After Nils left, everyone went back to idle chitchat, totally ignoring us. What the hell did he mean that we were going to find Caine?!
I elbowed Jonah lightly in the ribs. "We're not seriously doing this, are we?" I asked. "Looking for Caine?"
Jonah shrugged. "It doesn't seem too bad," he replied. How could he be so damn calm about this? I wanted to punch him in the face.
Shandrin turned to us. "I'll go work on making trumps of the two of you for our journey," she said with a warm smile. Arg! Why was everyone just going along with this like it was okay? I gritted my teeth. The only good thing about this would be the fact that Shandrin would be going with us. "If you'd like, Sebastian, you can come to my room this evening and I'll teach you how to draw trumps." Well now. An invitation to the lady's quarter's already? Maybe things weren't quite as bad as they seemed.
After a few moments, Random excused himself, followed by Bernard. Soon after Bernard left, Diego got up and started towards me. "Follow me," he said simply as he strode past. The hell was his problem? I followed him anyway purely out of curiosity. He led me to an abandoned room and closed and locked the door behind us.
"Hey, why did y- HEY!" Before I could even react, the douche had snatched the emerald-studded dagger from my belt and had chucked it out an open window. "Bastard! Caine gave me that!" I yelled before running to the window. The blade was already out of my sight.
"You don't need anything Caine gave you," Diego said as he pulled out a dagger from his boot and offered it to me. I hesitantly took it.
"What am I going to tell Caine, though?" I glared at him.
Diego shrugged. Jerk. "All that matters is that you don't have that dagger anymore and that you now have mine."
"What are you talking about?"
Diego turned and sat in a chair by the window. I glanced around and took a seat nearby. It felt awkward being the only person standing.
"I'll get right to the point," my half brother said. "I don't trust Oliver."
"Buh?" Not the most eloquent thing I've ever said, but it seemed fitting for the situation.
"He looks rather harmless, doesn't he?" Diego continued. "However, he's been hanging around Caine an awful lot recently. And before Caine left the first time, I overheard them talking about some plot and whether or not it would work. Oliver can't be trusted."
"Why haven't you told Random about this?" I asked.
"Pah. Accusing the King of Amber's son of treason when I have no solid proof? Only a fool would do that." Diego crossed his arms over his chest. "But that's why I'm telling you this, so that he doesn't trick you and ruin everything. It's also why I gave you that dagger." He nodded at the weapon that I now held.
"So I can stab him with it?"
"Well, that too, I suppose," Diego said thoughtfully. "However, I usually try to avoid stabbing people with that one. He doesn't really enjoy it."
"Wait. Did you say your dagger here doesn't like stabbing things?" I asked, hoping I misheard him.
Diego shrugged. "It's not what he was made for," he said. "He's a scout, not a murderer."
I stared at him like he was crazy.
"That dagger's name is Dywin. He only responds to those who know his name. At will or by command, he can turn into the shape of a rat and back again into a dagger. He can also speak telepathically in Thari and send images of things that he has seen."
"Huh." If that last bit was true, then I already had an idea of how I wanted to use this thing.
"Use Dywin to spy on Oliver. Make sure to keep in touch with me. Do you have a deck of trumps yet?" When I shook my head, he pulled out another dagger from his other boot. The dagger shifted form and eventually became a deck of trumps. Was he going to give me that dagger too? Because that was a pretty sweet trick.
Instead of giving the deck to me, however, he pulled out a card and focused on it. "I need an extra trump deck," he said. "Could you fetch one and then trump me? I'll pull you through." He then placed a hand over the card, shuffled it back into the deck, turned the deck back into a dagger, and slid the blade back into his boot.
"Now," he said, turning to me. "Don't tell anyone of my suspicions. If you do, I'll deny it vehemently and let you take the fall. Understand?"
"Yeah, whatever. I'm not a moron." I muttered as I fiddled with the dagger he had given me.
Diego shot me a look that said he didn't believe me. "You being a moron is exactly why I trusted you with this information," he said. I couldn't believe I was related to this asshat. "If you tell anyone, odds are that they'll just assume you're an idiot. Even so, I'm not sure if I regret telling you this or not," he said and the trailed off, leaving a long pause that had made me feel a bit awkward. "If I weren't expendable like you, I would've volunteered as well." I glared and started to open my mouth. "One moment," he said, raising a hand to silence me. "Hello? Alright. Thanks." He held out one hand and suddenly our father, Julian, joined us in the room.
"Here's the deck, though I don't know why you couldn't get it yourself," he said as he held out a pack of cards to Diego.
"It's not for me. It's for Sebastian," Diego said with a nod in my direction.
