Chapter Four

The next morning, after a good deal of fruitless work, I decided that I wanted to check into matters in Telluria. Unfortunately, I didn’t want to cause an incident. In addition to my normal snooping, I trumped Caine to see if he could aid me in getting the restriction lifted. He said he’d see what he could do, and when he found out that I wanted to go to Telluria, he was helpful enough to provide a trump. I also sent a note to Maladin to see if we could meet. He sent word back later that we could meet in the afternoon.

I had my usual in-your-face lunch, and then in the afternoon Maladin stopped by.

"What’s up, Len?"

"I had a bit of a favor to ask of you," I replied. He gave me a questioning look, and I elaborated:

"Basically, I’m looking to get back to Telluria to do some investigation, and I would prefer not to have to sneak out of Amber. I thought you might have an ‘in’ that you could use to my favor."

Maladin smirked and gave a laugh. "I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?"

"I’d love to have someone I can trust at my side," I offered.

"Thanks Len… but I’m thinking Random will be keeping me busy. I’ll let you know, though."

We said our good-byes, and I went through my spy reports. One of them appeared to indicate that there was a big brujah down by the waterside. Apparently Gérard and Bleys captured someone named Derth. From witness reports it sounds as though Derth was looking for people who wouldn’t be missed if they disappeared.

The next day I received a letter from a "Lady Karma", who felt we should meet. I sent back a reply suggesting a meeting at the White Rose at one. She consented, and after lunch, I found myself being led to a private meeting room at the inn.

Inside was Lady Karma, who by human standards was perhaps quite sultry. To me she looked a tad gaudy. She indicated the other seat, and I sat.

"Lady Karma, I presume?"

She nodded. "It is so nice to meet you, Ambassador Lentaro."

"Likewise. Now, what was it you wished to speak to me about?"

"I come from a kingdom located near to Amber, and we are working towards establishing trade relations with Amber. We would like to gain intelligence of activities in Amber, in exchange, we could give you information about events outside of Amber."

"Such as?"

"Such as the fact that a shipment of poison from Telluria is going to be coming into Amber harbor in the near future. Should we reach an agreement, I could make sure that you have at your disposal that information to save the day."

"That would indeed be useful. I would be willing to take your offer into serious consideration. What more need I do from here on?"

"I will arrange a time for my superior and yourself to meet and discuss particulars of the exchange."

"Fair enough. Send me word when he can meet with me." Almost as an after thought, I added, "What is the name of your kingdom, by the way?"

"Rein," she replied.

"Thank you."

At that our meeting was adjourned.

I returned to the embassy in time to find Gérard waiting for me.

"Prince Gérard," I said in greeting. "Is there something I can assist you with?"

"I was just stopping by to let you know that you are free to go about your business. We only ask that you let us know when you were planning on leaving the city."

I thanked him for the good news, and escorted him to the door.

Once he was gone, I immediately contacted Caine.

"You are amazing," I said as soon as I got a contact.

"I know that. What did I do in particular?"

"Gérard just came by to let me know that the city arrest had been lifted."

Caine shrugged. "It was just a matter of course. They had nothing on you anyway. Anything else?"

"What do you know of a Lady Karma of Rein?" I asked.

"Not a damn thing, why?"

"I just met with her. Rein is apparently trying to establish trade relations with Amber, and she was hoping to gain intelligence about the kingdom."

"If they’re trying to gain trade relations, they’re being damn stupid about it. I’m the one who handles trade relations for Amber, and by trying to go behind my back they’re really ruining their chances."

"Well, I’m supposed to meet with her superior tomorrow. I can let you know what happens after that."

"Actually, if you could take my trump in with you, I could try and eavesdrop on things."

"I’ll do that."

"Also, you may try asking the steward if he knows anything about Rein. He might know something I don’t."

"Thanks."

A short jaunt up to the castle and back gained me nothing. The steward had never heard of "Rein", but offered to have someone look into it for me.

I returned to the consulate in time for my dancing lessons, and was about to prepare for my staff practice when I received a trump call.

