It takes quite a bit to startle me. I had lived through countless wars and seen exactly what sorts of hideous monsters lived inside humans. I had even fought beside Hitler and let myself become one of those monsters. So when the dog-man entered the humble café in Munich where I was eating my lunch, I didn't even bat an eyelash. Though new, it wasn't the worst thing I had seen. In fact, my initial reaction was that of the rest of the café: that some street performer must have wandered in for a break, or maybe that the circus was in town. I calmly continued to eat my steak and potatoes.
The man lifted his furless, dog-like face and sniffed the air. Slowly, he turned to face me. His lip curled, exposing long, sharp fangs as he came at me with a snarl.
I was ready for the attack (I am always ready for an attack) and kicked my table at him. The dog man brushed it aside and I realized now that the man's torso and arms were unnaturally long and gangly. They also seemed to be jointed at an unusual angle, and the fingers had an extra joint in them. This was definitely no human in a costume.
I bit the piece of steak that remained on the end of the fork I still held and rushed in, hoping to catch the beast off guard. The dog-man clawed at me and I ducked and left the fork in his arm. The monster howled in pain and rage and raked at me again. I rolled to the side and tried to find another weapon. The other customers had finally realized that this wasn't a joke and were rushing around in a panic trying to get out. This was only going to make it more difficult to fight.
The monster tore the fork out of its arm and threw it to the ground. Blood dripped from his hairless arm. I cracked my neck from side to side. Come at me.
The dog-man snarled and lunged again. I ducked to the side and landed an elbow to the middle of its back. The beast staggered. I wrapped one arm around the beast's neck and hoped to choke the monstrosity to death. It seemed like this trick was going to work until I noticed he tried to swipe at me with his long, sharp claws. I pulled away just in time, but that let the dog-man recover and climb back to his feet. Damn. Luckily, most of the other guests in this place had left. Good. More room to fight. It was a good thing I had gotten that fork wound in early. Hopefully, it would wear the beast down.
Just as I thought that, I heard a gunshot. The dog-man lurched forward and then spun around to face the door to the café. I could see a bullet wound in his shoulder. A second shot rang out and the beast dropped to the ground, blood pouring from a wound right between the eyes. I crouched and hid myself behind an overturned table, wishing that I had a gun on me. Though the shooter may have been aiming to take out the dog-man, there was also the chance that he was here to kill me and the monster just happened to be in the way of his aim. One can never be too careful…
"Hello?" I heard a male voice call out in German. "I know you're here. Come out! I don't mean you any harm. I mean, I did just save your life and all."
I peered out from around the table and saw a red-haired man holding a pistol. To be honest, he looked too ridiculous to be an assassin. His face was slender and long with a mustache that was comically curled at the tips. His beard was a few inches long and thick, but sprouted only from his chin. He wore a pair of black driving gloves. On his left hand, he wore a massive rock of a ruby ring, the color almost identical to that of his hair. His shirt was scarlet, bold against his clean, black slacks. The man nudged the corpse of the dog-man with his foot and then lifted his gaze to look around once more.
"Come on! We don't have all day!" He said to no one in particular. "If you're worried about the gun, well, I don't intend on using it on you."
That wasn't entirely comforting.
"Look," he continued. "I'm just here to protect you. Come on. Don't make this hard on me. It was annoying enough that a Dog got here first! I hate fighting those things! I killed one for you!"
I sighed. The man obviously wasn't going to go away. I stood, trying to keep most of me hidden behind the table for protection.
"Aha! There you are!" The red-head's eyes brightened as he smiled widely. "I knew you were still here!" I eyed the gun warily as he spoke, but he kept it lowered. Good.
"What do you want with me? Who are you?" I asked him.
"My name is Dante," the man said with an dramatic bow. "I'm here to escort you to Amber."
"Amber?" I repeated. The name sounded somewhat familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
"Yup!" The man pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled out a single card before returning the rest to his pocket. "Come here."
"You're armed."
Dante clicked the safety on the gun and then chucked it over his shoulder. "Not anymore."
