I find myself once again in the Frolicking Lion, although this time our arrival was less than auspicious, although Ghostwheel's intervention has saved me a days hellride, even if it has cost me all the silver I had on me. But that is the here and now and before I can get to here I need to return to where we were a little over two days ago on board the Loretta Bow.
As I still hadn't got a definitive plan for getting into Amber, all routes had their pro's and con's, I dropped in to see the waifs and ask their opinions as to which route they felt most comfortable with. They really didn't have much of an opinion, except that they felt that if we took the East Stair we would have to take out the 4 guards at some point, which would alert the remainder of whatever garrison there was to our presence. Allanon did suggest that he had a spell that may help but couldn't guarantee to mask all of us. He did also say that he had spells that would enable all of us to fly, although Sorcha commented that that wasn't an issue as far as she was concerned. I questioned him further in regard to the effectiveness of his spell and he assured me that it would be sufficient to get us off the plateau and down to the castle 1000ft below. Taking him at his word and telling him I'd hold him to this, I set things in motion to land us down the coast with a view to taking the Northern route up Kolvir.
At this juncture Isocrates decided that his coming with us was in either his or our best interest as not being of a "military bent", whatever that actually means, he would just get in our way, especially in a fight. I wasn't going to argue as his not coming would certainly reduce the number of us trying to move stealthily through the castle and therefore reduce the chance of us being discovered. I suggested that if that was the case he take Damon with him, as all impressions I have of him to date is that he is a self centered wannabe gangster, and that his presence would definitely endanger us all.
Going ashore we set off inland, Isocrates turning towards Ashan as we crossed the Great East Road. I told him we'd meet him there in 10 days - I had no idea what sort of trouble we'd encounter and if we were forced to walk it'd take us 4 days to get to Ashan, so I needed some leeway just in case.
The rest of us continued inland, the incursion gaining us 4 miles for no elapsed time, at least as far as the rest of the world was concerned. I pressed on all day relying on the minimal functioning facilities provided by my armour as none of the others chose to complain at either the pace or lack of rest stops. We gained the base of Kolvir late in the afternoon and began the ascent.
We'd ascended about 500ft when I sensed something approaching. The presence of the canopy at this level made life difficult. I continued to ascend. I caught a brief glimpse of something large through the trees and then a shout of "Cordelia". It sounded like Mikato which was odd as normally he'd just walk up to me. Allanon cast some sort of spell and disappeared. I pressed onwards, nothing immediately threatening our progress.
Allanon reappeared about 15 minutes later, stating that Fane and Mikato were waiting for us above the tree line. He wanted to know if we wanted to fly up to them as it'd be quicker. I declined the offer, not knowing exactly how taxing his spell casting was and wanting to ensure that we'd have it available when we needed it, i.e. when we reached the plateau.
We eventually broke through the trees about an hour and a half later, to find Fane, Mikato, and Allanon waiting for us. There was a brief interlude as Fane was introduced to Sorcha before we pressed on. We climbed into ever increasing darkness until the light of day faded entirely. This slowed our progress a little although the light from the moon helped considerably.
By the time the incursion struck we were only a few hundred feet below the plateau, and as we approached it I became aware of a pale blue tint to the night which increased in brightness as we got closer to the brow. As we gained the plateau the light was more than bright enough to see by. Crossing the plateau, the source of the light was clear and ringed the castle. It struck me that it pretty much mirrored the position of the Pattern. The others commented on it as I mentally walked the Pattern. Examining the field surrounding the castle it did indeed exactly match that of the Pattern, the True Pattern that is, not it's Amber reflection. We would have to wait for the incursion to end before continuing.
There are times when spare time is a wonderful thing, and there are times when having to wait for reasons beyond your control are just frustrating, and waiting for the end of the incursion fell firmly into the latter. At least having needed to bring the pattern up to examine the field had enabled me to take a sneak peak at Sorcha's aura, something I'd been loath to do in the confines of the tower. Apart from the fact she was a shifter and had Logrus power, the only revelation was that her sword carried a Logrus imprint.
