Chapter 054: Homecoming

 

"Modus operandi

Contrary motives - modus vivendi

Hands tied - estranged allegiance

Trained in psychosis

Drowned in plutocracy, come see, comme ca, come"

 

Counterpoint - Twelfth Night

 

    "Im afraid I've got some bad news," I said. "Merlin is dead. He was murdered in the middle of the Logrus, and his blood damaged it severely."

    "Grave news indeed," Gerard replied, as his smile disappeared from his face. "It helps to explain quite a few things, however," he added. "We were of course quick to realise that something must have been wrong, with all the Shadows suddenly being closed off from one another and everything, and we did indeed suspect that something had happened to the Logrus." I nodded and took another sip from my wine. Although I was neither familiar with the brand nor with its strange spherical bottle, it was excellent stuff, a rival to Bayle's Best in every way. I would have to ask Gerard for its place of origin one time, but not now; there were still far more serious things to discuss.

    As a matter of fact I was eager to continue on my way to Amber and fill Random in on everything, but Family ettiquette required that I talk to Gerard first. I had tried to Trump to Amber, and when that had failed to Random, but Gerard's had been the first card that had worked for me. He was on his flagship directing the fleet through manoeuvres in one of the Golden Circle Shadows, which lay at a fair distance from Amber. This must be the reason the contact had worked at all, I guessed, and in any case I was glad that he had brought me through, away from the Courts at last. If Gerard was surprised to hear that that was where I had been all this time he didn't show it, but the news of Merlin's death clearly upset him. I found myself cringing a little while recounting it; the reality of it had dwindled away while I had been in the Courts, its consequences more important than the fact itself. Now, however, I had time to consider it more closely and to mourn him properly, I guess. My cousin who would be king...

    I continued my story with the attempted coup by the conservative Houses, the near and by now probably total civil war, and Jaill Helgram's efforts to take matters into his own hands. The name was familiar to my uncle, but these Courts politics were not the most immediate thing on his mind. Instead he wanted to know who of the Family had been with me in the Courts, asking for Rhiane specifically. I said that there had been some others, but that Rhiane had not been among them. Gerard looked a bit worried when he heard this, although he did his best to hide it from me.

    "We tried to contact as many of our relatives as we could when the barriers suddenly went up," he said, "but some people didn't respond and we didn't know where everyone had gone to." There was a tone of annoyed determination to his voice, as if he felt that everyone's whereabouts should be known in Amber at all time, especially after this little fracas.

    "Well, nobody really expected something like this to happen," I said calmly. "There were a lot of us in the Courts, though: Murlas, Adrian, Alexander, Boadice, Bleys, and Fiona. Oh, and Corwin, Caine, and Deirdre dropped in just after the Logrus had been repaired."

    "They had said that they would try to reach the Courts through some still existing Shadowpaths," Gerard said. "There are still two others unaccounted for, however: we haven't been able to reach Martin in a while, nor have we heard from Melusine." Hmm, good chance that those two were off together somewhere. "Charles and Elayne are safely at home in Amber, and Diana is somewhere in the Golden Circle." I was glad to hear this. Although I had not had too much time to worry about my eldest daughter, busy as I had been worrying about myself, she had never been far from my mind altogether.

    "There is something else you ought to know," I said and I told him about the appearance of Ornach. I was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike Caine and my mother Gerard was not outright dismissive of this part of the story. Not that he accepted it without reserve - frankly I had not expected him to - but at least he put up the appearance of some willingness to believe my tale. I told him about Ornach's seven children and that he was still looking for most of them, and of course I included Ornach's clear negative feelings towards Dworkin. Gerard asked some questions about Ornach's story and that of his children, and concluded that it must have been an awful long time ago. With a grave expression he said that I'd better go and tell all this to Random as soon as possible. Eager as I was to go, I still had one question for him: Rhiane? He looked pained, but he couldn't tell me anything save for the fact that she had been missing since this whole thing began and that he had no idea where she might be. Strange. I guessed that she would avoid running into danger, but still. Perhaps I should look into it as soon as everything else was taken care of.

    I finished my wine and bid goodbye to Gerard, getting out my cards for the last part of the journey home. This time Random responded right away to my call and he was more than eager to bring me through. The King was in his study, apparently keeping himself busy with the unavoidable paperwork, but he was anxious to get down to business immediately. It would seem that mine was the first testimony of the events in Chaos he was to receive.

    "Okay, take a seat," he said, "and tell me, what was it precisely?"

    Once again I began my story. Merlin's death drew the appropriate grave response, news of the damaged Logrus was met with a nod, and Jaill Helgram and the conservative revolution didn't cause any surprises. However, when I let slip that I had been the one who had restored the Logrus to its former glory, Random stopped me and with a frown he asked me to repeat what I had just said. So I did, a bit bashfully, and also mentioned the apple that the Serpent had given me, which had made it all possible.

    "You ran into the Serpent?" Random asked incredulously, to which I could only nod. "No wonder the place is a mess," he remarked and muttered something under his breath about the last time It had come to Amber. I shrugged. The Serpent had not been the only Power moving about freely in the Courts.

    Just like Gerard before him Random wanted to know who of the Family had been there in the Courts, so I gave him the whole list and even made sure to mention Delwin this time. Random found it very interesting to hear that his long lost brother had reappeared and asked whether I had spoken to him. I had to disappoint him, for aside from the relatively short Family meeting I had not seen him at all. Still, the information that Delwin had been present at that meeting was enough to raise Random's eyebrows another inch or two.

    Ornach and his children didn't raise any comment from him, but I could see that he didn't disregard them at all and was only reserving judgement till he knew more about the matter. Well, there was a chance that he might get to meet the man himself soon enough; I didn't think that Ornach would be content to be just another also-ran in Courts politics.

    "Another thing you need to know," I said, "has to do with the Logrus and how it was damaged. It is clear that the act itself had been coordinated with the conservative forces in the Courts to coincide with their coup, but there was another party that profitted more from the affair than It should have, namely the Pattern. It was very quick to react to the Logrus's mishap, quicker than any of the other Powers. Also, It took direct possession of Fiona for a while and tried Its best to keep the Logrus from being repaired. If I hadn't put on an act myself to stay out of Its clutches, the Logrus might still be in shambles right now."

    "Hmm," Random said. "Well, we've known for some time that the Powers like to meddle and that they cannot do so directly, but need the help of their agents to reach their goals. During the Patternfall War and before that they seemed to be content to stay in the background and use unknowing agents, but lately this seems to have changed. I know that Merlin ran into some trouble with the Pattern a while ago and so did Rinaldo. I even heard that at a certain point they negotiated with It face to face, so to speak. I can't say what Its current attitude will be, now that Its plans seem to have failed, but no doubt It wont stop interfering that easily."

    Hmm, I hadn't known that about Merlin and Rinaldo, and I didn't like it. Merlin had defied the Pattern and now he was dead. Coincidence? I don't think so. The Serpent's words came back to me: I had cried that I was on no one's side but my own and It had answered me that this was exactly what he had said and that now his blood was killing It. Who else could this he be but Merlin, his blood adding crimson and Pattern to the Logrus? Apparently it wasn't only the Pattern he had defied. But what about me? Where did I stand right now? With either of the Powers or alone? Scary as it was, I found myself turning towards the latter and more dangerous option. Alone then, no Major Powers, but how about allies? It wouldn't hurt, I felt, to have a little talk with Rinaldo and get his side of the story. Perhaps he had found a way to cope with independence.

     All of this passed through my head in the span of a mere few seconds, and I was ready to pick up my conversation with Random where we had left it. "If the Pattern did indeed have a hand in Merlin's murder," I asked, "then who was Its agent?"

    "You tell me," Random said. "Who were present at his death?"

