Raiders of the Temple of the Last Crusade (Aiden, Fergus, Karlsen)

"No, she didn't say. We didn't talk for long. She seemed to be somewhat rushed...perhaps preoccupied. And, yes, she advised caution as well."

" For what it's worth, I don't believe he was taken down...Not Bleys.......Though he may be in trouble. I have no way of reaching him to find out at the moment."

Fergus takes out the trump deck that Lord Big Ears gave him back in Karlsen's workshop and begins thumbing through the cards in it looking at which cards he has been given hoping to find a trump of Uncle Bleys contained within. He takes careful note of which trumps are contained within the deck as he does so.

Bleys is indeed among the Trumps given to Fergus.

"Here cousin I have a trump of Bleys so you can put your mind at rest. I have not met him and it may seem strange if I were to contact him, especially looking like this."

With that Fergus hands the trump to Aiden.

Karlsen seems shocked by the news also, but quickly regains his composure. "I am also sceptical about this news. But it does mean we should be more cautious. Even if it was only a shadow of him it may be a portent of things to come. The pattern is a higher dimensional construct and sometimes events of the future, or possible futures, flow back into the present."

Karlsen pulls out one of his Trumps from his pouch. This one looks to be in a different style from any Fergus has seen. Aiden will recognise that it is one of Karlsen's own making. Where most of the trumps have the look of oil paintings, this one looks like a water color. "Let's see if Aiden gets through. If not, I will add to the effort."

"Almost eight years I've been here and still I have not collected a complete deck." Aiden shakes his head. "Merci," he says taking Bleys' trump from Fergus.

"Yes, that might be a good idea," noticing Karlsen shuffling through his deck of cards. "If he is indeed imprisoned somewhere far from here, it may take more than one of us to force a connection. Let me try first, though, alone."

Aiden holds the Trump in his lap under the table...focusing ...willing the colors to begin to wave and swirl with movement...the portrait to come to life...."Bleys...Can you here me?...Where are you?......"

Fergus watches Aiden make the trump call and a thought occurs to him.

"Karlsen, is it likely that there are shadow versions of us roaming around in shadow and that we could really meet them? I know that everyone keeps saying that anything is possible in shadow, but wouldn't that just be so wierd?"

Karlsen thinks it over a bit, "Yes you can find a shadow of yourself. But to do so is difficult and requires a great deal of control to achieve anything that is more than superficially like yourself."

"I believe there are two possiblities why that does not happen more often. The first is you become the Fergus of the shadow when you are there. For example as we came to this shadow from Amber we rode along a road. If there was a Fergus of this shadow he would also have been riding along the road and would merge into us upon our entry to this shadow. When you leave the other then reappears in your absence. For normal shadow rides this theory works fine. The biggest problem with this is what happens when you trump out? Others do not see the shadow version appear at that point."

"The other possibility is that shadows of us are quite rare, and only appear when we spend significant time in one place and invest something of ourselves to the shadow. I think this is more likely."

"It is not something I have investigated so there could be easily be another reason."

Fergus ruminates on the possibilities that this entails.

"I know that it does happen, because Uncle Caine used such a duplicate to fool the family into believing him dead during Patternfall, or so I have read. The shadow version would obviously not have our powers and would not be able to do half the things that the family could do. So I wonder that in my current condition how a shadow version of me could ride alongside me in Shadow if it does not have access to my power?"

"Well as the theory goes it would not move through shadow with you. You would move ... kind of through it. Think of it like this. There is a wide staircase with treads wide enough for a man to walk along them. Each tread represents a shadow. Now on each tread walks a Fergus, call them Fergus 1 through 10. All 10 Ferguses and you, Fergus prime step at the same rate and distance. When you step from Amber, the bottom, to Shadow 1, the first tread (walking diagonally to stay in time with all the others), and you step literally into Fergus 1 who stops existing for a time. Then you step from Shadow 1 to shadow 2. Fergus 1 appears again and Fergus 2 dissappears because you take his space. As you continue you step through the other Ferguses until you reach your destination shadow, Shadow 10, and all the Ferguses reach the end of the treads at that point."

"I suppose an experiment wouldn't be hard to set up. Just find a shadow with a shadow of yourself and convince a family member to watch as you ride through the shadow and see if the doubble shows up."

"Benjamin you mean, the need for care is even more important given the news. Given my ability and the use I'm currently putting it to how could a person without that ability actually take my place?"

It doesn't take long for the image of bearded, bright-eyed Bleys to appear via Trump Contact. He looks to be in a garden none of them recognize. "Ah the younglings check in! And with me, rather than Benedict or Random! Well, who can blame you?" He chuckles.

"Dang, sorry about that. They could not. That is how we know they are not you. But they would be enough like you that you could take their space for a bit. I think Aiden just made contact. Let us see what comes of it."

Fergus watches Aiden during the trump contact trying to ascertain if there are any such tell-tale signs of the connection being made.

"Uncle Bleys!" Aiden exclaims, his eyes lighting up as the image of one of his favorite relations comes to life.

"I..uh..I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you," surprise making Aiden falter abit. " I just got off the line with Reena...She seemed convinced that you had fallen. With everything that's going on, I thought you might be in trouble and need assistance..... Are you okay??"

"Fine! Thanks for asking! Been trying to trace Eric's twins, which turns out to be nowhere near as easy as it sounds. I'm here at Bergma where they seem to have just vanished in a puff of bats!"

"Yes," Aiden chuckles, "I've really only been introduced to the girl, Kierenne, but I've noticed their disappearing act. Is there anything we should know about regarding the twins? Are they causing mischief somewhere?"

"No, mostly they seemed to have gotten upset at some guy in long dark robes, attacked him and then all three vanished. Trying to track them from here but it's proving surprisingly tricky. If they are behind this, then frankly their powers are more impressive than we thought. If they aren't...then this someone else must be. Not quite sure which I'd prefer, to be honest."

"I must confess, I've had some of the same thoughts regarding the twins being involved in this in some nefarious way, but....I think I have dismissed that....at least for now. We're in Nexus now investigating some leads. I'll let you know if we turn up anything useful."

Aiden laughs, "Who knows? Maybe they'll turn up here....though I'm kinda hoping not."

"I'll let you go then, and check in later...."

Fergus looks at Aiden, a grin begins on his face. He reaches his hand out for the card.

"Not dead then, obviously. At least that is some good news for the night. We should make an early start tomorrow and for that we should get some rest now. So I will bid you a good night."

Fergus takes his mask, heads up to his room and puts the card back into his deck, arranging the remaining cards in alphabetical order. He then removes his clothes and neatly folds them before he drifts off to sleep.

Karlsen looks at Aiden. "Lightweight. Want another round? What was that about the new twins?"

Aiden grins back at Fergus, "I don't think anyone can get rid of Bleys too easily. Thanks for the use of the card....Goodnight...Benjamin."

"Sure would," answers Aiden, turning to Karlsen. "I'm way to keyed up to hit the sheets yet."

"Oh, it seems they've been leading uncle Bleys on a merry chase throughout Shadow....They have some kind of trump connection with each other..and seem to use it too. "

"Oh, you haven't met them yet have you? I have ..sortof..I met the girl, Kierenne just last evening in fact, at the party in Rebma. A little odd she is...She was dressed in some kind of skin-hugging bodysuit and sported a carnivale-style mask....Seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm....."

(Aiden ponders a bit, scratching his chin) The twins and Mint seemed to have rubbed each other the wrong way...They may just be young and...'boisterous'.....They may be something else entirely. I'm not quite sure what to make of them yet."

"One was supposed to accompany us on our investigations, that is until they both decided to Trump out to parts unknown. Suits me fine. They are, as I said, a little rambunctious..."

So. What d'ya think of our new 'red headed step-child'? <Aiden grins>

Karlsen replies after the next round arrives. "Cheers." And clinks mugs with Aiden. "I think Benjamin will be a breath of fresh air, if he does not step on too many toes and get himself removed from the game prematurely."

"He has a sweeping vision of what should be, but he barely knows what exists now. He has not caught on to the fact that changes in Amber are difficult to achieve and take long time and effort to create a lasting effect. Hopefully his 'dry run' out in shadow will help him to avoid some of the worst mistakes. But I am sure that the Pattern will put all sorts of obstacles in front of him.”

He chuckles, “Just my little business took a good five years to get off the ground. I could hardly go anywhere without some disaster coming down on it. I think that when the Pattern realized that I was not going to go any farther than late renaissance technology it finally eased up a bit, then when I maintained it for a period it became part of the Pattern.”

“His dream,” Karlsen points upwards, “is a hell of a lot more ambitious. It will be one hell of a fireworks display.”

"He is somewhat of a visionary isn't he? Who knows? Maybe he is the future of Amber."

"I mean, how many people do you know with not one but two Shadow-splitting prophesies written about them? He was certainly born under a sign."

"And whether it's a good one or a bad one, I've a feeling the future is going to be a very different thing from the past we've all known"

Aiden stops, adds a little whisky from his flask to his mug, then takes a healthy swig of his drink.

"Care for something a little stronger?" he asks Karlsen.