The Tor was a mess. Upon reentering the shadow it seemed that it was now tinged a bit darker -- the vegetation lay limp and diseased, the skies in a constant state of stormy upheaval. It took hours for Merlin and I to get anywhere close to the Tor without being spotted by the thousands of demon-types who were coming through the portal one after another after another. We preservered, though, and used the same acorn totem to enter the tunnels.
I was not expecting to find us near waist-high in water, but indeed, the tunnels were flooding, and quickly. We slogged on towards the room where I'd found the girls originally, and they were indeed there, standing on their beds, hitching up their skirts and bemoaning their fate. Merlin and I looked at each other, shrugged, and were able to convince them down into our arms.
Now, given different circumstances, this would be an advantageous position for two men such as ourselves. However, when the tentacled demon-beast pulled Merlin under, Lucy was temporarily delegated to excess baggage, and I had to set her into the drink. Hacking at the tentacle with my dagger proved to have no effect, and Merlin yelled for me to Trump someone. The only one I knew to work was Korbin, and he matter-of-factly saved our hides from certain death yet one more time.
Convalescing in the high court of the Darkling Realms, I told Merlin I'd noticed that the Jewel of Judgement was reacting strongly in Korbin's presence. I wondered if it had the power to break the curse, but Merlin was not high on that idea. My thinking was that if Korbin was savvy enough to unite the Darkling Realms, then he had the skills that would be needed as King of Amber. I guess I should not have been surprised to learn that Korbin's role in the Realms was set up for him by none other than Embeth. I truly did not appreciate the strings she pulls or all of the pies she had her fingers in -- she deserves much more respect than some of the others in this family have given her. I would have to tell her what had happened with Esheth as well, and see what could be done about the portal to the demon underworld.
*****
And so we rode for home, through seemingly endless days and nights, through deserts and snowstorms, on and on and on until finally we'd made our way through the forest of Arden and then into the city. I told Lucy and Betsy to return to their families, and then Merlin and I went up the long trail to the castle.
It was somewhat reassuring not only to find that the place still stood, but that there was some kind of commotion going on in the yard. As far as Merlin and I could tell, that was because one Greyson was standing together with a group of my cousins.
"You're alive," I said, and then had three or four people trying to tell me that this was:
There was a new person there, a girl named Harmony. She claimed she was sent by her father, the "Dream King" and was the living embodiment of the future of Amber, or some such. I think I put as much faith in this as the whole nonsense with Greyson, but when she mentioned that Mars, the Old Man I'd rescued from the Tor, was the "War King," I became a bit more interested. Especially when Fletcher did the math to determine that "War King" probably was some bastardization of "Dworkin" -- the father of the late king who'd sired the many sons and daughters who were our parents.
Interesting, yes. Information that could be acted upon? Not really, so I left the newcomers in Shen's good hands while I made my way up to the infirmary.
*****
I entered the room, and there was only one cot with a person in it. I kneeled down and touched Syrana's should, softly. She turned just slightly.
"Hi."
She regarded me, not looking well, so I skipped asking how she felt.
"What happened back there?"
Again, she looked pained and vaguely sick. "I... I don't wish to talk of it now."
I nodded, and squeezed her shoulder. "If you should ever, know that I am always here."
"Please get my sister," she blurted out, and I agreed to do so. As I left the room, my heart twisted to see her that way, but then again, I felt relief that she was back, and for the first time in a while, things began to look up again.
Back to The Halcyon Days
Ahead to Slipping
Return to Diaries
Return to Griffin