Chapter 080: The Long Way Home
"You
must realise we're all victims
Of
the same absurd reality labyrinth
Barely
do we find the time to crawl these walls
And
experience real life for ourselves
The
climb is on, don't listen to
The
voices pulling you back - cut them off!"
The
Hole - Poisoned Electrick Head
The cool black waters swirled around us as we descended into the chasm
towards our uncertain goal. The seahorses were a bit skittish, but a few quick
commands from Melusine in Rebma's queer lilting tongue helped to keep them in
check. Still, occasionally my steed snorted just a trifle rebelliously, and the
small bubbles of its breath caressed my face as they commenced their long climb
to the surface. Floating down into the seemingly never-ending darkness, I felt a
bit like being in a dream. I had forgotten how easily dreams can turn into
nightmares, though.
At first it appeared just as a little insignificant speck, surely nothing
more than the water pressure having its effect on my eyeballs, but slowly,
steadily, the luminous spot grew, and soon the water before us was lit with an
eerie, sickly green glow. The spot became a dot became a circle, which grew
steadily larger until it came to resemble an open Nexus Gate. Only, I had never
seen a green Nexus Gate before. Not that I had done any extensive travelling
through these Nexus tunnels, mind you, but the Nexus Power flows I had seen thus
far had all been that same shade of sapphire blue, so I had some cause to
wonder. The shape of the thing was remarkably like a Nexus Gate, however, even
though a look inside revealed that the passage was far less twisting and turning
than usual; instead it ran straight ahead as far as the eye could see, and it
was more angles than curves.
Apparently, I was not the only one to be surprised by the Nexus' strange
shape and colour, for Melusine had, as soon as she had dismounted, begun to
study the Gate with a doubtful expression. I asked her what was up, but she
merely frowned.
"I'm not sure," she said. "It feels strange... As if
there's something wrong with it."
"You mentioned that something may have corrupted the Nexus, didn't
you?"
"Yes, but... I don't know what will happen if we..." She
shrugged away her hesitation and turned to face me. "The Gate appears to be
open, I can sense the Power, and I know that I can use it, but not as usual...
I'm not quite sure." I shrugged. She was supposed to be the expert here.
Cautiously Melusine approached the entrance, gesturing us to stay back.
One step at a time, she slowly entered the tunnel, halted and studied her
surroundings, before nodding once and giving us an all clear signal. One command
sufficed to send our steeds back towards Rebma and then I too was ready to begin
the final lap of our journey home. I glanced at Fabian who was clearly
hesitating. This was it for him, the point of no return. For two or three
minutes he contemplated his lot, considered his chances should he decide to turn
back now: the battle that might be raging for the throne of Amber, the long trek
back through Shadow, and the uncertain reception he might receive in the Courts.
And there still was the possibility that our theory was right and that this
place wasn't his home at all. He briefly weighed the pros and cons, and finally
he could only shrug and join Melusine in the Nexus opening. With a sigh of
relief I followed him inside.
In the tunnel the eerie green light was even brighter, and it cast
unnerving shadows on the wall. The energy currents felt quite a bit like the
Nexus, but different... Odd... Creepy... As we started walking I got the strange
feeling that the tunnel itself seemed to be moving, as if undulating with a very
low frequency. And although the tunnel was wide enough for two people to walk
along it side by side, the whole atmosphere was very oppressive, making me feel
a bit claustrophobic. Now and again I thought I could hear the beating of my own
heart throbbing a bit too loudly against my eardrums.
After a few moments to orient herself, Melusine had started to lead the
way, albeit with an air of uncertainty. Even though we made good progress, we
couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in the emerald glow, and we stuck close
together, looking out for anything that might spring up and attack us. Nothing
did, at least not during that first leg of our journey.
"You know," Fabian remarked pensively after having looked
around a bit, "I think I've been here before." The sound of his own
voice, slightly distorted and a bit louder than he had expected in the
oppressive silence, surprised him. "Maybe it was only a dream," he
muttered, before falling silent again. I refrained from commenting, although
privately I wondered when he might have been passing through Nexus tunnels like
this one before and how long ago it might have been. An why didn't he remark on
the change in colour?
For at least half an hour we continued on our way through the tunnel and
found nothing out of the ordinary on our path. At a certain point I got the
feeling, though, that the tunnel gradually began to slope downwards, and shortly
after we reached the first fork in the road. Here Melusine's earlier hesitation
returned. She stopped and spent at least several minutes peering down both
tunnels, but it didn't appear to be helping her to reach a decision.
