First Days
January Sable Year Zero
When I created the Sable universe - or more specifically the balance between the lesser Patterns which are the reflections of the Primal design in the basement of Millbank on Terra Magica - I drew on the familiar Amber structure, but incorporated an elemental aspect into the system. Thus the Black Pattern (the true Sable Pattern, although calling it that can tend towards the confusing) became the equivalent of Amber or earth; the Azure Pattern Rebma or water; and the Argent Pattern Tir-na Nog'th or air; and each could then begin to cast their own Shadows. As for fire, I had no idea how that might fit into the system, lest it be the Primal Pattern itself. I guessed I would see.
Claire and I stepped into the Luxor System (as I thought of it then: it only became the Sable Universe in my mind later) for the first time once I had recovered from the stresses of creating. Brand departed to his own projects, and once I had rewalked the Millbank Pattern to make sure it was stable, I decided that my wife and I should walk through the tunnel and see what was on the other side. Seeing my own creation for the first time was an amazing sight, it literally took my breath away, and looking down at it, I let myself be proud of what I had done.
Sable City, as I had intended, was built on the side of an extinct volcano, the water-filled caldera of which nursed the King's Isle, my new home. I had visualised Sable Palace itself on almost Mediterranean lines, with whitewashed walls and tiled roofs, built on a cloister design. The city, in contrast, was reminiscent of the London of Terra Magica in its Portland stone architecture and 1900s technological levels (as others would describe it), and I could see and feel its people as they took up their previously only imagined lives, and began to trade, learn, do business and exist as a true population. It was an amazing experience.
Once we had taken up residence the palace on the King's Isle, the first thing on the agenda was a coronation. However, this was less difficult to arrange than might be expected, given that the universe was created awaiting its monarchs, and thus St Michael's Cathedral was ready for our arrival the morning after we first made ourselves known to our people. I was crowned and anointed King and Creator of Sable, in a ceremony very strongly based on that of the Kings and Queens of England, with Claire named as my consort.
The next most important task, the morning after our coronation, was to take my grandson, Dominic, to his foster parents within the city. Given the circumstances of his birth, he was never going to be able to stay with the family as a whole, other arrangements had to be made, and so I made sure that all was in order.
In the days that immediately followed, I decided it was necessary to take stock of what I had wrought. Therefore, from the peaceful gardens of my new home, I sent out a Pattern lens to look at the rest of my creation, with the intention of then linking myself to each part of that creation by traversing the physical Patterns. First, I checked the remainder of the Kingdom of Sable, and found it situated on its plateau and safe from the strife I knew would come as the Black Pattern - technically the literal Sable Pattern - exerted its influence on the Shadow of Magica Superior as a whole. Then, I began to undertake a wider search.
Azure was naturally the easiest to find, being as it is reached from the staircase directly from the King's Isle, and is present at all times. The geography of Azura, the city which had come into existence at the bottom of the stairs, seemed different to that of Sable City, although given the latter's placement on the side of a volcanic caldera, that wasn't entirely surprising. There was no caldera under the water, nor a lake at the centre of the city, and the architecture was generally more fluid - more curves and spires than the squarer buildings of Sable City, and built of carved stone, ceramics and glass. The palace, however, was very different: a large, U-shaped palace of yellow stone, not unlike Buckingham Palace on Terra Magica. I found myself amused at the contrast between the soft-lined city with the very British palace under the water, and the British city with the Mediterranean palace on dry land.
After I had surveyed Azura, I felt for the Pattern which I knew to be down there, and while I couldn't locate it for certain - something seemed to be preventing that - my best guess was that it under the palace. I moved the lens to that location, scanning the building itself in the hope of identifying the ruler of that land. I found him in the throne room, listening to the petitions of his subjects, and decided to observe to his deliberations for a while. In appearance, he did bear a resemblance to myself, albeit somewhat older, say in his fifties, rather than my early forties. And as I observed him, I could feel an inherent reality in him: not to the extent of one of Cornelian blood, but certainly a strong Shadow. While not an ideal situation, Brand having said the best answer for keeping control of the power reflections of a creation is for one of the blood of the Creator to rule, a strong Shadow of myself would be sufficient to keep things in check until such time as my then-infant daughter, Alison, was old enough to take the throne.
