When I left Amber, the castle was in turmoil. Julian had reported troops in Arden with working guns. Caine had sailed with the fleet to encounter the same. I had just finished my morning aerobics when my mother sent for my (my real mother, Princess Fiona of Amber). She was describing the purple and gold bottle I was to retrieve for her when the echoes of cannon began.
I quickly went through the wardrobe to that off-world maze she calls a castle. I followed the directions perfectly and of course the bottle wasn't there. I wandered around a bit looking for it, but after a couple of hours I got tired of passing through wards that make your skin crawl. [Like being a guest at Dr. Strange's summer home when he's not there.] I used the feel of the various wards to find my way back to Castle Amber and the battle at hand.
I stepped into the wardrobe and knew that something was different. The coats that I passed through were different. The room didn't smelled the same. There was no gunfire, no smoke, no servants running around. Outside there was an odd mixture of thunderstorms, snow and pockets of heat lightning. The skies changed in a blink of an eye. That is, all the skies except those above the castle itself. Those were dead black and ugly.
There was no note for me here or in my room. My chambers were tidied but a layer of dust laid upon every surface. As I left, I passed Sander's room. It was padlocked and a note said 'While I'm gone don't touch my stuff'. Where Sander was and why anyone would want his "stuff" was beyond me.
I headed down stairs, to find even less activity there. I overheard a few guards from what was obviously a skeleton crew. "I hope I don't get sent up there. I heard that he broke Joe's arm..." I headed towards the guards. There was all-new furniture in the great hall, including a grandfather clock. I pondered how far I could throw the clock as I came upon the guards. The conversation went something like this:
Guard: "Oh! Ummmmm, What... Who, Uhhh, Lady Megan!" Me: "Good answer. What's up?" Guard: "AhhhhhUmmmm Your Mother is ahhhhh up in the ummmm infirmary. With your ahhhh Uncles" Me: "Thank you."
You get the picture. Highly trained professional soldiers unable to complete a sentence. Now I often make men drool and have difficulty coupling words together, especially when I'm in my aerobics clothes, but nothing this severe, not while on duty.
So, I quickly headed up to the infirmary. There was a large crowd of servants outside the door so I couldn't see what was happening. I did hear my mother swear like a sailor, include one word I didn't know, and shout, "Damn it Gerard, if you can't hold him down, find someone who can." Gerard replied, "I'm trying," and I chimed in, "You looking for me?"
The response was amazing, one of my better entrances. Scudamore instantly sent the servants in twenty different directions, and for the first time in my life, I saw Scudamore at a loss. "Ahh.. Ohh.. Lady Megan. Ahhh... Ummmm... Your mother is in there." "Thank you."
I barged in and saw quite a crowd here, too. Fiona was struggling to place a huge needle into Benedict. Benedict's face was covered with gauze, one eye burned out, a green light coming from behind the remaining gauze on the other side. Caine and Gerard were attempting to restrain Benedict. As I entered, Benedict, had Caine by the throat and had Gerard in a nasty wrist hold. Benedict then twisted his foot and a guard went flying. I charged in and leaped on top of Benedict to hold him. [Doyce: "You find yourself in the not unfamiliar position of being astride a struggling man." Margie: "I should be good at this."]
Benedict once told me that if you constantly have your body do many things at once eventually the body takes over and does it without thinking. That is what was happening before my eyes. The body of an unconscious Benedict was defending its self. **
I was doing OK until I noticed the reason that Gerard was holding onto the twisted bed-rail. Gerard legs were missing from the knees down. At the same time that I was gawking at Gerard, he noticed me and got a very confused look on his face. Then Benedict's body took advantage our lack of attention. He threw Gerard off and triple thwacks me in the head. As expected, I blacked out and fell off the bed.
My next memory was that of Fiona standing over me. She screamed at me, "Megan, Megan..." I replied by shushing her. She continued "I'm trying to whisper. What took you so long?" I glared at her. "It wasn't there!" She cleverly responded, "Oh." I tried to explain that I was only there a few hours and she went on about time variances and straying from the path. Fortunately she stopped when I said that I didn't want to know about it. Fiona went on to give me the two minute update. Corwin and Eric dead, Deirdre regent and missing, Tir and Rebma gone, Lysander married. I was sure that I had misheard heard so I questioned Fiona, "Sander is married?" She confirmed it and then wished me well.
I talked to Gerard as I healed myself up. It is a good thing that I have a thick skull. He filled me in, to the best of his ability, as to what was going on. Reading a volume of the Amber Record would have been more illuminating. Fiona checked in occasionally and poked Benedict. Benedict and the weather were calm.
Finally Caine came by and I was able to catch up on the important stuff. The first order of discussion was what the current name of Bloody Frank's was and how my favorite watering holes fared in the attack. He then covered the most important gossip. We had just made plans for going out on the Le Roué, the new cannon equipped flagship, when the infirmary became crowded.
Deirdre, Quinn, Brea, Ander, and several people and kids I didn't recognize teleported into the infirmary. Deirdre scanned the room, saw Benedict and turned to Quinn. Her face flushed with anger. Katie Kaboom was ready to explode. Obviously she knew that Quinn had a lot to do with Benedict's current state Caine melted into the curtains and I joined him to watch the proceedings. In a regal gesture, Deirdre allowed the kids to leave the room as she counted to ten. Amazingly Deirdre restrained herself and didn't kill Quinn. She didn't even throw anything She cut Quinn's explanation of and just left in a storm. Being regent had really tamed her. I made $50 off Caine on that side bet.
Shortly thereafter Fiona checked in, followed by Scudamore. He addressed the tall dark-haired man who had arrived with the others "I will arrange accommodations for you sir?" Scudamore barely lifted an eyebrow to imply a question. The man replies, "Edward." Scudamore continued with amazing aplomb, "Edward, son of ----?" The question was left unanswered.
Introductions abound and all gets sorted out. I meet Kethos, who I had heard about but never met.
M: "you must be Kethos."
K: "You must be … really strong."
His sword rattles in its sheath without being touched. Quinn looks so painfully lobsterish that I can't resist pretending to give him a hardy slap on the back. "Hello, Spell-boy." I also finally meet Ander, who was presumed dead at the time I left.
M: "Hi!"
Ander gives me a good look up and down.
"Do you skate?"
Having hung out with Lysander, I of course answer "Roller or Ice?"
A: "Ice."
M: "Of course."
A: (long pause) "I don't know if that is good or not."
Quinn heads off to sleep and Fiona begins to examine the large tattoos on all of the prison visitors. (Funny thing, they can't see them.) Mom removes Brea and Kethos' without anesthesia and it is obviously very painful. The kids and the non-family get local. The new nephew, Edward, gets double local and still whines. Ander takes his anesthesia in liquid form.
As I leave with Caine, mom calls out that she will be trumping me soon. We ship out on the Le Roué heading for the La Venta. (70 cannons in three tiers plus cannondes loaded half Amber and half Shadow ammo.) The captain is Anthony and Rodreges is the first mate. It appears that Ander had something to do with the promotion. As we sail along, Caine points out Lysander's new beach house, a wedding gift from Dierdre. He also catches me up on what really has been going on.
Just before we reach Cabra, Fiona trumps me and I return to the castle. Mom explains that she wants me to go after the missing artifact. [The missing 'plot device' was previously imbedded in my brain.] It is an open metal circle about one foot in diameter. Like a Chinese chou disc. The rings of the circle move. They should not be moving when I find it and if they are I should not touch it. She is not happy that it is gone and that her sanctum was violated. The only clue she gives me is that when she looks for it all she sees is water. Mom suggests that I borrow a boat from Caine and bring some company if I want some. She completely misses the joke when I say that I'll bring "That Edward Guy". On that note I head for the door. She reminds me as I am leaving that she'll recognize my trump and 'pick-up' if at all possible.
I walk back to my room to change and get a few things. While I'm there I trump Brea to see if she wants to join the treasure hunt. She is in Arden with Kethos helping Julian with some trouble. She steps outside the tent so she can speak more freely. The trouble is bad enough that Morgenstern has a large gash on his flank and Julian's armor is dirty. This sounds much more to my liking but we both agree that Mom comes first. [or so I've heard.]
Brea gives me some Rebma pointers before she breaks off. She had a recent experience in the Hall of Mirrors and doesn't want me to take any chances. 1) Don't look Llewella in the eye. 2) If Random doesn't recognize you it is probably not because of something your mother did. 3) In general, if it looks like I'm going to Rebma I should call someone first, someone big. 4) Standard trump may not work well once I am in Rebma. She gives me a 'Turbo Trump™' (apparently an improved Trump that cousin Theseus has learned how to make) of herself and explains that if I haven't walked the Rebma pattern, I may only be able to use that to Trump out. Brea also promises to teach me the caller ID trick when I get back. Brea ends with "Call me if you need me."