"They're both so alike," she mutered softly, aware of the
peculiar echoing effect. "I get the same feeling from both of them.
Normally you get a clearer sense of direction, but now it doesn't seem to matter
which way we go."
"There really isn't anything that can make you choose either
way?" I inquired softly. A little annoyed she shook her head and walked a
few paces in both directions to try and get some indication of what lay ahead.
It didn't appear to be helping very much either.
"If I'd have to guess," she said as she returned, "I'd say
that the left tunnel feels rather more unpleasant, but it also seems marginally
the better choice than the other one. I know it sounds contradictory, but still.
Let's just be very careful."
Left it was. We resumed our march in silence, each with their own
thoughts. Although I realised that direction was a relative concept in a
structure like the Nexus, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were still slowly
heading downwards. I had no idea whether that was a good thing or not. As yet
there didn't seem to be any serious increase in unpleasantness, but that might
still come.
We went on till we came to the next fork, a crossroad this time, and
again Melusine hesitated. This didn't bode well.
"This is so weird," she muttered, a tiny hint of panic mixing
in with her annoyance. "I can't get any clear sense of where we should go
next. This is a very strange junction."
"How exactly do you orientate yourself in this place?" I asked
patiently.
"When you traverse the Nexus, you travel through a complex system of
tunnels, but you always have a certain sense of direction. You always know how
to find your way home, like a sort of a beacon that's always there, and if
you're going someplace else where you have already been once before, you can
home in on that place as well. You still might make an occasional mistake,
because sometimes tunnels may appear to lead in different directions, but that's
just a matter of experience. This crossroad is so odd because all the tunnels
give me the same feeling, as if it doesn't matter which one we would take. It's
very confusing."
"Can't you somehow tune in a bit more, like amplifying the signal,
so to speak?"
"I wouldn't know how to begin," she sighed and shrugged
helplessly.
"Well," I said, "I know too little about the Nexus to be
of any real help, I fear."
"What do your instincts tell you?" she insisted. Now it was
time for me to shrug. I simply had the same unpleasant feeling I'd had since
we'd entered the Nexus, and if anything it only seemed to have got stronger.
Melusines scowled a bit and sighed once more. "Let's just head straight
on," she said.
"Fine," I said. "I'm afraid that sooner or
later we're going to run into whatever it is that is giving us this eerie
feeling anyway, so we might as well get on with it."
Again we continued on our way. After a while the shadows we cast upon the
walls of tunnel seemed to be deepening, and the floor of the tunnel started
feeling rather odd and sticky, as if we were trudging through some marshy area.
We came upon further forks and junctions, but since Melusine's sense of
direction appeared to be totally shot we just kept on heading straight on, with
narely a glance at the side tunnels. There seemed to be increasingly more of
them as we got further and further.
Suddenly Melusine halted and made a warding gesture. "I thought I
saw something moving up ahead," she whispered. I followed her gaze but
couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, as far as the word applied to these
surroundings.
"I didn't see anything," I replied, "but we'd better watch
out." During the last few weeks I had come to trust her senses when it came
to things like sudden danger and ambushes, and I wasn't about to kick that habit
now things were really turning ugly. We proceeded with weapons drawn, and we had
got but a bit further when I saw something too: a dark shape darting out of one
of the side tunnels and immediately disappearing down another one. A peculiar
sort of sound echoed down the corridor too, a combination of hissing and
rattling.
"I'm open for any good suggestions you might have," I muttered
to my companions.
"Quickly!" Melusine snapped. "We've got to move on."
As we hurried down the tunnel, we heard the hisses and rattles coming
from behind us. Now and then I ventured a glance back, and soon I noticed a
small group of dark, indistinct shapes following us at a distance. Damn. I'd had
no idea the Nexus would be inhabited. We turned a corner, and suddenly there was
another group of beings blocking our way up ahead, moving towards us with a
shuffling gait. Whatever they were, they seemed to have more than the normal
amount of legs, and they vaguely reminded me of some things I had seen before,
not all that very long ago. I didn't have time to think, however, for soon they
were upon us.
Suddenly a greenish beam shot from the little group in front of us right
past my head, immediately followed by several others, which fortunately all
missed us as well. As long as they had us at a distance we had no answer to
their fire, so as one we rushed forward to bridge the gap and even the odds. As
we got close enough I finally recognised the creatures and realised why they
were so familiar, for they were of the insectoid race of which others had been
commanders in the Sherwynian army that had attacked Cardane. The beams they were
firing seemed to be coming from some kind of technical contraptions built into
their paws like some kind of cyber technology. Despite their impressive
weaponry, however, they proved no match for the three of us, and in no time we
had slashed our way through their little group, leaving none of them alive.
