Kallum nods at everybody as they are named, then, "It's not a matter of offending anybody, James.  It's more a matter of them wanting the best where they could do the most good."  The accompanying grin suggests that the answer is not altogether serious.

He inclines his head towards the mountain, "I'm not altogether sure what's going on over there.  I heard yesterday morning that a man had come here, out of Arden, riding a giant cat, and carrying a letter from Julian.  He was allowed into the Castle, and spoke to the King.  Then he left, back to the Forest."

"Within the hour, half the army was being sent to guard the roads out of Arden.  They kept a few behind to defend the city gates, and the Castle, but most are on the roads."

He pauses, turning back to James, "They pulled the troops away from the docks, and just left the militia down there.  Even pulled the marines off the ships, which I heard Gerard wasn't too pleased about."

"Doesn't look like it did much good though." Kallum shakes his head, "By last night we were seeing the first smoke."

"Between you, me, half the Castle, I've heard that things are getting desparate.  Latest rumour has it that Random has contacted the Courts, calling in some sort of agreement from the end of the last war.  I heard he's also calling in reinforcements from the Circle, but a lot of them are worried that if they send troops, they'll be attacked while their army is over here."

"I believe one or two of us must go to Arden," Aaron spoke up from his point by the entrance. "After we convene with the Elders and consider their plans. I would volunteer, but I must confirm the safety of my granddaughter, or at least her current whereabouts, before I take the next step."

He looked to Kallum. "Has there been any other news out of Arden after Julian's last courier?"

He thought not, but felt it was worth asking anyway. Kallum seemed like a knowledgable sort, and probably would've told them outright if there had been... but asking never hurt. Well, not usually.

Aaron had other plans, as well. He had to confirm that the Pattern here was well guarded. More importantly, he had to confirm with Fiona that the Pattern here in Amber was the only one the Archons may attempt to penetrate. He had discovered examples and reflections out in Shadow that gave him great cause to speculate.

This fact, coupled with Aaron having walked through the streets of the Great City once more, birthed a dread feeling that there was more to this invasion than meets the eye.

"Ah, so Morgan did beat us here...  The man on the giant cat," James adds by way of explanation.

"Well, I'll confess that I'd hoped that the enemy might still be further away, but we haven't reached the end of our road yet, not by a long shot."

"I'll be lodging at the Castle, assuming there's room, but I'll meet you down at the mess hall at shift's end if you're free.  I'd like to hear more of what's been happening here since I left.  Do you know if Bleys is about?  I should let him know I've returned."

James would like to know the latest news from Arden no less than Aaron, but he's also aware that their mission must take priority.  A traitor hiding amongst some of the most canny, suspicious and downright bloody-minded people in all the Worlds and they had half a lead and maybe two or three days.  Just a small thing.

Tahirah turns away, and drifts up a little bit from the ground, looking still towards the rising smoke.  "Others do well to think of their own defenses," she says.  "The Archons are not here; they will strike where they see a weakening.  Much of the fire has been set by the defenders; they are falling, and grow desperate."  Swiveling to face Aaron, she gives a small nod.  "I will keep watching, for now," she offers.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:29, Mon 20 Oct 2008.

Kallum spares Aaron a few words, "There have been messengers coming and going constantly, and a few of them might've come out of Arden, but I haven't heard anything.  I heard they've mostly been using the Forest Gate, but the few who came in this way didn't stop long enough to do more than give the passwords, and then dash inside.  They seem to be in as much of a hurry to leave too."

His attention goes back to James then, "Most of the Family are here.  Corwin and Benedict are out in the Circle somewhere, and Julian's over in the forest, but the rest were here, last I knew.  Gerard came in a couple of hours ago, in a foul mood, and he was the last of them, save for the three I mentioned."

"Word is that he had a blazing argument with Random about what would happen if the enemy has a navy too, now that the marines have been pulled off the ships and sent over the mountain."

The man's face grows more worried, as he adds, "I'll meet you for dinner, James, as long as things don't take a turn for the worse, but it won't be in the mess hall.  Orders came earlier, there's a temporary mess been set up in the main gardens, near the East Gate."

"A nice trap" Roman comments.  "Tahirah tells us that the attack on Arden appears to be merely a diversion.  Yet it is strong enough to pose a threat in itself."  He turns to James "We should make haste to your castle. If rumour speaks true - and can be confirmed, I may be able to reconsider my position..."

