Chapter Two

It was close to midnight, and I’d reclined in a chair in my room. The book was a collection of fairy tells from a nearby shadow. It helped to pass the time in the wee hours. The door to my room was locked, not by me, and guards were posted throughout the consulate to ensure that I didn’t leave before Prince Gérard had a chance to speak to me. They’d taken what few trumps I had, but left me my ring and staff. How… inconsistent.

It was about this time that I heard a sharp grunt, and the thud of something large hitting my door, followed by the hiss of it sliding to the floor. Then, the sound of someone doing something with the lock, likely picking it, could be heard.

I closed my book and reshelved it, then reached over for my staff.

The person picking the lock obviously wasn’t good, as shown by the time spent working at it, and his curses when he failed each time. At last the door opened and a human face poked in. He was heavily cowled, but still distinctly human.

"We have come to rescue you!" the human announced.

I heard more noise of others out in the room. I couldn’t see past the human, so I grabbed him by the face and shoved him back so I could see the others. There was a savanja dendaro, like myself, and a whistler. The unconscious forms of the guards could be seen lining the corridor.

I suppose I should take a bit of time to describe what the dendaro and the whistlers are. The dendaro, of which I am one, are a large, anthropomorphic race indigenous to the shadow of Telluria. There are a number of sub-breeds among the Tellurians with vastly different appearance between sub-breeds. The savanja in particular, of which I am one, resemble what in some worlds are called rodents, with round ears and a jowly face, much like that of a hamster, with light tan fur. We hail from the plains and deserts of our native Dendar. The whistlers, on the other hand, are large, black amoebic blobs, with the occasional eyespots and orafices that they use to see and communicate respectively. They are a generally abhorrent race, and this one had adopted a form vaguely humanoid in order to wear a cloak.

"What, may I ask, are you here to liberate me from?"

"You are to be executed in the morning," he replied with utmost sincerity.

"And why should I trust you?" I asked matter-of-factly.

"We were told that you’d be suspicious, so we were told to give you a name," said the human. He rummaged through his pockets and finally produced a scrap of paper.

"Can-ee? Cay-nee? I forget how to pronounce it. He said that the Tellurian League is working towards your downfall. They are killing initiates"

Could they have meant Caine? I sighed, and agreed to follow them, taking my staff with me. They forced a cloak on me and urged me to try to seem inconspicuous, which likely made me seem very conspicuous. Through the streets I was guided, until at last we arrived at some sort of tavern. I didn’t get a chance to see the name

Once there, we huddled in the darkest corner they could have found, seeming quite obvious in the tavern. The human said, "Now that we are in a place of relative safety, allow me to introduce myself. I am Michael Tanner, a Knight of the One True World. My friends and I have seen the Light of the Unicorn! We have come to this location to find a Wayfinder in order to return to Telluria."

Dread grew in my innards and coiled around my heart. It nearly exploded after the meeting with the Wayfinder, one of those professionals trained to navigate the Shadowpaths that surround Amber. They plopped enough money in front of the Wayfinder to make his eyes bug out, likely far more than his services were worth. I was with a large group of incompetants who were likely commissioned by the same organization that had arranged Fumaris’ demise. The strength of relations between Amber and Telluria was at risk, and I was in a neat position to foil them.

I likely could have killed all these men, but I didn’t want a murder on my hands, and evading them could be tricky. As desperation welled up within, I suddenly recognized one of the patrons in the tavern. Seated some distance away was a one time friend of mine, who went by the name of Maladin. His dark hair was longer, and he’d grown a goatee, but it was still him. When I was first learning to explore shadow, I’d stopped off in a shadow that didn’t officially have a name. It was of equal technological level as Telluria, and had enough alien races that I didn’t stand out. I served in a mercenary unit for a bit, and it was there that I met Maladin. We later bought a hyperdrive craft of our own, and spent several years doing a bit of smuggling. We were both a tad cagey about where we were from, but from what each of us mentioned, I imagine we both assumed the other referred to a distant planet, not a separate plane of existence.

Turning to Tanner, I said, "I wish to speak to that man," and indicated Maladin.

"Oh, no! We couldn’t possibly allow that… we’re trying to remain hidden."

"If you don’t get him for me, I’ll walk over there myself."

"You can’t—"

I started to.

They decided to go get Maladin for me.

Maladin came over, a look of surprise and confusion on his face.

