Chapter 072: New Svarta
"You were caught in the cross fire of childhood and
stardom
Blown on the steel breeze
Come on you target for faraway laughter
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr
And shine!"
Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd
My mother, or so I had hoped (already on the brink of despair).
Alexander, possibly. Murlas, annoyingly. But no, he was about the last person I
had expected to Trump me at that moment. Not my enemy. Not Adrian. I should have
hesitated longer before accepting the call.
He looked slightly exasperated, as always, and kept frowning at someone
else in the room with him whom I couldn't see, yet he managed a quick: "How
are you?"
"I'm okay," I mumbled, wondering whether I should (and would be
able to) raise any kind of mental defense. Not that Adrian was all that skilled
in this department, but you never could tell.
"Glad to hear it," he said, and I could feel that some part of
him was genuinely relieved. "There is someone here who wanted to hear from
you. Your mother." What...! Immediately I picked up Deirdre's unmistakeable
curt and domineering voice through the contact, demanding to speak to me
personally, and next thing I knew she was there touching Adrian's shoulder and
addressing me directly without paying any further heed to my royal cousin.
Was I glad to see her! Where she had gone to had been my very first
question after I had sufficiently recovered from my ordeal, and I hadn't been
too happy to hear that Aradia had had no idea of where she and Karnach could
have ended up. Apparently she didn't always know what lay on the other side of
these portals of hers, especially when she simply wanted something to be gone
instead of wanting to go some place herself. I had already been riffling through
my Trump deck, looking for Deirdre's card, when I had gotten the call.
After some quick reassurances that everything in Cardane was more or less
alright, I of course wanted to know how Deirdre had come to be in Sherwyn of all
places, but she simply suggested that `this traitor' should do the explaining
and broke contact to smoke another cigarette. She was on edge, that much was
clear, and she probably wasn't going easy on the traitor in question, but I
guess he deserved it.
"So, explain," I said to Adrian.
"Well," he sighed, "apparently Karnach returned to H.Q.
with your mother, and she spent some time negotiating with Assuo, the commander
in chief. She agreed upon staying on as a prisoner of war, in return for which
she would
be brought here. She had no doubt hoped that Corwin would be in Sherwyn,
and she is not very pleased to find him absent, and neither am I, I must
say." I couldn't help it, but despite everything that had happened I felt
just a hint of pity for him. Not much, though, but it was clear that he hadn't
been consulted in any way when this deal between her and this Assuo had been
struck.
"I think I'll call you back in a moment or so," I said, wanting
to discuss the situation with Benedict and Caine first.
"Hold on," he said, "just so you know it and won't do
anything rash, Deirdre swore an oath that she would remain here until the attack
has somehow reached its end." I nodded; we would simply have to arrange for
it to have ended, then.
Benedict agreed, once I had explained the current situation. He gently
prodded Lothair with his sword and suggested that it might be time to sound the
retreat.
"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Lothair said,
swallowing a little with a sidelong glance at Benedict's awfully sharp blade.
"One would say that you ought to have achieved your goals by
now," Benedict replied with a hint of a smile.
"Not quite, not quite," Lothair mused.
"You shouldn't want too much too soon."
"I guess that's true."
"I don't want to break up anything," I said a bit annoyed at
their studied vagueness, "but just from a practical point of view, what is
supposed to happen to the remnants of your army?" I had observed earlier
that there were still quite a lot of enemy soldiers out there in what remained
of Svarta, or rather in the new Svarta. But more about this later.
"Oh, they'll find their own way back," Lothair said with a
shrug. "Or not, as the case may be. Either way, it doesn't really
matter."
"And just what were you hoping to achieve with this little
exercise?" I
insisted. Might as well try to get some answers, futile as the attempt
would be. Benedict gave me an appraising look.
"It was just a small test to gauge some reactions," he said.
"Now that everyone has had their chance to get acquainted, I think
we can call it quits for now. And I believe this gentleman will agree with
me."
"We wouldn't have minded getting a bit closer to Galoria,"
Lothair mused, "but we've got a good indication of the various capabilities
of certain parties. I'm sure the next confrontation will be much more
interesting."
