"...those mysteries, which Heaven will not have the Earth
know."
-- Coriolanus, Act 4, Scene 2 (Wm. Shakespeare)
Fiona and I decided to look for notes on Pattern creation in Oberon's suite. I fetched Deirdre with the keys while Fiona zapped out, took Theseus to the Primal Pattern, and zapped back. She wouldn't tell me how she did it. (It didn't feel like Trump. Maybe just a stealthed spell. I hadn't thought a spell would reach the Primal Pattern but it's worth a shot, later.)
I scanned for traps and found none. Oberon had one stealthed, though, and Theseus found it. I was blown off the balcony, but it is a LONG way down and I had time to make a big defensive bubble to slow my fall, then Trump to Fiona. My ribs hurt like hell. Deirdre, Theseus and I were smouldering but Fiona was fresh as a daisy. We were all alive, though, despite triggering an Oberon- made trap. Fiona's doing?
Gerard, Sander (dripping, in a swim suit), and Dad showed up, drawn by the commotion. The trap had guarded the papers we were looking for --probably. They were in Old Thari (and not in Oberon's hand) which none of us could translate reliably. I volunteered to go find a translator or two in Shadow. Dad said he was riding Morgenstern himself, so I'd have to use a normal mount and would need backup. Deirdre started to assign Sander but I objected to interrupting his honeymoon. (A road trip with Sander, frustrated and blaming me? No, thank you.)
Breann reported that Anax had kidnapped Ander's son; then he let him go and they recovered the kid. Go figure.
Kethos agreed to go with me despite the fact that he could read Old Thari. I told him we wanted someone controllable. He accurately translated that as 'disposable'. I think he understood the mixed message: I trusted him to guard my back, knowing that he could kick my ass in about two seconds, but I didn't trust him with a monopoly on politically useful information. Hell, I didn't trust Fiona with it. I asked him to pick the best horse (always go for the free expert opinion): a gra;, I made friends with it.
Fiona and theseus saw us off. Theseus assured me that I couldn't be tracked by my Trumps. Fiona gave me a rough translation of one of the shortest documents, a weird thing by the maker of the Pattern, NOT Oberon, indicating that he or she knew insanity as the normal state of being and that drawing the Pattern had driven him or her sane. And that was a bad thing, at first. Insanity normal? From the "courts of Chaos", maybe? Ravings of a lunatic? Oberon thought it important enough to keep for ages --unless it was an elaborate hoax. Oberon was not known for his sense of humor. The whole thing upset my stomache.
Enough. Back to the task at hand. I would try to camp in fast shadows and hang some spells, because I was flat out. I wanted to see if I could shift shadow as fast as Morgenstern, but that would probably make a very noticeable wake, dammit. Camp in Null- shapeshifting fast shadows. I hoped no one had messed with that clock in the Hall.
Hm, and ask Kethos what Finndo does about damnable shapeshifters. Maybe find something that could detect them, hounds perhaps. Shapeshifting should give off some unusual molecules.
I could use some more Trumps, too. How busy was Miriel? I hesitated to bring my mortal great-great-great-grandniece into this, though her homeland was suffering from the Flaws and we were working on the cure.
A damn good day's work.
We acquired the translators.
I worked out how to shift Shadow without leaving a 'wake'.
Kethos knew where to find some shifter-hounds. Ugly bastards, but you can't have everything.
I saw something of the Chaos-side and, more interestingly, saw Ygg. Yet Another Project For Later. Saw a few Chaosians, too.
We made it back to Amber without capture or (I hope) detection by Osric or Brand.
It finally hit me that the "Bleys" with Corwin was probably Osric. What to do -- after Breann and Kethos Pattern-wished themselves to Benedict, Osric (or Brand) likely put in some traps. Could I use the Pattern-wish for a vision, via the Jewel? Ask Fiona about Pattern-wishes.
Ha! I CAN Lens the Primal Place. Therefore, I can teleport there through the Lens. Fiona didn't use a Lens, though. Pattern- Sorcery? YAPFL.
Miriel agreed to come work for me in Amber. I want a deck for myself, of course, but what we really need are two decks for those away on missions who have bothered to learn that Caller ID trick, like me. Theseus can concentrate on the complicated stuff. For instance: Trumps have a connection to their subjects. Could they be used with a spell or conjury to Detect the subjects? Or do so with a special Trump designed for it?
