I'd slept for about four hours when the servant
awoke me for dinner. I quickly splashed some water on my face, changed my
t-shirt and made my way to the dining room. Barbie and Archie were already
there. We ate dinner and then adjourned to one of the drawing rooms. I was
halfway through a brandy when one of the Guard Captains knocked and entered
"Sorry for disturbing you but there's a situation in the garden we need
your assistance with." gesturing that all three of us were required. At breakfast this morning, Random requested that
we meet him at about two for lunch, until then our time was our own. After the
embarressment on the ride to Rebma I'd decided that when I had time I'd take
some riding lessons. I made my way to the stables where I located a stable hand
by the name of Sebastian who agreed to teach me. I rose early, bathed, ate a light breakfast and
made my way to the stables. Sebastian wasn't there but I was able to get the
same horse, a chestnut stallion by the name of Channon, that I had riden the
prevoius day for my journey to the Courts. I saddled him and loaded my travel
bag, and then waited whilst one of the other grooms sorted out a horse for Cho.
He was even more petrified than I was when I'd first had to ride to Rebma. Bleys barely managed a civil greeting and was
quite sharp when he asked what we were doing there. Having told Cho that we'd
play whatever game Bleys was currently running, I informed him we were doing the
"Tourist Thing" and then introduced Cho. He said our arrival was a
good excuse for a ball and dismissed us as if we we're nothing more than
commoners. The Ball proved to be a rather strained affair.
For the most part I was ignored, although Cho was attracting a lot of attention
in the Kimono he was wearing. I managed to get to speak to Duke Borell who with
the absence of House Cymnea is the prime candidate for the Throne of Chaos were
Bleys not in charge. I also manged to talk at, describing it as a conversation
would be far from the truth, the Keeper of the Logrus, who managed to keep an
area of about 10 feet in radius clear of people where ever he went. Whether it is female intuition or suspision born
of being Corwins daughter but the boarded up CymneaWays had caused alarm bells
to ring yesterday,and I hadn't had time then to do anything about it. This
morning was another matter.
In the gardens we'd found three rather confused individuals, a redheaded guy by
the name of Ben in a Walt Disney Technicians uniform, a second guy by the name
of Robert in a dark green military uniform carrying a flintlock rifle and
pistol, and a third guy by the name of Cho dressed as what appeared to be a
Japanese Samurai. The first two spoke in English whilst the third in Japanese.
They wanted to know where they were, we were more concearned with how they got
here.
It turned out that their stories were similar to those of Barbie's and Archie's
arrival. Each had been in in deadly peril when a mysterious saviour had appeared
and offered them the chance to live. Their saviour had then drawn a card from
their pocket, created a gateway and flung them through it. Two of the
descriptions I recognised as Florimel and Sal.
Satisfied with who they were we escorted them to one of the dining rooms,
arranging for food and drinks to be brought and for guest quarters to be made
up. Ben grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and proceeded to demolish it until
Random arrived and confiscated it. He'd been trumped by Flora, Sal, and Caine to
say they'd located three more missing family members. He set about determining
their parentage. It seems that Ben is the Witch-Bitch's son (Fiona), Cho is
Caine's son, and Robert is my half brother.
Unlike the three of us, who had alittle time to get aclimatised, Random ordered
a baptism of fire, and asked us to escort them to the pattern room and get them
to walk the pattern. I suggested it might be worth showing them to their rooms
first, otherwise they'd vanish off into shadow and we'd have to then go looking
for them. He left the decisions to us.
When it comes to following simple instructions I've not met such an inept group.
Cho went first and appeared to have great difficulty after passing the first
veil. When he got to about a foot from the Black area near the center he
stopped, standing for a minute or so before managing to start moving again. He
landed face first in the center just managing to clear the slick area. Ben went
next. He appeared to have less difficulty, but as he approached the slick area
he slowed down until he stopped exacly at the edge of it. He then jumped. He
must have gone about 2 feet before coming down in a heap and then go sprawling,
using his face as a brake as he slid into the center. How he managed to stay
between the lines I haven't a clue. My half-brother at least did more or less
what he was told, but still only just managed to land in the center.
