Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
"If I Were Going to Create a Universe, It Would Be a Lot Better Than This"
Aedan's Journal. Session 7-28-01.
© 2001 Todd Worrell
I collapsed to my knees in the soft soil. I tried to stand, but I was too weak. I felt utterly and completely drained. Gregory carried me back inside Giselle's workroom. I crumpled in the corner on the soft, comforting concrete and fell instantly asleep.
* * *
Once, we had been sailing oceans that became increasingly more strange. The water was a murky, dark, golden brown. It rolled in slow, thick swells. The air above it was thick with tiny, buzzing insects. They formed a kind of intermediate layer between the ocean and the real sky. I dreaded having to descend into that living fog when we finally reached land and I told Caine so. He grinned around his pipe but said nothing.
The next day we spotted the first of the Isle Trees. An enormous trunk scaled like a reptile thrust out of the sickly water and up to a height of at least a hundred feet. Heavy, wide branches were covered with enormous emerald elliptical leaves. In the distance, I could see two more of the monstrous plants. Caine saw them as well, and altered our course.
Within a half day, we had sailed past a couple dozen of the giants. Near sunset, an irregular, dark clump broke the horizon. We tacked toward it. As the sun sank below the waves behind us, I saw that the great mass was a massive forest of the huge plants. The unending hum of the teeming insects grew louder as we approached. Highlighted in burnt amber sunlight, a city hung from the mighty branches. I sighed in relief, knowing we would remain above the hungry hordes.
Nearest to us, an outlying canopy of branches served as docks. About a dozen other vessels were currently bobbing on the water, most of which I recognized from nearby Shadows. We dropped our sails and rowed in alongside them. All three of Caine's ships easily fit in one berth.
Small, pale yellow-skinned people clambered about the wooden ramps. They scurried to catch our lines and tie The Valiant up. Rope ladders unrolled and we clambered into the foliage.
We scurried along rope bridges and branches until we came to a hut that looked like all the rest. After the usual precautions, Caine bade us enter. Jaliya was inside, her short figure half-hidden behind a free-standing shelf. Her right arm was in a sling fabricated out of green and black checkered cloth. I never found out why.
"Welcome, Deirdre's son," she told me, "to the land of Upside Down." Her sly smile grew until she was chuckling breathlessly. I had no idea what was so funny.
* * *
I noticed that my comfortable flat concrete bed had become rather lumpy. Prying one sleep-gummed eye open, I saw that I was now resting on an assortment of stone rubble. I shifted and saw a smoky sky obscuring the sun. Benedict's head peered down at me.
"Among the living again?" My dead uncle asked me.
"I hope so," I said, thinking that I was in the afterlife instead. If so, where were the purple and green-skinned nude nymphs?
Benedict looked aside. I turned my head and saw Raj.
"I'll take care of Martin," Benedict said. "You take them back to my place."
"Understood," Raj nodded brusquely. Hopefully he could explain why a dead man was alive and well.
I heard a moan and a curse. I sat up and saw Gregory's prone form lying in the rubble near me. His eyes opened and he groaned. A multihued glow bathed Gregory's features. Raj was using a Trump. He reached a hand for me.
"Gentlemen," Raj announced, "We'll go through to Benedict's estate where I'll tell you everything I know."
I looked suspiciously at him. Gerard's son wasn't known for his immense intellect.
"It shouldn't take long," Raj agreed cheerfully.
We passed through the trump link into a large, high-ceilinged chamber. A short, round gray-haired woman held Raj's hand.
"Staying long?" she asked.
"Probably not," Raj replied. The old woman led us up a sweeping circular staircase to a small room in the front of the building. I went to the window and looked out. A meadow filled my view, with a pleasant scattering of wildflowers happily breaking the green monotony. In the distance, a line of trees marked a river that ran toward a large vineyard. The afterlife was starting to look better.
"Aedan," Raj said. "You had better sit down for this." I joined him and Gregory at a small table. A servant deposited a tray with several pitchers of juice. Another followed with platefuls of bread, cheese, fruit, and sandwiches. I tried to wait until the servants had left the room, but I couldn't. I was famished.
