Ossian approaches the castle following his sojourn in shadow. Uncharacteristically, it is heavily manned and the gate is sealed.
They let him in immediately.
Venesch, captain of the guards, comes out of the tower himself. "Lord Ossian, it is good to have you back. The elder Princes left, chasing someone they called Huon, a thief. He was returned here, via your family's methods, tied up and bleeding. We have placed him in a cell, but we have not heard from them in the watch or more since he was captured."
He looks to Ossian, as if unsure if he should be expecting orders or not.
Ossian smiles "Venesch, Venesch...haven't Lord Jerod told you I am not to be trusted with important matters of state?"
Venesch starts to speak. "N--", but subsides when Ossian continues.
"On a serious note. I'd like to take a look at Huon. How safe is his cell?"
"It is an excellent cell, My Lord. If you will walk with me?" Venesch leads Ossian to the castle and down the long stairs to the deep cells. "It is the same cell that I gave to Prince Random when he attempted to murder King Eric. It is four paces by five in dimension, and very, very deep."
Indeed, it is very deep, below the wine cellars, but not as deep as the Pattern Chamber. The stairs are armed with Venesch's guards, carrying crossbows and swords.
"There are two guards outside his cell, another at the base of the stairs here, and as you saw, the ones we passed as we descended. If he were to escape, we would know before he took six steps."
Venesch comes to a door outside a cell. The door reminds Ossian of another door below the castle, although this one is not as tall. It is solid hardwood, with only a metal flap at the bottom for passing in food.
"Sargeant Barrell, report, please."
"Commander. The prisoner is quiet. He was restless a half a watch ago, and paced for a bit, but then he stopped. Probably passed out. He was hard used when he was returned to us."
Barrell hammers on the door with the hilt of his sword. "Wake up, your highness, you have visitors!"
There is no answer from behind the door.
Ossian draws his sword, motioning for the guards and Venesch to do the same. "Dangerous." he says as an afterthought, then continues in a thick voice, "Open the door."
Venesch hands the key to the other solder and he and Sargeant Barrell stand back, swords at the ready.
The door swings inward with a great squeaking sound, and the guard with the key, who is also the guard with the lantern, leans in. "I don't--"
Barrell rushes in, looks all around, including up and kicks over the straw bed. He turns and stands in the doorway, anger and fear coursing through his heavy face.
Venesch pales in the lantern light. "Sergeant, the tocsin. Seal the castle, in case he has not left the grounds."
The Sergeant runs towards the stairs, calling out to his fellow soldiers.
Venesch turns to Ossian. "My Lord, I do not know how he has been freed. I am to blame."
"Oh. He has escaped alright. I doubt he's still in the castle" Ossian says with a sigh turning to Venesch. "Which moron gave you the instructions on how to detain this man?"
Venesch stiffens. "No one, my Lord. The error was mine alone."
"Don't blame yourself. This man was can walk through walls if he needs to." Ossian says "How did he come here?"
"I was in charge, My Lord. He appeared first with the new Queen of Rebma, and he stole her sword and ran. He was pursued by Sir Brennan and Prince Jerod, then by the Princes Caine and Bleys and also Ladies Robin and Brij.
"After a time, he appeared at the same spot outside the castle, tied and unarmed. I waited, but when it became clear that the family had sent him to us without accompanying him, I deemed it safest to take him to the secure cell below.
"That was my mistake. I underestimated a Prince of Amber, to my regret." He looks at the stairs. "The Sergeant should have the bell ringing by now."
"We'll see if the king wants to punish you." Ossian says dissmissively. "Let's go."
Venesch closes the door and locks it and follows Ossian up the long dark stairway. The guards fall in behind him as they climb. Ossian can tell that they know of the escape and they reflect their master's mood.
At about the halfway point, the tocsin bell starts tolling.
Convinced that Couth could handle the initial recruiting likely better than she could, Paige turns her mount toward the Castle. If there was need of a Royal Scion or some other figure of authority, tomorrow would be soon enough to sign off on whatever was needed.
The Trump with Aunt Fiona had piqued her curiousity and convinces her that she had missed some significant events that someone at the Castle would likely be able to relate.
Paige arrives at the gate, which is not completely closed, and the guards greet her. They tell her that Lord Ossian is in residence and is below with a prisoner and the Captain. The prisoner is a thief.
