Chapter 010: Let's Talk About It
"Conclusions
made conclusions leapt
Impressions
lost and overstepped
Shadows
hide the truth
With
nobody the wiser..."
Swirling, glowing bright lines. Shimmering, then growing steadier in my
mind. I was starting to get more and more used to seeing the Pattern before me
like that, and each time I also became less afraid of it; it even gained
something in beauty each time that I studied it.
Using Pattern for Shadow shifting and as a means to
observe magical influences in my surroundings had become quite easy to me. Now I
had to try something different. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the
physical world around me, and tried to feel the texture of the Shadow I was in.
A moment of concentration, and suddenly it was as if an extra set of
senses had become available to me. It is hard to describe, but I actually felt
the Shadow around me; not the physical world, but the stuff the Shadow itself
was made of.
There was no time to waste however. I focused on
what I perceived to be the timeflow of this Shadow, a sort of pulsating feeling
that permeated through everything, and compared it to what I knew was the
timeflow back in Amber. Hmm, time did indeed seem to go a lot faster here than
back home. I did a few calculations in my head and found that the amount of time
that had elapsed here during Suzanne's absence from Earth would fit the amount
of time she had spent here.
Still, something seemed to be wrong. I concentrated
some more, and suddenly I saw it. Yes, the timeflow here was a lot faster, but
it had not always been that way: someone had deliberately speeded it up!
That didn't make sense. Why bring Suzanne here, and
then make the time go faster, so she would die a natural death while I was
looking for her? Why not just kill her and be done with it?
I studied it a little more closely, trying to learn
how this speeding up process had been done. It wasn't entirely clear, but it had
been a major power and it did remind me most of Pattern. That would mean that it
had been some relative that had done this. My mind reeled. Who would do such a
thing? What had he (or she) hoped to gain by it? And why me? I hadn't done
anything to offend anybody and I certainly wasn't important enough to be a part
of such an elaborate plot.
As I thought about these things my mind drifted and
my concentration started to waver. Faintly I heard Diana's voice; she sounded
very concerned, although I couldn't make out her words. I dropped my
concentration completely and, openening my eyes, I returned to the real world.
Diana looked very worried. Poor girl. Next time I would have to give her fair
warning before I would start doing stuff like that. There was still so much she
had to learn.
"Are you alright, Dorian?"
"Yes, I'm okay now. Thank you." I even
managed a weak smile, which made her expression turn to one of relief.
I took a few deep breaths to calm down, before
trying to get up and leave. However, as I turned towards Dr. Vereijck to say
goodbye, I suddenly noticed that he seemed a little ill at ease. Maybe my
discovery about the timeflow had triggered some Family sense of paranoia, or
maybe I had just been too preoccupied to notice it earlier, but Vereijck seemed
to be sweating quite a lot and he had a bit of a shifty look in his eyes. What
was he so nervous about? If it had anything to do with Suzanne's death I just
had to find out.
"Excuse me," I said, making him jump a
little bit, "but did Suzanne come here on her own or was there someone with
her?"
"She was brought here, I think, by a member of
her family."
"Can you describe him for me?"
"No. I wasn't here then. It's quite some years
ago, you know. When I joined this institute Suzanne had already been living here
for quite some time."
Damn that timeflow! Still, Vereijck did seem to
become slightly more nervous, so I had to be on to something.
"Did that family member leave a name?" I
continued, feeling more and more like a private investigator. You have to ask
the right questions to get some useful answers.
"Well, if he did it must be in the
files."
"Can I see those file, please?"
He looked doubtful. "Are you family?"
"Yes, of course I am," I said. Just a
minor deception, for in a sense I was better family to Suzanne than her real
family.
He nodded and moved to a filing-cabinet. After a
brief search he found Suzanne's file. The relative that had brought her here had
apparently identified himself as Charles Wyman. There was no description of him,
nor was there any address. The name didn't ring any bells, but then I wouldn't
have expected the Mystery Man to use his real name.
Meanwhile Vereijck was still very nervous, his gaze
frantically shifting from me to Diana and back.
"Did Suzanne leave any personal belongings
behind?" I asked.
"Yes, there are a few things. We didn't want
to throw them away, but we didn't know how to reach her family, so we just saved
them here."
"May I see them, please? Maybe I can find me
something to remember her by."
Dr. Vereijck left the room for a few minutes and
returned with a box, containing a few old-fashioned dresses, like the one Suze
wore in the painting, a couple of shawls and some sort of musical instrument,
which looked a lot like a lute, but was significantly different. That instrument
was the only thing that reminded me of Suze as I had known her back on Earth.
I sighed. There seemed to be no clues here either.
But I still had the feeling Dr. Vereijck knew something that he was not telling.
I asked Wylde how she felt about him, but she replied that she didn't sense any
danger from him.
Alright then, no more Mr. Nice Guy! I just had to
know what Vereijck was so nervous about. He was just asking me whether he could
be of any more help to us, when I looked him straight in the eye and reached out
with my mind. If he wasn't going to tell me what he knew, I would find out for
myself!
His mind seemed pathetically weak, and I made sure
that I was very careful not to do any permanent damage while sorting through his
memories. Some perverse streak in my nature made me let him be aware of what I
was doing, though, and he started, for he indeed had something to hide. I
carefully peeled away his defenses, like peeling the skin from an orange. What I
found though left me dumb-struck for a few moments: it was all a lie!
