Chapter 030: Show And Tell
"I've
got the answers to all of your questions
If
you've got a minute to pay me call."
Halo
of Flies - Alice Cooper
Mysteries, like troubles, seldom come alone. While I was busy thinking of
a way to explain to Elayne about Amber, the Family and everything that comes
with it without having to fight her suspicion and unbelief every step of the
way, I suddenly felt that I was being watched. I turned round and saw a woman
standing on the other side of the road, who was clearly watching me attentively.
Her hair was short and curly, in a peculiar shade of reddish orange, and she
wore a long raincoat. She frowned as I met her gaze and continued staring at me.
Who was this lady and what was her business with me? Or was she perhaps
more interested in Elayne? No, she seemed to be staring at me. I concentrated
and tried to see whether she too was Family or something else. Well, it looked
more like something else to me, but a something else I had never seen before.
She wasn't an Amberite, she wasn't a Chaosite, but she wasn't a mere Shadow
dweller either. Weird!
Still frowning the strange lady began hesitantly to walk towards me.
However, in the middle of the road she stopped again and her frown turned into a
pensive look.
"Do you know her?" I asked Elayne,
indicating our strange companion with a nod of the head. A moment later I wished
I hadn't asked.
"Not more secret agents!" Elayne
exclaimed, and she began pulling me away from the stranger, shouting: "Come
on!"
"Hold on! Wait a minute!" I cried, but
Elayne wasn't really listening.
"I don't care what you do," she said,
letting go of my arm, "but I don't want to get caught again."
"Look, she's as much a secret agent as I am.
That is to say, not at all."
"That's what they always say," she
muttered. Damn! That other lady was rather intriguing, but Elayne was Family. I
felt a bit of a responsibility to get her to Amber, or failing that at least
tell her of her legacy.
"Okay," I said, "hold on, my car's
over there."
"Well, what are we waiting for? I want to get
out of here!"
A few moments later we sped off, leaving the villa and that strange woman
behind us. I kept watching her in my mirror for as long as I could, and as we
left I saw an anxious expression cross her face. Then she turned and walked
away.
About ten minutes later I parked the car at the side of the road. As we
were still nowhere near any towns or villages Elayne regarded me with a more
than a little suspicious expression, from which I got the feeling that she was
expecting me to rape her or worse. Well, going to rape her I wasn't, but telling
her about Amber might by some people be considered to be worse.
"I think," I began, "that there are a few things we need
to talk about."
"There are?" she asked, her eyes going to
my hands, expecting to see a knife emerge from one of them, if not both.
"I think it would help," I continued,
"if you were to tell me how you came to be locked up in that house."
"Hmm," she said, "I don't know where
to start. Well, I was with this group of peace activists and we were doing some
protest actions near Sellafield. I had only just made my way through the fence
and I was only looking around, I didn't do anything! And I don't know who cut
the fence either!" Oh dear, she still thought I was some kind of government
agent. Well, in a way I was, but not for any government she knew of. And of
course she knew who had cut the fence, but there was no way I was ever going to
found who did it, unless I tried to find it by going through her mind.
Fortunately, it wasn't something I wanted to know anyway.
"That was when they arrested me," Elayne continued. "They
knocked me out and when I woke up I was in that house where you found me, all
alone. I was locked up in a room for some time and nobody came to see me. They
did bring me food, though. Then, one evening I saw these glowing blue lines move
around the door and when they disappeared I could open it. In the corridor I ran
into that medieval guy with the panther, that Alexander. We tried to get out,
but the house was totally surrounded by dogs. Then Alexander
"Well, that at least worked out alright," I said. "How
long were you locked up in that house anyway?"
"Three or four days, I guess, maybe more. I
don't know how long I had been unconscious before I woke up. Maybe they injected
me with some ickey stuff or something; that's what they always do to you in the
movies." I had some trouble keeping the smile from my face; it would be
hard explaining to Elayne that real life was not like she had seen in the
movies, it was stranger.
"Look," I said, "I've got one final,
rather essential question. You may find this a bit weird, but who are your
parents?"
"Why do you want to know?" she asked, her
old suspicion back in place again.
"I'll explain in a minute. Just humour me,
will you?" She regarded me for a moment, then she shrugged.
"Actually," she said, "I don't know
who my father is. My mother, though, was a rather well-known activist. They told
me she died ten years ago in a car crash, but I don't believe them. After she
died I spent a few years with grandpa, but that wasn't much fun so I left. Can
you imagine he wanted me to go to Eton?" No, I couldn't really see anyone
like her going there. As for the rest, it seemed to be the classic
Amberite-born-in-Shadow story. It would be very difficult, though, to trace the
identity of the father. At least I was sure of one thing: it wasn't me!
I remained silent for a couple of minutes while Elayne waited for me to
start my explanation. I was busy trying to find the right way to start, the
words that would lessen her suspicion a little. Finally I said: "Do you
believe in coincidence?"
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, I was asked by an aunt of mine to go
and fetch something she left in one of her villas, and when I get there I find
that not only has one of my cousins been there before me, there's also a new
relative we weren't as yet aware of. I call that a bit too much of a
coincidence."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Our Family has, how shall I say it, certain
special skills and abilities, and one of them is the ability to recognize other
relatives. As soon as I saw you I knew that we were related."
"Oh yeah?" she asked sarcastically.
"And how did you know that? Was it my lovely accent? My papers, perhaps? Oh
no, I didn't have them with me." She was clearly beginning to question my
sanity.
"Look," I said, "it isn't really a physical thing like
that..."
"But if we're related," she interjected,
"then you must know my mother."
"No, no, I think your ties with the Family
probably come from your father."
"My father? Shit, I don't know anything about
him. Who is my father then?"
"Actually, I don't know either."
"Hmm, those tricks or your family aren't that
good, are they?"
"They have their limits, yes, but they're
still rather remarkable. If you wish I could show you some things."
"Oh, go on," she said, "I'm
waiting." I smiled and started the motor. As soon as we were back on the
road I started shifting. The sky took on a curiously purple hue, while yellow
and green spotted rabits we're hopping between orange coloured trees. Beside me
Elayne turned down the window.
"That's a rather nice illusion," she
said.
"It's not entirely an illusion," I
answered. "Actually, it isn't an illusion at all." With that I shifted
a few Shadows onwards. A moment later we had to stop at a toll-booth. I paid
some light blue carrots to the green and yellow bunny there, upon which he
raised the barrier for us. Elayne's expression had changed from sarcastic
unbelief to open amazement.
"What is this?"
"Another world," I said. "One of
many."
"Like in Star Wars? This isn't a spacecraft,
though." I couldn't resist it. A couple of miles onward we ran into another
toll-booth, but this one was manned by Ewoks. They jib-jibbed and demanded more
carrots than I had paid the rabbit, and when they started pulling Elayne's hair
and threatening to stab our tyres with their spears, I really started to regret
my little joke. As we left them behind us I said: "You see I can do Star
Wars too."
"So you're some kind of director, are
you?"
"Not exactly, no. Although, in a way I
am."
"And this is one of your family's
tricks?"
"It is The Family Trick, so to say."
"I must admit that it looks nice," she
said. From the emphasis she put on "looks" I gathered that I still had
a lot of convincing to do.
We drove on a little while longer, until I located a nice little
vegeterian road-side restaurant run by the aforementioned rabbits, who were
after all a lot more civilized than the Ewoks and they didn't charge half as
much. We stopped there and ordered luch, which aside from the odd colouring was
excellent. While we we're eating I started telling Elayne about Amber. To my
surprise she had heard the name before; it wasn't in a book, no, it was that new
cd she'd heard. It sounded like Suzanne was at least back in action. I really
should visit her soon.
Anyway, I continued my tale and informed Elayne of all the things a young
Amberite should know: Amber, the Pattern, Family, not trusting anybody, the
usual stuff. It took a long time, but finally I had the feeling that it was all
beginning to sink in.
"So I'm supposed to be able to do the same stuff you just did?"
she asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, as soon as you've walked the
Pattern."
"And then I'm able to change all that
stuff?"
"Yeah, just by shifting Shadows." She
smiled.
"I think I'd like to learn that." I
suddenly had a vision of nuclear powerplants failing to work all over England.
Ah well, at least she had more or less agreed to come to Amber with me.
"Good," I said, "I'll take you to
meet the rest in a couple of minutes. First I've got a phone call to make,
though." I looked around and located the thing that was most likely to be a
phone booth in this Shadow. Once there I took out our own private communications
system: the Trumps. There was someone I wanted to talk to before introducing
Elayne at the court. A little concentration and then contact.
"Yes...? Who is it?" asked a sleepy Aunt Flora. When she saw
who was calling she woke up fairly quickly, though. "Oh, Dorian. You've
found my jewelry, how nice! You could have waited with returning them to me till
the morning, though."
"I'm afraid I've found something else beside
your jewelry, Aunt Flora," I said.
"There was something else in the safe? Oh,
it's all so long ago, I just don't remember leaving anything in there."
"Actually, there were some letters in the
safe, but that wasn't what I was driving at. There was a young lady in the
house. Apparently she had been locked up there. The interesting thing is,
however, that she is Family."
"What? In my villa? How absolutely
fascinating! Where is she?"
"She's here with me," I replied.
"Before you go on and insist on meeting her, though, I should warn you:
she's not exactly your typical Amberite. She's a peace activist. Anyway, I'm
taking her to Amber presently."
"Oh, how very nice! I absolutely love surprises. Ehh, who...?"
"Well, alas, that is unknown at this
time."
"Oh, how tasteless! This is a rather unsetling
trend, not knowing one's parents. It complicates protocol; how are we going to
manage at the ball?"
"I don't know whether it's a good idea to let
Elayne come to the ball," I ventured.
"Why? How old is she?"
"She's about sixteen or seventeen,
but..."
"Then she's old enough," Flora stated
confidently. Well, I had warned her.
"Anyway," I said, "you'll meet her
soon enough. I just thought I'd warn you."
"You think I know more about this?" Flora
asked innocently. I smiled.
"Oh, I think nothing of the kind," I
replied, mimicking her innocent tone.
"I could of course deny knowing anything about it," Flora
mused. "It might even be the truth..." I just kept on smiling and
waited. "No," she said in a much more serious voice, "I really
haven't the faintest idea. Honestly. But to use my villa for something like that
is really too rude. It's true that I haven't been there in ages, but still. I
can't think of anyone who would do it to spite me either. But I'm looking
forward to meeting this Elayne."
"Alright, soon then." I broke contact.
Did she really know nothing about this business? I doubted it. It was just too
big a coincidence. It would probably take a good deal of time before I had found
out the truth, though.
I put my Trumps away again, shrugged and went back to the table where
Elayne was waiting. I paid for lunch and we left the restaurant. Outside,
however, I found another surprise waiting for us: the strange lady with the
orange hair. How the hell did she get here? Again, she didn't really do anything
except stare at me and frown. Then she slowly and hesitantly started walking
towards me. Okay, this time there would be no running away.Not before I had some
answers.
I concentrated and again I tried studying her with Pattern. As soon as I
started doing that she shielded her eyes as if I had turned on some kind of
bright light. Could she see my Pattern? What other kinds of things could she do?
Who was she?
"Qui etes vous?" she asked when she had
got close enough. Why the French? Yes, we had been in France when I saw her the
first time, but why would anyone who could move through Shadow keep on talking
that language?
"What's going on? Elayne asked behind me. I
ignored her question and kept my attention on the stranger.
"No," I said to her in French, "that
is my question: who are you? Why do you keep following us?"
"Am I doing that?" she asked. "Yes,
I believe I am... I don't know who I am... But you are familiar... Have you ever
seen me before?"
"Only just now near the gate of that
villa," I replied. "But you don't know your own name, do you?"
"Oh, I do, I'm called Tizzy. I've just lost a
part of me, do you understand?"
"Mentally you mean?"
"I recall living in France for the last couple
of years, but nothing before that. At first I didn't think it strange, but then
I noticed other people don't have this. I can't even recall my childhood or my
mother." Tizzy regarded me with a nervous but also hopeful expression, as
if my presence had given her some kind of clue as to her past.
"Hey," Elayne said, "what are you mumbling about in
French?"
"There's something strange with this
lady," I said, then quickly added: "but she isn't dangerous as far as
I can tell."
"How do you know?" Elayne asked.
"Can you just tell?"
"Well, I think she is harmless. I know, I
know, it's one of my failings."
"You were the one urging me not to trust
anyone. Do live by your own rules, will you? But she's not Family too, is
she?"
"No."
"And still she can do the same things as you,
can she?"
"No, but she did manage to follow us one way
or the other."
"I thought you said that not everybody could
do that."
"That's true. That's why she's so interesting,
though."