Julian glanced at me, seeming to notice me for the first time, and glared. As he walked toward me, he pulled the trumps out of their case, searched through them, and removed one before handing the rest to me. Before I could ask what he was doing, my prick of a dad was already ripping the card to shreds. "The hell are you doing, you jerk off?!" I shouted as I tried to snatch the card from him.
He dropped the ruined card on the floor and I saw that it was a trump of himself. "I'm going to enjoy your time away from me," he said simply as he turned toward the door. "I don't want to hear from you." He unlocked the door and left.
Once he was gone, Diego got up. "Remember what I told you," he said before following after our father.
Whatever. I pocketed the trumps and returned to the dining hall to see if Shandrin was still there. She wasn't. However, Jonah and Oliver were still there, chatting. I pretended that I was still hungry and grabbed a few pieces of meat and some wine as I listened to them talk.
"Are you sure you want to go with us?" Jonah asked. "It might be dangerous."
Oliver squirmed in his seat and then nodded. "I want to help you," he said softly.
Psh. As if. Diego had just told me the guy was in cahoots with Caine. He was probably just going with us to stab us all in the back.
"Your dad's going to worry about you," Jonah said.
Oliver wrung his hands nervously. "L-look. Um… I-I have my reasons…"
"Like what?" Jonah asked.
Oliver lowered his head. "While Shandrin was in Chaos, Dante and Diego were," he paused and took a deep breath. "They were meaner than usual. I had to endure their teasing for a whole month. I don't want to be stuck here with them while my sister's off in shadow!"
Jonah nodded sympathetically. It looked like he was eating it up. The idiot.
"Well then, maybe you should just man up and stop getting picked on by stupid bullies," I said. Oliver nearly jumped a mile. He must not have noticed me, him being mostly blind and all.
Jonah picked up a dinner roll and handed it to Oliver. "I second this," he said. "And you can start by hitting Sebastian over there right in the face."
"Wait, what? Hey!" I ducked to dodge the incoming food missile from Oliver, but Jonah chucked one at me next, hitting me square in the face. "Ow! Damnit!" I got up. I didn't have to deal with this BS. I had a date with the little guy's smoking-hot sister. That'd show him.
I rubbed my nose as I left, hoping that the hard roll Jonah had hit me with wouldn't leave a mark. Once I couldn't hear the two of them anymore, I pulled out my new trumps and shuffled out Shandrin's card.
Even her trump was sexy. She stood there, leaning against a door frame, wearing almost nothing. Her top was low cut with thin straps across her shoulders. Her light-green skirt was shorter than a porn star's. I swallowed hard and tried to focus on reaching her with my mind. Contact was instant. I almost dropped the card in surprise as the picture came to life in front of me.
"Sebastian?" came Shandrin's silky voice.
"Yeah," I replied, trying to play it cool. "You wanted to talk to me about trumps?"
"Oh, right! I'm sorry. I should have waited for you. Let me pull you through." She held out her hand. I reached forward and took it. Her skin was almost unnaturally soft. The next thing I knew, I was standing in her living room. It was surprisingly plain for the room of the daughter of a king. Hell, they were plain for anyone. The place hardly looked lived in.
The living quarters just had a desk, which was covered in inks, paints, and trump-sized cards, and two chairs. Other than that, it was painfully empty. Maybe she spent all her time in her bedroom.
"I didn't realize you had my trump," she said as she sat down at the desk.
"Oh, er, Diego gave me a deck," I said.
"Well, that makes things easier, then," she said as she started to paint. Seemed like she was working on a trump of Jonah. I scowled.
"You have the potential to be a good trump artist," Shandrin said as she painted. "I thought you'd be able to make your own trump of yourself."
"Make a trump? Of me?" I stared at her.
She nodded. "You can work beside me so that I can help you." She said. I pulled up a chair. She didn't have to tell me twice!
A blank card was placed in front of me. I picked up a brush.
"Hold the image of the pattern in your mind as you draw," Shandrin instructed. "Focus on capturing your essence in the card."
I did as instructed. The image of the pattern came up in my mind's eye with surprising little effort. "Okay, here I go," I muttered as I tried focusing on my own qualities. I then stopped. "Do you mind if I try to make a trump other than myself?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter," Shandrin said. "But I should call Oliver, then, and let him know that he should make your trump for you."
Bleh. Oliver again. I ignored Shandrin as she dug out her brother's trump and called the image of the pattern again and changed my focus. Instead of my own qualities, I focused on my new subject's. I focused on how much of a jerk off he was. I focused on his creepy hobbies. I focused on his cold sarcasm.
The painting was tough. Moving my paintbrush was like walking the pattern. Well, the easy bits of the pattern, at least. Slowly, the image took form.
I set the picture at the horse stalls. My father stood alone, leaning against a stall as a horse licked his hair. Though Julian was completely recognizable, I had changed a few small details. His eyes were crossed, and I'd added a very fancy mustache. Instead of his annoyingly shiny armor, I'd put him in a burlap sack and dung-smeared cowboy boots. I silently admired the card before having Shandrin check my work.
She daintily took the card by its edges and stared at it with her blank eyes. "Oh! Ha ha! It's Julian!" She giggled as she handed it back to me. "Good work. That card will work." She set aside Jonah's card, which she had been making finishing touches on. There was no way this girl was blind from the way she had shaded Jonah's clothes. She had to be lying.
"It's getting late," she said with a yawn. "You should go back to your room."
"Do I have to?" I asked hopefully as my eyes wandered down her body.
"You have to get some sleep," she said. "We're leaving early tomorrow."
Shot down. Damn. "Fine," I muttered. I watched her wander off to her bedroom, half tempted to follow her anyway, and then left. I'd contact my dad to rub my new trump in his face and then pass out. That painting had really taken a lot out of me. That, or it was later than I thought it was. I was exhausted.
I returned to my rooms and held up the trump of my father. The paint was mostly dry but still a little sticky. I hoped it would work still. I held it up in the dim light and focused. "Ring ring, motherfucker," I muttered to myself with an amused grin. At first, it felt like I was staring at any other normal card. After a while, however, it flickered to life.
"Hello? Who is it?" Julian muttered, pulling back his covers to rub at his eyes.
"Hello, daddy dearest," I said. I did not expect him to go off on me quite like that. His angry tirade lasted a good ten minutes. I had to bite back my laughter at several parts. He could come up with some rather creative swears.
"Don't you dare call me again! No, wait! You know what? Call me. Call me every damned day. That way, I'll know from your lack of contact that you're finally dead!" With that, he ended the communication. I burst out laughing. I was definitely going to call him every day, just for more of that! I set the card on a table to finish drying and then got ready for bed.
I didn't feel like I had slept long when I was awoken by a knock on my door. I grumbled and rolled over. There was another knock. Whoever it was could leave until I got a decent amount of sleep! First Julian woke me up for some stupid dragons, and now some asshole didn't know how to let me sleep in right before I was supposed to leave on some horrible adventure?
The knocking stopped. I sighed and started to drift off when I felt a weird feeling in the back of my mind. I opened my eyes. Something about the feeling reminded me of Shandrin. Was this a trump call? I focused on letting the feeling into my mind, and her image appeared in front of me.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully. I forced myself to smile, even though I was still groggy. "Do you mind letting me in? I have something to show you."
"Just a sec," I said, getting to my feet. I made myself presentable and then went to the door. "Good morning indeed." I said as I stared at what she was wearing. The light-green, strapless dress clung tightly to her breasts before puffing out into a loose baby-doll style that reached only her mid thighs. She giggled as she walked past me and into my room.
"I wanted to show you how to make copies of a trump." She held up the trump of Jonah.
"Er, okay," I said. Disappointment again. What did a guy have to do around here to get some action?
"You know how to trump the person, right? Well, to make copies, you do something similar. However, you trump the card itself, not the subject, and then pull it through itself."
"Sounds complicated."
"It's not." She raised the card in front of her face, reached out, and pulled. A stream of cards shot out after her and scattered all over the floor. "See? You can only do that with an original copy, though."
"Wow."
She beamed proudly. "Now help me pick these up so I can hand them out."
I helped her collect the scattered trumps. "By the way," I asked, glancing up to casually glance at her booty. "How did you trump me?"
"Oh. Oliver finished with your card, too. He's handing them out as well." She scooped up the last of the cards and took the pile I had collected, though left me with a copy before she left. I added it to my deck and then tried to fall back to sleep. However, my damn stomach kept gurgling. I sighed and got up. Might as well see about getting breakfast. Maybe I could even bum a smoke off someone, since my cigarettes seemed to be useless here.
I freshened myself up for the day and left, locking my door before I went. Not like I had anything of value yet, but better safe than sorry.
As I made my way through the halls, I heard someone call my name. Turning, I saw Dante grinning at me. Oh hey! Perfectly timed. "Are you free for a bit?" He asked.
"I was just going to eat," I replied.
"Perfect. Come with me. I'll have a servant bring us breakfast." He led me back to his room, pausing only to stop a servant girl to request some food. I sat in one of the plush, gold-framed chairs. Now THIS was how the living chambers of royalty was supposed to look! The room was brightly lit and hung with velvets and silks in reds and purples. Everything that could have gold on it did. Even though Dante dressed silly, he did have a sense of style. I could respect that.
He pulled out a box of tobacco and rolled each of us a cigarette. I lit mine off of a nearby candle and leaned back in the chair. If only life in Amber could be like this all the time!
Dante puffed on his own cigarette and then pushed the remaining tobacco towards me. "Take it," he said. "It should hold you over on your trip. You can always trump me if you need more."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. I have plenty more."
"Thanks!" This dude just skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list! "So what did you want to talk about?"
Dante shrugged. "Your trip," he said casually as he flicked ash from the tip of his cigarette. "I personally think it's a bit of a bad idea."
"You aren't the only one," I muttered.
"Caine's a weird one," Dante said. "Watch your back around him. He's sneakier than most of the other Amberites. This entire set up could just be one huge trap. I don't like it." There was a knock at the door. Dante rested his smoke on the edge of the ash tray. "Come in!"
We were both surprised to see Oliver enter the room instead of our breakfast. He shifted from foot to foot as his dim gaze darted between us. "I brought copies of Sebastian's trump," he muttered.
"Well, bring them here. Let us take a look at them." Dante said. Oliver shuffled his feet a while longer before stepping forward and holding out a card to Dante. He then rummaged around and produced a second card, which he offered to me.
The lines were sloppier than Shandrin's, and the portrait hardly looked like me. Maybe the two siblings were lying and Oliver was actually the completely blind one while Shandrin still had sight. Dante chuckled at the rendition of me.
I glared at him and then handed Oliver back the card, but he refused. "It's for you," he said, looking away. "For your deck."
"When the hell am I going to trump myself?" I asked, thrusting the card out again. He flinched.
"We all have trumps of ourselves," Dante said with a shrug as he added the card to his deck. "It's so we can use the cards to tell fortunes."
"Hmph." I reluctantly kept the card, but didn't make a move to put it in my deck. Oliver glanced at each of us, excused himself, and then left us alone. Once he was gone, I made a show of tearing up the card. Dante picked up his cigarette again and stared at me, puzzled.
"I don't like him," I said as I swept the pieces into a tiny pile on the table between us.
Dante laughed. "I don't either," he said. "There's something about him that makes me not trust him. It's probably the fact that he's so weak. I don't like weak people."
I took a long drag on my cigarette. Guess it wasn't just Diego who felt this way. "Do you think he might have something to do with the ghosts?" I asked, just to be sure.
Dante laughed again, harder and longer this time. I thought he was going to choke. "No, no. Oliver doesn't have a nefarious bone in his body. That might be one of the reasons why I don't like him. We all have our wicked tendencies. Oliver's so sweet that I just want to kick him."
Or not.
"You, though. I like you because you're like the rest of us. And I can already tell where one of your nefarious bones is by the way you trail after Shandrin like a lost puppy." Dante grinned at me as there was another knock on the door. "Come in!" He called.
This time, it was a servant with a tray of fruits and breads, a pot of coffee, and two cups. He left both on the table between us, bowed, and then left us alone again.
I tucked into what appeared to be an apple as Dante filled our cups. Though it looked like an apple, it was much juicier, like a peach.
"You can't blame me, though," I said between bites. "She's hot."
"She is," Dante admitted. "Not exactly my type, though. I tend to go for the ones who aren't related to me. I don't want to be the cause of too many confusing loops in our family tree."
I finished off the apple and licked my fingers. "Makes sense," I said. "Earlier you said something about telling fortunes. What was that about?"
"Oh! You don't know?" Dante set down his cup of coffee and pulled out his deck. "Here, let me show you." He showed me a few spreads, explaining what each card meant as he pulled it. However, he talked so fast that I was barely following him. I just ate my breakfast and grunted when there was a break long enough to do so. The whole thing reminded me of tarot.
Just as I was helping clean up, I got that tingly feeling in my head that felt like Shandrin was calling me. "Hey, Shandrin," I said.
"Where are you?" She asked. "We're almost ready to leave."
"Oh. Right. Well, I'm in Dante's room. He was teaching me more about trumps. Where are you?"
"I'll just pull you through," she said.
"Not right now. I have to finish packing my stuff," I said. I wasn't leaving without my axe!
"Alright. Trump me when you're ready." With that, she ended the call.
I sighed. "Guess I have to go," I said as I picked up the box of tobacco.
Dante nodded. "Don't have too much fun!" He said with a playful salute.
"Oh, I'll do my best," I replied. The guy was easily my favorite relative. Why couldn't I just get a chance to relax and chill with him for a few days? Stupid Caine.
