Friends in the Daytime, Strangers at Night

Somewhere over by the Tower is where an indistinct figure waves them to head in that direction. A third party has entered the fight, seemingly on their side.

"I don't know, but the advice is sound!" Diomedes manages to shout. "Fight toward the left side, Uncle, and I will take the right!"

Unspoken, Diomedes adds, mentally. *We'll sort out our mystery ally later.*

Diomedes fights as quickly as possible to reach the tactical soundness and the relative safety of the right side of the Tower's entrance. No more quotations from the Iliad, but instead a somber determination to have himself and Random survive.

"Agreed!" Random calls and presses the fight again, even harder.

The battle is pitched and fevered, and both Diomedes and Random will sustain small wounds and cuts before they get towards the exit where they're spilling out. Both come close to being struck down and overwhelmed, but the blood of Amber sustains them.

They catch sight of the mysterious ally, who is not abstaining from the fight either. It is robed figure, definitely human and judging from his voice, male. Armed with a bow, the Mysterious Stranger darts back and forth from the doors of the Tower, staunching the tide of warriors pressing to get out by dropping them in their tracks before they can even step outside.

Diomedes pays as little attention as possible to the masked stranger, devoting himself to the battle, swinging Pagono with grim determination to move forward and to his appointed place.

But it's not enough, as some of these ogres get out anyway, and the Stranger struggles to kill them before they force him to engage in hand to hand fighting. From windows above, the horny hand men throw rocks at him down below. Nevertheless the Stranger dances away before they strike him in the head.

Once Diomedes and Random start to close the gap towards the Tower's body-strewn doorway, the Stranger turns his bow on their enemies, to aid them in getting to the walls of this prison. When they are all together at last, the two Amberites see that the Mysterious Stranger wears a mask over his entire face, and his other features are obscured by a cowl.

Diomedes blinks, a little confused by the appearance of their ally.

Within the Tower, something new is happening. The doors open to an open room like a foyer, and beyond that is a corridor deeper into the main floor. A veritable horde of warriors crowd that corridor; but they suddenly part to either side as something is coming.. moving through their ranks towards the foyer. Catching a glimpse of it, they all three see what appears to a geometric object levitating towards them. It is like a diamond shape of metal with only a few faces.. or two rather like two pyramid shapes glued together at the base and set to float on their focal points. A great ugly iron diamond. It starts to spin in the air as it hovers towards the foyer. The warriors give it wide berth, and actually huddle behind it, watching the three intruders carefully.

Diomedes stares at the platonic solid carefully.

"Aw hell," curses the Stranger. The mask he wears is blue and trimmed in gold, his eyes are hazel, and his clothes are dark and somber. Yet, his voice is pleasant to the ear. The mask turns towards Diomedes and Random. "Its worse than the Serpent. They're hanging back hoping that we'll try to enter. It's even more dangerous in close quarters."

"And who the bloody hell are you?" Random grouses. "This isn't f*ckin' Halloween."

"I'm not an enemy, put it that way," answers the Stranger confidently, but looking again at the foyer. "I don't think you're going to be able to get in this way."

But Diomedes has beat the odds before with his sorcery... Still, there's still no shortage of conventional opponents after this new threat.

"I've come too far to give up now." Diomedes says grimly. "I won't leave this doorway before I've tried to disable it. I won't give up on my father before I've tried everything reasonable to enter this Tower."

And then Diomedes stops talking, in Thari, and instead syllables of the languages that Random has heard a couple of times now in his nephew's presence emit from his mouth, and Diomedes pushes his right hand forward, fingers extended in a claw like pose.

Names and words from science find themselves in the flow of words as Diomedes spell is unspooled from within his blade. Newton, Brahe, Gailieo, and Hawking. Mass and inertia, and above all the Queen of forces in the physical world, weak but supreme.

Gravity.

The iron diamond must be massive and heavy, by nature of the material that makes it up. That is its strength, and its weakness. Increase the gravity, the warping of space around it, and its inertia will increase. Its movement will slow.

And if the spell is allowed to go on long enough and is effective enough, the diamond, once frozen in place by gravity, will collapse in under its now superannuated weight and mass, from a geometrically precise diamond to an inert tangle of a ball of metal.

Diomedes might be grateful that he has been trained to 'ground' his spell, because he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this particular spell's feedback. Oh, it works, but the Octahedron does not collapse in on itself, it doesn't even fall to the floor. It's spinning motion slows to a stop, and he can almost imagine it grinding against the cosmic forces he's realigned against it; then it drops slowly to rest on its point on the ground and just stay there, impossibly balanced. An unstoppable force meeting an impenetrable object.

