I have to admit that the city of Amber is
a very impressive sight, and the Castle whilst small is as impressive
in its own way, purely from its location, perched half way up Mount
Kolvir as it is.
Why someone would choose to inscribe the wonder that is the Pattern
inside a volcano, and in doing so require the construction of the
castle in the location it is, is another question entirely, one which
brings to mind the question of the sanity of the individual concerned.
One other item of note from todays proceedings, one that I have noticed on a couple of occasions now. It appears that Cordelia does not suffer from the same inability to converse with the servants that Isla and I do, and none of us have any problems in communicating with any member of the family except Random's wife Vialle.
As I sit and write this I know that it is the early hours of the morning on the 26th Marvich in the year 5 post Patternfall. I can now also converse at will with any of the servants, and listen to and understand all but the quietest of their conversations. I also know it is now slightly more than 38 hours since I walked the Pattern, an experience that is both exhilarating, exhausting, and excruciatingly painful at the same time.
I am also aware that Isla has not yet awoken, and that Cordelia awoke mid afternoon and then debauched herself and the family name for several hours in the stables. What is more interesting at least from the perspective of determing the morality or lack of it amongst family members is that hadt been Flora then none would have commented, or at least not at any sort of length.
Having slept for so long I am at a loss as to what to do until breakfast when I expect at least Benedict and Fiona to be up and about.
It has certainly been a day in many ways, and although I know it is the same day we are no longer in Amber. Where exactly we are I have no idea. How we got here has a lot to do with using the Pattern to alter parameters of what Fiona calls "Shadows" or "Universes", something that both Isla and I are having difficulty with, whilst Cordelia seems to have grasped the concept and is able to do it with some ease.
In other respects she does not appear to be so lucky. For instance we departed the castle this morning after breakfast, where again certain of my relations made unbecomming remarks at her expense, on horse back. Whilst I am no great rider I do have some experience and was able to cope, where as it appears Cordelia has never ridden before today and suffered greatly as a consequence. Her physical discomfort was made worse by the fact she appeared to be paying for Fionas ire at the ineptitude of the stable hands as she has barely said 2 sentences to her all day.
Despite all this, she was the first to voice a question as to what strangeness was occurring with the world after we left the hostelry after lunch, and was the only one of the three of us to notice that the staff in this establishment were all female, although she didn't notice that they were not human. To be honest neither did Isla nor I, and Fiona said it was actually dificult without using the Pattern which none of us were yet skillful enough to use.
There has been a pattern of late when I have come to make my daily entry of not knowing where or how to begin. Today has been another of such days. It has also been a day where yet another of my self styled relations has proved themselves to be unworthy of any form of trust or loyalty. Until the events of this afternoon I had thought Fiona just aloof, arrogant, and condescending, but her actions have just proved that she is nothing more than a spiteful, egotistical, pretentious brat. Knowing this I am now slightly ashamed for the manner in which Cordelia was treated yesterday. She may have her faults but to blame her directly for the failings of the stable hands yesterday does now seem a trifle unjust.
We had left the inn this morning, Cordelia struggling with her mount as she did yesterday, and set off for some unknwn destination - I do not believe that Fiona did not have one in mind. She, Fiona that is, had then lectured us, much as she did yesterday afternoon in the use of the Pattern to find objects in shadow without explaining actually how to do it, even if she did locate a strange selection of gems, coins, and tools. After a short while she tired of this and explained that whilst Shadow walking, that that we'd been doing yesterday and this morning were a slow means of traversing shadow there was a faster means called Hellriding. The difference between the two was that in the former you changed small details slowly, where as in the latter you changed large details quickly. She had then spurred her horse and challenged us to keep up. Suffice to say that none of us did.
Of the three of us I think I managed to stay with her the longest, but she is obviously a considerably better horsewoman than I am and I suspect her mount is more used to the crescendo of madness that a hellride involves than any of ours. By the time I lost Fiona, by the simple expediant of turning to check what had happend to Isla, I found my self in an alien land of the most strangest nature. The sky was a deep mauve, with burgandy and orange clouds, which partially hid a huge ringed planet which hung in the sky. The smell of brimstone, soot, and pwoder filled the air, along with a fine rain of ash, causing both my horse and I to cough and choke. I was forced to dismount and use my jacket to cover her head and a kerchief to cover my nose and mouth whilst I determined the best direction to head.
So we walked, Stetsnu and I for more than an hour before the air cleared sufficiently to be breathable again, enabling me to ride once more. A further hour of walking enabled us to find drinkable water. Whist she drank I sat down to think. As I saw it I had 3 options, I could wander this world in the hope of encountering some form of civilization an hope that I could form some kind of life here, I could attempt to return home or wander in shadow forever, or I could attempt to return to Amber, as place that Fiona had said was "real" such that if we arrived there and found that we could no longer manipulate shadow we had arrived at the real Amber and not a reflection of it. The question was, was Random's promise of training in Rune Magic sufficient an incentive to return to Amber. He had said magic was real in many shadows, so could I find such a shadow and teach myself or perhaps even locate a teacher? Then there was the question of what had happened to Isla, and ,despite my reservations about her, Cordelia. What would they do?
