Alexander's Chronicle: Chapter 6

Upon my arrival, during one of my later visits to Rebma, Nimue announced that our cousin Alan was also visiting in Rebma and I should come and meet him at once. She led me to a suite of rooms in the same wing of the palace as her own, but further down the hall.

Nimue must have warned Alan that I was coming, because he was waiting for us there. The man she introduced to me as Alan was a tall, wiry man a little older than myself. He has short black hair, and dark eyes as I do, but is fair-skinned. He seemed very alert, examining me intensely. He moved gracefully, even underwater. He was wearing shiny, tight-fitting, dark-blue clothes without sleeves, and a Rebman weapons belt (which looks like a pair of baldrics) with a sword. He also had a necklace with a small silver locket like Nimue's.

"Nimue. Prince Alexander." Alan nodded to each of us and reached out to his hand. I smiled and shook his hand.

"Please come in. Have a seat." He clicked his fingers and some servants (who were definitely not Rebmans) appeared. "Would you care for some wine?" His tone remained cold and formal and he continued to watch me suspiciously. I felt my heart sink. What had I done to upset this person I'd only just met? Was he another of my kindred who just didn't trust anyone? If so, I was amazed that Nimue would consider one such a friend. I looked back at her uncertainly, before turning back to Alan, "Th-that would be very nice, thanks." Damn, I thought, I was not going to enjoy this and I was probably just making Alan more suspicious of God-knows-what. I sat down.

Nimue smiled at both of us and curled up in one of the chairs, tucking her feet up beneath her, seeming not to notice Alan's apparent hostility. Perhaps this was some kind of joke?

Alan actually smiled back to Nimue before resuming his seat, and then let his face resume its previous cold expression, bewildering me more than ever. Servants, scuttle around efficiently with the wine. Not taking his eyes from me, he continued, stiffly, "Nimue hasn't told me much about you, other than that you live in Arden. What is it like?"

"C-compared to here?" I tried to regain a little of my composure and gave up on figuring out what was going on. "Very few people. Only the Forest People, really, and the people Father brings in, and most of those stay. So once you meet someone, you know they'll be around for a while. And we have a lot of domesticated animals around: dogs, cats, hawks, pigs, horses, lots of things. And most of the Forest has no-one in it at all, just the wild creatures."

Alan replied: "It sounds very peaceful. I would like to see it someday. I rarely get to go to forests anymore." Somehow, that didn't surprise me.

I just shrugged and kept my own expression neutral. Whatever his game was, I'd try and play along. Why do people call these things games when they're not fun? "Where do you come from?"

"A city called Verona in a nearby shadow. Nominally I rule the entire place as Prince, though in fact I share the work with my bother, Josef, and sister, Sabel." Alan gestured to three portraits hanging one of the walls, almost the only decorations in the room. One was of himself. Another was of a slender young woman with hazel eyes and long straight black hair, worn out of the way. The third was of a slim young man with sandy hair.

Alan went on: "We've managed to work the place up so that we're no longer in danger of imminent destruction from our neighbours, and it's now relatively safe from attack. For the past few years though, I've been spending a great deal of my time in Rebma. Perhaps you would care to be my guest in Verona soon?"

"...Should my duties permit, that would be a pleasure," I answered.

Alan replied smoothly, "You would be most welcome. As I said, I am often in Rebma, or perhaps you could ask Nimue to contact me if you should find the time." This invitation confused me as he did not seem to like me. "What are these duties you perform for your father?"

I shrugged again, trying, undoubtedly unsuccessfully, not to seem nervous, "Tending the Storm Hounds, mostly, and doing some patrols. And various things that come up. Are Josef and Sabel taking care of Verona for you while you are here?"

"I expect that Sabel is. Josef rarely involves himself in such things; he's usually too busy painting. But Verona is in quite a secure position right now and so it almost runs itself. I do still have to make important decisions, check on intelligence reports, make the occassional diplomatic mission and see to the training of the army. Good organization is the key." He went on: "Do you enjoy your life in Arden?"

