Of the Blood
Disclaimer: see Chapter 1
Again my apologies, PrincessEilonwy, but I meant what I said about my girlfriend...
Chapter 9
Making preparations
Nadine felt confused. After dropping Janus off at his tomb, she and Corwin had been driving for over an hour in a car that had suddenly been there, and Corwin had used the time to try to explain things. She understood what he said, that was not the point, but it just didn't make sense.
The fact that the landscape kept changing around them like a movie in fast-forward didn't help much either.
Corwin had told her about his family. It sounded like the vampiric clans to Nadine: all bickering and backstabbing between mighty beings with no sense of responsibility. He had also told Nadine about the trumps, which seemed to be some kind of mobile phones with an instant teleportation function. Lastly, he had told her about Shadow. She couldn't compare that with anything at all.
She did understood what she had to do, though: walk the Bleak Road and defeat Corwin's mad brother. At least the concept was simple enough.
Right now, they drove through a magnificent forest, full of mighty trees, flowering shrubs and brightly coloured birds. Nadine felt a strange kind of sadness creeping through her, seeing the abundant life. This was what the earth must have looked like before the arrival of humans. So peaceful, so unspoiled...
Suddenly, Corwin swerved to avoid three bloody corpses of what looked like himself on the road. They were hardly recognizable because of huge tooth marks and mangled limbs. Flies buzzed around them, and the sweet stench of dried blood made Nadine's stomach jolt.
"We're almost there," Corwin muttered.
"What were those?" Nadine asked.
"Me, myself and I," the prince of Amber stated. "Ah, I can see our little picknick site."
As Corwin parked the car on a grassy meadow, Nadine saw the Bleak Road: a gash of brown cutting through the forest like a scar, as if a dragon had blasted the woods with its fiery breath. Corpses lay everywhere, and a nervous group of soldiers was watching out for new attackers. The air was heavy with sweat and decay. A man clad in shining armour commanded them: probably Julian, judging from Corwin's description.
Next to him stood a smaller person, hardly more than a juvenile, sorrow in his eyes but bearing himself like a king. That must be Random. Somewhat further away, a flashy man, clad in red and orange like a living flame (Bleys?) deliberated with... Fiona.
The lady looked Nadine's way and greeted her with a casual smile, friendly yet haughty, like one would welcome the arrival of an exterminator to deal with a nest of mice under the kitchen floor.
Nadines cheeks flushed. Her first impulse was to rush at the woman and knock her to the ground, but she doubted she'd get the chance to do that. Her second impulse was to walk up to Fiona and tell her exactly what she thought of her, but Nadine knew that the lady would just keep smiling and cut her arguments into thinly sliced pieces.
Nadine decided it would be best to ignore her for the moment and walked straight up to Random. Corwin accompanied her: striding among these Machiavellian demigods, she found his presence quite comforting.
The King of Amber shook her hand firmly. Although Nadine avoided his gaze, not daring to look another member of the family directly in the eyes after what Fiona had done, his grip felt comfortable. Nadine sensed the warm blood flowing underneath the skin: strong and lively, more nourishing than any mortal's could ever be... For a fleeting moment, she had to resist the temptation to bite him in the wrist and taste the precious liquid. Then he spoke to her, and the temptation was gone.
"So, Nadine," King Random said, "welcome in our midst. I understand that you agreed to confront the traitor Brand and, with our help, eliminate him?"
Nadine nodded.
"Then I suggest that you prepare and leave soon," Random continued grimly. "The last wave of attackers left us quite vulnerable, and you want to be on your way before Brand can reassemble his forces."
"Tell me what to do, and I'll be gone." Nadine absent-mindedly drummed her fingers against the bark of a mighty oak. The whole enterprise felt like swimming in too cold water: better to jump in rightaway than to postpone the inevitable. Except that in this case, the water was filled with sharks.
"I will tell you." Nadine swirled around: Fiona had spoken. "It's very easy: first, you have to open up your mind to Bleys and me."
Nadine stared at the small woman, who spoke like she had never leeched Nadine's memory, then taken her for a grueling tour over the Pattern. "Bleys and I have to keep contact with you," Fiona explained, "so we can... do our part when you confront our beloved but insane brother."
"How will that affect me?" Nadine inquired sharply.
"Why, it will dramatically increase your chances of survival!" the lady smiled. "Brand is a mad, evil god, after all."
It was logical. It was irrefutable. It was exactly what Nadine didn't want to hear.
"All right," she muttered, taking a deep breath for reassurance, even though her body no longer needed to. "Go ahead."
Fiona produced a card that she and Bleys concentrated on. Nadine caught a glimpse of the picture imprinted on it: it showed her, clad in a black-and-red dress, wearing a silver necklace. Despite her reservations, she had to admit that it was a good portrait.
Nadine felt the familiar sensation again, of an invisible presence knocking on the door of her mind. She yielded to it, and felt the warm and lively presence of Bleys, like a flame in the back of her mind. She also felt the cooler but stronger presence of Fiona there, coiled like a cobra. For the moment, they were resting quietly, but Nadine would keep a mental eye on them in case they tried to intrude on her thoughts or pull off a good cop/bad cop routine.
She was probably powerless to resist, but she wouldn't give up without a fight.
"Second," Fiona said, and Nadine wasn't certain whether she spoke or simply projected thoughts in her mind, "you have to concentrate on the trump of Gérard and make contact." She handed the vampire another card. Nadine looked at it and froze.
On it was a picture of the man she'd bitten, laughing and holding a wine goblet.
Nadine swallowed hard, trying to think what she could do. Her agitation, however, must have triggered the card: quickly, the image grew and expanded into a huge man in a grey-and-blue cloak. He held a heavy assault rifle in his right hand instead of a wine goblet. Also, his jovial laugh had gone when he noticed who had trumped him.
"You?!" he hissed, growing slightly red in the face.
"Gérard?" Nadine muttered. His fierce countenance shook as her hands holding the trump trembled. "I... I never meant to kill you, back then. I just needed some blood, and I chose you because you looked so strong, you wouldn't have felt it anyway." It seemed a lame excuse. "I am a vampire, but I would not have let you die. I never let people die. And if I had known what it would all lead to... I... I'm sorry, Gérard."
Gérard regarded her with a frown. His fury seemed to have dissapated, but he still was distinctly pink in the cheeks. "You, a simple Shadow dweller, assaulted, even harmed a Prince of Amber," he muttered, "and now you ask me to forgive you?"
"I do not ask you to forgive me," Nadine said. "That would be too much. I just want you to know I'm sorry."
For a few seconds, Gérard just stared at her. Then he grinned. "Well, now," he laughed, "who would have thought that my blood would bring forth the saviour of Amber! At least," he added, "if you can surprise my brother as well as myself." He reached through the trump and patted Nadine on the shoulder, who almost fell over from his pile driver-strength. "Good luck, lass, you'll need it!"
"Thank you," Nadine said, adjusting her blood flow to assist her strained muscles. Gérard stepped back. Through the frame of the trump, she saw him standing next to several cases of bullets. A tall, dour-faced man stood next to him: regarding the calm expression on his face, Nadine wasn't sure if he had even listened to their conversation. He carried a slender sniper rifle in his right hand. Nadine stared: his right arm seemed somehow... different from his left. Then, the tall man stared back at her.
Nadine quickly averted her gaze. It must have been Benedict. Was that the brother Corwin had spoken so fondly of? His cool, piercing eyes had scared the wits out of her. It almost felt like the night she had been drained of blood and glimpsed Death. The night she'd been made a vampire...
"Finished?" Fiona asked briskly. "Then you can start. Just keep Gérards trump pointed at the enemy. He and Benedict will take care of them. Any questions?"
"I believe we've been through that before," Nadine muttered.
"Indeed," Fiona said. "Off you go!"