As I made my way to my room I contemplated the fact that I had a half-brother.
The idea both intrigued me and repulsed me at the same time. As an only child
I'd never had to share my father, even though I hadn't seen him that often. I'm
not sure I was going to be able to.
Amber Day 6 - Knocking about the Castle
He was going to saddle a horse for me but I made him show me how to do it, until
I was capable of doing it myself. I then spent the next hour going through a set
of exercises, practising mounting, dismounting, walking, trotting, and weaving
in and out of slalom fences. By the end I was tired and sore and retreated to my
room insearch of a bath before lunch. I was also exceedingly pleased with
myself, having not fallen off once during the entire session.
When I got to the dining hall Random, Archie, and Barbie were already there.
After about 15 minutes three tired looking wastrels arrived and Random signalled
for lunch to be serverd. Over lunch he handed out assignments. Barbie was to
continue with her duties at the Mage collage, and introduce Ben to its workings.
Archie was to continue his work with the Arden Rangers and take Robert along as
his deputy. I was to travel to the Courts to assess the state of affairs and
report back, taking Cho along for the ride. As I'd never been to the Courts I
said I wouldn't know how to find it. Random gave me two trump cards, the first
for a border fort in shadow about half way to the Courts, and the second of the
Governors Palace at the Courts. Cho wanted to know what a horse and riding were.
We all looked at him blankly.
I spent the afternoon at the stables, having arranged for Cho to get a crash (in
more ways than one) course in riding. I continued with the exercise program I'd
begun that morning managing a short canter by the end of the afternoon. As the
afternoon wore on I'd begun to feel frisky and had hoped to corner Sebastian in
the stables, but circumstances seemed to conspire against me, and I had to make
do with a bath alone in my room.Amber Day 7 - Journeys, The Courts, and a Ball
We left the castle by the West gate, taking the Arden road. After a couple of
miles I drew the waystation card from my pocket. When I'd used the Trumps
previously, even when returning from my Shadow Earth, the gateway had formed
quickly and without much effort. As with all Trumps, the card turned ice cold as
I concentrated on it, but the image didn't come. I shifted more of my attention
to the card, blocking out more and more of the world around me until I could
only just feel the horse beneath me. Slowly the image formed and I could feel
the mental drain. After about a minute I'd managed to widen the gate sufficient
for a horse and rider to pass through and was able to return more of my
attention to my surroundings. I instructed Cho to ride through and then followed
him.
The Commander of the Waystation fort was surprised to see us but accomodating
all the same. We grabbed a quick coffee and exchanged news before continuing our
journey. I guessed the second shift was going to be toughter than the first, and
I wasn't wrong. By the time I'd opened the gateway to a sufficient size I was
sweating and my head began to hurt. I motioned Cho through and followed.
By the time I'd recovered my wits and reigned the horse in we'd been surrounded
by about twenty Amberite guards and the Guard captain and a couple of
Lieutenants were hurring in our direction. He reached the edge of the ring of
soldiers and asked who we were. I was in no mood to deal with jobs-worth guard
captains, " I'm Cordelia of Amber. Tell Bleys were here. "
" That's Prince Bleys to you."
I ignored the insulant return. " Just tell him "
I would have expected to be shown to somewhere more appropriate to wait and to
be provided with refreshments, but we were left to wait where we'd arrived
whilst the Captain went off and consulted Bley's staff. He returned after about
10 minutes and said Bleys would see us in the Pink Throne Room. He arranged for
the servants who accompanied him to take our belongings to the guest quarters
and see to the horses.
As we left a posses of servants attached themseleves and I was able to request a
dressmaker come and visit me as I would need a dress for this evening.
I have to say that I was disappointed when she arrived, although the finished
garment ended up of passable quality. She was unfamiliar with Earth styles and
had to base her tayloring on a poor sketch done by me for the design. I opted
for a single shoulder strap diagonal wrap design, floor length with split
wrapover sections to the waist. It was modestly revealing and like most dresses
left no room to conceal weapons.
