It seems to have become a habit of late that I'm updating my journal at stupid o'clock in the morning. At least we've reached Carnelian so I may get a chance to get some rest at some point, we'll after those who claim by dint of this Dierdre entity's actions that their parents are one of my aunts or uncles, and I've had a chance to talk to Fiona. In the meantime I'll finish bringing this journal up to date and spend a couple of hours meditating.
I don't actually remember much about crossing the black road beyond the initial contact sending me reeling and barely managing to hold the pattern together. After that it was just a fight to keep it together as the road did it's best to blast it apart. I think there must have been some form of altercation during the crossing as by the time we reached the far side I was completely exhausted and dizzy. I vaguely remember falling out of the truck and vomiting everywhere. I must have recovered somewhat, at least enough to note that Hou-Jin's truck had had a largish hole ripped in the cab roof, Allanon was stuck in the turret, and Isocrates had a major acid burn to his leg. Since by the time we reached York, our next stop, Allanon was no longer in the turret, and Isocrates was coupled to the RMK I must have managed to free one and treat the other, but obviously still wasn't thinking straight by that point, as by the time we reached a rather snow bound York Hou-Jin was suffering with the cold, despite the best efforts of the trucks heating, something I was oblivious to in my armour. I can't actually remember anything much about that journey. I have a vague recollection of Fane spending most of the time winging about something or other but can't actually remember any details. What ever it was, it's probably not important in the grand scheme of things.
Our arrival at the factory complex appeared to be a complete anticlimax, and we drove straight into the complex yard, the main gates apparently held open by the 18 inches plus of snow that covered the ground. It turns out that this was actually a fresh fall, and accumulation from the previous Saturday, which does sort of match the 8-10ft accumulations in the general area. The yard and all the buildings appeared completely deserted. I did note the transit with it's staved in front end, but didn't immediately make the connection between it and the broken roller shutter to what turned out to be the ammunition (black powder) vaults.
As we headed for "Goods Out" the door of which appeared to be open, and the windows in the immediate vicinity of which appeared broken, Mikato sensed a body under the snow. Given that it was under the snow accumulation the person was most likely dead. Cutting short the argument between him and Fane, who though that just because he was a dog he should dig it out, I told them to leave it where it was. I didn't want to get involved in any local police investigation or complicate things if they happened to turn up. I just wanted to load the cargo and get back on the road again.
We tried the security office, but apart from the signs that there may have been some form of fight in here, there was nobody present. I asked Mikato if he could sense anyone, and after a short hunt we retrieved two bound security guards from a janitors closet. The older male was unconscious and not in a very healthy condition. I didn't know whether he'd survive or not but that wasn't my concern at that time. Whilst Fane cut his bonds, thick cable ties, with his finger nails - his shapeshifitng must be pretty advanced to have that level of damage potential - I read the mind of the other guard and embedded the necessary memory blocks and programs to ensure she wouldn't remember us once we left. It also gave me enough information to know that we'd need to get the emergency generators running if we wanted to access the ammunition vaults.
This turned out to be a simple job, as did locating what looked to be our cargo, but with out the loading manifest I couldn't be sure. As we were leaving that warehouse, Allanon heard movement and a rather strained middle aged guy appeared clinging to the pipe work overhead. He'd managed to climb up there in desperation after being shot and chased by the would be burglars the previous Saturday evening, but after the adrenalin surge had worn off couldn't get down again. After a brief hunt by Fane a ladder was found and he was brought down. He got cagey and tried to make a break for it forcing me to do a similar amount of surgery on his memory to that I'd done on the Security guard.
Whilst Allanon escorted him to the security office, Fane and I made our way to the dispatch office. Thankfully things were well organised and a few minutes searching enabled me to find both the white board entry and the associated paper copy. As I scanned the order I noted the gross loading weight, about twice what I had capacity for. I was going to have to do some calculations.
Clearing enough snow so I could get the trucks in so that the forklifts would operate gave me enough time. The mortars were the priority, but they would be useless without a decent ammunition supply - that is both the mortar rounds and the powder to fire them. I also knew I needed enough room for the Lucerne cargo which apart from containing ammunition for the rifles also contained 2 tonnes of rouge powder - the accelerant devised by my father than allowed the rifles to function in Amber.
In the end I opted to load 24 Mortars, the 9 tons of black powder, and 46 pallets of mortar shells - approx 1100 of the 2000 rounds on order.
This had all taken far longer than I had hoped it would but there were still a couple of things I needed to do. When I'd bought the backup generator on line it has automatically bought the security system, and with it the CCTV cameras, on line. This meant that the past 3 hours of us loading the cargo had all been recorded. I didn't want that evidence available even if it did mean that the recordings from Saturday night went missing. Having retrieved the two blue rays, I tripped the alarm circuits. This should ensure that the police arrived and the security guards and maintenance foreman got treatment for the mild and severe hypothermia they were suffering.
In complete contrast to York, although technically we never ventured into the city proper, Lucerne, well Emmen, was a hive of activity. Arriving in what appeared to be the rush hour in trucks that were larger than anything else on the road probably didn't help, and cost us a little time as we had to wait for vehicles to both get out of our way and be moved in order to reach the supply warehouse. Not having to load the cargo myself helped considerably and I was able to grab a coffee and bagel, and freshen up a little.
