"Cordelia, What the bloody hell has been going on. I've been trying to get you for hours, and Fiona said something about your trump aura being misalligned or something."
"Do you want the quick version or have you got all night?"
"I'll take the version that explains what happened?"
"Well I suppose it all started when I first went to Tulbranich, you know when you set me up to sort Trinkam out."
"Alright I'll take the short version."
"Well, I ran into an old friend, although technically she ran into me, then she sort of saved my neck, and I repaid the favour, which is where you came in, then the consequences of my playing with the pattern caught up with me and I've only just resolved them."
"I was expecting a little more than that."
"Well, after Trinkam had beaten up Molly and the two other girls."
"You're not going to tell me are you?"
"Only if you're going to describe in detail what happened that night in the Purple Dragon, after I sent the two girls over to stop you attempting to get into the knickers of my next door neighbour."
"Hey, keep quite about that you don't know who's listening."
"You mean somebody else can listen in to a trump converstaion."
"As I understand it yes, but they have to be really good, and if you're good enough you can detect it. Some say that Brand could do it."
"So what else was it you wanted to talk about?"
"We'll there's the shopping list from Gerrard, your pennant design, the ball of the nineteenth, who you've fucked in the last 24 hours"
"Ho, ho, very funny, although..... look why don't you bring me through, we can do it on that big four poster of yours, I bet there are a few tricks you can show me, and the servants can clean up the mess before Vialle finds out, although I'll have to discuss every little detail with Flora."
"Bitch!"
"You know, your the second person to call me that today; if people keep calling me that, I might just start getting a personality complex."
"Oh, shut the fuck up."
"Now, now. Language Random Barriman, there's a lady present, well somewhere anyway. You said something about the order details from Gerrard."
When he'd recovered from laughing he gave me the details of the order, and I showed him the pennant design, a simple gold phoenix xxxxx on a purple background. He added the Crown of Amber in gold in the top right corner and a white and silver rose in the bottom right. I asked about the white rose.
"It's the symbol of your father's house and therefore the Royal house of Carnelian."
"Sorry I don't follow."
"You've read your father's diaries?"
"Yes."
"So you remember he created a pattern."
"Yes"
"You don't just think we'd leave that sitting there in the open do you?"
"Well no I suppose not."
"So to identify you as a member of the Royal household you're entitled to use the household symbol on your pennant, technically other than your father and brother you're the only one whose allowed both symbols on your pennant, although Fiona, Benedict, Gerard, and myself, have added it to ours, just to save a lot of hastle. I suppose technically we should find out if you can walk that pattern, or at least show you where it is. I'll add it to my list."
"How big is this list of yours"
"Oh, not too big. Now if you don't have anything else, I really ought to be going. Are you still okay for the ball on the nineteenth?"
"No. I'm fine. As far as I know I should be okay, asssuming nothing else goes wrong."
"Goes wrong?"
"Well I had everything planned out, so I could get back earlier, and then well, things happened, and I've already been here nearly 48 hours longer than I'd intended, and I can't see me being in a position to leave for at least another 24."
"Okay. Keep me updated on progress and if I don't talk to you before I'll see you on the nineteenth."
I closed the connection and put the card back in the pack. I didn't know where I'd be on the nineteenth but being able to get back here quickly would be useful. I took the sketchpad and pencils out of my bag and began to draw.
I almost lost in an hour later when Robert interupted me, but managed to get him to go back to watching the TV. I'd just about finished when the pizza arrived, followed shortly thereafter by Marcie. "Sorry, I know you've got guests, but I saw the pizza man arrive, and the slut is back there, and "
"It's okay Marcie, know you're welcome anytime. Anyway I'm going to need you to keep an eye on Sulin, take her shopping, get her some more modern clothes and such like, show her a few sights, but you're not to take her to the Purple Dragon."
"What's the Purple Dragon and why am I not allowed to go there?"
"Because you're supposed to be resting, and you'll upset all the other girls."
"Oh. Oh really, you mean you have places like the Velvet Rest here."
"Why not. It's the oldest profession in the world, but depending upon where you are depends on what sort of place you find. There are places much, much worse, and places a hell of a lot better."
