THE DIARY OF MALADIN

What can I say? I slipped up again. This time I got myself caught, almost tortured and killed. If it had not been for Dalen and the others Amber may well be lost at this very moment. And all of shadow with it.

I had spent the morning seeking out the other members of our merry band. I found Lord Aaron and Ambassador Lentaro eating breakfast at the White Rose and I joined them. I had decided that we did not know enough about Rhyss, and I had figured that learning which pattern she had received her "White" imprint with might start shedding some light on her murky background. I eventually enlisted the aid of Aaron and Dalen. I asked them to use their knowledge and contacts to try and discover this information. I also told Dalen that I thought Lore was somehow beguiling our new friend, and that knowledge about Rhyss may shed more light on why he would do such a thing, and what he might seek to gain.

Call me paranoid, but I have this hunch that Lore was tipping off the Oleia, giving them critical information. Possibly, where to find the armory, the prisoners, and the like. But the Oleia would have wanted the location of the Primal Pattern, and I doubt Lore would have given that. Obviously he did not or they would have gone ahead with their original plan. So, maybe he did not bargain with them at all? Or, if he was in league with them, perhaps he did not want to bargain away the whole farm. What if Rhyss' pattern imprint is from Corwin's Pattern? Maybe Lore was hoping to use her to find that pattern, and if the Oleai succeeded then Lore would be sitting on top of the only Primal Pattern left? Or maybe the intrigue of One True City and it's colorful royalty is starting to get to me, and I am just jumping at shadows. Maybe I am just seeing enemies every where I look because it seems more than one person is out to get me, personally?

Regardless, even if Lore was involved, even if by some stretch of the imagination he was after Corwin's Pattern, he would not have been able to get it if the Oleai had succeeded. I spoke to my master. He explained the strange Vitae Wave amplifiers to me. There are thousands of them, set up through shadow, made to amplify the creation wave front and wipe out both the Courts and Corwin's Pattern after the Primal Pattern fell. Strategically speaking it was a brilliant plan. One that is actually still in place today, should anyone succeed in taking down the original squiggle.

After breakfast I received some armor from Len, which I made some cosmetic changes to. Then I spotted fire in Arden. It turns out the Oleai were through with playing out their waiting games, and had decided that a frontal assault was now their best option. 800,000 of their troops poured through Arden. Amber's army and Bley's army went out to join Julian's Foresters. We were outnumbered and would have to fall back. I alerted Aaron and got him going on his shield for the castle. It appeared Random was already busy manipulating the weather. I called Len and brought him through. I left him with instructions to protect the castle, and especially the king. I was concerned about their airforce. It would really be an advantage to them. Hoping to nullify this threat beyond Random's handiwork, I took off for Arden. There I unleashed my tornado spell. Here is where I made my mistake. My inexperience with battling mages was my worst enemy. So, I ended up a big target for their wizards. I ran, but three followed me. Instead of running I tried to engage them and suffered for the mistake. The next thing I know someone is taking my charred form out of a body bag and saying, " I think they were going to torture him."

I owe Dalen my life, and it seems all those in the castle may owe the same to Aaron and his efforts during the battle. But it seems his heroics have cost him his body. Dalen's heroics only cost her the use of her legs. My heroics only brought suffering and valuable experiences of what not to do.

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