Defensively, I accepted. "Yes?"

It was Aaron. From the slight distortion of his lamp light and the stream of bubbles that sometimes passed him, he looked like he was underwater. "Hello, Len. Has Maladin contacted you about Dalen?"

"No… he hasn’t, why?"

"She’s apparently being held captive somewhere. I’d have thought he’d include you in his plans."

"He hasn’t this time. Do you know where he is?"

"I don’t know. He might be in the castle. Why don’t you trump him?"

"Because I don’t have a trump…?"

He gave a petulant and exaggerated sigh. "Bring me through."

I brought him through, and water streamed off him as he arrived in the embassy. "Would you happen to have a towel?" he asked.

I stuck my head out and called for one of the staff to bring several large towels. Aaron dried off quickly, and then shuffled through his trumps before finding Maladins.

"Maladin," he said, "I thought you might like to have Lentaro along to help."

Maladin, with a look of something akin to incredulity extended his hand.

"So, any plans?" Aaron asked smugly while still drying himself off.

"I’ve had your trump," Maladin replied, holding a trump that depicted Dalen, in a cage, surrounded by three people, "for two minutes. I haven’t had a whole lot of planning time."

I didn’t have the heart to even ask where they got the trump, though I’m certain there was a story behind it from Maladin’s posture. Instead, I said, "Why don’t we just use the trump to go there?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, as though in the presence of fools. "You don’t even know what kind of forces they have guarding her. What are you going to do? Rush right in there?"

I granted Aaron an annoyed look. Not part of the solution, therefore…

"I think first on my list," Maladin intruded, "is to talk to Bleys. I was about to try and contact him when you called, and he’s already aware of the disappearance."

Maladin shuffled through his deck and produced a card for Bleys. Aaron and I joined in on the contact, and Maladin explained that he had a lead on the location of Dalen.

Bleys brought us through, and we found ourselves in the presence of both Random and Gérard.

Random looked a bit annoyed. "For a tavern wench, she certainly seems to be coming up quite a bit. I just got a faint trump call or something from her, talking about a huge army, genocide, and one month."

Bleys slid in smoothly and asked, "You said you knew where she was at?"

Maladin held up the trump. Bleys, Gérard, and Random all did a double take.

Bleys took the trump and examined it. "That’s amazing. How did you accomplish that."

"I didn’t," Maladin replied. "Aaron did."

Everyone looked towards Aaron.

Looking like someone was trying to take sweet rolls away from him, he explained, "I tried concentrating on the trump for Dalen, and felt like I was being blocked. When I tried to force the contact, the contact shifted to show me the scene on the card."

"Interesting… who drew the trump originally?" Bleys asked.

"Lore."

"I knew he was good with Trump… perhaps he knows more than I was aware."

"Any suggestions on what we can do to save Dalen?" Maladin asked.

Random shook his head. "If you were thinking of an invading force to take on the army she spoke of, I can’t afford the men. Too much shit going on around here. If you guys want to stage a raid, I can supply you with a handful of guards as an escort, but that’s about it."

We agreed to go with that plan, and Bleys offered to aid us in trumping through.

When the guards were assembled, Bleys concentrated on the card, and slowly a line of rippling colors appeared before him, and spread open to reveal a doorway leading to the location on the trump. As he did so, he commented, "Odd… the shadow itself seems to be moving through shadow…"

The three guards surrounding Dalen’s cage looked distinctly surprised. They looked even more so when Maladin ran one through with his sword. I came through after Maladin, and the rest streamed in after me. I made a bee-line for the cage while Maladin dealt with other opponents. In the process, I noticed a rather surprised look on Aaron’s face right before he disappeared. I’m not certain what happened. I tried to simply break the chains barehanded, but they seemed to be pretty stout. I was debating the efficiency of using my staff to break through the chain, when my problem was made even more complicated when one of the guards appeared on the other side and sent writhing tendrils of electricity through the bars of the cage, making my decision even harder.

