Act Five: There are Things in Heaven, and In Earth

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 83
"Sander, Man with the... Plan?"

Where is everyone?

Edward observed as Quinn performed the microsurgery and cell-herding to un-dent Breann's skull. He suggested Quinn wire her jaw shut to help hold the structure stable. Quinn admitted to being tempted but already had some bits of payback due from Breann. No need to push his luck.

Quinn found Donata was eager, nearly desperate, to return to Amber. Miriel had left and she was bored to death. She missed her work, whatever that was. Quinn teleported them there showily. It was a mistake. Something -- probably the Child of Prophecy, Maybe -- she was carrying made the 'port take a long time. They were both chilled when they arrived. Quinn gave her his cloak and huddled with her while explaining the Prophecy thing. He stupidly mentioned Benedict's and Brigid's kid, then told her she hadn't heard that and to tell no one. She went off to find a warm room and some hot tea. Quinn found Naomi in the salle and apologized for the delay in arranging things vis a vis Brigid, her child and Amber. Brigid, Naomi said, quite understood that it would have to wait until after Amber survived the next big thing. Or didn't.

Megan encountered Anax as the Cheshire Cat and got confusing directions to her mother -- said to be wearing a bunny suit -- and the Castle. A long walk led her to Caterpillar Caine the All-knowing (or All-spying) atop a cottage sized mushroom smoking a hookah. He had her pick a pink and a blue flower, directing her to sniff one to shrink and the other to grow. She did that and experimented. Pink for small, blue for large, very large. Now a giantess, she made good time.

Theseus was alarmed when Sander asked his wife Daelyn to leave. Extreme violence coming. He backpedaled on his intention to draw the sword out of the stone right away, giving more credence to the other Theseus' warnings.

Sander 'remembered' suddenly that the sword had to be drawn and used at the right moment or it would be useless. He wanted to know why it was there, in his palace.

'Nobody knows. I could take it back ---- never mind.' Theseus took his leave before there was more hitting.

Sander posted two Magpies to guard the thing. He Trumped Gerard who was off in Shadow Meira overseeing the Amberite influx.

'This is Gerard.'

'This is his confused child.'

'Oh. You talked to Theseus.'

'I --- saw him. And I just had a question. What the fuck is going on?'

'I'd tell you what I know but that would be the end of this conversation, and I haven't talked to you in a while. Tell you what: I'll speculate. Dworkin talked to Theseus and scared the crap out of him. Which he reacted to by evacuating the City. I don't have a problem with that. I don't want to see the people die, and I've never liked the people here very much. So I'm having a brother-like moment here, enjoying it.'

'So you don't know.'

'Some sort of nonphysical attack, with maybe a natural disaster.'

'When's this happening?'

Shrug.

'Is there someone who knows what's going on?'

'Well, you could be him. Everyone who goes there gets spooked out.'

'People go where and freak out?'

'Remember where Brand was walking on that Pattern that was destroyed? You can see the battle from there. Maybe we better both go.'

'OK. How we gonna get there?'

'I'm not sure how Quinn gets there. Theseus can't Trump there.'

'We'll try that then. Quinn, not Theseus.'

Edward examined Breann's things. He lusted after her sword. Some interesting Trumps. The clouds around the dream castle moved, and the elf-woman was striking. He spent twenty minutes editing the recordings from that room to remove his activities. He wanted to go check out --- he needed to check out --- the monster from Ys but couldn't find any place where Trumps would work. He caught the next train to Arden. Edward basked in the deluxe accommodations given to Amber royals, enjoyed the food and the wines.

Screaming interrupted his sleep. He looked out in the hallway to see people moving about hurriedly, mostly in his direction. The interesting exception was a large man in black, striding towards the rear of the train. The fellow looked something like the man he'd met at Lora's sarcophagus. That is, just like the late king Oberon. Edward followed with professional care, shifting his features towards the unmemorable. Edward lost the man in the baggage area, his search cut short by the approach of armed rail employees yelling things like Stop right there! and That's him! when they spotted him. He knocked a stack of luggage into their path and Trumped off to Amber, hoping that the arcane effect cancelled inertia. It did. He double checked the portrait of Oberon. Yep, it was him or a doppleganger.

Quinn told Sander and Gerard that he used a complicated Pattern-and-Sorcery trick to get to Dworkin's place, but that he'd be glad to take them. He'd wanted somebody with good martial abilities to scope Awful White Things and the Horrible Black Things out since Dworkin and Benedict were not handing out much information. But first he needed to hang a few spells, so they agreed to meet in the courtyard in two hours. Quinn went to a fast time shadow and hung defensive spells.

Edward Trumped into the courtyard as Sander, Gerard and Quinn were about to leave. He joined the expedition. Quinn used a minimal-SFX teleport.

Megan shrank down to pass through a tunnel through a mountain and came out in a half-tame forest. She followed the sounds of fighting and discovered two men in full plate armor beating on each other. Red and black armor and black and silver armor. They greeted her cheerfully and talked while watching each other for any chance to get a blow in.

The 'War in Heaven' disturbed Sander, Edward and Gerard as much as it had Quinn and Theseus. Quinn pointed out what he'd made out. Dworkin providing magical artillery over there, Benedict those green flashes up there, the Unicorn From Hell over there, and the different kinds of Things.

Sander was outraged,'They cut out from this to talk to me on my roof?!' He had to explain that to Quinn and Edward. Sander realized that Quinn had described the battle wrongly. He pointed out that Benedict and Dworkin only attacked Horrible Black Things, the Unicorn beat on Awful White Things and the different colors of Things would sometimes attack each other.

The group was unimpressed with Quinn's feeble plans for cable guns and nets and surrounding the fountain that the Things' efforts had centered upon earlier. Quinn was not terribly impressed with them either and asked for alternate plans. Edward suggested leaving. Quinn allowed that if the Things could pop in anywhere and in great numbers, the defenders were screwed and that retreat via Trump would be necessary.

Eric and Corwin disagreed on every bit of advice they gave Megan, while insulting, hitting and tripping one another. Then a horde of Weir attacked them. Megan sniffed the blue flower and stepped over the fray and away after stomping a few Weir. From her new, gargantuan height she could see that she was inside an immense cavern with a glowing, sky-colored surface.

Theseus Trumped to the Tir.

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 84
"Wait... what Apocalyptic Battle?"

Where is everyone?

Theseus resumed his occasional vigil at Fiona's bedside. She'd been sleeping for weeks, dammit. He dreamed a dream of wealthy, aristocratic, Victorian domesticity, him and Fiona, sitting for portraits in the garden, genteel meals, hot sex --- Megan bursting into the room with a windstorm, shouting Off with his head! AAAH!

Theseus woke up in the chair beside Fiona's bed. Artanis called him into the hallway and chewed him out for falling asleep. Normally not a problem, but Theseus, with his power over Images, in Dreamland.... She said that Fiona could wake at any time. Or choose to never wake. Theseus paced for a while and suddenly remembered the old painting he'd found among Oberon's effects, of him and Fiona in Victorian garb. Weird. He grinned, remembering how Quinn was blown off the balcony and the cliff by Oberon's booby-trapped valise.

Breann woke up in blue goo. Again. She got out of the tube, cleaned up and wrote an angry note to Finndo. Fortunately, she couldn't figure out how to send it to him. Edward had left a note for her: Gone to Amber, and a fine diaphanous gown. The room record did not show Edward bringing in the gown -- a couple of minutes had been edited out. She checked on her mother. Deirdre was still forty percent machinery. No other family members were present in Aretia. She went to one of the Trumpable areas and popped out to Amber just in time to see Quinn, Sander, Edward and Gerard fade out. Nobody was in the infirmary, for a change. Ander's fleet was coming in so she walked down to the docks. She found Lora right away, and Lora directed her to Ander.

The expedition returned. Sander wanted a closer look, from within the clouds. He Trumped to Aramyst and looked up his houseguest Anaxamander. Anax was game despite Sanders rather vague description of what they'd be getting into. Quinn agreed to take them there but wanted to go along to provide shielding and maybe some extra senses.

Breann greeted Ander with sisterly criticism for getting involved in Finndo's war and not telling her about it. Ander reminded her that he had told her. She shifted to another criticism. Ander asked after Vanessa. Breann didn't know who Vanessa was. Ander said he had to go, he had a guest waiting. Breann insisted he introduce her to this Vanessa.

Edward stared at Oberon's portrait again. Ander and Breann slammed into the Castle, arguing.

'I just want to check on her, make sure she's OK. I left her with Mom but Mom's gone.'

Breann noticed Edward. 'Film editing, Edward.'

'Breann, you're looking less gooey.'

'Film Editing. And you left your gown.'

Ander tried to slip away.

'Ander, you can take five minutes for your sister if you can risk your life for your uncle.'

'I thought Mom was in Aretia,' Ander muttered to Edward.

Edward pointed, 'The chap in the portrait at the top of the Hall. He's ---'

Ander's expression went flat and cold, 'No longer with us. Dead.'

'I believe I've encountered him a couple of times recently.'

Breann and Ander stared. 'So, where did you see him?' Breann asked.

'Once out in the woods. This afternoon on the Train. I gather by the general reaction that this is not expected, and not a good thing.'

Breann hesitated. 'I..... don't care. I wonder what Gerard would think of this.'

Ander ground out, 'You'd have to ask him. Everyone's relations with Oberon were ... unique.'

'What was happening on this train?'

'Screams, gendarmes.'

