Amber, year one, day 129 continued (Friday, November 5, 2987)

Ahab is alive and well. We found him in the library in Chaos, right where he said he would be. Well, I would rather have worried needlessly, than done nothing while he was in trouble. After all, he was alone, in Chaos, and Eral only knows who Brand sold his Trump to. And Dworkin did not bring him to breakfast with the others. I still wish I understood why. Ahab found some interesting books in that library, and I wanted to stay and read some of them myself, so Martin was going to leave us there. I figured that if any Chaosites were feeling sore over their defeat, at least two of us would have a better chance than one alone. I turns out that it is very difficult to Trump to Amber from Chaos. Ahab and Martin were unable to get through alone, and I could get a response, but not quite enough of one to be useful. It took all three of us to open the connection, so we decided to leave. Ahab left the books behind. It seems that Amber and Chaos are very stringent about removing book from their libraries. Ahab is lucky we came looking for him. Had we not, he would have had to seek out aid in leaving from someone in Chaos. Maybe from Dara. I wonder why she was willing to show him the way to the library? From the description Ahab gave me, I believe that Dara is Merlin's mater, which means that at one time she was Corwin's lover. Perhaps she secretly sides with Amber? It is impossible to say for certain.

Our ten minutes in Chaos cost us a week here in Amber. I really hate that! We encountered Brand soon after we returned, and Ahab confronted him about his missing Trump. I understand why he did, but all the same, I was sad to see how it affected Brand. He seemed almost cheerful for once, before he started talking with Ahab. Eventually, he returned the Trump to Ahab, who returned it to me. He had it all the time! He was holding onto it in an attempt to make Ahab nervous. I do not think Ahab has that much sense. It certainly did not seem to be bothering him overmuch before. Ahab is fun to be with, but sometimes I wonder if he ever bothers to think things through, or just reacts.

Random has decided to celebrate his coronation with a Ball, which all of us must attend. There will be a semi-formal dinner this evening as well. I rather dislike living under a monarchy. Too much power in one person's hands. That is fine for battle, but not for day-to-day life. Ahab insisted that I see Flora about my wardrobe. It seems Random is afraid that I will show up at the Ball with no clothing at all. I was afraid that Flora would insist that I dress like Heather. King's orders or no, I would not have gone to the Ball dressed like that! Fortunately, Flora found my intended clothing suitable, and we even managed to persuade Ahab to dress in a similar style (Flora calls in Hellenic). He balked at wearing earrings, though. It seems that he was raised to consider them feminine. How strange!

Martin and I caused a bit of a stir at dinner this evening. Which delights me to no end. Most of the elders seem to be unbearably stuffy. I ran into Felix and Shard in the hall earlier today, and Flora had practically buried poor Shard under a mountain of clothes. I got two differing opinions as to what Amber Balls are like. Felix seems to think that it will be great fun. Martin thinks it will be boring. If it is anything like tonight's dinner, I would say it has the potential to be interesting. Two of the diplomats got into a fight, and Julian gave one of them a bloody nose. It was the highlight of the evening.

Apparently the people in Martin's Shadow like wearing leather a lot, for the clothing he picked out for me was made of nothing else. There was a set of boots with high, thin heals that he had me wear as well. He said they showed off my legs, but they are terribly inefficient. I would hate to have to do any sort of fighting while wearing them. The outfit produced quite a reaction from Ahab. After his eyes finished popping out of his head, he decided to see just how much I was actually wearing. And they think I have trouble determining appropriate behavior! Sometimes I wonder if Ahab thinks of anything besides sex. Not that I mind, most of the time. I managed to keep a straight face and returned the favor. Ahab was not quite so successful with his expression, but he made a valiant attempt to conceal it.

Gérard and Random both looked pretty unhappy when Martin and I walked into dinner. To be honest, I really do not care anymore. Apparently, it is perfectly acceptable to wander around abandoning babies in Shadow, but Darnallor forbid that you should break one of their fashion rules! I must remember to ask Driscoll how he was able to determine that Random was his pater. I need to settle this matter once and for all.

Ahab seems to have gotten it into his head that Ariadne needs rescuing, and that he is the man to do it. He wants to walk the Pattern and have it transport him to her. Alone! Driscoll thinks this is a stupid idea, and I am inclined to agree. Even Felix is not anxious for him to do this, and Ariadne was more his friend than anyone else. Ahab only met the girl once. Fiona says that Ariadne is either unconscious or dead in a pitch black room. After our experience in Chaos, I am a little wary of blindly transporting myself across Shadow. We do not even know if you can shift Shadow in darkness. But Ahab is determined to go anyway. Sometimes I think he has a death wish.

At least I got him to take a lantern along. And reinforcements. Heather, Felix and Shard will go with him. At least this way, if they run into trouble, they stand a better chance of emerging victorious. Or, at the very least, a chance of holding their own long enough for Heather to Trump Mandor and I. We figured that between the three of us, we should be able to make a connection, even if they are in the heart of Chaos. I hope we are correct. Heather seems to be making more of an effort to be helpful. I still do not trust her - it could be just an act to lull everyone's suspicions. But it is interesting, nonetheless. She seems to have changed her style of dress. At dinner, she wore a much more loose outfit. Maybe being in Amber is helping her to loosen up.

Mandor just got a call from Heather. It looks like they do not need my help after all. They have encountered something that looks like Corwin, which Mandor calls a guardian. He said that they must kill it in order to reach what lies beyond it. At least there were no reported fatalities.

They made it back, and brought Ariadne with them. She is unconscious, but not comatose. I am not sure what is keeping her out, though. She did not appear to be drugged, but it could be a drug I do not know of, or a spell of some sort. Ahab came back in worse shape than he was for all of Patternfall. The guardian broke his nose pretty badly, and gave him several cuts from its sword. There did not appear to be any internal injuries, and Heather had set his nose (interesting, I did not know that she had medical skills). He said he was going to have Gérard look him over, and then find a Shadow where time flows faster than Amber, so he could be healed by tomorrow night. No one else had so much as a scratch on them. I guess Ahab worked his usual charm on the guardian.

Fiona came down to take a look at Ariadne. She said that Ariadne may be under a spell that would cause her to attack us if we woke her. There is a way to determine this, but Fiona says she does not have time to do it until after the Ball. I wonder. It seems that Mandor lied about his knowledge of Ariadne. Felix seemed shocked by this. I was not. My experience with Amber so far has been that Amberites (and Chaosites) lie far more often than they tell the truth.

Strangely enough, I am almost looking forward to the Ball tomorrow. It will be a new experience, and I do love music and dancing. I have a suspicion that Amberite music may be a bit too slow for my tastes, but I can always hope. Now, if I can only avoid Random and Flora until then.

"Outrageous Fortune"
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Last modified on August 5, 1994 by Kris Fazzari.