Alaric’s Diary part 12: Rinaldo – Excommunications – Hall of Mirrors – Rebellion

In The Doom that Came to Amber

28^th Bull 3658 - Groombridge

Paolo was immediately uneasy. I explained where we were and said that in this place I was married to someone who looked remarkably like Mira and that he wasn’t to be too concerned about it. We walked across the courtyard, bidding good morning to Mary as she hung the washing and entered the main door to my home. My wife and children were coming down the stairs to breakfast as we entered the hall. Paolo was awe-struck and prostrated himself on the cold marble floor of my Hall. Mira thought it was Father Paul and that we were involved in a complicated prank with herself as the victim. She asked Paolo to rise and he, still awe-struck, lifted his head and hands high enough so that he could kiss the bottom of her gown. Mira, growing peeved, haughtily withdrew upstairs for breakfast – taking my children with her.

This, on such a day, was an amusing distraction – though Mira clearly thought not. I will make it up to her later. I remonstrated with Paolo that I had warned him of a distinct resemblance and he pointed out the insufficiency of my warning.

We breakfasted together and I suggested that we could spend some time at work in my studio. I needed some time to think and consider and Paolo was clearly in need of a distraction. He was still concerned about ‘this place’ and the last time he had expressed such a concern was at Lyon Abbey. I too was concerned about it. The sooner I cleared out my basement the better for all concerned.

I asked Paolo to paint me. Could he determine some change within me, I wondered? I was attempting to clear my mind to work on some free association drawings – again I pursued the worrying thought that I had in some way changed – had Mr N and his associates corrupted me? Above all, I wanted to see if I could determine Mother’s state of health.

I was interrupted almost immediately by a Trump call. I concealed my background and received Nathan’s call. He ‘seemed’ unaware of my new state of disgrace and contacted to tell me of his meeting with Brand and Deirdre in the Abyss. The same Abyss into which both of them fell at the end of the Patternfall War?

Brand and Deirdre! The one thought to be dead and the other in Amber. This was shocking news indeed. Who was the Deirdre in Amber then? I recalled Bleys commenting on how much she’d changed. Who is she that hates the Unicorn so much and fought for me at Lyon Abbey? And what in Hell was Nathan doing in the Abyss?

I told Nathan in turn about Dark and Clarissa and asked him not to contact me again. I closed the contact and continued with my drawings. I heard the front door bell shortly after noon and Father Paul was ushered into the hall. He asked for me but the footman, well trained, went upstairs to fetch down my wife. She remonstrated gently with Father Paul over his ‘little joke’ and I heard their voices retreat towards the dining room. I looked up from my nonsense work and broke Paolo’s concentration to take him off to lunch. I warned him that there was an additional guest for lunch and that he looked exactly like himself.

Paolo opened the door from my studio into the hall. I looked as he was bathed in a bright light and pulled him back behind me. I opened the door further to discover that a Hall of Mirrors had attached itself to my Studio – and in my Trump Shadow no less! I warned Paolo that this was likely to be dangerous and to keep close up to me as we passed through it.

The first painting was Oberon. Grandfather! It was a swift conversation. He said that if he were still King he’d be inclined to kill me for what I’d done. I did not reply – inclined was a marginally better statement than Julian’s promise. He then asked me what I intended to do and I replied to sort it out. He dismissed me with a ‘see to it then!’

The Second was Katherine – Mira. She had killed her mother and grieved still for her loss. This was the beginning of an extended theme. The third was of Alicia and Richard. They too had killed their mother. I recall Morwaith telling me of his dealings with them so many years ago. Their mother was bricked up in the dungeons of Amber by Oberon in a fit of generosity.

The fourth was my mother; fair to behold. She forgave me and said again that I was her favourite son. She was tired out, dying and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. Her advice to me was plain, to forgo my belief and reliance on intercessions; to think and to be more self reliant. She also forewarned me that Aylwin would be angry when we next met and asked me to forgive him for it. I confessed my fear that those things from Lyon Abbey had in some way influenced me. She dismissed this as idiocy. I asked for a way to save her life but she said that she was just too tired. But she loved me still.

She loved me still! That one statement made by my mother gave me more confidence and hope than I’ve had in months. If my mother knows that I can come through than through her advice and love I damn well will come through. I kissed her. It smelled and felt like her. And I felt humbled by her love and trust in me. I will always treasure her for this. I walked on.

I walked on, humbled but more confident somehow. The fifth was of Delwin. He also had killed his mother. And as to my lack of Pattern Powers he had no real idea except to try and walk the Pattern. “Most importantly”, he said, “go out and look for the answers. Find out about these Gods – the answer is out there somewhere.” Simple really. I left him for the sixth portrait.

This was another couple, one a swashbuckler, the other; a woman dressed in powder blue bearing a dragon on her wrist. Morgan and Petra they were called. Their mother, Rilga of Cordoba, killed herself after learning of their deaths on an expedition to capture dragons. Petra behaved improperly towards me and her brother advised me strongly not to worship mythical beasts. Hmm, Unicorns and dragons both, I thought.

The final portrait was of my Aunt Deirdre. Apparently not she whom I had rescued from a block of ice in Cyprani but she who had fallen at the Patternfall War. Yet why then would she refer to me as ‘Alaric who loves art – Alaric the destroyer’? I replied that I wanted to be who I had been – but I am of course both a creator and a destroyer.

This Deirdre did not know that she was lost to the Abyss. She said that she wanted to live again and that I would have to find her. Brand is a renowned liar and my Aunt could be anywhere. Perhaps I can use this portrait as the basis of a Trump for her? Or, maybe when this present problem is resolved and I have rewalked the Pattern I will use Pattern to find her? I will not forget your request Aunt.

We exited through the end door of the Hall only to bump immediately into a bemused looking Nathan. After a slightly surprised greeting I held the door open for him to enter the Hall we had just exited from. How very, very peculiar.

We stood, my friend Paolo and I, in a corridor. I am not entirely sure where we are now but I know or have realised several things from my various conversations:

Gods serve the people not the other way round is top on my list – though I’m not sure how I am going to break this to Paolo.

That there is nothing to do with Trump that I cannot do, or, learn to do myself.

That I must be more self-reliant

Furthermore, once I know our exact location I will snatch my sister Anya from Clarissa’s grasp. And, I would speak with my Mother in person – despite Bleys’ promise of a sore backside. Above all I must find out more about these Gods: Mira, the Mythos, all of them. Then they shall see Alaric the Destroyer.