I observed him for a while, long enough to learn that his name was Hopkin the Steward, and that as he held court, it certainly seemed as if his decisions were sensible and practical. Once thing that did seem strange, though, was that at times I felt as if I was not the only one watching. However, when I tried to identify the reason why I felt like that, I could find nothing: as if whoever or whatever it was had realised that they had been noticed and withdrawn. I waited a while, but there was no further trace of the mysterious observer, and eventually I decided to send the lens down to look at the Pattern.
It was situated down a rough hewn, rather than brick faced, corridor which led out of the main palace lower levels, which led solely to a heavy wooden door - very like the one in the basement of Amber Palace. However, at that point in my investigations, I bounced off strong wards. As I analysed them, I realised that they were of my own hand: my subconscious must have put them up for protection as the Azure reflection came into being. Having decided that I would get no further remotely, I stepped through the lens and physically transferred down to the doorway. It took a moment to adjust to the water around me, and a moment longer to take in the fact that it was fresh and sweet, rather than the sea-water of Rebma. However, once I was comfortable I set to work. Using my knowledge of how I would normally set such things up, I opened both door and wards, and let myself in. As I did so, I made a mental note that I should initiate a conventional contact with Hopkin to suggest he post guards down there.
As I stepped over the threshold, I found myself in a hemispherical room which, to all intents and purposes, was made of blue-green glass. Both the dome above me and the floor under my feet were smooth to the touch, as were the walls as they sloped up to become the dome, although I didn't feel as if I were about to slip, which slightly surprised me given the combination of glass and water. The room was lit by the glow of the Pattern on the ground - white, but with hints of blue and green as it burned - and reflected in the shining walls. I crossed to the design in the centre and was pleased that it felt familiar, comfortable even, and decided that as I was there, I might as well take a walk.
I set foot on the start, and began to traverse the Pattern, interested that while still hard work, it did not seem quite as arduous as I remembered the Amber Pattern being. Perhaps because it was more directly tied to myself, than the family in general? I didn't know, but I did consider that it may be possible to walk a Pattern of my design relatively frequently, thus effectively backing myself up should anything chose to harm me. As I walked, I reinforced the idea that Hopkin was there in my stead, to rule as a wise Steward, until such time as Azure's true queen was in a position to take her throne. Whether it made any difference to matters, I don't know, but there seemed little harm in attempting it.
By the end of the Pattern I was tired, but not exhausted. Still, I decide that it was probably enough exploration for a while, and after restoring and strengthening the wards around the Pattern room, I let myself out and took myself home to Sable Palace, giving myself the rest of the day off to spend with Claire and the children. After all, the following morning I was planning to see if I could find the Sable Pattern itself, and I suspected that that might be a more harrowing experience.
I awoke after a good night's sleep and breakfasted lightly - mainly coffee and toast - before settling down to work. My intention was to visit the Black Pattern that day, and then complete my examinations with Argent the following evening. Expecting that the world of the Black Pattern would be dangerous to me, given that its existence meant that the version of myself I had seen with Brand was now loose in the world, I took care over my personal arcane defences, before bringing the Pattern to mind and sending a lens out in a westerly direction.
The first thing that surprised me was the size of the world: and it was a world, rather than a flat plane - the curvature of the sphere was apparent as I 'travelled'. I was traversing a roughly spherical planet, albeit somewhat smaller than Earth Prime, and as I crossed the continent on which the Kingdom of Sable, I got some idea of just how large the mountain range in which the Sable plateau was to be found was. I could see the defensive possibilities immediately, which would make sense as I knew that much of the rest of that continent would ultimately be in enemy hands.
