Crown of Amber: Second Season

Third Stanza

First Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Second Season 12 13

Episode 12

A Game of Empires

Whose game was empires and whose stakes were thrones, Whose table earth, whose dice were human bones. Age of Bronze, Lord Byron.

Since our last sesion

The game reopens toward the end of Winter, with the cold renewal of Spring just starting to come to the land. As things often go, the Winter came to the outlying kingdoms as well, as they are in their own ways reflections of the One True Kingdom. It has been a quiet time, with the military altercations in the outlying "golden shadows" dying down, at least for a time.

With the beginning of Spring, news has come back to Amber that several key Kashfan outposts have fallen to Begman advances, with a number of Kashfan provinces ending up under Begman control. While Amber's foreign policy remains one of a "hands off" nature in such matters, Finndo nevertheless has decided to travel abroad to see what might be made of these developments. He has taken Tristan with him, and if any of the other players asked to accompany, they were turned down firmly but respectfully. Finndo has not wanted to make a major outing of it.

Carlotta has spent much of her time repaying the family debt, which is to say, she's been spending her daylight and early evening hours playing the young amber socialite. Bleys, possibly having put a good spin to Lord Fabriz, has managed to get Collin to be invited and accompany Carlotta on some of the less hectic of the social occasions, the end result of which has made Collin a known face in some of the social circles of Amber, as well as a touch more familiar with the social and geographical landscape of City Amber. He's also managed to catch the eye of a few noblewomen, but, being Collin, he has largely failed to take notice of this.

Late at night, however, Carlotta has made a few moonlight excursions into the underworld of City Amber as Alexander, keeping up with her contacts there, sending them on some investigational errands, and occasionally providing them with various sorts of loot for their troubles. So far, little has come of it, but these things take time.

Outside of several mildly awkward social forays, Collin has travelled around Amber during much of the winter. A land gripped in winter is not so different from a night in the desert; the elements were little obstacle to Collin's curiosity. Indeed, the obstacles have been of a much more human nature; in Arden, Collin found himself often watched by the rangers, and Arden ultimately proved too vast to come to know well. The mountains of Amber were the next natural place to explore, but there, Collin found the mountaineers under Benedict's command to be wholly unhelpful and often displeased to have one not of their outfit exploring around their domain. The rest of the countryside yielded little of interest, and so, by the later parts of Winter, Collin was back in the library, learning more of Amber's history when he hasn't been "encouraged" out to the city, or to one of Carlotta's social occasions, by his father.

Baird has taken this occasion to settle back into his roots a bit, making himself seen around court when possible, occasionally showing up at some of the selfsame winter social events to which Carlotta has been invited. When not keeping up with the "court" side of things, he has been keeping up with the Ulysses family, spending time in the country estate where his sister and her newborn son have been waiting out the Winter.

The fraction of time remaining to Baird has been spent in the occasional company of his uncle, Brand, who has asked a cryptic question or two about whether or not Baird has composed any odes upon moonlight. Nothing clearer than that has been forthcoming; further, Brand has continued to put off the fulfillment of his earlier request for a tour of Tir-na Nog'th, largely due to the winter weather.

Jaeger has spent much time with his mother's side of the family, hunting as a guest of the pack he encountered earlier, and sleeping at Tristan's Garnath manor when the option presented itself. He's had a chance to meet the three men of Tristan's order on occasion, Banson and Victor of Kapel, and Morgan of Bayle, and gotten along reasonably well with them, all of whom understand him to be a guest of the manor.

Jaeger has had to exercise caution in his investigation of the weirmonken pack and the unseen Alpha at its head; the months have been frustrating ones, with the progress slow. He has managed to determine that the Alpha is nearly never seen deep in the forest, and is certainly never seen by any other than the elders of the pack, and the few who are their representatives outside the forest. On the subject of those representatives, Jaeger is able to determine that they are those of the pack who are best able to function in the human world... and that his seldom-seen castle guardsman is, or was, one of them. They are scarcely seen, and some murmur that they are in the man-lands performing missions for the Alpha himself.

And finally, Zeero; Zeero, despite her best efforts to the contrary, has found herself receiving occasional instruction from Fiona on the magical arts. At the least, she has picked up a spell of sight that allows her to use a flame to see beyond normal seeing, and witness the actual forces of magic at work. Much of the rest of the instruction has been observational, at this point, with Fiona illustrating a magickal principle or two with Zeero watching, but rarely practicing.

Outside of the discomfort of education, Zeero has made herself well-known about the common parts of the castle, and her troupe is now largely regarded as the "morale officers" of the courtyard, putting on a good farce or two every month, and pushing the bite of the winter cold away with laughter. For Zeero, now, the dark man with the jewel is a fading memory; he hasn't made himself known to her during the winter months, at any rate. And lastly for Zeero, she has shown no signs of pregnancy from her encounter with Lusha.

In the present

The game opens on the eve of Deirdre's more lavish yearly occasions, the Ball of the First Roses, announced when the first roses of Spring begin to bloom in her estate's expansive gardens. All the nobility, blooded and otherwise, of Amber are invited, and this includes Our Heroes. Tristan's invitation included one for Jaeger, if he was so inclined; Collin has been invited by way of Carlotta; and naturally, Baird and Carlotta are invited as members of the "in crowd".

Zeero -- or Chelsea, as Fiona would say -- has been invited to the party as an attendant to Fiona; rather than try to tempt Zeero with knowledge or power, Fiona has gone a more mundane route, and simply offered her a quantity of gold for her troubles. Zeero has accepted thanks to the double temptation of cash and the chance to see a party that she would never have a chance at otherwise. She is to meet Fiona at her tower at dusk.

The evening approaches with Jaeger at the estate, Zeero in the castle, Collin travelling to, or already at, the Fabriz in-city estate, where Carlotta is, and Baird probably helping his mother get ready for the occasion.

Carlotta and Collin set out to the party in carriage, with Lord Fabriz. Jaeger mounts up at the Garnath estate and rides around the city, toward Deirdre's mountainside estate.

Zeero, meanwhile, arrives at Fiona's tower. Entering, she finds Fiona dressed for the ball, but focused on a red bottle, frowning. She is beckoned in, and the door closes. "I don't think the seal on this was as strong as I'd hoped," Fiona comments. "And it can't really wait until after the ball." She smiles tightly. "Bring up your Sight, child, you may learn something, here."

Without much warning beyond that, Fiona breaks the seal on the bottle, and a great big flaming creature pops out, filling a good third of the room.

Once underway, Carlotta's carriage soon stops mid-trip, while still in the city, due to a small crowd up ahead; a few moments' pause yields the carriage-man apologizing for the delay, but there's a dead body up ahead and it's caused a bit of a jam.

Collin gets out to investigate, but Carlotta stays put; he sees the body and notes the efficient center-of-the-chest knife-wound that was the cause of death. He returns to the carriage, mentioning this; as the body is taken away by the city guard, Carlotta sees the body, and recognizes it as one of her informants, a man called Nick, who was one of the ones who was looking into finding out more about the Admiral's man.

Of note is that this area of town is fairly clearly out of his (Nick's) element. Carlotta deduces that the body was dropped here as a message, though she isn't positive about it. Collin comes to similar conclusions, though without Carlotta's specific knowledge of it.

Back at the Tower, the fire elemental, or whatever it is, tussles with Fiona for a bit, bursting toward her, deflected, swiping at her, parried, and so on; Fiona seems distracted, however, and is only fending off the elemental one-handed, as it were, while the other works some kind of enchantment on the bottle.

The inevitable happens, of course, with Fiona not paying too much attention to the elemental; getting the binding together is the thing, for her. Once the elemental has its fill of bouncing off Fiona's defenses, it takes notice of Zeero and surges towards her, the rushing ripple-wind-roar sound of it filling the air. Zeero dives to the side, avoiding this initial strike, but finds herself pinned as the creature makes a second approach.

However, the elemental stops short of her, close enough to make things uncomfortable, but not close enough to burn. It behaves in an entranced fashion, perhaps, or at least in a semi-wary, semi-obeisant manner; it seems to recognize Zeero as some kind of authority to it, or at least, something not to kill, much to her advantage.

Fiona notices that the thing's gotten away from her at this point, and its behavior with regards to Zeero. This doesn't keep her from closing a final "magical string" around the elemental and yanking it back into the bottle, corking it.

"How very curious," she remarks. "I think I know the shape your studies should take. But enough of this excitement; it's time for the ball."

At Deirdre's manor, the first guests are showing up; Baird focuses the bulk of his help in getting the musicians together, though his aid does touch on a few other items.

Eventually he takes up in one of the nearer gardens of the estate, playing a few tunes upon his mandolin. Not too long into it, however, his waking dreams kick in. The surroundings take on a silvered cast, and those around him seem pale, suddenly, and lose interest in him, as though he were invisible.

Further out in the garden stand three men, old men by appearance, but unrecognized to Baird; he has a clear sense that they are strong spirits of Tir, however. They are calling to him.

Baird approaches, and learns that they mean to ask him to kill someone. Baird expresses concern over this request; "She is a danger to us," they say. "A danger to you, in that danger."

Pressed, the spirits say, "Come," to him, and lead him further, the land momentarily indistinct, then resolving to the castle. The gates open, and Fiona's carriage exits, with Fiona and Zeero visible inside. The motion of the carriage slows; Baird sees Fiona, a pale thing like those he left behind at the party, and Zeero, a bright blazing creature of light, herself and yet so much more than herself. "That one," the spirits say.

And the vision begins to fall away. Baird exerts his will upon it, trying to keep a hold; he asks, "Who are you?" And, as his grip fails, the eldest of the three says, "I was once called Karm. My line is dead."

At which point Baird finds himself standing on top of one of the first roses, in the middle of the garden, with the party-goers avoiding him.

The ball commences; Carlotta, Collin, and Lord Fabriz arrive early, followed soon by Jaeger. Not too long after, Fiona arrives, with Zeero as her attendant.

The Admiral and his companion, Lady Vinia of Bayle, are also in attendance, as is the bubbly sister of Vinia, Amaretta Bayle, drawing the attention of a number of young noblemen, despite her trying a little too hard to draw attention away from Vinia and her date.

The Order of the Swan are there as well, Banson and Victor of Kapel, and Morgan of Bayle; the Lords of each house are present, save for Lord Kapel, who is ill, but well-represented.

Of the Royal Family, there is Gerard, who it is said has recently returned from a sea-voyage; Eric, the Regent; Fiona (as mentioned), attended by Zeero; Bleys and Brand (who take turns fending off Amaretta when they first show up); and of course the hostess, Deirdre.

Not in attendance are: Julian, to no one's surprise; Corwin, who has remained silent to all who have attempted to contact him; Benedict; and Finndo, who is abroad with Tristan.

Jaeger stays apart from the party during much of it; Zeero plays it safe and quiet at Fiona's side. No one seems to have conversations of much importance at this party, she notes, in the meantime.

Carlotta introduces Collin to the Admiral at one point, and makes mild conversation with Vinia. Carlotta makes some conversation about the body on the way to the party, but gets little satisfaction in response from Caine.

At a point, she also speaks more privately with Amaretta, after Collin has gone off to join up with "the guys" (being Morgan Bayle, Banson and Victor Kapel, Prince Gerard, and Jaeger). Carlotta reveals to Amaretta that she knows about Amaretta's past association with Caine, and receives a hurt response; Carlotta apologizes.

Baird pulls Brand aside earlier in the party and discusses his recent experience with regards to Zeero, asking that Brand not pass this along to Fiona (in implication). Brand does not really indicate one way or another as to whether or not Baird should fill the ghosts' request, though he does remind Baird that Tir is not a place of truth.

Later on, Baird manages to get Deirdre aside as well, but asks more after the elder ghosts of Tir, learning that his mother has never managed to talk to one as old as Karm.

The evening ends with Baird sleeping at his mother's manor; Zeero leaving with Fiona fairly early on; Jaeger and Collin accompanying the Order of the Swan and Prince Gerard to a pub and drinking until dawn; and Carlotta returning to House Fabriz to get some rest.

People recover in various fashions over the following day.

As the evening approaches, Zeero wakes and sets about putting her memories of the past day down to paper. Baird sits in his room, with troubled thoughts, and works on picking out a song about the morality of killing upon his mandolin, Moonlight.

Carlotta suits up as her underworld alter-ego Alexander and heads out to town. She doesn't get a whole lot of help looking into Nick's demise in her initial investigations, but starts hitting some of his haunts anyway. At the second pub, she's hailed by a patron as Alexander; the patron is the dark man she's been trying to find information about, the Admiral's operative. He offers Alexander a seat, who takes it.

Meanwhile, Jaeger, Collin, and the rest of the crowd, including Gerard, decide to head down to the docks to find another pub and some food. As luck would have it, they end up choosing the same one as Alexander is in.

The Naval Intelligence man indicates Alexander can call him Dolph, and explains that he wasn't the one who did Nick in. "There are two options here," he says. "One, you can butt out. You and I know how likely that is. Two, you can work with me to find out who did it; I figure I know why -- Nick wasn't real subtle. But I'd like to make sure I know who. And you working with me makes it harder for you to run off and make more of a ruckus." Carlotta, as Alexander, agrees, while trying to avoid getting noticed by the new arrivals at the pub.

Jaeger meanwhile notices the smell of another weir in the pub; he also catches a hint of Carlotta in the air, but isn't sure of it. The weir-scent is more interesting to him, though: This is the first good in-city lead he's had, so he gets up, trying to find out who it is that he's getting. He asks Collin to watch his back, who obliges.

Jaeger manages to zero in on a rough-looking female by the back door who notices him about the same time; she ducks out back. Jaeger follows close on, with Collin at his heels. He emerges in an alleyway, with the woman not in sight; scent tells him she has "gone native", so he follows suit, wolf-ing as Collin emerges in the alleyway as well.

Baird, composing the first movement of his song, about how killing is morally wrong, finds a Trump call knocking at his door, so to speak, and answers it. It's Gerard, who says, "Yes?" Baird confesses that he wasn't making a call; Gerard says the same. Baird shows Gerard that he has no card; Gerard says, "Crazy. Wanna come through and have a brew?" Baird declines, but asks Gerard to pass one through; Gerard does, and they let the contact drop. Baird sits staring at his mandolin for a few minutes before resuming.

Jaeger and the city-weir face off; she looks much like a large dog, to her advantage. Jaeger expresses his willingness to bring the matter to a fight; he wants to know who the Alpha is. The bitch is uncooperative, concluding, "Okay, this alleyway is yours," and turns to leave. Jaeger lets her, but -- in front of Collin -- turns into a seagull and, after remembering how to fly, gets airborne to keep an eye on the dog, which takes up a post a few alleys down, with an eye still on the pub.

Gerard emerges out back at this point, as Collin is picking up Jaeger's clothes. He asks a few questions, but drops them quickly, concluding, "I don't wanna know. I've got people Trumping beers from me tonight, this is no weirder." They go back into the bar.

Carlotta-Alexander and Dolph get up a short while later and head out. Not too much later, Collin spies a Gheneshi leaving the bar as well, and, curious, follows him.

Outside, the city-weir-dog starts followign Carlotta and Dolph; thus, Jaeger starts following the dog, as the gull.

Baird makes a second movement to his song, in the vein of 'the hell with it, why don't I just go ahead and kill her'; after a few minutes of composition upon the mandolin, he finds another Trump call forming in his mind. Taking it, he gets Zeero -- who doesn't understand why her brain is tickling and why Baird just appeared before her, there but not there. Baird says, eloquently, "Oops," and drops the contact. Zeero, concerned -- after all, people appearing like that in plays can mean they're in trouble! -- makes her way to Baird's room.

Carlotta and Dolph make their way to a warehouse, where they take up a secluded position. Outside, the dog takes up a watching position, prompting Jaeger to go inside the warehouse to get a better view, as a cat; Collin lags behind but follows the Ghenesh into the shadows near the warehouse and takes up a watchful position, tossing up a spell of clarity to give him a better view of what's going on.

Dolph indicates to Carlotta that this is a place where some of the foreign spies he's aware of meet on occasion; he's sometimes able to eavesdrop a few good bits out of it. Not too much later, one by one, four men (Begmans) show up and begin conferring quietly; Carlotta's not able to make out much. However, not too long after that, one, two, then three crossbow-wielding assassins enter the warehouse as well. Dolph starts trying to make himself small, mouthing out that "these guys aren't supposed to show up tonight", and "they're Kashfans". Collin has noticed a man entering the warehouse while watching, but hasn't acted on it; he's also seen a large dog run towards the warehouse.

Zeero speaks with Baird briefly, who says everything's fine, and gives no hint that he's aware of the Trump contact (not that Zeero knows that's what she experienced). He waits, after Zeero leaves, until he feels safe that she's likely out of earshot. He begins a third movement: 'What if I do nothing, make no decision?' This time he feels the Trump call form, and upon answering it, finds it to be his mother, Deirdre. He asks after her health, and so on, and ends the call.

Carlotta and Dolph watch as the assassins close on the Begmans. Through an upper level entrance, a fourth Begman enters and takes up a sniping position. Dolph extracts a knife carefully and watches.

Baird works on a second song, "If Tir Should Fall?" and tries to steer it toward the causes behind it; he feels a little bit of a Trump-like tickling at certain points, but it doesn't seem to be connecting to anything. Eventually he gets a non-mandolin-initiated contact; it's Brand, who says, "I think you're being a bit vague on this one."

Brand goes on to explain that the mandolin was an experiment of his; to see if he could create a 'work in progress', like a musical instrument, which would in turn get activated by another artist, of Baird's caliber -- but only when the matter is of great importance to the artist, and the composition is original. He also indicates that he can occasionally tell what's being played upon the mandolin, gesturing with his Trump of Baird. Baird thanks him for the explanation, talks of a few more things, and bids him good night.

In the warehouse, eventually, the sniper-Kashfan spots Dolph, who flings his knife; it cuts the man's neck, but not fatally, and makes a great racket. Dolph curses and moves forward to fight with the man; Carlotta takes up cover. Jaeger watches. Below, the crossbowmen do what they can to wound the Begmans, dropping one of them. Eventually it comes to a swordfight, though, and the Begmans are better equipped for a straight-on fight; though they are sorely wounded in the process, the Begmans manage to put the Kashfans down.

Carlotta, without knife-throwing experience, intercedes in Dolph's fight with the fourth Kashfan, by tossing the knife to her feet ineffectually; Dolph uses this as a distraction, however, to open up the assassin's gut, which is good enough to make an escape.

Baird works out a composition about Brand later in the evening, and the mandolin responds very well indeed, a Trump call to Brand forming quickly. Baird decides it is enough for the evening.

At the warehouse, the train-chain starts up again; Jaeger follows the dog following Dolph and Carlotta; Collin follows the Ghenesh man following them as well.

Eventually the Ghenesh man doubles back and faces Collin; they have a brief conversation, in which the Ghenesh man reveals that he's watching members of other intelligence communities in order to keep the Sun (the ruling house of Ghenesh) informed about activities in Amber. He also tells Collin that this isn't really a place for a Moonrider to get involved; Collin's forced to agree, and after agreeing not to run into each other again, they part ways.

Collin makes his way back to the pub where he started and heads back to Gerard's in-city flat to crash for the night.

Jaeger takes roost as the dog sets up shop watching a different pub that Dolph and Carlotta go to; Carlotta leaves a while later, still disguised, but Dolph remains. So does the dog, which eventually returns to human form, finds some clothes stashed in the alley, and enters the pub. Jaeger watches until dawn, but the two don't emerge.

Jaeger heads over to Gerard's flat, but as we find out later, doesn't make it there, for reasons obscure.

That following morning, Zeero is awakened by the castle in commotion; breakfasts are getting made early and the Regent is assembling twenty mounted men in the courtyard. Baird is awakened and brought to the Regent. Eric makes him eat, not explaining; Baird notes the presence of Benedict and Caine, who leave before the quick breakfast is done. Eric and Baird head towards the courtyard.

"I'm hoping you can smooth matters," says Eric. "Where are we riding?" asks Baird. "Arden," responds the Regent, as the two mount up. "Corwin's back." They ride, and the scene fades.

First Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Second Season 12 13

Episode 13

To Ruin or To Rule

In friendship false, implacable in hate: Resolv'd to ruin or to rule the state. To compass this, the triple bond he broke; The pillars of the public safety shook: And fitted Israel for a foreign yoke. Absalom and Achitophel, John Dryden. 1631-1701.

Finndo and Tristan have been abroad for maybe a week at this point, and have only been able to find the following few things out:

1. The success of the Begma army is largely attributed to the use of fast-in, fast-out tactical squads which could attack the Kashfans from any flank, even from behind on occasion. The Kashfans had no time to adjust their tactics to account for this before they were overrun.
2. Begma's navy has not yet entered into the war with Kashfa.
3. Martin is nowhere to be found at this point, at least not within a week of searching for him.
4. No one is talking about possible Amberite involvement openly, but there is clearly an anti-Amber sentiment growing among the remaining free provinces of Kashfa.

Meanwhile, back in Amber, Collin wakes among the first of those passed out in Gerard's flat -- save for the owner, who is apparently rummaging around looking for something. Collin briefly notes that Morgan, one of Tristan's men, is not with the group, and figures Morgan may have left earlier.

When he discovers that Collin is awake, Gerard motions him outside, where he reveals to Collin that Corwin has returned and he needs to get moving. Collin thanks him for the information and makes his own way back to the castle.

Fiona Trumps Carlotta in the morning, awaits her readiness, and eventually pulls her through. She does likewise for Zeero, and requests that Carlotta help Zeero come to understand how to make Trumps work for her. Fiona herself is rather busy, she mentions offhandedly, what with Corwin's return and all, and makes herself scarce.

Awkward study and instruction commence.

Baird and Eric ride out to the edge of Arden witha complement of men, where Julian has arrayed his rangers against Corwin's men. No shots have been fired yet, but Corwin's folks are not being allowed to move further than the inner edge of Arden; tensions are high.

When Eric and Baird arrive, the following exchange occurs:

Eric says to Corwin, "Why have you brought an army with you, brother?"

Corwin responds: "The better to claim the throne with."

Eric: "And what makes you think you are worthy of it?"

Corwin: "Right of blood. My father's word."

A brief pause here as tensions appear to rise in the rangers, Eric's men, and in Corwin's 'rough riders'. Baird interjects, carefully, that Corwin was missed at Deirdre's annual party, which disappointed Deirdre; Corwin returns that he'll make it up to her later. It serves as enough of a distraction to at least loosen the ambient tension a touch.

Then, it resumes:

Corwin: "You have an hour to make up your mind what you're doing, Eric."

Eric: "It's unnecessary. We determined some months ago that you weren't responsible for Oberon's death. You don't have the skill for it. Thus, we cannot oppose your ascension. Consider this admission to be my resignation from all political duties in Amber, effective immediately."

Eric turns, giving Baird a brief look, and is about to go, when he checks himself:

Eric adds: "That is, if it suits you, your Majesty."

Corwin (a bit taken aback, but naturally fine with Eric getting out of his way): "Of course it does. We ride to the castle, then."

And that said, the Rangers let Corwin and his small army pass.

Eventually, Tristan is contacted; Eric informs the castle of his resignation and rides off into the mountains; Tristan calls his father, who brings him through; Fiona recommends to Zeero and Carlotta (the latter especially) that it's time to keep an eye on the new king; and all assemble in the castle to watch Corwin fall just short of making a mockery of the throne.

Over the next day, Baird takes up a strong position as advisor and scheduler for the new King; further, the younger of the family (the players' characters) are often seen in the King's company. This has the effect of Corwin getting dubbed in some circles "The Children's King" or "The Next Generation's King" and so forth. Baird and Tristan do their best to school Corwin in ways that prevent him from throwing the court into too much chaos.

Collin is approached by an emmisary from the Gheneshi embassy asking (more demanding) for his aid in securing an audience with the King. Collin says he'll do what he can, but when he speaks of it to the others, he makes sure to mention that he finds the request unusual; all agree to be wary of it, but that it cannot be ignored.

Zeero, after finding that she is being seen by the castle staff as seminobility now -- the "common" ties weakened -- is some short time later attacked by Maggie, one of the castle kitchen staff. Zeero is stabbed, but nowhere vital, and put into the infirmary; Maggie is prevented from killing Zeero by the castle guard (and Zeero's fast feet), and detained for questioning.

In the course of investigation, Baird, Tristan, and Collin determine that Maggie doesn't remember the attack -- and in fact, the time that she was committing it, she is thoroughly convinced she was chopping onions. Collin's spells work to confirm this as her memory -- and he notes that it is different than what he saw in the pasts of the men who tried to kill Finndo some time earlier.

Baird, talking with Brand, finds that it may be evidence of talented spellcasting, possession, or some other mind-invasion; he also finds that Maggie did nothing unusual the past few days save for the attack, though she did do some stargazing the past night. Regardless, Maggie is freed, but under close watch.

Meanwhile, another 'stab' at Court is underway by the new King. Benedict stalks in at one point, and scheduling is altered to allow a private conversation between Corwin and Benedict, in the presence of the youngers.

Benedict berates Corwin for his clumsiness in his approach to Amber; he has apparently managed to outrage most of the kingdoms in the Golden Kingdom area in the process of his stumbling through shadow with an armed force. Benedict demands that Corwin take care of it, and to do it well, lest he have to take "necessary measures" to correct all errors at hand.

Corwin broods through lunch, before the next portion of court, when the Gheneshi arrive. They have, with them, several Kashfans.

At the appropriate time, the private audience is granted, with several military commanders, Corwin, and the youngers attending.

The diplomat is not terribly diplomatic: He demands that Corwin admit to his collaboration with the Begmans in the recent war on Kashfa, since the successes of the land-grabbing Begman armies can only be attributed to the obvious help of one who possessed the special abilities of the family of Amber -- Corwin's recent march towards Amber with an army was clearly a cover for his raids on Kashfan provinces!

He goes on: "Both Ghenesh and Kashfa are taking a dim view of any attempts to claim innocence on the part of Amber, and will see to it that this villainy is found out. If Amber continues in its policy of supporting the Begmans, Ghenesh and Kashfa will remove themselves from the Golden Kingdoms treaty and denounce Amber."

"So -- your Majesty -- what do you have to say to this?" -- And here, the session ends, with Corwin dumbfounded, Tristan and others looking as though they were afraid this would happen, and Collin, particularly, feeling a growing rift between himself and his native land in tandem with the anger rising within him.

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