Alexander's Chronicle: Chapter 11

Taking Marcel's shoulder, I could see a large man reaching towards us. He looked a bit like Father, but I recognized him from Father's Trumps as our Uncle Gerard. "Come through all of you, and then we'll have introductions," he said.

Marcel took his hand, and we found ourselves in a huge corridor, somewhere in Castle Amber. Huge windows in one wall showed courtyards, stableyards and the castle main walls beyond. Servants, soldiers and courtiers bustled past, all stopping to bow or salute briefly. Apparently the King runs his castle much more on ceremony than Father does, but I suppose he has to.

"I'm Gerard, as I'm sure you're all aware," Gerard told us. "Come with me and introduce yourselves as you go."

Marcel put away the Trump and shook Gerard's hand, "It is very good to meet you, Uncle Gerard. I have heard quite a bit about you from Julian."

"Nothing good, I hope?" laughed Gerard.

Marcel added, "Unfortunately, Julian could not join us at the moment; he is busy with a matter in Arden. He sends his regards and his apologies for not being able to attend."

"Anything I should worry about?" Gerard asked.

Marcel said, "Well, it seems that he is dealing with what would appear to be an invasion of a small scale. He seemed to have things well in hand, but you know how Julian can be about things in Arden."

Father had told us to inform Uncle Gerard of the situation... I took a deep breath and interjected, "It-it's nothing to worry about, Uncle: a handful of troops, relying on stealth, who don't know that they're outnumbered and surrounded. Father should be back here soon." I looked down and muttered, "I hope."

Marcel assured me: "Relax, Alex. Julian is more than capable of leading a troop of men to intercept a band of invaders. As you have said, Julian has superior numbers *and* surprise." To Gerard, he said, "Forgive my manners. I have not properly introduced myself and my brothers. This fine young man is my brother Alexander, this gentleman is my brother Josiah, and I am Marcel."

Josiah also shook hands with Gerard. "Detective Josiah Wesson, late of the Chicago PD."

I also shook hands, feeling sick and nervous, wondering what was happening back at home and what was ahead.

"A pleasure. A pleasure." Uncle Gerard said to us and strode off down the corridor. He led us up a broad flight of stairs and down another corridor. I tried to memorize our path. Looking out the windows at the position of the afternoon sun, I decided both corridors ran east-west Uncle Gerard told us, "This is the south-central wing of the castle, and where Julian has reserved residences for you all. I'm afraid that the equerry who should be doing this is engaged elsewhere, so you'll have to put up with my amateur efforts.

"There are six residences in this wing, of which only one is occupied. The two at this level are the largest; one of them even has its own small ballroom I believe, although the view over Arden is, of course, better higher up. The residence right at the top is the smallest of the lot and is adjacent to one reserved for Caine's son, Josef.

"I believe you can pick from all the five available residences, but I might as well show you round all of them." And he did.

The residences he showed us are huge, each a small palace in its own right. Each residence consists of twenty rooms on two or three floors, including reception rooms, dining rooms and lounges, kitchens and servants quarters, guest bedrooms and bathrooms and a private area (accessible by a single, solid door) containing a master bedroom, bathroom and study. They all have a staff of eight: a butler, three valets, two maids, a cook and a scullery boy. I was overwhelmed, to put it mildly.

Josiah also seemed impressed, for once. "Safety in numbers, I know, but jeez...then again, I suppose Amber never heard of microwave ovens and electrostatic dusters. Sheesh."

"Heard of them? Of course," Uncle Gerard commented, "but they don't work in Amber, fortunately."

"What? You mean you people eat food that hasn't been sterizilized, reconstituted and flash-frozen? No wonder you guys are paranoid about other people coming in..." I took this for another of Josiah's jokes.

The first residence Uncle Gerard brought us to also has a ballroom and a narrow terrace beyond. Marcel was delighted and claimed it on the spot. "This is splendid! I shall certainly enjoy my stay in Amber! Ahhhh, my violin will sound so sweet in here. And there is enough room for a small party in here." He surveyed the ballroom and suddenly grinned. He rushed up to me and grabbed my arms, and tried to pull me around the ballroom as if dancing. I forced my face into a neutral expression (though I could feel myself going red) and let him drag me around. Marcel burst out laughing and said, "I'm sorry Alex. I did not realize that I was not your type."