However, wherever the enemy realm was, it wasn't to the west. Once I left the mountains, a distance of about five hundred miles, I crossed territories which seemed relatively untroubled, and eventually came to the ocean. Pressing on in that direction, after some time I eventually located another land mass, and pulled the lens upwards, to get an aerial view of what I was looking at. It was probably comparable to North America in size, and once again, as I looked more closely, was at that time untroubled by strife. I moved on round, staying to the north of the Equator, and came to another ocean. This one was far wider - I'd probably covered half the circumference of the planet, with little below me but islands, before I once again found land.
From the high aerial view I gave myself, the new continent I was looking at was huge - the size of Eurasia - and I guessed from my calculations of the size of the sphere that I was now back on the landmass on which Sable was located, albeit far to the east. As I zoomed the lens back down, everything seemed calm for a long distance - still no sign of the enemy power - and then, probably eight thousand miles into the landmass, I began to see the signs of conflict. I zoomed lower, and saw that the place had the feel of disputed territory. I continued my circuit, back towards Sable itself, at lower altitude, searching for the largest population centres, and after some time it ceased to feel disputed, and began to feel occupied.
Even though I had a good idea from Brand's vision what I was likely to find, it was still a shock as I began to be aware of scarlet banners hanging from prominent buildings in settlements of all sizes, inevitably with black and white circular designs upon them. I resisted the prickling at the back of my neck as I was reminded of the chilling imagery of the Second World War on Earth Prime, and brought the lens in for a closer look.
Unlike the blutfahne in the Reichsführer-SS's office of the vision I had been shown, the motif wasn't the Nazi swastika, which slightly surprised me. In fact, it appeared to be a vertical dagger, hilt uppermost against a round-armed sunwheel, but there was something naggingly familiar about it which I couldn't place. As I racked my brain, I realised what it was I was seeing. On Terra Magica, the symbol of the Thule-Gesellschaft had included such an image, but wreathed with oak leaves and surrounded by sun rays. This was the heart of the design. So if the national flag was based on Thule imagery, what was the rest of the society like?
With increasing trepidation, I continued my circuit, and began to see soldiers. Soldiers in unpleasantly familiar uniforms: even the insignia were the same as I had fought in the war - Wehrmacht, initially, but as I searched harder, I found the sigrunes of the SS. Final confirmation, if any were needed, that what Brand had shown me had come to pass. The culmination of the other life I might have had if my father hadn't left me to my own devices in 1740, but instead stayed to poison me with his extreme nationalist philosophy and decidedly dark occult beliefs.
I guided the lens to search for the largest city in this world, and eventually found what I was seeking. I was looking at Berlin of the 1930s, but with the central area built to the monumental proportions which Albert Speer had envisaged for Hitler, but never had the chance to complete. As I moved in to inspect that central area, however, I became aware of wards - Pattern wards - on all the major buildings. And I knew that they most definitely weren't mine, as there was a dark feel to them which was not part of my usual workings. I backed off slightly, staying further above the city, and found myself drawn to the massive domed building and central square at the end of what looked like a mile-long triumphant way, of a similar scale to the Champs-Élysées.
I rarely seen buildings of that scale or grandeur. A building intended to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies of that realm. To whit, me. And before it I could see soldiers parading, facing as one towards a palace on one of the other sides of the square, right arms raised straight in homage. Curious, and with horrified fascination, I took myself through to that central square, using the Pattern. I arrived in a scene out of the Nuremburg rallies - even the blazing torches were there, although their effect was lessened because it was currently daylight - and could hear the assembled company giving homage to the Kaiser of the Reich. Kaiser, not Führer, I noted to myself, so there was at least some difference between this place and Nazi Germany.
I followed the eyes of the soldiers towards the palace, and saw a balcony, on which stood a tall, well-built man, dressed in the uniform of a Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht, but a heavy ermine cloak over his shoulders, akin to the coronation robe I had worn but days before, and a simple band of gold around his blond head. Beside him was a slight, blond woman dressed in a long, blue gown, a black fur cape keeping her warm against the winter chill. It took him a moment to recognise him for my son, Wilhelm, and her for his twin sister, Wilhelmina, a young woman I had not seen for several years. Surrounding them were half a dozen tough looking soldiers, obviously bodyguards, although to my surprise they were not wearing SS insignia, but instead, like him, they were Wehrmacht. The original SS had been formed as Hitler's bodyguard, and I would have expected that to map across, especially given that Wilhelm had served in that less than august organisation in his day.
How Wilhelm and his sister had come to be there, I did not know. Having been shown my darker half as Reichsführer-SS, and therefore got a good idea of what this realm would resemble, as I had separated out the part of me which would let that come into being and save my sanity, I had thought of Wilhelm in the role of its ruler. After all, he was the only member of my direct bloodline, who I was in contact with and wasn't trying to kill on sight who I knew had fought the war on the German side, rather than merely being suspected of such. Maybe the creation process had brought that into being, transporting him to this place and time to serve that purpose, although to my knowledge he had still to walk a Pattern and return to human from his current state.
As I watched his troops give him homage, I was strangely relieved. My fear had been that my dark side would somehow seize the role of ruler for himself, which would not have suited me in the slightest. But the combination of the fact that in Brand's vision, I had mapped to Himmler, and that Wilhelm did not appear to be showing trust in or favouritism to the SS, which I had already seen existed, indicated to me that I still needed to learn the undercurrents in this darkest part of my Creation.
I looked up at the balcony, and for a moment, it felt as if my eyes met his, although theoretically, because of the distance, I would have said that was impossible. Still, it was the strangest feeling. We would need to meet, eventually, both so I could get him to a Pattern, and to decide how things would proceed between our two realms: whether the war would be outright on Magica Superior, confined to Shadow, or take some other form. Because standing there, I knew that our countries would be at war, and that it was a war neither of us would ever win except in the most extraordinary circumstances.
Slightly sobered by that thought, I brought up a lens and took myself away from the central square, back into the mountains, and started to look for the Sable Pattern itself. As I went, though, I again felt the presence I had noticed in Azure. And I could think of only one person who it might be: my Reich counterpart, who also had to be the author of the Berlin wards.
Once back in relative safety, I concentrated once more on seeking out the nearest manifestation of the Pattern to my current position, editing Azure out of the equation for now. First I felt a faint trace, relatively near to the King's Isle but with a somewhat ethereal quality to it, as if I was detecting its echo, and guessed that what I was feeling was Argent, hidden as it was during the day. I then reached further, and found myself drawn back towards Berlin. That didn't surprise me particularly, but as I reached the city, I realised that it wasn't my ultimate destination. That which I sought was further to the east.
I followed the trace, and after a while found myself looking at a three-sided, three towered, horribly familiar north-south oriented castle. The Wewelsburg. Large as life, despite the fact that Himmler's Order Castle shouldn't even have been in the Luxor System. The only difference was that the roof of the northern tower was domed like the others, rather than flat: a change which Heinrich Himmler had planned, but which had never come to pass as history overtook the Third Reich.
As I studied it a little more closely - and very cautiously - it seemed as if the building itself in something of a state of disrepair, but that there was a lot of building work going on there. As if it was being restored from a previously derelict state. I could also see SS officers directing what looked like slave labour in the construction work, the highest-ranking of whom that I could see was an SS-Brigadeführer. He was a tall, cold-eyed man in his late-thirties, with pale blond hair, who seemed vaguely familiar to me, despite the fact that I was pretty certain I had never seen him before. I wondered if what I was seeing was a family resemblance: I was definite, however, that it was not my counterpart.
As I looked further, I could feel wards around the castle, both magical and Pattern-based, and although they were strong, as I studied them, I felt that I could probably trick my way around them without triggering them. While the handiwork in them was not exactly mine, there were enough similarities that I could probably fool them. Assuming I could work around the dark taint present in them here as in Berlin.
