ACT III: Chat et souris

There could be no mistaking the pale face, the chestnut hair, the slim figure, or the short stature even in the dark of the Theraverian night; Platina stood before myself and Merrimont at the edge of the Gate's rubble. Looking into her liquid brown eyes I shivered, for I saw Merphomenee's implacable gaze peering back at me from her vessel's orbs. Merrimont immediately interposed himself between me and Platina - bless the man. He did not draw his saber, however, nor did he unholster his long-barreled revolver. "Do you know this woman?" he asked me.

"On your guard!" I hissed in a frightened whisper. "It is Merphomenee!" Platina's head nodded in affirmation.

"Goddess. It has been several years, and you wear the face of another as your mask," Merrimont intoned politely, "but I see the truth of the matter now. You will pardon my effrontery if I ask that you do not frighten my princess so. Why have you returned to a city in which you are no longer welcome?" I peered at his knuckles to see if they gripped the hilt of his saber tightly, but he seemed to be quite at ease.

Platina stepped closer, allowing me to see that she wore a Theraverian dress which came down to her knees and a cobalt blue blouse of wool. She affected heeled slippers as well, though with their height she still barely reached the level of my shoulder. Even the voice was Platina's ... but the presence, the aura around the woman carried the unmistakable signature of the goddess, and I felt the distinct impression that she could look down upon me if she so wished. She addressed me directly. "Princess Katalina. I cannot stop thinking of Your Serene Highness now that you have departed from my lands. Are you satisfied here, in your own home, without me?"

I hesitated, uncertain of how to respond. In truth I still thought often of Merphomenee, for nothing quite filled the emptiness her absence left in my heart. During my time spent in Illyrica she had been a friend, a goddess, and - I blushed at the thought, remembering how I drank and bathed in her milk - even a mother to me. I missed the deep conversations I often had with her, speaking my mind freely in front of the goddess as I could with few others. For all her unfathomable power and frightening presence, she could be very tender and gentle towards me when she wished to be. ... And therein lay the issue: when she wished to be. She could be stern and forbidding and fearsome on a whim, a single look from her frightening me to the point I thought I would faint from terror. Nevermind the way she treated her people as playthings for her own wicked amusement, granting them peace and prosperity and protection from the terrors of her world, but only so long as they submitted themselves to their roles in her grand drama. Should a mother not love her children regardless of how they behaved? How could I give myself to a goddess who kept her own people subservient through fear, even if she wanted a relationship with me based on trust and understanding? "I-I am more satisfied than I was in Illyrica," I squeaked, wishing my voice could be more firm.

"The words declare yea, the voice nay," Merphomenee mused to herself. "Your Highness, will you not reconsider?"

I shook my head. "No! I want nothing to do with you anymore!"

"But I could offer you so much! Do you wish to wed this man? Say the word, and I will make it so! You could return with me to Illyrica, you and Monsieur Lachaveur both, and none will gainsay my word!" she insisted hotly. "Or permit me to dwell here once more in this body. Though my power is much weaker across the vast distance, I could easily settle your war with Brabant for you! Theraveria will never again be gripped by drought, laid low by pestilence, or suffer want! Please, Your Highness, I ... I simply miss my friend so much ..." she pleaded with me, affecting sincerity.

"Whence came this sentiment?" I asked bewildered. "You would not so much as offer me an embrace for years in Illyrica!"

"... Yes, that is true," she replied sadly. "I ... I am sorry, it is true that I am often a prideful goddess and too haughty to humble myself before mortals. But I will bend my knees to you! Your Highness, will you not heed my cri de coeur? You need but whisper your desire to me, and I shall do all that a goddess can to make it come to pass!" She knelt before me, heedless of the hard stones on her knees, and seized my hand earnestly.

I turned her face up towards me. There were no tears, only fervent desire in her eyes. I felt my own heart breaking as I gently stroked Platina's lovely hair. "Oh Merphomenee ..." I murmured, "how is it that you still do not understand? All I long for is my friend whom I cherished like a sister, not an omnipotent goddess. Your power and your willingness to use it frighten me, Merphomenee; how could I ever be at peace with you, unless you renounced your divinity entirely? Go home, goddess, and prove to me by deeds, not words, your sincerity. Cherish your people, speak kindly and softly to them, treat them no less gently than you treated me, cease from your demands and rages - even if they are unworthy of your love, as I often was. I hope you will find someone who replaces me in your heart and forget all about me. That is all I ask of you, Merphomenee. You tell me you will listen if I speak my desire, and I say no. Release your memory of me and trouble us no more."

Her expression fell and hardened as I spoke. With the affronted dignity of a woman who bared her heart only to see it rejected, she very slowly released my hand and stood to her feet. Merphomenee looked downcast as she half-turned away from me. "... And mortals say the gods are implacable in their cruelty. But I have not the right to protest, seeing as I closed my heart to you first. Only when you finally departed did I realize what I had lost." She looked at me again, all supplication vanished from her eyes. "Very well. Find what joy still remains to you in Theraveria, cruelest of princesses, and when you are old and wed to a husband who loves you more for your utility than your mind, may you repent in vain of your obdurate heart, knowing you were offered bliss unending in the arms of Moneta's daughter!" I shrank away from this awful malediction; Merrimont's eyes narrowed. "Where is Renia Sundalicia? She is my slave and I shall take her with me back to Illyrica."

I opened my mouth but Merrimont smoothly interrupted before I could say aught. "Surely Your Divine Grace is not so naive as to imagine we would let her live after she nearly ruined our city?" he asked in debonair fashion.

Merphomenee looked at him sideways and sighed with exasperated longsuffering. "Sir, do you take me for a fool? I know my vessel yet lived for a long time here, until I sent your princess back to you. But after she returned, I suddenly could not reach the woman whose face I wore. Tell me you are not so wicked that you would slay an innocent messenger." She rounded on me again. "If you did order her execution, Summerlyn Katalina, then you have no right to complain about my treatment of my own cities. No right at all! I know she yet lives; bring her to me."

"Madame Renia is a citoyenne now and does not acknowledge your suzerainty over her," Merrimont replied. "Any attempt to abduct her shall be treated as a breach of Theraverian sovereignty."

The vessel of the goddess snorted at the threat. "A mote of a man dares defy me. Ask your precious princess if you doubt what I say. Monsieur, you and your city are naught but insects beneath my shoes, and I need only tread upon you to destroy you utterly. Solely by my sufferance do you yet draw breath. When I come in my own glory, I shall grind Louelle into dust beneath my soles." She slowly unbuttoned her blouse, exposing her heart. "You should fire upon me now, sir, and slay me immediately. No such opportunity will present itself when you find you are merely a speck of dust in my palm."

"You mustn't!" I warned Merrimont.

He still did not draw his revolver, proving that there was no need. How I admired his fortitude and his restraint! "You do not threaten me now, goddess. I will not shed your blood until you do."

"How very noble, sir," she sneered. "The man refrains even though he has doubtlessly heard from his beautiful princess how an entire city lay prostrate and helpless before me."

"If you return to Theraveria and attack our city, I will fight you then," Merrimont promised her. "But I will not be goaded into action that I know to be wrong now merely to avert a future misfortune which may or may not befall me. The die has not been cast yet."

"This is the fool you love?" Merphomenee asked me. "How very well suited you are for each other. You will both repent of your decisions soon enough." She buttoned up her blouse again and turned to leave, her heels clicking sharply on the stones. "I shall find Renia myself. Warn Louelle to prepare for my arrival." And with that she vanished without a trace. Merrimont lifted the lantern but saw no sign of her, Platina having dematerialized as a phantasm.

"Should I have fired, Your Highness?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "No Merry, you chose the right course of action. Platina is a friend of mine; you would only have harmed her, not the goddess wearing her body like a glove to hand. She would merely send another vessel if you had. But - but oh! We must warn the Marquise de Vautonlieu!"

