You did WHAT?

John is ... less than pleased to find out what Parathallaxa has done, and that's putting it mildly!

'You did WHAT?' 

To say John was angry was an understatement. As tiny as he was, he possessed a fury that could easily rival a larger dragon, and he was literally ablaze as he confronted his grandfather. 'That's my daughter!' he roared. 'What right did you have to kidnap her?'

Parathallaxa had, thankfully, retained his memories of that incident, and he wished he hadn't. The shame was immense, and as he looked into his grandson's blazing eyes, he knew he was going to live with it for the rest of his life. That was, of course, if he lived for much longer. His forbidden magics of the day before had sapped a great portion of his failing strength, and he knew he had days, if that, before he finally passed away. Already he was making frantic plans to ensure the barriers protecting the castle stayed in place; it wouldn't do for them to fail when he died, thus rendering his work meaningless. 'I did what I had to do protect her,' he said as firmly as he could manage. 'You must understand; she is a dragon like you. One of your relatives was likely to seize her, killing the rest of your family in the process.'

'And?' John said angrily. 'At what cost did you abduct my daughter and send her the gods only know where?'

'The safety of your family,' Parathallaxa protested. 'Surely you can see that.'

"No, we cannot," Meghan said, her eyes like ice as she joined her future husband. Arms folded, she wore such a look of disapproval that Parathallaxa felt even worse. "I can gloss over abducting my stepdaughter," she said, "since you so kindly did that to me over a year ago. But I can't forgive you wiping her parents' and siblings' memories. How the hell is that protecting them?"

'It ensures they cannot give her whereabouts away if they fall into the hands of the enemy,' Parathallaxa said, and for the first time since John had come storming into his chambers, anger filled his voice. 'You do not understand the scope of the danger surrounding your daughter. She is a dragon. Of what type I do not know, but she cannot be permitted to fall into the hands of her great-uncle - or whoever it is that wishes to do her harm. Someone out there is using the Old Magics, and they have the assistance of a creature whose existence should never have been permitted. That creature will twist any magic used by your enemy and make it even stronger than mine. Should they kidnap your daughter, then they can take her magic and add it to theirs, and all we've done will be rendered meaningless!'

John sighed. 'Fine,' he growled. 'But I cannot ever forgive you for what you have done. Never. I know your reasons, but your method of execution was just damn shoddy, if I may be so blunt.'

'I understand,' Parathallaxa said sadly. 'I hope that one day you and Aisa can forgive me.'

'Just tell me where she is,' John said angrily. 

'She is with elves,' Parathallaxa confirmed. 'It is the safest place for her to be right now; my lifeforce is fading, and if I die before these defenses are secured, then all here will be exposed to your cousin's wiles, and the wiles of the creature he has snared.'

"Then we'd better make plans to get us all to safety," Meghan said, folding her arms tighter across her chest. "I've worked out your defenses, by the way. To borrow my fiance's words, they're shoddy. If you shift us to just one or two seconds out of time with everything else, then we'll be safe for the forseeable future. Otherwise, if I may be so blunt, we're screwed."

'Do you know where we could go?' John asked. 

Meghan glared at Parathallaxa, who felt guilty all over again. "Someone neglected to tell me that only one branch of unicorns had been wiped from existence," she said coldly. "As it turns out, I've got relatives on the maternal side who survived the masscare by going into one step out of time with the rest of existence. Harald's brother and his pet whatever don't seem to have worked it out, as they've been searching for my relatives for some time, long before John and I were born, as it turns out. And these relatives have a power that goes way beyond anything even dragons can conjure up.'

John blinked, then gasped. 'Wait,' he said slowly. 'Your family was ...'

"Moon unicorns," Meghan confirmed. "My relatives who survived, on the other hand, are sun unicorns. And they've also taken refuge with star, sea, and rainbow unicorns." She shot another furious glare at Parathallaxa. "Again, someone conveniently didn't mention I had more firepower on my side than I realised."

'Then that means I might have more firepower to draw on as well,' John mused, shooting an equally angry look at his grandfather. 'Why?'

But Parathallaxa had no answer for that. He could only close his eyes in sorrow, and with a snort of disgust, John turned away. 'Right,' he said to Meghan, 'time to start digging. You think Kerrus or the twins could help us?'

Meghan nodded as she held out her hand to let her future husband scramble up onto her arm. "Hosler and Hesler have all the world's knowledge at their clawtips," she confirmed. "I think they don't agree with the way ... certain things have been done, so I think we can count on them to be on our side. The moment these defenses go - and they will - we're going to be in a lot of trouble. Either we find a spell to shift us out of phase with the rest of time, or we go searching for my relatives." She turned to look at Parathallaxa, who remained crouched in place with his eyes closed, and sighed as she turned away. "Why do I get the feeling this whole geas thing is one big hoax?"

'Your guess is as good as mine,' John said crossly, before letting out a small puff of white smoke. 'I vote we work on safety before digging into the deeper issues, and I strongly suggest we do something about rigging up a temporary barrier. Harald's half-brother won't rest for long now that Aisa's out of reach, and he'll probably rip time apart just to get to her. But if she's with the elves, she'll be safe.'

"Good call," Meghan agreed. "Shall we get married tomorrow, then? Today's left me with an immense headache, and I need some time to clear my head. I'm going to ask Jeela to help me with tapping into the lifestream, and it's something which needs some concentration."

'Of course,' John said, brushing her wrist with a glittering foreclaw. 'You do as you need to do, and we'll dust off the marriage business once we've got more important matters  settled.' He flashed her a draconic grin. 'The geas - if there really is one - can wait just a little longer.' 

Author's Note

Let me know what you think!