“…But never relax at all

With our backs to the wall?”

What Shall We Do Now? 

Pink Floyd

If you stop to think about it, the speed with which we got our monster project underway was quite remarkable, but unfortunately for me the waiting till we could at long last begin was at that moment really a drag. I tried to chat a bit with Miss Fabre, who remained rather quiet and aloof, though, studying the various other people with keen interest.

It had been decide that six of us would actively take part in the construction of the Great Power Barrier, as the project had been called. Galoran’s role was the most crucial one, of course, for he would be the one to guide the flows of the various Powers and try to bind them together in the right proportions to one another. I would supply Pattern energy, while Justin would channel power from his father’s Pattern. Alexander would raise the forces of the Nexus, although I was a bit surprised that there weren’t any other able Nexus initiates present; Alex had always seemed more interested in military matters than in anything to do with Power. Initially, the idea had been for Galoran to raise the Logrus as well, but upon reflection it had been decided that this would be a bit too much, even for him, so a Logrus Master had been found among the former members of the House Hendrake who had taken refuge in Galoria who was to take care of that end of things. The poor fellow looked a bit out of his depth, to be honest, but he was the best we could do at such short notice. Finally, cousin Boadice was present to add a Trump quality to our Pattern flows, hoping that this would enable Galoran to form easier connections with the other Powers and, thus, speed up the whole process. Various other people would be there to observe us, like Queen Myrthe for instance, and Janice would be keeping her eyes open for any fluctuations in the Power of the Crystal Spire, for these could be a sign that the Enemy was taking countermeasures.

While we were working we would be standing in a rough circle around Galoran, the Logrus Master opposite of Justin and me, Alexander somewhere in between, and Boadice close to the Pattern spot. We waited and I tried to relax a little while Galoran was laying the foundations of the Barrier with Nexus Power through the various Shadows around the one where the Crystal Spire was situated. It took him longer than expected, and I heard him mutter something about the Spire creating some interference. Still, it didn’t seem to do much more than bother him, though, and a little while later her signaled towards us to begin feeding him our respective Power flows.

Naturally, I started very gradually, summoning up strands of Pattern energy and weaving them gently in Galoran’s direction. Totally intent upon this task as I was, I could also sense the Power raised by the others around me, but had little time or attention to focus on what they were actually doing with it. I felt how Galoran tentatively accepted a first energy strand from me, yet immediately he seemed to be struggling to keep it away from the Logrus tendrils coming towards him from the other side. I eased off a little, giving him some time to find the right balance.

At that moment, however, I felt Boadice entering the equation with her Trump skills. I could sense her latching on to my Power weave and add something of her own, something that was rather Trump-like, although I couldn’t quite fathom what exactly it was that she was doing. Unfortunately, her messing with my flow like this didn’t particularly help me keep a tight rein on it, and for a few minutes I struggled to get to some point where I felt I could regulate it to my satisfaction. My earlier experience with Power Weaving came in quite handy, I believe, for without it I might really have been floundering. Before we had begun I had taken a short time to instruct both Alexander and Justin in this art a little, and I only hoped their instruction would prove adequate.

I must say that Boa’s addition to my Power, while hampering my direct control, did seem to give it a quality that made it easier for Galoran to handle. When she sensed that I had more or less managed to hold steady, she decided to try and do the same thing to the slightly lesser flow of Pattern Power that Justin was supplying. That was when things first appeared to go wrong. Apparently, Boadice had reckoned that she could affect the energies of Corwin’s Pattern in much the same way as she did with Amber’s, but the two now proved to be so dissimilar that she was not able to do anything but upset Justin’s Power flow. Noticing immediately that his efforts were being disrupted, Justin instinctively stopped supplying more Power, but the woven strands that were already out there were now cut loose and began floating uncontrolled through the room. The Logrus Master panicked and withdrew his own Power as well, which was probably a good thing since any direct contact between their two Powers could have been disastrous. From the corner of my eye I saw Alexander stagger a little as Galoran urgently began to drain him for extra Nexus in order to catch and contain the loose Pattern strands. Alex didn’t appear to be used to this kind of pressure, but he gritted his teeth and held on, knowing that Galoran wouldn’t be able to manage without him. Fortunately, Boadice had the common sense to stop trying to link to the energy of Corwin’s Pattern, or some kind of serious disaster might have occurred.

