Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
"Digestion Persisted In Spite of More Unsettling Banter"
Aedan's Journal. Session 7-6-00.
© 2000 Todd Worrell
Gabriel wasn't done talking yet, though. He sidled up to Gregory and me and spoke softly as we were being led toward the Dining Room.
"Brand mentioned something about Osric's banishment from Amber."
"Oh?" Gregory prompted him. Giselle slowed to listen.
"Yes," Gabriel continued. "I'm not sure what though…."
Gregory, Giselle and I exchanged a glance. Gabriel stared into space obliviously. Then Julian's son cleared his throat.
"Corwin and Gerard are quite obviously being manipulated," he said.
"I agree they are acting strangely," I said. "That theory seems not unlikely to me, but I wouldn't attribute it to manipulation without some firm evidence."
"What more evidence do you need?" In my experience, Gabriel was allergic to facts; he sneezed out theories in abundance but rarely had ample proof. "Their behavior clearly indicates that someone is influencing them."
"And if that person is Brand?" I suggested.
"Why would he want to do that?" Gabriel asked.
"I don't know," I replied, "but my ignorance doesn't rule out the possibility. I make no claims to know everything."
He agreed with my seeming self-abasement, missing the insinuation altogether. We arrived at the double doors to the dining hall. The servant opened them, and we entered.
The table was its regular length, without the numerous leaves that nearly tripled its extent. Magni was seated in front of a plate heaped with food. He smiled and waved at us. The scent of dinner assaulted my nostrils. Alongside the near wall was a buffet table with assorted hot dishes, cheeses, salad, and breads. So the castle wasn't quite back to normal, but at least we had some real food again. We served ourselves as the servant left.
"I have noticed," Gabriel said, "that there is a lot less Shadow than there used to be."
He had, in fact, mentioned this several times during previous conversations. I tried to look closely at him, to see if his pupils were dilated or something, but his eyes were cast down upon his plate.
"What has happened here was backlash—a result of too much stasis in Amber." Giselle declared. Like Gabriel, she had a way of drawing conclusions with minimal verification. "It has undoubtedly affected Shadow as well."
"Or perhaps it is due to the fact that there are fewer Amberites alive now." Gabriel spoke with his mouth full. He chewed rapidly and swallowed before continuing. "This could also be the reason why Powers seem to be stronger than they were; the amount of the power is the same, but it is spread among fewer Shadows. Therefore, in the Shadows where it still exists, it is more vigorous."
"Or is the apparent strength of magic due to the relative weakness of the Pattern?" Gregory inquired.
"Maybe this is just a change in the status of the Pattern," Giselle suggested. "The 'feyening' of the Pattern."
"A philosophical point here," Gabriel interjected. "How is the Magic in the Courts?"
"When I get to Chaos," I said. "I'll let you know."
Whatever. It didn't matter to me why my spells had more kick. In the meantime, the shrimp and scampi noodle-dish was worth a second helping. I helped.
When in doubt, eat a good meal. Caine was right about that. Good food took my level of uncertainty down a few pegs—or maybe it was the wine. After all the shit I had seen in the past day, I needed to divert the blood from my brain somewhere, and my stomach had volunteered.
However, before Corwin arrived, there was one bit of difference. I reluctantly shunted some oxygen upstairs.
"Considering Martin's apparent regency…." I began, hoping someone would jump in. Magni did.
"Is there a reason any of us should oppose him?"
A moment of silence.
"No," Gregory pronounced, and it was decided.
* * *
Corwin arrived with Flora on his arm. Her perfume was decidedly less vivant than normal, an almost melancholy scent of lavender. Her left eye had a bright pink scar running vertically through it and the pupil was milky white. We all stood respectfully. Corwin assisted Flora to her seat and brought her a plate of food. Having lost the weight, he once again resembled his trump portrait. He hung Grayswandir over the back of a chair and piled another plate full for himself. I wondered if Magni would be insulting him again any time soon.
"Is Gerard going to be joining us?" Gregory asked as we seated ourselves.
"I believe Gerard was leaving," Corwin said.
"And what," Magni solicited, "do you think of Gerard's absence at this time? Don't you find it unusual that he should choose to run off when Amber is in danger?"
"I believe," Corwin replied with quiet steel in his voice, "that Gerard's message from the Unicorn was as private as my own."
We ate in awkward silence for a few minutes until Gabriel wiped crumbs from his face and stood.
"I'll go check on Martin," he said, and left.
Several awkward minutes later, Gabriel returned with Martin, still dressed in his three-piece suit. Random's son fidgeted in the doorway, counting us. He sat down for a moment, then got up and got dinner. When he sat again, he took the seat to Corwin's right.
"Did I miss anything?" Martin said.
"We were waiting for you," Flora spoke her first words of the evening. Her voice was weary, and without her usual lilting charm. "There are a few things we should discuss. For one, there is a problem with people's memories."
"Yes," Corwin said. "None of the townspeople, and only a few of the castle guards remember the strange events of last night."
"Interesting." Gabriel leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand.
"No one recalls having seen the trees, the vines, or the closing of the road," Flora went on. "The tower's collapse they treat as some by-product of our family's sorcerous experiments."
"The people who do remember, are they guards that we interacted with?" Gregory asked.
"I don't know," Corwin admitted. "I'll check into it."
"Thank you," Gregory said.
"I would be curious to know," Flora said, "if Julian said anything regarding his fey soldiers."
It wasn't an innocent question and we all knew it. For the first time in several hours, I was glad of my ignorance.
"What he told me was, he brought troops that would suit the changes." Gregory paused and examined his wineglass closely. "Whether he caused those changes or not, I don't know."
"Someone said some great force was coming to Amber," Giselle said, "and Julian responded by saying 'I have come.'"
"That is a rather ambiguous statement," I said.
"But quite typical of Julian," Corwin agreed.
Conversation continued. Gregory and Giselle believed that their trip through Shadow left an enormous wake due to the speed at which they traveled. They reached the Courts of Chaos in a little over thirty hours, subjective time. That was astounding. Gabriel informed us that his journey to the Keep of the Four Worlds was equally rapid.
However, before Gabriel could present his latest theory, Giselle put her fork down and spoke the greatest non sequitur in Amber history.
"The King of Chaos is dead," she declared.
"Uhhh….okay," Martin gulped. "I take it you don't have a full diplomatic briefing?"
"Not exactly," Giselle replied. "They've requested a formal envoy from Amber."
"Actually," Gregory amended, "it was the King's request and he's dead."
Martin drained his wineglass and turned to Corwin.
"Do you still have any contact with your people there?"
"Not in years," Corwin shrugged.
"I may be able to get a report," Giselle said. Martin ignored her.
"Do you have a list of Chaos's demands? Needs? What did they say?"
"Technically speaking," Gregory amended, "we received the request from House Hendrake, not from a representative of the Courts."
"Are they aware that Random is dead?" Gabriel opened his mouth wide enough to admit his foot. Martin gripped his hair and pulled it. He licked his lips several times.
"Okay, okay. Um, okay," our de facto regent proclaimed.
"They didn't know at the time," Gregory answered Gabriel.
"Well," Giselle drawled. "They know now." I presumed she was referring to her conversation with Mandor/The Dagda. Apparently she had told him everything he wanted to know. Wonderful.
"Corwin," Martin's eyes seemed about to pop out of his head. "What of the Jewel of Judgment—can you sense it?"
"No."
"Chaos thinks it is gone," Giselle chirped.
"Brand does as well," Gabriel chimed in.
"Martin," I said. "What are you thinking? Did you have something in mind?"
He did. Magni refilled his wineglass, and it seemed to calm him down somewhat. Martin told us that he had been reviewing his father's papers and was interested in the command structure and the balance of power in and around Amber. After another forty-five minutes, we came to the obvious conclusions. Gregory would investigate Arden and report back. Giselle would visit the Fey realms and provide us with some firsthand information regarding their disposition. Gabriel would investigate Shadow and try to discern his father's intentions.
"I believe that he's fine now," Gabriel interjected.
"What?" several voices said simultaneously.
"I think that Brand was fixed by the Unicorn," Gabriel said blithely. Did he think that this was a good thing? I had thought that it was only Brand's weakness which prevented him from taking an active part in things; if he were well, he would likely return to the source of his power and begin rebuilding his strength.
"Out of curiosity," I said to Gabriel, "where exactly is your father now?"
"He's at the Keep of the Four Worlds, bathing in the Fount of Power."
Wonderful.
* * *
It had been obvious to me from the very beginning of our relationship that Caine didn't trust any of his relatives. However, his distrust of Brand transcended all known boundaries.
On his flagship, Caine had drilled Brand's description into all of his sailor's minds. Everyone could recite certain turns of phrase that Brand was known to utter. If any thin, redhead man with green eyes even approached one of them, standing orders were to retreat and notify an officer. I used to amuse myself by casually dropping one of Brand's known phrases into conversation just to see the men jump. Caine threatened to have my tongue cut out for this until I convinced him that it kept the men on their toes.
In any event, he had good reason to suspect Brand of duplicity. After all, Brand had been the villain of the story.
* * *
Digestion persisted in spite of more unsettling banter. It seemed that the Great Sword of Gerard was in my uncle's possession as a means of keeping it under wraps, so to speak. He had apparently never drawn it before yesterday, and was now on his way to Osric to have it destroyed. At least, that was what the optimists among us hoped. Myself, I wondered just what Brand's intentions were. Gabriel mentioned that Brand thought that the sword could be used for "Pattern control." That didn't sound good. If Brand had in fact manipulated Gerard into giving him his sword, we might as well all start practicing our ass-kissing now.
The failure of Trumps concerned Gabriel a great deal. He told us that Brand's opinion was the only thing that could shut them down was the Jewel of Judgment when it was being used to edit the Pattern. Of course, if the Jewel were actually gone, all of what Gabriel said was completely unhelpful.
Giselle revealed that Oberon had apparently been King of the Fey realms before becoming King of Amber. Finnvarra was in fact the son of Oberon's nephew. According to her, Grampa had been extremely unpopular in Faerie. I thought that must mean that he had been doing a good job for Amber. I mean, look at what the freaks did when they had free run of our lands. They teased unto the point of death and stole whatever they could get their hands on. I had no doubt that we would eventually find Amber's crown and scepter in the possession of some Unseelie imp. Regalia made me think about Martin's impending regency.
"Martin," I said. "Have you given any thought to your investiture?"
"Uhh?" he uhhed.
"We need something to invest him with," Giselle said.
Perhaps we could borrow something from Chaos. I could ask them to loan us some royal stuff. I made a mental note. It would be worth a try. Which led me to ask about the envoy to Chaos.
"It should be a member of the royal family," Gabriel stated the obvious.
"Of course," I agreed. "Anything less could be considered an insult. Flora, we had hoped you would consider being the formal envoy to Chaos."
"You probably should pick someone with less… reputation," she demured.
"And less tact," Gregory said.
"Well, then." Flora fixed her good eye on Gregory. It was obvious that she was implying that his lack of tact made him a good candidate. He blustered a bit.
"I've always wanted to go to Chaos," I hinted.
"I don't know if that qualifies you," Magni said.
"And I don't have another assignment."
"Neither do I," he declared.
"We could go together."
"Okay."
Magni and I shook hands, happy that we could contribute something valuable to Martin's new regime. I looked away from his smug face to see the rest of my relatives wearing looks of patent disbelief. Somehow, they didn't think we were the right choice to visit the Courts. So I changed the subject.
"What do you know of these?" I asked, throwing one of the trumps Magni and I had found on the table.
"That is my son," Corwin said icily.
"Does he have a name?" I asked.
"Merlin," he grimaced. "Keep him out of this."
I stared at Magni expectantly. He sighed and tossed two more trumps onto the table. Corwin admitted that they were of Merlin's mother and Mandor.
"Where did you get these?" Gabriel asked incredulously.
"I stole them from a room," Magni said. He gathered them up before anyone else could.
"That's enough for me," Martin stood. "If anyone needs anything, I'll be in Dad's chambers, trumping all night." Martin shuffled out.
Perhaps ten minutes later, Raj appeared. His clothes were dirty and he only grunted at our polite words. He ate grumpily.
Dessert was brought in. Fresh strawberries in syrup lightened the mood around the table somewhat. I resolved to lighten it further.
"Corwin," I said. "I notice that you've lost a lot of weight recently."
"I spoke with the Unicorn," Corwin intoned, bringing the mood crashing down. "We came to an… understanding. I have certain responsibilities now."
Apparently losing weight was one of them.
"When she appeared in the Pattern room?" I asked him.
"Yes. I believe that the others have similar duties." As he said this, Corwin glanced significantly at Flora, who nodded. "Except Benedict."
"Was Benedict hostile to the Unicorn?"
"No," he thought for a moment. "He seemed to not accept what she told him."
"That's why he's off sulking in Shadow," Gregory said.
"Are you sure Benedict refused?" Gabriel said.
"I can't be sure," Corwin said, "but it seemed like each time the Unicorn spoke to one of us it affected that thing on the Pattern—except with Benedict, there was no spark. He seemed to reject the Unicorn."
"Even Brand?" I asked.
"Yes."
If all that Corwin said were true, then it was the Unicorn who was manipulating him and Gerard. I looked at Gabriel, silently daring him to mention his theories again.
"What if the Unicorn visited Llewella?" Raj spoke from the far end of the table.
"Why do you ask?" Flora said.
"Because Llewella is dead," he said. We gasped and made various noises of disbelief. Suddenly the strawberries didn't taste so good. I had never known Llewella. She would remain forever an enigma to me.
"They say she killed herself," Raj continued, poking at his food sullenly. "Poisoned."
He began eating again, answering everyone's pointed questions with more grunts or statements of ignorance. He had told Martin all that he knew already, and he wouldn't speculate.
"Flora," I said. "How did you feel when the Unicorn appeared?"
"Relieved that she was going to see what assholes my brothers were and why I had to do what I did."
"Why did you save Corwin's life?" I inquired.
"Because he was about to kill himself."
"Corwin," Gregory took up my line of questioning smoothly, "why did you want to kill yourself?"
"It seemed the shortest route to removing my problem from the equation," Corwin murmured.
"When did you feel this way?" Gregory persisted.
"When the Unicorn arrived, and I saw things pretty clearly."
He was silent then, staring morosely off into the middle distance. I respected his emotions. Gabriel didn't.
"Could you elaborate?" Gabriel blurted.
"Does he need to?!?" Giselle was mortified.
"Yes," Gabriel said haughtily. "I have this theory—"
"Theory?" Corwin interrupted, upset.
"It is the only way to make suppositions into direct evidence!" Gabriel defended himself.
"Why would you need to do that?" Corwin asked in amazement.
"Because," Magni answered, "he's Brand's son." He stood and walked to the small bar. He poured us all snifters of brandy.
"Okay," Corwin conceded. "It seemed like I was at the top, the true center of the reflection, and it tasted sour."
"And what if you removed yourself from the equation?" Gregory asked.
"You see," Corwin admitted. "That's not the right answer."
"Obviously not," Gregory agreed.
"I thought so too," Flora said.
"How?" I asked her.
"I don't know… I…" She shook her head, brought a hand slowly up to her blind eye. "It just… didn't…."
We sat a moment quietly, all of us watching Flora almost cry. I felt the weight of my cousins' expectations fall upon me and I accepted them.
"For myself and my cousins, I apologize, Florimel. Forgive us our impudence, Aunt." I walked to her chair and knelt beside her. She reached a hand toward me and I took it gently in both of my own. "We weren't there, and we are concerned. We only want to play our parts in restoring Amber. Quite honestly, we don't know what to do."
"Don't be us," she sniffed back tears. "I don't know what else, but don't be 'us.'"
* * *