What I still cannot fathom is the acquiesence of the others when faced with Benedict and Llewella. Given the amount of procrastination that they'd already exhibited to calmly give in and even facilitate the journey to Carnelian was completely beyond reason.
As I'd already made my views abundantly clear, much to the other's surprise, I wasn't going to acquiess and go along just to give them a warm comfortable feeling. They are after all, adults and theoretically capable of looking after themselves, although I have my reasons to doubt this in two cases in particular.
Anyway I wanted some answers and Dierdre was the only person capable of providing them. So I retrieved my sword from where Benedict had thrown it, packed up the rest of my things and retired to the hold. I had specifically picked the Herrigburn initially as it was a ship in need of a cargo, and therefore the hold was empty. Compared to the Captains cabin it was spacious if a little "close" and damp, but at least the crew and I wouldn't disturb one another.
The 13H wasn't due for several hours, so I erected a hammock and started to sketch the captain's cabin. I had done little but sketch outlines when Haron, the captain, came to see me. I extracted the gold and gems I had promised him from my pack and passed them over. He wanted to know what was going to happen, after I left. I assured him I'd be back and just to keep his head down. I had plans for him and his ship that would one day make him and his crew very wealthy. He'd just have to bide his time. He wasn't particularly happy with what had happened but then neither was I so we were in the same boat.
Eventually, he left and I returned to finish my sketch. I would have liked to create a trump there but I wasn't that skilled yet so it'd have to wait until I could get to a faster shadow.
I repacked my things and waited for the 13H. It wasn't long in coming. I waited a few minutes incase any of the others changed their minds then shoulder the pack and drew Dierdre's card from the pack in my pocket. This would either be a very short trip into Brand's clutches, no trip at all, a trip into the hands of some unknown entity behind all the current events, or a meeting with the entity that had sent Stahikahihak to aid me, and claimed to be Dierdre.
Several minutes, went by with the cold card in my hand, before I felt the freshening wind of a trump contact solidifying. The entity was trying to determine my identity. Full open contact was dangerous, as was any opening but I had little choice. I replayed the memory of the mind contact with the avatar in Stahikahihak's head. The trump contact solidifyed further and Dierdre walked into view. She offered me her hand. I hesitated, then took hold. A moment and a step later and I was standing, not in the cold hold of the Herrigburn, but in a vast pentacular chamber, illuminated by a strange blue glow, upon whose walls resided 5 'living' paintings.
Dierdre dropped the connection and we regarded one another. She appeared much as my father described her in his diaries, although she wore a well cut and ornate green dress, rather than black and silver armour. After several minutes she broke the silence.
"You've either figured out my brothers weakness or like your father you indulge in foolish risk taking. Your appearance here indicates that my avatar in Stahikahihak's mind served its purpose well, and you now wish to determine what game I'm playing and for whose benefit.
That is quite a story, and one I'm not ready just now to get into. In perhaps a day or two we shall come to it, but first I wish to learn what has been happening with the world that I cannot see. In exchange I will tell of what befell me after my brother dragged me into the Abyss all those years ago."
She flourished her arms, and a room resembing the library in castle Amber appeared. Whilst it had no walls, and the chimney vanished into space, it was otherwise almost identical. A fire burned in the grate giving considerable warmth for its size, a hostess trolley was set off to one side of the sofa's, on which rested a filling coffee perculator, several mugs, a wide selection of cakes and savory snacks, and in the corner a juke box played Mozart.
She walked to the trolley, picked up the coffee jug and poured two mugs, taking one herself and retired to the nearest sofa.
If I wanted answers I'd have to play her game. I divested myself of the rucksack, removed my helmet, picked up the other mug and a muffin, and sat down on the sofa to her left; swiveling the sword into my lap so I could sit properly and draw it should the need arise.
"You have nothing to fear from me Li Feng, and there are limits to your sword's resistance to damage. I have no wish to see you break it unnecessarily, which would result from you striking me.
