The Diaries of Cordelia Chan

Castle Amber : 26 ^th Marvich PPF 5

It was the early hours of the morning before Flora returned to her own apartments. Our conversation had been interesting and varied and somewhat inspirational.

I slept until about 7:00. I had chosen to eat in the family dining room this morning, which meant I had to endure the snickers and remarks, which were not quite audible, as I made my way to the upper floor on which it was situated. Archibald and Isla were already there, and I was more than a little surprised when I could clearly comprehend their greetings. For some reason Isla chose not to look straight at me. Benedict and Gerard arrived shortly after I did, and whilst Benedict greeted me cordially, Gerard, after trying to either goose me or pinch me on the arse, wanted to know if I'd be entertaing the garrison today or was I going to sleep with each of the family in turn, and if I was could he be 1 ^st , 2 ^nd , 3 ^rd , 4 ^st , 5 ^th . Benedict told him to shutup.

After breakfast the three of us, Archibald, Isla, and myself, made our way to the stables, where we were due to meet Fiona. She was not in a pleasant mood, as the new stable hands appeared to be somewhat overawed by the situation. I noted that the three who had been here yesterday were no longer about.

When it became clear that we were supposed to go riding, it was my turn to be ill at ease, and despite all protestations to the contrary I was bundled onto a horse, whilst enduring an almost constant scowling glare from Fiona.
We rode until about noon before Fiona called a halt for lunch at a roadside inn. She'd spent the morning asking Archibald and Isla about the worlds or shadows as called them that they came from. Other than scowling at me occasionally she had pointedly ignored me, no doubt blaming me for the ineptitude of the stable hands earlier that morning. I was actually quite glad as it had allowed me to concentrate on controlling the horse and to work out how to sit comfortably in the saddle. Getting off and walking again was another matter, but a couple of minutes of exercises and meditation soon put complaining muscles into a relaxed state. It even merited an "Interesting" comment from Fiona.

It took me over an hour to notice that things had subtedly changed and were changing mile by since mile we'd left the inn. When I asked Fiona if there was something going on, she said she'd wondered who would be first to notice, as she wasn't being particularly subtle. She then proceeded to explain the process of Shadow Walking, which whilst it sound simple is a lot harder when you try to do it. After letting each of us practice for an hour, she took charge again and a mile or two later another inn appeared. " We'll stay here tonight. There are rooms prepared for each of you. I suggest you avail youself of the bathing facilities if you're not used to riding, and then join me in the dining room."
It wasn't until we'd nearly finished our meal that I realised we were the only patrons and that all the staff were female. I looked at Fiona.
" Yes. That's something else you can do with Pattern. Manipulate probability such that a certain set of parameters are true. I simply determined that there would be an inn, expecting four travellers, in the midst of the quiet season, and that all the staff would be female. I'm surprised that they're so human. " The last comment surprised us. " What do you mean so human?"
" Look very closely and you'll see. Using the pattern makes it easier but none of you are skilled enough yet."

Castle Amber : 31 ^st Marvich PPF 5

It was mid afternoon by the time I rode through the castle gates. I was interested to know which of us had made it back first. Despite having trained the year before last with Grand Master Hatsumi and chosen as a result of his training and teachings not to defend my Japanese All-comers title, I still had a competative edge, and being first back would mean alot.

Five days ago, we'd left the inn where we stayed as a group. Fiona had lectured us on seeking objects in shadow and by suitable manipulation being able to travel to any place we desired to be. There were three places where you find that you could not manipulate shadow. The first was Amber, the second was the Courts of Chaos, and the third was Carnelian. To return to Amber all you need to do is manipulate shadow until it resembles what you know of Amber and can change it no more. Now I'm going to show you what you can do when you get very good or need to travel really quickly. If you get lost meet back in Amber." She then spurred her horse and the world went mad. I manged to stay mounted for about 5 seconds before being thrown and landing in a snow drift. The horse, Fiona, Isla, and Archibald were nowhere in sight.

It had taken me an hour of walking in a freezing blizzard to manipulate shadow enough to kill the snow and warm the temperature to melting point without sending myself snow-blind in the process, and a further hour and three near disasters to seek my way to a suitable snow cabin. I now suspected I knew why all family members went armed where ever they went. That at least I would be able to solve if I could get home.
I stayed in the cabin long enough to dry out, warm up, and eat, then set off again, this time for Aspen.

It was nearly midnight when I checked into the hotel, although I forgot I needed a reservation to go along with the package containing a credit card and drivers license that I'd arranged to be waiting for me. I got the hotel to make an airline reservation for me for the following morning and retired my room.

The journey to my condo was uneventful and I packed clothes, toiletries, my laptop, and a selection of weapons into my rucksack. I was about to close the weapons safe when something made me stop. Sitting in pride of place, as it always did, was the strange feeling Katana I'd retrieved from my father's attic all those years ago. Transfering the Championship Blade to the pack, I took the blade from its mount and pushed it through my belt. It felt strangely comfortable.

The next two days of my journey made me realise why the family choose to ride everywhere. Throwing my rucksack into the back of my 4x4 I drove out of Sacremento and into the foothills before starting to manipulte Shadow. By the time it was dark I had gone a considerable distance but was beginning to get an inkling of the problems that lay ahead. Whilst I was still travelling on roads, finding fuel had become difficult and none of the vehicles around me bore any resemblance to mine. I made my way to a motel with gas station remembering to find "the envelope of cash" on the way. I filled up the car, getting the, by now, common comments about the strangeness of the vehicle I was driving, and booked myself into a room.
I left early the next morning and once more began manipulating shadow to take me closer to Amber. The first thing I lost were the made roads, but in a 4x4 that was not a real problem. After about three hours, the engine began to run roughly. I continued manipulating to locate a garage and the problem went away. When they checked the car over they could find no problem with it.
I drove off again, manipulating once more and the problems started to re-occur. This time I continued on, the problems increasing in frequency and severity the further I went. I decide that I had two choices, I could walk or I could locate a stables, buy a horse, and grab a couple of hours of riding lessons.

Turning the horse over to the head groom, who was far more confident than he was five days ago, I made my way back to my room. I'd emptied the ruck sack on the bed and was in the process of stowing it's now distributed contents when there was a knock at the door. It was Isla. She'd got back earlier that morning and had seen me ride in through the gates.
When Fiona had started the Hellride she'd tried to stay with her and had seen me go down. Torn between staying with Fiona and checking to see if I was ok she'd lost both of us. She'd tried seaching for me for a couple of hours and find not a sign - I doubt we were in the same shadow - had made her way back to Amber. When I asked if she'd been anwhere else she said not, then asked where the weapons had come from. She was a little taken aback when I said my apartment on Earth, my home shadow.

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