The Grand Ball
The personal diary of Margrath,
son of Sand, pt 12
Ibemo has now attended the class on swordsmanship run by my cousin Darig. The class was attended by ten students and various
adult onlookers. I could see that the eldest student, Jurt,
was being watched closely by Despil.
Darig announced that he wanted to start by focusing on defence. He
had the students choose a weapon and then followed this by briefly sparring,
one-to-one, with each student, no doubt assessing their aptitude and
weaknesses. Then he chose suitable weapons for each student. For Ibemo he chose a two-handed sword, which I can see is in
line with Ibemo’s experience with the staff.
There
followed some sparring which Darig used to assess the
students further. I watched with interest in the use of the two-handed sword,
but purely in the way that Ibemo took to the weapon. I
do not feel I would ever exchange staff for sword, even if it was purely a
physical weapon.
The
students were then split into pairs and Ibemo was
paired with Tajal, the child of Sorashi.
Each pair then took to the centre of the training area and fought with each of
the other four pairs.
Approximately
half way through the training session I realised that I could hear screaming in
the walls. It took me a few minutes to realise that this was the screaming of Melvyn
though it was difficult to say just where the screaming was coming from as the
room was round and noises tended to echo differently to more rectangular rooms.
Sorashi soon also noticed the screaming, but I was
distracted from further investigation by the noise of a brawl from the centre
of the room. When I turned I could see that the brawl was between Ibemo and Cerdic. Cerdic had apparently called Ibemo
a third caste, a third Amberite, and Ibemo had punched him. Aelfric
then challenged House Sumi over this insult but his
attention was specifically on me.
While
I was distracted, Sorashi had found Melvyn’s face in
the wall and drew my attention away from the challenge to tell me that Melvyn
had said that I should choose Sorcery.
Turning
my attention back to Aelfric, I made sure that I
could choose the form of the duel and told him that I chose Sorcery. Almost
immediately Despil and Bela
of Vaal offered their services as my seconds.
Aelfric however, seemed very surprised that I had
chosen Sorcery as the form for the duel.
Despil then took charge of the arrangements and I am informed that Aelfric will be in touch with the details of when and where
the duel is to take place, and who his seconds will be.
After
this distraction was completed, Melvyn’s face had retreated back into the wall.
Back
at House Sumi I talked to Mokoto
about the duel and together we interviewed Ibemo. It
has become clear to me that this incident was contrived to provide a reason for
the duel, though from Aelfric’s reaction I do not
think the use of Sorcery had been considered a real possibility.
Mokoto also advised that I should talk to Despil
and Bela about the duel and receive any advice or
information that they can give, as I would not be allowed to be tutored during
the duel. Mokoto also warned that I should keep Bela at arm’s length, and he concluded by assuring me that
House Sumi would be present in full to support me
during the duel.
The Grand Ball
Guests
arrived – myself, Sorashi, Constance,
The
order I found out was in reverse order of precedence and decided by age, and
age of parent.
The
first order of the evening(?) was the announcement of
the upcoming marriage between Rachael and William, that wedding to take place
after the funeral of Oberon.
The
next item was the dispensing of justice by the High King.
The
first to come before the High King was Orlok of House
Spandrel. The High King exiled the house, starting after the conclusion of the
Grand Ball.
The
second to come before the High King was Imperial Violet and Celadon of House
Spectral. The High King bade Violet, “get thee gone and your House with you”. He
also gave
At
this point I could hear the faint screaming of Melvyn coming from the walls,
but there was no time to investigate this further.
Rolovians then came before the High King bringing a
case of abduction of a member of his House.
Then
the next part of the event came with the presentation to his Majesty of
honoured guests. Suddenly, during the presentation I noticed that Brand was
present among those being presented, although I did not see him arrive.
The
security arrangements were well conceived, with two rings, an outer ring of
guards and an inner ring of demons, around the High King, checking all who were
being presented for anything they should not be bringing with them to the
audience.
As
Darig was being searched, Belissa
stated that she did not trust Darig because of his
actions at the Opera and she searched him a third time. Apparently satisfied,
she let him approach the throne.
