Session
21
Amber, year one, day 134 (Monday, December 6, 2987)
I hate being injured. There is nothing more frustrating than to
have to sit around and do nothing. Well, at least I have plenty of time
to think about what has happened.
I knew it was going to be bad when Ahab said he had a plan. Ahab
always has the best intentions, but he has a tendency not to think things
through. Since he said that Fiona would be helping, there was at least a
chance that we might survive. I will admit to being quite surprised that
we succeeded. Our success is due almost entirely to Fiona, though. To be
honest, I am not sure if our presence made any difference at all.
Probably not. I think the only one who helped her at all was Ahab, since
he was able to bring us to the Left Eye of the Serpent. I am still not
certain how he managed to accomplish that. I asked him, of course, since
the plan hinged on his being able to take us to the Eye's location. He
said he could not tell us. I was rather surprised by this. If Ahab is
keeping a secret, it must be a big one. After all, he prides himself on
his straightforwardness, and despises the Amber practice of hiding
information from one another. If he feels he cannot tell me his methods,
I will not pry. I am, however, free to draw my own conclusions... More
on that later.
Ahab's original plan was for him to transport himself to the Left
Eye of the Serpent, and with Fiona's help create a Trump gate to the rest
of us. If all went well, we would take the Eye and leave. If not, we
would fight until we found it. A simple plan, like most of Ahab's. Ahab,
Fiona and myself were joined in this endeavor by Felix, Alex, Shard and,
most surprisingly, Eric. Apparently he would not take Ahab's Trump call,
but Ahab, Felix and I managed to force our way through to him. After a
ridiculous amount of ego stroking from Ahab, Eric agreed to help.
Things went wrong from the very beginning. Ahab disappeared, but
no Trump gate appeared for the rest of us. Just as we were beginning to
realize that something was wrong, Fiona appeared. Along with Heather. I
assume Fiona asked her along, since none of the rest of us did. Fiona
said that Ahab was in trouble and needed our help quickly. None of us
were surprised by this news. Fiona created a gate for us, seeming to draw
it out of the very air. A handy trick. Passing through the gate was much
like walking down a cavern passage. Just as we reached the end, Fiona and
Heather were enveloped in a cloud of black smoke and disappeared. While I
was not sorry to see Heather go, Fiona's disappearance was most
distressing.
We emerged from the gate to find ourselves under attack by a large
group of creatures with tough skin and large claws. I really need to do
something about my sword. I was barely able to damage the creatures,
while Ahab's sword went right through them. Maybe Driscoll will agree to
help me. The creatures retreated after we had killed about half of them.
I was able to take over the minds of several and set them after the
others. The creatures were intelligent enough to realize what was going
on, and attacked us again, making it impossible for me to continue. One
of them picked Battlestar up in its jaws. I finally caused it to release
the animal, by shooting it with a crossbow bolt, but Battlestar was badly
wounded. I received a rather nasty gash myself, while providing cover for
Ahab. Alex did something to Ahab's arm which gave him a brief surge of
strength, but left the arm badly sprained, so he needed to switch his
sword to his other arm. Unfortunately, my shield had long since been
rendered useless, and while I was occupied with one creature, another
struck me with its legs. I decided to fall back at that point and
concentrated on searching for any sign of the Eye. There was nothing to
be seen but the creatures and a flat, featureless plain. We finished off
the rest of the creatures without any further major injuries. Felix
stunned the last creature by picking up the body of another one and
bashing it over the head. What strength he has!
It was after the creatures were dead that we noticed a flickering
of black smoke, much like the cloud that surrounded Fiona and Heather when
they disappeared. Occasionally, we could see a figure of about Fiona's
height appear in the smoke. Then the laughter started. Felix says it is
the same laughter that he heard when Dworkin disappeared. Suddenly Fiona
appeared and urged Ahab to shoot the cloud. Anyone else would have at
least hesitated, but Ahab immediately let loose with both bolts on his
crossbow. He shot Fiona. The real one. The other one was probably
Rygat, Benedict's mater, who is the one behind this whole mess. And the
one Heather got the Eye from in the first place. Either Heather was in
this up to her ears, or she was a remarkably efficient pawn. Given how
easily Rygat manipulated Ahab, I must admit that it is possible that
Heather's intentions were better than I had given her credit for.
Fortunately, Ahab did not kill Fiona, but she was not in good shape.
As I ran over to examine her, Heather appeared next to her. I was
beginning to feel that we had gone through all this and accomplished
nothing when Fiona opened her hand and I saw that she had the Eye. Then
she passed out. I am impressed that she remained conscious as long as she
did. I did what I could for Fiona, but that mostly consisted of some
drugs to relieve some of the pain and keep her from going into shock. No
one else moved to take the Eye, so I did. It seems ironic that I have now
held both Eyes of the Serpent and then given them up. Not that I would
want to fool around with something capable of trapping Dworkin.
Brand brought us home. All of us except for Alex and Shard. I
hope they are uninjured. Chaos is a dangerous place to be right now. I
do not know why they could not wait for Brand to return. Fiona is
expected to live, although it was a near thing. Julian and Ariadne were
badly injured during the fighting in Arden. Corwin may still be
recovering from his imprisonment. Far too many of us are injured, and the
fight is not yet over.
Ahab is understandably distressed over what he did to Fiona. If
this teaches him to think more before reacting, then perhaps some good has
come from all of this. It certainly seems to have affected Ahab's
attitude towards Heather. They seem to have made a peace of sorts.
Perhaps I should try as well. Not that I trust her, but it may be time to
end the open animosity between us. I gain nothing from it, nor can I
simply kill her, even if I have the opportunity. I do not hate her enough
to justify risking the wrath of Brand, Gérard and Random. Letting
an enemy live has never been my way, but as Martin pointed out, I am in
Amber now and they do things differently. I have no intention of blindly
conforming to all of their ways, but in this instance, Martin may be
right. Besides, if Ahab can make peace with Heather, despite all she has
done to him, I can at least try. I just hope my efforts are not rewarded
with another incident like the last one.
The remaining, nagging question is, how could Ahab have brought us
to the Eye? And why did he hide how he did it? Usually, he cannot wait
to tell the world of his accomplishments. The Pattern is gone, and
shifting Shadow is impossible. He admitted he did not know where the Eye
was. What would allow him to travel to an object in an unknown location?
Under normal circumstances, the Pattern would be my first guess. One
could find the Eye by shifting Shadow with it in mind. This would take an
awfully long time, though, too long for it to have been what Ahab did.
Walking the Pattern and having it transport you to the Eye would also
work. Possibly, someone could have drawn a Trump of the Eye. Or perhaps
some sort of spell to locate the Eye and bring him to it. I do not think
the latter two are likely. As far as I know, Ahab has no skills in Trump
or sorcery. I suppose it could be something he has hidden for a while,
but I do not believe it. I know him too well to believe I would not
notice. Possibly, he used a Trump drawn by someone else, but why hide the
truth in that case? It does not add up. Perhaps he was able to use the
Pattern after all, despite its apparent disappearance. But again, why
hide such a fact? And why would he alone be able to do this? Flora
mentioned that there was another Pattern, created by Corwin, but she said
only Corwin's descendants could walk it. Perhaps Deirdre's blood was
enough to let him take it? Maybe Fiona brought Ahab and Merlin to it
after dinner? Fiona and Merlin left together, and Ahab followed them out.
But why would he hide this information? Did Corwin ask him to keep
silent, not wanting others to look for his Pattern? Or does he not want
others to know because it may start people gossiping about his relation to
Corwin. I have heard rumors that Deirdre and Corwin were a little too
fond of each other. This sort of news would certainly add fuel to the
fire. If that is the case, then I am hurt he would not at least tell me
about it. I am not the sort to go spreading rumors. Besides, Corwin
could not possibly be his pater. Dworkin would never have allowed him to
live. Dworkin told me as much himself, when he forbade me to sleep with
Ahab. He said any children from such a union would have to be destroyed.
And I do not believe Deirdre could have fooled Dworkin about such matters.
Of course, it would explain the apparent animosity between them.
In the end, it does not matter. Whatever his reasons for his secrecy,
I must trust that they are good ones. The important thing right now is
for the Pattern to be restored and our enemies defeated. There will be
time enough to sort out all the mysteries later.
"Outrageous Fortune"
Ariana's Page |
Ariana's Diaries
Other PC Diaries and
Contributions
All text on this page is © 1993-1994 by Kris Fazzari.
Last modified on March 19, 1994 by Kris Fazzari.