| Alicia grimaces as the Council dismisses her idea out of hand as being
a silly idea. Sometimes she wonders if she'll ever be taken seriously by
these old @#rts. She throttles down her anger and leaves when she sees
Loam giving her the Sign. Time for another meeting of . . . . . what? .
. . . . revolutionaries? In a funk at the apparent betrayal of Fred, a
man who was beginning to look like a good catch, has left her short tempered
and moody.
After a half hour of backtracking and other little tricks to throw off tracker, Alicia enters into the small forest glen where this meeting of disgruntled Newcomcers and sympathic Native. Tonight, it is just the highest ranking members of this faction: Loam and Kayne of the Werewolves, Vanya of the Were-cats, Moran of the Were-bears, and herself. "Glad you finally made it," Loam says, clearly relieved. "We almost had to start without you. Brother Moran has some rather, disturbing news. Alicia's ears, despite her mood, poke in in curiousity. Any time that Moran comes to the meeting with something to say, it is always something important. Being a minor member of the ruling click and a sympathic Native, Moran had a way of worming out information that was denied to the rest of the Pack. "I'm afraid that our hopes that Carradene was to be . . . . liquidated by Minestus has gone to pot with the coming of those . . . . golems," Moran begins. Alicia blinks because . . . . this sounds disturbingly familiar! "What?" she gasps, the other members of the meeting look in askance at her, then at Loam. "Hey, you know that we don't tell everything to those of the lower council members." Loam mutters. "We only just elected to elevate her to the Inner Circle . . . . and we've been a bit busy with recent events to bring her up to speed." "Sister Alicia," Moran says in an understanding voice. "I wasn't aware that you were not aware of the real political power on the island . . . . Pack wise. Despite appearences, Carradene is still very much in charge here. He still has means to get what he wants, despite the recent tension caused by the coming of the Pirates. In fact, with the antics of your . . . . friend Lord Fred and that dragon, he stands to gain even more clout. He may even be making overtures to those . . . Golems." "Did . . . any of your sources say anything Carradene trying to get us off the island . . . . by way of calling in old favors from . . . . . friends?" Alicia asks in a dazed voice. The surprised look on Moran's face tells Alicia all she needs to know. "So . . . Malachi was telling the truth?" she whispers. The Inner Circle leans forward and listens as the vixen, who is beginning to wonder if her general hatred of all draconian kind is so wise, relates in much greater detail than what she revealed to the Council. Go Back |
