The Concarnadine Chronicles #069 -- "Thunder"
Title: "Thunder"
'Fandom': The Concarnadine Chronicles
Claim: General; Characters
Prompt: #069 :: “Thunder”
Word Count: c.1150
Rating: PG-15
Summary: The last chapter(s) continue(s), with the face-to-face confrontation
Author's Notes: This is what I'd been working to. Props to those of you who are still keeping up with the plot twists.
“Thunder”
Ducking through the hole in the fence, Concarnadine and Elizabeth made their way into the shade of the nearest booth in the derelict carnival. Around them, the night made a blanket round the ramshackle collection of disused rides, and closed stands which made up Merridew’s Superfine Carnival and Emporium - a blanket which served to cut the carnival off from the housing estate which had grown up round its site; a blanket which served to accentuate the feeling of stepping into another world, and to increase the tension of the situation.
Elizabeth led the way for the moment, guided by her Jewel, tracing what she felt as a “taint” in the air. Not to her particular surprise, she found herself led to the centre of the carnival, to a Fun House structure, with a central entrance surrounded by a hoarding depicting demonic jaws.
“How doth the little crocodile … ” she murmured.
“Pardon ?”
“It’s Lewis Carroll,” she explained: “About the crocodile which welcomes little fishes in, with gently smiling jaws. I’ll read it to you, when this is over.”
“Oh.”
There might have been more that could have been said, as they stepped into the entrance, senses stretched for any sign of ambush, but words became a lesser issue when, suddenly, a shadow moved.
“Oh oh !”
“I’m sure that that isn’t meant to be happening.”
The hoarding jaws had begun to close. For a moment the thought of ducking through them back into the world outside crossed Elizabeth’s mind: it felt as though she had heard the first, hollow, whisper of approaching thunder. Then she withdrew from the impulse. She was there to be with Concarnadine and if he wasn’t going to leave …
As far as Concarnadine was concerned, his first impulse had been to throw Elizabeth through the closing aperture, and to safety. But he could so more to help her while they were together and, since this conflict was running on his timetable, he wasn’t keen on delaying it and returning the initiative to his adversary.
There was one thing he could so, though. He conjured a ball of light, so that she could see him whisper “Thank you.”
The jaws closed, and by the glow of the light-ball, Concarnadine and Elizabeth considered their position.
“That must be the corridor they send - or sent - the customers up,” Elizabeth said, pointing to the exit marked with large red arrows. Concarnadine nodded and the two turned their attention to the rest of the cramped space.
Thankfully it took only a few seconds until they came across the trapdoor, behind the attendant’s counter. Somewhat more ominously, it opened with a well-oiled ease, and the stairs revealed were a lot less dusty and a lot better maintained than anything they had so far seen in Merridew’s carnival.
They’d got about twelve steps down when the nausea and disorientation started. And immediately they both invoked Seals, of Air and of Earth. The confusion unravelled and they held themselves still and silent. When nothing worse happened, they risked a glance at each other, and then words.
“You okay ?”
“Fine. Was that -- ?”
“I think we were supposed to be transported somewhere,” Concarnadine replied.
“Except we’re still here.”
“Implying that it didn’t work - that we were quick enough to interfere.”
“Now what ?”
“Well, we dealt with that and …”
“Further on and further down ?”.
“Is that another Lewis Carroll quote ?” Concarnadine asked Elizabeth.
“No - an adaptation from C.S. Lewis,” she replied, and threw up her own ball of light, smaller than his and slightly lemon-coloured.
“Oh. Well, that aside: yes - we go on.”
At the bottom of the stairway was a small squared-off room that looked to have been dug from the lower soil.
“No obvious way out,” Concarnadine commented. “Can the Jewel tell anything ?”
Elizabeth held it up, on its chain, and concentrated.
A rotation or two and some thinking things through and she pointed at a section of the wall area. “Through there.”
‘Through” proved to be the exact word: the “wall” turned out to be a thing of cobwebs and shadows, a mere illusory construct - albeit one which did not dispel on touch, not that it was possible to touch it literally. With that obstacle surmounted, it became relatively simple to find their way through a supposedly-complex maze of corridors which were, in point of fact, the illusionary-wall equivalent of a House of Mirrors. At one point there were ghost footsteps, coming up from behind them, and Concarnadine made a real wall appear and there was a thump as something or someone hit it.