Incursion over, the field generated by the pattern dissipated, freeing us to take the appropriate actions to gain entry. Sorcha and Fane transformed into their demon forms, Sorcha's looking more agile, and prettier if there is such a thing, than Fane's. Allanon cast his fly spells and we descended toward the roof of my tower - unless somebody had deliberately been up and locked the door then it would be open. I could have opted for my balcony but we'd be significantly less visible landing on the roof. No body had been up an we entered the uppermost floor without any sign of trouble. I suggested that the others wait here whilst I go an find out how difficult it would be getting into Dworkin's study and whether I'd have to fall back on the backup plan and use the sketch in the cells, assuming that it both hadn't been erased and still worked, or at least would work for anybody other than Dworkin. I told them that I was discovered then they'd know about it and should leave at that point via the balcony, fly down to the bluff, and head for Ashan. If I wasn't there in 5 days then they should proceed with whatever plans they had.
Fane decided that he wanted to accompany me, which I couldn't find a reason to object to. Sure, having two of us attempt to sneak about the castle would double the chance of being spotted, but he was both a soldier and a shape shifter so might be useful if things turned nasty. Then Allanon wanted to come along. I told him it wasn't a bloody Sunday School outing, so no he couldn't. He did however suggest that he cast his cloaking spell on Fane and myself rendering us silent and invisible. I wasn't sure it was a great idea, which proved out to be correct. So invisible to each other and silent, at least when we moved, we descended the staircase to what is my bedroom/bathroom, and the level on which the balcony is located, and then to the lowest floor, which serves as an anti-room come sitting room. The entry door to the apartment stood ajar, and several chairs had been knocked over, so somebody had definitely been here. We descended the staircase to the corridor below, which revealed the first floor in the plan as Fane bumped into me from behind, causing me to stumble into the corridor. Luckily it was deserted. I then had to tell him to go left, and at each turn tell him which way to go. It definitely wasn't working. When he cannoned into the back of me again when I stopped in one of the lower corridors with 3 demons less than 10 feet away I knew this wasn't going to work, and after they'd moved out of earshot, told him to stay put. Thankfully he did.
Without Allanon's cloak spell I certainly wouldn't have been able to check anywhere near as much of the main quarters, and certainly wouldn't have been able to get anywhere close to Dworkin's tower. The main area was heavily guarded and Dworkin's tower had 4 guards stationed by the door, and a further 6 within shouting distance. We were going to need to try my backup plan. I checked the gallery and stairs access on the way back. There were 4 guards at the top of the stairs, but reinforcements would take a couple of minutes to arrive, so if we dispatched them quickly enough we could be out of sight, lost in the blackness of the caldera throat before they arrived. I made my way back to Fane, and the pair of us then returned to my quarters. The spells were still active which meant the others couldn't see or hear us. I walked up to Allanon and asked him how to cancel it. He jumped just a little, then canceled the spells. After a short exchange with Sorcha who was admiring my pool I informed the others we were on plan B.
We set off, descending first to the cross corridor, and then to the ground floor. I stayed close to the left wall which meant we could pass the first entrance to the Caldera Gallery with out alerting the guards. I then crossed the corridor, enable me to enter the gallery at a run. What surprised me was not that Fane was faster than me but that Allanon was significantly faster than both of us. Having unleashed some sort of lightening spell into the guards, he dropped back, leaving Fane and me free to deal with the shocked guards.
Had I been on my own facing 4 fresh demons things would have been significantly different. Allanon's spell had significantly wounded the first two and the impact had caused the pair on the left, i.e. the pair directly in front of me to cannon into one another, knocking each off balance. This simplified the matter of killing the first one, although that two two blows, and enabled me to deliver a spin kick to keep the other off balance, and then kill him. Fane seemed to be having more trouble, although his solution was to bodily pick the demons up and toss them over the edge into the chasm below.
I didn't wait to see where the others were but turned down the stairs. I didn't let up the pace until we were about 100 feet from the bottom. If there were guards at the top then there were more than likely guards at the bottom, and ploughing into them unprepared wasn't going to be a good idea. I asked Allanon about his light spell, specifically could he cast it 70 feet out and 50 feet down. He ummed and arghed. So much for his brilliance as a Mage. I resolved the light issue by taking a lantern down off a hook and hurling it such that it would land close to where the base of the stair were. After a few seconds delay, there was a crash, the sound of breaking glass, and the a flare as the oil caught fire. The fire plume was enough to tell me what I needed to know .. there were 8 of them and they were waiting, making maximum use of the space available to them.
