The
guards said nothing as Kyle and I passed through the Castle
halls, but the level of suspicion towards non-family members was
higher than usual. Ironic, since most of Amber's real problems
are caused by those who share in her power. Random was taking
things very seriously, it seemed, with an uncommon amount of
guards and Valkyries posted at odd intervals throughout the
halls.
"My, my," I commented, "I can not remember seeing
this many guards outside of state function. Even at a state
function......." I shrugged and looked at Kyle. "How
are you doing, all things considered? Do you need to rest or can
we ease my mind by paying Tyler a visit?" Kyle
surveyed the chaos in the castle, pausing and reaching out with
his psyche. If I had not known any better, I would have sworn he
was summoning the cat.
"Hmm...well, I really should report to Random, but it seems
he's on alert already. If his arcane defenses are similarly
heightened, I can't see where delaying that visit a short while
longer would hurt. Let's go see the poor dolt, shall we?" Always
the gentleman, he extended his arm to me. We
made our way through the crowds, but at the top of the staircase
that lead towards the dungeons an impediment came. A group of
five guards, seemingly in no mood to talk, stood watch over the
door. The group recognized us, but made no move to remove
themselves from our path.
"Good day, what's all the commotion about up there?"
Kyle, instantly charming, asked the head guard. "And why so
many of you to guard one miserable prisoner? Or does the King
have new guests?" The
head guard, a grizzled veteran by the name of Drake, stepped
forward and addressed us.
"The commotion, Prince Kyle, milady Princess Shannon, is the
state of preparations that his Highness has demanded as regards
to the several threats to the kingdom...the traitor Triton as
well as some other problem of which only the name Doors I know
about. I would think, sir, that the royal family is more
knowledgeable on such matters." Drake
paused a moment. "As far as the number of Prisoners, you
would have to ask down below, Sir. Be warned, however, that the
King has currently made the Pattern Room off limits to all
without his direct and proved consent." On
that I resisted the urge to smirk and lost. If someone truly
wanted to walk the Pattern they would find a way - there was
nothing Random could do about it. At least, I was confident he
could not stop one of the red haired members of the royal family.
We have our ways........ To
cover the smirk I turned on my most brilliant smile and said,
"Fortunately our business lies elsewhere. Gentlemen." I
nodded to them and pushed through the guards and started down the
stairs, dragging Kyle along behind me.
Descending the staircase was uneventful and uninspiring. Part of
the stairwell was marked off, the spot where Triton, Luke,
Malachi and the unfortunate guards had engaged in their melee.
Finally, we entered the chamber at the bottom from which all the
corridors radiated, including the more heavily guarded passage
which lead to the Pattern. One of
the three guards in the room, a tall middle aged fellow by the
name of Calimdor stepped towards us.
"Good afternoon, Milady Shannon and Lord Kyle." Was it
just me, or did he look unhappy to see us? "I regret that
the Pattern is currently off limits, considering the troubles
with the various malefacious individuals roaming around as of
late, including your father, beg my pardon, Prince Kyle."
"How fortunate that our business lies elsewhere. My cousin
and I have ventured down here to speak with a prisoner we brought
in earlier." I smiled, a firefly in the darkness. Kyle
nodded and smiled at the guards, his gaze lingering on Calimdor
in particular. Just enough recognition to make the poor man
wonder whether or not Kyle took offense at his remark.
Calimdor looked uneasy and produced a key, which Kyle took before
dutifully following me down the corridor. The
dungeon was dark and smelled odd, but it was rather clean. No
mold in the corners of the walkways, at least. I swallowed the
lump in my throat as we continued on, chiding myself. The
stairwell down to the underground offered no threat, but here I
was ready to fall apart in the narrow space of a dungeon
corridor. Claustrophobic, me? Surely not. My old
enemy had not been moved and I was able to find the cell easily. Using
the key I wrenched open the door to find a slightly emaciated and
not very reactive Tyler. He was lying on a straw pallet and did
not stir much as we entered his confines. I
schooled my face to a blank mask, devoid of all emotion, but I
suspected Kyle knew me well enough to see the pain in my eyes.
"Well," I stepped into the cell and to one side,
"can you do anything for him?" Tears
threatened to spill down my cheeks. Why did I care? I knew that
there was no good reason to care, but I did just the same.
Unicorn help me, I wanted to save the life of a man who had tried
to kill me. Was it because I was sentimental? Did the fact that
we had shared the same shadow during our childhood years make him
so important that I would throw aside my good sense? Or was it
merely the fact that I had given him my word and I was so bound?
"Well, I wouldn't hold out much hope," Kyle said
finally, interrupting my thoughts, "if your mother couldn't
fix it, but I do have something she doesn't - Tyler's
memories." He
laid a hand my shoulder. "Now, I don't know that we can make
him one hundred percent, but we might be able to get his natural
healing abilities jump started if I can lay back on him what I
took away, and we can, perhaps augment that with the psychic
impressions you've built up over years of acquaintance...but keep
in mind that I walked the Crimson Pattern almost immediately
after scanning him, and that much of the impression I had has
been subsumed. I may be able to help, I may not. I'll need your
assistance. Are you game?" I
reached up and enveloped Kyle's broad hand with my own smaller
one. "I am afraid there is not much choice in the
matter." My voice was grim. "I gave him my word and am
bound to honor it." Yes, yes.......it was all about my word,
my honor.
"Very well," Kyle's voice was soft, comforting. We
knelt as one and Kyle laid his free hand on Tyler's head,
initiating contact. It was
an easy journey as Tyler had no defenses to speak of. Suddenly,
we were covered with mud up to our knees. Looking around I saw
that we were in the middle of a mudflat. A very deserted mudflat,
stretching to the horizon. In the far distance there were shapes
which, had I not been inside someone's mind, I would have thought
were broken buildings. There
were corpses, human corpses, here and there. They were lying in a
tableau of horror and gore, in all possible configurations of
dying, various body parts emerging from the muck. Kyle's
voice cut through the silence, "Well, here we are. I suggest
that this represents the carnage done to Tyler's blasted mind. It
doesn't look like I
could've done all of this, though." I
seriously believed that he could have. To an Amberite, perhaps,
it would be ridicules, but Tyler was nothing more than, as Lorius
was fond of saying, "a shadow dweller on steroids." Kyle
knelt and turned one of the bodies over. It's hollow eyes starred
up at us. It was......Tyler. My companion sloshed a few feet
through the mud and grabbed another body. It, too, was Tyler.
"Odd. Let's get to the bottom of it, shall we? Scan doesn't
indicate any direction, so maybe we should just dig in."
Kyle sounded unsure. Great, I thought, he does not know what is
going on anymore than I do. My
cousin waded over and began to pull bodies from the muck.
"Fun." I grabbed a body and tossed it aside. Another
one, dirtier and more ruined than the last appeared beneath it
and I tossed that one aside as well. "Kyle," I queried
after a body literally fell a part in my hands, flesh sinking in
to the mire, "do you have any idea exactly what it is we are
looking for?" Kyle
was bent over a body, pulling the eyelids open. "Just look,
forget your expectations, don't let them cloud your senses.
You'll know when you see it." He tossed the body aside, and
pulled another out by the nape of its neck, feeling its carotid
artery with a deft forefinger while smiling at me. I did
not smile back, but stood. A far as I could "see" there
were bodies. Probably thousands of them, if not millions.
Sighing, I dug into the ooze and pulled up another corpse for
investigation.
Several bodies later I paused and stood up, straining to hear
something that was not a sound at all. Yes, yes I was sure of it.
Someone was trying to contact me via trump. I had not thought it
possible for me to detect an incoming call while I was so
preoccupied, but it came none the less.
Considering that Brand had showed an interest in my mind as of
late, especially when I was with his son, I was a bit uncertain.
However, if it was Brand he would break me sooner or later and
while I preferred later, I wanted to finish things with Tyler as
soon as possible.
Turning my back to my cousin I reached forth with my mind,
embracing the contact, hoping that it would not sever my link
with Kyle. It was
not anyone particularly threatening, of course I was using Brand
as my comparison. No, before me, inside a little tent, was
Flora's son William. My, my, but things do get interesting fast."Hello?" William asked. "Forgive the intrusion, my cousin, but I was curious as to if you've time to assist me in a small investigation?"
"An investigation? I am in the middle of something, but I
should be done soon - I hope." I smiled, torn between Tyler
and the unknown. I wanted to make this short, but there was no
need to be rude. "What, may I ask, needs
investigating?"
