From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Tue Nov 9 12:32:19 1993 Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 16:09:02 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Twenty Ahab Trumps Llewella and learns that the Pattern in Rebma is also missing. Llewella asks if the Primal Pattern is OK. Ahab isn't sure, so Llewella suggests Trumping Fiona and asking her. Ahab does so. Ariana Trumps Sand, but is blocked. She Trumps Martin, who has found that he can no longer shift shadow. Ariana pulls him through and explains what's happened. Heather Trumps Mary, a red-headed friend of hers from shadow, to see if she's all right. Mary looks rather confused, since it's her first Trump contact. She tells Heather that she's OK. Heather Trumps Mandor next. He is riding in the town of Amber, accompanied by Merlin. Heather says she has something to tell him. Mandor asks if it's about what happened to the Pattern. Heather didn't know about the Pattern disappearing, but she's not surprised. She says she wants to turn herself in. Mandor suggests throwing herself on Vialle's mercy. Heather goes through to him. Fiona takes Ahab's call. She is standing in a misty area that he doesn't recognize. Ahab tells her that the Pattern in Amber has disappeared. Fiona asks if the Pattern is gone completely, or simply stopped glowing. Recalling that there were still grooves in the floor of the Pattern room, Ahab thinks it's just stopped glowing. Fiona declares that it's not too late then. Ahab asks what he can do. She asks who's with him. He tells her that Alex is the only one present. He also tells her that Bleys should be returning to consciousness soon. This gets Fiona's attention and she asks to come through. She proceeds to transport all of them up to the Main Hall. Felix Trumps Gerard and fills him in. Gerard says he'll get Deirdre and get back to him. Felix tries to Trump Caine, but gets another Trump call before he can get through. It's Gerard, with Deirdre in his arms. Felix pulls them through. He Trumps Caine again, and tells him what's happened. He learns that Eric hasn't been told yet, so he Trumps him. Eric already knows about the Pattern. He says that he's sure the others can handle it and refuses to return to Amber. Mandor introduces Heather to Merlin. Heather mentions that the Left Eye of the Serpent was in Amber. Mandor asks how it got there. Heather tells him that Benedict's mother gave it to her. He asks what she was supposed to do with it. She explains that she was supposed to give it to Dworkin. Mandor seems impressed with this and says would be a handy trap. Heather says she didn't do it. When he asks who did, she explains how it was teleported away from her, and she left soon afterward. Ariana asks Felix to explain how Heather is involved. He tells her how he saw Heather showing the Left Eye of the Serpent to Ahab, so he told Random, but when Random Trumped Ahab, Bleys was unconscious and the Jewel was gone. Fiona asks Ahab where Bleys is. Ahab says he last saw Bleys in Random's room. When they get there, Fiona starts to go in, stops, looks annoyed, and knocks. After waiting a moment with no answer, she says that it's Fiona, and she's coming in whether he likes it or not. Random opens the door. Fiona examines Bleys. She says that there is another Pattern, Corwin's, which Corwin's son can walk. This gets quite a surprised reaction from the others. She also says that Dworkin is probably trapped in the Left Eye, and must be freed. Ahab asks if he should summon Benedict, but Random says he's already in the Castle. Ahab tries Trumping Corwin, but the Trump still doesn't work. He Trumps Gerard, and is relieved to see that he is settling Deirdre into the infirmary. He asks if her condition's changed, but it's still the same. Fiona offers to help, so they go to the infirmary. Ariana, Felix, Martin and Shard try to figure out what to do now. Ariana suggests looking for Heather, but no one has her Trump. The only person they can think of who does, is Brand, who is unlikely to give it to them. Felix looks nervous at the mention of Brand. Ariana points this out to Martin, who finds it amusing. Felix, however, does not Ariana Trumps Ahab to find what's going on, but he says he's busy and asks to call her back. They decide to go to Random's room and see what they can learn. Heather brings Mary through for moral support. She, Mary, Mandor and Merlin reach Random's room at the same time as Ariana, Felix, Martin and Shard. Ariana puts her hand on her sword and says Heather had better be turning herself in. They all go into Random's room. Random says he has a few questions to ask Heather and asks the others to leave. Only Benedict, Flora, Vialle are to remain. Mary is also allowed to stay, at Heather's request. Everyone else goes out into the hall. Random takes Heather to another room. He asks her to tell him what happened. When she says she's not certain, he tells her to start at the beginning. She says she'd rather tell Benedict. Random calls Benedict in, but says he needs to know as well. Heather explains that she thought Benedict was the target of the vendetta, which caused her to question Ariadne, which led her to Rygat. Benedict frowns at the mention of Rygat. Heather says that Rygat assured her that Benedict was not in danger and asked what Heather would do to stop the vendetta. Random asks what her reply was. Heather answers that in exchange for knowledge of the target, she agreed to do a favor for Rygat that would end the vendetta. Random asks where things went wrong. Heather says her problems occurred when she involved Ahab, since he insisted on asking Bleys about the Left Eye. Random asks if she gave any thought to the effect her actions would have on the Pattern. She claims she tried, but there was not enough information available to tell what the results might be. She explains how the Left Eye disappeared when Bleys collapsed, and says that's the last she had to do with it. Benedict asks what Rygat looked like. After Heather describes her, he asks where Fiona is. Random tells him she's in the Infirmary. Benedict walks out saying "I'll take care of it." Random follows asking what he means by that. Benedict leaves with a very determined look on his face. Those standing in the hall take care to keep out of his way as he passes. Ariana decides to follow him at a distance. Fiona is just starting to examine Deirdre when Benedict slams open the door and orders her to call Brand in. She asks why but he won't say, and orders her once again to fetch Brand. She refuses and tells him that they are at an impasse. Benedict clenches and unclenches his fist. Fiona tells him to ask her nicely and she'll consider his request. Through gritted teeth, Benedict phrases his request more politely. Fiona smiles and contacts Brand without using a Trump. She tells him that Benedict needs him, and that he shouldn't tarry. Brand appears shortly afterwards, and is not happy to see Benedict's mood. He gives Fiona an accusing look. Benedict orders Brand to take him to the Courts, and they vanish. Ariana walks in and asks what she missed. Fiona asks what set Benedict off, saying Ariana should know since she followed Benedict down. Ariana says she didn't hear the exact conversation, but she suspects it was something Heather said. She tries to change the subject and asks how Deirdre is doing. Fiona says that her mind has been damaged, but she might be able to fix it. Ariana asks Ahab who could have done that. Ahab looks grim and says Heather is a prime candidate. He asks to talk to Fiona alone, so Alex and Ariana leave. They join the group that, except for Mandor, is still waiting outside of Random's quarters. Ariana asks first Alex, then Merlin about Ariadne, her grandmother and Barimen. Eventually she learns from Merlin that Barimen was Dworkin's house in Chaos. And that all of Dworkin's relatives killed themselves when he drew the Pattern. Ahab joins them and tells Ariana that Fiona is working on Deirdre. Alex asks if it's wise to leave Fiona alone with Deirdre, but Ahab points out that there's nothing he could do to stop her, and there's a good chance that she can help. Merlin asks if anyone has seen Corwin recently. Felix says that no one's been able to reach him in a while, and gives Merlin Corwin's Trump. Ariana tells Merlin that Corwin's Trump does not grow cold for any of them. Merlin finds that odd, since it does for him. They all decide to join together and Trump Corwin. The Trump animates and grows completely black. Corwin asks who is contacting him. They tell him. Ariana asks if Corwin needs assistance. He says he doesn't think they can help him. They ask where he's imprisoned. He's not sure, but he thinks it's in Chaos. Ariana suggests passing a light through the contact, so they can see how Corwin is being held. Merlin takes a candle, lights it with sorcery, and passes it through to Corwin. With the light provided by the candle, they are able to see that Corwin's arms and legs are shackled. Ahab uses Morglyph to sever the chains, and they pull Corwin through. Alex asks if Corwin knows who his captors were, and he says "Yes." but won't elaborate. Merlin takes Corwin to his room while Felix goes down to the dining hall and arranges for food. Ahab goes and checks on Deirdre. He is happy to see that she is awake and sitting up. They talk for a while. He asks her what she did to anger Dworkin and what she wanted to tell him. She says it's not important. He checks to see that her legs are still not working, and then says he won't tell her about Corwin if she doesn't tell him about Dworkin. Deirdre says she'd kick him if she could move her legs. They reach an impasse, with Ahab demanding that she not keep him in the dark, and Deirdre insisting that he doesn't need to know. Eventually she says that if she tells him what he wishes to know, she'll die. Ahab is confused, since he can only think of one person who could beat her with a sword. She clarifies, saying she wouldn't fight back. Deirdre eventually tells him her secret. Ahab fills her in on what happened to Dworkin. Ariana tries to Trump Sand again, but she is still blocked. Wanting to contact Mirelle, she goes looking for Driscoll, but he's not in his room. She sends a page to find him. After a while, the page tells her that Driscoll is not in the Castle. Alex tells Medb that Heather has managed to piss off most of the family. He specifically mentions that Ahab and Ariana would like to see her dead. Medb defends Heather and sends pages to find Ahab and Ariana. As Ariana is preparing to head down to dinner, there is a knock at her door. Kira tells her that Heather's daughter wishes to speak to her. Curious, since she didn't know Heather had a daughter, she goes to the door. She sees Medb and Alex standing there. Alex is looking rather surprised. Medb asks Ariana why she dislikes Heather so much. Ariana starts listing reasons, starting with Heather's involvement in spilling Driscoll's blood on the Primal Pattern. The summation is that Heather always seems to be involved when something detrimental happens to Amber. Medb complains that Ariana and Ahab are making Heather the way she is. She asks Ariana to give Heather another chance. After Medb and Alex leave, Ariana goes down to dinner. Medb goes looking for Heather. Alex uses the Logrus to find her, and tells Medb her location. Medb thanks him and leaves. Alex checks out Amber with the Logrus and then goes to dinner Present at dinner are Felix, Fiona, Bleys, Random, Vialle, Shard, Alex, Ariana and Ahab. Ariana smells the Logrus on Alex and asks what he found out. Alex says that there's no sign of the Pattern anywhere in the Castle. Ariana tells Ahab about Medb being Heather's daughter. She mentions that Medb claimed they are making Heather the way she is. Ahab replies "That's not true. She's a bitch, and I'd like her to be a dead bitch." Fiona pays close attention to this conversation. She says she'd hoped family strife would have passed over the younger generation. Later on in the dinner, the conversation shifts to shadow. Ariana mentions that Shard's had some interesting adventures in shadow. He kicks her under the table. She glares at him but can't make psychic contact with him. She tells Ahab that Shard was unable to find Battlestar in shadow, the way Ahab had found Zero. Instead, Battlestar had to find Shard. The others try to worm the details of what happened out of Shard. Eventually he mentions that he ran into something of Ahab's. Ahab is relieved when Shard says it was only an army commanded by him. Ahab says it probably belonged to one of his shadows.