M: "Ditto."
Sailing Sailing...
I finish talking to Brea and then call Caine to settle the details. The tide is turning and so we'll wait and leave with the morning tide (9am). Caine will provide the crew and I'll meet them at the mooring.
In the mean time, I have dinner and pack. I also check to see if Quinn or Fiona have anything to help me find the artifact. No luck there [Meg: "Mom is having a hard time finding the device." Quinn: "Well, there is nothing to help you but Dworkin and Bill Gates."]
The news of my return and shipping out spreads fast. There are plenty of stout volunteers to crew the Westward (Wet-Warm). Extra stores are put down and the vessel is made shipshape. When I arrive I am met by hoots, hollers and hearty huzzahs. It is a fine day for sailing.
As we head towards Cabra, I check out the crew. As usual Caine has put together a great crew. I look forward to breaking them in and testing their stamina. When the Westward passes the lighthouse at Cabra, I start slipping between shadows. With nothing better to guide me, I head where I feel I need to go.
During a long tack towards a fog bank, I take the new second mate below to check his credentials. We are in my cabin when something large hits the water and sizzles. The second mate, Bobby, jumps up and falls over backwards, misjudging the restrictivness of the pants around his ankles. I am up on deck in a flash, shifting some armor as I go. There is a ship heading dead on off the starboard stern. It has a large brazier mounted on its prow. The water to port is still burning.
The first mate, Hans, yells "It's the Baron's ship". A few thing click into place from Caine briefing. The forward ballista fires and falls short as we come about to stay out of range The rear ballista has the range but misses the waterline.
The next shadow is a 1/4 mile away in the fog bank. We cross over before the "Baron" ship attacks again. The weather in this shadow is worse and the seas are swollen. The next slip point is about two miles away downwind. The fog bank is stable.
I order the men to drop the sail and drift to the starboard. I instruct them to aim the ballistae at the brazier when the ship emerges from the fog bank, while I attack from below water. They are to fire once and move off at once towards the next slip point. I'll catch up with them. I strip off my breast plate and dive off the rail into the ocean. When I'm out of sight below water I shift into an aquatic "mermaid" form. Breathing under water I swim strongly for the entry point.
Everything goes according to plan. The ballistae hit, up-turning the brazier and setting the ship on fire. I punch a hole into the ship's side and then pull of several planks. Water rushes in as the ship sinks. Long-dead bodies far into the water around me. "Yuck!"
I return to the Westward and shift back deep in the water below it. Bulleting up I land on with my feet on the deck. I shake my hair and pull on a robe. Then I trump Caine.
I trump Caine and quickly inform him of the Mr. Nasty encounter. Caine was surprised because they have not been in this area before. We discuss the how and why they might have targeted the Westward, but we don't reach any conclusions. I describe the ambush/brazier targeting/hull pulling. Of the three tactics only the brazier targeting is useful to the rest to the fleet. (Caine just shakes his head when he thinks of how I travel through shadow.) I close by asking for any additional information on the Baron. I already have most of it. Caine's only advise is "remember to keep his sword off the ground." Big help.
I swim back to the wreckage and look or some of the "magic" fire. I can't find any boxes or jars of the stuff, so I pull the whole brazier arm off and leave it on an island for Caine to pick up.
The Westward sails on towards where I need to go. We have ten uneventful and enjoyable days. The crew settles in and I practice some hot and cold forms. Not much happens.
The slip points have gotten farther apart and we are far from any landfall. A cannon goes off and a handful of warning shots land off our bow. Fading into view 200 yards off is a 2-tiered frigate about 250 feet long. It is flying a flag with a Kraken on it that I don't recognize. A clear female voice rings out, "Drop sails and heave to."
I have the crew take their time about complying while I step out of sight. I try to trump Caine and the card won't go cold. I try the special trump from Brea. It is a long time coming but I finally get through. Brea is riding into battle. I quickly show her mentally an image of the Kraken flag "Good/Bad?" Brea replies, "Don't know." Then adds, "You're far away." "Yeah, I figured that out. Have fun!" I break contact with Brea.
I shift into a well fitting caftan with smaller breasts. (Women can be so competitive.) "Who are you?" the woman demands. "I am Cryla, Queen of Gelemar." I respond. Her eyes harden. Obviously there is no Gelemar around here. I take a moment to survey the crew. Lots of blondes and brunettes but no red heads in the lot. They all have blue-green complexions, except the captain who is more olive green.