Minutes crept by as we tried to maintain the delicate status quo, until finally Galoran seemed to relax a little, indicating that we appeared to be out of any immediate danger. Through my own Power Weaves I could sense enough of the greater picture to get an idea of how we were doing, but I had already realised that I wouldn’t be able to pick up on much that happened on a more physical plane, except for any actions that might take place within my direct field of vision. The amalgam of Powers that Galoran was trying to forge onto the foundations he’d laid before was a violent mixture of strong Pattern and Logrus energies with a desperate amount of Nexus in between to keep the two (or rather three) from coming into direct contact with one another. The strong presence of the Logrus felt like a weight strapped across my back, but I was still able to persevere in my efforts. Slowly, very slowly, we felt how the energy was being poured onto the foundation, forming the beginnings of the Great Barrier. The area that needed to be covered was staggering, though. This was going to take us a while.

I still felt reasonably fine, and so did most of the others, I believe, although Alexander seemed to have some trouble keeping up with the demands Galoran placed on him. After some gesturing to and fro, Galoran indicated that we should all slow down a little, making it possible for Alex to stay with the programme. So we did. Our new pace seemed like a snail’s crawl, however, that would make the project last forever. I couldn’t do anything but grumble inwardly and hope that Galoran would do something to help us pick up the pace again. He was the only one in a position to oversee our entire efforts and make some executive decisions, so in a sense we all depended on his guidance.

We worked at the much slower pace for what seemed like ten minutes to a quarter of an hour before Galoran made some new changes. Instead of solely relying on Alexander for the flow of Nexus, I could now feel him beginning to supply some himself as well. He gestured towards Justin, who nodded and gradually increased his flow. Then Galoran beckoned to Boadice and me, and we did the same thing. Thus, step by step, we each increased the flows until we had reached a level that was workable, yet fast enough for us to be able to complete the Barrier within some reasonable time limit.

I must admit that the task of providing continual Pattern energy began to wreak havoc with my sense of time, as usual, but we must have been working at least five to six hours before we had constructed a Great Power Barrier that reached approximately to knee-height. Okay, so no one had said this was going to be easy, but it was difficult not to be disheartened by this rather meagre success. We would have to spend a lot of time longer on this before we’d actually built anything of suitable height. The question was, of course, whether people were going to be able to keep this up for so long a time. I still felt well enough myself, and I believed Galoran to be in reasonable shape too. I wasn’t too worried about any of my cousins either; they were Amberites, after all. No, it was the Chaosian I was most worried about. Although he was a former Hendrake and, therefore, presumably a well-trained warrior, so in good to perfect physical shape, he didn’t appear to have had much prior experience in handling vast amounts of raw Power. I decided to keep an eye open, as far as this was possible, for him being about to succumb to exhaustion, for if that were to happen, I’d better withdraw my own Pattern flow immediately to prevent another disaster.

Suddenly I was startled by a major fluctuation in the way that the Trump quality was being added to my Pattern, as if Boadice had all of a sudden almost entirely dropped away. Since my attention was mainly focused on the Logrus Master, I was nearly caught off guard. I’d become so used to Boa altering my Power stream in this way, that when she stopped doing so I nearly lost control over the whole flow. There was only one thing I could do: withdraw as much Power as was necessary to be able to regulate the flow again. We had been working at a good pace, however, and my reaction to Boadice’s sudden move meant that the amount of Logrus in the mixture was suddenly far too great. Justin tried to add more of his father’s Pattern to compensate, which seemed to have some effect, but I could see that Galoran had also put some extra drain on poor Alexander once again. He was staggering once more, trying to give Galoran as much Nexus as he needed, but this was not enough. Galoran simply also had to channel some power himself, which rather affected his coordination of the whole affair. Justin was also having difficulty keeping up, and the Logrus Master looked as if he was about to falter at a moment’s notice.

“Time for a break,” I suddenly heard Boadice whisper near my ear. “We won’t be able to keep this up much longer.”

Stupid girl! No, we wouldn’t be able to keep this up if she started making these kind of sudden moves. Someone should teach her some sense of balance.

“We can’t stop now,” I hissed back. Not when she’d just left us in such a precarious situation.

For a few minutes I tried to aid Galoran as much as I could with trying to keep the mixture together, but finally matters were taken out of our hands when the Logrus Master simply slumped forward and fell to the ground, unconscious. Shortly after this, Alexander also succumbed and we had no choice but to call the whole thing to a halt. However, the Barrier was far from finished, and to my horror I sensed that as soon as we let go of it, the whole Power structure very slowly began to leech away. This was not good.