I taught Breann how to use the Pattern image defensively.
No one shot me or blew me up.
Kethos says the Hounds can't be made friendly. Damn. We need to have them around the Castle without them eating Davin or the staff.
We finally got the Hounds chained up in their new kennels when Kethos spotted some riders coming out of Garnath. I Lensed them: Finndo a day early. Kethos rode off to delay them a little while I Trumped Deirdre, Fiona and Dad to warn them. I think I interrupted Fiona necking with Theseus in a restaurant. I apologized and kept it short.
I cleaned myself up and joined the crowd in the Great Hall. Everyone showed up but Sander--Llewella Trumped in--and Random, who was still under house arrest in Rebma, Bleys and the hostiles. Llewella met me and the other newbies. Davin was fascinated by her hair. Finndo is a big man, big bones, heavy muscle, huge hands hard from manual labor. He was deliberately toning down his dominance and turning up the avuncular charm. Introductions: Flora was all over him, Deirdre regal, the rest of us on our best behavior. Kethos had evidently reported good things about Breann because he gave her special flattering attention. I mentioned to Finndo that we were meeting for the second time which surprised him. He had taken the Hall of Mirrors encounter as a dream.
Finndo was hungry and we had a feast. Flora damn near did a lap dance for him. He surprised the hell out of all of us by producing some clever clockwork toys for Davin.
I told Kethos we should run Finndo by the Hounds, he agreed.
An hour or two after dinner had disappeared and Dee had retired for the night there came loud, fast pounding from downstairs, accompanied by the sound of Sander cursing and yelling insults. We arrived too late to see Baron Frosty teleport out, but the long, steaming lines of ice that crisscrossed the Great Hall made most of us think immediately of Ander's piratical foe. Sander kicked his way out of a tangle of broken furniture--six or seven hundred pound tables--cursing his vanished opponent. I Lensed around and traced the 'Port to just across the Hall, then another to Garnath. Coundn't find him there, though. Dee ran in in a silk teddy, carrying her axe and stopped to goggle at the mess. I noted her navel ring; ouch, those things always make me wince.
I told Fiona where the Baron had gone and offered to teleport Sander back wherever he had'come from. He accepted and gave me a mental image of Aramyst City. I took us to a rise a mile from the battle. The attackers were some kind of zombies, which made a selective strike much easier. Sander guarded against the return of the Baron and I exercised the main enemy mass, about two-thirds of them. Sander might have felt I was stealing his glory, but I can't see wasting allied soldiers on zombies. That done, I returned to Amber and he went down to lead the mop-up operations.
Fiona and Theseus were making love in the Great Hall, to judge by the noises and the stay-away and illusion spells on it.
I asked Benedict it he would like to learn to use the Pattern Lens. Maybe. This was more selfish than altruistic. I wanted our best general to be capable of directing battles.
Theseus was annoyingly immaterial at breakfast. He managed to eat a bit by touching the food with Greyswandir. Swords make inconvenient eating utensils. Some mishap with Tir-na Nog'th, apparently, and the moon had already set. Flora was unsettled by Theseus' condition; Fiona was concerned.
Fiona said that the translators were slogging through material concerning the politics of early Amber. I let her know that Kethos said he could read Old Thari and that he understood why we preferred hirelings--OK, draftees.
I asked Fiona about the possibility of making special Trumps or Trump spells to detect their subjects. She said it should work and that Theseus and I should start experimenting.
Florimel said she could help with the domestication of the shifterhounds. Fiona agreed to monitor us when Kethos and I ran Finndo by the hounds, just in case.
The tour was unexciting. Benedict went along and showed off his garden, a Japanese style section of exquisite beauty, Finndo wrestled with a hound and showed us how to control them by grabbing them behind the ears. I MIGHT be able to manage that. Finndo knew what we were up to, I'm sure, but he approves of security measures,
Deirdre announced a state banquet with the local nobility. Good, a chance to look over the ladies and check out the local manners and morals.
I introduced Miriel to Finndo, Kethos and my other cousins so she could get Trump fixes.