Someone had approached Dr. Vereijck some time ago
and had payed him to tell this story about Suzanne having stayed here during the
last part of her life, when in fact she had never been here at all! That someone
had also given Vereijck the painting and those clothes and stuff to make the
story seem more real, giving him instructions to tell it to the person who would
come asking for Suzanne Wyman, that being me.
My heart leapt with joy: all this meant that
Suzanne was probably still alive. After all, why go through all of this trouble
with fake evidence to convince me she was dead when you can show me her real
body? Answer: because there was no body...
Why would someone go through such a heck of a lot
of trouble to try to convince me that she was dead, though? And where was she
now?
I went through Vereijck's mind some more, looking
for the identity of the person who had payed him to lie to me, only to find that
that memory had been erased. Hell! Now I still didn't know who my enemy was. For
I knew now that I did have an enemy and that Suzanne's disappearance had indeed
been aimed at me.
An idea came to me then and I started studying the
way those memories had been erased. When I was relatively certain that I knew
how to do it, I carefully started erasing Vereijck's most recent memories back
to the moment before I had entered his mind. If the Mystery Man were to return
here, then let him think that I had fallen for his setup. Keep your enemies
unaware of your knowledge and abilities, that's what my Uncle Jaro had once
taught me.
After I had I withdrawn myself from the doctor's
mind we said goodbye and started back towards the inn.
"I'm very sorry," Diana said as soon as
we were outside. "It must be a terrible blow for you to find your
girlfriend died like that."
"Well, I'm not all that certain that she is
dead," I replied and told her everything I had discovered. Her first
reaction was one of awe, though with a touch of disapproval.
"You entered his mind and sorted through his
memories? Just like that?"
"It wasn't too hard really. And I had to do
it, otherwise I'd have never found out that he was lying."
"I guess you're right," she said after a
moment's reflection. "He shouldn't have lied to you, not about something
like that. What are you going to do now?"
"I'll have to do some thinking. Let's just
spend the night here in the inn and I'll try to come up with a new course of
action before next morning."
She nodded and we let the matter rest
for the remainder of the day.
After dinner we retired to our separate rooms. I
had considered sharing a room, us being in unfamiliar territory and having no
idea what to expect from the locals, but the thought of Uncle Caine finding out
and being none too happy about it made me settle for two rooms. I just hoped
that Diana had received a better education in the field of self defense than in
other matters. Anyway, we had adjacent rooms, so in case of any emergency I
could be at her side in a matter of seconds.
Alone in my room (Wylde had gone out hunting again)
I really started thinking about my situation, and I soon realised that my best
course of action would be to return to Amber. If I had been right and the
timeflow in this Shadow had indeed been speeded up with Pattern, then the
Mystery Man, as I had come to call him, would have to be some relative. Why
anyone in the Family would go through such a lot of trouble to make my life
miserable was beyond me; I just had to accept that someone would, though.
Going after the Mystery Man was of course high on
my list of things- to-do-in-the-near-future, but there was the problem of Diana.
I felt that I just couldn't take her along on a journey through Shadow that
might well end with a confrontation with some powerful relative, at least not
without her having walked the Pattern and having aquired some further knowledge
(and lost some na‹vet‚) about the Family. For the first we naturally would
have to go to Amber and I figured I could at least try to attain the second by
telling her something of the Family history.
Of course I had to admit to myself that Diana
wasn't the only reason I wanted to return to Amber. There was another one: I was
just plain scared. Chances were that the Mystery Man was one of my Uncles, and
having grown up with all those stories of those legendary figures I had no real
inclination to have one of them as my enemy. Yet I was not the one who had
started this business. I wished we could just meet over some fine dinner and
discuss his reasons for antagonizing me in this way.
I suddenly realised that the gender of my Mystery
Man wasn't at all that certain. The only indication that my antagonist was a man
was the name I had found in Dr. Vereijck's files, Charles Wyman, but that had
been a fake, and I hadn't been able to tell from Vereijck's memories whether he
had been dealing with a man or a woman. Now, while I felt that it might be
possible that the Mystery Man was indeed a man, I had to acknowledge the fact
that it could have been a woman, and that that name in the files had been left
there on purpose to put me on the wrong trail towards my enemy's identity.
Considering that this whole thing seemed to be an exercise in misdirection, this
notion of my Mystery Man being a woman didn't seem to be that far-fetched at
all. Hmm, I'd have to think of another name for my enemy then...
Anyway, I had the feeling that returning to Amber
at this point would be a smart move. Back home I would have a chance to discuss
my problems with some relatives I could trust and try to gain some advice and
support. There was always the possibility that this way I would alert my enemy,
but that was just the chance I had to take.
I did still have some guilty thoughts about
abandoning Suzanne once again, but I convinced myself that my enemy had already
shown that he (or she) wasn't about to hurt Suze, so she was in no real danger.
And if I were to find her I'd better be well prepared...
With my mind made up I finally went to sleep.
Before I dozed of however, I had a terrible thought. What if it had all been
arranged by Caine? Now that I thought about it, I had not found a reason for the
trail leading me from Earth to Caine's Shadow. This could all be some perverse
scheme to have me take Diana to Amber without revealing that Uncle Caine was
still in the land of the living. I had to admit to myself that I had given my
promise to him perhaps a little too easily; I figured any of my relatives (with
the possible exception of Adrian) would have been more cagey. And now that I had
agreed to all his plans Caine could have easily set up this thing with Dr.
