Let her explain herself

"Is that so?" you ask in a neutral voice, the same tone you might use if someone had simply expressed a preference of red wine over white.

"It is so!" Corinne exclaims, the anger flashing in her eyes.

"Anyone might make such a claim," you point out. "I would be a fool to simply accept it from another. Why should I believe it from you?"

For a moment, Corinne looks as though she might explode with rage, and you wonder if you have gone too far - but then, her expression immediately calms. "Of course," she says. "Charlatans and frauds abound, and you are too clever to be taken in by them. They have their uses, of course... they distract the common people, so that one such as myself need not be bothered by them. You may be forgiven for failing to recognize true power when you see it. I will show you!"

Corinne turns her back for a moment, and you take that moment to closely examine your chains, even trying to pull your hands from them; but it is futile. The manacles are tight around your wrists, and your trained blacksmith's eye tells you that there is no defect in their construction that you might take advantage of. They will only come loose with the key.

When Corinne turns around again, she holds a clear crystalline ball in both hands, cradling it like an infant. "Do you know what this is, my love?" she asks in a whisper.

You offer no answer, though it takes an effort of will to remain expressionless. The crystal is by far the largest and most exquisite you have ever seen; utterly flawless, clear as water from the springs, and cut to spherical perfection. Where could Corinne have come by such a treasure? Surely, if it had been taken from a visiting lord, a theft of such magnitude would have been reported to you!

"Of course you do not," she says. "No mortal man could ever perceive the true nature of this simple-appearing globe... but I see, and I know, for the Truth has been given to me in a vision. It was nearly a thousand years ago, dear Xavier... a time when sorcery reigned supreme, and of all the wielders of magic none were more powerful than the Sorceress Morganne le Fay. She came to me as I slept one night. She appeared as a goddess at the gates of Avalon, and when she spoke she called me her daughter. For you see, I am the last descendant of the Sorceress Morganne, borne of the union between her and the wizard Merlin, and their magic combined now lives in me!

"This," she says, holding the magnificent crystal out before her, "this is the seeing-stone of Morganne le Fay. Through this crystal ball, she witnessed all that passed upon the Earth, all that ever was, and all that would come to be. She saw me in those visions, and she knew that the day would come when her magic must pass unto me. But the crystal can do more than see, my love... it was indeed the very source of her greatest power, that which drew into her embrace even one so powerful as the great Merlin!"

"It's not working," you say dryly.

"Oh, but it shall," Corinne smiles. "Do not think this to be some trinket which casts a simple spell of infatuation, Xavier. No, its power is greater by far... for the crystal's magic shall bind together hearts which have always been destined to beat as one. When I first took it into my hands and gazed into its depths, the fog which had consumed my mind for years was lifted... I remembered who I was, and from where I had come, and the man who was my one true soulmate. I saw your eyes in the seeing-stone, my one true love! Your eyes! And now, through its power, our hearts shall beat as one forever!"

She's mad, you think, not for the first time.

"It was always meant to be," Corinne whispers as she approaches.

"Then why do you have me chained?" you ask.

She stops short, tilting her head to one side. "Because the crystal has not yet set you free," she says. "Because you do not yet see me... you see the girl in whose shell I was imprisoned. When the magic lifts the fog from you as it did for me, you will understand, and I will be the only woman in the world to you, just as you are the only man for me. Then, and only then, I shall loosen your bonds, and we can join together at last. Until then, as futile as it may be, you may choose to resist... and that would be most unwise."

Your mind races, recalling lectures by Lord Duncan on the nature of mysticism and witchcraft. Duncan, a man of practical mind if ever there were one, rejected the validity of all such claims; he insisted to you that those who styled themselves wizards and witches were merely clever men and women using trickery and illusion, that what seemed to be magic was actually just sleight of hand, dramatic flair, and the use of substances which burned with colored flames or produced intoxicating fumes. "If those who claimed such powers truly had them," Duncan had said, "would they squander their talents performing for a handful of coins upon a stage; or travel here and there in a decrepit cart pulled by an elderly ass, speaking with invisible spirits who conveniently never reveal anything of substance? No, Sire... there is no true sorcery in this world, not in the sense which is practiced by these self-styled mystics. A magic wand is but a stick, and a seeing-stone is merely a polished rock."

Thus far, you have always found Duncan's words to be true... but though wise, your First Advisor is not all-knowing, and he has been wrong before. Could it be that there is indeed a powerful magic within the bauble in Corinne's hand? The actions of Abdul Hai el-Anwar would certainly seem to prove as much!