"Should you ever venture in the vicinity of Amber...," Benedict
suggested with a smile, clearly relishing the prospect. I didn't know whether I
agreed with him, but I didn't feel in a position to argue.
"We'll let you know if we're in the neighbourhood," Lothair
said mirroring Benedict's smile. I frowned. They could plan future engagements
for all they liked as far as I was concerned, but next time they should leave me
out of their little charades. This confrontation here had nearly cost me more
than I would ever be willing to pay, and the memory was too fresh for me to be
able to take the matter this lightly. I glanced at Caine, who was silently
leaning
"Is our business concluded here?" Benedict asked me. "They
sound the retreat, your mother is released, and we let this gentleman go his way
so that he may pose a more interesting challenge sometime in the future."
"I guess so," I mumbled. "Third time lucky." Benedict
nodded and withdrew his sword from Lothair's throat. Still smiling pleasantly he
rubbed his throat, made Aradia give him back his Trumps, an after a final quick
look at the four of us he Trumped out.
"Are we done now?" Aradia inquired with the same petulant tone
of voice in which she had defended her action of removing both Karnach and
Deirdre at one and the same time.
"It would seem so," Benedict mused.
"Now what?" she insisted.
"That's up to you," he said, turning to face her. "If you
want, I can place you under my protection."
"No, thanks," she smirked, "I've been under other people's
protection for long enough."
"As you wish." Benedict retrieved a Trump from his own deck and
handed it to her. "Just in case." She gave a half nod and simply
walked out the door without so much as a final glance at either me or Caine. I
realised that I still wanted to talk to her sometime, but somehow she hadn't
seemed that approachable at this particular moment and I didn't yet feel up to
it myself. I felt strange. Different. I needed time to figure out in what
manner, but that kind of reflection would best be done in solitude. However, I
couldn't resist asking Benedict whether he had met Lothair before, now that I
still had a chance.
"Not personally," he said. "I have gathered some
information about him and his people, but I have to say that the picture is far
from complete." He once again turned that appraising gaze on me. "If
there's anything substantial to report, you'll hear about it," he
concluded.
And that was that. There wasn't any way for me to get him to say more
without arousing his temper, and I was grateful enough for his recent help not
to want to annoy him needlessly. I took pains to express my thanks in as formal
terms as possible, all in the name of Family protocol, after which Benedict
Trumped away too, leaving me alone with Caine.
Well, first things first. I contacted Adrian again and suggested he'd
confirm the end of the offensive with his own sources. He seemed happy to do so,
undoubtedly eager to get rid of my mother as soon as possible. While I waited
for his return call, I checked out Caine's wound, despite his initial reluctance
to let me do so. Strangely enough, he had nothing more than a light flesh wound,
nothing nearly as severe as would account for the short period he had been
unconscious. He was as mystified as I was, I could tell; I was beginning to get
to know his mannerisms a bit, I realised, and it allowed me to pick up on these
kinds of emotions. I shrugged at him to indicate my own puzzlement. Perhaps it
was connected with that orange glow that had occurred at the moment when the
Shadow storm had collapsed, but the Unicorn only knew what that had all been
about. For the time being, I was content with feeling happy about him having
come out of it so well, and I would postpone any questions on his miraculous
escape till such time when they would seem more urgent.
In silence we ate the light meal that Wylde's people had supplied for us.
The princess herself would see me later they assured me, but she was still busy
assessing the new situation. I had noticed earlier, in a kind of subconscious
way, that the collapse of the Shadow storm had had its effects on the entire
region, but I would look into the specifics later on. It could wait.
An hour or so later I got my expected Trump call from King Adrian I. Yes,
it all checked out okay and Deirdre was free to go. Only problem was her sudden
announcement that she didn't want to leave before her Trumps were returned to
her. And Adrian, being her `host' and all, had to arrange it for her. I picked
up on their repartee through the Trump link with my cousin, and I could also
sense his sinking feeling at her sudden change of plans.
"I assume that I'll very soon witness my mother's return back here
in Cardane, won't I?" I said pleasantly.
"Well, you can hear what she has to say about that," he sighed.
"She is free to leave any time, but no, she first wants her Trumps
back."
"And I want to speak to Corwin!" Deirdre called out in the
background. Oh dear, she was in one of her moods again. I assured Adrian that I
would take the matter up with her myself and promptly did so by calling her on
her own Trump. As soon as we had contact she was all sweetness and light again,
as if nothing had happened.
"I gather that you won't be leaving Sherwyn just yet, will you
Mother?" I inquired with mock solemnity.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly deprive Adrian of the joy of my continuing
presence here, could I? Especially when I still have several quite large bones
to pick with him. But enough about me. How are you? Is it all over now? How did
it end?" I quickly told her the general course of events after her untimely
disappearance without getting too much into the specifics of it all. I had to
ask her, though, whether staying in Sherwyn was all that smart. "Don't
worry about me," she said with a smile. "I'll be fine, and I'll take
care of Adrian too." I couldn't resist a commiserative smirk, but he did
have it coming. Perhaps Corwin would be able to keep her out of his hair.
"It may be useful having a look around there," I admitted,
"but be careful all the same. And we should take the time to talk a bit
more," I added gravely.
"Very soon. There are some things that won't wait."
"I know." She wouldn't let my seriousness disturb her smile.
"Later. Be well."
Caine grinned when I told him about Deirdre's immediate plans.
"Perhaps I should join her there," he mused, but quickly dismissed the
notion on the grounds of Corwin's probable presence making him less than
welcome. I shrugged
and said that he was free to stay in Cardane for as long as he liked, but he
told me he had some other business to attend to, so he too would be leaving
right away. With a handshake and a look of mutual understanding I
thanked him for all he had done, before watching him disappear in the
usual sparkle of rainbow colours. And then there was one...
After having finished off the last bits of our supper, I wandered out in
search of Wylde, who I found at the government building taking stock of the
repercussions on Cardane. Feeling a bit rested, yet still not altogether myself,
I cautiously decided to venture out again with my Pattern vision to see what the
lingering effects of my recent actions would be.
The first thing I noticed was that Cardane appeared more or less the way
it had been, save for a border region right next to Svarta. When trying to
contain the Shadow storm I had caused, I had been forced temporarily to drop the
barrier around Cardane, so for a short while it too had fallen prey to my
creation's unsatiable appetite. Part of the zone that bordered closest to Svarta
had simply been erased, along with any villagers who might have lived there, but
in its place there was now a new region which appeared to link the two Shadows
directly together, like some sort of very wide Shadow path. It was now possible
for ordinary Shadow beings to cross between the two Shadows at will, and that
was not all: similar zones had sprung into existence between Svarta and what
remained of each of its five other neighbouring Shadow clusters. These had been
affected much more severely than Cardane had, but of each at least a small
nucleus remained, containing the original essence of the cluster. There was
Zellion, a Shadow fairly reminiscent of Earth during its so-called Renaissance
period and still quite heavily populated. There was Takia, a fertile mountainous
paradise dotted with hundreds of little lakes and inhabited by a race of rather
primitive but
friendly dwarf-like creatures. There was Mondar, a serene ocean world
with a great variety of marine life but no sentient beings of any kind. There
was Tenkuli, a dark mountainous world cloaked in a deadly sulphuric atmosphere,
yet strangely tranquil and beautiful to behold. And finally, there was Limas,
another Earth-like Shadow populated by a technologically advanced race of
centaurs, a few of whom had survived the onslaught of the Sherwynian army and
who were now keeping well out of the way of the retreating forces. Their world
was in ruins, yet observing these
people I could tell that they had not given up hope and were determined
to rebuild their society. Given enough time, I was sure they would succeed too.
Letting my gaze run over the ranks and lines of Lur slowly making their
way back to Sherwyn, I finally turned my attention to Svarta, or what was left
of it. Strangely enough, it seemed to have lost less of it territory than its
neighbours, as if the ultimate destruction of the Shadow storm had recreated
what had been destroyed earlier. The terrain was different too: a few hazy wisps
still lingered in some places, but the thick fog that had shrouded everything
before had all but lifted, and a weak and watery sun for the first time shone
its light on the dark, foreboding swamps. Surprisingly, there appeared to be
something still alive down there: not the bat creatures who had originally
inhabited this forsaken place, but some groups of Lur, the little greyish
humanoids, had apparently decided to stay behind and start some new life here.