Then they found a trio of doors, and Elizabeth remembered the Lady and the Tiger puzzle, and the variation on it that Monty Hall had created, featuring the luxury car and the two goats. She wasn’t sure how aware Concarnadine was of American game-shows (she’d only known about it, because her manager had tried to get her to front a similar arrangement early in her career, but she’d found out that the producers had rigged the odds so that they almost always won), so she made sure to grab his arm and explain.
“Whichever door we choose, there’ll always be one that’s as dangerous or more so.”
Concarnadine nodded and gestured. The illusions of the two of them materialised from thin air and walked to the outside doors.
“Ready ?” he queried.
She nodded.
Between the two of them, they got all three doors open, almost at once, and then quickly got the two shut which led, respectively, to a lava pit, and to the edge of a precipice.
Behind the third door was a space about the size of a gymnasium. Before they could enter it, however, a voice interrupted them.
“Very good.”
Jovimort had manifested himself as a prosperous-looking man, dressed in city clothes, with a gold-topped walking stick, and rings on his fingers.
He immediately ignored Concarnadine, and turned his attention on Elizabeth: “You are wasted with him, my dear,” he said to her, with precision, and confidence; “Whereas, if you will allow, I can offer you - ”
For a second a crystal web formed around him, but he brushed it aside and “tut”ted at Concarnadine: “I was speaking to the lady - surely you can wait - ”
“I’ve nothing to say to you,” Elizabeth said calmly, allowing no vestige to appear on her face referring to the booming thunder in her brain.
“No ?” For a moment, Jovimort looked as though he might have pressed her further.
“No. After all, we both know I was scheduled to be a sacrifice to you. Which is hardly a good basis for a meaningful relationship.”
“I’m sorry - then in that case … ”
As soon as he’d spoken those words the lights in the room behind the third door brightened. Jovimort himself dematerialised, and Concarnadine and Elizabeth found that they were facing a quartet of people, most notable among them being Ilona Comeyn.
“Then, if you won’t serve the Master,” she said, “You can die for him.”
'Fandom': The Concarnadine Chronicles
Claim: General; Characters
Prompt: #069 :: “Thunder”
Word Count: c.1150
Rating: PG-15
Summary: The last chapter(s) continue(s), with the face-to-face confrontation
Author's Notes: This is what I'd been working to. Props to those of you who are still keeping up with the plot twists.
“Thunder”
Ducking through the hole in the fence, Concarnadine and Elizabeth made their way into the shade of the nearest booth in the derelict carnival. Around them, the night made a blanket round the ramshackle collection of disused rides, and closed stands which made up Merridew’s Superfine Carnival and Emporium - a blanket which served to cut the carnival off from the housing estate which had grown up round its site; a blanket which served to accentuate the feeling of stepping into another world, and to increase the tension of the situation.
Elizabeth led the way for the moment, guided by her Jewel, tracing what she felt as a “taint” in the air. Not to her particular surprise, she found herself led to the centre of the carnival, to a Fun House structure, with a central entrance surrounded by a hoarding depicting demonic jaws.
“How doth the little crocodile … ” she murmured.
“Pardon ?”
“It’s Lewis Carroll,” she explained: “About the crocodile which welcomes little fishes in, with gently smiling jaws. I’ll read it to you, when this is over.”
“Oh.”
There might have been more that could have been said, as they stepped into the entrance, senses stretched for any sign of ambush, but words became a lesser issue when, suddenly, a shadow moved.
“Oh oh !”
“I’m sure that that isn’t meant to be happening.”
The hoarding jaws had begun to close. For a moment the thought of ducking through them back into the world outside crossed Elizabeth’s mind: it felt as though she had heard the first, hollow, whisper of approaching thunder. Then she withdrew from the impulse. She was there to be with Concarnadine and if he wasn’t going to leave …
As far as Concarnadine was concerned, his first impulse had been to throw Elizabeth through the closing aperture, and to safety. But he could so more to help her while they were together and, since this conflict was running on his timetable, he wasn’t keen on delaying it and returning the initiative to his adversary.