The mysterious stranger swears under his breath."You *are* a genius," he adds. Random doesn't move, but then for a second neither does any one else. On the other side of the Octahedron, the horn handed men break up from their huddle and stare with their bloodshot eyes, even their mouths open in disbelief.

But the object does not fall...

"Can we..?" Random starts to ask, forgetting for a second the fact that they're with a stranger.

"There's a whole lot of them blocking that corridor," the stranger replies, "but maybe."

The warriors are talking again.

"What is it?" Random says not taking his eyes off the Octahedron.

Diomedes listens, but stares at the Octahedron defiantly, as well as the horde of men between him and the deep interior of the Tower, and his goal.

"A tool. An all-purpose jackknife. Something designed to fight people like *you*," the stranger answers. "There are two of them too, but I don't know if they communicate when they're apart. Never wanted to get this close. Beyond that, I'm not sure I have a good description for you. A robot? Environmental changes aren't going to stop them though. They weren't created to be easily defeated. I think Diomedes just surprised it."

The warriors draw their weapons. "We got a chance?" Random asks them both.

"Maybe now," X answers, "but it'll be a race.."

"I'm not giving up on my Father now." Diomedes declares, and doesn't wait for Random or the mysterious stranger to talk him out of it, and moves toward the horned men in the Tower.

Diomedes' already ichor-covered blade is drawn and ready to carve a path to the imprisoned Brand through the bodies of his foes, if necessary. He barely spares glances to the Octohedron, only enough, often enough, to know when his spell might fail.

The Octohedron remains still, but impossibly balanced. It doesn't so much as quiver, and it's levitation has come to a halt. Either it has fallen into a sleeping and suspended state, or worse, it's silently straining against a great invisible tension- just waiting to have it be lifted. The Stranger gives it a wide berth, as he and Random charge around different sides of it, following Diomedes' lead.

The warriors do not wait for the three of them to arrive, and are already surging forward to beat them back. Several minutes of hard bloody fighting take place. The Stranger has cast aside his bow in favor of a slender blade.

After the ground has become littered with corpses and wet with blood, Random calls out. "Dio, we need to find some way around them. There's just too many for three guys to take down in this crowded space."

Diomedes grimaces as the increasing danger is becoming ever more evident to him in turn.

"He's right," huffs the Stranger as he narrowly dodges a blow that could have seriously injured your average man. "They have numbers on their side, and sooner or later our problems are going to magnify. We need to either regroup and come back another time with a different.. or we have to at the very least get pass this lot."

Diomedes lets out a torrent of curses in Greek and other languages. "So close, so close." And then he steps back to allow the next humanoid in line to step forward to take on.

"I have an idea, now that we're inside the Tower itself, but I need the both of you to cover me and hold them off long enough to do it." Diomedes says.

"I want to try and Trump Dad, here and now."

Diomedes looks from Random to X and back again, taking a swing at the next opponent who steps up to meet him and Pagono.

"Do you think you two can hold them long enough?"

"Do it!" grunts the Masked Stranger. Random nods his head savagely as he beats back an attacker. Together they push forward, fighting furiously to give Diomedes the opportunity to withdraw back from the fight. They close ranks to cut off any final attack of opportunity against the son of Brand. However it is clear, they can't hold them back indefinitely. Only one horn fisted brute has to push his way past and they will have their backs exposed.

As it is, if Diomedes is going to do this in the actual Tower, he will still be within sight and reach of the silent, still, but certainly energized Octohedron. Thwarted as it is, all of three of them know it is only a temporary victory. Otherwise it would roll over to rest on it's side, like any inert thing would so precariously balanced.

Diomedes concentrates for a full minute, trying to block out the sounds of combat and death. The suddenly he can feel the trump start to resolve suddenly, like man or beast being pulled free of quicksand. His father's old horse vanishes and Brand is suddenly depicted as being chained to a stone wall. He doesn't look too worse for wear, and his head snaps up immediately.

"Dad!" Diomedes shouts aloud, enough to let Random and X know of his success. "He's chained up."

Both of them spare a fast split second glance in Diomedes' direction before returning to their efforts

"My son," Brand rasps. "I knew it was you." He manages something of a smile, but it vanishes as quickly as it came. "Quickly! Are you alone, or do you have others with you?"

"I've got Random and a friend with me." Diomedes responds. "But I don't think I can spare one of them to get through to free you. They're barely holding back your jailors as it is."

"Random," his father breathes.

Diomedes nods urgently.

