Chapter Ninety-four: "If I die out of this, I'm going to be very cross
with you."

	The thunderstorms continue to rage in Amber.  Ahab sends a page to
tell Foster and Laughter to cut it out.  The page returns to tell him that
Foster is trying.

	Felix and Usires get tossed around a lot on their boats during the
night.  In the morning, all is calm, almost unnaturally calm.  Felix
continues working on Ivan's ships as Jesus, in case he hasn't already
blown Caine's cover.  Usires takes his ship out on patrol.

	Laughter Trumps Ariana early in the morning, and asks to come
through.  She has a plan for stashing her kids in Rath and then freezing
it.  Foster will be going with them, in case Primal Chaos is used against
the Shadow.  Does Ariana want to stash her kids there, too?  Yes. 
Laughter tells her to pack them up, and meet her in Amber.

	Ahab brings up Pattern and orients himself in Shadow.  He finds
that there are now two beacons, instead of only one.  One is still in
Amber, while the other is in Shadow.  He is still able to picture the best
paths to specific Shadows, when he thinks of them.  He sends a page to
make an appointment with Fiona for the afternoon, to talk about finding
Benedict.  Then he goes to his office, where he finds a note on his desk,
in unfamiliar handwriting.  It says that Caine, Llewella and Mirelle are
being held by the Chaos insurgency.  The note includes coordinates, but
says they won't be there for long.  Ahab sends pages to round up Fiona and
the other royalty that's in the castle.

	Bart sends Fiona a note, asking to speak with her about Llewella's
disappearance.  Shortly afterward, Fiona Trumps him and comes through to
Rebma.  She points out that, given their location, his magic is not going
to be very successful.  Bart shrugs a lot, and asks for suggestions, but
she doesn't give him any.  He goes to the Discworld and casts his spell,
while Fiona observes.  The Pattern suffused MCI spell is able punch
through the barrier around the captives, but they're in separate
locations.  Bart tries Llewella first, and finds her in a barren cell,
looking ill-used.  She is chained to the wall.

	Kimdyl, Nimue, Nicholas, Beauty, Deirdre, Eric, Eris, Foster,
Laughter, Gerard, Random, Rinaldo and Merlin answer Ahab's summons.  Ahab
assigns Deirdre to watch over security in Amber while he's gone.  Laughter
wants to remain in Amber as well, since she's working on something to
protect the children.  Ahab allows this, and orders Foster to stay with
her, since they always get into trouble when they're separated.  Nicholas,
Nimue and Beauty will remain behind as well.  Everyone else is going to
scope out a set of coordinates, then free the people held there.  Rinaldo
points out that, since magic is turned off in Amber, they'll have to go
into Shadow for this, and asks when Ahab is going to turn magic back on. 
When he no longer feels like people are going to use it against him.

	Ariana Trumps to Amber with her kids and Anne, and goes to Foster
and Laughter's quarters.  They are not there, but come up behind Ariana
shortly after she arrives.  Being rather jumpy, she spins around suddenly
upon hearing their footsteps.  They all Trump to Rath, and goodbyes are
said.  Foster obviously didn't want to say, but he apparently lost the
argument about it.  Ariana and Laughter shift a couple of Shadows away,
then Laughter concentrates for 15 minutes, while Ariana keeps an eye out
for trouble.  When Laughter is done, they Trump to Amber and go their
separate ways.

	Bart and Fiona go through to Llewella's cell.  Fiona casts a spell
to keep people from noticing anything unusual, while Bart casts
Sword-Be-Gone on Llewella's chains.  She slumps forward, Bart catches her,
and they return to the Discworld, to Bart's summer home on the ocean. 
Bart decides to go after Caine next, since he's more useful than Mirelle.

	Rinaldo and Merlin tell Ahab that the coordinates are protected
magically.  They could take it down, but the people who cast the spells
would know.  Ahab uses a Pattern lens to check the coordinates out, and
finds only two Amberites there.

	Bart and Fiona MCI to Caine's location.  Ahab sees them arrive,
and decides to observe.  Fiona looks up and winks.  Caine is in bad shape. 
It looks like most of the bones in most of his extremities are broken. 
Caine smiles and says that the cavalry's getting smaller and smaller. 
Bart offers to leave.  Caine tells Bart not to make him have to beat Bart
up at some time in the future.  Bart removes the chains, and doesn't catch
Caine, so he lands on the floor with a thud, followed by a moan.  Bart
eventually picks Caine up, after realizing that Fiona certainly isn't
going to do it, and they go back to the beach at Discworld.

	Ahab scopes out the Shadow where Caine and the others were being
held, and finds lots of troops, magic, weapons and Logrus.  As he
continues looking, the Logrus begins becoming active.  Ahab warns his
group that the inhabitants are wise to them, and teleports everyone into
the Shadow's main keep to kill Logrus users.  Kimdyl, Rinaldo and Merlin
begin unleashing spells, creating explosions and tossing people off the
end of the keep.  Eris wields Cristilweir, Driscoll's old sword, which
also does quite a bit of damage.  Ahab is recognized rather quickly, and
Ariadne is soon rather busy protecting him from long range attacks.

	Bart Trumps Lyss and asks her to pass through another pearl, then
he and Fiona MCI to Mirelle.  She's been used even worse than Llewella,
and is mumbling incoherently.  Bart frees her with another Sword-Be-Gone. 
Fiona says "Oops," and there's an odd frapping noise.  She suggests they
don't dawdle.  Bart picks up Mirelle, who's being very docile, and they go
back to the Disc.  Bart MCIs Florian, who is in Rebma, and asks him to
come through.  He wants Florian to heal Llewella.  Florian thinks Bart is
mad for suggesting such a thing, since Llewella's healing herself, and he
doesn't want the beating he'll receive for touching her.  Oh.  Well, Bart
would like Florian to heal Caine, then.  He's a big, strapping man, Bart's
sure he'll enjoy it.  Florian agrees to do this, and begins.  Llewella
wakes up with a fire in her eyes, and asks where she is.  Bart steps back
and says she's on the Disc.  Caine?  Florian's healing him.  Llewella
rests her head against her knees and is quiet for a while, trembling
occasionally.  Bart looks unsure of how to handle this.

	Back in the Shadow, the massacre continues.  Ahab brings up
Pattern and messes with the Logrus users.  They decide they aren't
interested in getting close to him.  Then Ahab turns off Logrus, much to
the dismay of Merlin, who promptly gets clobbered and scurries behind
Rinaldo.  People begin trying to escape via Trump, so Ahab turns that off
as well.  Then magic comes into play.  Ahab begins dumping the sorcerers
into no-magic pocket Shadows, although some get away.  Then he teleports
the support pillars away, and brings down the keep.

	Laughter is sitting in her quarters when a Faerie who looks a
little bit like Auberon comes through the wall.  He asks if she would mind
being questioned by him and two others.  Laughter asks why.  He explains
that they are part of a non-aligned group of Faeries who are trying to
decide if it is worth Faerie's while to aid Amber.  Laughter agrees, after
making him swear on cold iron that she won't be harmed.  She also insists
on knowing his name.  He tells her to call him Drumm.

	Ariana goes looking for Meander, and finds him on the steps of the
throne.  She asks if he's all right, causing him to jump, since he was
lost in thought, and didn't realize she was there.  Has he had any more
visions?  No.  Was he able to heal himself?  Yes.  She asks why he sent
her to Looks Twice, when he is a healer himself.  He replies that he's
only a half-assed healer, and he's never actually taught anyone.  Can he
try to teach her?  He's not sure he'll have the time.  Meaning he'll be
busy, or something else?  He's not sure.  Ariana asks if he ever heard of
vampires taking someone's soul on the Disc.  Well, there are myths,
usually involving a love story.  Ariana winces.  Meander picks up on this
and asks if this affects her.  She admits that it does, and asks what the
effects are of losing part of your soul.  Usually, it's done a sacrifice
to save the vampire's life, but the stories don't say what happens
afterwards.  Meander's never heard of the missing part of the soul being
recovered, though.  Ariana asks what happens if one of the people sharing
the soul dies.  He's not sure.  Ariana tells him of how she lost part of
her soul to Shard.  Meander observes that the stories appear to have truth
in them, after all.  He's sorry he can't help her much.  Ona might know
more.  Ariana asks if Ona would be willing to talk to her.  Possibly.  If
not, she could ask Oscar, although he's not as old.  When vampires reach
400, they are of age and come into their power.  What are their powers? 
They vary.  How would she find Oscar?  He tends to hang around
Tallefellow's, often wearing a cleric's robes.  Ariana thanks Meander for
his help and Trumps back to Vetchways.

	Ahab senses incoming Primal Chaos, warns the others, and Pattern
teleports the group to Amber.  He thanks everyone for their help, and
dismisses them.  Then he goes to his office and Trumps Driscoll, but
there's no answer.  He tries Ariana, and gets through.  He explains that
he needs connections in Chaos.  Ariana looks bemused, and asks why he
called her.  Well, Driscoll isn't answering his Trump.  Ariana's ring goes
ballistic at this point, so she asks Ahab to pull her through.  He does,
and her ring quiets down.  She's explains that something bad was about to
happen, and asks Ahab if he can check out Vetchways with his Pattern lens. 
He does, but sees nothing out of the ordinary.  He asks if Gramble's still
OK, since he figures she hears stuff from Vetch.  She hasn't heard
anything about Gramble, although there is this small group of insurgents
that Vetch told her of.  She hasn't spoken to Vetch since yesterday,
though, since he's looking for Mirelle.  Ah, well Ahab was working on
that, but then Bart rescued her.  Ariana Trumps Bart, but can't get
through.  Then she tries Riftvan, with similar results.  She can't find
him with the ring, either, and realizes that the ring seems to have lost
its connection to him when she came to Amber.  Ariana tells Ahab that she
can't reach Riftvan, and asks how he knew where Mirelle was.  He got a
note.  Ariana asks to see it, but doesn't recognize the handwriting.

	The winds begin to pick up, as a nasty storm begins moving in from
sea.  Lots of lightning begins hitting the water.  Usires' ships are
caught out at sea, and are battered mercilessly.  Usires soon finds that
he's the only one strong enough to hold the wheel.

	Drumm brings Laughter to the other two members of his triumvirate,
a man and a woman.  They proceed to question Laughter as to why they
should help Amber reacquire the Jewel.  Laughter points out that Amber
will fall to Chaos without the Jewel, and if Amber falls, Chaos will turn
its attention to Faerie again.  After they go back and forth on this point
for a while, Drumm asks if he can cast a very personal spell on Laughter,
in order to inspect her soul.  Since this seems to be the only way to gain
their cooperation, Laughter agrees.  Drumm begins casting the spell.

	Llewella continues to sit quietly.  Florian finishes healing Caine
and returns him to his true form.  Caine walks over to Bart, who asks what
happened.  Someone didn't believe that he was Felix.  And, unbeknownst to
him, Llewella tagged along as a bodyguard.  Fiona was supposed to be there
as well, but she wasn't.  Caine adds that the women were ill-used by their
captors.  He'd like to go back to Amber.  Bart teleports him there.

	Caine enters Ahab's office, and sits down carefully.  He tells
Ariana that her mother is in the Disc, with Bart.  Ahab tells Caine about
the attack on the Shadow where he was being held.  Caine asks if he turned
Logrus off.  Yep.  He has some prisoners, too.  Caine wishes to
interrogate them.  Alone.  This is fine with Ahab, as long as Caine shares
what he learns.  Caine agrees to do this, so Ahab teleports him into the
pocket Shadow where the prisoners are.  Of course, Caine has no way of
getting back out, but Ahab conveniently forgets about that.

	Ariana asks Ahab what family members are still in Chaos.  Only
Driscoll and Flora.  Ahab Trumps Flora, but can't get through.  Ariana
lends her assistance, with no better results, although she is able to
determine that the contact is being blocked.  Sounds like a job for a
Trump artist.  They find Bleys in his quarters, and Ahab asks him to look
into the matter.  Bleys puts both Driscoll and Flora's Trumps on a table,
and then touches them.  He determines that Flora's Trump is being blocked
by Logrus, while Driscoll's is most likely blocked by his glasses.

	Random knocks rapidly on the door and says Ahab needs to see this. 
Everyone proceeds to the main hall, where Driscoll is Trumping through
many Chaosites, including Emer, Heather, Jordan, Luther, Mandor (looking
rather ill-used) and Suhuy.  Ariana asks a Gadlan what happened, and
learns that Gramble has been overthrown, and Zane now rules Chaos. 
Driscoll finally comes through with a zap, looking a bit singed.  Ahab
questions him, and learns of the change in rulers.  Zane's forces are
purging Chaosites who have any connection with Amber.  Ariana asks how far
they've gotten.  Driscoll tells her that he hasn't seen Vetch.  Ahab
mentions that the Serpent now has both eyes, which causes Ariana to pale,
and Driscoll to look like this explains a number of things.  Ahab asks the
pages to send Tamaryn to him if she's returned, but they soon inform him
that she hasn't.  Ariana asks where Tamaryn is, but Ahab says that's a
need-to-know kind of thing, and she doesn't need to know.

	Ariana finds Meander and asks if he can send her to the Disc.  He
explains that his magic isn't working very well right now.  Ariana tells
him of the recent events in Chaos, and he doesn't look surprised.  Ariana
asks which children he saw dying.  The Pattern children.  She asks if that
included hers, since it hasn't been born yet.  He observes that her mind
is in great turmoil, and says she should rest.  She asks how often his
visions come true.  Nine times out of ten.  Did her child die?  Yes.  How? 
Ariana was stabbed, although she managed to survive.  Ariana is very
troubled by this.  Meander says it is fate, and must be accepted.  It
hurts, but eventually this fades.  Ariana says she can't accept this. 
Meander comments that perhaps her thread is short, then.  They both notice
the growing storm, which to Ariana feels much like the Shadow storm that
hit Amber after the Jewel was destroyed.

	Bart watches Llewella for a while, while Fiona attempts to talk to
Mirelle.  Bart eventually decides there's nothing more he can do now, so
he freezes the Disc and goes back to Amber with Fiona.

	Ahab finds Nimue talking to Jordan in the main hall.  He takes her
aside for a moment, and asks if the Pattern has talked to her.  She
explains that it's not like that, but communication does exist.  He should
be expecting a visit.  She looks worried about the current situation,
which is bad, since she almost never looks worried.

	Usires' four ships are getting pounded badly, so Usires decides to
shift Shadow to get away from the storm.  He finds it difficult to
subtract the storm, though, and he loses one of his ships, along with the
main mast of another.

	Gerard tells Ahab that he can't reach Felix, since Felix still has
his pin on.  Ahab contacts Felix's first mate via the Pattern, and tells
him to tell Felix to turn his pin off.  The man has some difficulty with
the strength of the contact, but manages to relay this.  Felix does as he
was requested, and gets a Trump call from Gerard.  He gives Felix a Trump
of him, and implies that things are happening, but he can't discuss it
over Trump.

	Ahab looks for Usires' fleet with his Pattern lens, and eventually
finds them.  He begins looking for a Shadow with no storms to guide them
to.  This takes a while, since there are many storms occurring at the
moment throughout Shadow, but he eventually accomplishes this.  Ahab tells
Usires where to go, and commends him for moving his patrol to safety. 
Usires heads for Ahab's Shadow.

	Bart arrives in Amber at about 11 in the morning, and isn't thrown
out, mainly because he's with Fiona.  They find Ahab in his office, and
Bart makes his report.  Fiona notices the general commotion, but Ahab says
he'll explain this later.  Bart says Llewella and Mirelle are unwell, so
they've slowed them down for the moment.  Ahab figures that they know
best.  Speaking of knowing best, Bart needs to speak privately with Ahab. 
OK.  He suggests that Fiona stick close, though, since Mandor's in the
castle.  Fiona doesn't like this bit of news.

	Bart tells Ahab that he's spoken to the Unicorn, and in order to
retrieve the Jewel, there must be a sacrifice of one of her children.  She
will do the deciding as to who.  It will be people who are willing, of
course.  OK, what else?  The Unicorn is greatly saddened by the recent
losses among her children.  She didn't always see eye-to-eye with Oberon
on certain matters, like in-house cleaning, for example.  Ahab says he'll
keep that in mind, and tells Bart that he is now welcome in the castle. 
He passes this along to the guards as well, fortunately.  Bart leaves.

	Fiona enters with a nail file, pretending to be bored.  Ahab
mentions the long-term effects of her disappearance.  Yes, well, she was
overcome with a bit of emotion.  Ahab points out that Caine is likely to
be feeling rather petty, right now.  True, but without her help, Suhuy
wouldn't have been able to defeat Dara.  A bit of an error in judgment on
his part.  Ahab implies that Fiona cares about Suhuy, which she denies, of
course.  Ahab fills her in on the recent happenings in Chaos.  She pales
at the news of the Jewel, and offers to look into it.  Only if she's just
planning.  Ahab's tired of people running around on their own.  And Flora? 
Still no word.  He has heard from the Unicorn, though.  When?  Well, there
was that message Deirdre got, years ago, saying that family shouldn't kill
each other.  Fiona always figured that was someone yanking her chain.  Who
else got a message?  Ahab won't say.  Fiona pouts and leaves.

	Ariana tries to come up with a way to keep her baby from being
killed, and fails.  She Trumps Bart again, and actually gets through to
him this time.  She comes through and asks where her mother is.  Safe. 
Can she go to her?  She's in stasis right now.  How is she?  She was
ill-used enough to undo 500 years of therapy.  Ariana figures that if
Mirelle is in stasis, this means she can't go to the Disc.  Bart says
she's more useful in Amber.  Ariana warns him of Meander's vision, but
Bart says his kid is safe.  Unfortunately, there's not much he can think
of to protect Ariana's child, since magic is turned off in Amber.  Ariana
leaves and Trumps Laughter, but can't get through to her.  She goes
looking for Meander.

	Bart questions the castle staff, and learns that a bunch of
Chaosites arrived recently, including some Heads of House.  The woman
didn't see the Jesby emblem among them, though.  Bart literally runs into
Emer, who notes his confusion.  He explains that he's being kept in the
dark.  Emer takes him to someplace more quiet and explains that Gramble's
been overthrown.  Lovely, just when Bart's house was in favor.  Which
means his family is likely being pursued now.  Driscoll got out who he
could.  Bart thanks her for the information, and hurries out the front
door, where he gets drenched by the storm.  He decides to head down to the
Pattern room, instead.  Once he gets there, he hears a crow cawing, and
finds Meander is sitting cross-legged about ten feet from the Pattern. 
Bart asks what brings him to the cellar.  It seems to be the quietest
place in the castle.  Bart doesn't think it will remain that way for long,
since he figures more family will walk the Pattern to re-energize it.  He
also mentions the effect walking the Pattern has on fertility.  Meander is
content to sit where he is, for the moment.  Bart proceeds to walk the
Pattern, while Meander observes the process.

	Ariana is unable to find Meander, so she heads down to the Pattern
room, hoping the Pattern will help protect one of its Pattern children, if
she is attacked there.  She arrives just as Bart vanishes from the center
of the Pattern.  Meander mentions that Bart said the place would be
getting popular.  Ariana asks if the Pattern has spoken to him.  No, can
it do that?  It did so once, for her.  What did it tell her?  Something
she needed to know.  Meander observes that her heart is still heavy.  She
asks how he expected her to feel, and wants to know if he can tell her
anything else that might help her avoid the fate he saw.  He only knows
that the killer was unbelievably fast, and he might have attacked from
behind.  Her clothing was moved away from the area before she was stabbed,
which means the attacker knows about her armor.  Ariana sits down with her
back against the wall, puts her head in her hands, and remains that way
for a while.

	Felix rides out the storm in Amber harbor, which shelters his ship
from the worst of the storm.  The storm finally passes by at about two in
the afternoon.

	Tamaryn arrives in Ahab's office, and tells him that the Faeries
are eager to help in any way they can.  They doubtless have suggestions,
but want to know if he wants them, first.  Ahab asks her to stay in the
castle, for now, until he's ready to return with her.  He also trusts that
her outburst of the previous day won't be repeated.  No.  He gives her
Felix's Trumps to return to him.  She asks if he can be changed back, yet. 
Yes.  She curtseys and leaves.  Ahab tells Fiona that the Faeries will
cooperate with whatever she comes up with.  This news looks like it
pleases her.

	Ahab goes to the library and begins flipping through the Book of
the Unicorn.  After half an hour or so, a shadow falls across the book. 
Ahab looks up to see a woman with long, white hair and brown eyes.  She's
wearing white, and has a long sword at her side.  There is a great air of
regalness and dignity about her.  She thinks it ironic that she found him
reading that particular book, and asks what can she do for him.  Yank the
Serpent's eye out.  She's working on it.  Fortunately, there's no one left
alive in Chaos who remembers how it was done the first time.  Not even the
Serpent?  Well, she'll be creating a rather large distraction for it. 
What does Ahab need to do?  Keep holding the fort.  And the sacrifice
rumor?  She's trying to avoid that, if possible.  Who did she have in
mind?  Caine would be willing to do it.  Brand would have his uses, as
well.  As far as Ahab is concerned, Caine is more useful alive than dead,
since he fills in for Ahab's weaknesses, while Brand's abilities can be
duplicated by his siblings.  She tells him that she'll need a tolerably
good fighter, then, since Brand's physical prowess is lacking.  Ahab
volunteers.  Nope, he's the King.  Ahab suggests that she restore Corwin's
sanity and use him, since he's been trying to die for one cause or another
since as long as Ahab can remember.  She agrees that he'd make an adequate
replacement for Caine.  If he survives, Ahab would appreciate it if she
could get him to stop trying to kill himself so often.  She seems pleased
by this, and allows that she could make a strong suggestion.

	The Unicorn says that she knows Ahab has animosity towards her,
and wants to know if there's anything she can do to alleviate this.  He
says he's never given it much thought, and asks what the rules are of this
game that they're playing with the Serpent.  She says that the Serpent has
never been one to keep its promises, and there's only so long one can take
being stepped on.  Why didn't she act sooner?  Oberon didn't like her
meddling in his affairs.  Given the current circumstances, Ahab wouldn't
mind her meddling a bit.  He asks why Dworkin was allowed to try to kill
Deirdre for 800 years.  She admits that she did little to stop that,
although she did lend some aid at the end.  Apparently Dworkin was given a
great deal of power, in order to steal the eye, and he turned his mind to
different things than she did.  She and the Pattern had no part in Corwin
and Deirdre's affair, though, and weren't expecting the result.  Ahab
still feels rather bitter about the whole thing.

	Ahab asks what they need to do to get the eye back, adding that
the Faeries have agreed to help.  She tells him that Faerie magic, when
wielded by the appropriate source, can cut through Amber or Chaos' power,
since it is far older.  Ahab wants to know if they can take the Serpent's
other eye, while they're at it.  Possibly.  She needs to speak to Corwin
before they do anything else, though.  She makes to leave, then pauses at
the door, stops, and fiddles with her sword belt.  The sword glows.  She
hands it to Ahab, saying he'll need it more than she will, and then
leaves.  Ahab examines the sword.  The hilt and scabbard are very plain,
while the blade is made out of bone, and is harder than anything he's ever
encountered.  Holding it makes him feel good.  Ahab buckles it on.

	Bart speeds up the Disc and MCIs Constance.  She's in Jesbyways. 
She explains that those who didn't stand in opposition to the new order
are fine, but those who opposed it are all dead.  Then she asks if the
communication is secure.  Bart figures it's safe from Chaosite spying,
since it has Pattern in it.  Of course, this may make the contact itself
more noticeable.  Constance tells him that they plan on executing Gramble
and Flora, and asks him to break the link before she's discovered.  Bart
does so, then MCIs Ahab and says bad things are happening.  Ahab has him
come through, and Bart fills him in.  Ahab finds Mandor and asks if state
executions take place anywhere other than the pit where Dara's execution
was held.  No.  Then get stuff together, since they're going there. 
Mandor looks like he'd been planning to go there anyway, but is happy to
have more fodder along.

	Bart Trumps Lyss and asks for more pearls.  Want's going on? 
Nothing good.  She comes through with the pearls.  Bart points out that
Llewella will be unhappy if she has to raise their kids, but doesn't stop
her.

	Usires finally reaches Ahab's Shadow by late afternoon.  He Trumps
Caine, but doesn't get a response.  Usires' men point at the water, and
make uneasy noises.  Usires looks, and finds that the water is bubbling. 
He has his ships set sail, but the slowest is grabbed by four tentacles. 
The second ship rams the squid, which discourages it enough to make it let
go, but the first ship is a total loss.  Usires begins leading the
remaining two ships to Rimmersgard.

	Ahab Trumps Ariana, but she doesn't answer.  He uses a Pattern
lens to contact her, explaining that they're going to rescue Flora and
Gramble, and she's in charge of rounding up her cousins.  She tells
Meander of this, commenting that Chaos is as good a place to die as any.
He smacks her on the back of the head and says that depressing people are
annoying.  She says that he sounds like her husband.  Meander figures he's
obviously a sensible man, then.  Ariana Trumps with Meander up to the main
hall, then Trumps Laughter, who still doesn't answer.  She tries Felix
next, reaching him just as he sees Tamaryn arrive.  He asks Ariana if it
can wait.  She says she'll call him back in five minutes, since he doesn't
have any Trumps.  She sends pages to pass Ahab's message to those in the
castle, but Trumps Bart, not knowing that he's returned.  Bart looks
rather puzzled when he answers.  Ariana sees Ahab in the background and
figures Bart already knows the score.  Yep.

	Ahab goes to Corwin's room and tells the Unicorn about his plan to
interfere with Gramble and Flora's execution.  The Unicorn says she'll
join them, and shifts to the form of one of the Hellmaids that didn't
survive the fight with the Chaos insurgency.  Ahab offers to return her
sword, but she declines.  She does warn that it's what she used to pry the
Serpent's eye off, though.  Ahab asks if she has any idea where Benedict
might be.  In the castle.  Where?  She shows him, saying she thought that
he knew Benedict was around.  Wrong.  Ahab informs Fiona of this, then
brings Pattern to mind, and tries to make mind to mind contact with
Benedict.  No dice.  Apparently Benedict has a device like Felix's.  Ahab
dumps Benedict in a Shadow pocket, turns off Pattern, Trump, etc., and
raises the gravity so that it flattens him.  This stops him from Trumping
out, but only just barely in time.  Ahab makes the gravity bearable in one
an area, teleports there, then brings Pattern to mind and tells Benedict
the following: you will not move a muscle, you will not harm Fiona, you
will not allow Fiona to come to harm, you will not do anything other than
allow Fiona to repair your mind.  Then he swaps places with Fiona, and
arranges a path for her to Benedict.  She touches him and concentrates for
about three minutes, then says she's done.  Ahab brings them back, and
tells Benedict to forget his previous commands.  Benedict inhales, then
looks very angry, picks Ahab up, puts him down, and says thank you.

	Ahab pulls Caine out of the pocket Shadow and updates him.  Since
Ariana doesn't have a Trump of Usires, it falls to Caine to round him up. 
Caine Trumps Usires, who's just arrived in Rimmersgard.  He tells Usires
to drop anchor and come through, now.  Usires notices that Caine doesn't
seem too happy.

	Tamaryn returns Felix's Trumps, and shifts him back to his true
form, although she leaves the nipple rings there.  Ariana Trumps Felix as
he's looking down at them.  He says he'll be there shortly and activates
his pin, which breaks the contact.  Then he tells Tamaryn that he refuses
to go through to the main hall until she changes him completely back to
the way he was before.  When she refuses, he gets very upset about it. 
Eventually, Tamaryn reluctantly does as he asks, then Trumps to Amber
without him.  Felix turns off his pin to use his own Trump, and Ariana
immediately gets through to him.  He tells her that he's coming.  She asks
if Tamaryn is there, and learns that she just left for Amber.

	Ariana finds Tamaryn and asks if she knows a Faerie armor spell. 
Tamaryn does, and casts it on Ariana, but points out that cold iron will
be able to penetrate it.  That's OK with Ariana, as long as Takaran blades
can't get though it.  Actually, they can.  There isn't much that can stop
them, unfortunately.  That figures.

