Chapter 067: First Family

"Wilderness of mirrors

World of polished steel

Gears and iron chains

Turn the grinding wheel

I run between the shadows

Some are phantoms, some are real"

Double Agent - Rush

    Bleary-eyed and somewhat out of focus with the rest of reality I arrived back at Miss Fabre's office. It was about ten o' clock the following morning and I had to keep blinking to screen out the bright Quendorian Spring sun. It's weird how one's surroundings hardly ever fit one's state of mind, even if one is an Amberite.

     After our sorry excuse for a date of the night before it wouldn't have surprised me if Miss Fabre would have looked as if she had barely slept at all - I knew I had. However, she appeared as prim and spirited as the previous day, although her manner had perhaps become a bit more business-like. Sigh. I guess it was my own behaviour that had brought that on. Still, it made it easier to get on with the business at hand.

    "So where do you want to begin?" she asked me when all the necessary papers had been signed to seal our partnership.

    "Brand's study at the university would be a good starting point," I said.

    "Alright. From what I've heard there'll be both magical wards and an electronic security system to contend with. The latter could be bypassed by going through the official channels, but that would undoubtedly require a good deal of time. We could of course go for the unofficial approach... Do you have a clear idea of what you're exactly looking for?"

    "I've got a few possible links, yes," I replied, deliberately keeping it vague. I liked the easy way that she considered breaking and entering as a viable option, though. "Before we get started on this, however," I continued, "I feel that I need to know a bit more about this Lablanche family."

    "Well, it's your family, isn't it?" Miss Fabre said with a shrug.

    "I've been wondering about that. You mentioned something about a portrait of Madame Marie Lablanche yesterday, didn't you?"

    "Oh, it's quite well-known around here. She was one of the founders of the magical arts in Quendor. Wait, I'll show you." She got up and scanned her bookcase for a minute or so, returning with what appeared to be a historical treatise on the origins of magic. She flipped it open on one of the first pages and handed it to me. The portrait was of  a delicate, yet seriously-looking lady dressed in a medieval style of long dress of dark green and gold brocade. The dress went really well with her half-long bright red hair, as well as adding an extra shade to those piercing green eyes. It would appear that Madame Marie Lablanche was, or rather had been, none other than my dearly beloved aunt Fiona. Well, it figured, what with Brand setting up shop around here as well. I scanned the brief background information that went with the picture and learnt that Marie Lablanche's descendants still owned extensive parts of Quendor these days; although the family had never really been very large, there had always been at least one heir to continue the tradition.

    "Interesting," I muttered. "Do you have anything else on them?"

    "No," she said, "but any book seller or library will undoubtedly have a few volumes on the Lablanches."

    "Alright, take me to the nearest book store."

    Outside the sunlight reminded me once again of the wisdom of taking along a pair of sunglasses. Fortunately, there was a store only a few blocks away, and soon I was leafing through a more glossy account of the Lablanche family's personal history. There were plenty of pictures of individual family members, both old and recent, and it didn't take me long to figure out that the family as such had always consisted of only three people: Brand, Bleys, and Fiona. There were some slight differences in their various guises, such a a surprising picture of Bleys without his habitual fiery beard, but anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the family (or Family) would notice that the heriditary resemblance was nothing if not uncanny. I must add, though, that my relatives had gone to some trouble to hide their secret identities from any but the most observant, yet I felt certain that there must at least be a few people in Quendor who would be thinking of conspiracies, perhaps involving some kind of vampires or other undead.

    The last few pages of te book were devoted to how the Lablanche family had fared in recent times, and though it seemed that there wasn't that much to report, I spotted one picture taken at a social gathering that proved to be both interesting and alarming. It showed cousin Rinaldo smiling his usual winning smile at the camera, a young socialite on each arm. The accompanying text named him as Roland Lablanche. I didn't like it. Perhaps it hadn't be such a coincidence that Miss Fabre had already suffered at least two attempts on her life: Rinaldo knew all the names on the list as well, and now it seemed he also knew how to find his way to Quendor. On the other hand, he hadn't been the one to be overly sceptical of his father's warning, Martin had. Of course Rinaldo had been cautious, but if he had shown too much enthusiasm for Brand's ideas, he would have appeared too suspicious to all of us. There was something about Rinaldo's character that made me very reluctant to trust him, but I realised that if Murlas and I had to bring in someone else on this case, he would be one of the best choices.