Off to Aretia for some clothes. While there I picked up some exotic drinkables and a case of Even Steven dopestics, a mild antitension 'stic.
The reception began. Sander or Breann had failed to escape attendance and were glum about it, though Daelyn was enjoying herself. I gave Breann a 'stic and mingled. The, nobles gave us newcomers (me, Ander, Lora, Davin, Catherine, Miriel and Theseus) a lot of attention, but the hottest topics were Benedict's blindness and the return of Finndo.
About the time I was zeroing in for some serious flirtation the new hounds started howling and snarling. I worked out of the crowd as fast as I could and ran across the grounds, hard on Kethos' heels. By the time we reached the kennels the dogs were dead, shredded, with pieces all over the place. Anax or Osric, it had to be.
The Pattern started pulsing, so strongly that even Kethos could feel it. We ran back full out and gathered Deirdre and Finndo. Breann (AND ANDER??) joined us, attracted by the fuss. I raised the Lens and projected it to the Primal Plane (AWAY from the Pattern there) and shared the vision with Deirdre and Finndo: the Pattern shining blinding bright and pulsing to the footsteps of Someone walking it, with two people watching. I zapped us all there.
The observers were, no surprise, Fiona and Theseus. Fi said she thought that the walker was Brand, carrying a Jewel (there were more?!) to get him over the blackened areas. Brand was two-thirds done. Could we catch him? With the Jewel of Judgement, I might be able to catch him if I completely exhausted myself. Finndo (we somehow assumed he had enormous endurance) could tag along and squash Brand. Or--Did missile weapons work over the Patterns? I asked Fiona. Nobody knew. I drew my left sleeve dagger (I was always armed these days) and threw it across in a natural arc. Theseus threw a knife at Brand before mine hit the ground, but it slowed, stopped and fell inches from Brand's side. Fiona said that the Jewels protected their users. (She and I both knew that no spell could survive the Pattern's energies.) Rocks, I suggested (looking at Finndo's hands), BIG ones. Breann, weaponless and hopping mad, Trumped out. I brainstormed with Fiona and Deirdre on how to neutralize Brand's defenses. Fiona thought that trying to absorb his Jewel's energies into ours was a Bad Idea. We would try to channel them aside. Finndo had some rocks from over by the cave. Breann Trumped in, sans skirt, plus weapons and dragging Sander, to Theseus. Finndo lobbed a thirty pound rock to Sander who wound up and heaved, while Dee, Fi and I tried to push the shield aside. The rock slowed unnaturally and fell short, as did Finndo's a moment later. OK, coordinated attacks. We PUSHED, Finndo threw, followed by Sander half a second later. The first stone slowed and fell, the second hit almost full force. Brand staggered and teetered on the edge--Breann shot him in the head with her wristrocket.
Brand fell into a blackened area and hit with the sound of a titanic crystal bell shattering, and kept failing through the plane of the Pattern and out of sight.
The Pattern slowly dissolved, revealing stars. Fiona said that disaster might not be total. She directed Deirdre and me to Amber's Pattern, to reinforce it by walking it. Deirdre Trumped us into the main hall, ripped off her skirt and joined me pelting down the stairs to the Pattern chamber.
The Pattern was DIM. Dee tossed me the Jewel, thinking I knew what I was doing, and we started Walking it. I thought bright thoughts at it. I noticed that THE CURVES WERE NOT QUITE THE SAME. OH SHIT. Just after the First Veil, Dworkin's image appeared to me and asked after that damned softball he'd given me. I told him it was up in my room and he blinked out. I called to the watching guards and had one fetch it. He tossed it to me after we made it to the center. I waited, but Dworkin never reappeared, the jerk.
Meanwhile, great things were happening. Tir-na Nog'th turned solid (in appearance) and WENT AWAY. The sea receded in a rush and then rushed back in and wiped out most of the boats and the harbor district up to fifty or eighty feet elevation. Finndo and Llewelia vanished. Sander led the search and rescue operations. Rebma was GONE, which explained the tsunami.
Fiona enlightened me (and the family, later, at breakfast) about what had happened.
Pre-Dworkin, there were four Patterns linked to or associated with the classical Elements:
Amber's to Earth, Rebma to Water, Tir-na Nog'th to Air and another one, possibly "Finndo's twisted Pattern" (SAY WHAT?), to Fire.
