Of the Blood
Disclaimer: see chapter I.
Author's note: I noticed I haven't specified at what time during the Amber Chronicles this story takes place: I think I'll opt for 'just after book five,' since I know the first five books best and am not much of a chaos person anyway.
Chapter 4
The Pattern
"Good day, Roger. All quiet in the caverns?"
"Good afternoon, lady Fiona. A rat, a bat, a spider. Nothing much else astir. Peaceful."
"Can you hand me a lantern?"
"Of course, m'lady." The lean, cadaverous guard took a lantern from the rack, lit it and handed it to Fiona. Only then did he notice the dazed, black-haired girl behind her.
"Taking a guest to see the Pattern, then?"
"Sort of."
"I assume king Random knows about it?"
"Oh, it won't be long."
The guard shrugged his bony shoulders. "All right," he said. "I hope you enjoy your visit to our caverns," he added to the girl.
She just nodded mutely.
"The Pattern," Fiona said.
Nadine looked about the large, dank cave. It reminded her vaguely of others she had visited on a holiday in France with her parents, long ago – except those didn't have a blue-white spiral burned in the rock floor.
Nadine couldn't help but staring at the spiral that glowed with an eerie light. She could almost smell its radiance. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't remember what, as if she had seen it in a dream but forgotten it upon awakening. It was beautiful – but it was scary, too. It was like a huge waterfall, much more powerful than human or vampire alike.
"You are going to walk over the line to the centre," Fiona declared. "You are not to stray from the line, stop walking or turn back. Any questions?"
Nadine's mind was filled with questions, and even more with strong feelings of dread. She opened her mouth, and found it almost too dry to speak.
"What will happen?" she croaked.
"If I knew that," Fiona said briskly, "you wouldn't have to walk it. Off you go!"
Unable to resist Fiona's will, Nadine stepped on the Pattern.
As soon as her foot touched the thin blue-white line, sparks shot up around her feet. An electric current raced up through Nadine's body, burning and engulfing her with blue pain. Her hair crackled with energy and she screamed as she felt her body being consumed by the flames.
All of her body. Except the blood, as if she was no more than a puddle of liquid life.
The blood, however, felt stronger than ever before. Slowly, it expanded and grew, and she felt sensation return to her limbs, as if they had been destroyed, then regrown from her very essence.
With a painful prickling, her fingers and toes announced they were still, or again, complete. Nadine blinked the blue fire away with eyes that hurt from the glare, and looked down.
Her left foot stood firmly and undamaged on the line. Small sparks danced over it, as pixies round a fairy mound.
She was still whole. But there was no turning back now.
She took another step.The resistance was just a little bit stronger than the first, but Nadine no longer felt as if her body was being burned. She just felt the static electricity running up her spine. It was not pleasant, but it wasn't painful either, and it felt strangely familiar. Boldly, she took several more steps.
Soon, however, the resistance rose and Nadine found it harder and harder to raise her feet, let alone move them forward for the next step. It was as if she waded into increasingly deep waters, and felt the pressure rising against her legs, her hips, her chest. She faltered, but continued. The pressure was like a strong current now, threatening to throw her off balance. Nadine had to put her other foot in front of the first, but she could hardly lift her leg, let alone move it forward. Ever so slowly, she began to tilt over...
Then, a surge of energy flooded through her veins, seemingly coming from nowhere. She seized the opportunity and broke through the invisible barrier. Abruptly, the pressure fell away and she stumbled forward over the blue line. Nadine wiped bloody sweat off her brow with her sleave and continued. She realised she had passed the First Veil, whatever that meant, but that there were still two to go, both more difficult than the preceding. Not that it mattered: she had no choice but to go on.
With some satisfaction, Nadine noted that she had already traversed quite a stretch of the spiral pathway and was gradually approaching its centre. It was still a long way, though, and every step felt as though she had to pull her feet out of a layer of mud first. Blue sparks danced around her knees. The lady Fiona was no more than a shimmering shade now, far, far away in another world outside the blue light. Nadine wondered what expression she wore. Amazement? Boredom, that it took so long? Fear?
No time to worry about that, now. Nadine focused on the glowing line before her and concentrated on moving forward, one small step at a time.
Soon, the feeling of mud around her feet grew stronger. It slowly crept upwards as she walked along curves, sharp turns and a long straight line. The mud carried pebbles with it that stung in Nadines limbs and neck. Her eyeballs first grew chill in their sockets, then glowed as with fever. The mud completely enveloped her, leaving only the blue line of the Pattern in the darkness before her, close, yet far away, and reaching for it cost her so much strength... Sparks raced through her hair, making it crackle like fried bacon. Nadine could smell the ozone, and felt as if she had to swim forward instead of walking. The mud thickened, cracked, grew almost solid.
Then, Nadine felt another surge of energy, and with a tremendous effort of will, broke through the barrier. She had to be at the center; she was certain she couldn't handle another step.
But she knew that she had only passed the Second Veil and, after the Grand Curve, there waited the grande finale.
Having no choice, she continued on.
After the second Veil, the Grand Curve was almost a pleasure, like bleeding to death had almost been a pleasure compared to being turned into a vampire. Nadines feet burned, the Pattern burned, the blood burned. She followed a short turn, then another, then another, then... Shouldn't she have crossed the line already? Nadine didn't know. The sparks danced in front of her eyes, making the blue-white line in front of her swim in and out of focus. Did the blasted thing never end?! Nadine grabbed hold of her anger and forced it into her legs, channeling it into one more step. Over there? She blinked.
Nadine saw the sparkling line end in blackness before her. Just three more steps.
The first was an eternity of stepping through solid rock.
The second was even worse.
One to go... She could hardly remember where she was, or who she was. She knew she wanted only one thing: to stop. She knew she could do only one thing: go on. The peculiar energy flooded through her again, but it was not enough to break the last barrier. Nadine felt crushed between the power that drove her forward and the power that hold her back. If she didn't move soon, it would grind her into dust.
Like hell it wouldn't.
She stepped into the center of the Pattern.
Nadine collapsed, like a puppet abandoned by her puppetteer. Tears ran down her cheeks into her black dress. She couldn't see the lady anymore. She didn't care. She just wanted to be home.
Suddenly, she was.
The lady Fiona also collapsed in exhaustion. Carrying the blood of Gérard, the vampire had survived stepping onto the Pattern. She didn't have the endurance of an Amberite, however, so Fiona had had to lend her strength to Nadine, so that she could press onward through the Veils.
She was mildly surprised that the vampire had actually made it.
Not that the vampire knew what it meant, however. That didn't matter. All it really meant was that another pawn had appeared in the great game of Amber. A pawn that only Fiona knew of, as she had undoubtedly gone home in Shadow. The energy was well spent.
Fiona breathed deep, then rose. She would lie down for an hour or so to regain her strength, then draw a trump of Nadine. She returned through the cavern to the guard post.
"Welcome back, lady Fiona," Roger said as he returned her lantern to the rack. "All well, I trust?"
"Indeed," Fiona said, "thank you."
"And the girl?"
"What girl?" Fiona asked with her sweetest smile.
The eyes of the guard misted over for a moment. "I... don't know, I think," he muttered. "Good day, m'lady."
Fiona's day went as she had planned – for two minutes, at least. Then, as she walked through one of the marble hallways of castle Amber to her own chambers, she heard a thundering clap coming from down the hall – from Corwin's room.
Fiona shook herself out of her reverie and ran down the hall. Corwin's door was closed, but she sensed no immediate danger on the other side, so she opened it carefully.
Corwin lay in his room against a wall, covered in soot and shards of glass that had bitten deep into his skin. The source of the noise had probably been the smouldering remains of a package standing on a low table, now cracked and blackened. No new attack would be forthcoming. Fiona ran over to her brother and produced bandages and a pair of pincers.
The Lord Corwin, prince of Amber and long-time contestant for the throne, was a mess. Ashes covered his silver-and-black cloak, and the explosion had torn off his silver rose-clasp. Blood ran down his arms and forehead. Fiona quickly checked his face, but it seemed that the big man had been able to cover most of it with his left arm as the shards hit him. The attack had not been deadly; maybe it was not even meant to be.
"What happened?" Fiona asked as she started to pluck out the shards and bind the wounds. Her steady voice seemed to shake Corwin out of his shock.
"Found a package as I came home," he grunted. "Thought one of the servants had left it for me. There was a skull of glass in it, but it exploded as soon as I looked at it."
"Exploded?" Fiona inquired.
"Don't ask me," Corwin sighed. "Someone must have pulled a clever trick to make it work. Maybe..." Suddenly, he stared right past Fiona to the wall of his room.
Fiona swirled around, half expecting another attack. Corwin had only been looking at sooty letters inscribed in the wall, however. They read:
NOW I HAVE A MACHINE GUN TOO
HO HO HO
The handwriting was unmistakeably Brand's.
"Shit," Fiona and Corwin said.