"You are certainly the last person I expected to see in Amber," he commented.

"The same could be said of yourself," I countered.

I noticed my "liberators" watched expectantly as we talked. I gave them a look and they focused their attention elsewhere. Not satisfied with that amount of privacy, I silently gestured to Maladin that we should move a few steps away. The Knights of the One True World looked like they would interfere, but I was able to put them off with a look.

"So what is it you need, Len?" Maladin asked in a hushed tone.

"The quick version of the situation is that I’ve been framed for murder, and these gentlemen are attempting to liberate me. Unfortunately, between their incompetence and the fact that it would look bad for me to be missing from Amber right now, I’ve decided I need to get away from them as soon as possible."

"Why would it look bad if you left…?"

"I’m an ambassador."

It’s arguable whether Maladin was choking on something, or he was trying not to laugh. A glare got him to restrain himself a bit better.

"I see, well then. How about I run interference while you escape out the door?"

"Sounds good."

At that, I turned and bolted out the door, making a fast run for the Castle. It seemed as safe a place as any, and seemed a reasonable place to turn myself in. I ran as fast as I could, trying to lose my pursuers in the winding streets of the city. I managed to lose most of them, but the whistler seemed to have picked up my scent and was in hot pursuit. I also saw, of all people, the lady Dalen chasing after me, and gaining.

As I arrived at the Castle gates, Dalen had caught up, and the whistler was no where to be seen.

Dalen asked, "Might I ask what that was all about?"

"In a moment."

I approached the guard, who looked a tad alarmed to see me.

"Lord of Chaos…?" he asked nervously.

"No."

He looked even more worried for some reason, so I decided to help him a bit.

"I am Ambassador Lentaro Dojangi of Telluria."

He flipped through a book, got rather wide-eyed, and then agreed to allow me in.

"And the woman…?"

Feeling a bit malicious, I took Dalen’s hand and joined elbows with her.

"She is with me," I replied, giving the guard a knowing look. "And if a gentleman named Maladin arrives, please allow him in as well."

Nothing like a bit of scandal to liven things up.

As we walked in, I asked Dalen, "Now what was so important that you had to run all this way?"

"I wanted to find out what you were doing running all this way, and I needed to see Prince Aaron. Weren’t you under house arrest or something?"

"I was. I was rescued."

Tumblers clicked. Synapses fired. "So what are you doing back here?"

"I decided that my rescuers were incompetent, and it would look poor for diplomatic relations if I were to vanish."

"A martyr for the cause?" she asked, looking skeptical.

"I simply know what’s important to me."

We managed to find a servant, and Dalen asked to see the Prince just as Maladin arrived as well.

"Would you care for any refreshment while you wait?"

"Some tea would be lovely," Dalen replied.

"A bottle of port?" I asked. To which the servant simply nodded.

Maladin poked in with, "If I may, I’d like to speak to the night steward."

"Of course," the servant replied, and indicated that Maladin should follow.

Another servant came back around soon after with a pot of tea for Dalen and a goblet of wine for myself. I suppose a bottle was out of the question. Minutes passed in awkward silence.

At last, we were led up to Aaron’s rooms, and Aaron received us in a robe of some sort.

"Lady Dalen, Ambassador Lentaro… how might I help you?"

I tilted my head to indicate Dalen, and Dalen replied, "Prince Aaron, I’ve recently had what I can best describe as… visions that I thought you should know about."

Aaron and I both rolled our eyes and slouched in our respective chairs, preparing for agony. I cannot speak for Aaron, but in Telluria, prophets are generally looked down upon. Despite everything I’ve seen since learning to travel through shadow, the instinctive distrust of mystics still creeps in.

"I don’t typically have visions," Dalen said, "But I’ve suddenly had two, one of which involves your brother Lore." Aaron bestowed upon Dalen a pair of arched eyebrows, but nothing more. "I believe that he is somehow the pawn of someone else. I don’t know who. I also received a vision of a giant warped Pattern of some sort, moving through the sky and destroying everything it passed over."

A thought drifted through my head, half-formed, and I resolved to look into later.

"Well, thank you, Lady Dalen," Aaron replied crisply. "I’ll be certain to take your visions into account."

Dalen, as though aware that she wasn’t being taken seriously, looked a bit annoyed.