"What are you going to do now?" Elayne
asked suspiciously.
"Well, my first priority is getting you to
Amber, so I think I'd better take her along as well."
"I hope they have enough spare bedrooms over
there," Elayne muttered. I turned back to Tizzy who was still watching me
with this mixture of nervousness and hope.
"My name is Dorian," I said to her. No reaction. "Dorian
of Amber," I added. She frowned for a moment.
"Amber...," she said, "I recall
dreaming about it at one time. Doesn't a King Oberon rule there with his wife
Cymnea?"
"Err, no," I replied. "In fact that
was quite a long time ago." A damn long time even! Cymnea was as far as I
know Oberon's first wife, the mother of Benedict, Osric and Finndo. We're
talking about the beginning of time here.
"Ah well," Tizzy sighed, "it was
only a dream. Strange..." Yes, very strange. She was probably wrong about
it having been only a dream, though.
"Look," I said, "I'm going to escort
this lady to Amber." I gestured to Elayne. "Why don't you come along,
so we can talk some more over there?" She thought for a moment.
"I shall follow you," she said with a
very serious expression.
Right. Since I wanted some time to talk to her without any of my
relatives interfering, it probably wasn't a good idea to merely Trump the three
of us to the great hall of Amber. Which meant it was Patterning time again. A
couple of minutes later we were in my chambers in the castle and I was sweating.
Damn, this trick was as tiring as it was handy! I asked Tizzy to wait here for
me and went with Elayne in search of Random.
"Posh place, this!" she said and she
sighed.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Most of the time it's not the houses, it's
the people who live in them. I'd better not ask how many slaves were used to
build this, or how many people were squeezed out just to pay for it." Hmm,
she was going to be fun around here!
Luckily I managed to run into Random's personal secretary and I asked him
where I could find the King and whether he would have any time for me.
"Is it personal or business?" he asked.
"A bit of both, really. Family business."
"I'll go and see whether the King has any time
for you," he said. I thanked him courteously. You have to stay friends with
these people, for the bureaucrats can turn your life into a living hell if they
want to. After a few minutes he returned saying that Random had some time for us
now; we would find him in the music room. Ah, that would mean he was busy with
his hobby. This would be a nice first impression for Elayne.
When we got in the vicinity of the music room we could hear him drumming
away. He didn't notice us as we entered the room, and we stopped near the door,
watching him play for a moment. He was very good and very fast too.
"Who's he?" Elayne asked. "The court
bard? With all this medieval stuff around I was expecting to see him play a
violin or a lute or something."
"That's Uncle Random," I said with a
smile. "He's the King."
"No kidding! Does he do Christmas
messages?" I had almost forgot she was English. She must have some rather
peculiar notions of what a Royal Family was like.
After another minute or two I walked forward so Random would notice me.
He gave me a curt nod and finished his set with a spectacular series of rolls. I
handed him a towel which hung over a nearby chair.
"Your majesty," I said with a bit of a
mock flourish, "may I introduce to you the lady Elayne. I've found her on
Shadow Earth and she is Family."
"No kidding," he said. "It never
rains but it pours." He regarded Elayne, who gave a bit of a nervous nod.
"Elayne," I continued, "this is
Random, King of Amber. Guess what," I said to Random, "Elayne doesn't
know who her father is."
"From Shadow Earth, eh? Well, welcome in Amber
and all that. How old are you?"
"I'm seventeen," Elayne replied.
Random frowned. I suddenly knew what he was thinking about: seventeen
Earth years more or less equalled seven Amer years, which would mean that Elayne
had been born after the Patternfall War.
"Alright," Random said, "tell me the
story. How did you find her? And don't tell me it's a coincidence, cause I don't
believe in coincidences these days."
"Well," I said, "I'm sorry to say
that it has all the signs of a coincidence." I told him the entire story,
keeping out only our meeting with Tizzy. As far as I could tell that didn't have
anything to do with Elayne, and I still wanted a chance to talk to her in all
peace and quiet.
"Wait a minute," Random interjected at
the point where I mentioned Alexander's involvement, "Alexander met her
too? I remember him telling of his meeting with Boadice's sister, but her name's
Yaslin, isn't it?"
"I don't know anything about that," I
said, "but as for Elayne, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Alexander
hadn't been aware that she was Family."
"Well, perception isn't really his strongest
point," Random said sarcastically. "And of course he was very busy at
the time."
