The small force rides out, to cheers from the Triton army answered from the force on the heights. Khela swims in the point, with Tritons on the far flanks. The Tritons could swim faster, but keep their place.
Huon has dismounted and is holding the shark in place by a bridle, as if he were a horse. He looks exactly as Brand drew him on the trump, except much darker in the cooler water. His beard floats below his chin.
His second is an ordinary looking man, wearing a uniform and looking nervous.
Huon lifts his hand and the man dips Huons horned banner in acknowledgement. Khela stops her party at a distance where words will carry, but outside of spear range. Still, it is a dangerous closeness she's chosen.
"Huon of the Horn," she says, almost shouting. "I am Khela ferch Llewella. I command these three armies before you and the forces of Rebma behind you. I charge you to leave this place never to return or else face the wrath of my forces. The family is arrayed against you and you will have no safety if you do not withdraw now."
It's clear that he's seen Jerod's forces. He nods and speaks. He is very calm and very precise. "Very gracious. I am told you style yourself Queen now. Hear me then, Queen Khela. I have a magical weapon that I have secured in Rebma that will sunder the pattern, as Amber's pattern is sundered. This blood-bomb is in the very chamber of the pattern and will break the spell that allows the city to breathe water as if it were air.
"A million souls. You and your loved ones as well. I can do that, then take what I want. My army is protected."
He spreads his arms. "Or you can give it to me, and we can be on our way, and your redheaded friends can tell my traitorous brother that I am armed and coming for him."
Huon looks towards the surface. "You may consult amongst yourselves, but if any leave via trump or enter, I will take it that you do not wish to deal with me and take the action you make me take."
He steps backwards, leading his horse out of easy earshot, but staying on the plains.
Khela swallows. "Your opinions, my princes?"
Brennan keeps his face carefully impassive during Huon's little speech, the very picture of Amberite imperious chill. He draws a number of inferences from the whole exchange, several which Khela would probably prefer not be drawn. He turns his back on Huon out of a reflexive paranoia-- keeping his voice down isn't sufficient and he'd rather have Conner watching his back than risk having his words escape.
"Bear with my short history of the Knights of the Ruby," Brennan says. "It will make sense in a minute. The last great battle between the forces of Order and Chaos was fought near the Abyss, and called Patternfall. This is where the six of us were made Knights Commander. On the way back, two of us met a creature that called itself the Hob, a Pwca. That would have been Sir Daeon and Dame Lilly. They won their freedom in exchange for a substantial offering of Daeon's blood, which it ate." Brennan gives a brief pause to let that salient worm its way into Khela's mind. Conner may already know.
"The next time it was heard from, Dame Lilly was present again, as was Sir Marius and another cousin of ours, Signy. It then ate Marius' affine in combat, a being named Cloudeater, which itself had already eaten a swarm of Wyverns during Patternfall. Then it tried to eat them. It walked away from that encounter calling itself 'The Eater.'" Again, a brief pause to let them make the connection with what he'd been saying a few minutes ago.
"Add some time on top of that, and it gets interesting. I then ran across it in Shadow. It tried to eat me. Obviously, it failed." Brennan says, then adds in a particular low and measured voice, "I then caused it to give up Daeon's blood, which I immediately removed from the field of play." He continues, "Then, because it had also eaten the Aelfs' heir, I continued to track it to an underground living lake of fire which it had-- of course-- eaten. I am not sure what it is calling itself now that Daeon's blood is gone and the lake of fire is no longer among the living, but I was finishing the job when it was summoned. I followed it. Here."
"Now, any number of things may be true. Huon may not be talking about the thing formerly known as Eater. It may have held back some of Daeon's blood. It may have eaten some other Family member's blood. It may have reacquired that which I took back from it." Brennan looks especially dubious about that last one. "But at the moment, I understand why Bleys holds him in low regard."
Brennan gives one of his exceedingly rare smiles, and his eyes glint even under the waves. "Can we get a look at the chamber, or send my affine there quickly and bring it back? I doubt he'd notice." Brennan lets the shadow Skiaza peek out from under his armor for a moment.
Skiaza seems hesitant, and smaller and weaker than he was on the Plains of Towers.
Conner frowns as Huon delivers his threat. It has to be a bluff. It must be. Are they to believe that Huon could infiltrate the very center of Rebma so easily? Does Huon really think that he could he could cause such a tragedy and not be hunted and put down like a rabid dog?
Brennan's calm recitation of recent history helps to settle Conner's mind and break the paralysis of disbelief. So if this is true, what do they know? What can they do? Brennan's suggestions makes sense. The shock of him having an affine can be processed later. "If your shadow can travel that swiftly then send it." Conner nods. "As much as I want this to be a bluff, we must proceed as if it is real. I suspect that Huon does not really want to do this or cannot. Else why give us this choice at all? We can play on that hesitation to keep him talking while we work out a plan."
[Khela]
"Yes, Conner is quite correct. We cannot risk the city on the chance that
this madman has something. He must be stopped, and then he shall pay."
Conner turns to the Tritons. "Teukros, I have felt the deep bass pulses of Tritons speaking to each other across the waves. You can speak in ways our enemies cannot hear. If you can, send word to your brothers in Rebma. Tell them of the threat and get word of this to Princess Llewella. Send word to the sorcerers on the hill, get them working on water breathing magicks should it come to that."
Conner reaches into an inner pocket on his uniform and pulls forth a gilded and jeweled mirror. "This is the Eye of Rebma. If you concentrate upon it with a clear mental image of the subject, it will show you the being in question. Unless you have mirror work that would serve us better Majesty, I suggest that Brennan see if the Eater is indeed the source of our problems."
Conner looks back at Huon and his frown deepens. "How does Huon plan to trigger this bomb? Huon cannot be seen or heard from the Pattern chamber and he could only Trump a family member. That leaves a sorcerous or magical connection. If we can find it, perhaps we can block or break it. Huon is no magician. Perhaps that is the purpose of the nervous other with him. If things go south, we strike him down first." Conner suggests. "Unworking the water breathing magic upon them might also cause them to abandon this gambit. Let me see what I can see while you two work with the Eye."
[Khela]
"This is a treasure of the realm, General Conner. It is legendary.
Brennan, if you would look at the chamber of the pattern with the Eye. I'm
afraid I haven't been there."
While Brennan or Khela works with the Eye, Conner positions himself so that he looks to be part of the huddle but in fact has a clear view of Huon and his companion. Conner opens his Third Eye and scans the pair carefully for any active magic. He also scans the waters between them and Rebma for any kind of active communication link such as Conner might make with Space or Energy.
There's some sort of connection between the man on the shark and the ground, leading in the direction of Rebma. It looks like he has a person behind him on his shark, curled up into a tight ball.
Based on Skiaza's present condition, he elects not to send it off to the edge of the Pattern unprotected. He takes the Eye from Conner, wordlessly, and uses his interest in the object as a reason not to stare flatly at Khela after her declaration that she's never even seen the heart of the realm over which she claims sovereignty. Brennan's first action with the Eye is to examine it quickly with his Third Eye, and to continue the examination as he tries to use it. He very carefully does not perform any active sorcery on it or near it, not even extending his sight into the Astral plane, becuase he is uncertain of the thing's operating principles-- it could be Sorcerous, or it could be something Ordered, akin to a Trump, and he does not want to hinder it. He just wants to know how to try and "help" it, later, should that prove necessary.
It is clearly, to his sight, a device of chaos, like a mobile parting of the veil, but only for what can be seen. Brennan thinks it may actually be a creature, or would be one across the treeline.
Then, despite Khela's instruction, his next act is to bring to mind an image of the Eater, but because of the Eater's rather changeable nature, he does this in a very careful way because of the nature of the thing he is trying to image. The last experience Brennan had of the Eater was rather intimate, as he was entropically dredging the dead lake of fire for its remaining essence. That near success is the primary image he brings to bear on the mirror, not just the visual image, but every sensation Brennan collected. If that is not sufficient, he adds sub-images to it, of the pieces he believes are still inside it: the gem that is the Aelfs' heir, CloudEater, the Wyverns, all while keeping the principle image of the thing as he had attempted to summon it in mind.
If that works, and he gets an image of the Eater, Brennan widens the field of view to see the context and surroundings.
The Eater is in a vast room, half in and half out of the stone far above a glowing green pattern. He's holding what looks like a person covered in blood above it.
Conner focuses his Third Eye on the connection trailing off towards Rebma. He tries to divine the nature and purpose of the link. He has to restrain himself from trying to sever it right away. After all, cutting the red wire sometimes sets off the bomb.
It's very odd. It's some sort of representation of a mental link of some sort. There are also faint traces of similar links going back towards Khela's forces on the heights.
Khela bites her lip but doesn't turn away from the Eye. "So there is something there. There is a thing we could do, which is very risky. Give him the sword." She holds up her hand. "Here's the thing. With it, he cannot act to harm Rebma, so he can't double-cross us. It's part of the magic. Then all we have to do is take him down while he's that much more powerful and doesn't have any incentive to stay and be beaten down by us at all."
Brennan does not think much of this plan as a starting point. "Huon might not be able to act to harm Rebma, but will he be compelled to stop the Eater from proceeding? The thing has free will, and understands enough of the nature of things to have its own incentive to destroy Rebma's Pattern. Who the blazes is that, anyway?" Brennan asks, and focusses the image in on the man's face. "Conner, can you part the veil to the Pattern chamber from here? Don't do it, if you can, just tell me-- can you do it?"
The light in the pattern chamber is very bad. The man looks vaguely like Huon, but much younger, and a uniform shade of deep red.
Conner, and by now probably even Khela, have experienced various shades of Brennan's scowl, from his default disposition through various stages of unhappiness with the universe as a whole. His expression when he sees the young man in Eater's clutches is on an entirely separate plane of existential discontent. His lips move soundless for a moment before the words come out. "....is that his son!?" The strangled-sounding voice and teeth clamped shut is also a new experience.
Conner turns from his contemplation of the strangle mental links but does not answer Brennan right away. His right hand ticks off invisible figures as he thinks. "I know how to Part the Veil," he replies, "but I've not tried to do so this close to a Pattern. I think I can manage it." Conner looks at the scene in the mirror. "If I manage it, what is the next step of the plan? How do we stop a falling body without getting crisped on the Pattern ourselves?"
Khela lets out a deep breath. "I am thinking, cousins, that flag of truce or no, our odds of personally taking Huon have never been better than they are while he is here, and the threat he has made will, when I have crowned myself, be considered justification for his immediate summary execution.
"So the plan is this. We send Brennan to Rebma's pattern chamber to stop the chaos beast while you and I attack and kill Huon and his minion. Anyone have any ideas to improve our chances?"
"Yes," Brennan says curtly. "I need to confer with Conner for a moment. Khela, we may need you to stall, but hopefully not too long. If Huon requires a response, the existing precedent from Patternfall is to offer him a chance to repent and withdraw his material threat, then to slay him out of necessity, but no one-- no one-- is bleeding on the Pattern this day." Ice would not melt in Brennan mouth.
Once he's got Conner pulled to the side, he sets the Eye's vantage to slowly circling the scene so that they can get as good an impression of the space that they're going to be working with as possible. "Parting the Veil is going to be a tall order even here, much less right into the heart of the Pattern, but we'd want the rift to appear as close to the Eater and his... prey... as possible. But you have two assets. You have this... this... someone's frozen affine, it looks like," Brennan taps the edge of the mirror, "with a strong affinity to the principle of Space. And you have me. Space is not one of my principles, but I'm a quick enough study," he forces a faint smile through his laser-focused anger, "and I can handle some of the simple drudge work while you finesse what's necessary to get the damn thing to work here."
"Frozen affine?" Conner echoes Brennan but lets the comment pass. Time enough for quizzes later.
Brennan's forced smile broadens, slightly, and goes colder. "Is my guess work correct, that the end result of your working is that two formerly disjoint points of space become one? Because I have a certain twist I'd like to add once you set things up. And can you open just one point of it?" Brennan hasn't said which one he wants opened first, because he doesn't want Conner to do it yet, but he obviously has a plan. It might even be an insane one, but it's hard to tell when Sorcerers put their cards on the table.
Conner's smile matches Brennan's for chill. "You surmise correctly. For the duration of the spell, there is no space between the two points. That is the one advantage of parting the Veil. Generally, you do not have to keep it parted for long. This close to the Pattern we will be lucky to Part the Veil long enough to pass you through. Any egress will have to be of your making. As for opening one side vs the other, the spell is well named. This is not an airlock door with an entrance and exit capable of independent closure. It is parting a curtain. The choices are open and closed." Conner concludes. "However, I do not see why I could not weave some directionality into the spell to allow one way access but I mislike adding complications to an already difficult problem. Speaking of which, what are these twists you have in mind?"
"Once we have the basic structure created, but before the thing is opened on one side or the other, I'm going to stake the two ends together in time so that the moments of opening are identical. Then, you open the far side, and we wait for as long as we think safe in terms of Huon's sufferance for our discussion here and in terms of tearing my mind in half before we open this end. From our perspective, the opening of the other end slides back in time. Huon can press the red button all he wants, and we'll still be ahead of him by that much. Then the question is, how do we best use that time? Send me in as Khela suggests? Or drag the poor boy out of there?" If Brennan heard Conner say he couldn't manage two different opening times, he's not acknowledging it. "If we do this right, the fact that the far side is opening first is a benefit because it won't make Huon itch as badly and give away the game. Certainly he won't know what we're doing."