'He's not the screaming type.' Ander said. 'Train? The train from Aretia. Quinn's gonna love that.'

'He got off two steps ahead of the cops.'

Ander wandered off, lost in thought. Breann followed. Edward looked a question at Lora.

'I haven't met him either. Impressive?'

'Yes. Regal. In fact, I first encountered him looking for you.'

'He was looking for me?'

'No, I was looking for you when you were captured by the Baron.'

'Oh! You went to the wrong Lora.'

'He was there at the other Lora's tomb.'

'Show me where it is some time.'

They followed Ander and Breann.

Gigantor-Megan strode along, heading for Kolvir. She dragged through the battle going on in the Vale of Garnath between red and white factions. She neared the castle and was hailed.

'No persons over one mile high are allowed within the premises!' yelled Fiona.

Several relatives were on the parapet, Flora the Queen of Hearts, Vaughn the Knave of Hearts, Fiona in a Playboy bunny/court wizard outfit, walruslike Gerard, Mad Hatter Dworkin and March Hare Bleys. Theseus poofed onto Megan's shoulder. Here! Give her this! He handed her a note and poofed out. Megan carefully handed the note to her diminutive mother while the others on the parapet ran about in panic.

Fiona read the note and they were sitting at a picnic table. Fiona looked concerned. 'What's going on?'

Megan blinked. 'Well, I've been here and I've had too many people in my brain, so we should ask him,' she nodded at the note.

'Right. Let's go.'

Sander and Quinn rode Anax in flying manta ray form. Quinn kept them in light psychic contact and watched for incoming. The stormclouds with their wild up- and down-drafts were terrifying. Sander sort of liked it. Their gestalt took on something of a life of its own -- they dodged attacks or deflected them without knowing who initiated it sometimes. The Unicorn was protecting the Awful White Things from the Horrible Black Things. Dworkin and Benedict attacked only the Horribles. Sander watched for patterns, weaknesses. Quinn ran out of defensive spells. Anax tired. They left.

Megan woke up in a barracks feeling fine.

A concerned sailor asked her if she was alright.

Megan stretched. 'Am I?' His eyes were glued. She began to sit up.

'You're not leaving, are you? he asked, 'Because we have a strict policy against you leaving.'

Theseus jumped when Fiona woke up.

'You paged?' she asked. 'Hi.'

'Hi.'

'You haven't been here the whole time, have you?'

'No. I've been too busy being Regent.'

'Regent? What happened to Deirdre?'

'She's asleep.'

'She's not dead?'

'She's mostly machine.'

'Machines don't work in Amber.'

'She's in Aretia.'

Ander found Vanessa playing music in his suite.

'Hi. Your mom isn't around.'

Breann eyed Vanessa narrowly, 'Who is she really?'

'Vanessa. We met once.'

'I know who you say you are.'

'Va-ness-a.'

'Who are you really? Ordinary people don't use magic and don't use Trumps.'

'Trumps? The cards?'

'And don't act stupid. It annoys me.'

'Then how do you get through the day?'

Ander moved between them.

'Who is she?'

'Breann, you're being rude. Could you not interrogate my guest?'

Edward looked quizzically at Lora. Lora whispered, 'I need a degree before I can explain that.'

Ander and Vanessa walked out.

Edward asked cautiously, 'Well, that was --- so, you have suspicions of this Vanessa?'

'Yes.'

'How much of a threat do you think she actually is?'

'Everything the family does is suspect these days.'

'A policy of suspicion is generally wise.' After a moment. 'What next? Do you think there's any chance this grandfather figure could help in this apocalyptic battle to come?'

'It depends on whether or not he knows --- what apocalyptic battle?'

Edward explained as they followed Ander and his guest to the library. Breann seemed concerned, but more concerned with annoying Ander by humming his ubiquitous ditty loud while he played piano in the library.

Fiona opened a portal that took... well, Theseus straight to Amber.

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 85
"Double Entendres"

Where is everyone?

Sander took the Trump call from Daelyn. 'Hi, hon. Savin' the world. What's going on?'

'You hadn't mentioned it, so I thought I'd better tell you. Your guard on that sword? Not the Magpies, the one with the face?'

'Face? What about the face?'

'There is an individual here. I don't know what he is but he seems to be guarding the sword. Doesn't seem to be dangerous, or even armed. Just there.'

'Pull me through.' Sander stalked over to look the stranger over. Humanoid -- it looked like a statue, all white, long robes that didn't move at all, a Tragic mask over marble-white skin.

The two Magpies on duty braced to attention but watched. The senior spoke up, 'We can't even get his clothes to move, let alone move him, sir.'

Sander poked the hanging cloth. It felt like stone. 'Who the fuck is this?' The eyes looked more like holes into nothing but gave the impression of tracking him. 'Dude, either talk or I'm moving you.'

An deep, over-resonant voice came out of the air around the being. 'What would you like me to say?'

'Whothefuckareyou?'

'I have been assigned --'

'By?'

'-- to --'

'By?'

'-- survey the position of the weapon.'

'Well, there it is. You can go now.'

'I must continue.'

'And you were sent by?'

'My people. We are... ah... our goals are not detrimental to you or yours. We need to determine the position of this weapon.'

'Point not being your goals. Point being where you came from.'

'We located the weapon when you entered our sphere of knowledge, when you visited the battlefield. We knew then that the weapon had re-entered reality.'

'Hold it a second there, spinach-chin. Could you bother to knock?'

'We were not aware that my form would be detectable by you. We extend apologies for the intrusion and would like to ask permission to monitor the weapon's position.'

'So what do you know about that --- about the battle? Cough it up man, or you're getting evicted.'

'We are allied with several of the participants.'

'It's straight answer time. This is my house. Tell me about the battle.'

It vanished. Sander waved a hand through the empty space. 'All right motherfucker.'

Daelyn called in, 'Honey?'

'It's OK. Gone now.' Sander doubled the guards in the sword room. He stayed for lunch. Daelyn ate even more voraciously than Sander, which was saying a lot.

Megan did a quick brain check, essentially making sure the shape of her psyche was correct. She was back to normal. She Trumped Fiona to check on her. Mom was fine, hellriding like a rocket through Shadow, doing 'errands'. Megan signed off and found a couple of Magpies for a workout. Somewhat later she grew bored and Trumped Anax.

He answered, 'Hello. You're awake. And only one of you is there.'

'Yeah, it's great.'

'We're in Amber awaiting the Apocalypse. How are you?'

'What?'

'There are a bunch of Things fighting other Things and --- there's gonna be a battle and Theseus evacuated the city.'

'I've got some good news. Mom's coming.'

'Coming to Amber. Good. I guess that's good news. I'm not sure what she'll do. Nobody seems to know.'

'I'm just going to hang here. I don't know what else to do.'

'Everybody else is trying to contribute. Even Sander is doing something. The sex-crazed shapeshifter point of view is always welcome.'

Megan glared.

'I'm sorry. All I can give you is the son-of-evil-destructive-foe shapeshifter's point of view. I can't promise you much, but there'll be destruction and probably death.'

'You should be a salesman.'

'I'm a sweet talker.'

'If you think I should come, I will.'

'Well, if you're... busy....'

'No. So are you finished with the double entendres or are you going to pull me through?'

'Me, I never say anything I don't mean or mean anything I don't say.' He pulled her through to Amber castle. 'I've actually gotta go. I have to do this thing for Ander. Call me if you get bored.'

Breann began to concentrate on Artanis' Trump and Edward walked around the corner.

'I hope I'm not interrupting anything,' Edward said. 'Are you really suspicious? Do you suspect Vanessa of being a saboteur? What are your plans?'

'Contacting the queen of the realm she's from.'

'And if she's not on the up and up?'

'She might have an accident.'

'Really?'

Breann nodded, looked at the Trump, 'Not much gets by the queen of that realm.' The contact was terrible, weak and fuzzy. She heard indistinct bits of words. It cleared suddenly.

'Sorry. I was knitting.'

'There's this lady with my brother. Named Vanessa. From your realm. Do you know anything about her. She has a wonderful singing voice.'

'Oh, that's right, she left. Ander performed something unique. She was a member of our supporting cast. Ander spent so much time over hundreds of years reinforcing her reality that she could use a Trump to leave. Normally, that's not possible. Remember that most of this was from before my return. I gather that there was a time when Ander clung to her so tightly as a concept and as a person that now she is real, with a history.'

Breann digested this for a moment. 'There's a war ---'

'Oh, yes, I know about it.'

'Where could I get more information?'

'Quinn knows more.'

'Quinn doesn't know everything or he would have told us.'

Artanis smiled. 'Dworkin is not sharing his knowledge. He probably has no choice. Benedict the same. You'd have to find a member of the opposing forces and quiz them.'

'Which side?'

'Either one. You'll be right or wrong and learn something either way.'

Quinn dowsed the area for weak points the Things could pass through. The ill-fated fountain really was the weakest point, due to a sort of antenna built into its interior, from neat the top of the central spire to about thirty feet underground. He called in the available family to decide what to do with it. Booby trap the area around it? Break it? Breann's idea carried: damage it enough to, hopefully, slow the Things down but not so much as to make it unattractive.

Breann wanted to go recon the battle site. Quinn took her there despite growing reservations about letting the Things see them. The battle had changed. Dworkin and the Unicorn were absent. Benedict fought a rear-guard action to allow the vastly outnumbered remnants of the Awful White Things to retreat through a point in the air.