"Very well, I thank you for your time." She stood and moved towards the door, and I also rose to leave as well. As we did so, we heard the sound of an explosion of some sort, muffled through the walls of the castle.

Dalen seemed uninterested in any further excitement and headed towards the gates, while Aaron and I went to investigate. A crowd of half-awake residents of the castle as well as several guards were clustered around the door to some room. The door was charred and twisted, as though it had caught the brunt of a blast of some sort. When Gérard emerged carrying Maladin, dread returned to my guts. I made my way through the crowd and approached Gérard.

"Prince Gérard…?" I called out.

He turned and his annoyance seemed to move up a few notches. "Ambassador Lentaro. What are you doing here?"

"It’s a bit of a long story," I replied. "I was concerned at the moment with the fate of my friend, Maladin."

"He will be fine. You I will deal with in the morning. Guards, lock this… Ambassador up."

Turning, he left, and the guards moved into position around me. I was led off to a rather small room with a bed and a stout door. At last, I was able to get some sleep.

The next morning passed relatively uneventfully. Gérard at last arrived and asked me for my version of why I was seen running headlong down the Main Concourse towards the castle after my guards had all been knocked unconscious. I gave him a complete and honest description, and at last he allowed me to leave under my own personal recognizance, so long as I didn’t leave the city.

I returned to the consulate, and had a quick breakfast. Returning to my rooms, I found a suspiciously familiar cloak lying on my bed, I picked up and gave it a sniff, detecting the scent of ammonia usually associated with whistlers. While examining the cloak, something fell to the floor, and from where I stood, it appeared to be a trump of some sort.

With a mental "why not?" I concentrated on it. I received a connection with no visual.

"Yes, who is this?"

"Ambassador Lentaro Dojangi," I answered, feeling cocky.

For my efforts, I found myself under psychic attack. I defended as best I could, but he uttered some arcane words of power, and gained a significant edge in the conflict. I soon found myself reaching for my dagger, and not through my own volition for that matter. I struggled with it for a while, but finally managed to get my hand to throw the dagger across the room. So, then my hand came up to strangle me. I fought off the mental domination as best I could, but soon found myself at a stalemate. Any time I tried to push harder, my hand resumed its battle with my throat. After a while I thought to see just how long my opponent could keep this up. The dendaro are a hardy race, and I’m exceptionally so even by their standards.

After a while, my opponent began to falter. I pushed the advantage, but apparently he wasn’t in the mood for such a game, and withdrew from the connection.

Resolving not to carry a dagger for a while, I headed back down stairs to take care of some embassy business. It was then that I received a trump call. Preparing myself for a psychic assault, I accepted the trump.

It was Inquisitor Theron, who looked at me a tad askance.

"Is all… well, Ambassador?"

"My apologies, Inquisitor. It’s been an eventful morning."

"Likewise. Might I come through?"

I nodded and reached to bring him through.

"I was hoping that we could have breakfast. I had some questions for you regarding events of the previous night, and thought it would be nice to discuss them in more congenial surroundings."

"Certainly," I replied.

Inquisitor Theron suggested the White Rose, and we went there. I realized while there that it was the same location that I had been at the night before.

"So, what is it that happened last night? I got part of the story from Prince Gérard, but I would like to hear it from you."

"Not much to tell. A band of people from Telluria broke into the consulate to free me. They told me enough to make me believe that I could trust them, and took me to the White Rose, where we were to hire a Wayfinder. While talking to them, I realized that they were part of some deranged cult that worshipped Amber, and I felt myself to be in a rather unsafe situation, as you can likely imagine."

"Yes. I’m quite familiar with deranged cultists," Theron commented.

I fought off the urge to make a snippy comment, and continued with my story, skipping over the events of the night, instead resuming the story with my discovery of the trump, which I showed to the Inquisitor.

"Do you know this man?" I asked.

"Yes… it’s Lord Neechan of House Cho. I can’t imagine why he would do such a thing, though… It’s quite peculiar. You say he was aggressive?"

"Let’s just say that I won’t be carrying a dagger for a while now."

"Well, this is certainly unusual. Here, Lentaro," he shuffled out a trump of himself from a rather thick deck of the artifacts. "Contact me if you learn anything more, and I also will keep in touch. Oh, and please keep the possession of that trump to yourself. I prefer not to be overly liberal with talents, and don’t want people to think that has changed."