"I guess he was," I said.
"Hmm, what does Flora have to say about all of this?"
"My dear Aunt Flora denies knowing anything
about it." Random nodded with a wry smile. I continued my story, after
which Random asked Elayne to tell him about her parents. She said that she had
never seen her father, but from all the rumours she'd heard about him she had
gathered that he had been an American and that he was probably dead.
"An American, eh? And what about your maternal
grandparents?"
"Grandpa took me in when Mom died. I never
knew my grandmother; she died in the war. She joined as a volunteer. She must
have been quite a lady, my grandma."
"Well, of course it's always possible that
you're not a first dgree descendant. That's why I asked you about your
grandparents. Several of us have spent quite some time on Earth, so you could be
a descendant of Eric, or Corwin or Flora..." He frowned. I smiled as I
recalled that Random himself had also visited Earth on a regular basis.
"Still," Random continued, "if you do have your Amber blood from
your father, then I think it's either Merlin or Rinaldo. That part at least we
can look into. You do have some Family features, but they're too vague to
determine who your ancestor was. Did you tell her the things she should know
about the Family and all?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I said, "I gave her the usual introductory
lecture."
"We should get a standard tape for this I
guess," Random said. "Are you going to make a hobby of this,
though?" he asked with a grin.
"No," I said.
"Well, it is the second one you bring home
now. That's getting to be a rather respectable score. Did you arrange for a room
for her?"
"No, not yet."
"Do so, and perhaps you can show her something
of the castle."
"Err, actually, I do have a little private
affair which I have to take care of. Perhaps some other relative can act as her
guide. Like Aunt Flora, for instance?" Random smiled and looked at Elayne.
"Yes," he said, "that would seem
fitting in this case. He called for a servant and bade him to go and find the
Lady Florimel. Meanwhile I exited while I had the chance. As I left I heard
Elayne ask Random how many wives he had had. Yeah, things were going to be a lot
of fun with her around.
I hurried back to my room, but before I got there I already came across
Tizzy. I knew she wouldn't stay put. I found her in the corridor talking to a
man, who turned out to be Uncle Benedict. Hmm, if there was something more to
that dream Tizzy had mentioned, then Benedict might now something more about
her. As I walked up to them they stopped talking and Benedict moved a little to
the side, so he could see both me and Tizzy.
"Good day Uncle Benedict," I said.
"Good afternoon," he replied. "To my
amazement I've learnt that the Lady Tiziane is visiting Amber on your
invitation."
"You know her then?" I asked.
"Of course." I saw Tizzy, sorry, the Lady
Tiziane frown for a moment, but from her expression I could tell that she did
know Benedict too.
"So who is Lady Tiziane?" I asked.
Benedict shot me a calculating look.
"She didn't tell you?"
"No," I replied, "she doesn't even
seem to know for herself." Now it was Benedict's turn to frown. He beckoned
me away from Tiziane.
"I would like to know more about the
circumstances under which you met her," he said. So I told him the same
thing I had told Random, but this time including the Tizzy part. Benedict's
expression was serious and a little bit worried, but then when was it not?
"Forget you have ever seen her," he said after I had finished
talking.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Just what I said, forget you have ever seen
her. It would be more healthy. Believe me, you don't want to get caught up in
this." With that he turned around and guided Tiziane away with him, leaving
me there wondering whether I had just been threatened or not. In the following
weeks I neither heard or saw anything of Tiziane, so I kept the whole matter to
myself. I couldn't stop wondering about her, though, and about Benedict's
behaviour. But I could trust Uncle Benedict's judgement, couldn't I? Couldn't I?
Back in my room I realized that while I had already told Flora that I had
found her jewelry, I hadn't returned it as yet. I studied the little packet of
letters I had also found in her safe, until curiosity got the best of me and I
carefully removed the pink ribbon that held them together. They didn't prove to
be very exciting, though, at least not to me: declarations of love and eternal
devotion from various French and even some English noblemen. Nothing really
interesting, so I just tucked the whole thing back together again and dropped
them off at Flora's apartment.