Vereijck to make me think that Suzanne was dead so that I would return to Amber
without delay.
Hold on a minute here, Dorian, I told myself,
you're reaching. This is all too twisted. Do you really think someone would do
all this for these reasons? But then I remembered Caine's rigid attitude when I
had mentioned Murlas and a small voice from the back of my mind said: "Yes,
someone might do such a thing, if he were sufficiently convinced that he was
right."
Despite these disturbing thoughts I drifted off to a sleep fortunately
untroubled by dreams or visitations.
The next morning I told Diana what I had decided. As before she seemed
eager to go to Amber. I realised that my Trumps could take us there in just a
minute, but I thought it better to take the long route through Shadow to get
Diana somewhat more aquainted to Shadow shifting. Also, I would have a chance to
relay something of Amber's history to her while we were travelling, something I
felt I would have little time for once we were in Amber.
We didn't hurry as we started on our journey; I
could never talk to Diana and shift at a high pace at the same time, so some
slow shifting was required. I didn't mind though, for this way I could make our
passage as easy as possible.
I began telling Diana everything I knew about the
Patternfall War with all the scheming that had gone on within the Family at that
time, figuring that would at least serve as something of an eye-opener. I also
took my time describing each of our relatives to her, along with some things I
had heard rumoured about them as to go a bit further than the mask most of them
mainttained in public. Diana was clearly a bit overawed by my story; this was
certainly not what she had been expecting to hear about the Family. When I had
reached the point where Random became the new King I paused to give her a chance
to think about what I had told her so far.
"It all seems to be so complicated," she
sighed after a couple of minutes.
"Well, not everything is," I replied,
"but I do agree that most of our relatives seem to have made a sport of
complicating everything. The whole matter of the succession was very important
to them."
"Then everything is a lot more quieter now,
isn't it?" she asked with a touch of desperation.
"To tell you the truth, it isn't," I said
and began telling her about our recent problems, starting with the Family
Banquet. I had just told her of the Black Unicorn and our discovery that we
could not use Pattern anymore, when I noticed that it had started snowing. We
were not wearing the right clothes for a journey through a winter-wonderland,
and, how much I liked it though, the snow would certainly slow our pace even
more, so I concentrated a bit harder and tried to find a Shadow where the snow
would stop. My efforts were not very successful though; I couldn't get rid of
the snow, how hard I tried.
Suddenly our way was blocked by a rider on a black
horse. It was an older man whom I had never seen before. He was dressed in
black, with brown hair and a weathered face that spoke of some sort of wisdom.
He seemed to radiate something, like my elder relatives do, but unlike them he
didn't seem to be altogether present. It was a strange sort of paradoxical
feeling I got from him. I glanced at his steed and for just a second I thought I
saw a glimpse of a single horn protruding from its forehead.
Looking up at the stranger's face I saw that his
lips were moving, but I couldn't hear anything. I asked Diana whether she was
seeing the same thing as I was, fearing that it might be some form of
hallucination, but she quickly put my suspicions to rest. The stranger must have
gathered from our expression that we could not understand what he as saying, for
he beckoned us to follow him. I queried Wylde about her feelings, but she said
she felt no threats whatsoever.
As we followed the stranger I concentrated and
studied him with Pattern. I found that he was some sort of mental projection,
which would certainly explain his lack of presence. The power used for this
projection was not familiar to me; it did remind me somewhat of Pattern, but it
was different, and there also seemed to be something more than that, as if the
stranger was using more than one power for this projection.
The stranger led us through a snow-covered
landscape, until a big manor-house loomed up before us. As we came closer we saw
that it was an old house that had fallen in disrepair. The stranger pointed at
the front door; he clearly wanted us to enter, so we did.
An old and dusty corridor led us to room with a big
pentacle drawn on the floor. At each corner of the pentacle there was a big
lighted candle, and in the middle there sat an old woman with grey hair, wearing
a gown. Her eyes were unfocused and she didn't respond in any way to our
presence. Suddenly her lips started moving and we heard a deep, male voice
welcome us.
"Is this the voice of the person who led us
here?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied, "my name is
Cerwen."
"Well, I am Dorian, and this is Diana and
Wylde. But I guess you already knew that, since you came looking for us."
"I didn't know precisely who you were,"
he said, "but I did know you are the same thing as I am in my world: a
member of the Pattern's Family.
"Is there anything that can be done about
this?" I asked.
"Yes, this can be set to rights. The gateway
isn't the real problem, the taking of the Artefact is. The Artefact from our
world is currently somewhere in yours, which caused the Unicorn to cross to your
world as well. Its presence there is unbalancing the Laws of your reality. The
Artefact must be returned, or both our worlds are in danger of being destroyed.
Once the Artefact is back in our world, the Unicorn will follow."
"What does the Artefact look like?"
"I am not certain what shape the Artefact will take in your world.
"About that gateway; was it opened from your
side or from ours?"
"Again I'm not certain, it the most probable
answer is that it was done from both sides. I suspect that one of my brothers
had a hand in it, but I don't know which one. I have no idea who might have
opened it from your side, or for that matter how it might have been done."
I was about to ask Cerwen something about the Black
Unicorn, when suddenly the air above the old lady in the pentacle started to
shimmer and glow with an eerie blue light. The light grew brighter and brighter
and I saw it taking the shape that could at best be described as a strangely
woven blue macaroni. I immediately remembered Murlas' story of how Caine (or the
person pretending to be Caine) had brought him to that Shadow where we had found
the Black Trump. I guessed that we had heard enough for now and I started
searching through my Trumps.
"Thanks very much for the information. We'll
try to find the Artefact for you," I called to Cerwen as I grabbed Diana
and Wylde and Trumped back to Amber.
We stood there in the main hall for a few minutes, Diana looking around
in wonder and amazement while I was trying to catch my breath. There was to be
no rest for me though, for I already felt the familiar touch of a Trump contact.
I sighed and opened my mind to once again behold Algo.
"Ah, Dorian, you're back," he said.
"I'd like to talk to you most urgently."
"We've only just returned, so I'd like to have
some time to freshen up and change clothes and such. Shall we meet in about an
hour?"
"That's alright. Just before dinner then. Your
place or mine?"
"I'll come to you. See you later."
"Later."
Okay, now I had to take care of some things. I
intercepted a passing servant and told him to find an apartment for the Lady
Diana. He led us to the fourth floor, where there were still some apartments
left. Then I told him to get Diana some new clothes and said to Diana that I
would go change and that I would return in fifteen minutes. Then I would try to
locate Random to introduce her officially. She seemed a bit nervous at the
prospect, but I told her not to worry, remembering Random's manners the last
time I spoke to him.
Luckily I didn't run into any relatives on my way
to and returning from my rooms; I didn't have any time to tell them about my
adventures yet.
I waited ouside Diana's apartment as
the fifteen minutes quickly became twentyfive. When she finally opened her door
to greet me however, seeing her made the waiting more than worthwile. She looked
fabulous! She wore a lovely blue dress that would have been fitting for a
princess. She was still a bit nervous, but also quite excited; finally she was
going to meet her Family.
I asked a servant where we could find Random, but
he told me that the King was busy. I managed to make an appointment though for
five o'clock, just before we were going to dinner. I did realise that I was
supposed to meet Algo at the same time, but a quick Trump call told me he was
free at that moment and that he didn't mind advancing our appointment by half an
hour. I decided to take Diana along, so she could at least meet a relative
before dinner, where I supposed most of the Family would be present.
Walking towards Algo's apartment I noticed a
painting hanging in the corridor opposite Adrian's rooms. It seemed to be a bit
out of place here in Amber, depicting a woman lying naked in a transparent
bath-tub, surrounded by diamonds and bottles of champagne. Diana, who had halted
at my sight, blushed as she regarded the picture. I guess she wasn't used to
such sights.
As a piece of art the painting wasn't bad at all,
save for the little cigar the woman seemed to be smoking. As I looked a bit
closer I recognised the woman as being Lush, Adrian's girlfriend from Angel
City. Another closer look confirmed my suspicions: the painting had to be Algo's
handiwork. Could this be the reason for which Adrian had challenged Algo to a
duel? I'd just have to wait and see.
Algo was very surprised to find that I had taken
Diana along with me. I introduced them to one another and Algo showed that his
mother's effort to educate him in things like etiquette hadn't been totally
wasted by gracefully kissing Diana's hand, thus making her blush once again. My
comment that they were cousins only made him raise his eyebrows a little, but he
refrained from asking any questions about her. That suited me just fine.
He offered us some wine and once that we were
comfortably seated he immediately turned to the problems at hand.
"Dorian," he began, "I don't know
whether you're aware of this, since you have been away and all, but Murlas is
going to stand trial. Random has found evidence that he had murdered the girl
from my Inner Circle."
I was shocked speechless. After a minute or two I
finally managed a reply: "You've got to be kidding!"
He shook his head. "No, Random's got some
pretty conclusive evidence. Murlas did it alright. Very soon now there's to be a
Family Tribunal in which his punishment will be decided."
"But why would he do such a thing?"
Algo shrugged. "I don't know," he said.
"You'll have to ask Murlas that question. I know there's not much you can
do about it, but I just thought that you should know."
"Yes, it is good that you told me," I
replied, thinking of Caine and Murlas. Random had to know about this, I
realised.
"That's one of the things that keeps me
busy," Algo continued. "The other thing of course is my duel with
Adrian."
"Yes, I know, you told me. I had promised you
that I would talk to Adrian about it, but I just haven't found the time yet. I
hope he'll be at the dinner tonight, then I'll catch him there."
"Oh, he'll be there. In fact most of the
Family'll be there, to be in time for the Tribunal. Have you had time to think
about my other proposal though?"
"About being your second for the duel? Yes,
I've thought about it, but I think it would be better if I first talked to
Adrian as a neutral third party before making any decisions on that. Coming to
him as your second might immediately ruin my chances of talking him out of
it."
"You may be right, but I would like to know
your decision very soon. If you don't want to be my second I'll have to look for
someone else."
"Alright, I'll first talk to Adrian, and after
that I'll tell you my decision as soon as possible. Now we have to go, though; I
have an appointment with Random at five to introduce Diana."
We finished our wine and bade Algo goodbye. On my
way to Random I mused a bit on my cousin Algo. For all his fine manners and such
he only seemed to care about what happened to him. I had the feeling I could
trust him, but only if I didn't ask too much from him.
Random was waiting for us in his study. He looked a
bit troubled and weary. Apparently the Kingship of Amber was not an easy job.
"Sir," I said, "let me introduce to
you your niece Diana. Diana, this is your Uncle Random, King of Amber."
Diana blushed and managed a curtsy under Random's
curious gaze. "Your Highness," she stammered.
"Oh, cut that out," Random said moving
from behind his desk and taking her hand. "All that's only required at
official occasions. Here I'm just Random. Welcome in Amber."
Diana smiled and gave me a bewildered look, clearly
not knowing what to say. I began to speak again, hoping that taking Random's
attention away from her might make her feel a bit more at ease.
"As you have doubtlessly already
gathered," I said, "Diana is Family. However, we don't know who her
parents are. She hasn't walked the Pattern yet, but we are fairly certain that
she is Family. The problem is that I ought not tell you about it, though. You
see, I gave someone my word that I wouldn't tell anyone."
Random groaned and buried his face in his hands
with an air of desperation.
"But in the light of the recent events,"
I quickly continued, "I have decided to tell you anyway."
"Well, you should do what you think is
best," he said, "but I can't guarantee that I'll keep it a secret. If
I consider it to be in Amber's interests to tell whatever it is that you
promised to keep secret to any of the others, I'll do it."
"Alright, I can accept that. After all, I find
that it's in our interests to tell you this right now.
"I was off in Shadow following a trail when I
first met Diana. About that trail, that's another story and I'll tell you later
if you don't mind."
He nodded and bade me to continue.
"Well, as I said I met Diana there, and she
took me home to have dinner with her and her guardian. Her guardian turned out
to be Caine."
"But that can't be," he said, "Caine
is dead."
"No, he isn't. He's quite alive and he has
been living off in Shadow all that time. He told me that I was the first
relative that had found him since he had left Amber."
"Are you quite sure it was the real Caine and
not some imposter?"
"I guess there's no way to be really sure, but
let's just say that he gave me no cause to doubt him. As I said he had been
Diana's guardian for all those years, and he told me that Diana was Family. He
asked me to take her to Amber and have her walk the Pattern, saying that he was
still too busy to return to Amber. He made me promise though not to tell that he
was still alive. He wouldn't say whose child she was, although he assured me
that she wasn't his. Apparently he told Diana that her Father was related to the
Family back in Amber, but again he wouldn't say who it was. He said that it had
something to do with a promise he had made."
"Promises again," Random sighed.
"Why does everyone always has to complicate matters by giving their word at
the most inconvenient opportunities? Unicorn, I didn't ask for this!"
"Hmm, I can sympathize with your
feelings," I said. "There's something else you've got to know,
however. You see, I spent some time talking with Caine and he told me that he
didn't have any sons and that he didn't know of anyone called Murlas."
"But how is that possible? I mean, if Murlas
isn't Caine's son, then whose is he? We know he is Family; he did walk the
Pattern."
For a moment I wondered about that. Everyone is
always so certain that only relatives are able to walk the Pattern, but what if
that isn't the case? I stored this thought away to muse on it some more at a
more convenient time.
"I don't know whose son he is," I
replied. "The only thing I know is that Caine was quite adamant that he
wasn't his. I just felt that you should know all of this, since Algo told me
about the Tribunal."
"Are you really sure that it was Caine you
were talking to?" he asked once again. Seeing my look of desperation he
quickly continued: "Alright, alright, you're not entirely sure, but you had
no reason to doubt him. Well, if it really was Caine, I'm sure that he knows
what is best. For Amber, that is. Why does everyone have to keep on playing
those old games though? I mean, they know I didn't ask for this job and that I'm
only trying my best to keep this show on the road. But if everyone keeps on
playing their own little secret games, we just keep on having these problems.
Perhaps I should just resign and move to some quiet Shadow a long way from
Amber."
Taking pity on him I told him about our encounter
with Cerwen and the things she had told us. This managed to cheer him up
considerably.
"Hmm, it seems there's hope yet for the new
generation," he said with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Perhaps I
shouldn't write you all off just yet."
"Well, I don't want to appear too modest, but
it did seem to be something of an coincidence, us meeting Cerwen I mean."
"Yes, that could be, but at least you decided
to tell me about it. That's the kind of thing I need: co-operation. Now at least
we know what the problem is and where to look for a solution."
He poured himself some wine, offering us some as
well, but I declined, as did Diana. I felt that she was more or less following
my lead. I wondered what she was thinking about everything that was being
discussed here. Perhaps this would help open her eyes a little.
"Did Caine give you any indication of how much
longer he would stay away from Amber?" Random asked.
"No, he didn't, but from what he told me I
gathered that there were still several things that required his attention before
he would be able to get involved in Family matters once again."
"Well, I hope that he knows what he's
doing..."
"With your respect, one of the things he was
working on was the possibility of my Mother still being alive. He seemed to feel
somewhat guilty about what happened to her, which was one of the things that
made me trust him a little and that helped giving the impression that it was the
real Caine I was talking to."
Random turned his face away from me as a sad
expression came over him.
"I certainly don't want to raise any unwarranted hopes for you, but if one thing Caine is always very efficient. Now, if he says he's trying to find Deirdre, you can be sure that he will find her, one way or the other."
"I still can't promise you to keep his
existence secret, however."
"Look at it this way," I said, "at
least now you're aware that he is still alive. At the moment he doesn't seem to
be plotting against Amber, and the image I have of Uncle Caine is that he always
kept Amber's best interests in mind. All I have done by telling you all of this
is making you aware of the possibility that Caine is still alive and that Murlas
isn't his son, that's all. You don't really have anything to act upon, just some
things to keep in mind when you're making certain decisions."
Again he remained silent for a moment.
"I guess you have a point. I'll hold silent
about all of this, but only for the moment. As soon as I see fit to tell this to
anyone else, I will do so immediately. Do you understand?"
I nodded.
"Alright, that was all, wasn't it?"
"Actually, I do have another story," I
said, but seeing Random's tired expression made me continue: "but I guess
it can wait till later."
"Let's have dinner then. The others are bound
to be waiting for us."
We followed Random through the corridors to the big dining-room, where
our last Family Banquet had also been held. It appeared that we were the last
ones to arrive, like Random had thought, although it seemed to me that there
were still some faces missing. I didn't see Murlas anywhere, but I guess that
would be right considering his status as a suspected murderer. Other than that,
I could find neither Martin nor Fiona in the throng of faces, but I figured that
they would return in time for the Tribunal.
Our entrance, and especially Diana, elicited some
curious glances from our relatives. In the wink of an eye Uncle Bleys was at
Diana's side, looking as radiant as ever in his red and orange. He smiled at us
and said: "Dorian, would you please introduce me to this lovely lady?"
"Alright, Uncle Bleys, this is Diana. Diana,
please meet your Uncle Bleys."
There was an amused twinkle in Bleys' eye.
"So, another lovely niece, eh?" he said. "Welcome in Amber, my
dear."
"What do you mean by another niece?" I
asked.
"Oh, Gerard brought a girl back from out of
Shadow, and it turns out that she has walked the Pattern, so she's Family. Only
thing is, she doesn't know who her Father is. Her name is Boadice. I guess
you'll meet her at dinner, although I haven't seen her around yet."
"I don't know who my parents are either,"
Diana said in a shy voice. "Dorian brought me here to meet my family and he
would help me walk the Pattern."
"But if you don't know who your parents are,
then how did you know you were Family?" Bleys asked her while scrutinizing
her face.
Uh-oh, time for a little white lie.
"Well, I saw that she was," I said before
Diana could answer him.
Bleys seemed pretty impressed by my statement, but
just as I had said it I realised that it was in fact true: I really could see
that she was Family. Looking at a normal person, like a servant, didn't show me
anything in particular, but when I looked at Bleys, for instance, I immediately
noticed a very strong power radiating from within him, and I realised that it
was in fact the Pattern. Looking at Diana was somewhat the same, only it didn't
radiate all that strong, because she hadn't walked it yet. With her it was more
of a sense of potential.
I would have to practice my new talents later on,
for I caught sight of Adrian walking towards us.
"Ah, Dorian," he said, "you're back.
That's good. I'm very eager to have a little talk with you. I guess there's some
urgency involved."
"Adrian, it's good to see you too. I want to
talk as well, but let's save it till after dinner, shall we? We've just returned
from Shadow, and I could do with a nice quiet meal."
"That's alright. After dinner then." He
cast a curious glance at Diana.
"Oh, yes, that's right. Adrian, this is Diana.
Diana, your cousin Adrian."
I was getting a bit tired of having to introduce
Diana to each and everyone. Fortunately Random solved my problem by officially
introducing her after we had seated ourselves at the dinner-table. He also
repeated the story I had heard from Bleys about my other new cousin Boadice, but
it seemed that she wasn't present. I wondered what she would be like.
The dinner was a more or less informal affair, with
no official seating order. I had seated myself at Diana's right hand side and
Bleys had taken the other seat beside her, which annoyed me a little. Uncle
Bleys seemed to be awfully interested in Diana. I tried to keep her busy by
adding the names to the faces around her, which did seem to help. Thus I
couldn't pay much attention however to Adrian, who was sitting at my other side,
and who was trying to engage me in conversation.
He had to wait till we had finished our meal, as I
had promised. While Aunt Flora stole Diana away for a little talk, Adrian and I
found ourselves a quiet little corner.
"There's so much to tell you," he
started, "that I don't know where to begin. I hope your own search in
Shadow worked out alright. I'd love to hear about it, but not now. I've got too
much on my mind as it is. I need to talk to you about it, cause you are one of
the few persons that I feel I can trust in this place."
"You flatter me," I said, a bit of
sarcasm creeping into my voice.
"Oh, cut that out, you know what I mean. Let's
see. Well, the first thing is that I'm going to visit my brother Merlin in the
Courts of Chaos. Random's sending my Father, Benedict and Bleys on a diplomatic
mission, and I am to accompany them as an aide. I hope to learn a lot on this
trip and maybe I can find a real brother in Merlin.
"Now, as you have heard from Random, we have a
new cousin here, Boadice. I've already met her and I quite like her, but she is
almost ignorant of everything concerning Amber and the Family. My trip to the
Courts will take me away from here for quite some time, I guess. I think Boadice
still needs some guidance, but I will not be able to give it to her. So I was
thinking that maybe you could keep an eye on her and help her, if necessary,
with some advice or just some company. She's still a stranger in Amber and she
needs some friendly faces to rely on."
"You're asking a lot," I replied. "I
do have some things of my own that need looking into, you know. I don't know how
long I'm going to stay in Amber. I guess I'll wait for Murlas' Tribunal and I'll
have to arrange for Diana to walk the Pattern, but after that I think I'll be
gone from here as soon as possible. The answers to my problems lie somewhere in
Shadow, I think, and I won't find them by staying here. So as for Boadice, sure,
I'll help her, but only for so long as I'm in Amber."
"Alright, I can understand that," he
said. "I do have another thing I need to talk to you about, though."
"I think I can see it coming: your duel with
Algo, right?"
"Yes. I guess that Lush is the nexus of our
whole quarrel. When I first met her, I just wanted to protect her, to keep her
safe from all the possible dangers there in Angel City, even to the point of
taking her with me to Amber to save her from certain death. I thought that I had
fallen in love with her, and she with me as well, but now I guess I was just
over-protective and Lush was just overawed by the fact that someone seemed to
really care for her for a change. It's a cruel world where someone like her can
be forced to take on the kind of work that she did. She's still so very young
and ignorant of certain facts of life.
"And that's where Algo did wrong: he just took
advantage of her youth and ignorance and made her pose naked for him in a glass
bath-tub, with lots of diamonds and champagne. Lush seemed to be flattered, but
she really didn't know what to think with all those different things happening
to her all at once. Algo's behaviour was just too low for words. Worst thing is
that he knew about Lush' and my feelings for one another.
"All of this made me very angry, but things
got even worse when Algo hung Lush' painting in full view in the corridor
opposite my room. This was the last straw for me, the final insult. So I
challenged him to a duel. He tried to chicken out of it a few times, but finally
he agreed. The date has still to be set, but it will be within the next two
weeks. Now, I'm not planning on killing him or even embarrassing him too much, I
just want to show that I'm not to be trifled with."
"Adrian," I said, "I do like you a
lot, but don't you think that you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion?
I mean, come on, Lush is a nice girl and all, but I'm sure she can decide for
herself what's right or wrong. She's bound to be much more casual with showing
her naked body from the kind of work that she does. As for Algo, I'm sure he
didn't mean you any real harm. Perhaps he was just teasing you a little. He
doesn't see that he has insulted you in any way. He's just acting under a
different set of norms and values than you are."
"Then his norms and values are wrong!" he
replied vehemently.
I sighed. "It doesn't help
if you remain so uncompromising. I may as well tell you that I've already talked
to Algo and he has asked me to talk to you, to see if there's a way this can be
settled without a duel."
"No, never! He simply has to be taught a
lesson!"
"Okay, okay, I see there's no reasoning with
you about this. There's something else, though: Algo has also asked me, should I
fail in convincing you that this duel is pointless, to be his second. Now, I
haven't said yes or no to this yet. I mean, I wouldn't want something like that
spoiling the measure of friendship and trust that's between us."
Adrian calmed down and became quite serious.
"Dorian," he said looking me straight in the eye, "if you become
Algo's second in this duel I will consider it to be a sign that you're taking
his side. I wouldn't like that. I won't say that it would damage our friendship,
but I just wouldn't like it."
"I'm still thinking about it, but for me the
matter of who's right and who's wrong doesn't really come into play. I think you
both are acting rather foolishly. There are far more important things for us to
worry about."
"You may think you're right for now, but I'll
bet you'll change your mind when Algo starts making funny moves with
Diana."
"As a matter of fact, Diana and I have already
met with Algo, and it pleases me to say that he was most courteous."
"Hah, I'll bet he was! He just doesn't want to
antagonize any more of his relatives at the moment. As soon as he thinks that
it's safe he'll be back to his old ways once again. Don't trust him!"
"Adrian, Adrian... Just relax a little, will
you? It's not as if this matter between Algo and you is that important. I guess
you're just too different to be in each other's company for too long. I'm quite
certain, though, that Algo doesn't mean you any harm. You can take my word for
it. You should concern yourself with more important matters. That
trip to the Courts, for instance, that sounds really important. And have you
found anything new about that Black Unicorn business yet? No? Well, let me tell
you about this encounter I had just before I came back."
So I told him about Cerwen, hoping my story would
put his quarrel with Algo a bit in perspective. He was very impressed, although
I tried to ensure him that it could have happened to anyone. I asked him what
had happened to Alexander, but he said he didn't know either. Oh well, I should
have known better than to ask Adrian about his brother.
We talked some more while enjoying some glasses of
wine. Suddenly there seemed to be some upheaval in the hallway. Curious, we went
to see what was happening. A group of our relatives with some servants and
courties were gathered near one of the lavatories. As we came closer I saw Uncle
Gerard carrying Algo's unconscious body away. I asked what had happened and
Uncle Julian told me that Algo had been found a few minutes earlier. Apparently
someone had poisoned him and, Julian added with the most neutral expression
possible, Gerard had indicated that it must have been a very strong poison...
I glanced sideways at Adrian for a moment and his expression immediately
changed from worry to indignation, demanding of me how I could even consider
such a thing. To tell the truth, I didn't really think he would have poisoned
Algo; it's not his style. No, this seemed to be more the kind of thing someone
like Murlas would do, but he was safely tucked away, wasn't he?
We followed Gerard, who carried Algo to a small
sitting-room nearby. He wouldn't let anyone else inside, though, but for a
servant with some medical supplies. He said that Algo's situation was critical
and that he wouldn't be able to do a decent job with all of us looking over his
shoulder. I guess he had a point. I remembered Gerard's reputation as a
physician and fervently hoped he would live up to it.