“Food!” Boadice suddenly bellowed, still close to my ear, and someone quickly came to give her some bread and cheese. Surveying the others, I was struck by how exhausted they all looked. I wouldn’t say I was as fit as a fiddle, but I was nowhere near as tired as my cousins all seemed to be, and I felt I could easily continue for a good deal longer. The only ones still left in the Power link were Galoran and me: he was trying to stabilize things as much as he could, while I kept up a flow of Pattern energy for him to work with. He was rather tired too, I could feel, but I realised that his was by far the hardest job of all.

I exchanged a glance with Galoran, but he didn’t appear to have any answers either. There was a hint of panic in his eyes. Even he seemed to be daunted by the prospect of having to deal with Primal Chaos.

Fortunately, that was the moment when my cousins decided to rejoin the effort, Boadice still munching on a sandwich, and Alexander and Justin wearily stretching their limbs. There seemed to be little that Galoran or I could do beyond what we were already doing, but perhaps the others could come up with some new ideas.

While Boadice was taking her time to study the situation, I sensed both Justin and Alexander starting to draw on their respective Powers again. Alex immediately began to apply his Nexus, striving to encapsulate the now forming Logrus bubbles in it to keep them from growing larger still. That was one way to deal with the problem, I guess, but to neutralize the threat completely we would need someone who could channel Logrus energy, and unfortunately the former Hendrake didn’t appear to be showing any signs of regaining consciousness any time soon.

I was so engrossed in Alexander’s efforts that I barely noticed the sudden built-up of some other Power. It was only when I heard the gasps of amazement and saw the eerie blue glow suddenly lighting the room that I realised something was happening. Both the Power and the light seemed to be emanating from Justin’s position, which I sadly couldn’t see from where I was standing. I did notice, though, that Boadice had stepped backwards and she seemed to be regarding our cousin with growing awe. The glow and the level of Power seemed to increase some more, and then suddenly it was gone from the room. Justin was still out there somewhere, however, but he now seemed to be travelling quickly towards the Barrier itself.

A moment later Boadice rejoined the circle once more. Again she began adding some Trump to my Pattern, but this time her efforts were not directed towards aiding the whole Power process but to establishing a communication link between the lot of us. It wasn’t like sharing one another’s thoughts, but we could simply address messages to one another or broadcast them to everyone, thus being able to discuss the situation properly and hopefully to find some solution to our problem. The strain of regulating the various Power flows kept us from using more than a few key words at a time, though.

The first thing Boadice told us was what had happened to Justin: he had apparently channeled so much Power from Corwin’s Pattern that he had undergone a transformation into a being that partially appeared to consist of pure Pattern energy. I was so flabbergasted that I nearly lost control over my own flow altogether. This was something that I had never heard of before, something that I didn’t even believe would be possible. The way Boa described it, Justin had just started Shape shifting, keeping his regular features, but gaining a body made up of slightly translucent raw Power. Suddenly Justin himself was there in the link as well, saying that we should not worry and that he was fine. He definitely gave us an odd feeling, though, as if on a mental level he was now also more than simply Justin. It seemed as if one or more layers had been added to his personality, one of them being Corwin’s Pattern itself. I couldn’t help but think back to the way our Pattern had taken complete control of Fiona during the crisis in the Courts, but Justin still seemed to have sufficient control of his faculties to make his own decisions. He was traversing along the Barrier, stopping at dangerous concentrations of Logrus and reinforcing the Barrier in those places by driving extra shafts of Pattern through it.

"Trouble!" Alexander suddenly interrupted rather urgently. It was easy enough to spot: the bubble with the largest concentration of Logrus energy was swirling violently and slowly beginning to pulsate. Alex was struggling to increase the strength of the Nexus containment shield, and luckily he succeeded. He had just been a little bit too late, though, for what was now swirling within the bubble he'd created was exactly what we had feared would form: raw Primal Chaos. Alexander proved not so easily daunted, and he increased the flow of Nexus Power once more. Very gradually the containment bubble began to move in on itself, neutralizing the Primal Chaos as it continued. This was perfect, but it was going to take him a while to get rid of every last bit of it, though.

"Over here," the strange, new, multiple Justin-entity called, indicating yet another location where Logrus was building up dangerously. Galoran, first to react, proved unable to do anything effectively while still managing to keep the whole equilibrium of the structure intact, so somebody else had to do something. I was still far from able to do anything either, being just as caught up in the process as Galoran was.