There had only been four of them, though, and there was still that group coming
up behind us. No doubt there would be more as we proceeded.
We quickly hurried on. Melusine didn't take long to consider the possible
junctions after that, simply choosing the first one she thought fit. Fabian
lingered a little bit behind, keeping an eye out for our pursuers, whom he
reported to be growing in number. I was simply running along in the middle,
ready for anything that might spring out a us, when suddenly as we were nearing
another crossing I got the strongest feeling that we should turn left. I had no
idea where it was coming from, but at this point I was happy with any sort of
guidance, since Melusine didn't seem to be having much luck. So, I shouted:
"Left!" Melusine turned and gave me a surprised look, but I simply
insisted: "I'm quite sure! Left!" She slowed down a bit and seemed to
be about to start hesitating again, when a sudden green beam from the right
passage forced the issue and had us hurtling down the left tunnel.
"Now what?" Melusine demanded.
"There's another junction coming up," I called back at her,
relaying the feelings just as I was receiving them. "We should head
straight on!" I didn't really expect these directions to lead us home, but
I figured that at this point anywhere was better than here. We really had to
start running, though, for our pursuers started firing in earnest, and while
none of their shots had hit their mark yet, our luck wouldn't hold out
indefinitely. We let ourselves completely be guided by these feelings I was
receiving, and gradually I got the impression we were heading deeper into the
system, if such a thing was possible. The were increasingly more junctions and
side tunnels, and the tunnel we were in seemed a bit larger than it had been. We
made relatively good progress, and although now and again some small groups of
two or three insectoids appeared up ahead, they hardly slowed us down, and we
continued to emerge unscathed from each encounter. Some of these attackers
seemed a bit smaller than the ones we had seen before, but we didn't take the
time to do a full comparison.
After a long time we finally reached the end of the tunnel, which opened
up on a large, high-ceilinged, cavern-like structure with numerous similarly
greenish openings along its walls. What really halted us in our tracks, though,
was the sight of countless greenish cocoons lying stacked all along the rocky
floor, some even hanging from the wall and ceiling. They had all kinds of shapes
and sizes, and with a sick feeling in my stomach I realised that some of them
appeared to be moving slightly. This cave must be some kind of central point, at
least for these insectoids, but I sensed that it was not yet the goal we had
been led to. That lay just a little further beyond.
I wavered a moment, torn between urgency and curiosity, but since we had
managed to leave our opponents far behind us, I decided to give in to the latter
impulse. I cautiously selected one of the smaller cocoons lying in the vicinity,
and carefully I began to saw through the sticky strands with my sword.
Fortunately, I didn't have to work hard at it to cut through the webbing, and to
my surprise and disgust a young boy of about the same age as my own children
came tumbling out, completely naked and covered in slime.
"What is this?" Melusine said, apparently sharing my revulsion.
"I'm not sure, but if they're all like this one..." I met her
gaze squarely. "Their larder...?" I ventured. She scowled and I saw
Fabian nod gravely. Not at all a pleasant thought.
The boy started to cough and hack up slime, weakly jerking one of his
arms from side to side. The poor kid looked a bit blue-ish, as if he'd been
suffocated, but he seemed to be pulling through. The tug of our goal was
beginning to get stronger again, but I had a brief moment to contemplate this
child's fate, just enough to bend down and pick him up in my arms, smearing
slime all over my clothes of course.
"This isn't sensible, Dorian," Melusine said in her usual
annoyed tone.
"I know," I replied, but showed no sign of heeding her comment.
"Do you want us to take all of them with us?" she persisted.
"Well, do you? Do you have any idea how many of them there are here?"
"I know, I know, it's not practical. But perhaps later on this one
will be able to tell us what happened to him an how he came to be in this place.
That might be useful information, wouldn't you say? I recognise these creatures,
by the way. They were part of the army that was marching from Sherwyn to
Galoria, the one whose path I blocked in Cardane." She looked at me for a
few seconds, then shrugged and turned away in frustration.
"We've got to get out of here," she mutttered.
"Yes, you're right. That way." I pointed to the other side of
the cavern.
"Who's telling you where to go?" she asked suspiciously.