I
was then momentarily distracted by the presence of a figure floating through
the throng. This seemed to be a spiritual being and with my shamanic senses I
could tell that it was most likely some form of ghost. There was a strong
connection between this spirit and the King, and as the spirit stepped up
behind the throne I could see similarities in stance and form between it and
the King. As I watched I could see that the King was transparent like the
ghost. It seemed that the King had no soul or spirit, whatever it is that goes
on after physical death, but is usually ‘with’ the body while that is ‘alive’. There
is a distinct possibility that this spirit was the severed soul of Swayvill.
Then
things happened quickly. The King recognised Darig, Darig was on the King, Melvyn’s screams came back and the
King expired.
As
the King expired the inner ring of demons froze and dropped their weapons. Nobody
came forward to challenge Darig, King Augustus Swayvill crumbled
to yellow dust.
As
the King’s body crumbled I could see the ghost walk through the back of the
throne and then rise upwards. As it rose it appeared to be carrying something
that was glowing feebly, probably some remnant of Augustus Swayvill.
The
ring of demons then knelt and the outer ring of guards sheathed their weapons,
and there was a definite feeling of something changing is the Courts, as though
the whole place was settling into a new path.
Then
the leader of the demons that had formed the inner ring of protection for the
King, bowed to Darig and said ‘Thank you Lord, now we
are free’ and it handed its weapon to Darig.
This
was followed by Grand Vizier Mantissa pronouncing, “The King is dead, let the
celebrations begin”.
Then
the throne and all the other paraphernalia of the formal section of the event,
were cleared away to open the space for dancing. All that was left were the
remains of the King which people started to dance over.
Our
group, those who had not been presented to the King, were approached by Grand
Vizier Mantissa, at least I assume he was still Grand
Vizier. He apologised to us for no longer being unable to present us to the
King, which we accepted.
Around
this time
At
this point I was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see a
green human, whose normal form is a tree and who was Graham of Oparin. He apologised for interrupting the dancing, but he
thought the events that had just transpired called for a meeting of the Order
of the Loquacious Nettle. I agreed and he led me to a side room which was the
council room for the Order.
Akira
was there, looking changed from the last time we met, and her mask, which may
well not be a mask but an appearance she wears, bore a look of horror.
We
took our places and Graham proposed a question – ‘Who shall be High King of
Chaos?’, though I notice now that we did not specify when this would come
about.
The
answer we got, which again I could hear clearly, was ‘Sawall
– Luthor – Barimen’.
Our
discussion on this answer led us to conclude that House Sawall
contains various candidates and we could not narrow them down. House Luthor is a minor house and the only real candidate is Lex, who recently returned from exile. House Barimen, however, has Melvyn, as all the Amberites are ruled out by reason of being users of
Pattern. Then the possibility of Ibemo arose as he is
technically of House Barimen, at least close enough
for him to be considered in the answer from the Nettle, and he bears the Streak
of Yellow, which is apparently a necessity for becoming High King. The other
possibility that came to us was Merlin as he is both Sawall
and Barimen.
Our
second question was – ‘Who in House Barimen will be
King?’
The
answer was – ‘Corwin – Martin – Melvyn’.
Again
the answer is further muddied because we did not specify where they would be
King, and it is quite possible that this could refer to one of them becoming
King of Amber.
Our
third question – ‘Why did Sorashi of Amber favour Melvyn?’
The answer – ‘Blood – Suhuy
– Fondness’.
We
decided to leave this answer without discussion and return to the ball.
Back
in the main dancing space I noticed that there was a crack in the floor and,
taking a walk around the area, I noticed that there are other cracks; one of
which appeared as I watched. Looking around I could see that Constance, Suhuy and Dworkin also appeared
to have noticed them.
I
walked over to where Suhuy and Dworkin
were discussing the cracks and it appeared that they had been expecting this to
happen, but not so soon. I surmise that King Swayvill
was keeping this place together and now he has gone, the building, or at least
this room, was going too.
Suhuy left to find Darig while Dworkin waited to listen to the poetry of Lord Torc. Dworkin claimed that he is
sane again, but that nobody has noticed. I left him to listen to Lord Torc’s poetry, and wandered over to
My
first dance of the ball is with my mother, Sand. I am concerned as to
continuing state of mind over the loss of my uncle Delwin,
and I felt that I should keep an eye on her during these celebrations. We had a
pleasant dance and her mood did seem to be lighter. As we talked she did touch
upon the appeal of casting oneself on the winds of the spirit world and that
does worry me slightly, but she does seem less gloomy. She was also somewhat
focused on Oberon’s comment about meeting one more time. Personally I am not
sure whether that comment was directed at my mother, or at Cymnea,
but I did not discuss that with Sand.
I
also mentioned the cracks in the floor and she commented that the yellow dust
that was all that remained, physically, of the High King, was mostly gone. Fallen
through the cracks, so maybe that was their purpose in the first place?
The
third dance arrived and Lady Fiona returned with Lord Mandor
and they danced together.
During
the dance there was some incident that I did not completely catch, involving
I
danced with Dara and she just seemed to want to
dance. There was little conversation except when we were dancing close to Lord Mandor and Lady Fiona, when she mentioned that Mandor worships the ground that Fiona walks on, and that
power could be drawn from such worship.
There
was also a rumour going around that could be connected with the incident
involving
After
the third dance Akira and two other of House Sundiata
entered. One of Akira’s associates carried a red cushion on which was lying a knife. The other carried a katana.
Akira
knelt and the cushion was placed before her. She then took the knife, declaimed
poetry and disembowelled herself in what can only be described as a ritualistic
manner. Smoking green ichor gushed from her as she
slumped forward and then the katana was brought down and sliced into her neck. At
this point she started to rise upwards and from above could be heard a horrible
scream. This appears to have been Melvyn screaming again, but not in the same
manner as he had before.
Sorashi then announced that there was something
wrong with her eyes and at the same time something began to manifest that would
have needed Pattern to defend against were it attacking. Fortunately we were
all well aware of the effects of using Pattern in the Courts so nobody even
touched upon it. This thing came down as though guided and had the appearance
of filling up the shape of a person in front of Sorashi.
This person, who virtually certainly was Melvyn in some form or other, was made
of liquid with lumps, some of which stuck out.
Looking
with my sorcerous sight at Sorashi, I could see that
there was something forming in her head, most probably some form of spell,
driven by the blood magic of Akira’s ritual sacrifice.
The
Melvyn form was kneeling with its hands over its eyes, just as Sorashi was positioned. As I watched I could see that the
force, the spell, in Sorashi’s head was fading and at
the same time was growing in the Melvyn form’s head. Presumably some form of
magical transference where Melvyn took the spell from Sorashi
and brought it into himself. This belief was then reinforced as the Melvyn form
brought its hands away from its head, to reveal its eyeballs in its hands. The Melvyn
form then became more liquid again and flowed away, pouring through the cracks
in the floor. The eyeballs, though, were no longer part of the form and were
left behind. I am not sure what happened to them as the dancing continued, as
though this was an everyday occurrence in the Courts, which it probably is.
In
the fourth dance I danced with Kikakak, the member of
the Raven aspected shamanic House who helped me in a dream-state,
to retrieve Deirdre’s spirit from the Abyss.
We
talked of a number of things that she had learnt from the spirits, which in my
opinion is not always the most reliable source of information, but then I am
not Kikakak. She has heard talk that Spider has
boasted of becoming a Great Spirit, which the spirits dismiss as likely (and in
reality so do I at the moment). Kikakak is of the
opinion that Great Spirits do not fall from their high position, to leave a gap
to be filled by a rising lesser spirit. She feels that they must be deposed and
that needs followers and a prophet. I may be very mistaken but I feel she was
looking at me when she said that.
She
also put forward that the Great Spirits are manifestations of basic parts of
reality, whatever that is. For instance Tree holds the worlds together so
deposing it would appear to be a very bad idea, and I also would not want to
depose Unicorn. She also confirmed that Serpent is a weak form of Dragon, and
so probably has a lot more power behind it that it would seem.
Serpent
was supported by three lynchpins, one of which was the High King. Now that he
has gone it will be interesting to see if Serpent is supported by his
successor.
We
also talked about the many, varied shrines in the Duomo,
and the many forms worshipped, but that is Chaos and the poles of Chaos and
Amber are no doubt very different. I would be surprised if anything other than
the Unicorn is worshipped in Amber.
During
the dance I was also reminded that I still have a feather from Kikakak, and I believe that it may be able to act as a
conduit through which I could contact her, and as the realm of spirit may well
stretch between shadows it may, like Trumps, allow contact from what would
appear to be a great distance.
There
was also an incident of some form involving T’Mer,
who was a potential heir, in which he apparently died in a column of fire and
sparks.
There
also appears to have been some incident between Mandor
and Rolovians of House Jesby
during which Rolovians had cause to raise his voice
for some reason.
Another
rumour passing round is that Lord Roderick Usher’s sister has died and now he
is all alone in House Usher.
At
the end of the dancing the Lady Fiona stepped forward and read a poem. It
appears that someone had told her of the death of Delwin
and that we were here to attend the funeral of Oberon, both of which she missed
by being caught up in whatever she was caught up in.
Before
the start of the fifth dance I had a talk with
In
the fifth dance I danced with the Lady Deirdre and I asked if she could
remember anything about her time in the Abyss or about being brought back to
her body? She said she could remember hearing me calling her and that Sorashi had told her that I had been involved. She also
remembered falling into the Abyss and Brand’s tug on her – the burning of her
skin and eyes – and then she passed out, which I felt must have been a
blessing. The next thing she remembered was my voice calling her back.
She
is grateful and has asked me to consider how she can repay me. She also said
that she feels she owes a debt to Sand, due to the way they were treated by the
family. The trouble was that at the time Oberon brought his family back to
Amber, the last thing that the family needed was a new prince and princess who
were, at the time, favoured by their father. The Family obviously felt pushed
aside and took their feelings out on Sand and Delwin.
She
also talked about her debt to her daughter, Sorashi.
We
talked further about Sand and Delwin and she said
that she thought Delwin was approachable, and very
technically minded, which I find a little odd considering the nature of our
home shadow. Maybe he picked up more than we knew from his time in Amber or
journeying in shadow.
She
also talked about not paying attention to her spiritual side, missing Sorashi’s father – I am not sure that Sorashi
knows she missed him – but mostly about missing Oberon. She talked then about
travelling Shadow and of seeking a Shadow of Desire, but finding something in
that shadow that is needed as well as that which is desired. Perhaps something
that the spirit knows we need, rather than the desire of our conscious mind. This
has been known to happen when travelling in Spirit realms, which is led more by
out Spirit than our conscious mind.
I
was reminded that Sand’s and Delwin’s mother, my
grandmother, died in Amber. It seems from the accounts of her death that she
faded away, possibly due to being disconnected from something in Corillaine. My speculation about this would be that my
grandmother was a native of Corillaine, whereas Sand,
Delwin and myself all have
Amber blood and have walked the Pattern. It is my understanding that
grandmother would not have been able to walk the Pattern without dying. Maybe
our Amber heritage and Pattern initiation allows us to maintain that link
across shadow, that she could not.
Some
other things happened during the end part of the ball. Rolovians
was bludgeoned by the four remaining members of House Jesby,
thus ending House Jesby and there was a rumour which
spread through the guest that a fire had destroyed the library in Gormenghast.
My
final dance was just a pleasant dance with Sorashi.
After
the dancing had ended and guests were departing, Darig
walked in covered in mud, blood and ichor. He got
himself a drink and I noticed that the cracks were all gone. It would seem that
the cracks were not indicative of the fall of the building, but just a part of
the passing of the High King. Or maybe the maintenance of the building has
passed on to another.