    Now that I was aware of the Lablanche family's true identity, I was faced with the obligation of paying them a visit to announce my presence in their domain. Strictly Family protocol, but inconvenient all the same. Not that I had to tell them what I was actually doing here, but still. There were a couple of pictures of the Lablanche residence in the book, a large villa that was said to be located a few kilometres from the city, so I at least had an idea where to go. I got only a rough impression of the place, though, for it seemed that the photographer hadn't managed to get anywhere beyond the gate. The book also mentioned the current heir as Aurelia Lablanche, although I felt fairly certain that this was just another alias of Fiona's. Well, it had been a while since I'd last seen her, so perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as all that. In any case, I decided to buy the book as a small present for her; she'd be amused, I was sure.

    Back in Miss Fabre's office I let her in on the secret and explained that I would have to attend to this business first. Meanwhile, she agreed to check out the situation at the university, look up some of her few remaining contacts and see whether some kind of arrangement could be made. The fewer security measures to contend with, the better.

    I spent the surprisingly short taxi ride out to the estate browsing a bit further through the book. There were some intriguing entries here and there on far distant relatives who had appeared in Quendor at certain times to liven things up. Undoubtedly these were references to other Amberites; I was fairly certain that this wild cousin Randolph that  was mentioned at one point as a real hellraiser now held a somewhat more elevated position back in Amber. The things we do in our youth.

    The Lablanche estate was a good deal larger than the pictures had led me to believe. I asked the driver to wait while I rang the bell, for there was no way of knowing whether there was anyone at home. I could of course have Trumped ahead to announce myself, but secretly I was still hoping that both Bleys and Fiona would be elsewhere, in which case my business at the university would certainly remain undetected. To the tinny voice of the butler on the intercom I identified myself as Mr. Grey, a distant relative whose business dealings had suddenly brought him to town. The slightly disdainful hint to the butler's tone of voice as he said that he would see if there was anyone ready to receive me spoke of years of training and probably a high salary. He took his time too, but finally after several minutes the tinny voice returned to announce that Miss Aurelia would be happy to see me. As the gates slowly buzzed open, I quickly paid the driver and then started hiking up the long driveway.

    The villa was situated near the rise of a low range of hills to the north of Quendor, and glancing behind me I saw that it offered a pleasant view of the older parts of the city. This place was probably worth a fortune simply for the land itself, let alone the cost it took to keep the grounds so immaculately well maintained. As I approached the villa itself, I could hear the sound of dogs barking and for a moment I was reminded of aunt Flora's villa in France where I had come across Elayne for the first time. At least this visit would be less bewildering, I thought.

    The appropriately aloof butler frowned only everso slightly when he took in the odd combination of the posh suit and my very long brown hair, but that was the only sign of disaproval that I got from him. I waited in the typical large entry hall, complete with grand stairway and balcony, while the lady of the house was informed of my arrival. The hall had been tastefully decorated, though, with a lot of quite excellent pieces of art, which kept me from becoming bored. There were one or two items that to me appeared to have come from some other Shadows, but they weren't so conspicuously different as to arouse any suspicions amongst the natives.

    A sudden loud bark made me swivel around, just in time for me to be able to keep my balance as two large ruddy shepherd dogs pounded on me. Fortunately, they were merely curious and not hostile, for I feared they could have done serious damage if they had been so inclined.

    "Down! Down!" I heard a young woman's voice call, and after a moment or so the dogs obeyed. I looked up from them to see a young girl who seemed to be just past her teens, dressed in an appropriately expensive yet trendy outfit. Her red hair had been cut very short, giving her a boyish look.

    "I'm sorry," she said, "I take it you are Mr. Grey?"

    "Yes, that's right. Dorian Grey, pleased to meet you."