"I don't know," I sighed. "It's just this feeling I
have." It didn't explain anything, but since we didn't have any other
viable options, we just had to follow these directions, no matter what the
source.
At the other side of the cave we entered one of the few more ordinary
tunnel entrances, which shortly opened up into another large cavern. This was
the spot, I felt, this was where we were supposed to be. There wasn't anything
or anyone around save for one big cocoon lying in the middle of the cave with
little green threads of power trailing away from it in various directions. It
was hardly surprising that my intuitions were telling me to get whatever, or
rather whoever, was inside the thing. Hoisting the slowly breathing child over
one shoulder, I drew my sword again and began to slice the cocoon open.
As I was busy, however, a horde of insect creatures suddenly began to
pour in through other tunnel openings. They were firing their beams again, and
things were really starting to look hairy for us. Melusine cursed and snapped at
me to make haste, while she and Fabian fended off our opponents. She need not
have bothered, for as soon as she'd called out her warning to me the cocoon
strands tore open and the naked body of a man tumbled down at my feet, entirely
covered in slime just as the child had been. I rolled him on his side and patted
his back as he started heaving and coughing. Even though I'd only seen him once
or twice, I immediately recognised him and understood that he must have been
leading me here himself, for it was none other than Galoran, the Master of the
Nexus. I looked up and momentarily met Melusine's eyes, giving her a
told-you-this-was-important look, but she just cursed and spat.
"Great. I suppose we've got to drag him along as well."
"That would be the idea, yes," I muttered. I noticed that the
cocoon from which I'd just freed Galoran had lost its green shine and the power
lines connected to it were also beginning to grow dim. Meanwhile, the fire from
the insectoids from the other tunnels seemed to be increasing, lighting up the
cave with a slightly brighter greenish hue. We'd better get out of here while we
still had a chance.
"Where do we go from here?" I demanded from Galoran, shaking
him urgently, but he still looked more dead than alive and could only gasp an
unintelligible reply. Muttering curses, but determined, I ran towards Fabian and
thrust the boy at him. He bemusedly took him into his arms, while I rushed back
and lifted Galoran over my left shoulder. "We've got to go back to the
first cave, back to the Nexus," I shouted. If Galoran had been able to lead
the three of us here in the weakened state he had been in, he should be able to
get us through the Nexus and back home again somehow. It was the only hope we'd
got.
To get back into the Nexus, however, we literally had to fight our way
through ranks and ranks of insect creatures, and burdened as I was with
Galoran's body I had a much harder time of it than before. The insects kept
shooting at us too, so completely intent upon taking us out that they seemed to
care little about the likely dangers of hitting their fellow comrades. We
dodged, slashed and parried, and somehow managed to avoid getting hit for a long
time, but of course it couldn't last. Another flash of green and suddenly there
was a searing pain in my left arm where one of their beams had scored me. Only
now did I realise that what they were shooting were not beams of energy, but
concentrated streams of vicious acid, which was now eating its way through my
shirt sleeve to start upon my arm in earnest. I didn't have the time to drop
Galoran and rip off my shirt without running into more trouble, so in
desperation I did the only thing I could think of and smeared some of the slime
from the cocoons over the wound. To my immense surprise and relief it worked
too! The slime completely stopped the acid from eating further into my skin, and
it even helped to dull the pain a little bit. Sometimes I am simply too lucky
for my own good...
Battered but grim the three of us finally managed to break through the
waves of insectoids into the cave with the many Nexus openings. Picture the
likely sort of heroic battle for yourselves, if you will, for I shall not go
into further details. Without hesitation we turned and ran into the nearest
tunnel, not caring for now where it would lead us as long as it was away from
the enemy. The Nexus still flared with green power, but to my eyes it seemed a
bit duller than before. Perhaps the loss of Galoran was a major set-back for our
opponents. I could only hope so.
In the long straight stretches of tunnel we made good progress and like
before the distance between us and our pursuers gradually began to increase.
They kept shooting their acid beams at us, though, and before we were out of
range one of them hit Fabian straight between his shoulder blades. Fortunately
he managed to keep his balance, and I could quickly come to his aid with
some of the slime that still covered large parts of Galoran's body, thus keeping
the acid burns to a minimum. Meanwhile we kept on running aimlessly away from
our pursuers, hoping to outdistance them as soon as we could.
Galoran had been coughing and breathing heavily while he lay over my
shoulder, and at last he seemed to be regaining his consciousness.
