Chapter 103: "Oh, you're an assassin, is it? At least you have a job."
Monday, July 17, 2994
There is a knock at Alex's door at eight in the morning. It's a
page with a royal summons. He's to appear before Nicholas in half an
hour. Alex is there promptly, if a little irritated. Eric is there,
looking weary-eyed. Nicholas looks awake. He hands Alex a wrapped book.
Is it the complete tome? Yes. Alex is indebted to him. Nicholas will
remember that. He trusts Alex will use it judiciously. Of course.
Alex's mood is much better on the way back. He begins studying the book,
which includes instructions on how to generate the power source on the
ruling Spikard. It also claims that the Spikards were created by Faerie
to harness the natural energy of the realm, before Amber and Chaos. The
Spikards can be linked together to form a nasty amount of power. Learning
all of this takes Alex the better part of the morning.
Vixen wakes up early in the morning with fleas. There is a
pounding at the door, then a key turns in the lock. The door opens
slightly and Vixen is ordered to toss out her cloak. Once she does so,
she is doused with three buckets of water, and then told to turn around.
Three more buckets, turn, three more buckets, turn, three more buckets,
turn. She's told to bend over. Go to hell. She continues to get doused
until they think she's clean, then a towel is tossed in. She dries off.
The char woman will be in to change her, shortly. Vixen is very pissed.
She's given a simple, plain dress. The char woman laces it up the back.
Then Vixen is escorted out into the hall, where Benedict, Eric, Nicholas
and Fiona are standing. Nicholas orders Vixen to be taken to the Pattern.
This is done. Nicholas tells her that she will walk the Pattern, then her
punishment will be passed. Fiona will walk it before her, to show her
how. She'll wait for Vixen in the center. Fiona walks the Pattern. Once
she reaches the center, Nicholas orders Vixen to start. She does. The
Pattern replays all of her memories for her. As if the ten years of
assassin school weren't bad enough the first time. It's very difficult.
When she reaches the center, she appears with Fiona back by Nicholas. Now
for her punishment. For the next 100 years, she will be in service to the
crown. As his mother was carrying a child when she died, she will replace
that life. She has ten years to do so, he don't care who the father is.
Also, she will remain in her human form for the next 100 years, or until
she earns his trust. This bothers her, and she says she has no faith in
the trust of kings. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't seem to bother Nicholas.
He notices how this annoys her, and suggests she earn his trust quickly,
then. As family, she will have a title of some sort, but not until the
100 years have passed. Fiona will show her the castle. Nicholas looks
like he'd have liked to do far worse to her. He leaves.
Eric tells Vixen that Fiona has examined the object Brand gave
her, and finds no malice in it. She can have it back if she wants. She
does. He hands to her. She puts on the collar. Eric hangs around, not
wanting to leave Vixen alone with Fiona. They go upstairs to breakfast.
Ariana goes down to breakfast with her family and notices that
Vixen is there. Ariana sits far away from her and points her out to
Laughter as Kimdyl's assassin. Nicholas is sitting alone and looking
angry. Nimue also looks pretty angry. Laughter talks to Beauty, and is
annoyed that Nicholas still hasn't talked to her about marriage.
Eric tells Vixen that they're arranging quarters for her. Is
being in the service of the Crown a full-time job? Close. What does the
family do? Oh, they all have their own hobbies. So, how does she fit
into the family? That hasn't been determined yet, although Ariana has
some skill in that area. Vixen says she's checked.
After breakfast, Ariana finds Jackie waiting outside of her
quarters, looking nervous. She asks to talk to Ariana. OK. Lucien takes
the older four kids inside, while Ariana goes with Jackie down to a
sitting room. Jackie asks how she is, sounding strained. Fine. Ariana
shows Jackie her new baby. Jackie simply nods. Ariana asks where
Jackie's husband is. Fine. Ariana asks what's wrong. Jackie breaks down
and says that Jenogen's left her. Ariana comforts her as she cries. This
upsets the baby, of course, and her crying sets Jackie off again. Lucien
slips in and takes the baby. Eventually, Jackie calms down enough to
explain that she hasn't seen Jenogen, so she's sure he's left her. He's
been telling her that she needed to behave better. Ariana doesn't think
he'd leave because of her behavior in Amber, since Jackie always acts that
way. Jackie suspects another woman, then. Ariana offers to try and
contact him. OK. Ariana casts talking bones. Jenogen answers, with fire
in his eyes. Ariana explains that Jackie's looking for him. He claims
he's stuck on the Disc. Ariana relays this to Jackie. Jackie says he
can't get stuck. Ariana brings her in on the spell. Jenogen admits that
he's working on a revenge spell. They'll be having hasenpfeffer tonight.
Jackie is flattered. Ariana sends a page for Meander, then comments that
Jenogen's choice of food is odd, given his form. He says he wasn't born a
rabbit. She asks if this has anything to do with what happened when
Jackie walked the Pattern. Nope. Good, because she'd hate for him to
seek revenge for something that was beyond Bart's control. Nothing is
beyond someone's control. Oh really? Then why does spend time stuck as a
rabbit? Jenogen's eyes narrow, and he tosses some raw magic at Ariana.
It bounces off of her defense spell, which hurts a lot, then back to him,
then back at her. Luckily, she's managed to dodge out of the way by this
point, and the energy takes out part of the wall. Jackie yells at Jenogen
for doing that, since Ariana was helping her. Jenogen claims he needed to
release some energy. Oh, OK. They end the conversation, and Jackie gives
Ariana a hug. She goes skipping off down the hall, passing Meander as he
arrives. He sends Abel after her. She grabs the bird and keeps going,
much to his dismay.
Ariana explains what happened to Meander. Meander asks her to
bring him to Bart. She takes him to Bart's quarters. Lyss answers, then
looks relieved that it's them, and not Nicholas. She tells Bart to come
out. Bart is warned about Jenogen. Bart asks Meander if he can teach him
to handle raw magic. You have to have a strong mind to do so. He summons
a small bit of raw fire, and has Bart and Ariana try to hold it. Nope.
Ariana asks what would happen if it came in contact with faerie magic. He
doesn't know. She opts not to test it, and goes down to the sparring
room.
Laughter checks out her army, then calls Dead Oaks over. She says
they need to work on cobblestones. He blanches and says he needs to work
on the archers. She doesn't buy it, and points out that he'll need to
know this if he ever has to fight in Amber. Maybe he'll agree to get
shoed. He agrees to at least observe the process. She brings him to
Amber, with Hary riding on his back, and takes him down to the blacksmith.
Dead Oaks peeks in, then takes three steps straight back and his ears
flatten. Laughter tries, by means of diagrams, to show him that it won't
hurt. And it will help him avoid split hooves. He scrutinizes the
process, then offers to let her do this to him. But if he doesn't like
it, she'll take the shoes off, and if it hurts, he gets to kick her. She
gulps and agrees. Do they have to do this now? Well, the army could
invade any time... His coat sags. Laughter borrows the farrier's shop to
do this. The smith seems real appreciative of the idea of an intelligent
horse. Dead Oaks is pretty skittish as Laughter begins. The first couple
of taps, he makes to pull the hoof away, but as time goes on, and it
doesn't hurt, he calms down. By the time the process is finished, the
better part of the morning has passed.
Ronan has a herald announce tryouts for the King's Guard. Ronan
spars with the applicants, and discovers that House Arion and Karm seem to
have the best fighters. He also learns that not many people showed up
because the nobles are annoyed that Oberon married his children off to
Chaosites, and nothing but tragedy has befallen Amber since.
Ariana arrives late and spars briefly with Usires, until Jackie
shows up with Abel. After a bit of effort, Ariana convinces Jackie to let
Abel go. Jackie does this by tossing Abel into a pillar. Ariana catches
him. He rests in her arms for a few minutes, then looks down at her
chest, giving Meander an eyeful. Bad crow. Abel preens himself, then
flies off to find Meander. Jackie and Usires spar. Jackie gets mad
because Usires is better than she is. Ronan arrives and tells Ariana that
he's been appointed Captain of the King's Guards. Vixen arrives at this
point, causing Ariana and Ronan to fall silent. Vixen begins practicing
throwing things. Ariana and Ronan leave.
Ronan asks Ariana if there's any way to ensure loyalty through
magic. Ariana says she'll have to think about it. You can psychically
verify if someone means the oath he swears, but she's never thought about
ensuring that they keep that oath. Ronan also tells her of the hostility
of many of the nobles towards the royal family. Ariana hasn't noticed
anything when she's been in town, but she tends to interact more with the
commoners.
Ariana returns to the sparring room and watches Usires and Vixen
spar. They're so closely matched that she can't tell who's better. They
fight for 45 minutes. Ariana takes mental notes. Usires offers to take
Vixen on a tour of the city. Maybe later. She shifts her clothes to a
collar and towels off. Usires turns, not wanting to see her naked body.
Ariana comments that such clothing could be rather convenient. Vixen
finds a page to show her to her quarters. After she leaves, Usires asks
Ariana what happened after Vetch took off with Vixen. Ariana explains,
mostly. Usires admits that he told Vixen they all spar regularly after
breakfast. Ariana says she won't spar in front of Vixen, since she'd
rather remain an unknown quantity. Usires offers to spar with her at some
other time. She agrees.
Laughter asks Bill Roth about the finer points of legality
regarding Corbin. Bill explains that he's the heir apparent, whether
Nicholas marries Beauty or not. Keen. Bill also gives her a list of
marriageable children of nobles. She leaves and seeks out Meander.
What's on his slate for the next couple of months? He's on a mission for
the King. She wants to know if he wants to join the diplomatic corps.
Funny she should mention that. He's to work to raise the opinion of the
nobility towards the royal family. Laughter realizes that if this is a
problem, they should probably start marrying people into the nobility.
She's got to talk to Foster about it. She wants to ask Driscoll to marry
them, before he's married off to someone else.
Alex sends a page for Caitt. She shows up before lunch. He wants
to verify the authenticity of the book by following where it's been with
the talking bones. She can't do that. Can she check the book for faerie
magic? She tries, but can't tell anything. Alex spends the rest of the
day finishing his study of the book.
Ronan spends the afternoon doing research on the various Amber
houses. He also learns which armies are around Amber, and who heads them.
This includes the fact that the castle is patrolled for most of the night
by a vampire.
Laughter decides not to wake Eris up to ask her permission to
marry Driscoll, since it's technically the middle of the night for her.
She tries to reach Drumm over the talking bones, with no luck.
Ronan talks with Eric, who conveys to him the King's judgment on
Vixen. Ronan wants to walk the Pattern. Eric brings him to Nicholas and
explains this. Nicholas nods and warns Ronan to watch his step. Eric
takes him down to the Pattern, explains the rules, and lets him walk.
When he reaches the center, Ronan teleports to his room and sleeps.
Ariana returns to her quarters and spends some time ranting to
Lucien about Vixen being loose. He is rather amused by this, and lets her
go on for a bit before telling her what Vixen's punishment is. Ariana
feels better upon hearing this, although she's concerned about who will
raise the child Vixen bears.
Laughter and Foster go ring shopping until evening. Laughter asks
Eris' permission to marry Driscoll when they return. Eris says she's
sorry and kisses Foster on the cheek. Laughter notices one of the
dragon-riders undressing Foster with her eyes. After they leave, she
questions Foster on it psychically. Well, she cornered him in the hallway
yesterday. Lazarian faeries are quite forward. Explaining that he wasn't
free didn't deter her either. She kind of felt him up. And he didn't
mention this, why? Because he didn't want to upset her. Laughter asks
what exactly the woman did. He suppresses the memory, but eventually
tells her under questioning. So, if this happens to her, is she supposed
to tell him? Um, OK, he sees her point. He looks chastened and
apologizes.
Lucien goes on recon, checking out the place where Miranda is
being held. While he is gone, Ariana receives a royal summons. Nicholas
asks how the Miranda situation is going. She updates him. He wants her
to take Vixen along. All right. He'll place Vixen under Ariana's command
for the duration of the mission. Ariana asks if he knows about the
damaged wall in the study. He does.
Nicholas Trumps Vixen and tells her that her first mission will be
to go with Duchess Ariana on a mission to retrieve a possible family
member. Then he Trumps Ariana and gives her Vixen's Trump.
Laughter proposes to Driscoll over a romantic dinner. He says
yes. Laughter brings up the thought of going away for a few years, since
they need to marry Amberites off to nobles. She wants to age the children
so they can marry them off to the nobles? No, just grow them old enough
so they can mingle.
Dinner takes place in the castle. Ariana is watching Laughter's
kids. Vixen asks Eric where her sword is. In his quarters. Flora is
rather quiet. Ronan is disgusted by the fact that Eric is sitting with
Vixen. Ariana talks troops with Ronan, and tells him that one can't
ensure loyalty with sorcery. It would require high compelling. She
offers to introduce him to Shard. Lucien arrives before the meal ends,
looking pleased. Ariana updates him on the addition of Vixen to the
group. They decide to leave in the morning.
Eric escorts Vixen to his quarters. She goes over her arsenal,
puts on her black outfit, and asks Eric where she can find some weapons.
He brings her to the armory.
Ariana waits until Shard has fed, then brings Ronan around to meet
him. He looks normal. Ariana introduces them. Shard observes that
Ronan's position makes Ronan his superior. Ronan asks how many guards are
under Shard's command on the night watch. 20 that patrol, two per floor
that are stationary. Ronan leaves. Ariana remains and talks with Shard
for a bit. He hasn't spoken to Bridget yet. Ariana says she's gotten
Bridget to start attending meals. Shard thinks he'll go to one, then.
Ariana can't find Vixen in the castle, so she Trumps her. Has
Nicholas talked to her? Yes. The time is tomorrow. Vixen wants more
details. Ariana asks Vixen to hold out her hand, then comes through. She
finds herself standing in a seedy bar. Usires is with Vixen. Ariana
suggests that this isn't the best place to talk, so they go back to the
castle.
Laughter, Driscoll and Foster find Bart. Laughter asks Bart if
he's willing to marry three people. Bart says it would be a break in
tradition, but this is good. Neither of them mind sharing? Considering
that they've been doing it for a few years already, no. Oh. Is she
planning on tying up any more royals, or is this it? Foster says that
this is it. Bart warns that there might be negative reactions from some
of the more conservative members of the family. However, they have been
having fine, healthy Amberite children, so the church has no problems with
it. Driscoll and Foster look like they like the idea of having more
children. Laughter wants to hold off on any more kids, for the moment.
Bart makes a remark about having more of the Unicorn's line as an homage
to her. This seems to strike a chord with Laughter.
Teresa Trumps Alex and says there's a rumor a judgment came down.
Would he care to share? As soon as he's verified that the book is real.
He was thinking of traveling with it. To the Disc? Yes. So, when are
they leaving? Morning. He wouldn't think of leaving her out of this, of
course. She comes through and says she plans to spend the night. Alex
points out that Mebd doesn't swing that way. Yes, but demons are so easy
to put to sleep. Teresa snaps her fingers and there is a thump from the
other room. Alex shows her the book so she'll leave him alone. He goes
into the next room and finds Mebd awake but looking confused.
Lucien, Ariana, Foster, Laughter, Usires and Vixen gather to make
their final plan of attack. Vixen notices that Foster has a metallic
scent. Lucien has no scent at all. Lucien reveals the results of his
reconnaissance. Miranda is being kept in an isolated castle. It's on a
large chunk of rock with a flat plain around it. The plain has a lot of
monsters in it. Vixen mentions that this sounds a lot like the place
where Brand was. Lucien compares what he saw with the image of Brand's
castle in her mind, and says that they aren't the same. The only people
in the castle are Miranda and her guards. The guards are armed with
muskets, and they're probably shapeshifters. Vixen asks what's the best
way to kill them. Ariana comments somewhat acidly that severing the head
has been shown to be remarkably effective. They'll be coming in at night,
so Miranda should be in her room. The plan is to use faerie magic to come
in through the kitchen, then check Miranda's quarters for alarms. If
there are none, they'll go through another gate into her quarters, and
leave with her if she's there. If she's not, then Vixen, Foster and
Lucien will track her. If they find alarms in Miranda's quarters, they'll
track her from the kitchen. If they get separated, everyone will
rendezvous at the kitchen. Nimue Trumps Ariana and says she's heard what
they're about. Could they use more magical help? Ariana sees that Nimue
needs to release some tension, and asks if she's familiar with the makeup
of the party. She is. Ariana brings her through. Since the guards have
muskets, it seems likely that handguns will work, so Ariana distributes
pistols to those who know how to use them.
Usires asks to borrow Martin's Trump of the main hall. Martin
says he's willing to rent it to Usires.
Ariana asks Tamaryn to watch her children while she's gone.
Driscoll and Foster give Laughter a night to remember. Laughter
worries about Foster getting hurt the next day.
Tuesday, July 18, 2994
Ronan gets up at first light and heads out with representatives of
Arion and Karm to find more people for the guard.
The rescue party gathers in the morning. Lucien shifts to faerie
form and opens a gate. As they step through the wall into the kitchen,
there is a pop and a flash, and everything goes to hell.
The first thing that comes to Vixen is the smell. Very close,
heavy and damp. As her eyes adjust, she realizes that she's in a room
hung with freshly skinned fox pelts and no way out. The room is 10x10
with wood walls. The floor is slick. There are flies buzzing around the
corpses.
Ariana notices the screams, first. She seems to be in a makeshift
infirmary. There's lots of pain, lots of blood, and she can almost feel
the souls leaving the bodies. There's a door behind her to a dark
hallway. A doctor is working on a child at the other end of the
infirmary. He motions her over. He seems familiar to her. She tries
finding Lucien with her ring, but it's not working. Her spell bounce is
gone, but she is able to cast it again. She brings Pattern to mind, but
can't shift away. The doctor says they're losing him. She approaches
him, and notices that he bears a resemblance to Shard. The child is dead.
He asks why she delayed. She says she doesn't know where she is. He
tells her that she's wasted all of the good blood. This is for her
initiation. She realizes that he's a vampire and backs away, saying she
doesn't think now is a good time. Then the urge to leave is gone, and she
finds herself unwilling to move. The vampire approaches her, turns her
chin to better expose her neck, and sinks his teeth into her.
Usires finds himself in a plush room. A lovely faerie woman walks
into the room with blond, curly hair. Can she help him? No, he doesn't
think so. Where is he? In her father's castle. Her name is Emory. She
puts a hand on his cloak and asks if this is a bear. He moves her hand.
She asks if he's interested in maidens. He takes a step towards the door
and says he must be going. She follows him, saying that he's a guest. He
looks out the window and sees that the castle is built above a plain.
He's sure there's nothing she can do to help? No. She follows him around
for a bit. Finally, she says he's been absolutely no fun, but the time is
done. She walks through the wall. Usires decides to go outside and look
around.
All of the pelts that were hanging from the ceiling suddenly fall
and bury Vixen. She frantically claws her way out from under them, then
begins kicking the walls for a weak spot. The walls seem thin. She fires
some crossbow quarrels into the wall and uses them to pry at the wall. It
begins to break up, slowly. She eventually pries her way through and
finds herself in a room in what appears to be a big castle. The room
looks much like the library in Brand's castle, in fact. She heads for the
kitchen.
The vampire drains a dangerous amount of blood from Ariana before
stopping. He runs his thumb over the puncture wound then kisses her
mouth. She pulls away. He comments that she tasted good, adding that now
he's staked his claim on her as well. He may have to pay her a visit
again. She'd rather he didn't. He says there are advantages to being a
child of the night. She says she likes having a soul. She notices her
serpent ring is missing, and is quiet for a minute or two. The vampire
shows no signs of leaving. She asks his name. Lasker. Why did he do
this to her? He was told to. By who? He can't say. And the others?
Elsewhere. They should be heading to their original destination, by now.
They were to be kept busy for a certain length of time, and then let go.
Was biting her his idea or his employer's? Does it matter? Yes. His
employer's. Is he the vampire from Chaos? No. He returns her ring to
her, saying that he was a gentleman before he died. Then he Trumps out.
The card he uses has a black background. Ariana uses Disc magic to heal
her puncture wound and then increases her blood production to make up for
her blood loss. Once she's feeling less dizzy, she uses the ring to
locate Lucien, and finds him lying under a table in the dining room. He's
still unconscious, and his skin is literally crawling. He seems to be
recovering from something. She sits down next to him and numbly waits for
him to wake up.
Vixen arrives in the kitchen, and finds no one else there. Foster
falls through the ceiling a minute later, and looks around warily. He
mumbles something about lots of faeries, and going in and out of trees.
Nimue enters the dining room and says that was a waste of time.
Ariana just nods. Vixen and Foster hear Nimue's voice and come into the
room. Ariana lays a hand on Lucien's arm and he wakes up. He reveals
that he was fighting with Brand. Brand is long gone at this point, of
course. There is still no sign of Usires. Lucien and Foster shift into a
nasty-looking creature, which looks like a cross between a bull dog and a
wolverine, and go looking for Usires. When Usires comes inside and enters
the foyer, he is approached by one of these creatures. He looks at it
uncomprehendingly until it shifts back into Foster. Foster asks why
Usires didn't go back to the kitchen. Because they didn't arrive where
they were supposed to. Lucien arrives at this point, and they head back
to the dining room. The group returns to Amber.
Foster Trumps Laughter, who pulls him through. He explains about
the mission disaster. He was treed upon his arrival, and every time he
got out of the tree, a faerie laughed and threw him back in again.
Laughter wants to take that trip into Shadow now, to age the children.
Foster and Driscoll are game.
Ariana asks Lucien what happened to him. He fought Brand. Why
did Brand need them? Lucien isn't sure. Ariana suggests his motive was
revenge, but Lucien thinks that's too simple. She asks what happened to
everyone else, which prompts him to ask what happened to her. She says
she needs to report to Nicholas. He grabs her hand and pulls her to him.
She shakes hard for a while, and then cries. Lucien comforts her. She
thinks the whole thing is her fault, since it was her mission. Lucien
points out that they all volunteered (well, except for Vixen), and asks if
she can talk about it. She slowly explains her encounter with the
vampire. Lucien wants to hunt him down and kill him, thus removing his
initiation. Ariana wants to try a transfusion, first. She thinks what
happened to her was more Brand's fault than Lasker's.
Laughter knocks on the door to Ariana's quarters, and asks if
Ariana can remove the birth control spell. She explains that she's going
into Shadow that evening and passing six years. Then she plans to return
for a day and pass another six. She's doing it because she wants to raise
her kids away from the intrigues of Faerie, Amber, Middlecourt, etc. She
also thinks Hary will be useful to Nicholas when he's older, in regards to
the problems in the city. Ariana is worried about what her kids will
think about losing their playmates again. Laughter invites her to come
along. Where will they be staying? Bedlam. It's a Celtic, high-tech
Shadow of Driscoll's. Ariana asks if Lucien has any objections to the
idea. Nope. OK, they're in, although Ariana thinks they'll only do the
first six years. She wants her kids to spend enough time in Amber while
they're young to have an attachment to it. Laughter says they'll depart
after dinner and a small wedding ceremony. She explains that she and
Foster are marrying Driscoll. Ariana offers her congratulations.
Laughter leaves to finish getting ready for the trip.
Ariana and Lucien discuss what Brand may have wanted. Ariana
points out that Brand knew far too much about their plans. Lucien thinks
Brand may be in her mind, since it's the only explanation he can think of
for Brand knowing some of the things he did. He suggests walking the
Pattern to try to get rid of whatever he may have done to her. She says
she'll ask Nicholas when she makes her report. Lucien says he'll be
waiting for her return. He also suggests that she leave her serpent ring
with him. Since it's a thing of Chaos, it probably won't like the Pattern
very much.
Alex lets Reeshau out and goes to the Disc with Teresa. Keimo
laps at his boots and reverently offers Reeshau his hat. They go outside
and cast an information spell. It thinks the book is the real deal, or
the next best thing. It's exactly the same as it was when Delwin died.
Teresa tells Reeshau that Alex said to give her the book when they were
done. Nope, Alex is screaming in his head that that's not true. They
each grab the book and fight over it. Teresa argues that the book is no
good to him without the Spikard. He still won't give it up. She offers
to share. He can have the Spikard and the book for a while, then she'll
have both for a while. She takes his Spikard out and puts it on the book.