At Merrimont's insistence I retired to the royal palace to rest. He assured me he would ride at once for the estate of the Marquis de Vautonlieu, which lay outside the city proper. I resolved to summon M. the Prefect of the city guardsmen tomorrow, but as it turned out there was no need; Merrimont had informed him of the matter that very night. Consulting with mother and the seneschals of the castle, we rapidly agreed it would be best for the marquise to be secretly moved to the palace and a permanent guard stationed around her at all times. Renia and her daughter moved into a spare guest chamber near my bedroom, with twenty-four men at arms and twenty-four conjurers to protect her in three shifts. On my insistence we also posted guards by the ruins of the Goddess' Gate, the only practical means of ingress for Merphomenee, to prevent her from using it in some injurious fashion. Lastly I considered whether we might evacuate the citizens from Louelle, but that very day we received grave news from the battlefront that a bloody clash had occurred and with it a decisive defeat for the coalition. The Brabantines were coming again, just as they had in the past. Bells tolled in the city and the municipal arsenal fired cannons to herald the news; that night every house seemed subdued as the heavy pall of gloom settled over Louelle.

My hopes that Merphomenee might leave me be were soon dashed. I awoke in bed to find her stroking my golden hair; I immediately shied away from her and she sullenly vanished. Worse was yet to come. I began to see Platina staring at me when I gazed at myself in looking glasses, but of course she was not present when I whirled around attempting to catch her. I would find letters from her under my pillows addressed to me; most of these I simply burned, but I did read a few, some of which speculated how different my life might be had I accepted her, a few telling me of events in Illyrica. In spite of the guards attending me she stepped in and out of my boudoir and bath at will, and even when she was not present I still felt her eyes constantly on the back of my neck. I rapidly deteriorated under such treatment at her hands, my eyes turning heavy from lack of sleep and my mind paranoid. Mother too suffered with worry for me, fretfully wringing her hands every morning and asking if the terrible goddess had accosted me again? My coterie - bless these kind women! - arranged for two chaperones to accompany me at all times.

Merrimont organized search parties to scour the city looking for Platina, but Louelle is a large city with many people. Seeing how Renia chafed over her enforced immurement, I visited her often and we went on long walks in the secluded palace gardens where we talked intimately of Illyrica. Renia could still work magic and she showed me the Goddess' Grace, explaining its significance to me. "Powerful magic lies latent within this ring," she told me. "I understood at once why she would have wanted you to keep it. It would require immense magic to re-open the gate from this side, but buried deep within the Grace lies a potent force which could accomplish it. It will not respond, however, to aught other but Merphomenee's power alone. I worked upon it the same enchantment that lies upon me, to keep it hidden from her senses." She confided that she kept it with her always, even when she bathed or slept. Renia too seemed to fear Merphomenee, but she assured me that a single vessel of the goddess could not channel enough power unaided to open the gate from the Theraverian side. I asked if it would be better to dispose of the ring, but Renia said she had consulted with the artificers and concluded that no human effort could unmake it; her enchantment would also dissipate with time, so she could not leave it unattended.

That night when I pulled my bedcovers over myself to sleep, my foot touched something small and squirming under my blankets. I screamed so loudly that the guards immediately rushed in from their posts with their carbines at the ready. When they pulled back my bedcovers I expected to find a rat or a marmot nesting; instead, I found one of my ladies-in-waiting, a baroness who had been shrunken to the size of a mouse by Merphomenee's magic. Through her terrified babbling, I managed to decipher that she had encountered Platina and was shrunken to her current size, then left for me to find. My guards and I were both horrified by the revelation that Platina had somehow managed to infiltrate my bedchamber with no one else the wiser. The baroness told me that Merphomenee threatened to treat more of my coterie in similar fashion unless Renia was surrendered to her.

