From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Mon Jan 17 20:29:12 1994
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 16:20:50 EST
From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu
To: thari@umich.edu
Subject: Kris' Campaign Log

Chapter Twenty-eight
 
        As Mirelle walks away, Felix changes his mind.  He calls out to 
her and says that the elders will be upset with him if all he comes 
back with is her teddy.  She asks what he means.  He tells her this is 
for her own good and picks her up in a fireman's carry.  She 
demands he put her down.  He refuses.  As he begins to carry her 
back to the cavern, she gives him the wedgie of his life.  She pulls so 
hard that his underwear rips off and she begins to beat him with it. 
He tries to Trump Gerard, but doing so causes him to loosen his hold 
on Mirelle and she almost gets away.  He gives up and continues 
walking.  She begins plucking out all the hair she can find on his 
backside.  He tells her to stop.  She says to put her down and starts 
pulling on his pants.  He argues that he can't put her down because 
she'll try to get away.  She contends that Brand deserved it.  He says 
that's not a good enough reason.  She attempts to distract him by 
claiming that Brand raped Isabeux.  Felix doesn't believe her.  She 
points out that Felix has red hair.  He insists it's auburn and tells her 
to stop that line of thought.  She yanks on his pants hard enough to 
rip a patch off.  He slams her up against the wall.  She tells him to 
stop and tries to confuse him so he doesn't know the way back.  She 
rips his pants enough that they fall down around his legs.  He steps 
out of them and starts running down the hall.  She tells him that 
she's going to be sick.  Since his suit is already ruined, Felix doesn't 
care.  Mirelle continues to beat on him.
 
        Felix finally reaches the cavern, but no one is there.  Felix 
shouts and gets a guard's attention.  He asks the guard to get his 
father.  The guard says the Gerard is rather busy.  Felix insists, so the 
guard leaves to find Gerard.  Mirelle continues beating on Felix.  He 
asks her to stop.  She asks to be put down.  He still refuses.  He asks 
her to take back what she said about his mother.  She insists it's true. 
She continues pounding on him, so he backs up against a wall to 
immobilize her.  She complains that she can't breathe.  He fishes his 
Trump deck out, getting elbowed a couple of times in the process.  He 
Trumps the first card he comes across, which turns out to be Fiona's.
 
        Fiona is talking to Heather when she gets the call.  Felix tells 
her he has Mirelle and asks to be pulled through.  Fiona warns that 
she has company.  Felix asks them to avert their eyes as he comes 
through.  Fiona looks down and comments that Felix could use some 
more sun.  Felix asks if Fiona could hold onto Mirelle while he gets 
some pants.  Fiona points out that she won't be able to hold onto 
Mirelle in the same manner as Felix.  Felix asks her to Trump Gerard, 
but Fiona says he's busy working on Brand.  Felix asks her to try 
Random instead.  She does so and hands Felix the card.  He tells 
Random that he has Mirelle, backs up against the wall to immobilize 
Mirelle, and pulls Random through.  Random stares at Felix for a 
moment, but makes no comment.  Felix tosses Mirelle onto a coach 
and turns her over to Random.  He manages to sneak back to his 
room without encountering anyone else.
 
        Mirelle starts fighting Random, much to Fiona and Heather's 
dismay.  Heather attempts to steer them out of the room, and is hit in 
her injured ribs for her trouble.  Random and Mirelle are eventually 
maneuvered into the hallway.
 
        Those in the infirmary hear a loud crash as the fighting pair 
make their way upstairs.  Ariana is at a delicate point of the 
operation on Ahab so she doesn't investigate.  Alex does, and gets 
embroiled in the combat.  Mirelle tries to bring up the Pattern.  Alex 
uses a mental disrupt power word on her.  After the first two times 
it loses its effectiveness  When she continues to concentrate, he slams 
her up against the wall a few times.  This effectively prevents her 
from concentrating, until he stops and tries to strangle her with the 
Logrus instead.  This gives Mirelle a chance to get the Pattern up. 
The contact of the Pattern with Alex's Logrus tentacle quickly knocks 
Alex out.
 
        Random calls for some guards.  Felix peeks out of his room to 
see what's going on and finds that Random has pinned Mirelle up 
against the wall.  Random notes that Felix has "addressed" his 
problem.  Shortly afterwards, the guards show up and shackle 
Mirelle, who is swearing a blue streak.  She and Felix give each other 
pathetic looks, trying to make the other one feel guilty.  Felix tells 
Mirelle they are at war and without family, what do you have? 
Mirelle shoots back "Peace and quiet."  Alex wakes up and makes a 
comment about the dungeons not being very good for holding shape 
shifters.  Random offers to discuss this at some later time.  He thanks 
Felix for his help.  Felix feels badly about hurting Mirelle, so he sulks.
 
