Cordelia wants to visit Amber to see the extent of the damage done to the pattern which fits in with Sorcha's plan nicely however she wants to leave right away. I've just learnt about all the new things you can do with the pattern! I'd really like to learn some of the defensive skills before we set off to this castle guarded by the armies of Brand. Sadly my suggestion of moving to a faster shadow to allow me to practice was shot down by Cordelia who tells me to practice on our travels instead. I attempt to argue against this as I know the practice will leave me exhausted and head achey but Allanon snaps at me before Cordelia can answer, asking how I could ever become a master 'whatever' if I won't work for it. He doubts my skills, even after I showed him my badges at that strange restaurant. All four of them! Why, he doesn't even have a mogwai, I doubt he could even protect himself from a level 6 floopworm if he were in Japan! These new companions of mine don't understand real fighting, they believe it should be done by their own hands and look down on me for being the somewhat short, scrawny woman that I am. But they haven’t yet seen the team in action, mogwai are far more powerful than men and with their power, my strategy and our great teamwork and trust we are an unstoppable force! Allanon will eat those words, cooked in Scarlett’s flamebreath.
So we decided the best way to get to Amber would be for Deidre to drop us near there during a glitch and sail our way to the castle which Cordelia believes will be the least dangerous way there.
Shortly past midnight Deidre plucked us up with her appendages and flung us through shadow to an inn far away, except Isocretes who wishes to go to a fast shadow to practice his pattern magics. We leave before the glitch ends and the locals wonder where on earth that motley group of people appeared from. On the way out I noticed a beautifully carved stone plaque to the left of the doorway which showed what looked to me like a Kirin, the most powerful creature in Japan and a lucky symbol. Cordelia however said that it was a “unicorn”, and that there was a temple for this creature down the road which was an entertainment house. At home, a house of entertainment might be an arcade or cinema but according to my companions; in the rest of the cosmos this is a place for love making. Why couples cannot do that in their own bedrooms is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is a blessing to perform for this unicorn creature?
We reached the docks after a short walk and then the time returned. Out of all the boats at the port we took the smallest, scruffiest ship. It had an Amber seal on it, Cordelia told me, which meant that it was a part of the Amber fleet and she could use it at any time. I was a little concerned that the ship’s captain might reveal us to Brand if he serves all the Amberites but we seemed quite safe.
We climbed aboard and got shown down to where we could stay during the travel, a room below the decks with hammocks in it. I’d never slept in a hammock before, I felt like a pirate on the high seas!
I woke up some time later and decided to wander up to chat to Cordelia, however, after attempting to go on deck and being forced back by a gale and sea spray I decided to return to my hammock, drenched to the skin. There must have been quite a storm out there; Mum always told me my father died in a storm at sea like this one. As he’s alive and ruling Amber, I suppose that was a lie. I can’t believe she would lie to me...
To distract my thoughts and make use of my time I decided then to practice some more of this pattern stuff. I brought up the pattern and noticed the parameters were acting oddly, with some of the parameters staying static and the rest changing wildly. I suspect this is what hell riding looks like. I stopped watching only when a bell rang and some men brought us trays of food. When I finished my meal, Allanon still hadn’t touched his and continued the humming and mumbling he had been doing for a good while. I was contemplating taking his wedge of bread when he asked me if I could see him and to my surprise, when I looked up I could not see him at all! I even saw some food fly off his tray, appear to float in the air and disappear at head height. It must be so great to be able to do such tricks!
For the rest of my time I practiced using the pattern for a physical and magical defense which each took me a good few hours to do and left me with a headache. I rather hoped it would be easier after I had learnt to make the normal pattern already.
There was another glitch and Deidre’s tentacle made an appearance to drop in Isocretes, he must have been very tired because he didn’t say a word and grabbed himself a hammock to rest.
I heard the storm quiet down and headed out to find Cordelia on deck dressed in the most beautiful dress and slippers, she really did look like a princess. I had looked at the pattern and compared the parameters with what Deidre showed me of Amber and found it was quiet similar but not exact, Cordelia cleared up why that was by telling me that we were in what was called the golden circle - a series of states around Amber. We were making a small detour so Cordelia could visit some place. She bid Allanon and I stay hidden on the boat whilst she made her trip and we were discussing how we could explore without being noticed using his magics when we heard a commotion. The ship’s crew was running around preparing to sail away and on shore Cordelia was running before a large group of rather angry looking people. She got on the boat alright, and the sailors managed to get the shabby ship away safely though. Apparently Cordelia had gone to see her cousin, king Ronaldo but he had been killed and his wife and adviser, Corel and Nidia, were missing. She also mentioned that Ronaldo is Luke from Carnelian. Well, Luke is the ghost he left behind when Ronaldo walked the pattern. The ghost was given some task to complete but someone called Merlin stopped it and somehow made him live. When the logrus tried to kill Luke, the pattern in Carnelian stopped it and protected Luke so now Luke protects the pattern in return.
Later on I was standing on deck watching the sea with Cordelia, who had changed back into her usual armour with sword and a gun which she says will work in Amber because it has special I-don’t-know-whats. She did explain it all to me but I didn’t really understand, probably magic bullets or something. I turned back to watch what I thought was the sun rise but turned out to be the rest of the Amber fleet aflame. Cordelia seemed shocked and saddened to see it and informs us that this means Rebma has fallen.
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| Hero of the Hour - Kohaku | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |