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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

"Perfect time for a Trump call."

Ian stands. "Shit. It's probably Caine, trying to throw me back in a cell."

((I am not reading anyone else's thread. If it's April, I apologize Tony.))

"I shouldn't answer this."

Ian stands silent. He envisions a stone wall, rounded. A tower, in fact, but a perfect circle. Ian is in the corner, he thinks. Go round and round. Nothing to see here. Ian is not here, please call back later. The voicemail is full. No habla Thari. He tries to resist the call as best he can.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:53 pm Post subject:

The call subsides and the caller abandons the attempt. Perhaps it was not as urgent as Caine attempting to reach him.

Oberon looks at Ian inquisitively, perhaps expecting him to divulge something he shouldn't.

Jake looks somewhat befuddled. "You ok, kid?" he asks. "You look like you need another drink," he adds, his gaze shifting to Ian's empty mug.
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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

"Oh, I think I was in prison because I was talking to someone via the Trumps and they asked me if I would try to rescue Corwin. I said yes. I guess Caine was hanging outside my window or under my bed or something, because he had me locked up for crimes against the Crown, and for killing a vampire that was trying to kill me, although I am partially to blame for that, having, um, let her feed off of me, instead of the servants...I think I can use that other drink now."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:23 am Post subject:

"What good would it do Corwin to be rescued now?" Oberon asks grimly. "Your mother asked you, didn't she? It's time you assert yourself against her wishes, Ian."

Jake's expression reflects his feeling of having just walked in on a conversation he shouldn't have overheard. He quickly makes his way to the beer taps and fills a mug and two more pitchers.

Oberon's gaze looks somewhat harsh and his voice has adopted a serious tone. "Don't take me wrong, Ian, I'm sure you intentions are very noble in comparison to Caine's, but if you had wanted to spring Corwin out you would have done so without your mother's prompting..."
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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

"Well, of course." Ian smiles. "Until he was taken prisoner in Amber I had never met the man. I spent forty years of my life searching for him, fruitlessly. I am a dutiful son, unless duty requires me to be someplace else. I was going to try to spring him when Flora asked me to help her..."

Ian tells him the rest of that story, including the Chaosians, the Broken Pattern, April's friends and the unfortunate death of Ulnanuit.

"I guess I hadn't considered what to do with a blind uncle. Teach him to play piano, I suppose." He chuckles. "So, if I may be so bold, what are we doing next?"

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:49 pm Post subject:

"Finding my body..." says Oberon. Jake raises an eyebrow and is about to ask a question, then settles on gulping down the rest of his beer.

Oberon continues, remaining frustratingly vague as is usual. "If you're well enough to ride a horse and fight your way through several dozen men, I think we should leave in the morning. I'll explain things on the road, but it has to do with my spectre and the form you found trapped and freed in that half-Shadow... Let's rest." Oberon turns to Jake and says, "Thanks again for your hospitality, Jake."
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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

Shit.

Ian nods, smiling slightly. "A good night's sleep will do me wonders. I'll be ready to go in the morning."

With that, Ian turns in, needing as much rest as possible.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:25 am Post subject:

Oberon pats Ian on the back and heads upstairs with him after saying goodnight to Jake. "Sleep as late as you can manage. I will wake you when you need to get ready. I know I should give you more time to rest but I fear that time is of the essence," Oberon says. "It always seems like that, doesn't it?"

...

Oberon enters the room opposite Ian's and gives him a last goodnight in the form of an approving and knowing nod.
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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

Dutiful?

Tired?

Either way. Ian is asleep quickly and if he tosses and turns, dreaming of Flora.

Dreaming of her funeral.

He finally banishes the dreams and gets a few hours of badly-needed rest.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:44 am Post subject:

Ian awakens with a headache the size of Kolvir. His usual sign of him getting better. His body aches but he feels an energy he hasn't felt in a long while. Alas, the image of his most beautiful aunt still haunts him and if it weren't for the hearty breakfast laid out in his room once again, the temptation of returning to sleep might have been too much.

By the time he discovers a brunch large enough to feed five men, there is a knock at the door and Oberon's voice says, "Take your time eating... I am still saying my goodbyes. Come down when you're ready."

Ian can hear Oberon's footsteps travel down the hall, then the stairs, where they fade.

...

