Today was supposed to be about Trump, in reality today was about trust, power, influence, and by implication Cordelia. Not intentionally on her part nor on that of Llewella's.
Llewella began the day by explaining an ability we all have, and one which the use of Trump effectively by-passes. That ability is the ablity to both read minds and control others if we have a sufficiently powerful mind to overcome theirs. This ability can either be actioned by direct eye contact, touch, or by accepting a Trump contact.
This is indirectly where Cordelia comes in. Having explained a little about Trump and the mind she said she needed to make an assesment of out capabilities, by initiating a mind to mind contact. All we had to do was resist in what ever manner we were able her contact without moving away or averting eye contact. I was to go first if I didn't mind. I did but that appeared to be irrelavent as far as Llewella was concearned as one way or another it was a necessary step, and one we should be glad had not fallen to Fiona. She wasn't forthcoming as to why.
So it was that I went first, offering about as much resistance as a sheet of paper to a bullet from a rifle. Did it hurt, not physically, but psychologically it was galling, but even as I was thinking this, Llewella was reminding me of the conversation I'd had with Vialle about cultures. Coud she read my entrire mind, yes with ease, but that was not the point of today. Today was about the use of Trump. She broke contact at that point.
Next she did the same with Isla, and judging by the amount of time she took, Isla offered no more resistance than I did. Then it was Cordelia's turn.
Seconds ticked by, then minutes, lines and sweat appeared on both Cordelia's and Llewella's brows now furrowed in concentration. Then it was done. Both relaxed. given that Llewella then proceeded with the days lesson leads me to conclude that Llewella won but I have no direct .proof, other than her later comment that with the right training Cordelia would likely be able to resist her.
We then moved to the main purpose of the day, and Llewella produced a Tarrot deck although one unlike any I have seen. In place of the Major Arcana were pictures of the family, she would following todays session be producing cards representing each of us which would be added to the decks carried by all family members. We would also be given a deck of our own, which we could if we wished to learn replace at our own convenience later.
In addition to the Major Arcana being non-standard the Minor were also, often being replaced by Trumps of places, which would be tomorrows lesson depending upon how today went.
Then it was my turn again. Llewella passed me the card with her picture on. I must admit that the likeness was both very good and very flattering. I was to concentrate on the likeness until I felt the card go cold which would initiate communication with her. After trying for several minutes, and not succeeding she told me to rest, and we'd come back to it later, passing the card to Isla in the process.
The process repeated itself and she passed the card to Cordelia. Talking the card, she stared at it for a couple of minutes, then Llewella appeared to become "distant" as if she were drugged in some manner. A few seconds later she, for want of any other term "recovered" blinking as she did so, then asked Cordelia to repeat the procedure. When she did, and much quicker the second time, Llewella decided it was time for lunch.
I had envisagd the afternoon session being a repeat of the morning but unlike with Fiona, Llewella took the time to coach Isla and I leaving Cordelia to amuse hersef with a deck of card Llewella had given her.Things appeared to be progressing smoothly when our concentration was broken by the sound of one of the cards landing on the floor. Llewella appear to be a little stunned "I didn't expect her to get that far this fast.. just leave the cards where they are I'll deal with it later". Isla and I looked at one another clearly not quite comprehending anything other than Cordelia was no longer where she had been sitting..Isla asked what had happened. Llewella said she'd explain later once Isla and I could reliably activate the cards.
It was a couple of hour later when Llewwal finally called a halt. Carfefully picking up the card off the floor, she touched several points on the card, causing Cordelia to re-appear. She appeared completely composed and unharmed. Llewella explained that trumps can also be used to trap the unwary, although detecting such traps is difficult even with considerable experience.
She then excused herself saying that she'd see us in the morning, leaving us to make our way back to our rooms.
How to start, well I am now returned to my room here in Rebma one that if I count Amber time I left shortly over 8 hours ago, but time in Shadow does not appear constant as four days for us has passed in the 8 hours that have passed here. There in lies my dilema in recounting the happenings of the days as they passed. Perhaps in future I should carry my journal with me.
Day 1
For what was us the first day of our excursion commenced in Llewella's studio, Isla and I arriving together having chosen to breakfast together. Cordelia was already there and Llewella was examining her sword which I believe is of oriental design. Llewella was of the opinion that in addition to the sword being a Trump power source it's signature marked its origin in the Courts, probably once belonging to a powerful Chaos Lord.