Then Brand swallows and his face hardens. "Listen-" He starts to unconsciously twist in his chains, and Diomedes will sense that Brand is staring at *something* that is outside of his son's range of vision in this contact. "Random was a good choice. I-"

Diomedes winces, even as he tries to listen carefully, and resists the urge to travel through the contact.

Brand's eyes start to widen.

"Flee my son! Return when you can and I will abide!" He grins fiercely at Diomedes, with a hint of pride. "They can't kill me. They dare not!" His father starts shouting. "Whatever you do.."

"Dad!" Diomedes cries aloud.

In the middle of this desperate admonishment, a smooth iron colored object slides silently within the visual range of the trump. It is like iron origami. An armature of metal folding and unfolding before both their eyes, almost resembling a dark grey tentacle made of all straight pieces and seamless rotating angles. At the end of the armature is a geometric oval- like a single giant suction cup or perhaps an oval indenture that just coincidentally conforms to the shape of a full face gas mask. The iron armature pushes this indenture towards Brand's face.

Diomedes' look is one of absolute horror and he starts to reach through the Trump to find a way to get through to his threatened father.

"..remember this! TRUST-"

Blackness. He's gone. Trump contact severed.

Diomedes nearly drops the Trump in shock as the contact is forcibly severed. He stands there, dumbly for a moment, staring at the now inert card, tears in his eyes.

And then he looks up to Random and "X".

"I'm not good enough to get him out. We have to retreat and return another day. Dad counseled me to do so." Diomedes says, his voice still quavering. "Before they started torturing him anew."

X starts to turn his masked face towards Diomedes, but is forced to keep his attention on the warrior in front of him. "Hell," Random grouses as he fights. "Sorry kid."

Diomedes shoves the trump away in the deck, puts that away, and pulls out Pagono and moves forward to shed the blood that will have to be spilt for the three of them to escape, if they still can. If *he* still can.

With their combined forces, the three of them press the attack and drive them back up the corridor.. and then on Diomedes' called signal, the three of them make a fast run for the exit before the horn-handed men can rally and regroup.

Its evident once they clear the exit at the base of the Tower, that it won't be that easy. Monster men spill out of the Tower in pursuit of the three of them. The dead Serpent hangs in sunless sky like some solitary star in a surrealist painting.

Diomedes only spares the slain, hanging Serpent a glance before returning to the grim and deadly matters at hand.

Random and X are beside Diomedes as the three of them approach the earthen platform that the Tower rests upon.Rocks, big and small, are still circling it and occasionally brushing up against the side. A ventured look backwards reveals that the warriors aren't the only thing in motion. The Octohedron is once again on the move. Slowly, but with precision, it has resumed its spinning and is levitating behind the warriors.

Will Diomedes leap down and run the gauntlet in reverse, or does he have another plan?

"That metal polyhedron will catch up with us if we try to dodge our way across the plain." Diomedes says to Random and their masked ally. "We need to get on one of the Orbitals and ply our wills on it to get away from the Tower and that thing." Diomedes says.

He points to a moderately sized rock, similar to the one that Random and himself had used to get close to the Tower.

"One like that." Diomedes says. "And we need to decide, and quickly. There is no honor in being cut down here."

"Good pick," Random calls out over the grinding din of the rocks. "Not to big and not too fast!" He gestures down. We'll need to get down though, I don't think it's orbit is going to bring it to the edge!"

X nods his agreement, and gestures as he bends his knees to prepare to jump the next time one of the large ones collides up against the base and rolls away.

Random does a count. "One... two... three!"

A crossbow bolt whizzes its way between the two of them, and the gruff call of the warriors can be heard behind them.

"Jump!"

The three of them leap downwards. Diomedes lands solidly. Random lands beside him, staggering a little but maintaining his feet. X, however, lets out a long stream of obscenities. At a glance, Diomedes can guess he's either twisted or broken his ankle.

"Can you move on it?" Random shouts.

Diomedes glances again to regard X's response.

"Yeah," X grunts, like he's speaking through gritted teeth.

Random looks at Diomedes and then nods with his head towards the designated rock. With enemies in hot pursuit and the landscape an ever changing obstacle course, none of them have the luxury of standing still.

And he doesn't. Diomedes takes point in the obstacle course before them.

Like three men weaving their way across an expressway, they dodge their way to within range of the rock. X hobbles and drags his injured foot, trying to avoid putting weight on it. Behind them the horn-handed militia has just finished a quick conversation and are now leaping down after them.

Diomedes is the first to leap on the oncoming rock, making the jump neatly. Random is right behind him, a little less graceful but catching himself before he slips and slides off. X, however, only has one foot to give him any jumping momentum. He reaches for something to hang on but starts to loose his tenuous grip right before their eyes.

If X falls, he'll be left rolling in the dirt behind them to face an uncertain future at either the hands of the warriors, to be run down by the rocks.

"Oh, no, you don't." Diomedes says. "Grab my legs, Uncle and hold tight." Diomedes turns around and leans down as far as he can, with or without Random's aid, and reaches with his right hand down to X, his left hand used to brace himself.

"Crap," Random says by way of agreement and scrambles on the rotating
rock to play his part. Diomedes will feel a strong grip on his legs


If he can reach it, Diomedes will reach out to grasp X's wrist. If he can't, he will dangle his hand down.

"Grab my hand, we'll pull you up." Diomedes says, with our without X's wrist in his grasp. "We're *all* getting out of this place."

X gasps in exertion and pain but scrambles up the side of the rock.
Diomedes catches his hand firmly in his own.

It takes a few painful moments (for the Stranger anyway), but with the
three of them working together they get X situated so that he can sit
on the rock. The unknown man breathes heavily beneath his mask. His
cowl has shifted to reveal brownish hair.

Random tugs at Diomedes sleeve and points. "They're doing exactly what
we would do," he says indicating their pursuers. "Ranging out to put
themselves on an intercept course."

And Random is correct.. in a few seconds the rock they're on is going
to go right past a handful of men getting ready to try to leap aboard.

"Not long enough to get the spell I want off in time." Diomedes
grimaces as he regards the approaching rock and its cargo of pursuers.

He looks at Random and then at X. "If you have any powers over Shadow
to move us through the worlds." he says to their still nameless
stranger. "I suggest you use them now. We need to cut these guys off
from reinforcements."

Diomedes then looks at Random. He sets his stance carefully and draws Pagono.

Diomedes turns from the approaching attacks, and regards the collision with the larger rock for a moment and then his eyes turn bright as he turns back to Random and X

Random doesn't take his eyes off the impending crash, but he seems strangely calm.

"Uncle. Help me grab our friend. When we're about to strike the larger one, we'll all jump to it. Since its larger, it should suffer less from the collision, if the rules of momentum and mass properly apply here. Less chance of us being thrown off."

"You're joking?" X exclaims.

"It's that, or we brace ourselves here and take our chances. "

"Bigger ones move faster and rotate on the outside, better chance to break free," Random answers. "Helluva jump though." He whirls around and grabs X by the shirt front. "I guess we're not joking."

"But-" interjects a wide-eyed X, whose mask has now fallen off his head completely. Short as he is, Random damn near tosses the stranger over his shoulder and starts to brace himself to jump before impact.


"-No time for a vote!" Random shouts. If Diomedes isn't making ready, then his youngest uncle points him in the right direction. There really is no more time to debate it.

Diomedes, as the originator of the plan, is already moving once Random makes it a quorum.

By instinct alone, the able bodied pair leap before the small hills actually come into contact, trying to bridge the distance before there is a ricochet effect. Diomedes can hear one or both of then man shout/wail as they go sailing in the air alongside him. Time almost seems to slow down for that one instant.

The son of Brand will feel the heavy impact of solid rock and earth against his chest as he scrambles for a handhold.

KA-BOOM.

There is a terrible flash and a literal clap of thunder, but it only lasts an instant, and immediately afterwards when they look around for the next few seconds it is as if all the blues and reds in the universe suddenly becomes many time sharper and distinct compared to any other color. Diomedes' hair is flying back behind him along with whatever loose earth and dust is on this rock that they've jumped on. There's no to time to look backwards, but it feels like there is some great imploding vacuum behind him.

A split-second later the implosion stops, and first impressions gives him the sense that this new rock is moving many times faster than it ever was before. Seventy to eighty miles per hour? And spinning.. making hanging on itself a challenge. The scene is too disorienting to get a good fix on where they are in relation to the Tower (a far off glimpse of it goes spinning past), and for the second the rival warriors are all but gone and forgotten.

Diomedes exclaims something in Greek as he tries to get a hold. He then continues in Thari. "So much for the laws of physics!"

Random shouts out a mighty obscenity followed by, "Don't let us hit another one!!"

X cries out, "I'm trying! I'm trying! What the hell do you think I'm trying to do!!" They both look sick, or at the very least- sick of this.

Amidst all this disorientation, Diomedes feels a tug at one of his pant legs. Looking down he sees a lone warrior, clinging to the side of the out-of-control mini-mountain like a barnacle, except his spurred hand is twisting around the fabric of Dio's trouser legs, and a dagger is clenched between his fanged teeth. With a hearty yank it becomes clear...

...this bastard is trying to pull Diomedes to his death or serious injury even if it means his own!

"Greffet!" Diomedes exclaims, hoping to get the attention of X or Random. "One of them is trying to pull me off." Diomedes grimaces as he feels the pull of the warrior on his pant leg pull his entire body toward possible death.

"Someone grab one of my arms." Diomedes says, waiting for acquiescence or signal before letting one of his hands free to grasp the waiting hand from one of his two fellows. Once he has it, Diomedes moves not upward, but pulls slightly downward, so that his other leg, free of the warrior's attempts to pull him off, can deliver blows right to his head and face in an effort to get him to let Diomedes go.

"You keep concentrating!" Random calls over to X. He scrambles over the top of the great rock and stretches an arm towards Diomedes, taking a firm grasp of his nephew's wrist.

The warrior is practically trying to climb up Diomedes, so the son of Brand struggles to get his other leg free enough to deliver a well placed kick. The two struggle furiously, but after a few seconds Diomedes introduces the heel of his boot to the other guy's head. With that particularly savage kick, the warrior lets out a pained grunt and loses his grip. The grunt tumbles down the side of the rock and then rolls away like a broken bag of flesh when he hits the real ground at high speed. Diomedes loses track of it as the rock spins away, but he'll spot the body again as it starts to rise skyward behind them.

Diomedes sighs in relief as his kick finally has the desired effect, and the man lets go of him, and down to the ground below.

"Good job," grimaces Random as he pulls him up to a spot where Diomedes might be able to rest for a second. "Now if we can just stop the merry-go-round before I puke," he adds for X's benefit.

"Almost there," X replies, "once we're free of the Tower's rotation."

Diomedes shakes his head to try and reduce the nauseous lack of stability. Once he does so, he turns to regard X.

Diomedes can finally take a good look at his mysterious benefactor. He is none other than the mysterious man in the mirror, first from his dream of Osric- the one who bade him to be silent and said "Not yet". The same man who would later appear in other mirrors in Rebma, and warn him of the attention of the Rebman Seer's Guild.

The rock starts to slow its spinning. "It *looks* like we lost them," the Mysterious Stranger adds. "We'll have to hope that's actually true."

Diomedes sets his hand on the rock next to where he is sitting. "Given their abilities, I am not going to assume anything about what they can or can't do. They were set to be dangerous and capable guardians." Diomedes replies.

"And even if it appears that we've lost them." Diomedes continues. "Appearances can sometimes be only orthogonally intersecting with reality."

Random suppresses a double take at Diomedes' choice of words, but still he wears an unspoken 'huh?' so plainly across his face that it might as well be written on his forehead.

Diomedes pauses a beat and gives a smile to X. "But, then, given our previous dealings, you should understand that very well, don't you?"

X calls over. "Touche. And yes, that's one way to put it, for sure."

Diomedes turns to Random. "I don't know our friend's name, but once the mask was removed, I recognized him straightaway. We've had...encounters, prior to this."

"Haven't we?" Diomedes says, returning his gaze to X.

"I remember both occasions," confirms X. "To play on words, you might say that 'this is the time'. Its good to meet you in person." He turns to Random and gives him a quick nod. "Both of you." He thumbs towards the direction of the Tower. "And my thanks for the rescue back there."

"Yer welcome," Random growls. "But this is a little too convenient for my taste. You still haven't named yourself, and how did you know to find that place and expect us to be there?" Random looks to Diomedes. "It makes more sense that he's in with whoever put the bag on your dad. Why are we making nice? We should chuck overboard, let him take a tumble to soften him for a few questions.."

Random looks deadly serious and starts to shift his footing, while X starts to look between them with concern.

Diomedes turns and puts a hand on Random's shoulder. "Peace, Uncle. While I do not know the name of our friend, I do not think he means any harm. While he might have his own motivations and agenda, one of our previous encounters resulted in useful counsel and warning to me." Diomedes says. "And he did aid us in the Tower, even if we were unsuccessful in freeing my father."

Random relaxes his posture, albeit reluctantly.

"However." Diomedes turns to face X. "I would like at least a use-name, rather than referring you by the encounter-descriptive but otherwise useless moniker of "The Man in the Mirror".

"So, to quote a alien...philosopher, you might say. "Who are you?"

X looks between the two of them, and appears to be weighing on how he can avoid answering this question, and then reluctantly he speaks.

"I'd prefer if you were sparing in distributing this information, but my name is Delwin."

Diomedes opens his jaw slightly in surprise, and then closes it.

Random's eyes go wide. "Holy sh!t."

Delwin inclines his head. "We meet at last Random," he says gravely.

"Yeah," Random says, still a little taken aback. "Uh.. and here I thought you were just a kid. Hell, I guess that makes me the kid.." He looks rueful. "Again."

"Have you heard of me?" Delwin asks his nephew. "Because our time for introductions is not indefinite." He points behind the rock. When Diomedes and Random look, they can see that they're being followed by those man-things from the Tower.

Diomedes paused a moment and then nods.

"Father, and Theia insisted on a comprehensive education, including members of the family now dead or absent. I was told of you, you and your sister." Diomedes closed his eyes and then opened them. "Sand. Sand's *her* name. Sand and Delwin. I never saw a picture of you, though, which is probably why I never recognized you in our Mirror-meetings." Diomedes adds.

Delwin gives Diomedes a serious smile. "Yes, that's her name. We're both very private people, and between the two of us that applies even more so to her."

Diomedes nods curtly, once.

"And you are right." Diomedes continues. "We probably should seek to get off this rock, or find some suitable terrain and deal with the things, or else we can seek to find more rapid means of traveling through shadow.

"How's your leg?" Random inquires of Delwin.

"A little better. Not broken, just twisted. I might be well served by riding this out as long as we can and maintain a distance ahead of them.. lose them in Shadow. Then we can pick a more leisurely means of locomotion when I'm not disabled."

Random checks with Diomedes with a look.

Diomedes nods in agreement to Random's unspoken question.

Random then replies. "Yeah, you just keep your seat and relax."

"I'll lose them first," Delwin says. He concentrates for a moment, and the sky turns pink, but with actual cloud cover. "When we lose the clouds, we should have an actual sun back for a change." Delwin concentrates for a few more minutes, and a sudden wind blows up a wall of dust and sand. After a few moments of low visibility the wind dies down, and when they look back- the warriors are gone. "There," says Delwin with some satisfaction.

"Good work, Uncle Delwin." Diomedes says, and finally relaxes somewhat.

The three of them have an opportunity to rest, even though they are covered with sweat and blood. After an hour, Random takes a sleepy glance over his shoulder- and then does an abrupt double take. "Hell," he pronounces.

Looking back, the three discover that they're still being followed. "Different men, but the same variation on a theme.. and somehow they've managed to actually gain ground," exclaims Delwin.

"Something wrong with the shifting, that the theme of being chased couldn't be removed?" Diomedes asks, turning to regard the pursuers.

"Maybe Delwin maintained a constant where he should have suppressed a
variable," offers Random.

"Its possible," Delwin concedes.

"Or are we dealing with trans-dimensional forces." He turns to regard his uncles. "Whoever built that set up to imprison my Dad has resources. Maybe even resources that can track through shadow like bloodhounds.Or this is just an awful result of fleeing that Tower."

"Now I really wish I had been a better pupil of my Dad's." Diomedes says somberly. "We could sorely use a shortcut right about now. No help for it, though." Diomedes says. "I've still got a couple of spells left in the quiver,and even one useful for pursuers like these, but I think we eventually need to find a permanent solution to deal with them or elude them."

"My idea is for me to get my Caltrops spell scaled up for this wide open environment, I'll throw it, and you two can then shift us out of here while the pursuers deal with and hopefully are slowed or disabled for a bit while we put some more distance between their two dozen number and us."

"Do it," Delwin replies. Random signals that he's game for this plan.

"I'll let your spell take hold and let them to run into it first," Delwin adds. "That way they're slowed down first, then we'll shift. That will keep them from getting pulled along in our wake, just in case that is what has been happening all along."

Diomedes turns to face the pursuers, staring at them hard. His look turns slightly glassy eyed, and he begins murmuring as he stares and stares for a few moments. Random and Delwin might think him hypnotized by the sight of the strange part-men who are so doggedly pursuing them, until he rises his hands in evocation. Words come forth to his lips, words in latin and greek and phoenician.

Even in a land far removed from the ocean, under alien skies, Diomedes' call to power still holds. From worlds congruent to this one, but ones he has never seen, energies come streaming forth at his command in those ancient tongues, in blue and green, emitting from his hands and cast forth in a spray, as nodules of colored light.

As these nodules cast in a low, wide arc, they twinkle, like stars in a night sky. It is not refracted starlight, though, that causes the energies to twinkle as they emerge and form, but rather the tines of the blue and green caltrops themselves, as they land upon the ground in successive lines, forming an ever deeper field of obstacle for the pursuing men.