I grunted and reluctantly went closer. I could see now that the card he held showed the image of a young man clad in rich browns and greens. His eyes were downturned, staring at a small rectangle of paper that he appeared to be painting.
"Yeah. He'll do," Dante remarked. "Grab my shoulder or something." He flicked the card out in front of him at arms length and then brought it closer to his face and focused on it. I rested a hand on his shoulder and stared too. After a moment, I saw the man in the card look up, startled.
"D-Dante?" I heard a meek voice pipe out from the card.
"Yeah. Can you bring us through? I just finished that job for your dad."
"I guess."
Dante held out one hand into the air and I saw the boy from the card clasp it and pull. I stepped forward when I felt Dante lurch and found myself in a room lit only by a slit of light peeking through heavy curtains. The boy from the card sat in front of me, his back facing a desk that was covered in partially-completed cards similar to the set Dante had pulled out earlier.
"Thanks, Oli," Dante said as he headed towards the door. The boy didn't answer. "Now let's go. Random's waiting." I stared at the young man in front of me for a moment more and then turned to follow Dante.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?" Dante asked, glancing over his shoulder.
"Change so fast," I replied, gesturing at his new outfit. He looked even more ridiculous than he had before, if that were even possible. He now wore the most ridiculous shirt I had ever seen. The torso was black and loose, cinched in at the waist with a black leather belt. The entirety of the crimson-and-black-striped sleeves were poofy as though they had once been parachute pants. However, they were held snug at the wrist with leather cuffs, tied tight with thick string.
Instead of slacks, he now wore black leggings so tight that I imagined his genitals would have been vulgarly outlined for all to see if not for how long his shirt was. His black boots went almost to his knee and were rolled over at the top. His hands were still gloved and he still wore that massive ring as well. On his head now perched a floppy, tri-cornered black hat with a long, red feather.
Dante laughed. "I thought you were going to say something about my little teleporting trick back there," he said. "Which, by the way, is called trumping." I made mental note of the information in case it was important. "As for my clothing, well, that has to do with shadows and such. It'll be explained to you soon, so don't worry." I realized then as I followed him down the hallway that we were speaking a different language. I figured that this, too, would be explained in time.
He threw open a set of doors. "Miss me?" He asked the bewildered cast of misfits gathered there.
Introductions were quickly run through. When it was my turn, I introduced myself with a plain "I'm Nils," in this new language I had magically picked up. Apparently there were two others there against their will. I couldn't help but wonder what was in store for the three of us.
"Sit down and join us for a quick round of poker," said the blonde man at the head of the table. "King Random," if I remembered correctly.
"Gladly!" Dante took a seat between Random and Gerard. I sat on the other side of Gerard with the slender man known as Sebastian to my right. Random dealt out the cards and we began to play what seemed to be poker, but the rules were slightly different. I caught on quickly and managed to win a hand after a few goes. Most of the table seemed surprised, and Random congratulated me.
A few more hands later, Sebastian threw his cards angrily down onto the table. "I'm sick of playing! Why are we here, damnit? I deserve an explanation!" He crossed his arms over his chest.
Diego uncrossed his arms and strode forward. "You think you deserve an explanation?" He snarled. "What about us? Random hasn't mentioned a word to us about this little plot of his."
"Yeah, well, we were taken from our homes against our will!" Sebastian shot back.
"And you're invading my home against my will," Diego snapped. "You don't belong here. Your presence offends me."
During this exchange, Random had collected the cards and now sat with his chin propped against his fist, watching with an amused little smirk on his face.
"Yeah, well, your attitude offends me!" Sebastian shouted.
Diego clutched at the sword at his belt, but hesitated. He removed his hand from the weapon and stared at Sebastian judgmentally. "How about this, then," he said. "How about one of you three fights me in a duel. I'll tolerate you if you win." Sebastian and the tan, shirtless boy I knew as "Jonah" stared at Diego and his tank-like armor as though he were crazy. "Any takers? Anyone?" Diego held his hands up as his eyes darted expectantly between the three of us.
I pushed my chair back. "I'll take you on if you get rid off all of your armor and your weapons," I said. I noticed an excited glimmer in Dante's eye.
Diego scoffed. "Fine by me," he said as he began to remove his armor. Random shuffled the cards and dealt out another hand while we waited. Shandrin won. I handed my cards back to Random and then turned to face Diego again. He was almost finished. I stretched my neck as I stood and took off my sports coat and tie, which I had only just now realized were a bit dusty from my earlier fight with the Dog. Gerard was kind enough to hold them for me.
"Ready?" I asked.
Diego pulled a knife from his sleeve and set it on top of his pile. "Ready." I cracked my knuckles as I watched him. He crouched down, low to the ground, one hand up near his torso while the other dangled freely. I kept my upright posture and watched him. I wasn't about to make the first move. I only hoped that he was foolish enough to make it instead.
He was. Diego charged me with a shout. I sidestepped the blow and landed a karate chop to the back of his neck. Diego staggered, but didn't drop. Instead, he wrapped an arm around my waist and attempted to grapple with me. I sighed and yanked one arm behind his back. Diego grunted in pain as I felt his grip on me loosen.
"Are you about done?" I asked over the roars of applause and laughter from the table.
Diego gave one last struggle before going limp. I let him go and returned to my place at the table. Though I'm a hearty guy, the pat on the back Gerard gave me after he returned my things to me knocked all the air out of my lungs. I muffled a cough as I fixed my tie. Diego collected his gear and went back to his father, who smacked him in the back of the head with an armored hand.
Random wiped a tear from his eye as he finally managed to stop laughing. "Sorry. That was too perfect," he chuckled. "Anyway, yes, you're right. You do deserve to know." He gestured down at the massive ruby around his neck. I guess rubies were fashionable here. "This is the Jewel of Judgment," he said. "The armies of Chaos have been trying to steal it. I had Shandrin, Oliver, Bernard, Benedict, and Dante go on a secret mission to gather up any Amberites who had been born in shadow. However, every time they found someone, it was too late; the forces of Chaos always beat them there. I heard that what the Dogs left was always…messy."
This was the second time shadow had been mentioned. I made a mental note to ask about it later.
"There was a Dog there when I went to pick up Nils," Dante piped up. "I shot it dead, but it seemed like Nils was taking care of it just fine himself." Dante shot Diego a smug look.
"Really!" Random glanced at Shandrin and Bernard. "Did either of you run into a Dog?" They both shook their heads.
"There was a Chihuahua in some old lady's stroller on my way to school." Sebastian said.
"I'm pretty sure that the Dogs they're talking about are dog-headed humans, like the one that ambushed me," I said.
"I'd say I didn't believe you, but I've seen weirder today," Sebastian said with a shrug. "What does Chaos, -whoever, whatever they are - want with that big ol' rock, anyway?"
"This 'big ol' rock' is the symbol of the king of Amber and one of the most powerful weapons we have. It can control weather, among other things." Random explained. "I'm not entirely sure why Chaos wants it or why they've been so desperate for it recently."
"You said you were looking for Amberites," Jonah said slowly. "Does that mean we're Amberites?"
Random nodded. "You three are of the royal blood of Amber, which means you're related to everyone in this room."
"Son of a DAMNIT!" Sebastian slammed a fist onto the table. After noticing everyone staring at him, however, he quickly apologized for his outburst.
Royalty? My father hadn't mentioned anything about that. Interesting…
"Let me get this straight…" Diego's father, Julian, stood and slowly walked toward us. "You had a secret mission to collect a bunch of bastard children from shadow… to protect the jewel? What, were you planning on making an army out of them?"
Random nodded. "To be honest, there originally were enough of them to make an army. Now, however, only these three remain."
"So what's the plan, then?" Julian asked.
Random shrugged. "Well, I'm not sure anymore," he admitted. "I had an awesome plan, but that kinda fell through. However, these three individuals may still be able to help us out a bit."
Julian scoffed, but said nothing more. I imagined that the conversation would pick up again once we were out of hearing range.
"Now," Random said. "I want the three of you to go see Caine. He should be able to tell us who your Amberite parent is. But first things first! Shandrin and Dante, please escort them to the basement. I want the three of you to walk what is rightfully yours by blood: the pattern."