Examination over Llewella handed Cordelia one of the place trumps she had used the previous day. Her instructions were to materialize a doorway, much in the manner in which Benedict, had done when we travelled from my home shadow. As Cordelia concentrated on the card Llewella place her hand lightly on her shoulder one finger resting gently against her neck. As she did so she adopted the glazed look she had yesterday when receiving a trump call.
Several minutes passed before a rainbow doorway materialied in the room, and which point Llewella returned, removing her hand from Cordelia's shoulder. She instructed us to step through, telling Cordelia to follow last releasing the image as she would an inflated balloon. Her execution of this last step appeared flawed as Llewella had to grab her and pull her through the collapsing doorway. Appently getting caught in such a collapsing doorway at a minimum would cause the loss of limbs but more likely the death of the practioner.
It was then Isla's turn to do the same, and finally mine, both of which required considerable direct coaching and some degree of control for us to achieve the same result.Our destination for my turn was what appeared to be a French Cafeteria where we ate lunch. Very much the calm before the coming storm although that would unfold at Llewella's villa where we adjourned after the meal.
The exercise as Llewella outlined in was in essence simple. Using her picture Trump we would call her, create a doorway, and she would then be able to travel to us from where ever it was she happened to be. In this exercise Cordelia would go last although Llewella would at the time explain why although this would become clear as events unfolded. Llewella flipped a coin I lost so would go first.
In outline the exercise was easy. In practice it was anything but. Whatever the reason after a fruitless half an hour of being able to contact Llewella but then be unable to construct and materialize a gateway I called a halt. Llewella's exercise was not going to work.
As I returned my attention to the room, Cordelia appeared to tune out much as Llewella had done when receiving or making a trump call. After several minutes she returned claiming that Llewella had instructed her to assist me inconstucting the link, that I should begin by calling her once more, and that I should not react to or fight her when she established a link.
Llewella had already implied that allowing people into your head was dangerous. Allowing her in her role as "teacher" was bad enough. Allowing Cordelia in, as inexperienced as Isla and I was quite another. Mentally I pulled myself together. I needed to learn how to do this, so with dread and trepidation I initiated the contact with Llewella. Cordelia's contact when it came was not the gental touch of Llewella but a sledgehammer striking a rail spike. Instinctively I pulled away breaking all contact.
I looked at Cordelia. "Try again" She said. The problem now was I knew what to expect, and only half concentrated on the the card. She was obviously trying this time as her touch when it came wasn't with the sledgehammer force like last time. The problem was I just riled against it. She broke contact. Things weren't going too well and were about to get worse.
"There are 2 ways we can do this. The easy way and the hard way. I prefer the easy way, now stop fighting me or you'll never learn to do this". The problem was I'd now had enough, there was no way I was going to let her into my head. I felt the touch of her hand again and threw everything I had into blocking her contact. The problem was I was no match for her, she blew through my defenses as if they weren't there. The world realed. Suddenly it was calm again in my head, except I was now on a huge adrenalin surge. She had vioated me, rampaged through my head, anger surged. I threw a punch at her. She blocked it, I wasn't thinking straight, I threw a second. She blocked that as well. Then I was falling. The word realed and spun, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, then I could, then I realize I was held, my mind caged. She stood there holding me in the palm of her hand. Strange I thought there was no malice there. She was shaking almost as much as I was. "I'm sorry Archi but you left me no choice. Llewella told me to help you. I'm doing the best I can. Now lets start again"
"Why should we. You've got me where you want me. I'm just a puppet. You pull the strings."
"Because I didn't want to have to do this. You need to learn to do this, which means that ultimately you have to do it. You won't learn anything If I do it. Now open the contact with Llewella. I'm going to do nothing more than watch, at least for the time being."
"Sorry I don't trust you. You've already read a good portion of my memory. What's to stop you reading the rest whilst I'm not watching? My private life is my private life? Why don't you just get it over with? I know you can kill me with a but a thought."
"Look Archi, I'm not interested in what's in your head. I'm not interested in your memories or your private life. I don't have Llewella's years of training, and as you know being shown how to do something doesn't necessarily mean you can do it. I'm doing the best I can and I have no interest in killing or hurting you. So relax, call Llewella and we can get this over with, and you can get me out of your head."
So, and with great reluctance I called Llewella. Contact established, she faded briefly like that of a radio signal, then returned. I felt Cordelia asset more control again, as she showed me how to build the doorway, then it was my turn. It went okay, occasionally she would correct me as something went wrong. Then it was built. I felt Cordelia relax control as she let me reach through to take Llewellas hand. Then she was standing mext to me and Cordelia's presence was gone. Despite everything, in those latter stages she wsa true to her word. Did this make any difference? Did I trust her? No she was too powerful to trust..