"I do not know of the shadow or the country of Gelemar, Lady..."
"Cryla!" (So, she knows about Shadow.)
"I take it you are far from home." (I estimate we are 20 days from Gelemar.) "I suggest that the best course of action is for you to turn around and sail home, because I imagine it will take you a long time to get there."
"I am searching for my lost husband. It is a quest I can not give up."
"His name is?"
"Bjorn."
"Well, he has not past this way. The only people allowed in these waters are those who serve this land, which you obviously don't!"
"I am sorry to trouble you Lady..."
"Gennit."
"May I ask whose land I'm traveling through?"
"These belong to Queen Moire, the mistress of Caer Beatha."
"I ask your indulgence, to let one pass through your domain."
"I can guarantee you, Lady..."
"Cryla."
"...That your husband is not here, nor has he passed through here."
"As you know of shadow then you will understand that I only wish to pass through this shadow. It will take me as long to leave the way I need to go as it would to return the way I came. I would be happy to travel under your gun ports."
She accedes. "I will be checking for your absence. It is..." She looks up. "one day's time to reach the edge of our domain. If I find you still in our shadows there will be no warning shot."
We leave Gennit there and continue on towards my destination. Once we are out of range I leap into the water and help to speed the ship by pulling it. A whale form with a harness is the most efficient.
Four or five shadows later, I come across a girl sitting in the water in front of me. She is about 17 years old. "You don't look like she said you would. The caftan sounds more attractive. Black really isn't slimming in that form." (Like whales have a slimming color) "You are going the wrong way. When they find you they will be mad. The last time Gennit got mad a building fell down." I let her know that I am still passing through. She replies cleverly, "When she finds you, you will be passing through in 40 different directions." Then she moves off at an angle, not swimming.
Enough is enough. I try to trump Mom and can't get through. However, the Brea super-trump works with a struggle. I stay in contact with Brea while she goes to find Mom. Fiona joins in and the contact rings true. There is a pile of guns sitting next to her.
"I am nearing the object and I am in the middle of the water lobe." I say trying to be circumspect.
"Oh, Rebma. I hope they don't know how to use it."
"I have about twenty hours before they come looking for me and I'm about five hours away from the item. I want to send my crew home. I can't protect them here."
"You will have to leave the boat."
"Caine can build me another one." I say as I get up on deck and tell the crew they have five minutes to get ready to leave.
"Are you having trouble getting through on Brea's trump?"
"It is a long way, but I can get through. I understand it is enhanced."
"If you start having trouble contact us! If they know how to use it you will be in severe trouble." Fiona says as we send the crew through. The first mate is reluctant to leave for good reason, the Westward, is a fine ship. I promise him that I will make it up to him.
"Have you run into any trouble?" my mother innocently asks.
"A 200-plus foot frigate with a green bitch, and a 15 year old mortician," I cheekily reply.
"Call if you come at all close to danger. You are not hero enough for this." She pauses then continues "Listen to your mother! If things look like they are going at all bad, CALL!" (I can count the number of times mother has said that on one hand.)
We set up a key word with Brea, "EEP," to get a quick pull-out.
I travel on alone in fish form for about 5 hours before I catch a patrolman. I knock him out and take his form. I then try to find out what he knows. Toby, my blue-green amphibious friend, doesn't like his commander Matthan. Matthan is in charge of the inner circle and the palace guard and equal to Gennit. He recognizes the girl and knows that she is important to Queen Moire. Lately there has been lots of activity and important people doing "things". The city is strictly controlled and not a place Toby likes to go, but I do get a lay-out. There is a lot of anti-Amber sentiment in his easily picked brain.
I drop away from the patrol and head towards the city. I remember approaching the city but not actually entering the city. This is not good, I must have daydreamed my way into the city. The air is thick and obscuring, almost foggy. Looks like water, feels like air.
Benjamin is my choice for my next face. He is a shop owner (I can't find what kind of shop - black hole). He has a wife and two kids. The memories are not clear beyond one month back. He has a picture of his wedding but does not remember being there. This is consistent with Caine's description of how the water lobe was affected by Dworkin's pulling of the patterns together.
As I walk along towards the center of the City, the small road I am walking on dead-ends and I move over to a larger one. This continues several times. There is no road into the center of the city. Not only that, but when I went out the back door of a building, I ended up in side street perpendicular to the street I came in on. I can't even get back to the main gate, even when I follow the directions. Even windows that should overlook the tower overlook a side building instead.
