Chapter 100: And The WInner Is...

"See what it takes to become what is truly yours

Don't let it break you and take you away from us

This road will lead you to nothing but fearful eyes

This war means freedom, but freedom means sacrifice"

Underdog - The Flower Kings

            The silence was so odd that at first I didn't notice it. Perhaps it was because of us keeping such irregular hours, but I hardly realised that it was actually the middle of the day until I reached the kitchens and found them completely deserted, much like the corridors and chambers I'd passed on my way down. Where was everybody? I figured it might have been a few days since we'd last shown our faces, but if something had happened during that period we surely ought to have noticed.

            Hunger momentarily overcame my growing worries, so I quickly gathered a simple meal for two and hurried back to our private wing, which now appeared no less forsaken than any other part of the castle. As we ate I explained the curious situation to Janice and suggested that we'd go and investigate before we'd continue with the final stage of the programme. All in all I felt it was better to do this together, since whatever had caused this sudden evacuation might be pressing enough to warrant a similar departure of our own. I left the thought unspoken that we would stand a better chance facing any unknown intruders together.

            We finished the meal quickly and started on a sweep of the castle, but there wasn't a soul to be found anywhere. I glanced out through some of the windows we passed on our way, but the populace did not appear to have gathered outside for some unspecified get-together or feast either. Unfortunately, the castle did not allow for a view of the village in the valley below, never having been built with much of an eye on its defensive capabilities, but the surrounding hills appeared as quiet and peaceful as the castle itself. Far too quiet and peaceful, that is.

            Slowly we made our way to the other side where Aliane had her chambers, but they proved as empty as everywhere else, with not a sign where she might have gone to. There were hardly any traces of the other occupants of the castle anyway, save from a few items lying around carelessly that might be seen as having been left there by someone in a hurry. Janice and I silently exchanged a puzzled glance before we made another sweep, investigating the castle a bit more thoroughly this time.

            Just as I was going through one of the servants' quarters again, some movement through the window caught my eye. A bird that had alighted on one of the bushes rather close to the castle immediately took flight again as if startled by something unseen and unexpected. I took a step back, taking care that I would not be seen from the outside and set to watching that particular bush. After a moment Janice came over to see what I was up to, but I gestured her to hush and wait. Some ten minutes later I was fairly certain that there was indeed someone or something hidden in those bushes, and that they were no amateurs either, for they had chosen a perfect spot to keep an eye on the castle.

            "I think we'd better go and secure all the entrances," I muttered to Janice. We did a quick perimeter check and closed and locked the gates. However, I knew if someone were to try and attack the castle we would have a hell of a time trying to keep them out with just the two of us. There was something fishy going on here, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

            "I don't like this at all," I said. "I'm certain there's someone outside watching us, and I assume that they will try to get in. And yet…"

            "But assuming they are hostile," Janice argued, "and assuming they were in here and rounded up all the people, why didn't they simply get us as well? And why didn't we notice anything?"

            "Well, if it had happened when we were busy inside the Shadow pocket, they just may have overlooked us, and we would't have noticed anything either."

            "Maybe," she said, "but we haven't found any traces to indicate that anyone else has been inside, have we? I mean, we would have noticed if they'd been in our wing, wouldn't we?"

            "Perhaps that's just a sign of how good they are," I muttered darkly.

            "Oh, look on the bright side, will you," Janice snapped, a bit annoyed. "Maybe they did simply overlook us, and we can work on in peace and quiet."

            "They're still outside, remember? I don't think we can just ignore them."

            "Alright," she sighed. "If they're really keeping an eye on the castle, they must have seen us as we searched the place, and they must certainly have spotted us locking the gates. So why haven't they done anything yet?"

            "I don't know," I shrugged. "I don't even have a clue who we're dealing with."

            "Do we even know that all this has anything to do with us?"

            "Well, it would, wouldn't it? I'm commonly known to be the Duke around here, so if anything like this happens around my castle, I tend to take it rather personally."

            "Whatever we do," Janice said, "we can't leave Fiona alone for too long."

            "Fortunately, time is not passing too quickly for her just now," I said.

            "It's not only for her sake," she persisted, "but for ours as well. We have to stay in the right state of mind to complete this properly, so we can't wait too long."

            "We could simply take off and finish our project elsewhere," I suggested.

            "And what about Aliane?" she demanded a bit indignantly.

            "As soon as we would have finished with Fiona, I would come back here and try to figure out what has happened. But if we were to go and search for Aliane first, and something were to happen to us, Fiona would be lost as well."

