Nathan’s Diary part 11: An Unwelcome Guest at the Funeral

In The Doom that Came to Amber

27^th Bull 3658

In a fast track shadow, using my shape shift healing ability, I seem to be healing faster. My fingernails seem to be growing as well as some hair. Also the sensation in my fingers is starting to return.

I trump Random who is hell riding. He tells me to trump back in ten minutes. I do so and he takes me through to some seedy space bar. There is music playing and a number of aliens.

We talk. I give him a resume of what happened with Brand. He tells me not to put trust in what Brand told me. Brand tells half-truths and let’s you believe what he wants you to.

I tell Random about my trip to the Grand Canyon and the attempt on my life. I detail how I opened a rent in shadow and how my clothes and skin burned in the void. He seems interested when I talk of trumping through to Deirdre, of how she’s naked and screaming with eyes like the void. Sarah and her were in bubbles and Brand put me in one.

I tell of my conversation with Brand; about Rinaldo, who Random says must be Brand’s son. Brand said that he sent the meteorite that fell in Arden.

We also speculate that if Deirdre is in the void then the Deirdre in Amber cannot be the real one. I say we saw her in a block of ice in Cyprani. She never explained how she got out of the Abyss, she says she ‘forgot’. He says it’s unlikely to be a shadow in the void if I trumped and got through to her.

I say how I struck a deal with Brand in order to leave the void. It involved telling him something of current events, but had no promise of further aid.

Random mentions the crones and how you should mix mud & water & urine and rub it onto the tree. Then you can ask three questions. They will give misleading prophetic answers. He says he‘s disappointed that I didn’t trump him while I was there. I told him how I met them and put mud on the tree but that I wasted my three questions because I did not understand their significance.

Random says that I must let everyone know that Brand is still about. He says he must go and hell ride to Corwin, who he believes is near the Courts.

Someone sits down next to me and offers sexual favours. They are strange looking so I decline and leave the bar. I find a quiet place to pull out my trumps.