Session 22

Before traveling to Yut-Lung's Shadow, Miranda assumes a slightly different looking form, still with red hair but a different face. Yut-Lung opts not to disguise himself. He does change his mind about how they should get to his Shadow, though, preferring to have Miranda Trump them there. When they arrive, Yut-Lung is greeted with great fanfare. It turns out that he's the Emperor. His uncle died some time after Yut-Lung disappeared, and it was suspected that Yut-Lung was poisoned as well. There's been a regent ruling in his place.

Yut-Lung and Miranda spend a week in the capital, with Yut-Lung trying to track down Driscoll when he can get away from the parties. Miranda notices that she's starting to show a bit. This is earlier than she expected, so she wonders if she's carrying twins. She gets a Trump call from Maevyn during a party at one point, but is too busy to take it.

Eventually Yut-Lung tells Miranda that he's located Driscoll. How? There's a new general leading armies against Shae-Lun. Yeah, that's probably Driscoll. Yut-Lung takes them to where Driscoll is via a large basket, which he keeps aloft with storm winds. It's very wet, cold, and bouncy. Miranda spends much of the trip trying not to throw up and feeling miserable. She gets a Trump call during the trip, but doesn't take it. They finally land on the side of a mountain and slide along for a while. Once they stop, Yut-Lung casts a spell that turns the basket into a cart and horses. It also dries himself and Miranda off and cleans them up. Miranda wonders why he couldn't have done this when they were traveling, but says nothing.

Apparently Yut-Lung was blown a little off course when traveling across most of the continent, and they have to travel five days to reach Driscoll's location. At the end of this time, they run across a skirmish between demonic creatures and soldiers. After heavy losses, the soldiers win. Yut-Lung tells them that he's been sent by the Emperor to speak to the General. They look skeptical, but bring the two before the General. "What are you doing with my armies?" Yut-Lung says with a smile. "Well, you weren't doing anything with them," he replies. Yeah, that's definitely Driscoll. They discuss what to do now. Driscoll's English sorcerer, Harold, says that Shae-Lun has opened a gateway and is bringing in Oni, the large demons they saw earlier. He's not sure he can close it. If it isn't closed, though, Shae-Lun will bring through enough Oni to overrun the army. Driscoll decides they need to at least try to take down the gate. Yut-Lung shows him the egg that contains his body. Harold looks at it, but says he can't undo the spell. If Shae-Lun dies, what happens to the spell? It should break. That settles it, then. Driscoll asks if they have his dagger. Miranda does. He asks for it back. She hands it to him, noting that they'll want to take it from him before he changes bodies. Yut-Lung says he can take them to Shae-Lun's castle, which is where the gate is. They should be able to pinpoint its exact location when they get closer. Miranda gets a set expression. Yut-Lung tells her they won't be using the basket. Driscoll looks puzzled. Yut-Lung explains, and blames Miranda's dislike of the trip on her pregnancy. Driscoll offers his congratulations. Harold finally notices the ring on her finger and looks disappointed. Driscoll asks who's coming with him. They all are. Driscoll asks Miranda if she's sure she wants to come, since this isn't her fight. She says she's come this far, and she wants to help her friend.

Yut-Lung changes to his storm god form and basically blows almost everyone out of the group's way. Driscoll dispatches the rest. As they get closer to Shae-Lun's castle, Miranda realizes that the demon gate is not a sorcerous one but actually a gate between Shadows. And as she notices that, a means of closing it comes to her, using Pattern energy in a spell. She tells the others that she thinks she can close the gate if they can get her within 20 feet of it. She also suggests that Driscoll give the dagger to Yut-Lung now, since if Shae-Lun dies while he has it, then the spell will be broken and the other guy will now have it. Driscoll thinks this over and eventually agrees.

They manage to fight their way close enough to the gate for Miranda to cast her spell. It goes wonderfully, at first. It's a simple spell - basically it just sets everything back to how it should be. The gate should not be there, so it will disappear. But it's very powerful, and Miranda begins to lose control of the spell. She feels like it wants to rewrite her, replace her with the Miranda that used to be here. She barely manages to resist. When her head clears, she sees that the gate is gone, and Driscoll is unconscious. Yut-Lung frantically opens the case that the egg is in. A large form springs out. It consists of three pieces: a three-faced head, a torso with two arms, and the lower body with two legs. Yut-Lung draws Driscoll's dagger. Miranda asks the figure if he's Driscoll. Yes. He asks what happened. She says he's back in his own body...sort of. Driscoll shifts back to his normal form. Miranda pretends she expected her spell to do this. The man who had switched bodies with Driscoll groans. Driscoll kicks him until he stops, then asks Yut-Lung for his dagger back.