The Sable Pattern felt to be under the north tower, the largest of the three, which appeared to have been the original keep before the rest of the building was constructed, and had obviously been repaired first. It made a disturbing amount of sense: in the Wewelsburg of the world of my birth, Himmler had built the chambers for his Black Order in the northern tower. Starting at the domed roof, I gently picked a hole in the wards through which I could pass, and found myself looking into a huge domed hall, two storeys high plus the dome itself, the lower part of it at the level of the first floor of the building surrounding it. At the level where the dome began was a deserted balcony, lined with windows, which seemed like as good a place as any from which to operate. I transferred myself inside and then looked down at a great meeting hall beneath me. It was hung with the banners I had seen elsewhere, as well as others displaying SS sigrunes in silver on a black field. Columns ran up the walls of the hall, giving support to the heavy dome above.
Securing myself in a window alcove, and casting an invisibility spell on myself, just to be sure, I brought the Pattern lens back to mind, and started moving downwards, through the floor of the domed hall to that which lay beneath. On the equivalent of ground level, after picking gently through a new set of wards, I found myself looking at a replica of the room I knew as the 'Gruppenführersaal' - a great, pillared chamber with a marble floor, inlaid with a complex sunwheel design, and which appeared to be undergoing redecoration in the style of a pseudo-Arthurian gathering place of knights. There were thirteen chairs around the carved, wooden table in the centre, the grandest being at the north, so that it would be the item which most took the attention when entering the room from its southern door. Carved into the back of the chair I could see a shield of a horse's head looking to the sinister - an exact mirror image of my own coat of arms, save that there were oak leaves wreathed around the horse's neck. It didn't take a genius to realise who was destined to sit in that chair.
I moved on downwards, the warding becoming more of an issue as I did, although still not insurmountable, and next came into the first basement level: the SS crypt, lit with ever-burning torches and hung with sigrune banners. In the centre, a stone ring let into a lower area of floor, about a foot and a half below its surroundings. As yet, however, no burials had taken place in the room. In the original Wewelsburg, this would have been the lowest level of the north tower. Here, however, as far as I could tell, the Pattern I sought was below me still. I took a good look around the room, and realised that in the centre of the room was another stone circle, and I somehow knew that access to what I sought would be there. I also realised, however, that such access was going to need to be physical. The warding here had taken on another level of complexity, and seemed to be keyed to the blood of a single individual.
I decided then and there that if I was going to find the Pattern, much as in Azure, the only way I was going to do it was on my own two feet. However, at least I had seen no other living being in the tower, so I had a chance of remaining undisturbed. I concentrated for a moment, took myself down into the crypt, and then settled down to try to figure out how to trick the circle into opening. Bringing my investigative magics to the fore, I settled down to study it, and found a small indentation in the higher level, near the edge of the sunken circle, which seemed to be the lock for whoever's blood was the key to the level below. Then, after a while, I realised whose blood would open the gateway. My own. But how? Why would that have been built into this place?
I got out my pocket knife, took a deep breath, and then made a small cut in the side of my hand. Then I held it over the indentation, and watched as a couple of drops of blood fell on the lock. For a moment, nothing happened, but then I heard a rumbling sound, and the centre circle began to sink. I stepped back onto the main floor, and as I watched, a spiral staircase opened up in the floor, where the circle had been. I also noted that the act of opening had brought me visible again, which was intriguing. And looking at the lock, there was no sign of the blood - it had completely disappeared. I thought the wound on my hand closed and then, when the rumbling stopped, I started walking down the staircase.
It was long - probably descending to the depths of four hundred feet or so - but eventually it came down into an antechamber, maybe fifteen feet square. On pegs around the room I could see robes hung: thirteen sets, twelve in black, and the thirteenth in a dark claret red. There were also three heavy, black oak chests against the walls, each locked with a large iron lock. There were two iron-bound oak doors out of the antechamber, as well as the staircase I had come down, and as I brought my magical senses to bear I could tell that the one to the right led to the Pattern. The one to the left was heavily warded, and I did not like the feel of the wards one iota. Someone had died to make them, and the signature had the distinct feel of the rituals of the Thule Society. And I realised that I really didn't want to meet their architect.