I nodded. "I've never heard of anyplace nicer. I guess I'm biased though; I'm used to the Forest."

"I've been told you have two brothers..." Alan queried.

"Yes, Marcel and Morgan, but I don't see them often. They live far away." I looked at Nimue out of the corner of my eye. She was just drinking her wine quietly, but looked a little unhappy. I felt rather guilty and confused.

"Ah." He paused, and I couldn't think of anything to say. "You seem ill at ease, Alexander." His tone suddenly friendly and almost concerned.

This just made me tense again. I admitted, "Please don't take it personally... I don't meet new people often and you aren't like the Forest People."

Alan actually smiled again, and said, in the same friendly tone: "Don't worry, I'm not offended. And I apologize for causing you any discomfort."

All I could do was nod and try and keep up the conversation. "What of your home? I take it that Verona is a city?"

"Yes, Verona is a relatively small walled city beside the sea, overlooking a good natural harbour. Its a good deal smaller than Rebma anyway. Some parts of it are quite beautiful, near the palace mostly, but some parts are most definitely not. The technological level is roughly at the flintlock and cannon stage." Here Alan pauses and looked at me. I knew, from talking to immigrants Father had brought to the Forest from higher- tech Shadows what flintlock and cannon were, I had just never seen any. My brother Marcel came from a Shadow of similar technological prowess.

Nimue uncurled and suggested impulsively. "Maybe we should contact Josef and just *go* there. Then you could *show* Alex what it's like!" She grinned at us. I was stunned for an instant.

"What a excellent suggestion. Alexander?" Alan was already sorting through a small stack of Trump cards.

"Why not?" I rose to his feet and smiled. I did have Father's permission to wander afield in Rebma and if I didn't stop to ask him, he couldn't tell me that this permission did not extend into Shadow.

"Wait!" said Nimue. "I should leave a message for mother. And perhaps you and I should dress, Alex. Some Veronans are a*little* superstitious about mermaids ..." and she grinned at Alan, who had nothing to say on that subject. I refrained from mentioning that some people preferred that everyone be dressed in garb somewhat less... revealing than the usual Rebman clothing. I suspected I was *never* going to get used to seeing Nimue topless.

Alan told us, "I suggest that we go through to my quarters first."

While Nimue wrote her note, I changed out of the traditional Rebman clothing I wore. Since I was leaving Rebma entirely, I brought everything I had brought with me in the first place, including my broadsword and my crossbow. I certainly didn't need to carry weapons while I was Nimue's guest, but preferred to go armed through the wild forest between my home and hers. When Nimue (who still hadn't changed her clothing) and I returned to Alan's quarters, he looked over my weapons and I was afraid he was offended. Just as I was about to open my mouth to ask if he would prefer I just left them here, he nodded and smiled. I stared at him, confused.

Alan concentrated on a Trump then passed us both through. We were in a large bedroom, again furnished as sparsely as his chambers in Rebma. Nimue wrapped her cloak around herself and dashed off while I looked around me. The only decorations were a few pictures on the walls and a small statuette of Nimue. Once again, there were three portraits on one wall, of Alan, Sabel and Josef.

I walked up to look at a fourth picture. The subject was a scene in a courtyard: I recognized Benedict gesturing with a sword to another sword on the ground and Alan bending down to pick it up with his left hand while his right arm hung limp. In the background, a dark man I recognized from Father's Trumps as my Uncle Caine was grinning. I assumed at first that Alan was only simulating an injury in the picture; Father's officers would never force an injured soldier to continue trainng, let alone deliberately injure one during training. Then I thought back to my one meeting with Uncle Benedict and his ruthless single-mindedness and had a horrified suspicion that Alan *had* been hurt. It was one thing to take risks while training an animal, but not a person, let alone one's own flesh and blood. I couldn't bring myself to ask Alan about this.