After this visitation I lived in constant dread which even the presence of my parents and the Princess' Own Guard Knights could not assuage. I asked M. the Minister of the Conjury if the poor baroness could be restored, but he told me that was impossible for mere mortals. I demanded to know what the Theraverians had done with the Brabantine prisoners also shrunken by Merphomenee years ago and was told that they had been promptly repatriated to their own nation. I knew that the goddess could reverse the transformation; if only I could persuade her for my friend's sake! The unfortunate baroness, no larger in size than a doll now, had to be sent back to her family where she briefly became an object of wonder to the entire city. Word of this event of course could not be contained and the news spread through the city to be vigilant for any sign of Platina Titiana. A week later one of my guards gravely informed me that the baroness had been found that morning on the floor of her family manor, her body crushed into a bloody smear in a manner which could not be mistaken for any other than a woman's dress shoe stepping upon her.

When Renia heard of this, she insisted on being allowed to surrender to Merphomenee at once. I dissuaded her from taking such a course of action, saying that the city watch had redoubled their efforts to locate the vessel, nor could I bear to see her suffer for my sake. From time to time a citizen or a soldier would catch sight of Platina, but she always vanished before help could arrive. A pair of guardsmen once cornered her, one of them leaving to summon reinforcements. When they reached the scene a mere minute later, the girl had vanished without a trace and the only sign left of the guard was a playing card with his body trapped inside, his face frozen in an expression of terror. After this event the city prefects decided that Merphomenee was not to be confronted without at least a dozen magicians of the Royal College of Conjury present.

Most of the army returned to Louelle at the height of the spring season to begin the process of preparing the city for investiture. King Marchand and the crown prince rode in at the head of the procession to the city, to the welcome relief of the populace. When they finally arrived at the palace that evening, while the army garrisoned the city awaiting the Brabantines, I dressed in my finest gown and threw myself into their arms. The king looked much older and grayer, bowed by the responsibilities of his throne, while I saw that Charlemont Hafarlin had grown half a hand taller than I. Accustomed to thinking of my brother as still a boy when I had been dragged away from Theraveria, I saw clearly now that he had grown into a man of nineteen years, matured and seasoned by his time on the campaign trail. The change upon me must have been evident to the my father and brother, who could scarce contain their surprise. We spoke long into the hours of the morning that night, just me and mother with father and my brother. Of course I felt overjoyed to see them again, but the feeling of Merphomenee's ominous presence cast a shadow over our reunion.

The Brabantine army soon arrived, lacking the force to storm the city or fully encircle it, but nevertheless prepared to besiege our capital by controlling the key roads and the river. Louelle's accustomed gaiety vanished, replaced by the somber work of enduring privation as my father tried to find allies willing to succor our beleaguered nation. The Allemagnians, bloodied by our shared defeat, could offer no aid. There were no more balls and plays to attend, few meetings of the Salon de Rue d'Hiver, and I spent much time sewing bandages and blankets with my circle of women. The sound of distant cannonfire became so common that I no longer flinched at reports.

A month later, Merphomenee shrank another of my ladies-in-waiting, a daughter of seamstress and quite clever with textiles herself. Deeply angered, I demanded that she show herself but received no answer. We still had no idea where Platina slept or ate or bathed every day; I felt acutely helpless, and I dreamed often that I lay curled in Merphomenee's palm as she controlled my life. To protect my unfortunate lady-in-waiting, I kept her with me at all times, even when I bathed, and I experienced some of the affection Merphomenee must have felt for me as I cared for her. One night however, as I read a play written by Antoine Niveau to my knitting society, we all fell asleep - myself, my ladies-in-waiting, even the Princess' Own Guard Knights protecting us. When I started awake, I saw Platina in the midst of swallowing my shrunken friend as she screamed and wailed in terror. My alarmed shriek woke everyone, but it was too late; the unfortunate tailor girl vanished down Platina's throat with a final cry of despair. The goddess stepped behind a screen and vanished as though she had never been present. Feeling responsible, I assumed the doleful task of informing her parents in person.

My social circle shrank greatly in the aftermath. I do not blame these fine young women, from duchesses to commoners, seeing how mere association with me posed great danger. The Brabantine menace loomed over the entire city, but it never felt as personal - as real - as the very intimate way Merphomenee tormented me. In her letters she accused me of ingratitude for the love and attention she had lavished upon me, and she also wrote long passages expressing her desire to be my friend and protect me again. Pouvez-vous imaginer ma culpabilité, knowing that I could have reconciled with her at any moment if I simply yielded my spirit? We two, lover and beloved, princess and goddess, refused to change.

Perhaps I startled Merphomenee by how much I deteriorated under her incessant attention, losing my graceful figure and allowing my hair to become tattered, for I found a rather apologetic letter awaiting me one night where she vowed she would torment me no longer. I burned the letter like all the others, but I did sleep unperturbed that night and for many nights after. My complexion quickly bloomed again. How many others of her victims had she treated in similar manner?

Renia soon after informed me that she had sensed a worrying accumulation of aetherial energy by the ruined Goddess' Gate, quickly confirmed by the Minister of Conjury. This immediately awoke all my latent fears that Merphomenee intended to arrive in person. The summer solstice came; I had returned to Louelle more than half a year ago. I looked to Merrimont for solutions to my dilemma even as my father consulted with his ministers and the servants of state. Mother mourned that I might never marry if I developed a reputation for being a haunted princess and my brother remarked that he would like to meet this goddess in person, preferably with a carbine in hand. Then one morning Renia came to my room, deathly pale, and bid me dress and accompany her to the Goddess' Gate. I questioned her all the way; she told me that she had arranged for the Gate to be sealed completely, but she gripped the Goddess' Grace tightly. I wondered what she hid from me.

I remember distinctly how we dressed that day. The Marquise de Vautonlieu wore a fine cocktail dress of gray which blended Theraverian style with Illyrican elegance. It flattered her figure and matched well with her hair, leaving her arms and shoulders bare. The hems of her gown came nearly to her ankles. She wore black slippers with a band of encrusted pearls over her toes and small silver earrings of crescent moon shape dangled from her ears. The Goddess' Grace gleamed brightly on her finger. Being a married woman, her coiffeur had tied her dark hair up with ribbons and a few jewels. For my part I had chosen a dark gown to match her color, midnight blue in shade. My dress had wide hems fringed with satin and lace and a bright red ribbon bowtied around my slender waist. I wore long-sleeved dark red velvet gloves which covered my elbows; my feet were shod with fancy deep blue slippers embroidered with white flowers, and I wore white silk stockings underneath my petticoats. My dark clothes contrasted sharply with my gleaming bright hair which fell in curled tresses down my blouse, suitable for an unwed princess. She and I both wore minimal cosmetics, a stark contrast to the heavy paint which women in Louelle often affected.

With Louelle under siege, the ruined gate lay outside of the city with neither Brabantines nor Theraverians fully in control of the rubble. Renia said Merrimont had arranged for safe passage with authorities of both armies, who had agreed to observe courtesies of war in regards to women. Our coach bearing the royal emblem and a flag with noncombatant chevrons passed by a picket of grim-faced Theraverian infantry manning several cannons at the edge of the city. I halted to speak a few words of encouragement to these brave men, commending their courage and fortitude in the face of our enemy. Had I known what would transpire, I would have spent more time with them.

When our coach stopped by the gate, Renia told me to go wait by the rubble of the well while she worked magic with a few conjurers. Feeling mystified, I alighted from the coach with fan in hand and slowly wended my way through the grounds. Much of the rubble had been cleared away after the army returned from the frontlines, but the deep chasm remained filled with stone and earth. Standing there escorted by a quartet of my guards, I reflected on how much of my worldview had changed since the goddess entered my life. Once I had envied her for her freedom of thought and action, then admired her for her efforts to educate my mind and teach me magic. I may even have loved her at one time and I certainly worshiped her when I learned of her divinity. But then came the bitter realization of her nature; the disappointment I felt when I uncovered her plans for Louelle, followed by the horror of her power unleashed against hapless Phinos and the hatred she evoked in me by her callous treatment of mortals. These two emotions warred in me, my desire to stand in awe of a goddess in conflict with my revulsion of her treatment of myself and my people. I remained so deep in reverie that I failed to notice Platina's approach until my guards had drawn their revolvers.

Sharp gunshots rang out but the bullets abruptly halted before they struck her, falling to the ground spent and motionless. She glowered at my escorts. They shrank from her glance, or so it seemed, until I realized with dismay that she indeed reduced all of them to mere whiskers in height. Hurriedly I scooped up all four men into my protective hands, the quartet now no larger than toy marbles. With the threat now removed, she laconically strolled up to me with languid grace. "How dare you!" I exclaimed. "Merphomenee, restore them at once!"

"Look at them, Your Highness," she bid me. I glanced down at the expressions of the men, wide-eyed with fear and shrinking away from the goddess even as they tried and failed to maintain a brave facade. "How helpless they are, when a moment ago these brutes could have easily overpowered you or I. All you need do is clench your hand and they would cease to exist. Imagine yourself living in a world inhabited by these fragile creatures, always begging you for succor and favors, running to you for protection from danger, unable to comprehend your thoughts and desires, so fearful that you need inhabit a body like theirs merely to speak with them. Would you not agree with me?"

"I will never be like you, Merphomenee," I retorted. "If I had your power, goddess, I would lavish all your blessings upon my people and ask nothing in return."

Platina tilted her head. "... Would you now? I am sorely tempted to test this proposal, Your Highness. To lend you all of my might and see whether you will indeed do as you claim, or whether your people will come to fear you more than mine fear me."

"Shall we make a test then?" I challenged her. Surely she would not be so foolish as to agree!

Merphomenee merely laughed and mockingly threw my words back in my face. "What did you say to me months ago in this very place? 'Your power and your willingness to use it frighten me'? Oh Summerlyn, you are still a child to me with a child's obstinacy." Angered, I nearly clenched my hands before I abruptly remembered the men cowering in my palm. "No, I have scant affection left for you. But you will surrender Renia Sundalicia to me, or else more and more of your people will become like your handheld attendants there."

I unfolded my fan in front of my guards in protective fashion. "You are remarkably petty for someone who calls herself a goddess. Now restore them!"

Merphomenee let her vessel's eyes wander skyward as she pretend to think aloud, pacing back and forth before me with her heels clicking sharply on the stones. "Who would make an adorable little pet for you to dote over, I wonder? Perhaps Your Highness could bed them in your slippers? The gentleman soldier you fancy?" I gasped as she mentioned Merrimont. "I could reduce him to the size of your finger, make him a doll for you to dress and fuss over. I might even give him a stallion or two suitable for his newfound reduction in stature so that he can pretend to be a soldier still - men are so very peculiar about their honor, would Your Highness not agree? Of course, you would need to protect him rather than he defend you - it would be so terribly simple for a horse to inhale him in a moment of inquisitiveness, or a cat to whet her claws upon him, or even for Your Highness to accidentally step upon him!" At my horrified expression, Merphomenee smiled cruelly and leaned in. "You would need to care for him for the remainder of his life! So utterly helpless ... just like all these mortals who weary me with their incessant plea - wait, what have you done to the gate!" Merphomenee cried in surprise. "Who dares -?"

