Lorne's Diary:

Escape

Session 4: Flying the Coop (4/25/01) Dalt gives us his take on the VIPs of Amber and after some banter, leaves. Gabrielle assures Elayne that an alliance with Dalt would probably put her in Random's poor graces. His Majesty seems to hold the occasional raid, pillaging, and raping against Dalt, and he was really irked when Dalt was lobbing balls of flaming pitch into the harbor and hit his personal yacht. Elayne wonders if showing up in front of Fiona asking if there's any way to make things right between them might work. Gabrielle replies that it's a good way to get dead or worse fast; Mom isn't known for her honor. We eat spaghetti courtesy of Lorne. It's quite good. They ask Gabrielle how her brothers are likely to attack; Gabrielle gets an oblivious, gentle, lights-on-but-nobody-home look, and says she doesn't expect a frontal obvious attack. It would be more their style to play head games; she suggests a few variants, remaining detached. This freaks Elayne out enough that she excuses herself to go vent in the music room. She finds a flute that will serve the purpose nicely. Darian also heads out to work off some steam in sword practice. Lorne goes and does the same thing with a swim. Darian gets done working off aggression with his sword at about the same time Elayne gets done working off melancholy on the flute. They meet, and Elayne allows that she feels better but life still sucks. She doesn't know what to do and wants to ask Gabrielle some questions. Darian wants to accompany her. Lorne gets done swimming, and hears Darian and Elayne's discussion. He follows, eavesdropping. Sorry, not eavesdropping, just walking quietly out of habit. Of course. Elayne asks Gabrielle for her opinion. Gabrielle says that for what it's worth, Dalt's offer isn't a bad one and she's quite certain he can get her Pattern access. Otherwise, Elayne's best bet is to begin with Caine, who CAN protect her, but Gabrielle can't guess for how long, and work to create ties with someone else. Gabrielle suggests Benedict, drawing on the victim-of-Dalt thing. Lorne wonders about Gerard, but Gabrielle doesn't think he's capable of protecting Elayne, although he'd certainly try. Lorne wonders about the Courts, and while Gabrielle knows some people there, they are unlikely to do anything that would anger Random. Sinclair suggests Martin, who probably has more of a power base than Gabrielle realizes. Gabrielle agrees, it's an excellent idea, but it's a question of finding Martin. He doesn't always accept trump. Funny, that. The problem is, it would take Gabrielle days to finish the Trump of her Shadow, and longer to make one of Martin. Dalt is giving us only one day. We could try to flee via the crack, but we don't know where the crack would take us. Sinclair says he can buy us a few days, but we'd owe him. What would we owe him? He can't say yet; it depends on what he'd have to do to buy us time. That sounds fair to Lorne, Elayne, and Darian. As a backup plan, if Dalt can't be stalled, Gabrielle suggests Elayne go to Caine. She'd give Elayne a token for Durant, which should enlist his aid. For now, Elayne will try to work on the crack. Gabrielle will work on the trump. If Dalt appears before either of them are done, Sinclair will buy them time. If we can get out, Lorne will look for landmarks to a fast-time shadow he knows where Gabrielle can finish the Trump of Ashar. We'll hide there while Gabrielle works on contacting Martin. If we have no success, they'll consider Dalt's options. Gabrielle wants to do physical therapy. All these plans are very nice, but she'd much rather not lose all the muscle tone in her legs. She'll accept Sinclair's aid, since Elayne needs to be working on the crack. Darian will assist Elayne, who is creating a mental linkup to use his potential combined with her expertise. Elayne: Do you trust me? Darian: Yes Aren't newbies cute? She wants to use him as a tool, grabbing his potential, rather than as an assistant. "Sorcery does take some time to master and I've only been at this new sort of sorcery for 6 days now." How reassuring. Still, Darian isn't willing to refuse his assistance. She is very startled, as he's the most powerful student she's ever had. Lorne verifies that there is a guitar in the ballroom. He returns to find Elayne and Darian holding hands doing magical stuff. Darian can tell Elayne has no evil intentions and is very frightened. He might have said or done other things, but it wasn't obvious to anyone else. Lorne watches as Elayne and Darian remain motionless for about 10 minutes. He doesn't try to approach. Elayne explains what her plan is and grabs hold of Darian's power. Darian feels odd; it's a letting go that he isn't sure he should be doing. It's entirely Darian's power and entirely Elayne's skill. She plays a little, and then thwacks hard, and creates a hole. Both Elayne and Darian are exhausted, but there is a visible hole, not large enough to fit through. There is nothingness beyond it. Lorne brings a light over and investigates it. There is space on the other side, but it's reflective space. Lorne can push the torch through; it's a little like moving the light through liquid obsidian. Lorne is concerned that we might have set off an alarm, and goes to get Gabrielle. Sinclair thinks he'll be needed quickly. He leaves Gabrielle to get dressed on her own and dresses and hurries towards the entrance hall. Gabrielle goes to get her trump stuff, then hurries to the enigmatic staircase. Lorne returns, bringing backpacks, relaying that Sinclair expects Dalt any moment now. Elayne and Darian are still exhausted. The hole isn't big enough to squeeze through yet, so they decide to try again to widen the hole. They can get into contact but can't actually manage to focus enough for a spell. Gabrielle can overhear Sinclair buying time with Dalt as she grabs her things. She hurries over, and finds the trio on the stairs. She appraises Lorne that Dalt is here already. Gabrielle uses Pattern to weaken the wall. She tells Lorne to batter down the wall, and he does so. Gabrielle orders -- not politely -- everyone to take a deep breath, Darian to carry her and run and the other two to hold on to him and to keep moving no matter what. Lorne tackles the door, falling through to the stuff. Gabrielle grabs him, and they start moving. It's icky, dirty, half-walking and half swimming. Lorne is hurt, Darian and Elayne are exhausted, Gabrielle is Hellriding. Gabrielle thinks this stuff is intended to impede movement, but she can't afford not to manage it. Especially since her lungful was not as big as she'd hoped. She makes it to water before inhaling; when other folks surface, she's inhaled water. They tread water while Lorne does lung compressions. Gabrielle comes to; she apologizes but insists that they need to keep moving. She can Hellride for a minute longer before collapsing, enough to get them to a beach. But not a friendly one, necessarily. Darian is decides that escaping is more important than his cover story. He has pattern, but was trying to keep it a secret. He Hellrides us away, and we pick up some horses. After some debate, we head for Lorne's shadow. Lorne directs Darian what to alter as we move, and we arrive by the end of the day. Lorne leads us to the seashore, where we walk down stairs under breathable water. Gabrielle might have thought it reminiscent of Rebma, had she been conscious. The quartet plans to spend just enough time for Gabrielle to make a trump elsewhere. Lorne catches up on "business" and Elayne has time to practice with her newfound sorcery.