Behind me, Alan said, "Just one thing you should know. Don't be worried if you think you're being watched. You are. Most of them work for me or Sabel. You should be quite safe." I raised one eybrow and hoped that he was joking.

Nimue returned and I saw guards outside the door when she entered the room. She wearing a deep rose-coloured silk and velvet dress cut in an ornate style, and her hair was hastily braided over one shoulder. I realized that she must also have rooms in this place in Verona and kept appropriate clothes there, since the fit was perfect, just as Alan did in Rebma.

As Alan led us out of his quarters, a detachment of extremely alert- looking guards fell in with us. I was more than a little unnerved, despite Alan's warning. I had never been in a place where I needed guards, with the possible exception of the ambush in Arden three years before, which should never have been possible anyway.

We travelled through a palace, which, from the inside, seemed as large and impressive as Moire's palace in Rebma. The decor was even more ornate. There were oil paintings everywhere, rich furnishings, and weapons and all manner of strange stuff on the walls.

Alan knocked on a door and it was answered by a man I recognized from the portrait as Josef, although he was wearing a set of paint-stained overalls.

"Josef," said Alan, "I'd like you to meet Alexander, Prince Julian's son. Alex, this is my brother, Josef."

I took a deep breath to compose myself and managed a tentative smile as I extended my hand. Much to my relief, Josef grinned broadly at me as he took my hand.

"Your timing is perfect," he said to Alan. "I've just put the finishing touches to Tallulah." In the room behind him, there was an easel with a large canvas mounted on it, but it was oriented so that I couldn't see the painting from the doorway. I could hear someone else in the room.

Josef fixed his gaze on me, almost as intensely as Alan had when I first met him. "Alan told me you were coming, but he never told me when. How long will you be staying for?" I wondered uncomfortably if Nimue and Alan had been planning this for a while and simply decided to surprise me with it. Josef looked from me to Alan and back again. "I'm afraid this place is a bit of a mess at the moment, but you are welcome to come to look around. Or perhaps later would be better?" Again, he glanced to Alan and back to me.

Once I thought I could get a word in edgewise, I replied, "Um, pleased to meet you. I can only stay for the day; I've got things to do at home."

Josef's studio was indeed pretty messy, with paintings in various stages of completion everywhere, including a mostly finished copy of the picture of Alan training in the courtyard, and quite a large picture of a dark- haired woman (I wondered if it was Nimue) walking barefoot across a sandy beach towards the sea with her left arm raised as though she was about to shed the robe she was wearing. The studio actually looked very interesting.

Josef waved us in to the studio. I realized that there was actually a bed and a wardrobe stuffed into one corner; Josef lived here. Almost all of his paintings were of people rather than things or places and many of them were quite small. They tended to feature extremely rugged landscapes, elegant ladies, and men locked in mortal combat, not unusual interests, I suppose, for a young fellow. The noise I had heard earlier was Josef's model, a young lady with a rippling white dress and excessive amounts of hair, whom Josef introduced as Tallulah. The painting on the easel was of her and was still damp. I recalled that the Trump that Alan had used to get to Verona was done in the same style as these paintings.

"They're very impressive," I told Josef as I looked at paintings. "Are you also a Trump-card maker?"

He gave me a hard stare and I was dismayed that the question had upset him. "Yes, actually, I am," he replied after a pause.

I just smiled and nodded to hide my concern before turning back to Alan.

"If you're only here for the day, then there are more important things to see than these doodles," said Josef, having recovered his previous good cheer. "I'll be changed in a few minutes. Go on and I'll catch up with you."

Alan nodded. "We'll go and find Sabel and meet you in the Great Hall."

After more corridors, we came to another door. The dark-haired woman from the third portrait answered it.

As before, Alan performed the introductions. "Sabel, I'd like you to meet Alexander, Prince Julian's son. Alex, this is my sister, Sabel."

Sabel being a lady, I bowed to her. She smiled at Nimue and nodded politely to me. "Greetings, cousin, has Alan shown you around Verona yet?"

Alan suggested that we take ourselves to the Great Hall and have some wine brought (as if we hadn't each just had a glass in Rebma). Just as I thought I had gotten used to the peculiarities of Verona, Sabel reminded him to have the wine tasted. When I looked confused, she explained, "for poison". I nodded mutely.

Josef arrived a little later. Five minutes in Josef-time is apparently a bit longer than five minutes for the rest of us. Just as well that he is a prince and does not have to deal with such niceties as time. Looking between me and Nimue as he sat down, Josef asked, "So how did you two get to know one another?"

Nimue smiled, and looked over at me and waited for me to answer that one. I glared at her and she ruined her demure expression by wrinkling her nose at me.

So I took a deep breath and summarized the story: "Somebody wanted me to invite her to Arden for a hunt, so I did and she was kind enough to invite me to visit her in Rebma. We have been visiting in this way for several years." I glared back at her.

Nimue smiled slightly and looked over at Sabel. "How have things been here, Sabel?" she asked. "It has been some time since we spoke together."

Blissfully unaware that she was such a useful decoy, Sabel answered. "I've been here a lot, making sure things tick along. Caine's not here that much so Alan and I tend to run things, although I prefer the naval side of things. I still enjoy swimming a lot."

Alan suggested that we take a quick tour of the city and the surrounding countryside. He lent Nimue and myself horses and we rode out of the castle accompanied by a small army of mounted guards (twenty of them). The palace showed no signs of being a war zone and I couldn't understand why the need for security was so severe. I was pleased to see that Nimue handled her horse quite skillfully. She had improved a great deal over the years since I first met her.

The nicest part of Verona is the high area around the palace. We rode through the Piazza de Signiori, a large cobbled square surrounded by a colonade and white marble buildings. In the early evening during the spring and summer, it is fashionable for the gentry to come and relax here in their best finery, Josef remarked. The houses of the gentry, called palazzi, are huge and highly decorated, with a great deal of prestige going to the family with the finest and most ornate residence. Josef went on to say that local artists thrive on this trade.

Josef was quite enthusiastic about the palazzi, pointing out all the intricacies of the artwork, and drawing your attention to some very small details. I was a little amused, but the only such decoration I had seen was in Rebma and it was very different from this, so I listened attentively to him.

Security precautions were visible all over Verona. The landward sides are surrounded by tall, thick walls and a moat fed by the river that runs through the city. The walls themselves are are covered with alert guards. The harbor there contained a sizable fleet of large warships, as many as there were merchant vessels. Both the walls and the harbor are additionally guarded by stone towers with cannon covering all the approaches. Alan seemed quietly proud of his fortifications, as well, I supposed, as he should be.

When we got to the harbor, I finally asked Alan, "You mentioned enemies earlier. Are you preparing for an attack?"

"Not just at the moment." he replied, "We generally consider it prudent to maintain a constant state of readiness to avoid being surprised. Usually we know about any attack well in advance, but its good to be prepared."

Josef looked over at Alan. "Yes, what arrangements *have* you and Sabel made for our absence?" I realized that he meant the upcoming trip to Amber to walk the Pattern.

I tried to get an answer out of Alan. "Who are these people? Is this one huge power or some sort of alliance? I'm sorry to ask so many questions, but this seems like a very strange situation to me."

Alan explained: "The country is made up of various city states, each with its own Prince. There is a constant striving between these cities for dominance and improvement of position. The whole thing is fought out through political intrigue, alliances, trade agreements, spies, assassination, subterfuge and misinformation, as well through force of arms on land and sea. Our enemies are therefore the rulers of the other cities, but they may potentially be allies as well. Verona is now one of the four strongest states and so is relatively safe. It is still necessary to take certain precautions though." Alan gestured at the guards surrounding us.

"I take it that the city-states plot and fight simply to retain their positions in the long run?" I must have looked slightly appalled.