Conner shakes his head. "Parting the Veil does not work that way. The two points become one and both sides open instantaneously. The only way to gain time as you suggest would be to slow time around these negotiations or too," Conner falls silent for a long moment, "or to directly Part the Veil into the past." Conner looks up from the mirror into Brennan's Eye. "When we scry into the past it is essentially removing the Time between now and then. Parting the Veil is the same for space. Could we actually send you back to defuse the bomb before Huon reveals he has it?" Conner shakes his head. "You know I'm desperate to even try working the math on this one. First things first, can you take the Eater?" Conner asks bluntly. "It doesn't matter when you face it if you can't."
Brennan answers these concerns in an order of his choosing. "First, Eater was doing a bad job standing up to me even back out close to the Tree. It ran away once and I was in the process of mopping it up at our second battle when it was apparently summoned away. I don't favor its odds this close to Rebma and I'm not fool enough to be using Sorcery for anything other than getting there. I'm more woried about being able to do something with that poor kid on the other side at the same time, but we'll deal with that in a minute.
"Second, in theory, yes, I could defuse it before Huon spoke to us, but for two things. First, I just don't know if the two of us have enough power to do that this close to a properly functioning Pattern, and we're not going to get a second shot. Also, I'm trying to avoid alerting Huon to any potential paradox. I don't know when the last time he checked in on it was, or when he set it up, but it's a good bet it was before his ultimatum, which puts an upper bound on how far I really want to go back. I'm trying very hard not to think of what would happen if Huon's Pattern-grounded resistance to paradox kicks in while I'm in the past, so even if I could go back some arbitrary amount of time like a day or a week, that's just that much more time for me to get into serious trouble."
"I was intending only to gain you minutes." Conner explains. "To send you back to just as Huon rides forth with his banner. We'd be lucky to get even that I suspect."
Brennan nods. "Anything we get is a bonus."
"And third," Brennan lowers his voice so Khela doesn't overhear any of it, "Third, are you telling me, Sorcerer, that opening a curtain at different times with the same action is a paradox? Of course it is. That's the point. You have been in Clarissa, son of Fiona-- do you think Clarissa couldn't do exactly that?" Brennan reaches out and puts his free hand on Conner's shoulder and makes direct eye contact with the younger man. "Think very carefully about where that limitation is coming from if we control both time and space in this operation." Then his deameanor softens, "Consider that my version of an inspirational lecture and meditation outline. But I can't having you doing something this dangerous if you think it's impossible. I will follow your lead here, and tomorrow or next week we'll sit down and see how to make such a thing work, at least in principle. Somewhere far away from dangerous Patterns."
Conner accepts the lecture in the spirit it was offered. "Point taken. But leaving aside the impossibility or not of the one way Veil, we would still be counting on our ability to maintain a Veil under conditions where it is questionable if we can open it in the first place." Conner sighs. "I'd feel more comfortable if our plans rested on the minimum results expected from our sorcery." Conner returns his gaze to the mirror. "What if we Parted the Veil directly below the being the Eater holds? You enter, strike swiftly at the Eater's appendages to make it drop him into the Veil, and then the bomb is safely here. You could either retreat or stay to finish the Eater depending on my ability to keep the Veil parted."
"It gets a little complicated in that if the Veil is under Eater and the hostage, then I have to enter below them both, swim past the one and attack the other. Other than that small difficulty, I have no issue with the plan, only that I'm paranoid enough to think that we might not be able to hold the gate open long enough," Brennan says. He shrugs, "I'll be planning on making a passing attack of some sort anyway-- if the hostage drops into the Veil and is removed from play, excellent. If not, I'll be prepared to swim down, catch him, and bear him away from the danger zone."
Continuing to watch in the mirror, it's unclear if there's really a person in the water above the pattern, or a person-shaped something in the water. It seems a bit translucent in places.
Conner frowns slightly as he peers more closely at what the Eater is holding. "I wish I could see through this with the Third Eye. All I get is blinded by the mirror's own energies when I try." Conner muses. "Here is an alternate idea. I could endeavor to make a cube of space around the body congruent with there. Then, you could strike at the Eater while one of the Tritons recovers the body or vice versa. I would suggest Khela strike with the Pattern blade but no doubt that would disrupt the sorcery." Conner starts wiggling his fingers as he works out some math in his head. "Brennan, cast your Third Eye over Huon's companion and the space surrounding them. There is some kind of mental connection streaming from them towards Rebma. Can you discern any more than that? I'm convinced it can turned to our use somehow."
Brennan thinks that over, then says, "In principle, I like that idea a lot. It solves a lot of problems. In practice, I'll tell you flat out the thing has a certin innate resistance to Sorcery because it is, in its own fashion, real. Now, even before it gave up Daeon's blood, it wasn't exactly impervious," Brennan smirks, "but it was resistant. How that plays out this close to a Pattern..." he shrugs. "I haven't exactly made a point of heading to Xanadu's basement and casting spells on a cousin near the Pattern to test it out.
"As for the Eye, here, try this," Brennan says. He passes his hand in front of Conner's eyes and brings Conner's vision into the Astral plane as well. "You should at the very least be able to look at the mirror, although if you've had a bad experience with a vanilla Third Eye, I'd try that first and then cautiously try to look beyond it." Brennan, evidently already in this mode, does as Conner requests and takes a solid look at Huon's set-up. He is also evidently able to concentrate on both those things at once, becuase he continues the conversation: "Get a look at your fishy friends, too, if you have a chance. And we need to get a plan of attack wrapped up, here, because I don't think Huon is going to keep much longer. Worse comes to worst, I'll still pop in there myself. If our Sorcery is strong enough to get us there, I have something that should keep the blood away from the Pattern."
Astrally, Conner sees a sharp differentiation between black and white shapes and all ephemera disappear, except for people. The Blade and the Eye glow strongly, as if they were alive. Conner can dimly see through the Eye into the pattern chamber. It's not a complete success, because he loses whatever Eater is grappling, as if it weren't there. He still sees the Eater, though.
Brennan looks at Huon and his sharks and his aide. He sees connections from the number two guy, or more specifically from the Aelfen prince-gem on the shark's back to the ground. Two go towards Khela's hilltop forces. Those are dim, but look like all the other ones Brennan has seen. A third goes into the ground in the direction of Rebma. It seems to be moving, as if it were flowing.
When he turns to Huon's mounts, Brennan sees that the sharks are made of shadow magic. They could be disrupted, and would certainly fall to the pattern sword. There's something funny about them, though. A spell that doesn't seem to be doing anything except keeping something in.
Brennan considers what he sees as he looks out at Huon's forces for a moment, then says to Conner, "Okay, let's play nice with Khela and brief her before we do what we're going to do. Which I think is going to be some variation on Parting the Veil over to the Pattern chamber and a little bit back in time to provide the element of extreme surprise."
Brennan motions back to Khela that he and Conner have something to report. He also summons Dignity over, if the young man is anywhere near.