Dworkin's "Primal" Pattern, based on Amber's, reshaped them all to one design, bound them together in space (well, all but one - apparently the original Fire Pattern was destroyed), and bound them to Dworkin's bloodline. They had now presumably resumed their natural shapes and locations. The Shadows around them should be sparse until new initiates went out and made more. The powers they granted might be different. They were probably usable by anyone of sufficient willpower and endurance. Finndo, Liewella and Theseus might have been summoned to the Patterns they were most closely associated with. They were out of range of Trump contact,
OK, problems:
Questions:
Possible solutions:
Try to Seek our missing relatives from Ygg. If not, then try it from the realm of Chaos.
Apparently one of the shifter-sniffer hounds survived the attack. Sure it did. Let's name it "Anax". Kethos, if he was Kethos, was going to take care of it. I told him I'd run it over to Aretia for a quick fix.
Quinn talked to Deirdre, Fiona and Breann and suggested Fiona go around clearing everyone. She asked why Quinn was sure she was herself. I wasn't, completely, but if Osric had taken her out, he had won. Amber was toast. She laughed and cleared everyone. It was not a technique I could duplicate: she just blew through mental defenses and made momentary deep psychic contact, searching for Osric-ness.
Eventually Fiona developed a migraine from using powers while out of phase with the changed Pattern. We covered her while she walked it behind Ander, Kethos and Breann. Apparently following a three-man pattern-wake makes walking it a lark. She did seem to enjoy being the center of attention and hope. Breann and Kethos were to try to repeat their success in freeing Benedict by going hunting for Bleys; Ander preceeded them as primary Wake-maker because his little sister conned him into it. Nobody tried to assassinate anyone. A lot of us were a bit disappointed. We wanted blood. If Osric had any sense, he was backing off on Amber and making a play for Rebma or Tir-na Nog'th.
Breann and Kethos reached the center and vanished.
I borrowed a Trump and attempted to contact Breann every ten minutes. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Eventually there was a very faint contact. I pushed it and Breann came fully out of the Trumpless zone to get a Headache a la Moi.
Breann filled me in on the Bleys rescue. When she reached the part about the Dead Auntie, I got a little shakey, but did manage to maintain control of my bladder. I revieved events and concluded that Dead Fiona was a fake.
I had Breann bring Bleys into the contact and asked Bleys if he had managed to scan Dead Fiona: no. I told Bleys some of my reasons for believing in Live Fiona: mental contacts, no hidden Compulsions when I walked the Pattern, Fiona walking it without shifting form. I also added that Brand and Osric were sadists, blinding Benedict, gutting an eight-year old, etc. Imprisoning Bleys with a fake dying Fiona was in character for them. Bleys wanted to see Live Fiona even if he ended up in a cell. I told Deirdre, who arranged an 'honor guard', and the rescue party Trumped to Amber.
I found Dad swimming in the Informal Garden. Physical therapy is not a specialty of mine, but he seemed to know what he was doing. His range of motion was still quite restricted. On the other hand, he was clearly regaining his strength. Maybe we should drop by Aretia for a thorough checkup. Later. I waited until he was done and broke the news about Bleys' return. Dad went still and intense. I asked whether he thought Osric might have influenced the events that led to the civil war. Dad thought it likely, but it did not excuse Bleys' rampage through Arden. Privately, I agreed with Dad. I said only that Bleys was currently a debilitated drunk, meaning that a fight might be more equal despite Dad's injuries. Better if Morgenstern accidentally steps on Uncle Arsonist.
I let Benedict know what was going on too. Benedict was doing very slow martial exercises, something like Tai Chi, with machine precision. Benedict was sometimes a peacemaker, and Dad might lose.
Kethos thought he could find a shadow with the same anti-shape shifting characteristics as Finndo's stronghold. Excellent. I might be able to duplicate the effect with a spell, or alter Amber (MAJOR pucker factor, there) entirely with the Jewel, but I had thought of several possible bad side-effects of an untested anti-SS field.
Kethos mentioned the wounded shifter-hound--he calls him "Gimpy"--and I referred to it as "Anax". Kethos twitted me for excessive paranoia. I replied that, having stuck it to Osric and Brand on two or three occasions, I was not paranoid enough. I settled the question by mind probing the beast while Kethos stood guard with sword in hand. Surprise! It really is a hound.
