It was daylight by the time I left the wolfen enclave. The remainder of the evening had been a little raucous with more or less every wolfen in the building wanting to buy me a drink, shake my hand, or dance with me. It had been the small hours beforeYzuvu had called a halt to proceedings and proffered me a bed in his residence.
It wasn't until I was about to leave that I found out that Jexz was actually his grand daughter, and only then because she came to apologize and escort me into town. It wasn't something I needed but like Zrebb's offer to sell the weapons for me it was an offer, for political reasons I couldn't refuse. It also solved another problem, enabling me to personally give Jexz the rifle as a thank you for her intervention in the fight.
Jexz and I parted company after passing through the outer security cordon. She had tried to get me to meet her for lunch but I needed to urgently return to Alto Mento. My absence from the guest quarters the previous night had caused something of a panic, principly because the Iron Duke had expected me to dine with him and his council. My now imminent departure did nothing to placate ruffled feathers, not that I was particularly bothered.
I located Yousheng and told him we'd be leaving within the hour. He inquired as to where I'd gone and I told him I'd fill him in later. Packing the little I'd brought with me from home didn't take long, but leaving the Iron Dukes residence did. The main concern was that the two of us, unarmed - they didn't consider having just a pair of swords was armed - and unarmoured were about to walk out of town into the local wilderness. Even though it was regularly patrolled, by that they meant at least once a week, there were elements that given half the chance would waylay us with no one being any the wiser. It took over an hour to convince them that we didn't really need anything but in the end had to concede to a pair of horses, two suits of crusader, armour, and a pair of bows. Whilst the bows themselves didn't appear to be remarkable, being of a recurve design design and made of a material I couldn't identify, although I was assured it was wood, it was the arrows that proved interesting, being able to penetrate the armour.When we left the following morning I chose to wear my armour albeit without the helmet. Yousheng on the other hand chose to return to wearing his traditional attire. The armour was strangely comfortable and the environmental systems added to the comfort factor. Luckily I had so far not traversed any shadows where they ceased to work, although once I started the final leg of the journey to Amber they undoubtedly would. Having done the bulk of the journey yesterday it was less than three hours before we rode into Alto Mento. There was plenty of evidence as we approached the city of the storms passing and I was apprehensive as we approached the docks.
The situation here was pretty bad. There were two vessels sunk in the harbour, and numerous others, including the NightStar had suffered broken masts and spars. Our arrival dockside, came as a relief for the Captain and crew, who'd effectively been stranded here by my absence. Having said I'd be gone less than 48 hours turning up 7 days later engendered both relief and anger. Rather than leave the crew simmering and speculating I bade the captain gather them on deck so I could address them directly.
Being seasoned seamen from Amber they were aware of the risks of shadow travel, and in particular of the danger posed by Shadow Storms. One or two of the more experience hands had recognized the storm as such and were relieved when I explained that is what they'd been hit by.They were unaware however that they'd not taken the full force of the storm or of the measures I'd been requested to take by Random to safeguard family assets in proximate shadows. This had resulted in my extended absence whilst I recuperated from the damage inflicted. There were now some matters I needed to discuss with the captain, and once they were resolved we'd be underway as soon as he determined we could sail.
The crew briefing out of the way I retired to my cabin. Captain Mordock appeared about 20 minutes later and we got down to business.The ship was badly damaged but seaworthy although she wouldn't stand up to a storm of the kind usually required to cover a hellride. In a way this was beneficial as I wanted to take the horses with us rather than leave them here. Whilst not keen on the idea, they required a lot of cleaning up after, Captain Mordock did agree. On the cargo front things had fared better. He'd agreed the purchase of the sugarcane and had loaded it prior to the storms arrival. He'd also agreed a price on half the required flax seed, but hadn't been able to proceed since he'd had to expend the remaining cash he had on emergency repairs to the ship. He had also gotten a line on a shipment of mixed furs, including beaver, arctic fox, and martin. Whilst this wasn't on the list Benedict had provided they would command a good price in Amber, but again he lacked funds. I unlocked my trunk, withdrew a pouch and passed it over. Mordock left to arrange payment and loading and hoped we'd be able to sail the following morning.
With matters in hand for our return I deemed it appropriate to contact Random and advise him of my current situation, although it wasn't until my fifth attempt in as many hours that I succeeded in obtaining an answer. He chose not to inform me as to what he'd been up to save that he probably had another job for me on my return. There were no "thank god you're alive" or "thanks for saving the family assets" just a get back as soon as you can, and practice building the pattern into a defensive shield against both physical and magical attack.
After the best part of 5 days at sea we finally returned to Amber late this afternoon. The journey and the landing had been unremarkable, and I left it to Captain Mordock to handle the off loading of the cargo and horses. Two of the crew transfered my trunk and armour to a waiting carriage and Yousheng and I made our way to the palace. I had expected to return to my guest quarters but the footman indicated that I should follow him.
He led the way to the Eastern end of the castle and then to the rear corner. Entering the base of one of the towers we ascended approximately 100 steps before entering a large room. A further set of stairs led to the bedroom, and a further set to the roof level. It was evident that these rooms had recently been refurbished. I now had my own suite.
Yousheng declined to be accommodated in the guest suite, and we eventually managed to locate him a room close to the base of my tower. The one concession I did force from him however was his accompaniment of myself to dinner.Whilst not a state occasion Random had requested that all the family currently in residence attend and an effort to dress for the occasion would be appreciated. To complement Yousheng I chose one of the dresses I had obtained in Ashan.
Other than the state balls I'd attended, and breakfast on the first morning after I'd arrived this was the first occasion where I'd attended a family dinner. Most of the family from that first night were there, the exceptions being Delwin, Martin, and Archibald. Isla was giving me a wide berth, and I was forced to kick Flora in the shins to stop her flirting with Yousheng. The primary purpose for the dinner was to prime us all for the May ball in less than 6 days time. There were several things that needed accomplishing, which meant several of us were off on quick shuttle missions, which needed to be accomplished before the ball. Notable amongst these were Isla's dispatch to Kashfa and my dispatch to Dakota. During coffee Random managed to slip me a note requesting I meet him at Dave's in an hour.
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