'Why won't the wretched thing work?' he demanded, eyeing her with cold, impatient displeasure. 'Did you drop it?'
Her fingers clenched inside her pockets but she managed, just, to keep her temper. Losing it now would be fatal; Lional was clearly in a precarious mood.
'No, Lional, I didn't drop it,' she said, flawlessly reasonable. 'The etheretic transductors are on the blink. Tell Gerald — Professor Dunwoody — to fix them, would you? It's about time he started earning his keep.'
'Thank you, Melissande! / will be the judge of who's earning their keep in my kingdom and who isn't! And speaking of which — ' 'Of what?' she said, after a moment.'Lional?'
Lional stared into thin air, his expression suspended. Then he stirred. 'Did you just say… etheretic transductors?
Taken aback, she blinked at him. 'Yes. Why — don't tell me you've heard of them?'
'As a matter of fact, I have. And they're on the blink, you say?' 'They are. Yes.'
'Ah. Then it would appear we've been struck by polarised lightning,' said Lional. 'In which case there's nothing our good Gerald can do. Wizards can't reverse the effects of a polarised lightning strike. Nobody can. All one can do is wait for the etheretic conditions to return to normal. So, Melissande. About this wedding…'
'Forget about the bloody wedding, Lional!' she snapped before she could stop herself. At the look on his face she whipped her hands from her pockets and held them out placatingly. 'At least for the moment, and tell me what you're talking about. I've never heard of polarised lightning. How do you know what it is, or what it does to etheretic conductivity?'
He let out a short sharp sigh. 'Polarised lightning is an extremely rare, practically unheard of thaumaturgical phenomenon, a bizarre concatenation of colliding atoms, random particles and misfiring tetrothaumical emissions.'
Well, Madame Rink- Ravatinka had definitely never mentioned that. 'It is?' Lional glared. 'Didn't I just say so?' 'Er — according to who?'
'Former Court Wizard Grumbaugh, actually. The city was struck by it during his brief and unlamented tenure. Grumbaugh was most put out. He couldn't use his crystal ball for nearly three days. Yes, and it knocked out the portal too. Most inconvenient.'
Lional could be the most plausible liar when he felt like it. But why would he lie about something like this? Sorry Gerald, it looks like you're clean out of luck. 'And why is this the first I'm hearing of it?' she asked, feeling slighted.
'You were away at the time, officiating at some dreary little village ceremony somewhere unimportant,' said Lional, waving away her annoyance. 'By the time you got back the disruption was over. It must've slipped my mind.'
'But I was working practically all last night and I didn't see any lightning.'
'You wouldn't,' he said promptly. 'It's black, apparently. More or less invisible even during the day. But etheretic disruptions are a classic indicator of polarised lightning activity. Grumbaugh left behind some kind of monitoring apparatus, he said we were uniquely prone to the problem because of the desert and other technical claptrap I didn't listen to.' Lional's expression subtly shifted and his eyes took on a militant glitter. 'If you don't believe me I can fetch it and — '
'No, no,' she said swiftly. 'Of course I believe you, Lional. It's just a nuisance. I've got so much work to do.'
'Leave it to your staff,' he said coldly. 'That's what they're for. You, Melissande, have a wedding to plan.'
Bloody hell, the wedding again? When would her impossible brother listen? 'Lional, please reconsider! How can you do this? Hand me over to a man you despise as though I were a — a — lamp you didn't care for? Don't my feelings come into this? Doesn't it matter to you that I don't want to marry Zazoor?'
'Putting it bluntly, no,' he said. 'All that matters is my kingdom. And I'll use any coin I have to secure its future, Melissande; even my own flesh and blood.'
She couldn't swallow a choked protest fast enough. 'How can you be so cruel? I thought you loved me!'
'I do!' he cried. 'Do you think this is easy for me? That I relish the thought of Zazoor's hands upon my sister? I don't. The idea revolts me. But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the good of this nation.'