"So she's a.."
"Yes Marcie"
"Most of us are. It's the easiest way for us to feed."
"I thought you ate food like everybody else."
"We do but that only sustains our pyhsical bodies. For our real bodies to grow we need a different sort of food. There are ways to get it, the most effective being to torture and then kill a human, well any animal for that matter, it's just humans are much nicer tasting and more satisfying. The only problem is that once you start on that road you pretty much can't stop, so we've learnt to use a different method"
"I don't follow"
"Why do you think 90% of us are female?"
"I don't know"
"Because when humans have sex, and when they have an orgasm, they radiate vast amounts of the right sort of energy, and not only that it's really tasty to boot, sort of like really sweet honey. That's why it's dangerous if we're exposed too early, we become addicted, and crave more and more, but need larger hits to get any satisfaction, and in the end we can only get it through torturing and killing our victims."
It all made sense now. In a way they were like drug addicts or alchoholics, a step too far and everything got messed up.
"I take it then that going to the Purple Dragon would help your recovery?"
"Yes, but there are risks. That's why Heather told you not to involve me, and why I took a huge risk in helping Robert earlier."
"Hold on a sec. Exactly how much of a risk?"
"Well, if I hadn't stopped Marci, she would have become what you call a Succubus. Now I'm not an adolescent. I've had plenty of time to grow and develop my powers. I'm not exactly sure what would have happened but there are stories, and they make the Succubus look sweet and adorable"
"That's not what I asked, I asked how much of a risk."
She went quiet. "Sulin. Sulin. I want an answer. Sulin answer the question" She wouldn't look at me. I grabbed her arm and turned her head to face me. She had tears streaming down her face.. "I want the truth Sulin" . In between sobs she whispered "The stories say all turn. I felt it, I can still feel it. It calls to me, every cell of my being wants it, but I can't turn, every time think about it I hear a voice, your voice and you're screaming at me. Stop screaming at me."
I hugged her. "Oh Suilin". "Marcie phone Faith now, get Heather here."
It took three hours for Heather to arrive, accompanied by Faith and Hope. I could do little more than hold onto Sulin. She stopped crying after a while, most likely to numb to do anything else. How long she could hold on for I didn't know. When I explained to Heather what I knew she went white. Faith and Hope must have been listening in as Hope dropped the mug she was holding. When she recovered enough to speak I asked her if anything could be done; she said the best thing to do was kill her now. I refused to accept that option. Sulin had saved my life, I owed her hers. She said maybe there was a chance but it was a million to one shot. To me that seemed like reasonable odds, the catch was that we needed to get her to someone called Mandor at the Courts of Chaos. Simple enough I suppose if i'd known who he was, been to the Courts before, and could just walk in and announce who I was. The problem was I didn't know who Mandor was, had never been to the Courts, had been expressly forbidden from going there, couldn't identify who I was incase my half-brother found out, and given I'd kept the secret of the Illiarri hidden from the family doubted I could ask for their help without having to answer a lot of awkward questions which would most likely result in Sulin's death anyway.
What I needed was a way into the Courts and a guide who knew their way around. Well there was somebody, but she was 2 weeks away across a lot of shadow, unless I could use a pattern. Well Rebma and Amber were out as they weer both guarded and my presence would be noted. Carnelian had a pattern but I'd never been there and most likely it was also guarded. There was one other pattern, my father had used it once and nearly got killed in the process. It was only accessible when the moons of Amber were full, and attempting to access it on anything but a cloudless night was certain suicide, it had the advantage that it wasn't guarded and I wouldn't be seen using it; assuming that the conditions were right. I could get to Palrity Delaman in Neraveraine but I would need to get back, for that I needed a trump. I asked Heather how long Sulin could last as she was, she said she had no idea, in fact she was amazed she had lasted as long as she had. I said I had a plan but it would take several hours to pull off, the first stage of which was for me to create a trump of my condo. This would take a couple of hours, then it would take me an hour to climb the stairs to Tyr N'gth, assuming the moons were right, and then about two hours to walk the pattern. If I allowed another hour to locate Palrity, then it'd be 6 hours before I'd be back and we could attempt to trump to the Courts. Heather considered. If I was willing to risk it they'd sedate Sulin but any more than 8 hours and they'd have no choice but to kill her. I grabbed my sword and dashed upstairs to my room. I began to draw. It is only now that I write this that I drew that trump with my sword no more than 3 feet away and never noticed its presence.