"Here's what we know," he says, by way of brief. "Huon's put something into the hands of his second, over there, that probably serves as the communication link with the Eater. It's a respectably sized purplish gem that the Eater had previously consumed. It pleases me to see that wrenched free of the Eater, because it is the thing that the Eater stole from the Aelfs who came with me from Shadow. The gem is, in fact, alive, and barring corruption by exposure to Chaos will eventually grow into their heir. It would be an act of extreme kindness if it were returned to them, especially since I promised I would try to do so. It would be an act of foolishness to do this before Conner and I have a chance to look it over and determine if it has been corrupted. Note that the Aelfs are highly exciteable about the safety and possession of their Heir. They're... not entirely rational about it, so they are an uncontrolled element in this game.
"The gem has two mystic connections going up in the direction of your forces, Khela," Brennan says, and jerks his chin briefly in the correct direction. "I've seen those before. They are, to a degree, natural connections to the Aelfs, I think, although it is puzzling there are only two rather than four. The other connection is almost certainly going down to the Eater. Disrupting those connections is not impossible, but it is difficult and my guess is that they would just reform later anyway.
"Now, those sharks," Brennan says with an entirely different emphasis, "are something else. They are probably a trap for anyone using a Pattern Blade. They're made out of some cheap Shadow magic gimmick, and while I could probably force my way through them even from here I'm not willing to do so. They look like they're made to contain something, but they're flimsy, and my guess is that they're intended to fail and release whatever is inside. Meanwhile, back in the Pattern chamber, the Eater is still camped out holding something or someone-- I'm still not sure exactly what-- that we have to assume contains the blood of someone with the ability to damage the Pattern. I'm not keen on the idea of handing Huon the sword no matter what magics will bind him in what fashion to Rebma, because Bleys managed to swing the Golden Blade more than half the way up Mount Kolvir, and since Huon strikes me as being insane but not stupid I'm sure he's at least considered that possibility."
Khela listens attentively and nods at appropriate places.
"So, my recommendation is we proceed with the previous plan-- get me, and if possible my squire, Dignity-- into the Pattern chamber, but with a twist: We don't know what, exactly, is going to happen when Huon loses patience and sends that signal. It might be something as simple as Eater throwing the thing at the Pattern, or it might be more dramatic, like the thing exploding. So send me in there, and if possible, a minute or two before this moment in time, which should be time enough to defang whatever trap he's got set. Conner, did I leave anything out?"
"That is everything we have seen and our plans for sending Brennan to contend with the Eater." Conner agrees. "Once Brennan has left, no doubt Huon will attempt to trigger his bomb and it is in that moment we must deal with him. There are another ten Tritons that enhanced with time magics to move swifter like Teukros and Halamedes here. They are ordered to speed to this area at my signal or the moment they see a fight break out here. If we can hold Huon here, I am confident our forward troops will arrive before theirs." Conner sighs. "Teukros has been pledged to keep you safe Majesty but I think now is a time to risk. No doubt he will be fine fighting by your side. Majesty, have you any magic that you might spring on Huon as we Part the Veil? I think throwing everything we have at once is our best chance at this point."
She nods. "If you have the ability to cast the time magics on me, Conner, it would help," she says, looking at the Tritons. "I can use my awakened Llaya here. While much of my magics are those of a physical adept, I also have a few ideas for other dweomers that might help. Sadly, most of what I can do is likely to be of the use of my sword. I expect to be good for one shot and then it shall be up to my skills and talents to defeat my uncle. What I will do is cut off the gem from the city. Sever the connection, in hopes that that disrupts his plans. That should be quick enough that we do not lose our advantage with the blades."
She looks at Huon. "Brennan your squire is to remain here. Non-family are not safe in the place of the Pattern, even in Rebma. I would not have him eaten by a red water-spout. He is assigned to the Captain. The triton Halamedes to the sharks, and Conner and I to Huon. Any questions?"
Conner draws forth a ticking stopwatch from his pocket on a chain. To those used to the regular tick-tick of a clock it is clearly running fast. He casts the same spell upon it and Khela that he did for the Swift though he is not as concerned about the duration as the strength. Things would be over in a few hours one way or the other after all. "There, Majesty. I hope it is enough. The time to act is now."
While Conner is doing that, Brennan makes himself ready for rapid transport. He's got the spear he commandeered strapped to one side and just in case he's got the axe-hammer that he enchanted anywhere from a few hours to a few months ago depending on one's point of reference... just in case. When Conner is finished, he says to Conner and Khela, "No questions, but do this for me: Tell Huon... tell him I said Bleys was right. If he doesn't know what that means, well, that's too bad for him." Then he hands Conner back the Eye so that he can use it as a focus if he needs it.
Conner then turns to Brennan. "Prepare yourself cousin. Follow my lead in this casting and lend your strength as I direct or where the weave seems weakest."
Brennan nods, and adds, "Work the spatial component, and I will assist, then transfer back to me and let me lead through the temporal component."
Reaching into a pocket, Conner pulls out a collapsible pointer and extends it. Parting the Veil is simple in its visualization. Conner clearly pictures where he is and with the aid of the Eye clearly pictures where he wishes to go. Then his mind makes the two one in his thoughts and his will makes the two one in actuality. This weave is similar except that one does not really 'see' the past though can make it visible. It is more knowing the rhythm of the cosmos and setting your own measure back two beats. The Eye guides his path.
By contrast to Conner's style, Brennan doesn't seem to use much in the way of physical focii, at least not for quick castings such as this. As Conner builds up the spatial component of the spell, Brennan spends some small amount of time simply observing, very carefully, through an Astrally extended Third Eye, watching Conner's technique, watching the application of the principle, watching the spell come together. When he does begin to actively assist, he inserts himself carefully into the spell not unlike he's playing a game of cat's cradle with Conner: carefully and delicately, he puts himself and his energies into positions that keep necessary tensions in the spell, maintaining pieces that Conner has already built up so that Conner can move on to more delicate work with greater precision, but also with a mind to taking it completely once the spell's major spatial component is in place. It is passive work, but it should be valuable, because Brennan's control and stability are admirable.
Once that happens, Brennan nods, and says softly, "Let me flex the Time of it," and shifts the tension between them so that Conner can move into the support role in the cradle they've built between the two of them. He takes the beginnings of the temporal work that Conner has set up, and the completeness of the spatial work, and in an application of precisely applied brute metaphysical strength, stretches the work out, gives it a half twist, and joins it back onto itself as a moebius strip, turning it into a true paradox. Conner has created a construct by which two separate segments of space are made one; this, Brennan does not interfere with. But he does intersect that with a spell that causes, in that small affected space, one segment of time is made into two, at either end of Conner's spell. Brennan gives one end a push back in time, along the line Conner has already prepared, and which Brennan made manifest with his twisting of the spell. The other, he drags with him forward in time according to his own natural progression.
In Rebma, no one can see you sweat. But Brennan's molars are grinding together, and the cords of his neck are visible with the effort. He might also be grinning, or he might just be grimacing.
The clock ticks in [Conner's] mind slow and wind back. One hundred and twenty beats of his heart later he nods to Brennan.
"Now." [Conner says]
"Now," Brennan says, in harmony.
"Now!," says Khela in response, her spell a glittering green blade that strikes the ground between the Captain and Rebma.
