Castle Amber is a strange place and the family stranger yet still. There must be a knack, which I have to to acquire, to guessing which if any of the myriad dining rooms the family may be eating in for any given meal, assuming they're not all eating in their own apartments.
Random is obviously still coming to terms with his new role as King, as he failed, until prompted, to introduce us to yet more cousins or should that be half cousins. Wyatt, a reasonable man of military bearing is another of Benedict's children making him half brother to Archie. He serves as , and is cute enough for me to sleep with should I feel the need - I must ask what the family view is upon marriage between distant cousins, not that I'm contemplating getting hitched just yet.
Brett, however is a creepy slime ball with an even creepier sword, but he does score favorable marks in my book for frightening Barbie, after she put her dainty foot in her prim mouth, by saying to his face " You make my skin crawl" when Random asked her why she kept sidling up and down the table, moving towards him when speaking to him and then moving away. I thought throwing his sword at her was entertaining - its a shame it was still in its scabbard.
At first glance today looked to be another boring day of training, starting with the ubiquitous note under the door. Its a great shame technology doesn't work here as email is so much simpler. The note read " Pattern room 10am Sal" This neatly put paid to the crop top and hot pants I'd planned on wearing today to wind Barbie up, so I shucked on jeans, t-shirt, jacket, and boots, bolted down toast and coffee, and made my way down to the pattern room. Barbie, Archie and Sal were already there, although since I'd seen their lanterns in the corridor ahead they'd only just got there. Sal confirmed my worst fears by starting on a lecture as to what we could and couldn't do this close to the pattern, before his face brightened into a sly grin and he said "Now lets show you some of what you can do with the pattern, but we'll have to do a little traveling first"
As we left the pattern room I asked Sal where the
cells were. Getting the wrong end of the stick he said "Two floor up"
"No. Not those the one where my father was kept."
"Oh, those! The high security cells are below the pattern. Would you like
to see it now?"
"Yes"
The cell was more or less as my father described
it in his memoirs but description and reality are two different things. To say
that it was cramped and stank is an understatement, but that was not the reason
for me wanting to visit the cell. I wanted to see if Dworkin's drawing was still
here and how much it had faded, in case I wanted t use it in future.
I had also wanted to keep its existence from Barbie and Archie, but Sal thwarted
that when he suggested we use it to get far enough away from the castle for him
to use a place trump. He'd decided that we weren't suitably attired, especially
Barbie and Archie, for where he wanted to take us, so he took us first to his
tailor is a shadow Saville Row. His primary aim was to get Archie a suit, but
after not so subtle prodding by me he arranged for Barbie and me to go shopping
for something more suitable - I would get to wear the hot pants, bikini top, and
net shirt after all. Barbie's reaction when I waltzed out the changing cubicle
was priceless.
We left Saville Row on foot, with Sal in the lead. As we turned down a side street the character of the shops changed subtlety, a few more side streets an I could no longer smell the river. I suddenly realized that Sal had been manipulating shadow and we were no longer in London. We must have walked for an hour or so before we arrived at a place I recognized or at least another shadow version of it.
"So which Casio do you want to take for all
its got then" Sal asked.
"What?" we replied.
He repeated the question, then Barbie demonstrating her naivety to the full
asked " What do you mean take for all its got?"
But I'd already worked that one out. I picked on at random. " Ah.
Interesting choice, that one's owned by the Corleoni family."
I laughed, but dim Barbie and Archie didn't get the joke. Archie cottoned on
when I mentioned Godfathers and Mafia, but dim Barbie was none the wiser. I then
had great pleasure along with Sal in explaining about horses heads in beds, fish
on doorsteps, and concrete boots, and also the fact that those wearing them were
often alive and conscious when they went into the water. Dim Barbie was outraged
and complained about uncivilized behaviour to which Sal retorted " Define
civilized!". We just laughed at her response. I suppose one day she'll
realize that the Elves she grew up with are so far backwards, they're just stuck
up their own arses.
We followed Sal inside, and he changed a wedge of
cash for chips and gave us each a stack. " How much do you know about
roulette " he asked. Both Archie and I were familiar with the game but of
course dim Barbie wasn't. " just watch for a bit " Sal said as he
placed a bet.
He started betting on reds, then blacks, then evens, then odds, then high, then
low, and finally on 13 black, and every bet he won. By this point I'd realized
he must be doing something with the pattern so I asked him to explain. "By
focusing through the pattern you can affect the probability of an event
occurring. For me, gambling is the easiest way to demonstrate."
I watched him closely as he placed bets, on multiple tables, and began playing
them all. After a couple of 13 blacks came up I thought I could see what he was
doing, and moved off to a table of my own. Playing safe I decided to play black
only, and even then it took me a few attempts to get the hang of it. The two of
us must have played and won steadily for half an hour before the gorillas in
monkey suits appeared, 38's not we'll hidden in shoulder holsters. After
watching us for a further 10 minutes the silverback appeared requesting politely
in a menacing sort of way that the "Manager wished to see us". I
gathered up my winnings and shopping bags, and followed Sal and the others,
surrounded by Gorillas, and accompanied by the sound of knuckles dragging on
floors, to the "Manager's Office"
"We've been watching you for sometime and
can't see how you're doing it so please enlighten me"
Sal just grinned like a Cheshire cat after he's just eaten the bowl of
goldfish." I'm going to ask once more politely, then I'm going to get
cross" Sal continued to grin and I sheepishly answered "Eh. Do
what?"
He gestured at the silverback, who pulled the 38 from its holster. It occurred
to me that none of the goons had bothered to load their guns properly, but Sal
had got there ahead of me. The Silverback pulled the trigger, to the deafening
retort of hammer striking empty chamber. Sal guffawed, and I suppressed the
giggling fit. " Shame you forgot to load your guns, unfortunately I didn't
forget to load mine" as he drew a pair of 45 automatics from behind his
back.
Two empty magazines later, and 10 bodies were staining the carpet crimson. I
decided to raid the safe and asked what the likely hood of the safe being behind
the painting behind the desk was. Sal warned about straining the laws of
probability too much, as it could inadvertently move us to an adjacent shadow,
but given this was a casino there were likely to be safes all over the place, so
my assumption was likely to be correct. I'd moved behind the desk when the door
flew open and several more goons with guns drawn entered the room and opened
fire at Sal. We watched as he brought the image of the pattern into being in
front of him. As bullets ricocheted off thin air in front of him, he explained
that you can also use the image of the pattern as a defensive barrier, although
you can only stop either physical or psychic attacks with it, and not both
simultaneously.
After emptying the safe of a couple of million
dollars, we left via the fire escape. Sal explained that taking the money was
pointless as it would be worthless in any shadow except this one. As we walked
he manipulated shadow again until we we standing in a small town in the middle
of a desert, with nothing to show for itself except a railway station and
general store.
"Las Vegas" he said, "but the Mafia didn't establish any casino's
here." He dumped the bag of cash in the lap of a bag lady and we walked on.
" We'll you've seen the basics of what you can do with the pattern, the
rest is just practice. I've one last exercise for you, but before you go I've
something for you two" gesturing to Barbie and Archie" and Random will
talk to you tonight at dinner. Now I want you to imagine a place where you've
never been but have always wanted to go. Keep that in your minds and alter
shadow until reality matches your vision. Use your place Trumps of Amber to get
back and I'll see you at dinner."
Unfortunately I didn't particularly want to go
anywhere on a Shadow Earth as I'd been to all the interesting places I wanted to
go. However, before I went home to my Shadow Earth, I wanted to try something.
Walking out of sight of the other I began to manipulate Shadow until I was once
again in a recognizable Las Vegas, only in this one I had inherited the Casino
we'd just robbed in an alternate Shadow.
Satisfied I could do it, I set about walking home.
It seems I'd been gone nearly a week by the time
I got back. At least the maid had been in, so it wasn't a complete tip. The
answer phone was flashing away merrily and the computer screen indicated I had
several urgent emails waiting. I let the answer machine play as I packed clothes
into my rucksack, made myself a coffee and checked the emails. Most of them
could wait. I dealt with the necessary ones, set up and out of office reply,
indicating I had to go away at short notice and would get back to people when I
could. I then phoned my mother, Daryll, and lastly Bill Roth. I was going to
need somebody who understood the situation to look after my affairs, and Bill
had done a good job for my father. I wrote him a power of attorney, faxed him a
copy, and left the original in the desk in the study.
The incident with the sword the previous evening had set me to thinking, and the
more I though about it the clearer it became that virtually every member of the
family I had met had been armed. This had been the principle reason for me to
come home. Having changed my boots I could already feel the presence of the
Tanto against my calf, and as the bookcase slid back to reveal my collection of
Ido I was already making selections. There was one I knew I would take although
technically it was too large for me to use correctly and rarely did I get it
out. I did not know of any other blade like it but the feel of the blade was
exactly like that of an activated trump card. I would also take the Katana and
Wakizashi that had been made for me after I won the open class in the Japanese
championships last year. Whilst Shinsaku blades, they were made specifically for
me by one of the best sword smiths in Japan, using techniques unaltered since
the 13th Century, and unlike blades made for general consumption were
folded 18 times.