"Do they do this often?" Uncle Gerard asked Josiah.

Marcel's new butler offered to introduce him to all the staff and to give him a fuller tour round once he was finished. He also commented to the rest of us that we could bring our own staff in as replacements if we prefer, provided we submitted a list of names to the royal equerries. On the way out, he pointed to some well-stocked wardrobes with a variety of clothes in different sizes and suggested that we arrange for visits by the castle tailoring staff so we could have further clothes made to order.

The suite next door has a private garden in the place of the ballroom. In fact, it is just outside Marcel's ballroom and that wall is covered with trained roses and other flowers, something I had only seen in Verona. I picked that one as my favorite, but decided not to say anything until Josiah had chosen.

As we looked around the upper residence not reserved for Josef, which had a small rooftop terrace overlooking Arden (I decided against this one as it would let me indulge my homesickness and that would not be good), Josiah decided: "If nobody minds, I'm getting kind of hooked on having views that aren't concrete, glass and plastic. Dibs on the top."

They turned and looked at me, since we had looked over the available residences, so I retreated back downstairs and hung my cloak up inside the residence with the garden. The butler came in at that point, glared pointedly at the ranger's uniform I still wore and launched into his spiel about the wardrobes and tailors and so forth. I looked at him as if he were mad, nodded and got the hell out of there.

Uncle Gerard told us, "Get yourselves settled in and I'll see you all at dinner. That's at eight in the Pearl Rooms; get a valet to show you the way."

Josiah nodded, "Sure. No problem." We watched our uncle walk back down the corridor.

Once he was gone, I told Marcel and Josiah, "Josef... is someone you'll want to meet. Josiah, I think you'll be more interested in talking to Sabel and Alan, since they take care of security in Uncle Caine's Shadow and know a lot about what he's like and what he's doing. Father thinks that Alan doesn't trust Caine, so it would be useful to have both of their perspectives. Josef is a painter, a very good one, and is a big fan of... technology."

Josiah grinned. "Alan sounds like I guy I might want to talk shop with. Josef's a painter...does he do Trumps? Hmn...I wonder how a Trump printed circuit would work...a good topic for small talk."

I wasn't sure of that; Josef had not seemed to like being asked questions about Trump painting. I warned him, "They may be a littly freaked out right now, coming as they do from a dangerous world with plots and assassins and things, and our cousin is just now dead, so you may want to take it easy with them. I can introduce you at dinner."

Josiah babbled gleefully, "That would be Martin, right? Hey, sometimes it helps the bereaved to talk about the departed...with a little light encouragement, and, yes, I do know how to keep it light."

I tried to push him back on track: "I doubt they'd ever met Martin, but they may be worried about ending up the same way."

Josiah came along willingly this time, "And on the other hand, if Alan and Sabel want to talk dangerous plots, I'll see them stabbings and poisonings and raise 'em psychosurgery, viral engineering, and ever-popular snipers and explosions."

I tried to dent his smugness a little, "They've lived in a high-tech Shadow and may have interesting reminisces of their own."

"Yeah, they might..." mused Josiah rubbing the faint scar at the back of his neck.

Marcel interjected, "Just how is it that the two of you know so much about some of our cousins? Have the two of you been spying on them? You *know* it is very impolite to do such things." Then he grinned at me, "So, what else is there that you know about them? Tell me everything!"

I wasn't sure he was serious, but the accusation infuriated me. "I have *not*! They're friends of mine; Nimue introduced me to them."

"All I know is what you tell me...but I hear high-tech and security systems, I got a good idea what to expect," Josiah said to Marcel.

Marcel gave me an irritated look, "There is no need to snap at me, brother. I meant what I said in jest. I am sorry if you took it the wrong way, but there are better ways to respond than to reply in a snarly manner. Of course, I would not assume that you would spy on someone under the worst of conditions. You are better than such things. I merely meant to take some of the 'gossip' aspect of the conversation away. If I offended you, I am sorry."

