And so, aboard ship and at sea, it was decided that we were going to Carnelian. I thought I was mistaken for a while, with Cordelia's vocal preference to visit Deidre at the Tower of Elysium. Various others were eventually swayed by the fact that I, being the only person who could get us there, had decided against that destination.
My personal justification was that it would rid us of a couple of important Amberites, keep us (or at least me) in their good books, and while at Carnelian I might be able to walk the pattern and deal with not only the issue of me freezing during the 13th hour fiasco, but I would be able to teleport myself and anyone who dared link minds with me, to Deidre's "Tower of Elysium". Two birds with one hell-ride, so to speak.
As all the other leading figures on board ship are, to put it mildly, well known for playing their cards close to their chests, I decided to keep shtum about my reasons. Not surprisingly, Cordelia was not impressed, and stalked off below decks. The others told me that they expected her to leave later that night, and suggested that I might find myself taken with them (?) Unless she had a hidden agenda, I'd considered her more mature than that.
As it turned out, she trumped out alone, during the 13th hour. The others attempted to join her, but were delayed by the frozen doors on the ship. They arrived just too late. Their description of the final moments of her departure suggested trump use - did she trump to the Tower? I might find out if I survived the voyage. I find it difficult to care where she has gone. A pity, as I'd thought she was a possible ally or confidant. I would find one later on, and a surprising one at that.
Compared to being on horseback, hell riding at sea is almost restful in comparison so I won't dwell on that experience. But as I was distracted, I didn't properly witness Allaghan's humiliating sword lessons from Benedict, nor Allaghan's and Alfred's attempted Psyche-combat practise, or even the interminable questioning of Llewella by my three compadres. The two elders weren't exactly forthcoming about their exploits in Rebma, and Llewella was nursing her arm the entire journey. I faked a botched attempt at scrying the captain's cabin, to determine whether their guard was up, of perhaps whether anything was amiss, but got nothing in return except a mild headache as Llewella came furiously storming out of her cabin.I did get something from Llewella - I had been postulating a theory that this "quest" had been inspired not by Deirdre, but by the Serpent of Chaos. If the Serpent saved Deirdre, then wouldn't she owe the serpent "big-time"? What more could the serpent need than its other eye back? A number of the items we were being asked to fetch contained elements of its shattered eye, stolen by Dworkin in antiquity. Llewella confirmed my suspicion that the universe we currently existed within, had been formed from a piece of the Serpents Eye, the Jewel of Judgement.
The Jewel of Justice (another ocular chaos gem) and the base of the unicorn's horn also contain a part of the gem (surprising and I had considered the unicorn as pre-dating the Serpent). So, bringing all these parts of the Serpent's eye within reach of Deirdre sounds almost too much of a temptation for the serpent to resist. The fact that Dworkin, (he who stole the eye), would also have the book that could also answer my questions is also too much of a coincidence for my liking.
If the serpent did get his eye back, would reality revert to primordial chaos, as it used to be? Or would the balance between chaos and pattern shift in the Serpent's favour. Would this indeed be a bad thing? Etcetera, etcetera.I berthed the ship in a shadow near to Carnelian, and walked us through the underground entrance, where, after a cautious welcome from the guards, we were granted an audience with Fiona. Someone called Luke was managing the castle defence while Fiona was in the meeting. We updated her with the goings-on since our last meeting.
It was then that I made the decision to empty my heart to Fiona. Though my emotive recollection of my torture failed to ignite the spark of compassion I had hoped, she seemed intrigued by my "dark dealings" and its side effects. Perhaps my immobility is an advantage after all?
She was quite surprised that there were creatures that could exist in the 13th hour (which in turn, surprised me as well), but our discussion drew to a close with my burden not truly released, but with a vital figure informed of pertinent information.So, equipment was swiftly gathered, loins girdled and all of us except Sorcha walked to the centre of the pattern, towards a date with Deirdre.
And then. and then.
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| Hero of the Hour - Charity | The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour |