The
Magic Circle
Cerridwen moved towards the mirror and adjusted the frame somewhat.
She left the reflection, and the image focused on a city, and then on a
large building that looked like some kind of temple. It dominated the
center of the city. Turning to me with a slight smile, Cerridwen offered
her hand, clearly intending to walk through the glass. I took her hand
and followed, keeping a wary eye open just in case it was a trap, and then
we were standing in a city square. The wind was strong, and I could smell
salt in the air. The cobblestone streets were immaculate, and in the
center of the square was the temple I had seen in the mirror. I could see
four main towers, extending almost to the clouds, and atop each was some
elemental representation. One had a fountain, another a flame, another a
crystal spire, while the last spewed forth bluish vapor. The doors of the
temple were closed, and there were guards. Beyond them, I could sense
great power emanating from the building. Cerridwen closed her eyes for a
moment and muttered something I did not recognize...something about
'between'...and the flame stopped, the wind stopped, and there was
stillness and silence all around. Turning to me, Cerridwen remarked,
"It's temporary...let's hurry past the guards and avoid wasting our
energies."
I proceeded to do so with all due haste, while doing my best to
analyze the spell Cerridwen had just cast. It was not a spell I knew, but
I was able to determine that it had sped the two of us up. I was
reasonably confident that I could reproduce the effect without too much
difficulty, although it might not work terribly well in other Shadows. At
least not until I walked the Circle.
Cerridwen opened the large temple doors with a light touch, and
shut them behind us both. For a moment, I could not see anything inside,
it was so dark after the brightness of the square. But my vision quickly
adjusted, and my first impression that was that the inside of the temple
looked somehow larger than it seemed from outside. I was able to make out
hints of the vaulted ceiling overhead, but my attention was quickly
captured by the flickering light emanating from an elaborate sigil drawn
on the floor in the center of the room. It had to be the Magic Circle.
It reminded me somewhat of my father's descriptions of the Pattern.
Flickering lightly, its color changed in a gradual way, fading from blue
to green to yellow to orange to red to violet and back to blue again.
Unlike the Pattern, however, there appeared to be many ways to traverse
it. It was not a circle, really, at all, nor a maze like the
Pattern...there were too many routes, too many arcs and swirls. Traced in
its curves I could see magical sigils and runes, some recognizable to me,
some foreign. Near the center I could see a well of light...a stray beam
that either emanated from a hole in the ceiling, or the Circle itself, it
was hard to tell which. It seemed to me like a grand spellbook, waiting
to be read. One thing disturbed me, though. One small part of the Circle
was inconsistent in style, and its color did not waver from a silvery
white. Its traces did not read like magical sigils, either. It seemed
familiar to me somehow, but try as I might, I could not place it.
"The question now," Cerridwen remarked, "is where to begin."
I nodded somewhat distractedly. "Indeed. Pity Meridian did not
leave an owner's manual behind." I continued to study the inconsistent
section, trying to place why I almost recognized it. Since the traces did
not seem to be magical sigils, perhaps I could identify another power
emanating from that area. My methodical approach quickly paid off, as I
realized that the traceries in question resembled a portion of the
Pattern...part of the beginning of the Pattern, actually. Whether it
resembled the Pattern sufficiently to be a barrier to those who were not
of the blood of Amber, however, was unclear. Perhaps if I had actually
walked the Pattern I might have been more certain, but as it was, all I
had was what Father had chosen to share with me, and it was not
sufficient.
I studied the Circle further, trying to find a way to cover it all
in one trip, but alas, there were too many different routes. Not too
surprising, I suppose, given that the thing was nearly over one hundred
yards in diameter. I could plainly see a center, however. Unfortunately,
I could now discern the beginning as well, and naturally it was in that
silvery section that I had noticed before. Since I could not cover it
all, I set my mind to plotting out a route that covered the most ground,
preferably through areas with some of the magical sigils that I was not
familiar with.
Cerridwen, too, looked at the Circle for several moments, and then
stepped onto the beginning. She walked along it slowly, taking several
looping paths. Like myself, she seemed to have chosen the longest path
available, and she did not appear to be at all strained as she walked.
Her expression, instead, was merely contemplative. As she walked, though,
I noticed something odd. The Magic Circle was growing. Like a fractal,
it expanded as she walked. In one part of the circle, I had noted a black
spot where lines terminated. As Cerridwen walked, this spot was circled
and sealed in by sigils and routes. It was very strange. By the time she
reached the center, I estimated that the Magic Circle had become one-third
larger than before. She waved her hand, and then she was beside me.
"That was...different than I'd expected," she stated quietly.
I looked curious. "How so?"
"I have walked the Pattern...it was rather difficult. This
was...sublime...like re-reading a favorite book and discovering parts I'd
previously overlooked." She smiled at me and looked back at the Magic
Circle. "And I seemed to have penned my own chapters, as well. Are you
ready to attempt it?" she asked.
I studied it for a few moments more, incorporating the changes
that had appeared during Cerridwen's walk. Then I nodded. "I am ready."
And with that I began my walk, attempting to take the longest path that I
could manage. It was much as Cerridwen described. I put my foot down,
and I was locked on the path, but gently. As I walked, I
remembered...remembered spells that I had cast, lessons I had learned.
All centered on magic. It was like replaying it all in my mind. Most of
all, I remembered hours spent pouring over spellbooks, taking it all in.
And abruptly I realized that some of the things in my mind were not
memories at all. I never studied a spell of wasting, and yet there it was
in my mind. And the memory of studying it felt oddly displaced. I could
not remember when I did that. I remembered Cerridwen teaching me lessons
she never taught, like how to make magic transcend the boundaries of
Shadow. It went on like this for a long time, remembering memories that
were never mine to begin with. Teachers I had never met explaining theory
and practice of magic...faces I did not know...the accumulated knowledge
of all these users of magic pouring into my mind. It was exhilarating. I
reached the center and my head throbbed a bit, like the beginnings of a
headache, but the feeling immediately faded. And I was left with clarity,
and an understanding I had never had before. The mirror? An easy magic
to master. The binding Cerridwen placed upon Meridian? Difficult, but
certainly manageable. The time stop enchantment? Child's play in a land
so rich with magic as this place was. It was all in me now.
Across the way, Cerridwen smiled at me and waited. For a moment,
I fear I allowed my emotions free reign across my face. Wonder at the
things I had learned, sadness at the memory of those who were lost, a
sudden longing for more. Fortunately, it was only a momentary lapse, and
I teleported to Cerridwen with only a faint smile still on my features.
"Sublime, indeed. It might be interesting to walk it again, after others
have made their mark upon it."
I could not resist looking over the Circle as I spoke, to see how
my walk had changed it. At first I did not see anything...and then I saw
the traces of it. It resembled something akin to an art nouveau tapering
in spots. Edges and glyphs that were formerly drawn roughly, now seemed
polished in their curves...more artistic...more subtle. A definite
improvement.
"Shall we go bring the others?" Cerridwen asked, interrupting my
musing.
I nodded, seeing no reason to delay. "By all means."
Suddenly, I nearly started at a loud noise, the source of which turned
out to be a man off behind the two of us, who clapped three times slowly.
"Bravo, Cerridwen. Bravo," he continued, approaching the two of us.
"Edgar," she replied politely, but not warmly. "What brings you
to this neck of the woods?"
"Per our agreement, I come to inform you that I am about to begin
negotiations with the others. With any luck, the Shadows will soon be
joined again."
Cerridwen frowned, but only slightly. "I wish you the best of luck at
the bargaining table, Edgar. With my mother, you'll need it."
Turning to me, Cerridwen made the appropriate introductions.
"Melanie, this is Edgar, son of Swayvill and Florimel, heir to all the
titles appropriate thereof. Edgar, this is Lady Melanie of Chanicut."
"Charmed, I'm sure," he replied, with a slight bow.
I curtseyed equally slightly, keeping my expression polite. "A
pleasure to meet you." I searched my memory for any recollection of this
man, but none came to mind.
"I wish I had time to stay and chat with this vision of loveliness,
but my duties draw me elsewhere," he said.
"Of course," Cerridwen replied. "I wouldn't want to keep you."
He smiled, and behind him a black door opened. I felt the temperature
in the room drop suddenly, and perhaps the whistling of wind being drawn
into the door. He stepped through and the door vanished, although the
coolness lingered.
"Abyssal scum," Cerridwen muttered as she began casting a spell to
take the two of us to the Tir.
I was rather surprised to hear this, and allowed a touch of this
to show on my face. "After what you told me happened in Chaos, I would
not have thought such would be tolerated any longer."
Cerridwen completed her spell before responding, turning to me as
we arrived at the Tir. "He wouldn't be tolerated in Chaos, were his
secret known. And I wouldn't recommend you reveal it, either. He is of
the Abyss, but has blood ties to Amber and Chaos. He can go
anywhere...surmount any barriers...and he would not hesitate to corrupt or
destroy anyone who made his 'life' more difficult. At the same time, you
deserve a warning in regards to him. He can be quite charming, in spite
of his nature."
"He would have to be charming indeed to overcome the fact that he
is Swayvill's get in my mind. But I do thank you for the warning. Both
of them. I will be on my guard." I was puzzled by one thing, however.
"If his Abyssal nature is such a secret, why on Earth was he foolish
enough to reveal it to a complete stranger? Regardless of the fact they
he could make my life hellish should I reveal it, that would not undo the
consequences to him of such a revelation."
"He does it to challenge my authority. It was his way of making
me take special effort to keep our compact, which is more and more growing
useless to me," Cerridwen replied. "He flaunts his nature to my
guest...and I am forced to warn about the dangers of crossing him. I grow
so tired of his little games," she added. "He is a proper child of Amber,
indeed. It is nearly time for Edgar to step into the spotlight...he now
begins the preparations to ensure that all eyes will be on him. The point
of his drama is beyond me, I'm afraid...but I doubt it will be comedy."
I posed the obvious question. "If he irritates you so, why do you
not end your association? Or would that simply cause more trouble than it
is worth?"
"We have a bargain, he and I," she replied, "and I will not be the
one to break it. Our compact is nearly to an end, anyway, and with the
restoration of Shadow, he will no longer have cause to speak with me."
"Why is he so concerned with the restoration of Shadow?"
"He mentioned something about the Abyss being littered with Shadows
now," she replied rather smugly. "I suspect that the Abyss War turned out
quite contrary to their expectations. Shadow wasn't destroyed, it was
spread out over their own territories, and now they're left with the
cleanup. I further suspect that proximity to reality weakens the
creatures of the Abyss somewhat. Why else would they so resent the
intrusion of pockets of reality into their domains?"
"And so he will try to act as if he is doing Amber and Chaos a
great favor, while in reality he is serving his own ends. As you said, a
proper child of Amber."
"Indeed," Cerridwen replied with a smile.
Melanie's Page |
Melanie's Journals
All text on this page is © 1999 by Kris Fazzari.
Last modified on January 7, 1999 by Kris Fazzari.