Asmark’s Diary part 16: The Return of the King

In The Doom that Came to Amber

Sunday 3rd Snake – before dawn

My discussion with Khitan over, he left the room as he preferred that any potential eavesdropper on my trump call should not see him.

With him gone, I attempted to trump the King. It was very difficult. Initially I assumed that this was the King being reluctant to accept so I adopted my useful tactics on such occasions to try gently for a long period of time. However, after a while I perceived the problem might instead be extreme range. Accordingly I decided to exert myself and fairly quickly got through.

The King appeared to be in a particularly bizarre shadow in which he was riding a tree through the air with other trees in company. Once he had determined that I was in Amber he commanded me to bring him through. Accordingly it was not until he had actually arrived in my room that I mentioned Khitan or his note. This was ideal from the security point of view.

I gave the King the ambassador’s note. He read it and remarked that the suspicion of an imminent attack on Amber should have been the first and not the last item in it. He then asked me for a situation report. Whereas the King has, by my reckoning, been gone less than 14 days [since 18^th Bull] and he has doubtless had some news in the meantime, nevertheless there was a vast amount that could be reported. I accordingly restricted myself to the most essential matters of state. I briefly reported the insurrection of the previous days, the battle on Vine Street, the current disposition of the various forces in Amber, and the disposition of the various family members.

The King then considered whether to see ambassador Khitan who was waiting outside. We discussed the previous suspicions about Khitan, notably when Princess Bathsheba had him arrested. I explained that this had been investigated in Cordoba and he was considered sound. A little reluctantly he agreed to see him. As Khitan was going in I briefly stepped out to order the tobacco, food and wine that the King required.

Returning a minute or two later I found the King considerably annoyed that I had failed to mention my seeing ‘Oberon’s ghost’ in the dungeons. I was rather surprised. It seems that the King considered this to be of far greater importance than I do. (Indeed I am not at all convinced that it is of any importance at all.) Nevertheless we discussed it at some length. The ghost’s discussion of shoeing the Unicorn was of interest; however, as Morwaith seems to have the matter in hand, there does not seem to be anything further to be done for the moment.

The request to ‘activate’ the ghost’s agents remains far from clear. Canaan is probably Canaan of House Quin, Count Zircon, but who Rael might be remains a mystery. How one goes about ‘activating’ the titular head-of-state of a country that we are at war with is far from obvious. (Under the circumstances, it is more normal to ‘deactivate’ such persons.)

Khitan added his opinion that Oberon (in ghost form) is behind Zircon’s attack on the Amber fleet. (He probably got the idea from Alaric, who seems to think Oberon is behind every misfortune.) This did not please the King. We also discussed the question of Roger’s writing, and the King seemed intrigued and may investigate further.

During the discussion Khitan mentioned the trump deck that he had found near Lyon Abbey and given to Alaric on Lordsday. This infuriated the King greatly as he viewed the deck of great value and it being in the hands of a renegade to be a very serious matter. Khitan claimed that he had been unaware of Alaric’s anathema at the time.

Not wishing to further aggravate the situation, I did not contradict Khitan. However Alaric was anathematised on Bridesday and I spoke with Khitan later the same day and on the morrow. I have no record of telling him but I think it was very, very unlikely that I did not. My diary for Lordsday notes Khitan’s request that I did not mention his giving the deck to Alaric and noting how necessary this was in view of the anathema. I think Khitan was using ‘extremely diplomatic’ language.

The King was sufficiently angry about this to reprimand the ambassador and instructed me to draft a formal protest on his condition to be sent to the Caliph. That Khitan be accorded a guard of honour of four men at all times. [I did not mention that I had threatened to arrange this on my own authority not half-an-hour earlier.]

The King ordered me to summon Bathsheba for a briefing at dawn. He also required that the whole family be summoned to breakfast. He then sat down in my room to eat before retiring. I would have preferred to have had the use of the room to carry out the various commands that could not wait.

The notes for Bathsheba and Peter I sent via Montford as it is much less risky trumping him when potentially sleeping than someone of the blood. I managed to trump Bleys, but failed to reach either Morwaith or Nathan. I judge Nathan to be uncontactable and Morwaith merely refusing contact. I did not attempt to force either contact.

Finally I sent notes to all other members of the family who are resident in the castle (Julian, Gerard, Flora, Llewella and Aylwin) to be delivered on waking, and in time of breakfast if they do not wake earlier. In each I merely stated that the King is returned and commands all to attend breakfast. By the time I had completed all of this the King had vacated my room and I was finally able to return to sleep. However I did not sleep well.

I dreamt. It was a strange dream, but perhaps unsurprising under the circumstances. Morwaith, Khitan and myself were attempting to shoe the Unicorn. The Unicorn was not as it is usually depicted but had tentacles instead of legs, and rather more than four of them. Morwaith was attempting to shoe these with tiny horseshoes about the size of a thumb-nail. Khitan and I were trying in vain to hold the breast still. Morwaith was shouting at us to hold the beast steady but we could not.

Then it seemed that Alaric appeared. At first I thought he was there to help and called on him to join us. However, from this point a bad situation rapidly deteriorated. The first kick (if tentacles can kick) from the Unicorn flung Morwaith away into the distance. It seemed that Alaric would not join us; indeed he seemed to be a demanding and threatening presence.

Then Khitan, like Morwaith, was gone. Alaric was changing and now seemed the primary danger. He no longer had arms but now had tentacles. It seemed essential to be away from this threat so I stood and dashed to the far side of the Unicorn from the Alaric creature. In doing so, I momentarily released my hold on the Unicorn as, once it was on its feet for a moment, I feared it would turn on me. However it gathered its tentacle-legs under it, lowered its horn and charged the Alaric creature, which it impaled. At that point I mercifully awoke, finding the bed soaked with my own sweat.

Moonday, 4th Snake 3658

In the morning I thought further on this dream and I am more and more of the opinion that it was not merely a dream. Rather I am sure that it was some form of psychic attack, probably mounted by trump. The question is who (or what) mounted the attack and why? Whereas it is possible that someone else was involved it is most likely that it was someone in the dream. Given that both Khitan and Morwaith were ejected from the dream and the Unicorn ultimately acted on my behalf, it seems the two possibilities are that the attacker was Alaric, or was eminently skilful in such matters and was able to manipulate the dream from the first.

It seems I defeated the intruder. This suggests the attacker is either weaker than I or allowed me to win. If they were weaker and manipulated my dream, it suggests that they are an adept at some form of dream sorcery. I am not aware of anyone capable of that. The only people I think could have achieved the effect by pure force of psyche are Fiona and Clarissa. It makes no sense for Fiona and very little sense for Clarissa.

Most likely it was Alaric. Why should he wish to attack me? Perhaps he has learnt that I am trying to frustrate his suicidal plans? If so, how and why respond in that way? On the other hand, Alaric’s actions have been so haphazard recently that it may be unwise to assume anything. I must think further on this subject if and when I have the leisure.

Breakfast:

Present are the King, princes Julian and Gerard, princesses Florimel, Llewella and Bathsheba, lords Aylwin, Peter and myself. From their demeanour I judge that there have been words between the King and Flora but they have resolved any differences. Julian makes a point of presenting Random with the Jewel of Judgement, which the King leaves at his right hand rather than putting on.

The discussion is mainly of the options for resolving the crisis. It is possible that when the two thousand rangers arrive it may be militarily possible to beat the Mirans.

It is also discussed whether we should be taking a religious position. Should we be falling in with one or other religious faction? It seems that no-one has any particularly strong religious conviction so a degree of flexibility exists. This seems a good thing as it potentially allows for some degree of compromise. It is unlikely that we can effectively face down all the opposition forces. It will be necessary either to play them off against each other or negotiate, or more likely both.

There is concern that King Martin of Rebma is moving against Amber and that the mist rolling in from the sea is related to this. At this point I mentioned Alaric’s warning that a “third force may be attacking”. I explained that I had not mentioned it before due to the lack of detail and doubts about the source. It seems from the King’s reply that he his starting to understand why I am not bothering him with the more dubious intelligence that I am receiving until it has corroboration.

Around this point, Princess Llewella took a trump call and brought through a lady whom she introduced as Lady Terisa of Mordant. It wasn’t entirely clear whether Lady Mordant is an Amber title or refers to some shadow. Certainly it seems that her existence came as a surprise to at least some of the assembled company. I gather that she is some form of sorceress who specialises in using mirrors in a way that is related to trump. It is not clear how closely related. (This could be relevant as to what extent Mira can influence it.)

It seems that she contacted her mother over some disturbances that she had observed in Rebma. She spoke of some “deep ones” who are invading the place. Gerard remarked that Martin was meddling with things that he should not, with a tone that implied ‘that which no-one should meddle with’. It is possible that the mist has been generated by the Pearl of Wisdom (Rebma’s shadow of the Jewel of Judgment).

The King noted that Khitan had had certain information from Alaric and asked where and when he had obtained it. I explained that I understood Khitan had met Alaric very recently in a ‘private universe’ from which he appeared to have trouble leaving. Random inquired whether it was possible to gain access to this universe and I explained that we knew too little about it.

Random then rescinded the Regent’s order to kill Alaric on sight. The orders are now: “Take him alive and nail him to a table.” Aylwin also remarked that we should nail the table to the floor. I suppose this is progress from the point-of-view of keeping him alive. He is probably more likely to survive nailed to a table in the dungeon than gallivanting around on his own.

The only extra contribution that I can make is to mount a maritime expedition from Great Tullyport. I will get Algar to do as much of the leg work as possible. I will also try to involve Raymond. It may help him to be kept busy, or maybe not. We will just have to see.

My intention is both to put ships to sea from Tullyport and, if possible, use those ships to turn round any shipping that has turned away from the city. It is far from clear how much effect we can have, but it has to be tried. I immediately trumped Algar to get him on his way to Great Tullyport. It is only a couple of miles, so he should be there in half-an-hour.

As the meeting broke up the King did me the honour of complementing me on my dealing with the nobles. Clearly he discussed that with Flora. Random has always been far more generous with his praise than Julian, but nevertheless it was extremely gratifying.

Peter and Bathsheba have a problem communicating as there is, as yet, no trump of Peter. Accordingly Peter asked if Bathsheba can borrow my trump of Montford so that Bathsheba will be able to call him? After a moment’s hesitation I agreed. It is not really the risk of losing the trump as the risk that Montford will get killed. However just at the moment we all have to take risks and I cannot protect my friends from reasonable risks in the line of duty. Besides, what does not kill him will definitely bring him preferment even if does not, in any other sense, make him stronger.

I must paint Peter as soon as I have the chance, although it is anyone’s guess when that will be. Peter and Bathsheba have also obtained three maps and marked each with the same randomly numbered areas. In communications we will only refer to areas by number.

I spent the rest of the day between Great Tullyport and the castle. Mostly I just needed the occasional trip to South Shore to impress on any recalcitrant individuals that Algar and Raymond have crown authority. A ship will be ready to sail by dusk. I intend Algar to sail with it and Raymond will stay in the port to prepare to send out any further ships we get, assuming his nerves hold. If not, I shall have to send him back home.

By midday I have drafted the letter the King requested to the Caliph Salekh-al-Din of Cordoba. It reads as follows:

“His Royal Highness King Random of Amber <insert FULL styles and titles> sends his fraternal greetings to Caliph Salekh-al-Din of Cordoba <insert FULL styles and titles> <insert standard friendly pre-amble> I regret to bear ill-tidings, but I have been sorely vexed by behaviour of your ambassador Khitan, <N.B. OMIT styles and titles; technically this is an insult; albeit primarily to Khitan and only by reflection on the Caliph> who has seen fit to allow an apostate heretic traitor to the Blood, who is not fit to be named, to gain possession of an oracular artefact of great import, has in other ways chosen to interfere in the affairs of the Amber state and thus behaved in a manner unbecoming in a servant of the Caliph <insert principal styles and titles>.

my most felicitous regards

Random, by the Grace of the Unicorn, King of Amber

Covering note to Random:

“For brevity I have omitted all of the standard pleasantries and included only the burden of the letter. The above wording is the strongest diplomatic rebuke that is compatible with keeping Khitan here and maintaining the dignity of Amber. If we make the language any stronger and don’t make Khitan persona-non-grata then we demean Amber by continuing to accept such an unsatisfactory ambassador. There is a clear implied threat to send Khitan home if this behaviour does not improve. (If this isn’t obvious to the Caliph, it will be obvious to the Vizier.) It is entirely possible that the Caliph will choose to recall Khitan at this point and send a replacement, or even send a replacement and leave Khitan here as his junior.

“There is also the matter of how urgently this should be sent. It will take the scribes about four or five hours to complete the calligraphy. They have already been working for about an hour and will get to the point where they need your approval of the final wording in about two hours. Once it is completed and you have signed and sealed it, we can deliver it to the palace in about fifteen minutes by trump if you want a swift delivery. Alternatively it can be sent by a courier, avoiding the Sea-of-Sands, in up to four weeks, if you would prefer to delay delivery.”