Deirdre summoned me to hit me up for transport and backup on a trip to meet with Finndo. (That's what I get for being so useful.) Ander had visited Finndo and proposed an alliance. Deirdre agreed and arranged a meeting via Trump. (That Trump contact was possible only with Ander's help. Ander had walked Finndo's Pattern, called the 'Forge', and that somehow helped him extend the Trump's range in that direction. Interesting. Must experiment.) She asked my plans. I had intended to go to Ygg, as a likely central point, and scry around to locate and map the Elemental realms and Chaos. Serendipitously, that's where they were meeting. I offered to arrange transport.
Dinner intervened. Bleys was offensive enough to drive off Breann, Dad, Gerard and Fiona before Deirdre sent the Prince of Winos to his rooms. I think Deirdre was giving Bleys enough rope to hang himself. Short of torture or death, no one is going to complain about whatever she does with him now. I apologized for helping bring him back.
Still a bit wary of Trumps, I teleported everyone (Deirdre, Breann, Cpt Morgan, a squad of Royal Guardsmen, horses, tents, me...) in groups. Fiona could have managed it in one shot, of course. Ander and Company were off somewhere on a family outing and Breann was not happy to be Deirdre's diplomatic aide.
Deirdre and I tried to push a Trump call past the interference to Finndo. I automatically, just for a second, started to draw on the Jewel for more power. I squelched the impulse too late to stop a tac nuke of painful backlash. Dee caught the edge of it and flinched away, dropping the smoking Trump. I fell down, unhappy that I had retained consciousness. Dee ordered me to never do that again. No shit. (Note: just because one Power can transport you to the heart of another, it doe not follow that one Jewel user can safely touch another with its energies.) I staggered off to find the synergine in my pack, took some and laid down. Breann came by and said something about leaving to do an errand for Ander.
The synergine helped un-fry my brain and a couple of hours later I was ready for some mild mental exertions. I Lensed Aretia and found that the Flaw rift was now a normal, Editable geographic feature. Maybe later. On the other hand, the 'wilderness' areas were now inhabited by ERB Barsoom-type creatures, including Tharks (eight foot four-armed green guys with big teeth), thoats, calots, etc. What the hell, let 'em stay. The overarmed people of Aretia could deal with a few thousand out-gunned nomads without raising a sweat. The greenies were doomed to be tourist attractions.
Endor was less fortunate. Orcs, trolls and so on were no longer generated by the Flawed zones, they were scattered all over. Still, the Annarthans were responding with great enthusiasm, and firearms gave them a huge advantage.
I managed to Lens about two thirds of the way (I think) to the Forge before interference blinded me. The Lens went further in, I could feel it, but did me no good. The other Powers were at equidistant bearings, as if Ygg were the center of a compass with five cardinal points. One was Chaos, and the other two presumably reborn Ur-Rebma and Ur-Tir. Strange, I had expected the Patterns to be grouped in opposition to the Courts of Chaos.
Next, the Tree. Ygg was the focus of a huge, slow power vortex. It took in the attenuated emanations of the Powers and magical currents out of Shadow, and sent the energy back out into Shadow as purified magic through the 'root' system. I made measurements and did calculations. Could I tap its power flow out in the various realms? Or at least use it as a long distance teleport beacon? Could I duplicate the conversion effect and tap other Powers for magical energy?
While I was busy, Deirdre, Breann and Kethos had some sort of altercation. Deirdre sent Breann back to Amber, then sat brooding in her tent. After a while I diverted her by having her scry Ygg through the Jewel. She was fascinated; largely, I think, because she had sat beneath the Tree for hours, unaware that it was anything but a very large plant. Like me, she immediately wanted to figure out some way to use it. I left her scrying around and went back to getting a feel for the Powers, and noticed Finndo approaching. He had a strong fiery aura, contrasting (I now noticed for the first time) with our green, earthy ones.
Deirdre and Finndo quickly agreed to a loose alliance. I brought up the communication problems and volunteered accompany Finndo most of the way to his home and test and compare the three types of Trumps available: Dworkin-made Pattern Trumps, Fiona-made Pattern Trumps and Miriel-made "pure" Trumps. I will also test my own powers within another realm. Deirdre and company are to check on things in the Golden Circle.