'How very… noble… of you,' she said unsteadily, when she could trust herself not to scream. 'But Lional, can't you see that marrying me to Zazoor will do far more harm than good? His people will never accept me. I'm an outsider, probably an infidel. And as for this ridiculous charade involving the Kallarapi gods — oh, Lional, change your mind! New Ottosland needs me, surely you can see that!' You need me, you fool, if you're not to destroy yourself and the kingdom with this madnessl But she didn't dare say that aloud. Instead she just stared at him, willing him to hear her for once. This once.
He shook his head. 'You're needed in Kallarap more.'
'Well, I'm sorry, Lional, I don't agree.' On a deep breath, she folded her arms. 'And I can't — I won't — do it. I won't marry Sultan Zazoor.'
In silence he looked at her. Not raging. Merely… unreachable. 'Then I'm sorry too, Melly' he said at last. 'Because until you change your mind the most you'll be seeing of New Ottosland is the view from your windows. And while you contemplate that view I suggest you contemplate this as well. There are cages much less gilded than this one, far beneath our feet. Don't be fool enough to think I won't use them, and far more swiftly than you'd like. In the meantime… consider yourself my ex-Prime Minister.'
The foyer doors slammed hard behind him. She stared at them, feeling her insides tremble. Fighting to hold back the tears. What's happened to you, Lional? You never used to be like this…
Behind her Gerald's voice said, 'Don't lose hope, Melissande.This isn't over, not by a long shot.'
She nodded, unwilling to turn or trust her voice.
'You listen to Gerald, ducky,' the bird said bracingly. 'You'll be a card-carrying member of the Spinsters' Club a good while yet — especially if you don't engage a decent interior decorator.'
When she was sure she could speak like a princess she said, 'You heard what he said? About the — the polarised lightning?' 'Yes,' said Gerald. Now she turned.'And?'
He and the bird exchanged swift looks. 'And I suppose we'll just have to wait for the etheretic disturbance to subside. Sorry to have bothered you, I know you're busy'
His quite plain face was impossible to read. 'So… you have heard of it, then. This polarised lightning.'
'I think I recall a passing reference in a couple of trade journals. It's… rare.'
'Ah.' She nodded.'I see. Well, you two should go now, in case Lional sends for you.'
Another shared look with the bird. 'Yes. But what about you? Will you be all right? We heard what he said about cages, too.'
If he started getting all solicitous she was going to cry, and she'd done enough crying lately to last the rest of her life.'Don't worry about me,' she said briskly. 'I'll be fine. Just… fix this, Gerald. Please. Fix it.'
Gerald didn't reply, but touched her arm in passing. With Reg hunched on his shoulder he pressed his ear to the foyer door, nodded to himself, whispered something under his breath and waited. A couple of moments later he eased the doors open and slipped outside. Once more, she was alone. 'All right,' said Gerald, having gotten them safely outside the palace and into a section of the gardens full of flowers but not gardeners. 'Have you ever heard of polarised lightning, Reg? Because / haven't!' Reg snickered.'I knew you were fibbing.'
'Yes, well, Melissande's got enough on her plate. So. Have you ever heard of it?'
She clacked her beak thoughtfully. 'I can't say I have, and you know how long I've been around,' she said eventually. 'But the world's a large strange place, Gerald, full of fantastical things. You've only got to look at madam's hairdos to realise that. For all I know, polarised lightning could be a phenomenon peculiar to New Ottosland. It is the only country in the world surrounded by weeks of desert, after all, and who knows what strange things lurk in the sands of Kallarap? It's not like anyone's ever explored them.' She sniffed. 'Not unless you count camels. What do your wizarding senses tell you?'
He stopped and closed his eyes. Breathed deeply for a moment, trying to ignore the hollow pit in his stomach where his breakfast should be, then let his instincts quest outwards. Silence. Stillness. An odd kind of muffling…
'Bloody hell!' he said, and opened his eyes. 'The whole place is dampenedV 'Dampened?' said Reg.
'Like — like — fogged in. There's enough ambient energy to ignite the smaller incants but that's all, I think.'
