29.   The Ways of Chaos.

After her lonely dinner, Allysa had spent most of the evening and a good part of the night drawing a sketch of young Brand, so when she woke up the sun was already high in the skies. If she had had any doubt about being closely watched, she did not any more. The maids entered the room about the same time she opened her eyes. Somehow they had learned Thari overnight and lost no time to announce that Lady Jasra awaited Lady Allysa for breakfast. Allysa perked and brightened a bit at the mention of Jasra taking the time to see her. Perhaps now she would learn why she was here.

Upon completion of the brushing and dressing ritual, Alyssa was conducted to a lavishly appointed sitting room down the hall which she could have sworn had been completely void of furnishings yesterday – she recognized a plush velvet curtain covering the far wall. Jasra at the formally set breakfast table appeared to be well rested and very cheerful. Shining hair, impeccable makeup, flowing white silk gown, diamonds in ears and on well-manicured fingers. An elegant bitch, got to grant her that – Deirdre’s words rung in Allysa’s ears.

”You absolutely must forgive me, my dear Allysa. Believe me, I’d no intention of leaving you to boredom for so long, but most urgent matters required my immediate attention. As you perhaps know, my son, Rinaldo rules the kingdom of Kashfa and I’m a regent during his absences, unfortunately too frequent.” She poured coffee into small porcelain cups. “But of course I haven’t forgotten my promise. I shall take you to Scarlett and Elektra right after breakfast. And look what I’ve brought for you!  Much, much better than that ugly submachine gun of yours…” She nodded toward a cylindrical object equipped with a stock and multiple handles and levers on a nearby love seat, which Alyssa immediately recognized as a Tatuine laser rifle.

“But… but… what do I need this for?”

“Ohh… to kill Elektra, of course… Do you take cream and sugar, darling?”

“Kill Elektra? Why would I do that? I don’t want to kill anyone. I think, maybe you’re mistaking me for Akin. Maybe he’s willing to kill someone for you? I’m not much of a warrior sort. Really!” Allysa shook her head vigorously, “I’m pretty sure it’d be a short fight. There’ll be bloodshed, mostly mine. I really think you're making a mistake.”

Jasra picked up a pastry and bit on it delicately. “No need to fight, darling. You’ll be waiting on the roof of a building. When Elektra and Scarlett come out, you’ll shoot Elektra dead – as simple as this. Hopefully you’ll be back long before dinner, as we’ll need to find a formal dress for you. I’ve invited some people…”

“That’s a cold blood murder! I’m no assassin! Surely there’re other people more qualified. Why me?” Allysa's brow furrowed in some annoyance.

Jasra took another bite. “Mmm… delicious… you ought to try these raspberry tarts… melts in your mouth. I’d never ask you to go to any trouble for me, my dear. It’s your father you must do it for.”

Allysa almost overturned her cup spilling some coffee into the saucer. “Father? What do you know about my father?”

Jasra, of course, had enough class to not notice. “I could never understand the Barimen family. How’s the young generation to maintain traditions and strive for excellence when a good half of you don’t even know who your parents are? You’re the second child of King Random of Amber, the first being of course your older brother Martin. You were an issue of one of his numerous indiscretions on shadow Earth. Your mother was one of those groupies that follow musicians. She was said to have a great promise as an artist, but for drugs and rock n’roll. Random didn’t want to leave her his child, considering her lifestyle but he couldn’t bring you to Amber either because of Vialle. So you were given to Queen Moire of Rebma, somewhat in compensation for her dead daughter. Random always was such a brilliant politician…”

Allysa frowned, “Conjecture. I can spin a tale or three about my upbringing also I wager. You can do better than a Princess in waiting.”

Jasra sipped her coffee, carefully observing the mixture of expressions on Allysa’s face. “You were raised by her and Llewella, who took a lot of interest in you, as you know. You were taken to Amber when your artistic talent became apparent. I don’t know what plans Random has for you. If Elektra lives, it wouldn’t really matter. With her having come of age, Random won’t last for long anyhow. The Universe’s too small for both of them. That’s why you must do what has to be done.”

“I… I don’t believe you! I don’t understand how you can know so much about me…” Allysa was somewhat confused, she was easy to read, guile not being her strong point, though a paranoid would take her for an excellent actress. She considered the story unlikely but plausible since she had no proof for or against the story. “Why are you telling me all this?”

Jasra smiled disarmingly. “Quite a few people know actually. Llewella asked Flora to keep track of your mother, just in case – and you know how Flora is. Fortunately the very first one she told to was Fiona, who immediately ran to Random and he put enough fear in Flora to shut her up for good. But in those days Fiona was struggling to bring Clarissa’s bunch back together once again, so she told Bleys and Brand. And I was married to Brand for quite a long time. Rinaldo is our son. As for the rest of your life story – Kashfa is a small country with a powerful neighbor, so we try to keep an eye on the royal family. There’s a rather thick dossier on each one of you at our embassy in Amber.”

“Each one of us??” Allysa was a little incredulous, “Surely you’re mistaken. I’m from Rebma! I’m not from the Royal Family and I never walked the Pattern.”

“There’s no mistake. No reason for me to lie either. My interest in the whole matter is a very slight one.  There’s a piece of the real estate disputed between Kashfa and Begma. There’ve been many wars over it, but since Amber interfered, things became much calmer and I’d rather keep it this way. Though I suppose Kashfa will survive regardless of the destruction Elektra shall bring to Amber.

“You see, Elektra swore to overthrow Random and install her own father on the throne to avenge his defeat in the Patternfall War. And she has the means. There’s never been anyone as precisely synced with the Pattern as she is, not even Dworkin though he had drawn the thing in the first place. Have you ever looked directly into her eyes? Don’t, unless you want your insides freeze. But it’s not the chill she commands, but the absolute order – an alternative to the absolute chaos – no less destructive though. She’ll walk through Benedict’s army as if through a file of toy soldiers… That’s unless we stop her now.”

“I’ve only just met her a few days ago for the first time. She’s just a girl. Surely you’re exaggerating.”

“Not in the least. That’s why I’ve brought you here and am now telling you all this – to give you a chance to do the right thing for your father and your country. You must realize that what your father did doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. But his duty must come first. The enemies of Amber would’ve found a chasm between the King and the Queen a rather opportune matter to exploit. Now it’s your turn to take the responsibility. More orange juice, dear?”

Allysa slowly rose glowering at Jasra, feeling confused and frustrated. She was not sure of much at the moment, but she knew she darn hell did not want to kill anyone, much less do it in cold blood. She could only stand there and look at her hostess in shock at how calm she was in dealing with plotting a murder.

Jasra’s eyes flamed at Allysa with cold fury, but she got hold of herself. “Sit back down foolish girl! Your only excuse is your ignorance! Who do you think could’ve gotten Brand and that nutcase Deirdre out of the Abyss? The Pattern in its Unicorn manifestation retrieving the Jewel is a common knowledge. But there was another manifestation as a mortal woman. That’s who saved them from the Abyss, nursed Brand to health, and carried his child. Elektra is a tool born of the Pattern to perform a specific task.  You want to know what it is?”

Allysa fidgeted uncomfortably under Jasra’s tongue-lashing and only managed a bewildered nod.

“When Corwin drew his Pattern he changed all the rules. A game of the universal powers is to be played by two, not by three. So one of them must go. The Pattern seeks to destroy Corwin’s pattern completely as one kind of order wouldn’t tolerate a different one. That’s where it directs all its energies, which are vast but not unlimited, and that’s why your trumps don’t work as reliably as they used to.”

“Oh?” Allysa's expression frowned a bit as she fingered the surface of her Trump starting a psyche contact with Vincient. Vincient, does absolutely any of this make sense to you? You get about more than I do. Is she on the level? But she already knew that Jasra was on the level. Fiona had also been assigning the disturbances to the influence of Corwin’s pattern, although not quite in the same way. But most Amberites, Fiona included, did not believe in the powers being sentient. Apparently Jasra did and she seemed to speak with confidence of knowledge as she continued.

“But the Pattern still doesn’t have enough for the task because it also must keep the Logrus at bay. There’re at least nine broken patterns, maybe more. Each one’s a source of energy, not as great as that of the true powers but nevertheless considerable. It’s the Pattern’s plan to absorb them all. It’s already done it once with Merlin’s help, which enabled it to get a slight advantage over the Logrus. Now it wants all of them. That’s what Elektra is for, with the throne of Amber as her reward. Don’t forget it was the Pattern who made your father the king in the first place. And one who gives can also take away.”

“My father?” Allysa was a bit overwhelmed. Oh Vincient, can it be true???

“Brand wouldn’t take the throne, trust me on this one. Neither would our son Rinaldo. So guess who’s next in line? But as bad as the replacement of a wise and benevolent king, not to mention your father, by the pattern sorceress might be… the worst is yet to come. There’s a chance, however slim, that the struggle between the patterns is just a diversion and the real target of both will be the Logrus. The Logrus can’t take this chance. If the Pattern begins absorbing the broken ones, an all-out attack by the Logrus wouldn’t be far behind, which may very well result in Amber’s total destruction. The only way to prevent it is to stop Elektra… while we still can.”