Nothing much happened during the next couple of days, so I again relaxed
a little bit. Then, one day just after lunch I got a Trump call from Adrian who
asked me if I had time for a little talk. I did and he invited me to come
through. To my surprise I found us standing near Corwin's Pattern. Rinaldo was
sitting somewhere on the other side of it, reading a paperback. He looked up
when I appeared and I greeted him with a nod, after which he went back to his
reading. Another surprise was Adrian's outfit: instead of his usual white and
silver, he was entirely dressed in black. It looked liked he had raided Murlas's
wardrobe.
"How are you?" I asked. "It's good to see that you're back
on your feet again. How do you feel?"
"Perhaps I've found some certainties in my
life again," he said. "Of course I don't like the way things have
gone. I have already tried my hand at a countermove, but unfortunately that
didn't quite work out the way I had planned it." I looked at him
inquiringly. "I've tried to rescue Yaslin before Alexander would do it, but
things went wrong and we ended up together."
"Yaslin, that's Boadice's sister, right?"
He nodded. "And if I understand you correctly she has now been saved?"
He nodded again. "And Alexander cooperated on this?"
"Yes. I tried to forestall him by walking Corwin's Pattern and
getting there before he would, but Boa and Rinaldo wouldn't let me walk it just
then."
"Whoa, hold on a minute! Where did you try to
get before Alexander?" Adrian sighed.
"I'll explain it all," he said. "As
you know Alexander was captured and held prisoner some time ago. That was in the
same place where Yaslin was also being held. Alexander escaped and left her
there." I smiled at this, but gestured to Adrian to continue. "Well,
Boadice has spent ages looking for her sister, so she has been pestering
Alexander to go back and rescue Yaslin. Because of his current position he was
more or less obliged to help her."
I gave him a look of incomprehension. Alexander's current position? He
explained that Alexander had somehow allied himself with the new kingdom of the
Nexus. The official story was that Alexander had been manipulated into damaging
his father's Pattern by the Nexus people, and to spare him the wrath of the
Amberites they had made him the official ambassador for Galoria in Amber. When
he had first shown his face in Amber again Gerard had had him thrown into the
dungeons, but since his position was really official Random had had no choice
but release him again. This did explain, though, why Alexander had been obliged
to help Boadice.
"I had been lying in wait for an opportunity to get back at Alex
ever since he stabbed me," Adrian said, "and this seemed like a good
one. I had planned on walking my dad's Pattern and having it transport me to
where Yaslin was."
"From what you said earlier I gather that you
managed to get to Yaslin, but that Alex showed up at the same time."
"Yes, that's right. And there was only one way
to get out of there: by cooperating."
"I see," I said. In a way I didn't,
though. If you had asked me, I would have thought that the three of them would
have stayed stuck there in wherever it was.
"Anyway," Adrian continued, "I've
made a first move."
"That you did," I said. "You showed
everybody that you'll not let it go by just like nothing happened. What are your
further plans?"
"I'm going to take my rightful place with this
Pattern," he said, staring out over it. "It isn't quite that clear,
though. And Alexander? Well, there's still time enough... In any case, it's not
over yet."
"I guess you're right. But for a more joyful
subject: you've most probably heard about our new relative Elayne, haven't
you?"
"I've heard some rumours," he said, "but do tell." So
I did. He got the same story as Random, but including Random's speculations as
to who the father might be.
"They keep on cropping up," Adrian
sighed.
"Yeah, and I keep on having to collect them and bring them to Amber."
Adrian smiled. We were silent for a
moment before he asked: "What's your opinion of the rest of our
generation?"
"Hmm, that's some question. Let me see. Well,
Alexander has of course completely destroyed any kind of goodwill he had with
me. I think I trust him even less than I trust Murlas. Although, perhaps that's
wronging Murlas. I couldn't call it trust, but there seems to be a sort of
mutual understanding between us and we can both work with that."
"I know what you mean," Adrian said.
"I've also spent some time with Rhiane lately
and I think she is quite competent, although a bit young and impulsive. As for
the rest..." I shrugged.
"Unknown?"
"Unknown," I agreed.
"Boadice is on the one hand very
competent," he said, "but then she's also quite impulsive."
"Sounds like she would be a good partner for
Rhiane then."
Adrian then told me of a little adventure they had had after Yaslin's
rescue. Some time ago Boa had found out that some wizard had apparently usurped
the islands that were supposed to be her duchy and she had decided to do
something about. Now that he mentioned it I could recall hearing some rumours
about this at the time, but I had been too busy with other things. Anyway, Boa
had asked some of the others to help her and in the end an army consisting of
three warships borrowed from Uncle Julian and captained by Rhiane, Yaslin and
Boa herself headed for the Carth islands. Adrian, who had not been so sure about
attacking without a little more preparations, had stayed behind, but had kept a
close watch by Trump.