After extracting the blades and Shuriken, I closed the safe and returned to the bedroom. Opening the draw of the dresser I flipped the catch that opened the jewelry case and withdrew a selection of Kanzashi and a pair of Kogai. I flipped these into the rucksack and fastened it. Attaching Voidreaver, as one would a Tachi, to my belt, I hoisted the rucksack onto my back, picked up the sword bag in my left hand, withdrew the Amber trump from my belt, felt the chill as it activated and stepped through.
I met Random as he'd requested in the Octagonal
dining room we'd eaten in last night. He commented on the fact that I was now
armed but wanted to know why I had two swords. " Well the Katana is not
that much use in confined spaces, besides the Wakazashi is quicker to draw
"
As we ate dinner he said he'd like me to go to Rebma tomorrow and see if I could
find out the cause of their ire with Amber. We got to talking about the family
and I asked about Oberon's wives and children. Random was about to go through he
whole lot with me when he had a better idea " Get the other two and meet me
in the Portrait Gallery in 20 minutes"
After he'd left the dining room, I pulled the Trump Deck from my pocket, and
flipped out the cards I got that morning for Archie and Barbie. I decided to
call Archie first, since his company I could endure for longer that the
supercilious Barbie. The card went cold in my hand as I concentrated and I felt
the first glimmers of contact which then vanished into nothingness. As far as I
knew he wasn't that busy, so why he should be avoiding me I couldn't fathom. I
concentrated harder trying to make him answer. After about 5 minutes of feeling
the edge of a contact he answered " Yes, what do you want
Cordelia?"
"Random wants to see us in the Portrait Gallery in 15
minutes"
"I'm in Arden and can't get there"
"Look I'm going to try something. Take my hand and I'll pull you
through."
"What do you mean take your hand and you'll pull me through?"
" We'll I'm going to try and do what Gwylliam did yesterday"
I concentrated on widening the link to form the rainbow box, until I could see
Archie clearly, then reached forward. Its a strange sensation having part of
your body attached but not attached. I felt Archie grasp my arm and I pulled.
The next instant he was standing beside me. As I looked away from the card I
felt the link colapse. It took me a couple of minutes to recover before I could
Trump Barbie. This time things went slightly smoother, and it was much easier to
bring her to me. I even resisted the temptation to stick my foot out as she
arrived.
We made our way to the Portrait Gallery where Random was waiting for us. He went
though the family by offspring group, adding his personal opinion about each one
as he went along. When he finished he said he'd see me tomorrow after I got back
from Rebma, and the others when they had something to report, unless they also
wanted to and see Rebma. Unfortunately they both did.
I retired to my room and flicked through the copy of my father's memoirs I had,
to determine what he had to say about Rebma. He seemed to concur with Random's
opinion that is was a boring place where nothing much happened. I was more
interested however in advice as to what clothes I should wear, but unfortunately
he's not very thoughtful when it comes to such advice. I put the books away and
tried to sleep. Eventually I drifted off but was woken all too soon by my
morning call.
I'd opted in the end for a just above the knee length
skirt, blouse, jacket, and boots, which turned out not to be the best choice. I
arrived in the court yard to find three horses and a mounted escort waiting for
us. As I approached a servant said " Your horse awaits you madam. If you'll
follow me"
"Ah. Hang on a minute. I can't ride one of them." "Sorry madam,
why not?"
"Because I can't ride"
The escort and the servants did a very good job of suppressing smiles. Archie,
who had just arrived looked concerned, but Barbie just looked at me with one her
"I'm better than thee" smiles. I looked back, noting she was in her
ubiquitous green sack - the only thing about which can be said is you could hide
a couple of Aikuchi without too much difficulty - and smiled in return. I was
not going to enjoy this.
I'm going to gloss over the ride down to the
gates to Rebma. We arrived on the shore shortly after midday, with the tide
about halfway out. I hurt in places I'd never hurt before and was glad to get
off the damned horse. Even then it took me a couple of minutes to get my legs to
work properly again.
We walked out on the causeway, and started the descent. Its strange to be able
to walk through water without actually feeling wet, and even stranger to be able
to breathe submerged without the aid of an aqualung. The water became murkier
as we descended, taking on a brownish tinge, and reducing visibility until we
could only just about make out the next illumination globe 50 yards ahead of us.
We were met by the Rebman Chancellor and a body of the Royal Guard. The
Chancellor indicated that they were there for our protection but I had my
doubts. We were taken directly to the Palace for an audience with Moires. Her
attitude reflected that of the rest of Rebma, the barest courtesy disguising
outright hostility. She had three basic grudges all stemming from actions
instigated by Gerard.