"I wouldn't be at all surprised, Roman.  Random's no fool and more than one family member has ties to the Courts."

"I'll meet you in the gardens then, Kallum.  See you later."

"Come on then, everyone, let's go.  Try and keep an eye out for one of the senior staff.  We'll get our accommodation sorted out first and go from there."

James leads the others past the guards and on towards the castle proper.  Ideally he'd like to speak to a butler, but he's not sure who will be working, so he'll start with one of the doormen.

Aaron nodded to Kallum then, not merely for the information, but for solving the problem of potentially seperating this motley band. Despite the wisdom of Tahirah staying behind to keep an eye out, Aaron figured everyone needed to be present when they eventually met with the Elders.

He kept an open mind as they strode into the Castle-proper. He had been long away from Amber and was curious as to its sensations, its feelings and reverberations when compared to his own.

The gate opens, giving access to a small courtyard, surrounded by high walls and higher turrets.  The walls themselves are of large dressed stone blocks, fitted tightly so as to afford nothing in the way of purchase for anybody attempting to climb them.  There are more guards atop the walls.

There is a short flight of stairs ahead, climbing to a double gate, massive, and bound with alternating bands of iron and brass.  On each of the paired gates is set a plaque, in silver, bearing a life-sized representation of a rearing unicorn.  The right-hand gate has a small observation window set into it.

As the group climb the stairs, there is a muffled boom from the gates, and one of them starts to swing outwards, revealing that a great hall lays beyond, lit by oil lamps and with the walls lined with tapestries and paintings.  A long gallery runs along each wall, high above the floor.  The floor itself is bare stone.  The ceiling is high and vaulted, ornately carved.

There are servants moving about the hall, upon various errands, and more guards, including those who had opened the gate.  One of the servants approaches the group as they enter.  He nods in recognition to James, then quickly scans the other faces.  Not recognising any of them, he turns his attention back to the one he does recognise.

"Will you, and your guests, be requiring rooms, Sir."

Behind them, the door closes, and a heavy iron bar slides home with a sound like the roar of thunder.

Tahirah steps up beside James, and addresses him directly.  "As nice as a room would be, what I would like now is access to a tower to watch the forest," she requests.

James nods his acknowledgement of Tahirah's request before addressing the servant.  "Yes, we will be needing rooms.  Also, I will need a guide to show my friend to a tower or other position with a good view over Arden.  And if you would enquire for me as to the current whereabouts of Prince Bleys?"

Calling his uncle 'Prince' had never sat well with James but he knew that many of the family members insisted on maintaining a certain amount of formality when dealign with the Castle servants.

Roman dislikes the sound of the bar, but these are troubled times.  Best to let James deal wit the servants here, until the welcome is more certain.

"I believe that Prince Bleys, along with other members of the Family and various representatives of the Circle Lands, is currently meeting with the King, Sir." the servant replies, then looks around, apparently looking for a particular face.  He raises his hand and beckons that person over, before speaking to them quietly.

The second person, a female servant, nods her understanding, and the man turns back to address Tahirah, "If you will follow Sarah, Miss, she will take you to a suitable vantage point."

The girl gives a small bow to Tahirah, and says, "This way, Miss."  A gesture indicates which direction Tahirah should move in.

The original servant continues speaking, "If you wish, Sir, I can arrange to have you taken to wait for the Prince, while rooms are made ready?"

"Thanks, that's a good idea.  Roman. Banglen-Yp.  Best if you come with me.  I'll see you later Tahirah.  You can send a runner to fetch us if there's anything for us to see."

James waits for the servant to lead the way to the King's audience chamber, or whichever room currently serves the purpose.

 

Quite occupied with taking in all the grand grandeur Banglen-Yp almost misses what is going on, but the little kitten brings her back to here and now as James asks her to tag along.

She smiles brightly again and nods, moving a little bit closer to James as if to show that she indeed intend to follow.  Then she waves at lady in white, using her fingers and a see-you-soon kind of smile.

 

Tahirah gives one of her small bows to James, and then another to Banglen-Yp.  "My thanks, Sarah," she offers, and prepares to follow her...almost anywhere.

Roman quietly says "Excuse me a moment." to the others and moves off to intercept one of the other people in the hall, drawing the man aside for a more-or-less private word.

Unlike some of the others, Aaron takes in little of the decorative facets of the Castle, preferring instead to note the placement of guards, as well as attempting to get a good sense of the palace's current state. Amber was more than it seemed, and the castle was no exception.

