Chapter 034: Kittens
"Oh
Daddy please,
Take
me with you where you going
Oh
Daddy please,
Come
find the time, come watch us growing
Oh
Daddy please,
Don't
leave there's so much that we want to know,
Before
you go..."
Our
Father - Extreme
"This one's very good," Charles said. "Whose work is
it?"
"What?" I asked and turned around.
Charles had stopped somewhere along the corridor and was studying one of the
paintings hanging upon the wall. It was a rather expressionistic piece I saw as
I joined him, its style faintly familiar to me. My eye fell on the signature. Of
course, it was one of Brand's paintings. Several other works by him hung
throughout the castle, although not too many. Brand's paintings tended to be
rather moody, just like he himself was reported to have been too.
"Hmm," Charles said, when I told him who the artist was,
"I think I've seen something of his work before. I remember seeing a
painting at an auction one time. Very impressive work, with a signature that was
hardly legible. I was interested in buying it at the time, but somebody else
beat me to it. Never saw anything like it again, until now."
Charles was something of an art-dealer, as I had found out when I had
come round his house to collect him for his introductionary trip to Amber. He
specialised in the impressionists: Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and so on and so
forth. I estimated that there must be at least for several millions worth of
paintings hanging in his house in London alone. It was interesting, though, that
he recognised Brand's handiwork. I hadn't known that my late uncle had spent
some time on Shadow Earth too. It sort of made me wonder what he had been doing
there besides painting, and who might have been interested in buying his work
there. Those questions wouldn't easily be answered I guessed, so I shrugged and
continued showing Charles around in his new home.
The trip from Earth to Amber had been a fairly quiet one. We had taken
our time, driving slowly from Shadow to Shadow in Charles's Porsche (the only
good thing coming out of Germany, according to him) so as to get him slowly
acquainted with the whole concept. He adapted fairly quickly to the new
situation, though. By the time we reached Arden I had shifted his clothes to a
more traditional Amber style, and in his black and white outfit he looked as if
he had actually been born and raised in the endless city instead of on Shadow
Earth. We left our car at the edge of the forest and continued on foot, running
into one of Julian's forest patrols on the way. They didn't really bother us,
though, my face being quite well-known in these parts. The captain told me that
things were very quiet at the moment and that our uncle had left on some
personal business. Well, Charles would get to meet him at some later date.
Nobody else accosted us on our way to the castle, which made me wonder a
bit about the whole security of Amber. Did it only take a familiar face to get
into the castle? I hoped not, since there must be hundreds of shape shifters for
whom the task of looking like me was rather simple. No, there must be some other
forms of security measures at work here, undetectable to the naked eye.
Certainly they must have taken some precautions after that attack on the castle
by Dara's troops, mustn't they?
Pending an audience with Random, I found Charles some chambers and guided
him around the castle a bit, which was how we chanced upon one of uncle Brand's
paintings and Charles's subsequent mentioning of that other painting. I didn't
have time to think too long on that, however, for a servant came to tell us that
the King would like to see us now. When we reached Random's study Adrian was
just leaving. Great, just the one I wanted to see at that time, especially in
the light of my promise to Charles not to tell anyone who his father was.
Fortunately, I had got him to agree to me informing Random of the whole affair,
though. I felt that at least someone else should know the truth, and it wouldn't
hurt if Random knew about Caine's involvement as well. Adrian cast a curious
glance in Charles's direction, but I refrained from introducing the two brothers
to each other. Instead I told Adrian that I would stop by at his chambers right
after my conversation with Random. He nodded and said with a smile that he would
take care of the wine this time, if there was any left in the cellars after all
our previous conversations.
Random met Charles's and my entrance with slightly raised eyebrows, as if
to say: "Here we go again".
"Alright," he said when we were seated,
"out with it. What is it this time?"
"Hold on a minute," I replied. "I
think this is a good opportunity for me to get a little bit of practice."