I am wandering the streets when I hear a sing-song voice say, "Hello, Benja-Megan" I turn to see a beautiful blond in a sequined evening dress. She wanders off and I follow. I turn a corner and she disappears. I turn back around and there is a man right behind me. He is tall, dark, and gaunt. He says "Let's see who you really are." and touches my chest with his fingers. I find myself changing back to the basic Megan form.
"Are you that woman Gennit ran into?" he asks.
"I am still passing through," I say.
"Well you're not passing through anymore," he states as he leaps straight into the air. I follow, but he's gone.
While I'm up here, I find a nice rooftop to settle on. I try to go from roof to roof heading towards the object and trying not to think about the tower. It works! I soon find myself in the middle of town, smack in front of the tower. Up close I can see that it is at least three blocks wide on a side and rises to a sharp point at the top. I wander around it and several levels and do not see a way in.
I find myself in a hallway, like a very long and wide hall. Up until a moment ago, I had been outside looking at the knife-edge crest of the tower. Next thing I know, I'm here. I try Brea's trump and it still goes cold. I don't finish the connection, but continue down the hallway.
The themes of the hall change as I move along. first fields of gold and honey scents. Next, verdant meadow skirting the forests edge, and finally, a huge primordial forest. There are a set of large doors at the end of the hall framed in sea creatures, nymphs, naiads, mermaids and the likes. The doors swing open at my touch. I face an enormous space. [Like you are at the bottom of the ocean floor.] The pillars are arranged in a random fashion, rising towards the ceiling like a giant coral reef. The ceiling mimics a reef also with periodic opening letting streams of sunlight into the throne room. As I wander through the pillars it is obvious that I am indeed in a throne room. The ornate throne is occupied by Queen Moiré and Princess Llewella stands next to them. They are both casually eating off of a tray placed on a nearby table.
Queen Moiré greets me, "Megan, hello! Come in. Good to see you. We have been expecting you."
Surprised I respond, "Hello."
Queen Moiré continues, "Did you have a good trip? Except for the ship of course."
"I didn't want to impose."
Princess Llewella joins in, "Of course not, your family."
Queen Moiré then invites me to join them at their meal. I step forward and see that the tray contains a large selection of crustaceans. I take a large prawn.
"So, what brings you here?" Queen Moiré inquires.
"Well, my mom misplaced something and she sent me to retrieve it."
"Of course, it is through there." She points towards a small inconspicuous door to the side of the throne.
"Is there anything I can do for you while I'm here." I ask to be polite.
"No, that's all right." She dismisses me and I excuse myself to go to the door.
I open the door and find myself in a large dark room. The device is in the center of the room and is now 17 feet wide. There is a reflective membrane surrounding it. It has no base but sits unsupported on edge.
As I stand there looking at it, I remember my mother's words, "If you run into any trouble call me." So, I pull out my trump of Brea and try to contact her. The contact is quick and Brea and Laura come through instantly. I soon find out that Laura was in the room with Brea and as soon as she identified the trump contact as me, they were sucked her. Note: Zippo's don't work under water!!!
We review our trump resources. Brea has enhanced trump of Quinn, Laura, Kethos, and Theseus. I suggest using the trump wiggin's affect to send an SOS to Fiona. Brea tries the Dworkin trump of castle Amber. The clock comes flying through the contact and sails into the device and disappears.
About this time Laura comes back into the room, (we had not notice her leaving). She is carrying the crustacean tray. Brea and I goggle. She says that there is nobody in the other room. We take her with us as we move away from the device.
We try several combination of trump including Fiona, Bleys, Random, and Castle (no cold), and Quinn - pulsed (cold but no reply). Being women of action, we decide to throw things at the device, starting with the throne.
I remove the throne from the floor by breaking it off at the legs, (it was part of the floor). The sound echoes through the throne room. The random holes in the ceiling are randomly obscured. We soon see that it is the giant insectiods dropping in through the ceiling. Swarming would be the term for it. They look like a cross between a spider and a poisonous crab. Breaking the throne appears to have really set them off. We retreat to the device room.
"Hey Mom? I want to go home."
Brea wants Lora to teleport us out of the device room so I give her an image of the alley just inside the city gates.
Now we are all wet.