            "Alright, but if we're going to leave, where do you want to go?"

            "Good question," I said. Save from the present mystery intruders, there wasn't anywhere I could think of that might do better as a place for finishing the job than Ayland. "There is another option, of course," I said. "We could go back into the pocket, speed up the flow of time inside, and hope to round things off with Fiona before anything new will have happened out here."

            "I wasn't much in favour of leaving without knowing who's come to disturb us anyway," Janice said with a nod. "And if we gather some provisions and take them back with us, we'd be sure to have enough time to finish things properly."

            "We're at the crucial junction anyway. If it fails now, I don't know what else to do. In that case we would have to report back to Random and try his more direct approach."

            "You could of course try to contact him now and see what he thinks," she suggested.

            "I suppose I could…," I mused. Yet Random had been just about the only one who'd known where I was and, more importantly, why I was where I was. I shook my head. "No, not before there's really something to report." Janice shrugged.

            "Do you think we're going to be safe inside that pocket?" she asked later, as we were scrounging up as much available food from the kitchens as possible. "I wouldn't want them to come in after us."

            "If they could, I think they would already have done so." That was some reassurance anyway. I really felt we wouldn't be disturbed in the pocket, but what would be waiting for us upon our return was another matter altogether.

            Not long after Javier's last interrogation the guards came for him once more, and this time it took much longer before they returned him to his cell. As soon as they were alone she called to him, but at first he wouldn't answer her questions. Then, when he finally did, his voice has toneless and hollow, as if he were despair personified. This had been it, he said, his last chance. They had asked all the familiar questions, again and again, and he had completely failed to give them any of the things they had wanted. They hadn't said anything to him, but he knew, he really knew, that the next time they came for him would be his last.

            The news shocked her into silence, for she instinctively knew he was right. If only there were something, anything she could do to help him! Deep down she felt she should try, sensing that in a way it was her own life on the line. And in an all-too-real sense it was: Javier's situation was the same as hers, so if she couldn't save him, how would she ever be able to save herself?

            Javier had emerged from his silent despair and had started to sob and wail like a little child. She tried to shield her ears from his pathetic crying, but she wasn't able to block out the sound completely. The noise was worse than any that her jailors had used on her and kept her from getting even a wink of sleep.

            The next morning, if morning it was, not long after he had fallen silent again, the guards came for Javier one last time.

            "She's close," Janice said, "but it's not enough. She's quite frustrated, though. Her general feeling of helplessness still prevails."

            "This won't do it, though?" I sighed. It would have been easier.

            "No, it's not enough for her if it's someone else's life that's at stake. She really has to believe that it's all about her, that she is going to die herself unless she does something."

            "Alright, if that is the way it's got to be, that's the way it's got to be. Let's take a little while extra to build up to it, though."

            The guards completely ignored her shouts, her protests, her pleas, as they delivered Javier's final sentence: he was to be taken from his cell to be shot by an execution squad as a traitor to the People's Republic of Quendor. Afterwards his execution was to be televised as a warning to other potential revolutionaries. It seemed Javier had spent all his reserves during the night, for he hardly said anything as the guards pulled him to his feet and dragged him down the corridor. She on the other hand shouted until she was hoarse, and finally she collapsed into tears. Try as she might she was not able to make out the sounds of gunfire signalling the end of Javier's life. Nevertheless, he was not heard from again.

            Some days passed before it was her turn to face her interrogators once more. Nothing was said beyond their regular questions, and perhaps it was just the aftereffect of Javier's fate, but she got the distinct impression that this was really her last chance. Desperately she tried everything she could think of, every possible answer to their questions, anything to get herself off the hook. Nothing seemed to suffice, however, nothing she could say or do would satisfy her captors. Towards the end the video of Lucius's execution was shown once again. It could still make her break down in tears as if she'd never seen it before. Sobbing and miserable, she was dragged back to her cell and was left there to await her fate.

            "Just a bit more," Janice murmured. "I think the moment when the guards actually come to fetch her for the execution will be the breaking point."

            "It had better be," I muttered in return. The tension was really getting to me.

**

            It may have been another night before the guards actually came for her, five men in all. She faintly recognized the commander as the man behind the desk in the interrogation room, the same man who had been in command when they had first come to arrest her. Only now did she realise that it was the same man who had dragged her away from her Lucius on her wedding day, when all of this had begun.