"Where... Where are we?" he rasped, immediately followed by a painful
moan. "Ohhh... Headache..." He tried to lift his head, then mumbled:
"Other side... Show me..." I quickly lifted him up and turned him
around, carrying him in such a position that he could look ahead. He kept
moaning about his headache, but he was paying attention as well, for as we drew
nearer to the next fork he told us to wait a moment, after which he pointed us
towards the lefthand tunnel. I looked at the others and we all shrugged a
little. He knew this thing better than any of us, so why not? We continued to
follow Galoran's directions after that, although at certain times he seemed to
doze off a bit and we had to prod him a little to get something out of him. We
were still moving a lot faster than the insectoid pursuers, though, and soon we
didn't have to worry about their acid shooting anymore. Hopefully Galoran was
leading us into areas of the Nexus these creatures had not yet taken up as their
homes, so we wouldn't run into any more of them.
Suddenly, in the middle of quite a major crossroad, Galoran coughed out a
halt. "Wait here," he mumbled.
"And then what?" I asked.
"Wait...," he said, eyes closed and a hint of a smile.
"We'll be picked up..."
"What do you mean?" I'd thought he knew what he was doing, but
now I was starting to believe that he might be delirious. If so, we had to know
for sure, cause it would mean that we would have to find our own way out.
"They'll come for us...," he just mumbled, as if already half
asleep. "Called a cab..." What was he talking about? I exchanged
glances with both Melusine and Fabian, but both gave me a blank look.
"He is very adept at this," Melusine ventured, "but he
seems far gone. Did he send you those images that brought us to him?"
"Yes, I think he showed me the way."
"Well, then maybe he's succeeded in reaching someone else who might
help us."
"I don't know either," I confessed, "but I suggest we do
as he says and wait here, at least for a little while." If nothing showed,
we could still try our own luck.
We put Galoran and the little boy next to one another against the tunnel
wall and tried to rest a little bit ourselves now that we had the chance. I
stretched my muscles before taking a closer look at my left arm. The acid had
left a nasty burn, but then I was still recovering from the ordeal in the vale
of Garnath, so why bother about one burn more or less? It would be painful and
inconvenient for a while, but it would heal, and hopefully I would soon have
plenty of time to do all the healing that I needed.
Of course, we remained well on our guard while we were waiting for
whatever it was that Galoran thought would be coming for us, and we had an
advantage in the fact that the four tunnels leading away from the crossing were
all pretty wide and kept running straight ahead, so we could spot anyone or
anything coming towards us well before they could reach us. I had just sat down
myself, leaning against the wall, when Fabian pointed down one of the tunnels.
As Melusine and I followed his gaze we could clearly see something silvery
glittering in the distance, which seemed to be coming towards us at a rather
great speed. Once it got closer I saw that it was some kind of big metallic ball
that nearly blocked the entire tunnel. It kept on racing towards us, and there
was no indication of it breaking or slowing down, so we thought it better to get
out of the way and not risk the chance of it simply running over us.
There was a slight whine as the thing drew nearer, and in spite of our
fears the sphere came to a halt right in the middle of the junction. From this
close it appeared to be not entirely round but rather more egg-shaped, its
surface being one perfect polished metallic shell. As we regarded the thing
cautiously, a panel suddenly opened and slid aside, and a quite familiar young
man jumped out. It was Martin! He immediately rushed towards Melusine, who was
more than a little surprised but who returned his hug with equal fervour.
"So you're the cabbie?" I asked a bit sarcastically. Yes, there
was this little twitch inside, even though I know I'd told her I would not
intrude again. Martin merely gave me an uncomprehending look, though, so I
explained to him about Galoran averring that he'd arranged for someone to come
and pick us up.
"Galoran?" he said, looking even more surprised when I pointed
at the naked, besmeared figure lying against the wall. "Well, okay, I guess
I am that ride. Hop in."
"Great," I said. "I think we'd better make for Amber as
quickly as possible." He nodded and guided us into the machine, which
turned out to be pretty hi-tech, resembling in a way some of the space ships I'd
seen in films back on Shadow Earth, well over several lifetimes ago.
Martin did not wait for us to settle down but immediately took a seat
behind the ship's controls and Melusine joined him there, while Fabian and I put
Galoran and the child on the couple of bunks in the back. I asked Fabian to stay
and mind them while I joined the other two, and with a shrug he complied. I
couldn't tell whether Martin had taken a good look at the third member of our
party yet, but I figured he hadn't, for remembering his reactions in the
Hermit's Keep on the Overshadow he would certainly have had a fit once he'd
recognised Brand. If I was lucky I might be able to keep Fabian out of his hands
until we were back in our own Reality, at which point I could simply teleport us
to Amber. Then it would be up to Random, I guess, but then we would also be sure
whether Fabian was really our Brand or not. If only Martin would go on as he now
did and not stop to ask any questions.