I crossed to the right hand door and turned the heavy iron handle. It swung backwards on well-greased hinges, and I stepped into the room containing the Black Pattern. The room itself was perfectly round, lined with white marble, the walls about eight feet high, before curving up to a central, domed ceiling on which a mirror of the sunwheel device of the Gruppenführersaal was inlaid in black marble. There was a platform around the edge of the room, probably a yard wide, and then steps down to the floor where the Pattern was drawn. Around the room, magical torches burned, their flames reflecting eerily in the smooth white of the walls, and offering a counterpoint to that which they surrounded.
The Sable Pattern itself burned on the ground, a reverse of the designs in Millbank and Azure, and instead of the bright white light of the others I had seen, it burned black, almost absorbing light into itself. As I stared at it, I could feel how alien it felt to me. How in conflict it was to everything in which I believed. And yet I knew that I would have to walk this one, as well, to fully come to know my Creation. Given that I had no intention of coming back to this place of darkness any time soon, I made my way to the start and began my journey. I just hoped that my counterpart wouldn't decide to come and interfere.
The walk itself was much as with Azure, although at no point did I feel as comfortable on it as I had the other Patterns of my creation which I had traversed. I did not belong here: I could feel that I had given it to someone else. And yet it accepted me to a degree because it seemed unsure whether I was the person it should serve or not. How did hiving off a dark side work that it would lead to such ambiguity? I guessed I would find out eventually.
I made it to the centre, unscathed but tired, but as I considered where to go from there - and, indeed, how to lock the place up behind me - I felt the stirrings of a Trump call. Given my location, that surprised me mightily. Millbank, and now Azure, were blocked against such things. Then, as I scanned through my mental Trump deck to identify my caller, I realised who it was: the new ruler of the Reich.
I transferred myself back to the side of the room, gave myself a quick magical wash and brush up, and then opened up the link.
"Guten Abend, Robert," he said in German as the connection was made, and I could hear puzzlement in his voice, "I have questions."
"I imagine you have, Wilhelm," I answered, in the same language, "and I shall try to answer them." And I offered him my hand.
He took it and stepped through to join me, looking down on me, as usual, from his 6'1". He was no longer dressed in uniform and cloak, but instead was wearing dark trousers and a long sleeved dark turtle-necked jersey, a blade at his waist. His stance, while not overtly threatening, was certainly wary.
"What is this place?" he asked, looking around us.
"The Sable Pattern Room," I replied..
"You have mentioned Patterns to me before," he commented, "you indicated that it would be a way of reversing the process I undertook many years ago. Were I to wish to do so."
"It worked for John," I answered, noting his grimace as the mention of the brother he hated more than any other, "and therefore it should work for you. He walked a rather different model, though. Would you wish to do so? To become human once more?"
"I do not know," he replied, "I have been as I am for so long: I have become used to its benefits. That American dilettante, on the other hand, was merely a child among the scions of my race."
"Many benefits of the condition you acquired when you killed de Lyon's knight and drank his blood in the Ardennes would also come to you as one of my bloodline: strength, speed, robust health. You would not lose much. And to change back would restore certain things you lost that day."
"The chance to have a family?" he asked.
"As far as I can tell," I answered, "personally, I'd also recommend the virtues of a non-liquid protein diet."
He gave a half smile, before looking at me more seriously once more.
"What has happened to me? Three nights ago I was on Terra Magica. I was exercising, and then I lost consciousness mid-routine. Imagine my surprise when I awoke in a palace, in a city calling itself Berlin. A Berlin, moreover, which seems to have come straight out of the land where I served our Führer. A Berlin where I walked down a corridor and met my sister, who I have not seen in many years, and who was as confused as I was. A Berlin where today I was enthroned as Kaiser of the Reich, despite the fact that I have never sought or expected such an office, but where I had the distinct impression that such had been promised to me since time in memoriam in that place. What kind of twisted trick is this? Playing into my dearest beliefs and wishes, and yet telling me nothing. What have you done to me, Robert de Lacy?" The last was said with an underlying tone of threat.
