I have little time for it seems we are leaving again and so soon. Charity has decided that we too should follow Cordelia and talk to my mother. What she hopes to accomplish I do not know, since I believe I know as much about the current situation as she does, and I do not know the answers to Charity's questions. We go this time with Fiona's authority, for it seems that Benedict and Llewella defer to her in matters regarding magic.
We are apparently going to get there by walking the Pattern here, something I have no wish to do. It may be the case that I shall have to find other means to follow them, but I will at least go and look on this wondrous pattern.
Another quick entry as I sit under this magnificent tree and watch the others walk the Pattern. It truly is a thing of wonder but somehow it strike me with dread being this close to it. Even here under this tree I am not comfortable. From its size you would think the tree has been here centuries, but apparently it was a sapling taken from the world tree Ygg, twenty years ago by Cordelia's father Corwin. He planted it here when faced with a impending shadow storm and then proceeded to inscribe the pattern the others are walking. They have said that when they reach the middle they will link minds with Charity and use the power of the pattern to take them to my mother. I will wait until they have gone and then set out to see if I can retrace the route through the tunnel back to the ship, and from there try and find a route back to my mothers tower.
It is often said that plans do not survive contact with the enemy, but my comrades plans it appears do not survive walking to the center of the Pattern, for no sooner had Allagahn reached it than he vanished. Charity then appeared to have a conversation with Fiona, who stood in a trance like state in the middle of the pattern, I have no idea of what she is doing although I'm told she is using the pattern to erect some kind of shield about the castle. The result of this conversation was that she asked if I wanted to go with them. I said I had no objection to doing so. She then took a trump of me from Fiona and called me. Even though I had an idea of what to expect the actuality came as something of a surprise and I let off a mental shriek before establishing some control. The one thing about mind to mind contact, as when using trumps is that you get to gauge the strengths of whom you're communicating with. Charity is far more powerful in this regard than I am so I shall have to be wary about talking to her in this manner.
One we could actually communicate with one another she did something that caused a rainbow gate to form in front of me and then offered me her hand. When I accepted it she pulled me towards her, and I appeared out of a similar doorway next to her an instant later. I then felt her let go and the door way faded. I felt even more uncomfortable standing on that black surface than I did safely away from its coloured edges. She then told Alfred and I to take her hands and concentrate on her to establish a mental link. It was a bit like the previous trump contact and I could feel and sense the same things. She than told us to focus on the image she was projecting and tell her when we had it clear in our minds. It took a little doing but I eventually managed it. There was then a lurching sensation and we appeared on the plain about 70 yards from my mother's tower.
We looked about. directly ahead of us, was the base of the tower, It looked as it it was carved from the rock itself and glistened dully in the twilight . To our right , about 20 yards away was nothing, well not nothing, a something, that radiated power, and shimmered as a heat curtain generated by a furnace does. Only this curtain was black, flecked through with swirling dark hues .
This must be the Abyss of which my mother had spoken.
Charity was walking towards the tower, following Alfred. He reached a point between the tower and the abyss at its closest point where he found his way barred by some invisible force. I too found the way barred, but something in the way Charity reacted suggested she was lying when she said the way was also barred to her. We retraced our steps and walked around the base of the tower. It grew darker as we passed the point directly opposite the peak of abyss, but a lightening in the colour of the wall ahead suggested some form of opening.
The opening lead to a staircase which wound its way around the interior of the tower until, about 50 feet from the top it emerged onto the outside wall, and continued its ascent to the platform on which a blue glowing crystalline structure resided. I estimated crystal must be about 100feet in diameter and there was a good 20 feet of walkway all round it, but no apparent way in.
We were about to descend again when a Logrus tendril appeared through the crystal wall, grabbed Charity and drew her inside. I barely had a chance to notice she had a trump of my mother in her hand.
I asked Alfred if he had any trumps but he said he hadn't. I was going to have to find another way to contact my mother. I supposed I could try the same trick myself, and was just about to try when two more tendrils appeared and wrapped themselves about us. I bathed in the warm comfort of my mother. The sensation passed all to quickly and I was restored to my feet. It was comforting to be home
I was sure I hadn't been away that long but a whole season has passed locally, and my mother has made a number of changes to the inside of her tower. One complete corner, remembering that the inside is pentagonal, is now taken up by a strange three storey building. The ground floor is taken up by living and eating spaces, and a strange area that I am told is for cooking and food preparation, but that is something that I have to get to grips with. The first and second floor are given to sleeping rooms and rooms for personal hygiene. I must admit that some of the amenities are a vast improvement on what I have been used until recently. The room at the front leads to a balcony, on which stands a permanently warm pool of bubbling water, and some tables and chairs.
In addition to the building a second corner has been turned into a relaxation come eating area, with an assortment of soft benches, chairs, tables, and some more items of machinery, including one which keeps a jug of black liquid, called coffee, permanently at the correct temperature for drinking. I personally find the liquid foul but my mother and Charity quite happily drink it by the cupful.
Most of these changes seem to have been made due to Cordelia's visit, although she left here nearly a month ago local time. What concerned us was that she left in search of a person called Dworkin, taking with her the section of the Book of Selheim that he left here for safe keeping.. This is the book that we'd initially gone to Amber to find and according to what the Serpent told my mother has all the information we need to rectify the situation with regards to the 13th Hour. As an additional benefit we should then to be able to restore Amber's pattern which has apparently been damaged. Charity thinks that the blood of one of our relations has been spilt on it, as the damage appears to mirror that of a previous occurrence that was written up as a fantasy story and sold on her an Cordelia's home shadow. I had thought that they came from the same place but they appear to come from different reflections of the same world.
Our discussions on how to proceed were interrupted by my mother's announcement that the 13th Hour was about to occur and that Charity had a choice as to whether it affected her on not. I was somewhat stunned by this. She later explained that she only has the power to influence what occurs inside the walls of her tower. Charity elected not to be affected, but wouldn't reveal what was causing her to be affected in the first place. My mother obviously knew but wouldn't tell us either..
It was close to the end of the 13th hour, some time after our arguing had abated, that my mother took a trump call. After a minute of so a trump gate opened and Cordelia stepped through. Alfred immediately started harranging her about stupid behavior and risking the safety of the book etc. I do wish he'd grow up, what was done was done and he wasn't going to alter that. I'm also sure that if she took the book she must have had good reason to do so. Anyway whatever the rights and wrongs are of what she did she didn't find him but found his ghost. It had given her a trump card and told her to look for him in Undershadow. If I'd been told this several weeks ago I'd have thought it a lie, but I with what I've seen in the last weeks I suspect this is some fanciful construction to hide the truth.
She had apparently returned to ask my mother if she knew what of where Undershadow was. She said she knew nothing of it save that it is a realm that exists either below or in parallel with Shadow and that this tower exists in both realms simultaneously. She also said that if one stood on the roof and incanted the ritual written there you would be transported to Undershadow. She didn't know how you got back again.
I
should finish now, the others are nearly ready, and my mother has gone
to transform her self so that she can transport us outside and onto the
roof. We then intend to perform the ritual and seek this
Dworkin
in Undershadow.
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