For once, I had trouble accepting his apology. Why did he have to do that in the first place? "Given what's gone on today, you shouldn't expect that I'd find that particular jest funny. You know I don't stay offended long, but your brand of humor isn't growing on me. Several of the relatives I've met are rather touchy and aren't going to even imagine the possibility that you're joking. Without Morgan and Father here, I'm going to be hard put to keep them from calling you out if you step on their toes while we're here."

Marcel sniffed, "Well, as you might expect, I am more than capable of being on my best behavior around guests. I will not do anything that is not desired nor deserved. If it ends up that someone calls me out, I will be fully prepared to accept the consequences." He turned to Josiah, smirking, "You, however, are the type of person that would spy on someone, which is exactly what I need at the moment. How do you feel about spying on a beautiful woman?"

Josiah smirked right back. "We like to call it survelliance, more syllables sounds better. A good-looking woman is fun to watch... also distracting, and I've known more than a few who've traded on that. You talking about just shadowing or outright undercover work... no hyphen implied."

This irritated me even more. I warned Josiah, "Before you go along with this, remember that you will also be facing the consequences if you get caught. If your target is, say, Aunt Fiona, you are quite likely to get caught, the consequences will be pretty bad, and Father won't bail you out. Marcel, I assume you are planning to investigate a relative, though I distinctly remember you telling Josiah just how much family members value their privacy."

Josiah grinned broadly. "Thanks, Alex, but you'll notice I didn't actually say 'yes' or 'no' yet. From the 'beautiful woman' quip, though, I'd tend to assume that the lady is someone with whom there's no incest involved. For all I know, Marcel is wondering about one of the scullery maids, or Commander Rose..." I had a hard time imagining Marcel and Josiah drooling over middle-aged, apple-cheeked Commander Rose.

I just sighed and looked back at Marcel, "I can but hope..."

Josiah went on, "Anyway, there's a caveat on me snooping. Julian told me a lot about what can be done with Pattern, and so far I have to take him on face value. Once I've walked it, then my ability to track people gets a nice boost, especially if it is someone who doesn't have to hang around Amber proper..." Josiah scratched his chin. "Well, I don't suppose any of you could show me where this squiggle is?"

I shrugged, "In a deep sub-basement somewhere. We'll all be brought down there tomorrow, I think. It will be nice to have that over with."

Marcel then looked at both of us in turn and said, "If you would allow me to explain, I am sure that I can clear all of this up." He gestured us into his suite so passers-by would not overhear, "Josiah is correct in his assumption that the person I wish to have watched is not a blood relative. Instead, she is a maid of some importance in Rebma. My reason for wanting her 'surveyed' is to determine what secrets she is hiding from me. I know that she is keeping certain secrets from me, but I do not know what.

"The secrets she is hiding do not involve only myself, however. In fact, she seems to be privy to information that could threaten the very security of Amber. She appears to have a link to a secret Rebman security organization which is linked to the current invasion into Amber. I cannot say whether she is giving the information to us freely, or whether it is part of a higher plan. I do know, however, that she gave me a 'present' that ended up being a scrying device, possibly of Rebman origin.

"Although I made light of it before, I can say that this is a serious matter. I do not like being spied upon for whatever reason, but I can say that for this matter, I shall try to overcome my sentiments toward such activities."

Josiah refuses to take this seriously. "What, usually it's the guests who tip the servants, who serviced who?" he asked, waggling a finger.

Marcel responded, smiling, "Well, I have been known to draw the attention of a beautiful woman now and then. As for 'the service', let us just say that a true gentleman does not kiss and tell."

"For the sake of family harmony," Josiah chuckled, "I'm not gonna ask what your excuse is." Finally thinking about the security issues, he returned to the original subject, "'Higher plan' is the key phrase. Is she her own boss in this? To be paranoid about it, was she press-ganged into service because you liked her, or was she aimed at you from the beginning?"

Marcel answered, "Well, I cannot be certain, but now that you mention it, she was rather friendly to start with. She made every effort to befriend me. Mind you, she did tell me of the current invasion in Arden without being forced. But again, this may have been information that I was meant to know."

