Stark then described meeting with someone named Lachesis, who told Shen and the others cryptic words about the paths we were walking. Greyson said that this Lachesis was cursed; he wasn't certain but she could be one of his sisters who went mad. A thought came to me suddenly, and I pulled out the cards that I possessed, showing Greyson the one depicting the High King Korbin. "This is Korbin, the king of my homeland," I began. "Does he seem familiar to you?"
Greyson looked at the card for a moment, and then his eyes glazed over; his jaw slackened and he slumped slightly at the shoulders. We stood watching, then Cecily tried to rouse him, but failed, and it was not until I'd pocketed the cards again that Greyson snapped out of his fugue. Greyson had very neatly forgotten the last ten minutes of conversation, and we all agreed that that was not something that we'd try again, lest we leave Greyson a drooling mess.
Cecily took that moment to go tend to her brother, after putting some things together about her own background (or the lack of information she had) through our meeting. I caught up with her quickly, remembering my conversation with Harrison what seemed so long ago. "Do you remember when you said you'd asked your brother about the past?" I queried.
She nodded.
"Ask again."
She smiled a very attractive smiled. "Oh I will," she said softly, while turning to head up the stairs.
I went back to the main room, where Shen stood alone while Stark and Greyson talked closely. Sensing we weren't needed, I took Shen outside for some fresh air.
They called us back after some time. Fletcher returned and laid the deck of cards out on the table. I added mine to it. Shen pointed out Blaise; Harrison pointed to a red-haired woman who he said was his and Cecily's mother. It was no real shock to discover that this was the enigmatic Lachesis. I pointed out Korbin, Merlin, and Lucas Reynard; the man who looked like Reynard in my cards had a duplicate in the large deck. Stark scooped up Fletcher's deck, and apparently knowing something of divination, laid the cards out. Not much was made of this, though (probably because we all have differing interpretations) and it was decided to follow Greyson to Avalon on the morrow.
*****
We rode for two days, and I finally had the time and opportunity to play again. Stark produced some small pipes and I led with some simpler songs for her to accompany. As Greyson tried to explain the nebulous nature of the Shadows, we saw the castle of Avalon in the distance, and were then greeted by riders, armed to the teeth. As the others leveled their crossbows at us, the lead rider asked us to kindly state our business. Greyson cleared his throat, and offered, "Prince Random of Amber to see King Benedict." Both our party and the riders looked at him, but damned if it didn't work. We were given an escort to the castle.
Inside, we'd learned from Gerda that Benedict was not around. Also, she was loathe to answer any of our questions about the land called Amber or our relatives.
Unfortunately Fletcher chose that time to throw one of his tantrums, demanding respect from Gerda on Greyson's behalf. Shows of force can occasionally come in handy, but with Fletcher it was overkill. A song and a honeyed tongue can get much more than a threat -- and I should know. I feared that some day someone would come along, pluck the guns from his belt, and beat him senseless. My only hope was that we would not get the same treatment just from being in the same party.
Gerda left, angry, and her sister Syrana came along to show us around. She was a breath of fresh air, answering our questions as best she could. She told of Amber, and Benedict's feelings about the subject. Fletcher asked why we'd want to go to Amber, and we reminded him of all we'd said at the meeting the last night. Syrana bemoaned that we had no "Trumps" -- lucky us it was the cards we had that she referred to. No one knew how to use it; Syrana said that you stare. Fletcher nodded, saying only:
"Let's try Lachesis."
And so we did.
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