Chapter 025: An Unexpected Goodbye

 

"From the point of conception

To the moment of truth

At the point of surrender

To the burden of proof

 

From the point of ignition

To the final drive

The point of the journey

Is not to arrive

Anything can happen"

 

Prime Mover - Rush

 

     I awoke early the next morning from the sound of someone knocking at my door. Knocking? It sounded more like whoever it was was trying to break down my door single-handedly. I wrapped a robe around me and opened it to find Corwin standing on my doorstep. He looked rather worried, which wasn't very surprising considering his news: Adrian had disappeared!

     "How...? What...? Who...? Why...?" I managed, stifling a yawn, but suddenly more awake than I wanted to be.

     "I don't know," Corwin replied. "I wanted to have a word with him about what we had been discussing yesterday, but I can't find him anywhere and his Trump isn't working either. I came to see if you had perhaps already left. I must admit that I am a trifle worried."

     "We still have to talk to Random about the whole affair," I said, "so we won't be leaving just yet."

     "Did he have any other appointments before you were scheduled to leave?"

     "Not that I'm aware of. Have you talked to his serving girl?"

     "No, no, I haven't." He brightened up considerably. "Thanks, that's a good idea. I'll go and see her right away." And he was gone. I stood there thinking for a couple of minutes before I went to take shower. What else was there to do at the moment?

      While I tried to wash all of my problems away, though, I got more worried about Adrian. It wasn't like him to go off on his own like that. Could it be that he had felt that I had tried to manipulate him yesterday and had seen it as a betrayal of trust? No, or if he had, he was a better actor than I had thought. Still, Corwin might have persuaded him to go to his Pattern alone, coming to do his little act on my doorstep just now only to confuse me. Not bloody likely, but then you never know with Amberites. No, the most probable solution was that someone had kidnapped him. I guess it would have to be someone who had taken Fiona's side in the conflict, but who? I knew that asking Fiona outright was no use; she would just deny knowing anything about it. I sighed. It seemed that there wasn't much that I could do to help him at the moment. Perhaps Murlas had some helpful suggestions.

     I met him at breakfast, just like we had agreed. I quickly outlined the results of last night's conversations with Corwin and Adrian, and informed him of the latter's mysterious disappearance. The news didn't shake Murlas too much, but then it was no secret that he wasn't all that particularly fond of Adrian.

     "There could be all kinds of reasons for it," he said, taking a sip of tea. "Tell me, how stable is our cousin really, mentally speaking?"

     "Quite stable, I think."

     "Hmm, that somewhat reduces the chance of him having departed on his own. In my opinion there are three possibilities: either he is simply acting strangely, or there are some new developments we are as yet unaware of, or he is in some serious trouble. Since we can safely discard the first option on your authority, I think it would probably have to be the latter. Either that, or we will soon learn what these new developments are."

     He looked up and frowned everso slightly. I followed his gaze and saw our cousin Rhiane walk over to us. I looked at Murlas questioningly, but he just shrugged. Apparently he didn't know either what she wanted from us. I guess we would find out soon enough.

     "Goodmorning," she said. "That was something else, wasn't it, all that business yesterday evening?"

     "It certainly was," Murlas replied affably. "Have a nice breakfast, will you?" She wasn't to be shaken off that easily, though. Smiling she took a seat beside me and ordered a servant to bring her breakfast. Sigh! Most people can catch a hint, can't they, and Murlas hadn't been that subtle, had he?

     "Something should be done, shouldn't it?" she informed us with a grave expression.

     "Did you come to that stunning conclusion after just a whole night of contemplating the problem?" Murlas asked, his sarcasm clearly showing. "Tell me, did you by any chance have any more constructive thoughts or was that all?"

     "Well," Rhiane continued, for the most part ignoring the sarcasm, "I think we should investigate that Nexus. See whether it is dangerous."

     "See whether the Nexus is dangerous," Murlas said. I had not thought it possible that his sarcasm could become even sharper, but it just had. "Yes, that is a quite interesting question, I must say." He inquiringly raised an eyebrow to me and I shrugged in return. It was up to him to decide how to get rid of our unwanted intruder.

     "Perhaps we should go and see whether our appointment is ready to see us, Dorian," he said. I smiled and nodded.

     "A pleasant day to you," Murlas said with a slight bow to Rhiane. As I turned to follow him my eye fell on Boadice who was sitting at the table beside us. From her expression I gathered that she had heard most of our exchange with Rhiane and by the look of it she did not approve. Well, tough luck! We had not asked for any company at our breakfast table. People should learn to respect each other's privacy.

     Together we walked up to Random's study and to our surprise he was in and had some time to spare. He looked at us expectantly as we took our seats.

     "We have been thinking...," Murlas began.

     "And...?" Random urged him on.

     "The problem seems to be that it is not clear what should be done to get rid of the Nexus."

     "That is correct."

     "Well, we want to look into that problem somewhat more closely."

     "The two of you?" Random asked.

     "With possibly a few others," Murlas replied.

     "Of course, as the King I do applaud these kinds of initiatives," Random said with a faint hint of sarcasm. I hoped he wasn't going to use more of it; there's only so much sarcasm I can take in one day. "Who else besides yourselves did you have in mind for this venture?" he asked.

     "I have already asked Adrian," I said, "and he agreed to come along, but it seems that he has disappeared last night. Corwin is looking for him everywhere ad he can't be reached by Trump."

      "I don't like it," Random said, frowning, "I don't like it one bit. I guess it's okay because it's Adrian we're talking about here, but with anyone else..."

     "We think he is probably in some kind of trouble," Murlas said.

