Today was much like any other day, until I returned from the Dojo and collected my mail. I noticed it immediately, the fine paper envelope, the New York postmark, and the wax seal, not the sort of thing that usually turned up in my mailbox. Depositing, the rest of the mail on the sideboard, I fixed myself a drink an opened the envelope
" Evelyn Flaumel cordially requests the presence of Ms Cordelia Chan at her Halloween Ball at her Westchester(NY) residence on 2nd November 2002."
Downing the drink, and pouring another I read the invitation again. There either had to be a mistake or some god somewher was having a joke at my expense.
Nobody I knew, and I knew most of the mid echelon socialites in the Los Angeles scene, had every met anyone who had met Evelyn Flaumel. There were stories, and if they were correct, she owned at least 30% stakes in most of the top 100 companies in the US.
Still, there it was, a hand signed invitation to the Halloween Ball of one of, if not the richest woman in America. Then, as if I'd been drop kicked, I was hit by the realization that the ball was just three days away.
The ride from the hotel was torture, not of the physical kind, but the mental. Was my hair going to stay up, was my makeup okay, was this dress just a little too revealing?
Given a little more warning I could have arranged to have my credit limit bumped, but with the hotel bill, air fare, and limousine rental, I'd had to skimp somewhat on the budget for the dress. The choice had been an up and coming designer or one of last seasons designs by one of the top designers. I'd opted for the name rather than chance fate - it had played tricks on me before.
Imagine my chargrin then as the limousine pulled into the driveway of the Westchester Estate, to be greeted by a serene mansion is a sea of perfect green and gravel with not another vehicle of any description in sight.
Surely I'd not misread the Invitation. Frantically opening my purse, I pulled out the Invitation, and read it yet again. It definately said 2nd November, and today was definately the 2nd.
The limousine halted infront of the porch, the driver got out and came around to open my door. Nervously I got out, this would never do I told myself as I climbed the steps to what was now becomming the yawning maw of a set of double white doors. Composing myself as best I could I pulled the bell cord.
I had to rapidly compose myself again, when the maid opened the door and greeted me by name."Ms Flaumel is in the drawing room if you'd follow me please." Too stunned to do anything else I followed.
As we entered the room Ms Flaumel rose from the chair she'd been reclining in"Ah Ms Chan. I see you are appropriately atired and on time to.". Evelyn Flammel was easily one of the most attractive women I'd every had the pleasure to lay eyes upon let alone meet. Unfortunately my reply was not the best of opening gambits " I thought I was invited to a ball but there appear to be no other guests"
"You are correct Ms Chan. You are invited to a ball but not here. It's at the family Estate and we shall be leaving shortly."
"You have more than one residence then?"
"Yes. Several infact, but none like the palace"
"We're travelling to Europe then?"
"No. Somewhere else"
Whilst we'd been talking she'd shuffled through what appeared to be a deck of cards, drawn one, and had been half concentrating on it. In front of her a rectangle about 7 feet by 3 feet drawn from a rainbow and suspended in mid air had appeared. Inside the rectangle I could see what appeared to be a large empty room. Taking me by the arm, she said "Shall we go?" and propelled us through the "opening".
The room we arrived in was a lot bigger than it first appeared, and we were not the only recent arrivals, although I doubted very much if two of the others were fit to go anywhere except maybe a flop house. One looked to be a cross between a vulcan reject from Star Trek and a late 60's hippie commune reject and the other some sort of war recreationist who'd spent the last week crawling around in a muddy swamp.
The other two acknowledged Evelyn, as we crossed the room towards the double doors, but they called her "Flora"; which it later transpired was a close approximation to her real name.
I think by the time we entered the Ballroom she had almost forgotten I was there, although she didgrab a couple of drinks from a passing servant - I still can't quite get used to that idea - and pass one to me. I hovered, listening to conversation, until she became bored of my presence and palmed me off on a slimey man by the name of "Sal". He immediately set about making it very clear that "Educating" new family members who had little or no inkling of their powers, responsibilities, or heritage was not his favourite pasttime.
I was saved from his growing sarcasm by the appearance of servants requesting our presence at a family conferance in one of the side chambers. Moving as directed, I noted that the Star Trek reject,now dressed in a 1920's style ball gown and wriggling in it like a snake in a sack, now seemed to be accompanied by a stiff looking gentleman. The pair of them were also moving in the same direction.
The startled display when the pirate behind her, who I later found out was Caine, hurried her and her escort along by placing his hands low down on her rear and squeezing was most revealing. Her additional comments about "Humans and their morals" as I passed her to take a seat, we're also interesting.
As I sat the doors closed behind us, and the man who'd been perching on the edge of a table at the front rose to speak.
"Welcome and thankyou all for coming. For those of you who do not know me I am Random King of Amber. I've called this meeting so that you all know how we stand, and in the hope you can render some assistance as we are sorely stretched. By the way Bleys will be joining us from the Courts shortly.
To the newest members of the family, and he looked at the trekkie reject, her escort, and myself, I would first enquire as to whom your parent was"
He produced what appeared to be a deck of cards from his pocket and proceeded to shuffle out three cards. The first, that of a beautiful woman which a shock of flame red hair, green eyes, and a mother of pearl complexion, had the name Fiona written beneath. He showed to the trekkie. She nodded.
"Another redhead. Well lets hope your not as bad as your witch-bitch mother."
The trekkie squawked like a angry budgie but Random silinced her with another cutting comment about her mother. He was leaving no doubt as to his feelings on the subject of her mother.
The second card was that of a tall man in orange and brown standing beside a tan horse and holding a lance decorated with flowers. Beneath the picture it said Benedict. This he showed to the tuxedo clad gentleman, who likewise nodded." So did you know the bastard Benedict or the soft Benedict?" Random enquired.
"My father was very kind to me." came the stiff response.
"But he still abandoned you" Random retorted as he turned the third card to face me.
The third card showed a youngish rogue with black hair and green eyes, dressed in black and silver, with a blade at his side and sporting a cloak pinned with a silver rose. I already knew it would say Corwin below the card. I was 14 the last time I'd seen my father. I nodded and he half smiled at me, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Well let me tell you now they're dead, dead and not dead but not alive either."
"What do you mean not dead and not alive either?" I asked.
"Exactly that. All will become clear tomorrow. For the rest of you this is how we stand.."
He proceeded through the family genealogy reciting "Dead" after most of their names. It seems there had been few survivors of the Patternfall War amongst the family, and even fewer amongst the courts - by all accounts all of the upper echelons of their society had flamed and died when the pattern wall storm had struck; that was why Bleys was there as Governor and Commander of the Amber Guard. It appeared only those family in Amber itself, or safely tucked in parallel dimensions - which the family call shadows - survived. Of my Grandfathers children it appears that only Random, Bleys, Caine, Gerrard, and Flora survived. Where Sal, Gwilliam, and the others in the room fitted in I'd yet to figure out.
"Well that concludes about all I have to say. I hope you will all lend me your assistance so we can stabalise things as quickly as possible. Now lets go and enjoy ourselves."
"Oh by the way for the three of you" he said,looking at us " don't get too drunk as you've a heavy morning ahead of you tomorrow."
Rising, we filed out of the room and back to the ball. The Vulcan reject from Star Trek, whose name it turns out is Myshella and who is not a Vulcan reject at all but a half-elf, grabbed a servant and retired in the direction of her room, as did the man in the tuxedo. Me, I like parties and plunged right in. I even managed to get to speak with Random later in the evening, and to my knowledge he was still going when I too retired at about 2am.
I was roused from my slumber by the appearance of the servant, at 9am as I had requested the night before. A change of clothes, consisting of jeans (in my size), T-shirt, jacket, and boots were laid out on the chair by the window. I asked the servant to wait outside, whilst I splashed cold water from the jug on the dresser on my face and dressed. Exiting my room I asked for directions to breakfast, and was show to the family dining room.
Random, looking exceedingly the worse for wear, with three pots of coffee and a bottle of asprin arrayed in front of him was already there. Off to one side, hidden behind three laundry baskets of fruit, was Myshella and another servant, with a pleading look of "kill me quickly" written in his eyes. He appeared to be going through the baskets, selecting fruit in alphabetical order, whilst Myshella tried them and ate those she liked. Given that he'd got to strawberry as I arrived they must have already been at it for hours.
Archie, appeared to have finished eating whatever he'd ordered and was drinking tea. I said good morning to Random and asked if there was any of the coffee left. He told me to just ask the servants for what I wanted. Coffee, orange juice, eggs easy over, and toast duly appeared a few minutes later.
I was about half way through my third cup of coffee, when Flora appeared and announced it was time for us to go and walk the pattern. I'd put this out of my mind last night by flinging myself into the ball. When Random had spoken to us, he'd said that we'd only be of any use if we survived walking the pattern. He'd explained that as long as we didn't do anything stupid we should be okay. I asked Flora what he'd meant by stupid.
" Stay between the lines, don't attempt to jump across them to take short cuts, and keep moving. Oh and jump the last 6 feet."
"What do you mean jump the last six feet?" I enquired
"Exactly that I'll explain further when we get there."
We descended numerous staircases until we entered a largish cavern. Flora appeared to select a corridor at random and we started down it. After a short while she took a right-hand corridor, and we came to a large iron bound door with a pair of guards outside it. Greeting the guards Flora took down the key from the hook, inserted it in the lock, and opened the door. "After you" she said ushering us into the chamber and swinging the door shut behind us. There was a click as the door was locked from the outside. Myshella started bombarding Flora with questions, about the door, key, guards and why it was locked from the outside. Flora pointed to the door, which had no keyhole on this side and commented that it was locked to keep things that appeared in this room in the room, and that any family member who wished to walk the pattern could do so at any time.