Josiah agreed, "Probably. She just tell you someone was invading or anything more specific? Also, how sure are you about 'Rebman?' All you know for sure is she gave you a spying device. We've discussed third-party involvement before...especially the possibility they are trying to get major players pissed off at each other." He wanted to bring the damned Moonriders in again!

Marcel thought for a moment. "Well, Nimue did examine the item and said that it definitely resembled a Rebman scrying device."

Josiah demanded, "'Resembled' just means it had similarities...and possible differences. Did she mention any?" He went on, "Let's say my dirty suspicious way of thinking is shared by her bosses, Rebman or otherwise. Gerard said early on that we can hand-pick staff. Let's say you arrange to get the woman offered a job in Amber, where she'll be closer, and maybe *my* maid, for appearance's sake. Maybe even let slip the fact that I just got here, so they think 'oh, Josiah's naive, he won't know a damn thing about what's going on...' Meanwhile, I can watch her."

Marcel remarked, "I would consider that plan to be our best option in the event that we were to stay in Amber for any length of time. But, due to the nature of your 'case', I do not think that we shall be here for an extended period."

Josiah shook his head, "That's still up in the air, Marcel. But the timing might work out. Let's see...after we stroll the squiggle, we take Katja up on her offer to find her...and if you can define the location the Shadow walk takes you to, I'd like to try 'a location where I can observe Katja from a position of safety.' Let's say that we make the trip, double back by Trump... might be pretty quick. Ought to be able to get there by the time your 'maid' shows up, or would she take the Trump express?"

Marcel mused "Perhaps I can encourage Syra to visit us. She might give something away if she truly is trying to spy on Amber. As for Syra coming here to be a personal servant, I am sure that the duke would be most unwilling to let her go." He looked up suddenly. "But, if she was allowed to come here without much fuss, then it might bolster your theory about her being pushed toward me. I shall have to contact her and see what happens."

"I don't suppose there's any way I could listen in on the conversation?" asked Josiah.

I told him, "Father has mentioned that there are many secret passages in the Castle."

"Oh, my, I have a new hobby," Josiah laughed.

I reminded him "And don't forget that the passages could go through your rooms or these rooms and anyone at all could be in them, right now, for that matter."

"Katja's probably already under my blankets," he laughed again. If so, I was appalled at her taste.

Marcel reprimanded us, "This is very serious. We must avoid letting any others know about things that occurred in Arden. In fact, playing ignorant to certain things may lead whoever is doing these things, to show more of his or her plan. To accomplish this, I believe it to be in our best interest to share as much as we know about the others. This way, there can be no surprises. What do you say to that? "

I said, "I don't think that keeping any secrets with respect to that ambush disaster possible. The Chanicuts have already been spreading their version of the story about. I told Josef and Alan about what happened. Josef was the one who told me that the Chanicut guy was heir to the throne of Chaos, so they'd already heard about it, possibly from their father. I hope they've spread our side of the story around: it reflects poorly on our good sense and combat abilities, but a bit better on our honor than the lies that the Chanicuts have been spreading around. I think you may want to warn Nimue if it's one of her maids you want 'surveyed', so she can take steps to secure her own safety.

"As for Josef, Sabel and Alex, they live where there father takes them. Right now, that's Verona, a port city-state being attacked by rivals in trade. They're understandably a little paranoid. Alan and Sabel are involved with keeping their home safe from the outside while watching for sabatours and assasins from within. Josef prefers painting to that stuff and is involved in promoting art and architecture in Verona. He does paint Trumps. Alan was trained in swordsmanship by Uncle Benedict, and Father says he doesn't get on very well with Uncle Caine, who seems to be off at sea all the time anyway. And they're friends with Nimue. Alan spends a lot of time in Rebma. That's pretty much everything I know about them. They seem like pleasant people."

Marcel replied, "Alex, I suppose that you misunderstood me when I mentioned 'the invasion'. The invasion that I meant was the one that is currently underway in Arden. I suppose that I shall have to call the previous invasion 'the hunt' for clarities sake. As for Nimue, I have already informed her as to the nature of Syra's secret, but I can only assume that she has taken the proper precautions. She also has the scrying device, but has said that I may have it whenever I wish. "

Josiah reminded him, "Like I said...ask her about *differences* between it and Rebman devices." He added, "The only players I know about are the Moonriders. Now maybe I'm a little biased towards them, as they're my one currently open case, but the current shenanigans to seem to fit what we know about their operations. As a first place to look, they have possibilities. Come to think of it, when we check the lady's references as part of the plan, we could use that to see if there's any hint of connections..or at least a bit of history she can't substantiate."