The pointer slashes down toward centuries of Reality like a monk's hand toward a block of stone. His will is strong. It will part. It must.
Lamell notes that he doesn't think it would be wise to spy on the meeting sorcerously, and that it would be difficult to do so for other reasons, but he thinks Drusus has a captain's glass, or did before the guard left Rebma. Drusus looks slightly embarrassed and sends an aide for it.
Lamell takes the glass from Drusus' aide and looks through it, then offers it to Jerod.
Jerod will follow suit. Barring a significant bit of body language, or the GM's ruling that Jerod can somehow read lips at that distance (and with people shifting positions, etc), I'm figuring he watches and waits for his reason to take his troops right through Huon's flank.
Khela, Conner, and Brennan approach Huon and Carper. There seems to be an exchange of speeches and the two sides fall back to confer.
Carper looks nervous.
Nervous as in "I'm acting as captain with Huon while facing the leaders of the opposing enemy forces and facing possible attack on several sides", or nervous like "Crap, I'm about to die because my boss is insane"?
The former. Something like "my boss can't take them all, including the pair of twenty-foot fishmen, can he?" That might be the latter as well.
All three of the visible armies seem restless.
Conner, Brennan and Khela confer, first with Huon, then with each other. The moment draws out.
Suddenly, Conner does something, Brennan disappears, and the ground shakes! An earthquake, possibly magically caused, hits. It stirs the seabed, as if a fog is being raised. Rebmans are not hurt by the falling and all deal well with it, but it looks as if it did some serious damage to the city and it's hard to see on the field.
Lamell is working magics to try to clear the debris from the water.
From the parley in the middle, Huon's voice, almost certainly magically amplified, is clearly heard across the field by all parties. "Treachery! Attack!"
"Shit!! Lamell, clear my field NOW!" Jerod yells, snapping the spyglass closed as he turns. "Drusus, all units advance at speed. Intercept and hold Huon's forces. Commanders to exploit breakthroughs where available. No retreats. Move!"
"Advance!", yells the commander. With a roar, the defenders rush forward, with fast scouts swimming up to get a better view of the scene.
Lamell doesn't respond but he casts furiously and the field becomes more clear, if not quite clear. It is a big field.
The tritons must have been sorcerously enhanced. They're faster than they should be and they'll gain the field before Jerod's men.
If the Tritons make it there first, then Jerod will adjust the line of advance to pierce Huon's links from a flanking position. Huon will either try to hold his position where he is with Khela in order to acquire the sword, in which case he'll be surrounded by Tritons and have to deal with them, or else he'll retreat into his own forces for protection and cover, in which case the Tritons will have to fight their way through Huon's front line, assuming they continue forward and do not stop to protect Khela.
In the former case, Jerod leaves the Tritons to deal with Huon. He does not want his men in a melee with friendly forces. In the latter, he will pursue Huon through his own lines to bring him to battle. Which means in both cases, Jerod's going for a flank attack.
Jerod notices the opposing sides' use of magics as he charges in. Huon's forces seem to be conjuring sharks on the field at the meeting point. The small advance force of enhanced tritons arrives and is met by the conjured sharks.
The sorcerers will be inside Huon's ranks and certainly protected against physical assault from opposing soldiers. But unless they are very well acquainted with their underwater environment, they will still be operating from a two dimensional surface behaviour, unfamiliar with assaults in water. Jerod tells Lamell to see about dropping something into the middle of Huon's main force, to disrupt their activities, and to make it unusual, something they would not expect or consider. So long as it does not harm the Rebmans, Jerod does not care what it does to the enemy.
A force of Huon's is wheeling slightly to meet your advance, and the main body continues forward.
Jerod will need to cut through these troops to get to Huon, or he could personally angle to the Triton melee without his men. Huon seems to be in the thick of the fiercest shark-triton fighting.
Jerod orders Drusus to meet the wheeling of Huon's forces in a sliding action, engaging the force but not committing. The Guard are to hold and manuever, sliding down the opposing force's frontage, forcing him to pause and attempt to engage but not giving him any purchase. Drusus is to hold and manuever, keeping the enemy force from assisting Huon and engaging at the most suitable time to breach their and force a route of this opposing force. An enemy force fleeing the field can have an impressive effect.
Jerod himself will use the cover of the Guard to swing into the general melee from the flank or rear flank and go after Huon.
Drusus takes the orders, and does his best to implement them. The battle is fierce and the fighting is man-to-man. Jerod's training was timely; the force he first found would have crumbled by now.
This front being in the hands of the men he's trained, Jerod moves along behind the line looking for an opening. He finds a place where Huons men have opened a small breach and, pressing forward, he slides into the gap and puts himself behind the lines. There is resistance, but nothing that Jerod cannot outfight and outswim.
He heads from the rear flank to the heart of the melee, coming up from behind Huon's sharks. On the far side of what seems to be the other front line Jerod catches glimpses of his cousins and his uncle amidst the combatants. To get to them, he has to get through the line of twenty-foot long tritons fighting twenty-foot long sharks. The sharks now have spears stuck in them, however, and the tritons are fighting bare-handed.
Jerod makes a mental note for the training of Guard forces on orca as cavalry in the future, assuming he survives to order this form of training to be undertaken. Under normal circumstances in Shadow, he'd have summoned such a force to clear the sharks, but circumstances are never normal it seems.
As such, Jerod looks for the most direct, and most permeable route to the melee, using his strength and speed as best he can. Given the three dimensional nature of the battlefield, if traversing over the front line is suitable and coming at Huon from above, then Jerod will do so. Otherwise, it's dodge and weave on the approach. He will engage in defense only if a shark comes for him directly.
An approach from above is the most direct, and Jerod quickly finds himself over the battlefield. Both sides have fighters up here, but they are more scarce and are frequently only above long enough to dive down below again. A quick glance confirms what Jerod saw earlier; the sharks are being stabbed with spears and then not relinquishing them. The tritons, who looked to have a very easy victory in front of them, will be fighting with their fists and tails against the bulk of the army that's coming up behind Jerod.
Jerod sees Conner's magical appearance from nowhere. A moment later another fighter appears from it, then disappears again. There's something magical at that spot. Jerod feels confident he can remember to avoid it, even though it's in the midst of the fighting.
Conner knocks Huon down, but Huon is on his feet quickly. He dropped his sword but managed to blind Khela with sand and mud and is diving for it on the ground.
Conner has a quick glimpse through the Eye and sees Eater, still struggling with the red-translucent figure, before the image fades.
Across the field, Huon screams "Treachery! Attack!"
[Trouble is coming in another thread. Well done everyone, now it's on... :)]
Huon is bearing down on Khela on his shark, saber raised above his head. She has the pattern blade before her, in a guard position.
The sea bed is disturbed by the earthquake, and visibility to the three armies is limited.
The elation of having defied a Pattern swiftly fades as the seabed explodes beneath them. Only the continued ability to breathe hints at their sorcery having done any good at all. Conner shoves the Eye into its pocket and surveys the scene before him.
The Swift already have their orders to rush to their aid at the first sign of trouble and if Huon's voice is reaching his troops then no doubt Khela's troops have heard and are on the move. The army will have to fend for itself. So Conner focuses on Huon. Swiftly, Conner unlimbers the loaded crossbow on his back and fires a snapshot at his charging Uncle. The crossbow is then abandoned so Conner can draw his spear and swim to Khela's side.
Huon rolls the shark onto its side and the bolt goes wide. The rows and rows of teeth come straight at Khela. "Shit. Brennan said I can't stab it with the sword, it's a trap! Shark's yours, Conner."
She steps back lets the spearman take the lead.
Huon leaps off at the last moment, sending the shark straight at Conner.
The problem with setting for a charge underwater is the lack of ground to brace yourself against. Besides, Conner did not enhance his speed with the intention of standing still. Conner stands his ground until the shark nears then bursts upward with the intention of jamming his spear into the shark's head as it passes beneath him.
Conner leaps at the last moment and twists in the air like a pole vaulter, if a pole vaulter were to stab his pole into a passing shark as hard as he could while still crossing the bar. It slides along the cartilage, opening a narrow gap, until it lodges firmly in the shark's neck behind the creature's head. Conner can hold on or lose his spear. Khela is about to engage Huon, who has spun around to face her.
Conner curses as the spear becomes jammed in the not-shark. He would be of little use in combat without the spear but the time wasted to free it could be telling. Every moment in the wrong direction is one that Huon could strike in. Then again, what is direction to him?
Gripping the spear tightly with one hand, Conner throws his head back to gauge the distance and angle of Huon and Khela's position. A moment later, Conner attempts to Part the Veil directly in front of his unwilling ride. Conner is going to return Huon's shark, down his uncle's throat.
Conner sees his objective clearly, and gets a good fix on it. He notices that a number of sharks have spears stuck in them and that Tritons are fighting bare-handed. That bodes ill for human spearmen, though.
Conner Parts the Veil and it opens cleanly, and he and the shark head into the Parting. It takes an enormous effort and he should send the shark directly into Huon from he left rear flank.
Khela is holding Huon's spear off with the Green sword and he's taking advantage of his reach and the length of his weapon.
Conner crosses through, riding the shark at high speed and holding on to the spear. The shark doesn't cross, or perhaps it dissolves, but in any case, only Conner and the spear he's holding are there, hurtling at Huon's kidney. Even with his enhanced speed, he doesn't have time to bring his spear on-line.
With a great 'Ooof', he collides with his uncle, sending both to the ground.
Without the shark, Conner's plan devolves into, "Use Huon to break his fall." To this end, Conner clings to Huon like a remora and attempts to maintain the grip after conservation of momentum does its damage. His goal is to keep his Uncle pinned in one place so that Khela can get a clear shot with her sword. Ideally, Conner would like to place his knee in the small of Huon's back, grab both wrists and pull back with all his strength but he would settle for a crude wrestling clinch that allows Conner to roll them over so that Huon's back is exposed long enough for Khela to strike.
Conner hits Huon in the back, hard, sending him to the ground with Conner on top of him. Khela swoops in for a strike, but Huon has rolled over so that Conner is in the way of the strike.
Huon elbows Conner in the face and bounces to his feet, unarmed, and squirts mud from between his hands at Khela's eyes, then dives for his spear, which is on the ground.
Jerod picks a spot to the rear of Huon and heads down swiftly, avoiding the magical teleport zones that appear to be forming, positioned where Conner and Khela will hopefully be in Huon's forward arc and keeping his attention.
With regards to Jerod's intention, he is not looking to take a specific action in engaging Huon, such as immobilizing or stunning him. Jerod is on a battlefield and Huon is an enemy that must be neutralized without delay - that means if Jerod engages Huon, he will kill him if the opportunity presents itself. No action is off- limits. At this moment, family status is no longer relevant (and curses eventually wear out).
"Behind you, Protector!" shouts Carper, and Huon bounces up and over Khela's stab. Jerod gets a thrust in, but it only deflects the Prince. He thinks it did not draw blood.
Huon twists around so that he's facing both Khela and Jerod, as best he can.
Conner blinks and shakes his head to clear it. Huon may be faster and more skilled but Conner should be faster now that Huon is outside the field of the speed spell. Conner zips to retrieve his own spear and then moves to engage Huon. He focuses on lightning quick jabs to the hands and wrists meant to divest Huon of his regained weapon.
Huon manages, despite Conner's great speed, to hang on to his weapon. It's clear that he's concerned with Khela first, Jerod second, and Conner last.
Out of the corner of his eye, Conner notices that the place he parted the veil hasn't actually closed, and that Huon is near it.
Conner steps back and into an oasis of quiet in the swirling battle. It's unclear to any of the combatants what he is doing, except not being an immediate threat. For Huon, at least, that's good enough for now and he'll deal with whatever spell the redhead is casting later.
Jerod presses his attack, using every opportunity available. He knows Khela has her blade and since Huon seems to be more worried about Khela, Jerod will use that in his attacks, working to keep Huon as busy as possible either to distract him enough that Khela can get a good shot, or else to make Huon make mistakes trying to deal with the two of them. Since his thrust did not draw blood, it is possible Huon is armored either magically or otherwise, so Jerod will take that possibility into account.
Khela and Jerod press forward, Jerod suspects that neither of them is better than Huon, but his tactics seem to involve fighting defensively until his opponents are tired enough to make a mistake. It's a tactic that works well for Princes of Amber.
Khela seems to realize this as well, and seems to be pressing harder.
How risky is Jerod willing to fight?
Jerod is going to eliminate Huon as a threat. He's willing to go to whatever is required, including kill him. He treats him like he would treat Martin, an opponent with superior endurance that he knows he must defeat quickly, using his strength and skill to overcome endurance and defensive postures. Huon is a surfacer - Jerod uses every trick that a Rebman would know, plus all the variations he's ever learned or even thought about.
Between Jerod's skill, Khela's complementary Rebman training and Conner's spell, and the advantage the two of them have together, Huon is soon hard pressed. The pair of Rebmans has the upper hand, but Huon does not lose his calm and fights on. When, after a tough several minutes, he exposes his flank to Jerod, it almost seems intentional. Jerod strikes swiftly with his spear, stabbing down and across Huon's ribcage, ripping open shirt and flesh and sliding along bone.
Huon does not bleed. Khela has already moved in to take advantage of the wounding, and Huon ties her up corps-a-corps. He grabs for the sword, smiling.
With no blood, either it's not Huon, or it's something new that Huon learned from elsewhere. In any event, the threat remains. Jerod will use Huon's distraction for the blade to leverage the spear into a thrusting position, going for a side thrust if needs must to get by Khela, to get the spear "inside" Huon and use his strength to flip him.
[(There is a technique in hozoin sojutsu that does precisely this, though instead of striking a main body, you hit an extremity like a leg, then thrust through the spear length while dropping your center mass - that translate through to the target to affect the target's centre of gravity. Jerod has better strength and skill than I do, so he's going to use a bigger target for this try).]