"I've Created, Wilhelm," I answered.
"Which means what?" he replied, "you say that as if it should explain everything, but it does not."
"Which means that we are now in a universe which did not exist three days ago. A universe I've built."
"A universe based on the Third Reich?" he asked, incredulous, "given your beliefs and the way you fought against the Fatherland in the past, that seems completely against your nature, albeit suited to mine."
"Only a section of the Creation takes that form," I answered, "and came about as part of the process of building this universe. But as I was building it, I thought that if a portion of what I wrought was going to follow Hitler's model, you would be a good choice to lead it."
"I would be a good choice? A retired Sturmbannführer come businessman who has only previously chaired an industrial concern."
"You are of my blood, Wilhelm. First and foremost, before the Ardennes. The ruler here needs to be that. And as you've said, at least it follows your own beliefs and mindset," I replied, trying to keep my tone neutral given how much I hated that mindset, "what I didn't realise was that the process of creating would bring it into being, and bring you here. I had thought I would have the opportunity to speak with you and offer you the job, rather than dump it on you as a fait accompli."
He looked at me for a while, and I could see that he was thinking it through, coming to terms with what I had said.
"You decided I should rule...should be Führer of the Reich?"
"Personally I prefer the title Kaiser, in which it sounds as if you have been invested, but yes."
"Before, I think I would have been honoured by that," he replied, "however, if that was your intention, why did you blunt the gift by inflicting Rupert Delatz on me?"
"Excuse me?" I asked, the name unfamiliar, but its probable derivation jumped out at me.
He looked at me, surprised, his eyes narrowing in displeasure. "The Reichsführer-SS. If you wished me to rule this place, why set him onto me to try to take that from me? This still smacks of a callous trick., and I had not thought that in you, Robert the Good."
"Himmler never challenged Hitler. He was devoted, loyal - inasmuch as such could be applied to the Third Reich - almost Hitler's lapdog, and the man who kept him in power."
"Himmler was insane," he replied, "Delatz isn't. He reminds me of you, Robert, and yet he also reminds me of another who was well known in the Fatherland. But certainly not Himmler."
"Who?"
"The man you killed in Prague."
"Heydrich?" I felt a cold chill run down my spine. Surely I couldn't have manifested Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich as my dark side? Brand had asked me if I could live with the man we had seen in that other America, but I was far from sure I could live with a moving, breathing Heydrich. We would spend our entire time trying to kill each other.
"Indeed. Obergruppenführer Heydrich. Reichsprotektor of Bohemia-Moravia. Hero of the Fatherland. Killed by a coward with a bomb. And you inflict one so like him on me as to almost be his reincarnation: what a delightful poison pill that is. I can see your intentions were not as honourable as you might have intended."
"I have absolutely no desire to see Heydrich back in existence, Wilhelm," I answered, firmly, "and for the record, I didn't kill him - I failed. He survived long after the war, and was killed by Paolo di Benedetti."
"Be that true or not, due to your actions, he did not finish the fight with us. Things could have been very different if he had. But, here and now, despite being Kaiser of this place, I am faced with a man of brutal, naked ambition snapping at my heels, and potentially undermining my authority. It would have been better if you had left me as I was and given this place to him."
"I did not want him to have it, Wilhelm," I answered, "and to be honest, I am not sure there is much I can do about it now the deed is done. However, if as part of the Creation process the universe followed my thinking, brought you to this place and made you Kaiser, I imagine you'll find a way to work around Rupert Delatz. I am surprised at your antipathy, though. As you said, you were a Sturmbannführer - I would have expected you to appreciate the presence of the SS."