With that I concentrated on the Pattern and started working it into a cage,
sealing the room from curious ears just like Deirdre had taught me. Random was
mildly amused by my new trick, unlike Charles who still couldn't see this kind
of power juggling. I quickly introduced him to Random and told the entire story
of our encounter on Earth and the conversation that followed. Random seemed to
be pleasantly surprised by Charles's story, but I sensed a faint hint of sarcasm
in his manner, which was clearly meant for me. I know, I know, it was yet
another lost relative that I had escorted to Amber, but it wasn't as if it was
completely my fault, now was it? I didn't specifically go out into Shadow
looking for these lost sheep, did I? I couldn't help it that I felt that new
relatives should be told the truth and should be introduced to the rest of the
Family, unlike some other people I could name who like to keep them in the dark
and use them for their own nefarious purposes.
Fortunately, Random was very understanding about Charles's reluctance to
reveal his parentage. He was happy enough that the whole mystery of Elayne had
been cleared up, and he said he could understand Charles not wanting to get
pushed into some sort of choice of allegiance as yet. He warned him, though,
that his secret might easily get out if Caine would choose to reveal it. Random
promised he wouldn't interfere in the matter, saying that it was really Corwin's
problem anyway. For the rest he gave Charles what was getting to be the standard
introductionary speech. The only thing that sort of caught my interest was his
mention of the possibility of Charles walking both the Amber and Corwin's
Pattern. Apparently both Merlin and Adrian had already done that, and they
hadn't suffered any ill effects. Apart from them both becoming kings shortly
after that was, Random added, tongue firmly in cheek. Charles smiled and said he
would wait a while and consider his options before walking anything. It seemed a
wise decision and I only hoped for him that he would be left alone that long.
Knowing the Family he probably wouldn't.
Seeing that I hadn't much else to contribute to conversation, I left
Charles with Random and went in search of Adrian and his promised bottle of
wine. As it turned out he had even managed to find one of the few remaining
bottles of Bayle's Best, to my obvious delight of course.
"So," I said after savouring my first
sip, "King Adrian."
"Yes," he said with a sheepish smile,
"there are a lot of things been going on lately."
"One should say so. If I remember correctly,
the last time the two of us sat down for a quiet conversation you were still
young, free and single."
"Well, when Corwin suggested that I'd become
king I felt I couldn't refuse. It's not an easy task, though."
"That I can imagine," I said. "Me, I
would have thought twice before agreeing to such a scheme."
"It was a tough decision, I must admit. Having accepted it, however,
and the feeling of resposibility that comes with it, in a way it all leads to
certain consequences. I've already done things I wouldn't have done before I
came to Amber. There didn't seem to be much of a choice, though. I do want to
keep the Pattern free from harm, and Corwin didn't want to be king himself. And
Merlin is already a king somewhere else."
"Hey," I said, "if this is something which you feel you
have to do, then go ahead and do it. You know you can always call on me if
you've got any problems. If I'm available and if it's within my power to help
you out, I'll be glad to do so."
"There aren't too many problems at the
moment," he said, "although I think they are sure to be arising when
the situation in the Courts is finally going to explode."
"You sound very certain about that," I
observed. "Isn't that being a bit too pessimistic?"
"I just think that in the near future certain things are bound to
happen over there," he said. "I don't know whether it will really come
to an open conflict as yet; it may be that the status quo will be preserved
somehow, but it may also be that Merlin will be dethroned. When that happens, I
also will be in a lot of trouble, for he is a son of Corwin, and as such he
represents a possible link to Sherwyn. By that time I will probably also be
married to Sereva Baccaran, daughter of a major House, so there seem to be at
least several ways in which I might get dragged into the conflict." Seeing
that he had brought up the matter of his recent engagement himself, I was glad
to go into it a bit further.
"Well," I said, "you might of course
have chosen another one to be your bride, if only to avoid that kind of trouble.
You could have foreseen what was going to happen."
"Let's just say that Sereva came up with some
very good reasons why she was the best candidate," Adrian said levelly.
"Is it that bad?" I asked him.
