With Fane missing in action I decided that getting Mikato to take him to Amber would be the best course and left a note the that effect with the command staff in the Command Center. There was some concern as to his where abouts as there had been reports of a large amount of activity by the besiegers the previous morning and it was beginning to look as if this may have had something to do with him, given his continuing absence.
With Luke now assisted by Hui-Jin, who despite his initial trepidation now seemed to be enjoying himself, and becoming fascinated by the notion of parallel worlds and shadow travel, things had become much more stable. Whist the attackers couldn't take the castle, and we couldn't, at the current time lift the siege, we now weren't going to run out of supplies. Who the stalemate benefits at the current time is anybody's guess, but it was now becoming important that we gained some first hand intelligence on this Deirdre entity.
I retrieved my pack from my room and crossed to the Pattern..it's strange just being able to walk up to it, unlike Amber where it's locked away hundreds of feet below the castle. I reached the center, exchanged a few words with Fiona, then pictured the image of the tower I'd taken from Kohaku's mind, except I adjusted the image so that I was standing at it's base. There was the feintest sensation of travel and I stood before it. As I turned about to scan my surroundings, a familiar figure roused itself from a repose, and offered me a greeting. He said that Deirdre was to fetch him in a few hours and if I wished he would ask me to collect me as well as there were no other ways into the tower.
Whilst I had my reservations, if what he said was true I'd have no choice so agreed, telling him I wished to explore whilst waiting for this occurrance.
I brought up the pattern and began to examine the surroundings. The tower, or more particularly the crystal structure at it's apex had a most unusual signature. I could see evidence of the Pattern, and of Trump. In a similar small proportion was a signature identical to that exhibited by the black veil that abutted the tower, but the dominant signature was something else. If what the waifs had said were true it was most likely Logrus.
With little to see at ground level I decided to climb to the apex, using the stairs Allanon had indicated. It was a long climb, made more interesting by the fact that the stairs became external to the tower about a quarter of the way up.
I had barely began to examine the crystal structure when a tentacle, similar in structure to the one that had tried to grab me, and similar to the ones that had deposited the waifs in my bunker appeared from the structure itself and snaked downwards. A few minutes later it retracted clutching Allanon in its grip. He shouted something about getting Deirdre to collect me as well. A few seconds passed and a second tentacle appeared heading in my direction. After my previous experience with one of these tentacles I dropped the Patten before it made contact.
It was a very strange feeling being collected by it.. Whilst I was held securely I felt no pressure. I had expected some sort of opening to appear in the crystal but none appeared. Braced for an impact nothing happened and I was drawn through the crystal wall into a vast pentagonal room bathed in a flourescent pale blue light. Writhing in the center, bound within a huge pentagram contained within concentric rings was a huge mass of tentacles, one of which held me and one of which was depositing Allanon on the floor. On the walls I could see huge pictures, two depicting places I recognised. Along one wall, obscuring the majority of the picture that hung there stood what appeared to be a huge medieval hall.
The tentacle deposited me next to Allanon then appeared to retract into the mass, which then appear to coalesce into a black haired female figure in a green dress. Allanon introduced her as Deirdre. Certainly she had a remarkable likeness to her trump, but that didn't make her Deirdre.
In reality I'm not exactly sure how much time cooling our heels in the tower and then getting the Living Logrus to transport us here has saved, but that was the decision I made so I've only my self to blame. What was most interesting was that the Living Logrus indicated that it had the power to suppress this time incursion within the tower to which it was confined, which is in itself interesting, but upon which I shall not dwell at this time. Also interesting is it's assertion, based upon an interpretation of information provided by the Serpent, that Brand, if that is really who our protagonist is, is unaware of this time incursion, and like the rest of the world is frozen. If this is correct, and is the reason why it is free to operate during this period, lest it alert our adversaries to it presence, then we are also free to use trump during this period. I will possibly have to test this at a later date.
Returning to the point, the Living Logrus deposited the 5 of us, that is Sorcha, Damon, Kohaku, Allanon, and myself in the bar of the Velvet Rest about half an hour into the incursion. Isocrates had chosen to adjourn to a faster time shadow, to better learn how to use the Pattern, although I would have thought it to be of more use for him to have remained with someone who can actually already use it and therefore correct his mistakes, but no matter. Whilst all of us had left the tower a few minutes after the incursion had started it had taken us about 25 minutes to reach this far across shadow.
Not wishing to disturb either the staff or patrons, I'd done that far to often in the recent past, I exited the bar and headed for the docks. There should be at least one serviceable vessel docked. As he exited, Allanon noticed the Unicorn plaque and asked about it. He seemed surprised that it would be worshiped as a religeous symbol. He also commented on the path I was taking, and was duely surprised when the guards were exactly where they should be.
We arrived dockside just as the chimes struck to announce the termination of the incursion. There were 3 ships docked. One looked to be a frigate or brigantine, but didn't have the Amber pennant flying. I ignored it. Of the other two one was a 3 masted barque and the other a twin masted flute. The flute was flying the Amber merchantman pennant. I headed for the flute, it would be cramped but as a ship of the realm it's captain couldn't refuse me passage as long as I could prove who I was. Whilst I didn't have a signet ring, Random never did deliver on that promise, I did have my own Royal pennant which should suffice. It did, and I took over the Captains cabin, relegating him to the first mates, thereby relegating the first mate to share with the bosun. The waifs would be relegated to the stern of the crew deck.
