Miranda's Page | Miranda's Logs
Miranda gets a Trump call, which she refuses. Then she puts on her choker, in case they try again. She and Maevyn agree that she will periodically Trump Maevyn, in order to keep in touch. Then Miranda draws three Trump sketches for Maevyn, one of herself, one of Succat, and one of the room in Pandemonium Fortress that contains the piece of Comet, this being the closest location to Corwin's Pattern that she can draw a Trump of. She warns him that she's unsure as to whether the one of Pandemonium Fortress will work, since it's been ten years since she's been there. Then Miranda removes her necklace and Trumps to the East. Almost as soon as she arrives, she gets another Trump call, so she puts on the necklace again. A few minutes later, Rinaldo appears via Logrus. He has an invitation for her from Maseera. Why is he delivering her mail? He asked Jasra for something, so he had to do something in return. Was it worth it? As usual, no. He asks why she's in the East, and where Maevyn is. Guessing that he must not have been informed of her disappearance, she claims she needed something from the country estate, and she couldn't exactly bring Maevyn along, given that she was using Trump. He tells her that strange things are going on at home. An artifact was stolen from the Priesthood, and they're very upset. Rumor has it that Fiona was involved, but the one thief who was caught was torn apart beyond recognition. Ouch. Miranda privately guesses that must be Fiona, but doesn't share this with her brother. Rinaldo leaves to find Maevyn, who also received an invitation.
Miranda opens the invitation that Rinaldo delivered, and discovers it is an invitation to a party the following evening. Of course, since she'll still be pretending to be a prisoner at that point, she won't be able to go.
Miranda tries shifting Shadow to Fiona's castle, but it doesn't work. Next, she tries drawing a Trump sketch of the castle. This is much more successful. Upon her arrival, she is greeted by the servants, who offer to bring her lunch. She has it served in the library, where she begins reading through some of Fiona's books on demons and divination. According to these texts, demons are insubstantial spirits that can sometimes affect the real world via possessions and such. Wanting to free herself of the need to return to the hall of mirrors whenever she wants to communicate with the demons, Miranda researches the appropriate divination spell and casts one on her hand mirror. When she looks in the mirror, she sees that the demons are still gathered around her. Unfortunately, she still cannot hear them. After several more hours of research and scribbling formulae, she manages to work out how to modify the spell to transmit sound as well as images. Immediately, she is nearly overwhelmed by a chorus of voices. Clutching her ears, she tells them to be quiet. They obey. The demon she communicated with earlier approaches and asks if she can now hear them. Yes. He bows and says, "We live to serve, your Majesty." Miranda recalls that Lilith was the Queen of the Demons, and guesses that they must think she is Lilith. She sees no reason to correct this impression. She sends a number of them out to spy on Brand and Maevyn, and to look for Mandor. She also tries to send them to find the Eye, but it turns out that they cannot approach it. Unfortunate, that.
Miranda spends the rest of the day studying sorcery. The next morning, one of the demons returns and tells her that there's a problem. What is it? Well, they were spying on Maevyn, and it turns out one of the others in attendance could hear them talking to each other. Who? Jerand, a Palatine. And what did he hear? That Lilith was in Fiona's library, pilfering her books. Miranda looks displeased. Jerand could see them also, and he let them know it. Then he left the dinner and assassinated someone. Who? Finn, who was possessed by one of the Horsemen. Did Jerand survive? Yes. He doesn't breathe. Really? Is that unusual? Not for a Helgram. How many of them are like Jerand? Most of the Helgrams who live in Gantu. How long has that been going on? For quite some time.
Another demon approaches. Miranda has it wait while she questions the first demon further about the Eye. Why can't they approach it? They were just told that they can't. By who? Other demons. She warns it that if there is another screw-up of this magnitude, it'll find out what happens if it gets too close to the Eye.
The second demon gives its report. Brand knows that Fiona is dead. Maevyn is being sent to the Tir, and he has a Trump deck. Why is he being sent to the Tir? To initiate to the Eye. When? Right after the party. Brand is concerned that Mandor might do something bad since Fiona is dead. So he wants Maevyn to go to the Tir, and then go to the Primal Pattern and wait there for five days before doing it, although he might get a message to do it sooner. Oh yeah, Brand knows that Miranda hasn't been in Fiona's castle the whole time.
Naturally, Brand walks in at this point. He looks angry. Apparently he's upset that Miranda didn't tell him about Fiona's death, that he had to hear about it from Maevyn. She says that she had reason to distrust him, adding that she knows he was behind Fiona holding her prisoner. He denies this. She explains that she overheard his conversation with Fiona. He claims this is the first time he's been to Fiona's castle in years. She tells him what she overheard. He admits that the end of the world part is true, and that he knew Fiona had her, but it wasn't his doing. Miranda is dubious, but opts to table the issue, for now. So now what? He wants her to go with Maevyn when he goes to the Tir, to take over if he fails. Brand doesn't think that's likely, since Maevyn's survived a lot, but it's not a sure thing, so he'd rather risk Maevyn first. He suggests she not dally in Fiona's castle, since his sister might have had measures in place that would take effect if she died. Miranda asks if she can at least save the library. Brand tells her to take what she can and push it through Trump. He also tells her to get rid of the necklace. But it can be useful. No, actually, it isn't. All it does is convince the wearer that it's blocking their power. Ah, that explains how Fiona was able to escape from it, then. Brand Trumps out.
Miranda spends several hours saving as much of the library as she can, then returns to Barimen's estates and seeks Brand out again. She tells him that Finn was one of the Horsemen, and he is dead, killed by Jerand, who doesn't appear to be alive. Brand looks surprised until he recalls that Jerand is a Helgram. Then he knows about that? Yes, but he doesn't want her discussing it. The Helgrams have been good allies. He tells her that stories of the undead aren't unusual in the East, but there are no such tales in Thelbane, mainly because Helgram keeps the records. Miranda also warns Brand about Maseera's affect on herself and Maevyn, since Brand is planning on attending Maseera's party. She thinks it's tied to their Pattern. Brand says it will be interesting to see if Maseera affects Jasra and Rinaldo.
Miranda and Maevyn catch each other up. They decide to attend the party for about an hour, then say Miranda isn't feeling well and leave. Maevyn mentions that Jerand was at a Succat family dinner, which was odd. He also kept staring behind Maevyn. Miranda says he must have been there for some reason, but Maevyn can't think of one. Miranda realizes that he doesn't know Finn is dead, but chooses not to tell him. She offers to help Maevyn get more familiar with how Trump work until they have to leave for the party.
Ironically, Miranda begins feeling nauseous while she is instructing Maevyn. She sends for a doctor from Prydain, who examines her and tells her that she's pregnant. She shares the news with Maevyn, who is surprised, but pleased. Miranda is worried about what the Pattern walk may do to the baby.
Miranda tells her parents the news, then talks privately with Brand afterwards. She asks if it's possible to Trump someone from the center of the Pattern and bring them through to you, then have them teleport with you when you leave. Brand tells her that you can't Trump anyone from the center of the Pattern. And no, he has no idea what effect walking it would have on an unborn child. He thinks it would be bad, however, especially at such an early stage in the pregnancy, when the child's hold on life is so delicate. Obviously, this will create a problem with the original plan to have her walk the Tir Pattern to get to the real one. Does he know of another way to get there? Unfortunately, no. Miranda asks if there is anyone else who can go with Maevyn initially, who could return and tell her if Maevyn fails. This would at least let her avoid walking the Pattern unnecessarily. Unfortunately, Brand can't think of anyone else who has walked the Pattern, can be trusted by him, and hasn't been associated with him in the past. Nor can he think of any other way for her to observe Maevyn remotely. Magic that would normally span Shadow doesn't work at the Primal Pattern, so there's no real way to Trump there or scry on the location. Miranda asks how one normally leaves the Primal Pattern, if the only way to get there is to walk another Pattern. One walks the Primal Pattern, or appeals to the Unicorn, as Maevyn did when he was there.
Miranda spends some time alone, pondering her dilemma, but all too soon, the time for Maseera's party approaches. She decides to wear a red, Asian-style dress, with gloves that go all the way up her arms, the better to protect her from accidentally coming into contact with Maseera. Shortly after she and Maevyn arrive at the party, Lily approaches and tells Maevyn that Finn is dead. Maevyn is very upset about this, rightly guessing that Jerand was responsible. Lily gets quite angry when he shares this suspicion with her. Miranda tells them it probably had to do with the fact that Finn was one of the Horsemen. Miranda's demons point out Lucan to her, and inform her that he's another one of the Horsemen. They also tell her that Maseera is weird, and Driscoll is scary.
While Maevyn and Miranda are dancing, Maevyn spots Llewella, and points her out to Miranda. Llewella is in a wheelchair, being pushed by someone from Sawall. They tell Brand, who looks quite disturbed by this, since Llewella is one of the few people capable of breaking the seals. Maevyn tells Brand that he and Miranda were planning to leave early. Brand suggests they leave now. He'll make their excuses to Maseera. They find a private room and Trump back to Barimen's estates.
Miranda's Page |
Miranda's Logs
All text on this page is © 2002 by Kris Fazzari.
Last modified on June 8, 2002 by Kris Fazzari.