Ciana Pandora

FIFTEEN

                           [OHR]

               [TWO NEONS LATER]

Jedrek wanders towards his mother’s chamber, refusing accompaniment and audible formal greetings from the maidens which may attract attention to him. Lady Dionne welcomes him impatiently, asks him to sit down and serves him strong wine.

“Pay attention.” She says. “Lamia and I discussed something at sunrise. Ciana was wise enough to possess a human body so that we couldn’t find her. And with that, we won’t be able to destroy her in a human flesh. We need her raw and original so that we can conquer her. However, that cannot be done easily. Subsequently, we decided that we should follow our enemy’s footsteps and do exactly what she did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jedrek, during the battles between Ohr and Aham, how did you manage to obtain information about their army?”

“I disguised myself as one of their knights. In that same disguise, I was able to slay many of them.” Jedrek answers.

“Exactly. Now you must understand what I am trying to say.” Dionne smirks.

Jedrek inclines in his seat and thinks for a while. Then his eyes shoot up abruptly. “Mother, are you saying that we should go to earth as one of them, possessing one of their bodies just like Ciana did?”

“Yes. That is our plan. Then we will be able to match her; human to human, soul to soul.”

“You really are brilliant, Mother. That is an impressive plan. I like it.”

“I will go with you, Jedrek. Lamia would watch over us from here.”

“But Mother, what about Father? What shall he think if he cannot find us?”

“I have decided that we will tell him where Ciana is.” Dionne says.

“No, Mother. That is not a good idea.” Jedrek wrangles.

“I know. But it has two sides; the good side and the bad side. We are worshippers of the Gibbous so we should look at the bright side. If we tell him that we know where Ciana is, he would gladly give us permission to go and look for her. And then after we are done killing her, we can come back and report that we found her dead.” Dionne says.

“I know that, Mother. But do you think Father trusts us? He knows that you want to throne for me and that you detest Ciana. He might suspect that we killed Ciana. Moreover, he will not take it likely when he realizes that we sought help from Lamia. He doesn’t trust her too. This plan wouldn’t work.”

“Do you know what I am capable of, Jedrek? I am good at making vows that are lethal towards me. I will swear to Magnar that I have no bad intentions towards my search for Ciana, and I will make that vow, sacrificing one Penumbran slave and spilling his blood on the glyph. When I do that, Magnar would trust me. As for the issue with Lamia, I’ll leave it to Ramona to preach to him about the need for our alliance. Everyone knows that Magnar listens only to his mother.”

“Is Ramona on our side? She is unpredictable.”

“I don’t know about that old woman. But she has no choice. She is old and naïve and gullible even though she is a sage. We’ll just beguile her and she’ll do what we want.” Dionne taps his torso. “Don’t worry, son. I know what I am doing. Trust me, I’ll make you king with Ciana’s blood in my hands.”

“Okay, Mother. I trust you. I’ll have to meet Nefeli now. Excuse me.”

“Jedrek, don’t let Magnar see you.”