I turned to look, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. A moment later a gunshot rang out and I screamed in fright from the sharpness of the sudden report, nearly dropping my poor guards. Platina crumpled as the ball struck her in the back, blood spreading through her bodice where the bullet passed through her lung. Immediately I placed my guards down and rushed over to cradle her, heedless of the ichor seeping into my own fine garments or the danger of another gunshot striking me. In an instant of clarity I saw the goddess depart her mortal vessel and Platina's eyes became her own in that precious moment. She tried to say something, but her voice choked on the blood welling up in her throat. In the next breath her eyes turned up and she died in my arms, sinking heavily into my body as though unspeakably weary. "Platina!" I screamed, my voice breaking in sorrow. "Platina! No no no, you cannot die here, so far from your beloved Illyrica -!" I wailed as tears poured down my cheeks; looking up, I saw through tearstained eyelashes Renia and Merrimont emerge, the latter holding a revolver still smoking. Furious, I screamed at him, "What have you done?"

"We drove the goddess away, Your Highness," Renia explained sadly, showing me the ring on her finger. "The gate is sealed tightly enough to prevent any other individual from crossing, and this will shield her from finding the only other pawn she could wield here. But we had to take her by surprise."

I looked at Merrimont and he nodded somberly. "I apologize, Your Highness, for risking you so. You were the only person who could evoke sufficient emotion from the goddess to induce her to lower her guard. Even then we feared she might be invulnerable altogether." He stretched out his arms to take the body of the broken vessel from me. I sobbed, reluctant to release my oldest Illyrican friend to him. "Please, permit me," he intoned gently. "If you wish, we will bury her honorably as she was a friend of Your Highness. Will you permit the marquise to accompany you back to the palace?" Seeing the way I wept over my friend's body, he knelt down next to me and gave me his shoulder to lean upon.

Poor Platina, je n'ai même jamais fait ses adieux à elle.

A moment later, I felt Merphomenee's presence and power flood into my body. Immense potency, unbridled strength, clarity that no mortal could fully contain. It felt oddly similar to the time I had been submerged into her own consuming consciousness when she made Leannia and I accompany her to Phinos, except now I felt like a small, fragile box attempting to hold the raging torrent. My head swam dizzily and I dropped my friend's unmoving body. Such an intoxicating presence at once more profound than any mortal could hope to comprehend. When I opened my eyes they were no longer my own; Merphomenee stared through my face balefully at Renia Sundalicia, who had turned pale with fright, and Merrimont who looked at me in confusion.

I could not control my body's movements or voice any more, helpless as a marionette dancing at the strings of a puppet master skillfully manipulating me like a fine instrument. "Hail, my wayward vessel," I spoke.

"Merphomenee! How?" Renia squeaked in dismay. Merrimont inhaled sharply as well.

I extended my glove and caressed her hand where the Goddess' Grace rested. "I commend your cleverness, little Renia. Thinking to find two puppets for my hand to move when Summerlyn returned to Theraveria, only to immediately lose sight of both. Oh, did you not know about the princess?" I smiled icily. I slipped the ring off her nerveless finger as she whimpered in fright. "Summerlyn no doubt told you that she bathed deep in my milk and drank it freshly pressed from my bosom. And that made her a pawn in my collection too, a secret weapon kept hidden for the right moment."

"Merphomenee, goddess," Merrimont said quietly, "you must release my princess."

The goddess ran my own fingers through my golden locks, sighing contentedly. "Oh, how often I have longed to wear this lovely shell of flesh! From the first day I set my eyes upon her I have coveted Summerlyn. First her mind had to be shaped, her magic honed, her skin beautified that she might serve as a worthy companion for me. But she would not accept me, so she will instead serve as a vessel." I embraced myself unabashedly before my two wary witnesses. "Today one of my ambitions is fulfilled. Now, be silent and do not interrupt me as I fulfill the next." I stood up and brushed Platina's bloody stains from my dress in dignified fashion, then turned my attention to the gate and its latent power that longed to be used. With greater than mortal clarity I perceived now the cantrips that Renia used to seal the portal, spells that would stop even a goddess - but not from this side of the gate.

A gun barrel pressed into the back of my head. "Goddess, you must release my princess," Merrimont repeated himself, even more quietly than before.

