Katie's eyes flicked at Kadisphoros. Whatever about the Morkladori she had no illusions about the enemy she worried about most. He smirked at her and Katie felt her hackles rise. He'd scored a major victory today and knew it.
"The Council will reconvene here this afternoon, once tempers have cooled," she announced stiffly. "Master Joadar I wish to speak with you privately." Dutifully the courtiers shuffled out; but not all of them. Herrimar loitered and coughed. "Perhaps I should remain your Majesty, just in case you need me.” He glanced meaningfully at Joadar.
For a bleak moment Katie wondered if he thought her so vulnerable to mind control her own steward couldn’t trust her to be left alone with a magician, even a courtier of hers. But she quickly dismissed that depressing thought: She noticed Herrimar simply didn’t approve of the mage and she sensed he had a higher opinion of his queen than that. “Very well Herrimar, you can stay.” Katie turned her big brown eyes on Joadar and nodded. “Please continue Joadar.”
“Well your Majesty,” continued the mage, “while I don’t know the specifics of how you became a Kitsune I do know such a change would alter your mind on a basic level. I see your personality but the changes likely upset the delicate balance of the spell.”
I guess I have something to thank Suki for something after all, thought Katie. “Still… you uh, think my mind remains vulnerable?”
“I’m afraid so you’re Majesty. Let me put it this way: picture your mind as a great bustling city and the citizens as the individual thoughts. The difference between your city of the mind and mine or another Lysfamaran is that you have no city walls, no gatehouses to protect you. The mind control spells are subtle – they slip in and masquerading as you own thoughts, so you don’t even realise you are thinking what someone else wants you to think.”
“So,” Katie frowned, thinking it through, “the city walls are the training to protect my mind from these spells. Right… and you say the training will take a week and leave me safe?” The mage nodded. “Yes. It won’t shut out everything but unless the trained person has a very weak mind indeed – and I don’t believe you do your Majesty – it will prove very effective. I do think you should wear a warding charm in the mean time, just to be safe in case the Morkladori try again… or your uncle.”
“He wouldn’t dare,” hissed Herrimar as Katie paled. Joador shrugged. “He might, if he thinks he can get some pet enchanter of his to strike while you are most vulnerable.”
Katie smiled grimly. “Well, I’ll just have to work at not being vulnerable then, won’t I?”
Wed Feb 03 22:20:50 2010