Whilst I now had a ship we couldn't leave. Apart from just having missed the tide, the ship was unprepared, and the crew still on shore leave. The rumours circulating regarding Amber and the Golden circle weren't good and the Captain hadn't been inclined to sail in that direction. I'd promised him military rates and danger money if we made the morning tide. His information also caused me to alter my plans. Amber would have to wait a couple of days, I now needed to find out what was going on elsewhere, and Kasfa was the best place to obtain that sort of information, so we would sail for Kashfa first.
We departed on the morning tide, and I made as much progress as possible before the next incursion. With that out of the way, I banked the storm up to full force and we plunged towards Kashfa.
Whilst I was in somewhat of a hurry arriving in either Kashfa or Amber not in full control of my faculties due to exhaustion was not going to be a good idea, so after 8 hours I curtailed the storm, grabbed a meal, and six hours sleep.This meant I could grab a second meal and complete my ablutions prior to the next incursion, and be set to fire the storm back up as soon as it ended.
Another 8 hours of hellriding, a couple more meals and another six hours sleep bought us up to the next incursion, whose interruptions were now becoming tedious. Incursion over I reracked the storm with the intention of getting us sufficient close to Kashfa to make land fall the following day.
Another rest and a short hell ride later brought us into Kashfa waters sighting land about midday, and eventually sailing into Kasfa harbour shortly after 2pm local time. I had chosen not to fly either my pennant and had ordered the captain to remove the Amber Merchant pennant, which proved to be a wise decision. I had also changed from my armour into a Chinese dress and slippers, ensuring that to all intents and purposes we were a merchantman out of Ashan. I had also order the waifs to remain out of sight below decks whilst we were docked. If the Kashfans chose to search the ship then there would likely be problems but I hoped I'd be able to persuade them otherwise.
Whilst the Captain had warned me that coming here might not be a good idea, the atmosphere we encountered as we sailed into the harbour, justified his warning and struck both of us as distinctly unfriendly, but by that point it was too late to back out.
The captain chose to follow my lead, which was just as well, as no sooner had we tied up along side, than we were boarded by a party of the Royal Household Guard. Something was definitely amiss. The Captain and I were escorted to the Port Governors Office, where I was forced to perform a certain amount of memory adjustment so that we could be about our business. The Captain I sent back to the ship with orders to ensure that we could leave at a moments notice.
After my previous excursions here with Bleys I expected the tails that we acquired after we left the office, and therefore took the necessary step to ensure that they didn't succeed in following me for long, and I slipped into Amber's Embassy via the back entrance, unnoticed and unmolested. I didn't get to stay long. It seems Kasfa has closed its borders, especially to Amberites, as a result of Rinaldo's death. It appears he died trying to relieve a siege instigated at the Keep of the Four Worlds. The rumour is that the siege was designed with a view to killing his mother, Jasra. Whether that siege succeeded is unknown. His Queen, Coral, is also missing, apparently force to flee across Shadow by some demonic agent of Brands. It also appears that Nyadia has been seriously injured. Our arrival was therefore not well timed, and were we to stay we were likely to be detained.
In truth I barely made it back to the ship, ahead of the posse of Royal Guard and city militia. We were forced to cut mooring ropes rather than cast off and I was also forced to do a lot of very quick probability manipulation to stop them bringing the harbour defenses to bear and to prevent one of the Naval frigates from cutting us off. It found sailing rather difficult with a broken top spit. Once out at sea I started the manipulations necessary to bring us to Amber, normally three days sailing away. I was however in a hurry, and the best cover for a hellride was a storm - although not as severe as the one that got us here.
The storm was interrupted as previously by the intrusion of the alternate reality. This is particularly significant this close to Amber as it means this alternate reality must somehow be part of the true reality of Amber.
I still
hadn't devised a plan for getting into Amber at this point,
other than knowing that sailing directly into the harbour and saying
'Hi' was a bad idea. Rebma was also out, if it hadn't fallen then it
would be under siege and we hadn't the manpower to withstand a boarding
action. This left either the headland at Cabra, an approach from the
West, or coming in along the Eastern shore, and up the Great East Stair
via the sea caves, really only practical at low tide. What ever the
approach it'd best be made at night and undetected, so the Captain had
agreed to total blackout above decks and minimal sail - I didn't know
what phase the moons were in.
The lack of sail proved a blessing and a curse for it slowed us down
considerably, but as night fell the Lighthouse at Cabra stood out as a
beacon and allowed us to gauge our position with more clarity.
As we sailed North in the deepening gloom, a red glow sprang from the
south west, until we could make out a fleet of burning masts against
the
night sky. My intuition told me that Amber's Great Fleet was no more
and that Remba had either fallen or would fall that night. We altered
course, now East of North rather than West of North, I wanted the ship
further away from Amber even if it meant a longer trek back for
us.
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |