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Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 12:24:11 -0500
Dear Paula,
Have the family been fighting like cats and dogs? Hmmm. Yeah, I guess
you could say that. There's the alliance-shift-of-the-week . . . I have
to keep asking Caine whose side we're on. A lot of the most contentious
elders are out of action. Brand just got back from Unicorn-knows-where
(And don't ask ME where he was. Just because he was fishing around in
poor Dairmaid's brain when he screamed and disappeared doesn't mean that
_I_ know anything about it!) babbling about how the voices won't stop.
Fiona was kidnapped by Chaos. Mandor put her head in a box, then shapeshifted
a pair of demons to look like her head and attached them to her body. The
demons were killed and the head was reattached, but she was in pretty
bad shape. Before she could regain consciousness, Flora kidnapped her
and probably brainwashed her and they're frolicking out in Shadow somewhere.
Dairmaid shot Bleys' legs off (I don't have anything against redheads,
REALLY! It's just coincidence) and I think he's still sedated because
Dairmaid was on Eric's side, and Bleys was on Corwin's side, and Eric
doesn't want to deal with it right now. Corwin is around, too. He and
Caine are bombarding the Castle to try to lure the fake Benedict in . . .
but I think I told you that part. Now, how Eric managed to get Corwin
to take orders from him, I don't know. Caine and I are also taking orders
from Eric at the moment, and Eric's calling himself King. Deirdre and
Julian are in Chaos. They aren't too terribly pleased that Eric's in
charge, but they haven't taken any action yet. Since the fake Benedict
has been tipped off, I suspect they are probably in prison, on his side,
or dead.
So how did Eric get to be in charge? Okay, here goes.
Things went pretty much like the first book . . . Eric on the throne,
Corwin in the dungeon. Deirdre broke Corwin out. Eric announced that he
was going to fix the damaged Pattern, but this was an elaborate way to fake
his own death. (Social note: Eric and Moire got hitched before he "died".)
Gerard became regent and there was much fruitless discussion about what
to do about the Black Road, the Pattern, and Dworkin (who was a couple
fries short of a Happy Meal). Finally, Benedict showed up (we're not sure
if he was the real one or not) and life was made exciting by the long-awaited
attack by Chaos. Corwin marched in with his guns and his furry guys,
defeated Chaos, and took the vacant throne. And there was much rejoicing.
Then Corwin took almost the whole army, most of the Castle guard, and
nearly all the relatives to Chaos where he tidily kicked some shapeshifter
booty. He left behind a skeleton crew, including Brand, Bleys, Morgan
(a PC, son of Fiona) and Nagataka (a PC, Eric's son) to fix the Pattern.
Now, if that sounds like a poor tactical decision to you, you're not alone.
Eric reappeared with a big army (and Caine and Dairmaid) to retake Amber.
Eric seemed really sleep-depped and just a little TOO sure of himself, but
he had a plan to fix the Pattern, which was more than Corwin had, so what
the hey? So we took Amber, and Dairmaid was dispatched with a platoon to
take the Primal Pattern, which he did, except that Nagataka had started fixing
the Pattern already.
Nagataka rewrote the Pattern and changed a lot of things about Amber.
Technology started working, the population increased, and Kolvir went away.
With great insight, Nagataka realized that family infighting was weakening
Amber and threatening the Pattern (which was exerting . . . shall we say . . .
an undue influence upon him?) so he erected a barrier around the middle
of Shadow and exiled anyone in the Family who wouldn't swear fealty to him.
Those who swore could pass through the barrier without difficulty, but
for everyone else it only worked one way. This clearly would not do, but
you can't tell by the way the Elders reacted. They hung out blissfully
in Chaos (where the food is plentiful and good, the women are keen on making
Amberite babies, and all the Families quarters are slow-time Shadows . . .).
Then Moire had a personal crisis and decided swearing fealty was slightly
less abhorrent than staying in Chaos, so the Rebman contingent (Moire, her
daughter, Nerene, and Dairmaid) trooped back to Amber. Luckily, Dairmaid
didn't have to swear fealty because it was not known that he was Family, so
when Moire suggested that she wished him to take a "message" to Nagataka,
it was with a clean conscience that he filled the Prince full of lead.
(But don't tell anyone that. It's a SECRET.)
It was a while before the barrier came down, but when it did Corwin and a
couple other folks came home and dealt with the Castellan, who'd discovered
that Amber was more pleasant in the absence of the Royal Family and had
covered up Nagataka's death and was running things. Corwin took a bullet
and was being treated when Eric came back. Eric took control, and, as I
said, Corwin is tolerating it for some reason.
Britt
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