As I scanned the surroundings I saw how a third part of what remained of the Lur
forces were heading off into some unspecified direction other than Sherwyn. From
the fact that all the insectoid commanders as well as what remained of the
flying white squadrons and the gigantic worms were travelling with the first
group back along the route they had come, I guessed that these second and third
groups of Lur were deserters from their Great Cause. I thought it best to keep
an eye on the group staying in Svarta, or rather New Svarta as I was beginning
to refer to it for myself, but so far they showed little hostile intentions and
seemed rather keen on establishing their own little niche in this large and
dangerous universe. Since the original population had been all but wiped out,
there was plenty of room for them to start building too.
The sunshine and the new settlers weren't the only things that had
changed in Svarta, the whole Shadow had undergone some kind of transmutation.
The energies released at the time of the Shadow storm's collapse had been
largely focused inwards, at the point of the storm's origin, and they had
altered Svarta somehow, making it more than simply the ordinary Shadow it had
been before. I don't really know how to describe it, but it felt more `real'
than it had been before. I guess it was now less susceptible to the forces of
the Pattern and the Logrus, as if it had its own little bit of power to sustain
it. It was truly a New Svarta, entirely different from the nightmare place it
once had been.
And there was something else. It felt as if New Svarta was now somehow
linked to me personally. At first I thought that I was simply seeing my own
lucky escape reflected in the new sunshine and the construction processes of the
Lur, but it was more than that. The Shadow storm had acknowledged me as its
creator, and in some mysterious way this relation must have carried over to New
Svarta, the end product of its final death throes. I didn't yet know how to feel
about this and decided to leave exploring this tie to some other time. Still,
the link gave me a rather positive feeling, reflected in the more general calm I
had felt since emerging triumphantly from the inner confrontation with my
destructive side. Perhaps there was an order to this, a cycle of destruction and
rebirth, something good coming from something bad. I felt a certain comfort at
the thought.
There was, in fact, a direct and concrete example of this philosophy in
the case of the red balloon creatures with their carnivorous worms. They hadn't
rejoined the army but had also stayed behind as a part of New Svarta's
ecosphere. They too had been changed, I realised after having observed them for
a while: the worms would still devour everything that they landed on,
irregardless of what it was, but their hosts no longer steered them towards
Two other kinds of stragglers from the Sherwynian army had to be dealt
with more directly, for both seemed uncertain of their purpose. The first group
constituted of the human individuals who had been part of the hive mind
that had been my main opponent within the enemy army. They had all
escaped the grasp of the storm, having been very near to the barrier between
Svarta and Cardane at the time, and I found them aimlessly wandering the border
region between New Svarta and Cardane. Closer observation showed that their link
with this hive structure had been permanently severed, freeing them of its
restraints and returning them to their original personalities. For it turned out
that this hive creature, which was known as the Kreel, was a parasite that took
complete control over the bodies of the people it invaded, leaving them
incapable to resist its commands. The people who had been freed from its
clutches hailed from different Shadows, possibly even different Realities, and
the task of returning them to their own homes seemed almost impossible.
Eventually I approached them myself (that's how I got to hear about the Kreel)
and they agreed upon the alternative of staying around here and making a new
life for themselves. Since Zellion was the place where I judged they would best
fit in, I took them there and helped them settle down, providing them with money
and all the other stuff they needed to get started. These were all people who
had lost a little bit of their lives, and as a result they seemed to stick
closer together as a group. On the whole this was a good thing, since there were
a couple of children among them who could hardly have made their own
living without some help from others, but it also made them stand out more among
the native Zellions. Still, I took the time to make sure that they would be
alright in their new homes. After all that had happened to them, they deserved
no less.