    "I'm Aura," she replied with a polite little smile. "Are you really family?"

    "Oh yes, I believe so," I said, but meanwhile I couldn't help but wonder. I had expected to find Fiona or Bleys here, and instead there was this girl whom I had never seen before. Could it be that I had come across another previously unknown cousin?

    The sudden tingling of an oncoming Trump contact effectively derailed my train of thought, and I had to concentrate for a second or two to fend it off. Whoever it was had better try and call me back later, when I wasn't caught up in any strange meetings of this kind. I had no idea how much this girl Aurelia knew about Amber or Trumps, and if she was in fact a daughter of either Bleys or Fiona I wasn't going to mess things up by teaching her about this stuff.

    To hide my Trump activities from her I put on an expression of mild surprise, as if she wasn't entirely what I had expected, which wasn't that hard to do. There was something odd about her, though, apart from the fact that she was a stranger to me, that is. She seemed very polite and all, but underneath I felt that she wasn't entirely at ease with me being there. Hmm...

    "But tell me," she said, "how exactly are we related?" I quickly spun some wild yarn of grandfathers and some connection in the fourth or fifth degree, which also helped to explain why I wasn't using the family name. Aura told me that most people who could lay claim to the name Lablanche usually did so, often in an attempt at collecting a handout from the estate. My whole manner indicated that that was just about the thing that I was least interested in, and she good-naturedly seemed to accept my story. There was still a feeling of unease I sensed in her, though, and now that I was again paying more attention to her I began to notice something that made me feel rather ill at ease too. It took me a moment or two to realise that while Aura hadn't walked the Pattern, as I had more or less expected anyway, she actually wouldn't be able to do so even if she wanted to: the girl didn't have a trace of Amber blood in her veins!

    I blinked at her in astonishment and only barely managed to keep the stream of mindless chatter from suddenly turning into an embarrassed silence. Yes, I travelled a lot, and I could tell her so much about other places, and so on and so forth... Meanwhile my mind raced around and probed at the enigma from various angles. Who was she? Not a child of Bleys or Fiona's, that much was sure, but how could she be using the Lablanche name? She wasn't just any member of that family either, she was the heir to their entire fortune. And why did my presence continue to make her feel so uncomfortable? Without being too conspicuous about my interest I started asking her about her immediate family and learned that both her parents had passed away quite some time ago. Her only remaining close relative was one uncle Lothair, a name, by the way, that I hadn't come across in the book. Apparently he was currently at home, and when I mentioned that I would like to see him as well, Aura had the butler call him down for some tea in the drawing-room. While we waited for him to join us, we continued our conversation, keeping everything light and pleasant without letting on how unnerved we both really were by the whole situation.

    Lothair turned out to be a rather imposing figure of a man with half-long pitch black hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked in his late thirties, but something told me he would undoubtedly be much older, since his presence was too strong for a mere Shadow being; I had noticed him even before he had stepped into the room. As we regarded one another for the first time, I sensed that I made him uncomfortable too. I got up and introduced myself, smiling pleasantly all the while. He returned my smile, but while we were shaking hands I got the feeling that he was scanning me, right until he seemed to have arrived at some sort of private conclusion. My eyes flared a little as I suddenly caught a whiff of Power from him. At first I felt as if I couldn't place it, but then a vague recollection began to emerge: yes, I had felt the same thing before, twice even. The first time had been with Aradia, the second time in the prison cell where I had killed Azrain. I felt myself go cold as I recalled what Fiona had later said about him having been able to channel any sort of Power in its rawest, most basic form. The girl had it too, I now realised, although Lothair apeared to have a great deal more control over it. Who the hell were these people? And what were they doing here?

    Even though Lothair must have known that my cover of being a distant relative was as phoney as I knew his own claim to the Lablanche name to be, we kept up the pretense during my entire visit. Giving the matter due consideration I decided that it would be very unwise to bring up the many questions that I had without first posing them to either Fiona or Bleys. For all I knew these two were their guests here, whom they wanted to keep secret from the other Amberites. I didn't want to mess up any of their plans, even inadvertently, and giving them ample opportunity to explain things would be the wisest course of action, I felt. Also, bringing things to a head could be very dangerous: I didn't know what these people were actually capable of, but from what I had seen of Aradia and Azrain it wasn't something I would want to mess with without at least a bit more info. This wasn't a case of just rushing in and demanding the answers, this was one for extreme caution.