I assume the coffee is acceptable"
And so, slowly at first we got to know one another. Several hours passed discussing events in our lives. The story she recounted was too elaborate to be fiction or if it were she is the most phenominal liar of all time. My gut reaction is that she was telling the truth but by the end I couldn't trust that, and was finding it harder and harder to remain awake. I stiffled yet another yawn.
"Forgive me. I forget that you need to rest from time to time. I no longer require to rest in the same way that you do. Perhaps something slightly more appropriate."
She flourished her arms again and a small condo complete with walls, roof, swiming pool, garden, and raised balcony, appeared at the other side of the room."How do you do that?"
"Its a modified form of conjuration magic. I've been able to do it since my transformation. I'm still experimenting with what I can actually do. I can teach you some basics if you care to spend some time here."
I chose to sleep on it.
I awoke several hours later and went outside. Things were pretty much as they were when I went to sleep, except Dierdre was now standing in the middle of the pantacle in the middle of the room.
"I've just got a few things to do - shouldn't take that long. There's fresh coffee on and a selection of breakfasts available. Help yourself and I'll join you when I'm done."
I felt a power surge and Dierdre vanished, replaced by a shifting mass of purple black, from which tentacles issued and retracted at random. I started to bring the pattern to mind intending to form a lens through which to examine the scene, but barely had I made the first mental footstep than I was struck by a blow both mental and pyhsical that stunned me into brief unconsciousness and hurled me through the condo window.
When I came to, amongst the broken glass, it felt as if someone had stuck a pickaxe into my head and whriled it about. I struggled ungainly to my feet, picked my way through the broken glass, and sat down at the table. As I regained my senses I poured and drank an orange juice and waited for Dierdre to reappear.
Several minutes passed, before I felt a power surge again. It was smaller than the first, and was accompanied by a gradual degradaton in the ambient level, and Dierdre's reappearance.
"Attempting to bring a pattern into existance that close to a logrus is suicidal. Fiona might just be able to do it without blowing herself to bits but I'm not even sure she'd want to try or what would happen if she managed it.
If you want to try now, just to satisfy your curiosity you should be able to manage it."
I tried again. It took considerable effort, nearly as much as walking the pattern itself for the first time, but I managed it. Dierdre, was almost completely logrus - not exactly as I'd seen the power demonstrated in the Courts, but very similar. She also had a feint, almost hidden, pattern halo, plus indicators that she was a shifter and a mage.
The pictures on the walls were Trumps of some sort, at least they had Trump signatures. The walls, floor, and ceiling were something else. I could see elements of the three powers I recognised plus elements of another power or powers I did not.
I dropped the pattern and poured myself a large sweet coffee. I poured a second straight coffe and offered it to Dierdre. She took it and we both sat down.The next six days passed under a grueling schedule of exercises. Some were initially easy, those that seemed to have relationships to what Fiona had taught me to do on the Carnelian pattern. The rest were not and got progressively harder. By the end of day 5 I was at least able to identify all the forms of magic, workout the flow and abundance of mana, seperate it and channel it, and tap my own reserve. This latter revelation demonstrated how easy it was for a mage to inadvertantly kill themselves by either trying to draw or channel too much.
With the basics out of the way, next came the basics of how to channel and control the mana to turn it into matter - effectively producing something from nothing. I tired quickly of producing minature cubes or balls of iron and tried to produce a simple sword. All I achieved was a rain of iron filings and a jabbing pain in the head.
Dierdre reminded me that I needed to be able to walk before I could run. Until I had mastered the basics I shouldn't try for complex objects as even something as simple as a functional sword was not a simple form of a single element.
With time progressing I felt the need to be on the move again, so Dierdre installed a set of exercises for me to work through over the next couple of weeks in my head. She also gave me Dworkin's pshyic signature so I could attempt to use it to locate him. Then came the problem of how I left the chamber. Dierdre said there were principly two ways - by the use of Trump, or by a logrus transport. Since I couldn't use trump as I wasn't going to a location I knew, I asked what the second involved. I now understand how the others were extracted from their shadows of origin and dumped in my lap.
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |