Amber, year one, day 134 (Monday, December 6, 2987)

I hate being injured. There is nothing more frustrating than to have to sit around and do nothing. Well, at least I have plenty of time to think about what has happened.

I knew it was going to be bad when Ahab said he had a plan. Ahab always has the best intentions, but he has a tendency not to think things through. Since he said that Fiona would be helping, there was at least a chance that we might survive. I will admit to being quite surprised that we succeeded. Our success is due almost entirely to Fiona, though. To be honest, I am not sure if our presence made any difference at all. Probably not. I think the only one who helped her at all was Ahab, since he was able to bring us to the Left Eye of the Serpent. I am still not certain how he managed to accomplish that. I asked him, of course, since the plan hinged on his being able to take us to the Eye's location. He said he could not tell us. I was rather surprised by this. If Ahab is keeping a secret, it must be a big one. After all, he prides himself on his straightforwardness, and despises the Amber practice of hiding information from one another. If he feels he cannot tell me his methods, I will not pry. I am, however, free to draw my own conclusions... More on that later.

Ahab's original plan was for him to transport himself to the Left Eye of the Serpent, and with Fiona's help create a Trump gate to the rest of us. If all went well, we would take the Eye and leave. If not, we would fight until we found it. A simple plan, like most of Ahab's. Ahab, Fiona and myself were joined in this endeavor by Felix, Alex, Shard and, most surprisingly, Eric. Apparently he would not take Ahab's Trump call, but Ahab, Felix and I managed to force our way through to him. After a ridiculous amount of ego stroking from Ahab, Eric agreed to help.

Things went wrong from the very beginning. Ahab disappeared, but no Trump gate appeared for the rest of us. Just as we were beginning to realize that something was wrong, Fiona appeared. Along with Heather. I assume Fiona asked her along, since none of the rest of us did. Fiona said that Ahab was in trouble and needed our help quickly. None of us were surprised by this news. Fiona created a gate for us, seeming to draw it out of the very air. A handy trick. Passing through the gate was much like walking down a cavern passage. Just as we reached the end, Fiona and Heather were enveloped in a cloud of black smoke and disappeared. While I was not sorry to see Heather go, Fiona's disappearance was most distressing.

We emerged from the gate to find ourselves under attack by a large group of creatures with tough skin and large claws. I really need to do something about my sword. I was barely able to damage the creatures, while Ahab's sword went right through them. Maybe Driscoll will agree to help me. The creatures retreated after we had killed about half of them. I was able to take over the minds of several and set them after the others. The creatures were intelligent enough to realize what was going on, and attacked us again, making it impossible for me to continue. One of them picked Battlestar up in its jaws. I finally caused it to release the animal, by shooting it with a crossbow bolt, but Battlestar was badly wounded. I received a rather nasty gash myself, while providing cover for Ahab. Alex did something to Ahab's arm which gave him a brief surge of strength, but left the arm badly sprained, so he needed to switch his sword to his other arm. Unfortunately, my shield had long since been rendered useless, and while I was occupied with one creature, another struck me with its legs. I decided to fall back at that point and concentrated on searching for any sign of the Eye. There was nothing to be seen but the creatures and a flat, featureless plain. We finished off the rest of the creatures without any further major injuries. Felix stunned the last creature by picking up the body of another one and bashing it over the head. What strength he has!

It was after the creatures were dead that we noticed a flickering of black smoke, much like the cloud that surrounded Fiona and Heather when they disappeared. Occasionally, we could see a figure of about Fiona's height appear in the smoke. Then the laughter started. Felix says it is the same laughter that he heard when Dworkin disappeared. Suddenly Fiona appeared and urged Ahab to shoot the cloud. Anyone else would have at least hesitated, but Ahab immediately let loose with both bolts on his crossbow. He shot Fiona. The real one. The other one was probably Rygat, Benedict's mater, who is the one behind this whole mess. And the one Heather got the Eye from in the first place. Either Heather was in this up to her ears, or she was a remarkably efficient pawn. Given how easily Rygat manipulated Ahab, I must admit that it is possible that Heather's intentions were better than I had given her credit for.

Fortunately, Ahab did not kill Fiona, but she was not in good shape. As I ran over to examine her, Heather appeared next to her. I was beginning to feel that we had gone through all this and accomplished nothing when Fiona opened her hand and I saw that she had the Eye. Then she passed out. I am impressed that she remained conscious as long as she did. I did what I could for Fiona, but that mostly consisted of some drugs to relieve some of the pain and keep her from going into shock. No one else moved to take the Eye, so I did. It seems ironic that I have now held both Eyes of the Serpent and then given them up. Not that I would want to fool around with something capable of trapping Dworkin.

Brand brought us home. All of us except for Alex and Shard. I hope they are uninjured. Chaos is a dangerous place to be right now. I do not know why they could not wait for Brand to return. Fiona is expected to live, although it was a near thing. Julian and Ariadne were badly injured during the fighting in Arden. Corwin may still be recovering from his imprisonment. Far too many of us are injured, and the fight is not yet over.

Ahab is understandably distressed over what he did to Fiona. If this teaches him to think more before reacting, then perhaps some good has come from all of this. It certainly seems to have affected Ahab's attitude towards Heather. They seem to have made a peace of sorts. Perhaps I should try as well. Not that I trust her, but it may be time to end the open animosity between us. I gain nothing from it, nor can I simply kill her, even if I have the opportunity. I do not hate her enough to justify risking the wrath of Brand, Gérard and Random. Letting an enemy live has never been my way, but as Martin pointed out, I am in Amber now and they do things differently. I have no intention of blindly conforming to all of their ways, but in this instance, Martin may be right. Besides, if Ahab can make peace with Heather, despite all she has done to him, I can at least try. I just hope my efforts are not rewarded with another incident like the last one.

The remaining, nagging question is, how could Ahab have brought us to the Eye? And why did he hide how he did it? Usually, he cannot wait to tell the world of his accomplishments. The Pattern is gone, and shifting Shadow is impossible. He admitted he did not know where the Eye was. What would allow him to travel to an object in an unknown location? Under normal circumstances, the Pattern would be my first guess. One could find the Eye by shifting Shadow with it in mind. This would take an awfully long time, though, too long for it to have been what Ahab did. Walking the Pattern and having it transport you to the Eye would also work. Possibly, someone could have drawn a Trump of the Eye. Or perhaps some sort of spell to locate the Eye and bring him to it. I do not think the latter two are likely. As far as I know, Ahab has no skills in Trump or sorcery. I suppose it could be something he has hidden for a while, but I do not believe it. I know him too well to believe I would not notice. Possibly, he used a Trump drawn by someone else, but why hide the truth in that case? It does not add up. Perhaps he was able to use the Pattern after all, despite its apparent disappearance. But again, why hide such a fact? And why would he alone be able to do this? Flora mentioned that there was another Pattern, created by Corwin, but she said only Corwin's descendants could walk it. Perhaps Deirdre's blood was enough to let him take it? Maybe Fiona brought Ahab and Merlin to it after dinner? Fiona and Merlin left together, and Ahab followed them out. But why would he hide this information? Did Corwin ask him to keep silent, not wanting others to look for his Pattern? Or does he not want others to know because it may start people gossiping about his relation to Corwin. I have heard rumors that Deirdre and Corwin were a little too fond of each other. This sort of news would certainly add fuel to the fire. If that is the case, then I am hurt he would not at least tell me about it. I am not the sort to go spreading rumors. Besides, Corwin could not possibly be his pater. Dworkin would never have allowed him to live. Dworkin told me as much himself, when he forbade me to sleep with Ahab. He said any children from such a union would have to be destroyed. And I do not believe Deirdre could have fooled Dworkin about such matters. Of course, it would explain the apparent animosity between them.

In the end, it does not matter. Whatever his reasons for his secrecy, I must trust that they are good ones. The important thing right now is for the Pattern to be restored and our enemies defeated. There will be time enough to sort out all the mysteries later.

"Outrageous Fortune"
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Last modified on March 19, 1994 by Kris Fazzari.