[h1][center][color=000000]𝕵𝖆𝖈𝖐[/color][/center][/h1]


	Jack knew full well he was the intruder here. It would have been rude to try and influence the discussion, or be it the debate, taking place between these two friends. But as Cheryl left the premises he also realized that he needed this pact. He was fortunate to have found someone in this place who actually accepted the fact that he was from some other era and place in the universe, and he was more than certain it was going to be damn hard to find anyone else around these part who would accept him with such good graces. Besides, he liked Piper, and he had a feeling he would grow to like Cheryl as well if she would remove the broomstick from her ass.  That, right there, was the most immediate problem. Piper was right. It wasn’t just that, of course, removing the broomstick would be a lot easier had Cheryl not been preoccupied with her own rather large problems at the present. That alone was probably the main factor in her decision making.

Still, there was a lot more to this situation than the surface dialogue. Jack couldn’t pretend to know about the unseen intricacies of the things taking place around him, but he would have been braindead not to have noticed the change in Piper when Cheryl had first entered the room. In a way, Piper had behaved like a frightened, cornered cat, and Jack wasn’t inclined to think that his behaviour was a response to Cheryl’s presence. There was more to his new little friend than met they eye. 

He had to think. He had to be clever. He had to think of a way that would help everyone involved, and he couldn’t do that without knowing as much as he could about this damnable situation. The time had come to check his messages. 

“One second, my friend.” He spoke calmly to Piper with a raise of one finger as his other hand reached back to remove the cell phone from his pocket. With a quick few strokes and taps of his thumb he opened up the content. His eyes narrowed with peculiarity in the glowing light of the screen, mouth twisting like he were reading some disturbing excerpt from a horror novel. He read the messages over several times before the glow of the screen faded and he lifting his eyes back to Piper with besieging intensity. One might say he had just seen a ghost. 

“Tell me, Pipe. What just happened to you? Don’t lie to me. I saw that you were scared. You can tell me. I’ll keep it to myself if you need me to. But I think it’s best that I know everything that’s going on before we take any further action.” 

[hr]

[center][h2][color=0072bc]𝔔𝔲𝔢𝔢𝔫'𝔰 𝔓𝔞𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔢 
𝔗𝔥𝔢 ℜ𝔬𝔶𝔞𝔩 ℭ𝔦𝔱𝔶.[/color][/h2][/center]


	When the three moons of Beckon Season were high, the Queen attired herself in servant’s clothing - as not draw the guard’s attention - and descended to the Magus labyrinth beneath the castle.  With three knocks, followed by a moment’s pause then another rap of her knuckles, she was granted entry to the living chambers of Magus Ashan, her personal mage. 

From here in this dingy abode would Ashan rarely venture. This was his sanctuary, little more than a cave-like construct, the stone walls of which clustered with the various spectrum veins of ore, ore of mana, mana he had no use for. Indeed, it served as fine decoration. Ashan was seated in a solemn pose upon his self-ordained wooden throne at the far side of the room when the Queen entered. Shutting the door behind her, she removing the raiment from her head to confirm her identity. She was a young queen, neigh older than thirty, with sharp azurite eyes and striking appeal. Her milky-white skin and supple contours embellished by the flicker of candlelight.  She stood, daring not venture farther as she awaited the news that drew her here this eve. 

“Could you not refrain until morning, my Queen?” Ashan spoke, his words guarded by far away thoughts. Yet, respect for his queen raised him from his throne as he collected the chestnut fall of hair from his colourless eyes. His muscular torso was bare, his nakedness clothed only in a full-length skirt of Griffon leather that fell rigidly from waist to floor. 

“I must know.” She exclaimed with all the virtue expected of royalty, yet her eyes regressed, caressing the form of his torso like a young princess tasting of forbidden fruits. “Tell me, has he arrived?” 

Ashan was void of emotional portrayal, his response being nothing but a wave of is hand towards the table in the center of the room. There, responding to the command of his gesture, a clay bowl of herbs quivered and released a spectrum of hues that embodied all the colours of life, swirling and palpating to construct a feed like that of holographic image that displayed a view of the current interaction between Piper, Jack Cheryl. 

The Queen tore her eyes from Ashan, now fixated on the muted interaction taking place in Blackgale Inn so many miles away. She watched as events unfolded, one hand to her breast in heartfelt observance until Cheryl departed the tavern, and at this point the image dissolved as the queen and Ashan returned attention to each other. 

Her question had been answered. 

Previously withheld by suspense, she now breathed with the sound of a gasp while provoked to take several steps closer to the royal mage.  

“Is he everything I had hoped he would be?” 

Ashan undressed the queen with his eyes, a shy-less audacity, while his thoughts performed the task of establishing an appropriate response to her true needs. He conformed, abiding his eyes to hers, and replied; 

“Had it not been for ancient doctrine prophesying his coming, I would think of him as an imbecile. But there is little question, my Queen…” As though guided by the irony of disappointment, his eyes ventured for another undressing of his majesty, “He is the one, yes. The one that has been foretold.” 

The Queen was now close enough. She extended one hand, allowing her fingertips to fondle the contours of Ashan’s chest. 

“And does [i]she[/i] know?” 

“She does.” Ashan seized the wrist of his Queen, that they should take their lust no further this evening. “She has already made plans to acquire him for her own purpose. But she has grown more powerful these days…. I’m having difficulty keeping watch of her actions. We are all in danger.”

“No!” The Queen ripped her hand from his grasp. “She will not receive him – at first light you will send out a legion. You will prevent her from acquiring him! Terra as we know it depends on it. And be sure that other whore and her pipios are destroyed. We cannot have them abiding her. We must not delay!"