Having drawn the condo trump, I tucked it into my jacket pocket, tied the sword into its customary position, sorted through the deck and withdrew the Tyr N'gth stair trump. Now came the test. Everything would rest or fall on the moons being right and the sky clear.
Unlike the last time I'd arrived on the Tyr N'gth stair, there was actually a stair present, and I wasn't running. The night was clear and a gentle breeze blew in off the sea. The twin moons hung in the sky bright and clear. Above me the staircase rose to the shimmering city above. It was going to be a long climb.
It took me about 40 minutes to climb the stairs. Simply taking a step was a leap of faith, plaing your foot down on to a translucent stair and hoping the whole lot wasn't going to give way. The worst part of the climb was the first couple of hundred feet, as after that if the stair gave way I'd have enough time to activate a trump and fall through it before I hit the ground.
Having ascended the stair I passed into the city propper, which was even wierder, filled with deserted translucent buildings and streets. Having no idea of where the pattern was located I set off towards the middle of the city. I'd walked for perhaps a couple of minutes when a movement down one of the sidestreets caught my attention. It wasn't the movement itself that attracted my attention but the fact that it was made by something that was coloured in this colourless translucent world.
I back tracked and walked slowly down the sidestreet, just in time to see it disappear again. Curiosity over came judgement and I followed it for several minutes, each step taking me deeper into the depths of the city. As I persued it, each glimpse added to my stored perception of what it was, until I realised that it appeared to be a large bird that if anything resembled a flickering fire, except that it appeared to have a rainbow hued plume on its head.
I came at last to a corridor that appeared to be lined with mirrors, but the bird was no where in sight. In fact by the time I realised this I couldn't see the archway from which I'd entered the corridor. Faced with no choice I began walking. After perhaps a minute or so a figure appeared some distance ahead of me. I recognised it immediately, but what was Sulin doing here? As I closed the distance the figure changed, doubling in size, growing an extra set of arms, a scaley armoured skin, and taloned fingers and toes. Whatever it was it meant me no good. I drew my sword.
The fight lasted several minutes. Whilst it didn't seem to be able to get past my guard, I couldn't get past its, all I succeeded in doing is force it backwards along the corridor. Then all of a sudden it lunged, but it's attack was wild. I dropped and rolled, comming up behind it as it tried to stop and turn. I thrust with the sword, driving the point in under it's arms and through the side of its rib cage into it's heart. As the sword plunged home I felt a stabbing pain in my side, followed by a massive pain in my chest. I staggered and looked down. My sword was protruding from my own chest blood dripping off the end. I felt myself falling backwards, then I hit something and went through it. I vaguely remember the sound of breaking glass as the world crashed abot me.
My time sense tells me I lay their for less than a minute before I came round, my sword firmly in its scabbard. Around me glittered the fragments of hunderds of shards of glass, and something else. Cautiously I got to my feet and picked it up. It was a ring, from the shape it appeared to be a signet ring. The crest appeared to be that of a phoenix xxxxxxxx. It appeared to be the correct size to fit the middle finger of my left hand, but when I tried it it was too tight. I tried the next finger but again it was too tight. In fact no matter which finger on my left hand I tried it didn't fit, in fact it fits only one finger, the middle finger of my right hand.
Having put on the ring I set out again. Somehow I now knew exactly where the pattern was and it was a simple, if tiring matter to walk it. As I did so I felt the same triggers activating as when I'd walked the pattern for the first time or when I reach a new level of understanding regarding its capabilities. I ignored the complication and pressed on, I'd have to deal with the consequences later.