I started running, preparing to blink behind them. When I was about 20 feet above them but still about 50 feet short I blinked. Usually, it's just a simple transition and barely noticeable. The world turned blue and black, reminiscent of both the Pattern and the field we'd seen last night. I was swimming through this blue treacle, barely able to make headway, and then I was free, rolling, not too gracefully to absorb the impact. As I attempted to gather my wits, two of the demons peeled off the back and advanced towards me. I backed off, which served two purposes, it gave me more time, and it drew them away from the others who now appeared to be engaging them.
I engaged the pair, tripping one and forcing the other to block furiously. With what I thought was one down, I concentrated on the one who was upright and managed to deliver a stinging blow across it's abdomen. Unfortunately I'd underestimated their speed and resilience and the one which I'd tripped, regained it's feet and barreled into me as I struck the blow. It was now my turn to block as I rolled furiously away. It continued to rush after me, and after the fifth roll I judged I'd got sufficient space to try a low blow, slashing it across the shins and bringing it crashing to the ground as I vacated the space I'd just occupied. With it now grounded it was a simple matter to deliver a slashing blow to it's neck, there by extinguishing it's further involvement in the conflict, and thereby allowing me to advance on the one I'd previously wounded. I risked a quick look round.
Sorcha seemed to be taking a beating from the Demon on top of her. Allanon was being perused by another but was trying to cast some sort of spell, the two strange creatures that appeared to be Kohaku's pets were engaging 3 others, and Fane appeared to be wrestling a fourth. I blocked a clumsy attack from my wounded adversary, and reposted with one of my own, driving the sword deep into it's chest. As it fell away from the blade I considered what to do next. There was a scream of pain and the one on top of Sorcha collapsed on top of her, her sword protruding through its back. The two facing the dog like pet of Kohaku appeared to finally succumb to yet another blast of it's fiery breath, and the one climbing the stairs took another lightening discharge from the mouse like creature but continued to advance. These two creatures obviously warrant a little more examination when I get the opportunity. Fane had also managed to force the once he'd been fighting into a submissive position but didn't appear to be able to kill it, and the bite the dog like creature administered to it didn't appear to damage it. I advanced in their direction and dispatched the demon, before looking up to check on the one that was one the stairs. It appeared to have succumbed to the electrical discharges. I checked on Fane, he appeared to be sweating but was otherwise uninjured. Interesting. Sorcha staggered to her feet after extricating herself from under the body, and Allanon lit the room up with some sort of fire spell which killed the remaining demon. I suggested we make ourselves scarce and headed for the cell block.
I assumed there would be some sort of guard, but the single jailer, who appeared to be of the same race as the group at the base of the stairs, didn't prove to be any better than his compatriots, and I wasn't in the mood to play.
With the cell block secure I moved to examine the cell my father had been held in. It was barely big enough to lie down in and certainly wasn't tall enough to stand in. I dropped my pack and using the light of one of the lanterns began to carefully feel for the two trumps. Both still held power, but it was very weak. If I were to use the one for Dworkin's study I'd have to repower the lines and clean then up where time and damp had degraded them. I set to work and hoped Brand was busy elsewhere and not paying attention.
Thankfully he was, as I was able to complete the task unmolested, and quicker than I'd first anticipated. Now all I had to do was open the gate and get the others through without being discovered, but the cramp caused by my current position was getting to me and I'd never do it without a break. I briefed the others, Sorcha offering to take my pack through, then moved back into the cell, leaving as much room as possible for the others to get past me and activated the trump.
By the time I was able to use it myself, my head was pounding and I was sweating heavily, and I emerged into a not very large room which was cluttered by a mixture of bookshelves, half painted canvases, chests covered in brick-a-brack, and discarded or toppled piles of books. The lack of space wasn't being helped by the fact that there were now 4 others occupying space as well. Fane had taken up position by the iron bound door to my right, which if I judged things correctly was the one which lead back into the castle, and on the otherside of which were at least 6 demons. Allanon had slumped into the far corner and appeared to be rapidly losing the battle to stay conscious. The only other exit didn't appear to be that appealing, appearing to be some sort of latrine cave.
With no other prospect we started a search something nagging at the back of my brain, which in it's fogged state wouldn't bring it into focus. Our search revealed not a great deal, although I did stow a book on Trump in Dworkin's hand, a second in a script I didn't recognise, and a few materials useful in the production of trump, in my pack. It was at this point my brain worked out what was wrong. In my father's journal he'd noted that the study had a lavatory, but there was no lavatory just the cave. Therefore the exit must be hidden in some manner. I raised the pattern and scanned the room.