I nodded, and we finished the rest of our breakfast in idle conversation about the weather. I returned to the embassy after Theron trumped back out.

I practice my staff work in the embassy gardens, and had lunch in one of the restaurants in the city. I felt like being as obvious as possible in demonstrating that I was still around.

That afternoon, while wading through paperwork, the receptionist came up to my office to inform me that I had visitors.

I headed down to see who was there, and found Maladin, Dalen, Aaron, and Theron all waiting in the lobby of the consulate.

Aaron was the first to speak. "Ambassador Lentaro. We were hoping to speak with you a bit."

"Certainly," I replied. Turning to the receptionist I asked, "Are there any conference rooms available?"

"Yes… Conference Room B should be open at the moment."

"Thank you."

I led the group off to the conference room, and bade them all to sit.

"Now then, what can I do to help you?" I asked once we were comfortable.

Dalen spoke first, saying, "I don’t know that I feel safe discussing in front of him." She indicated Maladin as the subject of that emphasis.

"Anything you can say to me, you can say to him," I answered. "He is an old friend of mine."

"Oh?" Dalen asked, her face brightening with curiousity. "Where do you know him from."

"We met in shadow," I replied.

"I wasn’t aware that you’d traveled through Shadow," Dalen continued, like a hound with a scent.

"Caine has given me a good deal of assistance prior to entry to the Silver Circle," I replied.

As though satisfied with my answer, Dalen switched topics with, "We were wondering what you could tell us about Telluria. We were hoping that we could understand events in Amber once we have a better understanding of what’s going on there."

"Telluria’s a big place. What is it you would like to know?" A look at Maladin indicated that he wasn’t part of this questioning process, and who knows what the Inquisitor had planned.

"Have you been developing any… experimental power sources in Telluria lately?"

The question caught me off guard. "Experimental…?" I asked, then answered quite honestly, "No… all our power sources have been quite standard and well used for years."

"And what are those standard resources?" she asked.

Shrugging, I replied, "Zero-point energy is the most common and powerful that we use for cities and space craft. It’s the basis behind our FTL drives."

"And what is this zero-point energy?"

"Well, it operates under the premise that there is an ambient energy present in the universe, capable of spawning and re-absorbing quantum particles—"

"What happens when one of these particles doesn’t return properly?" Dalen demanded.
"Have you ever wondered that? Have you?!"

Maladin had stood and moved towards me during this discussion. Whispering, "We’re being watched," he left the room.

A bit confused by Dalen’s reaction, I replied to her, "I’m afraid you’re not understanding. We don’t use the particles. We use the ambient energy that is present. The stuff of the universe. There are brochures in the lobby if you really want to know more about it. We’ve been using it for years, and—"

"Haven’t you ever considered the consequences of what this might do?! Have you honestly thought through the results this could bring about?! Have you?!?" she demanded rather rabidly. She was gaining steam to launch into another tirade, while I mentally organized a dissertation on the principles of Conservation of Energy.

Aaron who interjected with, "Dalen, calm down" saved us both from continuing this sparring. It startled all of us, as he had previously been rather… detatched from things. Maladin also returned to the room about this time.

Feeling a bit peevish I asked, "Are your questions regarding any more ‘visions’ you might have had?"

Maladin and Theron both turned their gazes towards Dalen.

"Visions?" the Inquisitor asked, seeming genuinely curious, and causing Dalen to blanch slightly.

When Dalen didn’t answer immediately, I added, "Yes, she had two visions that I know of. One involving some sort of warped Pattern, and the other involving Lore being the pawn of someone. Which reminds me, have you learned anything about that whole Fumaris incident?"

"Fiona’s been doing some investigation into it," Aaron replied. "She believes it’s simply sorcery."

"Interesting…" I replied. "You know, with Dalen’s vision, and the fact that Lore is a known sorcerer, he might be a prime candidate for being the one behind events at the banquet."

I don’t know what they’d come to me about, but they seemed like I was suspected of being behind something. I felt like I’d dumped a bit of suspicion and guilt in their laps.

Conversation died off then, and finally Aaron, Theron, and Dalen excused themselves. I asked Maladin to escort them out.

Once the room was empty, I brought up the sign of the Broken Pattern before me, and examined the room. No sign of whatever it was Maladin saw. I sighed and went up to my offices, awaiting Maladin’s return. filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler filler