Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Three Felix doesn't want to trump Fiona or Bleys, but agrees to do so when Ahab asks him if he's afraid. Benedict tells Eric that there is something he must know. Eric arranges for some guards for Corwin and wants him to leave, but Benedict says everyone will soon learn his information, so Corwin might as well stay. Ahab is surprised to hear this, and comments "Information shared with all? I can't possibly be in Amber." He asks Benedict to wait for the other family members to arrive, so everyone can hear the news at once. Felix trumps Caine, but gets no response. He trumps Dierdre and tells her that Corwin and Eric have made a truce, and that Benedict has returned. He relays Ahab's request that Dierdre "make herself available", which gets an amused look from her, and she asks him to bring her through to Amber. Next, Felix tries Fiona, but, to his great relief, she doesn't respond. He decides not to bother trumping Bleys, since he heard that Bleys fell off of Kolvir and assumes that he is dead. He is able to get through to his father, Gerard, who listens to Felix's update and tells him to bring him through when it's time for the meeting. Felix notices that the ship Gerard is on looks pretty beat up. He asks him if there is still fighting going on, but Gerard assures him that the battle is over. He also tells Felix that he is on Caine's ship, but Caine is nowhere to be found. Felix says good-bye to his father and trumps Julian. He once again explains recent events, but Julian doesn't offer to come through. Felix decides to skip Llewella, and trumps Random. Random, after listening to Felix's story, tells him that he can't leave Rebma without Queen Moire's permission. Felix tells Random that he will ask the others if Random's presence is necessary. Random doesn't seem to appreciate this very much. Felix trumps Ahab and tells him of his progress. Ahab, somewhat disappointed in Felix, pulls him through and tries trumping everyone himself. He has no luck reaching Bleys, Fiona, Llewella, Caine or Oberon (now wouldn't it have been interesting if he'd answered). He brings Julian through and tells him about Caine's disappearance. Julian leaves to check this out. Ahab brings Gerard through and leads him to the sitting room where the meeting is to take place. Julian enters a short while later and shakes his head at Ahab. Benedict, seeing that everyone who's likely to show up has arrived, begins to speak. He explains that a black road has formed in shadow, and that it is heading towards Amber. He claims it could be used as an easy method for transporting armies to Amber. Eric asks Benedict if he knows what caused the road to form. Benedict responds by throwing back his cloak to expose his missing arm and saying that he tried. Most of the elders are rather shocked to see this. Benedict looks at Corwin and Eric and says that they should be using there energy for other things. Benedict is asked when he first saw the road, which he reveals was approximately one day ago. When he hears this, Felix looks at Ahab and blurts out that that was about the same time that they were in Heather's shadow. Everyone stares at Ahab upon learning this, so Ahab has to explain once more about his adventures in Heather's shadow. Corwin wants to trump Brand, since he seems to be the architect of the current situation, but Ahab doesn't want to do this without a plan. Eric gets up, tells Benedict, Julian and Gerard to see to the defense of the realm, and leaves the room. Ahab makes a snide remark about the ability of Amberites to make unanimous decisions. After riding a short distance from Heather's shadow, searching for Ariadne, Heather tells Driscoll that she must return home to do something. Driscoll and Ariana decide to accompany her. Heather goes into a small graveyard, stands before a gravestone, and attempts to commit suicide by stabbing herself in the chest with her sword. Driscoll pulls out a laser gun, concentrates, and fires, but is too late. Heather's sword appears to be deflected off of her body, but the impact knocks the wind out of her and she falls to the ground, with the laser beam passing over her head. Ariana and Driscoll run over, and Ariana notices that the sword penetrated Heather's outer clothing, but not her undergarments. Heather refuses to explain her actions, or say who Jonathan (the name on the headstone) was. Ariana doesn't understand why Heather would try to kill herself without removing her armor first. Eventually, they start off again, although Heather is still sore from her attempt and Driscoll