            The speech he delivered was exactly the same as the one they'd given to Javier. She was beyond protesting at this point and meekly followed as they led her out through the long and winding corridors. Deadly silence marked their passage, until around a final corner a doorway out into the open air suddenly came within sight. Coming closer, she saw that it led to a courtyard with walls much the same as she'd seen in Lucius's execution scene. That was the point when she finally snapped and started to scream.

            Of course I had been ready for anything, but the build-up of Pattern energy was so immense that it nearly scared me out of my wits. Taking a step back, I grabbed Janice's arm and dragged her behind me, keeping an eye on Fiona all the time. She was still screaming, and she had clasped her head in both hands, sinking to her knees. The Pattern energy emanating from her was increasing still, and I sensed it starting to warp the fabric of the pocket around us. Already I could feel it beginning to whirl around like some kind of first stage Shadow storm. This could turn really ugly, really fast.

            My first reaction was to try and regain control, but the Power was increasing so rapidly that I immediately realised it could only turn into a struggle which I had no hope of winning. In that case it was better to get out while we could. Still holding a tight grip on Janice's arm, I began to open the link that would get us out of the pocket, while at the same time reaching for Fiona's huddled form. No way was I going to leave her with things going critical like this. As soon as I touched her, however, my mistake became obvious. A searing mental blast, more powerful than I had ever felt before, jumped out at me through the contact and hurtled me back against the wall, completely knocking me out for a few moments. When I came to Janice was concernedly kneeling next to me, and the pocket was still greatly being disrupted, but of Fiona there was not a trace anywhere.

            Without further ado we got out of there right away, but I immediately turned my gaze inwards again, momentarily ignoring the strange clanging and shouting noises that seemed to be coming from all around us. I scanned and scanned, but there was no sign of Fiona anywhere inside. Apparently she had been able to leave of her own accord, but there was no telling what state of mind she might be in. With her gone, the Pattern energy inside the pocket slowly began to subside again, but since the thing had really served its purpose I simply had it fold in upon itself until it ceased to exist. If necessary I could always construct a new one.

            Looking up from the dwindling remains of the pocket Shadow, I saw Janice looking out through the only window in the room with a surprised frown. Moving up to get a glimpse as well, I realised that the sounds I had barely noticed before were actually the noises of a battle in progress, and by the sound of it the combat was partially taking place within the castle walls. On the hilly terrain outside the walls I could distinguish two groups of combattants: one were dressed in what seemed to be standard camouflage uniforms, but without any insignia or markings to indicate their allegiance, while the other group, which mainly consisted of cavalry, were dressed in the colours of the Arden Rangers. The curious thing was that the camouflaged infantry unit appeared to be defending the castle from the Rangers' attack!

            Now what? Rack my brain as I might, I couldn't think of any reason why Uncle Julian would want to attack me. And in my own Duchy too! Yet these were plainly Rangers down there, and by the look of it they had had sufficient training to pass for the real thing. Frowning I got out my Trump deck and shuffled through it until I found the right card.

            "Dorian," Julian said coolly, yet not unfriendly, "what can I do for you?" He was wearing his famous white armour and appeared to be in one of his camps in the middle of Arden.

            "Well, uncle," I said a bit hesitantly, "there seems to be a battle going on right here… Here being in Ayland, my Duchy as you may remember. The battle appears to be between some troops I don't recognize and a group of what appears to be your Rangers. So, naturally I was just wondering whether you would happen to know anything about this."

            His one raised eyebrow was enough indication that he was just as surprised about this as I was. "It may be a good idea for me to come through and see for myself," he said, and I  immediately helped held out my hand to him. With a courteous nod to Janice he purposefully moved to the window and peered outside.

            "Those indeed appear to be my men," he said. His tone was neutral, but he seemed quite taken aback.

            "And the others?" I asked.

            "I don't know who they are," he admitted calmly.

            "Well, that makes two of us."

            "This won't do," Julian mused. "If you don't mind?" He looked at me.

            "By all means," I said, stepping back. Julian quickly opened the window and despite the bulk of his armour he nimbly climbed out and let himself drop to the ground. Veering up, he strode off purposefully towards the melee, barking some curt military commands at the Rangers. They didn't heed his orders is any way, however, and to our surprise they even proceeded to attack him as well! I'd got the distinct impression too that these were not merely people dressed up as Rangers, but that Julian actually knew them by name, so to speak.

            "I think I'd better get out there and lend my uncle a hand," I said to Janice.

            "Good idea. I'll try some fireballs from the window."

