The Gem Lords

The Conference - Part 7

     Seskip Tonn and Saturn arrived together later that day, the Head Proctor carrying a small lead casket under his arm. Pondar met them at the door to the building and led them in to the waiting room, where the younger wizards were watching the clone, tied to a chair by a rope around her waist. Her arms were still waving around her head and her legs were kicking spasmodically, but when the senior wizards entered her head immediately turned in their direction. Baby noises came from her mouth, and Tassley wiped away a line of dribble running down her chin.

     "Good," said Saturn, examining the clone and nodding with satisfaction. He turned to the three younger wizards. "You may go."

     Edward, Karem and Tassley glanced at each other, then filed out of the room, Karem glancing at the clone one last time before closing the door behind him. Saturn waited until they were gone, then turned to the Head Proctor. "Seskip?"

     The Head Proctor stepped forward and placed the casket on a nearby table. He unlocked it and opened it, to reveal Lapis Lazuli's soul gem. Its round coating of artificial marble, which had disguised it as Daleen Verdantia's holy symbol, had been removed, revealing a glittering sapphire that pulsed and glowed with its own inner light, and Seskip picked it up carefully with a pair of iron tongs.

     "Do we want to bind the clone first?" he asked. "Manacles, perhaps?"

     "I don't think that'll be necessary," said Saturn. "Jasper and Garnet have proven themselves powerless. This one's danger lay in her ability to transfer her soul from one person to another, and she needs her soul gem for that. She can't move directly from one person to another, but must return to the gem first. If we keep it out of her grasp, she'll be as impotent as any mundane woman."

     He looked at the other two senior wizards, and they both nodded. Saturn nodded to Seskip, therefore, and the Head Proctor stepped up to the clone. He reached out with the tongs and lightly touched the jewel to the clone's forehead.

     The sapphire flared with light, then dimmed to half its previous brilliance. The wild flailing of the clone's arms stopped and she looked about herself with an intelligence and awareness that hadn't been there a moment before. She watched as Seskip hurriedly returned the gem to its casket, closed it and locked it. She tried to rise to her feet but the rope around her waist stopped her and she felt around with her fingers for the knot.

     "Lapis Lazuli?" said Saturn. "Are you the entity known as Lapis Lazuli ? Formerly Francesca Foldvary of Sholl?"

     "I see my beloved Tak's told you all about me," the woman said, pulling the knot undone and standing. All the wizards took a step back, bringing the words of defensive spells to the forefront of their minds, and the gem rak laughed in delight. "How scared you all are. And rightly so! You cannot guess the powers I command."

     "You're not in the Realms now," said Saturn, stepping forward to stand before her. "You'll keep a civil tongue in your head if you don't want to spend your life in a cell, staring out at the world through iron bars for as long as that body lasts."

     "You wouldn't dare!" sneered the woman, but the expression faded to a worried frown as the anger mounted on Saturn's face. "Very well. I see no reason why we can't all behave like civilised people, and I suppose I do owe you my gratitude for giving me this body. It's not quite up to the standard I'm used to, but it'll do until I return to the Realms."

     "Whether you return to the realms, whether you ever leave this valley, depends on how you answer our questions," said Seskip. "You are guilty of serious crimes, including attempted murder. You can count yourself lucky if we..."