It took me a considerable amount of time to build the Pattern construct to allow me to consider Shadow Walking. Fiona had done it in a fraction of the time so the ability to do it must improve with practice, but then what doesn't. The time it had taken me, had allowed me to consider my options. I started making this shadow look more like Amber and doing so realised how far I need to go.
I managed to ride for about an hour and a half before I was forced to drop the Pattern image, but not before I had managed to acquire a few coins and a woodmans axe. It's not in the best of condition but at least it enables me to have a fire and a weapon should I need one. Tomorrow I shall have to acquire something better a cavelry sabre would be ideal. I would like a rifle but bearing in mind what happened in Amber I'm not sure how useful one would be. I shall also have to locate something more substantial in the way of food; I shall not survive for very long on a few pieces of fruit.
Today has been much better, although it still takes me an inordinate amount of time to build the Pattern framework and I cannot sustain it for any great length of time. At least I am moving in the right direction and am now better equipped than I was, even if I'm short of a bath and a comfortable bed. I would still like a rifle but have yet to locate one in working condition. I've managed to locate 3 so far but none of them have been usuable but each attempt has been better than the previous.
If I were keeping score today would be marked as 2 wins and a loss, an unfortunately the loss is one I can really ill afford as it has slowed me down considerably. One the win front I have a working rifle of a design I am not familiar with and a small quantity of ammunition for it, and a comfortable bed for the night, along with the prospect of a decent breakfast in the morning to compliment this evenings meal. The loss unfortunately was Stetsnu, her injuries were just too great after the attack by the pack of carnivors and I was forced to expend an additional round of my ammunition to put her out of her misery. This makes locating a replacement my priority for tomorow.
By the time I located a replacement horse, more than half the morning had elapsed. More over I now have a spare and both were equipped with saddles and packs. Back tracking from where I found them I came upon what must have been an ambush. Multiple bodies of both man and beast littered the area, and not all were complete. They had all been left as they fell and most still had weapons and valuables so whoever had done this had left in a hurry. Most was of no use to me, and I estimated that they had lain here for several days. What was obvious was that the wagon that been with them was missing. Whatever it had been carrying, it had been heavily laden as evidence by the depths of its tracks. I left in the direction I had approached, bringing the pattern to mind as quickly as I was able and left the shadow behind me.
I am once again staying at a travellers hostelry, one of slightly better quality than yesterday, which has a downside requires more in the way of coin in payment. Whilst it does appear to be relativly easy to locate caches of coin I wonder at the events that lead them to be stashed where they are or who I am depriving of their life savings when they return to find them gone. It is for this reason that I take only half of what I find, even if it means that I have to spend more time searching.
Two events occurred today, one which served to explain the other, but ensure that whilst I have a comfortable bed to sleep in for the night ensured that I would not reach the castle till the morning.
I had left the in early, ascended the road into the hills and passed through into the great forest beyond. Having stopped briefly at a small brook to water the horses, I had continued for but a few minutes when, cresting a hill I came across a dozen men hung by the necks from 3 large trees. Whoever had done this had taken their time, as the remains of the fire were still warm to the touch, and there was evidence that horses had been picketed for a while. There were other tracks as well which didn't fit with anything I was aquainted with at that time.
I had left the scene in the direction I believed Amber lay noting that the tracks led in that direction, although by the time I chose to rest for lunch they had long since faded. I had ridden all afternoon, stopping for a short while to recuperate from maintaining the Pattern which was becoming inexorably harder to do, the sun now less than half visible above the trees and no hostelry in sight when I'd first heard the baying of what I imagined must be dogs, although the sound was unlike anything I had heard before. I dropped the Pattern and spurred the horses.
It had been no good. I had ridden as fast as I dared through the trees for perhaps 10 minutes before the creatures caught up with us. There were half a dozen of them, huge things resembling dogs but three times the size of anything I have ever seen. Each had glowing red eyes and each heavy breath resulted in a small plume of fire and soot. They didn't attack merely surrounded me and prevented me from going further, struggling as I was to control both horses. Then I heard the thunder of hooves, and turned to see a man in brillaint white armour reign in the most enourmous mount I have ever laid eyes on. "So young Archibald what brings you to lead us a merry chase in my realm?"
Half a dozen riders appeared along side him. "Your realm Sir? I know not of what you speak nor to whom I am speaking."
"Spoken like a true brat of Benedict". He removed his helm. It was Julian. "Let us make camp, you're horses are spent, and if you're heading for the castle you're now heading in the wrong direction. Perhaps if you tell us a tale or two we shall set you on the right road in the morning.." He left the alternative unspoken.
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