We had only been moving for a little while when Martin suddenly cursed
and stopped the vehicle. When I asked him what was wrong, he simply pointed at
one of the screens on his console, which apparently showed us the forward view.
In the middle of the still greenly glowing Nexus tunnel stood our cousin
Alexander, blank-faced and sword drawn. Even though he was only one man, he
effectively blocked our path single-handedly, for there was not enough room to
manouevre around him and the option of running over him might simply not work
given the average Amberite's strength. Of course, Alexander had been rather
friendly towards me ever since the affair in the cave of the Logrus, but I'd say
he didn't know that I was one of the people on board of this contraption, and
all in all I'd rather keep him out. Nothing personal, but I didn't want any
other peope to catch sight of Fabian before we had had a chance to confirm his
identity. It was as simple as that.
"Exactly how much can this thing take?" I asked Martin. Not
that I really thought Alex would start hacking away at us with his sword, but
you could never know.
"Oh, it's sturdy enough, I think." He didn't seem to be
entirely sure, I sensed, and I had already noticed that at times he'd be a bit
hesitant in choosing the correct controls. Where had he found this vehicle
anyway, and how was it able to traverse the Nexus in this fashion?
"What is this thing?" I asked aloud, but of course Martin
reacted in a typically evasive manner.
"We don't have time to go into that right now," he said.
"What do we do about Alexander?"
"I'm sure he can find his own way home, can't he?" I answered.
"How the hell did he end up here at this time anyway?"
"I've no idea."
"I just want to head on home as quickly as possible." I saw how
Alex had moved a bit closer to the silvery sphere and how he was studying it
closely, apparently looking for an entrance. "He is rather in the way,
though," I muttered.
"We cannot wait around here much longer," Martin said. "Do
we hail him?"
"You're the captain, I guess."
"I don't know what it is he wants, but he looks rather threatening,
doesn't he?" He hesitated a moment, then shrugged. "We'd better talk
to him." He toggled a switch on his console and called out Alexander's name
into a small microphone. On the screen we saw our cousin look up, and we heard
him reply with a calm: "Yes..." Martin switched the thing off for a
moment and adjusted the volume a little before continuing.
"If you don't move aside," he said, "I'm afraid we'll be
forced to run over you."
Alex snorted a little. "So from theft to murder, is it?"
"Theft?" Martin said indignantly, but with a hint of surprise.
"This vehicle does not belong to you."
"Not to you either," Alex countered. "You stole it from
the stables in Rebma."
Martin smiled a little, and I saw comprehension dawn in his eyes.
"No," he said, "I don't think you have a full grasp of the
situation here."
"I'm sure you don't have any permission from the owner to use this
thing, have you?"
"No, but I do have the permission from the Lady governing the place
where it had been parked. This vehicle belongs to the Kingdom of Rebma."
"As far as I know it belongs to one Dr. Bowmore," Alex
objected.
"It used to," Martin said smugly, "but it was seized by
the Crown because of unpaid taxes. If Dr. Bowmore wants to reclaim her vehicle,
she will have to apply for it herself, in person." Heh, that sounded as
phoney as ever could be, but it didn't bother me very much. For one, I had not a
clue who this Dr. Bowmore might be, and although I didn't exactly know all this
ship could do, I was sure it was pretty powerful, so it would be safer to let it
remain in the hands of the Rebmans instead of having it fall into Galorian
hands.
Meanwhile, I'd been worrying slightly at us remaining in one place for so
long, and I softly inquired whether there was any way to see the tunnel behind
us as well. Fortunately, Martin remembered to switch off his mike before turning
to answer my question.
"I really don't know, Dorian," he said with a slight hint
of exasperation. "I haven't been able to figure out that part yet. I know
how to move us about and how to open the door, but I don't think that's very
useful at the moment, with Alexander standing there right outside." Hmm, so
he really didn't have much experience with this thing. It was a small miracle
that he'd found us at all, although that part had probably been engineered by
Galoran, come to think of it.
