THE DIARY OF MALADIN

Nexus. I am a nexus. I am beginning to feel as if everything is flowing through me in a strange way. Hard to put my finger on, but the feeling is therejust out of reach, but never leaving me.

I returned to the scene of the battle with the waveriders. There I recovered the remains of the man I accidentally killed with the Trump. This phenomena needs more study I decide, so I take the remains back to one of the castle labs. There I delve into my subject and learn that the man was "allergic" to Pattern, and that the Pattern in the Trump killed him. Ouch, and I thought hay fever was bad. I wonder if there is a shot for this? Hmmm, maybe like with poison. Small doses might help over time. Question: why am I not harmed by Pattern? I must be fundamentally different from these waveriders. Somehow. Too bad I don't know what my heritage is. But this is a clue, at least in a roundabout way. I play with the feather I found at the carnage sight and confirm my thoughts on the waverider's flying mounts.

I meet with Random and really bring him up to speed. Up to speed on what these waveriders probably want, and why. He doesn't seem pleased.

It is the next morning and I am off to keep my appointment with Dalen for another discussion. I have to wonder what the topics will be. More instruction? Or is she ready to tell me a few things. I must assume that she has information on the topic of herself, the waveriders, vitae, and her heritage. I hope she does.

I arrive at the tavern, but Dalen is not there. Here friend and owner of the tavern takes me to her room. It quickly becomes apparent that she left in the night and hastily. There are warning sirens going off for me, because I know her penchant for volunteering for trouble. And I know she is possibly being hunted by the waveriders. Just then a messenger arrives with a trump for Dalen from Bleys. I do not recognize the trump. I decide that it could be a clue to Dalen and what she is up to, so I take it with me to find Bleys.

Breakfast in the castle seems to be a fun time for the family. I find Bleys and several of his siblings enjoying each other's company. After a private pow wow with Bleys I learn..nothing. But we both promise to keep eachother up on events. I tell him my suspicions that Dalen is in trouble somehow.

After a time I get a hold of Aaron. He seems quite wet, does not know where Dalen is, but will try to help out since I don't have a trump of her. Moments later he trumps me and hands me a trump depicting Dalen in a cage with guards around her. "Anything else I can do?" he asks. Sheesh. What an ego. Sheesh. What a trick! I try to get some more info out of him like how he got this, what is going on, etc, but it seems he is too busy to play with me any more. I take the card and say thanks, its about all I could do in my shocked condition.

I begin to make my preparations and find out Bleys, Gerrard, and Random are meeting behind closed doors. I decide to get ready while they are meeting. Then Aaron and Lentaro show up. Seems Aaron has decided he has time to play with me after all. We retreat to a small study. Lentaro and I catch up while Aaron does his Pattern thing and tries to locate the place Dalen is being held. I suggest that he is looking in the wrong place.

By this time I am tired of waiting and Trump Random. He brings us through. We learn he had a strange trump contact with Dalen and listen to the details she related to him. It seems she is being held prisoner. I brandish the trump of her location. They are as stunned as I was =). Aaron finally has to come clean about how he got the trump, and in a matter of a few minutes we devise a plan to break her out. Why do I always find myself doing this? Boy, they better be prepared to return the favor! I feel like Dalen is my new curse.

Through the trump gate made by Bleys we go (after I convinced him to handle the trump for us) with a dozen guards, Lentaro, Aaron and myself.......into the middle of hundreds of thousands of the enemy, into the middle of their encampment. Ouch. Got to make this quick. I try to take out the guards quick. Lentaro and I get two and the third one runs.......poof. Len tries to take care of the bars while I watch how much attention we are getting. A mage appears and places an electric field over the bars keeping Len from accomplishing his task. I use one of my hung spells to disintegrate them. Boom, the electric field blows, everyone feels the concussion, but they are alive and Dalen is free.

Aaron pulls up his Pattern and dissappears. Now the big boys are on us. A man I learned was named Galen, the one in the trump of Dalen's, and some pissed off sorceress in white armor (like Julian's). I keep busy with Galen. He is good. Almost as good as me. The witch blocks our trump gate with a wall of some kind. Ooops. Len and Dalen find a way out. So it is just me. I exit the wave and the two bruisers follow.

I find it difficult to take them both on and escape. In the end I am drugged and pulled to safety in the nick of time by Aaron, just before Galen has his way with me.

I kinda remember a meeting after we all made it back to the castle. By this time I feel very very wasted. I think I may have behaved like a drunk. For some reason I remember Bleys really struck me funny.

The next morning is one big hangover that won't go away. Luckily Aaron has some pain pills after he NOISILLY wakes me up. He has some information on Helmwind. It used to be called Ghanesh, and evidently Benedict kicked these waveriders out of there once already. We head out to find Benny.

Ben is having breakfast. We soon learn that Benedict does not speak much, and when he does he says nothing. I follow him to the armory with Len and pull out of him more info on the riders of Ghanesh and their abilities. It does indeed sound like the waveriders. He does not seem impressed by them. I tell him I am going to Virtue in Helmwind and I agree to keep him informed, since he will be heading up the military move there.

Then, before I leave, he tosses me an assault rifle. =) toys!!!, I grab several clips on the way out. Len and I talk as I make my preparations to leave.

Later, in my rooms, Dalen come to talk She has indeed learned a thing or two. She now professes to know her heritage. Although she will not divulge their identities, she tells me one is an amberite and one is a waverider. She grills me on my background. She wants to know if I was taught by a woman. I tell her that I was taught, but I will reveal no more. She tells me more about the story of the waveriders, and fills in some of the holes in Benny's story. As she leaves, I tell her I am very glad that she has found her parents. As an orphan myself, I know the issues that come with that. A lot of issues that don't go away, they only get buried deeper and deeper. I ask her to help me, perhaps her parents have some info on me? I emphasize that I have a safe place for her. She seems convinced there is a peaceful solution to the Waveriders and the Amberites. She wants to make it possible for them to exist outside the vitae. We cover the subject in length. She is different because of her mixed blood. But anything Pattern like will kill the waveriders. Perhaps my heritage could provide me new ideas on how it could be accomplished.

We part, and I decide I must give an old friend another trump call soon. When I arrive in Virtue, it is all over but the crying and the mopping up. I gain all the tactical info I can and give it to Benedict.

Then I receive a strange call from Aaron. Seems he is stuck in the middle of some pattern. He wants my help, but strangely seems to also want to stay where his is. The connection breaks and I decide that this may be one of the only times I would actually want to Trump Fiona, so I do. "Your protigi seems to have got himself into some trouble" I say. Then she rapes my mind for information because speaking is such a mundane and slow way of conveying information.

Like a bolt we take off into the Vitae, and I take her to the pattern room with Aaron. I watch one of the truly greatest moments of my short Amber stay when Fiona tells Aaron he is right, and Aaron says I told you so. =)

Fiona liberates Aaron from the squiggle (seems she knows its ins-n-outs enough) and together we are able to return close to Amber. Aaron is not looking good, so we take him to the infirmary.

Then I bring Random and Benedict up to speed on Virtue.

Then Caine, whom I have only seen once and never met, trumps me out of the blue. He asks me about Len. Evidently he knows that we were friends in the past. He seems concerned and wonders if Len has been acting weird. To my memory he has been the same old Len, but I promise to keep an eye on him.

Nexus. Hmm, Dalen, Aaron, and Myself. Seems that we three are all experiencing this effect. Got to learn more about my heritage. Got to put some thought into Dalen's ideas of a peaceful solution to things. Could the Waveriders be my people too? Could I possibly be on the wrong side? Will I find myself with split loyalites? What would stand up: my friendship with Random or the liberation of my people? I hope those are not choices I will soon face. Yes, better to find a peaceful solution before I have to make that kind of decision. Hmm, I wonder how much pattern a Waverider could take and still survive. Maybe inoculation could work?

Hmmff, even if we had a solution, there is no way to guaranty that either side would agree to it. Revenge for so many lost may not be so easily turned. And I wonder about the House of Amber. Would they pick peace and live with a race of powerful beings in the Real, or would they rather any threat be dealt with in a final matter?

Well, Time will bear witness to it all. I must be about my work.

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