Raj told the tale in his minimalist style. Everything was different. We weren't just in some strange Shadow; the multiverse only vaguely resembled what we had spent our entire lives exploring. According to Raj, what was most notable were the things that hadn't happened.1. Martin had never been stabbed.
2. There was never a Black Road from Chaos to Amber.
3. Corwin never had his eyes put out.
4. Benedict never lost an arm.
5. Deirdre and Brand had not fallen into the Abyss.
6. Julian was not dead.
7. Eric was King in Amber.Finally, time had continued on. It was still thirty-some years after the start of the Patternfall war, but the war had never ended. Time had continued on down a different path. In healing Martin, I had undone the fabric of the universe. It had been re-woven in a new design.
"This is very unusual," Gregory muttered. He must have been numb. Julian and he had been very close.
I didn't want to believe Raj, but I had seen Benedict myself. He had looked very alive and very breathing. If what I had been told was true, then none of what I had remembered from my life had happened. I examined myself. The scars on my hand were gone. The scar on my chest was altered somehow. It now just looked like faint discoloration, and it didn't tingle when I touched it.
"Oh, and one more thing," Raj remarked. "Aedan, you're a criminal."
There was more than one more thing. Eric had ruled for over thirty years and the nature of Amber as we knew it was drastically different. Brand was Eric's chief advisor. Fiona and Bleys were implicated as allies of the Chaosians, and were under house arrest. Random was a vigilante of sorts, harrying the Chaosian forces but with his own troops, unallied to Amber. Julian, Gerard, and Benedict were involved with the military. Raj was out of favor for some reason he wouldn't disclose.
Corwin was a prisoner of Eric's. Deirdre and apparently I had spent years trying to rescue him. Hence the sentence on my head. I let the news and the meal digest for perhaps twenty minutes. Raj's words bounced around in my head. Some of them stuck.
If everything was different, then nothing was the same. If nothing was the same, then…
Hastily, I tried Oberon's Trump. Nothing happened. Shit.
Meanwhile, Gregory had trumped in Magni and Gabriel, both bleeding heavily. Gabriel had been badly burned. His left arm was shattered in several places, with shards of bone sticking out through his rent sleeve. Magni was unconscious, his face battered and bloody. His left hand was wrapped in a bandage that couldn't disguise the fact that he was missing a couple fingers.
I set to work on Gabriel first, healing the arm and calling for Gregory to assist me. Raj was working on Magni.
"He's gone," Raj said, meaning Gregory. "He went to where they were."
"What? Where is that? We could use his help here! Why is being there so damned important?"
"It's a Primal place," Gabriel hissed through pain-clenched teeth. "We don't know how to get there, or how to get back."
Gabriel went on to describe a battle he and Magni had lost to one of the Goddess Sisters. She had taken Magni's ring and disappeared. Gabriel slipped into sleep mumbling incoherently about a book. As I searched his body for additional wounds, I found a journal tucked into his belt.
I finished setting the bones as Gabriel plummeted into unconsciousness. I had mended the bones in his arm and erased most of the burn damage. As a reminder, I removed all of the freckles and hair on his left arm from the elbow down. In the future, hopefully he would think twice before doing anything so foolish again. Battling the Sisters was a mistake. We needed to strengthen the Tower, help her combat the old guard. It was the only way.
I had noticed something while I was working, but now I had time to reflect on it. The feel of magic was different. It tasted acrid, chalky, and smelled of the desert. When Gabriel and Magni were asleep, I walked to the window and looked out. The meadow was brown now, the flowers wilting. I had drawn the life energy out of the earth. Extending my sorcerous senses, I could tell that there was a distinct limit to the amount of sorcerous energy in the air. The estate was surrounded by a Pattern-based shield of some sort that prevented me from exploring further on.
Eventually, Gregory returned via Raj's trump. He carried a large satchel full of journals similar to the one Gabriel had, as well as an entire deck of unfamiliar trump cards. The style was unfamiliar to us, and the back was decorated with an archaic representation of a unicorn. Among the portraits were several of our elders, various queens, two different depictions of Oberon, and Mandor of Sawall.
One trump showed a heavy blond man who might have been fey. On the back of this card was a golden lion's head with a ring in its mouth. Gregory put the cards away in his belt pouch. Raj told us more of what he knew, whom he had seen, what he guessed.
In short, Amber was losing the war, and losing it badly. According to Benedict, the Chaosians would take the city in a month or two. The castle would fall within the year.
What of the people? Were the shopkeepers in Amber the same as they had been? If I sailed four days into the sunset and kept the water pale, would I arrive in Myrdoria of the Mists? And the lovely Comtessa del Invirria. Would she even know me, let alone breathe her melodious first name in my ear? Shit, everything was off and it was my own damn fault. Good intentions, Caine said, matter naught. Results count. I thought up my own response to that, and right now it involved several four-letter words.
Some things remained, however. Deirdre's devotion to Corwin and myself were evident. It was odd to think that I had grown up without her presence but would be expected to remember thirty years of close acquaintance. The woman I had known was fierce, passionate, and calculating. What would she be like now? And how was I to act? I had no love lost for Eric, but I bore him no ill will. Seven Hells! Until I saw him, I wouldn't believe he wasn't a corpse. It was just too weird, and I was tired of thinking about it. I distracted myself for a few hours by racking my spells. My entire litany of magical malevolence had vanished with the healing of Martin and the alteration of the multiverse.
I resolved to call my mother and speak with her. That would give me some idea of what her expectations were. At least, it would give my mind some additional confirmation that everything had changed. In unfamiliar territory, Caine said, seek out the familiar. Deirdre was the best I could do.
There was no answer. I tried again. No response. I kept trying for most of an hour until I heard my cousins conversing. Gabriel had awakened. The books he and Gregory brought back were apparently Dworkin's journals, found in a cave near the primal place where the new Sister Goddess had attacked Gabriel and Magni. Gabriel had perused the journals and said that her name, according to Dworkin, was Conflict. She had appeared after Magni tried to use some power on the ground outside the cave and lived up to her name.
There was more discussion, but I only listened with one ear. We all thought that it would be wise to avoid Amber until we knew more details about the political situation. Eventually, it was agreed that we would all go to Arden. Gregory felt that Julian wouldn't just turn me over to Eric, and that he would have some answers. It was either that or remain in Benedict's private shadow retreat, so I decided to go along.
I explained to my cousins what I had detected about the shield around the demesne. We followed Raj until we met the older woman. Her name was Mrs. Lee, and she refused to let us take any of Benedict's horses. I thought that we could just steal four of the horses. I looked at my cousins' faces and realized they were all thinking the exact same thing. We all came to the conclusion that getting on Benedict's bad side was not a great idea. So we set out on foot. Past the shield of Benedict's domain, we found some horses and began riding toward Arden.
After perhaps an hour, Raj took a trump call and vanished without telling us where he was going or who was calling.
"New universe, same old Raj," I said. Gregory nodded and Gabriel looked confused.
Gregory led the way. I finished re-racking my spells just in time. Julian's son must have known some shortcuts, because in only two hours, we were somewhere that looked like the south of Arden. However, that was as close as we were going to get.
"I can't get any closer," Gregory said sullenly. "It's blocked."
* * *
"Life is a funny thing, y'know?" Finn had a way of asking questions without expecting an answer. All of the castle guard knew not to reply. After being interrupted half a dozen times, I let him speak. "Every single man, woman, and child, has their own life. And they're all the main character in their own story, right?"
We were resting after a good four-hour bout of sparring. I had a wicked bruise on my shin and Finn sported a half-dozen minor cuts and scrapes. We had pulled benches over to the horses' watering trough at the edge of the commons and were soaking our feet. The horses didn't seem to mind.
"So, I figure, everyone sees everything differently."
"Life is subjective," I remarked.
"Yeah, whatever. And in a way, we all create our own stories, y'know?" Finn picked at a scab on his elbow. "If we choose to visit the market today, we buy turnips. If we don't, we don't come across them. Essentially, those turnips don't even exist."
He would go on like this forever unless I interceded.