I turned around and allowed the revolver to remain leveled at my forehead. Renia looked fearfully between me and Merry. "Can you do it, sir?" I asked him softly. She even used my voice! "Shoot me. Shoot your beautiful princess and prevent the tragedy to come. Your duty demands it." The goddess deliberately goaded him; at any moment the deadly barrel might flash and end my life. I sensed Merphomenee's intent; she would not stop this bullet. "She would want you to pull the trigger, sir. I promise you, on my sacred oath as goddess by the head of Jupiter himself, if you simply loose your bullet, I shall at once and immediately renounce all claims to Theraveria." She must have felt him hesitating, for she cruelly drove the blade deeper into his heart. "Your people will never know the terror of Merphomenee," I whispered seductively. "History will remember you as a hero. All I ask in return is Summerlyn Katalina, one life in exchange for one world. Her spirit will thank you when kept in my bliss." His hand trembled then, the barrel of his gun quaking. And then, most heartlessly of all, she made me murmur in tearful tones, "Merry, please, if you love me ... do not let her use me any further ..."

Renia's eyes darted back and forth between us, her knuckles white where she clutched her dress. Merrimont's lips curled back to show his teeth as he exhaled heavily, still hesitating until -

- He lowered his weapon.

My head nodded as the goddess accepted his momentous decision. Without another word I turned away and strode for the ruined gate in my fancy slippers, summoning the power within the ring in my hand. With her power flowing through me, my own inability to wield magic proved no obstacle at all. A gunshot reverberated behind me; had I been in possession of my own flesh I would have jumped, but instead I turned my head to glance back where Renia had seized Merrimont's revolver and fired at me. The bullet hovered motionless in the air a mere pace from my heart. "The choice was his, not yours," I told Renia. A moment later Merphomenee wrapped both of them tightly in magical bonds and forced them to kneel beside Platina's corpse, helpless to stop her anymore. All this gunfire had finally drawn the attention of Brabantine patrols. From the corner of my proximate vision I espied a dozen Brabantine musketeers arrive, their heavy boots pressing sharply on the cracked stone, glancing back and forth in confusion between myself, Platina's pale body, Renia and Merry.

"Stop her ..." Renia whispered, straining helplessly against Merphomenee's immense strength.

The magic buried deeply within the Goddess' Grace resonated with Merphomenee's divine might as I held it aloft over the ruined well. The aetherial bridge between our worlds began to coalesce again, magical torrents drawn up from deep within the earth shaped by the subtle spells in the ring. I felt Merphomenee concentrate entirely on her work, molding the tunnel within the gate by her force of will as she swiftly unraveled the protective spells. The massive cracked boulders and bricks deposited in the well began to sink through the magical gateway as it opened; Merphomenee sustained the work that previously required half a hundred conjurers all by herself and the magic she had reserved long ago within her trinket. Such massive artificing could not remain unnoticed within the city, of course, but she worked briskly and precisely with the practiced ease of a master. Distantly I heard bells sounding in alarm as the gate coalesced before me, shaping into a tunnel to join Theraveria with Illyrica.

The goddess released me and I immediately fell to my knees, spent by the strain of hosting her spirit. The magical wards which held Renia and Merrimont dissolved as well as she receded; I felt his strong hands underneath my arms lift me upright, but it was too late. One enormous feminine hand appeared over the lip of the dry chasm, rising monolithic out of the depths as it had that fateful moment years ago. The other swiftly followed; this time there was no magic of the goddess to protect me or turn back upon herself. The Brabantine infantry gabbled in their native tongue in surprise and bewilderment while they milled around in confusion. As the first horsemen riding from Louelle drew rein near the gate, I saw the terrifying sight that heralded the doom of an entire world, a visage I hoped I would never behold again. Titanic crimson curls of hair fell in graceful strands down her beautiful face as she lifted herself free of the gate, her hands pressing deeply into marble and stone beneath her ponderous weight.

At long last, Merphomenee set foot upon Theraveria.