Just after Paige learns this, she catches the rainbow flash of someone arriving via trump at the trump-spot. She can see from the gate that it is a Rebman woman. She steps quickly to the gate. "Huon," she asks. "Is he secure?" Her sword is narrower than Werewindle, and greenish, but bears the distinctive marks of a pattern-blade.
Another woman arrives behind her. This one small and lithe like an athlete, and not green at all. She's carrying a shotgun, casually.
Paige turns, hand on hilt, watching the guard's reaction first before speaking.
She had arrived via Trump, so Paige assumes her to be Family of some nature, if the blade hadn't declared her such, and the tone of command seems to match that, but the coloration... A blade for each Pattern her father had told her once. Just where was her ex to handle such cultural and martial conjunctions?
If the guard hasn't answered already, she answers, "My apologies. I am Lady Paige. If Huon is the name of a prisoner here, my cousin Ossian and Captain Venesch are attending to him currently. As to secure?" she shrugs. "I only know of one to ever escape the Castle dungeon, and he was an uncle of mine."
It's only then that she recognizes the name. "Wait, Huon? Pinobello's brother? And they've left it to Ossian? You are the Knight of Rebma, hence Family?" She then casts a meaningful glance to the companion with the scattergun. The urgency in her voice betrays her concern for Ossian.
Paige hears a scuff on stone and the soldiers stand straighter but look less nervous.
"Lady Paige, daughter of Prince Bleys," says Prince Caine's voice from behind her, "May I present her Majesty Queen Khela of Rebma?"
Khela smiles. "Cousin, we will have more time to speak shortly, I hope."
Paige returns the smile with a little wonder in her eyes. "I too, Your Majesty."
Caine turns to the guard. "Report."
The guard nods. "Yes, Regent. A watch or more ago the thief who came through yesterday evening arrived, tied up and unarmed. When it became clear the prisoner would not die, he was put in a secure cell below the castle. Lord Ossian arrived and the commander took him below to inspect the prisoner. That was a few minutes ago."
Caine nods. "There should be a few more coming through from Lord Jerod. Keep the castle on alert, I'm going to the dungeons. Will you ladies be accompanying me?"
Brij hands a guard her shotgun and says "Yep. Where can I get a sword?"
Meanwhile, Paige feels the beginnings of a Trump contact.
"Who?" Paige asks.
"Brita. I am in Reality Xanadu and can Come to You At Your Convenience."
"A moment, Cousin. We seem to be gathering here at the Castle gates," Paige answers.
A guard hands Brij a sword. She seems quite comfortable with it, in an academic way.
Behind Paige, several people appear at the trumping in spot. First Robin arrives, then Brennan and Bleys, followed by Jerod.
"Well?" asks Bleys.
"He says Huey is in the clink," replies Brij, guesturing towards the guard talking to Caine.
"Prince Caine has offered to escort us to visit him," adds Khela.
"I'm not co--", Caine starts to say, and then the tocsin sounds, the bell pealing distress across the mountaintop. "No, no, no, no!" shouts Caine, and starts running for the castle.
The guards start to scramble, motioning everyone outside to come in. They are as polite as one can be while herding royals for their own protection.
Brennan came through the Trump looking like he'd been through several kinds of a war-- wearing armor that's a bit dented and scuffed and patched with soot and blood that looks too vivid to be quite human. It may have deflected a few bullets at some point. He is manifestly not having a good day.
When the tocsin rings, Brennan's day visibly gets worse. He takes off after Caine at a dead run.
Jerod follows in but closes in on Khela, scaling the Amber trump into Robin's vicinity for her to deal with. "That's the sound that Huon is no longer in custody and Caine's about to get angry at one of the guards." he says quietly. "That's usually a very bad thing. Unless you've got a trick up your sleeve, I'd advise a return to Rebma. We need to find out what has happened there."
She agrees. "Yes. While I want Huon returned to Rebma to face justice for what he did, I must secure the kingdom and you can find him. How can I return to mother or General Conner?"
Robin hits the ground running for the Castle, leaving little wet red footprints behind her. The girl is liberally splashed with the same too-vivid blood that Brennan sports. Underneath, she's dressed in the torn, scorched and burnt remains of what was probably once a fairly nice green peasant-style dress. Her sword is sheathed at her side, but she's definitely got that 'coming through' look in her eye. Despite that, she does her best to catch the Trump Jerod wings in her direction without breaking stride.
The tactically-minded may note that Robin is most definitely not following Caine toward the dungeon. She's got another destination in mind.
The trumping-in spot sparkles once more. As he steps through the contact, Garrett is met with the sound of the tocsin and the gates beginning to close before him. "Come on!" he shouts, tugging at the hand of the other person coming through the contact.
Signy steps through the opening shortly before it gutters and flickers out of life as she drops Garrett's hand. She looks around at her surroundings, her hand dropping to the hilt of her sword as she notes the alarm bells and rapidly departing family members.
"It would seem that Brennan is here. Hopefully he will have some more information about where Red Fox Claws is at," she notes to Garrett. "Do you think we should go and try to help with whatever it is," as she gestures vaguely in the direction of the alarm bells, "or would we be better off staying put?"
"If Red Fox Claws is here, he's in there," Garrett nods toward the gate as he trots in that direction.
Paige follows through the gate, wondering at the sheer number of Family that has appeared in the last few moments. Once inside, she extends a hand to Brita. "Come quickly. It seems there is some state of alarm here."
As Robin dashes toward the Castle, she dances herself into a small spin facing backward toward the gates and all the flashy-cardy-thingies.
"Guys!" Robin the dripping Ranger calls out. "Dragon blood is corrosive and a metamorphic bio-contaminent. If you got any on yourselves, you'll wanna scrub it off... soon-ish. Oh, and burn any non-essential gear."
Then she spins again and rushes into the Castle.
Brita accepts Paige's hand through the Trump. She comes through to hear Robin's advice and glancing at the rapidly departing, notes Garrett and Signy in the party. She starts to follow, but stops and turns to Paige, "Shall we Find Out what the Commotion is About?"
Paige nods, following. Before she's out of range, she calls back, "Joining us, Father?"
Bleys looks up from his conversation with Brij. "No, sweetheart, the excitement there is finished. I'll see you for supper, later. We'll tell you what the excitement was about." He grins. "Go on."
Signy starts to move after Caine and Brennan. "Caine has charge of Brother Tomat, and Brennan knows of Red Fox Claws. For now, I go where they go," she notes to Garrett.
Garrett nods once and quickens his pace to follow Caine and Brennan.
As [Ossian and Venesch] reach the top [of the stairway], Caine comes around the corner and stops abruptly. He waits for a moment, then says "Tell me what happened." It's unclear who he is addressing.
Brennan follows close on after Caine, looking either quite battered, or perhaps as though he's spent quite some time battering on something (or someone) who could really take it. He has the air of a man bracing for a very large disappointment. He waits for the answer.
Brita, Paige, Signy and Garrett arrive shortly behind Brennan.
Paige is dressed in split riding skirts, light blouse, hunting jacket, and high riding boots that click on the stones of the castle stairs. The whole ensemble and her hair is dissheveled, as if she had rolled down a forest hill or ridden through a wind storm recently.
Ossian is dressed in travelling clothes, with ink spots on his sleeves. He looks tan and quite well. And worried and excited at the same time.
"Huon was imprisoned here, but has escaped. Seems Venesch underestimated him." Ossian says with a shrug. "Although I wouldn't just Trump him here without any safekeeping instructions."
Venesch nods, once. "I did not keep the prisoner, Your Highness. We put him in a cell, and he was not there when we opened it."
"Did you know he could leave it?," Caine asks.
"No, Highness. I still do not know what sorcery he had to allow escape. He had no magic, or weapons. It was the same cell we kept Prince Random in. Does he have allies who could rescue him?"
"Well, you're not guilty of treason in his escape, at least." Caine steps in a turns to his relatives. "Anyone who wishes may inspect the cell below. You'll find nothing. You have one hour to clean up, then dinner will be served again. I will inform the King. That is all."
Venesch speaks up. "Your Highness, I bear full responsibility! I offer my resignation."
Caine turns to him, coldly. "As you wish. Commodore Puzzle of the Admiralty is appointed interim Captain of the Guard. Transfer your articles of office to him."
Venesch bows, and the guardsmen behind him turn pale.
Brennan, having braced for the bad news, merely closes his eyes during this exchange. If anything, he seems to lean into the bad news, almost... savoring it... and letting it break across his spirit like a strong wind.
"Prince Caine," Brennan says, in a voice entirely too calm. "You will want to know the latest from Rebma, as will the King. After I tidy up," he pauses, but does not dignify the blood and soot with so much as an unfriendly glare, "and at your convenience, I will report." If Caine wants that at dinner, so be it; if before or after, so be that. The pages can sort it out.
Brennan turns and stalks off toward his quarters without another word, brushing past whatever cousins have gathered around him.
Garrett regards the scene somberly. For his entire life, Venesch has been head of the guards. Strong, dutiful and loyal. To see him brought to the point of resignation is sobering. To hear it accepted stuns him to the core.
He steps back silently to let Brennan pass, then remembering his orders, he speaks up. "Highness, I have other news to report. The Queen has been located and returned safely to Xanadu. She had been taken by the Moonriders."
Brita watches the others depart then turns to Venesch. "Sir Venesch, I would See the cell the Prisoner Was in." Assuming a guard is given to lead the way, she descends to the lower level and enters the room. Inside, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She sifts the smells to see if there is any trace of something not here that might give an indication of the next place her Uncle moved towards. She will then open her eyes - all three - to see if there is any lingering change.
"It's one of those days," Paige mutters, following Brita to the cell. Once there, she allows her cousin quiet to investigate. She looks as well, once Brita is done, but if her father expected to see nothing, she expects that a dabbler would like herself would see less than nothing.
It's too long for evidence of a shadow walk to be here and the scents of the dungeon mask even the scents of the people with her. What they don't find is any reason to believe that the escape was anything but a pattern-assisted walk away.
When her examination is complete, she will head back upstairs to await dinner.
"We can speak after I clean up, but before dinner, perhaps?" Paige asks.
Brita nods curtly, a little distracted with her frustration over her Uncle after all she did to help him. "I'll be in the West Gallery," Brita mentions the long hall containing family portraits of the more mundane sort that resides in the same wing as the main dinning hall. She then heads off on her own pursuits.
Signy quietly watches Brennan leave, before glancing briefly at Caine. "Perhaps now is not the best time to be inquiring after Tomat and Red Fox Claws. Do you think after dinner will be any better, thought?" she asks Garrett in a quiet deadpan.
Caine continues to speak to a midshipman who was in the room. The guard leave with Venesch.
Paige makes her own way back toward her rooms.
Garrett scowls in Caine's direction, irked at the lack of reply to the news of the rescue but chalking the silence up to this being Uncle Caine. "No, probably not the best time," he mutters back to Signy. "Come on. I can tell you where to look."
Caine ignores Garrett's scowls. [It's almost as if the GM didn't catch a reaction shot they needed to put in. Inwardly, Caine is glad that Random will be in a hopefully better mood when he calls him to tell him that they didn't catch Huon, but he'd never let that show to Garrett...]
Signy glances after the departing Brennan, before heading off after Garrett. "Maybe if this doesn't yield anything, I can at least try and find Brennan before Dinner...."
Assuming Signy follows, Garrett leads the way back into the more traveled sections of the castle and searches out one of the more experienced of the castle servants - one he expects would be up on castle gossip.
Robin dashes into the Castle not even allowing herself the time to shudder as she once more enters the creeping dead silence/cacophony of the place. The first guard or page she sees is greeted with "You! Take me to the Ranger boys. As fast as possible."
Peep flies in after Robin, with Ooot and Chirrup following.
The first person she encounters is a guard, who is rushing to answer the tocsin. He stops and looks bewildered at her. "Ranger boys?"
Robin blows a quick loving kiss to her lizards. She's thrilled that they're okay, but still on the job.
"Breeze, Sage & Tatter. Daeon's sons," she clarifies. The girl is practically dancing with impatience. Stoopid, trackless Castle. Need a guide. But have to go, go, go!
"I'll take you to the Ranger," he decides, and leads her off into the maze of the castle. He's slow, but he does seem to know where he's going.
Arrrgh! But not his fault. Besides, it'd definitely take more time to get unlost.
Eventually he arrives at a suite of rooms that opens on to a courtyard. Couth admits her, looking surprised for a moment at her condition. "What happened to you?" he asks, ushering her in.
"Little misunderstanding with some dragons," she replies with a roll of her green eyes. "Checkin' on retaliations now. Boys okay? Got a way to get a message to Vista pronto?"
While she's firing away with the questions, she scans the room and Listens for any dragon-sign, since Robin figures she won't be able to smell it like her father as she's covered with the stuff.
There are no obvious signs of Dragon other than what's all over her.
"Here, you need to clean that off." He raises his voice. "Sage, come in here and squire Robin." Couth starts digging around and turns back to Robin. "I got birds in the mews that can go to Vista."
Sage comes in from the other room. "Couth?" Then he catches sight of Robin and wrinkles his nose, but comes over to help anyway.
"Could you send to him and let him know there's been trouble? Castle-folk crawling into a chasm and getting all testy-type trouble.
"Thanks, Sage," she smiles to the boy as she starts shucking her gear and garb. While Robin's being very, very subtle about it, she keeps her hands free and near weapons while cleaning up. She hasn't forgotten how the Dragon-Girth struck at her father.
Couth pulls the bell and when a page appears, tells him, "Bring a ranger hawk down from the mews. I got a message goin' out."
"Oo! And could you tell the staff that the stuff I've dripped in the corridor is corrosive and toxic? They'll probably want to be careful when cleaning it up." Robin adds apologetically.
The page looks wide-eyed at the Rangers before running off.
[Couth] turns back to Robin as he moves to get something to write on. "What all do I need to tell him? Or are you doin' that?"
Robin chuckles. "It's writin' stuff," she sticks out her tongue, "would you mind? Lessee... tell him '7 Castle-folk hit a Chasm. Hostilities ensued. Castle-folk fine. Dragons took casualties. Beware retaliations.'"
"Seven Castle folk hit a chasm. Hostilities ensued. Castle folk fine. Dragon took casualties. Beware retaliation," Couth repeats.
"Yep." Robin nods her confirmation.
Sage is helpful and doesn't seem to be compromised by dragon, at least insofar as he doesn't seem to be turning into a dragon minion and attacking her. He's careful with the bloody gear and doesn't let it get on the rug, which is good because when it lands on the stone, the blood looks like it might pit it.
Yep, yep, yep. Livin' la vida Ranger.
As Robin completes her strip-down, she finds the leather-wrapped packet Bleys gave her. "Dung!" she curses under her breath, "Guess I'm still going to dinner." Her nose wrinkles in disgust.
"You need me to call some castle lass with a dress for you?" Couth's tone conveys a similar opinion of the idea of dinner.
"Yeah, I suppo-ose..." the girl sighs as she wrangles befouled beads, bones and feathers out of her hair.
Then, her green eyes flick over to Couth with rueful humor in them. "Thanks, Couth."
And she gets busy with a basin.
[OOC - We can move to summary mode if the GMs'd like. Robin's only other agendae here are to get a visual sighting of Breeze and Tatter, make up with the firelizards and see the message off to Vista.]
[All of these things are easy to accomplish in the next little while.]
Sage, Breeze, and Tatter all appear to be fine. There are no Green-Induced Homicide Attempts on either Couth or Robin.
The servants bring up a bird from the mews to send off with the message. Meanwhile, a bath is procured and a girl brought up to help put Robin in a dress for dinner. She looks about as happy to put Robin in a dress as Robin is to be in one.
The firelizards can be bought off with lizard snacks, if Robin thinks to summon such.
She will. She'll also use the excuse to 'shore the order up' around the boys and their domicile, like Julian was doing in Arden following the Girth attack.
And one look around at herself being happy to get dressed for dinner, the girl being happy to dress her for dinner and Couth being happy about dinners in general... it all gets too much and Robin breaks out into rueful laughter.
After which, she engages the girl in stories about other events this dress might have attended, draws stories out from everyone regarding amusing dinner disasters, etc, until she can lighten everyone's mood - even if just a little.
Then she asks if the young lady will show her to where she's supposed to be. 'Cause, you know, Castle + Robin = ???
The girl leads her down to family dinner.
