NOVEL WEB An uneasy morning of the Elf Queen.
* * *
Nothing. No trace at all.
Her colleague's voice sounded tired and somewhat annoyed. Mirael understood him quite well. Over the past few days, they studied her sister, who had been hovering in a magical glow. But they had found nothing suspicious. And yet Ziandar persisted, convinced he was right. As a result, a great deal of reagents had been spent, including some that could not be physically replenished quickly.
And the result was nil. There was no trace of hidden magical structures in Tiantrel's physical or subtle body. And yet, the master of the Branding School continued to persist. Sighing tiredly, the Elder Enchantress turned to her colleague and said in an extremely polite voice:
"I suggest we finish the external inspection and move on to investigating what's left of her mind."
Ziandar, standing next to Mirael with a grim face, folded his hands behind his back, keeping his eyes fixed on his sister hovering in an intricate weave of magical spells.
"One more day. There are still a couple of techniques left that we haven't used."
"Which are no less effective than the previous ones, but will cost us more money."
There was silence in the magic lab. Most of the gifted gathered here supported the Elder Enchantress. Only his colleague, who had learned the dark School of Blood Magic, and another of the Mind Magic masters were on the side of the Master of the School of Branding. Pressing his lips together, Ziandar repeated:
"One more day, Mirael. And then I give up."
"Glancing over to the other magic masters, the Elder Enchantress shrugged and nodded:"
Fine. One more day. Which method should we start with?
After thinking for a few seconds, Ziandar turned to his colleague and spoke:
"We haven't tried a full blood test with active contrast yet."
"We can try it. What kind of contrast do we use?"
"For starters, I suggest Stardust."
"All right. Let the preparations begin..."
While preparations were being made, Mirael approached Tiantrel, who was hovering motionless. How on earth did you end up like this? And where? Frowning, the Elder Enchantress ran her gaze over her sister's body, from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her ears. She looked perfectly normal and healthy. A beautiful firstborn maiden, simply the embodiment of the ancient legend of the sleeping beauty. The trained body of an experienced Secret Guard agent, whose beauty could not be spoiled even by her enlarged form. A beautiful face, with azure eyes that were now closed. And marvelous silver hair, so thick and shiny in the light of magical weaves.
Frowning, the Elder Enchantress felt a thought stirring at the edge of her consciousness. Some vague feeling that she was missing something. But what? Closing her eyes, Mirael froze in place, concentrating and putting her mind into a meditative trance. It was a tricky one, but extremely effective when it came to finding an elusive thought in her mind. What did she miss? What... Exactly!
"Stop!"
Her colleagues, who had almost finished preparing for the start of the next inspection, froze in their seats, turning to look at the Elder Enchantress. Taking hold of her staff and cane, Mirael adjusted herself to the controlling weave of the ritual circle, with Tiantrel's bed at its center.
"Did something happen?"
“We've all forgotten something, colleagues.”
Under the surprised stares of the other gifted and a couple of observers from the Secret Guard agents, Mirael concentrated on the control weave and delivered a precise and precise impact. A cold white glow enveloped her motionless sister's head, followed by a bright wave of light from her neck to the top of her head. A moment later, the elf's luxurious silver hair, all of it, was cut off at the root. A moment more, and all of them hung in a neat cloud in a separate glow. For a few seconds, all the elves looked at their sister, who had lost all her hair. Then, the Elder Enchantress with another impact carefully turned her face down. For a few moments, there was silence in the magical laboratory. Mirael was the first to break it, pointing the tip of her wand at the back of Tiantrel's head:
"What is this?"
A narrow horizontal band of dark color was visible on the elf's smooth white skin, exactly in the center of the back of her head. Instantly tense and wary, his colleagues moved closer to the bed, fitting themselves into the weave of the ritual circle. The glow around Tiantrel increased its brightness, in addition to it magical circles appeared near different parts of the elf's body, and waves of light passed. Turning to the Elder Enchantress, Ziandar asked:
"How did you guess?"
"By accident. I remembered the legend of how a secret message was conveyed through a slave by tattooing his head and waiting for his hair to grow back."
"Turning to her colleagues, Mirael uttered:"
"Check her hair for..."
"Already. Positive! Traces of alchemy, a type of magic concealing compound. The dosage is minuscule, but it's in every hair. Combined, it's enough of a coefficient to..."
"I see. I need the exact composition, calculate it."
"We working."
Turning back to the motionless Tiantrel, the Elder Enchantress said slowly:
"And what is that?"