    "I don't know, actually. I know that Adrian and Boadice found his body in the Logrus, and they told me that Suhuy and Dara were there as well, both as mad as a hatter."

    "Dara..." He smirked. "She has walked the Pattern, so she certainly qualifies. Still, I think it's strange, her being his mother and all. Not that Family ties would stop one of us in such a case, but I thought that Merlin was really the apple of Dara's eye. She had seemed awfully keen to get him on the throne. Then again, he may have been too independent for his own good." I shook my head. Hardly reason to kill somebody in my book, but I feared Random was right: for too many of my relatives it would be reason enough.

    "Talking about mothers and such," I said, "you were aware of the fact that Sereva Baccaran had been pregnant with Adrian's child, weren't you?"

    "Yes," he said with a frown, "we suspected as much. But from your words I gather that...?"

    "Miscarriage," I said with a grim nod.

    "Any idea how it happened?" I shook my head. "Do you think Adrian knows?"

    "I can't say," I said, although this wasn't entirely true. I did suspect that Adrian knew what had happened, but as long as he didn't divulge that information freely I felt I should respect his privacy. To steer us away from the subject I mentioned the now defunct possibility of Adrian's child becoming the next king of Chaos.

    "Ah yes, the Parill Option," Random said. I was surprised that he knew this obscure rule by name, but realised that it would be an area for him to read up on, with Vialle's pregnancy and everything. "What is the political situation in the Courts like at the moment?" he asked. "Is Jaill Helgram still in control?"

    "I'm not sure. He may be. I don't really expect him to relinquish power that easily. He even disbanded the Minor and Major Councils."

    "A smart move, if he's able to keep his position."

    "I don't think he was counting on the Logrus being repaired that quickly, though."

    "So that might work to his disadvantage. Interesting. Perhaps he will have to reinstate the Councils to keep control. Who knows." He shrugged, but somehow I felt that he wasn't taking this matter that lightly. "Tell me," he said, "what's the position of Amber been like in this conflict."

    "Well, since the people in the Courts regarded the lot of us a some kind of Major House or something, our `Family policy' was mainly decided by Bleys and Fiona. However, on the whole everyone was too engrossed in their own problems to further Amber's goals. I was too busy dodging the Pattern to pay close attention to what everyone else was doing, so I can't tell you all that much. Adrian somehow lost his unborn child, Boadice ended up working for Ornach, Alexander has his ties with the Hendrakes or what's left of them, and frankly I have no idea what Murlas has been up to.

    "There was one incident that would be interesting to you, I think, which entails Bleys. At one point Jaill Helgram had locked some of the others together in a cell with a shape shifting spy. The spy was discovered and killed, although I must say that I don't know the precise circumstances, since I wasn't there at the time. Bleys either was blamed for the murder, or he took the blame on himself, that's where the story's a bit unclear. Anyway, there was a trial and Bleys was found guilty and sentenced to death. Fortunately he managed to escape, but he is now a wanted man."

    When I had finished Random frowned and asked me to wait a moment while he contacted someone. A few seconds later he brought Benedict through on a Trump contact and I could begin the whole story all over again. Benedict had a complete different angle on the matter, of course; he was much more interested in the military details, such as Fiona's demon army. Quickly it became clear that the real matter we were debating here was the question whether Amber would be sending an intervention force to the Courts or not. For this my uncles needed just about every scrap of information I could dredge up (save from the stuff I wanted to keep private of course), and when a few minutes later Julian was also invited to join the discussion I could once again start at the beginning and go over everything once more. I talked and talked, explained, clarified, conjectured, guessed, and meanwhile messengers came and went, and Trump calls were made to other relatives. Gerard was among those of course, for he was the war council's Trump link to the Courts, direct Trump contact still being out of the question. War council? Well, it was more of a pre-war council, for the final decision to intervene or not still had to be made. It was not something that could be settled lightly.

