A Proposal

All six scraped to a halt as they realised they had been beaten to their destination.

"Elaine!" cried Adele, a mixture of surprise, anger and suspicion giving her outburst a strange accent. Matthias and Fred moved to draw their swords. Astra and Exotica remained close to the doorway they had entered. None attacked as of yet, as the group yet could not be sure of Elaine's intentions. That, and the fact that each of them was truly fearful of just how much power Elaine might wield within her heart now. Adele stepped forward and spoke.

"Why would a dragon-mage be found here?" she asked. "I thought you had some slaying to do, Elaine."

Elaine smiled. Adele had never seen a smile like that. It made her think of gentle snow slowly covering a battlefield's aftermath, dressing it in a sheen of glowing white. Beautiful only on the thinnest of outer surfaces; beneath, only death. "Elaine is.......such a drab name." she drawled, turning her back on the others and facing the machine, the object of her fascination. "I really must ponder a fresh one. One that better reflects.......me."

Adele flung her arms out towards Elaine's back and opened her mouth to cast a spell, but no incantation came from her throat. In what appeared to be a single instant, Elaine was once again facing them. Fred knew better than to believe his eyes deceived him - Elaine had not turned around, she had materialised around. Adele's mouth gaped wide open, as did her eyes, but she had not been silenced. She gave out a groan of discomfort, and staggered back a pace, but her mouth did not......could not close.

"Adele, Adele, Adele." chanted Elaine, walking slowly towards the group. "You have......such difficulty in keeping your mouth closed, do you not Adele? Always talking, always pontificating, always drilling your mindless will into everyone's head with your total incessancy."

Adele stared open mouthed at Elaine, shaking her head wildly. "Uh.....urgh....." she groaned, her hands grasping futilely at her cheeks. Fred then noticed a slight shimmer of flame pass across Elaine's body. He felt cold.

"You need to be careful, Adele." drawled Elaine, as she slowly drew a single finger up and pointed it at Adele's head. "Because one day that mouth of yours might......never.......close."

The finger twitched. There was an audible crack, and Adele screamed as her mouth was torn open another half-inch, beyond the stretch of her jaw. As she fell to her knees, Matthias drove forward, moving to unsheathe his blade, but Fred reached out and yanked him back. Matthias struggled frantically to remove Fred's grip, to protect Adele, but Fred held him firm, silently ordering him to stop. "If she wanted Adele dead, she'd be dead by now." whispered Fred. "Hold your honour, friend. We must wait for the right moment."

Tears of hurt ran down Adele's cheeks and slid past her ears; the invisible power wrenching her near-broken jaw forced her to face upward, to gaze into the face of Elaine, who now towered over her. If Adele could talk, she would have begged Elaine for release, but she could only vocalise her agony in wordless moans. Elaine smiled that horrible smile again, and Adele wept afresh.

Then, even amidst her pain and fear, she saw something. Elaine's eyes had an almost imperceptible field of multicoloured flames covering their surface. But there was more beyond the flames, beyond the eyes, inside........

..........father?

"Go now, back to your lover's arms." muttered Elaine. Her finger twitched and Adele was blasted back by a massive energy force. She flew through the air, straight into the chest of Matthias, and both flew backwards into the wall behind them at a sickening speed. They crumpled to the ground, and the armless Astra ran to their side, kneeling with some difficulty to check if they were unharmed. Adele was the first to recover, and it appeared she had been granted control over her lower face once more. "Matthias......" she whispered, massaging her jaw and reaching out to lift his head. He was unconscious.

Fred stepped forward, but did not draw his weapon. They were dealing with power far beyond even all of them combined, and he knew that he must tread carefully. Elaine turned to him, an amused expression on her face. "Yes, sir knight?" inquired Elaine thoughtfully. "Have you something to say? You should be quick, for soon it is my turn again."

"I have nothing to say, Elaine. Only something to ask. Why are you here?"

"You are more direct than Adele, true, but it is nonetheless that same question as before. I trust this time I will be allowed to answer uninterrupted." Elaine waved a hand in the direction of the machine behind her. "This......device......was originally used by Celubar in the days of the Tellurian Empire. Whether it was actually invented by him I do not know. It would appear that Belboz constructed the same machine, the one you see before you now. I want to know what it does."

"But how....." began Astra.

"Let's not get into that yet." retorted Elaine, focusing casually on Astra for a moment, who fell silent of her own accord. "I have slain Minestus. I care not whether you believe me or not, but know that it would be remiss of you all to attempt an assault on me. I have more power than all of your combined imagination could fancy, but perhaps I can use that imagination, that logic. Perhaps together, we can ascertain the function of the machine."

"And why.....why should we help you?" demanded Adele through gritted teeth. She still sat hunched on the floor, arms entwined around Matthias, who had not yet come around.

Elaine gave Adele a paltry glance, then turned back to Fred. "Because I can help your comrades, Fred. They can be restored through me. I offer succour for the mute Matthias, the transmogrified Sigin, the debilitated Astra. I will heal one now, as a gesture, and the other two if I am satisfied with the assistance of your party. Are the terms agreed, Fred?"

Adele started to speak, but Fred stopped her with a glare. She hung her head. He turned back to Elaine. "You would restore both of Astra's arms?"

"Yes."

"You would restore Matthias' voice, without blemish?"

"Yes."

"You would remove all enchantments on Sigin? He would be human once more?"

"Yes. Now choose one carefully. The two you forsake will be restored at my discretion, only after I am satisfied."

Fred appraised his companions quietly. Astra stood upright and walked to Fred's side. Naked and armless as she was, Fred couldn't get the image of Astra as an elegant marble statue out of his mind.

"Fred, I have followed you this far and asked for little." she murmured, eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet. "I would ask you this. Please have Elaine give me my arms back. I feel I am owed that dignity at least."

"This is difficult for me." said Adele, glancing towards the limp Matthias. "But......I strongly feel we should restore Sigin, Fred. He is a wise and powerful Dragon-mage, and has been cursed to a feline form for too long. He may be able to help everyone find out what this contraption does."

Astra's eyes flashed, but she refused to plead her case any further. Just then, a small cough came from the doorway. "Um.....I.....wouldn't mind some clothes, please. Just an idea." twittered Exotica, idly stroking Sigin's head. Both Astra and Adele gave her an extremely withering glance. She tutted and rolled her eyes, but said no more.

"I'm waiting." said Elaine, arms folded.

1. Fred was moved by Astra's plaintive request, and asked Elaine to restore her arms.
2. Fred was surprised, but convinced by Adele's case in favour of Sigin. He asked Elaine to restore him to his human form.
3. Fred acted on his own judgement, and asked Elaine to restore the voice of Matthias.
4. In a staggeringly narrow minded yet undeniably chivalrous move, Fred insisted instead that his king's daughter, Exotica, be given some fine clothes to wear.

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