is exhausted. After they ride for a while, they come across the black road and see a figure standing on it. Ariana points him out to Driscoll and as the figure approaches they are able to see that it is a man, 5'6" tall, average build, with black hair and silver eyes. He introduces himself as Alex, and he and Driscoll are apparently well acquainted. Everyone except for Alex seems to feel uneasy about the black road. Back in the sitting room, Julian talks with Benedict about Amber's defenses. Ahab feels that the family should be working on fixing the damage to the Pattern. Corwin still wants everyone to trump Brand. Ahab eventually gives up on getting the elders to help him, and asks Julian if he needs his help. Julian smiles and says no. Ahab tells Julian to trump him if he needs him and heads off to the library. Felix talks with Gerard for a while, and offers to help with the fleet. Gerard thanks him for the offer, but wants Felix to stay in Amber. Gerard then leaves and Felix heads off to dinner. He learns that there will be no formal meal, so he gets a tray of food instead. Ahab finds all of Dworkin's books about shadow are missing. He looks for Eric to tell him about this, but he can't find him. He does find Benedict, who tells him to check Brand's room for them. Ahab is rather uneasy about doing this, but heads off for Brand's room anyway. Along the way, he runs into Felix, who is carrying a tray of food. Felix asks where Ahab where he is going. Ahab doesn't stop walking, so Felix has to run after him. Until Ahab finally answers him, that is, at which point Felix stops and tells him to have fun. Ahab retorts that if he dies, he's writing Felix out of his will, and then continues on his way. He finds that Brand's door is locked, but is able to pick the lock with his cloak pin. He notices a picture of a castle surrounded by four very different landscapes (the Keep of the Four Worlds). He goes through Brand's books and sorts them into three piles: relevant now, read later, and not useful. The first two piles are very small, and he doesn't find the missing books. He does find some handwritten notes about the Pattern and the book of the Unicorn. Further searching turns up a voodoo doll (unfinished, no recognizable face) and Werewindle. Ahab takes the books he set aside, Werewindle and the doll and leaves. He locks the door behind him, and leaves his cloak pin stuck in the lock. He finds a room with a fire going in the fireplace and throws the voodoo doll in. As it burns, it gives off an acrid black smoke. Next, Ahab looks for the room in the castle which is serving as a war room and finds Benedict there. He gives Werewindle to Benedict, who exams it and tells Ahab that it is a very good copy. Driscoll trumps Mirelle to ask for some help in locating Ariadne. While he is busy with this, Heather trumps Brand. When she gets through to him, she sees that he has been beaten and is chained to a wall. She asks him if he's all right. He asks her if she's called to gloat or be useful and requests her help in freeing him. Ariana tries to see which trump Heather is using, but Heather breaks the contact and hides the card. Ariana accuses Heather of talking to Brand, and Heather refuses to confirm or deny this. Driscoll finishes talking with Mirelle and gives Ariana trumps of Ahab and Felix that Mirelle had asked him to pass on to her. Ariana refuses to show them to Heather. Driscoll asks what he missed while he was in the trump contact, which sets Ariana and Heather to arguing again. Driscoll eventually lets out a loud whistle to get their attention and tells them that it's time to get going again. Ariana glares at Heather and offers to help if Heather wants to try to kill herself again. Heather glares back, then trumps Medb and returns home. Driscoll and Alex start to talk about "the others". When Ariana asks if these others are Amberites. They tell her that they're mostly from Chaos and continue riding before she can ask any more questions. Upon arriving home, Heather trumps Mirelle and offers her condolences on Mirelle's destroyed shadow. Mirelle tells her that this is the fourth shadow of hers that Brand has destroyed, and that it will be the last. She also mentions that Brand has been a lot more violent recently than he was in the past. Felix brings his dinner up to one of the castle battlements and watches the sunset while he eats. Ahab removes his cloak pin from Brand's lock and jams the copy of Werewindle in to replace it. He looks for Felix, but fails to find him in his bedroom or the dining room. Growing impatient, he uses his trump of Felix to reach him and sort of apologizes for being rude to him in the hallway. With this accomplished, he decides to look up Ariana, so he gets his horse (Zero) starts Hellriding towards her. Ariana decides that Mirelle must have given her the trumps for a reason, so she trumps Ahab. Ahab says that he needs to talk to her and asks her to bring him through, which she does. He offers an apology to her for his behavior when they were in Heather's shadow. Driscoll is amused by this, and tells Ariana to make him squirm some more, but Ariana accepts the apology. Ahab asks what's been going on, so Ariana tells him about the Black Road and Chaos. The fact that she passed on the information about Chaos upsets Driscoll, and he explains to Ariana about Amberites and secrets. Ahab and Driscoll talk about parents, and Driscoll reveals that he is Random's son, although Random doesn't know about him. He was apparently found in shadow by Mirelle, in much the same way that Driscoll found Ariana. Driscoll suggests trumping Felix to get his help in finding Ariadne, since she seems to be fond of him. Ahab does so, and finds Felix packing to go to the summer house. He agrees to help and Ahab brings him through to join the group. Driscoll also insists that Heather's presence is necessary. Both Ahab and Ariana object to this, but eventually agree to let Driscoll and Alex ride back and get her. When they arrive, Heather agrees to see them and serves tea. Driscoll tells her that they need her help in finding Ariadne, and they explain to her about Chaos. Heather tells them that Brand has been imprisoned and wants their help in rescuing him in exchange for her aiding them. She argues that Brand is insane and therefore cannot be blamed for his actions. Eventually Driscoll agrees to go through a trump contact that Heather will open with Brand and try to free him. Alex will remain behind and watch Heather. With this agreed, Driscoll goes to another part of the house to do something with his sword. Ariana, Ahab and Felix continue to search for Ariadne. After a while, they realize that Driscoll and Alex have not returned, so Ahab rides for Heather's shadow to find out what's keeping them. While they wait to hear from Ahab, Ariana and Felix arrange to leave her servants in his parents summer home. Ahab reaches Heather's shadow and is eventually let in, but told to go straight to the parlor and not pass by any portraits or valuables. Ahab joins Heather for tea and they both feign politeness. Alex tells Ahab that Driscoll is going to help Heather rescue Brand. This news makes Ahab very unhappy. He tries to find the trump portraits, but they are no longer anywhere to be found. He trumps Felix and brings him and Ariana through. Ariana is equally unhappy to hear about the rescue attempt. They argue with Heather about it, while Alex goes looking for Driscoll to tell him about the new arrivals. Ahab and Ariana soon start looking for Driscoll as well. Alex finds him first, in deep concentration in one of the manor's upstairs rooms, with his sword floating in front of him. Alex clears his throat, which startles Driscoll into letting out a yell. Ahab and Ariana hear this and come running in. More arguing ensues about the planned rescue attempt. Ahab wants to find Brand and kill him. Ariana feels that if any attempt is made at all, Brand should be knocked unconscious first, and transported to another shadow prison, where he can be questioned. Both Ariana and Ahab are concerned about learning who is currently holding Brand prisoner, before taking any action. They all agree to group trump Brand and ask for this information before agreeing to help him. They focus on a trump of Brand, but meet resistance. While the rest of the group is arguing, Heather trumps Fiona and tells her about Brand's imprisonment, and that she intends to rescue him. Fiona seems very interested to hear this, but doesn't offer any help. Frustrated, Heather trumps Driscoll to find out if he's ready yet. Driscoll drops out of the group trump to take the call. Everyone else feels him leave and break off the attempt in an effort to find out what is going on. Driscoll won't tell Heather what he is doing, and when Ariana touches Driscoll to come into the contact, Heather breaks it. Everyone tries the group trump thing again, with no more success. At the same time, Heather also trumps Brand, and gets through. She has Brand pull her through to him, and then proceeds to trump Driscoll. Once again, Driscoll drops out of the group trump to take the call, and everyone else breaks off the attempt to find out why he left. Heather tells Driscoll that she needs his help and asks him to come through to her. When pressed for more details, she repeats that she needs his help. Apparently Driscoll doesn't remember that the last time he responded to a plea of this sort from Heather, he wound up bleeding on the Pattern, because he goes through. Ariana, who had grabbed Driscoll in an effort to learn who he was talking to, goes through with him. Ahab yells for Felix to break the contact with his psychic barrier pin, but it is too late. Driscoll and Ariana appear in Brand's cell, and Driscoll proceeds to free Brand before Ariana can stop him. Brand transports them all back to Heather's parlor. Meanwhile, the group watches Driscoll and Ariana disappear with a great deal of dismay. Ahab assumes the worst and trumps back to Amber immediately. Felix and Alex hang around. Eventually, they wander downstairs and find Brand and company. Ariana tries to get Brand to admit who was holding him, but Brand refuses to reveal this without receiving information in exchange. Ariana blames the whole situation on Heather and mentions that the Abyss would be the ideal place for her to reside. Brand does not take kindly to this and intimates that he could arrange for Ariana to spend some time in the Abyss if she likes. Deciding that he needs a shave, Brand proceeds to shave himself in the parlor. Driscoll, who appeared behind Brand when the group returned, finally figures out that he has done a bad thing and tries to attack Brand. Brand sees Driscoll advancing on him in his shaving mirror and uses a spell to knock Driscoll into a wall. The force of the impact knocks Driscoll out and breaks several of his ribs. Ariana looks for an opening, but Brand is facing her. Brand decides that he needs to make some attitude adjustments to those present and tells Felix to remove his pin, since it has a psychic barrier. Ariana tells Felix not to and Felix makes a break for the door. Brand takes Felix out with a sleep spell and removes the pin. Ariana tries to get to Driscoll's sunglasses, which fell off of his head when he hit the wall, but Brand levitates her so she can't move. He begins casting his spell to alter their memories. Ariana notices that the ring on Brand's finger seems to be giving him a great deal of his power. She tries to hit Brand with a dagger, hoping that the casting the spell will distract him sufficiently for her to get through, but he easily deflects the blade. Ariana changes tactics, feints another throw at Brand, but throws the dagger at Heather's throat instead. Unfortunately, she misses the carotid artery, although she does slice into Heather's neck. Brand decides that Ariana is too much of a nuisance and puts her to sleep as well. He places a hand on Heather's head and apologizes to her. Heather accepts his apology, thinking that he's going to heal her injury. He does, but he also alters her memories as well. Brand's spell makes Ariana, Alex, Driscoll, Felix and Heather all believe that Heather was simply a dupe of her father, and that she wasn't responsible for her actions. It also erases all memory of Brand casting the spell. Once he completes his alterations, Brand leaves. Back in Amber, Ahab frantically seeks out Benedict and explains to him what's happened. Benedict demands to be taken to Heather's shadow, and the two set off down the path. They arrive to find everyone unconscious in the parlor, with no sign of Brand. Ahab finds a pair of shackles and binds Heather's hands and feet. Ahab wakes Felix up and berates him for not moving faster and preventing Driscoll from trumping out earlier. Felix wakes Ariana up, while Benedict takes care of Driscoll. Ariana sets Driscoll's ribs while Benedict questions Felix. He is not happy to see Alex there, since Alex is a Chaosite. He allows Alex to live when Alex explains that he is not against Amber. After hearing Felix's side of things, Benedict waits for Ariana to be finished with Driscoll, and then drags him off to another room. What occurred there must have been one major ass-chewing, for Driscoll emerges looking thoroughly whipped. While Driscoll is enduring Benedict's tongue-lashing, Alex removes Heather's shackles and the two sit down for tea. Ahab is rather upset at this, but no one else seems to share is concern. When Benedict and Driscoll return, Benedict forces everyone to return to Amber with him. Once they trump into the Great Hall, Benedict allows Ahab and Felix to leave, but he insists that the others be taken to see Eric. Not wishing to challenge Benedict, Ariana, Driscoll, Alex and Heather allow themselves to be led off.