            Grabbing a sword that was hanging on the wall, I jumped through the window and dropped down, hurrying to Julian's side. Not that he couldn't handle things himself, but there were still quite a lot of cavalry out there and to me they seemed quite capable of overwhelming even him. Besides, since I had got him involved, I felt some responsibility for keeping him alive. Not to mention the fact that we appeared to be fighting for the control of my castle.

            The camouflaged infantry, meanwhile, seemed to be expecting both Julian and me to be on their side, for they made no aggressive moves towards us and they even came to our assistance a couple of times when their own tight manoeuvres would allow it. Their demeanour was quite grim and forbidding, and from the way they acted in concert with a minmum of orders or verbal exchanges I could tell they were well-seasoned veterans. As it was, I couldn't help but feel glad they were on our side, although fighting off those Rangers was no picknick either.

            To cut a long story short, we won. Without Janice, Julian, or me it might have been tight for the mysterious infantry men, but our efforts helped swing the balance in their favour. I had noticed Julian trying to incapacitate rather than kill the attacking Rangers, and out of respect for him I had tried to do the same. However, I wasn't nearly up to his level of combat expertise, and whenever I had had to make a choice between them or me I had gladly taken the path of self-interest. Our unidentified allies, on the other hand, had no problems with despatching our enemies as quickly as possible. Still, between the two of us we managed to keep a few of them alive for questioning.

            When the last of the attackers had been flushed out of the castle and the battle was over, the camouflaged infantry unit saluted both Julian and me and then made as if to leave without so much as an explanation. I quickly confronted them, however, and demanded to speak to their commanding officer. To my surprise this proved to be a mere sergeant, who came forward after a second or two to answer my questions. Julian, meanwhile, hung back, seemingly content to let me handle the matter, seeing as how this was my Duchy and all.

            "So, sergeant," I said, "you name, please."

            "My name isn't relevant, sir," he answered gruffly, but he did rattle off a string of numbers that would be his serial number.

            "You have a most interesting name, but what were you doing here anyway?"

            "Orders, sir."

            "Whose orders, sergeant?"

            "A friendly party's, sir. I'm not at liberty to reveal their identiy, sir."

            "Oh, but I do insist," I said. If I had some mysterious friends with these kind of experienced troops, I certainly wanted to know about them. The sergeant wouldn't give in, however, no matter how much pressure I put on him.

            "Insufficient rank, sir," was the only thing he would finally say.

            "Insufficient rank?" I shouted indignantly. "And what rank would be sufficient, pray tell?" I asked eyeing Julian.

            "I'm not at liberty to reveal that either, sir."

            I looked at Julian and nodded. After all, the sergeant was right insofar that I didn't hold an actual military rank, but if my memory served me correctly my dear Uncle Julian was officially one of Amber's generals. With a slight smile he stepped forward and barked a few quick orders. The sergeant and his men jumped to attention.

            "Yes, sir, general, sir," they shouted in chorus.

            However, in spite of all Julian's experience and military standing he didn't get much further than I had. Ultimately, the answer was the same one I had been given: "Insufficient rank, sir." The sergeant did contrive to look a bit embarrased as he said it, though.

            "Well, I think that's something of an answer too," Julian said to me after he had given the soldiers leave to depart. It was true, as there was only one person I could think of that would outrank even him. No, two if you counted Benedict, but then he hadn't been the one to know what I had been up to here in Ayland. And it seemed natural that Random might have sent some soldiers to keep me from harm, but why not just admit to it? Why all this secrecy of unmarked uniforms and covert orders? And why, come to think of it, had the soldiers evacuated the castle before the battle?

            That was the thing that had been nagging at me all along, I realised. I was fairly certain that it had been the sergeant's men hiding out in the bushes earlier and keeping the castle under observation, and from their actions it seemed a reasonable conclusion to think that they had simply got all the local people out of the way to someplace safe. This would imply, however, that they had been certain that the castle was going to be attacked. They, or the person who'd given them their orders. And Random had really been the only one to know that Janice and I were out here.

            With a worried frown I turned to Julian, who was already tying up the captured Rangers with straps from their own clothing. As I helped him, I thanked him for his timely assistance in this matter and offered him my hospitality before returning to Arden. He was glad to accept it, since he would like to question these captives thoroughly before going back, and he believed that Janice might be able to help him. He had heard that she was quite adept at the so-called magic of the mind, so perhaps she could help him determine what kind of spell, if any, might have caused his men to act in the manner that they had. That seemed like an excellent idea. Perhaps knowing who had sent these people to attack us would shed a little more light on why those others had been sent to defend us. And on the question whether or not I could still trust my own King…