Chapter Fifty-four: "Walls go tumbling in" Ariana, Ahab, Alex, Usires, Benedict, Bleys, Caine (who is no longer a Faerie), Driscoll, Eris, Gerard, Isabeux, Random, Vialle, Flora, Deirdre, Bart, Lyss and Mebd are gathered in the main hall. Heather, Mary, Mandor and Eris have left. Alex quickly disappears with his new toy. Fiona is interrogating Bart when she stops in mid-sentence with a thoughtful look on her face. Ghostwheel appears on Ahab's finger and says that it's found Sand and she's right outside of the castle. Ahab yells for Random. A ball of energy blows the door off of the main door and drifts into the hall. Fiona suggests leaving quickly. The evacuation alarm is sounded. Random runs for the Jewel of Judgment, followed by Driscoll. Eris tries to follow her father but is stopped by Vialle. Benedict and Gerard start clearing people out. Fiona remains standing in front of the globe, casting spells furiously. Ahab grabs Kimdyl and asks Ghostwheel to take them outside. Ariana leaves via the armory, grabbing some weapons on her way out. Felix hears the alarm go off while he's carrying Foster to the infirmary and Trumps to the center of town. People begin to congregate outside of the castle. Suddenly, the castle blows up. There's nothing left standing. Benedict and Gerard start clearing the rubble. Bart decides he really never should have left Rebma, and hurries back there. Ariana asks Ahab to ask Ghostwheel if Sand is still around. It says she's gone back to wherever she was hiding before. Ariana hands Ahab a crossbow. Felix Trumps Isabeux, who tells him that she and Gerard made it out. Ariana can't spot Felix among the survivors, so she Trumps him to make sure he's OK. He asks to come through. Ahab can't find Deirdre, so he starts searching the wreckage. He finds her half-buried in rubble and starts digging her out. Both of her legs are badly broken. Felix notices Ahab's frantic digging and pitches in. Deirdre demands something strong for the pain, so Ahab goes in search of alcohol. Of the other family members who were in the castle, Caine, Usires, Vialle, Eris, Flora, Lyss, Mirelle and Mebd also seem to have made it out. Usires wakes up and looks for his ax. He notices that Rinaldo has it and walks towards him. Rinaldo spots him and retreats. Felix picks up a large boulder and heads towards Usires. Ariana and Ahab notice Felix carrying the boulder and follow him. Usires decides to cease and desist. Felix wants to punch Usires again. Ariana thinks that's a wonderful idea. Felix asks Caine if he can. Caine replies that he wishes Felix wouldn't. Foster volunteers to watch Usires with Rinaldo. Rinaldo figures that if Usires really goes after the ax, he won't be able to stop him. He asks Felix to place a large rock on the ax. Ariana asks Rinaldo to test the ax on a boulder, to see if there's anything special about it. It cleaves the rock in two. Felix decides to give the ax to Benedict. Then he joins Gerard in digging people out of the rubble. Bart reaches Rebma and is relieved that the castle still stands. He begins to get a strange feeling in the back of his mind. He eventually responds to it, and is surprised to see his mother. Llewella explains that this is a Trump contact, something she didn't teach him about. She asks how things are in Amber. Bart plays innocent. Llewella tells him not to bother, since Moire ratted him out. Bart says he ran. Llewella sends him back for more information. He complains that it's too far. She gives him a Trump of the town and tells him how it works. He's less than thrilled with the whole idea. A temporary infirmary is set up for the injured. Ariana is kept rather busy there, as is Mirelle, who is surprisingly good at triage. Deirdre proves to be a difficult patient. When Ariana tries to set her legs, Deirdre, now rather drunk, swings at her. After Deirdre taps Ariana's broken nose for the second time, Ariana tells Ahab to deal with her and goes to work on someone who actually wants her help. Ahab asks Ghostwheel to get him some medical supplies. Ghostwheel obligingly opens a gate to well-stocked pharmacy. Ahab calls Ariana over and tells her to pick out what she needs. Things go better with the new supplies. Ahab tries to give Deirdre some morphine, but her struggles make it impossible to get the needle in a vein. The number of survivors being brought in slows to a trickle, as all of those who were close to the surface are found. Ariana eventually finishes with the cases brought in so far, and notices that Ahab is still struggling with Deirdre. She puts Deirdre to sleep with a Power Word. Ahab takes advantage of this to inject the morphine and Ariana finishes setting Deirdre's legs. Ahab learns that Bleys, Fiona, Random and Driscoll are still unaccounted