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

In The Doom that Came to Amber

28^th Bull: I dreamt last night. I talked in the garden with Alaric, though what was said I cannot recall. After some time we met a pair of priests, and then I was alone talking to one dressed as an earlier Archpriest. The conversation came around to the Unicorn and how in his day he had been removed from office. The dangers of the ring [the Ring of the Archpriest, the principal badge of office] were alluded to, but also its ability to heal others who were sorely injured through the sacrifice of another.

However the insight I take away is that the blood does not serve gods, they are there to serve us, otherwise why do they exist? Gods are tools. I remember my first experience with a band lathe, very powerful when controlled but will take your finger off if you don’t take care. Not always tools, sometimes just counterweights.

Recent events draw me to certain conclusions. The Unicorn is an essential part of the great machine that is the universe but, like many moving parts, not without her hazards. Crafted from those from ‘between’ shadows, her nature is essential to keeping proper time. A lynch pin that, if removed, will cause the machine to fly apart, but so dangerous that the church was crafted as her governor. She cannot be destroyed, as Alaric’s misguided mistress and others desire, as that way lies disaster. Nor can she be allowed to loosen her shackles without an understanding of the reciprocation.

The Archpriest left, but with the impression he was blood. Then a scene change and I stood on a cog’s deck, conducting an excommunication. The Unicorn rose from the sea and charged towards a fleet of high-tech ships that lay on the horizon. Further away were the towers of some city, perhaps Zircon? I felt the hand of the craftsman and saw the prepared track for this tool.

On rising, I found Father Sylvestre and together we sought out the identity of the priest from my dreams. Finding his portrait, some cleaning of the plaque identified him as Adam, first Archpriest. I feel now that it is important I speak further with him if he lives. Another of Oberon’s sons, maybe Benedict will know if I cannot find Adam. With regards the other portion of my dream I sent dispatch to the Admiralty requesting transport to the fleet.

After a morning service where I preached against the heretics and for stability, I caught up with Grim and Henge. The fight showed on them and they expressed a wish that Princess Bathsheba was present. She who is never really a tool, more a weapon. Yes I am sure she would take the right side. I thanked them and sent them back into the streets. As they left I received a return message from the Admiralty suggesting I use family means to reach the fleet.

Making sure I was rested and fed, I made my way to the dockyards to gain a picture of the flagship. My dream proved more vivid than I thought and more accurate for my purposes. After a few moments I had called the Pattern to mind, it comes quicker now. In my minds eye, I strode its curves and pierced its veils, then centred, I visualised Bleys’ ship.

The salt and grease air filled my nose and around me a claxon sounded. Stood on the bridge wing, as intended, I identified myself when challenged. It will take some time to get used to using the title Archpriest.

Meeting with Prince Bleys, I explained that I had been called there by the Unicorn’s vision but he was already hurrying me below. Briefly he explained that his sister had been critically injured. At his instruction I sought out Princess Bathsheba and Asmark, who were also aboard, to help me do what I could do. The techno-magic in the ship was pretty standard fare for that kind of thing. There are some doubtless improvements that could be made if a dedicated engine-mage took the time.

In the sick bay, Princess Fiona lay in the glass coffin, like something from fairy tale if it wasn’t for all the wires and tubes that invaded her petite form. She has always looked small but at that moment she had a childlike fragility that was hard to reconcile with the cousin I knew.

With Bathsheba’s aura of command suitable sacrifices were acquired. Not fully cognisant with the ritual and the ring, I ensured we had a spare. Sacrificial anatomy is not new to me and, it being a religious function, I presided. Unconscious as he was, the man died easily and his life force was passed. Fiona recovered!

Bathsheba was quite happy to conduct the butchery. Her hands already stained so crimson that one more does not bother the mind. The military mind for whom the concept of sacrifice for strategic gain is already ingrained.

Asmark though seemed worryingly disturbed; at the suggestion of killing this shadow dweller he seemed to pale. Fiona is a princess of the blood. Hopefully, it was in part the mal de mare and the immediate nature of the matter. If not, I fear for our relationship with the Golden Circle shadows as the Overseer may not have the stomach for what sometimes needs to be done.

Myself?... My victim was an enemy of Amber and the cause was life or death of a family member. Yet I am still disturbed. At times in my life I have been a warmonger in the strictest sense. What has been crafted at my hands or under my supervision has led to deaths and maiming on a massive scale.

My hands are more soaked in gore than Bathsheba’s. I have overseen sword forges, tank factories. I have made ingenious clockwork crossbows for assassins and city-busting ordnance for tyrants. I even made weapons that killed soldiers of Amber. That man’s death does not disturb me. It is what I have done to Fiona. She is alive, but what is the cost? Part of that life is owed to the Unicorn or the powers between. I hope she will be the same Fiona I remember from earlier years, but in the dark corners I believe that I have changed her.

After Bleys had made his sister more comfortable (given her improved condition), I explained what was occurring in the City. I told him that Julian and Deirdre were struggling and that his nephew Alaric had been outlawed. Alaric’s stock seems never to have been so low. Asmark told me of events in Amethyst at Clarence’s funeral. Reading between the lines it seems, in a fit of pique, Alaric called to those in between and in the ensuing chaos Fiona received her injuries.

Some power has denied Aylwin access to trump. Is it divine power or effective blocking? What has happened to my excommunicant?

So I return again to that condemned and tortured artist. Not only a component scarred by contact with Mira, but also by those in between. Mira is against the Unicorn and wants its Church destroyed.

Who could possibly desire the destruction of creation if they understood that that would result? Either Mira is ill informed or she is working with enemies of creation or possibly both. I have long speculated that those who use trump are unbalanced, as unbalanced maybe as those who aid the things in between. Is it coincidence that Alaric follows Mira and is connected to such dark powers that they are at his beck and call? Killing his mother would certainly have aided any such plans to destroy creation. Attempted murder or pique?

I think I know Alaric; misguided, dull-witted, self-destructive, foolish pique is much more his style than cold, calculated matricide. Is he a pawn of powers, a cog in some other machine? Would the machine run as smooth with that piece removed?

More immediate matters pressed and Bathsheba, Asmark and myself returned to Amber by way of a Trump of the castle gardens. Denied entry by guards and snubbed by the Regent, who wished only to see the Princess, I returned to the Cathedral. There I considered options:

a) Seek Aylwin to inform him of his mother’s health, to learn what he knows of his trump denied status and to inform him of my suspicions. In the past we talked of moving against the picture bitch and he may have learnt more of her nature by getting closer. Asmark says Khitan is with him; I believe both he and Aylwin know something of the 'in between' and their insight should be revealing.

b) Track down Adam, the first priest of the Unicorn I met in dreams. If anyone knows of the nature of the Unicorn, purpose of her church and the wars against her kin, it is probably he. Does he know why father made the shoes? Horseshoes do not belong on wild things, only those tamed by man. If I cannot find Adam then maybe Benedict could tell me he is about the oldest of the elders. Anyway father gave me a message for him.

c) Finally I could seek Dworkin’s jewel, the first tool that crafted creation. With it, the holes torn by those out in the in-between could be repaired. If I am to learn more of the Pattern what better way than from the tool that made it? What of the creator? Maybe Dworkin knows why someone is trying to destroy what he wrought?

It has been suggested that it was Brand’s intent during the Patternfall War. He is supposed to be dead. If he was in league with the 'in between' then they could have preserved him. Possibly he is Mira or some how connected? Deirdre appeared from the void and she is tied to that witch’s cause, or so her recent actions suggest. If she lives, why not Brand?

After an afternoon of rest and contemplation I resolved that my first step was to track down Aylwin. I went to the castle to dine. Asmark and I had a quite dinner. That hall is so empty without family. He had communicated to Aylwin on Fiona but I still wanted to speak face to face. Aylwin’s location further out would make latter travelling easier. So after dinner Asmark trumped me to Khitan, near Lyon Abbey.

As we sat, I told them of my theories: the Unicorn as a thing of in-between, bound by the church; that trump is inimically linked to the in-between and taints those who study its depths. In discussions on the void there was talk of pit-diving demons on its edge. Khitan seemed knowledgeable in the ways of the Courts; perhaps it runs alongside knowledge of the void and in between? They showed me another deck of cards that they had recently found and how they had gone to Lyon Abbey to clean it up and found a thing from in between in residence. I examined the deck.