Standing beside her, Ziandar spoke thoughtfully:
"I can't figure it out. The response is very strange, and this strip has almost no response to scanning charms. It's like... it's like... it's like..."
While the master of the Branding School was choosing his words, his colleague, a former expert in magical barriers and protection magic, took the floor:
"It's like a keyhole. Or rather, its magical equivalent. The response is identical."
"Exactly!"
Turning to the Elder Enchantress, the coworkers asked:
"Let's work?"
"Yeah. Neutral flux at extremely low power to start with. We need to find the right frequency...."
The magical laboratory was in full swing. Several concentric magic circles appeared above the back of Tiantrel's head. Through them, passing strictly through the center, a thin white beam struck the back of the elf's head, straight into the dark strip.
"It doesn't fit. Changing the frequency..."
"The response is getting weaker. There, that's better."
"We need to increase the power..."
"We're working in the wrong spectrum..."
Finding the “key” was not easy. Hours passed, but no one paid attention to the time. A dozen gifted masters of magic, the best in the Forest, were slowly and painstakingly opening the incomprehensible lock on their sister's mind. Almost without interruption for food and drink, let alone rest. And patience, multiplied by skill and excellent magical equipment, paid off. As the sun began to rise in the Forest, Mirael exclaimed contentedly:
"Bingo! Frequency and spectrum match! Use low power and contrast. Then go to medium."
"Copy that. I'm on it."
From the cone of magic circles of various types that hung precisely above the back of Tiantrel's head, a thin beam of pale blue struck downward. Right in the center of the stripe on the back of her head. After a few moments, it too began to glow.
“Got it! Increasing to medium... Oh...”
There was a dead silence in the lab. The gifted looked at the agent's transformed body in silence. One of the Secret Guard agents was the first to react, grabbing the binding amulet:
"Call Third, now!"
* * *
"Waaaaaah!"
Without opening her eyes, Sivila muttered into her pillow:
"It's your turn."
There was a grunt of displeasure from the other side of the bed. Then there was a rustle of blankets and the slapping of bare feet on the floor. And then a baby's cry was replaced by a cheerful squawk. Turning on his side, Luaval snuggled against the queen's back, burying his face in her disheveled platinum hair. He moved his hand over her breast and lazily squeezed Sivila's breast, then said sleepily:
"What a rascal. I wasn't like that when I was a kid."
From the direction of the baby's cradle came a sleepy sound:
"Me too."
With a loud yawn, the dark elf asked without stopping squeezing the queen's breasts:
"What time is it?"
Sivila slipped her hand out from under the blanket and snapped her fingers. The amulet flew out of the pile of clothes in the chair and landed precisely on her open palm.
"It's morning. Time to get up."
"Wah!"
Reluctantly, the two elves climbed out of bed. They threw on dark cloth robes embroidered with the letters “T” and headed for the baths on the first floor of the mansion, yawning and stretching as they went. Sierra followed, not bothering to get dressed and cradling her son to her chest. Sivila looked down at the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and raised her eyebrows in bewilderment:
"What the hell is this?"
With a twinkle in her eyes, the dark elfess pressed her lips together and said unhappily:
"I didn't know how to do that! It was always done by your maids!"
"You had kids before him, didn't you?"
"They were handled by my maids!"
"Okay, after bathing, my girls should be here right away, and later the servants assigned to Luaval. They'll take care of the baby."
"Diarval,” the satisfied father corrected the queen.
"For the first twenty years, they are all babies, whatever you want to call them."
"Agreed..."
With such talk, they reached the bathhouse. They had to get up a little later than usual because of the wild night. Therefore, the water procedures had to be reduced to the bare minimum. While the queen soaped her hair (it was good that she had taken care to prepare everything in advance), Sierra took her child to a separate small children's bath filled with warm water. Luaval, on the other hand, decided to keep Sivila company. Approaching her from behind, the dark elf asked cheerfully:
"Shall I rub your back, Your Majesty?"
Covering her eyes to avoid the soapy lather, the queen calculated the remaining time. Then she sighed mentally, but said aloud:
"Just make it quick."
Leaning forward, Sivila leaned against the side of the bathing area and spread her legs slightly. With a predatory smile, the dark elf put his arms around her waist, already ready for business, and entered her smoothly. After waiting a few moments, he began to move his hips, gradually increasing his pace. With one hand he continued to hold the queen by the waist, with the other he reached forward and squeezed her right breast, which caused a thin trickle of milk to flow from Sivila's nipple. What wouldn't you do for the good of the Forest? However, the morning's desire had done its work, and Luaval poured into her quickly enough. Exhaling, the dark elf kissed the queen's neck passionately and then really started rubbing her back. And not just her back.
