Begma, year one, day 133 continued

Evening

Today certainly has been full of surprises. Coral is back, Heather has...changed, and I have learned about airplanes.

After breakfast this morning, I decided to go to the library to do some further research. The library here is wonderful, full of books from all sorts of Shadows. The main drawback is that there is little in the way of organization. I was surprised to find someone I did not recognize in the library. At first I thought he might be yet another relative, but thankfully he was not. His name is Bill Roth, and he calls his homeland Shadow Earth. It seems he is a friend of Corwin's who has been given the task of organizing the library. He seemed to be one of the nicer people that I have met here. He was not able to tell me much about his homeland, but he did find me a fascinating book about airplanes and flying. I find it amazing that you can actually build such things.

Ahab dropped in to the library later on. He asked if Bill had heard from Corwin. It seems that no one has for a while, and Ahab is unable to reach him by Trump, either. It sounds very similar to the problems I was having in getting through to Coral. Which could mean that he has been captured. Or killed. Someone is definitely going after Amberites. Maybe I should remain in Amber for a while longer than I had been planning. With the exception of Coral, all of the Amberites that were attacked, captured or disappeared were alone and away from Amber at the time. At least I think they were. At least I have guards with me here in Begma.

Something very odd has happened with Heather. When I came down to lunch, she looked very different than she did only this morning. She has cut her hair quite short, and she was dressed in much the same way as Martin usually does. For a moment, I did not even recognize her. She seems to be more friendly now as well, but I am still not certain that anything has changed with her, other than her outward appearance. We shall see. Martin was as surprised as the rest of us when he first saw her, so it seems unlikely that he had anything to do with her change in appearance. According to Heather, she has been out in Shadow for about a month, while only a few hours have passed here. I wonder what prompted her to go there, and what caused her to return?

Coral's rescue was as odd as her capture. We were eating lunch and Ahab was going on about the Shadow trap we had been caught in. When Ahab gets something on his mind, he is most single-minded in his pursuit of it. Martin suggested Ahab go back to it and try and find his way out that way. Much to my surprise, Ahab said he felt it wiser to research the topic first. Imagine, Ahab actually thinking before he acts? Anyway, the topic turned back to Coral, and it occurred to me that I had not tried Coral's Trump for several hours. I assume the same thought occurred to Heather as well, for suddenly Coral was standing in our midst. The odd thing is that Heather used no Trump to reach her, at least none that I could see. This is the second time that she has done such a thing, but I still have no idea how she is able to do it. Perhaps she has drawn Trumps for so long, that now she only needs to draw them in her mind? I am not certain. Dworkin may know. I must remember to ask him about it when I see him again. Of course, he probably will not give me an understandable answer, or he may not answer at all, but I lose nothing by the asking.

Coral was able to tell us little about her abductors. All she knew was that they were two hairy men. According to her, she was imprisoned in a dark room the entire time. She could not remember anything her captors said, although she remembers hearing them talking. Obviously, the image we saw before was an attempt to lure us into that Shadow trap. The question that remains is why? Why did they want to trap us in the first place? Why did they let Coral go? Was it because they felt she would be of no more use to them? Or did they still want to hold her, but Heather's new method of Trumping got past their blocks? How do we even know she is the real Coral? Her pater seemed satisfied that she was his daughter, and after what happened with Ariadne, I would expect him to be very careful about making sure that we were not trying to give him another shapeshifter. It still worries me, though.

Random assigned Ahab the duty of escorting Coral back to Begma. I thought he would be pleased, since he seems to crave Random's approval, but instead he left to argue with Random about it. Everyone else left soon afterwards. Martin followed Ahab, claiming he wanted to hear Ahab's conversation with his pater. Felix and Flora decided that it was time for them to visit Shadow Earth. And Heather said that she had errands to run. Which left Coral and I alone in the dining hall. She looked understandably nervous about this. I feel embarrassed by our behavior. Here Coral goes out for a friendly night of drinking with us, winds up in the middle of a bar fight, goes outside to get away from it and is kidnapped, spends days locked in the dark room, and when she is finally rescued, everyone hastens to be elsewhere. At least Heather came back. In the end, it was only Ahab, Heather and myself, along with my guards and some of Amber's, who escorted Coral home.

I told Coral about Oberon being her pater. Or, rather I gave her the information in a sealed envelope. I do not think she has actually read it yet. Ahab was not certain that I should tell her, but I felt she had a right to know. She may decide to do nothing about it and continue on with her life in Begma, but at least she will not be ignorant of her heritage. And she will be better prepared for any attacks that may come her way due to her being an Amberite. After all, if Mandor knew, than surely others in Chaos must know as well, and there is someone out there with a grudge against Amberites.

All of us were invited to spend the night in Begma and celebrate Coral's return. I was the only one who chose to accept Orkuz's hospitality. I felt it would be rude for all of us to refuse and I do not mind spending a little time away from Amber. Coral seems understandably happy to be home. I hope that learning about Oberon does not spoil her happiness. I should like to call her my friend, and I hope this does not preclude that. After all, we have a common factor in our background. Both of us were abandoned by Oberon and raised not knowing our heritage. At least she had the benefit of growing up with her true mater.

"Outrageous Fortune"
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All text on this page is © 1993 by Kris Fazzari.

Last modified on October 18, 1993 by Kris Fazzari.