Fortunately, the problem was quickly "solved" for me when Dalen ran through one of the guards with her sword (which someone had apparently failed to take from her) and Maladin used a spell to disintegrate the cage.

Unfortunately, when the cage was annihilated, the bolts of energy exploded out from the center of the cage. Dalen seemed to have caught the worst of it, being singed and dazed on the ground. I only got a bit of the jolt, which was enough to leave my fur on end, but nothing more. I scooped up Dalen and hurried back to the trump gate, only to find a magical wall spring up in front of it. A woman and a man, who had the bearing of people with power to throw around, approached. Both, incidentally, were clad in glossy white enameled armor, much like that commonly worn by Julian. The woman, who I believe had made the barrier, muttered a few words of magic and the ground began to suck Dalen and I in.

"I’m all for leaving, how about you, Len?" Dalen said.

"I’d have to concur. Would you prefer to drive, or shall I?" I asked, hopefully sounding more safe than I felt.

Dalen extended her hand, and the world blurred away in rapid motion, mere moments before Dalen and I were tumbling over what felt like a mile of grass.

As soon as I gathered my wits about me, I walked over to Dalen and helped her up. "Do you have a trump for Maladin?"

She shook her head to indicate the negative.

"How about for Aaron?" again no. "Random?"

She nodded and pulled out her deck. Together we concentrated on the King’s image, and when he was clear, he pulled us through.

"Do you have a trump of Maladin?" I asked Random as soon as we got through. "He may be in trouble."

"No, I don’t," Random said, sounding a bit worried about it.

"How about a trump for Aaron?"

Bleys seemed to pick up on what I was getting at, and trumped Aaron, telling him to contact Maladin and bring him back.

Minutes passed, and finally Bleys got a trump call, and in came Aaron with an arm still in flames and a barely conscious Maladin who had an arrow jutting out of him. Bleys dealt with Aaron, while I tended to Maladin’s wounds. The arrow was easy to remove, and I quickly had him patched up. Once that was accomplish, I turned my attention towards Dalen.

"Now then, Lady Dalen. What was all that about?"

Aaron butted in with something trivial and I pivoted my head to look at him.

"Do you have anything useful to contribute?" I asked.

"Yes, I was the one who saved Mala—"

"That sounds like a no," I replied, and turned back to Dalen. "Now then, what were you in a cage for?"

Dalen replied, "They wanted to use me to destroy the Pattern."

Random scowled. "How were they planning that?"

"I’m of the Blood. I’ve walked the Pattern."

The room grew instantly silent.

Random gave an explosive sigh, and sunk down in his chair as his blood pressure went up.

"Why do they want to destroy the Pattern?" Bleys asked.

"Apparently Oberon had tried to exterminate them thousands of years ago, and they’ve come back for revenge against the one they call the ‘Sunset Lord’."

From the noises Random was making, he sounded less pleased. Maladin merely sounded delirious and rambled on about who knows what. The arrow was apparently drugged.

I asked, "Does anyone know who this ‘Sunset Lord’ is?"

Everyone replied in the negative.

Bleys commented, "Most of the early history under Oberon’s rule was a bit sketchy. He wasn’t overly concerned with records at the time."

Things dissolved about then, servants were taken to take Aaron and Maladin to their rooms, and Dalen left of her own accord, as did I after Random thanked me for my assistance.

Back at the embassy, I contacted Caine and filled him in on what had transpired. After that, I took care of my daily business and went to bed.

The next day, I headed down to the castle to find Maladin, and found him in the kitchen with Aaron, Dalen, and Benedict, having breakfast. Benedict was describing the Moonriders of Ghenesh, commenting on both their strengths and weaknesses that he observed when Amber fought with them, but also on their characteristic white enameled armor.

I sat down next to Dalen and asked in a whisper, "What have I missed?"

"Helmwind used to be known as Ghenesh, and Aaron and Maladin wanted to know what Benedict knew about them," was her reply.

