Brú na Bóinne and Woodstock

The personal diary of Darig, son of Corwin

It is, for want of a better description, morning. My Trump of Benedict is functioning again, so I report in. My orders are unchanged: find allies among the minor houses. Our conversation is cautious; we know that communications are insecure.

Nico meets me at breakfast and I ask her about the structure of the Courts. The situation is, inevitably, fluid but essentially the 12 most powerful houses are the Rim Lords, houses with a lot of power and usually several Chaos Lords. At present the Thelbane is controlled by the Royal Coalition of Ascaris, Hendrake, Sawall, Lanfranc, Ophir, Zephyra and Amblerash with Helgram as a sometime extra.

Then there are around 60 lesser houses varying from similar power to a Rim Lord to barely able to sustain their position, sometimes houses appear spontaneously and some have moved here from other places: Winter from Faerie, Sheol from Hell and Seraph from Heaven.

After breakfast Nico passes me an invitation to a formal ball at the Court of the Thelbane, we will be formally introduced to the King. The invite is in my colours with a black border, you can tell that it must be formal by the sheer weight of titles on it.

I discuss the possibility of an alliance with house Petrus, Nico seem to think that this is a good idea and will discuss it with Demissa.

Then I call Coprolith and we set out for House Ascaris to meet my assembled cousins. There is one new one to meet, Caine's son, Dirk; he looks just like his father's trump (just like Caine to name his child after a knife). He seems particularly pleased to see me and compliments my performance in the battle, though he thinks that some of my uncles may not have approved of my being given command of a flank. He is eating breakfast and asks me to join him, I decline but do add a few of the more robust items to my pouch - you can never tell when you may next eat around here. I note that he has a selection of daggers concealed about his person.

The others gradually arrive, except for Constance, who is billeted with House Spectral, one of the houses definitely less favourable to our side of the family. We set out with our attendant demons on what seems to be a long journey. Spectral is a swirl of colour but with a panoramic view of the Void. We head for a part that is one of the less attractive shades of green.

As we approach William calls upon Celadon, both the lord of this part of the ways and the name of the colour. This worthy seems to be man-shaped but monochrome. We are guided to an area that is in appearance a wood but lacking in the appropriate scents and sounds.

Constance's accommodation seems to be something that whilst fitting the description of a bed lacks legs and ignores this lack by defying gravity. As politely as we can, we find Constance and extract her from this place, providing her with breakfast from the supplies that some of us have acquired.

We travel through the varied shadows to Brú na Bóinne, ancestral home of Barimen. It takes the form of a large mound, stone walled and roofed with turf. Megaliths surround it. Outside the huge doors stands a vast bronze gong, we approach with the intention of using it when the nearest of the monoliths reveals itself to be a troll-like demon armed with an enormous spiked club.

This creature seems aggressive until William produces a letter (from Queen Cymnea) at which point the troll makes deference and then strikes the gong. The gates open and we enter, the place seems well made but with signs of decay and redolent of great age. Our demons go into a small room near the door that seems to be there for that purpose and we walk down a long passage, far too long for the mound but this sort of thing is no longer a surprise.

Eventually we see a torch coming towards us, carried by a fox-headed demon in Celtic clothing. He introduces himself as Loeg and leads us to a great fire lit chamber where two demons converse. Even as we approach they shift to the forms of a venerable man and a nervous looking youth and are introduced as Suhuy of House Winter and Melvin of Barimen, respectively.

Constance asks for the history of the family, which is complex and bloody but ends with my slaying of Donal, Melvin's father, on the battlefield. Suhuy points out that under the Laws of Barimen Melvin must now challenge me and can only change this if he takes a ‘test’ and assumes leadership of the House, which seems to depress Melvin even more. The recent battle also seems to have cost the House ninety-seven of its one hundred demons.

As we talk William has moved a little way out of the light and cries out as something attacks him out of the darkness. Whatever it is, it is all but invisible and when I move forward I cannot get the line for a clear blow. I shout to Sorashi to circle left and I move to the right. Suhuy casts light and the second the fight opens I thrust with sword and axe; the sword cuts deep. Suhuy shouts for us to stand back, the sword is snagged so I let go and draw a dagger. Suhuy hurls what appears to be a black octopus into the fight. It clings around the creature hanging on as it changes form several times.

Suhuy questions the creature as to who sent it but it just cries “Death before dishonour” and goes into a convulsive series of changes (apparently triggering something within its body), dies and messily dissolves. Suhuy says that he is sure that the creature belongs to House Spandrell; they are specialists in assassination and available for hire.

At my request Loeg fetches a cloth and takes my weapons to be cleaned. He also delivers a request from a Lord Mandor of Sawall that we attend upon him.

Whilst waiting for the weapons to be cleaned we discuss many things, most particularly the many and various breeding habits of the denizens of the Courts. Melvin then sends for his Trump of Lord Mandor and Havelock contacts him.

Mandor invites us to visit him at his own home, Woodstock, rather than the Ways of Sawall. This seems to make both Melvin and our various demons (when told) most nervous; they seem edgy and less sure of the route.

Woodstock itself looks like a Mead Hall atop a cliff but when we enter it is tastefully panelled in wood. Mandor seems polite and friendly but is obviously a major player in the Court and the reactions to him suggest a dangerous one. We are offered a wide choice of drinks, I opt for a whisky and it is of the best.

Once the courtesies have been dealt with he suggests that we do not realise our predicament but describes the situation that we already knew about being trapped. He does however give us some useful history: King Swayvil only came to power in the vacuum caused by the creation of Amber and is most definitely not our friend. Mandor himself states that he has no desire to succeed to the throne but would prefer to be useful behind the scenes. It does not take much deduction to translate that as ‘the power behind the throne’.

Mandor seems to be looking for someone to kill Swayvil at the ball to which we are all invited; I suspect that he is looking at me, I do not rise to this. Such assassins do not get out alive and I have no death wish.

We return to Brú na Bóinne leaving Constance behind as she is seeking somewhere more acceptable to stay than among Spectral.

At Brú na Bóinne we hold a council of war in a place that I hope is private. Dirk wants us to kill the King but I am sure that we are merely cats-paws in Mandor's plans for power.