Theseus was Trumped by Sander while the group was gathering ropes -- ship's cables -- and implements of destruction. Sander told him about the visitor and threatened him. Gerard overheard and had Sander pulled through to help. Megan was watching from a window in the Castle; she felt a touch on her neck and the next thing she knew Gerard was handing her a rope in the fountain plaza. Breann and Quinn returned. Breann sloshed through the fountain to the central pillar and slashed it three times, then walked away. Gerard, Megan and Sander heaved. Crescent sections fell away from the pillar where Breann had cut it and it bent. They pulled some more and it broke and fell. Theseus and Sander noted that the position of the fallen pillar exactly corresponded to that of their vision of the future.

Musical hoof beats sounded, galloping, and the Unicorn was standing at the end of the pillar. Edward ran into the plaza to Breann and saw the Unicorn. 'What's going on?'

'You'll see.'

'That's --'

'It's got some explaining to do.'

The Unicorn, seemingly made of moonlight and mist aside from the metallic hooves and horn, approached Theseus and lowered its horn invitingly. He touched it and seemed to be filled with light for an instant. 'Whoa. It's all so clear to me.'

It approached Quinn, who touched. It gave him feelings of regret that it had failed to protect its family -- them -- and Amber from the coming incursion. Sadness. Breann refused, saying that it was fighting her family. Megan touched. Gerard touched. Sander touched. It didn't offer its horn to Edward. Considering the horn-caliber hole he'd seen in Delwin, Edward wouldn't have got that close to it anyway. It left suddenly, quick as thought.

Theseus recovered himself, 'Are we done here? I have to go beat someone up.'

'Where are you going?' asked Breann.

'I'm not leaving the castle.'

The loudest alarm bells began ringing in the castle. Most of the group ran in. Quinn stayed in the plaza and summoned the Lens. Theseus Trumped to the bell tower and found Ander there swatting the biggest bell with a big wooden post.

'Oh, good. Infirmary. Need help.'

Breann Trumped herself and Edward into the hall as Edward told her, urgently, that they needed to talk. She led a run down to the Pattern room.

Theseus Trumped himself and Ander to the infirmary. A woman lay still on one of the cots. Her hands and arms were blackening.

'This is Vanessa. Fix her.'

Gerard pounded in, saw the woman and bellowed for the attendant as he pulled out supplies.

Theseus helped Sander drag Ander out of Gerard's way, into the hall. Ander took them to his suite and showed them the green-tinted piano keys. Cyanide based contact poison in concentrations sufficient to sicken or kill Ander. Theseus asked Ander if Vanessa was special, meaning of one of the resilient breeds, like themselves. No.

Nothing was happening in the Pattern room. Edward explained to Breann that he'd been about to remove Vanessa from the picture but someone else beat him to it. He'd found her slumped over the piano, a victim of cyanide contact poison, and managed to attract Ander's attention without being seen. Breann asked where Edward would get cyanide. He told her it was easy to find, even occurring naturally in some plants.

Theseus asked/ordered/begged Ander to stay in his rooms. Breann would be coming.

'Yeah, like that's going to make me nail my feet to the floor.'

'Please.' Theseus Trumped himself and Sander to the dungeons to see Flora.

Sander eyed Theseus, 'You're not really gonna --'

Theseus opened the door to her cell. Flora began talking, 'So I'd like to --'

Theseus hit her hard. His hand hurt.

Gerard Trumped Quinn. 'This girl is poisoned -- cyanide. I can't do anything for her here. I want to take her to Aretia.'

Quinn nodded and teleported himself to Aretia, then Trumped Gerard and the victim through. Quinn followed along as Gerard popped Vanessa into an anti-poison tube and programmed her treatment. He left Gerard a message informing him of where the Trump-friendly rooms were and saying that he'd be busy. Next Quinn went to one such room and Trumped Megan. He told her that he would be searching for weapons for a while but available to Trumps. He spun up the Lens and formulated a search: the optimal, available weapon for him to use in Amber against the Horrible Black Things...

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 86
"Single Entendres"

Where is everyone?

Theseus and Sander stood at the door to Florimel's cell. 'If she runs out of there, step on her,' Theseus told his cousin.

'If she runs out of there, I'll clothesline her. Since we came down here to extract information from Auntie Flora, who'll be Good Cop and who'll be Sane Cop?'

Theseus didn't answer. He opened the cell and went in. Florimel sat quietly on her cot. Her face had acquired some dark bruises since she'd been put into the cell.

'What happened?' Theseus asked.

'Nothing. What can I help you out with? I'm hoping I can help you with any questions you might have.' She looked and sounded helpless.

'You're not going to tell me who did this to you?'

'I didn't see him. What can I answer?'

'Where's my father? I know he's alive.'

'I don't know for sure. You might try Sand... or... I could take you to a couple of places --- I know what that sounds like. Witness my presence in a jail cell and deduce from that he's cut me loose.'

'Where was it you last saw him?'

'The day you caught me. Part of the time he was on Caine's ship stashing that poison. He was --- I don't know where he went after that. We were going to meet in a place in Shadow I'm sure you don't know. Thun. I could help you look but if he knows we're looking I won't be able to find him.'

'I wasn't planning on letting you go yet.'

'Beating or no, I may be safer here.'

'Why? Why?! Did he ever mention why?'

'Well, as far as I understand it, it was a long convoluted plot to get you named Regent and eventually King.'

After a stunned moment, Theseus muttered, 'How do you go about changing your name in Amber?'

'It hasn't gone all his way --- no it has. I thing the whole poison thing was a test to see if I'd still do things for him. I believe now he set it up for you to find me out. It gets worse than that. I think he's determined that you can't be king without signs and portents, so there's some notion that you will kill the Unicorn using that Sword.'

'He told you about the sword?'

'He showed me a prophecy he could twist around to make it look like you doing the right thing, and a picture. It goes back a long way. Getting hold of Delwin to get Edward back in the loop. Between having Delwin, Sand and me working for him it was --- he's probably going to find out about this and kill me. At this point, I don't care. I just want to mess up his plans.'

'What's in it for him?'

'He's got a couple of fail-safes to make sure he's still the power behind the throne. I think after his time as Regent he's decided that's the place to be.'

Theseus almost shivered at the unpleasant deja vu, this was too much like his position vis a vis Queen Breann in the 'alter-Amber'. He scanned the area for Trump. It was cut off, but still, 'How did you communicate with him? Trump?'

'He mostly reached me on the Shadow Earth. I had his Trump.'

Theseus reviewed his mental Trump of Eric. Dead. 'Where's his Trump?'

'It's up in my room. Desk behind the door. Diary --- it's sewn into the diary.'

Theseus stepped out of the cell and past the Trump-null zone and Trumped to her room. He found it in the diary and stared in shock. Oberon's Trump? No, 'beneath' that. He didn't recognize the style, but something was familiar... Oh shit! It felt like Brand's Trump 'threads'. He popped back to the dungeon.

Flora saw Theseus' pale face. 'Did I forget to mention there were some other people involved in this?'

'That was information I needed to know.'

'He's not been involved for a long time. He was playing both sides. But he expected that.'

'Who?' Sander asked.

'We could go after him but we'd die. You'd die but I'd live because I'm a part of their plans.' Theseus showed Sander the Trump.

'Oh. That figures.'

Theseus looked surprised, then enlightened. 'That's not who it is. It's Eric. I'm going to let her go.'

'Don't do that,' Flora protested, 'Between Breann and Eric.... and can I get some soap?'

'I'll get you a nice room.' Theseus closed the door and led Sander off to the Pattern room. He Trumped Breann.

Breann felt the contact, muttered, 'I'm getting tired of this.'

'I have something to explain to you and only to you.' Theseus said.

'I'm with Edward.'

'Leave him.'

Breann stepped through to Theseus and Sander.

'I need to plan my words,' Theseus said carefully, 'Don't go kill Flora until I've finished. Flora's not the one we need to kill.'

Breann's face went killing-calm. 'Who's the one?'

'My father.'

'Doesn't anyone stay dead in this family?'

'When we went time-hopping, I saw Flora shoot my father --- but he faked his own death. To put me on the throne.'

'Your father tried to kill my mother to give you a throne? Where's your father now?'

'I don't know. Flora was in contact with my father until she got caught.'

'I know how to find him,' she said glancing at the Pattern.

'He's probably with Brand. The reason I say this,' showing her the Trump, 'Is this is my father's Trump.'

'Eric?!' Breann choked on hate for a moment. 'Edward saw Oberon the other day.'

Theseus concentrated on Edward, just as Megan Trumped him, hard. He gave in.

'Your Regency, IT'S HUMMING!'

'You're --- That probably means it's been activated. We should have plenty of time.'

Megan was outraged, then scathing, 'OK. Whatever your brain says.' She cut the contact.

Breann attempted to Trump Artanis using a Tir Trump standing thirty feet from the Pattern of Amber. Ow! Ow! Ow! She sat down.

Theseus got through to Edward, who resisted a bit since he lacked a Trump of Theseus and didn't know who was calling. Theseus broke through anyway.

'Theseus!'

'I take it you've seen Oberon.'

'The chap in the painting, yes.'

'Where?'

'Which time?'

'The first and every one thereafter.'

'The first was by Lora's tomb.'

'Where's that?'

'I don't know, but I keep ending up there.'

'OK. The second time?'

'On a train from Aretia -- oh, about a day ago.'

'Lora's tomb. Lora's tomb. Which Lora?'

'Not the one we were going off to rescue.'

'Sand and Delwin's mother?'

'Yes. Actually it was the Pattern's idea.'

'Have you, by chance, seen Sand or Delwin?'

'Recently?'

'I never have, myself.'

'I was prisoned in Utumno with Delwin.'

'And Sand?'

'Actually, I've met Sand on a couple of occasions. Most recently --- that was when Delwin had been injured --- also at Lora's tomb.'

'Delwin was injured?'

Edward nodded, 'What's this about?'

'It's not about you. You've been played.'

'I find that shocking,' Edward said, deadpan, then laughed bitterly. 'I am aware of at least some of the manipulations that have gone on. Who?'

'Sand, Delwin, maybe Oberon.'

'Oberon is the kindest, gentlest grandfather...'

'I'd say we should talk later... but I don't know the specifics.'

'I am, of course, at your service, your Regentship. Have you seen Breann?'

Breann, mostly recovered, stepped into Edward's view for a moment.

Theseus said, 'Yes. We'll talk again. I'm afraid he's going to use the tumult to... do something.'

Breann asked Theseus, 'Have you tried to contact your Dad? We could find out where he is.'

Theseus looked apprehensive.

'I'll be right back.'

'Where are you going --- if you don't mind me asking? He's likely allied with Brand and I may end up a quivering mass of goo.'

'I'm gonna call Quinn.'

Quinn was prepping his mind for a Lens search for weapons to use against the Horrible Black Things. He wanted something to use on the Awful White Things too, but there were so many more Horribles. Someone was Trumping him. Anax.

'Help! Come!'

'Where are you?'

'The square. The thing is humming. More importantly, Megan's freaking.'

'Give me a minute.' Quinn paged Gerard. Gerard briefed him on Vanessa's condition on the way to join him. She'd been poisoned with a dose meant for, say, Ander and had reacted oddly. Not quite dead, more like a biological stasis. Aretian machines and doctors could take it from there with unknowable odds of success. Quinn Trumped Anax who pulled them through to the plaza.

Megan saw Anax pull Gerard and Quinn through, and Bleys joined them a moment later. She relaxed a little. The humming scraped her nerves raw but at least people were taking it seriously.

Quinn Trumped Fiona. She answered, hellriding somewhere in Shadow at Morgenstern speed.

'Hi!'

Urgently, 'Can you come through?'

She smiled and grasped Quinn's hand, managing the change from riding a galloping horse to stepping lightly to the ground with casual grace.

'The Horrible Black Things from beyond the place where Dworkin made his Pattern are due to come through any time.'

'You make that sound bad. What's that behind you?' She glanced towards the broken column and the air vibrating above it.

Quinn offered a hand and gave her a full briefing psychically. 'We need more people.'

'We need more weapons.'

'Maybe it's time for Sander to pull out that pig-sticker.'

Fiona was studying the column. 'It's just excess energy from the other side. We have time.'

Quinn nodded and approached Gerard who was standing with Megan. 'We should have some time.'

'I'd like to believe that.' Megan replied bleakly.

'Uncle, let me try to get you a suitable weapon.' Gerard nodded. Quinn put his hand on Gerard's shoulder and sent the Lens out.

Megan muttered, 'I wish I was back in Caer Beatha.'

Edward searched Vanessa's rooms and found nothing of interest.

The very best weapon for Gerard to use against Horrible Black Things in Amber, Quinn found, was Greyswandir, floating at his mother's side in the Tir.

'Quinn! You don't write, you don't call and yet you play the voyeur with your mother.'

'Sorry. I was looking for some really good weapons for the coming fracas. But even if you'd lend it to me, I wouldn't ask.'

'Oh, this. No. Bad things would happen.'

'I wouldn't want it out of the Tir for any reason. I'll have to widen my search.'

The next best weapon was Sander's Trump sword. Breann's sword. Bley's sword was Bleys' best bet. Sander's gadget. Ander's naginata. Megan's naginata was not so good. Quinn gave up on finding, sent the Lens to the shadow where he'd located tough metal inimical to Horrible Things and made a Shadow beyond it with weapons ready and waiting, matching the ones his relatives usually carried. As he caught his breath the Megan-scale naginata was snatched away by Fiona. Quinn blinked, looked at the plaza and saw her hand it to her daughter. The weapon-shadow making, and the search, had gone a bit too easy... Fiona smiled at him. Quinn teleported the other weapons through. Gerard picked out the oversized greatsword out as obviously his and whipped it through the air, one handed, as if it were weightless. Quinn picked out a metal duplicate of his sword (Chair) and switched them. There were blades for Anax, Edward, Theseus, Julian, Caine, Vaughn, Miriel, Lora, Victor, Random and Fiona. Some weren't his designs.

Megan and Gerard squared off and began sparring with their new weapons.

Breann wandered around the Castle searching for the Hall of Mirrors without much luck.

Edward searched Ander's rooms and found nothing new. Something was gnawing at his mind. He prowled back and forth, increasingly agitated. He checked on Vanessa in the infirmary but she was gone. Shayla, the attendant, told him Gerard had Trumped Vanessa away. He realized what was bothering him. Vanessa's scent, on her cot, was different from the one left in Ander's room. He went down to the dungeons to check the smell against Florimel's. Her cell door was open and she was gone. The guard cursed (Oberon's sulphurous balls!) and ran off to raise the alarm. Edward slipped in and out of the cell, then Trumped Breann. And was beside her. In a long hall with mirrors on the walls. He fell into a ready stance as he checked for danger in all directions.

'You know, I wanted to come here by myself!'

'I didn't want to come her at all.'

'Find some answers. It should have some for you.'

'Answers! I left here with more questions than I came in with!'

'Are you sure you want to do this with me? There's no information that might be revealed you don't want me to know?'

'No.' They set off down the hall together.

Megan and Gerard finished sparring, and Bleys declined to join in.

Anax approached Megan, smiling. 'So, Megan, when are you going to run for the hills? 'Cause I can take you there.'

'So, Anax, you're the one who got me into this.'

As Theseus readied himself to contact his father he was interrupted.

'Sir! Flora's escaped!'

'Go inform Lady Breann. Tell her that if I ---' pop like a tick 'Just go.' Theseus concentrated on the Trump. Eric did not answer. He got the image of a drawing: a tree in a sunlit place, with a path leading to a tomb. He knew that place. He'd been there as a small child, drawing in the dirt with a stick as his father talked to someone. Contact was blocked. He pushed, hard. No luck. Sander helped. Theseus pooled the strength Sander gave him to use all at once.

On Edward's side of the Hall the mirrors stayed dark. On Breann's side, the first showed her and Kethos in bed, both sleeping. Edward smiled. The next showed Breann and Vaughn in bed, sleeping.

Edward asked blandly, 'Do you think it's trying to tell you something?'

The next showed Breann and Marcus in bed. She was smiling happily in her sleep. He was weaving feathers and gold wire into her hair. Next showed Breann in bed, not moving at all, with Edward putting on his boots. Then Breann and Lora in bed, both asleep, smiling and snuggling.

'These are not the answers I was looking for,' Breann growled. 'Maybe we should split up.'

Edward, still admiring the last mirror, said, 'No. No. I think it's important we should experience this.'

Breann stalked ahead. The next mirror was not a bedroom scene. It showed a tomb and someone in a cloak with dark hair walking away. Edward had seen this fellow before, walking down a train's passageway, and another time, interrogating him concerning Breann. 'Oh that's right,' Edward said aloud, 'The gentleman I was talking about.' The cloaked figure walked out of sight. Leaves rustled. The Unicorn walked out of the foliage and marked a spot beside the tomb, walked away. Aaaaaah! Sander and Theseus fell out of the sky on top of the Unicorn's mark, Sander on his feet, Theseus not. Theseus stood, they looked around and shrugged. 'Lora's Tomb! The other Lora! Oberon was asking questions about you.'

'What questions?'

Edward drew a blank. Slowly, he remembered and drew a diagram. Symbols for Earth, Air, Fire, Water, a scribble and a blank, connected by lines in pairs.

'I know what that is! I know what that is! Didn't all this start with the breakup of one Pattern into multiple Patterns?'

Theseus couldn't get through the Trump. He examined the drawn scene for footprints of the non-cloven variety.

'How was the Pattern drawn in the first place?' Edward asked.

'I don't know. Quinn would know.' By a strange coincidence the next mirror showed a portrait of Quinn. The mirror swiveled open to the Castle library. They went through, and looked around, out the windows. It seemed to be the right place and time. Breann Trumped Quinn and they went through to the plaza. They brainstormed the possible meanings of the diagram and what they should or could do. They agreed that the three axes of Chaos-Order, Fire-Water and Earth-Air represented the original condition. Dwokin's binding Pattern -- and the natural forms of the various power sources did not seem to be Patterns, except for Finndo's, which was new -- seemed to have collapsed Air, Earth and Water into one, and destroyed Fire. They questioned the assumption that Amber was the Earth source. What was Ygg in all this? What artifacts represented Order and Earth? The Jewel in Benedict's eye socket was, presumably, one of them. What was the significance of the Sword in Aramyst palace? The Awful White Things reeked of something that was almost Amber Pattern. The Horrible Black Things, now that Quinn considered it, radiated something that was not quite the power of Chaos. What did that mean?

For the answer to some of these questions, tune in next week. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 87
"Reunions"

Where is everyone?