        Benedict arrives in Arden.  He and Corwin retire to a tent to 
confer.  Shard decides Benedict's appearance makes his presence 
superfluous and heads back to Amber.  He arrives just in time to see 
Mirelle being locked in a room by Random and the guards.  Shard 
spots Alex trailing along at the rear and approaches him.  Alex says 
he's missed all the fun.  Shard asks who the woman was.  Alex tells 
him her name's Mirelle.  At Shard's blank look, he explains that she's 
a relative.  Shard thinks there are entirely too many relatives 
around.  He asks if anyone's dead or pregnant.  Alex replies "No, 
almost", but refuses to elaborate on which answer went with what 
question.  Shard asks what happened to Alex.  Alex replies he ran 
into something rather solid, prompting Shard to ask if Heather's still 
around.  Alex says that she's plotting something and Benedict has 
returned, so things should start happening real soon now.  He also 
mentions that Julian's awake and was staring rather lewdly at 
Heather.  Shard is shocked speechless by this.  He asks if Ahab's 
gotten himself killed yet.  Alex says no, but he's gotten punctured. 
Shard is not surprised.  He asks where Felix is.  Alex tells him where 
he saw Felix last.
 
        Shard tries Felix's room first, but no one answers his knock.  He 
finds a page and asks where Felix is.  The page suggests trying the 
next hallway.  Shard does so and finds Felix standing there, staring at 
the floor.  He greets Felix, but is thrown off by his morose expression. 
Felix fills Shard in on what he's missed.  They plan to go into town 
for lunch.
 
        Ariana finishes sewing up Ahab and goes to help Gerard. 
Gerard is putting Brand into traction, with bolts in his head and 
femurs, in an attempt to re-align his spine.  Ahab wakes up to the 
sound of Brand complaining profusely.  He is delighted to realize that 
he can hear.  He is even more delighted that his first sounds are 
those of Brand in pain.  He asks a nurse to fetch his revolver, but the 
nurse isn't keen on this idea.  Ariana hears Ahab's voice and is 
surprised to find that he's awake so soon.  After Brand's spine is 
popped back into place, along with Brand's accompanying scream, 
she walks over to see how Ahab is feeling.  She is amazed to learn 
that his hearing has returned.  She tells him that Mirelle has been 
captured, which makes him very happy.  She tries to estimate how 
much Ahab's hearing has improved.  He has about 50% back, but he 
fudges his responses so she thinks it's only 25%.
 
        Alex and Random decide that Heather should be supervised 
while she is planning.  They decide Mandor is the best man for the 
job.  Alex goes to Mandor's room and finds that Mandor is drunk off 
his ass.  Mandor glares at Alex when Alex asks if he's having girl 
trouble.  Alex asks if Mandor has finished the list he requested.  He 
finds that Mandor managed to write five names down on the list 
before he got drunk.  Alex recognizes three of them, one of whom 
was known as a bit of a troublemaker.  All of them are 
heavyweights.
 
        Shard goes to the infirmary.  Julian is no longer there, but he 
sees Ariana and Ahab and chats with them.  Jasra comes in and visits 
with Brand.  Brand is not happy to see her, but he decides to milk it 
for all he's worth.  Shard asks what's wrong with Felix, but Ahab and 
Ariana don't know.
 
        Heather goes to Mebd's room and sits down for a chat.  Mebd 
looks at Heather expectantly.  Heather can't bring herself to say what 
she came there to say, so she remains silent.  Mebd goes back to 
working on her needlework.  She and Heather spend most of the 
afternoon chatting about things of no importance.
 
        Alex goes to Random's quarters and tells him about the list. 
Random points out that the names won't mean much to him.  Alex 
suggests asking the other experts about the names he didn't 
recognize.  He informs Random that Mandor won't be much use, since 
he's been drinking heavily.  Random decides not to send a page for 
Mandor.  Alex tells Random what he knows about the three names he 
recognized.
 
        Ariana goes to the kitchen to get some lunch.  Gerard and 
Isabeux are the only other relatives there.  Shard meets Felix and 
they go into town for lunch.  Shard asks Felix about Mirelle.  Felix 
tells him what little he knows.
 
        Ariana goes back to her quarters and tells her guards she does 
not wish to be disturbed.  She enters a meditative state and starts 
searching for memories of her early life.  She finds no memories of 
Oberon or the woman she saw in Tir-na Nog'th.  More effort brings 
the sensation of someone who she's sure was her mother. 
Surprisingly, she feels afraid of her.  She tries to enhance this 
memory.  After a great deal of effort, she is able to determine that 
her mother had hazel eyes.
 