"Well...," he said hesitantly,
"yeah, I guess it is." I shook my head in a sympathising way. We drank
our wine in silence for a while. If he wasn't going to tell me about those
reasons she had come up with, then he just wasn't going to tell me I guess. Good
for him if he could keep some secrets too.
"So when is the coronation planned?" I asked. "And the
wedding, for that matter?"
"Oh, we haven't set a date just yet. The first
in the upcoming festivities will be an official engagement party for the entire
Family here in Amber. I've been talking to Flora and it will probably be held in
a month's time. You'll get an official invitation of course."
"Alright," I said. "And do you have
any special wishes? Anything I can get you for this solemn occasion? No, hold
on! I just thought of something." I smiled at him enigmatically.
"Is it going to be a surprise?" Adrian
asked in a tone of mock anxiety.
"Yeah, well, at least sort of."
"Pray tell," he urged me.
"No, you'll see." I smiled again and took
another sip of wine. That was it of course: wine. It was the one thing that we
both liked to indulge in on a regular basis, preferably in each other's company,
so I resolved myself to find him at least ten or twelve interesting Shadow wines
as his engagement present. I couldn't go much wrong with something like that,
could I?
"I already got an engagement present from my in-laws," Adrian
said. "There was this party in the Courts, like the one we're going to have
over here shortly, and they presented me with an estate at the very edge of the
Abyss. I'm told it's a very impressive piece of land, and as such of course a
very prestigious present. The snag is that I'm supposed to come up with some
present for Sereva of more or less comparable value. I think that I've managed
to come up with something suitable for her, though."
"What in the Unicorn's name are you going to
do with a piece of land in the Courts?" I asked him.
"Well, that's a good question," he
admitted. "I guess I could use it as a sort of country-house. And don't
forget the prestige that's involved here."
"No, I'm not, but don't you think that your
estate will be among the first to be seized by the new government, if the civil
war in the Courts breaks out and Merlin is indeed dethroned." Apparently he
hadn't thought about this yet.
"Hmm," he mumbled, "I guess you're
right. I'll probably have to take some precautions."
"You do that," I said. "But now for something completely
different: has there been any word from Rhiane?"
"No," he said, "I've had other
things to keep me busy, like that party in the Courts and setting up my kingdom
and such."
"You haven't heard anything about her from any
of the others?"
"No," he admitted.
"But you're still going to go after her,
aren't you?"
"I don't know yet. I've got a lot on my mind
at the moment. First there's the whole organisation of Sherwyn I have to take
care of, then there's the wedding, and the coronation of course. I may simply
not have the time to embark upon an prolonged quest for Rhiane. I'm a king now,
and I do have my duties. However, Rhiane's partner at the ball, I believe his
name is Torgil, has already started looking for her, so there is at least
someone else looking into that mystery."
"Okay, we'll just wait and see then." I must admit that I had
been wondering whether or not to look into the matter myself. I didn't really
want to, because it would again mean putting off certain things that I felt had
been put off for too long already. However, if nobody else had gone searching
for Rhiane, I would have felt honour-bound in a way to search for her myself.
Okay, I admit that I was also a bit curious about her involvement with the guys
in orange, but that in itself was not enough to keep me from other, more
personal things. Therefore I was glad to hear that someone else was already busy
helping Rhiane. It soothed any feelings of guilt I might have had at leaving her
to her own devices.
"So what about you?" Adrian asked. "Things seem to have
been relatively quiet for you. At least you never seem to be involved in any
spectacular things that are out in the open for everyone to see."
"Ah, well, you know how it is," I said
noncommittally. "I've finally been back to Earth to tell Suzanne the truth
about Diana. And as usual I happened to run into an unknown relative over
there."
"You mean the guy that I saw with you
earlier?"
"Yep. His name is Charles and he is directly
related to Elayne. He had heard that I was the last person who had been seen in
Elayne's company before she literally vanished from the face of the Earth, so he
was waiting for me when I returned to my apartment in London. He's a nice
fellow, though, at least not as suspicious as Elayne."
"Not that being suspicious is not a particular
good trait over here," Adrian observed.
"No, you're right, but suspicion does make
explaining things like the Pattern and Shadows a lot harder."
"True," he said. "I believe, however, that you have been
getting a lot of practice in that department lately," he added with a sly
smile.
"I should have some experience by now, you
mean?" I said. "You may be right, I guess, but it doesn't get any
easier. I've been thinking about maybe writing some tourists' guide to Amber or
something for future new relatives." He laughed and refilled our glasses.
We talked a bit longer about this and that, and he told me a few things about
Sherwyn and its neighbouring Shadows. I found that I was thoroughly enjoying his
company, so when he suddenly asked me this question I was more than a little bit
unpleasantly surprised.
"You know," he began, "I am a bit curious about what kind
of person Deirdre really is. Corwin always get very emotional over her, so I
figure that he's not a very good objective source. So what is she really
like?"
I didn't know what to say, but I tried to hide my embarrasment behind a
polite smile. Well, I couldn't tell him the truth, could I? No, for one Mother
would be very angry if I did. I tried to imagine how she would act towards
Adrian and found that I just couldn't. Would her behaviour towards him be just
like it was towards his father, or would she adopt a different approach, there
was just no telling.
"I don't really know how to describe
her," I admitted truthfully. "She is my mother and she's an Amberite.
For any impressions beyond that you should probably go and see her
yourself."
"I think I may do just that," Adrian said
after a moment's consideration. There, wasn't that a neat solution to an awkward
problem? I was really curious what kind of impression she would make on him,
though. Better ask him after he'd seen her.
After my conversation with Adrian I went to my own room for a little nap
and a change of clothes. A short stop in the kitchens for a quick bite and some
shopping in the armoury for a suitable sword and crossbow, and I was ready to go
off again. This time the destination was Cardane. Since I didn't really know
what I would be getting myself into, I again decided to travel on foot. Although
there hadn't been too many recent incidents, the head stable keeper was still
rather paranoid about people leaving his horses somewhere in Shadow, so why
upset the poor man even more, when I might as well walk? I realised that I could
of course also just Pattern myself to the same spot where I had left Wylde, but
I didn't know how things currently stood over there, and it seemed to be safer
just to shift to the right Shadow and keep my eyes and ears open for any news of
my erstwhile companion.
This news did indeed come to me, but it came a bit sooner than I had
thought and from a source that I hadn't expected to find there. I was only a
couple of Shadows away from my destination, when I found my way blocked by a
familiar figure on a horse: Uncle Benedict. We nodded to each other in greeting,
my nod friendly but surprised, his friendly but serious. For one moment I
thought he was here to talk about that business with Tizzy, but I was sadly
mistaken.
"May I inquire as to your destination?"
he asked.
"Sure," I said, a bit guardedly,
"but why do you want know?"
"I am here as an official observer," he informed me. "At
the moment we're having a bit of an awkward diplomatic situation in this region.
There is a civil war going on in which both Amber and the Courts are indirectly
involved. A treaty has been signed, specifying that all troops from both sides
are to be withdrawn and no new ones should enter into the conflict. All the
military advisors have also been recalled."
"You wouldn't be talking about Shadow Cardane here, would you?"
I inquired, fearing the worst.
"That is indeed the case," Benedict
replied levelly.
"Oh," I said. Great! I had sort of taken
into account that I might become involved in Wylde's revolution, but I hadn't
counted on the whole universe joining in as well.
"I see that you're already acquainted with the
local politics of this region," Benedict said.
"Well, not more than minimally, really. I'm
afraid, though, that I have become somewhat personally involved in the
situation." Benedict frowned slightly. "It might well be," I
continued, "that there are currently one or more Amberites present in the
warzone." Benedict's frown deepened.
"It would seem highly improbable to me that
they have managed to slip past my guard-posts," he said.
"I don't think that was necessary," I
said. "They may already have been there before this whole war got
started."
"Some further explanation might be in
order," Benedict said.
"Maybe you remember me being accompanied by a
cat-like creature until quite recently," I ventured. Benedict was
fortunately quick on the uptake.
"A Cardane?" he asked.
