The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 28

"I had fully expected to come home that night to listen to Bella shouting," Cassie said. "I'd just thought she was going to be shouting at me."

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"I want to know who authorized the containment order," Bella demanded into her phone.

"Of course, Key signed the order," Bella shouted a moment later. "Who gave Section 6 clearance to interfere in my op?! 

"No, not tomorrow. Now!" Bella continued. "Well, if you don't want to wake up tomorrow assigned to a listening post in the Arctic, you find out. No, you won't call me back. When I say now, I mean NOW!

"Damn it," Bella snarled, hanging up.

"Who?" Felix asked.

"Councilor Friend," Bella sighed.

"Damn it," Felix groaned. "Hand said he was acting on orders from the Leadership."

"Bella, what's going on?" I demanded.

So, she told me.

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"Wait, so you're not a sales rep for TransWorld?" I said, shocked. "You're a spy... for the Agency... and he's an alien?!"

"We prefer the term Settler," Felix said.

"Aliens have infiltrated the Agency," I continued. 

"We work in collaboration with our Agency partners," Felix clarified, "to promote peace and stability."

"...and they have an entire division that hunts witches?" I pressed on, undeterred.

"Section 6 monitors and contains all kinds of extraordinary threats," Felix said.

"... and these witch-hunting aliens have abducted my girlfriend?!" I shouted.

"Yeah," Felix sighed. "That's about right."

"Girlfriend?" Bella blinked.

"Kind of... maybe," I said. "I mean, I was going to ask her... if we hadn't been interrupted by an alien abduction!" 

"I checked on Alexander," Edwards said into the uncomfortable silence. "He's in bed. I've called Mr. Brown and told him at least some of what's happened. He's on his way now, but this storm blowing in is getting bad quickly. It might take him a while."

The rain had started while Felix was bringing me home. Now it was a full thunderstorm.

"The greatest weather-witch in the world," I breathed, not really sure why I said it.

"What?" Bella asked sharply.

"This man Gwen met this morning," I said. "She said he was a friend and she wanted him to help us with... a thing... but he wouldn't. She said he was the greatest weather-witch in the world. I just thought..."

"His name... did she say his name?" Bella pressed.

"Lucius..." I started.

"Tempest," Bella gasped. "She said he was a friend?"

"Yeah, but I think... from something she said, I think he might be her father," I said. "Is that possible?"

"We were so focused on the damage she might do by accident," Bella said to Felix. "We never considered what someone might do on purpose to protect her."

"It can't be him," Felix said. "He's... he's a myth."

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"Lucius Tempest is an ancient and powerful witch," Bella said. "The old druids called him Taranis the Thunderer... a mythological hero."

"Gwen said something to him about being the hero of some war," I said. "She said he destroyed Lord Sloth's fleet..."

"Lord Sloth's invasion fleet pursued Princess Cordelia after the fall of the House of Thebe," Edwards, who was something of a history buff, put in. "The fleet was destroyed by..."

"... a hurricane," Bella finished.

Outside, the storm raged.

"What are you planning?" Felix asked.

"That might just be an early winter storm blowing in off the sea," Bella said. "But, if the legends are even half true, Taranis has the power to single-handedly destroy all of Willow Creek, and the Agency just abducted his kid! We can't wait for the Committee to rescind the containment order. We need to get Gwen back tonight."

"I'm going with you," I said. "It's my fault they took her."

"Cas, it's not your fault," Bella said. "The Agency has been worried about Gwen since she arrived. She's a very powerful witch and they were concerned of what she might do if she lost control of her powers."

"...and she did just cause a dimensional breach," Felix put in.

"But that's what I mean," I said. "She didn't cause the breach. I did."

"Cas, it would take a powerful Psychokinetic Active to cause this kind of breach," Felix said. "You're a psychic sensitive but you're not an Active."

With a deep breath I stood up and called fire into the fireplace.

"You... you're..." Felix stammered before turning to Bella. "She an Active! You faked her test results."

"Of course I faked her test results!" Bella snapped. "I wasn't letting Key or Section 6 anywhere near my daughter!"

"I'm going with you," I insisted.

"Right," Bella said. "Felix, you're going to Director Bridges. Tell her everything... emphasis on the 'we just pissed off the Lord of Storms' part. We need her to back me up. Edwards, hold down the fort. Look after Alexander and bring Doug up to speed when he gets here. I'm going to Key's lab and getting Gwen."

"I said I'm going with you," I repeated.

"Go upstairs," Bella told me. Before I could object, she continued, "Get changed into something that you can move in and that won't give an opponent a way to get a grip on you. Meet me at the door in five minutes or I leave without you."

Author's Note

For the uninitiated, Princess Cordelia Thebe is a well-established historical figure in Sims lore... noted for her love of music, her furniture and her many pirate boyfriends. Her unnamed kingdom was destroyed in the otherwise largely unexplained Great Sloth Invasion. 

Me being me, I've put my own spin on this... transforming a semi-comedic invasion by Sloths into a more serious invasion by "Lord Sloth" and his armies. What can I say, I like putting my own spin on Sims lore.

Lucius Tempest is my own original character.