Chapter 014: Choices
"Goddess
in my garden
Sister
in my soul
Angel
in my armor
Actress
in my role
Daughter
of a demon-lover
Empress
of the hidden face
Priestess
of the pagan mother
Ancient
queen of inner space"
"Animate"
- Rush
I fumbled through my Trumps until I finally found the one I was looking
for. Concentrate...Nothing. Damn! Now how was I supposed to warn Algo that he
should be expecting company real soon?
Only one other way, I guess. I walked up and down
for a minute or two until another black cat joined us. She and Wylde took an
instant liking to each other; I didn't know how fast to finish my letter to Algo
and send the beast on its way to him. In but a few words I told him that Violet
had a sister who was on her way towards his Shadow. From the way she disappeared
from under our noses I guessed that she would probably already be in Telgan, but
this way Algo at least couldn't say that I had not tried to warn him. He would
be pleased with her company, I'm sure...
I tied the note to the cat's collar and then sent
her off towards Telgan. No way she's was going to reach Algo in time, but at
least it was something. I shrugged at Diana, mounted again and we resumed our
journey.
I easily found my way back to Wittebrugh, being a
Shadow not all that far from Amber. The town looked as bit larger than it had
when we first came here, but of course that was because of the really fast
timeflow in this Shadow. I did notice, though, that the time didn't go as fast
as it had before; it was somehow reverting to its old rate. Apparently one had
to keep concentrating on it for something like that to become permanent.
I started looking for a trace and soon found both
one of Suzanne and one of the Power I had also found in her bedroom on Shadow
Earth. However, they took off in opposite directions. After only a moment of
hesitation I headed into Suzanne's direction. No matter what, I wanted to find
her before going after her kidnapper(s).
As we followed her trail the Shadows around us
became more and more exotic, casual and untamed. The creatures we encountered
remained humanoid, but their skin first took on darker and then even completely
different colours. I suddenly felt that we needed more flowers on our trail.
Accordingly the flora became more colourful. Also quite a bit lusher.
The temperature started to rise too, causing me to
shift our clothes to airier fabrics. By that time our horses had changed into
camel-like creatures with big parasols strapped on their backs to shade us from
the sun. The air became drier and the scenery shifted from a tropical jungle to
a savanna. In the distance I could see some yellow and blue striped creatures,
which looked somewhat like zebras. Our guide, an eight foot tall, bald man with
a bright red skin, had his spear ready, but we didn't really get near them. Our
porters all looked a lot like him, although they weren't quite as tall as he
was.
Meanwhile the temperature kept rising and both
Diana and I began to tire somewhat. A small oasis provided us with the perfect
spot for a short break. We filled our waterbottles and Diana even spent a few
minutes paddling in the crystal clear water.
As soon as we continued our journey the air became
more humid and the temperature dropped to a more tolerable level. I had a very
good feeling about this: we were getting near the end! In the distance we could
see a lot of small white houses with a lot of bright coloured objects that could
only be flowers. We could also smell the saltish smell of sea air: this just had
to be a port. Our camels had shifted back to horses and we had lost our guide
and porters somewhere after the oasis, but that didn't matter. I had a strong
feeling that this city might be our destination.
It was a really busy port, filled with happy
looking people who resembled humans but for their pointed ears and olive
coloured skins. They were all dressed either in white or in very bright colours.
The women all tended to wear their black or dark green hair quite long. Some
people regarded us with a bit of curiosity, but I could detect no signs of
hostility.
Passing through those busy streets I tried to do
the same thing as I had in Wittebrugh, that is concentrate and try to locate an
irregularity, something that was not of this Shadow. I concentrated and
concentrated, and for a moment I caught a glimpse of something, but it was too
brief for me to be able to pinpoint it. I resolved to find a place to stay first
and have something to eat before trying again. Now that we were so close I
didn't think we would lose the trail anymore.
I asked a passer-by whether he could point us
towards a reasonably good inn. He smiled and told us that his cousin ran an inn
not far from there, and that he would gladly lead us there personally. Tofeh
(that was the man's name) spoke a strange sort of Thari dialect which was common
here. After a while I found it to be really irritating, but for all practical
purposes we somehow managed to understand each other.
The inn of cousin Orboh was indeed close by and it
did look quite good. As I booked two separate rooms I thought that just for a
moment I saw a look of disappointment cross Diana's face. Nah, it couldn't be.
And I shouldn't be thinking about things like that right now...
After paying the innkeeper in advance (two nights,
including breakfast - extremely cheap, but then money is never a problem) he had
a young girl by the name of Fridah take us to our rooms. Fridah looked about
thirteen years old and had long green hair which didn't allow itself to be
caught in any particular hairdo; little tufts of green hair stood out in every
direction. The most remarkable thing, however, was not the girl's hair, but her
clothing, or lack thereof to be more precisely. The only thing she wore was a
brightly coloured skirt and not much else. And I could clearly see that she
wasn't a little girl anymore! I guess this was a quite usual style of dress in
this Shadow, but I wasn't used to this sort of thing, at least not in public. I
blushed a little and glanced at Diana. She was busy taking great pains to find
interesting things to keep her attention fixed upon, so she didn't to have to
look at the girl. We hurried to our rooms and dismissed Friedah as soon as
possible.
The rooms were quite pleasant with a beautiful view
of the harbour. They were remarkably clean, lacking only a good plumbing system.
Pity, I could have used a nice shower to freshen up; now I had to be content
with a simple jug of water. Oh well, you can't have it all...
About half an hour later I picked up Diana to look
for some sort of restaurant. The regular meals in this Shadow consisted of lots
of fruit, fish and small pancakes. The food was all rather spicy and we required
several glasses of fresh juice to help it go down. In the course of our meal I
explained to Diana that I felt that Suzanne had to be in this city. I wanted to
start looking for her next morning, first taking some time to rest and get my
powers back up to their full capacities; I told her that it would take a great
deal of effort to find anyone in this place and that I would certainly need her
help in this.
"Of course I'll help," she said with a
sincere smile. Then her expression turned more contemplative and she continued:
"Exactly what kind of person is Suzanne? Does she usually stay up late at
night or does she live by regular hours?"
"Hmm, I can see your point. Suze is indeed one
for the small hours, so it might be a good idea to start looking right
away."
Diana nodded her agreement. For a moment I wondered
at her willingness to help me. She didn't really owe me for anything, at least
not in my opinion, and I might be wrong, but it did seem to me as if it went a
bit further than normal feelings of friendship. Was this an objective view,
however, or did my own feelings come into play here?
Stupid question, really. Of course my own feelings
played a role in it, but I really shouldn't let it distract me right now. First
find Suze, then start worrying about other things again.
Diana and I found ourselves a quiet spot right by
the seaside where we could sit undisturbed. I first asked Wylde to keep an eye
open for trouble while we were searching, and then Diana and I both started
concentrating on the Pattern. As soon as it was up before my eyes I carefully
began establishing a link between our two minds, more or less in the same way as
Murlas and I had done when we had had to fight that harpy. However, that link
had been a sudden and haphazard affair, which I felt had only worked because of
our mutual immediate objective, that is to get rid of that beast that was about
to eat us. As a matter of fact we had linked while we were already in the
process of attacking the beast, so this was indeed quite different.
Different, yes, and both harder
and easier. Harder because Diana's psychic power wasn't nearly as strong as
Murlas' had been, and easier because in a certain way she felt a lot closer than
Murlas had felt. This wasn't just a link born out of necessity, this was
something she wanted to do. She wanted to help and didn't hold anything back. I
felt somewhat moved by her trust and friendship; this was something I would not
forget! Slowly but surely I proceeded to make the link as efficient as possible
before reaching out, looking for any sign that might lead to Suzanne.
As I/we started searching it grew dark around
me/us. In this darkness I/we could faintly hear a tune which grew louder as I/we
focused my/our attention on it. It was a song filled with loneliness. I realised
that I had heard it before: it was one of the first songs Suzanne had written
and she had sung it the first time that I had seen her. It didn't entirely sound
the same, though, for the song I/we was/were hearing was being played with
different instruments, all acoustic, as if someone was doing an Unplugged
version. But then of course there weren't any electrical instruments in this
Shadow.
As I/we were listening to the song I noticed
something odd: aside from Diana and me in our linked form and the song itself
(Suzanne?) there seemed to be a third (or rather, a fourth) presence. It seemed
to be somewhere near, possibly in the city, but it wasn't in the same place as
the song. Weird! As I/we tried to focus on it the darkness suddenly receded from
me. Not us, I felt. The link was still there, but somehow I was seeing this
thing on my own.
I stood in the middle of a circle of figures, which
as a closer look told me all appeared to be women. There were six of them and
beyond them there was only darkness. It was as if we were all caught in a
spotlight from above, which was centred on me. I couldn't see any faces, but
each of them was dressed in a distinct colour. The first of them, standing
directly in front of me, was dressed in scarlet. She didn't face me, but was
standing so that I was looking at her profile. The second one stood to my right
and in front of me. She wore black and was turned away from me. The third, to my
right and behind me, was dressed in green and was the first to fully face me.
The fourth, directly behind me, wore blue and was facing me too. The fifth, to
my left and behind me, was dressed in brown and was showing me her profile.
Finally, the sixth and last one, to my left and in front of me, wore orange and
was turned away from me.
Red, Profile
Orange,
Away | Black, Away
\
| /
\
| /
Me
/ | \
/
| \
Brown,
Profile | Green, Faced
Blue,
Faced
What was I doing here? And who were all these women? I glanced down to
ascertain that I was really myself and not someone else. I was. So this was
probably a personal vision. Again I tried to discern some of women's faces, but
I just couldn't see them clearly. I tried to move closer to one of them, but
although I felt I was moving I couldn't get closer to her. The distance didn't
really seem to be physical. Meanwhile all the women remained static, as if they
were all waiting for me to take some action.
