The universe expands again. First Verantium, then shadow. Amber and Chaos. The Godly and Fae axes. Now the realm of the DarkWalkers and the Great Machine, along with Sapphire and Imperial Chaos, the mirrors of our Amber and Chaos, on the far side of Undershadow.
It appears that the DarkWalkers do want to destroy our Pattern, because its drawing, and the theft of the Eye of the Serpent which preceded it, damaged the 'Great Machine', the heart of their power, the centre of their universe, the source of all the powers, so that the universe began to unravel under this 'Fague Blight'. They (or at least, one of them) claims that the return to Eye to the Serpent and destroy the Pattern would undo this damage. I remain sceptical, as, I hope, do others of us here. While I am willing to accept the possibility of truth in the words of this prisoner, I am certainly not willing to accept it as fact without a great deal more evidence than this.
He claims that if we were to wait long enough then the evidence, in the form of the Fague Blight, will come to us. I for one would rather not wait that long, but we shall see...
I would certainly be interested in studying this Great Machine. Who can surmise what could, perhaps, be learnt from it?
It was during this interrogation that Cerebaton pointed out invisible intruders in the dungeon with us. When revealed they proved to be two of this royal family of Sapphire, or equivalents from the other side of Undershadow. Such a pity that they may already be on the path to an alliance with the DarkWalkers against us; I would certainly be interested in visiting them under happier circumstances. But perhaps there is still hope that that will happen. Hopefully King Random will be able to bring them around to our side.
If not, I am unsure of the future. The DarkWalkers seem formidable enough on their own. With the addition of those of Sapphire (based on the, admittedly limited, sample of two of its members we have seen so far), and perhaps those of this Imperial Chaos too (no-one from which we have met), our future may look bleak indeed.
But I think, we shall have to see with this matter, too.
One imagines the Courts of Chaos will not be happy to hear of Imperial Chaos. From what has been stated the Pit Divers of our Chaos have been making their way through to Imperials Chaos for some time. How will our Courts react to that, I wonder? Not well, I suspect.
I was surprised when Cerebaton pointed out Anubis and Hades lurking (hiding?) in the dungeon wall and observing the interrogation. But I nodded my respects to them, as I feel one should.
And to my surprise, Lord Anubis spoke to me again. Apparently I am their contact here in Amber, and should take care of - keep alive - Bleys over the next four days. Apparently this is very important, though the exact reasons for their telling me to do so remain rather obscure.
I feel that informing Venus of enough of this message to bring her on board may well be the way to proceed in this matter. She seems much closer to Bleys, and to be spending much more time with him, than I myself, which can only be of use when attempting to preserve his life...
Some good news has come out of this, perhaps. Brand is alive! My father is alive! The Pit Divers rescued him (and Deirdre, it seems) from the Abyss. Took him into the other universe. Sold him to Imperial Chaos, who extracted information from him and allowed Sapphire to pay them to do the same. That piece of information has not inclined me terribly kindly towards either Imperial Chaos or Sapphire.
Unfortunately, this good news is tempered in a number of ways.
First, one cannot help but wonder what means may have been used on Brand to extract this information from him. How severe an interrogation he suffered. And what that has done to his already-fragile state of mind. This question also has an inverse worry - what did he tell them, and how much use any information he may have had extracted from him may be to those of the other universe.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Bleys seems determined to storm off and kill Brand as soon as he can, and regardless of who or what should be in his way and the consequences which may arise from his doing so. He claims that this is because Brand is too mad and dangerous to be allowed to live, to have, indeed, any chance of freedom. And further, that even if Brand were now, by some miracle, sane, he would, after being driven mad by whoever it was who killed my mother, and committing the actions he did, not wish to live in any case.
These are all very fine words, Bleys, but they ring too hollow for me. Despite their vaguely reasonable tone, they sound much closer to a reaction of panic rather than one of reasoned consideration. I wonder, Bleys, whether reaction has more to do with wishing to cover up something, perhaps something to do with the death of my mother, than ridding the universe of Brand's 'madness'. And to be honest, even were every syllable of Bleys' words the absolute gospel truth, I would not be willing to see Brand killed out of hand by him. Especially without being allowed, myself, the chance to speak to him myself. To see him myself, as I have never done before.
This behaviour on his part does not, I must admit, fill me with enthusiasm for Lord Anubis' request that I attempt to save Bleys' live whenever it should become in danger in the next four days. I fact, perhaps his life will be put into danger by his trying to kill Brand. How ironic, if so...
And of course if I now sneak about keeping an eye on Bleys and something does happen to him, I cannot help but think that I will, myself, appear rather suspicious. This is not ideal.