Oberon is alone downstairs, sat at a table, reading from a moleskin book. Saddlebags, a plain looking sword in its scabbard and two brown overcoats are laid out on the table before him. Looking up from his book, Oberon smiles, "You've looked worse, Ian. And you've never looked more ready to go through hell for Crown and Country."
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Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

Ian grins at Oberon, then nods to him. "One can choose the way one lives but one cannot always choose the way one dies. If I die serving Amber, so be it. Who wants to live forever?"

He looks at Hollowshade, sheathed, and frowns. "Is there a whetstone and some oil I could get my hands on? Hollowshade took a terrible beating. Worse than me." He laughs.

------

"So what now?"

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:10 am Post subject:

Laughing doesn't hurt anymore and Oberon says, "Hollowshade is in decent enough shape. I took the liberty of taking care of it while you were out cold."

Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

It's a sign of his implicit trust of Oberon that Ian doesn't even draw the blade to check its condition.

When Oberon tells him to take the Crown if he dies, Ian chuckles. "Two problems with that, grandfather. One, I don't think I'm King material and more importantly, I'll be dead long before you die, so let's keep Amber's true King alive, okay?"

He hugs his grandfather briefly, partly to hide the tears in his eyes and mostly out of fondness for the old man, who was always strict with him, but always fair.

Ian didn't realize until that moment how much Oberon's approval meant to him.

He clears his throat and turns quickly, making a show of fiddling with his cape as his eyes dry.

"Your Majesty, Hell had best cooperate, or it will have reason to know fear."

Hell could be in trouble. Ian is ready.

Ian · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 521 Location: South Carolina

It's a sign of his implicit trust of Oberon that Ian doesn't even draw the blade to check its condition.

When Oberon tells him to take the Crown if he dies, Ian chuckles. "Two problems with that, grandfather. One, I don't think I'm King material and more importantly, I'll be dead long before you die, so let's keep Amber's true King alive, okay?"

He hugs his grandfather briefly, partly to hide the tears in his eyes and mostly out of fondness for the old man, who was always strict with him, but always fair.

Ian didn't realize until that moment how much Oberon's approval meant to him.

He clears his throat and turns quickly, making a show of fiddling with his cape as his eyes dry.

"Your Majesty, Hell had best cooperate, or it will have reason to know fear."

Hell could be in trouble. Ian is ready.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:09 am Post subject:

Oberon grins. Without the need for further words, Oberon goes outside, carrying his travel things. Two powerful young mares with thick dark brown coats are waiting outside, saddled, bridled and ready to leave. Oberon doesn't bother introducing either of them to Ian. He quietly begins to attach his equipment to the mare and climbs into the saddle.

When they're both ready, Oberon nods to Ian and says, "Side-by-side. We mean to outrun anything dangerous in this, are we clear? No heroic bullshit. The goal is to both end up alive enough at the end of the line."

Without waiting for any kind of response, he sets his shield on his left arm and holds the reins with his left hand, while with his right, he holds a saber similar to Eric's style.

They begin their journey at a decent pace, warming the horses slowly and Ian does not notice any changes right away. Perhaps Oberon is working things progressively or perhaps they need to move away from Oberon's sanctuary before the Shadow walking process shows any progress at all.

Then the sky changes color to a bright cyan blue and almost blinds both of them temporarily. They pass through a village that wasn't there a couple of turns ago and the road is paved with blueish-grey stones. Then rounded hills and a forest in the distances.

The shifts progress faster and the pace of their mounts increases as well. The forest in the distance and the path of greyish-blue stones remain but everything else changes. Ruins and floating mountains above a raging abyss to their left. Only ruined temples to their right. Looking for any sign of imminent danger, Ian only sees a young boy with a twisted smile and a bloody dagger, too far to reach them, but the boy grins wickedly, loudly speaking words that echo darkly in the ruins that surround him.

The Forest remains again and the shifts continue. A desolate beach with countless whales moaning and stinking up the entire Shadow. The forest seems not to belong at all, an anomaly in this landscape, and while neither amberites are phased, it seems that locals have gathered by the Forest's entrance, only a quarter mile away and turn around to face the two riders. They look normal enough, but Oberon is not taking any more risks than necessary. He focuses on the forest again and the stone-paved path they followed is gone along with everything else. Now only high grass, indecently hot winds and an oppressive storm above them. The smell of decay is replaced by fire, and both riders can see that the grass is burning quickly.

They make it to the forest in time and the skies above change and the fire is gone.

The forest grows quickly and unnaturally and vines begin to sway and grow in their direction. A trap! The forest is a trap! Vines grab onto any limbs the two men and their mounts offer and instinctively, the horses speed up.
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