Extract 2 of 4 - Chapter Two

“Excuse me, but what does er, this, er Machiavelli want with me?” Felix stuttered shyly.

“It’s not you he’s after, it’s the stone” Samuel grunted stiffly.

“I don’t think I understand,” he said hesitantly. Something kept bothering Felix. It was the name. “Machiavelli”. Felix played with it on his tongue. “I kind of know the name. Who is he?”
Samuel tutted and looked down his nose at Felix.

“He’s our enemy” he quipped, trying to make Felix look as foolish as possible.

Greta swiftly intervened. “He’s a thinker and politician from Italy, the creator of a famous book…”

“Called ‘the Prince’” interrupted Samuel enthusiastically.

“Yes. He wrote it when he was alive and now that he is dead it has sort of become his obsession” Greta continued, a note of annoyance creeping into her voice at Samuel’s rudeness.

“A book about…what?” Felix asked.

“Well, it’s not a story. It’s … advice, I suppose. About how to rule over people”.

“How can that become an obsession?” cried Felix, sceptically.

’Well he’s kind of got some sort of God complex” she explained. “We’re not totally sure, but we think he wants to build a new world based on the advice he wrote in his book. He seems to be recruiting people”.

Felix laughed. “God complex?”

Samuel smiled. His eyes glowed warmly, but his face was cool and calculating. “Yes. It’s quite simple really. We think he wants to wipe out our world and create a new one – his one”.

“So let me get this straight” Felix coughed in amusement at the absurdity of what they were saying. “That man in the carriage over there thinks he can somehow make, or build, or magic up a completely new world”. Felix let some of the tension of the situation escape and laughed a genuine laugh. “He’s a mad man – obviously. Surely. Definitely”.

Cassandra cupped her hand under the knuckles of Felix’s hand, the one holding the stone and delicately lifted it up so that everyone could see its brilliant deep cyanic tones.

“We all agree with you Felix. He is mad. Mad and obsessed. Obsessed with bringing his vision to life”.

“So what’s he going to do, wave a magic wand then” Felix shrugged the assured smile beginning to die.

Greta was stony faced. She pointed to the stone. Everyone stared at the wondrous blue object and Felix suddenly understood.

“You mean he thinks that this stone can bring his world to life?”

“It can” sniffed Samuel, smirking at the irony.

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