The Grand Ball
A personal prayer to the Unicorn from
Constance, daughter of Julian, pt 12
I awoke and felt better for the sleep – and perhaps because
had no dreams to trouble me. I met Ariel and we retreated to my Chambers as we
both had things to exchange in private. I returned his tapestry and he reminded
me again that the Order was dissolved; that I was unaware of such a device as
the tapestry; that I had not left my chambers last night; that I knew nothing
of a garden. “What garden?” was my only reply.
Ariel
proffered me a plainly wrought, dully metallic ring and I warily asked him to
place it on the table. I looked at it curiously as he spoke of its provenance
and crafting. Cold wrought iron from a meteor fished from the Abyss. Made by crafters, House Tubal, who are
promising candidates to be recognised among the Houses of Chaos. And
that is Ariel's, and now therefore my, obligation: to
see that they are well considered for this rise in rank. I gravely nodded in
response and thanked Ariel for obtaining it and started to explain my purpose
by it but he would hear nothing of House Unman.
I
picked up the ring, that at least half of me fears will injure me if touched
let alone worn, and placed it on my right ring finger. It felt tingly and warm
to me. Not uncomfortably so but warmer than my body temperature and I was
certainly aware of its presence. I resumed breathing and removed the ring from
my finger. Well. I am of Faerie, but not sufficiently so to be injured by cold
iron and I idly wondered why my Lord Warden never saw fit to furnish me with a
ring or weapon wrought of cold iron to better protect me against Faerie? Maybe
Pattern is more effective or maybe he feared that I would be injured by it? I
considered the ring again and cast Glamours about me
so I would pass as my Lord Warden and picked up the ring again. Still tingly,
still warm but I found my Glamours were banished. So,
there is one effect of the ring made obvious. I smiled at Ariel. He asked me to
make myself ready for the Ball as he would be escorting me to it.
With
no Glamours available to me I washed my hair and body
and selected something for dancing from my wardrobe in my favoured green. I
finished dressing my hair, strapped a dagger to my inner thigh and checked my
appearance in a mirror before reaching back into the wardrobe for my cloak. And
there was the problem. It was missing, stolen from within House Pheon! I immediately informed Ariel who was aghast that
something of great personal value had been removed from a guest’s chamber. How
had their security been breached? I controlled my concern. Nothing could be
done right now, and I knew that away from Chaos I could use Pattern to find it.
We left for the Ball.
We
arrived and waited to be introduced to the King in the order of greatest
importance. Oromiel formally announced the engagement
of cousin William to Rachael, with a wedding to be
held immediately following King Oberon’s funeral. A funeral and a wedding with
an opportunity for a massive fight presented itself. William will enjoy it
doubly. Swayvil announced the exile of Spandrell for the attack on Lord William before time but Mandor commented sotto voce that Spandrell
was too useful to be exiled for long.
Unexpectedly
Imperial Violet was called forward to hear the announcement that House Spectral
was also to be exiled after the Ball with the addendum that Celadon was to be
put directly into my custody.
Mantissa
motioned to me as Celadon was pulled forward and forced onto his knees in front
of me. I saw the King laughing as he motioned drinking from something. I took
the chalice from Mantissa and walked to the clearly terrified Celadon and
poured it down his throat. Stepping back I observed without showing emotion as
the turpentine seemed to thin Celadon and he pooled upwards towards the ceiling.
I heard the King muttering that “At least the spawn of Amber are good for
something”. I turned, nodding once to Prince Benedict and stepped back towards
my cousins with some relief.
Lord
Jesby made a public accusation that Rim Lords not of
the Royal Coalition were responsible for disappearance of his heir. I did not
note any obvious response to this – but I am happy for this theory to run and
run and divert attention from the culprits.
William
sought me out immediately. The order of precedence meant that Lord Torc was between him and Darig
and William asked me to take Torc out of the lineup. After a quick conversation with Prince Caine, William returned to tell me that I need not move
against Torc.
I
watched the plan unfold as my elders and betters were presented to the King.
Deirdre's presentation caused much comment. Some of it angry.
Belissa checked Darig for
weapons for a third time (I had passed over my dagger on the first search)
which seemed odd. I noted the appearance of a hooded, cloaked figure in dark
grey that had appeared and drifted through the crowds and took his place behind
the throne.
Darig knelt to be presented to Swayvil
and as the King leant forward to speak to him Darig
drew his concealed dagger and lunged at Swayvil’s
head. The dagger went straight into the King’s eye and Swayvil’s
body turned to dust in front of us. Swayvil’s guard
moved suspiciously slowly to defend their Lord and as William moved back to Darig’s side the Demon commander presented his mace to Darig and thanked him for their freedom.
As
I watched, Mantissa spoke again, announcing that now the prophecy had been
fulfilled the Ball could continue. Thus, things are done in the Courts of
Chaos.
Many
of the gathered throng seemed to adopt a far more prominent Barimen
form. So our popularity waxes again – but as we know, it can wane just as
quickly here and I am sure that we have collectively overstayed our welcome in
Chaos.
There
was a late, unexpected but very welcome arrival in the form of Princess Fiona.
But
I had come to the Ball to dance. Really to dance and much as I knew that I was
free to invite anyone to dance I was happy that Hector of Zigo
glided over to me and we danced. He is a good dancer, but then I can't imagine
Flora spending time much time with someone who lacked sophistication and Grace.
He told me the names of those being considered for the newly vacant position of
King of Chaos. With bloodlines, Despil, and cousin Merlin
were in the frame. Chanicut, Luthor
and Jesby were also there.
There
was mention of the late King being responsible for the disappearance of the Jesby heir and this is a suggestion that I was also happy
to give a nod to. It was during the first dance that I noticed a crack forming
in the floor of the ballroom. I pointed this out to Hector and as the minutes
passed more were aware of the crack and its growth. Was Chaos literally falling
apart in the wake of the death of its King?
In
the pause between dances Lord Torc recited his epic
‘Constant Daughter’. My Lord Warden would not hear the doggerel in private from
my mouth and now he heard it publicly from its poet. I had little doubt that I
would hear more of this later. Three lines from the second verse ‘a blue and
silver dalliance, a warding against Faerie ire, token of a brave dalliance’
still niggle at me. Flora had said when I asked her
who I looked like in the family, that if my eyes were discounted, I looked like
the daughter of any of the black haired Princes of Amber. I resolved on return
to my chambers to change my eyes to the colour of each of my dark haired Uncles
and consider my visage in terms of their Trump portraits. My Lord Warden is of
course my Father as he had me brought up. But with Faerie being Faerie, I have
a concern that My Lord Warden may not be my biological father and this is what
Faerie is hinting at.
Lord
Torc approached me, but he stopped looking like the
cat who got the cream when he sensed the ring on my
finger. His eyes followed my hand as I gesticulated and he said that he would
not dance with me whilst the ring remained on my finger. I knowingly removed it
to my cleavage and now I knew that Faerie could detect the presence of cold
iron without it touching them. We dance and talked. Torc
said he is of the
He
apologised for my experience at the Revels. I pointedly did not accept his
apology but told him that I wanted Laird Tobias as a dance partner and that he
should ensure that it happened. I also warned him that the princes of Amber had
been furious at the rough treatment of their niece and that my Lord Warden
would be even more furious but that I could be persuaded not to mention the
name of the person who issued the invitation to Revels in the first place – for
a consideration. I continued that I appreciated the power and beauty of Glamours, but I would fain that their beauty was matched by
their function. I should like Glamoured armour to act
as armour in short and I knew that such a thing was possible if he were to
whisper the appropriate words to me. If this were to happen, I would withhold
his name from my Lord Warden. He agreed. But not here and not
now.
Lord
Torc told me that he is of the
Another
break in the dancing and the Ginningspa was read
aloud to us. A poem that described the creation, history and
destruction of us all. Beautiful yet terrifying at the
same time.
For
the next dance I sought Herman of Karm but he was
busy with Rimlord plotting. My card was not
sufficiently marked! I watched Magdalen of Karm approach my Lord Warden and they danced together with
his face its usual impassive self. A duty dance, or
perhaps an expression of neutrality between them? Without her support in the
Boardroom our path to extract him would have been far, far more difficult.
I
then watched Laird Tobias strut towards me with a smirk on his face. He seemed
unaware of the cold iron on me. I greeted him and politely suggested that he
owed me a public apology for his treatment of me as his guest and he simply
didn’t see why he ‘ought’a’
apologise, to paraphrase Torc. This daughter was unimpressed
and I slid the cold iron ring onto my right ring finger and placed my hand to
the side of his neck.
He
startled screaming almost immediately. His Glamours
were immediately destroyed. The regal Laird of House Unman was revealed to be a
less than prepossessing creature dressed only in a loin cloth – a
dirty one at that. I gave him a second opportunity to apologise but he seemed
too occupied with screaming. He continued to scream as I maintained contact
with his neck but pulled himself away from me making the mistake of turning his
back to run. I struck him in a wide X which I suspect will always scar and I
left the floor, my face completely composed.
And rumours. So many rumours.
The House of Usher was no more. The Earl of Groan had been driven mad by the
destruction of his library by fire. Beyond the rumours, I noted
Three
members of House Sundiata took the centre of the
floor. One of them, I recognised as Melvin’s opponent for Sorashi’s
honour. Akira recited a short poem then plunged a dagger into his its body
whilst one of the others partially removed the head to ensure the deed done. The
death came with a curse that Sorashi ‘might enjoy the
Sorashi screamed as she clutched at her eyes. I
went to her side immediately with a will to help but not knowing exactly how to
help. I heard a keening in the walls about me and Melvin, in the midst of his
change, came into existence through the ceiling as slime and formed a humanoid
shape. He turned towards Akira’s body and plucked his eyeballs from his head.
As he did this Sorashi’s pain ceased. He flowed off,
still on his journey and William picked up the eye balls, placing them in water,
I suppose in the hope that they may be restored to Melvin when his completes
his journey. Balls are safe.
Kageorgis kept our engagement and we danced the Zool in the dust of the dead King as he promised and as
well as I had hoped. He reminded me of the necessity of the non-existent Order
of the Deniable Moth to recruit and mentioned Merlin as a possible member. I
promised to keep my eye out for any likely candidates.
Kageorgis also confirmed the rumour of the theft of
my cloak from House Pheon was already in circulation
and promised to listen out for information. He didn’t know where his House
would end up in exile – but on the other hand he didn’t seem to be terribly
concerned by it either. As we danced I observed Princess Deirdre’s partner,
Lord T’Mer of Jesby,
murdered with a familiar poison at the hand of Dirk or his partner. My expert
in all things poison was unimpressed by the prosaic
nature of the poison nor the subtlety of delivery. House Jesby
was effectively nullified and rumours of the deaths of members of other
prominent Houses reached us. But the Ball is safe… Perfectly
safe.
Princess
Fiona returned to the Ballroom and read an Elegy to Oberon and Delwin. “Home is the sailor, home from the sea and the
hunter home from the hill.” My sadness for the passing of my Grandfather and
Uncle, neither having really been known to me, was amplified and above all I
felt sorrow for the children of Oberon – especially Princess Sand.
I
was still reflecting on that when a voice from behind me asked me for the next
dance. I turned and curtsied to Prince Brand. Much as I felt grief for the loss
of my Grandfather and Prince Delwin, I felt something
akin to loss for Prince Brand. A Prince of Amber without a real existence. We
danced a slow dance together – a pavane. Stately but not calming, in this circumstance.
After
slight conversation he asked me why I thought he sought me out. I said that it
was obviously because I could dance. His society smile showed he was not taken
in. He repeated that he needed a body and I replied that Princess Deirdre had
been saved because her body was still ‘viable’. He went on to ask why I never
referred to my Father as my Father in public? Why did
I refer him My Lord Warden? Even the children of Oberon referred to the late King
as Father or even Dad. I replied that it was a habit that had been encouraged
by my Lord Warden to keep me safe from anyone who might mean me harm as one
with Amber blood. I smiled beatifically at the man who’d, as my Father put it,
tried to use a cousin’s blood as Pattern eraser. I also recalled Oberon telling
me not to trust Prince Brand when last we were together.
Prince
Brand broke my thoughts when he said that Julian was one of the few relatives
who might help him because he could create him a new body to inhabit and that I
had his ear. I recalled my Lord Warden’s regrets over Brand. That he hadn’t
been rehabilitated. That, in madness he had fallen. That he was a brother lost.
Brand
told me of the rewards he would offer. The Jewel of Judgement that he wore – the
Jewel that radiated power. And he offered a Pattern blade. His brother Julian
could save him and he offered both in return for that salvation. As the music
finished I blessed him for redemption in my Horned Lady’s name. I promised to
relay the request and offer of payment to my Lord Warden.
A
stiff drink was called for.
It
was time for the final dance. I hoped to dance with my Lord Warden or perhaps
Prince Bleys but instead I caught sight of a very fine looking man in a domino
mask wearing my cloak. I accepted his invitation to dance and could feel
the closeness of my heirloom to me. He danced as well as he looked – in my
cloak. He introduced himself as Raffles. Raffles of Kunstkabinett
and said that he wanted an introduction to the Order of the Deniable Moth. I
repeated the learned line that sadly, the Order had been dissolved at the
command of the late King and he just gave me a very knowing look. Just who of
the remaining members has been so talkative? We danced. At the end of the
dance, he escorted me from the floor and draped my cloak back around me, bowed
and left.
It was the end of the Ball and sadly, time for my return to Pheon.