Sander and Theseus fell out of the air to land just where the Unicorn had marked an x, next to Lora's tomb -- apparently Lysander's assistance HAD been enough to get through the trump. They ignored the Unicorn's cloven hoof-prints, deciding to follow the boot prints of a large man instead, which wandered off into the trees, then horse's shoed hoof-prints replaced the boots' as the man mounted. Theseus Trumped in one of his checkered horses, Sander shifted Gadget to its mountain-bike form and they followed the horse. Not far. The horse was grazing peacefully, unattended, in a clearing. Tossed rocks disturbed it a bit --- a well-trained horse. Theseus tried his father's Trump; a voice, well-known to him, said Yes? some yards behind him. They turned. Eric stood with a squad of black-clad commandos with assault rifles.

'No fair, dudes,' said Sander. He looked at Theseus, 'Now what, boss?'

Eric smiled benignly, 'I'd love to have you as my guests.'

'Fine,' Theseus said, 'I surrender. Can he go, though?' He gestured at Sander.

'Certainly. He's family.' Eric oozed magnanimity, deliberately mis-interpreting 'Go with them' from 'Go away free'.

Theseus dropped a glyph rock silently to the ground. He'd given Quinn the Trumps for them, and contacted him now. He tried to distract Eric with a question as they walked. 'Wait. Can I ask you something? Why not just be king?' Eric brightened up and launched into major oratory.

Quinn jumped a little at the unmistakable, unavoidable feel of a Theseus Trump contact. Quinn! Grab Breann and anyone else you can. Bring Amber and normal gunpowder and guns and kill everyone in sight. Rock 37! ---image of the group of troops and some big guy in brown--- He told this to the group (Breann, Edward, Megan, Gerard, Bleys, etc).

'We're going to have to kill his father', Breann commented. Everyone looked at her. She explained about Eric's non-death and probable perfidy. Meanwhile the Gate stopped humming.

'Is he likely to kill Theseus right away?' Quinn asked Breann.

'Oh no. The whole thing was set up to put Theseus on the throne.' She got the Trump of rock 37 from Quinn.

Eric continued his oratorical explanation. Theseus managed to whisper to Sander, 'If Quinn isn't here in five minutes I'll have to do something else.'

With the sound of God's Own Velcro ripping open, an Awful Bright Thing came through the Gate. It loomed huge for a second, then compressed into the white stone angel form that Sander had encountered. Everyone drew weapons, even Quinn (dead last). Instinctively, the idiots who'd touched the Unicorn's horn knew the Thing had to be killed. Gerard, Megan, Anax and Quinn attacked it. Bleys, Fiona and Julian backed them up.

The first Thing died, and the next, and the next. Quinn ran out of spells and resorted to psychic attacks via the Lens. The Things were exhausted and just barely vulnerable to him as a result. The warrior types showed more group coordination than the family had ever seen before.

Breann and Edward, though already armed with pistols and extra clips that fit Theseus' request, ran into the Castle to the armory and acquired sniper rifles (the .50 cal HMG ones Quinn had made with Gerard, Sander and Megan in mind), shotguns, extra pistols and more clips.

'Do we have any idea what we're up against?' asked Edward.

'Theseus' father and his army.'

'Shouldn't we wait for reinforcements?'

'We are the reinforcements.'

Edward and Breann Trumped through and rolled into cover. A clump of infantry was two hundred yards away with two men on horseback. One was Theseus. They agreed on a target -- Eric -- by gestures. Edward used the Amber ammo, Breann the mundane. They pulled the triggers. Edward's gun worked and Eric's horse's head blew off its neck. Breann switched clips, lightning fast.

'You double crossed us, you bastard!' Theseus yelled and rolled off his horse. He thought that Quinn must have missed that shot, the incompetent clown.

'Get down!' Edward shouted and leapt protectively onto Breann. She got off a shot anyway, taking Eric in the right scapula and hurling him some yards forward off his headless but still-standing mount.

Theseus mowed down soldiers with his Gadget-staff. It morphed on its own into a new form, a baseball bat, providing additional torque on the swings.

Breann, furious, hit Edward with a paralyzing nerve jab in the neck. Edward had always wondered what that felt like. Not good. He instinctively started shapeshifting to neutralize the effect. Breann chanted a long spell, aimed clearly at Edward. Edward recovered sufficiently to hit her with a Neural Disrupt power word just as she kicked him. Instead of being kicked into a teleportal, Edward merely rolled a few painful feet.

Theseus scrambled over to Eric's flying body and made sure he landed on the wound.

Sander smashed through more soldiers, then grabbed an assault rifle and emptied its clip into the men on full auto. Tossed it, got another and repeated.

Theseus stabbed Eric in the kidneys through a lung, twisted the blade and pulled it out.

The few surviving soldiers fled in panic.

'It's not my fault! It's not my fault!' Edward yelled at Breann.

Breann, convinced that Edward had missed on purpose, didn't care, 'Trump away to Amber. Show me the Trump, Edward. Go. Please.'

Edward did that.

Theseus looked at Sander, 'Let's go!' Sander joined him and he Trumped them, and Eric, to Amber. They heard the sounds of fighting down in the fountain plaza. Sander morphed Gadget back into a dirt bike and rode it pell-mell down the slope.

Theseus turned to Eric, 'Was this part of your plan, Bitch?'

Eric tried to gasp out something. Theseus put his sword's scabbard in Eric's mouth (thinking about Blood Curses), then took it out to listen. Something about she wasn't Flora -- or maybe Lora. Dead.

Edward Trumped into the courtyard, then made his way down to the Pattern room. 'It wasn't my fault,' he told Theseus in passing.

Sander kicked the White Thing that appeared in front of him on the way to the fight and possibly broke a bone in his foot. A hundred yards down it appeared in front of him again.

Gerard, Megan and Julian made an efficient Thing killing team. Quinn helped as he could, paralyzing Things for them. Fiona and Bleys did much the same between them. Then Benedict came through with the next group of Awful Bright Things.

Breann Trumped Theseus, 'Find Edward. He needs reprogramming.'

'He went downstairs. Can't it wait? Battle?' Theseus gestured towards the town.

'Watch your back. That shot shouldn't have missed.'

'BATTLE? More than me. You're needed. Want me to pull you through?'

'No. I've got something else to do first.'

Benedict blocked the Unicorn's minions from attacking the Awful Bright Things with him. He seemed to be unarmed. The frenzied ones stopped, barely. Megan's voices returned for a moment, You can take him... she ignored them.

Theseus Trumped Quinn, 'Nice shot No Aim.' Quinn just looked confused. 'Oh. You didn't do it.'

Sander stopped.

The Thing's mask-face pointed at him. 'The enemy is still coming. We were retreating. I don't believe, from what I've seen, that you would have acted this way without a reason. We're being annihilated.'

'And the downside is...?'

'We weren't going to hurt you!'

'You're telling me this to me, why?' A light shone from behind Sander and passed: the Unicorn. Sander ignored the Bright Thing and raced past the Unicorn.

Edward started walking the Pattern.

Benedict and his charges stepped away from the Gate. Three Horrible Black Things came through, one at a time, compressed and merged into one carriage-sized insect-squid monster. The Unicorn walked into the plaza, stopped. Stared at Benedict. Benedict held his ground. The Unicorn looked at her thralls. Gerard, Megan and Anax circled Benedict and his group. Quinn channeled power from the Pattern into his Lens.

Sander Trumped Daelyn.

'What are you doing?!' Fiona asked Quinn. She looked into his eyes. 'Oh CRAP!' She grabbed his face and tried to break the Unicorn's grip on him. Failed. 'Crapcrapcrap!' She tried again and slugged Quinn, hard. His head rang and cleared. He snarled and pushed his charged Lens at the first Horrible Black Thing as the Unicorn gestured at it to go.

Edward completed the Pattern and wished himself to Delwin. He appeared at Lora's tomb. Delwin was standing behind it.

Breann Trumped to Ygg. The tree was vibrating hard, near shaking apart from its northern quarter. The Amber side. She put her hands on it. It was alternately freezing cold and burning hot. Jangling forces rippled to the Tree from Amber.

'What the hell am I going to do? What the hell am I going to do?

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 88
"Homefront"

Where is everyone?

Edward saw Delwin behind the sarcophagus. Vaughn made his presence known behind him. 'Do you meet here often?' Edward asked.

'Well, yes. I've been missing my mother. This is where we keep her.'

'Flora? Lora? This is Lora's tomb. Then who's not in the dungeons any more?.

'Not Flora. Not since before you came to Amber.'

'If Lora's tomb has Flora in it...'

'No, no. Do you want to see?'

'No, thank you.'

'We needed someplace to put her.'

'Well, whoever it is' doing a good job looking like her.'

'Yes, it would. Delwin, am I too far ahead of the story here? I thought you'd told him. I'm sorry about dumping all this on you; I thought you were up to speed.'

'I'm not even sure what direction we're going in. Delwin. Uncle.'

'Yes?'

'Things have gone bad. I think. Unless they're really good. For someone.'

Delwin frowned at this evidence of sloppy Compelling.

'Uncle Eric's back.'

'No, that's not right any more.'

'I was trying not to notice after trying to keep him from being shot. Who was it....?'

'Oh, that was Eric. Self preservation. You'll have to blame me if you find yourself leaping in front of bullets aimed at me.'

'I assumed as much. Anybody else?'

'No. You shouldn't be leaping in front of anybody. No one left to kill. Wait, there is something you need to do. Hold still --- Vaughn, will you take care of that?' THUMP. BLACKNESS.