He takes the ring while she holds the book. OK, what to do with both?
Teresa wants to punish Laughter. Why? She doesn't care, just do
something. What about her ring? The faeries have her ring. Maybe they
can get it back, he says in a mocking voice. She hits him with the book,
then opens to the part about retrieving the other rings. Alex tries the
spell, there is a *biff*, and then his perspective changes. Teresa
retrieves the Spikard and observes that he won't be needing this. Alex
tries to say something, and barks. Teresa doesn't think this is the real
book. She leaves. Alex realizes that he's a male fox.
Ariana reports on the mission to Nicholas, telling him everything
that happened. Nicholas thinks it would be a good idea if everyone who
went on the mission walks the Pattern, with the exception of Vetch, of
course. Ariana says her family will be joining Laughter's on her Shadow
trip. With his permission, of course. He grants this, and asks how long
she'll be gone. She figures they'll be back by morning. He opens the
door for her that leads to the Pattern room. She contacts Shard as she
descends. He knows what she's going to do, and is worried about the side
effects. He isn't certain he can survive without her soul, if the Pattern
restores it.
Laughter sends out wedding invitations, and then asks Bill Roth if
there's any laws against three-way marriages on the books. None that he
knows of. The King can undo it, of course. She goes to see Nicholas, but
he's not available.
Ariana walks the Pattern. When she reaches the center, she finds
that her links to Shard and Lasker are gone, and her soul is whole again.
She teleports to Lucien, and asks him to come with her to Shard's
quarters, since she's worried about him. They find Shard curled up in a
corner, trembling badly. He says he'll be all right, once he's done
adjusting, and asks if Ariana can transfuse him. She asks Lucien for the
energy to do so, since she's exhausted from walking the Pattern. He
infuses her, and then she transfuses Shard. This has the usual orgasmic
effect on her. Once the transfusion is over, Shard stops trembling and
says he'll be OK. He still looks pretty miserable, though. He says he
needs to sleep, and seems to be waiting for them to leave. They do.
Ariana is upset about the fact that she took her soul away from Shard.
She and Lucien discuss how he becomes a vampire. He's not sure where his
soul goes when he takes on the form of a vampire, or how it returns when
she shifts back. He admits that he might be able to try the same process
on Shard, although he's not sure it will work. At least it's something
they can try. They begin packing for the trip.
Alex runs into the bar at Tallefellow's and finds Keimo. Keimo
makes him look human, for all the good it will do. Keimo finally realizes
this is useless, and removes the illusion. Alex manages to get across
that he'd like to go to the university. Keimo picks him up and carries
him there.
Quotables:
"Did (Alex) get in trouble?" -- Mer
"Wait, this is Alex, of *course* he got in trouble." -- Kris
"Oh, you're an assassin, is it? At least you have a job." -- Ronan to
Vixen
"(Laughter) slept with her brother and then killed him. It's such an
Amberite thing to do." -- Kris
"It's not like it was the same week or anything." -- Mer
"My to-do list: 1) Get out of jail free. 3) Walk the Pattern. Number
two's going to be a bit tricky. Get my body under control." -- Vixen to
the group at large
"One kick for every hurt." -- Dead Oaks
"Well, be sure to tell me when it starts hurting." -- Laughter
"You know how Foster loves children, and Driscoll does too." -- GM
"Yeah. I don't see either of them offering to blow one out of their left
nostril." -- Laughter
"Just be thankful that we were spared growing up with each other." --
Teresa
"Daily." -- Alex
"Where's the war?" -- faerie maiden to Usires
"In my pants." -- Mer
"Gee, I always get bitten by gentlemen vampires." -- Ariana to the group
at large
"That's how you summon the rings." -- Teresa
"All of them?" -- Reeshau
"One at a time." -- Teresa
"We're going to run out of fingers." -- Reeshau
"What are you talking about?" -- Bill Roth
"Bigamy, but without all the bad connotations." -- Laughter
"Go to the fucking kitchen!" -- the group at large to Usires, while he's
wandering around Brand's castle
"(Alex doesn't) want to be the father of (Vixen's) puppies?" -- Jen to
Matt
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