"I can try and Trump Gran," Boadice suggested. Her skill at Trump allowed her to phrase more elaborate sentences than the rest of us.

Galoran had only one, rather cryptic response: "Time."

"Any better ideas?" Boa inquired.

"Trump," Galoran said, then once more and slightly more insistent: "Trump!"

Then Alex managed to get a word in: "Myrthe." Of course, she had been initiated in the Nexus too, and although she might not be as adept at it as Alex she could at least try to make a difference. Under Boadice's guidance she began to try and encapsulate the other concentration of Logrus in a similar Nexus bubble. Meanwhile, the bubble that Alex had created was now nearly devoid of Logrus.

Surveying the entire Barrier, I couldn't escape the feeling that we still had some serious problems, for while there was now plenty of Pattern energy to go around, both from Justin and from me, there was a severe shortage of Logrus now that the concentrated bubbles were being neutralized. This wouldn't help the overall stability of the Barrier, for without Logrus it would soon become too brittle. The others noticed this as well, and Boadice once again brought up the name of her Chaosian boyfriend. However, she

explained that he might be too busy in the Courts, since his father had been murdered recently and he'd had to take over as Head of the House. Boa suggested that he'd be offered something in return for his troubles if he were going to help.

"Internal politics!" Alex barked right away, making it plain that he was not in favour of getting involved in the current situation in the Courts.

"Taureth?" I suggested in return. He was perhaps one of the most able Logrus Masters I knew, and he might simply help out of interest in our project. Boa didn't think it such a very good suggestion, though.

"He's quite busy too," she said. "He didn't even want to help me rescue his own sister." Hmm, I didn't know what that was all about, but I could only hope that he was still busy working on a way to deliver my closest kin from the Curse.

Suddenly the new Justin-entity spoke up, a strange choir of two or perhaps three separate mental voices speaking in unison. "Sereva," was all he said. A good suggestion, all in all, but none of us seemed to be really certain that she'd actually walked the Logrus, so she simply might not be able o help.

This was taking way too much time, and something needed to be done fast. "More Logrus!" I called. "Now!"

Since Boadice was the only one at liberty to Trump anyone, the choice was ultimately up to her. I wasn't at all surprised, therefore, when a few minutes later she helped Gran step through to us. It had apparently taken her some time to convince him to come, and even now that he was here he wasn't about to jump in and help right away. Minute after agonizing minute was being wasted in what seemed to me idle conversation, although I have to admit that I couldn't make out what they were actually saying to one another. Finally, Boadice entered the link once more and talked privately for a while with Myrthe. Unceremoniously dumping the bubble with Primal Chaos that she'd been working on in Alex's lap, both ladies left together, and after some prolonged discussion something was done to convince Mr. high-and-mighty Logrus Master Grendel Escallwyn to join our effort. About time, too.

It took Gran a few moments to come to terms with the situation, then he muttered through the Trump link: "Primal Chaos… difficult… extinguish. Boadice, Trump?"

This met with the approval of Galoran. "Trump!" he concurred. Boadice tried to affect the Nexus bubble in some way, but it didn't appear to work.

"Trump!" Gran insisted. "Shift!" Still she didn't know what to do. Not that I was entirely sure what they were getting at myself, but then I'm not a Trump artist, am I? Finally, Boa made the right connection: they wanted her to Trump the Primal Chaos away to some other place where it would not represent any immediate danger. As she began to do this, I couldn't help but wonder about the wisdom of this tactic. From what I knew Primal Chaos was very tricky stuff, and simply to transport it somewhere where it may run around unchecked seemed not a particularly bright idea. Still, we would worry about that later, I guess. First we needed to get this Barrier in some kind of shape.

Another couple of hours crept by as Alexander and Myrthe together neutralized further concentrations of Primal Chaos, so that Boadice could Trump them away. Only when all Logrus energy had been removed from the structure did Gran begin to add new one, weaving it through the Barrier in certain key places. This required Alex and Myrthe to add more Nexus too, to keep the balance intact. The whole process lasted yet another few hours, and then we were back at the same level where we'd been before Boadice had tilted the balance.

"Break?" I asked, starting to feel a little weary myself.

"Might not be possible," Galoran responded. The Barrier was standing, but it wasn't stable. In its current form it would have to be maintained constantly.

"Continue," Alex asserted, although he was close to exhaustion.

"How high?" Galoran asked. In spite of all our efforts we'd only been able to attain a height of about one metre.

"Four metres," was Alex's bold claim, making me groan inwardly. At this rate we were never going to pull this off!

Since most people agreed that Alexander's proposal was a bit too ambitious, a way was found in which most of us could at least take a little rest. All of us could do so, in fact, except for Galoran, who couldn't lapse in concentrating on keeping the Barrier in shape. Sometime the Justin-entity had returned from its task, and while I was munching away on some sandwiches that Janice had kindly provided for me I surreptitiously studied him. It was just plain weird: he still vaguely looked like Justin, but now he was all glowing angles and curves of energy. It was some Pattern trick, but not one that I had ever learned, nor one I would really want to learn, come to think of it. It was too reminiscent of shape shifting for my taste. As if the transition from Adrian to Justin hadn't been enough for us to deal with anyway.

After about half an hour everybody seemed ready to go back to work. Everybody but the former Hendrake, that is. His relatives had taken him away to be cared for, for it seemed he had really given too much of himself. Gran would stay, however, and finish the job in his place.

We worked on and on and on, losing track of time once again, until Galoran indicated that he couldn't go on any further. At that point the Barrier had reached a height of just about two metres, but without Galoran in the equation I didn't think we would be able to raise it much higher. Together, Alexander, Myrthe, and Boadice made an attempt to take over his central role and regulate the entire Power flow, but as soon as Galoran let go of it just a little bit, the Power washed over the three of them, threatening to wipe them away completely. Suddenly I recalled the scene on the Overshadow where I'd witnessed Galoran balancing multiple Nexus flows, and I realised that none of us present were anywhere near his level of competence.

By now everybody was quite exhausted, and going on any further did not seem possible. The only thing we could do was finalize the Barrier to keep the energy within from draining away by itself. The Power from Corwin's Pattern proved ideal for this job. While Justin hammered in rods of Power all around the Barrier, Galoran wove in the final Nexus flow to seal it. Our Great Power Barrier was really a mere shadow of the one we had imagined, yet I knew we should be proud of what we had accomplished. Maybe I was just too tired to be proud. The Barrier wasn't entirely stable either, although there didn't appear to be any Power leaks. The trouble was that the Barrier itself seemed to be swaying a little to and fro. The whole amalgam of Powers was simply too flexible to stay in one place.

"I had hoped for a more stable Barrier," Galoran said with a frown.

"And a rather higher one," I added.

"Well, we could try to build further layers on top of it," he replied, "but it will take a lot of effort." He appeared to realise that further effort would not be forthcoming for a while. "And another thing, it has not really been tested yet against the Power of the Crystal Spire. It could very well prove too weak."

"Maybe Janice could very carefully put it to the test?" Alexander suggested.

"That might not be such a good idea," she said. "If I try something like that, I might accidentally awaken this Crystal Spire, and I don't know what would happen then. I am willing to try, though, but I'm just saying that there is a risk." As usual. It was enough warning, though, for them to try and think of something else. Whatever they were going to do, both Alexander and Galoran seemed to agree on the need for some immediate other defenses around the Barrier. I left them to discuss such things among themselves and turned to cousin Boadice.

"Just out of curiosity," I said, "where did you Trump the Primal Chaos off to?"

"Well," she began, "I told you about Flora and the Keep of the Four Worlds, didn't I? I had been planning to Trump in an army of my own just a few Shadows away from that place, but in the middle of our crisis I ended up using the Trump I'd made for waste disposal instead. My only alternative at the time was to Trump it to Ygg, and I rather like him."

"You do know about Primal Chaos, don't you?" I said sharply. "About it growing in strength as it devours more and more Shadow stuff? About it usually requiring some Power user to keep it in check?"

"Oh, but Flora is close by, and we know she has Nexus," Boa answered dismissively. "She should be able to deal with it. Anyway, she'd better. It's her problem now."

"Where exactly is that Keep you've been talking about?" I asked.

"Somewhere in Amber's region of Shadow, though not too close to Amber itself." That was something, at least.

"Flora is not expecting anything like this, is she?" I remarked sharply. And I doubted she would be aware of it right way. She might not even become aware of it until it was too late. "I don't think you ought to use that Trump again," I concluded. Boadice swallowed. The implications of what she had done finally seemed to be sinking in.