Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
"I Just Wondered If He Was Bulletproof "
Aedan's Journal. Session 6-11-00.
© 2000 Todd Worrell
Above me, majestic trees swayed in the breeze. Birds sang. It was a good day to be hopelessly lost in my own back yard. A mote of light appeared and danced about my head. It floated and bobbed down the trail. In stories one was supposed to follow will-o-the-wisps, so I followed it. Aedan: diligent hero.
Time passed, and so did I. Winding my way among the arboreal giants, I wondered aloud about recent events in Amber. Either someone had dumped loads of Industrial Strength Plant Food all over the castle, or wild magic was at work. From my own experience, I guessed that the abundance of flora at the center of all things was not directed by an entity of some sort; it seemed too haphazard, too easily influenced by our own powers, and too ineffectual. If someone had enough power to turn the Castle into a forest preserve, he or she surely had enough power to do whatever he or she pleased and all of our efforts at resistance would mean little.
No, this outbreak of foliage was on par with a force of nature—quite literally, perhaps. As I made my way along the Balcony Wood, I decided that I rather liked the new landscape. Stone and plaster were the norm, as castles went, but they were also pretty boring. The new castle showed influences of a radical shift in architecture.
Unless, of course, I was no longer on the castle balcony.
That depressing thought was confirmed by the sight of a settlement in a clearing ahead of me. My shining tour guide beckoned me to a narrow side path that seemed to veer toward the inhabited zone. I went.
Tall, willowy people scurried about a number of pavilions, intent on carrying things from one place to another. Dominating this little compound was a graceful palace out of every little girl's dreams. White marble towers with delicate silver veins stretched gently toward the afternoon sky.
Something zipped past me in the underbrush, too quickly for me to see what it was. Turning my gaze down I saw that the people were milling about purposefully. They were cleaning up the meadow, repairing their tents and such. Upon closer reflection, the palace looked a little damaged as well.
I made my way to the palace gate, almost unnoticed by the residents of this place. I hadn't taken any care to avoid them. They were simply too intent on their work to take note of me. The gate itself was unguarded. In fact, the double doors were wide open. I glanced about warily, then entered.
Once inside, I could see greater damage than I would have guessed. A tree grew through a wall, but it was the wall that looked out of place. A small manlike person with red skin and a green vest paused in his scurrying.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"I came to visit," I bluffed. "Is this a bad time?"
"Eh, I…no, no. Please have a seat. I will inform my mistress that she has a visitor." He strode into the interior of the palace purposefully.
Soon enough I was led into the central chamber of the palace. The room was large, airy, and dotted by rubble that seemed to have materialized somewhere above the floor but below the ceiling; it hadn't tumbled from the rafters, as there wasn't enough damage up there to justify the damage below.
An elfin woman stood on a low dais. She had narrow features, and measured about five and a half feet tall. Dressed in a green shirt and brown pants, her long blonde hair was matted slightly on one side as if she had been sleeping on it very recently.
"Greetings," she said, and tilted her head just so.
"Hello." I reached out to take her hand. By the way she offered it, I decided to shake it rather than kiss it. "My name is Aedan, and I believe I am lost."
"Lost?"
"Yes. I was in the Balcony Woods when I couldn't find the castle. A will-o-wisp appeared and I chose to follow it. I ended up here."
"Oh," she said, pursing her mouth rather cutely.
She looked down and bit her finger lightly, her face the textbook-perfect image of puzzlement.
"The castle at…?" she prompted.
"Amber."
"Oh," again. "Did you turn left on the balcony?"
"I honestly don't remember." Thinking instead of the presence of the great invisible thing.
"I would be willing to bet that you turned left," she giggled and clapped her hands coquettishly. Even foolish people may be powerful. Another one of Caine's many axioms echoed in my mind.
"I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name." I said.
"I am Giselle, Flora's daughter." She bent her head at a slight angle. "Are you of Amber?"
"Yes. I'm Deirdre's son."
At the mention of Deirdre, she hopped down from the dais and grabbed my upper arm.
"You must see something," she began. "There is a statue in our hall—or two statues, depending on how you look at it. I think it's your mother and my father. Um, I know it's my father, and I believe the woman is your mother."
She dragged me into the hallway. Directly in front of me was a statue of white marble with silver veins. It was my mother. She was holding the hand of another statue. This one was a man, near six feet tall, with slender features and decidedly pointed ears. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen him before.
"Touch them," she suggested.
I placed my fingertips on the marble. It was warm, much warmer than if it had only been heated by the sun. At my look of inquiry, Giselle went on.
"I wasn't at court, but I am told that this woman appeared out of thin air. She reached her hand toward my father. He reached toward her. Their hands clasped and they both turned to stone and—"
"Wait, did you say that this statue was a living, breathing person?"
"Yes." She said. "Is it your mother?"
"Yes," I said, walking around the statues. The female statue was wearing an evening gown, with crescents on the shoulders. That was it! Deirdre had been wearing this gown when I saw her in Tir na Nog'th. The man had been there also, standing near her in front of the thrones.
"What is his name?" I gestured at the fey lord.
"Finnvarra." She furled her brow minutely. "You resemble him somewhat."
I studied the male statue's face. Angular, lean, with a hint of mischief in the eyes. Yes, I saw the resemblance. Giselle had only stopped talking for a moment.
"After they turned to stone, my magic began having all these weird side effects." She swept her arm back to indicate the rubble. "Where the palace was free and natural, it became more ordered."
"In Amber, it was quite the opposite." I told her of the abundance of trees and flowers. She said that fey magic wasn't affected in the Fey Lands, but hers was. She knew about the creature on the Pattern, so I told her what I knew of it. Giselle mentioned that she had been to Amber earlier in the day, or perhaps the day before. Time ran differently here.
"You had better hope that none of your half-brothers show up soon—or a Lord of the Unseelie," Giselle said relative to nothing. "I'm really not up to dealing with them today." Her mind seemed to flit from one thought to another without spending any time in-between.
Giselle was Flora's daughter without a doubt. She was a smaller, more pixie-like version of my famous aunt. She had Finvarra's playful eyes. Her gestures and expressions seemed a little too practiced, but still the perfect model of propriety.
"From what you said about powers in Amber, it leads one to believe that it is only Amber's powers that are causing disturbances."
"We haven't had time to test any theories," I said.
"I am wondering…. If this is due to the blood of Oberon, then we are the carriers of a terrible disease."
"That's an unpleasant way to put it."
She shrugged cutely.
* * *
The way back to Amber was long, not the way I had come, and was called "the L-shaped route." Giselle wanted to stop by a nearby Shadow for some reason. As we approached on foot, I looked around.
The woods grew darker as we got closer. The canopy closed overhead and the light filtered through tinted dark red. Moss hung from low lying branches and sinister-looking lizards crept beneath our feet. The forest opened onto a clearing of harsh grass in which was perched a tall, elaborate blackstone castle. I counted eleven towers, each of which was embellished with gargoyles too numerous to count. The main gate was raised, and had what appeared to be dried blood on the spikes. An air of gloom and doom hung about the place. I felt right at home.
Giselle bade me wait outside. What she had told me about the consequences of Oberon's powers in the fey lands led me to speculate on the effect of my own spooky powers. So I flew up and inspected the treetops. I didn't detect any abnormal side-effects. The only noticeable result of my little journey was that someone was yelling at me.
It was Giselle. She had emerged from the gate leading two oddly-colored horses. Before I landed I inspected them. The taller of the two was a large fellow, with royal blue skin decorated by black swirls and an immense mane. The smaller horse was blood-red with irregular black patches and covered in scales. Both were saddled and ready to ride. I landed beside the larger horse and turned my attention to Giselle.
"—should have asked first! And who taught you?"
Nobody had taught me anything about magic. I simply awoke after my journey to Tir with my mother's gift resonating in the back of my brain. I knew I could do things then that I couldn't do before. I told Giselle of my experience in Tir, and related where I had seen her father before.
"Well, you're very loud! And what was my father doing in your vision? Did he and Deirdre join hands? Who else was there?"
She kept asking questions to which I had no answers. Of course, she didn't slow down enough for me to answer anyway. So I mostly ignored her, occasionally making a noncommittal noise. I made friends with the big blue horse. Among her ramblings, Giselle mentioned that his name was Electrick with a "k," or "Trick" for short. He didn't respond to Giselle's verbal saunterings either, so we got along fabulously.
* * *
Three hours listening to Giselle's constant stream of rants, tirades, and theories was enough time to create and rack a really sneaky silence spell. I could wrap her in an invisible noise barrier, but her weird fey senses might notice. Reluctantly, I decided to refrain from ensorcelling her. She said that the trip to Amber usually took longer this way, but that recent events must have changed that. It was the first thing I could think of that I was thankful for since the explosion. The top ten highlights of her ramblings:
1. Finnvarra, her father, was King of the Fey;
2. Oberon was once King of the Fey;
3. There were nearly thirty Fey Lords and at least that many Fey Realms;
4. A migration was currently underway, from the Fey lands to Amber. This was probably why so many of the little fellows had been seen fighting the castle guard recently;
5. Eel was not acceptable to serve at official functions, no matter how tasty it was;
6. Benedict was considered inept at best, and the Fey reveled in taking advantage of his authority in Arden;
7. Uncle Dagda was not really Giselle's uncle; he could outdrink everyone she knew, and he liked the ladies;
8. Some lipsticks were not to be worn except during the evening hours, no matter how well they complemented one's eyes;
9. Gerard had banished Corwin from Amber;
10. The border to the Fey lands was magical. It separated the fey lands from Arden and kept the areas' residents on their own sides. Also, we should have crossed it five minutes ago.
This last remark was said as we were riding through Arden approaching the city from the south. Giselle reined in so I did as well. Apparently the barrier was gone. Ignoring my companion's verbose speculations, I gave Trick his lead and we continued on through the woods and the city. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet. When I saw the castle, I stopped.
The Western Tower on the outer garrison was gone. Piles of rubble lined the walls near it, giving me a strong hint at where the explosions had taken place. A pine forest seemed to have invaded the castle, with trees sprouting up all over the place.
At some point Giselle rode up, still talking. The two of us approached the castle from the south. When we got nearer, I could hear a bell ringing. The front gate appeared to be in working order, but the carriage house had cracks in its walls. The large, horse-watering fountain was split down the middle and empty of water.
Following the sound of the bell, we took the western path up the side of the mountain. It led to the postern gate. From there we could see the source of the ringing: a castle guardsman on the balcony outside the Great Hall. A sentry with him spotted us and waved us forward. We rode to him, dismounted, and made arrangements to stable the horses in a nearby copse.
"Make sure nothing eats these," Giselle said.
The soldier stared quizzically at the horses, one bright blue with black swirling stripes and the other blood-red with scales, then looked at me with a question in his eyes. I shrugged. I pitied the thing that attempted to eat Trick. My horse had already nuzzled the soldier holding his reins and chewed off part of one of the man's sleeves. I patted him on the neck affectionately and told him to behave. He snorted.
Giselle and I walked along the balcony. The entrance doors were quite visible now.
Inside the Great Hall, things were much the same as when I left. Well, perhaps they were slightly less chaotic. Raj was seated behind a desk at the far end supervising the comings and goings of various castle guardsmen. Magni was performing a similar task with several flasks and bottles in front of a long cabinet. At my expression of interest he passed me a bottle of Glenhaven. I popped the cork and took a healthy swig before examining the commotion at the other end of the room. Magni and I strolled over.
A few chairs circled a low table. Seated or pacing in the general vicinity were all of my known cousins. Gregory was seated. His shirt was torn, blood spotted his clothes, and his long curly brown hair was tied back. Sitting next to him, Gabriel looked decidedly focused, as if his brain were really working overtime. His hair was mossy green now, and his eyebrows looked like excellent bird's nest materials. Giselle was talking and gesturing wildly as if she were everyone's older sister. Raj stood with both hands behind his broad back in the traditional military "at ease" pose. The semi-permanent frown on his brown face had etched itself deeper than usual. His lower lip stuck out.
Hovering on the edge of his seat excitedly was my cousin Carl. He still looked like a younger, cleaner version of Corwin, dressed in his customary suit and tie. He was addressing the assembly when Magni and I sauntered up.
"We need a command structure," Carl asserted. "Martin should be in charge, but he's in Texorami at the moment."
"Technically, Martin was never named Heir," Gregory stated.
"Ehh, a technicality only," Carl said.
"Perhaps," Gabriel suggested, "we should declare a Regent."
"I agree," Carl agreed.
"Has it come to that already?" Gregory asked.
"Yeah," Magni said. "What happened to the rest of the elders?"
"They're all missing," Raj said.
"Did anyone check the Throne Room?" I asked facetiously, thinking of the earlier meeting which they had all attended.
"I did," Magni said. "There's a silver tree there now and no, it didn't shoot at me."
Magni's comment received a chuckle. I must have missed something. Meanwhile, Carl was speaking.
"Well, since Trumps aren't safe," he looked at Gabriel "I'm going to Texorami to get Martin. See ya later." And just like that, he was gone. Carl never slowed down, never enjoyed himself. No wonder we didn't get along well.
They talked some more. Raj and Magni handed out rifles and pistols, which prompted Giselle to share an interesting tidbit of wisdom.
"If you are unarmed, a Greater Lord of the Unseelie will be unable to attack you unless you are hostile and aggressive first," she said.
"Yeah, but without guns the lesser faeries will just kill ya," Magni replied.
"Well," Giselle admitted. "There is that."
* * *
I volunteered to reconnoiter the castle. I thought that it would be good to know who was where, what they were doing, and why they weren't helping. Actually, if something more interesting was happening in the castle, I wanted to find it. Sitting around the Great Hall listening to the bell ring wasn't my idea of fun. Magni agreed to go with me and look for our elders.
"I say we hit all their rooms, and loot what we can," he said. We both looked around to see who had heard him, but everyone was already scurrying off in all directions.
We went down the hall and up the Grand Staircase. The Third floor was noticeably less disturbed than the ground floor. Of course, the doors to the Throne Room were ajar. We could hear the soft chirping of crickets. Magni pulled open the doors.
In the center of the room was an ash tree. Sitting on the Queen's Throne was a little blue man with a huge nose. We walked up to him. He picked his nose and stared at his finger.
"It's a good thing you're not sitting on that throne," Magni pointed at the King's throne. The imp hopped off his chair and onto the other throne.
"Hey!" Magni exclaimed. "That's the King's chair!"
The little gnome turned and wiggled his butt at us.
"That's not the King's ass!" I shouted.
The blue pest sat back down and grinned a huge gap-toothed yellow grin at us. Then the bullet hit him in the chest and he flew across the room. Magni shoved his pistol back into his holster.
"I just wondered if he was bulletproof," he said.
I scanned the area where the body had fallen but didn't see any little corpse. When I remarked on this, Magni gestured dismissively.
I took the cover off the regalia case. All the gem-encrusted ceremonial things were missing. No scepter, crown, or signet ring. Perhaps the imp had stolen them. He wasn't carrying anything. Maybe he had hidden the ring inside his body. Maybe that was why he wiggled his ass at us: he was trying to tell us something! Nah.
We searched the place and found nothing. In a similar vein, all of the elders' doors were locked and nobody responded to our knocking. Magni shot at the lock on Brand's door with little effect except a few castle guardsmen peeking around the hallway corner at us. We sent them to the Great Hall to report in and get new assignments. Raj seemed to be very good at giving orders.
I asked him if there was a story about being shot at in the Throne Room. He told me that Corwin had shot at him for no apparent reason. Yeah, like Magni didn't irritate, annoy, and provoke nearly everyone on purpose. I would have to get the story from Corwin later.
Last on our rounds were the Royal Chambers. I was disappointed to see that the front double doors were wide open. Inside, everything looked fairly normal until we got to the bedroom.
The King's side of the room looked like it had been turned upside down and shaken. Strangely, Vialle's half of the room looked undisturbed. Magni and I looked in the obvious places, but found more nothing. Well, nothing worth finding. Magni pocketed a few of the queen's undergarments.
We re-checked the Throne Room to see if anything had turned up, but it was still lacking the proper symbols of office. I rounded up a few maps of the castle and surrounding lands. Soon enough we returned to the Great Hall, a few hours older and none the wiser.
There was news.
Raj told us that Corwin, Flora, and Gerard had confronted the beast on the Pattern. He said that they failed, but that the Unicorn herself showed up and made it go away. Gerard was walking the Pattern for no apparent reason, when Julian ran in and sacrificed himself to save the big guy. It didn't make much sense to any of us, but all of the surviving principals were too busy recovering to give us more details.
Some of the servants had set up a cold buffet table against the interior wall. I helped myself to a few sandwiches and an entire head of purple cabbage. By the time I had kicked my feet up, many of my cousins had returned from their various tasks.
Carl was still sailing to bring Martin back from Texorami, and Gregory and Giselle were investigating some fey nexus. That left Magni, Gabriel, Raj, and me to solve all the world's problems.
Magni had an idea he called his "Psychoreactive Fey" theory. According to him, the faerie creatures' power was dependent upon our perception of it. Just like Giselle had told me earlier, the less you fear them, the less they can do. Magni had even tested his theory and said it was sound. So I decided to try it.
* * *
The little passageway off the staging corridor for the Throne Room was exactly as it had been in the City in the Sky—only more cramped, if that was possible. I crept forward.
Last time I was in this position, the air smelled of fur and I heard two little voices giggling. This time the air smelled warm, moist, and like death. Just down the hallway I heard the breathing of a huge monster. Turning the corner I felt hot wind on my face.
Hovering on the edge of the lantern light, a scaly face filled the corridor. Pale yellow light reflected back at me from diamond-shaped eyes. Almost quicker than I could see, a purple forked tongue flicked out and touched my hand. I dropped the lantern. It fell the few inches to the floor but didn't go out.
"Blood of two housssesssss," a deep saurian voice hissed.
My bones vibrated.
"You trespass here," I feigned confidence, huddled alone in an unknown corridor of the castle. If I died here, they wouldn't find my carcass until it started to smell.
"Mmmm." The dragon's head swiveled slowly back and forth. "We will eat you whole, little one."
I would easily fit in the dragon's mouth. One gulp and it would be goodbye Aedan. Well, here goes nothing. I hunched forward a couple steps, toward the thing. It hissed and its tongue flicked toward me. I scowled at it and the tongue quickly disappeared.
"I think not." I thought and my ring became my sword. I pointed it at the beast's eye.
It wavered. The great serpentine head folded in on itself with a hiss that faded from ominous to preposterous. With a comic popping noise, the fiend was gone. In its place stood a two-foot tall yellow-skinned goblin holding a stick puppet of a dragon.
"Can't… eat…" it squeaked. "…Erp!" The little ugly fellow turned and sprinted away from me. I laughed and laughed.
* * *
<previous Aedan's Journal next>