The warriors run right up to the field of caltrops and then look to be grinding to a stop, or at least to a walk (which might as well be a stop at the pace the rock is going). They rapidly fade into dots on the horizon. Then either Random or Delwin shift away from them completely. All three of them enjoy a brief respite underneath the bright orange sun.

"Whoa, getting a call coming in," Random announces.

Diomedes looks slightly surprised as he turns to regard Random.

Delwin sits right up in alarm, his ankle apparently starting to recover. "Block it Random! Don't take it!" Delwin urges, already scrambling out of Random's possible periphery should he accept it anyway.

Random gives Delwin a peculiar look, but then concentrates, "Not right now.. busy!" he announces to someone unseen. A few seconds later he lowers his hand and shakes his head to indicate the coast is clear.

Delwin sighs with relief. "Thanks."

"Uh..yeah, sure." Random looks doesn't look entirely thrilled, but not enough to press the point. He looks skyward, shading his eyes. "We're all bushed, beat up and cut up. I propose we just hit the cruise control and rest up." He jerks his thumb upwards. "Anything we can do about the weather?"

Diomedes will know that Random dare not try to adjust the weather himself for fear of the curse that is their secret.

And does Diomedes agree with this plan? Resting up?

"Allow me to handle the weather, even if its going to be a little slanted toward my proclivities somewhat." Diomedes offers. "Ideally, we should find a place to rest rather than trying to rest on the movie, but I am not convinced that our friends back there will allow us the luxury."

"Now, allow me." Diomedes cracks his knuckles and gets to work. The orange sun is replaced by a slight smaller yellow one, less intense but moderately warm for comfort. The wind becomes cooler, and less intense, and Random will definitely note the scent of salt upon that wind. As the rock continues to progress, Diomedes continues his patient changes, as if drawing a complex figure, adding line by line.

The sky turns bluish, the humidity increases somewhat thanks to the sea breeze. Diomedes adds some clouds for some brief respites from the sunlight at irregular intervals. On the ground, the conditions have turned from dusty sand to a more granular one, nd there is a line of blue on the horizon perpendicular to their travel.

"There. Except for our floating rock, and the size of it, we could be on a beach back in Epirus." Diomedes says with satisfaction.

Beautiful!" Delwin calls, scuttling on the rock to find a better seat
where he can stretch out his leg.

"Good job," Random nods, reaching for those cigarettes of his.

The call for rest is not unwarranted. The fighting was intense, as
well as the sprint to and from the Tower, along with misadventures in
losing the pursuers. All three of them have small cuts and bruises and
really in need of a break if they wish to be comfortable. There is
time for some light conversation. Delwin doesn't volunteer much, but
he's affable enough for company (a little better than Random
actually).

Afternoon passes and the skies darken with the wind brushing past
them.. and eventually the stars lose their fascination when sleep
comes.

[Fade to Black]

Diomedes awakens to a light rain on his face. Cool, but not too
chilly. Opening his mouth, it helps take the edge off his thirst. It
is a dark peaceful dawn. Random is starting to stir, and tilting his
head to one side there is a series of three sharp snaps as he cracks
his neck. Looking at Diomedes through lidded eyes, he jerks a thumb
towards the sky. "I didn't do that in my sleep did I? I forgot we were
moving last night."

"No. It might just be a consequence of the shadow we're in." Diomedes
says. He opens his mouth a little more to catch some more of the rain.

"Just don't want to get caught in a plains flood in the next few
minutes," Random yawns.

"It doesn't seem to be the explosively powerful thunderstorm type, but
I can shift us out of the rain easily enough." Diomedes says. "Uncle
Delwin?" Diomedes says next, his eyes looking around.


As Diomedes looks around for Delwin, he discovers his uncle is gone.

"Dammit," Random mutters as he realizes it too. "Wonder what this means."

That's when Diomedes will realize that something has been tucked out
of sight between his cloak and shirt where he can't fail to notice. It
looks like a note on heavy paper and folded over in a square.

Not paying any direct attention Random sighs. "Shall we get out of the rain? Figure out what we're going to do now?"

"We get out of the rain and then we lay our plans." Diomedes says, ignoring the letter from Delwin for the moment. "I don't think that we'll see Del anytime soon. His guest spot in the graphic novel of our lives is done for now, I think. Back into the mirror he's gone."

"Hmm? Back to the mirror? Is that how you met him before, some sort of magic thing?"

