Of the Blood
Disclaimer: see Chapter 1
To clear up some things for Myeerah (and other puzzled readers):
- Nowhere in the Books of Amber does Bleys actually possess people; your observation was correct. I based myself on Amber: the Diceless Role-Playing Game, where individuals with a high 'psyche' (strong mind) may engage in Psychic Domination: taking over a victim's brain. As Bleys is one of the redheads, albeit 'inferior' to Fiona and Brand, I thought it would be an appropriate option for him. I imagined he must have felt a strong desire to finish the ascent of Kolvir he'd begun in Nine Princes in Amber, after all...
- And the mouse-thing in the black cape was inspired mostly by Terry Pratchett's portrayal of the Death of Rats: imagine something like the picture on...
...only with red eyes. I just thought they'd make a fine addition to a Bleak Road...
Chapter 11
In the Mouth of Madness
In front of Nadine, a red mist of roughly human shape floated over a throne made of magnificent polished wood. The mist pulsated softly, growing now denser, now thinner, as if by some silent heartbeat. It radiated malice.
Nadine trembled. Standing in the immense castle hall, cold and covered in sticky blood, she remembered the time when she was very young and, while playing on the market square of her home town, had fallen into a fountain. She had been cold, wet and crying then.
But at that time, there had been dozens of people to comfort her. Now, even the ephemeral contact she'd had with the Amberites had vanished.
"Look at me."
Again, the ghostly voice. Nadine glanced at the swirling red haze, but didn't dare to look closer. She still remembered Fiona's gaze boring into her brain...
"Look at me!"
Her head jerked up as if someone had grabbed her by the chin, and she stared into Brands intense, burning eyes; two glowing coals inside the red cloud. At that moment she realized that he was completely, irrevocably insane.
Then, he delved into her memories.
Again, Nadine felt the pain, the burning and the shame of her most private and insignificant thoughts being laid bare before this mad monster. Within seconds, he had absorbed all knowledge she'd gathered in over twenty years.
Somehow, on a detached level, she had expected this theft to be more horrible, more painful than when Fiona had ripped her memories. It wasn't.
In the end, they're all the same, she thought bitterly as Brand released his hold on her and she slumped to the ground. Even as she closed her eyes and heard the madman chuckling over his new loot, she felt him staring at her: a wide and hungry gaze, as if he was some kind of shark. Nadine knew she had to do something, come up with a brilliant plan.
She didn't have the faintest idea.
As she slowly scrambled to her feet, however, something welled up in her mind that hadn't been there before. A carefully concealed memory, dislodged but unnoticed by Brand's destructive gaze.
Nadine...
Fiona! But the mental link was severed: Nadine only remembered her speaking.
Nadine, if you hear this, know that not all is lost. Listen to me, and remember...
"Thank you," Brand spoke ever so friendly, disrupting Nadine's train of thought. "Under other circumstances, I would tell you the truth and show you what you really have been – another pawn in our family game."
"Unfortunately," he continued, floating slowly towards the young vampire, "it would take time to make you see things as they are, instead of the lies imposed upon you by my jealous family. Time I lack at the moment. Especially since you are one of those rare, thick-skulled individuals that are prepared to die for what they believe is a good cause," he added, extending arms of swirling red mist and scratching under his non-existent chin.
Remember, Nadine thought, searching for the lost memory, remember what?!
"So I am just going to kill you," Brand concluded. "You'll have the honour of being my first personal victim in my conquest of the multiverse."
Nadine racked her brain for the fugitive information, but her mind groaned and threatened to shut down under the stress. She needed to stall him...
"Conquering the multiverse?" Nadine said, trying to sound firm. "You and what army? The broken bodies that lie at the bottom of this mountain?"
Brand gave a small snort, maybe meant as a chuckle, as he advanced. Nadine backed slowly away, maintaing a façade of confidence. "Did you really think those troops were all I had?" he grinned. "Besides, I can always summon more from the Shadows with but a thought, so great is my control. My conquest will be a perfect one, just like the new multiverse will be perfect!"
Perfect... So Brand was a perfectionist, probably an obsessive one. He had to be, Nadine thought, to be able to harness those vast powers.
She would pinch him where it hurt.
"Perfect?" she asked incredulously. "Aw, c'mon! You've made a sloppy start to begin with!"
As Brand halted abruptly, Nadine knew she'd said the right thing.
"Sloppy?!" he hissed, eyes narrowing in annoyance. "What do you mean?!"
"Well," Nadine said. "Just take this palace. Haven't you noticed that the right tower is one storey higher than the left? Quite ugly, if you ask me."
"The form of my palace doesn't matter!" Brand screamed in a voice that betrayed how much the detail mattered to him. "Once I have drawn my own Primal Pattern...!"
"...You'll have a multiverse with one oversized dimension!" Nadine laughed, grasping frantically after the memory. There it was!
She and Fiona were standing near the Bleak Road, somewhat away from the others. "I am going to hide these memories," Fiona said, so that my brother won't know that I gave you..."
"Can you imagine!" she continued sneering, playing Brands manic anger up to the hilt. "Everything will be either too long, or age within seconds, or..."
"...that I gave you..."
"Silence!!!" the purplish-red haze screeched, sounding like a spoiled girl. "You will be silent!" A misty tentacle shot out, curled around a mighty stone pillar and yanked it loose. As the roof came crashing down, the pillar loomed over Nadine, toppled over... Nadine leapt away from the tumbling tons of stone, but as one large chunk broke loose, she tripped over a beam.
"...that I gave you THIS." Nadine screamed as she felt the chunk of stone crash into her left foot. Sparks danced in front of her eyes, but they weren't sparks of pain... Yes, they were, but they changed into the glittering of a finely crafted red jewel, a jewel on a chain that Fiona put in the breast pocket of her coat.
"It is the Jewel of Judgement, and it is the most destructive weapon in existence. If Bleys and I won't be able to stop our mad brother, you will – with this."
There was more, but Nadines broken foot screamed for attention, and she had to let go of the memory to focus and direct blood to the wound, so that its regenerative powers could knit together the shattered bone and torn flesh. It had to be a rush job: although she healed many times faster than a mortal, as the dust settled she expected Brand to appear over the rubble of the pillar any moment. Patience, patience...
Finally, Nadine dared to crawl away, her foot halfway between itching and hurting. She hid behind a huge block of stone and felt in her breast pocket. With a gasp of awe, Nadine pulled out the Jewel of Judgement. Its heavy red gem blinked and pulsed – probably in unison with the red mist that Brand had become. More memories rushed in.
"Only two things ever got out of the Abyss: the Unicorn and the Jewel of Judgement. The Unicorn was, due to its nature, out of the question, so Brand must have found a way to project himself into the Jewel. That way, he could travel back from the Abyss into our world.
Of course, he couldn't stay in there, as the chances of detection were too great. So he fled. But he couldn't become a part of the Jewel without it also becoming a part of him; Brand will not be whole again until he has reclaimed his prize.
Nadines dead heart stirred uneasily in her chest. She had just gained a lot of responsibility: if she lost, not only would her life be forfeit, but her enemy would also have his former powers handed over to him on a silver platter.
So how did the damn thing work?!
"Fa, fe, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of a vampire!"
Nadine looked up. Brand was floating over the ruined remains of the pillar, studying the patch of blood that lay on the ground where her foot had been broken. He hadn't seen her yet, but it wouldn't take long. She began to inch away towards another pillar.
"Be she dead or be she dead, I'll grind her bones to get my..." Brand frowned, as if in concentration. Then his head snapped up, as that of a wolf that smelled blood: "...Jewel!!!"
Nadine broke into a run.
All around her, pillars toppled and fell, rumbling and cracking as they crashed into each other. Great dust clouds obscured her view and penetrated her ears, her mouth, her nose. She just hoped she was still running towards the exit.
A solid shape loomed ahead and Nadine ducked away just as a massive statue of Brand fell over and crunched the floor. Stone chips bruised her face and arms. Quickly, she crawled under a piece of collapsed roof, where she lay coughing, sneezing the dust from her dead yet sensitive lungs. The madman would clearly stop at nothing to gain his precious stone. Nadine blinked the blood from her eyes and stared at it again. The Jewel seemed to pulse faster now, as if agitated. To be reunited with its former owner, perhaps?
"Don't be too sure about that," Nadine murmured. Then, louder, she spoke: "Brand! Stop this, if you don't want to damage the Jewel!"
Abruptly, the ear-splitting racket ceased. A last wall fell over rumbling, then everything was silent. As the dust settled, the red haze that was Brand glided down the ruined hallway like an Angel of Vengeance come to collect its quarry. Nadine stared at him wearily. She yearned for it to be over, but clenched her hands about the Jewel. She wouldn't give in. Never.
"You have felt my power," Brand spoke, barely able to contain himself in the presence of the Jewel. "You cannot escape me. Hand it over!"
"Come and get it," Nadine spat. "Or are you... Afraid of what I might do with it?" She dangled the Jewel on its chain in front of her face. As she looked through it at Brand, she suddenly saw him as he must have looked in life: a handsome, brooding man, clad in a fine green suit – with eyes just as crazed and hungry as they were now. Eyes that were yet also afraid: he didn't know what she could do with the Jewel.
That makes two of us, she thought, desperately fishing for the memory.
...Brand will not be whole again until he has reclaimed his prize...
Yes, Nadine thought angrily, I already know that!
...Brand will not be whole again until he has reclaimed his prize...
...So you must...
...You must...
Then, the Brand-ghost waved his hand, and the collapsed roof crashed down on Nadine. And she realized what had to be done as she fell under the weight of stone and wooden beams.
Slowly, Brand approached the prone figure, crushed and broken under part of his palace's roof. The vampire lay still in defeat, one hand clutched around the chain of the Jewel. Brand smiled as he pried it loose. She had been a surprisingly worthy adversary. Then, he hung the Jewel around his ghostly neck.
Immediately he felt energy coursing through him, filling him and strengthening his from. He laughed aloud as his old powers seeped back in his body. It felt as if his heart was returned to his chest after a long absence. "I am whole!" he screamed as his shadowy form solidified. "I am whole again! Finally! I am..."
The vampire lifted her head and stared at him through glassy eyes.
"You are alive," she croaked.
"Yes!" Brand laughed, staring at his hands and arms, now solid and fleshy, his form that of an Amberite once again, "I am..."
Then the realization hit him.
"Alive...?"
Brand, mad prince of Amber and would-be destructor of the multiverse, clutched at his chest. Then he fell over, his face frozen in a last scream.
"Forgot all about the life-stealing properties of the Bleak Road, did you?" Nadine coughed. "Well, couldn't get whole again without getting truly alive again, I guess."
Slowly, she dragged her limp body from under the rubble. "Could probably have thought of that yourself," she continued, "if you hadn't been so obsessed with that taunting vampire and regaining your precious Jewel."
Nadine paused for a moment. It felt as if all the bones in her body were broken, and a black void lurked at the edge of her consciousness, ready to take over.
Fortunately, just in front of her, lay a body full of life-giving, nourishing, potent blood. The pain wouldn't last long.
Birds chirped in the lush green forest of Arden, breaking the otherwise deadly silence. One of them, a hawk, dove down from circling high above the treetops and landed on the outstretched arm of a man clad in gleaming white armour.
Julian bent his head, as if listening to the hawk. Then, he looked up.
"She's coming," he said. "And she carries our brother with her. He's dead."
Of the assembled Amber family, only Fiona reacted, with something halfway between a sob and a chuckle. The others, while undoubtedly feeling a rush of emotions, remained impassive: Benedict and Gérard, returned from their posts after their contact with Nadine had been cut off. Bleys, who had together with Fiona tried to trump the vampire again, but without success. Corwin and Random, who had simply waited, trusting Nadine to do her job.
Now, the young vampire appeared over a hill on the Bleak Road. She looked remarkably well for someone who had confronted a mad god; she even wore a tired but thin smile. And in her arms she carried Brand, careful, as if he were a toddler. He looked very small and fragile.
"Has she killed him?" Gérard asked.
"No," Benedict replied. "Heart attack."
"I don't think so," Gérard said triumphantly. "Haven't you noticed the bite marks in his neck?"
"She bit him after he died," Benedict corrected him. "You might want to look more carefully." Gérard grumbled, but didn't reply.
"Here is your brother," Nadine said, laying Brand out in the soft grass at the feet of Random. "I am sorry for his... pale appearance." She stepped back onto the Road. "I also brought back some trinket I thought you'd like to have." She took the Jewel of Judgement from her breast pocket and showed it to the assembled Amberites. This time, everyone but Fiona reacted with a gasp of surprise.
"Nadine, you have our deepest thanks," King Random said and held out his hand.
Nadine didn't move. "However," she said, "for what I've gone through, I would like to ask a little favor in return. Would you grant me that?"
"That depends," Random said, showing a hint of uneasiness. "State your request."
Nadine stated her request.
Both Random and Corwin laughed. "That would be a small price to pay for so great a deed!" Random said. "Fair, 'tis granted. Benedict, I trust you will take care of the matter?"
Benedict didn't nod. But he didn't say 'no' either, and Nadine had learned to understand that that meant 'yes.'