    So, we simply talked, and after tea I had the butler call me another taxi to take me back to the city. Before I tried to contact the real lord and lady Lablanche, though, I first went back to Miss Fabre's office to see how she had fared at the university. The news wasn't favourable, however: the authorities were very reluctant to let anyone deal with the matter of professor Lablanche's estate, especially since they had no idea how the wards would react if anyone started messing with them. Of course I was free to file an official request with the board, which would have to travel  its course round the various committees and subcommittees before being either refused or approved of. Miss Fabre indicated that this would take a great deal of time and added that there was the basic problem of the precedent this case would set if they approved of my request. Brandon Lablanche had never officially resigned from his post at the university, nor had the board seen it fit to tender him his resignation in absentia. There was a real privacy problem involved, which would require a lot of discussion before it could be resolved. The only thing that appeared to be working in our favour was the board's own curiosity at the things professor Lablanche might have left behind.

    "Do you intend to wait for the offical approval?" she asked me. I thought a while before shaking my head.

    "No, I don't think so, but I'll give it another night before making my decision. The other business at the Lablanche estate turned out to be a bit more peculiar than I had expected." She raised her eyebrows, but refrained from asking for details. A good thing too, cause I didn't know where to begin if I wanted to explain this problem to her.

    I waited with trying to contact Fiona until I was back at my hotel suite, but she wasn't responding. Damn. I would have preferred dealing with her instead of with Bleys. Not that I particularly disliked him or anything, but I simply felt closer to Fiona because of the early training she had given me and the recent adventures we had shared in Chaos. Still, the only negative aspect to Bleys that I could think of was him having adopted Boadice, but I guess that wasn't enough cause for mistrust or even animosity. Not entirely, no...

    Bleys accepted my call immediately, as if he had been expecting to hear from somebody. He looked uncharacteristically grim and serious and did not even nod to acknowledge me.

    "Dorian," he simply said.

    "Uncle Bleys," I responded politely.

    "I hope you are not calling me on behalf of that bastard who nearly got my sister killed," he said coldly. "Fiona," he added when he saw my shock and bewilderment. "I see you haven't heard about it yet. She had been busy investigating Llewella's strange behaviour and all the circumstances pertaining to that case. Apparently, the trail had led her to Sherwyn. Next thing I know is Gerard telling me how Adrian handed her back to him, more dead than alive. She'd been shot with a crossbow bolt." He had relaxed only a little bit as he told me this; tension, anger and distrust still featured largely in his present state of mind. I didn't have to put on a face for him, for my shock and dismay came quite naturally.

    "What's her current status?" I managed to ask.

    "She's stable, fortunately." Thank the Unicorn for that. I sighed, swallowed, then stiffened my resolve.

    "Well, as you can tell this is the first I heard about it. It wasn't why I called, in any case."

    "I was perhaps a bit hasty," Bleys said with a shrug, "but you and Adrian have aways been rather good friends. Never mind."

    "I assume he has a perfectly good explanation for what happened."

    "If he has, he didn't want to give it to Gerard," he said darkly. "But he will, don't worry." I suddenly recalled that Adrian had still a duel to fight against him, so things hadn't been that good between them to start with. Now they had suddenly got worse. "Anyway," Bleys sighed, "what did you want to see me about?"

    "As it so happens I am presently in Quendor," I started explaining, "and by sheer coincidence I came across the link between the Lablanche family and certain of my own relatives."

    "Yes, it's true that Fiona and I tend to use that name while we're over there. I haven't been in Quendor for over decades, though."

    "Hmm. Well, according to proper Family protocol I payed a visit to the Lablanche estate, thinking I would either find you or Fiona there. To my surprise there were some other people living under that name, who seemed rather peculiar to me."

