for
Back to the diary entry for 'A New Hand On The Wheel' (Part 2).
At last, the war with Chaos I have hoped for has come, even if I arrived a little late for its beginning. Corwin has mobilised against the five Rebel Houses of Chaos with five vast armies, and five generals to lead them and move them through shadow - Corwin, of course, Bleys, myself, Morgalin and the mysterious full-face-helm-wearing Lord Rice. At that point the identity of Lord Rice was a mystery, but it had become clear that he too could move an army through shadow, and was, in terms of skill, on a par with Corwin.
Corwin and Bleys each have a mixed army of the red people and the furry people they apparently used in their assault on Amber many years ago. They will be facing Houses Caradoc and Chanicut respectively. Morgalin has an army of dragon-people, with whom he will face House Balthazzar. Rice, of very well disciplined and equipped normal humans who will go against House Amblerash. Myself, of cat-people, with whom I shall take on House Dukatt. The cat-people seem to regard Inigo as being of higher rank than I, or perhaps even a manifestation of their deity. Humph.
Other than House Caradoc, already chosen by Corwin, I had no real preference in opponents. So I allowed my sheer dislike of those of House Dukatt guide my choice. Petty, I know, but I am sure wars have been decided based upon pettier decisions...
But I have never commanded such a large force before, either alone, or as part of a larger force. I think my skills are up to the task, but I cannot help worrying, just a little. I certainly hope I am up to this...
I also wonder whether I have, perhaps, bitten off more than I can chew in selecting House Dukatt as my opponents in the battle to come. I did not realise at the time that they were the second military House of Chaos. Who, though they hate Amber, are still too craven to start a war with Amber themselves, preferring instead to wait, to jump onto someone else's bandwagon, and so avoid a portion of any blame accruing from the attack. I know that I am good, but am I that good?
I have done what I can to handle House Dukatt and ensure victory, using what is known of their and my forces to balance the odds in my favour, and assess our true relative skill levels. Hopefully it will be enough. Now we have only to wait and see.
Arran and Tony do not want this war, but one hopes it is now impossible to stop. I only regret that it is not all of Amber against all of Chaos. But this will have to do. For now.
At least matters seem rather clearer now. Not one hundred percent clear, but definitely clearer. Cymnea, Merlin and a mysterious elder named Severin, oldest of them all, seem to be behind everything. Severin is apparently the product of a long-ago illicit relationship between Oberon and a lady of House Caradoc, for which she was executed by Suhey.
This makes it quite remarkable to me that after causing such an event Oberon was later able to have Cymnea marry him, the man responsible for the death of her relative. I know Oberon was an attractive man, but was his force of personality that strong? Or did he simply use more underhanded means - mind control of some kind, or simply rape, which we know he was not averse to - to get what he wanted? That, if so, would certainly explain Cymnea's current antipathy towards Amber...
Or could it be that Cymnea is the daughter of Severin? That might explain how she could (ignorant of the fate of Severin's mother) marry Oberon, and then turn so much against him after the battle at the Plains of Almarast. But even was that found to be so, such knowledge would only bring increased understanding of her actions. It would not excuse them. She still has to die.
But there still remain various major areas in which clarity continues to be elusive. Firstly, why did those three revive this ancient 'Cult of Rosifer'? It is something known in Chaos, whose known members are apparently to be exterminated on sight. Why did they not simply make up a new cult for the same end?
Secondly, is Severin really Severin? Or is he Finndo in disguise? Not that this makes any real difference to our interpretation of his actions or our response to them, but... Severin, from what we know, was a warrior. Finndo a master of the 'Arcane Arts', which as we all know by now is a term which can encompass a great many things. I find it hard to believe that Severin could beat Osric in swordplay, and Finndo in arcane combat, as he would have to have done for things to be as they are now. Unless, of course, Severin was extraordinarily powerful...
And Finndo was missing after that battle. Did he take Severin's place? No-one knows, and it does not seem very relevant, but it would be nice to know.
Also, how does Merlin come to be mixed up in all this? He is so much younger than either Cymnea or Severin. He is not an ancient, nursing an equally ancient grudge. Was he simply indulging his curiosity and saw a chance for power? Or is he being used?
The most irritating thing about this whole Severin affair is that we knew parts of the story, and have done for years. From the play 'The Two Princes' by de Courtney, which we saw in Rebma, it seems so long ago now. But only Arran made the connection, and he only after searching the library for Severin's name. Most vexing.
Although I was dubious regarding the accuracy of a play as a historical record, Arran claimed that 'The Two Princes' is, as far as he knows, fairly close to real events. Official accounts differ, of course, but then the play, and presumably real events, hardly paint Oberon in a good light...
We should definitely talk to de Courtney about this.
I wonder how many of the rebel Houses in Chaos know they are fighting for and with the old Cult of Rosifer? And how many of them might lose their enthusiasm for combat if that information was revealed to them in some subtle fashion, so that they view it as truth rather than enemy propaganda?
Of course, we knew nothing of the Cult of Rosifer, but clearly there are those that do, especially in Chaos.
Apparently they hated both Chaos and Amber, the former for its weakness in letting Amber come to be at all, the latter as an abomination in their eyes. Its members wanted to destroy them both and create a new power to replace them. Because of this they were wiped out long ago, along with the two Chaos Houses involved, Gideon and Gashu.
I cannot say I consider that to be a bad thing.
At least, one hopes, we have thrown a fairly large spanner into the enemy's plans. It would certainly be a terrible shame to have blown such a large hole in shadow to no good end.
Inside the cube of folded shadow which we found inside the Primal Logrus storm we (well, Sal, Jay and Tony anyway, it being them who went into the cube before me, with me only following once our way out through the storm closed behind us) found a new power being ... gestated.
Some mix of Pattern, Logrus and Broken Pattern being combined around, or into Random, hopefully the real one this time. Who was, himself, unwillingly adding Jewel of Judgement energy to the mix. All to make a new power to supersede those which went into forming it. One of the ends of the Cult of Rosifer.
The source of these three powers were people, each stapled to the floor inside some sort of magical circle adjacent to the new power. Nicholas, Sal's grandson, was unwillingly donating Broken Pattern. He was still alive. Just. The other two donors were dead. A woman of Chaos and an Amberite man with a definite resemblance to Brand; not Luke, whose Trump I was later shown by Bleys, but someone else, presumably a third son of Brand.
I had not realised that the dead could still be interrogated, but so it proved. With the aid of Curetana, and Tony's becoming a magical circuit shunt, Sal was able to recover the woman's body from the magical circle in which it was trapped. Then Sal used some form of mental contact while Tony used magic to release the last sight the woman saw from her decomposed brain. This was then received by Sal. Apparently she was killed by Cymnea, Merlin and the mystery Amberite we later learned was Severin. Her name was Ophidia.
My only reservation over this result was the damage Curetana sustained in freeing the corpse, but, thank the Unicorn, I was later able to repair it with the Pattern.
Freeing Nicholas, as we then did (at the cost of a little more damage to Curetana), seemed to disrupt the gestation of the new power in some way. Perhaps because Nicholas was still alive and feeding power to it, unlike the other two victims. Sal sustained significant damage while rescuing Nicholas from where he was pinned. Still, were our positions reversed I imagine I would also be willing to accept that as a small price to pay.
Unfortunately, Nicholas was near death when we freed him. We did what we could for him, but he needed treatment elsewhere. But that left Random to rescue.
Despite Tony's 'strange thoughts' (Strange for Tony? The mind boggles!), we were eventually able to persuade him to go and attempt a rescue of Random. What had Random ever done for him? Let the traitorous little weasel live, for one thing.
Nice as it would have been for Tony to die rescuing Random, it was more important that Random was saved.
So Tony, as our best-qualified shapeshifter, went in to the rescue. That was the only reason we let him do it. Unfortunately, part-way to Random, he vanished. This was not a good sign.
So Sal, of all people, followed. Most unexpected behaviour from him. Perhaps he cares more about Random than I thought. Or perhaps he, with Tony, as shapeshifters, were the only ones with a hope of doing anything more than simply dying while assaying the new power. Circumstances quickly became such that Jay and I simply had to leave before seeing the result of Sal's rescue attempt.
I am glad that we took that sample of Sal's blood before entering the cube of folded shadow. Had we not, Jay and I would have been trapped inside it as the new power - the 'Lattice' - collapsed in around us. Likewise, we were fortunate that Dara and Delwin chose that moment to open a new way through the Primal Logrus storm so that we could leave entirely, otherwise we would have been in the same situation outside the cube.
Upon leaving the storm, in addition to Dara and Delwin, we found Inigo and the foreman-cat from Amber.
It would appear that the foreman-cat is Random's, quite as much as Inigo is mine. Having heard his drum playing I did not realise that he had quite such good taste.
While I can see why Inigo and the Cat-foreman wanted Random rescued, their insistence that Jay and I do so was rather annoying, given that we had explained the situation to them, and that Sal and Tony were already attempting a rescue. What did they want? That we non-shapeshifters, try to assay a power which, as far as we could tell, only shapeshifters could survive? What good would that have done?
So we left the collapsing 'Lattice' for safer climes. Jay to Amber to obtain medical treatment for Nicholas. Myself and Inigo to Corwin's armies and the impending battle with Chaos. Delwin into the storm. Dara to I know not where.
And now it seems that all that remains of the Primal Logrus storm is a vast crater, fifteen miles or more deep. Although we were berated by Dara and Arran for meddling with things we did not understand and not waiting for qualified help before rescuing Nicholas, we were right, I think, to do so. We had no idea when such help might arrive or what might happen while we waited. And to be honest, we have never let ignorance stop us before...
Despite the objections, I cannot help but think that this was a desirable outcome, and one that will, with luck, badly disrupt the enemy's plans. And perhaps Chaos as a whole.
I did not realise that blood has quite such power. Of course, I knew that our blood - the blood of Amber - can damage Patterns, but I did not realise that it, in combination with the blood of Chaos and shadow, could be used quite as ... creatively ... as we have seen it used here, to combine major powers into something entirely new.
What else can you do with blood, I wonder?
I was glad to learn that Sal and Tony had rescued Random from the heart of the 'Lattice'. Very glad. Perhaps there is hope that things will work out well after all.
Though we should not forget that there are still many obstacles to be surmounted before that occurs....
But it was definitely heartening to learn of Random's rescue and survival. A pity Tony had to survive the exercise, but one cannot have everything. But thank the Unicorn, Random is both alive and conscious, if not, apparently, in full fettle as yet.
It was less encouraging to learn of Nicholas' near death in Amber.
Jay reports that Martin did something with the Jewel of Judgement to remove the Broken Pattern that was leaking from Nicholas like blood, and replace it with real blood. Alas, it seems that the Broken Pattern inside him was all that was keeping Nicholas' condition stable...
A deliberate act on Martin's part? I cannot help but think so, given current circumstances. At least Nicholas was, eventually, saved.
And where, I cannot help but wonder, did the Broken Pattern energy which Martin extracted from Nicholas go? I cannot believe that it simply faded away into the air. What use did Martin have for it? Surely Cymnea and her associates are not going to make another attempt to install a Broken Pattern into another luckless victim?
It came as a small surprise to learn that Lord Rice was, in fact, Prince Eric of Amber, somehow returned from the dead. It should not really have been any surprise at all. R - I - C - E to E - R - I - C is hardly a complex anagram!
The only problem with his return is that he seems to still consider himself to be the rightful King of Amber, and, with Random now rescued and recovering, I foresee problems in that regard.
For myself, I still consider Random to be the rightful King of Amber. As far as I know, Eric died. And had nothing beyond himself to support his claim to the throne of Amber. Random, on the other hand, was selected by the Unicorn itself. And after seeing it in the Cathedral of the Unicorn, I must believe that it has the right of things.
Let alone the fact that the cats support him. I imagine Inigo would never speak to me again were I not to support Random, and we would not want that, now would we?
So how, I wonder, will the family divide if things come down to a choice between Random and Eric? Julian and Caine with Eric. Probably Jay too. Myself with Random. And who else? Corwin? Flora? Any of the others of my generation? I do not know. I hope it does not come down to a showdown.
I wonder if the secret weapon of mass destruction of House Sawall could be a 'Pattern Bomb' made using the Broken Pattern 17 extracted from Winton's corpse? Or is it just Morgalin and a catapult to launch him at the enemy?
With Merlin present, I could not tell Corwin and his generals the full story of what we had found when I finally joined them. But someone had to be told - this was not a time to be hoarding such vital information. Bleys seemed to be the best choice. Hopefully my telling him everything will do some good, as will the distribution of my message implying that the existence of Sawall's secret weapon may have been leaked to the enemy.
Given recent events it seems clear that Merlin, and probably Martin too, are in this up to their necks. At the very least. And yet ... are they being controlled, as the evidence hints that they may be, or simply consummate actors? I, at least, cannot say.
It does seem more than conclusive that Merlin was there when Corwin was incapacitated by long-range lightning before, apparently, being retrieved into Cymnea's camp. Merlin apparently did something with the Jewel of Judgement when Corwin was attacked. Which seems rather strange, as, as far as those of us in the know could tell, it and he were in very different locations.
After which, things were confused for a while. At least, at the end of it, Corwin seems to be alive, thanks to the efforts of Delwin and Robert, but the advance of the various armies has, for now, been halted by Eric's command. Giving Chaos more time to prepare. Perhaps that was their intention all along.
But I believe I shall be abiding by Eric's only policy change. That is, to kill Merlin on sight. And apologise to Corwin and Sal later.
We all, I think, trusted Eric not to kill Corwin while Corwin was unconscious. After all, Corwin recruited him. But still, we did want him to prove his bona fides. So he told us a short and mystifying tale. Perhaps the best thing it had going for it was its brevity, and the way Eric seems to be as mystified by what has happened as the rest of us. Even after Tony pointed out the worrying possibilities of personality shapeshifting.
It was at this point that we (or at least Sal) discovered the true identify of Lord Crucis, as Prince Caine of Amber.
The reunion between him and Julian was rather touching, and very unexpected.
Apparently Jay has known all about Lords Rice and Crucis for some time now. I don't suppose I can blame him for keeping quiet, though, as revealing what he knew would doubtless put his father, as well as Caine, into unnecessary danger.
More and more, it seems that Jay is very much the dark horse. Sees much. Knows much. Say very little. An Amberite to the core!
I suppose it was na•ve of me to think that Caine might really be dead, the amount of blood in his rooms notwithstanding. There was, after all, no corpse. And to be honest, even if there had been, on past performance that would have been no sure sign. Perhaps we should have read more into that lack - seen it as the sign of a genuine attack, rather than something Caine had set up. But anyway, it turning out that 'Lord Crucis', the second of 'Lord Rice', was Caine was not a vast surprise once 'Rice's own identity was revealed.
I was surprised to learn from reading between the lines of what was said, that Eric did not recognise Suhey. I suppose there was much less contact between Amber and Chaos in his day.
I did not realise that Julian and Eric had quite such extreme opinions about Chaos until Julian drew steel on Sal after noticing that he now has a Logrus-like power, the 'Lattice'. Perhaps, in future, I should be looking more towards them to further my hopes of utterly destroying all of Chaos.
I do hope that the Delwin-Caine vendetta can be kept under control for now. At least until things calm down...
I am somewhat disappointed that my Martin Theory is not receiving more serious consideration. I feel it does answer a good many questions regarding current events. On the other hand, I freely admit that it is only a theory. Perhaps he is merely a mind-controlled dupe. Perhaps he is a filthy traitor. If the first possibility, then Benedict or Lyta spring to mind as obvious choices of puppet-master.
Unless, of course, they are also mind-controlled dupes. But take such speculation too far and the entire universe dissolves into a morass of paranoia and conspiracy. Perhaps that is how Caine sees the world. And not, of course, that the universe may not be that way. But the amount of time it would be possible to waste in such speculation beggars the mind!
Tony believes - 'thinks' is perhaps too strong a word where Tony is concerned - that Merlin can be brought back to the side of Right if only we can talk to him. Yes, of course Tony. Off you go.
He claims to be a diplomat now, too. Ha! He does not even understand our distrust of Martin, and why Random cannot be immediately restored to the throne of Amber. Many of us agree with Tony's sentiment that finding Merlin is important. However, I think our reasons for doing so may differ greatly from his...
I am so glad that I swore loyalty to the rightful monarch of Amber, and not to Martin by name.
At least now we can prove what Random's will should have said, one way or another, by asking its author. It is quite embarrassing that no-one thought to do so earlier, but then, most of us have been rather busy...
Oh Tony, Tony, Tony... You remain, as ever, half man and half-wit.
Who did you think you were, to criticise the plans of Corwin and the rest of us? I would certainly not dare to advise you on matters of treachery and stupidity. What makes you think you can advise on matters of warfare?
On to the diary entry for 'To Add To The Confusion...'.