Marcel objected, "I am not sure there is any connection between Syra and the Moonriders. The Moonriders appear to be on a different level than she, and to have connections that well hidden in Rebma would surprise me. Uncle Benedict and Julian are not slow-witted as to allow such things to go on without their knowledge."

Josiah refused to be deterred. "Unless they thought it was something else. Also, the Moonriders of Genesh gave Uncle Benny a hard time once... and I know of one of them who's learned to be very sneaky."

I finally asked, "And just what did she tell you of the current invasion?" I'd hoped Marcel would just tell us on his own, but Josiah was distracting.

"Well, to answer Alex first," Marcel said, "Syra did tell me a fair bit about the invasion in Arden. She told me that she had learned of the invasion from a meeting she attended as the aide to Duke Chasen, Queen Moire's private secretary. It seems that the duke also runs the Rebman spy network and frequently asks Syra to sit in on important meetings."

"Not just a maid, a confidential secretary." Josiah leaned over and put his ear to Marcel's forehead, and tapped Marcel's temple. "Yep, an echo." Josiah leaned back. "Proceed."

Marcel glared at Josiah before continuing. "Well, as luck would have it, Syra sat in on a meeting quite a while back between Duke Chasen and a delegate from Shadow Farell. It seems that the Duke was asked to allow an invasion party passage through Rebma so that Julian and Benedict could be observed in the Vale of Garnath."

Josiah had picked up a bowl of nuts from a table and laying around and been eating them. As Marcel spoke, he threw nutshells at him, smirking the whole while. "Garnath. That was mentioned before, since I got here. Anybody remember the context?" asked Josiah. "Didn't a big fight occur there?"

"King Eric had it burned to the ground when Bleys and Corwin tried to invade Amber through Arden," I told him. "Father says it used to be the most beautiful place in Arden, well, one of them."

Marcel ignored the nutshells and the interruption and went on, "The reason for this being, was so the invasion party could determine Amber's defenses in this area and determine whether a rebuilding was going on under the guise of a simple tree replanting. As things turned out, the duke granted passage through Rebma for what Syra said was some information she was not able to overhear. The invasion party was to land at a place called Mermaid's Point."

Josiah asked "Anyplace near where we were, or where it *actually* happened?"

I shook my head "No, they came from near Shadow Farell..."

Marcel finished, "After learning of this, I informed Julian, because I did not want to allow Arden to be invaded by another force." He smiled, "Also, knowing something of value that Julian did not was rather rewarding."

I scowled at him . "Well, it is a good thing you warned Father."

"Well, although Julian and I do not see eye to eye on many things, it would be foolish and ignorant of me not to inform him of something that important."

Josiah nodded. "So Syra was dishing out misinformation... I assume you had people ready at Mermaid's point. People you would have wanted *at* the invasion?"

"I don't know. I was supposed to be entertaining a guest during that period of time." I grimaced at the memory. I had to go find Nimue and find out if everything were all right...

"Which guest..and where? This could tie in," demanded Josiah.

I felt irritated. "I doubt it. As you recall. Nimue tried to come and visit and ride to Amber with us, but that didn't work out..."

Josiah turned to look at Marcel, who answered: "I cannot say. Julian keeps most of his plans to himself and his military officers. Alex may be able to shed some light on that, but since he was with Princess Nimue at the time, he likely knew nothing of it. Is that correct Alex?"

"I believe that was what I said," I replied, "Although dealing with Morgan turned out to be even less enjoyable than staking out an invasion that wasn't coming from that direction."

"Now, to answer your questions, Josiah." said Marcel, "Syra is quite a beautiful woman and is quite like every woman in Rebma. She has beautiful green hair and deep blue eyes, and her skin is a pale green color, bordering on white. She is quite like Rebman women, as far as I know, for I have not had the opportunity to sample that many. " Marcel smirked and Josiah pelted him with several nutshells at once.