"Then you expected wrong. In this new role which you've made for me, that is no longer the case - he is a rival to the Imperial Throne, not a staunch supporter," he answered, and I could feel impatience and displeasure from him, "I am curious what you intend to do to rectify that."
"I suspect walking the Pattern will also help in that regard," I answered, "it will link you to this place more firmly. Make you part of it. Give you the strength to impose your will on the Reich - and by the sound of it, your will would be infinitely preferable to that of Rupert Delatz."
He glanced over at the design burning on the ground, and then back at me.
"You had better be right, Robert de Lacy. Or relations between us are unlikely to remain cordial."
I considered disputing cordial, given that we had never got on particularly well and that our meeting wasn't improving matters, but decided not to comment on his use of words.
"Relations between Sable and the Reich are going to be strained by default," I answered, finally, "Sable is a world of my beliefs; the Reich is one of yours. Our countries are going to be at war - there is no way around it. My only hope is that you and I will be able to guide them wisely, as far as that can be done."
"Then you and I are going to have an interesting relationship in the future," he replied, "know your enemy, they say."
"They also say, know your kin," I replied, "perhaps between us we can lessen the effects. If you are willing."
"I will tell you after I have walked that Pattern," he answered, "what do I do?"
"You start at the beginning, and you don't stop. You ignore the memories it may show you. You ignore any feeling of current or burning which you may be presented with. And you keep going to the end."
"Show me," he demanded, and we stepped down onto the marble floor, and I took him to the start of the Sable Pattern."
"Good luck, Wilhelm. You will be only the first after me to take this particular walk."
"Unless, of course, Rupert Delatz has already made it," he answered, and as I thought of the Pattern wards I had encountered. both at Wewelsburg and in Berlin, he was probably right.
"Still, he, like I, is intrinsically bound to this place, and therefore his situation is different. You need to become so. Doing this will help that."
He looked at me for a moment, then nodded, and without further word, stepped onto the Pattern. As he did, I extended my own Pattern senses to monitor his progress, in case his unique condition caused him problems, and then watched as made the walk.
It was obvious that it was hard going for him. Not only was the Pattern dismantling and rebuilding him, as was its wont, but it also tried to heal him of his affliction, restoring his living, breathing humanity, and it seemed very agitated as he walked. And yet, I could feel it welcoming him as it worked, binding him to this place and time and anchoring him in the Luxor System. His control would, indeed, be greater once he completed the walk. If he completed the walk. But he was struggling and it was taking a long time. Still, he was strong, very strong, and as he walked I could feel the family bloody mindedness coming to a full as he determined to himself that he would not fail.
It took a long time, but finally he made the last three steps to the middle of the Pattern, and I could feel from my observations that he was fully human once more - or at least, as human as a Cornelian can get. The taint from the chalice was completely gone.
"What now?" he called, and I could hear fatigue in his voice and see exhaustion on his face.
"Transport yourself to a place of safety, and allow yourself to recover."
"This conversation isn't over, Robert of Sable," he said, using my new title for the first time.
"Indeed it isn't, Kaiser Wilhelm," I replied, in kind, "not least because I need to show you how to use the Pattern you've just initiated to. But we can continue it another day. What you need now is rest. Go and I will contact you in a couple of days. And if I don't, you have my Trump."
I saw him nod, and then he was gone, and the Pattern lapsed back to its usual state. Then I realised that I, too, was feeling exhausted - probably as a result of my own walk in that marble room a couple of hours earlier, as well as the effort of guiding my son. I took a last glance around the Sable Pattern Room, and then stepped back out into the antechamber. I ascended the stairs, and as I emerged back into the crypt the rumbling began again, and the staircase sealed itself shut.
I brought the Pattern to mind once more, but as I did, I felt a fleeting mental contact, from a mind like, and yet unlike my own.
"Do not come here again uninvited, Mein Bruder. This is my territory."
And then it was gone, and I was back in Sable Palace, looking for a good meal, and the sleep of the dead.