I Trumped Mom shortly after riding off. She's fine. She's aware of the cosmic changes. She says the Noldor have a connection to the realm of Air and that she had been there recently. Theseus was there, along with several contending factions. Her group has left, but she will give me a tour, soon. She had no trouble moving through Shadow in those two realms. She recognized Ygg and said she had first seen it when it was much smaller.
Great, also terrible. If my other family is getting involved in dangerous politics, I'm involved too. Not that Mom necessarily needs any help. She's somewhere in Fiona's league, I think. Of course, Fiona was recently hanging in chains, naked and starving, from a dungeon wall. If she can get me a shot at the Air Pattern I can be very effective. Hm. I wonder if Mom is an Air Pattern Master.
I trumped Fiona and got her to cooperate with the Trump testing. She will probably instruct in Miriel some Trump-making shortcuts to avoid being inundated with requests. I could see her wondering how she had become so approachable that I would even think of that. She said she had made some progress with the Osric-detector idea but had mostly been studying the nuances of the modified Pattern. Nuances? She might be pulling my leg, a bit of revenge for my being able to do something she can't--use the Jewel. Damn, ANOTHER research project.
Finndo's horse breathes out steam and looks semi-mechanical.
I thought it through, then told Finndo how to use his Jewel--if it works the same as Amber's--as a scrying device. Sure he's formidable, but there's only the two of them. IF Kethos sticks around. K's hinted that they tend to grate on each other. Finndo probably thinks I'm maneuvering to walk his Pattern, and yes, later (maybe much later), I'd like to. The Air Pattern is next on my list. According to Mom, it's my heritage.
Finndo referred to the area we were in as the Borderlands. There was only one way in and he had put up a fortress there to guard it. A really good one. As we approached it I found that it truly was a border. For a couple of miles to either side of the Border the forces of Pattern, Trump and magic churned like a huge, fixed storm front. Passing through it felt strange. Casting a spell there would be like playing Russian Roulette with four bullets in a six shot revolver. Maybe five. Six on a bad day. Trumps were merely fuzzed out.
Half an hour beyond the zone of disruption I acquired a teleport site, just in case.
A couple of hours later we did the Trump tests. 'Pure' Trumps are definitely better, much better than Pattern Trumps for transcosmic communication. I think Fiona was miffed that Miriel's Trumps were outperforming hers. Having someone (Kethos) attuned, more or less, to both Patterns helped, as did a reinforcing spell. Finndo doesn't much like Trumps or magic. I suggested he and Dee could let each other walk the other's Pattern, and even kept a straight face while I said it.
Onward into the Fire Realm. (Pyrocosmos? What did that make the others? Geocosmos, Hydrocosmos and Pneumocosmos? Aerocosmos?) Mostly a lot of Heavy Metal Steam Age shadows, clearly reflecting Finndo's preferences. Photogenic, in a way, but give me high tech any day. Or forests. The Fire Pattern, the Forge (Pyreidolon? Enough with the Greek already.) may end up being the last one on my list.
OK, scratch The Forge from my list of Patterns to walk, or at least put it last. Not that Finndo needs any help there. If we could lure Osric into that death-trap, that would be the end of him.
Bleys is on a mild rampage for some reason. I think Scudamore woke me up to try to deal with him, but if his brothers and sisters chose to flake off then I'll do the same.
Oh, shit. I do have to talk to him. He might know where the good-in-Amber gunpowder came from. It probably still works. Make sure. I'll have to go find some for us. If I can find the old source I might be able to destroy it and make it stick, since my Pattern is current and, hopefully, theirs are not. Who's around for military backup? Breann should be around here somewhere. Maybe Caine.
What else? Miriel should probably have that Breann Trump ready by now. Tell Dee about the Forge. Family policy on allowing non-family to attempt the Pattern. If we aren't permitted to sponsor people, then sooner or later there will be a civil war when Benedict or Caine, or whoever, demands an exception for a lover. Sex. I should get laid while I'm out in Shadow, someone... hm, athletic, dark-haired, strong-willed... a navel ring.
Uh oh.