My arrival in the Headmistresses office of the Art school in Neraveraine, provoked the usual response, and forced me to apologize for the manner of my arrival. When I explained what I wanted her initial reaction was as I expected, she said no. Normally I would have resorted to attempting to rewrite her memory, but there was something about her that gave me cause to proceed exceedingly carefully. I tried again, this time mentioning the Illarri, and my need to see Mandor. Again she said no. She was also watching me very carefully, as if she knew I was only telling her bits of the truth. I asked again, this time adding my supposition from the events in Tyr N'gth that if Sulin died I'd die as well. She asked how I knew this and I was forced to recount the sequence in the corridor of mirrors. When I mentioned the corridor she went white and sat down and indicated the pull cord. I walked across and pulled it.
A few minutes went by and one of the senior girls walked in. She was sent to fetch Palrity and to make sure she came prepared for travelling. When I asked her why she had changed her mind she refused to tell me, instructing me only that I bring her back in one piece as quickly as possible.
Palrity arrived some half an hour later almost in tears, she told me later that she thought she was being expelled or her parents were aking her out of school for reasons known only to them. Her surprise on seeing me turned the tears into tears of joy. She wanted to know where we were going but I told her she'd find out when we got there. I thanked the Headmistress and siad I'd have her back as soon as I could. I then drew the trump sketch of the condo and activated it forming a gate. Palrity was stunned and I was forced to throw her through before following her myself.
Ignoring Palrity's cries of protest I opened my door and went to go down stairs. As I did so Heather came out of the spare room. "How is she?"
"Sedated. She seems to be stable at the moment."
"Can we move her?"
"We don't have much choice. How'd you plan on getting to the Courts?"
"Same way as we just arrived. By Trump."
"You have a Trump of the Courts?"
"Not exactly. I have a trump of a place near the Courts. Sort of a standard arrival point."
Palrity had recovery and come out onto the landing "I know the place. It's protected, your arrival will automatically alert the guard, and they'll send a patrol."
"Good. That'll make things easier."
"You're bluffing. If you were going to do that you wouldn't have come all the way to Neraveraine to get me first."
"Maybe, so what do you suggest?"
"If I go first then I can cancel the alarm, then you follow when I signal."
"Alright then we'll go as soon as I've had something to eat."
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."
"You'd better follow me then."
I went down stairs to the kitchen and set about sorting out something to eat. Palrity followed me in a state of shell shock, which in the end forced me to sit her at the table in the kitchen, to stop her getting in the way. By the time she recovered enough to hold a coherent conversation I was seventy percent through preparing chow mein and fried rice. Heather had come down and made tea for herself and Faith, Marcie and Hope being asleep on the sofa, with the TV playing some 1950s movie to itself.
"So what is it you want to know?"
"Well for a start why did you come to Neraveraine to get me and where are we and who are the others?"
"Well I fetched you from Neraveraine as I need someone who knows their way around the Courts. I need to get Sulin, who's asleep upstairs, to someone called Mandor, without attracting attention."
She had another fit at this point. "Have you any idea of what you've just said?"
"Well given your reaction, I guess there are likely to be a few problems involved, but since I have no idea who this Mandor character is.."
"I'm not sure how to put this, who's the most powerful Amberite, other than Dworkin or the King."
"We'll Random has his limits, Llewella's always in Remba, so I suppose it'd either be Benedict or Fiona."
"I've heard of her, getting to see Mandor, would be like me trying to sneak into Amber to see Fiona."
"With or without using Trumps"
"What difference does that make?"
"Well I could get Fiona to come here now, all I have to do is make a trump call."
"Without then."
"That would make life considerably more difficult, getting passed the guards unobserved would be a major problem as would not running into another member of the household. I suppose it could be done but the chances are pretty slim, so what you're saying is getting to see this Mandor character is pretty much impossible, so I might as well go upstairs and commit Hari-Kari now"
"Do what?"
"It's the ancient Japanese tradition of taking your own life to avoid bringing dishonour on your family. In my case I simply have to kill Sulin or let her die."
Now it was time for startle expressions from both Palrity and Heather. "You don't know that."
"Yes I do. I had a little encounter in Tyr N'gth, the upshot of which is that if Sulin dies then so do I."
"Look, perhaps I'm being stupied but who is Sulin, and who are you?"