What kind of state was this? Was this something
natural which I had stumbled upon on my psychic search or was it something that
had been set up by someone else? My Family sense of paranoia suggested that the
latter case was more probable. There's no such thing as coincidence, remember?
So what was the meaning of all this? What was I supposed to do here? Since this
was a personal thing, it was reasonable to assume that I knew all these women.
At least, this seemed to me to be a reasonable assumption.
My link with Diana was still there, I could feel it
was, and by reaching out to her I noticed that she was in this little scene as
well! I turned around; although I still couldn't see her face I was certain that
the lady in blue was in fact Diana. I felt that she was very close to me, not
physically, for the women all seemed to be at an equal distance from me, but
more in a mental or emotional way. I compared this to the others around me.
The lady in green was also reasonable close and she
seemed to be rather familiar. Could this be Aunt Fiona? Could be, provided we
were to accept my assumption that they represented people that I knew. Fiona's
colours were green, with lavender and purple, but I was also reminded of her
sparkling green eyes. And she was favourably disposed to me, at least that was
the idea I had got from her behaviour towards me. This might be reflected in the
way the lady in green was facing me. Just like Diana, I mean the lady in blue,
was. And I knew that she truly was on my side.
The lady in orange seemed to be the most remote of
them all. She also didn't seem to be very familiar. No real sense in trying to
guess who she was then. She might be someone whom I had not yet met, but who had
perhaps been meddling in my affairs. Or perhaps she wasn't important as yet, but
she would become so in the near future. Ah, this was all guesswork, no real hard
evidence to base my theories on. I wondered why she was facing away from me,
though. Was she to be my enemy?
From the lady in brown I got a very mixed reading:
she was close to me and faraway at the same time. Very strange indeed! She
didn't seem very familiar either, so your guess is as good as mine. Although,
brown, brown... Sand had worn brown, hadn't she? Perhaps...?
The lady in black was faraway. She was not
familiar, yet at the same time in some strange way she was. I felt a shiver go
down my spine. There was only one lady in Amber who had worn black. Could this
mean that she was alive after all? Or was this just some trick on the part of
the person who had set this all up? Could it be? Mother...?
With difficulty I focused my attention on the last
figure, the lady in red. Music! The same song I had heard before! This had to be
Suzanne. I noticed, though, that her presence was far weaker than that of the
others. Never mind that, I had set out to find her and find her I would. I began
reaching out to her with my mind. As I did the music grew louder. While she
turned to face me the others faded from view. Then the entire vision faded and I
found myself back in my own body looking out over the calm ocean.
I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to find my
bearings. The transition from my trance-like state had been rather abrupt. As my
head cleared, however, I scrambled to my feet, a shout of joy rising up from
deep inside of me: I found that I now knew precisely where to find Suzanne. I
turned to Diana and my shout of joy immediately died upon my lips. Diana had not
emerged from our mind-link.
Immediately I started concentrating and I quickly
retrieved her wandering spirit. Without me she appeared to be completely lost.
Carefully I re-established contact and guided her back to her own body. For a
few moments she was totally dazed and confused.
"Wha..what happened?" she asked in a frightened voice.
"I don't know precisely," I replied.
"I have a feeling that we more or less got caught up in things. At least we
managed to get out of it unharmed. And I do know where to find Suzanne now!
Come!"
Both Diana and Wylde hurried after me as I started
running through the streets towards my certain destination. As we came closer
and closer I could hear the music again growing louder and louder. It came from
a large cafe-like building full of people. Inside my attention was immediately
drawn towards the stage. There she was: her ears appeared to be a little more
pointy and her tan had shifted a couple of shades more into the olive range, but
her hair was still a burning red flame. Suzanne. Finally!
"Well?" Diana asked following my gaze.
"Yes," I whispered, "that's
her..."
I just couldn't do anything but watch until Suze
had finished her performance. When she had left the stage I bribed the bouncers
and headed backstage. Without too much trouble I found Suze's room and knocked.
Trembling I entered, with Diana and Wylde in my wake.
Suze looked up from her make-up table and
immediately dropped the brush she was holding. "Dorian," she breathed,
looking totally dumbfounded. She even spoke with the same annoying accent as all
the other people in this city. Then she got a grip on herself. "Well, you
certainly took your time finding me, didn't you? And who is that?" She
pointed at Diana with an air of jealousy.
"She's only my cousin Diana, Suze," I
tried to placate her. "She has helped me in my search for you. Where have
you been? I looked everywhere for you, you know. How in the world did you get to
this place?"
"Well, you should know, shouldn't you,"
she said sullenly. "I mean it's your family, isn't it?"
"What do you mean, my Family? Who was it? What
did he look like?"
She sighed an looked away. "I don't know. I
never saw any faces." Then she looked up again, straight at me, and said:
"You'd better start looking for our son..."