The other straggler was a single creature, although you could say that
there was a certain plurality about it too. It was the sole remaining gigantic
hydra. Somehow it had been left behind when the rest of the army sounded its
retreat. It was of course hard to miss, but my attention was also drawn to it
because the Lur were all keeping well away from the beast. With some initial
concern I watched the monster from a distance, but it didn't seem to pose any
serious threat. Instead, it appeared to be involved in some serious conversation
between its twelve individual heads. The original hydras in the army had been
far from inteligent, so this last one had presumably also been affected by the
Shadow storm's demise; the fact that it was now capable of a quiet and
reasonable argument with itself indicated as much. With a little bit of trouble
I was able to listen in on the discussion, which was all about what it was going
to do next. A majority of its heads seemed to be in favour of finding some other
pastime than waging war, to which some of the others objected, saying that they
had been awfully good at it so far and it would be a shame to waste their
talents. Besides, now they were all alone.
After a few minutes of listening to this kind of conversation I decided
that it was probably safe enough for me to approach the beast directly. It
seemed a lot less aggressive and more curious, so I figured that its first
reaction wouldn't just be to eat me on the spot, and something had to be done
about it, for it couldn't simply stay around here without ever getting hungry,
could it? Still, I kept my Trump of Amber close at hand all the same.
As I calmly strode towards it, one huge head registered my approach and
swooped down to face me. Its mouth alone was at least several times as big as I
was, but belying the menacing jaws the look in its eyes reflected something
closer to curiosity. It's scales reflected a myriad of shades of green in the
fresh New Svartan sunlight.
"Hello there," it roared, not unkindly.
"Hello to you too," I shouted back. "I was wondering what
you were planning to do."
"Oh, we still don't know. We're talking it over." And had been
for quite some time. The beast may have gained
some level of intelligence, it still didn't rank among the fastest of
thinkers.
"Do you intend to stay here?"
"Some of us want to. Others don't. That's the problem. We're
undecided."
"Only, I can take you elsewhere, if you want," I called.
"Everyone wants something else," the huge head pondered and
fell silent again.
"If you're staying here, though," I tried, "what do you
want to do? How do you want to arrange things?"
"We don't know yet," it repeated. "We're still searching.
Are you the boss around here?"
"I guess so. Yes. Yes, I am." I might as well be.
"Wait here," it said, and the head swung upwards again to
report its findings to its fellow heads. Soon I was totally surrounded by
inquisitive hydra heads, making me feel even less at ease than I had already
been. They merely wanted to talk to me, though.
"We're pleased to meet you," one of the heads said. "And
your name is...?"
"Dorian. And what are you called? Do you each have separate names,
or do you have one name for all of you together?" This generated a bit of a
stir as they sorted it out. It would appear that they neither had individual
names nor a shared one, but they did have a sense of identity: each head knew
who it was, as well as being able to distinguish amongst its fellows. I
suggested that they might want to think up a name for themselves and assured
them that it was important to know who you were in this universe. They said they
would talk it over among themselves.
"You haven't yet come to an agreement about what you want to do,
have you?" I said to keep the conversation on track.
"What is there to do for us around here?" one head inquired.
"It is a large area," it mused. "There should be plenty enough
for us to eat."
"I'm not just going to wander around aimlessly all the time,"
another head objected.
"Just out of curiosity," I ventured, already dreading the
likely reply, "but what is it exactly that you usually eat?"
"Meat!" a number of heads shouted in unison, almost deafening
me.
"No, we're having nothing of that," some of the others
objected, equally loudly. "Vegetables and plants and... and stuff, that's
what we want."
"Nothing wrong with a nice piece of meat," one head, which had
not spoken before, said in a slightly posh tone of voice. "Should be nice
and lean, however, with the right texture and not too many bones. And some nice
seasoning, of course, but that goes without saying..." It dawdled on a bit
about hydra haute cuisine while its fellow heads either watched it in bemusement
or rolled their eyes at me in mock despair.
"Ehm...," I ventured, "if you really want to stay here, I
might be able to arrange something."
"Like what?"
"Well, you know that one region where those cat-like people
live?"
"Are they tasty?" one of the carnivorous heads inquired
innocently.
"No, no, no, I don't want you to eat them. I'm very fond of those
people. No, I was wondering whether you would not like to serve as their
guardian from now on. Then they can go hunting for you and bring you all the
food you want."
"But... what is it we would have to do exactly?"