By the time Sivila was out of the water, washed and groped from head to toe by Luaval, Sierra had finished washing Diarval and climbed into the main bath with him, cradling him close to her. The baby appeared to be enjoying the bath and was humming contentedly. Luaval immediately turned his attention to his new senior wife and son. Sivila was already waiting for her girls, who had arrived at the new home of the Patriarch of House Travil, as well as Astra and Fiorel. Stepping out of the water, the queen threw on a robe and went with them to one of the guest rooms. Everything there had been prepared for beauty since the evening. The dark elves were left to soak in the bathing room in the company of each other. Lucky bastards! When would she find time to have fun with her green cuties?
By the time the girls in six hands had made the queen look proper, and Fiorel had finished reading out the routine correspondence, they had deigned to climb out of the water and up to the top of the mansion to their guests. And it was at that moment that the queen's communication amulet came to life. Clutching it in her hand, Sivila listened silently to the words for a few seconds, then she spoke:
"I have an urgent matter. Fiorel, all my appointments are canceled for today, reschedule them and do your routine until tonight. If it's urgent, call me. You girls are free to leave for now. Astra, you're coming with me. Luaval, you have a couple days to rest, then I'll need you. Oh, and one more thing."
Turning to Sierra, who was cradling an infant wrapped in three layers of towels, the queen said:
"Girls, teach Sierra how to swaddle a baby. A good mother should be able to do it herself."
The Dark One's lips tightened in displeasure, but she remained silent, handing the baby to Katrina. Sivila said goodbye to everyone and went with Astra to the Secret Guard enclosure of the palace.
* * *
At the entrance to the magical laboratory where poor Tiantrel was being examined, the queen was greeted by a pair of Secret Guard agents who silently opened the doors for her and her bodyguard. Waiting for them inside were Third, several of his subordinates, and all of the gifted that had been brought in. With a brief nod, the queen got right down to business:
"What did you manage to...oh...."
When the queen saw Tiantrel floating in the magical glow, she froze half-silently, her green eyes wide open. The agentess hovered face down over the bed. There was no hair on her head, and a complex symbol on the back of her head glowed with a cold white light, covering the entire back of her skull. From it, thin lines glowing with the same white light ran all over the elf's body. As far as the queen could estimate, they coincided perfectly with the directions of the main energy channels. In key places, they connected with other symbols similar to the one on the back of her head. Around the eyes, on the chest, the lower abdomen, in three places along the spine, on the pubic area, the backs of the palms, feet, thighs - at each point where there was an energy node, one or another magical symbol was glowing.
For a few seconds, Sivila stared at this simultaneously frightening and mesmerizing sight. The mere sight of Tiantrel entangled in glowing patterns sent a chill down her spine. Yet it was impossible not to appreciate their beauty and grace. Not a single unnecessary detail, not a single broken line or curl. Licking her lips, the queen turned to Third, who stood beside her, clutching the connecting amulet in his hand, and Mirael:
"What is this?"
The Elder Enchantress with a very grim face and an equally grim voice said:
"We only discovered it this morning and called you and Third in right away. As far as we can tell, it looks like a mixture of the School of Branding and Tattooing. These structures here..."
The Elder Enchantress moved her hand, and some of the designs on her legs, arms, and chest turned green.
"...similar to those used by some tribes of humans and orcs practicing the school of Tattooing. Their range of uses can be quite broad. They can act as limb enhancers, allowing the wearer to directly operate magical weaves, both defensive and offensive. It is enough to channel energy into the desired structure and it almost immediately forms the spell embedded in it. Very effective, but requires considerable skill and long practice, as well as well-developed subtle bodies. The same structure..."
Mirael moved her hand again and now the back of Tiantrel's head was colored green.
"...is designed to manipulate the mind. And on a much broader spectrum than most brands."
"The work is of the highest level of skill,” Ziandar echoed his colleague's words, ”I am not capable of such a thing. And I don't even have much idea how such a thing could be accomplished."
Bad. Without taking her gaze off Tiantrel, the queen asked:
"We need to summon Gaelmara, she is the best connoisseur and master of the School of Tattooing..."
"Already,” Third didn't let Sivila finish, ”but she won't be able to arrive until tomorrow."
"All right. Do you have any idea who would do something like this?"
The head of the Secret Guard and the gathered gifted almost simultaneously shook their heads:
"That was the first thing I asked as soon as I got here. We've never encountered anything like this before. And no one we know of who has reached the level of Archmage or Archmagister has ever been seen practicing such things. Which means two things. Either one of them has honed such practices in secret, or it's someone we don't know about."
Very bad. Both, and it's not clear which one is worse.
"Have your analysts compile lists of known gifted individuals who could, in theory, do this."
"I already have. I can think of a few candidates who could, in theory, do such a thing, but it would be very difficult to verify, given how powerful the suspects are. In addition, some of them are reclusive and hermit-like, which will make the job even more difficult."
"All right, let them work."
Pointing to the motionless agentess, the queen asked:
"What else have you learned?"
With a grim face, Ziandar nodded briefly:
"We were able to understand some things. And the most important thing we were able to find out was that my colleague was right in what she said, even if she didn't realize the depth of it."
Pointing his hand at the symbol on the back of Tiantrel's head, the master of the Branding School continued:
"Tiantrel has indeed been turned into a living golem, almost literally. This structure... judging by the feedback we've gotten, it literally allows you to manipulate the mind like a golem's control matrix. Bringing in or removing patterns of behavior, memories, or knowledge. You can even transfer another consciousness entirely if you prepare it properly first. In theory. Of course, any master of Mind Magic who has reached the level of a magister and is properly equipped can do such a thing. But even a non-gifted person can do it with this structure! Anyone, using the necessary artifacts, where certain fragments of the mind, memories, or personality matrixes are already recorded, can place them in this body. Or remove them. This is, without exaggeration, a sample of the highest magical art."
Sivila, who was listening attentively to Ziandar, remained unchanged outwardly. But it had cost her a great deal of effort. It was even worse than she had imagined. She asked in a firm and calm voice:
"I heard you, honorable Ziandar. Tell me, can you understand what is in Tiantrel's mind right now?"
The master of the Branding School slowly nodded:
"My colleagues and I have only just begun to study this structure, but there is virtually nothing in her mind. Everything we could have taken from her mind has been removed. Memories, personality matrix, everything that formed the core of Tiantrel's self has been carefully removed. But the skills and knowledge were left to her in full, as far as one can tell...."
"What about the soul?!" Ziandar was interrupted by the queen, who was struck by a terrible hunch.
"She's fine, Your Majesty,” Mirael answered in place of her colleague, ”that's the first thing we checked. Tiantrel's soul is still with her, but now it's almost pristine. And it is her soul, not someone else's."
"Good,” Sivila exhaled, feeling a small pebble fall from her shoulders, ”Then it's not the work of the Inferno's inhabitants."
"We can't completely rule it out, but it's not like them. Again, we found no traces of their influence. And the nature of demons is such that it is almost impossible for them not to touch the soul of their victim and not leave characteristic traces on it."
Folding her arms across her chest, the queen was silent for a few seconds, then spoke slowly:
"Is there any way to save Tiantrel?"
After a second's hesitation, Mirael said uncertainly, glancing over to her colleagues:
"In theory, if we can get the vessels where her mind was transferred, we can get it back into her body. But in practice, the chances of that happening are slim to none. There's no guarantee that whoever did this to her left her personality intact. And he could have done literally anything to them, given his skill level. Or erase them altogether. In my opinion, the best and safest outcome for Tiantrel would be to undergo the Rite of Rebirth. Her soul is intact, her body is intact. The ritual will wash away all of her impurities and she will begin her eternity anew as a newborn baby."
Another small stone fell from the queen's shoulders. It really wasn't the worst possible fate.
"Okay, we'll keep this one as the primary option, but we won't go with it just yet...."
"Tell me,” Third interrupted the queen sharply, who kept clutching the cohesive amulet in his hand while mentally talking to someone, ”how exactly does the procedure of changing the mind with the help of this structure take place?"
The face of the Head of the Secret Guard, normally unruffled, was now rigid. Ziandar looked thoughtfully at his colleagues and said slowly:
"This is a very complex process, I think such an operation would require a very good laboratory and at least..."
"You don't understand,” Third interrupted again, ”I'm asking, how exactly was she changed or put new memories or parts of her mind into her head? After they had already created this... structure?"
"Oh... I can't tell you the details, it has to be checked and investigated... But as far as I can tell, this area here was used to work with the mind."
With a wave of Ziandar's hand, the narrow horizontal strip in the center of the back of Tiantrel's head was dyed a bright green light:
"This section is a kind of magical analog of a keyhole, through it, we opened the whole structure. It's like the controlling section of any weave, which is interacted using an amulet...."
"I see your point,” Ziandar was interrupted again by Third, who had become even more grim and tense.
The head of the Secret Guard still clutched his communication amulet in his hand, but he kept his eyes on Tiantrel. The moment his other hand was on the hilt of the magic wand, no one noticed. Nor when his subordinates in the laboratory drew their battle wands and blades. Except for Astra, who also suddenly appeared practically close behind the queen and drew her short battle staff. In her other hand, the bodyguard had a powerful protective amulet clutched. A physically palpable tension hung in the magical laboratory. Not knowing what was going on, the queen asked:
"What are..."
"Tell me,” Third paid no attention to Sivila, continuing to glare at the body of his subordinate, ”is it possible to do it from a distance, without physical contact?"
There was a sepulchral silence in the laboratory. The queen, realizing what Third had realized even earlier, felt not even a mountain, but the entire Undmountain fall on her shoulders. Ziandar and Mirael froze with their mouths open. As did some of their colleagues. Turning her gaze to Tiantrel, who was frozen in the glow, the Elder Enchantress opened her mouth but had no time to say anything. Suddenly, the complex magical symbol glowing on the back of the agent's head changed color from cold white to golden yellow, and from it, a swift wave of light swept along all the lines. Tiantrel twitched in the magical glow around her and opened her eyes.
Mirael gasped. The other Gifted made similar sounds. Third raised his battle staff with lightning speed, shifting backward. His subordinates repeated their superior's movements. Ziandar, who was in the controlling segment of the ritual circle, reacted commendably and with a short curse, raised his hands, putting the weaves surrounding the agent into suppressive mode. Sivila yelped fearfully as Astra jerked her back with unexpected force. At the same time, a translucent protective field appeared around her and the queen.
A moment later, the glow around Tiantrel, who had opened her eyes, increased its density by an order of magnitude, and brightly glowing magic circles appeared around her ankles, neck, and wrists. Third, who held her in the crosshairs of his magic wand, opened his mouth in time to shout, “Alarm!” In the next instant, the symbols glowing on the agent's body flashed brightly at once. The glow surrounding Tiantrelle and the magical circles that had appeared rippled, losing stability, and she swung her arms and legs.
"Suppression!"
Third's new roar coincided with the simultaneous use of magic wands by him and his subordinates. Four red beams struck the agent's body, but a moment before they touched her body, its outline blurred and Tiantrel vanished. Only to reappear a fraction of a moment later in mid-air in front of Ziandar and deliver a honed kick with her bare foot directly into his chest. As she did so, the symbols on her foot, shin, and thigh once again flashed with a particularly bright light. The Master of the School of Branding did not have time to react and flew backward with a scream, falling out of the controlling segment of the ritual circle. The protective amulet on his chest shattered into tiny pieces with a loud crack unable to withstand the overload. There were screams of fright, Mirael threw both hands in front of her, creating a protective barrier, and Astra threw the screaming queen back against the wall of the laboratory, taking her position in front of her with her weapon at the ready. Another shriek from the Third cut across the ears in the confined room:
"Take her alive!"
It was easier said than done, as Tiantrel, who had knocked Ziandar to the ground, landed on the floor of the lab and immediately crouched on the ground, dodging two more paralyzing attacks, before rushing lightning fast toward the lab's exit. The symbols on her body burned brightly, especially those on her legs. One of the invited gifted, an honored master of the School of Artifacting, jumped back with a frightened cry, raising his hands with a magic wand in front of him. But he got tangled in his robe and collapsed to the floor, hitting another colleague and knocking him down as well. Tiantrel paid no attention to this, darting toward the closed doors, on which the blocking magic seal had flashed as soon as Third shouted “Alert!” But a moment before colliding, the agentess's body blurred dramatically again, and she vanished. Another moment later, screams rang out in the corridor. Simultaneously, the piercing howl of alarming amulets resounded in the Secret Guard Corps. It was interrupted by the roar of Third:
"Damn it, get after her, quick!"
The agents in the lab were already rushing after the fugitive. The head of the Secret Guard, meanwhile, continued to yell, clutching his communication amulet, which had been set to voice mode:
"General alarm, code black! Repeat, code black! Seal off the entire palace! Seal off the block! Do not kill her! We need her alive! Only alive! Be extremely careful, she may blink and..."
At that moment, a muffled rumbling and shouting sounded somewhere nearby. An angry scolding sounded from the communication amulet, followed by a tense report:
"Damn it, we can't stop her, she's running like crazy and blinking constantly, jumping over barriers and doors..."
"Use total suppression, don't let her get away! Her reserve isn't infinite, she won't be able to...."
A new report from the head of the Secret Guard's communication amulet cut through the ears of those in the laboratory:
"She's breaking through to the operational portal room! We're not gonna make it."
Third's answering shout made their ears pop:
"De-activate the portal arch, block it, break it, blow it up, don't miss her!"
There was a distinct panic in his voice:
"She's already there! All groups to the portal room... Quick, shut it down! I don't care, do it, do it now! Cut it off, hurry up, for fuck's sake!"
The laboratory turned into a hall of living sculptures. Everyone in the room froze, some even stopped breathing. Clenching his amulet, Third literally growled:
"Report! Report immediately!"
The amulet was silent for a few seconds, and then Third's interlocutor, most likely a duty agent, spoke in a voice completely devoid of emotion:
"The fugitive managed to get away. We de-activated the operational portal room, but she managed to get hold of the control key, activate the portal arch on her own, and escape. The on-duty shift couldn't stop her. Emergency response team..."
"Abort pursuit. Cancel the general alarm. Put the Palace in quarantine mode. Proceed with pattern four. Treat all wounded."
"Ahm... copy that."
"I'll be in touch."
Third extinguished the communication amulet and tucked it away in his inner pocket with the same completely unperturbed look he had before. The people in the lab stared at him. Sivila, still under Astra's protective field, stepped forward and asked in a strained voice:
"What's going on?"
The head of the Secret Guard turned to the queen with a completely unperturbed face and said in a completely calm, even mundane voice:
"Isn't it obvious, Your Majesty? Our opponents found out that Tiantrel had fallen into our hands and tried to correct their mistake."
"In the name of the First Tree, how is that possible?! Why are you... wait..."
Opening her eyes, Sivila stared at a perfectly calm Third:
"What do you mean by saying they tried?"
A semblance of a smile appeared on the face of the Head of the Secret Guard. It was probably due to the play of light and shadow in the laboratory.
"Exactly what I meant, Your Majesty. That they tried."
Looking perplexed, first at the Queen and then at Third, Mirael spoke demandingly:
"Can you properly explain what's going on here?!"
"Let's just say that I was considering the possibility that our opponents would take certain steps after learning that Tiantrel had fallen into our hands. And the fact that they would find out was obvious. There were too many traces of her left behind in Kuordemar. So I took some measures. In particular, on my orders, I made some changes to the operation of all the portals on the palace grounds. To be more specific, I changed the destination point in case of an alarm. Regardless of what coordinates anyone entered and how all the portals would lead to one specific location."
Raising her eyebrows, the queen said slowly:
"Are you saying that..."
At that moment, the doors of the lab opened, and four Secret Guard agents stepped inside. Two of them looked ragged, and one had a bloodstained uniform. Between them, an enchanted circular platform made of a single piece of marble, covered with magical symbols that flickered faintly, floated in the air above the floor. On it, inside a huge block of transparent ice, was the still naked Tiantrel. The symbols on her body glowed faintly, as did her azure eyes. At the sight of her, almost everyone in the lab gasped or gasped. They stared at the fugitive for a few seconds. Then one of them looked questioningly first at Third, then back at Tiantrel:
"Wait! Something doesn't add up! If those who did this to her could somehow order her to escape, why didn't they do it earlier? Why did they just set this up now? Why did they wait so long?"
A semblance of a smile reappeared on Third's face. Or was it again a play of light and shadow?
The most logical option is that they simply couldn't have done it before. Most likely because Tiantrel was out of their range and they couldn't reach her.
There were a few bewildered whispers in the lab. With her arms folded across her chest, the Elder Enchantress furrowed her brow and said:
This is ridiculous. So, while she was in the middle of nowhere, they couldn't get Tiantrel. And here, practically in the heart of the Forest, in the Palace, in the Secret Guard's special laboratory, they somehow managed to...
Mirael's eyes widened at the half-word and she stared at Third, struck by a sudden realization. He nodded and answered in a calm voice:
"You think right, honorable Mirael. The only way they could reach her here is if they had to reach a very short distance. And that's why the entire palace is under Quarantine."
* * *