Lora is not amused. It was not part of her affect. Some passers-bye give us weird looks. We ignore them and decide to trump Quinn. He comes through wearing biker pants and nothing else. He is also quick on the uptake "Where am I?" We greet him, "Welcome to the water lobe. Domain of Queen Moiré and the all you can eat shrimp bar."
Quinn and Lora talk magic for a bit, apparently Quinn’s "rack" went down when he came through. I suggest that we leave first and talk later. About that time Random walks by dressed as a cop. Brea calls out to him and he doesn’t respond to that name. Quinn checks his mind out while Brea makes a nuisance of himself. Random has a shadow who winks at us. It was one of the crazies I met before.
Again I suggest that we leave. Quinn tries for the last surface sighting I had. It is a bit too far. Shattering cold. The water freezes on contact with our skin. I shift into a warm buoyant jelly-fish-like creature to support Quinn, Brea, and Lora. Quinn actually passes out briefly before I pull him on board. I set out towards the next slip point.
A woozy Quinn requests some breast pillows. I comply and add a heart beat to soothe. We are concerned that we are still 5-6 shadows from the edge of the domain and Quinn is totally wiped. The discussion continues for some time as we pass through the slip point and head towards the next. The group decides to trump Fiona. Fiona ignore us and talks only to Quinn. finally I say "The device is twelve feet wide and moving." That finally gives her pause. She quickly determines that Quinn has not seen the device and that the rest of us have. She brings Quinn through and then has us close our eyes and pulls us through to a dark locked room.
Fiona asks us a couple of questions and then leaves us to play handball in the dark.
"Hey Mom? This is not the home I wanted."
Lora finally cracks, "Can you stop that? It’s been 45 minutes." I shift into something fluorescent and light the room. "Would it bug you if we spar?" Lora allows as how, anything would be better. She takes over a corner and hangs a bright light over herself , just to be sure. We fight. Brea is faster than I am but not as strong. Every now and then I play a shift trick on her. Brea also shows some tricks to me. This goes on for some time.
When Lora finishes hanging her spells, she begins to teach Brea spell casting. Brea is a bit too impatient to learn. Lora also works with me to develop a more highly magic resistant form.
Finally Fiona comes down to see us. "Sorry to keep you down here so long." Mind if you tell us what we are down here for?" Fiona explains about the device. How it makes everything you think about happen in the order you least want. Our only hope is to go back and *ask* it to leave us alone. We discuss what could be done to help you focus our minds and concentrate on that one desire.
We form a picture of hopelessness when Benedict shows up with the now reduced size device. "Sister, I have need of this, may I borrow it?" He asks Fiona. "Oh, sure!" a dazed Fiona responds. When he leaves Fiona turns to us with a calm face and says "I understand that you saw Random."
"All Girls Love Ponies."
Brea and Lora leave our cell while talking about anything but magic. I leave with mom, who is pointedly avoiding any discussion of the device and what just happened. We have a brief meal together and I head off for a nice long shower.
When I once again feel like an Amberite, I trump Caine and give his a full report on the journey with particular attention to the Rebmian flag ship and its captain. Caine is more than a little cranky. Gerard has some big surprise at the pier tonight and Caine doesn't know what it is yet. He is really dying to know. Eventually, he suggests that I go talk to Deirdre. I think that he is hoping I might get something out of her.
I find Deirdre looking for me. Our conversation goes something like this:
"I see that you are through with your visit to the basement"
"Yes" I reply hesitantly.
"Do you know where Brea is?"
"I haven't seen her since we left the basement."
"Lora?"
"Same"
"Gerard is sailing into town with a surprise for everyone. So, you should be there around moonrise. By the way, Gerard said that he wanted to see you after he arrives."
"I suppose that I should tell you that we saw Random."
"Yes, Fiona already told me."
"Good! See you tonight then. I'm going to catch some Z's."
We part company and I return to my room to catch up on some sleep. Finally I've had enough quiet and go up to the rampart to kill some time. I see something white off in the distance about seven miles away. As I focus on it, I see it flitting about the woods. This look diverting.
I stretch my wings and sail over the valley. Fifteen miles later, I find a nice hill to land on. I shift back, adjust my walking shoes and start trekking down hill. I'm heading towards the grove of the Unicorn. [Many bad jokes about Meg and Unicorns begin here.]