Breann left Ygg running. Found herself a horse and started hellriding. She found shadowstorms. Lots of them. They got worse when she slowed, so she sped up again.

Sander yanked the Sword In Question out of the stone, far too easily. It slipped out of his hand and impaled the wall behind him up to the hilt and started sliding down the wall. He picked it up carefully and gave up on the notion of sheathing it in something. He Trumped Ben: nada. Fiona: yes. She pulled him through to way too much excitement in Ambertown.

'What's that in your oh my god what is that?!'

'Hey, hey, stand back with that.' Lysander complied.

The Unicorn (beloved, most trustworthy, yadda yadda) told the Horribles to leave and they didn't. Thralls of the Unicorn and non-thralls, they piled onto the Things. It took Megan fifteen minutes to kill her first one, Anax about the same. He paused to pant at her.

'I got an idea what we may be able to do better against these Things. Wanna do it?'

Megan nodded. Anax glommed on to her. They merged into a big centaur-cat-winged-tentacled thing and attacked another Thing. It felt good. Really good. This shape loved to fight, kill, taste blood. Better than sex. The Things tasted like soy sauce.

Quinn used the ball of Pattern energy he'd built up in his Lens to hit a Horrible Thing. It died --- and the rift blasted WIDE OPEN. Energy washed over the city. Pattern powers were cut in half, but the ambient magic went up to insane levels. Quinn, Fiona and Lora hosed Horrible after Horrible down with raw power.

Theseus used the ambient power to make keyhole Trumps and suck Horribles through them as streams of disorganized (dead) energy. Then he had an inspiration. He sketched a special Trump on a wall, designed to bind all the Things into one Primal Image.

Breann lost it in a granddaddy shadowstorm and fell at the booted feet of Marcus. He felt that this could not be an accident. Breann explained her problem and THE problem. He'd been observing some of the effects. He agreed to help and provide transport, since Trumps wouldn't work through the shadowstorms. Breann hung onto his neck -- he liked that -- and he yanked them through Shadow with some nasty, evil, terrible-feeling power. Something like being projectile vomited by Mother Nature into the stratosphere. The first hop took them to Ygg, where Breann lost her last six meals. When she could stand, he did it again.

Edward found himself before Castle Amber. He entered, knowing he had to kill someone, gun in one hand, knife in the other. He was following a scent. Perfume. The same as Vanessa's poisoner. To the balcony of Flora's room. Where Random held one of the big (.50 cal HMG) sniper rifles pointed into the city and Vialle stood beside him, one hand on the back of his neck.

'Now. Now. Shoot him,' she said.

Edward brought the pistol up to aim.

Sander killed Horrible Things right and left with the Sword of Uncertain Origins. He was really hoping to find the Unicorn and do her. Instead he ran across Theseus drawing frantically on a wall.

Edward discovered he was free to chose targets. He aimed at Random's head. 'I think we need to talk,' he said from inside the suite.

'And done!' Theseus chortled. 'Can I borrow that a second?'

'No.'

'I really need---'

Three Horrible Black Things landed behind him. Sander attacked them and Theseus stepped back to the wall Trump with his Trump of the Sword in his hand. Timing was crucial. He laid the Sword Trump over the other as Sander swung a mighty blow. The blade shimmered away in mid stroke --- and all three Things died bisected. Screams of dying Things shook the city as all of them who'd come through the rift died too.

Quinn, Fiona and Lora enjoyed the breather and the sight of dead Things. All shot up shocked at a wave of Chaos power as Marcus and Breann appeared nearby. Quinn was beyond surprise by now. 'If you can tell us what's anchoring that' --- pointing at the rift --- 'Let us know.'

Marcus scanned around. 'Well, that depends on what.... OH.' Marcus told them that the Horrible Things were the rulers of the Void beyond Chaos. The anchor would depend on the specifics of the bindings that allowed them in. He was amazed that the Unicorn had dealt with them at all as they wanted to destroy everything. Everything. There had been Nothing, before, and they liked it that way. Marcus thought aloud: 'If I were a Unicorn, where would I be?'

'The Grove,' Breann answered.

Theseus, Breann and Sander took off for the Grove.

Marcus thought he could do something to keep more Things from coming through the rift. He asked Quinn and Fiona to stay, they'd be needed.

Meganax got a Trump call from dear, sweet Vialle. 'Megan, I need your help.' Megan immediately flew off to do that.

Anax pounded at Megan's mind, 'Megan! Megan! MEGAN!'

'Where are we going? Why?'

'Something to do with the echoes in your brain.'

'What echoes?' echoes, echoes.... echoes......'Who was it?'

'Llewella --- no, Llewella works for Vialle --- Oh god!'

Megan could suddenly remember. Lots of things. Llewella had always worked for Vialle. Vialle had put compulsions on Megan a lot in Caer Beatha. She'd made Megan poison Ander's piano's keys by Domination. All the Beathan compulsions had burned out with the zombie army, or maybe in the Dreamlands.

Anax picked up on a lot of this. 'So, what are ya gonna do? We're getting close.'

Megan saw Vialle and Random on the balcony. The gun was pointed towards the Grove. She swerved and ripped out a hundred pounds of masonry.

Marcus was invoking something to keep the Things out.

'Can I help?' Quinn asked.

'Yes. You could keep them from melting me.'

'Right.'

Breann and Sander confronted the Unicorn. Theseus stayed under cover a ways off.

MY CHILDREN

'Don't give us that 'my children' shit!' Sander yelled. Walking forward was hard, like walking through deep mud.

Quinn and Fiona blasted Things away as Marcus worked. Marcus was using the King of Chaos' artifact, a terribly powerful gadget. Apparently Marcus had a new job.

Vialle's attempts to bullshit Edward went nowhere. Her expression changed, Edward's didn't, as she had Random fire and Edward fired a split second before -- he hoped. Random staggered and the rifle --- and one of Random's hands --- was smashed by Meganax' masonry.

'Edward, that was bad of you. Random will have to kill you now.'

Edward emptied his pistol into Random, twice, stopping his charge.

The Unicorn's waves of PEACE and LOVE, conveyed by a kind of song, stopped Breann in her tracks. Sander struggled on. 'You silly fucking horse!'

Breann poinked Sander with her pocket rocket, a 'Silence' spell racked on the pellet.

'Sonofa-- I can move!' Sander shouted silently and charged. He swung the Sword --- glowing like a small sun --- at the Unicorn's horn and it rainbowed away as a bullet hit him in the shoulder, taking off some meat. It made the Unicorn miss its thrust.

Theseus ran away through the trees with the Sword. Breann followed the glaring light.

Sander switched to Gadget and dodged frantically. Only the horn and hooves were solid to Gadget.

Meganax, watching things from far overhead, couldn't decide what to do. She asked Anax to decide.

Marcus finished a hideously powerful blocking construct. 'I can hold them. You go do something else. Redhead, stay.'

Quinn flew over the Grove.

Megan and Anax decided to go after Vialle. She&He landed cautiously on the balcony. No sign of Vialle. Edward slipped into the room, his eyes darting to every bit of cover. 'Where's Vialle?'

'That's what I was going to ask you.'

Lightning struck them from a side room.

Sander fought frantically but without the Sword, couldn't hurt the damned thing.

Where is everyone?

Home

Things in Heaven and Earth -- 89 & 90
"Ashes, ashes..."
"...they all Fall Down."

Where is everyone?

Theseus (still under the Unicorn's influence) Trumped one of his special rocks to the castle courtyard and hid the SWORD, attempting to throw Breann off his trail.

The SWORD's sunlike glow cut ahead of Breann, somewhere in the trees ahead. A flicker of rainbows followed right behind. She became even angrier. Fuck these people. I'm out of here. I'll pick up Marcus and go be Queen of Chaos. She Trumped to the castle courtyard.

Vialle's forked purple lightning blew Megan'n'Anax off the balcony and smashed Edward along the wall to the corner of the room. Meganax bounced off the entry arch and hit the ground hard. No broken flagstones this time. Inside, Vialle told Edward, 'I'm afraid you will have to pay the price for your lack of vision.' Burning, pain, convulsions. 'I really had expected more from you, Edward.' She yanked him upright with telekinetic locks on his elbows. He coughed. 'I was simply trying to kill the man who was trying to kill the horse. Lys-someone. Large person.'

'Someone adult hereabouts who lies?'

'Lysander. Gerard's brat. Just trying to keep your Unicorn alive. It doesn't exactly want what I want, but it will cause something I want to happen. The Unicorn, you see, wants Amber to have more power than anything else. I want to maintain that sort of imbalance until things tear apart on their own.'

'Won't you suffer in the general catastrophe?'

'I'm not worried about that. I'm protected by my Lord.'

'Oh, that one. So you arranged for the destruction of the Primal Pattern?' Edward rather preferred talking to more blasting.

'Of course not. That was Brand, and he's still paying for it. You still have Order in addition to the other.' She glanced outside. 'You ruined it for me. They're probably down there now cutting it up for steaks or whatever you do with Unicorn meat. Barbarous.'

'I've served as an agent of the Unicorn --'

'You've served as an agent for Many. Your mind is a Laundromat. You are of no more use to me. I'll just have to kill you.' She concentrated.

Meanwhile Megan'n'Anax in their conjoined form crawled over to a fallen pistol by shutting off the pain. Shifting anything was out of the question. You realize this will hurt later, Anax reminded them. What's your plan? 'Kill the bitch'? OK. She-he braced themself and jumped, flapping their wings hard, for the balcony. Trailing smoke.

