*Chapter 20: Inversion, reversion, subversion*

Captain-Luteniant Will DeSchmitt stared in annoyance at his monitor as his game of 3D minesweeper was interrupted by a notification from the defense array, there was an electromagnetic disturbance on Carrotus- and it was close to the palace. From the form and intensity it was a severe storm. That was a surprise; the (-) array had actually found something useful for once. Odd that the weather systems hadn’t picked anything up though. He sent out an alert to civil defense; they could handle any possible casualties; there was nothing anyone could do about a storm except try and repair any damage afterwards. Besides, he brought down a menu, the Queen was miles away at a summer retreat discussing military matters.

* * *

Trixi looked out of the window, this was more difficult than it sounded as the only window was a small shuttered affair near the roof, just big enough to poke a head through. (This could be done as it had no glass.) At the current moment Trixi was coming to terms with the fact that it is easier to poke a head through a small aperture than pull it back. Finally she succeeded in extricating herself, falling backwards over the pile of miscellaneous junk she'd climbed for the view. She landed in a heap at the feet of a sarcastic turtle.

"Well, I see someone's having fun. The sky look any different up there or have the laws of perspective remained unaltered?" Trixi snorted. "Yeah? You really got to check this out; I think there's a fire or something!" She rushed outside, gradually followed by the two turtles. A number of rabbits were wandering the streets looking at the sky; it was no longer a normal storm.

The sky was almost as dark as dusk with brooding grey clouds, broken by the occasional flash of lightning. A cold wind whipped at the world, blowing from all directions and seeming to blow straight through people, chilling them to the bone, there was even the occasional snowflake. In the distance, toward the castle a section of the sky flamed orange and red, like a spilt sunset, a pillar of color. Betwixt the clouds there strange flashes of purple energy sparked, in some odd way they seemed to make the world darker when they flashed. The sky burned.

Schrock looked up open mouthed at the scene while the townsfolk rushed about him. "Dear Lord, that's not normal." Trixi s grabbed his arm and tugged him out of his daze. "Quick! They say the palace is on fire! We've got to help!" Groups of rabbits were already grabbing buckets and various other containers in desperation and trying to form into bucket chains. The houses of Carrotus were, despite the rabbits high technology, mainly wood and thatch, fire spread quickly and was everyone's problem. Turtles on the other hand rarely saw and rather feared flames. But Erst was already grabbing a bucket and joining the exodus toward the palace. Schrock reluctantly joined him. Trixi dashed past, stopping at a water butt to fill a pail she'd pilfered from outside a florists shop. When she saw what it was filled with, and what had been splashed liberally over her in her rush, she screamed and dropped the pail in shock, splattering her with even more blood.

Schrock stared at the red puddle, then at the well, he ignored the ducking and dashing rabbits and made his way to a tap, the liquid it produced came in a trickle, viscous and red, Shrock stared at it with growing unease.

"Oh Shelt" he said.