        Ahab sleeps for half an hour.  When he wakes up, he sends a 
page to the library for a book to read, and requests some light food. 
The book comes with a note from Bill, who hopes it helps.  He 
finishes reading the book in two hours or so.  He asks a nurse to 
remove his catheter.  She tries to persuade him that she's not 
qualified to do so, and the nurse who can won't be on duty until 
tomorrow.  Ahab doesn't believe her.  He asks who's orders she's 
taking.  She won't say, which convinces him that it's Deirdre. 
Eventually he convinces her to remove it, although she says she 
could lose her job.
 
        Alex finds Kimdyl in the library.  She is reading the Book of the 
Unicorn, which she finds rather amusing.  She claims it's not true, 
and she doubts the Unicorn even exists.  Alex tries to convince her 
that he's seen it, but she doesn't believe him.  He tries to persuade 
her to come down to dinner, but she would rather eat in her room. 
Batting 0 for 2, he leaves her and goes to Mebd's room.
 
        Alex is surprised to find Heather in the room with Mebd.  Mebd 
chides Alex for abandoning her in favor of Kimdyl.  Alex protests 
that Kimdyl's just an old school chum.  He points out that he's come 
to visit her.  Heather and Mebd verbally torment Alex for a while. 
Alex suggests that Heather go comfort Mandor, who's having some 
girl trouble.  Heather glares at him, and switches the subject back to 
Kimdyl.  Alex changes it back, saying he thought that perhaps 
Heather had told Mandor something distressing, and he wanted to 
see how Mebd was handling it.  Mebd says that Heather hasn't told 
her anything.  She hints that she'd like to go for a walk, so Alex 
offers to take her.  He asks if she's seen the weight Mirelle dropped 
on Brand, and mentions that Mirelle ripped Felix's pants off.  Mebd 
tells him that a proper gentleman asks a lady out once and a while, 
for more than just walks.  Alex promises he'll ask her out more often. 
She hints that there are some wonderful pastries at a shop in town, 
so he takes her there.
 
        Heather goes up to the battlements and sulks.
 
        Ariana goes down to dinner, feeling rather drained.  Ahab does 
as well, after taking the cane pressed on him by the nurse.  Random, 
Vialle, Gerard, Isabeux, Alex and Mebd are the other family 
members present.  Mary walks in late and sits by herself.  Mebd is 
surprised to see Ahab walking around.
 
        Ahab eats quickly, leaves and Trumps Corwin.  He asks if 
Corwin has a moment.  Corwin asks if he's going to be wanting to 
borrow Greyswandir.  Ahab assures him that's not why he called and 
goes through.  Ahab asks if Corwin's seen Deirdre recently.  He learns 
that Corwin hasn't talked to Deirdre since she was wounded, mostly 
because Deirdre doesn't want to see him.  Ahab tries to learn what 
might be depressing Deirdre, but Corwin doesn't know.  He mentions 
that he was thinking of going to Tir-na Nog'th to find out.  Corwin 
suggests waiting until he's healed some more.  Ahab replies that he 
wasn't planning to go tonight.  Corwin volunteers to lend Ahab 
Greyswandir if he needs it.  Ahab thanks him.  They discuss the war 
with Rygat for a while.  Ahab suggests that Hellmaids will have some 
difficulty in getting field artillery up Kolvir towards the Pattern. 
Corwin looks rather thoughtful as he considers this.
 
        Ahab Trumps back to the Main Hall.  He runs into Ariadne 
there, wearing Felix's broach.  Ariadne is surprised to see him, saying 
she thought he was shot in an area that precluded walking.  Ahab 
tells her they took the arrow out.  He asks how she got Felix's broach. 
She answers that Felix gave it to her, which Ahab thinks was awfully 
generous.  He asks if it was a Birthday gift.  Ariadne decides it must 
have been.  They start talking about Birthdays and weddings. 
Ariadne mentions that it's been a while since she's had a wedding. 
Ahab learns she was married once, as part of an arranged marriage. 
She thinks her husband got off easy, since he lived.  Ahab tells her 
she reminds him of Deirdre.  She asks if he needs any help getting 
where he's going.  He insists he'll be fine.
 
        Felix and Shard walk into the Main Hall and see Ariadne and 
Ahab.  Ariadne thanks Felix for her Birthday present.  Felix is not 
happy to learn that Ahab led her to this conclusion.  He tries to 
persuade her to give it back in an Amber day.  She argues that he 
never specified that, and says she'll let him know when the day is 
up.  Felix argues in vain to get it back sooner.  Ariadne points out 
that if he didn't want to give her a prize, he shouldn't have suggested 
it.  Ahab tries to get her to give it back, explaining that the broach 
has some defensive properties against psychic attack.  Ariadne looks 
sympathetic, saying that without it Felix probably feels naked.  Felix 
hears the naked part and gets defensive, thinking they're talking 
about his earlier state of undress.  When Ariadne asks if he was 
naked, he denies it.  Ahab eventually persuades her to give the 
broach back.  Shard just stands there smirking during the entire 
conversation.  Ahab goes to the library, with Ariadne following him 
up the stairs, in case he needs help.
 
        Felix and Shard arrive at the dining hall together, just in time 
for dessert.
 
        Ahab starts looking for books on siege warfare, specifically 
cannons verses castles.  He notices that Kimdyl is reading the Book of 
the Unicorn.  Every now and then she snickers.  He asks if she's 
planning to convert.  She says possibly, but Ahab doesn't buy it.  He 
mentions he found the Book of the Serpent rather instructive when 
he was in Chaos.  He also says that the Serpent Trumped a relative of 
his.  Kimdyl doesn't believe him.  She notes the book he's reading and 
comments that she thought Amberites used Tarot cards for 
predicting the future.
 
        Heather begins to feel cold up on the battlements.  She gets a 
Trump call which she ignores, not wanting to talk to anyone at the 
moment.  The call persists, so she eventually gives in and takes it. 
It's Random, who's looking rather annoyed.  He tells her that Fiona is 
ready and asks her to join him.  He closes the contact before she can 
ask to come through, so she walks down to his quarters.
 
        Felix gets a Trump call from Random, asking him to report to 
his quarters.  Ariana gets one as well, but resists it.  Random gives 
the card to Heather and has her force it.  She relays the message to 
Ariana, who asks to come through.  Random says to make her walk, 
so Heather breaks the contact.  Ariana decides that if that's his 
attitude, she'll take her time getting there.  Ahab is next in line on 
the Trump list, but Random is willing to bring him through, because 
of his injury.  Shard is the last one Trumped.  The incoming call 
confuses him, since he's never gotten one before.  Random requests 
his presence and asks why it took him so long to answer.  When 
Shard explains, Random looks disgusted with Julian.  Shard and 
Ariana both armor up before reporting.  Ariana arrives just in time 
to hear Random say they must protect Heather.  She asks why.  He 
tells them that Heather has found a way to defeat Rygat.  He also 
sarcastically thanks Ariana for joining them.  Ariana points out that 
he didn't say it was urgent.  Random refuses to give them more 
details about the plan, since the less they know, the less Rygat can 
learn.  He does tell them that Bleys will be accompanying them and 
emphasizes that it is important that the object Heather carries be 
protected.  Ariana asks what it is.  Random says it is a powerful 
artifact, then decides that perhaps Bleys should carry it.  He tells 
them to be ready to go at five in the morning.
 
        Ariana asks to have a word with Heather.  They go out into the 
hall where Ariana admits she may have misjudged Heather and 
apologizes.  Martin walks up and expresses astonishment that Ariana 
and Heather are having a civil conversation.  He asks what's they're 
doing outside Random's quarters, but they pretend nothing is going 
on.  He suggests to Ariana that it's been a while since they shared 
each other's company.  She agrees, so they retire to Ariana's 
quarters.
 
        Ahab seeks out Gramble.  He learns that Random has the power 
to make gunpowder no longer work in Amber, but Gramble doubts 
Random knows how.  Ahab asks who would know the formula for 
creating gunpowder that will work in Chaos.  Gramble suggests 
talking to his son, Despil.
 
        While they are sleeping together, Martin continues trying to 
learn what Random is planning, but Ariana continues to plead 
ignorance.
 
        Alex talks with Mebd, who is worried about Heather.  He hints 
that there is something significant that Heather is not telling Mebd, 
but won't tell her what it is.  After listening to her for several hours, 
he goes to Mandor's quarters.  Mandor is still rather hung over.  Alex 
warns him that things will be happening soon, but says he doesn't 
know what.  Mandor looks at him oddly and suggests Alex take up 
drinking as a recreational hobby.  Alex makes a comment about 
Heather being confused.  Mandor indicates he'd like Alex to leave.
 
        Ahab finds Despil and explains what he wants.  Despil asks how 
close to the Rim they'll be getting, but Ahab isn't sure.  Despil opens a 
drawer full of ammo and begins handing some of it to Ahab.  He 
advises that if worse comes to worse, just keep firing, as some of the 
shells are bound to work.  Ahab promises to bring back the ones he 
doesn't shoot.