Come As You Are

The personal diary of Margrath, son of Sand, pt 11

Julian has been taken to the Alhambra and he is settled there. There is he catching up on sleep of the normal kind.

Back in House Sumi I also slept and while I slept, I dreamt.

Within the dream I found myself in a dimly lit room which was smoky and filled with the aromas of both cheap and expensive liquors. The room was set out with tables and chairs and at one place there was a stage with a pit before it. The stage was empty, but within the pit there were four musicians who were waiting but not playing.

At one table there were two men and three women. One of the men was instantly recognisable by his tartan clothing and yellow gloves. This was again a dream where I met Anansi.

The women were hanging on Anansi’s every word. He paused and called ‘Hey Bro’ to me, waving me to the table, and then continued with what I believe was a joke. The women all laughed at least. Then he called to the waiter for watermelon which was brought.

I sat with them and we talked of spirits and power. There are many spirits within the worlds of shadow, but seven of them have higher places. These are the Great Spirits: Dragon, Phoenix, Serpent, Sphinx, Thunderbird, Tree and Unicorn. On Corillaine there are shadows of most of these Great Spirits, the most prominent of which is Tree. After that come Dragon, Phoenix, Sphinx and Thunderbird. To my knowledge Unicorn and Serpent are known on Corillaine but do not manifest there.

Unicorn and Serpent are followed as the official, primary religions in Amber and Chaos, respectively. They are official because these are the forms followed by the respective kings of Amber and Chaos.

From our talk it seems that Anansi’s goal, as is probably true of many lesser spirits, is to become one of the seven Great Spirits. The way for this to happen would involve the deposing of one of the currant seven and he asked me which I thought could be deposed. I consider that Serpent is possibly the most likely.

Anansi then introduced me to the other man at the table who is called Louis. He then started to sing some song which is apparently called ‘Louie, Louie’ and then asked a waiter to bring some device called a Karaoke machine. This left time for Louis and I to talk.

Louis introduced himself as the head of House Araignée, which apparently means spider in some other language. He also referred to Anansi as ‘his Holiness’. It appears, from our conversation, that House Araignée are followers of Spider in the Courts, but they are currently the lowest on the hierarchical order maintained by the Houses of the Courts. Naturally House Araignée and Louis seek to see the House rise in favour and achieve a place amongst the noble Houses, which, as with the seven Great Spirits, are limited to a set number.

Louis and I talked and have agreed to help each other in promoting House Araignée upwards in the Court hierarchy and to work towards promoting Spider upwards with the aim of Spider replacing Serpent as one of the seven Great Spirits. As Serpent’s main power base appears to be the Courts, and their main power within the Courts is because they are followed by the current King, then a change of King could result in a fall from favour for Serpent.

I woke back in House Sumi.

Pondering on my dream, I wonder now how linked are the Unicorn and the Pattern or the Serpent and the Logrus? If the Serpent moves out of favour in the Courts, even though it may still maintain it’s place as a Great Spirit, will the nature of the Logrus change? And if Amber has changed does this mean that the Pattern has changed and will it then be wise to walk it again?

My ponderings were interrupted by the receipt of an invitation from Melvyn to attend his induction to Lord of Chaos, and his attempt of the Logrus at the Chapel of the Keeper.

I then spent some time with Ibemo, in practice and instruction in my form of sorcery. We practised with the hanging of Floating Spider, Release Spirit x2, Command Spirit x2 and Bind Ty’iga x2.

I can see that he shows promise with the form and with these spells, and as with all our dealings, he showed himself to be both earnest and polite.

He has also been invited to attend a martial training in the blade, with Darig, which my cousin is arranging for the young of the Courts. Ibemo wished for me to accompany him to this training session, to which I happily agreed.

I use the convention ‘he’ here but really I doubt that the members of House Sumi, even though they appear outwardly male and female, actually have those forms.

So, after refreshment and practice were completed, I set off for the Chapel of the Keeper, all the while watching the Ways by which we came to that place.

The Chapel had the form of a ruined church, lit by a sickly green moon. On the face of the moon was a look of absolute horror and its demarcator appeared to have teeth marks in it.

Inside there was an oval table as before, with a hole in the middle. Most of the others were there by the time I arrived.

Looking round I could see Sand, and could see that she was looking isolated and forlorn. I went straight to talk to her and could quickly tell that she had not been looking after herself. She talked about Delwin and said that she had spoken with him two or three times, but that now he will no longer answer her summons. She was hoping that he may answer if I summoned him, but also that he may turn up at this gathering as he did before. She feels that there was much left unsaid that should have been said, between her and Delwin, just as there was much left unsaid between her and Oberon.

She is obviously focusing on her worries over Delwin, to the exclusion of looking after herself, and she is fearful that if he does not receive the proper funeral rights he will not make it back to Corillaine and they will be separated forever.

We also talked of our contact with Corillaine and she said that she can still feel her contact with Great Tree and I confirmed that I am still in contact with Spider, so we are sure that Corillaine is still out there somewhere in Shadow. She also said that she thinks that once we are back, that Spider will have a higher profile. I wonder though if she is saying this to give me reason to return to Corillaine, so that she will not lose me as well.

I noticed that the stained glass windows depicted changing spirit totems, including Spider.

Dworkin and Suhuy arrived. Suhuy talked to Sorashi and Dworkin stood grinning at everyone.

We sat at the table and I found myself sitting between Sand and Rachael, and opposite Cymnea. Opposite Sand was a vacant seat which she was focusing her gaze on, obviously in the hope that Delwin would occupy that table later. Melvyn was seated at one end as was Lady Zae at the previous gathering here.

Suhuy nodded to Cymnea and then everyone stood. Then Suhuy nodded to Melvyn who spoke a small blessing after which we sat and the food appeared.

Just as with Lady Zae at her attempt, Melvyn was fasting.

As we ate I was keeping an eye on Sand who was still focused on the empty chair opposite. I was also making small talk with Rachael and I managed to ask her if she had ever met Louis of House Araignée. She said she had not but that she would ask about him within her House.

Suhuy tapped a glass and nodded at Benedict who stood, and we all followed him. Benedict then made the toast ‘to absent friends’ and I could see that Sand was becoming more obsessed with the empty seat opposite.

Forms began to appear in the empty places.

Next to Sorashi there appeared a cowled, monk-like figure who talked to her.

Next to Havelock, Brand appeared, still shadowy and with a red glow on his chest.

Opposite Brand, Delwin appeared.

Opposite Sand and next to Cymnea a figure appeared which it took Cymnea a moment to recognise as Oberon, leaving her speechless. Sand was next to recognise the figure. As recognition passed around the table, all of Oberon’s sons stopped eating and sat straighter in their chairs.

Sand was obviously confused when she realised she was confronted with Oberon, due to their past.

Oberon talked to the Cymnea and the family and was introduced to, and took some interest in, his grandchildren, although he seemed to doubt Darig’s claim to being Corwin’s son.

He also talked to the Phantom but neither he nor Cymnea recognised this Phantom, even though the Phantom claimed to be a relative.

In talking with Oberon I managed to ask him about Argent and he said it was a part of Heraldry and that there were probably a number of places called Argent, though he was not forthcoming on any information that may have been specifically relevant. He did ask if I had ever been to Argentina where he said there are great beaches.

As the meal came to an end, Sand told Oberon that she missed him and he replied, ‘There may be one more time before we have to say goodbye forever’.

Suhuy then called forth some sort of black, protoplasmic substance which cleared the plates and felt very odd and icky.

Melvyn then took a sip of water, opened the table and went into the middle, from where he addressed Cymnea, asking for her blessing for his attempt to assay his heritage. They then concluded the formal ritual and we were sent to the chapel.

Oberon and Cymnea lead the way into the chapel.

As we walked to the chapel I made sure I was walking next to Delwin so that we could talk. He does not believe that the loss of connection to Amber, experienced by the demon Kirgiz, is anything to worry about as that seemed a long way for a demonic spirit to reach.

He said he doesn’t fully trust Sand at the present and agreed with me that her agenda appears to be focused on bringing him back. He also told me that he had had a chance to talk with Oberon and had sorted out some things. He mentioned that he and Brand were close at one time, though he did not go into any great detail.

Delwin also said that he had visited Amber a couple of times, as well as the time he took me to walk the Pattern at Tir-na-Nog, which is contrary to what I had believed.

At this time we entered the chapel and were ushered in with organ music.

We were warned not to use Pattern in any form when Suhuy summoned the Logrus.

When we were all in the chapel and seated, Melvyn entered and wished us all goodbye, in case he did not succeed and did not see any of us again.

Then I, and I’m sure all of us from Amber, were hit with a feeling of the building of a threatening Power and a sense of growing horror, in time with the building of the music.

Dwokin’s music reached its peak and Flora and Sand, at least, were heard to scream in terror as a hideous insect maw, eight feet long, opened up below Melvyn, who fell in and was swallowed by the closing jaws, leaving just his scream behind.

Sand fainted at this and was caught by Havelock. I rushed forward to see how she was and was relieved to see she was already coming round. Oberon told her to pull herself together because she has things to live for, and he warned her not to do anything silly.

At this point the ghosts began to fade and Oberon said to Cymbea ‘Bye-bye my dear, I believe we will meet one more time.’

We were all ushered out of the chapel then, by a side door which led to a spiral stair which hung, unsupported, over the Abyss. At the top of the stair we found our guide demons.

William suggested we retire to Bru na Boinne to drink to Melvyn’s success.

I escorted Sand back to House Lanfranc. She thanked me for my concern and asked me to keep in touch. I feel I have been keeping in touch, but maybe I have not been paying her the attention she needs. I promise to keep in touch and to remember what she asked about summoning Delwin. I may try at some time though now I am not sure he will answer even me.

I then returned to House Sumi to meet with Ibemo and take him to Darig’s training session.