In between the initial consultation and fitting I went to see the Guard
Commander about talking to the troops to gain their impressions of their billet
and tour, and organise me a guide for a quick tour of the sites. He was absent
on a diplomatic mission but his deputy was most accomodating and I arranged for
a tour later that afternoon with one of the senior lieutnants.
From what little I know of the military, gleaned from TV shows and news reports,
foreign postings are generally not favoured by soldiers. As far as the garrison
at the Court is concearned the exact opposite is true. It seems they are
weighted on hand and foot by the locals and are free to do with them more or
less as they wish, the exact extent of which would be revealed in the early
hours of the following morning.
All in all the lieutenant proved to be a mine of information on exactly how ill
treated the locals are. If I were to like Bleys to Hitler in the early years of
the Third Reich and the Garrison to the SS in the early years of the 2nd
world war, I think I'd be reasonably close to the mark. Action by the locals
against the Garrison is dealt with severely. Harming a member of the Garrison
results in the offender, their immediate and one step removed family being
rounded up and executed. For major infractions several hundred chaosites picked
at random will be rounded up and executed.
The brief tour of the Courts included the Fire Gate, HendrakeWays, HelgramWays,
the boarded up CymneaWays(The house of Bleys ex-wife who disappeared along with
her household about a month before Patternfall), the market and Temple of the
Serpent. The market was interesting in that all the best stalls were furthest
from the Temple, whilst all the worst were closest to it. Speaking to the stall
holders they all fear the Temple and the Priests, although it appears they've
run out of sacrifices volountary or otherwise and nobody has ever seen the
Serpent.
By the time the ball wound down about midnight I was slightly disappointed that
none of the locals had attempted to pick me up, and I'd not really been in the
mood to go hunting myself.
I'd retired to my room, dismissing the gagle of servants, and was in the process
of relaxing mind and body, when Cho chose to wrap on the door with a
"matter of the most urgency". To say I was not pleased was an
understatement although he was to iritate me further by disappearing and
returning 40 minutes later with the offending captains name. Why he couldn't
have waited till the morning I don't know.
Anyway the matter of most importance concearned a female servant with a broken
leg who'd taken refuge in his room thinking it to be unoccupied. In addition to
her leg injury and the shabby clothes she was bearing she was also covered in
bruises. It appears that the good captain had beaten up up and broken her leg
because she wasn't complient enough. When pressed she said it was common for the
female servants to be forced to have sex against their will and if they weren't
compliant enough would be beaten to improve their performance next time.
By the time she'd finished her story I was seething, and only years of
discerpline allowed me to appear to remain outwardly calm and controlled. I
splinted her leg and told her she was now my personal servant and was to sleep
by the fire in the main area of the suite. Apparently her shape shifting
abilities are not great and she can't repair her wounds that way. I'm hoping
this will alow me to take her to Amber, so that she may tell her story to Random
in persn, and thereafter become my PA or Lady in weighting. As for the captain
who inflicted her injuries, if Random is agreeable I shall make him her
bodyguard come butler, and should any injury of harm come to her he will be held
accountable as punishment for his crimes. As for the rest of the garrison, I'm
going to find them a nice hell hole to guard for the next 100 years.Amber Day 8 - CymneaWays
We ate breakfast and gathered our thigns, including my new servant, and left the
palace, not disuading the guards or servants from the assumption that we were
returning to Amber.
Finding CymneaWays again was not difficult and Cho made short work of removing
the boarding baring the entrance. Gaining entry was not then difficult and we
were met with a much expected scene of covered furniture. The thick layer of
dust lay undisturbed, at least in this part of the house. The dust caused severe
iritation to my new servant, whose name I really must determine, and I sent her
outside to wait with the horses. Cho and I continued our sweep.
Nothing showed any sign of disturbance until we reached Lady Cymnea's personal
quarters. Starting in the middle of the room, a set of foot prints lead to and
disappeared into a wall. This could mean only one thing, somebody had recently
trumped into the room.
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