The chronicles of the exiles, 1.

By Aratana

After arriving (see an earlier series of events.....), those of us that had arrived from, let us say, elsewhere, encountered a battlefield, and left.

As we travelled away from this area, strange events began to happen. Thor, a member of our group, felt that something was very wrong, but hardly managed to say anything before there was an almighty explosion. It seeemed to be coming from beneath us, and seemed centred on the eldersthat had come with us, two of them sparkling with a golden light. Thor was thrown high into the air, and I was knocked flying by the concussive blast. We were all feeling ill. Thor completed his parabolic arc and started to descend at dangerous acceleration..........he concentrated.

Nothing happened, but he managed to land on the thick mattress, so thats OK.

As we sat upon the ground, mildly shocked, to say the least, there was a terrible howl and something burst forth from the centre of the group. It moved towards Thor and started attacking the mattress that he was now hiding behind the tattered remains of. It seemed to be some blurred set of teeth and claws and was really very nasty. I was running away at this point. It followed me and, lets be brief here, started to rend me, before ceasing for some reason and running off over the horizon.

It will be noted that no-one could find or see either Darius or Bryan at this point in time.

As I lay on the ground bleeding, I was aware of a large shadow across my face. Opening my eyes I saw a very tall man, who introduced himself as Sir Frederick, and offered to help patch me up. He mentioned that he knew a very good infirmary and said that we could walk towards it..... Thor came out of hiding at this point and offered Sir Frederick a trump of Amber. Sir Frederick tried to use it, but it didn't seem to work. Thor touched it and fell to the ground writhing in pain, and the trump combusted.

I patched my wounds and stood up, and Frederick offered to lead us to his uncle Corwin. we started to follw and he soon left me and Thor behin. We did however catch up with him when he came across a chasm and a small pack of nasty dog like things. Sir Frederick yelled a warning, having encountered such bests before, aparently they were mental parasites and would inflict their pain on their victims. Sir Frederick picked up one and hurled it at Thor, who was hit in the head by it, although the one that had been about to attack him was now sitting on the ground with its tongue lolling out. I had one land on me after a move to try and stun it failed spectacularly. Sir Frederick appeared and attacked it from behind, throttling it. I couldn't breathe. Sir Frederick then smashed it together with another dog. I passed out. I have vague memories of a falling sensation and little more; apparently a little later Sir Frederick saved me from a flying jellyfish. later we recovered Thor, with Sir Frederick carrying two unconscious people.

Very quickly we were pursued by what turned out to be a set of riders on centaurback. They took Thor and I back to their camp; Sir Frederick had other business. They sometimes looked at Thor as if he was half-familiar....

The Camp was really quite large, and was in fact decamping and moving quite slowly through shadow. Me and Thor stayed with it for a couple of weeks while we healed. We then noticed that it was heading Amberwards. Someone attacked the camp one night but the attack was repulsed.

We arrived some time later at Castle Amber, where after a tour of a very familiar city, we met Bleys. Bleys seemed to think Thor very interesting, almost as if he recognised him from somewhere. Thor and Bleys and I had a little chat. He then said that we could stay in Amber for a while.....

After a day of rest, I determined to assay The Pattern. This was the beginning of a very bad day. After a brief discussion with the guards, I was allowed in. I gazed upon the awesome spiral, and moved toward the start. The hilt at my belt glowed bright blue and started to smoke as I approached. I left it on the floor. Elders started to arrive. I placed my foot upon the pattern and was immediately wreathed in larger than usual blue sparks. At the first veil I faletered and changed course slightly, and the path became agony. By the second veil my hair was on fire and my skin blistered and peeling as immense temperatures scoured my flesh. I called for help, and Benedict told me to keep going. I did. The grand curve to the third veil was blessed relief in comparison to the last veil. The third veil would be agony.

I hit it. By now the pain was more intense than anything you could imagine. Flesh blackened, nails burnt off. I slowed. I called for help.

Thor produced a trump (of me) and tried something. Many Elders looked at him as though he was completely iNsAnE. He flashed through the range of trump colours briefly and, whilst one Fiona looked on with an intrigued expession, the other Fiona was considering reeling her bottom jaw back into her mouth. The same could be said of most of the Elders, however. Thor then said to the gawping Fiona "You've got to help her - she's in real trouble!". Somewhat surprisingly, the Fiona in question did as he requested, and jumped onto the Pattern. Noticing me slowing, she ran through the first veil, and walked through the second. As she approacheed, I felt a surge of new strength and completed the Pattern.....to find something there, and to find my body rejuvenated. With Fiona getting inside the final veil, I turned, yelled my gratitude and teleported out to the main group.

Back at the start, I could not see the hilt I had left there anywhere. Sir Frederick meanwhile seemed to have just had some revelation. He reached forward to take the Sword that I held. His fingers stopped a few inches from the hilt. He didn't like this turn of events. But then again, many of the Elders were looking at him as if he really shouldn't have been there. After a brief disagreement with Thor, Sir Frederick developed an intense headache.

Conclusion of part I.