We waited outside for more than an hour, until
finally the door opened and Gerard stepped outside. He seemed to look relieved,
but there was also some surprise and puzzlement in his expression.
"Well, he made it somehow," he said with
a shrug, " but I haven't the faintest idea of how he did. There also seems
to be some peculiar side-effect, but you'd better see that for yourselves."
Algo lay on a couch with his head on some pillows,
looking a little weak. Understandably so, but what wasn't instantly
understandable was that his skin was coloured violet all over! Aside from his
funny-looking tan he seemed to be alright, though.
This just wasn't natural, that much was clear to
me. So I concentrated on the Pattern to get another point of view. Immediately I
saw that a very powerful magical force had swept through Algo's body, leaving
strong traces behind. The tan seemed to be just what Gerard had said it was: a
side-effect of Algo's magical cure. I felt it would probably wear off as soon as
the traces of magic in his body started to fade, and I told him as much. Algo
nodded, smiling ruefully.
"Are things always like this around
here?" someone asked beside me.
I glanced up at a nice-looking girl with long,
black hair and blue eyes, wearing a white dress.
"What do you mean?" I asked in return.
"Oh, just all these things happening all the
time with nobody taking the time to explain them to me. I've only been here for
a day or so and it all seems so confusing."
"You must be Boadice," I said with a
smile. "I'm your cousin Dorian. What do you want to know? I don't pretend
to know everything, but maybe I can be of some help."
"Well, something strange happened to me today
and I just don't know what to make of it. I had gone riding and when I returned
this afternoon I received an envelope containing a single Trump, showing an
unfamiliar, blue tower. I naturally assumed that it was some kind of invitation,
so I packed a few things and Trumped to that place. My, it was really weird:
orange sky and purple sea and lots of strange tree-things floating around in the
air.
"I walked round the tower looking for an
entrance, but I just couldn't find any. Nor did there seem to be any windows.
That blue stuff that the tower was made of looked really peculiar too. Anyway, I
managed to coerce one of those tree-things in taking me up to the roof. There I
finally found a way in: a trap-door locked with two bolts, all of which also
fashioned of that strange blue stuff.
"So I opened this trap-door, and out rushed
some small, red-haired woman, looking so furious that you could nearly see smoke
come out of her ears. I mean, she was flaming hot! She demanded to know who I
was and what I was doing there. I told her my name and I tried to reason with
her, but she was really too angry. When I showed her the Trump of the tower she
somehow took it from me and she didn't give it back. It seemed to give her some
idea of who it was that had sent me here like this, but she wouldn't tell me
anything. When she heard that I was from Amber she said she would take us home
and before I knew it she had Trumped us back to the main hall. She left me
there, rushing off without so much as a thank you or even an explanation."
"Red-haired you say?" I said.
"Sounds like you've just met Aunt Fiona. I didn't know she was gone from
Amber, though, but then again I have been away for quite a while too."
"So it was Fiona. See what I mean by not
getting any information from anyone? I still don't even know all my relatives
here."
My reply was lost in a sudden mayhem of growls and
hisses. Alexander had also entered the sitting-room to check out Algo's
condition, and as soon as his black panther (I believe her name is Thena) and
Wylde caught sight of each other they were off, Thena chasing Wylde into the
corridor, both of them making a hell of a noise. Alex started laughing, but I
didn't think the situation was that funny. That big beast of his might easily
kill my poor Wylde. Quickly I ran after them. At first I could easily follow
them because of the noise they were making, but I wasn't able to catch up with
them. Soon the racket started to fade, however, and after a couple of minutes I
had completely lost them. Disappointed and a bit worried I went back to my
apartment, hoping Wylde would return there as soon as she had escaped from that
beast.
On my way upstairs a servant told me that that
Random had decided the Tribunal was to be held tomorrow afternoon. Apparently
all, or at least most of our relatives would be able to attend. Hmm, I'd better
catch some sleep then, for I felt it would be a busy day. I asked the servant to
arrange to wake me at eight o'clock sharp. That way I would have some time in
the morning to visit a relative or two.
I was already nearly asleep when finally Wylde
entered through my bedroom-window. She was completely out of breath, but after a
few moments she was able to answer some of my questions.
"A Tarsh!" she gasped. "He brings a
Tarsh! Here! In Amber!"
"Calm down," I said. "What's a
Tarsh?"
"Oh, they're mean and ugly critters! Some sort
of demons from around the Courts of Chaos."
"Chaos demons? But how did Alex get one to
accompany him?"
"I don't know. They're cunning devils. Real
killers, too. They cost me more than half of my family. I don't want to get near
them if I can help it," she said, some real fear showing in her eyes.
"Well, you could always go to Dad. I guess
you'd be relatively safe there."
"No, I want to stay here," she replied,
clearly working up her courage. Apparently she didn't want to leave me.
"As long as I don't run into that brute again
I'll be fine," she said.
"I'll have a little talk with Alex tomorrow. I
wonder whether he's aware of his companion's true nature..."
Just what I needed, though, I thought as we went to
sleep. Another complication in my life. Do I attract these things or is it just
coincidence? Oh yeah, that's right, I don't believe in coincidence anymore.
Guess it's me then. Maybe I should change my image...