Outside, Alexander had sheathed his sword again, but he was still eyeing
the sphere as if it were some puzzle that needed to be solved. "Look,"
Martin said, having switched on the intercom once more, "this is really a
diplomatic issue, don't you see? There's no need to resort to violence to settle
this, is there?"
"Just tell me one thing," Alex said. "Who am I speaking to
right now?"
"I'm your cousin Martin, if you must know." That seemed to
suffice for now. Alexander calmly stepped aside, and with a bit of careful
manouevring Martin managed to edge the ship past him. He immediately increased
speed again, and soon we were zooming down the Nexus tunnels like a silver ball
being launched into a pinball machine. That is not to say that he was
continually bumping into things, though, for my cousin's control over the ship
was sufficient to keep us well on track. Perhaps the real bumping would begin
once we exited the Nexus. From the seat I'd taken I watched the view ahead in
silence. Occasionally we would come to a junction, but Martin seemed to have
little problem in deciding upon the correct way, and after a few turns he hardly
reduced speed at them anymore.
We were going a lot faster than we ever would have been able to travel on
foot, though: much sooner than I expected I spotted a black dot straight ahead,
which grew and grew until we shot out of the open Nexus gate and into the dark
unknown. With a grim smile Martin turned on the ship's searchlights and started
steering it upwards. It didn't take me long to realise that we were in a chasm
that was similar in many ways to the one in which we had descended in the other
Amber Reality, but at that point another sensation was washing all over me,
momentarily blocking out all other signals. It was the Pattern. Our Pattern. My
Pattern. I had gone without it for so long that I had nearly become accustomed
to its absence, but now that it was back I wondered how I had ever been able to
cope. Ah, the rush of Power! It reminded me most of the sensation I'd had right
at the end of our attempt to repair the Logrus, when I had been forced to direct
the remaining Pattern energy into myself, thus surrendering myself to Its
possession. However, this time there was nothing forced about it: it was just a
plain ecstacy of Power welcoming me home.
For about five minutes or so I could only sit there and savour the
feeling, but then the other important issues began pressing in on me again. A
bit wistful and somewhat nervous I let the Pattern glide into me and enhance my
senses before taking my decisive look at Fabian. He met my gaze with a slight
frown, but otherwise there was nothing wrong with him, at least he did not seem
any different from what he had been in the other Reality. He may not have been
aware of it himself, though, but the moment I regarded him with my Pattern
enhanced vision there was a dim but recognisable shimmer of Pattern energy in
him to echo my own. And it was a clearly familiar Pattern too, no mistake about
it. It was as I had thought and feared: Fabian was really our Brand.
I swallowed and glanced away, finding myself suddenly face to face with
Martin, who had apparently finally taken a good look at his passengers. He still
seemed calm, but I didn't like his frowning expression.
"I would suggest that we go and see your father as soon as
possible," I said, perhaps a bit hoarsely. "There are several
important things that we have to tell him." Martin shook his head.
"There is something we have to settle first," he said grimly.
"I have no problem with you going to my father, but I think that this
person will be remaining here." He gave a nod to indicate Fabian, or rather
Brand (damn, it was hard to think of him by this name, after all the time we'd
spent in each other's company). As if he needed to point out the person under
contention, though.
"I don't think so," I replied softly. Now his eyes flared up
suddenly, but he managed to stay calm, after a fashion.
"Dorian," he said through gritted teeth. "This man tried
to murder me. That's the sort of thing I tend to take very personally."
"Oh, I imagine you do, but I believe we are going to have need of
his expert knowledge."
"He's the sort you can do without."
"I've thought much the same thing about other relatives at one time
or another," I sighed, "but so far I've always been mistaken when push
came to shove."
Fabian, meanwhile, was looking from me to Martin and back again with an
expression of confusion and alarm. The poor guy really had no idea what we were
on about. While he'd been argueing with me, Martin had also kept on steering the
vessel, and we had quickly entered the city of Rebma and were now racing through
its streets towards the Royal stables. Very soon Martin would have his hands
free, and I had no clear idea how I was going to stop him from harming Fabian. I
only knew that I would try.
"I simply cannot let him leave," Martin muttered as he steered
the ship into the stables.
"And what is it you want to do to him?" I asked loudly.
"You simply want to return the favour and stab him to death here and now?
Is that it?" I had to keep him talking. As long as he was talking he
wouldn't be doing something else, something worse.
"I didn't receive any better treatment from him," he countered
hotly. "No, he treated me even worse, he never even gave me a chance. I had
no warning! None whatsoever!"
"Okay, so you kill him. And then what?"
