The synopsis of an Amber
adventure from The Doom that Came to Amber
Seven
months have passed since Yule and midsummer passed a week ago. Random appoints
Alaric to the office of Receiver of Petitions. His job is two-fold, to vet petitions
from the King’s subjects in advance, winnowing out those of importance and, in
the absence of the King, to receive embassies from the Golden Circle – that is
to hear them, soothe them and say nothing that commits Amber beyond its treaty
obligations.
This
is a post normally held by a member of the nobility. Unknown to Alaric, Fiona
has asked the King to give him this post in an attempt to give him some sort of
official role. The previous incumbent abused his position, passing on petitions
only when accompanied by a hefty bribe. A member of the blood may not be so
easily bribed so Random is happy to give this menial post to a junior member of
the family who has shown little inclination to responsibility so far.
(Incidentally, several of Alaric’s cousins have their own jobs: Aylwin is Lieutenant of Arden, Bathsheba is Captain of the
Guard.)
Of
course Alaric is less than happy at being drawn from his easel and asks why his
aunts and uncles aren’t available for this most sensitive position and is told:
(a) Titania of Faerie is making rude noises toward Amber so Julian
is busy on the Elfward Marches of
(b) Chalcedony, (which happens to be ruled by the King's mother),
has recently gained some special commercial status which is rubbing up the
distaff shadows, principally Deiga, the wrong way. Caine is smoothing things over in Deiga.
(c) A border dispute between Begma and Kashfa over the
(d) In
(e) Vialle has had a ‘vision’ that the
next military threat to Amber will come from a hi-tech shadow. Hence Gerard is
flying the flag off Zircon.
(f) With all the above simmering, Random wants his Marshal about.
However Benedict as usual is off in shadow and so Rupert and Flora are off
looking for him.
(g) And Fiona is concerned about rumours of versions of the Pattern
other than Amber's. She is off in shadow doing research. Incidentally, if
anyone hears from Dworkin, tell Auntie Fi!
And
so Random leaves for Begma.
A
few days later an embassy arrives from Hyderaghat, of
the
Indira invokes Hyderaghat's treaty with
Amber. She asks for assurances of military aid should Hyderaghat
be attacked and for a Prince of the Blood to come to a summit in Hyderaghat forthwith, to discuss the threat. She points out
that the wars are seriously damaging Hyderaghat's
distaff trade which in turn impairs her trade with Amber. “Does not Amber value
our spices and silks. Our ivory and
our other exports?”
The
In
Hyderaghat they foil a clumsy assassination attempt
before meeting several ambassadors at an official reception. General Ashoka Khan reports that Maghada
of the
How
can this happen? This is not the Technocracies, such
technology is unheard of in the Moghul Lands. And how
has
Then
a fanfare announces the arrival of the Ambassador from
Countess
Ratchet makes an assignation with Alaric, of course. The next day she tries to
seduce him in to betraying Amber but he learns that
The
cousins take action, capturing Wemys dirigible and
using it to gate back to where it came from, Kannaka
of the
They
follow another gate through to
At
the end of the Patternfall War, Oberon's redrawing of
the Primal Pattern caused the fragmentation of Dworkin's
Primal Pattern and the resulting Shadowquake which
hurled a large shard of Pattern across shadow to rip through a near-Earth
reflection and lodge in an inconsequential shadow of sub-primal reality.
The
shard's impact effectively stitched portions of the Earth-like shadow into a
completely different shadow, creating
The
Shard has been striving to find its place in shadow relative to Amber, causing
These
peculiar properties were noticed by a traveller to Earth visiting Merlin from
the Courts of Chaos, Osbec of House Zigo, and he and a friend have been exploiting the shadow
for their own purposes. Of course, Osbec and his
friend, Tomas of House Torquemada, have coloured the
outlook of
Amidst
various alarums and excursions, Tomas is killed and immediately