    "No Family?"

    "No Amber Family at least. Their names were Lothair and Aurelia."

    "Never heard of them." He frowned. "This is quite puzzling. As far as I know, Fiona, Brand, and myself were the only three of the Family who ever put up permanent residence in Quendor. All the Lablanches have been aliases for either one of us. If I have any descendants living over there, I have not been aware of them, and as far as I can say the same thing goes for Fiona."

    "I see I haven't been a hundred percent clear," I said. "Lothair and Aurelia don't even have the blood of Amber to begin with."

    "You mean they simpy usurped our name? I take that as a personal insult."

    "They are not merely Shadow dwellers, though," I added a bit hesitantly. "They have some form of Power."

    "What? Logrus? Nexus?"

    "No, neither as far as I could tell. I'm not sure what it is." That much was true, but something made me refrain from mentioning Azrain or Aradia. I didn't know what it was, but something in Bleys's reaction made me feel as if I had to pay Aurelia and uncle Lothair a second visit, this time without the pretense. Dropping either Azrain's or Aradia's names might make the matter a little more urgent for Bleys, and I wanted at least some time to do some investigating of my own.

    "Hmm," Bleys mused. "Well, thank you for the information. I'll be sure to look into it."

    "You don't know whether Fiona has perhaps been busy over there, do you?"

    "No, and at the moment she can't answer any of our questions. I'll mention it to her when she regains consciousness, though, and have her contact you herself."

    "Okay, that will be fine. I must admit that I'm also curious for any official statements from Sherwyn concerning her condition," I added.

    "Aren't we all? It may take a while, though." He told me about another development that had entirely passed me by: Sherwyn was currently at war with Galoria. The specifics weren't altogether clear, but it seemed that the initial attack had come from cousin Adrian's domain, so surprisingly Sherwyn seemed to have the role of the aggressor in this conflict. I barely managed to keep my head from shaking in disbelief. What was Adrian caught up in now? He must be crazy to go to war at a time like this, or at any time really. Had that silly crown gone to his head, or was there something more sinister at work here?

    I thanked Bleys in turn for the info and asked him to keep me informed of Fiona's condition, before breaking the contact. During my dinner that evening, which the hotel room service brought up to my suite, I tried to collect my thoughts and come up with some form of strategy or plan for the coming days, but my mind kept straying back to Fiona and my worries over her. Our adventures with and inside of Taureth's Trump had shown that she tended to be more than a little over-confident at times, and I wondered whether this had been one of those occasions. I realised I truly worried about her, trying to visualize a life without her and failing miserably. Somehow, somewhere along the line she had grown into something more than merely a mentor or a teacher for me; she was a friend, one of the few I had in this Family, and I guess you could say she had even become something like a surrogate mother. I realised that with all the trouble between me and Deirdre, I might even be closer to Fiona than to my real mother. A sad thought, but true all the same.

    I had just finished off my desert and was staring out over the twinkling lights of the city, when I got a Trump call. I accepted, expecting it to be someone like Bleys or Gerard with news of Fi, but instead I found Alexander on the other end.

    "Hello," he said, "do you have a moment or are you busy?" I shrugged, indicating that I could spare some time. "You'd better come over then," he said. "It's better not to discuss these things over a Trump." The room behind him was unfamiliar to me, but I figured that I could easily find my way back to Quendor if need be, so I clasped his hand and stepped through into what proved to be another hotel room, though markedly cheaper than my own.

    "There's a lot going on right now," he said, leading me to some chairs, "and I feel you should know about it. You are familiar with the universe of the Black Unicorn, aren't you?"

    "I know of it, yes," I replied. I would guess most of us did by now.

    "Well, I've just been over there, and they are in real trouble. First of all, their Jewel of Judgement never found its way back to Amber. Secondly, their Courts of Chaos have control over everything except for the Golden Circle Shadows. Their Pattern's power has been decreased to only twenty percent of its original strength, so things look pretty bleak." Any other person would have heaved a sigh after such a stream of bad news, but this was Alexander, so he just plodded on.

    "Meanwhile, it would seem the Courts over there are under the influence of some alien entities from another reality, who are also, as we speak, trying to invade our own universe. They have already staged one attack on our Courts, and are now in the process of staging one on Galoria, with the assistance of Sherwyn, it must be added.

    "As I said, I've seen the situation in the Black Unicorn universe for myself, and they are fighting a losing battle. We have to stop them before they can get as far over here. I don't exactly know how they operate, but the fact that they're in control over that universe's Courts says enough."

    This was rather a lot of information, and it took me a while before I could frame some response. "Do these entities you are talking about have a name that you're aware of?"

    "No, I only know that they use certain closed off sections of the Nexus to invade different realities." Great. We should never have let that Blue Macaroni get a foot in the door.

    "I already heard about the war between Sherwyn and Galoria from Bleys," I said, "but I wasn't aware of all these other details. They throw some new light on the situation, no doubt about that." He nodded grimly.

    "I'm going up to the Overshadow shortly with someone else in order to try and thwart their efforts from over there. I just felt that at least one other Amberite had to know about these things beside myself, and you seemed like the logical choice, since Adrian is in league with the enemy and Murlas is far to close with him as well. As for Boadice, well..." He didn't have to finish his sentence; I knew that there was no love lost between them. I was wondering about Adrian, though. He and Alexander simply hated each other's guts, and with good reason too, but I found it harder to believe that he would willfully side with the kind of people Alex had described to me just now. That is, if all of this information was correct to begin with. Perhaps it would be a good idea to call Adrian later on and get his side of the story. It would also give him a chance to explain about Fiona.

    "I see," I said to Alexander. "Have you ever been to the Overshadow before?"

    "No, not yet. Got any useful tips?" So I told him some of the things I had figured out during my latest visit, such as that everything there was done with he power of one's own mind and the absolute uselessness of the Pattern in that place. I asked him whether he had heard about Fiona, which he hadn't, so I told him all Bleys had told me, mentioning the Llewella investigation as well, but emphasizing that I didn't know how it was connected to Sherwyn.

    "Do you have any idea of what was actually wrong with her? With Llewella, I mean."

    "No," I said. "Frankly, I haven't paid much attention to the whole matter till now. Other things on my mind, you know."

    "I understand," he said. "One other thing, if you ever have to go up against these beings from other realities, don't rely on your Pattern abilities too much. I've learned that with the right use of the Nexus I can defend myself against that sort of thing. With only a bit of preparation I could easily screen off your Pattern and keep you from using it." Or so he believed. I wasn't convinced it would be that easy, though, but if he wanted to think so, why should I bother making him see differently. Still, it was useful to know that he had knowledge of such things, even if I had been aware all along of the possibilities of negating a person's Power with any of the other major ones.

    "I'll keep it in mind," I said non-committally. "Oh, I assume you have heard about Belissa by now?"

    "Yes," he said grimly, "and I know who's going to pay for it too." Meaning Tirga of course, or in her absence the remainder of House Ysarn. "Either the Hendrakes are going to cry vendetta, or I'll personally see to it that they will receive a little visit from a Fire Angel." Ouch! He was serious about this one. Fire Angels didn't come cheap, so he must really see this as a personal matter. Meaning of course that his ties with the former Hendrakes were a lot stronger than even I had thought.

    We both took a few moments to think of any other things we would want to share, but it seemed that we had finished for now. Alex cheerfully informed me that I would have no trouble Trumping back from this place to where I had come from, since it was conveniently located in one of the Shadows that were literally in the centre of things. I glanced out of the window and to my surprise I recognized the bright lights of the fairground in Quendor, where we had confronted the assassins who had been after Melusine. I didn't know why Alexander had picked this spot to contact me, but it made me feel slightly wary. Still, if he had known that I had been in Quendor, he hadn't let on to it. Perhaps this was only what he had told me: a convenient place for contacting people. I wished him luck and waited for him to Trump out before I left myself. Not by Trump or Pattern, but simply through the door. Why exert yourself needlessly, when a credit card and a taxi would also do the trick?

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