Asmark’s Diary
part 22: Frolics in Faerie
in Brave New Worlds
Omar asked for a word and revealed that he
has the trump (of myself) that I gave to
I was in two minds about this. I do not know
this man at all; I would not have considered giving him my trump had he asked
for it. However he has admitted to having it, without having used it, and
offered to return it. Allowing him to keep it is not without risk. Nevertheless
his actions are some indication of good-faith. Had he intended mischief, he
would have most likely not revealed that he had it.
It seems he has a Pattern realm (of sorts at
least) of his own. At the current time we are best maintaining all of the
allies that we can. After a moments thought, I agreed.
He also asked if I would paint his trump.
This amused me a little as I had already embarked on this, to learn more about
him. It would seem churlish to refuse outright so I agreed in principle but
explained, entirely truthfully, that I did not know when I would have the time.
I suggested that he contact me in a week or so. (As he has my trump, he can far
more easily contact me, than I him.)
Breakfast in our
I am beginning to see why this place is so
popular with the family. One story from the morning paper [1] was
translated for us by Ann. Yesterday there was a major sale of artworks
collected by a poet. The local currency values will mean nothing to most
people, but in local prices the proceeds are the equivalent of nearly 5 tons of
gold. One painting sold for more than quarter of a ton. I like a place that
values art so much.
We discussed our trip to Faerie. Peter was
adamant that it would be very unwise to take any iron weapons. It seems there
are other metals in this realm that are stronger and harder than steel, but
there is doubt whether they would retain their properties elsewhere. Bronze
seems to be the best material that we can be sure of. Peter suggested that we
leave obtaining weapons until we had arrived in Faerie. Given what was to
happen, I was very wise to ignore this suggestion. After breakfast, I used the
Pattern to find a shop selling suitable weapons and purchased an excellent
bronze sabre.
Peter decided that the most convenient route
to Faerie was via Amber. His only suitable trump was of King Random, who he was
understandably reluctant to disturb. I suggested that we might trump Falasia, which Peter approved of.
22nd Goat 3659
Falasia was in a refectory of sorts, probably in her barracks, and brought all
of us (
Before entering the Ebbs, Peter insisted
that we should all don masks, as one is not considered decently dressed there
without one. I chose a full-face mask in black lacquer. Aylwin
used his
We took a boat through the canals and then
walked to a square with a small park in the centre. Ann left us at this point
as she does not intend going to Faerie.
In the park there was an asymmetric trilithon, which apparently is a gate to Faerie locked by
Pattern. Peter walked seven times round the trilithon
widdershins. I know he was using the Pattern but I could not determine
precisely what he was doing. I have no doubt I could manage it with a little
instruction. The purpose was to open the lock. Aylwin
was concerned about leaving the gate unlocked. He proposed to stay behind,
relock the gate and follow by trump. Peter opened the portal, stepped through
it and disappeared.
We waited a moment. Aylwin
received a trump call from Peter and relayed the message that Terisa and I should follow. As a precaution against
separation, we held hands. At the time, I think we both felt this was a little
childish. In retrospect, it was merely sensible.
On arrival we found ourselves alone in some
woodland with no sign of Peter. (Although Aylwin had
not told us at the time, Peter’s trump call had been from the middle of an open
plain without a tree anywhere in sight.)
I tried trumping Aylwin
and it felt as though we were at an enormous distance. I asked Terisa to help and together, with great difficulty and Aylwin’s aid, we got through. Aylwin
was in the process of relocking the portal. I told him we weren’t in the same
place as Peter and dropped the contact, intending to call again in a few
minutes when the locking process was complete.
The trump call had taken our whole
attention, and when we dropped it we were immediately aware of three
evil-smelling dwarves with stone weapons near us, who were leering at us and at
Terisa in particular. I had no idea precisely what manner
of Fae these were. For all we knew they might have
been close friends of Puck. However we have subsequently been assured from our
description of them that they were hobgoblins.
They each had different weapons: one had a
spear, one a knife and one an axe. The one with the spear was using its point
to raise Terisa’s skirt with clearly lecherous
intent. I put my hand on my sword hilt but did not immediately draw it. Terisa tried to kick the spear away, but the odious
creature managed to trip her up.
Meanwhile, the one with the axe was trying
to work around behind me. I drew my sword and shouted something in the way of
an ultimatum, I forget precisely what. The one with the axe made a lunge at me.
Stepping away from the one with the knife, I
parried the axe, trying to catch its wielder at the same time, but only managed
the parry.
The one with the knife was moving in so I
made a fast swing in his direction to force him to keep his distance. I now had
my back to a tree and the one with the spear was grappling with Terisa, threatening to stab at her and obviously intent on
rape. Clearly it was time for decisive action, even if it meant suffering
injury myself. After all, I can heal in hours injuries that would take the uninitiated weeks.
As the axe-wielder stepped in again, I made
sure of hitting him as I tried to parry. I did deflect the blow sufficiently so
that it was not the crippling damage that was intended, but I nevertheless suffered
a painful gash above the knee. The hobgoblin, however, was down and screaming.
The knife-wielder came at me again and
another swing forced him to retreat. As he stepped back, I took the opportunity
of aiming a blow at Terisa’s tormentor. The creature
was on top of her. I could not risk giving it even a moment to exact revenge on
Terisa so a rapidly mortal wound could have been
worse than leaving it unscathed. Accordingly I aimed at the back of its neck to
decapitate it. In this I was successful.
Yet again the knife wielder tried to lunge
and another quick sweep force it back. It had lunged four or five times by now
and each time I had merely forced it back and then turned my attention
elsewhere. This time it retained my undivided attention. I had just decided
that I would feint to the groin and then run it through at the throat when it
turned tail and fled.
I was aware that Aylwin
was trumping me. In fact he had established a trump call while I was fighting,
but I had ignored it as I was too busy. As I dragged the hobgoblin corpse off Terisa and helped her to her feet, we started to discuss
what to do.
There seemed no point in us staying where we
were. I had no idea what the surviving hobgoblin was intending. It was possible
he would be back shortly with a dozen of his tribe, intent on revenge for the
death of his friend. In a place where appearance is everything, a lady with the
front of her skirt soaked in blood and a man with a fresh leg wound would not
do us credit. We decided to return to Amber to regroup.
The wounded hobgoblin was still screaming
and I considered putting it out of its misery. However I wasn’t certain how
badly hurt it really was. Military medics reckon that the noisy casualties are
comparatively mildly injured. If there were any of its kind around who might
help it then they could scarcely fail to be aware of its distress. Being unsure
if it really would be an act of mercy, and certainly not having the time to
give it any medical care, I decided that it was best to leave it be.
I tried to pass Terisa
through to Aylwin but we could not manage it. It took
the combined effort of all three of us to maintain a link someone could step
through and Terisa could not contribute as she moved,
so at the moment she tried the link failed. I gave her Aylwin’s
trump and got her to trump Aylwin with my help. I got
her to step through, then Aylwin
used my trump and Terisa’s help to contact me and
pull me to Amber.
Thus ended our
short, nasty and inglorious first trip to Faerie. The only reason I don’t describe it as a disaster is that it could very
easily have been much worse.
Terisa’s house being quite close we naturally went
straight there. The maid who opened the door was shocked and initially assumed
that Terisa had had some female problem. (If she had
really lost that much blood that way, we would have been carrying her, and
straight to the hospital.) Terisa assured the maid
that it wasn’t her blood, and disappeared off to change.
The servants were initially in a state of
great agitation. The combination of her ladyship’s bloody dress, similar blood
on my sword (that Aylwin ordered cleaned) and my
wound, gave them enough to think about, and an
exaggerated impression of heroism on my part. Certainly enough to decide that
whatever Aylwin called for was going to be delivered
promptly.
Aylwin took me into a little parlour and called for the material to clean my
wound. Whereas my own abilities far surpass any medicine to heal the wound, I
fully appreciate the need to start with a clean one. Aylwin
gave it a very thorough cleaning with steel and brandy, followed by suturing; a
process that hurt a great deal more than acquiring the wound had.
I then called for beef-steak sandwiches and
a flagon of wine. I wouldn’t normally make quite so free with my host’s
hospitality without explicit leave but I felt the circumstances justified it.
The butler reported that the scabbard could
not be satisfactorily cleaned so I sent out for a replacement. I also decided
that I would have been better off against the Hobgoblins fighting with sword
and dagger. I don’t trust any of the servants with choosing one so I sent a
brief note to Falasia. The best armourers are in her
patch and I trust her to find a suitable weapon.
Once I had eaten a couple of sandwiches, I
settled down in front of the fire to reforming my body, continuing to eat and
drink steadily. I also reflected on our little fracas.
It does not bear thinking about what would
have happened if we had been attacked while still preoccupied with the trump call
or if I had followed Peter’s suggestion and been unarmed. No particular credit
or recriminations seem in order. The only temptation is a snide comment about
Peter’s ill-advice, but diplomacy, both national and personal, requires that it
remains unsaid. Nevertheless I shall inevitably treat his opinion with a little
more circumspection in future. This is worrying as we will have little option
but to rely on his local knowledge in Faerie.
About an hour later Terisa
reappeared, having bathed, and very much recovered, and was thankful for my
efforts. I don’t think I was very coherent in replying, being rather
pre-occupied with the healing.
Aylwin received a trump call from Peter. It seems that he is safe in Faerie
but has been busy. Peter has tried to trump Benedict in his sleep and got caught
up in his dream.
Peter’s comment on the Hobgoblins was that
it was a mistake to talk to them. I should have skewered one of them straight
away and the others would have run off. This would have been fine if I had
managed it. However, if I hadn’t, I would probably have wound up fighting all
three at once and been in worse trouble.
It is agreed that Terisa,
Aylwin and I will trump through to Peter in the
morning. Terisa and I should be pretty well recovered
by then.
Aylwin trumped Bleys and got an earful. We had both planned to discuss the trip
to Faerie with him in advance but neither actually found the time. Bleys thinks
Benedict probably won’t side with Absinthe, so his being rescued may not be in
Absinthe’s interest. I agree, but it is better that if he is rescued that his
rescuers include representatives from Absinthe.
Falasia sent over an eminently suitable dagger. It was probably intended to be
more for show than use but has an excellent blade. It has clearly been recently
sharpened, perhaps for the first time, and has a new grip. No doubt Falasia deemed these adjustments necessary. I sent back a
note of thanks.
The wound has healed to the scar stage. That
is best tackled with the odd five minutes when time allows over the next few
weeks. Local prejudices being what they are, I shall keep the bandage on and
affect a limp in front of Terisa’s servants tomorrow.
I warned the butler
that I would require a large breakfast. Given that I have been eating like
Gerard for the last few hours, I think he rather expected that.