A few tumblers clicked in my mind. If the people we fought yesterday were the survivors of Ghenesh, that would explain the recent attacks, and also why they hate Amber. All I personally knew about the place was a bit I read in Corwin’s chronicles about Benedict fighting against them. Not a lot to go off of, but it did feed the imagination.

After the others had finished their breakfast, Benedict asked Maladin to follow him to the armory, and I followed Maladin, as I still had things to discuss with him. Maladin and Benedict discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the army that Maladin observed, Benedict fleshing out his own mental picture with a few key questions. When we reached the armory, which was apparently where Amber kept its local supply of automatic rifles of much repute, Benedict picked out a pistol and handed it to Maladin.

"When you’re in Helmwind again, test this out."

Benedict went about his business.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as we headed away from the armory.

"Better than yesterday, but feeling a bit hungover."

Apparently the drug was still working its way out of his system.

"Well, aside from checking up on you, I wanted to see if you wanted to go to Telluria with me. I have a few things I need to tidy up in Amber, but after that I was going to do a brief bit of poking around there."

"Sorry, Len. Random wants me to go back to Helmwind again. Things have gotten worse there."

"Fair enough. I’ll try not to get into too much trouble while your gone."

We parted ways shortly thereafter, and that afternoon I went to meet with Lady Karma again at the White Rose, who was supposed to have her superior with her.

As I entered the room, I noticed immediately that she was alone.

"Lady Karma," I said in greeting.

"Ambassador Lentaro," she replied in her usual friendly manor.

"I had thought that I would be meeting your superior today…"

"Unfortunately, he’s very busy at the moment, but if you would be willing to come back to Rein with me, he could spare a few minutes to talk to you in person."

"I would love to see your homeland," I replied, trying not to sound too suspicious, "but unfortunately I don’t feel I know you well enough to warrant that kind of trust."

"I see. It would seem we’ve reached a bit of an impasse."

She sat in thought for a moment, and finally a man appeared beside her, who looked middle aged with blonde hair.

"Ambassador Lentaro?" he asked. "A pleasure to final meet you."

He extended his hand to shake it, and I returned the gesture, realizing at the last moment how bad of an idea that was.

I felt his mind move to overwhelm mine through the physical contact. I swung my free hand to try and hit him, and I think I connected. No real way to be sure, however. I felt Karma leap onto my back and try to restrain me, while her superior’s move for dominance grew in strength, until, at last, he controlled me completely. As it did, the room in the White Rose faded away to be replaced by a throne room of some sort, very dimly lit and heavily decorated by ornate gothic furnishings.

"Perhaps you may have heard of me," Karma’s superior said in an oily voice. "My name is Osric. My father once tried to have me killed, and he succeeded. He didn’t realize, however, that I’d take my Pattern with me. Now, I’ve come back for a bit of revenge, and you, my Lentaro, are going to help us. You have the rare and distinguished honor of being one of those who may walk the Bright Pattern, replacing your puny little shadow of the true Pattern. Unfortunately, those who walk the Bright Pattern alive always die. But those who walk the Bright Pattern while dead liiiiive."

Nearby, I could hear Karma cackling madly. My rage and frustration built up, but it was to no avail. All I could do was stand there impotently enduring the jeers of their success. I was forced to walk through the castle, and down a long flight of steps. I racked my mind for some way to escape, but my helplessness seemed complete.

Before what seemed like too short a time, Osric opened the doors to the Bright Pattern.

The floor was a polished red in color, and the Pattern was a black spiraling maze conforming to what seemed like the same layout as the true Pattern. I was moved to the beginning of the Pattern, and I felt a knife enter one side of my throat, cut across and exit out the other.

People say that right before you die, you see your entire life pass before your eyes. That’s not what happened to me. As I suffocated, one memory came to mind: a sunny day in my childhood on Dendar.