"Finn, what's your point?"
"It's the universe, Aedan—universes, I mean. Each of us creates a universe for ourselves alone."
I sat and let that sink in. Finn grinned in philosophic glee.
"So," I told him, "you're saying that I created this universe."
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Well, I would think that if I were going to create a universe, it would be a lot better than this."
* * *
I was wrong. I had created a universe. I had worked with cosmic powers to heal Martin and everything had changed. Now, Amber was going to be conquered. I was an enemy of the State. There weren't any colorful nymphs to cavort with. Yeah, I had done a shit-awful job.
"How is the way blocked?" Gabriel asked. "Is Arden completely inaccessible?"
"I don't know," Gregory replied, "but everything I've tried hasn't worked."
"I would suggest we visit Cabra," Gabriel said.
"What do we know of Cabra?" I asked. "It would seem extremely likely that it is within Eric's immediate realm of influence. We would be captured and turned over to him shortly. I thought we wanted to avoid that."
"Good point," Gabriel conceded. Was Brand so obvious at such a young age? Gabriel was always either deliberately scheming or obliviously stupid.
"There's another way," Gregory suggested. He turned in a circle three times while speaking softly. The air shimmered and a hazy oval coalesced into existence beside us. Gregory bowed and extended a hand in invitation. Gabriel stepped blithely through and vanished.
"Where does this go?" I asked.
"To a fey place very near to Arden," Gregory said. I nodded and stepped into the shimmer. My skin prickled and I found myself in a grove of tall trees. A deep, woodsy scent filled my lungs. Birdsong drifted in from the distant tree tops.
Gabriel was already there. Gregory appeared a moment later. The three of us stood within a circle of perhaps twenty large trees. Silence descended and we stood waiting.
Out of one of the trunks of a tree stepped a fey woman. She was small, about Gabriel's height, and her pale skin was mottled like bark and uncovered. Her hair fell in a long brown cascade to her ankles.
"Greetings, son of the Green King," she addressed Gregory. He bowed to her.
"Greetings to you as well, Lady of the Grove." As they spoke, other women stepped out of the trees and into the grove. Each was mottled and naked, their tones ranging from ash gray to deep brown. Several of them smiled and walked gracefully toward me. It was only polite to let them touch me. I said hello and smiled as they ran their fingers across my skin and through my hair. They weren't green and purple, I thought, but at least I got the nymphs right.
"I want the large one," a birdlike woman's voice said from across the clearing. I looked up and saw that she meant Raj. He and a demonform Chaosian woman were speaking with Gabriel.
I looked again. The woman was Giselle, but she had changed. Her skin was pearlescent, and shifted in the half-light. Long silvery hair fell halfway down her back. Her jaw was heavier, and she had lines in the corners of her eyes. She no longer looked like a girl.
My cousins and I conversed as well as we could, given the distractions. It was decided that we would try to enter Arden through the fey realms proper. Giselle had mistakenly told Cian about the existence of the Black Road and its use by Chaosians to travel quickly to Amber. We feared that if that knowledge were known by the Courts, the war would be over even sooner. Gabriel was determined to stop Cian from telling anyone.
The fastest way to the Fey realms turned out to be by following Giselle to her workshop. Wasn't that where we had all been, only a few hours ago? Giselle turned left three times and we went through her portal to where I had last seen Martin.
We walked outside and down a path until we came to a grand structure made of butterfly wings and gossamer thread. Well, that's what it looked like it was made of. Tall blond elves with spiky white armor guarded the main gate. A banner of a golden lion on a dark blue field flew from the tallest tower of the palace.
A messenger ran to announce us and we were shown in. The courtyard inside the gate was empty, although it looked to have been heavily populated most of the time. We entered the palace proper and followed Giselle down a few hallways, past what was obviously the throne room, and into a small library. Cian sat at a table looking awkwardly at a heavy tome. Around his neck, a glowing blue circle of light indicated his status as a prisoner.
He and Giselle argued. Gabriel was eager to kill Cian right then, in the heart of the Fey castle, surrounded by guards. However, Cian convinced us that he had already told Lugh everything Giselle had said. It quickly became evident that Cian was unimportant. We left him and made our way back to Giselle's building.
After much wrangling, arguing, some unnecessary disguising, and far too much walking, we found ourselves in a place of tall, dark trees strewn with crimson moss. Through a clearing we saw a harsh, many-towered castle I remembered. Looking more closely, I could see that it appeared to be uninhabited. One of the towers had collapsed, and the whole place looked deserted. Giselle was nervous, so we skirted the area until we came to a heavily wooded area. We had to push our way through the dense undergrowth. After a half-hour of this, we found ourselves confronting a thicket of briars. I concentrated on turning my ring back into Grayswandir. It became a huge, double-handed sword instead. As such, it worked quite well for clearing away thorns. In ten minutes we had cut our way to a towering wooden gate in a thick stone wall that had been hidden by the briars. Gregory placed his hand upon the heavy lock and spoke some decidedly Fey phrase. The gate creaked and split in two. It creaked thunderously and opened slowly inward.
Beyond, the primeval forest lay like a sleeping giant. We crept quietly across the threshold.
* * *
Once inside Arden, Giselle loosened up enough to lower her hood. She said she had been poking around the universe while the rest of us were huddled at Benedict's estate, but nothing she told us changed our opinions. We were still resolved to get to Julian's Hunting Lodge. We re-mounted our horses and followed Gregory.
Only a few minutes later we heard the sound of horses trotting. A patrol of five rangers rode up. We sat on our own mounts and awaited their arrival.
"Hail and well met, guardians of Arden," Gregory took the initiative.
"Greetings, Lord," the captain addressed him. They made small talk. Julian's son stumbled awkwardly in his attempts to feign knowledge, but the rangers revealed that the last they had seen of Julian he had been riding on a secret mission to Chaos—with Gregory.
The rangers were obviously discomfited by my presence. I smiled and sat as casually as I could, Grayswandir hanging unsheathed at my side.
"My Lord Gregory," the captain said, "you are harboring a known criminal."
"What are his crimes?" Gregory asked. "I've been…out of touch."
"Lord Aedan and his Lady mother have attacked the castle numerous times in force, once calling upon the power of the City in the Sky to cause much destruction. It is only fortuitous that the city was destroyed as well."
"What?" Raj exclaimed. "Destroyed? How?"
"Apparently Deirdre and Aedan drew upon its power too heavily and drained it."
"How fared Amber?" Raj asked.
"With control of the Jewel, His Majesty has repelled all attacks."
We took ourselves aside and spoke privately. I suggested that they would fare better without me. No one argued, so I dismounted and walked off into the woods away from everyone.
I tried to call Deirdre again, then again, and again. She never answered. Given what Raj had told me, I thought that my best hope for information lay with one of the elders not under Eric's sway. Fiona and Bleys seemed like a good choice, but I didn't know any of the specifics of their arrest. Perhaps they might think that turning a captive Aedan over to Eric would persuade him to give them greater freedoms. It was an unnecessary risk.
Random's actions indicated that he didn't like Eric. I took out his card and studied it. After a moment, contact occurred.
"Do you have what you owe me?" He hissed.
"Perhaps," I stalled. Random was seated outside. Behind him I saw rocky terrain, a cliff wall. He pointedly looked at Grayswandir, still unsheathed.
"The price is too high," I said.
"I'm not feeling talkative today," Random put a cigar to his lips and puffed. "However, a nice gift might loosen my tongue."
I thought as quickly as I could. I knew of no obligations and possessed nothing noteworthy.
"If I might come speak with you in person, mayhap we c—"
"Nah." Random grimaced and vanished.
So much for Plan "A." I tried Deirdre's trump again with the same lack of success. I had had limited options to begin with, and they were dwindling rapidly.
I knew Caine. He was unlikely to kill me outright; he was too clever to do that. He accepted the trump call, the sea rising and falling behind him. I said a few pleasantries; he murmured some non-committal words. I went through to him.
The deck of the Valiant rose to meet me as Caine grabbed and twisted my ear. I feinted with Grayswandir in my left hand and brought up my right hand, causing my saber to suddenly appear. An emerald-hilted dagger sliced in front of me and the end of my blade fell to the deck. A heavy boot to the back of my knee combined with a wrench of my shoulder sent me to the deck without my sword.
Looking up, I saw Caine holding the legendary weapon, its blade pointing directly at my left eye. I dropped my broken saber. Plan "B" had its shortcomings as well.
"That was most impolite," I said. Caine grunted. Men of his crew came forward and bound my limbs. They searched me and took my possessions. My torc was wrenched off my neck. I was carried below and tied to a pole in Caine's quarters where, I knew, prisoners were often interrogated. Torture is an intimate affair, Caine had told me once. It should be conducted in an intimate setting. My mouth tasted of ashes and my stomach churned.
Obviously, I had failed to correctly assess Caine's intentions. He let me sit for a few minutes before appearing in the doorway.
"I've changed course since your arrival," he smiled evilly. "Eric would certainly appreciate seeing you as soon as possible. I wouldn't want to disappoint him."
"How considerate of you," I said.
"It was kind of you to bring me this," he held Grayswandir aloft. "I have a use for it."
"It has a price," I told him. "You'll not be so eager once you learn how much it costs."
He laughed at me then, turning the sword over and over in his hand admiringly. I decided then that this wasn't Caine. This thing in his shape in this otherworld imitation was nothing.
"I will kill you and take back that which is mine," I swore at him.
"You are a fool," he said, and left, telling me nothing I didn't already know.
* * *
A week in the Isle Trees had taught me several things: the natives were more adept at climbing than I ever would be; certain insects, when crushed and smoked, can produce amazing hallucinations; and Jaliya was willing to kill anyone, anytime, to achieve her ends. Caine merely had to convince her that their goals were the same, and she would, so to speak, execute his plans.
The local tribe folk had a governing council. Caine was the single largest contributor to the economy, and this gave him a great deal of leeway with the local officials. But several of the councilors disliked his growing influence in town. He was a hero of sorts to the younger men and women. Many of his crew told stories, painting my uncle as a dashing rebel working to overthrow the evil forces in the exotic, distant lands. As a result, they worshipped him and loudly proclaimed their intent to join him. Caine laughed them off and privately told me he had no desire to have any immature hotheads on his crew. But the youths' parents didn't know that, and they convinced the port authorities to lock up our cargo.
They couldn't seize the ships; Caine had kept security measures tight, as usual, and our three vessels were locked down tight against any boarding parties. Nonetheless, the dozen of us who had stayed in the village were watched very closely. Three angry warriors accompanied each of us everywhere we went. None of us could get back to the ships, nor were we allowed to attend the meetings held to decide our fate. We were helpless.
Or so I believed. At the first sign of anything unusual, Jaliya had dropped out of sight. I heard her voice once or twice, but I never saw her. It quickly became clear to me that the local folk didn't even know she was with us.
After two days of custody, the only councilor we saw was Mosla, the man who had convinced the others to impound our cargo. He stood outside our hut, behind a guard of a dozen stout men and women, and shook a bone wand at us. It was wrapped in a necklace of narrow yellow animal teeth that rattled. A crowd gathered and encouraged him.
Caine stood in the doorway and let the man inflame the crowd. He smiled at them, seemingly immune to their angry threats. Finally, Mosla worked them into a fury until they all were laughing and jeering at Caine. When the noise died down, Caine stopped smiling. The crowd grew quiet.
"Mosla," my uncle told him, "You are a coward. Speak these words tonight at council, and allow me to refute these accusations. Or are you afraid to face me in front of your fellow councilors?"
"I am not afraid of you!" Mosla shouted, but he remained safely behind his guards.
"You should be," Caine said. "If I am not at council tonight, your followers will begin dying." He turned to walk into the hut, but at that moment a stone came flying out of the crowd. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but faster than thought, Caine turned and caught the rock in his hand. He laughed and crushed it to powder. Most of the mob fled, the branches shaking with their hasty retreat.
That night, sixty warriors encircled our dwelling. We weren't allowed outside for any reason. I hardly slept and pissed in a bucket. In the morning, the entire council, surrounded by what looked like the whole village, stood outside our hut.
* * *
Time passed. I wondered what this thing that wore Caine's shape would do to me. The old Caine would talk first. I grabbed hold of that thought and squeezed it tight, trying to shut out the images of torture that were battering my brain.
If I were able to speak with Caine, what would I say? How could I convince him to let me go? The real Caine would want information. What did I know that would be useful to him? I had only been in this universe a few hours. If Caine was indeed working for Eric, he would know much more about the Amber side of things than I would. Then again, Raj had mentioned that Brand was Eric's close advisor. Perhaps that meant that Brand's association with Amber's enemies was unknown. I decided to play that angle. If that didn't work, the thought of Brand reminded me of someone else, someone unknown.
When Caine entered his quarters, I noticed that he had Grayswandir sheathed at his belt, but he wasn't carrying any other torture devices. I tried not to show it, but I was relieved.
"Feeling better?" he smiled maliciously.
"Not particularly."
"It would benefit you to be as healthy as possible when you begin your stay in Amber's dungeons. They are not known for their revivifying qualities."
"Indeed," I remarked, "My health would probably not benefit from an extended stay. But, as we both know, I'm not going there." Plan "C" depended on how much this Caine was like the real one.
He raised an eyebrow at that. He walked to his locked cupboard, pulled forth a bottle of whisky and seated himself on the foot of his bead.
"Go on," Caine told me.
"There is much you do not know," I said, "about how the War began."
"So tell me."
"No."
He quirked his lips at that. I waited.
"Give me your word that you will release me, and I will…educate you."
Caine drank his whisky and looked away. Then he stared at me for several seconds.
"I know you better than you think, uncle. Ask me about Derean the Whistler, springtime in Heerat, or Alanna, daughter of the Sybil."
His eyes widened, considering me. I hoped that what I knew of Caine's life had also happened to this man. It seemed likely, but I was still new at altering the multiverse.
"Very well," he eventually conceded. "When I am satisfied with what I have heard, I shall free you."
I told him of Brand's involvement with the Chaosians. I mentioned Brand's plans to gain the throne for himself. It wasn't just Fiona and Bleys, but their brother as well, who plotted against Oberon. He demanded proof, and I had none. When he asked how I knew these things, I told him I had seen visions in Tir. Caine was skeptical. He told me that Brand had already confessed his sins to Eric. Nothing I had said was new, nor was it worth my life. Concerning Brand's ambition, Caine laughed and said that was common knowledge.
With every moment, I was moving closer to Eric and imprisonment. Corwin had been Eric's prisoner for most of thirty years; I had no hope of escaping Amber's dungeons myself. I said a prayer to Brigit, and gritted my teeth.
"Talk with Benedict," I hissed. "Tell him you know about Martin."
"I'll do that," Caine said. He stood, replaced the whisky in the cupboard, and left.
* * *
I peered through the gap in the wall. The villagers were shouting angrily, some of them throwing things at our hut. After several minutes of this, the councilors quieted them down. An elderly councilor with her hair hanging long in elaborate braids thrust her walking stick in Mosla's back and he lurched forward.
"Caine," he called, "Come out! You have murdered our people, and must be punished."
My uncle opened the door and strode forth. He stretched, seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of angry villagers staring at him.
"When did I kill these people, Mosla?" Caine asked.
"Last night."
"Did I sneak out through the three-score soldiers you had guarding me?"
"That is not possible!"
"I know, Mosla" Caine smiled. "I believe that perhaps your enemies used the opportunity last night to slay your followers, knowing you would blame me."
Mosla hesitated at that. He glanced around him.
"If you kill me, they will slink away, working against you in the darkness." Caine addressed Mosla loud enough for everyone to hear. "All I asked was for the chance to address the council, which I see I now have."
Some of the villagers laughed at that. Mosla jerked his head around furiously and the crowd quieted. Caine bowed slightly to the councilors.
"Honored elders of the village…." Caine began. Inside the hut, we all relaxed. We were going to get out alive after all. He spoke to them for ten minutes, answering their questions and guiding the conversation back to Mosla's reasons for blaming Caine. In the end, Caine agreed to not let any of the village's young men and women join our crew. The council charged Mosla with falsifying records and bullying witnesses to cast aspersions on our dealings with them.
"But there is still the matter of our dead," Mosla protested. The other members of the council agreed.
"It is as I said," Caine told them. "I did not leave this hut last night. Either someone else with reason to dislike Mosla killed them or," Caine paused and looked slowly at the people facing him, "perhaps I am…a sorcerer." He stepped forward. Most of the crowd, including Mosla, ran. The councilor in long braids laughed and laughed. Caine approached her, kissed her hand, and said something else to her. She wiped tears away from her eyes and laughed even louder.
An hour later, we were all aboard the ships, our new cargo being stowed securely. In two hours we were under full sail. I stood at the rail and watched the massive trees recede in the noontime sun. Caine smiled and walked over to me. He leaned against the rail beside me and said nothing for several minutes.
"Aedan," his voice was quiet. "When it seems as if the entire world is against you, do not be afraid. Be sure of what you know, and who you are. Trust in yourself. Do what is necessary, and no more."
"Was it necessary to kill those people?"
"They were not innocents," he said. "Mosla had several criminals in his ranks. He was protecting them. Now, the council has reason to be grateful."
He slapped me on the back and returned to shouting orders to the crew. I watched the trees until they were gone, and the buzzing of the insects faded. Something bothered me.
I checked the crew's quarters, then the sleeping room, the galley. After an hour I had wandered through all of the living spaces of the ship, save for the private rooms reserved for officers, Caine, or myself. I gave up, then, and went to my room. I sat on my bunk and happily pulled my boots and socks off. I fell back onto my bed and relaxed.
I caught my breath. Tied to the beams above my bed was a length of green and black checkered cloth. I knelt on my bed and untied it. Inside was a single tooth, slender and yellowed with age.
* * *
What if I were wrong, if somehow this place was real? Had I betrayed Martin? Caine had no reason to want to kill him; I doubted he would tell anyone else. I was counting on the fact that Caine would savor Benedict's reaction. Among my elders, I knew, any leverage against their eldest living brother was priceless. I only hoped it would be enough. Hours later, Caine returned.
He held my saber in his hand, the blade made whole again. With it, he cut my bonds. I rubbed my ankles and wrists, feeling the pinprick of blood flowing.
"Work on your reflexes," Caine said, and punched me in the shoulder. For a moment, it was just like when we sailed together. I blinked, and the moment was gone. He went up the ladder. I followed him to the deck.
Night had fallen. Rain fell steadily. The wind whipped at my hair and jacket.
"Yeah," I told him. "Are you going to return my sword?"
Caine took a bundle from a sailor, then handed it to me. It contained my stuff, including Deirdre's trump deck and my torc. Caine held my saber in his left hand. It shivered and became a ring. He tossed it to me. I caught it and replaced it on my finger.
"And my other sword?" I eyed Grayswandir.
Caine smiled. He pulled a cigar from his belt pouch, took a step toward me, and thrust it into my jacket pocket. He patted my chest, hard, and stepped back.
"Not today, kid." He laughed, a harsh, cruel sound. I swore to myself that I would have Grayswandir back. It was mine.
But I hid my thoughts from my face. I put my possessions back in their respective places and shuffled through my deck. I still wanted to speak with my mother, but she still didn't answer. My cousins were probably Eric's guests by now. I had no desire to visit Amber soon. I looked into the distance. Over the rough sea, storm clouds approached.
"May I borrow a sloop?"
Caine's brows furrowed, and he laughed again.
"Have you no friends?"
"Apparently not."
He gave orders and in a few minutes I was being lowered into the heaving sea aboard a small, oared vessel. Caine puffed on a lit cigar and watched me go. I smelled the Cabrian tobacco on the wind and it reminded me of the past.
I raised the sail and set out for the land of my childhood: Gealorëa, where the oily waters of the Sundeath Sea hammered against rocky, island bluffs and a beautiful, many-layered gray sky sheltered the heavens. It would be good to go home.
* * *
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