"Yes, she was," I admitted. His frown
grew even deeper and deeper.
"It would be very irresponsible to keep your
offspring in this Shadow," he observed.
"I must say that I quite agree to that,
yes."
"Come on," he said, turning his horse around, "we have to
discuss this matter quietly." I followed him to an encampment, a mile or so
along the road. Benedict left his horse in one of his soldier's care and
escorted me to his tent, where he poured me a glass of wine. We sat down and he
started explaining the situation in more detail.
"Under the terms of the treaty," he said,
"no Amberites may personally interfere in the internal affairs of the
Cardane. I do realise, however, that in this case the literal agreements may
have to be interpreted a little bit more loosely." I told him who Wylde
really was and how things had got to be the way they were now. He seemed to have
guessed most of it already, though.
"If the situation here is really as bad as you say it is," I
said, "I'm not sure what to do next. I just wanted to find out whether
Wylde had already given birth or not. If there are indeed children of mine in
Cardane, it would seem best to evacuate them as soon as possible. I didn't
really come here to fight in a war anyway." Benedict nodded slightly.
"It would indeed be right for you to protect
the lives of your children," he said. "However, you must not get drawn
into this war. You must not become involved in any fights or battles, unless in
self-defense, and you must not knowingly put yourself in situations where a
fight would be inevitable. You must also not give any military advice to any of
the parties there. Will you agree to these terms?" Well, I didn't really
have a choice, did I? I nodded.
"Good," he said, "then I will in this special case make an
exception." There was a clear undercurrent in his voice saying that I
should not even think about betraying his trust. I knew I wouldn't; I wanted to
keep on living for just a little while longer, like say, a couple of thousand
years or so.
"So, what is the current situation over there like?" I asked
him.
"As I already mentioned there is a civil war
going on. The Tarsh have also withdrawn because of the treaty, but the
government which they supported still has control over most of the country. The
rebels are giving them a hard time, though. It's basically your typical
government/rebel war. However, it's a bit too early to say who is going to be
victorious. It will be a long and exhausting war, but that is more or less
common in these parts. Shadow Cardane has a long history of battles and civil
wars, so this one is just another one for the books."
He got out a map and began explaining to me which part of the country was
under the goverment's control and which was being controlled by the rebels. I
could tell that he was making use of this opportunity to teach me a few things
about situations like these. Not that I did mind, though: you can't get a better
teacher than Benedict, not in this field. Halfway through his lecture I suddenly
realised that Benedict's camp was quite large for a mere watchpost. He sure had
a lot of military advicers with him it seemed. Apparently, the troops that had
to be withdrawn from Cardane could
still hang around in the general vicinity, waiting for anything that might
change in the current situation, like the imminent civil war in the Courts for
instance. Benedict gave me a clear hint, though, that he felt that the time
wasn't right yet. I didn't have to ask which side he would support, though,
since the Chaos troops had been on the government's side all along.
Benedict also pointed out to me where the main rebel camp was located. He
said that the government forces weren't aware of that location just yet, but he
knew where they had to be, and he explained it to me in terms of logistics and
troop movements. He made it all sound so easy, but I had to admit that he just
had to be right. He gave me some guidelines how to shift to a spot that was not
too far away from the camp, since I had to get there rather quickly.
I thanked him very much for his help and immediately went on my way.
After a couple of miles walking and few short shifts, I found myself in a jungle
near the rebel camp. There was no real path through the undergrowth, so progress
was slow. I did manage, though, slowly but surely getting nearer to where the
rebels ought to be. I had been working my way through the jungle for about half
an hour, I guess, when I became aware of some movement in the trees around me. I
cautiously proceeded for a minute or two, until I made out two big cat-like
shapes in the trees up ahead, poised to jump at me at any moment. Taking great
care not to make any threatening moves, I took my weapons and placed them on the
ground before me. I looked up at
them in anticipation. Two quick flashes and the cats were standing over my
weapons, hissing and growling at me menacingly. A moment later two humans
appeared out of the jungle behind them, a man and a woman, both naked except for
shoulder-belts. With their swords they waved me back, away from my weapons. I
did as they indicated. The two big cats stayed close to me while the man and the
woman picked up my sword and crossbow. Then they beckoned me to follow them.
Almost immediately we came upon a path which led us to the camp. Do I have to
mention that it was located exactly where Benedict had said it would be? Naah, I
don't think so.
As we got nearer to the camp I saw more signs of habitation, and soon I
saw more and more Cardane, both in human and in feline form. I was a bit
surprised at seeing such a variety of cats, especially the huge differences in
size between individuals. Wylde had always appeared to me as a normal sized
house-cat, but that was about the smallest size the Cardane appeared in. Some of
them were as large as lions or tigers. I got the feeling that they must be
formidable enemies.
Of course I drew a lot of attention from them, being the only one wearing
any clothes. Also my eyes were different from those of the Cardane in human
form; theirs were all cat-like. When we finally reached the camp, which turned
out to be a agglomeration of huts built in treetops, there was a whole parade
following us. My captors took me to an older man who asked me something in a
strange language.
"Sorry," I said, "but I don't speak
your language."
"Who are you and what are you doing
here?" he asked me in perfect Thari.
"I'm Dorian of Amber," I replied. "I'm here as a neutral
party on personal business. I'm looking for Wylde." If my identity had
surprised the man he didn't show it.
"Wait here," he said, guiding me
into a nearby room. He left me alone there, and for several minutes I quietly
studied some of the craftsmanship on display in the room, waiting for him to
return.
"It's alright," I suddenly heard a familiar voice say to the
people outside. I turned towards the door, just as Wylde entered in her human
form, wearing nothing but a shoulder-belt, like most of the other Cardane
warriors I had seen. She rushed into my arms, but while we embraced I felt her
mentally probing me, trying to tell whether it was the real me she was holding.
I forgave her for that, though, and opened my mind to identify myself. Happily
she hugged me again. Two things immediately struck me about her: one, she quite
obviously thought I was here to help her with the war, and two, she clearly
wasn't pregnant anymore. I quickly told her about my encounter with Benedict and
the promise I had had to make to him. The news rather disappointed her, of
course. She explained that they really could do with some help with the
fighting, but she accepted that I wanted to keep my word to Benedict.
"So, how are you?" I finally asked her.
She smiled at me and took my arm.
"Come," she said, "I'll show them to
you. You've become a father of six beautiful little children." Six! Oh
dear. I would have a lot of explaining to do when I got back to Amber. It
already worried me to think what Deirdre would have to say about it.
My worries were soon dispelled, though, when Wylde brought me to a cozy
little room where six little kittens lay sleeping, heaped together in a big
basket. They were simply adorable. I knelt down beside them, and for a while I
could do nothing but just stare at them. My children...
Wylde explained to me that young Cardane are always born as cats. They
start shape shifting pretty early, though, but at first it's all very impulsive
and uncontrolled. It's one of the first things they learn, and they rapidly grow
more adept at it, until they cannot only change from human into cat, but they
are also able to vary their body mass. That was how Wylde had managed to
disguise herself as an ordinary looking house-cat.
While Wylde was softly talking to me, one of the kitties, a little
tortoiseshell of a cat, with tufts of hair standing out in every way but the
right one, woke up. He glanced around to see who was making all that noise,
regarded me curiously for couple of seconds and then, having made up his mind
that I was probably a friend, he jumped out of the basket and onto my lap where
he settled with a satisfied purr.
"That's Nicholas," Wylde said with a
loving smile. I smiled too as I softly stroked his fur. He looked up at me with
a gleam of contentment in his green eyes.
Nicholas's escape from the basket had woken up some of the others as
well, though, and soon two or three of them came over to see who this new
stranger was. Wylde introduced the more inquisitive ones as Laura and Dennis.