So I had survived. Next up would be Isla. Isla already had issues with Cordelia, although I don't believe anyone other than myself knew. When Llewella handed her the trump card, I saw just for a moment, the fear in her eyes. I thought Cordelia might have as well but she didn't react or say anything. At the time I thought that a good thing I was to be proved very wrong.
Llewella trumped out and we sat back in our seats waiting for the clock to tick the allotted time interval. Isla began to fidget with the card. I looked at Cordelia .. she'd noticed.
Time ticked by and Isla's fidgeting became worse. I could see it was irritating Cordelia in the same manner as it was irritating me. I was about to say something, when I saw Cordelia move. It wasn't an agressive act of that I'm sure, just the simple act of holding her arm. Isla whirled to face her and then the world exploded, and I must have blacked out.
Later analysis of these events as Llewella replayed them to work out what had happened, revealed that as Isla had turned she had made direct eye contact with Cordelia. Cordelia being completely taken unawares with out the training to guard against such things, and having such a vastly stronger mind, had been thrown headlong into Isla's memory. Fearing for her life, and being a Shapeshifter, I and according to Llewella Cordelia, had been unaware of this until that point, had assumed what Llewella termed her "Primal Form", releasing a massive lightening discharge in the process, of which Cordelia had taken the full force.
When I came to the terrace was a mess. Broken furniture littered the ground, anything burnable either on fire or smouldering. Isla was missing and Cordelia was slumped on the ground in the middle of the wreckage. She didn't look in a good way but then I wasn't in great shape also. After several attempts of calling her name, she groaned in response. She was alive at least.
"What happened? Where's Isla?" No response. She moved. Very slowly she struggled into a kneeling position, Llewella's trump card in her right hand. I repeated my question. Her response was blunt and rude "Don't know. Shut the fuck up. I need to concentrate." She slumped onto her elbows the card a short distance from her face. I could see raw red flesh around the edges of her burnt clothes and her arms, they were just a complete mess. I was amazed she was alive let alone conscious enough to do what I thought she was in the process of doing.
Long minutes ticked by and a rainbow door slowly shimmered into existance. Llewella was on the other side. I reached in. She took my hand and jumped through, taking in the scene of devastation, she had that partial faraway look asociated wth a trump call so I guessed she must still be in contact wth Cordelia. "Thankyou.. I'll explain shortly, firstly I need to deal with her."
The "dealing with her" took the best part of half an hour, which once completed lead to her needing to read my memories of what happened and hence my knowledge of what actually happened. In the process she also taught me how to perform the analysis myself. She then started to explain several things, Isla reverting to Primal Form, what had happened when Cordelia and Isla had made eye contact - which she'd taken from Cordelia's memory, and that she'd constructed a healing spell and funnelled it down the Trump link Cordelia had managed to keep open during the time it had taken her to build it. The problem with Sorcery she said was that unless you had a spell prepared and stored on a rack it took time to prepare and cast one, the more powerful the spell the longer the time it took. I asked her if Cordelia would recover. She said if she was anything like her father then most likely. I said I didn't understand. So she told me a story.
In the recent past there had been a civil war, infighting, principly between her half-brothers, over who would succeed their father on the throne, the result of which was that several were killed, and that Random was put on the throne as the least worst alternative by Corwin who had refused to take it, Corwin being Cordelia's father. During the early part of the war, Corwin had thrown his lot in with Bleys, who wouldn't have been a bad choice all things considered. Bleys had led an assult on the castle which untimately failed. He had fallen from the mountain leading everyone to believe he was dead, and Corwin had been captured. Rather than kill him, Eric, who had assumed the throne by that point, ordered him imprisioned, but not before he'd had his eyes burnt out. 4 years pass and Corwin vanishes from his prison cell. 6 months later he returns at the head of an army of soldiers, destroys the forces then beseiging Amber and is crowned regent by his dying brother Eric. It had taken him 4 years but Corwin had regrown his eyes.
I asked her what we were to do now. She said she would find Isla. If Isla chose to return then she would bring her back. If she chose another path, then Amber would lose another child. I asked why. She simply said "No more Wars".
I then asked about Cordelia. She said she was much like her father, not interested in power, and had the potential to become a good foil to her half-brother and the power games of the Courts. For now she was to be kept safe. that was my job until she returned. I asked "kept safe from what".. "Herself, Mostly" was her reply.
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