. Then he reaches out, and his hand pushes into the glass to the wrist, and on until his arm, past the elbow is inside the mirror.
When he draws it back, he is clutching something small which seems to burn brightly. He turns it in his hand, studying it, before holding it out towards Roman and Finndo, who can now see that it is a plain gold ring, with burning letters fading on its inner surface, "See this? Cheap workmanship! Shoddy, that's what it is. The whole lot is already barely holding together, and the worst part is, he's tied so much of himself into it. If his enemies destroy this, they destroy him. Stupidity!"
He pushes it back into the mirror, and starts to wander off, shaking his head and muttering under his breath.
Finndo sighs, "That was lucky. He could have forced his help upon us."
"I heard that!" a voice sounds from the region of Dworkin's retreating back.
"This way. I wonder if what he was saying, about Oberon releasing an Archon, might have had something to do with the disturbance?"