"You really want someone like him to walk around freely?" he
asked incredulously. "I didn't decide his fate, he did! He chose it all by
himself! I never meant anyone any harm. You cannot deny me my revenge!" He
was really getting worked up now, but I managed to stay calm in the face of so
much seething anger.
"I suppose not," I said, "but then I would not be able to
deny Rinaldo his revenge either, would I? And after that there will be Melusine.
And after that someone else. And so on, and so on. I still think it's a better
idea if we first were to talk this over with your father."
From the corner of my eye I saw Melusine give a silent, sad shake of her
head, but I couldn't allow myself to look away from Martin's face for fear of
lessening the impact of my words. And there was some impact, I could see, but
not enough. Not nearly enough... Martin glanced from me to Fabian, and with a
cold and mirthless grin he started to draw his sword.
"I'm sorry, Dorian," he said, "I don't hold anything
against you personally. But this matter is between him," - he pointed with
his blade in Fabian's direction - "and me, and you should not
interfere."
"Well," I said, steadfastly, "I'm sorry too, Martin, and I
don't hold anything against you either, but I went through a lot of trouble to
bring him here, and I'm not going to stand by and watch while you murder
him." With that I took a step to the side and positioned myself right
between him and Fabian. If he really wanted to get at him, he would have to go
through me first. Martin gave me a murderous look, but before he could say
anything Melusine intervened.
"Martin," she began haltingly, "you know I usually don't
like to get involved in these sort of things, but in this case you might want to
stop and listen to what Dorian is saying." She could not see his expression
from where she was standing, and for a moment I was glad about this, for
Martin's eyes flared like frozen diamonds.
"No," he snapped, without giving her so much as a glance,
"you tend not to get involved in things like these, and I strongly suggest
we keep it that way." Melusine flinched as if she had been slapped, and
although she seemed about to say more, she slumped back and kept quiet.
"Look," said Fabian behind me, "I'm not really sure what
this is all about, but I do know that I've never seen you before in my
life."
"I think you'd better keep quiet," I said to him, as Martin
scowled and stepped forward.
"Get out of my way, Dorian," he bit grimly. I just shook my
head. "How can you defend someone like him?" he asked incredulously.
"After everything he's done? After everything he's tried to destroy?"
"There are more people who I think have gone too far," I
replied softly, "and I don't want to create a precedent that might apply to
them too."
"Do you want to deny me my right to vengeance?" he insisted. He
was now so close that the point of his sword lightly pressed against my chest. I
had some trouble to keep from swallowing. With one thrust he could run me
through, end my life. My only hope was that his general reluctance to kill a
relative would outweigh his sense of revenge.
"No," I said. "You have that right."
"Then let me claim it. Step aside."
"Err...," I heard Fabian begin again, "I'm not that
certain that it is such a good idea for me to keep quiet right now. As I
understand it, this is all about me, right? So what is he talking about?"
"Things you did when you were here a long time ago," I said.
"When you were Brand." There seemed little point in keeping this from
him, what with Martin trying to kill him over it and all.
"I can't remember any of it," Fabian sighed. Martin gave me a
skeptical look, and I couldn't quite blame him. "But if he had such a
temper then as he has now," Fabian continued, "I don't find it hard to
imagine me doing the things he's accusing me of."
Oh, damn! That was exactly why I had wanted him to keep quiet. He'd only
managed to make things worse. With a determined scowl Martin loomed closer, his
sword pricking my skin through my torn shirt. I took a deep breath, but I didn't
budge, steadfast in the knowledge that to do so would spell Fabian's certain
death.
For seconds we stood like that, frozen in an impossible impasse, hoping
for something or someone to break the spell. And then someone did. Suddenly
Martin's sword was jerked out of his hand by some invisible force, landing in a
corner of the ship with a hollow clang, and at the same time I caught a whiff of
the familiar power stench of the Logrus. All eyes turned towards Galoran, who'd
raised himself slightly on one elbow and who blinked at us distractedly.
"I've got an incredible headache," he grumbled, "and no
one is killing anyone today. Understand?" With that he lay down again,
quite certain that neither of us would try anything like that again. Apparently,
he wasn't used to being disobeyed. Before Martin had a chance to consider that
option, though, I gratefully took advantage of the opportunity the old man had
given me. Quickly I let the Pattern flow into me, grabbing and weaving the
strands in familiar designs to transport each and everyone of us straight to
Random's study in Amber Castle. Let the King deal with this mess for a change.