We descended the entry platform onto the floor of the chamber proper, and moved around the edge to where the entry to the sigil/maze appeared to be and a number of deckchairs waited. Flora explained how the pattern had been damaged by Brand, about our blood being " Pattern Eraser Fluid", how Oberon - our Grand Father - had died trying to repair it, and how Corwin had also died doing the same thing.
I commented on this, in relation to what Random had said, but she just replied "All will become clear shortly".
Myshella, was frothing at the mouth to try the pattern, and I had no objection to her going first, especially as I wanted to compose myself properly for what lay ahead. As she set foot on the pattern, I removed my boots and started the Thai-Chi exercises for cleansing mind and body and becoming one with the spirit.
By the time I finished the exercise, Myshella was about a third of the way through the pattern, and Archie had gone a few steps. After a few minutes of watching him it appeared he was having a conversation with himself. I started another set of short exercises whilst I waited for Flora to indicate that I should start.
For those of you who've never walked the pattern the experience is hard to describe. As you take your first steps, blue electric sparks appear where your feet strike the surface, which is neither cold nor warm to the touch. As you walk further the sparks rise higher, and sensation such as that caused by static discharge starts to run through the body. By the time you reach the black area, which is the last six feet before the central eye, the sparks are head height and vision is virtually impossible.
The trick to walking the pattern these days, as told to me by my father, was to ensure that you had a good head of steam allowing you to clear the blackened area with ease, but I get ahead of myself. Shortly after stepping onto the pattern, a figure I had not seen these past fifteen years appeared beside me. He looked younger than I remember him, but definitely more worn around the edges.
"Hello Cordie" he said.
"Oh nice of you to drop in and what brilliant timing" I retorted
I won't go into full details of what we discussed as I walked the pattern, save that I was actually pleased to see him after all these years. It appears that he now exists only within the Pattern and all its shadows. As he walked the primal pattern, Jewel of Judgement in hand, repairing the damage Brand had caused, he became one with his task. He was therefore oblivious as Brand approached him from behind and plunged a dagger in his back. He died six feet from the eye, his body fading to nothing but his essence bound to the pattern.
By the time I approached, that spot I had the best head of steam I could muster, although it felt I was if I was dragging a juggernaut through a marsh on elephant legs. Still I managed the leap and landed on my feet. The exhilaration was matched only by the fatigue, and I wished for my bed.
What time it was when I awoke I had little idea, although by the position of the sun, it was afternoon. I smelled rank and the clothes stuck to me like tar to a blanket. My stomach rumbled, like a train in a tunnel, and I felt as if I hadn't eaten in a week. I hoped I hadn't dreamed any of what had gone before, as I staggered across the strange room to the door. Picking up the envelope that had been pushed under it I opened the door and looked out into the corridor beyond. Grabbing, the first servant I saw, I ordered a bath, breakfast and lunch, and a clean set of clothes, in that order, before retreating inside the room again. Undressing I wrapped myself in one of the bed sheets and waited.
Whatever the true reality of this place and my situation, I had yet to be disappointed with its efficiency, and the arrival several minutes later, of plates of food, jugs of coffee, and pitchers of steaming water for my bath was going to do nothing but increase my respect for who ever it was that ran this place. Clothes appeared whilst I relaxed in the tub, but I was not in a jeans and T-shirt mood, so I sent them away with a request for a mid-thigh length short sleeved dress, jacket and boots.
I was in the process of platting my hair when the clothes arrived. I was actually grateful to the maid when she offered to do my hair, as it's very difficult to eat and deal with hair at the same time. I poured my 4th cup of coffee and opened the envelope.
" Gwilliam requests your presence in his studio at your earliest convenience. "
I asked the maid for directions to his studio and then dismissed her. Leaving the towels where they fell, and the underwear where it had been placed on the bed, I dressed. I suspected that if my presence had been requested, then Archie's and Myshella's (I'm not going to be able to call her that any longer. The more I think of the way she dresses and acts, the more she becomes just like Barbie in all the tv adverts, all prim, and proper, and sugar wouldn't melt) had as well. Given her reaction to what some would say was the dress I had been nearly wearing the other night, her reaction to my not wearing underwear would be even more hysterical. I was not going to disappointed either.
I arrived at Gwilliam's studio at about the same time Archie did. Barbie was already there, and appeared to have been there for some time, as Gwilliam had nearly finished the sketch he was doing of her. Archie asked what we were doing there and Gwilliam replied that we were there for our Trump drawings. Our what, we replied.
Responding in exasperation "Has no one explained anything to you?"
A chorus of "Nos" followed.
He put down his brushes, drew forth a set of picture cards similar to those we'd seen Random holding the other night, and proceeded to explain how Trump works.
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