It was obvious to me now, the exit into the cave, wasn't really an exit. It was an active trump gate. That also meant that if my father had noted it as a lavatory then there must be a mechanism to change it somehow. I examined the room again. Glowing faintly under the mat in front of the cave appeared to be another trump object. I moved the mat and lifted it out of the hole in the floor in which it resided. Dropping the pattern I examined it. It appeared to be a flagstone, although now it was in my hand it radiated trump. I examined it more closely. It was indeed a trump. After studying it for several minutes I realised that it wasn't just a single trump but was infarct a book or rollerdex of trump images. I started to flip through the images, memories of my fathers journal springing to mind. I needed a library. The problem is that there were 3 images in the deck that could be libraries. I needed something else. Then I remembered that my father had described it as having an exit to a cave that led to the image of the True pattern, the pages flipped past, settling to reveal an old fashioned room resembling a study. I turned and looked at the trump gate it still showed the foul cave.
After 20 minutes of flipping pages and trying all that I could think of, except the obvious, I still couldn't get the gate to change. In the end it was pure frustration that did it - I put the flagstone back from where I had removed it, having selected the study image, and the gate changed in response.
I grabbed my things, told somebody to grab the unconscious Allanon and hurried through. This study was significantly larger than the previous one, and the furniture, not that there was a great deal was a lot older, a lot more battered and all tucked into alcoves in the wall. All that is except what appeared to be an old Edwardian writing desk in the alcove along to my right , which appeared to have been pulled out rucking up the rug in front of it. As the last of the group stepped through the gate shimmered and vanished leaving us mired in the room. There were two apparent exits, a heavy iron bond door in the right hand corner furthest from me and a hole in the wall just along to my left. The hole appeared to led to some sort of cave and the carpet closest to the hole was somewhat stained. I scanned the room noting the obvious signs of disturbance. Somebody had been here and turned the room upside down. As I moved to my left towards the hole the smell increased. I change tack. Kohaku had approached the desk, whilst Fane appeared to be examining the door, and Allanon had found a corner and collapsed once more. I suggested kohaku examine the desk, to see if she could determine why it had been moved.
After a couple of minutes leaning over the top of the desk she reported that a wooden panel lay on the floor and a hollow about 6 inches by 4 inches and about 2 inches deep had been revealed just left of center close to the base of the desk. It looked like something had been removed. The question was what had been removed and who had removed it, Brand or somebody else.
Fane's examination of the door showed it to be heavily scratched, gouged, and dented, as if some wild animal had tried to batter or prise it open. With no apparent handle or lock I couldn't see how it could be opened and all Fane's efforts digging his claws into the door got him were a hand full of splinters. If this were indeed Dworkin's prison then that door was designed to keep a deranged shape shifter in so Fane's stood no chance in prising the door open. There had to be another mechanism. I brought the Pattern up again, and used it to examine the door. There was an image, if slightly distorted of the True Pattern inscribed under the surface of the door, forming a very effective seal, given it also appeared to extend into the surround rock and masonry.
Still a door is a door, and doors have handles and locks so this one must have one. All I needed to do was figure out what and how. After several minutes of thorough examination which caused my head to begin buzzing again, I discerned that there was indeed a distortion in the pattern at approximately the point where you'd expect a handle to be, and three tiny indentations that could be holes forming what may be a lock. With my vision blurring I called a halt. I wasn't in a fit state to figure this puzzle out. With no other option, I announced that I was going to get some rest, suggested the others do the same, stripped off my armour, unpacked my sleeping bag, climbed into it and went to sleep.
Now the problem is that sleeping for 6 or 7 hours means you wake up needing to pee. Waking up needing to pee is not of course an issue if you have somewhere that doesn't resemble a sewer pipe covered in excrement, smelling like one thats been left in the sun for too long, as the only place available to relieve yourself. Even now, the memory of that place makes my skin crawl. Ordeal over I donned my armour, repacked my pack, extracted a couple of the Hershey bars, and set to re-examining the door whilst I ate them.
As I did so the filaments of thought that had been circulating from earlier coalesced into a coherent thought. The image in the door was the True Pattern created by Dworkin if all the legends were correct, therefore if he imprisoned himself here when he was deranged he would be able to get out if he were coherent and the door were also keyed to the pattern image. What probably fitted into those holes were therefore filaments of the True Pattern. All I would need to do therefore was to pull out three filaments of the True Pattern with the right sections of the image on and hey presto the door would open. Yeah right. I'd only ever done anything like that once before and that with Fiona's guidance to take over the control of the Carnelian Pattern from her, and the filaments I'd require here were considerably finer than those. Still if that was the only option then I'd either die trying or we'd die here anyway. I informed the others I thought I had a solution to opening the door, but how long it was going to take me to do it I had no idea. Summoning the image of the True Pattern I set to work.
In the end it took me the best part of 5 hours to work out how to draw the fine filaments required out of the pattern and insert them into the holes, the filaments acting like keys against the pins in a tumbler lock. There was no fanfare, blazing of trumpets, rush of gases or explosions as the door unlocked, in fact it barely moved at all. However that small movement was sufficient for Fane to pull the door open and reveal a black corridor beyond. The corridor wasn't black in the sense of some inky tunnel or a hallway painted black, but black in the fact of pitch black darkness that seeemed to absorb what little light was leaving the room. Fane took a lantern off the wall and stepped into the corridor, the few inches of darkness between him an us serving to obscure him a great deal. That darkness was no ordinary darkness, especially as the lantern went out immediately Fane passed the threshold and relit once bought back into the room. Allanon tried one of his light spells but the feeble ball of light it cast barely illuminated anything more than a few inches from the centre. Fane said he was going to try "echo location" and go explore the corridor, and suggested we wait for his return. Given that if I was right, and by the stench of chlorine, phosphor, and sulphur eminating from the corridor I suspected I was, I already knew where it went I had no objection to this course of action, and if he put a foot wrong he wouldn't come back at all.
Minutes ticked by and he re-appeared. The pitch blackness lasted about 30 feet or so before starting to brighten, so we all linked hands through belts and he lead us through the blackness and into the tunnel beyond. After about 100 yards or so I detected the feint hint of a increase in luminescense, and another 50 yards brought us into a largish chamber. Along one wall and in streaks acros the ceiling bands of lichen glowed feintly their volume casting enough light to make out the skeleton of some large reptile and the chain and ring that had once bound it. As we made our way past I could see the feint outline of the cave mouth awash with pale blue light filtering in from beyond. We'd reached the True Pattern of Amber.
Last time I was here I had come from the other direction with Fiona. We'd ridden the path that circles Kolvir like a coiled python and down the 500m escarpment of the caldera rim to the obsidian plug on which is etched the True Pattern of Amber.How different it looked now.
As we exited the cave I just stopped and stared. Fully one third of the pattern was black, feint lines of purple marking the boundaries where the path lay, although I doubted they held much power. The rest of the pattern had not escaped either. From the centre radiated a spray pattern as if somebody had been spun violently whilst their jugular was opened. In the middle lay sprawled the woeful remains of the slight figure of a man, with strawberry hair, who five years ago became the reluctant King of Amber. On its side a few feet away, lay the Crown.
I then noticed the bodies. There were several dozen of them, all demonic and all littering the caldera floor. As I scanned the scene I stopped again. There was another figure I knew. Even in death he was handsom, his red hair and beard aflame against the black of the granite wall to which he'd been pinned. I crossed the caldera, anger building against the perpitrator of this atrocity. They'd pinned him 20 feet or so up the caldera wall which made getting him down difficult. I wasn't in any sort of mood to appreciate help. he was my uncle, my favourite uncle I now realised and Sulin's lover. How was I going to tell her? Somebody was really going to pay for this. I vaguely remember Fane offering assistance, but no one else was going to do this duty, even if it killed me, and it nearly did.
I have never been so exhausted as I was when I reached the top of that jagged path, Bleys's pitiful body draped across my shoulder. Nobody spoke to me. Not a surpprise now as I look back on things. I really wasn't in a good mood at that point. I found a suitable spot and placed the body down. We didn't have time to bury him and now was not the time to do so. That would have to wait for the future. Now we needed to cover him to keep the scavengers away. I ordered the others to help build him a cairn. I was at least thinking straight enough to know that that would take all day otherwise.
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| Supporting Cast - Cordelia | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |