YGG

copyright 1995 by Deb Atwood

I had been in Crystal Tears for a week, hiding from everyone, trying to learn something of my magic, without becoming an idol once more. Last time I had been in Devane, and I had healed those with the plague. They had revered me, and I had fled, fearing for my sanity. This time I went home, to Ellesmere, the place where I grew up. There was no one left there who knew me, and I could find a home in the woods and work on my magic alone.

I was working carefully, trying not to exhaust myself. The plague victims had worked me near to death, making me cast until I passed out, then once I awoke, I began casting again. I had no rest, no time to myself. So in Ellesmere, I was trying to cast sparingly, and sleep well. I needed the rest.

Which is why, when I passed out one afternoon, I knew it had nothing to do with my magic.

When I awoke, I took stock. Perhaps half a day had passed, and I was more tired when I awoke than when I passed out. I felt much like I had after casting the energy spell on Trystan, as if much energy had been drained from my body. Therefore it appeared that my first option was sleep. After that, I hoped to contact Angel.

I was not so lucky as I had hoped. I had slept a few hours when I was contacted, via Trump, by Serge. "You turned me into a puddle!" he accused loudly. "And you turned him into a puddle as well." I couldn't see through the Trump, as we had no visual images yet, but I assumed he was pointing at Jan.

"I did not turn anyone into a puddle," I yelled back, unreasonable on so few hours sleep. "May I come through?"

The visual image solidified, and I stepped through to join Serge, where he was still with Martin's army, along with Angel and Jan. "Did you turn into a puddle?" he asked more reasonably.

"No, I did not turn into a puddle," I informed him curtly. What was all this puddle nonsense?

"Puddles everywhere," Serge muttered. Jan looked annoyed that I had not turned into a puddle. "You turned us all into puddles," he insisted.

"I did not," I insisted in return. I felt like two small children having one of those arguments that never gets anywhere. Then light began to dawn. "I assume by puddle you mean what flame turned into." I looked over at Angel for confirmation.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was a puddle."

When I had first awoken, I had considered contacting Jan and Serge, then had discarded the idea as they often seemed completely uninterested in the workings of the universe. Instead, I had planned to contact Angel. I now reconsidered that option as well.

"If you all were puddles, how do you know you were puddles?" I inquired mildy.

"The army told us," Angel pointed to the troops not far away. Ah. So the army had not been turned into these puddles as well.

"How long were you puddles?" I was starting treat this as if they were making sense, asking the appropriate questions in order to diagnose an illness. It was the physician in me taking over, and acting as if this were a reasonable occurrance. Rather than three people insisting that I had somehow turned them into puddles.

After some discussion, they decided it had been about a day. Serge described the feeling they had, just before dissolving into puddles, and I explained that although I had been doing a lot of casting, I hadn't been at the time I passed out, nor could I have possibly been the cause of this. After all, I was in Crystal Tears, which I assumed to be some distance from where the army was camped.

Angel walked away for a moment, speaking privately to Martin. She returned back as I was trying to explain about Flame to the others. Martin began to toy with his deck of cards, and Jan's ears perked up. He moved over towards Martin.

"What? Of course, you can come here." Martin held out his hand, and another man appeared. He was of average height, pale skin with dark hair. Not altogether bad looking, for all that his skin was peach colored and likely warm. I found out later that this was Merlin, apparently Corwin's son. He looks less like his father than Jordan does.

"What is going on?" Merlin was talking to Martin, having glanced over at us and dismissed us.

"She turned us all into puddles," Jan told him.

"I did not turn anyone into puddles!" I yelled, then quickly composed myself again. I was getting tired of being accused of something I hadn't done. In the past, admittedly, my magic had gone astray. But not this time.

"I just left a shadowstorm," Merlin told us. "What is this about... no, never mind."

"What is a shadowstorm?" we all asked.

There was some confusion as several people tried to explain several things at once. In the end, Angel ended up explaining about herself being a puddle, along with Serge and Jan, and also about our trip into Brand's universe.

"I'll be back," Merlin announced suddenly, disappearing.

Angel took the time to explain to us that a shadowstorm is a thunderstorm that moves between the outlands. "Ah." I smiled. "So a shadowstorm can move things from one outland to another, right?" She agreed, insisting once more than outlands are called shadows. I chose to ignore her.

Martin received another Trump contact, shuffling through his cards again, then speaking. "Yeah, it happened a while ago. It could be. Sure." And then he looked up to see us all staring at him. "I'm not sure if its coming this way or not." He started looking through his pictures, activating the magic, apparently looking for this storm that had been mentioned.

Then he turned back to me. "You didn't have any of these problems? Where were you?"

"Crystal Tears," I answered reasonably. "Its my home. I could take you there, if you'd like." After all, now that I understood how my magic worked, transport spells had become much simpler. "And then the picture magic could bring us back, correct?"

He looked curious. "How do you propose to get us there?"

"She does sorcery," Angel explained. "Drains the life out of people. She killed a ton of guards in Brand's universe."

"Angel," I interrupted, teeth gritted. "I don't do that anymore. I have it all under control."

"Oh, right." She didn't look as if she felt guilty at all for what she had said.

"I can't afford to risk that sort of a catastrophe," he informed me.

"There's also Trystan," Angel pointed out, reminding Martin that no one had seen him since he walked Brand's Pattern.

He shook his head. "Just tried calling him. He's not answering."

Angel began describing again how we had escaped from Brand's universe, and I reminded her that I was not with them when the universe fell apart. Trystan had walked Brand's Pattern and disappeared. Then I had transported to Crystal Tears, only to find it dead. And then the universe fell apart. I had not seen Angel again until she used her Trump of my and brought me to her in the Courts of Chaos.

"Perhaps we should try calling Reginald?" Angel suggested. "I believe he was the shapeshifter who was the pillar of flame with us in Brand's universe. Perhaps he could shed some light on our problem."

"Sure," Jan agreed, shuffling through a pad of paper until he came to a sheet with a sketch of Reginald on it. He concentrated on it, then walked away from us and began to talk. "We've got a debate going here. We think Phoebe turned us all into puddles. Why don't you come here?"

Reginald was obviously not agreeing to this plan. Jan tried to convince him, and it appeared from the line of questioning that Reginald had also become a puddle. Still talking, Jan walked further away to chat in peace. I turned to Angel. "I wonder if this has to do with the Tree being sickly. There's a plague at home, the Tree is sickly, and there've been earthquakes all over. I think we had better watch out or we'll fall off the edge of the universe again."

We discussed the possibility that this might still not be the correct universe, but Angel didn't think so. After all, she had her ability to move freely from outland to outland again, and the picture magic worked. Overall, it seemed as if it were the correct place. However, it also seemed as if it were being destroyed.

Martin received another contact. "Yes? What do you think?" A pause. "Do you think that's the cause of this?" Pause. "Do me a favor, is there any problem in the Courts right now? Over here they have a theory that the universe is falling apart." A long pause. The he turned back to us.

"Did you get an answer?" I asked.

"Not yet." He glared at me. Ah, waiting for an answer.

"You've said that picture magic isn't working to call Trystan, correct?" I asked. "Perhaps a contact spell could work."

"It's worked before across shadows," Angel supplied. "I could also take her to another shadow which might help."

Martin seemed hesitant. Angel persisted, insisting that knowing whether Trystan had turned into a puddle as well could be useful. Finally he agreed. "Go ahead."

"Don't leave me," Angel cautioned, and we walked out of sight. "Now, you've said you got that problem under control, so it should be safe for me to stand by and watch."

"Yes, everything should be fine," I told her. We had arrived quickly at another outland, a few away from where we left the others with the army.

"If I ever wake up differently and find out..."

"It will be fine." I was as positive as I could be. She sat down, making herself comfortable. I began to cast a spell to contact Trystan. I was careful, of course, specifying that the energy should come only from myself, and not at all from Angel or the surrounding area.

The spell worked fine up until a point. I spoke the last few words, and passed out.

I woke up on a cart, lying flat on my back next to Angel, the cart rolling over rough ground beneath us. Certainly not where I'd expected to be. It was the storm that woke us up, a violent storm that I was later told was probably one of those shadowstorms. I wasn't as concerned with the storm at the moment, trying desperately to sit up. A note was taped to my nose, stating, "Do not cast that spell again." It wasn't signed, and I dropped it off to the side.

"I hope I didn't do that," I muttered, looking at the storm. The winds were violent, shaking the cart violently, and I simply held on for dear life and rode it out.

Finally the storm was over, and I was able to take stock of the situation again. I discovered that I had managed to knock out Jan and much of the army when I cast my spell, and that Martin had collected Angel and I. Now, however, much more of the army was dead from the storm. As everyone recouped, Martin was playing with his pictures once more.

"Did you get through?" he inquired of the card in his hand. "Good."

Serge was far more interested in telling me of the devestation I had wreaked, despite the fact that we were several outlands over, and I should not have possibly affected these people. Yet I had.

"Did I turn into a puddle again?" Angel inquired calmly. When she was told she hadn't, she turned to me, "Then I suppose its not your spells."

"It is not my spells," I muttered.

Martin finally put his card away. "That was Merlin. There are more problems than just the storms."

"In the Courts?" Angel asked. Martin didn't seem inclined to answer, so she tried a few options. "Are the edges of things starting to crumble away?"

"They think one of us is behind everything," he admitted.

The important thing to consider here, is that Brand was a current suspect. And after all, he was one of this Amberite family.

Martin was rapidly going through his cards, trying to get news from Amber. He wasn't being particularly successful, and sounded annoyed as the cards were apparently telling him that they weren't talking to him.

Jan turned away slightly, a drawing in his hands. Then he walked away, speaking softly to the sketch. Apparently he had managed to get in contact with someone, and from the appearances of it, it was to be a long conversation. I chose to ignore him, turning instead to join Angel and Martin, who were discuss the fact that something called the Jewel of Judgement might have been used by Brand to create a Pattern, and that this Jewel could also be used to control the weather.

What it came down to was that we didn't know enough about this Jewel to know if it was the problem. "Someone is trying to contact me," Angel announced suddenly.

"Why don't you answer it?" Martin asked practically.

"Right." She nodded. "If I scream and go white, please clonk me on the head. The other side, this time." My eyes widened, as she answered. "Its just my mom." Pause. "Now, I'm alive, and in reasonable shape." Pause. "There was the puddle incident, and then there was the spell incident." Pause. "A couple of us got turned into little puddles. How? We're not really sure, but it happens to be the same three of us who were off in Brand's little universe. And just suddenly, all of us collapsed into puddles. Martin said he felt something, and a couple of people around him died. And then..." Pause. "Oh yeah. We've talked to Martin, and even saw Merlin. He's looking into it too, which is good, since people are finally concerned about this." Pause. She quickly brought Flora up onto the details about the discussion about the Jewel, which Flora agreed with Angel's ideas, and then mentioned the Courts' suspicions about an Amberite being behind everything. There was another pause. "Given the current position and situation, that's probably not a good idea. But I might be able to talk to them. Do you want to call them?" Pause. "I've been conscious for about two hours in the last day or so." Pause. "Do you think we're missing anything?" Pause. And finally, "Bye."

"Did your mom have anything useful to say?" I prodded, curious about the other side of the conversation.

"Nope. Nothing new."

That was little surprise at this point.

"I can't think of a thing to do that doesn't involve magic," I mused softly. "And none of you will likely let me cast."

"Do you think you can cast a spell safely right now?" Angel asked, always the one quickest to point out my failings.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. The result of the last spell was either due to who I was trying to contact, or something wrong inside myself. It was the first time I had cast since passing out, and I was trying to draw on my own energy, and if something was wrong there, then the spell might have blown up. Which it did."

"Well, I would say there's definitely something wrong with us," Angel offered. "I've never turned into a blob before, and then a recovered all on my own."

"No, you didn't," Serge suddenly spoke up. Jan was back as well, and he agreed with Serge. "We cast a spell to do a healing analysis while Martin went to pick you two up, and we're not healed. Hang on second, and we can check you both out as well."

"Reggie thinks it might be Chaos cancer," Jan added.

"If it is something to do with Chaos, I'd think that walking the Pattern might be the best thing to do," Angel suggested.

"I am not walking your Pattern," I insisted.

Some argument ensued, while she insisted it was the best way around the problem. I still didn't agree. In the meantime, Serge was working on the spell, having to take some time to do so since all the spells he had ready were wiped from his mind during the shadowstorm.

"Magic's done for the day," Serge suddenly announced, brushing his hands off as if just finishing something up. "There's none available to cast."

No magic? I started to panic slightly, but was distracted by Angel's announcement, "I'm getting a Trump contact."

We all just looked at her, and motioned for her to answer. She is very wary of these contacts. A moment later, Reginald joined us. "Who had that Trump?" Angel asked him. "And where did they get it."

"I don't know," he answered slowly, "but it didn't look like the ones you had on the back."

"Ah well." Angel shrugged.

Distraction over, I turned back to Serge. "Excuse me, but did you just say that magic isn't working and you can't tell if I've got this sickness?"

"Yes," Reggie's ears perked up. "Who else here has Chaos cancer?"

"We can't tell," Serge announced cheerfully. "My magic isn't working."

We had to spend some time catching each other up on the situation. Reginald had diagnosed that he had contracted a deadly disease called Chaos cancer. He claimed not to know the name of the person who told him about the disease, who also happened to be the one holding Angel's Trump. He also told us that a small percentage of the people around him had dropped dead recently, and Angel in turn announced that a larger percentage of the army around us had died.

We also explained about the puddles, and Reginald said that he had as well. None of us knew about Lucretia or Trystan, since we weren't able to contact either of them yet.

Angel started babbling about Patterns, and places called Rebma -- which was at war with Amber -- and Tir-na Nog'th. She also claimed that all of us could safely walk the Pattern as well. Not a single one of us agreed with her.

"I think we should find out if she has it," Reginald pointed at me. "And the one with the bike as well, before we do anything else."

Daphne wandered over to let Martin know we were leaving. As they spoke, she suddenly piped up, "Merlin might know about this!"

"Go on, use your picture magic to contact him," I encouraged.

"I don't have any," she reminded me.

"As if you can borrow one," I said shortly, trying not to sigh too audibly at her being so dense.

Martin pulled out a piece of paper and drew a quick sketch, handing it to Angel. We then left the outland to try to find one where Jan's magic would work, so we could diagnose the problem before contacting Merlin to find more details about the actual disease.

We walked for a ways, but nothing changed in the status of magic. I was getting slightly uncomfortable. "Do you have a sketch of someplace significantly far away?" Angel asked.

"Of course!" Jan pulled out a piece of paper, staring at it, then motioned us through.

We were in another one of those strange pubs, with the odd lights and machinery. And to our surprise, Lucretia was there as well. She was up on the stage, drumming away. She stopped and walked down to greet us.

"There's no magic here, either, dammit," Serge said angrily.

"Did you guys, like, go unconscious and wake up in a puddle?" Lucretia looked very confused. Needless to say, the next bit of time was definitely taken up by more discussions of what caused the puddles. I was starting to get very frustrated, and wanted desperately to try casting, but there wasn't anything alive around me, save myself and the people in the bar. Neither of which I wanted to draw energy from at the moment.

After a while, I tried anyway. The discussion was boring. Silently, and not moving, I tried to create an illusion of a small coin, drawing only on myself for energy. Impossible. It was as if there were no material to cast with. The odd thing was, that would generally mean that there was no magical energy, and nothing in myself either. And I know I wasn't dead.

"Let's try Merlin," Angel decided. She concentrated on a sketch for a moment. "Hello, can you tell me what Chaos cancer is?" She paused, while we all asked her a myriad of questions, from whether he was with anything natural (I'd have taken grass) to Reginald insisting that we should step through to whereever Merlin was at the time. Angel was ignoring us, apparently listening to Merlin. "I'd really appreciate it. It appears that some of us may have it." Pause.

"Would you just bring him here so we can all join in the conversation?" I asked loudly, once it appeared that she was listening for a while.

Angel relayed that comment on to Merlin. She then motioned for us to touch her, and once we did, we were all in contact with Merlin as well, except Lucretia.

"Does magic work there?" Serge called out.

Merlin turned away from Angel's hastily babbled explanation about Brand's universe to state, "No, actually it doesn't."

"Doesn't work here either," Serge volunteered. "Or in the last few shadows. All over the place, really."

"Damn." Merlin's voice was suddenly flat, and he hesitated before answering again. "That's really not good."

Angel, as spokesperson, started to explain about everything we had done with Martin.

"We'd like to know about this cancer now, before we die from it," I urged. "We're not sure if we've all got it."

"I'd like to get myself cured," Reginald added.

Merlin sighed. "Fine, Reggie, I'll come there." And he stepped into the bar. Lucretia looked mildly surprised at his arrival.

Merlin looked around, "Can we go somewhere else?" We agreed, dragging Lucretia with us. We walked out of the bar and into an alleyway along the side. Much quieter.

"I don't suppose you could get me a tree?" I asked, looking around. After all, it had appeared that Angel was leading us somewhere.

"Give me a few minutes," Merlin told me. He concentrated briefly, and then there was a tree in the alley with us.

I started to cast, again very quietly, the same illusion of a coin using the tree as an energy source. Which still wasn't working. Not that Angel made it any easier, trying to distract me by bumping into me periodically.

"Stop moving!" At the sound of Merlin's yell, I felt myself lifted into the air. That distracted me, and I stared down, wiggling slightly to try to get out of the grasp of whatever held me.

A moment later I was down, having been held still while Merlin was carefully considering all of us.

Merlin looked at all of us. "It may be Chaos cancer, it may not. It doesn't look a thing like anything I've seen. As for who's got it, you all do, except her," he pointed at me. "And Reggie's got it the worst."

Angel was again babbling about the Pattern. Since she was occupied and not about to stop me from using my magic, I tried again to cast, using the energy of the tree. Nothing happened. I grew even more annoyed at the fact that I could not use my magical skills at all.

"As far as I can tell, somebody has the Jewel."

I turned back to the conversation in time for Merlin's comment. This was intriguing, after Angel's earlier description of this artifact.

"They've turned off magic," he continued, "and may be using the Jewel possibly to do some of this. The current suspicion is that its Brand. We, of course, immediately reciprocated by telling him again about Brand's universe and how we fell off the edge at the end.

The intriguing part of the story is that it appears that the others were together when the edge of the universe found them, but I was in the dead outland like Crystal Tears and Trystan was missing. And strangely enough, it corresponded to who had this disease.

Angel was obsessed by the Pattern, and the concept of walking it. She kept insisting that she could walk it and cure herself, and that if Jan, Serge and Reggie walked it they would also be cured. Of course, that left Lucretia infected, as she was not in that deck of Angel's. I was personally quite glad to be out of the loop, not having the disease in the first place.

"Other side Jan," Angel suddenly announced, turning slightly away from him. "I'm getting another Trump contact." She concentrated a little, "Hi there." And then she was silent, speaking under her breath.

"What's a Trump contact?" Lucretia looked puzzled.

"Picture magic," I supplied. "You hear voices inside your head. I did something similar, remember."

"Oh yeah." She looked over at me. "Don't do that." A strange expression passed over her face as Jan concentrated on a card in his hand. She suddenly screamed and dove under a table.

"Its all right, its all right," Serge leaned down and tried to reassure her. She didn't look reassured.

"I'm hearing ringing sounds in my head," Lucretia said softly.

"Just relax into it and expect to hear voices," I told her, while Jan also urged her to answer the contact.

"All right," she agreed. There was an expression of surprise as they came into contact, and then Jan shut it down. Lucretia didn't look at all comfortable with the concept.

Merlin left while we were working with Lucretia, and Angel came back just in time to announce, "Another one. This side Jan."

She accepted, "Oh, its Martin," and turned away from us to chat with him. A few minutes later she announced, "Martin's afraid I'll do something nasty to the Pattern if I walk it and fail."

It seemed to only discourage her somewhat. I was more than willing to encourage her, since mounting an expedition to Amber might result in retrieving my personal objects, Lleuad and the crystal. However, Martin had done his job well enough that she was able to be distracted by other conversations. The group moved back into the bar, Angel and Lucretia went to play a match of darts, while Reggie, Jan and Serge grabbed beers. As I watched them walk away from me, I wailed softly, "With the magic turned off I can't even leave."

I wasn't about to stay in the alley alone, so I followed them in and tried one of those strange beers they had. After a while, I was arguing with Angel, trying to convince her to return to Amber out of sheer boredom. We glanced up in time to see Reggie and Lucretia disappearing from near Jan. "Where did they go?" Angel called out.

He shrugged, chugging his beer. "Somewhere outside of Amber."

"Can you give us a Trump?" she then asked.

"Why?"

"I can't take another second of this!" I yelled, stomping over to him. I'm too light to make much of a difference. Serge set down his drink, as did Jan, who began to draw quickly. Ten minutes later we were ready, and the four of us went through to Amber.

We arrived in the same location where Jan had sent the other too to find tire marks leading to a place Angel called Rebma. The other two seemed familiar with the place, following as we walked up to the edge of the water. Angel calmly stepped into the water, walking out until it was over her head, and kept on going. Both Jan and Serge followed. I was slightly more hesitant, stepping slowly, feeling the stone steps under my feet. I took in a deep breath before the water closed over my head, holding it until I thought my lungs would burst.

"You can breathe underwater," Angel informed me, smiling back over her shoulder.

The air escaped in a surprised whoosh. "I can?" I blurted out. I took a tentative breath, surprised not to feel liquid filling my lungs. Then another, and another. And then, far more calmly, I followed the others down to the base of the steps and across the ocean floor to a castle, appearing much like the one in Amber.

Two guards stopped us at the castle gate. "Where are you going?"

"To Rebma," Angel said simply. "We'd like to speak to Llewella."

"That's not possible right now," we were told, as they stood in our way.

"Do you know where the owners of these tire marks went?" I inquired politely. "We'd like to speak with them."

"Hold on a minute," the guard stepped inside. A moment later he was back. "Follow us." They led us into a room where Lucretia was having dinner.

Angel looked around. "What happened to Reggie?"

"He left." Lucretia didn't sound concerned. "Have some fish. Its very fresh."

Jan shuffled through his cards. "Yes, Martin?" He listened a moment, nodding briefly, then turned back. Angel wandered off, guards in tow, apparently looking for Reggie. Serge was enjoying dinner. I took the time to attempt one more time to cast my small illusions. Once again, it was as if there were no energy to draw on, either magical or life. It was still just as upsetting as when I had first discovered it.

Angel was back shortly, reporting that she had not found any signs of Reggie. Nor had she attemped to walk the Pattern, adhering to Martin's advice. Something which I found very surprising, not quite believing Angel would listen to anyone. Jan tried to Trump Reggie as well, and had no better luck than Angel had in looking for him.

Angel recieved a contact then. After her customary cautions, she answered, listening. "Where are you?" Then she called out to us, touching us all. "Martin wants us." She started pushing us through to him, in Amber.

We were standing in the guard room above the dungeon stairs, and as the stairs went down into some sort of a void. There were just two steps and then nothing. We couldn't get down to the dungeon, nor Angel's Pattern. I said a quick thanks to the Tree that we had not been in the dungeon when this happened. Then I turned to Martin. "If that door leads to the throne room," I pointed at the one I remembered from my last trip through the area, "then where is Gerard?" I had little desire for another bruise on my forhead from his bowmen.

Martin started to laugh slightly. "Still in shock. He wasn't aware until recently about what was going on downstairs."

I took great pains then to attempt to gain a promise from Martin to retrieve our items and to avoid taking us to the dungeon again. Hopefully our belongings had not been in the dungeon when the void appeared. Martin didn't seem hopeful for my case. "If you dumped Gerard in the water, I wouldn't hold my breath."

Angel dangled a purse in the void, and watched interestedly as the portion that went into the void disappeared. Jan tried the same with a Trump, which is supposedly an indestructable object, and was surprised when that disappeared as well. Martin seemed more interested in our trip to Brand's Amber, something which I repeated the details of once more.

"I'm leaving. You guys are boring," Lucretia announced. She started her bike and rode down the hall into a wall, where a dark hole opened up for her to disappear through. And then she was gone, the wall just as solid as before. Serge pounded on the wall, trying to figure out what had happened.

All of a sudden I went lightheaded, my limbs weak, and I blacked out. When I came to, Angel was dragging me away from disappearing steps with one hand, following Martin. She pushed me, still stumbling to my feet, towards him, through a Trump he held open.

I arrived in an open plain, the only thing remarkable a giant tree. It wasn't the Tree, obvious by the color and lack of crystals. But it was close. I stared at the tree, eyes wide, drinking it in and knowing I must be close to home. And this tree was, if anything, less healthy than the one I had left behind in Devane. This tree was dead.

"This is not good," Martin said slowly.

"Where are we?" I pestered as he didn't answer the first time. "This place looks like my home, except for the color. Does anyone remember me mentioning a sickly tree?"

Martin pulled a card out of his pocket, concentrated, then said, "Do you know Ygg is dead?"

Merlin joined us a moment later. Angel explained that Ygg was the center between the Courts of Chaos and Amber. I gestured at the tree. "This may be where magic went."

No on looked like they understood.

"Because its dead," I tried to explain. "In my world there is a Tree which looks almost exactly like this one, and that is where my magic comes from."

"Doubtful," Merlin shook his head. "In the past, we might have been able to ask the tree and even possibly get some answers. But now, I don't think so."

"Whoops!" Martin pulled out another card. "You okay? Well, its starting to expand."

"If that's not my mom, can you give me a Trump of her, now?" Angel pestered. Martin ignored her.

Serge and I glanced at each other, realizing our belongings were about to become one with the void. It wasn't a pleasant thought. "I liked that sword," I muttered petulantly.

Martin pulled out another card. "Your daughter is concerned that the Amber dungeon has disappeared and that the void that swallowed it is expanding." He turned back to Angel. "She's going to Amber to check it out and save whatever she can in terms of decorations."

Serge burst into laughter.

"She's put a lot of effort into it," Angel defended her mother.

I had a thought. "Could you call her back and ask her to look for a large black and silver sword? It makes a lovely decoration and I'm certain she'll appreciate the fact that it matches my skin and clothing perfectly."

Serge only laughed harder. Martin actually did as I asked, not using my exact quote, but telling Flora about my sword and crystal, and Serge's sunglasses.

Serge's laughter was dying down. "I'll help her look."

"Someone wants to help you," Martin talked to the card. "Have you met Serge?" He handed him through.

I began to quiz the others on the natures of outlands. I had determined, by my own philosphy, that Crystal Tears should be somewhere closeby, simply due to the resemblance of the trees. Angel and Martin both agreed with me, but neither was willing to try to take me there right then. Especially as Angel began to receive a Trump contact. With her usual cautions, she accepted. Almost immediately she handed me a rolled tapestry, telling me to set it down away from where we stood, then held out another for me to take. Three more tapestries and a chandelier later, the contact closed down and we continued our conversation.

A few minutes later, the contact came again and Flora handed her a bed. apparently the one out of Flora's room, followed rapidly by the rest of the bedroom set. A little while later Angel's own bed arrived and all of her furniture. "Mom, I can get another bed!" Angel protested.

I was just taking a piece of furniture then, and was in the contact to hear Flora telling her brusquely, "Do you know how long I had to search to find the perfect bedroom set in shadow? Take it!" And Angel did, handing it to me as I set the other furniture aside.

We continued to assemble much of castle Amber in the field by Ygg, from tapestries to furniture, to the dining room table, and even the throne. Serge eventually found our things as well, and I took the time to strap Lleuad to my back, and place the crystal once more about my neck. Those back in place, I felt much more myself, and willingly helped Angel.

Martin began to gather Amberites by Ygg, and information about the status of the universe. Trystan and Reggie were both still missing, as were Fiona & Llewella. Corwin was known to be dead, and Bleys had been assumed dead. As for the universe, there was no magic, although the Pattern in Amber was fine. Apparently someone had walked the one in Rebma and used its abilities to transport to the center of the one in Amber and then back out. There was an army from the Courts of Chaos attacking Amber, which Gerard and Benedict were fending off, while Julian stayed with us at Ygg. And Gerard and Julian were being civil, the current catastrophes being what they were and it not being the time for infighting.

Magic was definitely not working anywhere in any outland, and Ygg was dead. Another Pattern, apparently created by Corwin, had been destroyed. There were no details as to how, it was merely presented as fact and left at that. And we were still no closer to understanding the situation than before.

Lucretia arrived after a time, much in the same way she had left. She had apparently visited the clean up crew in Amber, and they sent her towards us. As it turned out, she had a way that might be able to take me to Crystal Tears. "You're own your own for a while," I informed Angel, and hopped on the back of Lucretia's bike.

She started to ride it towards Ygg, a dark black circle opening up in the tree ahead of us, which we rode straight through. I could hear Serge and Jan yelling something behind us, and as we skidded to a stop in a strange place, Serge and Jan tumbled in as well.

We were atop a large hill, with strange standing stones with what looked like portals in them. The portals were constantly shifting in appearance. "Just stare at one," Lucretia instructed, "and think of where you want to go."

Serge was looking around interestedly, and Jan had immediately sat back and started to sketch. I stared at a portal, willing it to show me a view of Devane. No luck. I looked at Lucretia. "You'll have to do it for me. Start with the place where we just were." I talked her through until she had an image of Devane in the portal. Then we both climbed back on the bike and rode through.

Devane was much as I remembered it in Brand's Universe. Entirely dead... all the people, and the Tree. Saddened, and scared, I climbed back on the bike and we rode back to the hill.

Jan was still sketching, and Serge was exploring. He had had little more luck than I had with controlling the portals. I was intrigued by this new form of magic, and was encouraging Lucretia to try an experiment. I described Jordan carefully, hoping that perhaps she could conjure and image of him so that we might travel to him. As I expected, it did not work. Apparently her portals only worked for locations, not people. Then again, perhaps she did not yet know enough to make them work for people.

While Lucretia and I worked on that, Serge was trying to catch glimpses of the worlds beyond the ever shifting portals. We heard a sound, and when we looked back, he was gone, feet just disappearing through a random portal. The scene shifted before we could locate him. And Jan was asleep, so we could not use his Trumps to see if Serge were yet all right.

Lucretia walked over to Jan, picked him up, and calmly dumped him through another portal, showing an image of an outland high in technology and far too low for my tastes in nature. Smiling, she climbed back on the bike. I climbed on behind her or else I would have been left behind. And then we were back in Ygg, Angel still taking furniture from her mother.

A moment later Lucretia had a strange expression on her face. She seemed to listen, then said, "You were sleeping." Pause. "It seemed like a good reason to me." Another pause. "Go away." She looked distinctly uncomfortable and climbed on her bike, muttering, "Go away," repeatedly under her breath. She rode the bike away, then back again. She looked even less happy than before. Climbing off the bike, she went around to the back and lifted off a cover to find a toolkit underneath. She pulled out the crowbar we had used in our attempt to escape the cell in Brand's Amber.

"I said, go away!" she said loudly, raising the crowbar and crashing it strongly into the side of her own head. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

I stood there for a moment, eyes wide. Then Angel called out, "Phoebe, can I get hand with this one?" Flora had just started to pass through the dining room table, a terribly long thing designed for a family as large as Angel's to easily sit at. Leaving Lucretia passed out on the dead grass, I joined Angel and helped to gather furniture from Amber to the shadow of Ygg.

After a few more transfers, Trystan and Reggie walked through the contact, carrying a sofa. I spun in surprise, and the words spilled out at Trystan. "Where the hell have you been? I put a lot of effort into getting you through that Pattern and you didn't even have the decency to rescue us!"

"You can't imagine the number of people she killed..."

"Shut up, Angel!" I was yelling, sick of Angel's reminding everyone just how much damage I had done in that castle. I turned back to Trystan, "Would you care to sit down and tell us about it?"

"I didn't get where I wanted to go when I left," he explained, "so I started to walk there. And then I was attacked by somebody I didn't know." He claimed, no matter how much I urged, to never have seen the person, or at least not to have recognized him. "I was in the fringes somewhere, nowhere near Amber at all."

I was trying not to scream in frustration. For all that Trystan was saying, he was making little sense and including few details. I would have to wait until later for those, when I had a better time to cajole them out of him. Once he had relaxed somewhat.

"Reggie, is he sick?" Angel called out, placing a painting on the ground and reaching back for the next one coming through the Trump.

"What is this?" Trystan looked from Angel to Reggie. "First he asks if I'm sick, then you ask it. What's going on?"

"Everyone who was in Brand's Amber, except her, has this disease that's going to kill us," Angel explained. "If you're sick too, then you'll die too."

We had to catch both Trystan and Reggie up on all the details, from the void in the basement down to Ygg's death. While Angel explained, I looked around. It had occurred to me, while we were moving furniture, that perhaps my magical test with the tree had been invalid. After all, it had suddenly appeared there, brought, I assume, by Merlin. A tree standing on a stone ground has little roots and is likely not exactly alive. Therefore, it would be more than difficult to borrow its life energy. But the area around Ygg was as dead as the tree itself.

There were three roads leading away from Ygg, two opposite each other and then a third. I wandered over to where Martin sat. "Do you know where any of these roads lead?"

"As far as I knew, there were only supposed to be two roads here." He looked puzzled. "Those two." He pointed at the two opposite each other.

The others never would have moved out had I asked to try to find an outland with living plants so that I might try to cast. However, I was intrigued by this strange road, and thought they might be as well. I started to move through the ranks, distracting them abruptly from their ever-present circular conversations. "Angel! Trystan! Reggie!" I clapped my hands together for a sharp noise. "Get up. We're going on an excursion."

"Merlin and I were talking about following it," Martin informed me.

Trystan stood, agreeing to follow the road with us. I walked over and poked Lucretia, who jumped up and agreed to join us. She started up the bike, Reggie climbing on behind her.

"I think I'll stay behind in case my mom calls again," Angel decided. "Besides, do you guys know where you're going?"

"No," I said cheerfully. "That's the point."

Julian, Merlin and Martin joined us as well, leaving only Angel standing by Ygg. She watched as we moved down the trail. A few minutes later we heard footsteps, and Angel joined us.

I walked up to Lucretia, as best I could as she was riding her bike ahead of us, then back, unwilling to go as slowly as the rest of us were moving. "Lucretia, when we get the chance, I'd appreciate it if you could take me back to Crystal Tears. There are some books I need to pick up."

"Sure." She grinned at me, and rode off again, blowing dust up around us. "Why?"

"I think I might have a plan to turn magic back on," I explained, leaving out the details. I thought that if perhaps I could draw energy from another source other than magical or life energy, I might be able to channel that energy into either the Tree or Ygg and then, perhaps, magic might work again.

We walked along, discussing where the road might lead to. The popular concensus was towards another Pattern, perhaps the one created by Brand. If one should exist.

And then, unexpectedly, magic was back. I began to try my experiment, wondering if I could possibly cast a small illusion and succeed. Off to the side, Julian collapsed. Staring at him, Martin was rapidly shuffling through his deck of cards. "Someone get Jan here, now."

"Come here!" Merlin reached out, and Serge and Jan appeared. Merlin handed Jan a single card, ordering, "Concentrate on this."

Angel was inspecting Julian's body, reporting that his breathing was shallow. I forgot about the illusion and dropped to my knees by him, hands out. I reached inside, specifying my own energy, and began a healing spell, trying to help him. And then he was gone.

I don't mean to say he died. He quite literally disappeared, apparently by Trump. Martin collapsed at the same time.

"Nobody accept a Trump contact!" Merlin ordered. He turned to Jan. "Do you know how he jammed Julian's Trump?"

"I only wish," Jan told him.

"Try this." Merlin handed him a Trump of Gerard. "Concentrate on it."

Jan did so, then volunteered, "Its active."

"I could have told you that!" Merlin was rapidly getting much too excited for the situation. "I think there's something very bad going on here. You seemed to be helping with Julian. Do whatever you were doing with that!"

Jan didn't answer, simply went back to concentrating on the card. And then a few minutes later the magic was gone. "Obviously my theory is completely incorrect," I muttered.

"It appears that whoever was using Trump, has also used magic," Serge offered.

"Actually," Merlin said slowly, "I think someone may have found a way to power Trump magically."

Jan looked disgruntled. "Something I've spent years trying to do, myself." He started flipping through Trump cards, stopping on one of Serge. He concentrated briefly, then announced, "Trump still works." He still had his deck out and was staring at cards, tossing each one as it failed onto the ground. "Cool, Dead Drummer #1 doesn't work." He tried again for 3 more dead drummers, but when he reached the fifth card, he paused, then passed out, the card falling to the ground beside him.

Trystan wandered over calmly, picked up the card and looked at it, pocketing it afterwards.

"Trystan, who was that?" I asked, smiling sweetly.

"What was that all about?" Merlin asked, not so sweet.

"He's a dead drummer, I guess." Trystan was acting innocent, hands by his side, the card just peeking out of his shirt pocket.

My hand snaked out, and then the card was in my hand. I stepped away, putting Angel between the two of us, and looked at the card. He was perhaps average height for these colorful people, a little thinner than most, with dark hair and a well-trimmed beard. I looked up at Trystan, "What's the interest?"

"He's pissed me off numerous times," Trystan explained. "He's knocked me out as well, and I've ended up in random places. It would be really handy to have that thing."

I felt a tug on the card, and let go in surprise as it floated up into the air, over to Merlin. Trystan raced after the card, then seemed to be knocked backwards, hard. I joined Merlin. "Do you recognize it?"

"Yeah." He didn't seem to be volunteering any other information. "When did you last see him, Trystan."

"Far too recently for my liking," Trystan told him. "He's attacked me before."

"Well, Merlin, are you going to keep us all in the dark or do you plan to tell us who he is?" Angel prodded. She sounded as frustrated as I was feeling. There is nothing more annoying than standing between two people who understand each other perfectly, but refuse to explain themselves to anyone else.

"He was one of Brand's assistants," Merlin explained. "It appears his been a little busy. I would have thought Martin would have recognized him."

"It was before Martin joined the band," Serge told us.

"Where was he last?" Merlin asked Trystan.

"Out on the fringes of shadow," Trystan said. Which coincided with the previous story that we had heard.

"What was he up to?" Merlin was quizzing Trystan, and I hoped we would get answers.

"I'm not exactly sure," Trystan hesitated. "The first time I met him, he Trumped me when I was in the Amber cell. Then we walked the Pattern..."

"What Pattern?" Merlin interrupted.

"In the fringes," he explained.

"Was it Brand's?" Merlin asked.

"Was it the same as the one in Brand's Amber?" I added.

He shrugged. "I don't remember. But we both walked it, and then I was in the middle, and suddenly I was in the jail cell where I met all of you."

"What's his name?" Angel inquired.

"Baal." The pronunciation was a little different this time, but it was easy to see how I had confused him with Balder.

Trystan went on to explain that these outlands on the fringe might, or might not, be near the Courts of Chaos. Nor could he tell if we were heading in that direction by walking down the road. In the background, Jan woke and started shuffling through his cards, looking over at Merlin once he realized who had the missing card.

"That doesn't sound terribly annoying," Merlin observed. "Did he do anything else?"

"The next time I saw him, he knocked me out and I woke up in a random location, tied to the bed," Trystan explained matter-of-factly.

"Sounds kinky," Angel observed.

"It would have been," he agreed, "if there'd been anyone else there. It took me several hours to become untied from the bed."

Angel looked incredulous. "It took you several hours to become untied?"

"He's rather good at tying people to beds," Trystan protested. We all laughed at the sound of the statement.

"Let's continue on," I suggested.

And we did, amid cautions from Merlin not to accept any more Trump contacts. As we moved on, slowly the world began to live around us. Small amounts of vegetation were alive, but not much. It seemed to fit with Ygg being another Tree of Life, much like my own. Once I found vegetation, I began to cast, trying to draw on the small amounts of life around me. Again, it did not work. I hid my annoyance.

We walked for a long ways, with nothing seeming to happen. It was a path much like the one on which we had walked in Brand's Amber, until the edge fell off the universe.

And then magic was there. Jan started to shuffle his Trump quickly. Serge tried to set off a memorized spell with no luck. Angel called out, "Did the magic come back?" I nodded, and she added, "Incoming!" Jan shuffled faster.

As for myself, I began to construct a transport spell to Devane. I was getting bored with walking and wished to retrieve my library so that I might at least read while we moved down the path.

In the next few seconds, things happened very quickly. Lucretia and Trystan hit the ground roughly, sliding along, as the bike disappeared. And Serge shook his head wildly, trying to clear his vision, the sunglasses gone from the perch on his nose. Seeing those two objects disappear, I reached behind to grab Lleuad.

"Hey! I was asleep!" The voice came from behind my back. My eyes widened as I recognized what I assumed was the voice of my sword.

"What woke you up?" I inquired curiously, realizing in annoyance that I had managed to ruin my spell. I drew the sword and considered it. "I don't suppose you know what's going on around here."

Lleuad didn't answer, softly snoring.

"Would you mind not sleeping through the important parts?" I inquired acidly. It continued to ignore me.

I sheathed the sword and began my spell over again.

Around me, everything was already dead, other than the people, so I had no worries about killing the plants. They had died when the bike and glasses disappeared. I tried not to worry about what I'd actually be drawing on, other than myself, and continued to cast.

After a while, everyone else wandered on down the road, following Reggie as he moved out of our sight. I stayed where I was, bringing Devane to mind, the room where I had been staying and doing my research. I didn't want to lose this chance, while magic was still there.

I completed the spell, setting it off. Energy seemed to flow out of me, exhausting me, sapping all my available strength. I thought fleetingly that perhaps I should have drawn on the local nature instead of myself. And then I collapsed.

When I awoke, I felt ill and lightheaded. Lucretia was lying near me waking up at the same time. She sat up and looked at me. "You shocked me. I tried to wake you up by poking you, and I got a shock. So I tried poking you with a stick, and I still got a shock. Then I took the stick and whacked it across your legs. That knocked me out."

My eyes were wide, trying to understand this when I was having trouble sleeping in the first place. I reached out slowly and tapped her on the shoulder, curious to see if I was still producing energy. Something did happen, but afterwards I felt much better, as if I had equalized somehow. She looked better as well.

"Where is everyone, and what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"We all went on," she explained. "I got bored and I didn't have my motorcycle, so I came back to find you. And you were unconscious."

I was silent a moment, taking a quick inventory. Nothing of mine had disappeared, Lleuad still safely strapped to my back, the crystal about my neck. And most importantly, the magic was still available. "Should we catch up with the others?"

"Last seen, they'd broken into a run," she tried to discourage me. "Perhaps we should go back the other way."

"I'd like to try casting again," I said slowly, "but I'm afraid it might be a bad idea." I started slowly to cast a small illusion, felt magic surge up around me, and then it was gone, before my spell was done. "Dammit!" I swore, starting to walk down the path.

I felt something at the back of my mind. "Yes?"

"Hello," Jan greeted me.

"Can we join you? Lucretia's with me." I tried to peer through the Trump, but we didn't have a visual contact established yet. "Where are you?"

"In Amber," he told me. He paused a moment, as if listening to someone, then the picture began to form. "Sure, come on through."

We stepped through into Amber, joining Martin, Reggie and Angel. "Did you want something?" I asked cheerfully.

Jan looked away from me, over to Martin. He seemed to be listening to something. "Serge's way down the road, do you want him to come here?"

"I'll take his place," Reggie offered, stepping over to Jan and disappearing. A moment later, Serge joined us.

"What did you call me for?" I asked Jan.

"I wanted to know if you tried to cast any spells," Martin asked.

I explained that I had cast one spell, then passed some time, then tried to cast another spell but didn't complete it before the magic left again. It didn't seem to fit his theory.

"I thought perhaps you'd cast a spell and that had had an effect on magic," he explained.

I shook my head. "May I try an experiment?" I reached out to touch Angel, but she slid away from me. I tapped Serge instead, but nothing happened this time. Whatever strange energies I had been dealing with seemed to be gone.

"I think everyone should know," Trystan interrupted, "the dungeon is back."

"I know." Martin suddenly looked displeased. "We found you on the Pattern. What were you doing?"

"I was Pattern jumping between here and where I think that road leads," he explained. "That being where Baal is, and I happened to run into him in the center of the Pattern. That's the last thing I remember."

Things went a little crazy as we all asked questions at once. Which Patterns was he jumping between? Where was Baal now? He had found Baal again?

"Yes." He nodded. "And he knocked me out again. And if you care at all, Brand's universe doesn't exist anymore."

We assured him that we were well aware of the fact, having all fallen off the edge of the universe when it folded.

"I tried to shoot Baal with a crossbow bolt," Trystan offered. "It disintigrated."

"It's surprising that Baal didn't follow you to this Pattern," Angel said, "since I would think that if he can walk that Pattern he should be able to walk this one."

Serge looked confused. "This is not the same Pattern that was in Brand's Amber and went away, right?"

"Right." We all agreed on that point.

"Let me get this straight." Martin seemed to be trying to put it all together. "Is this Brand's Pattern?"

Trystan shook his head. "There was this Pattern that they said belonged to Brand in his universe. This is a Pattern that Brand might have drawn, or Baal."

"What made you try to walk it?" Angel asked.

"I didn't try, I did walk it," Trystan said calmly.

It was beginning to annoy me, his attitude and evasions. "Trystan, had you been there before?" It seemed an obvious question to me, and he answered that he had. "So this is one of those memories that you didn't have until you walked Brand's Pattern. And then you remembered everything?"

"Not everything," he shook his head. "There are still black holes."

"You could always walk the Pattern again," Angel suggested.

"I did. About an hour ago."

"Trystan," I interrupted, refusing to let Angel distract him. "When did you first walk this Pattern that Baal was in the center of? And why did you first walk it? And do you remember your father trying to kill you?"

"I remember I've walked it before," he admitted. "I remember Brand being there, and I know he's walked it. I don't remember exactly when the first time I walked it was. It was a while ago."

"Who was your mother?" I asked out of the blue. A strange question, until you remember that I once knew a child named Trystan.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I was brought up on a foreign planet. I wasn't told Brand was my father until a while ago. He did tell me, but I didn't remember that, so I was quite old when he told me."

"What was it like?"

"Like this, very non-technological." He waved his hand. "Plants, trees, natural."

"When did he first come to Amber?" I asked Angel.

"First? Don't know. But Ajax brought him in most recently during the search for Deirdre's Axe." She supplied the answer, but it didn't help. I found myself growing more curious about Trystan.

But instead the conversation turned back to the problem with magic. And why it kept reappearing and disappearing. I still wished to retrieve my books from Devane, and felt that with Jan's help to get to Ygg, and Trystan's help to find Crystal Tears from there, I might be able to do so. Angel managed to convince them otherwise, reminding them how my spells had not been working properly of late.

Trystan had his deck of cards out, and was slowly flipping through it. I leaned over his shoulder, curious. He had some cards that Angel didn't have, including some of places around Amber, and one of that Baal person, along with some others that I didn't recognize. The backs were slightly different as well, all painted a singular plain black.

"Where did you get the extra cards?" I asked.

"My father." He was still flipping through, pausing every so often to consider a card more carefully.

"Did you get along with your father?" I was curious, and surprised when he said he had. "Then why does everyone say he killed you?"

"I have no idea." He looked as puzzled as I felt.

"At some time before I was born," Angel offered, "it was rumored that Trystan had died at Brand's hand."

"It was also rumored that my father had died," Trystan reminded them. And of course, evidence pointed towards him now being possibly alive. "And Bleys and Fiona."

I shook my head. "They're not dead, just missing."

"They are?" He looked surprised. "I saw them, just recently."

"When?" My answer was instantaneous.

"About a week ago." He hesitated, and we urged him to continue. "They appeared just as I disappeared."

"Where?" I urged.

"I was in the center of the Pattern," he explained, "in the fringes. They appeared, but it happened to be before I remembered who they were. So I didn't really make a note of it. And then I ended up in a cell with all of you."

I was angry by now, having been looking for Bleys since before that time to no avail. I started to yell, letting him know just how annoyed I was, rambling on and on, trying to ignore his weasling out of the situation by reminding us that at the time, he didn't know who Bleys was.

"Perhaps we should visit Baal," Martin suggested.

"How?" I asked.

"He knows where it is," Martin gestured at Trystan. "And we can join him by Trump possibly, if it works there."

And that was a sobering thought, since the last time Trystan had been there, Baal had knocked him unconscious. He did claim to be able to arrive in a location far from where Baal should be, and able to bring us through in relative safety.

"Have you ever seen this place before?" Jan handed a piece of paper to Merlin.

Merlin concentrated on the sketch of Lucretia's place with all the portals. "No, haven't see it. But Serge, your sunglasses are there."

His eyes flew open. "They are?" He looked suddenly pleased. "What about Lucretia's bike?"

Merlin concentrated some more. "Yeah, its there too. Do you want to go?"

Serge and Jan stepped through the Trump and disappeared. A few minutes later I observed, "Its taking them a while."

Merlin no longer had the sketch, as they only work for one use. He glanced over at me. "How much trouble could they get in?"

I shook my head, hiding a smile. "You'd be surprised." After all, I'd seen one thrown unconscious through one portal, while the other leapt blindly through a different one. Which meant that by that point, they could have been in any outland in the universe.

"Fine." Merlin pulled out a piece of paper and started to make a sketch, peering through it once he was done. "They're fine."

And then magic came back. Martin pulled Serge and Jan out of Lucretia's place, along with several motorcycle pieces. Then

After a few more minutes, Martin tried to locate them as well. Serge and Jan both reappeared, broken motorcycle pieces in their hands. Martin was shuffling cards quickly, and Jan joined him. He paused on one with a picture of a redheaded woman. He looked over at Trystan. "Are you using your Trump of Fiona?"

After a moment's hedging, he handed it over to Jan, who began to concentrate on it. Martin brought Lucretia back to the room, surprising me, as I hadn't seen her wander away. She hurried over to her bike, trying desperately to put it back together.

Merlin tossed a Trump to Angel, "Call your mom." A moment later, Flora arrived.

Jan got a surprised expression on his face, and reached out, pulling a man into view. He was not as tall as most of the men in the room, with hair the color of yellow sand and a young face. He was carrying the woman from the card in his arms.

"She's Fiona. She's been missing. And you're Random. You've been dead."

Angel's observation was interesting. And how typical it seemed of her relatives for one who was dead to simply walk through the picture magic, carrying another relative, as if he had every right to be breathing.

Random was ignoring us, looking at Martin, who was speaking to him. "What happened, dad?"

"Let's just say I've been away for a while," he put him off.

"Do you know anything about the magic turning on and off and on and off?" Serge pestered him.

"Someone apparently has real control over the powers in the universe," he began.

"Someone's got the Jewel and is playing with the universe," Angel sang in a sing-song voice.

Random took her seriously. "Really? I didn't know that. Do you know who? We might as well go and get it back."

"Have you seen Bleys?" I asked.

"Not recently." He thought a moment. "Not for 75 years or so."

"Last time he was seen it was with her." I gestured at Fiona.

"Not when I got to her." He glanced over at her unconscious body, resting on the floor. "She's taken it pretty bad. She's been up to something, and at first I thought it was her screwing around with the universe. But apparently someone just recently tried to attack her."

"We lost Julian," I offered. We explained about that attack, and a little about the Chaos cancer that everyone had. Random didn't seem impressed with our discussions.

His son seemed to agree with him that he had thought that Fiona had been behind it as well, until this attack. "I think its Baal," Trystan spoke up.

"Who's Baal?"

Trystan produced the Trump to show Random, who considered it carefully. "Where can we find him?"

Trystan described the scene we'd all heard about, the outland in the fringes with the Pattern.

"Brands?" Random inquired.

"I can walk it," was all Trystan would say.

Random shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. He was nobody."

I didn't understand how this Baal could walk that one Pattern, but not the one in Amber. Nor did any of us understand fully how Brand might fit into the picture. Random insisted that Baal wasn't anyone important until now. And then I remembered Brand's universe, making sure to bring Random up to date on that detail, and that Pattern as well.

"It seems that Baal has gotten the Jewel and is screwing around with it," Trystan decided. "And he's a lot more powerful than a nobody."

"Let me ask you another question," Random broke in. "Where's Deirdre's axe? And where are Corwin's plans for building a new Jewel?"

I had never understood what Deirdre's axe had to do with anything. And of course, "Corwin's dead."

Random drew himself up to full height. "I'm going to take over the throne in his absence."

Random was the third king in almost as many days, it seemed. Amber was not a place to inspire confidence in a liege.

"What does this axe have to do with anything?" I asked, frustrated.

Random seemed distracted. "It was the starting material for the new Jewel."

"Gerard and Julian might know where the plans are," Angel suggested. "And they've both been kidnapped. We could try searching their rooms."

"Their rooms are empty, thanks to your mother," Trystan observed wryly.

Flora didn't comment.

Random was thinking out loud. "As far as I can tell, people who aren't dead who are known to be missing are Gerard, Julian, Ajax, Bleys, Benedict & Llewella."

"Why don't we try and contact these people before anything happens," Jan suggested practically.

"I tried." Martin was shuffling through his Trump again, idly. "Benedict and Bleys seemed to be dead, and Ajax was blocking. I just haven't gotten back to him. I was assuming he was with Gerard."

"Could magic help?" I offered. Martin seemed to think that perhaps it might, but since magic didn't exist at that time, it was of no use right then.

"Julian brought the axe back," Jan told us, "strolling through Rebma during Moire's funeral. Shortly after that Serge and I landed in the dungeon. Julian ended up there as well soon."

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"He was acting like an asshole," Angel offered.

I didn't understand the reason, but it came down to a simple point. No one knew where the axe was now. Gerard had taken the axe from Julian, and seemed to have no desire to return it to Corwin. And then, of course, Corwin turned up dead and Gerard took the throne.

"We could go to this shadow in the fringes at try and stop Baal from getting back on the Pattern," Angel suggested. "Since he seems to be on it a lot, maybe we can stop whatever he's doing."

"How are we going to stop him?" Trystan asked. "Shooting him didn't do anything."

"It is possibe we might be able to neutralize this Jewel," Random suggested, "since I'm not entirely certain its the real one."

"You think he got the plans, the axe and did it," I commented.

"Either that or its the real one." He looked over at Angel. "Just jumping in and shooting things won't help." She managed to look innocent, as if she hadn't been suggesting the bloodthirsty plans.

"Magic's back."

My head snapped up, as Jan began to shuffle his card. Before he settled on anything, Martin disappeared.

I could feel the magic swirling around me, and I started up a spell, trying quickly to contact Martin. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jan concentrating on a card, an intense expression on his face. The magic seemed to surge into the room, and I drew on it, channeling it towards Martin. And then I had it -- contact! A moment later I felt Jan's mind there as well, and knew that my mind to mind contact and his Trump contact were working together in some manner.

On the other end, we were in Martin's mind but it seemed strange, as if he weren't quite there. But there was someone else there, and he and Jan were locked in mental combat. I pulled and formed the magic that was still surging, higher and higher, into my spell, forging my part of the contact open with it. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Merlin drop to the ground, and Random, Trystan and Angel disappear.

I'm not sure how long we fought, struggling with magic and Trump, and with the intense power on the other end. And then as suddenly as it began, it was gone. With the release of power, I felt the magic sinking away from me, and I blacked out.

I awoke to find Trystan and Angel back with us. Merlin, Flora, Lucretia, Jan and Serge were just waking up as well. Martin was still unconscious, and after a quick check, we determined Fiona had gone beyond unconscious and was well and truly dead. I sat back on my heels, a bit of shock on my face. I had felt the magic surging around me. I felt the power to draw on. And it appeared that in my deep desire to save Martin, I had drawn on the power of everyone else, and had knocked us all out. And killed Fiona.

Random had returned to Amber, but he wanted to go back to Baal's Pattern, in the hopes of keeping him from using it. He walked down to the basement to walk Amber's Pattern. A little while later, I felt the tickling of a mental contact and accepted the Trump call from Random. "Does anyone else wish to go?" I called out. For myself, I hoped to find any notes that Baal might have, as it appeared that his magic worked much as my own, killing things for energy. Trystan joined us as well.

I was standing in an open field, a glowing Pattern on the ground nearby. There was no dwelling, no place for notes. Just the Pattern. And as I looked at it, I realized something. Trystan had lied. This Pattern of Baal's wasn't a different Pattern. It perfectly matched the one Trystan had walked in Brand's Amber.

Tears of Crystal is copyright 1995 by Deb Atwood. Hardcopies are limited to a single copy for personal use only.

Chapter Thirteen, Rook Takes Pawn

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