Laura looked a lot like Wylde, with black fur and green eyes, while Dennis's fur
was dark grey and he had amazingly blue eyes, not unlike Deirdre's. Rowena had
the same blue-coloured eyes and her fur was black like Laura's, except for her
paws which were white. The two little ones still in the basket looked noticably
different from the others. Vilcon, named after my Father, was reddish-brown with
green eyes. He seemed a bit shy about meeting strangers, though, and it was only
after a while that Wylde could coax him to come to me. The last one, Miri, was
smaller than the rest. Her fur was grey, and when my stroking woke her I saw
that her eyes were the same blue-grey colour as mine. Looking into those eyes, I
knew I was lost. What a great bunch of kids...
When it was time for the children's meal, Wylde introduced me to their
nanny, an older woman named Anna. She regarded me a bit suspiciously at first,
but I soon found that she wasn't really that unfriendly. She was stern, though,
and didn't appear to have much respect for Amberites, or any other kind of
nobility for that matter. The children were her prime concern at the moment and
she took that task very seriously. This didn't mean that she wasn't very fond of
them, but having as much experience as she had she knew that it wasn't always
best to show too much affection. Anna mostly stayed in human form, only changing
into a cat when she had to go after the
little ones, and always grumbling when she had to do that.
After dinner I took a moment to Trump Uncle Benedict and tell him what
was going on. I explained to him that I would stay a few days to discuss things
and make plans for the children's future with Wylde. He said he understood and
told me he would like to see the children when I would take them away from
Cardane, so I promised him that I would stop by on my way to Amber.
My discussion with Wylde was rather quickly resolved: she agreed that it
would be best for me to take the children away from the war, but she insisted on
me taking Anna along as well to guide the children in the ways of the Cardane.
Of course I happily agreed to that, since I didn't have a clue as to what it
meant to be able to change into a cat. However, I mentioned the lack of clothes
here as a possible problem. I could understand that it was easier for a shape
shifter not to be too encumbered, but she at least should know what the
situation was like outside of Cardane. She told me that the Cardane were not
entirely unfamiliar with wearing clothes, but they generally only chose to wear
them in the colder regions or in wintertime. She felt that the children would
have some trouble adapting to the idea of clothing, but she explained the matter
to Anna, who grumbled a little bit, but had to admit that it might be for the
best. Anna asked me to give her some instructions in these matters, however, so
that she wouldn't seem entirely ignorant.
Wylde and I talked at great length about the future and what it would
have in store for us. We both agreed that it would be pointless to make any
plans for when the war was over, since it appeared that that might take quite a
long time. The government forces had had years to prepare for such a conflict,
and aside from occupying every key position in the country they had also
arrested many possible important rebel leaders. I casually mentioned that
Benedict had easily pinpointed the current location of the rebel camp, and I
also told her everything he had told me about the treaty and about the critical
situation in the Courts. Not that it would be of any immediate use to her, but
she ought to know what was going on outside of her own Shadow.
Wylde admitted that she would like her children to return to their home
country after the war, but at the same time she also realised that with me as
their father they would have an entirely different heritage as well. She hoped
that she would be able to see them once in a while. It would be hard, though,
for most of the rebels saw her as some kind of leader figure, which left her
with very little time to herself. A related problem was the fact that Cardane
matured almost twice as fast as normal humans, so the children would be fully
grown before we knew it. This meant that I would also have to start early with
instructing them about Amber life and etiquette, and other stuff like that.
Guided by a flash of inspiration I tested whether Wylde would be able to
use my Trump or not. I figured it might work, since she already had a kind of a
mental link with me and was mentally a lot stronger than many other Shadow folk.
It turned out I was right, although it took her a lot of concentration and
trouble to get through to me. It would be even harder for her over greater
distances, but I found that once she had reached me I could strengthen the
contact from my side, saving her a lot of energy. At least we now had a way in
which she could contact me, and I could always use my Pattern abilities to come
in contact with her.
I have to admit that it was a bit strange for me to come to terms with
the new Wylde, and she herself also showed some problems in assessing where we
now stood with respect to each other and our subtly different relationship. I
had to get used to her walking around in human form all the time (and a naked
human form too), and I sometimes caught myself still thinking of her as my
faithful companion. We felt a lot of affection for each other, and I realised
that Wylde respected me very much, but we weren't really lovers and I wondered
whether we would ever be so in the future. It's very hard to say, I guess. My
nights in the rebel camp I conspicuously spent alone on a bed of ferns, while
all around me Cardane lay huddled together in cat form. Not that I felt really
lonely, but still...
Of course I spent a lot of time with the little ones in those couple of
days, and I sort of got to know them a little bit, and they got to know me too.
Miri was, as I already said, smaller than the others, and Wylde confessed to
being a bit worried about her. She was shape shifting like the others, but it
took a great deal more from her. Despite her difficulties shifting, she often
took on her human form, just like her brother Vilcon. Later on I noticed that
Miri was also much quieter than the rest, although a much quieter Cardane child
is still hyper-active compared to normal children.
Laura was already the perfect younger version of her mother. Very
playful, very fierce, very aggressive: the perfect tomboy warrior. Most of her
fighting she did with her brother Dennis, whose behaviour was a lot like hers.
They didn't come to really serious blows, though, and both of them had the
cutest way of jumping up to me and licking my face, but I could already tell
that things would never be quiet with those two around. Laura and Dennis were
the only ones who hadn't assumed their human form yet, but this didn't seem to
bother Wylde too much; she said they would take to it in time.
Rowena reminded me a bit of Aunt Flora. She wasn't as adventurous as some
of the others and prefered to spent more time washing and grooming herself than
running. She also always managed to strike just the perfect pose when falling
asleep.
Vilcon was rather quiet; not like Miri, but quieter than the rest. He was
also very shy and was the last to get really used to having me around. Once he
got over that shyness, though, he became rather inquisitive, to the point where
he forgot all about possible dangers. He was one to look out for; might easily
get into trouble, that one.
Finally, there was Nicholas. Less fierce than Laura and Dennis, but by
far the most adventurous of the lot (or is that litter?). Once he displayed an
un-Cardane-like love for water by just jumping into a nearby pool, with all of
his siblings looking on in horror. He was a really jumpy and bouncy one, for
which Wylde had awarded him with the nickname Tigger. Fortunately, the song
about the wonderful thing about Tiggers was true: he was the only one. No, that
sounds to harsh; better say that I would never have been able to handle several
kittens like him at once.
I also learned a few things about the Cardane in general during my short
stay there, like their general life expectancy lying between forty and sixty
years. Wylde herself was twenty, so she had at least twenty years left in front
of her. The Cardane knew little about technology, and they didn't have much of a
written culture. Their oral tradition was very strong, though, with songs,
stories and histories being passed down from generation to generation. Their
mythology seemed to have sprung from the Courts or thereabouts, telling about
how there are several basic forms in the universe, of which the cat and the
human are but two. The Cardane thus have two forms, while there are other basic
forms like demon, elemental, and so forth and so on. It was an interesting
story, although it didn't say much about the importance of having only one or
more basic forms at one's disposal.
Despite the fact that the Cardane, with their minimum of tools and
equipment, may appear primitive compared to Amber standards, the were far
advanced in philosophy and related fields. I didn't really look very far into
the matter, but I decided that I would do so later. It would be fascinating to
see what the great minds of such a dualistic people had come up with.
One final point about Cardane life in general proved to be important to
my task of raising our children: when the Cardane shift, their whole digestion
system changes as well. This means that they can rely on two very different
kinds of diets, eating a lot of meat as a cat and more vegetables when in human
form. The first implied a lot of hunting, so wherever I was going to raise them,
I had better find a place with lots of rabbits and mice and similar creatures.
They would love staying with Uncle Julian, though.
After three days in the camp I decided that it was time to say goodbye. We had found Anna a nice looking skirt and blouse; she looked a bit ill at ease in them, but I was certain that she would become used to them in no time at all. I hugged Wylde and wished her the very best, and then, while waving goodbye, I walked out into the jungle with Anna by my side and the six kittens safely tucked away in a basket. First to Benedict, then to Amber. I would have a lot of explaining to do...