Cargo loaded we returned to shadow for the final haul, well almost, to Carnelian. It was almost the final haul as I didn't actually know how I was going to get the trucks to the castle. If the seige was as bad as Fiona had indicated then I wasn't going to be able to use the main access road and I didn't know of any other way. There was a way in on foot I just had to get to it. That meant leaving the trucks in shadow and walking the final few miles, something that Vialle and Isocrates wouldn't currently be up to. The other fly in the ointment was that there was going to be another 13th Hour incursion before we reached the castle. I'd just have to park the trucks up and hope we didn't run into anything.
I drove until my time sense told me we had about 10 minutes to go before the incursion. It wasn't a bad shadow to stop in but being forested it was a little more enclosed than I would have liked.
With Isocrates in the lower bunk there wasn't enough room for me to meditate in the truck, so I climbed up into the space between the rear of the cab and the trailer. It wasn't ideal but it was better than trying to find a space under the truck. The waifs appeared to wander about aimlessly but they did take the hint about leaving one of the truck doors open so they could come and go during the incursion. I settled in for an hours mediatation, the incursion does appear to have some uses after all.
I suppose we must have been several "minutes" into the incursion before I sensed the approach of the demons. The waifs were oblivious. I waited and watched to see what would happen.
Allanon reacted first, although at first he didn't seem to be able to identify the direction the threat was coming from, and the demons had closed to within charging distance before he alerted the others. The fight, if one could call it that was over relatively quickly, although I'm sure Benedict would call it a farce in inefficiency. The only one who appeared to have any skill, although he appeared to rely on shear brawn, was Fane who dispatched 3 of the demons in relatively short order.
Excitement over I went back to a quieter state, better to recover and restore what energies I could. What I really could do with is a decent days rest but I can't see that happening until several days after we get to Carnelian. If Fiona is still holding the Pattern against all comers she's probably in dire need of some rest herself, although that might just be speculation on my part.
The incursion ended and I brought myself out of my trance. The waifs were keen to demonstrate ther valience in defeating the foe, althogh the bodies had faded like the time in which they occurred.
Regaining the trucks we pushed onwards towards Carnelian.
I stopped when I guessed we were about an hours walk in shadow from the Carnelian shadow. I hoped we were far enough away not to be found by any patrols in shadow from the besieging forces. Checking on Isocrates I cancelled the sedation and pain killers; the RMK indicating that the healing process was far enough advanced to no longer require them. It does mean that I urgently need to restock it with the appropriate drugs however.
Leaving Hou-Jin, with Vialle and Mikato we walked the few miles to bring us to the Carnelian Shadow, emerging onto the escarpment as the sun broke the horizon.
From the top of the escarpment, about 10 miles away stood Carnelian, a cross between a high medieval European castle and a 20th Century NFL stadium. Smoke was clearly visible from the town below the castle, and with the aid of binoculars, so were the mass of troops arrayed beyond the castle.
We now had a choice. We could follow the escarpment and then descend into the cleft at the scree fall, or we could descend and then ascend into the cleft at the same place. Whilst the latter was immediately more problematic, it was preferable to having to cross 3 miles of open exposed rock to reach the scree fall.
I dug the ropes out of my pack and prepared to make the descent. I didn't even consider the others until I'd reached the first belaying point 100m down the cliff face. As I was setting up the second rope I noticed Allanon descending, and by the looks of it he's done considerably more climbing that I have. As Kohaku started a very gingerly descent, a huge shape resembling a massively over-sized bat left the top of the escarpment and descended to the ground below ..I guessed it must be Fane. I wonder if he could have chosen anything less obvious as his flying form.
Eventually we all made it to the bottom, and set off on the 3 hour hike to reach the scree fall, avoiding several patrols, without any dificulty, on the way. The next bit, the climb to the cleft was the easy bit. The cleft itself, especially with my danger sense on overload, was much more difficult, especially when I turned the corner and realised I was in a killing alley facing a 6 pound cannon.
Thankfully they didn't fire, and I was able to approach the gate, and with the aid of my trump deck convince them to let me in. As we walked across the outer courtyard, there having been considerable changes since I was last here, we were met by Luke, who according to Fiona was a pattern ghost constructed by the Amber pattern to harry my half-brother, who turned the tables on it, gave the construct life using his blood, which was then adopted by my father's pattern as it's guardian. It was to fanciful to be anything but the truth.
As introductions were made he seemed generally relieved to see us, and took us down to the loading dock, the terminus of a half mile tunnel cut into the rock under the castle. I suggested he take the others back to the mess, whilst I walked it to familiarise myself with it so I could shadowwalk back into it. I assumed that both the mess was where it was previously, and hopefully that my room was still reserved for me, and hadn't been turned into a bunk room for the garrison.
As it turns out it hasn't and I was able to unload my pack before collecting the waifs from the mess hall. Allanon chose to stay and "attune" himself to the shadow so he could use his magic, whilst both Fane and Kohaku chose to return with me. This did mean we had to attempt to locate some climbing gear for her to make the ascent easier.
By the time we reached the base of the escarpment it was dark, not an issue as far as I was concerned as the lights on my suit work okay here .. the only thing that does strangely.
By the time we'd made the ascent and made it back to the trucks it was approaching midnight. Hou-Jin was looking better, having used the time to grab some sleep. As I returned to my truck I was greeted to the strange sight of a petrified Greek waving the piece of metal he calls a sword in my direction with one hand whilst clutching the RMK under the other. I told him to put it away and sit down, so I could disconnect the RMK.
From there to the loading dock was an unremarkable journey.. just a simple case of shifting into mountainous terrain, entering a tunnel and then shifting parameters until it matched to one under the castle. Even so it was gone 3 before we parked up. I re-iterated my instructions regarding remembering their rooms to the waifs and taking Hou-Jin and Vialle went in search of my own.
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