Though he would have preferred to avoid waiting for Bleys, Aaron decided that patience would be best served at that moment. He had two very important things in mind for his near future, keeping both of them in store for when the time was right. He chose to follow James and the others, keeping quiet and relatively towards the background.

The man looks at Roman blankly, for a moment, and then recognition seems to dawn on him. 

Tahirah heads away, with the servant, passing through a narrow doorway off to the left, and out of sight. 

James and the rest start to follow the male servant, who soon stops to speak to another man.  That one hurries to stand close to Roman, ready to guide him when he has finished his conversation.

Then the group are off again, walking along the hall towards the great doors at the far end.  But they turn aside, going through a smaller one, to the right.  The chamber they find themselves in is much smaller, with a lower ceiling, and thickly carpeted floor.  It is also furnished with leather-upholstered chairs, and a couple of desks, the wood polished until it almost seems to glow.

They move on through these more private areas of the castle for some time, passing libraries, studies, dining rooms, all furnished opulently, using materials gleaned from all of Shadow.

Finally they reach a waiting room, with chairs covered with a dark green velvet, where another person sits in one corner, reading a book, her head bowed over the pages.  Their guide indicates a set of doors at the far end of the waiting room, "The Family are in there, Sirs and Madame, and should be out soon, assuming they decide to break for refreshments."

There is a thump as the young woman stands and her book drops to the floor.  She rushes forward, throwing her arms around Aaron, "Grandpa Aaron!"

"God be good, girl, it's good to see you..." Aaron barely managed as he embraced his granddaughter. "Let me get a look at you, Chris."

He pulled back, looking Chrissie over for the first time, really taking her in beyond the obvious trappings of relation. Still young, still afire... but there was a hardness behind her eyes, now. She saw things differently than before.

Aaron drew Chrissie back to her seat, dropping into it beside her.

"Please tell me, how has your stay in Amber been? What have you learned?"

Roman nods, understanding.

The conversation continues.

"I've learned a heap of stuff.  Mostly that trying to put anything over Fiona is the dumbest idea in the whole history of dumb ideas."  Chrissie looks at the people with Aaron, then back to her ancestor.  She opens her mouth to speak, closes it, and starts again, "You sent me into a war zone, you know, for safe keeping.  That's a bad move, even by your standard.  Like, really, it's Number 2 in the Dumb Ideas Top 10."

She nods towards the door, where the family are, apparently discussing the current situation, "I know that they're talking about me in there.  At least, that's some of it.  They're going to send me away, but they haven't told me about it yet.  I heard it from the girl who brought me my breakfast this morning."

 

As the girl looks at her, Banglen-Yp waves a hand and smiles in a friendly fashion, wondering about both the girl, Aaron and this place.  Such strange, curious things, almost as curious as some of the events and places The Screen had shown her what felt like a lifetime ago yesterday.

 

Roman makes his entrance a  few minutes after the others, a troubled look on his face.

Aaron snorted, reaching up to scratch his head. He at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Yeah, well, I wasn't the type of person to think things through..."

Then he sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes as he thought it all over.

"I have to admit, though. At the time, Amber didn't seem like a warzone when I left you here. Compared to the places I had been to, not to mention the places I've seen since, Amber was, and in some ways still is, the safest place I can think of."

Aaron nodded. "However, I agree with their plan, at least initially. I personally believe that we should begin evacuating quite a number of people from Amber, yourself included. Our enemies are... extremely cunning."

Or we're merely predictable... Aaron set his jaw, attempting in vain to not grind his teeth as he measured what he knew of the Archons.

"They will enslave or erase all that I hold dear," he said quietly, placing a hand on that of his Chrissie's own. "I will do whatever is required to make sure those things are safe."

Aaron looked to her then, his eyebrows rising slightly. "What do you wish to do with yourself, Chrissie? Despite the current times, there are a million places you could be other than here. I believe the Elders would at least try to consider your opinion in regards to your own safety."

Then again, Aaron considered of himself. I went ahead and dropped her on their doorstep, just before taking off like a tramp, with barely a 'how do you do' or a 'feed her three times a day.' Not the wisest or most responsible thing I've ever done... they might just drop her off somewhere random just to get rid of her. The ill-timed arrival of the bastard grand-daughter of a bastard family member. Yet Aaron had to admit, it was better than leaving Chrissie to make her own way in that barely-living world that was once San Anyn.