From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Tue Nov 2 13:05:51 1993 Date: Tue, 2 Nov 93 11:37:10 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Nineteen Heather is at a loss as to how to answer Grammy. She asks if the target is her or Benedict and is relieved to hear it is not. She says she doesn't care about the others. Grammy asks what she would do if she knew who the target was. Heather answers that she would help them if she liked them, but otherwise, she wouldn't care. Grammy asks if Heather would end the vendetta if she could. Heather says she would. Grammy tells her the target is Dworkin, gives Heather a red jewel and says that placing it near Dworkin will end the vendetta. She reminds Heather that she will be checking on her progress, and breaks the contact. Ariana finds Shard absent when she returns to the dining hall, so she asks Battlestar where he is. Battlestar says Shard had to heed the call of nature. Ariana asks Battlestar how long he's been with Shard. He doesn't know how many years, but it's been since he was born. Shard returns and asks if Ariana has anything suitable for walking in Arden. Ariana changes and meets Shard at the gate. Ahab finishes sparring, goes to his room, and changes. He Trumps Benedict, who comes into focus sighting down a crossbow. Ahab asks if he has a minute. Benedict fires and says he does now. Ahab tells him that Deirdre is comatose, and he can't say how over Trump. Benedict pulls him through. Ahab explains about Dworkin, and also about his own ability to determine his location in shadow. He learns that Dworkin was not always as crazy as he is now, but Benedict does not consider him to be a threat to Amber, at least not as much as others. Benedict also says that Brand was a pawn during Patternfall. Ahab finds that once again there is nothing he can tell Benedict that Benedict did not already know. Ahab thanks him and Trumps back to Amber. Alex ponders what to do with himself. He sends a page to learn if Mandor has made any appointments with Random. He then starts trying to wash the stain from the explosion out of his cloak. Felix Trumps Eric and asks to come through. After frowning for a moment, Eric pulls him through. Felix finds himself standing in Eric's den. He says he has some questions to ask on Ahab's behalf, although Ahab doesn't know he's asking them. He explains what happened to Deirdre, and why Dworkin is suspected. He asks if Eric knows of anything that Deirdre or Ahab has done that could have angered Dworkin to such an extent. Eric suggests that Ahab would be the one to ask. He asks if Ahab has talked to Dworkin about it. Felix says that Deirdre told Ahab never to talk to Dworkin. Eric asks why, but Felix doesn't know. Felix mentions that Heather rescued Coral without using a Trump. Eric says he's not surprised, since Brand does it all the time. He advises Felix to pay more attention to Brand. Felix says that Jasra might get jealous. Eric says he hasn't met her, and Felix advises him not to. He tells Eric about Alex's explosion, and how Jasra tossed Shard through the hole. Felix Trumps back to Amber. Heather hides the jewel in a vacant room. She Trumps Mandor and sees that he's in a large hall. She asks if he's learned anything new, but he hasn't found out anything since they've last talked. She asks what all the smoke was about, the last time she Trumped him. He says had a small disagreement, but he doesn't know who with, just that it was a powerful sorcerer. Heather asks if he's going to be seeing his brother or father, but he says he's not planning on it. He asks if something's wrong, since she seems kind of tense. She claims that she's fine and called him for no reason. Mandor doesn't look like he's buying that. Heather asks if Mandor knows how closely Dworkin is tied to the Pattern. Mandor points out that he's not the best person to ask about that topic. Shard, Ariana and Battlestar race for Arden. When they reach the outskirts of the forest, Battlestar starts digging. Shard asks what he's found, but Battlestar says it's just dirt. He asks if Shard brought Ariana out there for a reason. Ariana asks what Shard wanted to talk about. Shard says they should tie off the horses, since they will be walking down a narrow trail. After they have walked for a while, Shard asks what Ariana can tell him about shadow-dwellers. She informs him that they are short-lived and ignorant of other shadows. Shard tells her about the controlling ability that Julian taught him to use on animals, and how he discovered that it worked on shadow- dwellers as well. Ariana says that she discovered that same ability when she was growing up in shadow. Shard wonders if it will work on Amberites. Ariana says she imagines it would. Shard volunteers himself as a test subject. Ariana tells him that she has communicated mentally with other Amberites, and demonstrates by taking his hand and making psychic contact with him. Alex goes to visit Medb and asks how she's doing. He digs for more information on Heather, but gets nowhere. Medb asks if he's looking for something to do. Alex says he isn't, even though he has nothing better to do than wash his cloak. Medb asks him to help her rearrange the furniture. Alex does so, after checking with a page and asking to be notified when Mandor arrives. Felix Trumps Corwin, but the card doesn't grow cold. He Trumps Caine and asks to come through. Caine is on one of his ships. Felix tells Caine that Heather brought Coral back without using a Trump. He also says that Dworkin has locked Deirdre's mind in a box. Apparently Ahab's request that news of Deirdre's condition not be spread around doesn't apply to elder Amberites. Felix asks why Dworkin and Deirdre dislike each other so much. Caine replies that everyone hates Deirdre, and at least this way Dworkin doesn't have to listen to her. Felix asks why, if it's possible, Brand hasn't done something like this before now. Caine says that Brand probably didn't have the balls. He suggests that Deirdre may have known something that Dworkin didn't want getting out. He asks what else is bothering Felix. Felix mentions that Ariana's been giving him the eye, but neglects to include that he participated a bit himself. He also mentions all the problems that have been going on in Amber. Felix wants to get out of Amber, so he's thinking about going back to school in shadow. Heather Trumps to the Primal Pattern and looks around. She decides to investigate the cave that Dworkin emerged from the last time she was there. After she enters the cave, she passes a large cavern with a chain attached to one wall. Eventually the passage ends at an iron-bound door. She tries the door and is quite surprised to find it unlocked. It appears to have been a study, although most of the contents have been removed. She looks for some matches, lights a candle and searches the place. Finds nothing of interest, she leaves. She Trumps back to the main hall and heads to the library to do some research on Dworkin, Benedict and the Pattern. She doesn't find much, other than a brief mention of Benedict's siblings dying in the service of Amber. Ahab lies down on his bed and visualizes shadows he's been to, to see if he can picture the route he should take to get there, which works. He thinks of Ariana, but he gets no indication of her current location or the location of her home shadow. He asks a page to notify him when Heather is seen. Five minutes later he learns she is in the library so he goes there. He asks if he can talk to her about metaphysics and Dworkin. He tells her that Benedict feels that there are more important things to deal with right now than Dworkin's insanity, but he disagrees. He asks if she has any idea from her conversations with Brand, who the parties in Chaos were who were behind Patternfall. Heather says she's not sure. They both suspect that Dworkin's insanity is due to Driscoll bleeding on the Pattern. They had assumed that repairing the Pattern would fix it, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Heather asks if Ahab has any books on the Pattern, but he says that Brand removed all of the useful ones. She asks if the Pattern feels like it's back to normal. Ahab thinks it is. She asks exactly what it is that he wants. He says he's looking for clues as to what other forces may be affecting Dworkin's mind. Heather mentions that there is one thing. She tells Ahab that Ariadne's grandmother told her that the target of the vendetta is Dworkin. She proposes that Patternfall was due to the vendetta, with Dworkin the real target all along, since damaging the Pattern damaged Dworkin. Ahab points out that damaging the Pattern created the Black Road, which helped Chaos' invasion, but concedes she may have a point. Ahab would like to find a way to fix the damage to Dworkin's mind, so that he will be more agreeable to helping Deirdre. Heather tells him she will pressure her contacts to see if they know of a way to cure Dworkin. With that she closes her book and leaves. Ahab remains blissfully unaware that he is being manipulated. Felix tells Caine about the shadow trap he and the others were stuck in. He asks if Caine has had experience with them and knows how to get out of them. Caine tells him that you have to outthink them. Felix hopes that he won't get stuck in one again and Trumps back to Amber. Shard and Ariana discuss all of the problems that have been happening in Amber lately. They agree that someone is trying to kill or capture Amberites, but the purpose behind it all remains unclear. Ahab Trumps Fiona looking for information. Heather finds Ahab and tells him that she has a way to help Dworkin. She shows him the jewel, and says it needs to be given to Dworkin. Felix spies Ahab and Heather with the jewel, right before they Trump away. Since the jewel looks exactly like the Jewel of Judgment, Felix goes to Random's rooms to tell him about it. Random checks to make sure he still has the Jewel and Trumps Ahab. Ahab tells Bleys about what Heather is proposing. Bleys calls the jewel the Left Eye of the Serpent. He takes Heather off to one side to talk with her. In the course of their conversation, he takes a closer look at the jewel. Ahab hears a thud and sees Bleys collapsed on the floor, with Heather leaning over him. Ahab draws Morglyph and asks what happened. Heather says that when Bleys looked at the jewel, he collapsed and the jewel disappeared. Ahab gets Random's Trump call and asks to pulled through. He explains the current situation to Random. Random asks Heather who gave her the information about the jewel. Heather claims she researched the information. Ahab informs her that if she doesn't tell Random where she really got the information, he will. She admits that she found the information in Chaos, but won't say where. Ahab says he'll name the names, but Heather tells him that she gave him the wrong ones. The argument is interrupted by the ground shaking violently. Ahab takes off for the Pattern room. Felix hears maniacal laughter coming from down the hall and investigates. Ariana and Shard feel the earthquake in Arden. Ariana Trumps Felix, to find out what is going on. He pulls them through. They reach the door to Dworkin's lab and see a man with short black hair, a cape, and a shit-eating grin. Felix says "Sorry, wrong room.", confusing the Hell out of everyone else. Ariana asks the man who he is. He says no one of consequence and disappears. They check the lab and find Dworkin missing. Felix tries Trumping Ahab, who is still making his way down to the Pattern room. Ahab refuses to take the call. Ariana joins Felix and punches her way through. Ahab reels a bit, and gains an understanding of why Corwin disliked Ahab doing that to him. Ariana tells Ahab about the stranger by Dworkin's lab and Dworkin's disappearance. She keeps the contact open while Ahab continues on to the Pattern room. Alex catches up to Ahab and tags along. As Ahab approaches the door to the Pattern room, he notices that there is no glow coming from underneath it. He throws open the door to find only blackness. The Pattern is missing, with only grooves in the floor to show where it once lay.