I was but a few years old, out on a hike with my parents. I was but a small ball of fur romping through the tall grasses near where my parents had set up to eat the basket-lunch they’d brought with them. The grass came up to my shoulders, and expanded around me like a vast golden sea. I heard a sudden roar in the air above me, and rather than some beast of prey, a giant space frigate passed over head, coming in on an approach to one of the major spaceports of dendar. I stood there, in its shadow, my eyes wide and my breathing shallow, enraptured by the awe-inspiring magnificence. That was when I first knew what it was like to be in the presence of something magnificent.

And then I died, and began to walk the Bright Pattern.

Memories rose up as I walked the Pattern…

…medical school in the League Acadamy, sharing a furtive bottle of bloodfruit wine in the morgue with an arban dendaro who had caught my fancy. The school only kept a handful of cadavers, as much anatomy could be learned through virtual simulations, but it was always handy to have something physical to work on. Simulations had their limits. Fortunately, most people generally preferred the cool distance of the simulations….

My feet, still not under my control, continued to walk along the black lines in the red stone.

… Svendor-12, a small planet barely habitable by any standards. A band of disparate dendaro colonists had set up camp there, hoping to escape the control of the Tellurian League. I was the medic assigned to the forces sent there to… deal with the "rebels". My orders were quite strict: we were to show no mercy to the inhabitants…

I’d walked the Broken Pattern once years ago, and it had been one of the more hellish things I’d ever done. I’d heard that the real Pattern was even worse, but this seemed to almost flow naturally.

…the Dark Horse Project. I’d volunteered to seek to master the power we’d found in the depths of space. One by one those volunteers ahead of me took their turn at trying to make it through the ordeal. I kept my eyes closed until it was my turn, not wanting to watch as the screams of the dying washed over me…

And then I was at the center.

I tried to teleport away, but I was unable to. Osric bid me approach, and explained, "Do not worry, you can simply walk back across to me."

I did as I was told, and found myself once again beside them, seeming to all appearances "alive".

"Now, Lentaro… I’m going to leave you in Karma’s care. You are to do whatever she tells you to."

Somehow, I didn’t think I had any choice in the matter.

Osric departed back the way he’d come, and Karma and I were alone.

"You don’t know how privileged you are to have gained what you have. When we have destroyed Amber, you will be –"

"Save the party line, Karma," I said impatiently. "Just tell me what it is you want from me."

"Very well. These are your strictures, that you will follow to the letter:

"First, you will in no way reveal what has transpired here today.

"Second, you will in no way reveal your association with Osric, myself, or any of Osric’s minions.

"Third, you will in no way reveal your new Power.

"Fourth, without revealing our plans or yourself, you will seek ou the location of the Jewel of Judgement. You will do this without drawing attention to yourself. And you will immediately report this information to me. This is your primary mission in life.

"Fifth, you will report to me information pertaining to the Amberites, their plans, and what they know about us.

"Lastly, you will in no way betray us."

"Very well. Am I free to leave?"

As the White Rose came into appearance around us she replied, "Yes, you are. I’ll be hearing from you soon."

It was a long walk back to the embassy. Thoughts of what I could have done differently came up along the way back, all for naught. When I reached the embassy, I changed into some clothes suitable for travel in Telluria, and trumped out there. I had, after all, said that I’d go there.

I made my way to the offices of my superior, Admiral Raal, and notified his secretary that I was there.

He was notably surprised to see me.

"Len, I wasn’t aware you were back in Telluria already."

"I’m just stopping in briefly. Wanted to get a sense for how things were faring with the cultist."

"Oh, everything is going fine now Lentaro. Thanks for asking."

He gave a meaningful glance towards one of the walls, and taking the hint, I left. I moved about three shadows to the left and shuffled out Caine’s trump.

"Yes Len?"

"Could you bring me through?"

He extended his hand and I found myself in Amber.

"What’s up?"

"I was wondering if you had been listening in on the meeting I’d had yesterday."

"No, it was warded. So what happened?"

"Nothing I can speak of."

"Can you speak of it elsewhere…?"

"No, I don’t believe I can."

A moment of awkward silence came down between us. Finally, I made my goodbyes and turned my back on him, half hoping that he’d take advantage of the vulnerable position I was in. He didn’t. 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