In addition there was another matter, possibly connected with Gerard's ex-wife
and Necromantic Sorceress's banishment. Approximately co-incidental with her
banishment a number of works of art, mainly statues had beem stolen from the
Rebman Gallery. She would appreciate any help in locating and returning them.
After the audience with the Queen ended, we went to visit Martin, Amber's
Ambassador in Rebma. He was about as talkative as Moires had been.
We discussed the Rebman visit with Random over
dinner. Closing the sewer pipe was not an option, so that left two alternatives,
lengthen the pipe or ideally build a sewage processing works. Random said building the sewage works
would give the Techno-Sorcerers something to do although I much preferred the
option of finding an alternate Earth where 21st Centaury technology
existed but based upon steam power rather than the Internal Combustion Engine.
Apparently there was a suitable spot on the edge of the
Forest of Arden close to the harbour. Barbie was all for turning the Sorcerers of the College loose
and have them blast all the trees to pulp, but I convinced Random he could do
much better by contracting out the clearance in return for the smaller Butts and
Tops, and selling the rest of the usable timber to local merchants. He might
even manage to turn a profit on the deal.
The tax situation he was completely unaware of, although the chancellor
confirmed that the levy had been placed to finance the war, but had never been
rescinded. Random said he look into it further and reduce it to a fairer level.
The use of the jewel to migrate the fish to areas away from Rebma was an
unexpected twist. Fixing this would take longer as he'd have to try and work out
how it was done.
An exasperated Florimmel joined us at this point and I asked her what the problem was.
" Your Fathers " She replied.
"You mean there's more than one of him?"
"Yes. There's one of him in each of the patterns and each one of him is
different and knows or remembers different things."
"How many have you spoken to?"
"All except one, and I'm going to do that tomorrow. Perhaps you could
assist me."
"Which ones have you spoken to?"
"Amber, Rebma, and Tir-na Nog'th."
"Then I take it you're going to the True Pattern."
"And how do you know about that?"
"Well, apart from it being mentioned in my father's memoirs, Random's also
mentioned it."
She glared at him. The other two were looking interested. "I suppose you
two want to come as well."
They both replied yes.
Given that we were likely to be pattern walking
today I'd dressed in boots, jeans, t-shirt, and jacket, which was just as well
as it turned out we were going riding first.
We left the castle and started towards Arden. As we rode Florimmel chatted and
picked a path that caused us to circle Kolvir. It took about 2 hours and three
circuits for us to notice that she'd been slowly manipulating shadow.
"I didn't think you could manipulate shadow this close to Amber."
"You can if you're good enough and know how to do it, but its very tiring
and slow going."
After riding for about half an hour more, we crested the rise, to find ourselves
overlooking a cleft valley. A narrow path in the cliff wall was just visible. We
dismounted and led the horses down the path.
It took about an hour and a half to reach the bottom. As we exited the cleft a
huge pattern, about a mile across opened up before us. To the right about half a
mile distant was what appeared to be a cave mouth. We led the horses towards the
cave mouth and tethered them. The odor left by Wixer was still strong
enough to affect the horses even though his skeleton was all that remained.
Florimmel and I set off for the start of the pattern whilst the others decided
to explore the cave.
Stepping onto the pattern, you could immediately
tell it was different. The power was more vibrant, the sparks where your boots
struck the surface more distinct, and the static in the air more palpable.
We had gone a few yards when my father appeared. Unlike his reflection in the
Amber pattern he didn't recognize me, and even when I told him who I was he
didn't remember anything about me correctly. May be one day I'll find a way for
him to read my memoirs.
Florimmel obviously thought he'd be more co-operative if I did the talking and
left me to do just that.
Firstly we discussed his demise and what had actually happened. It seems it had
been Dworkin who'd plunged the knife into his back just before he'd completed
the repair of the pattern. Oberon had then attacked Dworkin and according to
him, both were still locked in combat somewhere in the last six feet of the
pattern, which is what made it so dangerous, especially here on the True
Pattern.
I then asked him about his relationship with his other selves. It seemed there
was no interaction and he hadn't known of their existence until we'd told him
about them. He didn't have any idea of how we could integrate them, although
walking the pattern with the jewel would have an effect.
The last question was the most controversial. "Random needs the formula for
the ammunition as the guards are running short."
"Random already knows it." he replied angrily.
"If he already knew it why would have he specifically asked me to ask you
for it?"
"Anyway he can't be running short there's another eight or nine tonnes in
the warehouse."
"What warehouse?"
"Tell him to come and see me."
We finished walking the pattern in silence. By the time I reached the center I was far more exhausted than I'd been when I'd walked the pattern in Amber, even Flora looked tired. She suggested I return direct to Amber and leave her to take care of the horses and the others.
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