for. He asks if Ghostwheel can find them in the rubble. Ghostwheel begins searching for them. It also transports anyone it finds in the rubble who's still alive to the infirmary. Bart arrives back in Amber. Benedict looks busy, so he looks for someone who isn't. He spots a big man being guarded by two children. This strikes him as unusual, so he sneaks up on them. Rinaldo spots him but doesn't say anything. Bart scares the shit out of Foster, who screams, shifts to his Chaos form, and hits Bart in the face with his spikes. Felix hears Foster scream and runs over. He is not pleased with Bart, especially when Bart introduces himself as a Rebman spy. Bart asks if they're watching Usires' jaw swell. Rinaldo says they are. Bart suggests they watch him at the infirmary tent. Usires shows no interest in going to the infirmary because that would mean losing sight of his ax. Bart introduces himself to Rinaldo and holds out his hand. Rinaldo takes it and says he's Brand's son. Bart is not happy. Rinaldo smiles and says that Bart's soul is his now. Bart responds that he's never had any fun with it anyway. By nightfall, Ghostwheel tells Ahab all the living are out, and there's no sign of the missing. Ahab informs Benedict. Benedict says Random's Trump isn't working, but Bleys and Fiona could probably cause that. Bart goes into the infirmary. Ariana asks if he's injured or has medical skills. When he answers "No" to both questions, she asks him to leave. He spots Vialle sitting with Murine and Eris at the back of the tent and claims he has business with her. Ahab follows him over to Vialle. Bart introduces himself to the Queen, who remembers him from Rebma. Bart crouches down and introduces himself to Eris. She points out that he already did that. He asks what her name is. She tells him it's Eris with a remarkable lack of enthusiasm. Ahab tells Vialle that Random and Driscoll weren't found in the rubble and asks if there's anything he can do. She thanks him for the offer and suggests that someone should contact Martin. Bart asks if she has a Trump of him and is given one. Ahab joins in the attempt. When the card animates, it shows Martin with the sides of his head shaved and the rest of it braided and hanging down to his chest. He's got tribal tattoos, no shirt and looks groggy. He's rather surprised to hear from Bart. They give him the news. He comes through and talks to Vialle. He notices that Bart is only wearing a loincloth and suggests he find something warmer. He leaves the tent and talks to Benedict. Foster and Rinaldo start getting bored with guard duty. Foster begins throwing pebbles at Usires. After getting hit in the face a few times, Usires decides blocking them might be a good idea. He starts walking towards Benedict. The children follow and try to get him to stop. He sort of growls at them. Felix notices the confrontation and is much more successful at getting Usires to move back to where he started. Ariana finally finishes with the last patient and asks Vialle if there's anything she can do for her. Ahab notices that Ariana's no longer busy and asks if she has a way to reach Vetch. She leaves and tries to Trump Riftvan again, but is unsuccessful. She returns and shakes her head at Ahab. Bart ogles her while her eyes are closed. Ahab tells Bart that he has no idea and leaves. Bart tries talking to Murine, but she's rather cold to him. Felix tries to persuade Gerard to stop digging, since all of the survivors have been found. Gerard refuses, saying he must continue. Felix finds Isabeux in the infirmary and explains that Gerard won't stop. Isabeux is not surprised and says that Felix has no idea what this means to Gerard. Felix realizes that Irene is unaccounted for. Isabeux tells him that she didn't come through triage. Felix questions the surviving courtiers and learns that Irene left earlier for her father's. Foster falls asleep, but Rinaldo keeps watching Usires. Felix spots Caine talking to Gerard and catches him when they're done. He suggests Caine look at yon barbarian. Caine is surprised that he's still there. He asks if Felix has had the two boys watching Usires all day. Felix says he has. Caine asks if he knows what that will do to a Viking's honor. Felix figures Usires had it coming. He hit Foster with an ax, after all. Caine admits this is true. Felix asks why Caine isn't a Faerie any longer. Caine says he can't help Felix with that. Ahab approaches Caine and asks if Usires is really his. Caine asks if he wants to get into that. Ahab comments that he knew some of his relatives like to go ugly, but he didn't think Caine would do it so young. He ducks for cover, but Caine hits him in the balls with a rock anyway. Ahab decides he's made enough smart remarks for the moment. Caine