her commando hand-to-hand combat and street fighting, particularly the use of any tactic that could give her an advantage. On the weekends, Aelfraed tutored her in the function, organization, and history of the Caerleon Order in the morning, followed by more defense training with Mr. Holt in the afternoon. She enjoyed those sessions with him more than Aelfraed's lectures. While stern, he was nonetheless gentle and patient, and in any event, she thought learning how to fight was much more fun than reading dusty old reports.
It was mid-morning on a Sunday, and she was in the children's bedroom. She had just finished a snack Aelfraed had brought her and vainly tried to concentrate on a manpower allocation factsheet, when the alarm sounded as the armored shutters closed over the windows, both inside and out. She took a moment to turn on her desk lamp. Aside from the adrenaline rush, she did not feel anxious. The manor security staff had run frequent drills in the last couple of years, most of which were unscheduled. She knew what to do, which was essentially to stay in her room until someone came for her. Then she heard gunfire, both inside and outside the house, and she realized it was no drill.
The door opened, throwing her into a panic, but she calmed down when Mr. Holt strode in. She stood up, ready to go with him, but then he closed and locked the door. That unnerved her; it said they couldn't get to the shelter or outside.
He went around and locked the other three doors. "What's happening?" She tried to keep her fear under control.
"There's been an incursion, Miss." He stood in the center of the room, fingering his assault rifle.
The alarm cut off, and Aunt Mandy's voice came over the intercom system. "This is Miranda Pendragon. The house is under attack. The ground floor west wing and entry hall have been overrun; we hold the east wing and great hall. All personnel evacuate to the parking lot; repeat, all personnel evacuate to the parking lot." And the intercom went silent.
"We're cut off; we'll have to wait for extraction. Under the bed, Miss."
That really frightened her, and she dropped to the ground and scrambled into hiding. The idea of an enemy loose in the manor had always disturbed her, but she had taken for granted it could never happen.
"What is it?"
"I don't know; stay quiet, Miss." She watched his boots as he nervously shifted from one foot to the other, and that scared her all the more.
By her reckoning, a half hour passed without anything happening as sporadic fire continued to echo around her, but that only made her anxiety worse. She imagined that any moment some hideous monster would break down her door and attack him. The knock that came made her jump, but she calmed herself as she realized monsters wouldn't knock. Nonetheless, her heart was racing as she watched his feet edge towards the door to use the intercom.
"Celadon," she heard him say.
"Longquan," came the reply. It was Aunt Mandy.
The door opened and she saw a pair of sensible shoes walk in, followed by a number of more official ones. "Where is Differel?"
"You can come out now, Miss."
Differel slid out from under the bed and stood up. Aunt Mandy was accompanied by five security guards and her father's nurse. Mandy had a machine pistol, while the guards carried submachine guns.
"We have retaken the back stairhall and the solar on this floor," Mandy told him. "You join the troops there; I will get her down to the shelter."
"With all due respect, Ma'am, Sir Henry instructed me never to leave her side."
"Henry is dead, I am in charge now. Do as I say."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
Differel knew he wasn't bluffing, but she also knew he was outgunned. And while she didn't think Mandy would kill him, she also knew her Aunt wouldn't bluff either.
"It's all right, Mr. Holt, I'll be safe with her. I want you to help get the others out, and then retake my house."
He looked at her with an expression that mixed doubt and pride. "Are you sure, Miss?"
"Yes, I am. Now, please, the best thing you can do for me is drive the enemy out."
He nodded. "Very well, Miss, as you command." He saluted, then turned on his heels and jogged out into the hallway.
Mandy watch him from the doorway as half the guards moved behind Differel. "I commend you, Niece, you probably saved his life." She then shut and locked the door before turning around.
"Take her!"
Two of the guards grabbed her by the arms. Surprised, she tried to get away, but they had solid grips before she could move.
"Wha--? What's the meaning of this?! Let me go at once!" She tried to sound defiant, but she was too scared to sound like anything other than hysterical.
"Shut up, you little tramp!" Mandy barked. "I have taken as much from you and your family as I intend to stand!"
Genuinely perplexed, Differel asked, "What're you talking about? You are part of my family!"
Mandy's face clouded into a look of rage such as Differel had never seen before. "Your family?! Do not talk filth to me! I am a Pendragon! My people have been combating monsters for centuries, and we never needed on 'Order' to aid us. Compared to us, you Van Helsings are mere infants. If it was not for a Pendragon, Dracula would have killed your ancestor Abraham in the Borgo Pass a hundred years ago. Yet you usurped our duty, stole our glory, and destroyed our honour by making us subservient to your wretched family! But that ends today. I will recover what we lost, and I will reclaim what was stolen from me."
She wasn't making any sense. Differel wondered if she was mad. "Stolen from you?"
"I was the oldest daughter; I should have become the Pendragon! I should have been the protector of England, the one who defended Queen, Church, and Country from paranormal threats. But my birthright was taken from me and given to my sister, unworthy though she was. And then she violated tradition by marrying your father! Unforgivable! But she was not censured, and though she gave up the title of her own free will, rather than grant it to me she held it in trust for her daughter! Unbelievable!"
"But...I'm a Pendragon, too! The same blood as yours flows thro--"
Mandy slapped her across the face hard enough to almost dislodge her glasses. "You filthy little slag! You are no more a Pendragon than your mealy-mouthed butler!"
"What have you done to him?! To my people?"
"Have no fear, your 'people' are safe. I arranged for a diversion, to keep them busy. They won't return until tomorrow, after I give the all clear. By that time, I will have finished with you, and they will be unable to do anything about it."
Now she turned genuinely angry. "Traitor! Wasn't running the Order enough for you? Are you so jealous that you lust after the rest as well? Are you really willing to do this?!"
"Not only willing, but prepared, Niece."
"Then you're nothing but a bloody rotten scumbag! If you think you can just kill me and get away with it --!"
She stopped when Mandy flashed a wicked leer. "Kill you? On the contrary, I intend to keep you very much alive!" And she nodded to the nurse.
She stepped forward, and for the first time Differel noticed she carried a covered pan. She stopped just in front of her, lifted off the cover and tossed it onto the bed, and reached inside.
She pulled out a monstrosity: a cross between a snake and a slug, six inches long and one in diameter, covered in glistening mucus, writhing and shrieking in a thin, high-pitched, wavering tone.
"Give it to me!" Mandy commanded.
She handed the creature over and Mandy bent down towards her.
"NO!" Differel fought, trying to get loose, as she shook her head from side to side.
"Hold her!" A guard behind her grabbed her head and pushed his fingers into her cheeks, forcing her mouth open. Mandy inserted the index finger of her free hand and wrenched her lower jaw down. She cried out from the pain and tried to bite, but the guard's grip was too strong. Mandy held the eyeless snake-slug by the tail and positioned it head-down over her mouth. She felt fluid drip of its snout onto her tongue.
From "The Golden Mushroom"
; By that time they had reached the spot indicated on the map. It was a boggy hollow, in area a little larger than a baseball field. Pools of debris and silt-filled water lay interspersed by mounds and ridges of soggy earth. The trees were small and thinner there, and more widely scattered, but the only other vegetation were thick mats of a ground-hugging herb.
Shadow sat on a rock waiting for them as she gazed into the hollow. The long, lean, smoky-gray cat looked up at them with her mint-green eyes as they came abreast of her. "This may be a little more difficult."
To Eile she sounded smugly satisfied. "What do you think?" she asked Sunny.
"It doesn't look too bad." But there was a hint of uncertainty in her tone. Eile couldn't blame her. While it wasn't going to be as easy as the other items, it looked simple enough: avoid the pools, stay on the land, and hope it was solid enough to support them. But it would make searching for the gilded toadstool all the more difficult.
"If only we knew where to look," Sunny added in frustration.
As if her words were a prayer, a shaft of sunlight dropped out of a break in the clouds and fell on the central mound. At its center an object winked and twinkled with a distinctive metallic sheen.
Though stunned, Eile felt suspicious too. "Alright, now that was just too convenient."
"Yeah, but what choice do we have?"
Sunny sounded nervous, but she was right. "None." She placed the pack on the ground. "You go first. Use yer bow ta test the