City of Snakes - Book 2 The Council of the Light

-Twelve-

Clarence sat by his fire with the bottle hanging loose from his fingers. Fraggle allowed himself one small glass but he watched Clarence with some alarm. "By the Light! what happened to make you so distressed?"

"I'll get to that in a moment," Clarence assured him and he leaned in and motioned for Fraggle to come closer too. "Can you enchant the room so we can't be heard? I know Elementals can do that."

"Yes, give me a moment," Fraggle set his glass aside and he put his hand to the floor. Clarence let his eyes see the magic, and watched as the floor shimmered as it travelled up Fraggles arm and then spun like a web from his fingertips. It formed a dome over the two of them. For a moment it glistened in the air and then Fraggle hid it, a more pretty work of subtle magic Clarence had not seen. "Done," Fraggle picked his glass back up and looked at Clarence with some concern. "Do continue."

"I have my part of our bargain to uphold, Fraggle. So, prepare to be alarmed. Our enemy can create portals. Movable ones. There is a stone that 'grounds' the portal which is made of a glass-like substance. Grendal believes that they created one which was used on Siberia Pendragon and my father but which then broke during the attack at Grovely Wood. He thinks that they have not been able to create another because of the unsuccessful attack on the Witch High Queen. He also told me that when my father's estate was attacked the defences did not fall, meaning that the grounding stone was smuggled in and the portal then opened. He said that an army came through who had weaponry that was powered with white stone's and that it was hard to defend against." He paused to gauge how Fraggle was taking the news and was satisfied to see he looked mortified. "Grendal doesn't know that Rosa has the sight, and she saw the death of my family from the perspective of a man and a woman overlooking the estate. The man had a staff which he drove into the ground and when he did it called the storm down into a vortex I believe this was part of the portal working."

"Light," Fraggle swore.

"Now, I think that the man on the hill and the woman with him are masterminding this operation and I think my father was corresponding with somebody that could piece together more of this story. Grendal said that he was locking himself in his study at Grovely wood and that he was in communication with somebody. My father's study was untouched, the door is sealed with blood magic and only O'Leary blood can enter that space."

"You want to go to Grovely Wood?"

"Yes. When they killed my father they chopped off his head and removed his tongue and his fingers. That only happens if a person wants the dead to stay quiet. I need to know his secrets." Clarence swigged from the bottle again. He felt the liquid shiver through his body and the warmth in his stomach. He felt alive, on edge, but full of energy. Fraggle watched the bottle rise and fall with tight lips and he reached out and took it from Clarence.

"Give it back."

"I need you to make sense, a few more swigs and you'll be asleep in your chair. You wanted my advice, this is my advice, don't drink until after seven bells in the evening."

Clarence crossed his arms, if only Fraggle knew why he needed it, he would give it back with a second to chase it up.

"To recap. Your theory, if I can surmise neatly, is this: A group has been mining white stone and studying its properties. This group have created weaponry and portal technology that can be used to devastating effect, and they are using it to assassinate the High Eight?"

"Yes."

"Who? There have been no demands, no threats, nothing to indicate that a new power is on the rise. Nothing apart from the assassinations, and the subsequent assassination of Freddie by the people of Horsguard."