At sea the attack fleet was met by two of the wizard's ships and by one
firebreathing dragon. The three ladies only barely managed to escape from being
fried and with a handful of men they had reached the wizard's castle. There it
turned out that the mercenaries defending the castle were easily bribed, while
the wizard himself turned out to be no problem at all: he had simply taken
control over the islands when there wasn't any Duchess Boadice yet, and he would
have easily handed them over to her had she but asked. That wasn't the way Boa
wanted to view things and after first stopping the wizard from leaving, she had
finally shot him in the back while he tried to get away. Not very nice
behaviour. They hadn't found the body, though, so the old man could still be
alive.
Adrian expressed his own unhappiness at the way things had turned out. He
also said that he found that he was less and less interested in this kind of
physical combat, although it used to be one of his prime interests. I for myself
realized that I hadn't checked up on my duchy yet. What if I ran into the same
situation as Boa had? I resolved to go there the next day.
"And then there's the party really soon," Adrian said.
"Well, party..."
"I know, there's not much reason to celebrate.
But I guess we are all more or less expected to show up."
"Oh, I don't agree with the reasons for the
ball, but the ball itself might still prove to be very interesting."
"Have you already found a partner
for the ball?"
"No, I've still got to send a letter to the
Courts." He saw my surprised expression and he explained that he wanted to
ask a girl he had met there, with no other intentions implied. "It's just
that you can't show up alone," he said.
"I know," I said. "That's why Diana and I have decided to
be each other's partners for the ball. The rules of the protocol allow for
something like that, although it might be construed as me presenting her as a
possible marriage candidate."
"That seems a bit risky, doesn't it?"
"I don't think so. After all, Diana's got the
final say in that."
"That's not what I mean," he said.
"If people see her as a possible contender she might get into danger."
"It won't be as bad as that, will it? Diana
can easily hold her own and I'm at her side the whole time. Besides, who's crazy
enough to try anything in a room full of Lords of Amber and Chaos?"
"Be ready for anything, though. Don't count
too much on those present not trying anything."
"Listen," I said, "I'm going to that ball because that's
what's expected of me. However, I do mean to have a good time while I'm there,
and I expect King Monias and his people to do their very best to prevent
unpleasant things from happening. It's in their best interests too."
"The interests in the the position of Queen
are very high," he said enigmatically.
"What do you mean precisely?"
"Say one of the very conservative Houses of
the Courts manages to get one of their daughters in that position..."
"I catch your drift," I said.
"And some people will go to extreme
lengths..."
"Well, if that's the way things are, then
perhaps King Monias had better found himself a bride from somewhere in Shadow.
That way you keep everybody happy and the balance would be maintained."
"You don't know where everybody's interests
lie," he said, "but then your relationship with Flora or Fiona isn't
that bad I believe. They're the ones who are working on it at Amber's side of
things."
"I don't know that much," I said, "but actually I have
been having a bit of a holiday the last couple of days. Maybe I've been missing
too much information lately. Perhaps I should hold a weekly meeting with Aunt
Flora to keep abreast of things."
"Would you otherwise like to keep on shirking
your Amberite duties?"
"Nah, I think not. I don't think I'd really
want to. On the other hand it would be nice, though."
"The things that are close to my heart are in
the middle of everything," Adrian said, "so my choice is clear."
He gestured to the swirl of lines beside us. "The Pattern: there's a lot
that goes with it. What do you think about it?"
"I'm glad that it wasn't lost, but I regret
that it survived at the cost of Coral's life. Perhaps that's the thing I hold
the most against Alexander; if it hadn't been for his actions Coral needn't have
died. In a way it's as if he's just murdered her, although I know a lot of
people won't see it that way."
"I know Corwin and I at least agree with you. But Dad has always had
a soft spot for women. Those things that happened to Diana have also moved him
to no ends, I believe."
"Yeah, well, after all she is Deirdre's
granddaughter." Adrian smiled. We talked a little while longer, after which
I Trumped back to Amber. Adrian stayed behind; he wanted to spend some more time
with his father's Pattern. I for one could think of more pleasant company.