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.He pointed atRoan. You have no business here, one-faced freak. That s me! said the Synton standing beside Juele. So it is, Roan said. Perfectly true to life, isn t it? Now, daughter, said the king, coming forward out of the beam of light.Helooked regal, benevolent,and masterful.His eyes bored into the princess s compellingly. There isnothing wrong here.This is a perfectly normal function of dreams.Everythingwill sort itself out.Do not interfere. Leonora nodded, entranced.Thejeweled coronet on her head became a garland of daisies. Yes, Daddy, she said, in an obedient voice. I won t. Very clever, said Peppardine, stepping forward and swatting a hand past alltheir faces.Leonora gasped.Not one of the ministers blinked.As Peppardine sPage 195 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhand touched the person of the king, Spar andLum leaped forward and grabbed his arms. No, Leonora said.The spell was broken, and she was herself again. Let himgo.They are all replicas, aren t they? The Idealist nodded.The guards stoodback, but remained watchful.Leonora studied them in amazement as theycontinued to scold and threaten. Now I can see why everyone believed inthem. They will cause you no more trouble, Peppardine said.He flicked a finger,and every figure collapsed into a small paper doll, except the king, who was awhite silk shirt on the floor, and Romney, who stood by quietly. This one hasmore coherence than the others, but is still not real. Rutaro made her, Juele said.Corporal Lum bent to pick up the shirt andpresented it to the princess.Aloud rumbling broke out almost over their heads, and the wall of the School ofLight began to recede slowly through the wall to the east.A cry of anguishcame from the dais.Without the ministers, the clique s source of authoritywas gone.Juele turned to look at the column of white light.Peppardine created a hugegum eraser that flew over the scene and wiped away the last of the illusionconcealing the people inside.On the high platform, the eight senior students sat enthroned in a circle, onchairs of gold and velvet.They were clenching the armrests with straining fingers.The cords stood outon their necks as they stared at a narrower pillar of light at the center.Inside it was the single figure of a man.Juele could just pick out theshadows of broad shoulders and dark curly hair.Rutaro was standing rigidwithin the beam, his eyes straining upward, hands down at his side, clenched,an unnatural pose.The eight students stared at him, literally pinning him inplace with their eyes.Juele was full of pity.One of the great creative mindsin theDreamland, who had imagined the School into being, was helpless before realinfluence and strong emotion.For all their pride in the smock, the clique hadn t remained true to illusionwhen power beckoned.Images flew from Rutaro s forehead, divided eight ways, and descended into thestudents on the thrones.From them other images arose.Juele could see they were much less perfect indesign, but these were what escaped from the column, filling the room andseeping out into the rest of the castle.They were draining him forinspiration.With all the ability at their command, they didn t have a singleoriginal concept of their own. They have formed their own ivory tower, Peppardine said, but instead ofIdeas, they have an Idealist. Juele ran up to the column of light and pounded on it. Let him out! Daline sat up majestically in her throne, never turning her head. No, she shouted. You had one of Them all to yourself.Now he s ours. But he s not mine, Juele said. He chose me. And then he unchose you! Cal said. What are you doing here? Juele looked at the haunted face in the glass tube. He needs me. Why you? Colm asked. You re too young.You re too new! You can t take him away from us, Tanner said, without looking at Juele.Hekept his eyes fixed on the prize in the center.Staring straight ahead, Belladidn t say anything aloud.Juele remembered that out of the whole group Bellahad been the nicest to her.She looked tired of the governing game.She d beenthere, done that, passed the legislation, and now she wanted to stop, but shecouldn t walk away from her companions.They wouldn t let her go, any morethan they could let Rutaro go free.Juele read her moving lips. Help, Bella whispered.Juele pounded on the wall of light. Go away, you baby, you infant, you child! You have no right to be here, Page 196 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlDaline hissed. Take this! Juele felt a wave of seasickness take hold of her belly.She started to growsmaller.Her clothes were too big, as if she was playing dress-up in hermother s closet.The reflection in the column s shiny side showed her the faceof a baby, wearing booties and diapers, before she fell off the dais.Jueletried to scramble back up again.It was too high for her short, round legs.She jumped, reaching for the edge.At last her hands caught the smoothsurface.Her hands would take her wherever she wanted to go.They pulled herup to the platform.Juele tore furiously at the web of light with her fingers.She felt as if she was fighting all eight of them at once. Stop, Roan said, catching hold of her wrists. You ll only hurt yourself. They re using influence, Juele said. It s not fair.They re all workingtogether! No, they re not, Roan said, watching the illusions fly. I have watchedpower plays in court for years.Each of them is working for himself or herself, albeit toward a common goal. Layers of illusion, Peppardine said. If you slip past one, the others catchyou.Breaking the concentration of one of them isn t enough.You need todistract them all. Can you make all of them look the other way? Roan asked, with a nod ofapproval for Peppardine. It works in that fashion with influence in a trialbetween equals, distraction is the best weapon. I can, Juele said, resolute because Roan, unlike the Minister of Continuity,treated her like a peer.Shestood up, a teenager again.But how could she do it? Juele felt Peppardine slong, strong fingers close around hers.He was at her shoulder. Make them doubt, he said.Juele looked up at him.He nodded encouragement.Doubt? she thought.Doubt what? Make them wonder if they really had theirprize, Juele realized.There was plenty of light she could use.She tookhandfuls of it, and began to mold it, looking out of the corner of her eye.Using Rutaro s own techniques, which he had used to make the lifelike image ofRomney, Juele crafted images of the Idealists. Very nice, Peppardine said, watching her hands fly. But she is not doing anything, Minister Synton complained. Guards, break inand remove these intruders at once! Just a moment, please, Master Synton, Roan s voice said. Just because youcan t see it doesn t mean nothing is happening. Oh, I see, Leonora whispered. It s not there at the front of your eyes. Stuff and nonsense, Your Highness, Synton said. Either it s there or itisn t! Shush! Peppardine commanded.Synton fell silent.In short order, beside Juele stood an elegant Helena, a solemn Soteran, alanguid Von, a sullen Mara, a nimble Callia.The divine Peppardine didn t needto be created, only copied, which Juele did with her heart in her fingers
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