There was one thing he could so, though. He conjured a ball of light, so that she could see him whisper “Thank you.”
The jaws closed, and by the glow of the light-ball, Concarnadine and Elizabeth considered their position.
“That must be the corridor they send - or sent - the customers up,” Elizabeth said, pointing to the exit marked with large red arrows. Concarnadine nodded and the two turned their attention to the rest of the cramped space.
Thankfully it took only a few seconds until they came across the trapdoor, behind the attendant’s counter. Somewhat more ominously, it opened with a well-oiled ease, and the stairs revealed were a lot less dusty and a lot better maintained than anything they had so far seen in Merridew’s carnival.
They’d got about twelve steps down when the nausea and disorientation started. And immediately they both invoked Seals, of Air and of Earth. The confusion unravelled and they held themselves still and silent. When nothing worse happened, they risked a glance at each other, and then words.
“You okay ?”
“Fine. Was that -- ?”
“I think we were supposed to be transported somewhere,” Concarnadine replied.
“Except we’re still here.”
“Implying that it didn’t work - that we were quick enough to interfere.”
“Now what ?”
“Well, we dealt with that and …”
“Further on and further down ?”.
“Is that another Lewis Carroll quote ?” Concarnadine asked Elizabeth.
“No - an adaptation from C.S. Lewis,” she replied, and threw up her own ball of light, smaller than his and slightly lemon-coloured.
“Oh. Well, that aside: yes - we go on.”
At the bottom of the stairway was a small squared-off room that looked to have been dug from the lower soil.
“No obvious way out,” Concarnadine commented. “Can the Jewel tell anything ?”
Elizabeth held it up, on its chain, and concentrated.
A rotation or two and some thinking things through and she pointed at a section of the wall area. “Through there.”
‘Through” proved to be the exact word: the “wall” turned out to be a thing of cobwebs and shadows, a mere illusory construct - albeit one which did not dispel on touch, not that it was possible to touch it literally. With that obstacle surmounted, it became relatively simple to find their way through a supposedly-complex maze of corridors which were, in point of fact, the illusionary-wall equivalent of a House of Mirrors. At one point there were ghost footsteps, coming up from behind them, and Concarnadine made a real wall appear and there was a thump as something or someone hit it.
Then they found a trio of doors, and Elizabeth remembered the Lady and the Tiger puzzle, and the variation on it that Monty Hall had created, featuring the luxury car and the two goats. She wasn’t sure how aware Concarnadine was of American game-shows (she’d only known about it, because her manager had tried to get her to front a similar arrangement early in her career, but she’d found out that the producers had rigged the odds so that they almost always won), so she made sure to grab his arm and explain.
“Whichever door we choose, there’ll always be one that’s as dangerous or more so.”
Concarnadine nodded and gestured. The illusions of the two of them materialised from thin air and walked to the outside doors.
“Ready ?” he queried.
She nodded.
Between the two of them, they got all three doors open, almost at once, and then quickly got the two shut which led, respectively, to a lava pit, and to the edge of a precipice.
Behind the third door was a space about the size of a gymnasium. Before they could enter it, however, a voice interrupted them.
“Very good.”
Jovimort had manifested himself as a prosperous-looking man, dressed in city clothes, with a gold-topped walking stick, and rings on his fingers.
He immediately ignored Concarnadine, and turned his attention on Elizabeth: “You are wasted with him, my dear,” he said to her, with precision, and confidence; “Whereas, if you will allow, I can offer you - ”
For a second a crystal web formed around him, but he brushed it aside and “tut”ted at Concarnadine: “I was speaking to the lady - surely you can wait - ”
“I’ve nothing to say to you,” Elizabeth said calmly, allowing no vestige to appear on her face referring to the booming thunder in her brain.
“No ?” For a moment, Jovimort looked as though he might have pressed her further.
“No. After all, we both know I was scheduled to be a sacrifice to you. Which is hardly a good basis for a meaningful relationship.”
“I’m sorry - then in that case … ”
As soon as he’d spoken those words the lights in the room behind the third door brightened. Jovimort himself dematerialised, and Concarnadine and Elizabeth found that they were facing a quartet of people, most notable among them being Ilona Comeyn.
“Then, if you won’t serve the Master,” she said, “You can die for him.”