From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Wed Nov 17 15:27:08 1993 Date: Sun, 14 Nov 93 17:29:04 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Twenty-one Alex leaves dinner early on. Towards the end of the meal, Fiona and Merlin get up and leave together. Ahab leaves soon afterward. Felix leaves a few minutes after that. He tries to Trump Ahab, but is blocked. He goes up to the battlements and looks for Tir-na Nog'th. As he is waiting for it to materialize, he sees a flash out on the water and realizes a battle is going on. Creatures that look like sea-serpents are attacking Caine's fleet. A page tells him that Random is in his quarters and asked not to be disturbed, so he asks the page to relay the information about the battle. The page returns saying Random already knew. Felix sees people gathering in the courtyard and goes down there to investigate. Ariana and Martin talk for a while at the dinner table. Ariana is unhappy about Heather's continued existence. Martin suggests that it's more fun to make your enemies' life miserable than to kill them. He also says that Gerard would take things badly if she killed Heather. He leaves, saying he's going to the library. She goes to the fencing room to work out her frustration. Heather is in her room talking with Medb, Mary, Driscoll and Alex when she gets a Trump call. She takes it and is blasted into unconsciousness. Alex disrupts the contact. Shard goes to Dworkin's lab to see if he can find anything that was overlooked. He finds Martin stapling "Police line - do not cross" tape across one door. Martin suggests going through the other door. Shard does so and examines the lab. He doesn't find anything unusual (for Dworkin). Martin staples tape across the other door while Shard is still in the lab. Shard goes through the tape and gets the feeling he did something bad. Battlestar tells him that one of the scents in the lab stops right where the dark-haired man disappeared. He says it smells a bit like the dark-haired ambassador. Heather wakes up with the feeling that her mind has been sifted through. Medb, Mary, Driscoll and Alex are all standing around looking concerned. They ask if she's all right. She asks them to wait a moment and concentrates on Fiona. Fiona is standing in the same misty shadow as she was when Ahab last Trumped her. Heather tells Fiona what happened, specifically that something seems to be missing from her mind. As they talk, Heather realizes that she can no longer remember what Rygat looks like. Fiona suggests letting her mind recover for a while. Heather breaks the contact and tells the others she'd like to get some sleep. Driscoll asks Medb if she can watch Eris and leaves. Alex squints at Mary, to hint that he'd like her to leave. She tells him it's not polite to stare. He asks if he can talk to Medb alone for a moment. Mary suggest they go to the sitting room if they want to be alone. Alex advises Medb that it's not good to go around advertising that she's Heather's daughter. She says she wanted to introduce herself properly to the bitch, referring to Ariana. Alex points out that Ariana has a sword and knows how to use it. Medb seems to be under the impression that Alex will be around to protect her, or if not him, Felix or Gerard. Alex says they can both be easily outwitted, and his position somewhat precludes him from getting into sword fights with Amberites. Medb remains unconvinced. Alex suggests that people could use the knowledge about Medb against Heather. This finally gets through to Medb, who hadn't considered that possibility. Ahab tries to Trump Deirdre, positioning himself so that she can't see where he is, but he is blocked. He returns to his quarters and sends a page to find Felix. The page tells Felix that Ahab is looking for him. Felix sends word that Ahab should meet him in the courtyard. Felix learns that men in the courtyard are being mustered to relieve Julian and his men, who are besieged in Arden by Hellmaids. Ahab arrives and asks if Felix can postpone his trip to Tir-na Nog'th, since he has a plan. Ariadne comes running over and tells Ahab about the Hellmaids. She says Julian needs her help and begins to cast a spell. Ahab tells Felix he's planning on fetching Benedict from Chaos. Ariadne finishes her spell and a fiery steed appears in the air over her head. She mounts it and rides for Arden. Ahab says he has a way of getting the Left Eye of the Serpent back, but he needs the help of some of his uncles, and they like