The group moves into the castle. They find Shae-Lun in the middle of her throne room. There is no one else around, but Miranda can sense that there are many magical spells present. They show up like lines of magical force to her eyes. Yut-Lung begins moving towards his sister, dodging and weaving to avoid hitting the spell lines. Driscoll moves to flank her other side. Shae-Lun casts a wall of water at them. Yut-Lung uses wind to keep it from hitting him. Driscoll pulls himself above it with a Logrus tentacle. Miranda casts a protective barrier around herself and Harold. The floor steams where the water hit, and Miranda realizes that it was acidic. Yut-Lung moves forward again, but slips and triggers a spell that turns him into a block of ice. Shae-Lun casts a spell at the sorcerers. Miranda teleports them out of the way just in time. They appear a few feet above the floor and fall. Oops. Driscoll touches the ice block with a Logrus tentacle, disrupting the spell. Shae-Lun hits him with a spell that makes his blood feel like it's on fire. He touches her with a Logrus tentacle to disrupt this, then oozes green as his body expels the toxin. Harold asks Miranda if she can dispel one of the spell chords, while he handles the other. They begin chanting. Yut-Lung, now free, throws a lightning bolt at his sister, but it doesn't hit her. Then he conjures a spear and hurls it at her, but the point stops just short of her. Miranda and Harold finish their spells, and the spell lines all wink out. Driscoll quickly advances and stabs Shae-Lun in the chest with his dagger.

Much to everyone's surprise, including hers, Shae-Lun doesn't die. Instead, after a moment's puzzlement, she begins to glow and laugh maniacally. Miranda senses that the energy she's emitting is Pattern. Shae-Lun rises through the roof and is gone. Yut-Lung follows her moments later. Driscoll asks Miranda if she thinks they should join the pursuit. Given how much Pattern energy Shae-Lun was giving off, Miranda says they have to stop her. Just then, a Vizsla named Marina arrives. Driscoll's apparently spoken to her before, since he simply says, "20 minutes." Then he grabs Miranda and uses a Logrus tendril to grab hold of Yut-Lung. They take off through the air, with the Vizsla flying after them in bird form. Miranda senses that the Shadow is being altered, and feels the temperature drop. She tells Driscoll what's going on, adding that this is already a level of Pattern manipulation beyond what she can do. Driscoll asks what would happen if he tried to disrupt it with the Logrus. She isn't sure, but Maevyn would probably know. She Trumps Maevyn, who looks rather upset. He asks where she's been. She says it's a long story, which she'll explain later, but right now they need his advice. He asks if they can land. Not at the moment. She hears Driscoll tell the Vizsla to take out Shae-Lun, then she's hit by the shockwave from a massive explosion. The Trump contact breaks, and she's blown apart from Driscoll. She tries to shift to a flying form to keep from falling, which is starting to work when she hits the side of a mountain and loses consciousness.

She wakes up in pain and realizes that her wings are broken. She simply lies there for a while, moaning and thinking that death would hurt less. Driscoll appears and picks her up, which doesn't help and she screams. Then he passes her through a Trump contact to Maevyn, who puts her gently on the ground. After a few more minutes, she feels well enough to shift back to her own form. She is able to heal most of the breaks in the shift, but still has a couple of fractures in her right arm and one in her right leg. Maevyn leaves briefly to fetch a Prydain doctor to heal her. The doctor gives her something to drink that blocks the pain, or at least makes her not care about it, and sets the bones. He tells Maevyn that she might want to put a cast on the arm and leg for a day or two, to make sure she doesn't overstress the fractures until they finish healing. He also heals Driscoll and Yut-Lung, who are somewhat battered.