"Sulin is somebody, Cordelia met in Shadow. She is like me an Illiarri, although you might only know of us as Xilrokal, a detestful and inaccurate description if ever there was one."
Palrity shot out of the chair and moved as far away from Heather as she could. I turned on her, "Look I don't know what faerie stories you've been fed as a child, and if that name translates anywhere as close to what I think it does, but it's a complete load of hogwash. You're in no more danger from Heather or the others than you are from me. Anyway you're not a virgin so it wouldn't matter anyway. Now go and sit down and behave yourself."
She took her hand away from her mouth where it had shot when I'd revealed her sexual maturity, and nervously returned to her chair. "So now you know everything you need to know, and why I came to get you. Now all you need to do is get us into the Courts and point out Mandor and we'll do the rest."
"I can't, it's impossible. Even if I got you to the Courts, you'd never get to see Mandor it's impossible, and they'd never get inside the Royal palace, it's warded against their ilk."
"If you can get me to the Courts, then I can get Mandor to come to us."
"How?"
"That you don't need to know child, just that he will come. Now can you get us to say your Family's Way?"
"Well I suppose so, as long as we don't run into any Logrus Masters and Sulin can walk under her own steam."
"I shall go and wake Sulin up then whilst you finish eating."
Heather disappeared upstairs after waking Faith and I dished my food out onto a plate."Do you want any?"
"No, I'm not hungry."
I put the plate down on the table, extracted a carton of orange juice from the fridge, poured myself a glass, then sat down to eat.
"How can you eat right now, my stomach's churning just thinking about what we're about to do."
"Because I'm starving, I've already drawn one trump tonight, and fought myself, and walked the pattern to come get you, and we're about to go to the Courts and walk into god only knows what sort of trouble, and I'd rather do it without my stomach rumbling all the time. Anyway it may be my last meal, and I don't fancy dying on an empty stomach."
"Shut up about dying. I don't want to think about it."
"There are two things that are certain in life, death and taxes. Once you learnt to live with one the other isn't too bad, and I don't actually plan on dying just yet. As long as I don't have to fight Sulin we'll be alright."
"You don't know that!"
"True, but I believe it to be true. If you fight a battle you don't think you can win then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, only fight those you believe you can win and plan an escape incase everything goes wrong."
"And you've an escape plan?"
"Now that you ask no, I just thought I'd improvise as I went along, much like I usually do."
"But anything can go wrong."
"Yes and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Worrying about it doesn't help. Now can we change the subject."
"Alright, supposing this all goes to whatever plan you have, and it all works out the way you want, what do I get out of it?"
"I was wondering when you'd get to that question. What would you like?"
"I want to see Amber!"
"Not difficult, the city's an open trade port so there'd be no problem with that."
"No I mean the castle and the Pattern."
"That'd be harder. For a start you'd have to wear a really posh frock, and be escorted. You can dance?"
"I don't understand."
"Well if you went to Amber you'd have to be invited, you don't get to go to the ball without an invite, and you'd need a proper ball gown of course, and you'd be expected to dance, and knowing how pretty you are I expect Random would want at to dance with you at least once, you have to be careful though he has wandering hands."
She performed another impression of a goldfish. "I take it, that's a yes then."
"You're joking?"
"Not in the least. There's a ball in a couple of weeks. Actually there are several in the next couple of weeks that I'm supposed to attend. The first of these is in 2 days in Kashfa."
"But what about school? What am I supposed to tell my parents?"
"School isn't a problem, I said I'd get you back as soon as possible. As of half an hour ago you were enrolled in a new school, the school of hard knocks, or the school of life where you learn on the job. If you fail then the most likely outcome is you won't ever need to worry about learning anything again.. As to your parents I'm sure they'll understand if we should run into them."
"I'll believe that when I see it. I'm dead, not only am I smuggling an Amberite into the Courts, I'm compounding the crime by smuggling two Xilrokal in as well."
"Actually that would be four Illiarri, Hope and Faith are coming as well, and call them by their proper name."
"Sorry, habbit. So when do we embark on this suicide run."
"As soon as I finish eating."
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |