Lady of the Lake: Chapter 41 – Operation Shock and AweFinally the time had come. It was 9:00 PM, an hour before the prearranged meeting time when the criminals expected to meet with just Valerie and Lance. But wary of any possible ambush, Bors and Valerie had agreed that she and Lance should go to the warehouse at 9:00 PM. At an appropriate time Lance would activate the portkey to summon Bors and the others to join them. Valerie took Lance’s hand and they instantly materialised inside the warehouse. The spotlight again lit the spot where they stood showing Valerie in her gold robe and Lance dressed in a tunic of a Knight of the Round Table.
“How charmingly inconsiderate of you to drop in so early Ms Pendragon or is that Mrs duGaunnes?” said Michael Dandy.
“Either is fine. I hoped you might want to get this over with early. I have things to do,” replied Valerie.
“You really do know how to make an entrance pretty lady,” said Dennis. “But what makes you think you’ll be leaving so soon.
Ignoring Dennis and the irritated look Michael Dandy gave him, Valerie said, “Do you have the papers ready Mr Dandy?”
“I do. Can I inspect the sword?”
“Look all you want, but from there,” replied Valerie raising the sword above her head.
“Well I can clearly see you have a sword there but how can I tell if it’s Excalibur from this distance?” asked Michael Dandy.
“Wait just one moment,” said Valerie. Then she began to sing softly and melodically. As she sung the sword started to glow. A soft pale blue at first but within a minute the sword’s glow had intensified to a dazzling bright blue. The assembled criminals stepped back further into the shadows, intimidated by the majesty of the sword.
“Well that’s interesting, but will it respond like that for me?” asked Michael Dandy.
“It will only ever respond to its owner and its maker. For Excalibur to respond to you, I need to tell it to transfer its allegiance. I will not be doing that until I have the signed documents.”
“Then let us proceed,” said Michael Dandy handing her a sheaf of papers. Valerie handed Excalibur to Lance to check the documents.
“These are signed already,” said Valerie.
“Why waste time?”
“I agree. A deal is a deal. Excalibur is yours.” Folding the papers and tucking them inside her robe, Valerie took Excalibur from her son and held the sword out to Michael Dandy. “Stand beside me and put your hand gently on the hilt behind mine,” instructed Valerie. As Michael Dandy did so, Valerie whispered to the sword, “Goodnight,” and let go of the hilt. Michael Dandy felt the full weight of the sword as his hand slid up the hilt holding it securely. “Now hold the sword against your body where it can feel your heartbeat and sing to it,” instructed Valerie.
Feeling a little foolish because he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, Michael Dandy crooned a lullaby his mother once sang to him. As he sang the words, the sword glowed and he felt imbued with the power of the sword. Strength surged through him. Holding the glowing blue sword aloft he shouted, “Seize them!”
Immediately an elixir was thrown at Valerie but deflected by Bors who materialised beside her at exactly that instant. Several villains rushed towards Valerie and Lance but halted as they saw two more knights appear and surround Valerie. Although the criminals outnumbered the knights by about six to one, they didn’t know how to deal with the magical knights and shrank back into the shadows.
“I warned you that I’m not alone Mr Dandy. I’m never alone. That was very uncharitable of you to try to double cross me,” Valerie said as the back door to the warehouse swung wide allowing Alana Kahale and Donia Spinelli to rush in.
“Oh,” exclaimed Alana in a despairing tone, realising that the situation could never be manipulated to her benefit. In contrast, Donia’s evil mind was racing, never conceding that she couldn’t turn this encounter to her advantage. Alana turned to leave but found the doorway blocked by a young blond woman in military style garments holding a futuristic looking weapon that looked extremely lethal. Alana and Donia backed further into the warehouse as the woman advanced on them without speaking a word.
The knights stood motionless as the criminals sized up the new threat. When Valerie noted Dandy’s slackened grip on Excalibur, she used a spell to summon the sword to her. Quickly kissing the hilt, Valerie then held the now white glowing sword high above her head. On cue, Lance shone his sonic screwdriver at Excalibur and the white light given off by the sword fractured into dozens of flashes of light.
As the light flashes faded many of the assembled criminals had simply vanished. Those that remained fell to the floor in a deep sleep. Valerie sang another song to Excalibur changing its glow to green. As she walked among the sleeping forms singing her song, she tapped each sleeping criminal with the sword and they too disappeared.
Her work done, Valerie looked back to the assembled knights – Bors, Lance, Galeas and Dr Landgraab – in time to see the blond woman in military garb hug Lance, wave goodbye then dematerialise.
“Dr Landgraab, would you please visit that woman you said lives next door to the Condor Museum Lofts. Ayesha Ansari, I think you said was her name. See if she remembers anything. If she doesn’t, I think we can safely assume that that particular spell in the plan worked. Lance and I must now return Excalibur to its rightful place.” With that Lance and Valerie disappeared.
Geoffrey and Galeas left the warehouse while Bors set about eradicating the Outstanding Citizens Warehouse with the sonic blaster. Soon nothing but the fence stood and bare rock showed where the original footprint of the warehouse had been.
Back at the Condor Museum Lofts, Geoffrey was reluctant to take off the Knight’s tunic. It felt good to wear it even though it was heavier than he’d imagined. He had steeled himself for a battle. Although the confrontation had gone exactly as Valerie planned, using magic and imagery to shock and intimidate the criminals, Geoffrey had been prepared to risk his surgeon’s hand in a physical fight because he believed that good people must fight against evil. Nevertheless, he had quite the adventure to tell his father and brother. Not only had he met one of the Saviours, but he met and worked with the father of the founder of the White Knight of Gaunnes. Geoffrey Owen Almandy-Landgraab was more fulfilled than he had felt in a very long time. Changing into his doctor’s coat, Geoffrey ran next door to see Ayesha Ansari who he could clearly see standing out in the rain.
Her pupils were dilated and she seemed very confused. Geoffrey went into his planned routine asking her about her symptoms alleging that she’d been hurt in the pressure wave of the explosion on the hospital roof. After ascertaining the Ayesha had indeed lost her memory of the last couple of days, Geoffrey questioned her further. When he was able to establish that Ayesha had no recollection of her career as a criminal, Geoffrey congratulated her on her appointment as a Toddler Sports Coach at the Stadium. He then suggested that she should take a few days off until she had recovered from her injuries. Ayesha seemed grateful that someone knew what had happened to her and allowed Geoffrey to escort her to her front door where Madison VanWatson met them. Delicately questioning Madison, Geoffrey was able to confirm that she had no knowledge of her friend’s erstwhile criminal career. He gave Madison, one of the nurses at the hospital, instructions for the care of Ayesha’s supposed medical condition and left Madison to care for her roommate.
Geoffrey arrived back at the Condor Museum Lofts at the same time as Valerie and Lance returned from Avalon. Geoffrey told a delighted Valerie that the spell on Ayesha had worked. “Were you able to confirm whether the rest of the plan had also worked?” asked Geoffrey.
Valerie replied sheepishly that while those criminals destined for the Enchanted Isle of the Green Fairies had landed safety, the other criminals destined for the other island had actually landed in the ocean instead. “I must have made an error with the GPS location,” Valerie said, “But they can easily swim the short distance to the island where the Weeping Angels will deal with them.”
Shortly after, Bors arrived back at the lofts. Galeas then addressed the assembled group advising that he had received a phone call from Blair informing him that the warrant for Geoffrey Landgraab’s arrest had been revoked. Dr Landgraab was no longer a wanted man and was free to go about his business. Geoffrey was ecstatic. The drama and heartaches of the last year had been resolved to his satisfaction.
Geoffrey made one last check on his patients then, together with Malcolm, left the Condor Museum lofts eager to return home to tell Nancy of the good news. Geoffrey cautioned Malcolm not to tell Nancy about the magical duGaunnes or what happened inside the warehouse. He suggested to Malcolm that it would be nice to celebrate his birthday with a family vacation to France where Malcolm could meet Geoffrey’s side of the family and see his new cousin.
Lance said his goodbyes and departed, leaving Bors and Valerie to wish Galeas a good night as they went up to bed. Galeas made a late night cup of coffee to help him sort through his inner turmoil. He felt disillusioned. While the unfair use of magic had been their primary means of success, his parents and Lance had demonstrated no qualms about how they dealt with the criminals. Galeas hadn’t been told about their brand of justice, probably because he would not have condoned it. He had expected that the police would round up and deal with the criminals at the warehouse. Under his mother’s plan, there was no chance for them to surrender, no fair trial or sentence. No justice... the one thing he believed in above all else was procedural fairness! Instead, his mother had arbitrarily sentenced those criminals who displayed the Evil trait to an island inhabited by Green Fairies who allegedly maintained the forests. Apparently if those criminals were well behaved they could look forward to a lifetime of servitude to the fairies, otherwise they could be turned into wooden statues.
If that hadn’t seemed too farfetched, the criminals who were Mean Spirited but not Evil, had been teleported to a different island where some mysterious Weeping Angels would send them back in time and consume their time energy. The criminals who were basically neither Evil nor Mean Spirited had had their knowledge of their criminal activities erased and their Kleptomania trait changed to something good. To further their rehabilitation, they had even been reallocated careers best suited to their traits.
Galeas acknowledged that he knew very little of the supernatural world his mother and Lance inhabited. Morgana had never played Fairy Tricks on her family and to the best of his knowledge, his mother and Lance had never used magic to gain any financial or other advantage. But Galeas felt that Supernaturals should conform to the laws of the land they inhabited. When it all boiled down, Galeas felt the most disappointment that his father Bors had been a willing party to the arbitrary dispensation of justice. Galeas was so torn he hadn’t noticed Anja coming down the stairs and was startled when she spoke.
“Thank you Galeas for taking my briefcase to Julia and for getting my suitcase.”
“You’re welcome,” replied Galeas.
“Is that coffee you’re drinking?” To Galeas’ nod she said, “May I have a cup?”
Galeas made her coffee and watched her sip the hot drink appreciatively. “I saw your assistant, Julia, at the Old Mill earlier today,” Galeas advised. “By the way, she asked me to tell you that the lab results confirmed your theories about the autoclave. She also said she had closed the file on the hospital and submitted the final report.”
“That’s great. It’s been quite an ordeal but Dr Landgraab told me it was now all over.”
“So it seems,” replied Galeas whose mind was further unsettled. This pleasant conversation with the one woman Galeas had desperately wanted to impress came at the most inconvenient of times. He needed the time to process his conflict but he may never get another chance to speak to Anja. Instead, Anja seemed to pick up on his inner turmoil.
“You don’t sound so sure?”
“Oh no, I mean. It is over. But it’s sort of like that Shakespearean play “
All’s Well That Ends Well”, the ending seemed incongruent and I am left with a sense of disappointment.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s difficult to explain without going into a lot of detail.”
“I’ve slept most of the last 24 hours. I’m wide awake and if you want an impartial sounding board, try me.”
“Okay, but stop me when your weird-o-metre maxes out.” Galeas explained as best he could the events that happened and the depth of his anxiety about whether the criminals’ punishment had fit their crimes.
Anja reasoned that even with due process, criminals often were dealt with leniently by the laws that were originally designed more to protect the innocent rather than practically deal with the guilty. Given the unfair playing field the criminals operated on, where they had no regard for the pain and injustice they inflicted on their victims, she had no hesitation in concluding that their punishment had indeed fitted with their crimes. Anja would have continued but for the creak of the stairs heralding the arrival of Valerie.
“I heard voices. I thought Morgana might have got up. I’m sorry Galeas but I heard a good deal of what you said to Anja. If I may, I’d like to defend my actions.”
“Should I go?” asked Anja.
“No, please stay,” replied Valerie. “The real answer to your conundrum lies in the tiara. It was made by the Amazons from gold that has magical powers. It was further enchanted to act like a sorting hat.”
“A sorting hat? Like in Harry Potter?” asked Anja.
“The very same. It not only read the minds and psyche of each person, it conducted a conversation with them. It offered them the chance of redemption. Because it can read their inner thoughts, it knew their true soul and sent them to their destinies. Those ex-criminals that fell asleep on the floor were those who truly wanted a second chance and welcomed their redemption. But it all happened almost instantaneously so you couldn’t see those processes. So you see Galeas, there was a fair trial. Instead of a jury of their peers, they were judged and sentenced by their true selves. ”
“Outstanding! I would like to know more about supernatural powers,” exclaimed Anja. “I’ve been to the Amazon. I thought it was majestic but I wonder where the magical gold is mined.”
“I’m sorry I should clarify that point,” said Valerie. “I meant that the magical gold is mined in Atlantis and it was the Amazons there who were the goldsmiths who created that tiara.”
“Okay,” said Anja turning to Galeas and whispering. “Maxed out now.”
“I told you this family is weird,” cautioned Galeas in a low voice.
“Why don’t you try it, Anja? The tiara I mean. It can only be worn by a female, but you can confirm for Galeas that what I’ve said is true.”
“Sure. I’d love to talk to it.” Valerie went to get the tiara and came back and placed it on Anja’s head. The surprise showed clearly on Anja’s face.
In less than a minute Anja handed the tiara back. “I’m sorry Valerie, I didn’t understand. I do now. Thank you for everything.”
When Valerie left the room to return the tiara, Galeas turned to Anja. “Can I ask you what it said or is that personal?”
“It told me so much, but the most important thing is it answered a question I asked. It told me that you love me, the real me, not the ex-supermodel, just little ole me, the girl with a God complex who wants to save the world.”
Galeas was completely shocked by this turn of events. “...I do! I mean... I began to fall in love with you when you wanted to save the hospital. I’m glad you have the God complex because I’ve been accused of having that too,” replied Galeas. “Wait….. you were a supermodel? How did I miss that?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“What about your broken ribs?”
“Let me worry about the ribs. Why is it so hard to get a kiss from...” Galeas cut her off mid sentence.
MONTHS LATER
After the simple ceremony officially opening the new Claude Monet Artists Gardens built by City Hall where the Outstanding Citizens Warehouse once stood, Lance approached his mother with a young woman at his side. “Hi Mum and Dad, I’d like you to meet Jenny.”
THE END
“Hmmm that went well don’t you think? I told you Godrick Gryffindor wasn’t the only wizard who could create a sorting hat.”