"As their guardian you're required to keep them safe from any
threats from outside of their world. If some enemy troops, for instance, try to
invade their territory, you'll have to stop them, or..."
"Eat them?" one suggested eagerly.
"Eat them," I confirmed happily.
"Oh, we can do that," the heads who had earlier shouted about
meat declared proudly. The vegetarians, however, looked more doubtful.
"Or you can stomp on them, or tear them limb from limb, or something
like that," I added. This made them all look a lot happier. The twelve
hydra heads momentarily withdrew to discuss my offer among themselves, but
remarkably soon they returned to say that they would take me up on it. Good. Now
all I had to do was convince Wylde of the merits of adopting this beast.
Of course, she wasn't too sure about it at first, but after I had taken
her to talk with her prospective protector herself, she felt more at ease with
the idea. It was always better to have such a creature on your own side than to
have to fight it, she remarked pragmatically. However, she wondered whether they
would be able to forage enough food to keep it happy; should it be necessary,
they might have to venture out into neighbouring Shadows to raise sufficient
supplies. To ease her worries in that regard I slightly twiddled New Svarta and
its connecting Shadows to ensure that all plants and animals would have a
greater fertility rating for some time to come. There was a lot to rebuild and a
few years of harvests bountiful would help a great deal. The only exception I
made was for the Cardane themselves: they would already see some sharp increases
in population as it was, just having come out of their civil war and all, and
since it was still my intention to have the children stay with their mother for
a while, I didn't want any chances of them becoming sexually active too soon.
Not with the Curse still around.
After letting things settle down for a couple of days I concluded that
the Lur population in New Svarta would pose no further threat. There had already
been some tentative first encounters between them and the other races of the New
Svartan Zone and as yet there had been no hostilities, although the surviving
centaurs in Limas still kept much to themselves. Apart from them, neither of the
other peoples had ever come face to face with the Lur in battle, so there
appeared little reason for hate or distrust on their parts. I had also spoken to
some of the Lur myself, and much like Harry (the name our guardian hydra had
chosen for itself, numbering its heads One to Eleven, reserving Alpha for the
slightly posh one) their behaviour had been altered to a more peaceful and
cooperative state of mind. They seemed to regard their former roles in the
Sherwynian army as those of unwitting dupes and were keen to make a fresh start,
if only they would be granted the chance. I figured they would do alright.
Since everything had returned to some state of peace and tranquility, I
thought it time to bring the children home from Amber and then move on myself. I
was restless, but I couldn't say why. Part of me enjoyed the quiet and the
deserved rest I was getting, but that strange feeling that I had had ever since
coming out of my ordeal wouldn't go away and it made me feel rather fidgety. I
came to the conclusion that I simply needed something to keep myself
busy and that I possibly felt a tinge of guilt at not having sent word to
Janice Fabre in Quendor to explain my
tardiness. Yes, it would be a good idea to pick up on that matter; there
was still that study of Brand's at the university that was waiting to be
examined. I only hoped that I wouldn't run into either Lothair or Fiona whilst
back in Quendor, for either encounter might prove rather awkward.
There seemed little point in stopping in Amber for very long; undoubtedly
Random's intelligence service had already told him all he needed to know. I did
pay a very brief visit to Vialle, though, just to announce the fact that the
kids would be staying elsewhere for a while. She was predictably disappointed,
but all too understanding as well, and she made me promise to bring them back
soon for visits. Not that she wouldn't have her own hands full with little Ruby.
For the kids the move to Cardane was one big adventure, which made some
of them a bit more eager for it than others. They had been too young when they
had left their mother to remember very much about either her or the land itself,
but they were quick learners and it would be good for them to be with people of
the same general disposition. Anna, meanwhile, was as grumpy and noncommittal as
usual, but the moment when I actually teleported us back to her home country I
believe I caught a glimpse of a smile from her. Yes, she was happy to be back
home, and she deserved it too.
Of course, I couldn't very well leave right away, not with this happy
reunion of Wylde and the kids in full progress, so I stayed another few days to
ease the transition for them. One thing I did was introduce them to Harry, at
first a frightful experience for some of them. However, once they realised that
the twelve monstrous heads were in fact rather friendly and that their
conversations could be very amusing, they became less afraid and more
inquisitive. Vilcon topped all of their curiosity, of course, trying to figure
out how such a creatre with one body and so many heads could even exist, and
quite befuddling poor Harry with his questions. His curiosity was also the main
reason I had decided to show them the hydra myself: if I had tried to forbid it
to them to venture anywhere near the beast, it would only have been a matter of
time before one or more of them would sneak out for a quick peek. This way I
could keep matters under control, showing the children that Harry might be a
frightening creature, but that he also was a friend and one to turn to in an
hour of need. In a small aside with Harry himself (or themselves) I impressed
upon him the overall importance of keeping these six kids safe from harm. And if
he ever got it in one of his heads to try and eat even one of them, he would
find out what I was like when I was angry. Harries One to Eleven and Alpha all
assured me that they understood and that nothing bad would befall my chidren.
Not while they were around.
Before finally heading off to Quendor, I once again Trumped Alexander,
figuring that he might want to know how everything had worked out. Ultimately, I
hadn't made use of his offer of expert advice from the Courts, but I had the
feeling that he might have had a hand in Benedict's involvement, for which, if
it was true, I was grateful. I reached him while he was in Chaos with the
ex-Hendrakes, but he happily came over to Cardane for a bit of meaningful
exchange. He had some news of his own, as a matter of fact, and he was eager to
impart it to me: he showed me a document belonging to the Oban, the shady
assassin society in the Courts, which outlined an arrangement for the removal of
a certain Lady Tirga of Ysarn. The principals of this contract were one Lord
Murlas, recently promoted to Head of the House Ysarn, and one King Adrian I of
Sherwyn. Alex emphasised that the document bore the official seal of the Oban,
which was said to be impossible to forge. He added that he had also obtained a
document concerning the Oban's assessment of Merlin's death, but he wouldn't
tell me anything more about this before he had had a chance to talk with Corwin
about it. I guess it was up to him, Merlin being his half-brother and all, but I
couldn't keep from voicing my concern about Adrian's involvement with the Oban,
to which Alex could only concur. Strange thing about that Oban contract was,
however, that in it they admitted to actually not being responsible for Tirga's
death. The designated assassin had been in place, ready to strike, when some
mysterious other party had preempted him with that fireball I had seen. The Oban
were uncertain who this true murderer might be, but upon considering the case
closely they had decided that they would claim responsibility for the deed after
all and would expect payment from the two individuals mentioned above; these two
would probably never find out the truth anyway.
I gave him the general outline of what had happened in Cardane and even
told him about Aradia's involvement and her unusual alliance to Benedict,
although I didn't mention my earlier encounters with her. Alex had some
worrying conjectures based on the overall course of events. He wondered,
for instance, whether it might not be possible that Galoria had never been the
army's main objective, but that instead they had been aiming for Cardane all
along, having been specifically out to test my abilities. Since I had come out
of the confrontation so well, he also worried that they might simply want to
take me out before staging their next attack; by being victorious I might have
presented myself as a liability to their plans, he reasoned, one that had to be
dealt with before anything else. I found these suppositions to be overly
alarmist, yet when our discussion turned to the subject of his dear brother the
king I found myself less able to withstand his reasoning.
All in all I had gotten the impression that Adrian's alliance with the
likes of Lothair and that Assuo he had mentioned was not one that he altogether
fully supported himself, but Alexander was quick to point out how little his
brother had actually done to help me in this confrontation. True, he had
informed me of the danger of possible attempts on my life and had given me a
chance to avoid a direct kidnapping at the hands of Vincent and himself, but
apart from our mysterious cousin he had named no other names, and it would also
appear that he had done but little to persuade the army to change its course
around Cardane, even when I had made it very clear that I would be more trouble
than it would be worth. Subtly Alex reminded me that he himself had also warned
me about the possible threat of assassins, so how much had Adrian actually told
me that I couldn't have learned from other sources or figured out myself? Not a
lot, I had to admit. Alexander was simply of the opinion that Adrian had entered
into this alliance of his own free will, and that the only reason that he had
talked to me at all was that he was trying to have his cake and eat it; it was
still too early for him to sever his ties with the Family. When the moment came
to show his true colours, though, Alex had no doubt what they would be.