	Ariana asks Ahab if he wants her to contact Shard.  If she can get
a hold of him, fuck yeah!  Ariana Trumps Shard, but the contact animates
slowly, and doesn't resolve.  She tries reaching out to him through their
link, feels him shift location, then gets a Trump call from him.  He's
dressed in a futuristic kimono, and looks far calmer than he used to.  The
air of guilt he always had about him is gone.  She tells him that Ahab
needs him in Amber.  He says he'll contact her shortly, and does so after
ten minutes.  A thrill goes through her when he takes her hand to come
through, causing him to smile and give her a flourishing bow.  The feeling
washes over her again, and she closes her eyes to fight it, when it is cut
off abruptly.  Ariana observes that Shard's control has gotten better, and
asks how long he's been away.  A little over 400 years.  He's come into
his power, then.  Yes.  He notices her looking at his katana, so he hands
it to her.  She draws it and admires the balance, then returns it to him.
She learns that he left shortly after their encounter and spent the entire
time in one Shadow.  Did he leave because of what happened between them?
Yes, it pointed out to him that he needed to get control.  He owes her a
great debt, by the way.  Without what she gave him... well, most vampires
tend to die of boredom.  She asks how her soul prevented this.  He
explains that it wouldn't let him die.  It seems she has a great tenacity
of spirit.  She explains what's been happening in Chaos.  He observes that
she's worried about her husband.  She admits that he is among the missing.
Shard says that he's learned not to assume someone is dead until you see
the body, and offers to calm her, if she'd like.  She's not sure that's
such a good idea.  He smiles, and concentrates, and she feels the edge
come off of her panic.  She tells him that she's sorry if she drove him
away.  He promises that what happened before won't happen again, unless
she wishes it to.  She asks what he's learned about the bond between them,
but he doesn't want to talk about it.  He explains that he's been solitary
for so long, that questions make him paranoid.

	Laughter goes into a trance for duration of Drumm's spell, and
comes out of it with a bit of a headache.  The woman in the triumvirate
looks rather angry.  Laughter asks what the result was, but they won't
say, although Drumm does wink at her when he offers to escort her back to
Amber.

	Shard asks if Ariana has told Riftvan what happened between them.
She explains that she hasn't had the chance, yet.  Shard would like her to
let him know when she does, so he knows when to expect Riftvan to come
looking for him.  Ariana says that it wasn't Shard's fault.  Shard points
out that men don't tend to take that into consideration when their wife
has been raped.  Ariana doesn't like this idea, but feels Vetch has a
right to know what happened.  Assuming she ever sees him again.  With the
way things are in Chaos, there's no guarantee that she will.  She wonders
what will happen if she dies, since Shard has part of her soul.  Shard
says he won't let her die.  Why?  Because he loves her.  He always falls
in love with women who aren't interested in him, after all.  Ariana is
surprised that he hasn't found anyone else, after 400 years.  He says it
just isn't the same with anyone else.  She asks him not to hurt Riftvan.
He says he must defend himself.  Ariana isn't terribly happy about this,
and says she will never be able to forgive herself if Riftvan is hurt
because of this.  She asks again what affect the link will have on her.
No more than she's already noticed, but she has nothing to worry about.
Why?  Because he would never bring her harm.

	About 45 minutes after Ahab's initial orders, everyone is finally
gathered together, with the exception of Brand, Corwin, Llewella, Mirelle,
Laughter and Foster.  Ahab tells everyone of the recent changes in Chaos,
what happened to the Jewel, and that he plans to thwart the executions of
Gramble and Flora.  Those who have important things to do should do them. 
Those who can help, stick around.

	After his speech, Ahab spots a dark figure making his way over to
him, although most people don't seem to notice him.  When he reaches Ahab,
Shard gets down on one knee and offers Ahab his katana.  He thinks that
now he can better offer his service to Ahab.  Random suddenly notices that
Shard is there, and jumps quite a bit.  Shard admits to Ahab that he
enjoyed that.  Ahab returns his katana and accepts his service.

	Ariana checks, and realizes that she can sense Riftvan through her
ring again, although he still won't let her know where he is.  Despite her
efforts to prevent it, he senses her stress, and sends calming thoughts to
her.

	Laughter is shoved back through the wall to Amber, and goes
looking for Ahab.  He invites her to join the rescue party.  She tells him
of her encounter with Drumm and co.  Ahab is not pleased to learn that the
Faeries can freely come and go from the castle.


Quotables:

"But you all wake up in the morning." -- GM
"Shit.  I hate that." -- Ahab

"Don't ask men to do anything that will lead to their immediate suicide. 
It tends to limit their belief in you as king." -- Ahab to GM

"Your interrogations can be rather painful." -- Ahab
"Hmph.  I make good tea." -- Fiona

"If I die out of this, I'm going to be very cross with you." -- Fiona to Ahab

"The Serpent has both of its eyes back, and the government in Chaos has
been overthrown.  Some of this, we wish to fix." -- Ahab to the group at
large