Brennan strides off from the collected knot of cousins, castle guards, ex-castle guards surrounding Caine. Tall and long-legged, Brennan walks quickly at the best of times-- irate, he walks even faster. His first stop is his own quarters, to strip off his armor and renew the protective spells on the cask that Red Fox Claws better have left there.
Ossian tries to catch up, and has to take a few undignified running steps to do so.
"Hey Brennan! I'd much appreciate if I could be present at that Rebma session too."
Brennan doesn't stop, but he does slow down enough that Ossian can keep up at something less than a jog. He nods, once. "Unless Caine says otherwise, but I don't think it's a state secret. It's better that it's not, in my opinion. The important thing about Rebma is that it is still there." Brennan's diction and tone do not indicate any form of exaggeration at all.
Ossian lets out a sigh. "Lucky me."
Brennan shoots Ossian a raised-eyebrow glance, but does not immediately comment.
"How long did it take Huey to escape?" Brennan asks.
"Don't know exactly. Not very long, I think." Ossian says with a shrug. "He was still there an hour ago or so, according to the guards. Venesch seems rather overworked. He was relieved that I arrived here and could take charge."
Brennan mutters something best left untranslated under his breath. "Less than five minutes, from our perspective. Sent through bound, beaten, burnt, and bleeding. Should have known, given how tenuous the Trump contacts were between here and there."
If he listens hard enough, Ossian can probably hear Brennan's jaw clenching and unclenching in frustration. Then, "What does, 'Lucky you,' mean, exactly?"
"I was afraid I and Brita blew it up." Ossian says "I guess you have heard about our..." Ossian makes a wry face "slipup."
"Undersea volcanos?" Brennan asks acerbically. "No, this was Huon's doing, through and through. But I think I'd like to hear about this, given how much stress the place has been under."
Brennan lets Ossian tell as much of that story as he cares to on the way to his quarters, and even after he arrives, as long as Ossian is comfortable telling it while Brennan moves about.
The first thing Brennan does when he gets to his quarters is make sure that the cask with his and Daeon's symbols is still there. That's followed by shrugging out of his armor, which he leaves to a squire, and then out of his clothes, which he leaves (in a gunny sack) to a page-- "Burn these."
Then he shrugs into a robe, for modesty's sake, and heads off for the baths. (Presumeably with Ossian?) On the way, he collars another page and tells him to find the newcomer known as Red Fox Claws, and bring him to Brennan.
The page departs, looking as if he knows exactly where to go.
Ossian follows Brennan to the baths. (What better for father-son bonding than some nudity? :-) ) "We'll start with a short version leaving out some interesting Trump/Pattern interaction details.
"I and Brita went down to Rebma, looking for Meg. We thought maybe Dara could have gone there with her. So we started with the basement. Eerie place. We met Uncle Huon there, but in an old time flow, I believe. So old that his brother, Pinobello, you know the one he supposedly killed on the Pattern, was walking Rebma's broken Pattern.
"He ... fell. We tried to save him by Trumping him out. The results were strange indeed, but we in the end it seems Pinobello died anyway. Besides we made the Pattern really angry. Which is why I was worried Rebma might have been damaged in the process."
It's clear that even through the short version of that story, Brennan wants to interrupt with questions. But he does not. He holds them not only until Ossian is done, but all the way until they reach the baths, where Brennan shrugs out of the robe again. In preparation for the anticipated hot water, Brennan stands at the water's edge and gives a good long stretch, starting at the neck, out to the shoulders and elbows, down the spine, down both legs, and out to the fingers and toes. Ossian can hear the joints popping. Ossian can also see that even most of the blood he'd been covered in belonged to someone (or something) else, he's still fairly banged up. He's bruised and abraded and scraped, like he's been picked up and thrown across a room a few times, and hit with a few hammers through his armor.
Brennan gets in the water, dunks himself, and remains mindful to conjure the Dragon blood away rather than letting it disperse through the Castle's water supply..
Then he turns back to Ossian. "Okay, first: Rebma's broken what?"
Ossian looks with a worried face at his father's cleansing process, while comfortably lying floating on his back in the water, making small waves with his toes. He clearly has some questions of his own.
"Pattern. Like ours, it had a rift in it, but the Rebman Pattern seems to be working anyway. The big question is, what happens when you try to walk over the gap?"
"I'm not going to try and find out," Brennan says. "But Rebma's Pattern is not broken. I was just there, keeping that from happening." He goes back to scrubbing himself for a moment, then looks up, and asks, "You have a Trump of Pinobello?"
"Nope. We swam to the point where he fell, and I Trumped Caine. We pulled him off the Pattern through the Trump." Ossian says.
Even Brennan blanches at that.
"So the Rebman Pattern's ok now? That time played games with Brita and I down there, I knew. But I thought we were in the past.
"Do you know how the universe deals with temporal paradoxes?"
"Depends on where you are," Brennan says. "Farther out toward Chaos, it's practically the natural condition, I think. Closer in toward a Pattern, it should no more be possible to cause a temporal paradox than it should be to cause a spatial paradox, like being in two places at the same time. Should, though. Very few things are truly impossible, if any." He thinks a bit more, remembering something. "My guess is that the universe would contrive to simply kill or destroy whatever was the source of it, and it might be subtle at all. But if something was playing games with time, why limit it? How do you know you were in Rebma?"
"I don't know that. But then, how many Patterns under water are there, even broken ones? They should not exist in Shadow, should they?"
"Definitionally, no, as I understand it," Brennan says. "But that wasn't what I was getting at. Could you have been in Rebma, but seeing somewhere else?"
"We met Huon in the basement... Of course he could have been manipulating us in one way or the other. But I sort of doubt it. He said we were ghosts from the past. Maybe we were in a possible future?"
Brennan grunts. "Huon's got a certain level of dangerous cunning, but he didn't strike me as being the brightest crayon in the box. If this was a past echo of Huon, he'd probably have been fairly young, and far from knowledgeable about all the strangeness of the Pattern. If this was a future echo of Huon, it would be the second time he put a brother on the Pattern and saw him killed, which strikes me as being," he shrugs, "unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. Still wouldn't explain a broken Pattern, though. Did any of you do or say anything to provide context of your time?"
"Well, he knows that Vialle is queen, but thinks we were from the past. He claims he doesn't know who she is. He said Oberon was king." Ossian says.
"And that Pinabello was the son of one of his brothers...
"We need to delve into the history of Rebma, I think."
"We need to delve into Pinabello's past," Brennan says. "You said Pinabello was Huon's brother a few minutes ago, and now you say he's also the son of another of Huon's brothers? That in itself explains a hell of a lot. It makes him not-Oberon's son, which is what Corwin said, but also gives a reason for Huon to think his brother would survive being put on a Pattern in the first place. The critical question is, which brother?" From Brennan's scowly expression, he thinks the answer to that one is obvious.
"And if Oberon is King in whatever time frame Huon was operating on, it has to be in the past, because Grandfather is dead. Did he give some reason he thought you were from his past?"
"Nah. Nothing he couldn't have bluffed." Ossian shrugs. "Let's go to dinner. Will your story give us more leads?"
"Not that I can see," Brennan says, rising from the water, "but I know I don't have the whole story. 'Pinabello,' yes? Not a name I've heard before. That, if anything, can fix him in time. If what I think happened, happened, he'll be hard to track down in the archives and probably stricken from the official ones all together. We'll have to ask--" Brennan's face falls, abruptly. "No. No, I guess we won't ask her, after all."
Brennan towels off in silence, face set, and dresses in the black clothing that one of the pages must have left.
It does not take long to find an older servant with whom Garrett is familiar. "Gout," the young prince addresses the man, "what do you know about a recently-arrived warrior sort named Red Fox Claws? Older man, looks like he's been on a horse all his life.
"And a Brother... Tomat?" Garrett glances over at Signy to see if he has the name right. "What's Tomat look like?" he prompts her.
Gout nods. "There is a barbarian who arrived recently. He's been sleeping in the stables. I don't know the other name, but I can ask about it."
Signy shakes her head. "Brother Tomat is confined to quarters. I'll need to talk with Caine to be able to have him join me." She looks at Gout. "Which way are the stables?"
Gout gives directions that, unsurprisingly, involve going out the main gate of the keep and across the courtyard.
Signy glances at Garrett, a huge grin starting to reveal itself, before she heads out quickly in the direction of the stables.
Signy gets to the front gate, where a leathery old coot is asking a servant for directions to the castle baths.
As she approaches, she notices that he seems to be wearing the leathers of a hero of the plains. If this is Red Fox Claws, he's been magicked old.
Signy's pace slows as she nears him, her eyes widening slightly in surprise as she reaches him. "Red Fox?" she asks, tentatively.
The old warrior turns and smiles a gap-toothed smile. "Lady Signy. It's true! You don't age here, do you?"
Signy shakes her head in disbelief. "For me, it's just been a couple of weeks since I left you in front of my father's Tower."
She shakes her head, and focuses in on the warrior, giving him a warm smile. "How have you been? What's happened to the Band?"
"We stayed on station for three moons while no one came or left the tower, leaving only when the land could no longer support a war band. I went back a number of times, even going so far as to try to approach the tower, but the magics of it kept me out.
"We assumed you had been betrayed under flag of truce by the Smith and the band broke up.
"It was not until later that I heard that you were not dead. By then I was an old man, as you see before you."
Signy nods thoughtfully at this. "How did you end up here? Are you leading another's Band now?"
Red Fox Claws laughs. "Not in a score of years, My Lady. I am now more valuable for my brain than my strong sword arm. My most recent task was to attempt to train a young hero. He led me to these people."
Signy suppresses a smile at this. "Yes, Garrett. Apparently, we're related somehow." She turns slightly as if to start walking. "Were you headed somewhere? One of my tutors from when I lived with my father is here, and I'd like to check in on him before going to see if I can have him released to join me."
"Oh, he's around here somewhere. I was summoned by Brennan, but it took the churl he sent so long to find me, that I've missed him. I'm told," he says, indicating the functionary at the inner door, " that he's gone to a private family meal and cannot be interrupted by the likes of me."
Signy nods at this. "Tell Brennan that Red Fox Claws is with Signy, and we will be back shortly."
She turns, and then looks back at Red Fox. "I'm going to swing by and check on Brother Tomat, since I'm late for dinner, and then we can find Brennan after this?" she asks.
Red Fox nods. "As you wish, My Lady. While he will want answers, it was to find you that I undertook to deliver a message for him."
Signy quickly leads Red Fox over to the room where Brother Tomat is held.
Signy pauses for a moment, trying to remember if there were guards posted the last time she came here, before she knocks at the door, inclining her head slightly to listen for any sounds.
The door opens, and Tomat opens it. "What n--" He stops in mid-exclamation and bows in the fashion of the monks. "My Lady. Your pardon, your arrival was not heralded."
Signy gives Tomat a mischevous grin. "And yet here I am. Where are the guards?"
Tomat looks back at her. "Given that I had no way out of here and enemies who will hunt me down and kill me if I do and that they're fundamentally contemptuous of my abilities, they gave up on stationing a guard at my door and decided that I wouldn't escape, or if I did, I'd get what was coming to me.
"Either that, or else they plan to use me to trick you into violating some rule that they haven't told you. I'm not sure which, yet."
Signy shrugs. "The King said I could get you released. I'm going to go talk to Caine about it."
She steps slightly to the side. "This was the leader of my warband, Red Fox Claws. Fox, this is Brother Tomat -- he was my tutor while I was growing up."
Red Fox Claws looks at him. "He's your brother? I find that hard to believe."
Tomat looks at Red Fox Claws and says, in a variation of Thari that he taught to Signy many years ago, "he led a warband? Was he this stupid then?"
Red Fox Claws doesn't know what was said, but the tone makes the contempt clear.
Signy somehow manages to fix both of them with an anamused look. "He was my tutor, from a monastic order," she observes for Red Fox Claws's benefit.
"He led my warband, and was one of the first to take me in after I fled my father," she replies to Tomat in the same Thari dialect. "After I left, he was the only one that waited and looked for a sign of me."
Switching back to a language that Red Fox Claws can also understand, she fixes the both of them again with her gaze. "I trust that this answers everyone's questions."
Neither gainsays Signy. First evidence indicates that the two of them will get on as well as Swordsmen and Spellcasters normally do.
The two men await Signy's command.
Signy sighs again and shakes her head. "Is there anything in the room that you need to pack? We'll talk to Caine, and then see if Brennan has any news on my father."
Last modified: 22 September 2009