Another source of worry was our dear cousin (or rather, my dear brother)
Murlas and his seemingly strong influence over Adrian. However, Alexander
described how Murlas had had a slight accident and would be out of the running
for a while. It turned out that both he and Grendel of House Escallwyn, better
known as Boadice's groom-to-be, had been assigned to Galoria as official
observers from the Courts to assess the necessity of sending support troops in
the light of the impending invasion. Then something strange had happened in the
guest quarters of the palace. Alexander wasn't sure, but he believed that Gran
might have tried to take Murlas out himself, subsequently making Lord Ysarn's
shape shifting abilities go haywire. Of course it would have been quite awkward
to accuse one delegate from the Courts of attempted murder on the other one; the
solution had been to place Murlas officially in the care of House Escallwyn
itself, thus ensuring that if anything bad did befall him, they would be the
ones to carry the blame for it. As for motive, both Houses' positions weren't
very strong at the moment, House Escallwyn counting only three remaining members
and House Ysarn, aside from Murlas, only five or six. Taking out the other House
would be a way of ensuring some safety for either of them.
Sigh. Chaos politics.
Alex had no idea, by the way, how long Murlas would be out of the
picture; knowing him, he would turn up sooner than expected.
Alexander pointed out another possible risk to Cardane and me personally:
it would appear that the breaches the army had forced on their path through
Shadow were not deteriorating but rather stabilizing into one long Shadow
corridor reaching all the way from Sherwyn up to but fortunately not including
Limas. If the enemy would send out another army, they would have quick and easy
passage almost halfway up to Galoria, and they could be on my
doorstep within but a moment's notice. Although these observations did
not help to ease my worries, I saw little that I could do to change the
situation. All I could do was keep an eye on those passageways and try to stay
alert for any renewed attacks. It would be no use for me to stay in Cardane as a
permanent guard, though.
The situation in the Courts was still largely unchanged. Alex's group of
ex-Hendrake had not yet found a suitable replacement for the late Belissa, and
the question of who was going to be the next king was also still up in the air.
In Alexander's opinion the fact that Mandor Sawall had not yet resurfaced was a
deciding factor: the Houses Baccaran and Helgram were approximately equally
matched when it came to support in the Major Council, so Sawall would have the
deciding vote. However, without Mandor's strong leadership the House lacked
direction and conviction. And Dara was still missing too.
Sometimes Alex could come up with some strange theories, though. On the
strength of Jaill Helgram's seeming unconcern about the death of Tirga of Ysarn
he based a theory that she might not have died after all. While it was true that
that fireball might not have killed her directly, and while it was also true
that Deirdre for one had survived a fall into the Abyss, there seemed to be too
little real evidence to substantiate his claim. There were an awful lot of odd
things about her death, yes, but his theory seemed a bit far-fetched. However,
stranger things had happened, and it would undoubtedly cause some problems for
Murlas if his aunt suddenly returned from her grave.
At the end of our conversation we were both rather pleased about how our
agreement of keeping in touch was working out, and since we had both noticed
that it was not always possible to reach each other via Trumps, we decided that
we'd best set up an emergency communication service in the shape of some pigeon
hole or post office box somewhere. We agreed that Quendor would be a suitable
spot: Alexander had a Trump of the place and since it was more or less in the
middle of things I could easily reach it. Besides, the society there would allow
us to remain anonymous rather easily.
Finally, I decided that I ought to inform him of that strange Power
shared by Lothair, Aradia, and the late Azrain. With Lothair firmly in the camp
of the enemy I figured that this wasn't something I could keep to myself any
longer. This was starting to concern all of us, and the more information I got
out in the open, the more I might get in return. We hypothesized a bit about the
possibility of Murlas also possessing this Power, considering his relation to
both Aradia and Azrain, but the truth was that neither of us had ever seen any
evidence of it, so there was no telling. This Power might not even be heriditary
like the Pattern. There was still simply too much we didn't know that kept us
from forming any firm theories. At that, we might never get all the facts
straight. For instance, how much did we really
know about the Nexus by now? But there would always be more mysteries
waiting for us, I guess.