TurnOfaFriendlyCardOnce Ingrey and Tasha had disappeared in the usual prismatic flicker associated with Trump travel, Claudio turned to the guards who had arrived with Tasha. "If you gentlemen would wait outside?" The request was civil but firm. The guards, seemingly deciding that Claudio at least had not tried to force an entrance into the private chambers, bowed and withdrew. Once the guards had gone and the door was shut, Claudio drew a chair up to his brother's bedside and took out his deck of Trumps. He'd already decided what would be the safest place for Pavlo now. He riffled through the cards, then chose one and sat for a moment contemplating it. A woman, stocky of build, strong of feature, hair the same light brown as his own and with the identical grey eyes, stood foursquare, in explorer's garb and stout boots, under a stone arch. The arch was laced with vines and evidently part of an ancient building, now ruinous; under the vines cryptic carvings could be made out. Beyond her was a wide horizon and a sky streaky with sunrise. Claudio's sister Lovisa was the maverick of the family. Ferociously intelligent, her passion was for knowledge and her search for it wide-ranging. Alone of the younger Barimens, she had established her own Ways, and habitually distanced herself from the politics of Chaos. Pavlo and she were the closest in age of any of Alfonso and Ekaterina's children; they fought like cat and dog growing up, but as a cat and dog may be who are raised in the same household, they were nevertheless fiercely loyal to each other. Claudio knew that Lovisa would take Pavlo in -- not precisely with no questions asked, since Lovisa's curiosity was at least as unrelenting as Claudio's own, if not more so, but with no hesitation -- and woe betide anyone who tried to harm him after that. A slight smile came to Claudio's lips as he concentrated on the card. It came to light with flickering flames... But it did not seem too alarming. Lovisa was sitting by a campfire, cleaning out an elephant gun. She was dressed in a safari suit, with a bush hat pushed back on her head. She looked tired, grubby, but happy. "Claudio!" she said with pleasure as she, in turn, recognised him. Then her tone changed to one of surprise. "Where are you?" "Castle Amber, if you'll believe it," Claudio replied, with an air almost of Top that! Then his voice and expression became graver as he went on, "There's trouble here, Lovisa. I've managed to stay out of its way so far, but Pavlo hasn't been so lucky. I've got him here with me now. He's wounded, and needs sanctuary." Lovisa had already risen to her feet and was stretching out an imperious hand. "Bring me through." Claudio raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I was going to send Pavlo through to you... But then," he noted, "it doesn't look as if you're home at the moment." He stood, and reached out his hand to his sister. She came through, having paused merely to grab a rucksack from beside the fire with her free hand. Once with him, she cast a swift but penetrating glance about the room, then strode straight to the bed where Pavlo lay. "What happened?" she asked brusquely. "Beyond the obvious fact that someone stuck a blade into Pavlo, I'm not entirely sure," Claudio admitted. "He came through on a Trump sketch a little while ago -- from the barracks I assume, since that's where he was earlier -- and started bleeding on the floor. Not in this room," he added parenthetically, before Lovisa could start looking for bloodstains. "Elsewhere in the Castle. Lady Tasha Minobee patched him up and he seems to be out of immediate danger from the wound, but he hasn't been in good enough shape to give a clear account of himself. He was trying to convey a warning to Prince Chadwick, too, which hasn't helped in sorting out who did what to whom. But he did imply that his superiors aren't going to be pleased with him. The mention of a price on his head might be a bit of Pavlovian hyperbole ... but I'm not taking any chances. Not with Duke Helgram in Amber." He scowled. "I don't know if you'd have heard, but the Emperor recently appointed Helgram -- Helgram! -- as Minister for Ordered Affairs." Her eyebrows lifted expressively, but she said nothing more for several moments as she continued to examine Pavlo closely. Then finally she straightened and moved back. "You know why Pavlo came rushing to this end of the multiverse?" she asked. "Or can you guess?" "I'd assumed," Claudio said slowly, "that he was assigned here. Soldiers often don't have a choice. But if it was his idea..." He looked sharply up at Lovisa. "Was it because of Helena?" Lovisa glanced up at him sharply -- and then gave a swift nod. "He learned she was coming to Amber -- I believe ... I believe he had a message from House Ishtar to that effect." Claudio stared. "From Ishtar? It was Lord Ishtar who insisted that they part." His eyes narrowed. "Though I suppose it might have been someone else in the House..." "Is she here? Have you seen her?" "She was here," Claudio confirmed. "She and Amba both. Lady Tasha said she'd met them." He frowned. "But when I got here, the King was in the act of sending her sister to find her, after--" He stopped abruptly, with a sidelong glance at Pavlo. Then he moved away from the bed with his quick, limping step, riffling through his Trump deck as he did so. "I was going to do this next, once Pavlo was safe," he told Lovisa, "but maybe I need to find out first, before I send him away." He took out his Trump of Helena and concentrated on it, fiercely willing it to come to life. He was conscious of a feeling of overwhelming heat -- so fierce it seemed to sear his face... But at least there was contact! And Helena answered. She looked exhausted and dirty and Claudio got a strong sense she was becoming increasingly ticked at some external circumstance. "Hello?" "Helena!" Claudio did not try to disguise his profound relief. "You're alive! Did your sister find you?" "Claudio," she said, breaking into a tired smile. "I'm happy you called. Yes, she's right here. Where are you?" One corner of his mouth twitched up. "Let me put it this way... I seem to have missed you by less than a day, local time. That's what Lady Tasha said, anyway." He spoke elliptically, aware that in the interests of pushing the contact through any possible interference, he hadn't shielded the call. His expression sobered as he added, "Pavlo's here too." "W-what?" Helena replied fuzzily, struggling to keep up. "What are you doing in...? Why is...? Pavlo is there?" Claudio bit his lip. ^Yes,^ he answered. ^Lovisa says he came because he heard you were going to be here. Since he was assigned to the garrison I suppose that meant volunteering for the duty. But he won't be here much longer if I have anything to say about it.^ ^Pavlo can make his own decisions,^ Helena replied defensively, thinking Claudio was referring to their past relationship. Buried deep but suddenly resurfacing was a strong desire to see her former lover again. ^Normally I'd agree with that,^ responded Claudio. ^But right now he's in no shape to-- That is,^ he temporized, ^I'm sending him away for his health, I hope.^ ^I don't understand. What does Pavlo have to say about this?^ Helena pressed. ^Not a lot,^ said Claudio. Giving up on the attempt at evasion, he went on, ^Currently he's sleeping off the aftereffects of someone sticking a blade in him.^ She startled. Claudio could sense the desire on her part to come through immediately, curtailed only by the complication of her sister still in discussion with Suhuy. ^I want to send him away in case somebody decides they didn't do a good enough job the first time. And it occurs to me,^ he added a little regretfully, ^that I may have an easier time getting him to agree to it if he knows you're no longer here.^ Helena jerked as if she'd been slapped. She stared hard at Claudio for the space of a few heartbeats as a range of emotion passed in quick succession over her face--anger, guilt, worry, more anger, and finally sulky acceptance that Claudio was right. She looked away and wiped at her face. ^Do you know who stabbed him? Or why?^ she asked, her mental voice husky and promising revenge. ^Neither one for sure. Pavlo wasn't very clear on that,^ Claudio replied. ^I'm trying to find out more about it. What I am reasonably sure of is that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to go back to the barracks right now.^ He let Helena work out the implications of that for herself. Helena paused. ^Duke Helgram?^ Claudio's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ^I should think... not directly. But my guess would be he's a factor.^ His gaze met Helena's through the contact. ^I'll tell you, Helena, when I first heard that he'd taken you to Tir with him, I... Well, if I hadn't already known that someone had been dispatched to find you, I'm not sure what I would have done.^ ^Going with Helgram was a rather stupid thing to do in retrospect. I blame Merlin, as he's handy and put me and Amba up to it,^ Helena replied. Her eyes unfocused. ^She has my trumps so I can't contact her and don't know what's happened to her. And because she has my trumps I also can't contact my father and find out what's happening with Ishtar. Mother did something and ticked off Lord Sawall and he hurt her and I don't know how bad and now our Houses are at war and I can't contact anyone because I don't have my trumps and Pavlo was stabbed and I can't even see him before you send him away and I inadvertently destroyed a Power and almost died several times today and all I really want is a bath and some very strong whisky.^ Helena was nearing the end of her proverbial rope. Out of Helena's rush of words, Claudio picked out at least one thing he could help with. ^I have a Trump of Amba,^ he reminded her. ^I can try to contact her and find out where she is. And once I relocate Pavlo, I'll let you know where he is, too,^ he promised. That call, he promised himself, would be shielded. Helena refocused on Claudio and nodded numbly. She leaned through the contact and kissed him on the cheek. ^Please have her contact me. Thank you.^ ^I'll do that. And I'll be talking to you again soon, I hope. Take care, Helena.^ "You too," she said out loud, then cut the contact. Claudio sighed, partly in relief and partly in regret, as he looked up; then he slipped Helena's Trump back into his deck. He glanced over in Lovisa's direction. "We can tell Pavlo, when he wakes up, that Helena is alive, but that she isn't in Amber anymore. That should keep him from charging back here, I hope." He went over to the tea cart. Another cup and a couple more pastries would fortify him before he tried contacting Amba. "Can I pour you one?" he asked Lovisa. "Why not?" she said dryly. "I might as well enjoy what creature comforts I can. Is there anything else I should know -- or that Pavlo should know when he wakes up?" Claudio grimaced as he poured tea for Lovisa. "I wish there was more I could tell you. I've got a lot of questions of my own at this point, more than I do answers." Knowing his sister's tastes well, he added a pastry to the saucer and limped over to set it next to Lovisa. "If you can get a more connected story out of Pavlo once he wakes up, I'd very much appreciate hearing it. You have my Trump, yes?" Claudio had distributed them to all the members of his family. He went back and sat down with his own tea and pastry. "Obviously I want to know for sure who stabbed him, but I'd also like any details he's got about Prince Chadwick and the tea at the barracks, and how they're connected." "Do you want me to take him to a fast shadow?" she asked. "Otherwise he will not be answering questions soon." "That's a good thought," said Claudio. "Timely information aside, the sooner Pavlo is back on his feet and looking out for himself -- relative to both Amber and Chaos -- the happier I'll be." She considered him thoughtfully. "Claudio, you will be careful here, won't you? This place may be dangerous to those of our name. Indeed, I don't know what Father was thinking of..." Claudio's expression turned mulish. "Father had nothing to do with my coming to Amber. It was my own idea." And Irulan's, of course, but he didn't think it necessary to mention that to Lovisa. "I'll be as careful as I can," he told her, "but I have no plans to leave just yet. After all, from what I understand, the other end of reality isn't any too safe either, at the moment." "There's a lot of Shadow in between," she pointed out. "Wide enough to lose oneself in -- if one is careful." "And has the means to travel them," he pointed out. "One day I may be able to sketch my way across the multiverse, but at the moment I still need a little help from my friends." His smile twisted up. "Running just isn't my style." "So -- I take Pavlo away. What are you planning to do next?" "Call Amba," Claudio said at once. "I promised Helena." Lovisa nodded. "And if you hadn't promised Helena?" she asked. "Would you still have trumped Amba then?" "Probably," Claudio admitted. "I'm concerned about her, too ... not least because, like Helena, it appears that she was here, but isn't any longer." Lovisa raised one eyebrow, her expression a little sceptical. Then she gave an abrupt nod. "What do you think will happen when they discover him gone?" she asked. "How much trouble will you be in?" "I'm not sure which 'they' you're referring to," said Claudio. "But why should I be in trouble? If there was anything 'they' thought I should do other than render aid to my brother to the best of my ability, 'they' have signally failed to inform me of it. The Ambassador was right there when he appeared in the Castle," he pointed out, "and she didn't say a thing. Nor did her Minister-Counsellor." Ingrey, in fact, had come close to suggesting that Claudio do exactly what he was doing. "I must admit I was thinking more of the Amberites," said Lovisa. "It's their room you're occupying. How do they regard you -- and how will they regard a disappearance?" "Judging from the guards' reactions, I'm guessing they'd be relieved," Claudio said wryly. "As for the royal family... What I'm trying to find out is as much for their benefit as anything. Prince Chadwick is one of their own. If Pavlo can tell me just what happened to him at the barracks -- that's valuable information." Lovisa gave a brisk nod. "All right then. Get him ready -- I'll open a trump connection." She took out a trump card case -- rather battered -- one crease, indeed, seemed to be the line of a bullet passing too close for comfort. The cards inside were rather battered too, but she pulled one and focused on it in a practised manner. Meanwhile, Claudio moved over to the bed and drew back the covers to get them out of the way of moving Pavlo. He checked on his brother's wound, and his breathing and heartbeat. "I'm going to wake him up, I think, once you have the connection," he told Lovisa. "It'll be easier to take him through if he's ambulatory. And I want to make sure he has my Trump, too." "I have it," said Lovisa, still focused on the trump. "Don't you trust me to pass on a trump to him?" "Of course I do, but I want to be sure you each have one," explained Claudio. Pavlo was still deeply unconscious. To Claudio this suggested that Pavlo's energies were turned inward, his own shapeshifting ability at work to heal himself. Perhaps he ought not to disturb the process, after all. Instead he quickly checked his brother's pockets to see if he was carrying a trump case. If he was, Claudio felt fairly sure that his own Trump would be one of those contained in it. If not, it would be a simple matter to slip one of his extra Trumps into an inner pocket of Pavlo's clothing. The case was there -- but there was, strangely, no trump of Claudio or -- for that matter -- his parents. Perturbed, Claudio took a few moments to extract one of his duplicate Trumps of himself from his own card-case, and slip it into Pavlo's before replacing it in his brother's pocket. There wasn't time for more, and Lovisa would surely have their parents' Trumps anyway. "Would you be able to carry him through?" he asked Lovisa as he did this. "Because I'm not going to be able to lift him." Lovisa shrugged, and suddenly her shoulders seemed broader, her biceps more powerful. "It will be easier than burrowing out through a mountain," she said, as though this was an everyday occurrence. She strode over to the bed, and slung Pavlo rather gently over her shoulder. "We'll be in touch," she promised -- and then vanished in the familiar explosion of Chaosian colour. Once his siblings were safely away, Claudio sat down in one of the suite's armchairs and shuffled Amba's Trump to the top of his deck. Like most of the rest of his cards, it was his own work; it depicted Amba in the Dragon starting position for Sword Dancing, and was complementary to Helena's. The fact that Pavlo's original Trump of him had apparently gone astray sharpened Claudio's sense of caution, so as he bent his mind on Amba's Trump, he was also careful to shield the call from detection. He gazed into the warrior woman's deep blue eyes, and willed them to come to life... to see him... And he was conscious of a sensation of icy cold. Trumps should be cold -- it was how you knew the person lived (usually). But this was icy cold as though indicating a super-abundance of life that nearly burned his fingers. Something like a shadow of that chill twisted in his gut -- he doubted this was a good sign, all things considered -- but he firmed his will and kept concentrating. He had to know... Contact came -- as Amba's tentative "Yes?" was nearly lost in a backlash of furious energy that overturned Claudio's chair and blasted him halfway across the room amid a hail of flying crockery. Nevertheless he held desperately onto the contact. ^Amba? It's Claudio.^ He got a brief impression from her of impatience shading into surprise -- before all other impressions were knocked out of his consciousness by words that struck like hammer blows. ^Where are you, Claudio?^ ^Castle Amber,^ he replied at once, then added, ^I just talked to Helena...^ "Helena!" Amba interrupted aloud. "Is she ok? Where is she?" The mental loudness made Claudio wince, but he persevered. ^I don't know precisely where,^ he admitted, ^but I do know she's with her sister ... and alive, more or less in one piece, and reasonably coherent. But without her Trumps. And wherever it is, it's got a way shallower energy gradient than wherever it is you are,^ he added. ^Whisper to me gently, Amba.^ Amba's brow furrowed. ^So I should be able to contact her then,^ she mused, rhetorically. ^Are you ok? What did you need?^ she thought, unable to keep a hint of impatience from seeping into her thoughts. ^I needed to know how you were, and where you were, so I could pass it on to Helena,^ Claudio replied, with a touch of rueful amusement. ^If you plan to contact her yourself, you might consider doing it from somewhere else ... or whatever it is that has your volume control cranked up to 'maximum.' I'm not sure Helena could handle the energy backlash right now; she seemed pretty beat when I talked to her.^ ^I don't know what it would be,^ Amba replied, perplexed. ^I've contacted people from here before... is it me?^ ^That I couldn't tell you,^ said Claudio, ^since I don't know where you are or what's been happening to you lately. But you know I'm not in the habit of making Trump calls flat on my back...^ he pointed out. He wasn't certain how long he could maintain the contact under these conditions, but for the moment he hung on. ^Well... thank you. For the news, and for checking on me,^ she thought, brushing a stray lock of hair aside. ^Really. And take care of yourself,^ she added, smiling. ^You look like sh!t.^ ^As ever, the soul of tact,^ murmured Claudio, but there was an answering smile on his lips and in his eyes. Amba broke the connection. For a few moments Claudio lay back and breathed deeply while the ringing in his head subsided. Then he levered himself into a sitting position and looked around to assess the damage. The room was entirely wrecked as though a bar-room brawl had been fought there. The door to the corridor was also open a crack, and Claudio was aware that someone was looking in, rather nervously. Though feeling rather wrecked himself, Claudio got to his feet and limped over to pick up his cane, which was lying at a ridiculous distance from the overturned armchair. "It's all right," he told the person peeping through the door, with an attempt at an encouraging smile. "It's all over." The door opened not one iota further. "And what might be all over, Sir?" asked a deep (and slightly shaken) voice. "The disturbance," explained Claudio. He looked around the room again, and added, "Sorry about the mess." The door opened a little further, revealing a burly guard in the uniform of Castle Amber. "And what," he asked, "has happened to the wounded gentleman?" He looked around suspiciously, as though expecting to see a body. "He's gone off into Shadow to recuperate," Claudio told him, then added firmly, "The Castle personnel needn't be concerned with him any longer." "No Sir," said the guard, not seemingly in the least mollified. "But I'm thinking the Regent would like a word with you about this. If you would just care to step this way ... " "I'd be delighted," said Claudio with gentle resignation. At least he'd be able to give some kind of progress report on the search for Helena ... if the Regent was interested. Fortunately he'd held on to his Trumps during the contact with Amba, since he'd merely shuffled hers to the top of his deck rather than separating it out. He returned them to their case and slipped the case into his breast pocket. Then, taking a firm grip on his cane, he went to the door. "Lead the way," he told the guard. (Continues in Encounters In the Corridor) |
