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It was the Day of Renewal in Aegypt, the holiday celebrated when the Keth retreated from its yearly flood, leaving rich soil behind. Traditionally, it was a time of religious contemplation, since the stores would grow thin over the dry season and needed to be preserved until such time as the fields could yield their first crop. Gods, however, may do as they please, and it pleased Akenaton to have a feast. In addition to the members of the Pharoah's court, the representatives of the Lesser Kingdoms were invited.

Though the sublime arrogance with which the Aegyptians dismissed their sister Shadows rankled not a few dignitaries from said Shadows, those of hardier egos found their hosts' hauteur quite amusing. One of these, Larissa, Amber's Ambassador Extraordinary (and Extremely Bored), looked longingly at her melting sherbet, and wished most heartily that His Divine Grace the God-king Akenaton XVII would sit down and shut up so they could eat.

"Who's the handsome one with the Chaos delegation?" Coirann whispered to Larissa out of the side of her mouth.

"Which, the blue-haired one or the brunet?" Larissa whispered back.

"Brunet."

"Ingrey Wearanthe. They just shipped him in from Chaos a couple months back."

"Oh," said Coirann, looking quite fixedly at the man in question.

Larissa snorted. "From what I understand of House Wearanthe, he'd be used to your sort. Quit staring."

"I--" Coirann was interrupted by the applause that greeted the conclusion of the Pharoah's speech. "Oh, finally," she said.

"Diplomacy requires that I don't tell him to shut his mouth," Larissa said by way of agreement, and reached for her sherbet.

"Ingrey Wearanthe, huh?"

"No affairs of state, Coirann," Larissa said into her cup.

"Spoilsport."

"Eat your...whatever that is," said Larissa. "We can meet the man after dinner and warn him about you." Coirann was caught with a mouthful of whatever-it-was, and couldn't respond.

"They regard themselves as the center of their universe, do they not?" The dry, acerbic voice of Ingrey Wererathe noted quietly as he looked at the food that he now could finally eat.

"Who?" the blue haired Alywin Baccaran asked. "The Amberites?"

"No." Ingrey replied, putting on a face of slight exasperation. "These Aegyptians. God-Emperor, a water empire, all things flow from the top of the social pyramid. And so everything is fitted into that world view. Even us."

"We're going to deal with them in any event, Ingrey," came the warning voice of Paloma Baccaran. She had decided that she was going to take Ingrey's education in hand, and so decided to lead the delegation to AEgypt herself. With other Ministers and Counselors, Ingrey was the most junior person present with any credentials at all.

"And you are mainly here to watch and learn from what we do. And, in addition, watch the Amberites at work and meet them. After all, much of what you will be doing will revolve around dealing with them back in Amber, and in other shadows such as these," Paloma finished.

"Yes, Ma'am," Ingrey said. He looked across to where the Amberites sat and let his eyes cast over the members of the delegation.

The Amberite Charge d'Affaires, a dark-skinned fellow of indeterminate age, was ignoring his meal to lean over the arm of his couch and pay close attention to one of the Kasfan juniors, an attractive young woman who was holding forth with great animation on some topic obviously dear to her heart.

Next to him sat a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman dressed in the Aegyptian fashion of bleached, pleated linen, and eating with great gusto.

And next to her, Larissa, recently arrived in Aegypt to temporarily fill the late Ambassador's post until a successor could be politicked into place, picked at her plate with no real interest. She wore yellowish-gold, loosely, and a circlet of gold with small black stones. She looked up, met Ingrey's gaze, and winked a pale blue eye.

Ingrey gave a nod and his face held a look of respect for a fellow diplomat as yet not met personally and held the gaze for a few moments. He was dressed in purple, accented both with white and the same sort of gold she had in her own colors.

"Who is that, Alywin?" Ingrey asked his blue haired companion quietly, speaking out of the corner of his mouth but holding his gaze on Larissa and the Amberites.

"That would be Larissa Rohl, daughter of King Eric. Larissa Ericsdottir as you Wererathe say." The last bit came in a teasing tone. "She was a choice unexpected by us to take the place of Amber's late senior Ambassador. Therefore, our knowledge of her is...incomplete."

The conversation was loud enough that Paloma was able to hear it, and interject.

"It would seem that you could usefully get to know her, Ingrey," Paloma said. "Certainly, you will be expected to participate in some of the diplomatic negotiations that Alwyin and I will be doing, but there is going to be significant periods where there will be none of that. Diplomacy takes time, after all. And doubtless our Amber counterparts will be seeking diversion as much as we are," Paloma added.

Ingrey nodded, still regarding Larissa. "I will endeavor to do that, your Excellency," Ingrey said absently and then looked at his plate, took a bite, and tried not to make a face.

After an otherwise uneventful meal, the various delegations mingled in the great hall of Akenaton's palace, preparatory to the promised moonlight cruise on the Keth. Parties everywhere are the same--there were the clusters, the loners, the dancers, the music, and the plans in the shadows.

Larissa, a student of the 'strong offense' school of defense, cornered her opposite number from the Chaos delegation. "Lady Paloma," she said. "I would not have thought these talks important enough to draw you out of the Spire Hills."

Paloma was dressed in a dark blue, accented with white, and silver. She gave a graceful inclination of her head as Larissa approached.

"Ambassador Larissa Rohl, it is delightful to see that chance and circumstance have brought to you this very opportunity that we share," Lady Paloma said by way of greeting, looking down briefly at the glass of the beverage that the thick beverage that Aegyptians called beer here. It was clear Paloma was drinking it because it was expected to do so not that she truly enjoyed it.

"To answer your question, I didn't think that my frequency of departure from the Embassy was actually noted," She smiled slightly but Larissa could see that Paloma was filing away this information.

"I was just making a comparison of Amber and Aegypt, vis-a-vis sand in one's shoes and caliber of stultifying before-dinner speeches," Larissa said brightly, but with the undercurrent that always marked her conversations with the Lady Paloma.

"Sometimes you have to work in the field rather than remaining in the center of the spider web. Or so would the newest member of my own delegation might say," Paloma made a subtle gesture with her head, to where Ingrey was speaking to one of the shaved-head priest-scholars of Akenaton's Court.

"The young and doubtless eager Ingrey?" said Larissa, following Paloma's gaze.

"The very same. You've done your homework," Paloma said. And then she continued.

"Information is the hardest currency anywhere." Here Larissa should have taken a measured sip of wine and regarded Paloma over the glass, but she was empty-handed, and consequently settled for a bit of a smile.

"I find it useful, when a newly arrived member comes into my fold, that he should be given a strong first impression on the business that we do, Larissa," Paloma said.

"Yes, it's always wise to ensure one's staff has a solid tolerance for boredom," Larissa agreed.

"Ingrey has the talent for boredom, but I find that he..." Paloma stopped, and then smiled to Larissa.

"Well, perhaps I will let you, discover your own impressions of him. Doubtless, the completion of a full tour of duty by him would provide you ample opportunity to form your own opinion of him unsullied by my own."

"An introduction would seem in order. Shall we?" Larissa offered Paloma her arm. One was never certain whether Larissa used vaguely out-of-place gestures because she didn't care, or to discomfit--perhaps both.

Paloma seemed amused by this. "Well, now, let us do that, since there is other business for me to attend to this evening. She led Larissa in Ingrey's direction. The Wererathe seemed to sense that his boss, at the very least was approaching, and Ingrey could hear him quietly give his apologies to the priest-scholar and turn even before Paloma and Larissa slid into position.

"Ingrey, I thought it would be useful for you to be acquainted with the head of the Amber delegation. This is Larissa Rohl, daughter of the late King Eric."

"Larissa, this is Ingrey of the House of Wererathe of the Courts, the most junior member of my staff at present."

Paloma turned on her smile. "I'll just leave you two to talk, but I do want to mention that the cruise will be leaving shortly."

Paloma withdrew quickly and with grace, soon finding a conversation with the blue haired Alywin Baccaran to occupy her.

Ingrey kept a mostly neutral face, but the recognition of Larissa from the dinner table was easily readable to the practiced Larissa.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Larissa Ericsdottir," Ingrey said, and bowed his head.

"Likewise," Larissa responded, bobbing a minimal curtsy. "'Ericsdottir?'" She sounded dubious, and one black brow was raised in questioning.

"Ericsdottir," Ingrey confirmed. "It is the tradition of House Wererathe to address those they meet in terms of their descent from their primary bloodline. You are the daughter of the late King Eric of Amber, and thus you are Ericsdottir."

"Inside of House Wererathe, I am known as Ingrey Itascasson" Ingrey added.

"I'm familiar with the etymology," Larissa said flatly, "but my name is Larissa Rohl, Ingrey Itascasson." Then, in less than a flicker, her face was smiling. "How is our side of reality treating you?"

Ingrey's face showed a brief sour look at the perceived rebuke, but it passed quickly after the appearance of Larissa's diplomatic smile.

"I've only begun to get used to it Larissa..." Ingrey's pause was genuine. "Larissa Rohl. I would not be surprised if your contacts already told you that I've been at the Embassy for 13 days now, and that this is my first real venture outside of the embassy that did not involve a visit to the City or the Palace itself."

"I have been on missions in the area around the Courts of course." Ingrey added. "But this is my first visit to a Veil.." Ingrey stopped and held up his hand. "My apologies, the correct term for it is Shadow, yes?

"Shadow, yes."

"This is my first visit to a Shadow where the inhabitants are aware of their betters, and yet consider themselves of equal if not superior rank. Are many of the...Shadows around Amber share this point of view, Larissa Rohl?"

"It's hardly surprising that Amber casts Shadows with an arrogant ruling class." Larissa laughed, a throaty sound. "Let's see...Caladon didn't much have time for us, save on a one-to-one basis, and Deiga was as sublimely haughty as one might expect. And of course, there's Ghenesh...so, yes, I'd say it's a reasonably common phenomenon."

"What makes you think we're their betters?" Her voice was conversational, but she looked at Ingrey so fixedly one couldn't help but think there was weight to her question.

Ingrey faced down Larissa's fixated gaze for a few moments, his face moving to a poker face.

"Perhaps I misspoke or used my words in an improper and possibly insulting manner," Ingrey began. "What I meant to say was that this is the first...Shadow that I've been in where the inhabitants are aware of a greater Power--Temporal, Arcane, and Primal, nearby, and yet manage to genuinely hold a sense of self-superiority that does not seem to be a facade or a self-deception."

"If my prior, imprecise words gave offense, then not only do I withdraw them as I have already done, but I ask your pardon for misstating my thoughts in such a fashion," Ingrey continued.

"Oh my. Diplomat indeed. Let's make our way to the river?" As she had with Paloma, Larissa offered Ingrey her arm.

Without hesitation, and with a practiced maneuver, Ingrey took her arm and began to follow her toward the exit and thence toward the river.

"But you do think you are the better of a Shadow dweller, or you wouldn't have said it so conversationally. And further, you thought I would agree." Larissa gazed out over the river, which reflected torchlight and moonlight, and painted her face strangely, carving deep shadows.

"You can say what you think in front of me, Ingrey. I know it's all a game, and one does get tired of pretending," Larissa made lazy cat eyes, looking at Ingrey, and smiled. "Or perhaps I'm lying."

Ingrey considered this for a moment and then nodded his head. "I know now why Lady Paloma was so desirous for us to meet and interact. You have knowledge, skill and ability, and experience that I can learn from." Ingrey replied as he continued to walk together with her toward the River.

"Oh, you poor dear," Larissa chuckled.

"Only speaking for myself, and not for the Embassy, my opinion is derived from the primacy of the poles and those who hail from them," Ingrey said. "Ability over the very fabric of Reality is something that puts those at the poles in a superior position. In the Courts, this is standard doctrine, axiomatic. I suppose, with you...it is not an axiom."

He turned his head to regard her as they continued their progress. "I would now deduce that you were raised, perhaps for decades if not centuries, in a shadow far away from Amber, to bristle at my impolitic thoughts on the matter of shadow dwellers and their relationship to us."

"I had foolishly assumed you were born and raised in Amber and its own centric world view," Ingrey finished.

"I am a child of Shadow, yes." Larissa said. "It's hardly a secret. Tales of my un-Amberish softness abound. My cousin Johann has made quite a lot of hay of it. He published a charmingly scathing bit of character assassination a few decades back. If your Embassy archives such things, you should read through his broadsheets. He's a gifted writer."

"I have that document in my pile to read," Ingrey confirmed. "I simply did not expect to be thrust into an embassy to a shadow so quickly after arriving, or I would not have made the mistakes I have thus far in regards to our relationship."

The pair approached the shore, where floating docks that rose and fell with the currents stretched to the Pharaoh's barge. It glowed upon the water, firelight reflecting from burnished decorations.

"I am not entirely convinced that a party of floating diplomats is any more thrilling than the landbound equivalent." Most of Larissa's attention was on the uneven footing of the makeshift papyrus walkway covering the mud of the floodplain.

"There will be time for discussions, and time for other things," Ingrey confirmed. "This is a large and expansive shadow, and I think Paloma picked me to come on this expedition because the ancient nature of the civilization piques my interest."

"Might we not plan to find something more diverting than, as you say, a floating party of diplomats, sometime between negotiations, that would be of mutual interest?" Ingrey enquired.

Larissa didn't answer while she considered the possibility that Ingrey was coming on to her. A brief contemplation resulted in the conclusion she wouldn't be averse, and consequently, she played it straight. "It's between negotiations now," she said. "And if we get on that stupid boat, we're stuck until it docks, unless we're willing to brave the crocodiles." Her tone indicated that she just might be.

"We both certainly have underlings who can carry on the business of bored and uninteresting conversation with the denizens of the shadow," Ingrey pointed out. "And I myself am the most junior of my party. And the Lady asked me to acquaint myself for you."

Ingrey grazed his head, and gave what was not quite a mischievous smile, but as close to one as plausible deniability might allow. "There are ancient ruins, and unusual roads that run for kilometers and kilometers." Ingrey pointed out. "I would not be adverse to the idea of you and I exploring and learning about they, rather than being penned on a ship with dull and self important potentates, and surrounded by the soi-disant crocodiles."

Larissa whirled and started immediately back towards the palace. "Let's go. I want to change clothes, and we'll need torches--unless...you're not a Sorceror, are you?"

Ingrey turned and followed the decisive Larissa without hesitation. He nodded as Larissa enquired of his abilities.

"A proper gentleman of Chaos learns many things. Riding, dancing, courtly etiquette, poisons, and except the truly untrainable, sorcery. I can provide us light."

"Excellent. In that case, I just need to change." Larissa stuck out and wiggled a sandaled foot. "Meet you at the south entrance in... fifteen minutes?"

"Agreed. Fifteen Minutes," Ingrey said with a nod. He turned and headed away with speed.

Larissa went to her chambers, and changed into trousers and boots. She swapped her jewelry for a sword she found conveniently beneath the bed, scrawled a quick note to Coirann, and set out jauntily for the south entrance well ahead of schedule. The tune she was whistling would be unfamiliar to anyone not from Tradespace.

On the fifteenth minute after their departure, Ingrey appeared at the South entrance. He had exchanged the more formal mantle of his junior office for a shirt in purple, and pants in gold and white. He wore boots, in black. Ingrey bore a blade as well, but in his hand was a wand with a large glass sphere at its end, that made it look like a mace of some sort.

"I did not keep you waiting overlong, I hope?" Ingrey said. "I didn't think that I was running late." he added.

"No. Shall we be off, or do you need a moment to work any enchantments?" She was settling a dark cloak around her shoulders as she spoke.

"A moment," Ingrey said. He spoke a few words in a form of Thari which seemed older, more primitive, less casual than the Thari of Amber. In response a glow formed inside of the glass sphere and brightened. The glass of the sphere cast the light out, creating a potent but not overly blinding torch of sorts.

"Fiat Lux, or so a shadow I once passed through declared," Ingrey said, with a trace of something resembling a smile.

Larissa led the way to a pair of camels, already saddled and with laden saddlebags. "Unless you wanted to walk. But a double time march through the sand is not my idea of a good time," she said as she poked her camel in the hopes that it would kneel so she could mount. She seemed rather put out that it wasn't mechanical, upholstered, and equipped with a wet bar. It seemed a little put out at being poked.

Ingrey regarded the animals for a moment and Larissa's difficulties with them. He carefully put the light wand on the ground and spoke to it, soothing it. The creature was reluctant, but it responded to Ingrey's entreaties better than Larissa's attempts, and the creature finally knelt for her.

He waited until Larissa got on the creature, and he spoke to the camel softly again and it rose again to its feet. He then picked up his light wand and mounted his own camel with growing confidence.

"There are far more dangerous steeds in the Courts to ride," Ingrey explained. "These, though, are hardy for this arid land." He gently tugged at the reins. "Gentle, but firm," Ingrey suggested to Larissa.

Larissa motioned for Ingrey to lead the way. Initially ignoring Ingrey's advice, she instinctively dug her heels into the camel's flanks. "Go, you great smelly flea-buffet," she muttered to the creature as it turned to regard this less than expert passenger.

While Ingrey did not seem expert on the camel, it was clear he had dealt with similar beasts many times before, and soon had his camel pacing toward the edge of the compound, and the desert beyond. The light that Ingrey held aloft bathed both of them in a circle of light, but it was not so bright that it drowned out the growing canvas of stars and moon above them.

Eventually, she and her mount sorted out who was boss, as it decided it would rather not leave behind Ingrey's mount. Ingrey, the camel reasoned, knew where he was going.

"Have you been out to the roads before? I haven't," Larissa said once she had adjusted to the rhythm of the camel's gait.

"Her Excellency has not allowed me to do so as yet, even though I expressed an interest in doing so," Ingrey admitted. His face, unseen, had a face that mixed regret with anticipation. "This is why I was eager to take you up on your offer," he added. A thought occurred to him. "You did not think I accepted this opportunity solely for the purpose of seducing you, or worse, did you, Larissa Rohl?"

For the next few seconds, Larissa was occupied with simultaneously being incapacitated by laughter and trying not to fall off the camel, which for its part took this latest indignity in swaying stride. "Oh, Ingrey," she said, still chuckling. "I have a strong sword arm and stronger mind. What makes you think I would have cared?" She wiped the tears from her eyes with edge of her cloak.

Ingrey blinked uncertainly. He realized that he made a faux pas of some sort, and this is why her Excellency had insisted he accompany her on this expedition to this shadow.

"I am regretful for any undue and improper suggestions on these matters." Ingrey said, as the light revealed that they were now approaching a track that lead out to the nearest road, a few kilometers away. "I did not mean to make implications that were undue, and I did not mean to close off any entreaties should they ever be welcome."

The Wererathe sighed, letting his guard down as they continued into the desert. "I have much to learn of Amber and its denizens, do I not?"

"We're not that strange," Larissa said in mock indignation. She subsided and rode in silence for a time, hood draped about her face, hiding her expression, if she wore one, from Ingrey.

"I'm hard to offend, Ingrey," she said at last. "You need have no fear of me bearing tales of your supposed churlishness to Paloma. But if you're going to be a churl, you should mean it, and get the best possible advantage out of it." A sound something between a chuckle and a snort came from the depths of her hood.

"I..." Ingrey started to respond but then shut up as Larissa continued.

"It interests me, your need to reassure me as to your good intentions--why would you suspect that I would think otherwise? Is assassination by diplomat a common problem in the Courts? And are you really bad enough at sex that it constitutes a threat?" Larissa looked at him sidelong around the hem of her hood, deadpan.

"I am uncertain how to respond to some of your questions and statements." Ingrey said after a long moment. "Diplomats are neutral envoys in the Courts, but we are not in the Courts, and you do not know me personally. There was a non zero chance that I am not actually a diplomat, and instead am the Black Hand of her Excellency."

"I wanted to assure you that my purpose in coming out here with you was a peaceful and non threatening one and that, despite my failures and missteps, wished to earn your respect."

"I believe the road lies just ahead," Ingrey added.

Larissa laughed. "Paloma would never have introduced you as a diplomat if you were actually an assassin. There is a non-zero chance I'd escape...and then think of the diplomatic ramifications. Uncle would be furious.

Ingrey considered this for a moment but said nothing.

"Of course," Larissa continued pensively, looking in the direction Ingrey had indicated, "she could be unaware, which would mean it was a deep game indeed. And I'm hardly important enough to warrant that sort of plot...are you sure it's not Bleys who's your target, o hypothetical assassin?"

"There is a phrase I have heard to which I should cleave," Ingrey said after a moment. "When one stands in a hole, the first rule in escaping it is to stop oneself from digging."

"It will perhaps be years before I am allowed out of the Embassy again, as badly as I've drawn the lines of conversation between us," Ingrey added.

He gestured toward the line that they approached."The consistency of the sand beneath our camels has changed. There may be packed earth or another remnant of a spur of the actual road ahead beneath us," Ingrey suggested.

Larissa shook her head. "Not two minutes ago I told you I'm not easily offended, Ingrey. Leave the diplomacy at the table, where it belongs, and tell me I'm a poisonous bitch--it's the truth, and it would do you good.

"Kneel down, camel, I want to get off," she said to her mount, bouncing in her seat a little.

Ingrey could not resist, after Larissa' urging him not to be overly diplomatic. He laughed at her.

"The camel doesn't understand that. It only understands the commands its been taught. Here, try this."

"Koosh," he told his camel firmly. It continued a pace and then Ingrey tried again. "HUSH".

This the camel obeyed and the camel stopped and knelt down, and Ingrey dismounted and looked up to the still mounted Larissa. "Your turn."

"Hush," Larissa said disgusted. Her mount regarded her once again, looked to Ingrey, then sat. She slid off with reasonable grace and alit on the packed sand.

After grinning a bit sardonically at Ingrey, she used her sword to begin an excavation of the sands, presumably to reach the road beneath. She thrust her blade into the packed sands to fracture them into smaller chunks, then kicked them aside.

Ingrey watched Larissa for a few moments.

"How well trained are you with a sword? Are you as sharp with it as your tongue?" Ingrey asked, smiling slightly. He stepped a few paces ahead and knelt. "I think the road comes out of the sand a little more as we progress along, but we're definitely on it."

"Sharper. I've never killed anyone with my tongue. ...I think." Larissa had uncovered a few square feet of the stones of the road, and she squatted to examine them.

He paused and then added. "Do you have any developed esoteric senses, Larissa Rohl?" he asked.

"Depends on what you mean by that. No mortar," she said, running her hand along the exposed road.

"I mean what is usually referred to as sorcerous perceptions, theta perceptions, the ability to see beyond the standard range of vision and sight and other senses. The ability to know when such forces are in play, or have been in play.

"Like this road." Ingrey came back to where she was and knelt. His hand did not quite touch hers but joined hers on the ground. "It's like a mild electric current. I don't know if its a leftover of its formation, or a consequence of its creation, but there is a definite energy in this. Can you perceive it?"

"Just a moment." Larissa sat back on her heels and closed her eyes, an expression of intense concentration on her face. When she spoke again, eyes still shut, her voice was dreamy and distracted, as though her attention were elsewhere. "Oh, my. Isn't that something."

"Yes." Ingrey groaned after a moment. He looked clearly discomforted by what Larissa was doing. "You have abilities far beyond my own at present," Ingrey said. His eyes watered and his skin was flushed.

"Whatever it is, it increases along the Road in some sort of gradient." Ingrey said. "I think we should find out more. At the very least, leaving it here unexamined and unexplored leaves a possible danger at our backs for as long as we are here in this Veil.

"Are you game, Larissa Rohl?" Ingrey asked her.

"Yessss..." she said, opening her eyes. They were unfocused and seemed fixed on something far behind him. "Oh...." Ingrey's discomfort suddenly disappeared.

A look of relief came across Ingrey's face as Larissa dropped the Pattern and she continued speaking.

"I hadn't realized the effect it would have on you. My mistake. When you're ready, you should lead--I don't think there's a way for me to follow the traces without giving you a bad case of Pattern hives." Larissa stood and dusted sand from her trousers as she gazed out over the road, though it must have been impossible for her to see beyond the radius of light from Ingrey's wand.

"Pattern hives?" Ingrey inquired, his eyebrows furrowing. He finally relaxed and nodded. "You mean my sensitivity to its use." he agreed.

"It's not surprising that you haven't studied the more mundane and arcane-neutral esoteric arts, or won't admit to the ability." Ingrey said with a nod. "You should stay close as I lead so that you will be able to see and react."

Ingrey brushed some of the sand as he stood and he bowed to Larissa. "I am not untrained in the use of weapons, although I have noted from your bearing and stance that you likely exceed my skill."

"You do not seem to be suited to cavalry, however, at least of the Camel variety," Ingrey added with a trace of a smile.

"Perish the thought," she said, with a baleful glance at her camel. "Will they stay put if we go?"

"There is nothing to lure them away, so they will be unhappy, but they will stay put.

"If they do not," Ingrey did not quite smile but his eyes glinted,"they will find a new career as Wyvern rations."

Ingrey started forward, taking a slow and cautious pace, looking down at his feet every so often as they continued away from the camels. Several hundred meters later, Ingrey stopped and tapped his foot. There was no sand whatsoever underneath their feet, the road was somewhat raised, and completely free of sand.

"More evidence of oddness, Larissa Rohl," Ingrey said. "Don't you find it odd that the road is from here forward completely free of sand, in a desert known for its sandstorms?"

"It could have been blown clean," Larissa objected, but seemed unconvinced by her own hypothesis.

"Shh," she hissed, suddenly, and froze but for a hand motioning Ingrey to do the same.

Ingrey stopped his forward motion.

Long tense seconds passed before she shook her head. "I thought I heard something. It--well, never mind. The aura of the area is probably just making me jumpy." But she shifted her sword to the ready nonetheless.

"That's a wise idea, all things considered," Ingrey said, his hand moving down to the hilt of his own plain, ordinary blade. "Even if I were inclined to go back, the mystery of what is going on here should be solved, especially since we'll be in this sand-strewn shadow for days to come."

He kept leading Larissa forward, slowing as he noted the road was changing course from a straight line to a gentle curve. The road continued to be absolutely free of sand.

And then, as the road's curve made it clear that it was trying to form part of a spiral, the wind suddenly picked up, without warning.

"Something or someone approaches," Ingrey hissed. "I can feel them."

"Douse the light," Larissa ordered. She made a small movement at her throat with her free hand, and her cloak was carried off by the wind.

Ingrey spoke a command word, and the light in the globe dimmed to the smallest of sparks, barely registerable to Larissa's eyes and vision. The wind began to make a howl as Ingrey secreted the light inside a pocket in his clothing and pulled out his sword.

~"You have senses besides sight. Use them,"~ Larissa heard her father's voice in her memory as she ran into the wind.

After only the briefest of hesitations, Ingrey followed her into the growing maelstrom that was around them both.

Vision was an impossibility in the whirling sands, as was hearing, but the wind carried more than just the clean smell of the desert--she caught the unmistakable whiff of sweat and followed it, breaking into the small circle of light cast by a shaded lantern in the hand of a man who also carried a sword.

He had no time to react as Larissa reversed her hold and swung her sword pommel into his face, which crunched most satisfactorily. She went with her momentum, landing atop him as he fell, hand at his throat strangling his cries, and mind reaching for his.

The man cried out, in the tongue of Aegypt, but Larissa's strength of body and mind were both prodigious and irresistible. Just as Ingrey reached the scene, blade drawn, Larissa had already reached into the topmost layers of his mind. Unbidden, and without Larissa asking for it, the immediate thoughts of the man, Arif, came to her. His name. Fragmentary images, of the sandstorm. Of a wave of mummified, dried, walking corpses, headed this way. And most important of all, glimpses of a dark cloak clad man whom Larissa had seen before...in the court of the Pharaoh.

With another punch, she relieved him of the burden of consciousness. "Ingrey!" she shouted over the storm. "Problem!"

"What problem do you refer..." Ingrey stopped his equally loud question to Larissa, as figures emerged from the sandstorm. Out of the six that emerged, four carried the khopesh swords native to Aegypt, and two carried longer spears. All of them were, as Larissa had seen in her mind-rape, mummified bodies, countless years old.

Ingrey muttered something unintelligible to the desert storm and moved. While he didn't have the grace and speed of Larissa, one of the corpses lost its head when he got past the reach of the spear with his sword and applied several slices of the blade. Slowly, the other five turned toward Ingrey as he seemed to be considering his options.

And then another sextet of the same type, all of these armed with stabbing spears came out of the storm toward Larissa...

"<<Lovely,>>" she muttered in Tradespeak. "<<At least they're shambling horrors from beyond the grave.>>"

"Ingrey!" she shouted, grabbing a spear with one hand and disarming (literally--the wizened limb came along) one of her attackers, "find the dark-eyed man who was sitting three seats to the Pharaoh's left! He's the one responsible for this!" She stabbed two mummies simultaneously and fell back en guarde, leaving the purloined spear in one.

Ingrey didn't have time to ponder just how Larissa came by this crucial bit of information, as the circle of shambling horrors continued to move toward him. It was at this point that Ingrey wished he had completely mastered the Wererathe martial art discipline known as Oito Bra�os, a discipline which relied on the use of fast, multiple strikes from all limbs of the body. He knew some of the basics, however, as Ingrey leaped into the air, catching one of the shambling horrors under the chin with his foot, and immediately following it with a slash of his blade as he came down, sending the thing into the sand as Ingrey landed beyond it, and beyond the line of horrors.

The chanting was soon not only audible to Ingrey, but to Larissa as well, as the horrors fell to her blade. Ingrey spoke a few words as he ran, illuminating the entire desert area with his light. Against the harsh light Larissa could see Ingrey running toward the dark clad man she had seen in the man's mind. He carried a serpent-headed staff that he had definitely not been seen with at the dinner and turned to face the approaching Ingrey and laughed.

Ingrey could just hear Larissa shouting over the winds and the chanting. "Guns!" she yelled. "Dammit, Grandad, why no f$^#$% GUNS!?"

Unable to use the Pattern without harming Ingrey, Larissa settled for a charge. She plowed aside a pair of attackers to catch up to her companion. "I've got your back. You get the creep."

"Your proposal meets with acceptance," Ingrey said dryly to Larissa, moving ahead toward the dark clad man. He kept his focus on the man, trusting Larissa as the waves of shambling creatures kept her occupied. Silently, he said a prayer to the Serpent in thanks that he did have a boon companion out here, and reached the man with the staff.

"Your efforts are for naught, spawns of Chaos and Amber," the man cackled as Ingrey approached. "Your bodies will join my army after your death."

Ingrey growled and raised his sword. The sorcerer held up his hand to block the expected blow from the sword. He did not expect, however, for Ingrey to kick out with the same move. While the sorcerer's staff did stop his blade, the sorcerer was knocked back in surprise from Ingrey's kick.

Ingrey landed on a knee, and briefly turned to see how Larissa was doing, and then looked forward again. The sorcerer was getting up himself and the jeweled eyes of his staff. A green beam emanated from the twin emeralds, washing over Ingrey, and just coming just short of Larissa as well.

For a moment it looked like Ingrey was ready to succumb to whatever was being transferred, but then rose, and strode toward the Sorcerer, who waved his staff, willing the beam to wash more and more over Ingrey.

However distracted Larissa might have been with the shambling forms, she could not fail to hear the gurgle and cry from the sorcerer as Ingrey stopped him from holding his staff by severing his hand at the wrist. The dark clad figure crumpled onto the desert sands, whimpering.

With this, the shambling creatures began to slow their attacks on Larissa, stopping in a daze of confusion.

"I don't know about you, but I am thoroughly exhilarated," Larissa said as she beheaded several milling mummies with a lateral swipe. She may have even meant it. "Do you want the creepy staff? I don't want the creepy staff."

"The creepy staff," Ingrey said dryly, "is an abomination and offensive to my beliefs." The Chaosian seized it from where it lay, and with a feat of strength that was similar to what one of Larissa's cousins might before, he snapped it over his knee.

The wave of energy that emanated from the break pushed out in a wave from where Ingrey went down on one knee, perhaps from the effort although there was a look of pain on his face as he let go of the broken object.

The sorcerer wailed some more, but the wave of energy hit the ring of mummified corpses like a hot wind through an ice cube. They began to disintegrate before Larissa's eyes.

Larissa, as she felt the wave, felt it wash over her. It was not true Pattern energy...but it was Pattern energy, corrupted, broken, twisted, that was in the now destroyed staff. Inferior to the imprint inside of her, Larissa was not affected at all.

"A poor idea," Ingrey groaned.

"How...odd," Larissa said, seeming not to notice Ingrey's distress, her attention turned inward. "I think...it were better we not tell our host. This would give him...ideas.

"Darkness between, Ingrey, are you all right? It wasn't that bad--oh." Larissa noticed him finally, and comprehension dawned. "This evening has not been kind to you." She laid a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.

"The less we talk about what the arcane mechanics of this to our host," Ingrey said, his eyes still closed, "the better. As far as this evening, at least my host hasn't tried to devour me this time." A wry smile crossed his pained expression as he opened his eyes.

"I'll be able to walk," Ingrey said, sounding a tad more confident than he looked, or perhaps felt. "Shortly, I'll be back to full strength. That at least wasn't real energies from the Real thing.

"Shall we collect him and return? All his minions have returned to dust." Ingrey added.

"I've got him," Larissa said. She pulled the crumpled form into a fireman's carry with ease. "You just work on staying vertical."

Ingrey nodded, retrieving his lost light and lighting the way once more.

The two tramped across the desert, Larissa letting Ingrey set the pace. "Do you think the camels ran?" she asked. "And if they did, you wouldn't by any chance happen to have a Trump of Paloma? I have a lovely trail of blood running down me from this fellow's wrist, and sand in places I didn't know I had places. I want a bath soonest, even if I have to fight crocodiles to take it."

"She just gave it to me before this trip," Ingrey said, blinking his eyes. He was trudging along, but only managing to keep pace with Larissa, even with her burden weighing her down. When they reached the spot where the camels had been, new, fresh footprints led off, back in the direction that they had come in the first place.

"The camels knew the way home," Ingrey said. "I second the motion to take a shortcut." He stopped and pulled out the trump and winced as he concentrated.

There was clearly a conversation, and a pause and then Ingrey finally nodded and offered his hand to the daughter of Eric. "Let's get him through, you through and then I will. She's in her quarters at the Palace."

Larissa nodded. "I'll just carry him. And then you sit down." She accepted Ingrey's hand and stepped through to Paloma on the less-sandy side of the Trump.

"Hello, Paloma, how was the cruise?" she asked cheerfully.

"I suppose that I should normally ask an explanation of Ingrey, rather than you," Paloma said dryly as Ingrey managed to come through behind Larissa, and collapsed into the nearest chair and closed his eyes.

"However," Paloma added. "I can guess immediately that given Ingrey's proclivities for such things." Paloma wrinkled her nose in a brief but deliberate sign of distaste. "that this was not a duel over copulation rights over...this man," she gestured to the sorcerer that Larissa was carrying.

Larissa blinked.

"Do something with him, sit down, and tell me," Paloma urged Larissa.

"Right." She looked about, seeming somewhat at a loss, then tore off her own sleeve, and bound the wizard's bleeding stump firmly. "Interrogating corpses is hard."

Paloma kept a neutral expression as Larissa performed her work. Ingrey wasn't quite asleep, but he gave off a soft groan.

"We may have just saved our host's throne." Larissa flopped into a chair, managing somehow not to impale anything with her sword. "But regardless, he" she jerked her chin at the crumpled pile on the floor "was doing something very naughty. Left unchecked, it could have taken me a month, possibly two, to straighten out."

"Ingrey looks a mess because he was hit with Pattern energies, twice--through no malice on my part, I assure you. He did most of the work; I just fought mummies." Larissa scratched her head distractedly, causing a small sandy avalanche onto her shoulders.

"Ingrey?" Paloma said, looking at the eyes-closed man and ignoring the sandfall for the moment. "Can you illuminate what you did, in the midst of Larissa's" Paloma paused for a phrase and then settled on one. "two-fisted diplomacy?"

"A sorcerer, using some twisted Pattern energy. Ask Larissa," Ingrey begged off.

"Well. That certainly is not something to be expected out here." The Baccaran turned to regard Larissa. "You did bring him back, for which I give you thanks. A throne in play, and shadow alterations through manipulation of the Pattern?" Paloma enquired.

"I don't think it was Pattern," Larissa mused. "Pattern's inbred third cousin from a bad family, maybe. Which doesn't explain why someone not of the Blood was using it--at least, I hope he's not of the Blood." Her face showed a mixture of disbelief and disgust at the possibility of claiming such a relative. "You know, we used to have an easy way of testing that sort of thing," she sighed.

"Regardless, it's power on a different order than what one usually finds in Shadow, so 'destabilizing' is a good way of describing it." Larissa pursed her lips. "I'll head back out to take another look--and leave anyone with Logrus attunement behind, this time," she said with a rueful glance at Ingrey.

Larissa noticed Paloma quirk an eyebrow at Larissa's last statement and she could follow Paloma's eyes briefly glance at Ingrey and then they returned to Larissa.

"Take no offense, you look not much better than Ingrey. I will make some arrangements. You should tend to your own state, Larissa Rohl. I'll send Ingrey along once he recovers."

"I'm fine. I've just been rolling in the sand with a bunch of shambling horrors from beyond the grave." She looked down at herself. "Though I suppose I should at least change my shirt."

Paloma shrugged. "Although the care of Mandor's embassy is not my concern, I would be happier if you did not go unaccompanied. But that is your business to decide."

It was Larissa's turn to quirk an eyebrow at the phrase "Mandor's embassy."

"I'd like to go," Ingrey said, sounding stronger than he actually felt. Opening his eyes could be honestly considered progress, and he did so and blinked several times.

"I'd planned on throwing Pattern around pretty freely. I can't do that if I'm worried about poleaxing you." Larissa stood and stretched. "Maybe we should all just have a bath and then a talk with the Minister, here. If we can get something useful out of him, perhaps no one'll need to go chasing ion trails."

"Let's do that," Ingrey agreed. "My superior can watch the Minister here for the moment, while you clean up and I..." Ingrey paused "do much the same. That Staff packed a wallop I was not prepared to handle. But we'll get together once we're fit and fine and have a chat with our new Aegyptian friend."

Paloma sighed. "Yes, yes, go, Larissa, for the nonce, and take care of your ablutions, before he talks you into doing something that will result in me needing a new assistant."

Out of the corner of her eye, Larissa could see Ingrey's brief, half-quirked smile.

"I'm off, then." As Larissa turned to leave, there was a moment where her back was to Paloma and her face toward Ingrey. 'Copulation rights?' she mouthed, looking dubious. Then she strode out.

'Later' Ingrey mouthed.

Larissa returned within the half hour in an outfit not distinguishably different than the one she'd been wearing before, and trailing Coirann, who seemed far too happy about the entire affair. The smaller woman's first action upon being admitted to Paloma's suite was to stalk over to the injured wizard and hover menacingly (all five feet, three inches of her.)

Ingrey was back as well and sooner, but only because of the advantage of the nearness of his own room. Cleaned up of sand and other material, he looked better than he had prior to the fateful expedition into the desert. Paloma was in a corner, watching the entire affair with an aloof air. Ingrey broke off from standing near her to where Larissa had moved, to the couch where the wizard laid, almost in state.

"Her Excellency prefers that the two..." Ingrey quirked a look at Coriann. "Three of us perform the interrogation ourselves, and present the results. She said it would be good practice, for me."

The injured wizard was conscious, his eyes blinking as he stared upward from his prone position, but his body was in a stiff and rigid pose.

"He's been treated with a paralytic poison," Ingrey explained. "He won't be able to move much if at all. His tongue, however is not affected by the poison" Ingrey said.

"Oh, that's handy," Coirann said. "Do you sell that?"

Paloma gave Coirann a dark look.

"Hush, you." Larissa squatted next to the captive. "Talk, or I'll rip what I want from your mind. The tattered bits of your psyche that are left afterward won't enjoy the experience." If she was bluffing, she did an excellent job hiding it.

"Perhaps if I knew the questions, I might be able to answer them," the sorcerer-minister replied.

"We want to know what you were doing in the desert when we came upon you and your minions," Ingrey said.

"That information." the sorcerer replied with verbal venom in every intonated, "is only for the daughter of the Spiral, and not for the foul follower of the perversion of Set."

It took a moment for Ingrey to realize who he was talking about, but if he was insulted, he kept his own counsel.

"Paloma, let's retire and let Larissa get the information she can. I think that we can trust her. I trusted her with more than just words, in the desert."

"Indeed," Paloma said thoughtfully.

Larissa shook her head ruefully. "Dad would have my head."

With a nod to the daughter of Eric, Ingrey and Paloma withdrew to a corner of the room, and the sorcerer-minister regarded Larissa warily. He gave a glance to the Chaosians on the far side of the room and then spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.

"The Spiral, daughter of Amber. It may be dead in Amber, killed by the minions of Set and their kin, but embers of that power are here. Embers I would fan into flames, into a conflagration that would cleanse all who oppose it before it. A conflagration that would devour entire worlds, and return them to the state they belong, before the foulness descended upon Amber and its environs by such as those whose company you kept."

"If the world burns to ash, and arises anew thereafter, is that not better than it being a weak baby, permanently bound in the coils of the Serpent?" the sorcerer said challengingly, his eyes regarding Larissa.

"Spent a lot of time around Brand, did you?" Larissa said, and sighed. "This, too, shall pass. The conqueror always blends into the conquered, in time.

The sorcerer's eyes closed in a clear signal of disagreement, and then opened again when Larissa spoke again.

"Regardless, you're not going accomplish much of anything with a shattered echo so weak even a Shadowling can walk it, besides throw the Golden Circle into war. And that I will not have," she said coldly.

"And so you go on bended knee instead? I offer you power, power that you might fashion into something to overthrow Set. Or even such as I might have done." He closes his eyes again, slowly, in a sense of sadness and weariness.

<<Darkness between>>, Larissa cursed, then took a deep breath. "These broken reflections are no threat to Chaos, my friend." Her voice was not mocking, only sad. "I do not like to meet such loyalty with cold counsel, but better you had bided your time, or sought to speak of your plans with one of the Blood."

"You know all now, Neith," he said. "Not that I delude myself that such as you only wished to see if I would speak falsely, and knew all already. What I have to tell is done, finished. No one else but I knows of what you and the follower of Set found."

Larissa stroked his brow. "Your injuries are treatable," she told him. "You have a choice: I can give you sanctuary in Shadow, or a painless death."

"I would not be able to return to the Land, would I?" the sorcerer replied. It is not an entirely rhetorical question. "I would be far away from the Kingdom, and even if I were able to find a way to return, it would be the death of me to do so."

"It would be a fate worse than death, to be away from the Land forever," the sorcerer replied. "And so my judgment remains in your hands...to sever me from the Land, or to let me die. I only ask, Neith, that the minions of Set do not touch me, either way."

"Nothing is forever." There was no threat or scorn left in Larissa, just a deep sadness. "Sleep," she said, brushing her hand down gently to cover his eyes. "If you wake, it will be by my hand, to lead you home again." She imposed her will on his battered one, sending him into a deep sleep.

<<Oh, hell,>> she said to herself, taking a seconds more leaning over the entranced sorcerer than were really necessary, to regain her composure.

"He might have been a threat to Akenaton, but even the greenest Logrus Initiate would have been able to handle him," Larissa declared to the Chaosians after a moment, taking the unconscious man into her arms and rising. "Deeper in Shadow, though--he could have become great."

"And what will you do with him, Larissa Rohl, this sorcerer who might have been great?" Paloma asked. "It seems that he has given you the right to judge and sentence him." She looked at Ingrey.

"Take him deeper into Shadow, of course," Larissa replied with a grin.

"If you wish to take full responsibility for him, I divest myself of my rights," Ingrey said with a nod of the head to Larissa. "I am merely glad that the encounter did not go poorly...for either of us."

"Thank you, Ingrey," she said with a nod that might have been a bow had she not been weighed down by a limp wizard. "Anyway, he took the worst of it from you as it is--I rather think your bad spell has been thoroughly avenged.

Ingrey smiled thinly and then bowed.

"Oh," Larissa added as a thought occurred to her. "If you've sufficiently recovered from said spell, could I trouble you to come with me long enough to show me how to work a camel again?"

Ingrey glanced at Paloma, who gave Ingrey a nod of the head.

"Indeed I could and shall." Ingrey said. "Did you know, Larissa Rohl, that I did once once upon a time have a possible career path as a Beastmaster. Why, I am sure your sources told you that I came here with the new flight of Wyverns for the barracks. I made good use of the trip..." he began as he led Larissa from the room.