There is a little shrine in the grove and not much else. It is peaceful. I'm enjoying the dappled sunlight looking around, not thinking of much. This is a nice place. I should come here more often. Eventually, I feel like I'm being watched. Turning around I see Her, over there near the edge of the clearing. Beautiful cobalt blue eye, filling the large almond shaped slits. She is horse-ish but not quite, muscular, cloud like. She moves towards the grove and her coat catches the light. It is iridescent, not white but pearly. The golden hooves are cloven. Her mane is like spun silver. The air around her is rarefied, cold in its absence of sensations, of pure light.
It is all I can do to keep breathing. She lowers her horn towards my breast and then lower still. She is within a foot of me and so beautiful and special. I can't move. I look into her eyes and they are so deep I am lost. On some level I note that there are bright sparks within the depths, like flecks of gold within lapis. Somehow I raise my arm and hold my hand out to her, palm upward. She carefully places her horn into my hand and the world melts away.
I am thrown into a whirl of images and sounds. An odd combination of an acid trip and eletro-shock therapy. So many images it is hard to keep any in my head. There is a pantheon of Norse Gods: Benedict as Oden, Fiona and Quinn as Ravens, Findo in the place of Vulcan. Griffin, phoenix, salamanders and an ancient dragon face fill my sights. A krakan thing melds into Kali. She turns and has my face.
Eventually I black out and when I come to night is garbed in black. Shit, I'm going to miss the party! The fireworks have already begun. I am alone in the grove. There are no sign that the unicorn was even there. I race for the edge of the woods and literally fly to the docks.
"Everyone’s favorite uncle."
I miss the big event, but arrive in time for the party. Yeah!
I land and mingle a bit then start to look for Gerard. As if on cue, he comes rolling up to me with two tankers. "What Ho Uncle!" I say taking one of the tankers. "I’m sorry that I missed your arrival. He tells me a bit about the journey out. They had a bit of an engagement but the ships handled well. There will be some fine-tuning. We chat some more and he moves on to the real topic.
"I understand that you ran into some trouble on an errand for your mom." He asks "Yeah, I got to spend a day in the dungeon. It’s not something that I need to worry about anymore." I reply as we move to the fringe of the party.
"I also understand that you saw Random."
"We say someone who looked like him. Quinn seems to think it’s the real."
"I’m not getting a lot of help to bring him back home. It was ok when Rebma was a client house, but now that it looks like they are going to keep him… What were they like?"
"Everyone I met was fucking crazy."
"Were they confrontational?"
"The most aggressive was Gennit on her little hobby-horse. Others were threatening. Moiré and Llewella were downright polite."
Gerard ticks off the elders who won’t help. "I am lacking the resources." He says patting his legs, "So, I’m going to ask you a favor. I have grave reservations about this but, he is my brother and he needs rescuing."
"Uncle, of course I will help you. I don’t know that I can do it on my own. What did you have in mind?"
"Sneaking in and sneaking out. Weather he wants to leave or not.. I’ll let you think about it."
"No need. I’ll do it. I may need help getting out."
Gerard offers me his trump. I explain that it needs to be special. We discuss options and decide Miriel is the best bet. She can do it and she can keep a secret. We go to find Miriel.
40.b -- "My how you glow."
We Miriel socializing with some nobles who have cool horses. Gerard introduces us and takes her aside. Gerard explains our need for secrecy and the need to be in contact. Miriel can do it and will have it for us in a couple of days.
That finished I go to check out the new ships - COOL
Then back to the party.
I wake up in the lieutenant’s quarters on the "Hand of Oberon". I greet my companion who is not the lieutenant and eventually leave for the castle. As I’m have a hearty Amber breakfast mom comes in and gives me an odd look. I make sure that everything important is in covers and finish my meal. Fiona pointedly follows me out and catches me in one of the ever-present alcoves. "Meg, you look particularly vibrant today. Is there anything you should tell me? And I don’t mean after the party." She asks in a casual tone. "Well, I did meet the Unicorn yesterday." She then launches into the full quizzing.
When? Yesterday afternoon.
Where? Where-else in the grove of the Unicorn. (Others have seen it elsewhere)
What did you do? It came up to me and placed it’s horn in my hand.
Did it communicate with you? My head is full of images.
Any compulsions? I actually take time to check. Not that I know of.
She is amazed. Apparently the Unicorn has not been seen since before the destruction of the primal pattern. I ask how she knew. She, of course, says that she couldn’t begin to explain it to me. Bottom line is that my aura is brighter. Like I just walked the pattern. But she would have know if I stepped foot on the pattern.