hardly up to the training of the Marchessa.
Alec snapped his neck and his threat was over. Once again, Cowan had
avenged Sojourner without really knowing it; Alec was none the wiser
than Clay was about Clay's son.

With Redmund's entire family
gone, Clay Byron focused once more deeply on his training. When Alec
left the Solacium in 1977 to fulfill his final mandate, Marchessa
knew he may never return, and he did not. Clay was left behind to
lose himself in honing his body and mind to their sharpest points in
order to obliterate the pain of his lost wife and son. The Marchessa
promised Alec that when Clay seemed ready, she would send him back to
Hallmark to claim his fortune and, hopefully, his place beside Cowan
in the Aggregate. Cowan did indeed find his place among theAggregate, as recounted elsewhere, but he was pained to learn that
Kicia was involved with the enigmatic Brother Zodiac.

V. Black Cabal Rising

In early 1977, Jerusha
Dharma fell ill and could not be saved by anyone at Feng Qi. Clive
felt it was time to conclude his training there and go to London to
get his mother's affairs in order. He left behind Mei-Chen to train
for one more year before she headed to Hallmark to petition for
membership in the Aggregate. With the resources available to him via
the Byron estate, Caulder Gaunt accompanied Clive and loaned him a
large sum of money and helped to establish his credentials.

Gaunt called upon a friend
and former co-worker at OrDeR Enterprises, Oswin Juan Clancey for
help in Clive's ventures. Oswin flew to London from Hallmark with his
associate Stephanie Ransom Avril,