Marcel's mood changed abruptly. He caught one of the shells without looking and crushed it in his hand. " Might I remind you, Josiah, that you are an adult and that you should be acting like one. If you continue to act like this, I shall be forced to take adequate steps to counter your behavior." He was a fine one to talk!

I burst out, "You can tell him to stop without threatening him. What are you going to do to him? Draw steel on him, in a family home?"

Marcel continued to glare at Josiah as he said to me: "Perhaps that is what I had intended. Perhaps not. I can only say that I do not enjoy being annoyed to such lengths and I am more than willing to carry out any threat. For the sake of family harmony, I will try to keep a cool head. But, I warn you, Josiah, I do not like being taunted by anyone. "

"That's strange," I growled, "Whenever you've mocked me, I always assumed that you meant to be harmless, just as Josiah obviously did a minute ago. I'll know better in the future." I looked away from them, scowling.

Marcel protested "I never mocked you, Alex. There may have been times that I may have done things that embarrassed you, but I never went out of my way to belittle you or harrass you. Throwing nut shells is not my way of doing things. I have acted the fool myself on many occasions merely to alleviate the tension, but I do not feel that my lighthearted attitude ever added to the tension."

Not the least perturbed, Josiah made a "tsk-tsk" noise. "Now, Alex, remember... these nuts are salty. The salt might have slipped in an open wound... or a shell fragment in his eye... if it's a serious matter, I could snack on jellybeans instead... Relax, guys, any joke in a storm. The worse the situation, the worse the joke." He cracked a few more nuts and tossed the shells on the table.

Marcel decided to let the matter go and went back to the issue of Syra. "The necklace she gave me however, was quite like the type that many of the women wear there. It was a simple seashell hanging from a silver chain. Quite nondescript, but elegant nonetheless."

Josiah asked "Did you analyze it?"

"No, I did not have the opportunity. When Princess Nimue saw me wearing it, she asked to look at it and then took it away to study it. I had planned to allow Aunt Fiona to look at it, but Nimue had other plans."

Josiah said, "Look, so far we've established someone's done a slick job of misinforming you. A warning about an invasion that happened someplace else, and a clue that may have been planted. Also on the plate: the invasion itself, some really weird behavior from absent brother Morgan, Nimue's abrupt departure, two recent murders, and, listed only because it's too cute for this to be coincidence, Moonrider activity out in Shadow.

"Let's play some games here. We know of direct links between A and B, and B and C, but not between A and C. For example, let's start with Martin. Martin is half-Rebman, born of a noblewoman who committed suicide. How does that woman fit in with your friend the Duke, Marcel?"

Marcel frowned "Well, I am not the best person to ask about this. My knowledge of Rebman history is rather weak. A better person to ask might be Princess Nimue herself. She has family ties to the late Morganthe and also the just departed Martin."

"Better and better," Josiah smirked. "Morganthe was Martin's mother, right?"

Marcel asked us, "Have either of you thought about where this puts Nimue in the line of royal ascension? With Martin gone and no evident heir apparent, it is likely that her lineage might prove to put her quite near the top of any list. Especially a list that had dear Martin's name on it."

Josiah added, "And the question then becomes... is this then a game to make for the throne, or is casuing a debate over succession part of the overall plan to hassle and confuse Amber?"

I could see where Josiah was trying to lead us. I sighed, "Nimue is the heir to Rebma, the Crown Princess, as she's Queen Moire's only surviving child. Morganthe was her older half-sister (who died long before Nimue was born), so Martin, as Moire's grandson, was behind Nimue in the succession, if Queen Moire didn't just forget about him after he left Rebma. As to Nimue's place in the succession of Amber, without any way to establish the identity of her father, I'd suspect she's near the bottom of the list."

Josiah said, "OK, so let's ask this. Nimue was threatened, Martin was killed. What are the consequences to the family of Moire?"

As if he hadn't heard me, Marcel remarked, "One might be near the top of the list, say....if one were the child of a king now deceased, correct?"

Josiah blinked. "My, my, Nimue is Oberon's kid...you guys are all going to have to call her Auntie..." He paused briefly to acknowledge general failure to laugh. "Even if she's merely Eric's kid, Marcel, that's a helluva reach... you got something more substantial than Eric liking to romance the ladies?"

Marcel smiled, "Well, let us just say that I have some information from Nimue herself and also from a certain Elder. From a lineage point of view, if Martin had any claim on the throne despite his illegitemate status, then anyone with blood ties to a past king would definitely have a claim too. Even if that person was declared illegitemate by the rest of the family."

Josiah sighed and went back to his usual smug expression. "Marcel, my bro', you have led a severely deprived childhood. You have no cynicism whatsoever. Too many motivations for lying. Maybe Nimue wants to beconsidered for the throne, or wants to hide who her father really is by picking someone who's in no position to deny it. Similarly, maybe your 'certain Elder' wants to aim Nimue for the throne... or hide responsibility for parentage. I don't suppose that 'certain Elder' is male? Otherwise the question is 'is she Deirdre?'" I couldn't see why Dierdre mattered...

Marcel thought about this. "And due to the Elders great propensity for adulterous relationships, there is a great possibilty that there is quite a long list of future heirs. One might be willing to remove those thought closest to the top if one had reason to believe that he or she would be next in line. Is that not reasonable?"

Josiah replied "Kind Hearts and Coronets. Old Alec Guiness movie, if you guys have movies, old or otherwise, or Alec Guiness. Guy wipes out 7 people between him and a dukedom, each victim played by Alec Guiness. Classic plot. Hell, you really want to be paranoid, maybe somebody is just knocking them all off as a blind to get just one... or as a way of setting up one of the likely suspects."

Marcel looked out one of the windows. "I am curious as to where Morgan is right now, and what he is doing. I do hope that he is alright. As for Julian, I can only guess that he is putting a stop to that little invasion."

"Well," Josiah joked, inappropriately, I thought, "If he doesn't get back, I do have another set of parents tucked away... but a retired stockbroker doesn't have quite the same paternal zest that Julian does."

Marcel sighed and said, "Well, perhaps we should all change and go mingle with our newly acquired relatives. I am looking forward to seeing Nimue again."

"Oh, I get to annoy her *directly?*" asked Josiah, grinning.

Marcel grimaced as his stomach let out a grumble. "Perhaps we can carry on this conversation over dinner, gentlemen? I would like to have some time to wash and change my attire for this evening, if that is alright with the two of you."

Josiah said, "Sure. When do we meet you?"

Marcel replied, "Perhaps we could meet in an hour and three quarters in the castle garden? That should give me enough time to wash, shave and dress."

I nodded and turned toward my new quarters. My luggage and Nimue's had been delivered from Father's castle, so I changed out of my buckskins into my town clothes.

The butler startled me, knocking on the door of my room. He handed me a letter, which hadn't been sealed:

Prince Alexander,

My master Prince Alan has asked me to inform you that Princess Nimue has arrived safely in Amber. He requests that you arrange for those of her belongings in your care to be delivered to the Filigree apartments in the Central Western wing. Prince Alan and Princess Nimue are presently in residence at his Cherry Tree Court apartments.

I handed Nimue's bundle to one of the maids and told her, "These are to be delivered to Princess Nimue's staff in the Filigree apartments in the Central Western Wing." I scrawled a note for Marcel and handed it to one of the valets:

Dear Marcel,

I'm not sure I'll make it to the pre-dinner meeting. I've gone to check on Nimue and see about securing Josiah an introduction to Uncle Caine. I'll see you and Josiah at dinner, if not before.

Alexander

The butler (whose name I hadn't even learned), was still standing there looking apprehensive. I decided to give him grounds for anxiety. I told him, "I need to get to the Cherry Tree Court apartments. I don't know the layout of this place, or even if those apartments are in this castle, so please either guide me there or tell me which of these others should guide me there." The remaining maid scurried off as he stood there, and the scullery boy remembered some unfinished work in the kitchen, so the butler turned and headed out the door. I went with him, memorizing as much as I could of Castle Amber's layout, but keeping a quick pace, so the butler was soon short of breath. I couldn't imagine any of Father's servants so woefully out of shape.

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