Quinn, flying overhead, could see what Theseus had actually done through his Pattern Lens. He didn't like his odds of catching Trump Boy and Trumped Fiona. She came through to him after a quick explanation and floated down to Theseus. He turned his attention to the Sander Vs. the Unicorn fight. It didn't look good.

Sander discovered that the Unicorn's horn and hooves were the only parts of it he could touch. Everything else was like batting at moonbeams. As a result he was getting cut to pieces a bit at a time. Then he started glowing for no obvious reason. After the initial fright, it felt good. He caught his second wind and fought on.

Quinn had felt that his chances of hitting the Unicorn with direct attacks (short of area effects that would hurt Sander more than It) were poor. Instead, he ran energies inimical to energy-beings through and around Sander. Maybe the big guy could hurt the Unicorn now. Supplying the energies was not difficult in the huge wash of magick surrounding the Gate.

Fiona floated down in front of Theseus. 'You've been a very bad boy!'

Theseus spun around and brought up the SWORD defensively.

Fiona jumped back, frightened by the SWORD. 'Hey, hey, hey! You need to take a time out, mister!' She pointed at him.

Theseus rolled forward and swatted at her arm with the flat. Fiona, really scared, let loose a hemispherical effect that flattened Theseus to the ground some yards away and incidentally blasted the area like a one-second hurricane. She narrowed the pressure back to Theseus and held him down. He could barely breathe. Fiona walked up cautiously and reached out to touch him.

The next time Sander blew Gadget through the Unicorn some mist streamed from its shoulder, almost like blood. The Unicorn acted like it had felt it too. He put more effort into hitting it.

Breann found Marcus still trying to hold the Gate closed. Horrible Black Things were fighting their way through, but very slowly. Breann helped the relatives on hand kill them. She examined the Gate and decided to try to shunt off some of the energy into a spell. The ice spell seemed like the best choice. She cut a channel in and THERE WAS TOO MUCH POWER! Her hands frosted over. The temperature in the plaza -- the city -- the area -- dropped like a rock. She was stuck. If she stopped channeling for an instant, she'd vaporize.

Meganax landed on the shattered balcony just as Vialle blasted Edward off it and into them. She-he-they scrambled and didn't fall back. Blamblamblam. Vialle staggered backward from the impact of the bullets hitting her magickal shields. 'Megan! Lets not have any of this!' Things crawled in Megan's mind but were baffled by Anax' presence.

Edward, retaining consciousness by sheer hate, used a Word of Power to negate Vialle's shields. Blamblamblam. WordWordWord. BloodBloodBlood. GoodGoodGood. Edward shot Vialle with a poisoned springbolt on the second Word. Vialle sprayed blood and fell supine through a doorway. Blamblamblamclickclick. Edward stumbled to his other gun and both advanced on Vialle only to find her clothes soaking in a large pool of bloody water. Freezing bloody water. The room was covered in frost, sleet blew in from the balcony in erratic gusts and the city looked to have frozen over. Edward cursed, then tore of a strip of Vialle's bloody gown for later study.

Quinn felt the bottom drop out of the easy magick supply and the air turned arctic. He gave energizing Sander his maximum effort. That amounted to about 80% of what he'd been able to do easily a moment ago. He let another percentage point or two slide, and added some heat to the effect.

Theseus' hands were numb. Trumping the SWORD to another Shadow didn't work. Fiona touched his face and applied psychic pressure to the compulsions on him. Theseus yelled out, 'Stop! Stop! You're hurting me!' She sat on his chest and continued. 'Stop! Sander's gonna die! --F-i-o-n-a--r-e-l-e-a-s-e-d--t-h-e--c-o-m-p-u-l-s-i-o-n--- BECAUSE OF THAT UNICORN BITCH! Gotta help Sander!'

'Relax your muscles!' Fiona said, still wary of the blade.

Theseus forced himself to relax. Fiona let him up saying, 'Go.'

'Send me there!'

'I can't. All the energy went... Oh shit!' The forest had frozen around them. Sleet was falling. Theseus ran towards the battle.

'Let's leave,' said Megan. She produced her Trumps from a body-pocket.

You got anywhere to that's warm? Anax.

'Going someplace? I'm going someplace.' Edward said.

'I do,' Anaxamegan continued, speaking aloud in a different tone from Meganax. My Dad gave it to me. Still want to use it? Most people around here don't.'

Neither Megan nor Edward had a suitable Trump. Then Anax's special -- passed out of Meganax' body in a way Edward found most disturbing -- didn't work.

'I say we fly,' Megan said.

'I don't have to ride inside of you or anything, do I?' Edward asked.

They flew through the sleet and turbulent winds towards a glow in the air that turned out to be Quinn. Judging by the smoke, he was warm but... The further reaches of Arden were still unfrozen. They headed that way

Sander, glowing at around 2000 watts, melted the ice around him and fought in a stream of steam that blew away in the icy wind from Amber city.

Marcus froze - literally. The Horrible Black Things went to ultra-slow-mo. Lora, Bleys, Julian and the other relatives -- even Benedict -- at ground zero, froze. The bay froze. Breann, channeling the power, was merely frostbitten.

Quinn wasn't cold, his hands were blistering and his clothes were smoking. Theseus was too far away to freeze. Yet. Or maybe Fiona was helping him out. He made it to the clearing. Sander was covered with blood from a hundred cuts but still fighting madly, glowing. The Unicorn was leaking some mist. Theseus slid over to join the battle. His first attack missed. Gadget turned into big gauntlets on Sander's hands -- a new form and done with out orders. Sander got over his surprise and grabbed the horn but lost it. The gloves smoked. He grabbed its mane... there was a violent flurry of movement and he had It around the neck with both arms, still twisting madly but slowed. It wasn't what he'd wanted, but it would have to do. He dug his boots in. 'Kill this fucking bitch!' Theseus struck underhand right through the horn. Nothing happened for a moment, then the Unicorn dissolved out of Sander's grip and the horn fell in slow motion. It broke up into motes of light.

There was a CRACK that everyone in the world felt clear to the bottom of their cellular structure. Then a moment of absolute silence.

The light-motes brightened menacingly. They ran. Sander noticed that Theseus had cut the tips of his boots off. The SWORD wasn't glowing any more and felt dead in Theseus' hand. Quinn swooped down and flew between them, offering hands. They grabbed on and he accelerated, forming a protective bubble around them.

Breann felt the Gate energy cease. Oh, good.

Meganax redoubled their efforts at speed.

LIGHT

SHOCKWAVE

Quinn awoke in a darkened hallway. He seemed to be intact, though blistered, bruised and exhausted. Anti-Thing metal sword still there. He made a light -- it was a serious effort -- and looked around. No mirrors. Good. He tried to draw on the Pattern of Amber -- nothing. Tir Pattern -- yes. He got up painfully and walked slowly to down the hall, checking his Trumps. No, no, no, yes -- Artanis answered immediately and easily.

'Quinn, why are you Trumping me from there?'

'Where am I?'

Artanis was suddenly there before him, looking mildly concerned. 'In my palace.'

'Ah. Strange. Well, the last thing that happened --'

'Will this take a while? Let's move to a more comfortable room, with chairs and food and bandages.'

It sounded heavenly. 'And wine.'

Sander was in Aramyst by the palace. The city looked different. Not just storm or earthquake damage, different. More dirt roads than cobblestones. Other things. The two guards near him were Magpies in Aramyst livery. They let down the drawbridge -- since when do we have a drawbridge? -- and let him in. Daelyn swept to meet him at the doors, wearing an antique-for-Aramyst gown and gave him a big but careful smooch and hug. He returned them and pulled out his Dad's Trump. Nada.

'Honey, what about the sword?' Daelyn asked.

'It went away.'

'No, the other one.'

'Which one?'

'The Baron's sword. What do you want to do with it?'

Pause. 'Leave it there.' Nap. Please, let him have a nap. "Wait, where IS it?"

Theseus was flat on his back looking up at the branches of a huge tree. He lay there looking at it for a long time. I can't get into any trouble if I don't move. Eventually he arose, carefully. His chest hurt a great deal. He still had both his sword and the SWORD. The tree was Ygg. His Trumps wouldn't work. He sat down on a rock and poked the only spot on his body that didn't hurt. Hoofbeats from the other side of the gigantic tree. Theseus hefted a rock and waited.

'Nice work back there,' said Osric.

Breann came to on a rocky promontory wearing a few shreds of her clothes. Dagger, yes, sword, yes, pistol, no -- smashed on the rocks. Marcus was nearby, lying still on a jagged outcrop. He and she were gashed up badly and covered with blood. A troop of mounted soldiers came into view and approached them. They dismounted and twenty ran up to attack. She couldn't talk if she wanted to -- her tongue wasn't cooperating, neither were her ears -- so she attacked though every movement was agony. During the fight, she saw that she was at the edge of something that matched descriptions of the Abyss. She thought she got fifteen before the lights went out.

Megan came to floating in an ocean with no land in sight. After a time, the sea started to act oddly. It became clear that something huge was rising slowly to the surface. Twenty minutes later the hill-sized tentacles broke the surface, followed by an immense eye.

Edward regained consciousness in a frozen wood, lying diagonally on Lora's tomb. He rested. Boots crunched in the snow. He rolled off opposite with a knife in one hand and his springbolt pistol in the other.

Vaughn. 'Easy there, big fella! Sorry about that knockout thing.' He eyed the springbolt. 'I'm supposed to come get you.'

Where is everyone?

Home

THINGS IN HEAVEN AND EARTH FINAL LOG (91)
"The Pieces"

Where is everyone?

Breann awoke in a room almost identical to hers in Amber Castle. The sky out the window was the stripy sky of Chaos, there was no handle on the door, and the contents were off. No weapons, and the clothing consisted of skimpy gowns. It took three gowns to achieve opaque. Another gown she knotted into a strangling cord. As she studied the door with an eye to breaking it down, it opened. Six guardsmen with cocked crossbows that they didn't quite point at her entered and told her they were to escort her to the king. She went along with that. On the way the leader of the troops apologized for their precautions and then thanked her for her zeal in protecting their king. From them, unfortunately, but she couldn't have known that. She was taken to a great hall and announced to a crowd of Chaos nobles in four languages as Lady Breann; she'd declined any other titles. Marcus was at the end of the hall on the throne; all but Marcus bowed to her. Breann gave him a quizzical look. 

Don't worry. I'll explain later. Don't embarrass me. --whispered in her ear.

Edward's springbolt was steady on Vaughn's heart.

'You going to shoot me or what?'

Edward lowered the weapon and stood. Painfully.

'Did everything turn out alright? All the appropriate people dead?'

'That depends. Who are the appropriate people?'

'Who did you kill?'

'I asked you first.'

'You were doing something with Vialle. How did that work out?'

'Well, there was Vialle and Random and a gun on the parapet.'

'Ahh... well, so long as Random came out all right.'

'So he's the one essential to your plans.'

'Is he all right?'

'He's... entirely free of Vialle's influence.'

'Is Vialle dead?'

'I don't think so.'

Purple lightning flashed behind Vaughn, striking him and throwing him towards Edward.

Megan floated on the surface of a Beathan sea, still loosely connected to Anaximander. IT stared at her for moments or days (she couldn't tell), then slowly submerged.

'That was very interesting.'

Megan turned and saw Llewella levitating inches above the swells.

'As I understand it, It was coming to assimilate you, make you part of it. But it didn't. That's depressing.'

'So what do you want, Auntie?'

'I was sent to wait and make sure it happened, or kill you if it didn't.'

Megan, who was all shifted out in a big, big way, didn't like the sound of that at all.

Edward dodged Vaughn's smoking body and saw Vialle. 'Stop it! Stop it right this moment! What do you think you're doing?!'

Vialle stopped and stared at Edward, puzzled.

'What do you think you're doing? You're just going around blasting everybody? Someone looks at you crooked and for no good reason---'

'Why not? It seemed like a great opportunity. His mother is here. Why not bury him here too?'

'"Why not?" What kind of reason is that? Are you going to kill everyone you meet? What kind of maniac--'

'You're right. I should be killing you.' Her hands came up and glowed purple... and Vaughn slammed a two hundred pound tree limb into her head. She hit the ground and lay still.

Edward walked over and put the poisoned springbolt through her right eye. 

Vaughn leaned on his branch, still smoking, breathing hard. 'Well, we got her now.'

Edward glared at Vaughn. 'And you. I don't want to criticize this time, but you do entirely too much hitting people from behind.'

Llewella raised her arms and the sea started boiling in a hundred yard circle. It hurt a great deal, and Megan couldn't shapeshift. She chucked her sword at Llewella, who dodged into Megan's second missile -- Anax. Both splashed down. Llewella levitated out of the water, gesturing, and stopped. She looked confused. Disoriented. Utterly baffled. Megan felt things unknot in her heat at the same time. Llewella looked at Megan, her own hands and rotated in the air searching for something. 

'Aunt, you look like you could use a lie-down.'

Llewella focused on Megan. 'Pardon me -- who are you? Have we met? You look like, like...'

Megan sighed relief and exasperation. They had a long talk.

Quinn's precis reached the point where he touched the Unicorn's horn.

'Not your smartest move,' his mother told him.

'Yes. That became clear.'

He reached the end and paused. 'Can you tell me what happened next on a, ah, cosmographic scale?'

'The horn was probably the binding point. The two Patterns, Order and Earth, should separate.'

'I'm worn out but could you just take a look?'

'Oh, that won't work any more.'

'Scanning? Why?'

'That only worked in the first place because you had the power of two Patterns stacked up.'

Pause. 'How inconvenient,' said Quinn, kissing half his power goodbye.

Artanis smiled tartly at him. 'So you'll be limited to walking across universes, like the rest of us mere immortals.'

'Still faster than most, I hope. Could you do two things for me?'

'I think so.'

'Contact Miriel --'

'-- Trumps aren't working. She has been dreaming though. She's fine.'

Much of Quinn's worry evaporated. 'How about Dad?'

'He's so tied to Arden he just ended up in a shadow of it.'

'Good. Well, there's Donata. She was in the Castle when things blew up.'

'She should be fine. Her child can't die.'

Quinn looked skeptical. Prophecy shmophecy.

'The prophecy won't let it be clear beforehand which child is the prophesied one.'

Quinn let the notion of a sentient prophecy slide. 'Fiona?'

'I'm sure she's fine. You survived, after all.'

'True. I should rest then. It's seemed like a good idea for a while now.'

'Yes, you should,' Artanis said with maternal concern, and Quinn fell over asleep.

Sander examined the Baron's Ice Sword. It was levitating above the mountain road towards Ys, just outside Aramyst. It spun humming-fast round its long axis and frosted the area for a quarter-mile around it. And Aramyst was 'handling' sluggishly now, too.

'Well, shit.' He chucked a rock at it. The rock exploded. OK, nobody was likely to run off with it. He returned to Aramyst City and ordered a guard tower be built around it, immediately. The heating bills were going to be murder.

Theseus, SWORD in hand, looked at Osric.

'I must say I am impressed. Excellent work. No need for that.'

'I mean, you killed the Unicorn. You killed your father. You have no idea how many of us have wanted to do that. You didn't let me kill you. You didn't let Brand kill you. Or Breann. I am impressed. Which brings me to my reason for this visit, my dear nephew. I've often been impressed by your ability to survive and to get relatives to follow your advice when they should run screaming.'

'You are complimenting me?'

'After a fashion. I have a project for which I need the assistance of the most competent and innovative relative available. I've selected you as the best possible choice.'

'All right. Get to the point.'

'I have a puzzle. I need your advice.'

'What is it?'

'I don't know.'

'Usually you need to identify a puzzle first.'

'I know. Things are so complex I don't know where to begin. Are you with me?'

'What's that phrase that means "no"?... It starts with "fuck" and ends with "you".'

'I thought so.' Osric walked away.

'Have fun building the houses. Hope you've got coconuts.'

Megan and Anax were taken by Llewella -- who was now helpful but really pissed off -- to a comfortable Beathan shadow to recuperate. It was months before she could shapeshift again, though she was flying before Anax could shift at all.

Quinn reached Ygg after two months of shifting through the Dreamlands. Hellriding was a very dangerous idea these days. He found Aretia a week later. His changes to the shadow's physical laws had come undone and the Eater had somehow hit the planet. It had been lased off eventually but the ecosphere was shot. Most Aretians had emigrated to Titan or Ganymede or Ceres and the remaining population was in domed colonies. QED was headquartered on Titan now, bigger and stronger than ever due to its CEO.  Deirdre Quinn was actually the semi-secret ruler of the whole Solar System. She'd had thirty years to do it. Their meeting was formal and a little strained. Deirdre seemed colder but more centered. She'd regenerated past the need for any of her cyborg parts ten years before but had stayed on, partially because Shadow was still disturbed and her Pattern no longer quite in tune with current reality. They left together for Amber or what was left of it.

Theseus was relieved when Trumps finally started working, a bit at a time, months later. All the old connections were broken though; he had to make new Trumps. Eventually he contacted Sander.

Sander saw the guard tower built. Daelyn grew bigger and bigger, grumpier and grumpier -- their kid was going to be huge. Sander maintained vigilance along the borders and sometimes scouted out into Shadow. He encountered some of Julian's men from time to time but never ran into his uncle himself. Trumps remained dead. One day, Theseus Trumped him. He looked terrible -- thin, grungy and tired. 'Dude, you're alive!' He pulled his foul-smelling cousin through and sent him to the baths -- the Magpies' baths -- right away. He sent a half-naked servant girl to help after the first rinse. Later Sander Trumped Gerard with a new card and Theseus' help; Dad was a long ways away, but in good health.

Vaughn took Edward off to see 'the Boss', but Delwin wasn't home. Edward lolled about healing, eating well, drinking better and sampling the area's fleshpots for weeks, but Delwin did not return.

Marcus gave Breann a significant look. 'You wanna?'

'What?'

'You know.'

'Might as well.'

Ah, romance.

In time the whole group came together in Amber, if only for a short time. Earth Pattern Amber, far more rustic than the original. The royal family was a three hundred year old history to the locals. Caine turned up, incognito and the proprietor of Bloody Andy's. There was no Pattern per se. The Source of Power was a tree the grew in the center of a grove. To introduce oneself to the power contained therein, one... well, it was more unpleasant than it used to be, but much simpler.

Fiona was found living quietly in a tower by the sea in a distant realm.

Ander was found ruling a shadow with his wife Vanessa, his kids, and Vince and his family.

Neither one of them were much interested in 'coming home' at that moment, but everyone agreed to stay in touch as much as possible.

They all had their lives to live, after all.

Creation hadn't been destroyed, but the world had moved on.  Things had changed.

Where is everyone?