Allysa rubbed her temple gingerly, the concepts boggling her mind somewhat. She shuddered with a sudden realization that every word she had heard was indeed the truth, and there could be only one source for this truth – the Logrus itself. But with as much as the Universal Balance at stake did not the Courts of Chaos have their own assassins? Why was it all had to be revealed to Jasra so she could relate it to, out of all people, a teenage artist who never really fired a shot in her life? Unless no matter how much had been revealed, it was still not all of it.

"But… but… this makes no sense. Even if what you say is true, why me? Surely there got to be someone more able?”

“Well, time’s getting short,” Jasra accurately stacked up the used dishes. “Pick up your rifle so we can be on our way!” She hesitated for a moment and Allysa was rather surprised to see her eyes getting moist.  “Believe me, if there were a slightest chance to avoid it… For the sake of Brand I would’ve.”

Allysa mechanically picked up the laser rifle pausing for a moment, not totally convinced. “I’m telling you, you’ve the wrong person for this job unless you want me to flub it. I’m horrible at this.” She was close to pleading with Jasra to be away from this chore.

“The time is getting short, Jas, and I don’t think the wench is up to the job… or to anything for that matter.” A tall man dressed in all black save for a bit of white collar and sleeve showing beneath the glossy tight-fitting jacket, stepped through the plush velvet curtain covering the far wall. Blue eyes and the young, hard, slightly sharp features beneath a mass of pure white hair. Apparently either the wall had a secret door in it or had never been there in the first place – just an illusion of it. “Not as you didn’t do you best.” He bowed to Jasra slightly.  “As usual.”

“So then… plan B, Mandor?”

Mandor?  The King of Chaos?

“Certainly. It doesn’t matter who fires the shots. When Elektra’s dead, Scarlett will, of course, make proper conclusions upon finding this wench’s body on the roof still holding a rifle.”

My body? Allysa tried to turn to face Mandor, but suddenly felt unable to move, her limbs bound by some unseen force, a small metal sphere circling around her. The rifle slid from her hands on the floor. She felt panic rising.

“And Brand will go after Random with everything he’s got,” Jasra smirks. “The resulting squabble finally giving Deirdre an excuse to send her goons with machine guns to Amber. Her coup d'état justification she’s been waiting for all these years...”

“Yes, Jas. And while Benedict has his hands full with all this, there’s nothing to stop Dalt’s forces from moving into the Golden Circle kingdoms. Then we shall see how long Amber will last with a mad queen on the throne and the commerce cut off…”

“Long live the Chaos… and its King!”

Mandor bowed again.  “The Chaos shall prevail!”

By the Pattern... Allysa grimaced thinking to herself, her fingers still on Vincient. Vincient... You have to do something. Warn someone. The Queen... Llewella... SOMEONE! Allysa strained to move.

Both of them grabbed Alyssa by the shoulders and in the next moment they were standing on the flat roof of a large building under the so familiar to her twin suns of Tatuine. A tall man in white robes, armed with a laser sword and a laser rifle similar to that left in Jasra’s reception room bowed low to Mandor. “Long live the King.”

Mandor nodded. “Well, you know what to do, Darth Voor. Just make sure that after you kill the enchantress, Fiona’s daughter sees this wench holding the rifle before you cut her head off.”

Cut my head off...??   VINCIENT THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME!

Both Jasra and Mandor folded into two-dimensional images and disappeared, leaving Allysa on the hot roof in the company of the assassin. She was still unable to move watching with wide opened eyes the endless desert below. There were two small figures – one in a chain mail armed with a sword and another one in a black cloak – standing in front of the building. Another group, perhaps half a dozen men or so, was slowly making their way toward them from the direction of the desert. The assassin moved to the edge, taking position behind a low parapet and carefully aiming his weapon. He paid no attention to Allysa, certain that Mandor’s immobilizing gadget would prevent her from causing trouble or reaching for her Trumps. There was no way she could warn anyone – it was doubtful that a single scream could be heard from such a distance and the assassin would most definitely take care of her not repeating it. And considering what had been revealed, perhaps it was indeed better this way… Far below, two groups of figures confronted each other. She knew, of course, those in the larger group – her friend Skywalker and his pupils. No one had mentioned harming them. Her friend Scarlett also seemed safe for a moment. As for Elektra, hard as she tried she could not really find much compassion for Elektra. But she must get out of here! Warn Random! Warn Llewella!

VINCIENT, TAKE ME OUT OF HERE!  ANYWHERE!!

The rifle came to life, spewing a bolt of energy into the figures bellow, but the scene around Allysa was already folding, losing dimensions, turning into a cardboard image and then disappearing altogether as Vincient obediently provided her means of escape.

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