"I first met him in a mirror, in a dream." Diomedes responds. "Uncle Delwin is an extremely talented man...and extremely cautious in his dealings. I am not surprised that, his business with us done, that he left so precipitously, without so much as a goodbye. It doesn't answer why he helped us in the first place, but we have other things to figure out." Diomedes replies.

"Really, though, our choices as to what to do are pretty limited." Diomedes adds, as he begins to shift shadow, to dry up the rainstorm, changing it to a cool and overcast sky, with no hint of rain in the clouds, instead.

The sun remains obscured by the heavy clouds, but the rain trails off and stops altogether in good time.

"Not that I'm in a hurry to go back, but I suppose its Rebma time then?" Random asks glumly. "Or you have another idea? Just how limited are our options Doc?"

"All roads lead to Amber." Diomedes says, axiomatically. "If I am going to ever get my Dad out of that Tower, I'm going to need the help of more family." he explains.

"And really, there is no other direction for me to go." Diomedes continues.

Random shakes his head grimly, not in disagreement, but at the
inevitability of it.


"My cousins are clearly on their own and continuing their quests, and our parting suggested to me that they don't particularly expect me to return to their fold. You could, of course, but you still have a problem with mobility."

"Eeh, that's an assumption on your part," points out his youngest Uncle

"So we return to the choices laid before us before we went to go look for my Dad." Diomedes continues.

"So we return to the choices laid before us before we went to go look
for my Dad." Diomedes continues.

"We together head toward Amber and Rebma. My preference is Rebma, and
not just because I have unfinished social business. So do you, Uncle,
and worse, have this curse which cripples who and what you are. A
Prince of Amber *should* be able to walk in shadow wherever he wants,
without fear of the curse of the Queen of the City Under the Sea.
And, I get the sense that Amber might becoming more and more
dangerous, and if we want to watch events in Amber without precisely
being within it, Rebma is the *perfect* place for that."

"Or" Diomedes says. "If that doesn't appeal. I can, if you wish,
Uncle, in repayment for helping me, get you to and set you up in a
bucolic shadow of your desire."

"I'll share a drink with you, and then leave you to it. You can give
the middle finger to the Family and the rest of it all until you get
sick of being stuck there or the curse gets too onerous to bear.
With the right alcohol and the right women, though, that could be
quite some time."


"Ah..Kid," Random shakes his head again. "You meant only good with
that suggestion, so I take no offense. It even sounds reasonable,
probably, to a man of your age."

"It would be making a human into a prince, but to a Prince, its
nothing but a gilded cage. I might as well be struck lame and kept
around to be pitied. It would represent the loss of my birthright,
stolen by Moire, and indictment by a Court whose authority to which I
gave no consent." Random's choice of words is formal for once. "Even
if it was only temporary, I'd still have to call out for someone to
help me back to Amber."

"Can't do it," he finishes gravely. "So lets she what she wants..
because Moire's not the only one with a curse."

Diomedes nods gravely. "I was hoping that you weren't really going to take me up on the offer. I do really hope that I didn't offend you with it. Let's get moving."


With no pursuit in sight, Diomedes heads to the End of All Roads. They
leave their traveling rock behind when further movement through Shadow
demands it.. heading North.

Please describe Diomedes' journey homeward and we'll see what happens.

"A long way home and too d*mn far to walk." Diomedes declares, once the rock is safely behind them, as they stand with the journey North and home before them.

"I know you're more for automobiles than ships, so we'll go by land." Diomedes says. "Besides, its easier to drive in shifts than to sail most ships."

Over the next hour or so, Diomedes influences shadow as he walks with Random, seeking a useable internal combustion engine vehicle that will get them most of the way to Amber. Nothing too obvious to attract attention, but still, Diomedes scares up a small town where, waiting for them is a reservation for a blue mid sized car, brand new, with a full tank of gasoline.

"I'll drive first." Diomedes says, and lets Random relax as he pulls onto a picturesque coast highway and begins driving along it, with a coastal mountain range to the immediate west and left, and the deep blue sea to the east and right. Keeping the lovely view as long as possible, Diomedes begins their journey of shifting shadow...

"I never heard of Cantuckee, but this chicken is fairly good." Diomedes says at one point, munching on some fried chicken tenders they obtain in a nameless shadow.

Diomedes continues changing shadow in workmanlike fashion, changing the properties of the car when a gasoline engine becomes less and less usable as they head north, toward the Eternal City. He trades actual driving time with Random, doing the shifting somewhat more slowly when his Uncle behind the wheel.

And so they continue to drive toward Amber, and Rebma.