Felix better than him. Felix asks him to explain how he'll find the Left Eye, but Ahab says he can't. He does say that Fiona has given him a way to bring warriors through as soon as he arrives at the Left Eye's location. He wants Eric's help, but they are blocked when they try to Trump him. Remembering that she helped Felix break through to Eric before, Ahab sends a page for Ariana. While they are waiting for her, Ahab fills Felix in on more of his plans details He says he will get a Trump from Fiona, which will allow him to create a gate that the others can use to join him. Felix asks if he knows where the Left Eye is. Ahab says he doesn't know exactly, but he'll be able to find it. He says he can't tell Felix more, because that knowledge would cause the deaths of certain people. The page finds Ariana and tells her Ahab wants her in the courtyard. She Trumps him and asks what's going on. He says he needs her help so she comes through. He tells her of his plans to recover the Left Eye. She also asks how he'll find the Left Eye, and receives the same answer as Felix. She asks how she can help. He asks her to help them Trump Eric. With her assistance, they are able to get through. Eric looks rather unhappy about the whole thing. Ahab tries to get Eric's help. After a lot of brown-nosing on Ahab's part, Eric says he'll be willing to help. He asks them to Trump him when they're ready to start. Felix sees Mandor come riding up, minus Gerard and Flora. He tells Mandor about the attacks from the sea-serpents and Hellmaids. He also asks where his father is. Mandor hands him a scroll and says it should answer Felix's questions. He leaves to talk to Random. Ariana suggests getting Shard's help for the operation and sends a page to get him. Felix sends a page to get Alex as well. They agree to meet back in the courtyard in half an hour. Felix looks for his mother. Ariana leaves for the armory, after instructing one of her guards to direct Shard there when he arrives. Ahab finds a private spot and Trumps Fiona. He asks if she can still help him. Fiona asks what he's planning. When he tells her, she advises him that Rygat is a master of sorcery, Trump and Logrus, and she doubts he can defeat her. Ahab says he planned to come in too quickly for her to respond. Fiona thinks Rygat would be able to stop him before he could escape. After all, Rygat has even more power than she does. She also points out that the Eye may have been returned to its original location. Ahab asks her for advice. She says that subtlety is necessary, if he is to succeed. She likes his idea for getting to the Left Eye, but suggests that she accompany him. She will try her best to make herself invisible to Rygat and be his ace in the hole. She figures that if worse comes to worse, she and Ariana should be able to tag-team Rygat. She doesn't think Heather will be up to going. She suggests getting Ariadne's help, but Ahab says she's busy fighting the Hellmaids in Arden. Fiona tells Ahab that he'll find her on the table in her room in 20 minutes. Ahab goes to the armory. Heather Trumps Fiona. Fiona asks if she's all right. Heather is unhappy about what happened to her. Fiona suggests getting revenge, but Heather is not sure how to go about it. Fiona asks if she wants to be helpful. Heather wants to know what Fiona means by that. Fiona asks Heather to back her up. When Heather agrees, Fiona asks if she has any magical allergies. Heather asks Mary to keep Medb from saying unfortunate things and goes through to Fiona. Fiona casts a changing spell on Heather. When it is done, Heather feels like she is viewing the world through a green crystal. Fiona tells her to be careful because her thoughts can still be picked up. Fiona casts the spell on herself as well. When Heather asks what Fiona did, Fiona says she's turned them into a couple of pretties for Ahab. Shard is getting ready to return his room when the page intercepts him and tells him that Ariana wishes to see him in the courtyard. He sends the page to tell them he'll be down in five minutes. Alex is found by a page who tells him that Felix wants to see him in the courtyard. He goes there and finds only Ariana's guard. He decides to go to the armory. Ariana and Ahab are arming themselves when Alex enters. They quickly co-opt his assistance. Shard arrives at the armory shortly afterward and is filled in on the plan. Ahab goes to Fiona's room and finds a bracelet with two gems. He goes over the final details of the plan with Fiona, unaware that Heather is the other gem. Fiona tells him there is a Trump card on the table which will allow him to create a gate from one place to another. Felix tells Isabeux that there is civil war in Chaos. He tells her that Gerard sent a letter with Mandor and that she shouldn't worry. He doesn't mention that Gerard asked him to stay in Amber, where it's safest. Ahab and the others gather in the courtyard. Brand arrives and remarks that they all look pretty dressed up in their best. Ariana asks if he wants to join them. He asks where they're going. She says Ahab should explain. Ahab Trumps Felix and asks if he's ready. Felix says to wait a moment and then comes through. Ahab explains his plan to Brand, who opts not to come along. Ahab borrows Felix's Trump of Eric and contacts him. Eric asks to come through when they are out of Amber. Ahab tells him that's impossible, since they will be leaving from Amber. Eric comes through and frowns when he sees Alex, who is in a Chaos form. Ahab explains that he will be opening up a Trump gate when he reaches the Left Eye. Those coming through should kill anyone they don't recognize. He asks Eric if everyone with Pattern imprint can death curse. Ariana and Shard both ask what a death curse is, so Ahab explains. He advises they use it to curse Amber's enemies if they become mortally wounded. Ahab sparkles out of existence and arrives at Corwin's Pattern. He walks it and has it transport him to the Left Eye. When he tries to open the Trump gate, nothing happens. He looks around and sees a thirteen year-old girl leaning against a tree. She asks if something is wrong. He says it's just been a long day and that this wasn't what he was expecting. Fiona and Heather come under mental attack. After a while, Fiona tells Ahab "Oh piss, I'll be back in a while." and the bracelet disappears. The girl asks if Ahab's a prince of Amber. He says it sounds like she's already reached her own conclusions and asks who she is. She says she has many names, some of which he might recognize. He notices that her voice sounds a little like Dara's. She wonders how much ransom he'd bring. He says that if he was worth ransoming, they wouldn't have let him leave the Castle. She disagrees, saying Ahab's very special. He asks if he's her prisoner. She asks if he wants to be. He's not real keen about that idea. She asks how he was planning on getting back. She tells him he can't use Trump, since she had to turn them off. He says she has the Pattern locked up so he can't Hellride out. She thinks he could. He points out that she's probably arranged things so he can't leave, and asks her to tell him what she did, to save him the trouble of finding out the hard way. She replies that she enjoys watching people bleed, which he says they have in common. She asks if he'll cut her down where she stands, but he says he doesn't think he'd succeed. She asks how Amber fares without Dworkin. He says Dworkin's not missed. She asks if he'd like to visit Dworkin, but he'd rather not. She says she's planning to reunite the old houses, and if he is loyal she'll let him live. Meanwhile, back in Amber, the group is starting to suspect something has gone wrong. Fiona suddenly appears, says Ahab's gotten in a bit of a jam, and that they need to get back to him as fast as possible. She starts drawing a Trump gate out of the air. When she finishes, they hurry through it. They find it's much like walking through a tunnel. Rygat says that there will be company soon, and ponders how to handle them. She starts molding the shadow, eliminating any cover and creating a heard of velociraptors. As the group nears the end of the gate, Fiona says "Oh shit" as she Heather are enveloped in a blackish cloud and disappear. Ahab shoots Rygat, but it doesn't affect her. He shoots a velociraptor, which screams and attacks him. The others hear the noise but have to emerge from the gate since it's collapsing. They are immediately attacked by the velociraptors, so they form a circle and start fighting. After they kill about half of the velociraptors, the creatures back off and study the situation. Fiona mumbles something about hating Primal Chaos and tells Heather to stick close to her. A few minutes later, she gives Heather a Trump, tells her to concentrate on it, and says she'll be back as fast as she can. Heather sees that it is a Trump of herself. The group starts shooting at the velociraptors with crossbow bolts. The creatures don't know quite how to handle distance attacks. Ariana takes out some of them psychically, by taking over their minds and causing them to attack the others. The remaining velociraptors rush the group again. Alex tries a Power Word on Ahab, which fills Ahab's arm with great pain, but gives him the strength to cleave a velociraptor's skull in two. Unfortunately his arm is sprained so badly that it's almost useless after that. One of the velociraptor picks Battlestar up in its jaws and shakes him. Its teeth don't do much damage to Battlestar, but the pressure from its jaws does, causing the dog to yelp in pain. Ariana shoots the velociraptor in the leg, causing it to drop Battlestar. Ahab realizes his arm is not going to recover, and asks Ariana to cover him while he switches his sword to his other arm. She does so at a personal cost, taking a large gash down her chest. Eventually they kill the rest of the velociraptors. Felix takes out the last one by striking it with the corpse of another velociraptor. Suddenly, they notice a purplish/black cloud starting to form. A small figure fades in and out. and they hear maniacal laughter. Ariana tells Ahab that the cloud is similar to that which enveloped Fiona when she disappeared. Felix tells Ariana that he heard the same laughter when Dworkin disappeared. Fiona appears and says what are you waiting for, shoot it. Ahab follows her instructions and shoots twice into the mist. Fiona falls out with two crossbow bolts in her back. The first Fiona disappears. Fiona Trumps Heather and pulls her through to her. She opens her hand, which has the Left Eye, and passes out. Ariana examines Fiona and recommends against removing the bolts until she is moved to a better location. She also takes the Left Eye. Ahab tries his Trump of Amber, but it's too far away to work for him. Heather Trumps Brand and asks for his help. He asks who is with her. After she tells him, he appears and says he can only take a few people at a time. Eric and Felix pick up Fiona and are taken first. While they are waiting for Brand to return, Heather starts questioning Ahab about how he was able to find the Left Eye in the first place. Ahab refuses to answer her. Ariana and Battlestar are the next to leave, since they are the worst off of those remaining. Alex gets tired of waiting and Trumps him and Shard out of there. This leaves Heather and Ahab alone together. Ariana and Battlestar arrive in the infirmary. Ariana sends a page for Random, with the message that she has the goal of Ahab's plan. She asks if she can help with Fiona but Eric orders her to rest because of her own injury. Random gets Ariana's message and hurries down to the infirmary. Ariana is happy to turn the Left Eye over to him. Random asks Felix to let him know when Ahab returns. They learn that they have been gone for close to three months in Amber. Both Julian and Ariadne were injured in the attack on Arden, with Julian looking the worse of the two. Brand is gone for a long time. While they wait for him, Ahab and Heather have a long, heartfelt talk. When Brand returns, he marvels that they are still in one piece. He apologizes for his tardiness, explaining that Jasra picked a bad time to have the baby. He notes that Alex and Shard are missing and asks where they went. Ahab says they found alternative transportation. Brand says that Ahab now owes him a favor and takes them back to Amber. Ahab and Heather arrive in Amber three hours after the others. Felix Trumps Random and tells him that Ahab is back. Random tells him to make sure Ahab doesn't leave. Ahab asks how Fiona is doing. Ariana tells him that with luck she'll pull through. She suggests that Ahab put his arm in a sling. Ahab and Heather walk out into the hall to talk privately. They agree to forget their previous problems with each other and start over. Alex Trumps Shard to an old shadow haunt of his. They quickly realize they have arrived in the middle of a heated battle. After finally managing to get to some high ground, Alex starts using the Logrus to pull themselves to Amber. Random arrives and says that Fiona will live, so Ahab shouldn't look so bad. He also says that Ahab pulled a "bit of a boner there." On the plus side, he does says they did a good job, and as soon as Fiona is better, they can try to free Dworkin from the Left Eye. Eric tells them that they have removed one of the bolts from Fiona, but they need to let her recover some strength before they try to remove the other. Until she recovers, Bleys has been left in charge of the Left Eye.