As a last bit of information, if Jerod can only get to Huon by going through Khela, then he will do just that.
[(From the British and Canadian counter-terrorist forces, if the enemy has a hostage, shoot through the hostage, while using armor piercing bullets)]
Huon seems to have anticipated this, and the only clean shot is one that will hopefully do only minimal damage to Khela.
"If you cannot defeat the enemy, then aid the ally." With that in mind Conner drifts back from the fight with Huon and focuses on the wider battle. The Tritons could turn the tide of this if only they could get through. It is time to address that.
With concentration, Conner could feel the Pattern within him. He pictures it as a tiny version of himself forever walking, forever glowing with blue sparks, inscribing the Pattern on his heart with every step. Gathering his will, Conner regards his spiritual homunculus, plucks him from his walk and sets him free to run.
The sharks are nothing. Not fish, not construct, not energy. They are aberrations. They are wrongness to be cleansed. They are imagination. In fact, they were never here just a trick of light on the waves that fooled us all for a moment but no longer. Conner sweeps the battlefield with the Pattern starting with those closest to him and working outward intending to leave empty ocean where sharks once swam.
It is a difficult drawing, but in the end, Conner feels the Universe respond to his will. This is like starting a pattern-walk too soon, but it is what it is and the reshaping of the 'is' begins. It is quite tiring, but Conner feels Magisharks disappearing before him, and there are cheers from the tritons who pick up the spears that had formerly been lodged in their opponents bodies.
Conner takes it as far as he thinks he can, removing many of the foe's magical beasts, although some may have escaped notice.
The front line buckles and tritons pour into the gap, stabbing the men who face them as they go. It's quite likely that there will be a rout, soon.
Conner drops his hand and sags against his spear. Conner is grateful for the cool sea washing away what should be his sweat soaked brow. He drinks in the sounds of Triton cheers and smiles in satisfaction at the sounds of the tide turning. Conner raises his head to take in the scene around him and the smile slides off his face at the sight of Khela and Huon with locked hilts.
Conner pushes off the ground to swim towards them but let's himself sink back to the ocean floor. What good would he be there? His muscles ache and the very thought of calling upon either Pattern or Sorcery once more sets his head to throbbing. So he calls upon the one weapon which has never failed him. His voice.
"Rally the Swift!" Conner calls out with a voice trained to call over storm and gale. "To me! TO ME!"
As Jerod thrusts through Khela and into Huon, the would-be queen gasps and Huon grunts. Something happens, like a trump transit, followed immediately by another.
The veil parts with a scream of betrayal, and both Magicians are almost overwhelmed by the resistance and power that opposes them. Had Brennan not leaped as soon as the Veil started to part, he might not have made it through the opening, either because of the stunning effect of the spell's backlash or because of the speed with which it closed.
[Trouble is coming in another thread. Well done everyone, now it's on... :)]
Brennan leaps through and it's like he's jumped into a pool of red molasses. Everything in the pattern chamber is a dim red hue and he's near the top and floating over the great device of power, which is a slightly greenish red from where Brennan floats. He is having trouble moving freely. There is a voice in his head that sounds like a trump contact, and other voices dimly in the distance.
"Hello? Hello? My brothers, something has come into my egg!"
That is when someone grabs Brennan from behind.
Brennan is a swift thinker by nature, and swifter still in moments of imminent-- and immanent-- danger. Even so, the situation doesn't leave him much time for anything past a few fleeting registrations of his environment: Green glowy Pattern beneath him: Good. Dropped in what seems like a cloud of blood: Bad. Blood is thick and viscous: Mixed. Trump-like contact, probably between Eater and Aelfs: Bad. Grabbed from behind: Bad.
Not the best situation Brennan's ever been in. First order of business is getting free. With the minimum motion necessary, he reaches behind him to grapple with whatever has him. If there is a patch of a wall or a ceiling close by, Brennan will attempt a throw, but if not he'll settle for raw, inevitable, brute strength-- and Brennan has been fighting for long enough this day that he's lost any hesitation over using the fullness of his strength. Since he expects that it's the Eater that's grabbed him, Brennan also fills his spirit with the essence of the Pattern for which he fights, the green sign still visible beneath the haze. If he can focus that essence down into his hands as he grabs backwards, so much the better.
But in any case, he reaches back to his grappler, grabs, twists, bends, and tries to break. He wants to feel bones or stones breaking beneath his gauntlets, and if his assailant pulls backward to try and get away, Brennan hangs on, hoping to be pulled loose from the miasma.
Brennan starts to reach backwards and finds that his arms will not move; the red liquid hardens into something like steel or obsidian when he tries to change positions. He is well and truly trapped.
The voice inside his head is yelling now, almost incoherently. "The egg, my brothers, the egg!"
From behind him, another voice speaks. "Oh. You are clever, bloodbody, but you cannot trick me into thinking you are the sword lord. You shall not destroy me here. I know your task."
If Brennan wanted to or tried to respond to either of the voices, he did not get a chance.
From inside the bloodcloud Brennan feels a terrible ripping, as if his own skin were being stretched to the tearing point. The inside voice yells again, "I hatch, my brothers, I hatch!". It fades even as it shouts triumphantly and Brennan knows something has changed.
In that instant, there is a tremendous crash and Brennan is thrown forward and either the pattern below him blinked out or he did.
Brennan quickly takes stock of his situation. He's floating about 30 yards from the eater, who was also knocked back, and the remnants of the gem are between the two of them.
Brennan notices that the gem fragments no longer restrain him. They seem to be coalescing, as if the gem is re-forming.
And having gotten free, under his own power or not, Brennan gets the spear in his hand for self-protection. His next order of business is getting those gem fragments and all the remains of the bloodcloud as far off the field as possible. Which isn't far, but hopefully won't be nothing.
In what Brennan sincerely hopes is his last necessary act of Sorcery in this fight and this close to the Pattern, Brennan attempts a simple working: Remove the thermal energy from the bloodcloud and the gem fragments, and the water right next to it. If he has enough strength, the result will be frozen chunks of blood encased in water ice, and ice-encased gem fragments. If that works, it will accomplish a multitude of virtues: It will keep the blood from dispersing. It will give at least a thin layer of physical protection if it gets knocked onto the Pattern. Ice floats, so the debris should migrate up and away from the Pattern naturally. And even though ice melts, it doesn't melt immediately, so if Brennan can effect the freeze, he won't have to maintain it.
Simple. Clean. Elegant. An untrained child could do it. Except here.
Brennan knows he can't spend much time on this, because the Eater is either going to be on him, on the bloodcloud or the gem fragments, or in general trying to cause great harm in a moment. So he doesn't spend much time on it, just a last ditch, brute force effort-- it'll either work or it won't-- before the battle joins. He does not attempt to manipulate the Pattern while he does this, of course.
As soon as Brennan starts to manipulate the energies of his sorcerous might, he feels the water start to swirl and he feels the pattern in his very blood respond. A vortex starts forming, green and quick. It starts to move towards Brennan.
The Eater is heading for the far wall, and the blood seems to have coalesced into the shape of a person.
A lesser man than Brennan would succumb to the universal urge to anthropomorphize, and tell the bloody Pattern that he is trying to defend it from becoming the Bloody Pattern. Brennan is not a lesser man. But he is a very alarmed man.
Since the thing seems to have an appetite for Sorcery, Brennan takes the axe-hammer, that should still be enchanted from the longest-ago 'this morning' of his very long life, and chucks it away from him. A moment later, he tries again to bring the image of the Pattern to his mind and spirit, purging himself of any other Sorcerous effects or residues that might be clinging to him. His hope is that if the vortex is just trying to snuff out Sorcery, then that combination of actions will have it fix on the hammer-- or at least on not-Brennan-- and consume it and go away.
The Vortex, not being sentient, reacts as Brennan hopes and settles over the axe-hammer and in an instant, both are gone.
Brennan, being extremely sentient, remembers that little effect as a near-nuclear option for another day, but does not otherwise act on that new knowledge, except to keep the Sorcery to a non-positive minimum... while being fairly assured that the Eater is probably in the same boat.
Maybe, if Brennan is exceptionally lucky, the vortex has a taste for petty would-be Chaos Lords. That would be a fitting end to the thing.
If the vortex keeps tracking on Brennan, he'll move rapidly away and try to figure out something else.
The Eater turns, having noticed the end of the vortex.
"Oh, hello. Did you take care of that blood I gave you?"
Brennan does not respond, and instead moves at speed toward the congealing reddish mass in the center of the chamber. He risks opening his Third Eye, just a crack and not while looking in the direction of the Pattern itself, to inspect the thing, but he does not touch it-- yet.
Everything is bright to the third eye, too bright to really look at. The thing looks like a person. If Brennan remembers correctly, it looks like Huon.
"Oh," says the Eater. "Are you going to stop the Prince's Blood Creature?"
Brennan does not respond to the Eater, instead making a brief circuit around the forming blood, inspecting it as best he can. After the circuit, he looks into its face-- or where he expects its face will be when it finishes forming, and murmus, "Who are you?" Then, with more purpose and intent to communicate, "Who are you?" The tone is not unkind.
If it does not respond, Brennan reaches out-- very-- gingerly, and gently lays a mailed hand on its upper arm. The contact is very brief and very gentle, almost a light tap, for various reasons: Even though it looks solid, it might not be, and Brennan doesn't want to scatter it; it might react violently, and Brennan wants to be ready for that, with the spear in his other hand; Brennan halfway expects a mental contact, and doesn't want to let it persist if it happens.
It's like touching jello. Brennan gets a flash of an image of something like a leech, attached to Huon's wrist over a small but deep cut. It is no more than a six inches long at the start, but it clearly looks like Huon and is growing.
It moves away from Brennan quickly.
"I told you," says the Eater. "It is the Prince's Bloodcreature. If you are not going to keep it, may I? I would like to collect the blood."
The bloodcreature's hand changes. It appears to be growing a spear from it.
"What are you offering?" Brennan asks.
"Oh, I have much to offer. Knowledge, I have. I was there when the Prince's Blood creature was created. I know how the trap is to be sprung."
Meanwhile, he keeps himself between the bloodcreature and the Pattern as much as possible, and tries to shepherd the thing out of the area... out of the Pattern chamber entirely, is his goal. "You cannot stay here," Brennan says to it. He's fairly sure the thing isn't sentient or independent-- quite-- but he might be wrong and has no great desire to slaughter a Family-shaped object in the Pattern chamber.
Still, he is ready to defend himself if the thing attacks.
Once the spear is full grown, the creature attacks Brennan. It does not fight as well as an uncle should, but well enough. Brennan keeps it off him him for the first few attacks.
How does Brennan respond to the attacks?
Spear against spear, probatively. Brennan's ultimate goal is simply to drive the thing back away from the Pattern and toward one of the exits-- Brennan isn't fussy about which one-- and his immediate goal is to understand this thing's properties enough to do that. Over the course of the initial sparring, he tries to get in the following experiments:
Brennan is guessing that the bloodcreature's spear is solid and pointy enough to actually stab him and bludgeon him, so Brennan reacts appropriately, blocking with his own or with his armor. Is he right? Is at least the spear solid? Brennan will also make a few feints at the creature, intending less to draw blood (so to speak) than to see if the creature reacts as though being stabbed or hit is undesirable. Does it dodge or attempt to block or in some other way react appropriately? Finally, he'll try at least one to really hit the creature, but with the blunt end of the spear. How does the creature react? Does it react as if it has been caused pain? How does its body react-- can it be pushed back?
The spear is solid and blocks Brennan's blows as expected. It does seem to be aware, but it doesn't seem to be fighting back. Brennan doesn't seem to be able to push it back.
If and only if Brennan can make a response to the Eater without getting killed or stabbed, he will say, "If I give you the thing, that knowledge is useless." Then, after another moment of fighting, "Tell me, and I'll make you a big candy gem when this is all over."
"Oh, but I will be gone before then. I will tell you, and you will owe me something. He is going to trade with it."
"Coward," Brennan mutters, along with a phrase not commonly found in the Tourists' Guide to Uxmal.
Without Brennan touching it, the bloodcreature reacts as if it has been stabbed. A gash in its side starts bleeding, and it doubles up.
Brennan's reflexes are what they are, and his training is what it is. By the time, based on his previous vision, that he realizes that someone, somewhere, probably just stabbed Huon, he's already committed to taking advantage of the golem's momentary lapse; the spear has already been raised, and he's already bringing the haft straight down in a vicious, double-handed rabbit punch aimed right at the exposed base of its skull-quivalent. Only his prior determination not to shed the thing's blood keeps him from using the pointy end. There's barely enough time to hope that somewhere, Huon now has one mother of a headache before the next realization hits: If Brennan is right about what's going on here, Huon's death might be the trigger that explodes this thing.
Brennan does the only thing he can think of in that short a time: Grabs for the only Trump that's never been too busy to talk-- Amber's Courtyard-- and takes advantage of the thing's momentary pain and distraction to get the contact open and push, pull, drag, kick, tackle or bulldoze it through with him. He might get stabbed on the way through, or it might explode, but he is at least wearing good armor, and it will be worth it to at least get somewhere that can't be damaged by either of their blood.
Draw: Overlooking The Diamond (Reversed)
Brennan grabs the thing and opens the connection. It nearly explodes in blood as another wound opens. Brennan's clothes soak up much of it. The creature changes almost as soon as Brennan touches it, as if the blood creature is leaving and someone else is coming.
He practically falls into Amber's outer courtyard. It is a difficult transition and Brennan lands at the bottom of the pile.
"Oh. Good bye," says the Eater. "I will look for your payment later."
Last modified: 28 May 2009