"Busy? Was he some one of importance?" William asked
crossly, with a gesture towards Tyler. "Seems like there's
not much left for you to do there, but I suppose I should be
grateful to get an answer to my call." I bit
back a sharp retort, my smiling flickering every so slightly.
"Fah!" He quickly exclaimed. "That was ill spoken
of me. The trumps have been reluctant of late. When you've time,
I'd appreciate a return of my call, and I'll give you the meat of
my situation, leaving you to decide if you've a taste to get to
the marrow of it when your situation allows.
"While I do not feel a need to swear secrecy on this, I
would appreciate not bringing too many others into this. Truth
said, if I'd the time, I'd take the lot of it on by myself."
He was
suddenly distracted, his blue eyes seeming to not look on me, but
rather inwards. However, before I could do anything he shrugged
his shoulders and smiled, then began his story.
"While on walkabout recently, I discovered an army that
passes through Shadow in a manner most unusual, and I believe in
the long road, damaging to the places it crosses. My companions
and I infiltrated and eventually met, via crystal ball, the
leader of this force." I
frowned. Though it could be something utterly unrelated, any
"long road" through shadow reminded me of Corwin's
narrative and his tale of the so-called "black road."
"He's a suicidal maniac, in my opinion," William
continued, face grim. "Has some grudge against Benedict and
has raised an army to die alongside him on his quest for
vengeance. But a powerful maniac, none the less. I managed to
discover his next objective in gaining the power to take on our
uncle, and now that I've arrived before The Loony, I find it
woefully under protected."
"This then, is my mystery." Finally, his request.
"I would like to spend time to study an artifact of what is
most certainly primal power. The shadow I'm in is quite strong
and The Loony's objective has a tendency to erode things and
peoples who have lessor substance of reality. If I could discern
how The Loony intends to unlock it's power, then I could prevent
him for using it and maybe creating a threat to Amber's
peace."
"But at the same time, I must need set to making this
village into something that could possibly be defended. A task
which will take more hands than my own and my companions. It's
probably petty of me, but The Loony was a bit rude, and I will
gain much pleasure if I can ruin his little gambit."
"So, if you find that after you're done with your present
obligation, you've got little to keep your hands
occupied..." His smile was charming, sweet, innocent. He was
his mother's son....... "Perhaps you'd care to lend them to
me." I
nodded slowly. "I must finish my business here," I said
with force, unwilling to negotiate. "But, when I finish, I
would be more than happy to assist you in any way I can." I was
distracted for a moment. Kyle had found something - a living body
among the dead.
"I will call you as soon as I have a free moment," I
said to William, smiling. Nothing more passed between us and the
contact faded, allowing me to be enveloped once more by the
quagmire of Tyler's mind.
"Now, the way I see it," Kyle rambled, oblivious that I
had been busy elsewhere, "we can try to jump start this one,
or see if it has any psychic connections to one in better shape.
You are, of course, aware that the human brain re-routes its
survival functions to other structures when it suffers serious
harm. Old Tyler here may just be a bit tougher than an Earth
human if he can survive a Broken Pattern, so I believe there is a
chance that we can help him restore enough of these connections
to start functioning. Once we get him walking and talking, we can
work on restoring his memories and blocking off his powers.
"The big question is how to proceed. Either we can fix this
Tyler clone, which may represent a neural pathwork, or we can try
a mindscan on it and see if it has a connection with a healthier
specimen. Working in analog like this is not going to be easy,
and may require subtle interpretation of Tyler's own unique
symbol system, his personal icons and archetypes, if you will.
You're going to have to be my eyes, in other words.
"Ready to give it a try?" Kyle
extended me his hand, indicating he wanted to establish a psychic
link within the bond we already shared. There was no hesitation
in his action, though it would mean opening deeper levels of our
own psyche to one another. Unlike
my cousin, I hesitated. Did I trust Kyle? The answer was yes.
Should I? Perhaps not. He was
family. Not just any family, Brand's son. Why, of all the legions
of cousins, did I pick him to trust? His father had
been.....still was.....a mad man. But then, no one who carried
Amber blood in their veins was completely sane. The
simple truth of the matter was this: I was afraid. Afraid to
trust Kyle, afraid to open up to him. I had no doubts that he
would not abuse the deeper link, once initiated, but I was
fearful all the same. I was letting him in when I should, if I
truly wanted to protect myself, be pushing him away.
Finally, I took his hand, unable to do anything else. If Kyle was
willing to risk it, so was I. Before
initiating contact between us Kyle summoned some smelling salts.
"Amber calling Tyler, can you hear us? Anybody home?"
For better or worse they brought the body to...life. Rather, it
drooled just as its counterpart in the real world did. It was,
certainly, alive, which was an incredible improvement over the
dead bodies I had waded through earlier. The living corpse
blinked at us and I whispered his name, listening as it echoed in
the dead world.
"Yyeessss? My nnnname iss Tyler." His eyes gazed up at
me, not as empty as they once were. He ignored Kyle all together.
"Tyler, Tyler," I repeated questioning him almost the
same way I would a zombie - slow, steady, repetitive. However,
were he a zombie I would have asked him only "yes" and
"no" questions. If he was unable to respond to
something open ended I would try just that.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"I feel...I feel so very coold," he said and I sighed
in relief. His mind was not as deteriorated as a zombie's after
all. Tyler
tried to scramble to his feet. He failed, falling back into a
sitting position, mud nearly drowning him. "Shhannon? Wwhy
have you brought me here?" His head turned and he looked at
the world filled with corpses. Silently I hoped that he could not
make out their features, but it was too late. He had seen and
there were only two words to describe the look in his eyes:
abject terror. I felt
cruel. It was a new feeling for me. My mother had taught me that
the means justify the end. But what was this pain justifying?
What was the end in this situation? Surely, Tyler would have
talked about his new found power without us subjecting him to
this. A little bribery would go a long way with him.
Despite it all a thin smile cracked my lips. I was now the bully.
What an ironic reversal of fortune. I
moved forward cautiously and slowly placed a hand on Tyler's
shoulder, unsure if it was safe to touch him.
"Tyler," I said softly, my voice sorrow filled,
"something bad happened to you and I am trying to fix
it." I shot
Kyle a "What now?" look over my shoulder. Kyle
spoke softly, so that only I could hear, "We bring him back.
Get him to think all of this away. Talk to him about better
places, better times. Home, perhaps. I'll weave a compulsion to
aid his concentration." Kyle
gestured, and a copper-strung lap harp appeared in his hand. He
strummed it gently. The
landscape began to transform before our very eyes. There was
grass and flowers and a blue, blue sky. The Fields of Morning. I
knew it well. Tyler
closed his eyes and smiled slightly, sleep drawing him down as I
cradled his body.
"Would it be best to stay with him or can we leave?" I
asked Kyle, not looking up from my enemy. Strange. In the pale
light of the mind Tyler was almost handsome. Kyle
answered my question with a nod and, "I believe we've done
the best we can for now. We'll let his natural processes take
over from here. When he's stronger, we'll see where he stands,
and perhaps try other means." He smiled, pleased with his
work, as the scenery faded away. This was certainly the day for
trips into other people's minds, it would seem.
"Well, where do we go from here?" Kyle asked,
stretching. "I could use some rest, but afterwards, what
course do you suggest we take?" I
shrugged and smiled. "During our little 'trip' to Tyler's
mind I received a call from William. It seems he has something
unusual which requires attention. I promised I would get in touch
with him as soon as I had the time."
"And now," I finished, pulling the trump deck from my
pocket, "I have the time." Kyle
bowed low, "Then adieu, Madame. Give William my
regards." Kyle walked
to the door, turned his head over his shoulder and smiled, his
profile perfect in the dim light. "And if you require my
services, please don't hesitate to call." With
that Kyle was gone and I was left alone with Tyler's body, not so
much drool escaping as before, and my trump deck. I left
the cell, closing and locking the door behind me, before
pocketing the key. I should have returned it to Calimdor, but I
did not feel like walking all that way. They had legions of
copies of all the keys, aside form that which unlocked the
Pattern.
William's trump was cool and comforting in my hand. The contact
was easy, mostly, but I never got all the way through. It seemed
as if he felt it, but would not, or could not, answer. Sighing, I
put it back. I did not have time to waste waiting for William to
decide whether he wanted to talk to me, nor did I have the energy
to waste forcing the contact. As I
rifled through the cards in search of the trump to my rooms
another card caught my attention.
Corwin's Pattern. I had
promised I would return, had I not? Taking
a deep breath I opened contact to that foreign realm. 