walks over to Usires and examines his jaw, which has swollen quite a bit. Caine starts to walk off, but Usires doesn't follow. Caine asks if he'd be more comfortable on one of the ships out at sea. Usires nods. Caine concentrates on a Trump and holds out his hand. Usires won't take it. Caine says they must be in contact for it to work. Usires doesn't want anything to do with magic. Caine assures him that Trumps aren't magical. Usires relents. Once they arrive on one of Caine's ships, Caine makes sure Usires gets good and drunk. Ahab tells Felix that he's taking his family to the Rose and asks if Felix wants to come. Felix asks Isabeux if she wants to go with Ahab, but she won't leave while Gerard's still clearing rocks. Felix asks if Sand is likely to attack Corwin's castle. Ahab thinks it's unlikely, since Corwin doesn't have the Jewel. Felix decides to stay in town. He rounds up Foster and asks if Rinaldo wants to come. Rinaldo considers it, claiming that he's approaching the age of rebellion. Felix asks him to explain. Rinaldo says that Brand told him to stay away from Felix. Felix is rather upset with Brand for doing this. Ariana finds some warm clothes and gets some for Bart as well. He looks askance at them. She tells him he can either wear them and be warm or freeze. Martin tells him to dress on the go and drags him off to find a place to spend the night. Ariana finds Kira and her guards and learns they were not in the castle when it exploded. Kira is not pleased with Vetch for leaving her as a male page, nor for changing Ariana into a Faerie. She's not happy that Ariana left without an explanation either. Ariana claims it was necessary for Jalana's safety, among other things. Kira still wants to rip Vetch's balls off. Usires wakes up the next morning and realizes that his jaw doesn't hurt so bad. As a matter of fact, it seems to be healed. He hears Caine talking to a woman and investigates. Llewella is telling Caine that "if he wasn't ready, you shouldn't have let him out to play." She looks at Usires and comments that he really shouldn't get Felix angry. Usires looks confused. She explains that Felix is the man who hit him. He argues that Felix is a Faerie. Llewella tells him that Felix may look that way now, but in reality he's human. She observes that he's getting a rude introduction to his homeland. Usires has trouble understanding how Amber can be his homeland since he's never visited it before. Llewella tells him that Caine got drunk one night and discovered the robust women of Usires' shadow. Caine explains about Amber, Chaos and Shadow. His explanation matches the one Ariana gave Usires when he was guarding her. Feeling even more confused, Usires asks who the elves are. Llewella tells him they are his cousins and comments that he really did put his foot in it. He asks about the children and is told that one is Felix's son and he really doesn't want to meet the father of the other one. Usires stares out at sea for a while and ponders all of this information. After a while he hears a splash and turns to find that Llewella is gone. He asks Caine where she went. Caine tells him she went home. Usires looks confused. Caine explains that she swam away to Rebma, the city beneath the waves. Usires doesn't find this much more helpful. Felix wakes up and takes a hot bath. When he comes out he finds Foster soaking his hands in hot water. Felix eats and takes some food to Gerard, who is still digging through the rubble. It doesn't look like he stopped for the night and he's managed to clear quite a bit of the wreckage. Ariana skips breakfast and checks the survivors in the infirmary, which has been moved into town. Only one patient died during the night. Deirdre seems to be doing better, as she's awake and asking for beer. Bart is shaken awake by Martin, who tells him that the least he can do is help. Bart asks for some water. Martin tells him to get dressed first. While Bart is doing so he is Trumped by Llewella. She tells him that he looks like unpleasant shark leavings. He tells her that the King and Driscoll are missing, there was this large fellow with a swollen jaw, Felix was responsible for it and had pointed ears, Caine threw a rock at someone else, they know they have all the living and Gerard continued working through the night. Llewella tells him to find whoever's in charge and let him know that Rebma is sending aid. She also gives him a Trump of herself. He wants to come home and complains that Martin is making him wear clothes. She tells him that it's December, and if he runs around like he usually does it'll fall off. He decides this is a convincing argument. Foster asks Felix for some aspirin, since his hands are hurting him. Felix suggests he check in the infirmary. Foster does so. Ariana examines his hands and realizes they are becoming infected. She cleans and wraps them and gives him some antibiotics for the infection. He tells her Gerard is still digging. Neither of them understand why. Felix realizes he's likely to split open the clothing he scrounged if he starts doing heavy lifting, so he goes to find some better fitting ones. With this accomplished, he goes to help Gerard. Ahab sits at edge of the Rose and stares at it morosely. Part of him wants nothing to do with it, which doesn't help his mood any. Ghostwheel stops by to cheer him up. Ahab asks it to remind him never to trust Vetch. Ghostwheel suggests he ask Merlin and see if he knows anyone who could help. Ahab Trumps Merlin, who decides not to comment on Ahab's current form. Ahab asks if Merlin's heard the news. Merlin says he heard from Corwin. Ahab tells him that the chap who laid this bit of cosmic indignity on him is nowhere to be found. Merlin hides a smile. Ahab asks if he knows anyone who could help. Merlin says he could do some checking, but there aren't many in the Courts who owe him favors. Usires asks Caine if he can go home. Caine says he understands that Usires has walked the Pattern. Usires says that's what the elf told him. Caine explains that once Usires reaches Arden he just has to walk and think about home. Usires asks how far his home is. Caine admits he wasn't exactly clear-headed the last time he made the trip, but he thinks it was about a day. Usires is confused, since he's traveled a day's walk from his home before, and never saw anything like Amber. Caine explains that Usires wasn't concentrating on leaving the Shadow before. Usires says he'd like to try returning home, alone, and wants to know if he could do it by sea. Caine says he can arrange a small boat, and advises Usires to keep calm seas in the back of his mind. Usires decides he'd rather walk. He packs lot of Bayle's Piss for the journey. This turns out to be a bad idea. Ahab drinks for a while, grabs a bottle of wine and Trumps Deirdre. She asks if she scared him so much that he ran to the Rose. He asks how much she remembers about the previous evening. She recalls smacking Ariana a few times. Ahab tells her that Ariana turned her over to him and they played morphine hockey until she lost consciousness. Deirdre says magic was used to knock her out. Ahab assures her that it wasn't him. Deirdre isn't surprised. She comments that the little hussy was probably entitled after what she did. She spots the bottle of wine and snatches it out of Ahab's hand. He tells her that he saved the best to ply his wife with. She tells him not to pickle the baby and breaks the contact. Ahab looks nervous and goes looking for Kimdyl. Bart leaves his room whining for water and some shoes. Martin tosses him a half-full bottle of water. Bart retreats to his room and eagerly polishes it off. Martin throws in some boots, holds up a full bottle of water, and leaves. Bart follows him to the soup line for breakfast. Martin decides to put Bart to work there. Gerard continues to dig. Felix goes looking for Benedict and finds him talking with Martin. He asks Benedict if he can do anything about the state Vetch left him in. Benedict touches him and changes him back. Felix is relieved that the Pattern is still there. He's less happy that his beard is still gone. He observes that Gerard is not going to stop. Martin says Felix could hit him with a boulder. Benedict gives Martin a look that indicates the remark was in poor taste. Felix asks why Gerard keeps digging. Benedict tells him that Gerard has done this before. Felix asks if it has to do with Delwin. Benedict doesn't acknowledge the question. Felix goes back to keeping Gerard company. Usires walks to the outskirts of the forest and concentrates on going home. Sure enough, the scenery starts shifting. He finds this disconcerting. He drinks some Bayle's Piss, which makes the shifting easier but he has less control. Ahab finds Kimdyl playing patty-cake with Nicholas. She tells Ahab that he looks precious and laughs. Ahab flops down next to Nicholas and says "Nicholas, meet woman. Woman bad." Kimdyl disagrees. She says "Man stupid." and asks if he's done sulking. Ahab asks her about Deirdre's remark and is reassured that she was referring to Nicholas, not another baby. Kimdyl tells him that if she were pregnant, he wouldn't still have his family jewels. She asks what he's doing about Sand. Ahab figures she'll be dealt with. He's more concerned about Vetch. Mostly because he wants his old form back. He asks if she could help. She tells him that she's never shaped anyone but herself and is not inclined to start now. He asks if she knows anyone who could help. She points out that the person she knows who can isn't answering his Trump calls. They drink some wine. Ariana tries Trumping Riftvan again, with the same results as before. She walks up to the remains of the castle and notices that Felix is human again. She asks who shifted him back. He tells her Benedict did it. She asks if Ahab knows. He says he hasn't contacted Ahab yet, so she tells him she'll take care of it. Felix tells her that people are telling him to stay with Gerard. She thinks that's a good idea, to keep Gerard from withdrawing too much. She goes back into town and finds Kira. Kira is more than willing to let Benedict try and shift her back. Ariana explains the problem to Benedict, who asks for Kira's hand. Kira looks at Ariana for reassurance before doing so. It takes Benedict quite a bit more effort than he needed for Felix, but eventually Kira is back in her proper form. She looks like she wants to hug Benedict, but decides that's not such a good idea. Ariana asks Benedict if there's anything she can do to help out. He tells her to keep up her work in the infirmary. Ariana works in the infirmary for a couple of hours and then Trumps Ahab. She inquires as to how he's enjoying his current form. He asks if she's called to gloat. She tells him that Benedict can change him back. He immediately asks to come through and hastens to find Benedict. Benedict sees him approach and observes that he must have been talking to Ariana. Ahab says he needs to be changed back for security reasons. While Benedict is shifting him, he explains psychically what he can do with the Pattern. Benedict starts, and something inside of Ahab shifts. It occurs to Ahab that maybe he should have waited until Benedict was finished. Benedict considers Ahab with interest when he's done. Ahab is overjoyed to connect with the Rose again. He teleports back to Kimdyl, who observes his grin and appearance and asks if anything ever goes wrong for him. Ahab raises an eyebrow. He asks if she knows of a way to prevent future children. She tells him she's working on it. Gerard eventually starts talking to Felix. He even stops briefly to eat. Felix still can't get him to stop, however. Gerard will only say that the castle has been blown up and he is clearing it. Felix says they're worried about him. Gerard insists he'll be all right and goes back to work. Felix finds Isabeux and asks how long Gerard is going to keep doing that. Isabeux doesn't know, since Gerard is quite stubborn. Felix admits this is true. Isabeux observes that it runs in the family. Eris is still very withdrawn, so Rinaldo, Foster and Ariana work on cheering her up. Felix asks Rinaldo and Foster where Usires got off to the other day. They say that Caine left with him, and they weren't going to stop Caine. Felix figures that at least they still have Usires' ax. Usires continues to drink great quantities of Bayle's Piss while shifting shadow, alternately thinking about home and Caine's ship. He wakes up on the beach outside of Amber the next morning. Caine is standing over him saying that was one of the most pathetic displays he's ever seen. He suggests Usires keep a clear head when he's shifting shadow. He also gives Usires some landmarks to follow. Usires leaves the Bayle's Piss behind this time. Following Caine's landmarks, he is able to reach his home shadow in six hours. He discovers that only a few hours have passed since he left with Sand. He celebrates his return by drinking himself into a stupor again. Ahab Trumps Merlin and tells him he can call off the search. He Trumps Ghostwheel and asks him to look for Mr. Grumbly, Eris' stuffed spider. Eventually Ghostwheel drops a rather dirty Mr. Grumbly on Ahab. Ahab asks Kimdyl to cast a spell to clean it up. Once this is accomplished, he asks if she wants to come along while he drops it off. She does, so they teleport back to Amber. Felix has joined in the attempts to cheer Eris up, but not much progress has been made. Ahab sneaks up behind Eris and taps her on the shoulder with one of Mr. Grumbly's legs. She turns quickly, smiles, and hugs the spider. Ariana, Foster and Rinaldo remain with her. Ahab and Felix help clear more rubble. Bart uses the soup line to try and pick up women. He invites a particularly attractive one to join him in a bath. She points out that she has no reason to trust him and asks if he's one of those Rebman folks. He figures the hair gives him away. Using his purported charm and grace, he eventually coaxes her into bed. Ahab decides not to return to the Rose, and sets his family up at an inn in town. Everyone turns in for the night, except for Ariana, who goes down to the beach and spends some time walking along it. Quote of the day "If they're not in the rubble, they're somewhere else." -- Ahab to Benedict