     "You're probably right," Random said, but I could see him go over the other possibilities in his mind. "It seems that you have an additional task set out for you," he said, "although I guess Corwin will also be working on it. Still, if you do happen to come across your cousin before Corwin does, please bring him back safely. If you feel that you need some additional help, perhaps of a more physical nature, then I'd suggest you approach some of your cousins. There seem to be enough of them hanging around with nothing better to do."

     We nodded and he dismissed us with a smile and a gesture. Outside his study I asked Murlas what we were going to do.

     "We can first recruit some extra people," he said, "or we could ask around within the Family for more information on the Nexus. There is one person who certainly knows more about it than he has thusfar divulged, but I am not prepared to go and talk to him on my own." I smiled. It was easy to guess who it was that he was referring to. Before I could answer, though, a servant interrupted our conversation with the message that Lord Martin had regained consciousness and that he was asking for Lord Murlas. Murlas turned to me with a smug smile and told me we would finish our conversation sometime later today.

      As I watched him leave I cursed inwardly. Damn! There was no way I could join him without being asked, but I was really curious what Martin had to say. Hmm, perhaps there was a way after all. Once more I knocked on Random's door and when he bade me come in I told him of Martin's recovery. To my disappointment, however, Random was already aware of that fact. As a matter of fact he had already spoken to Martin earlier that morning. Damn!! So much for my plan of tagging along with Random to the infirmary. I briefly considered spying on them with the Pattern, but quickly discarded that idea as not being proper. Besides, they might notice me doing so...

     With not much else to do but wait for Murlas to return I went back to my chambers and started practicing my Pattern skills. I had been busy for a couple of minutes when I noticed Wylde enter through the window. She sat down and looked at me gravely. I quit my exercises and walked over to her.

     "Dorian," she said, "I think it's time for me to leave."

     "What do you mean?" I asked.

     "I find it hard, but it's necessary. My people need me. Our friendship means a lot to me, but lately I haven't been able to contribute much to what you've been doing. Truth is you don't really need me any longer and I can't run from my responsibilities anymore."

     "Well, if this is what you think is best for both of us," I said, more than a little surprised by this all.

     "I'm afraid it is," she sighed. "It's not easy for me, though."

     "What kind of trouble are you in?" I asked. "And what is all this about your people?"

     "My people are called the Cardane. Our Shadow..., oh well it doesn't really matter where it is. It's somewhere in the border area between the spheres of influence of both Amber and Chaos. My father used to be the ruler of my people. He was always more inclined to see things from the point of view of Amber, and so my people mostly took that side. That all changed when he was murdered. His successor was more interested in the Chaos side. He invited an army of Tarsh demons into our Shadow, who completely overran the Cardane. All under the pretense that they were there to help us, of course.

     "I fled through Shadow towards Amber in the hope of finding some kind of protection there. Then I met you. You were an Amberite and I immediately took a liking to you. I felt you were looking for someone, and somehow I thought it was the perfect combination. It was so easy to forget all about myself and my duty and just focus on taking care of you. But like I said, you don't really need me for that anymore. You have grown. You can look after yourself, I guess. I have to go back to my people to give them enough hope and courage to break free from the Tarsh and drive them away."

     So that was the cause for that strange conflict between her and Alexander's Thena. Once again I wondered whether he really knew what it was that was walking at his side.

     "I understand," I said to her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

     "Well...," she began hesitantly, "there is something, but I'm not sure whether it is right to ask it of you..."

     "Ask it," I said firmly. She had stood by me for such a long time, I felt there would be few things that I'd refuse her.

     "There is another reason why I have to go back," she said. "You see, we Cardane have a certain fixed life-cycle, and the time has come for me to start thinking about procreation. And I could really use a good father for my children." With that her body started flowing, growing and changing shape before my eyes, until a beautiful young woman with dark skin, long black hair and green eyes stood before me. Apparently there were still some things about Wylde that I wasn't aware of. I hesitated only for a moment, then I thought what the hell, I really owed her this much.

     I moved to lock the door before taking her into my arms and guiding her towards my bed. Her skin was soft with the slightest hint of fur, her kisses were sweet and, well wild, and her nails made scarlet tracks across my back. While we were as close as this I realised how much she really cared for me. No wonder she had always disapproved of my girlfriends.

     Later she told me that there was another reason for her wanting my children. Her people needed strong new leaders to help rebuild the country, and she couldn't think of any better genetic material than that of an Amberite. I briefly considered the idea of raising a couple of shape shifting Amberite cats, but Wylde's physical presence swiftly made me forget about any such problems. They were all for a later date...

     A couple of hours later when Wylde made ready to leave I offered to transport her back to her home. She accepted, for although she had a way to travel through Shadow, it wasn't all that easy. From her mind I constructed an image of what her home Shadow looked like and with the Pattern I took us both to a spot that should be familiar to her. We found ourselves standing in the garden of an old mansion near the old capital. It was quite overgrown and appeared to have fallen in disuse a long time ago.

     I checked the Shadow with Pattern to get a good fix on it. I could feel that there were dark and ominous influences from outside at work here, making the Shadow less stable. The overall mood was dark and depressing, the mood of an occupied country.

     "You'd better leave now," Wylde said. "I have to take care of this alone. You have enough problems of your own." She sighed, but her expression was firm and resolute. "I hope our children will have a chance to grow up in peace," she said.

     "I will be back for them," I said and kissed her one final time before Patterning myself back to Amber. It was a strange feeling, returning to my chambers without her. Somehow I had come to take Wylde's presence for granted, I guess, and now that she was gone I was left with a hollow feeling of loss. Perhaps I had grown more fond of her than I had realised. I silently vowed to myself that I would go to see her as soon as possible. First I had some business to take care of, though...

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