Asmark’s Diary part 18: Metaphysics, Politics, and Weirdness in the Dungeon

In The Doom that Came to Amber

Smithsday 5th Snake – dawn

Breakfast: Gerard, Bathsheba, Aylwin, Morwaith, Peter, Teresa, Khitan and myself were present. Aylwin and Morwaith were seriously discussing metaphysics.

Peter and Bathsheba arrived together discussing the situation down in the town. Peter reeked of rotten fish, and when it was pointed out that whatever he had got on his clothes was actually putrefying them he wisely retired to replace them and wash.

Morwaith announced that he is intending to travel to the Moghul lands, I assume on his quest for Adam.

On hearing that I would be seeking an audience with the King, Bathsheba gave me a report to take to him. It is pessimistic; in essence we have lost control of the city. She is considering a plan to mount a counter-attack on Rebma.

I ask Peter about Montford and he tells me that he is slightly injured and in the infirmary. He served well except for one failure to follow orders. I must look in on him if and when time allows.

Before I leave breakfast there is a note from Aylwin with another report for the King of some powerful ‘mythos’ sorcery being done under water in the harbour.

After breakfast I went to the King’s apartments and was rapidly granted an audience. Prince Julian was also present. I gave the King the three written reports; Bathsheba’s, Aylwin’s and the letter from Jasper. Clearly the situation was deteriorating rapidly and there was no time to be lost.

I checked my terms of reference for the negotiations with the Mirans. The first surprise is that I am authorised to conclude an agreement. The only other point I had not anticipated was that Random places considerable importance in the recovery of the ‘Tarot Deck’ that is believed to have been in Alaric’s possession. I am told to inform Morwaith that the King “cannot go with him, and trusts him”; it seems the king has decided that the Jasper/Chalcedony problems more urgently require his attention. On leaving the King I wrote Morwaith a note as per the king’s message and then set off towards the dungeon with a bottle of wine. On the way I was trumped by Bathsheba who wishes to evacuate the Northgate, including a number of casualties. I told her I would trump her back from the infirmary.

On the way to the infirmary, I was surprised by a loud buzzing sound. I drew my sword, stepped into a doorway and carefully looked round into the corridor. There was a three foot hairy man with gossamer wings, wearing only a loin cloth. He was, or at least claimed to be, Puck of the Faerie court. His purpose, it seems, to deliver some messages in verse. To me, he says:

From your father comes unbidden,
Traits of perception, charm and wit,
Should you know dark secrets hidden,
Seek your father in the Pit.

This I have to say was unwelcome. Any reference to my father being in ‘the Pit’, I do not like. Puck said the message is from Oberon and Titania, but the verse is his own. He also offered, addressed to all of us:

Children! The tree keeps the sapling
from the light, so are eclipsed your hearts
Yet as the oak falls, grows the sprig
The whole is stronger than the parts.

I thanked Puck for his messages and offered my fraternal greetings to the Faerie Court. Puck asked if I would like anything but I declined; I understand Faerie gifts are almost never worth the strings attached. Puck asked if I knew where Khitan was and I had to admit that I did not. He seemed annoyed at this and remarked that no-one seemed to know where anyone else was in the castle. I refrained from remarking that, as we are all so busy we are bouncing off the walls, this is scarcely surprising. Once Puck had gone, I continued on to the infirmary.

At the infirmary, I was surprised to be accosted by Aylwin and Morwaith who, it seems, had been examining Danesh. Morwaith thanked me for the note and asked about Bathsheba. So we trumped her together and brought through all of the casualties (about ten) and the footmen.

While we were doing this, Morwaith explained the problem with Danesh. It seems that something magical has been planted in his brain. He needs to be confined as ‘unreliable’, but this requires Bathsheba’s authority; she said she would need to inspect Danesh first.

Once everyone on foot and stretcher was through, I moved to the courtyard to bring through the horsemen. As I reached the courtyard, I saw Khitan being accosted by Puck who recited this verse to him:

Warlock! You play with arts impure,
And eidolon marr’d speeds your fall
From Grace, Spirit’s taint has no cure
But the Serpent’s Sign mends all?

Puck then asked for “the other from the courts of Faerie”, presumably he meant Peter. Having brought through the horses and Bathsheba, I finally managed to make my way to the dungeon.

Roger was not in his cubby-hole. I wandered around looking for him and found him in the torture chamber with Paulo restrained on a table. A voice came from Paulo’s mouth, but it was a deep voice, quite unlike Paulo’s. “You need not worry about the sacrifice, she is being prepared”, it said. I asked after Alaric, was shown to his cell and locked in.

Apart from the obvious injury from Julian’s assault, he did not seem to have been harmed. However his arm was glowing rather disturbingly. I asked what the Mirans want. He said ‘equal worship’. I am not sure if that will really keep them happy but it is at least a starting point.

Alaric now feels that he is estranged from the Mirans. He says Mira is now under the influence of ‘Dark’, who he clearly sees as malign. According to Alaric, Dark thinks the King weak. Alaric seems to think that the King (or his immediate family) is the source of the problem!

He is entirely right that there are major problems in Chalcedony, Rebma, etc. However this is more likely to be an enemy with moderately good intelligence attacking where it is most likely to distract the King.

He says Dark and Mira have plans involving a sacrifice and they intend to use Secretary Nayda of Begma. Alaric is sure that Nayda is possessed, that the original woman is dead and that, but for the possession, she would be a rotting corpse.

Thus far Alaric seemed to be making untypically good sense. However I had more trouble with his further speculations.

Apparently it was Oberon who warned Nathan to leave Gerard’s flagship before the attack. Benedict is trapped in Faerie (possible). He claims to know where Corwin is being held and suggested looking on the Chalcedony/Jasper border region. He also suggests Florimel may, like her son, be in with the Mirans, and that Vialle is not to be trusted.

Alaric refused to accept any wine from my hand as demeaning, but asked to be left a lantern, which I agreed to arrange.

I knocked on the door to summon Roger. I told him he should leave Alaric the lantern but he took the lantern and locked the door. He said there was something that I needed to see and he led me back to the torture chamber.

Paulo was still strapped down. It was not clear what if anything Roger had done to him as the instruments did not seem to have been used. He bade me sit and presently ‘Paulo’ spoke. It was same deep voice again. According to Roger it was the voice of Wirminbone Dark addressing Lord Rupert. The speech seemed to be instructions on a ritual. It would require a specific blade, a sacrifice and a sacrificer; both should be volunteers. The sacrifice is arranged, referred to as ‘she’, and the speaker foresaw no problem with her acquiescence.

A small quantity of the blood is to be used to summon and bind the Unicorn. The rest is to be used to erase the old Pattern as a new Pattern is drawn. This was to have been Alaric’s task, but now it falls to the person being addressed.

A remark indicates that Mira is to be discarded, perhaps even killed (the meaning was not clear) afterwards.

While still talking to Roger I received a trump call from Bathsheba. She needs to know what is going on at sea and wants to contact Algar; I gave her Algar’s trump. I instructed Roger that Alaric is to be given a lantern. He objected but I overruled him. He saved face by saying he must inform the King, which is fine by me. I also told him to give Alaric the wine. I then left.

I had got to the bottom of the stairs when Bathsheba trumped me again. There had been a fight with the frogmen on Algar’s ship and she had decided to evacuate it. I delayed this a moment while I got to the top of the stairs, and I then brought through all of the men. Algar has a nasty, but not fatal, shoulder injury. Once they are all through, the guards at the top of the stairs deliver a message that Lady Terisa wishes to see me in the library.

I called on Terisa in the library and found her with Aylwin. She told me that Mira had contacted her. Apparently Mira broke in on Terisa’s use of one of her mirrors. We had previously speculated as to whether this magic was close enough to trump to be within Mira’s domain or sufficiently different to be immune; it seems it is the former.

Mira is proposing a pact, that we “bury the hatchet in Martin’s head”. She had repeatedly referred to someone as ‘Grandfather’. Terisa had discussed this with the King and was to try to make contact again.

About this point I got a trump call. I seemed to have momentary contact with Alaric and then Mira was there. I took Terisa’s hand and put it on my shoulder so she would be in on the call as well; partly because she needed to know what was going on and partly as support if the call got aggressive.

Aylwin stood behind us, not yet joining in but he must have been visible to Mira. She gave a message for Aylwin that she remembered a contract and would keep it if Aylwin did. We relayed this to Aylwin who replied that he had never broken the contract until Mira had.

At this point another man joined with Mira. I recognised this as the man Clarissa had shown us at the funeral as her fiancé. It seems this is Wirminbone Dark, also known as ‘Grandfather’. He confirms that he is engaged to Clarissa, in words that indicate that it will be a strategic marriage, rather than a love-match.

Mira wants the Eye of Serpent and intends to use it to destroy the Unicorn. The option of binding the Unicorn more firmly does not seem to appeal at all. Dark argues that it will, inevitably, eventually, break loose again. I cannot help feeling that we can worry about ‘eventually’ later, and that surviving the next day or two is the immediate challenge.

Dark seems very keen to erase the Pattern and replace it with “something better”; better for whom, I wonder? He says he will allow anyone at the ritual, except Alaric. I get the impression that Alaric has crossed Dark in some way and there is a particular enmity. Mira seems to feel the same way about the Unicorn. She wishes to destroy it as an end in itself and claims it has already attempted to kill her a number of times.

We have the Eye and Dark believes that he is the only one who can wield it. For the moment we have an impasse. I plead lack of authority and promise to take his suggestions to the Privy Council. For the moment, we agree to co-operate in fighting Martin’s creatures.

Mira’s story about the Unicorn trying to kill her reminds me of the legend of Mira according to her cult, as told me by Alaric a couple of days after Beltane. It starts in a city like Amber but with Zirconian architecture. Is it Amber in the Loran period or a high-tech shadow?

Two gods, a Dragon and a Unicorn, compete for the city, which is ruled by a prince and princess. Each demand the princess as a sacrifice, the prince refuses, until the child she carries is born. The child is born and the prince still refuses.

The Dragon waylays the princess and her daughter, devours the mother and abducts the daughter. The Dragon hides the child and the Unicorn seeks it as her sacrifice. No one in the city knows of the child’s survival. The child is found and raised by a dwarf. The Unicorn comes disguised as an old woman to find the grown child. The dwarf recognises her, wrestles her and gives the child time to escape. The Mirans believe that the child is Mira.

The history of Amber tells us that Lora and her three-year old daughter Katherine were killed by a Dragon in Arden in 1259. It could be coincidence; the Miran myth could be a fiction based on the tale of Lora, or Mira could be a shadow of Katherine, or even Katherine herself. The clue is probably in Dark’s identity.

It is odd that Dark, Clarissa’s ally, should be helping Mira if she is connected to Lora. Oberon divorced Clarissa to marry Lora. Given Clarissa’s hatred of her predecessor and her brood, she must have a pathological loathing of Lora and her daughter. If Lora’s death wasn’t entirely accidental then Clarissa is the prime suspect for arranging it. If she has any connection with Lora, Mira is likely to die the moment she is no longer of use to Dark and Clarissa.

What Asmark got up to in the afternoon:

I took a little time to check on my friends in the infirmary. Algar is by far the worst injured but he is the one for whom the wound has some real value. If he is to gain the necessary pardon to have him properly rehabilitated then few things could be more advantageous than a serious wound suffered in loyal service. His presence on the ship bringing stores to Amber was clearly such service. It also seems he was wounded when the act of trumping Bathsheba through distracted him. It can be said with absolute candour that that act probably saved the ship’s company.

Algar’s family are of Julian’s party; as soon as things have settled down sufficiently I must discuss the matter with him. The best approach may be if I write a report on his conduct and Julian presents it to the King. If we have saved the kingdom it should go through without any problem. If we haven’t it will all be academic anyway.

Montford’s wound is nothing like as serious. It is a great shame that he disobeyed Peter’s orders. If he had not done so he could have expected a reference from the Sheriff, which would have guaranteed a good commission in the service of his choice.

Falasia seems to have been markedly chastened. She is very aware how close she got to getting herself killed. With any luck she will be a bit more careful in future. Her injuries are minor, and she is putting her rapport with fighting men to good use by making herself useful in the infirmary.

I trumped Raymond and told him to hold off sending more ships. Instead I set him to arrange what he can in the way of medical facilities to evacuate some of the wounded. The very lightly wounded must stay as they may yet have to be pressed into action again. The most serious wounded cannot be safely moved. However, in between there are a few dozen that can profitably be sent to South Shore, Algar among them. Algar and any other senior officers can go to Garland House. The others are to be billeted where they can be, preferably inland.

I also give orders for the Aldermen that if an abnormal mist appears, the town is to be evacuated entirely and immediately.

Report for the King:

It seems that Wirminbone Dark, the fiancé of Archmagia Clarissa of Amethyst is the power behind the Miran god-head. Given that it is Clarissa’s sworn intention to overthrow Amber and her marriage to Dark was to facilitate this, it seems a safe assumption that Clarissa is now supporting the Mirans.

At the funeral Clarissa seemed to disapprove of Alaric and Aylwin’s involvement with what I assumed was the Mirans. However it is possible that she was disapproving of the way they were involved rather than the movement. Nevertheless it did suggest that her involvement is very recent or she has been very carefully hiding it. At the time she offered support. The question remains: was she supporting them at the time, or is Dark’s involvement more recent?

The legend of Mira, as reported by Alaric a few weeks ago, bears a remarkable resemblance to the story of Queen Lora’s daughter Katherine. Whether or not true, it is probably based on Katherine or a shadow of her. If there is any connection of this sort then Mira is in enormous danger from Clarissa as soon as she ceases to be of use to Dark and Clarissa. This provides the possibility of estranging Dark and Mira.

Given Dark’s allegiance, I do not think that co-operating in his plan to redraw the Pattern should be considered as anything but a last resort. Once he has the Eye of the Serpent he will hold all the cards and we will be entirely at his mercy. From my brief acquaintance, he is not a man whose mercy I would like to rely on.

Recommendations:

1) If the Tarot deck in Alaric’s possession is to be recovered, it will probably be necessary to release Alaric. In my judgement, a combination of his solemnly given word and our continuing to hold Paulo should be adequate to ensure that he keeps to the bargain. I would strongly recommend sending a Pattern-master capable of returning from the hiding place, wherever it is, without the use of trumps, to prevent Mira intercepting the courier on return.

2) As a matter of urgency we need to find out all we can about Wirminbone Dark. He seems to be a key figure and wholly malign. Serious consideration should be given to neutralising the man. It would probably only be necessary to put him out of action for a few days. It seems he has some intimate connection to Paulo’s body so it may be possible to mount a sorcerous attack against him via Paulo. If it is not possible to attack Dark, it would be advisable to warn Mira of the danger Dark represents to her.

3) As it seems Dark intends to use secretary Nayda as a sacrifice, it would be worth investigating where she is and bringing her to the castle if possible. However in all probability she has already been abducted by the Mirans.

4) If Morwaith can find an alternative wielder of the Eye this will enormously strengthen our negotiating position. Should such a wielder be found, I would recommend performing the necessary ritual immediately, before the Mirans discover we have the capability so as not to give them time to interfere. It is possible that rebinding the Goddess will help us with the Rebman problems; the Rebman god is presumably a shadow of the Unicorn and should accordingly be rebound as well (to an extent at least).