Maevyn goes to a nearby village and gets some villagers with a cart to bring Miranda to the inn there. They all spend the night. In the morning, they discuss their plans. Maevyn wants to return to Amber and asks if Driscoll has a Trump of it. No. Miranda says she does, then realizes that her Trump deck is gone. Driscoll says it's probably still on the mountain. Miranda wants to go back and get it. Maevyn wants her to heal more first. Driscoll offers to get it, but returns covered in snow. He says there was too much snow for him to find it. Miranda says she could locate it if she was there. Maevyn wants her to go home. They bicker for a bit until Driscoll offers to take them both to the mountain and help Maevyn dig them up once she locates her cards. When they arrive, Driscoll "accidentally" loses his grip on Maevyn and drops him in the snow. Maevyn is not pleased by this. Miranda quickly senses the location of her cards, and soon they are back in her possession. Which is good, since the cold is making her broken bones hurt quite painfully. She asks Driscoll if he's going to return to Thelbane. No. He's wanted for treason there - Belissa sent the Vizsla to bring him back. Miranda offers to have Maevyn look into it. Maevyn and Driscoll get into a glaring contest, which is broken when Miranda Trumps herself and Maevyn back to their quarters in Amber.

Maevyn gets a Trump call right after they arrive from one of his subordinates. It's obvious that Maevyn is annoyed with the man. After he ends the contact, Miranda asks him what that was all about. Does she remember the task he was given to find all the remaining people from Thelbane in the Golden Circle and tell them that the Empress wanted them to come home? Yes. Well, he thought that if they refused nothing would happen to them, but his people have actually been killing the ones who wouldn't go home. Does he think they were aware of the consequences of refusing? Yes. Then they chose their own fate, so she doesn't see why it's bothering him. He doesn't see how there can be peace if the two sides can't live together. Miranda figures that if there aren't any people from Thelbane in the Golden Circle, then they can't be causing diplomatic incidents. Maevyn wants to get rid of two of his three assistants, so he won't be working as quickly. Miranda advises that it's better to just tell Belissa he can't do the job and then quit, rather than subvert her orders.

Miranda asks Maevyn if Driscoll is still wanted for treason. He reluctantly admits that he isn't. Miranda pulls out her Trump of Driscoll. Maevyn takes it away from her. She tells him not to make her waste the time drawing another. He says he'll take care of it, and Trumps Driscoll, telling him that he's no longer wanted for treason and to ask Maseera for details. Miranda goes to sleep.

After Miranda wakes up, Maevyn fills her in on what happened in Amber while she was gone. Apparently Maseera showed up in Amber, fleeing from a scandal going on in Thelbane where she was being tortured. She escaped using some power, possibly Trump. She sought political asylum in Amber, which Corwin refused.

Maevyn also tells her that Brand's alive. Miranda looks surprised and asks if he's sure. Yes, Maseera saw him. Maybe he helped her escape? Maevyn isn't sure. He did notice that touching Maseera doesn't hurt anymore.

After the incident with Maseera, Rinaldo petitioned Corwin to be given Brand's lands and titles. Corwin agreed without requiring him to walk the Pattern, since he thinks letting Thelbane's Keeper of the Logrus do that would be a bad idea. Miranda is a little annoyed at this, given that Corwin is requiring her to walk the Pattern in order to prove that she is Brand's daughter. Maevyn gives Miranda a scroll left for her by Rinaldo. It contains a formal request that proprietorship of his lands be given to his sister, Miranda, while his duties in Thelbane keep him too busy to maintain them himself. Basically, he now has the right to come and go in Amber as he pleases, which should annoy Martin to no end.

Maevyn has one last bit of news. He gives Miranda a needle and asks her to poke him. She does, and is rather surprised to feel it herself. She pokes him harder in the arm and feels that too. She asks how he discovered this. Well, someone shot him with a crossbow bolt and died himself. Maseera also pushed him down some stairs and broke her arm when he did. Miranda is rather upset that Maevyn didn't mention that someone had tried to kill him until now, and asks if he or Maseera was the target. They aren't sure.

Maevyn also thinks that something's wrong with Jasra. Why? He can read her, and he never could before. Miranda doesn't find this very convincing, since the Jasra in this history could be very different, but says she'll keep her eyes open.

Maevyn tells Miranda of another incident, one which apparently makes him feel rather embarrassed. It seems that when she didn't answer his Trump calls, he went looking through her things for a Trump of Driscoll. But when he tried to break the lock on the box, he was petrified by a spell until a servant found him and fetched Sand to release him. He also found a trunk full of potions of a dubious nature. He wants to get rid of them. Miranda wants to analyze them. They both at least agree to move them out of the castle. Brand had a townhouse and a manor at his estates, either one of which they can use. They decide to move the trunk out to the manor when they relocate there.

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Last modified on January 10, 2004 by Kris Fazzari.