Sabel protested, "It's not very simple, Alex, and it's completely natural. Do you expect these people to sit back and let some other city get all the trade and lands while they slowly starve?"

I tried to reconcile this with what I had read about economics, "What do these city-states produce? Don't they all *need* to trade to have access to one another's goods?"

Josef had been listening to this exchange with a slightly amused expression. "It's no different from the silly squabbles of children, except more people get hurt." He frowned and scratched his chin. "Hmmm. Rather like Amber really..."

Nimue and Alan just nodded and we went on with the tour. I felt unhappy and bewildered, but decided to leave well enough alone.

Most of the homes in Verona are small, simple wooden buildings. Many were new and the city appeared to have expanded recently. People were busy all around us, working and rushing about, and Alan mentioned that Verona had become a major trade center and was still growing.

The river running through the city, I noticed, was turbid and seemed heavily polluted. It smelled terrible and insects teemed at the banks. This is partly due to the fact that the streets are open sewers. Verona obviously had the resources and the technology to design a moderately effective sewer system. I wasn't sure how to ask Alan or his siblings why they had not.

The countryside around Verona is interesting, mostly devoted to fields and pastures, with scattered woods, and is scattered with villages and villas. Along the sea shore there are many sandy beaches. It occurred to me unhappily that the area was pretty hilly and laid out in such a way that when the Veronans had felled the forest that still existed in tiny patches from the slopes that runoff would carry eroded material into that river of theirs, which is why it is so turbid now, and that the river would deposit that stuff in the harbor, so they'd have to dredge it periodically. It seemed like a somewhat flawed arrangement to me, but if they were having trouble getting agricultural products from overseas...

We visited several villas with an older, simpler architecture and with lovely frescos and murals. These also had ornamental gardens with an abundance of colors and scents.

Nimue seemed to relax in the gardens, stopping to examine flowers, or watch birds and insects, much as she does in Arden. Nervous as I was, I stayed right at her side. Alan and the others didn't seem to be in a great hurry, though. I was quite interested in the gardens themselves. Unlike those in Rebma, these were filled with familiar plants, but in an arrangement quite unlike the ones seen in nature.

I asked Josef what dictated the placement of flowers and shrubs, seeing how much effort was put into it. Alan ordered a gardener over to explain things, but the man seemed quite nervous in the presence of all those heavily-armed and suspicious guards, so I asked him only a few questions.

We turned back to the city after that. "That's about all we can show you on a day visit," said Alan. "Unless there is anything else in particular that you would like to see?"

I shook my head and smiled, "I don't know the things you have here. I take it that you can't all leave at once, but perhaps you'd like to come visit Arden sometime, maybe after we've all walked the Pattern and so forth." My cousins seemed very nice, in an odd way, though I would not wish to be one of their subjects, and they might enjoy getting out of the tense atmosphere of Verona.

Alan said, "I'd be delighted to come, now or later."

I shrugged, "I'd be happy to take you there this evening from Rebma. I'll just warn my father first." I looked over at Nimue, knowing that she had to return to Rebma that evening.

"I'd like to come too, if that's not a problem," said Josef. "Here," he handed me a Trump of himself, standing in tight-fitting clothes with some sort of insignia on them (a uniform?) with a window full of stars behind him. "This'll help you keep in touch. Look after it."

Back in the Great Hall in Alan's family's palace in Verona, I pulled out my Trump of Father and reached him quickly. "Excuse me, Father, I just wanted to ask if it were alright to invite a few cousins to Arden: Josef, Alan, and maybe Sabel. We can go to a hunting lodge and stay out of the way, and they could just come along when I take the Hounds hunting tomorrow." It came out in something of a rush.

"Go ahead," Father smiled at me, amused.

I told Alan, "...We've got guest rooms so you can stay overnight, or I can Trump Josef in the morning."

Alan nodded. "Tomorrow morning, then."

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