    While I was present only because of the possible information I could supply, I got a good chance to observe my uncles at work and see what their opinions were. Surprisingly enough Benedict appeared to represent the voice of caution. Amber would intervene if it was necessary, sure, but for him this necessity had to be clearly present before he would act. Of course we were the victors of the last war and as such we shouldn't allow Amber to be overrun by Chaosites, but at this moment there was only a civil war in the Courts, which was strictly speaking an internal affair. The matter of Bleys's conviction was regrettable, but in itself it did not constitute enough reason to send Amber's army off to the other side of the universe. If the sentence had been carried out, things would have been different of course.

    Julian was all for Amber becoming involved in the struggle, saying that we must above all not show weakness. The troops were more than ready, in his opinion, so there were no troubles on that account. The Courts wouldn't be the easiest place to conduct a battle, granted, but it would be to Amber's own advantage if the region were stable once again. On no account should we allow Jaill Helgram to seize power, and Ornach was also rather suspect, he felt. I noticed that the others were a bit wary of Ornach too, and I guess I couldn't blame them; it's always safer to view a new and previously unknown player as an opponent. Despite Julian's conviction that sending in the troops would be for the best, he insisted that we shouldn't send them on account of Bleys's death sentence. Bleys was old and wise enough to fend for himself, he added with that completely neutral expression of his that is his trademark.

    Meanwhile time was dragging on and I was getting restless. I asked whether they still had need of me, only to hear that they would like to keep me close at hand, just in case something came up that I might know more about. I protested, saying that I really needed to take care of my children first, and after some arguments to and fro they relented on the condition that I would return as quickly as possible. Happily I left Random's study for the sitting room next door, where I went and concentrated on finding entrance to the pocket Shadow. Now that its main power source had been switched to Logrus, it wasn't all that pleasant for me to be in there, but apart from that I was glad to find that there had been no difficulties. The children were all doing fine and the time flow had only speeded up a little bit when Taureth had restructured their home, so for them only a little time had passed since I had last seen them. It was clear that Taureth was really a master when it came to this kind of building stuff, yet for all his expertise I didn't think it a good idea to leave the kids inside, especially since it had become harder for me to change the settings. I had Anna and the kids gather some of their essential belongings before I guided them out of the pocket into castle Amber. It wasn't ideal, but with most people gone and the main troubles still being in the Courts I guessed it would do. Perhaps I would construct some new pocket Shadow for them one day, perhaps not.

    When I had made sure that the kids had been provided with a large room which they would share, I once again left them under Anna's care and returned to the war room, just in time to hear Random's final decision. We would not yet become involved, he said, but Julian and Benedict were to have the troops ready to move in at a moment's notice. His rationale was that whatever happened Amber could not continue to control the Courts in its entirety; the Chaosites had to be allowed to settle their own problems. However, should a definite threat to Amber arise, we would be ready to act.

    Reactions to Random's verdict were mixed, of course, though Benedict and Julian are both very good at hiding their true feelings. For myself I felt that it was probably for the best. If we were to intervene to early in the game we might well cause the opposite parties to band together against us Amberites, and then we would have a full-scaled war on our hands. No, careful observation and alertness was best for the moment.

    I managed to catch Benedict before he slipped out again and asked him if he had any news from Shadow Cardane. He told me that he had not been there when the barriers between the Shadows had gone up, but the last few reports he'd seen didn't bode well. Their own civil war was still raging through the whole Shadow, and the diplomatic question of non-intervention had not yet been settled satisfactorily. After all, the Tarsh demons did originate from the Courts and as such they could be seen as an intervention force. Still, Random had not wanted to become too embroiled in the conflict and it would appear that not much had helped to change that yet. Hmm, perhaps I should try to convince him that helping the rebel Cardane was the only logical thing to do, now that the Courts were too caught up in their own struggle. Not that I really wanted to become involved in a war, but Wylde could use all the help she could get, and if Amber didn't take a clear position now, it would have to do so later on when my six Cardane children would be old enough to pick up the fight for their homeland themselves. Forcing the issue now might help to avoid an even nastier situation developing later on.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Back to the index