Lost and Found
The RoC Shadows, July SY113
Being falsely accused of a number of pretty heinous crimes has a habit of focusing the mind. However, with the Holland Commission instituted, the statement sworn at River's Edge on the table at that Commission as the first evidence of my innocence, and investigations of both a magical and mundane nature under way into what the ersatz Sable actually was, I finally got a chance to consider the variety of less earth-shattering loose ends left hanging for me because of my absence.
One of those, I realised when I came to take stock, was to find out what had happened to Morgaine's half of the pair of swords Andrew and I had made for her for their wedding: the other being the Sable Pattern blade itself. For all it was not a true Pattern blade - Andrew had passed that on to Dominic before his departure - the one we had given Morgaine was still forged from the same piece of meteoric iron, and therefore had an inherent link to my own universe. And I realised that that was not something I wanted loose in a place which still contained potential enemies.
Considering everything I had heard and learned since my return, I soon became pretty sure that it was not in general circulation...if it were, I would expect to have seen or heard some reference to it. In my book, that rather meant that it was either lost, or concealed somewhere in the ruins of Morgaine's Rebma.
Given what had happened between my son and my daughter in law, it certainly seemed unlikely that after their parting she had viewed it with any degree of fondness. In fact, I could actually see her thinking of it as an embarrassment, especially as her relationship with Ossian developed, and throwing it into a corner where she could forget about it.
The trick was going to be finding the corner.
A couple of methods did suggest themselves to me. One involved scanning for it with the Pattern through the Amber-universe Shadows, starting around the region of Amber itself and working outwards. The other involved a form of dousing I had seen demonstrated by one of the members of the Magical Oversight Council on Terra Magica - another mage-physician like myself. However, while both had possibilities, neither was ideal for the job: the first as it would involve treading very close to Eric's territory, as well as potentially hostile territory in Rebma itself; and the second due to the fact that I had never tried it before.
Of course, in the second case, I knew a man who had, and so I guessed it was worth a try.
I concentrated for a short while and then transferred home to Terra Magica, bringing up the speed to close to Sable time as I arrived. Then, once I was standing beside the gate into Millbank, I brought his Trump image to mind and after a few moments I was rewarded by contact.
"Robert. This is a pleasant surprise..." Adam Sinclair answered as the contact opened, and even over the link I could hear the slight Scottish burr in his voice.
"Hello Adam," I answered, "it's been a little while. How are the family?"
"Very well, thank you," came the answer, and I saw the dark-haired man at the end of the link smile, "to what do I owe the pleasure? One of the usual Council crises? Or a social call?"
"Neither, actually. In fact, I was wondering if you might be willing to give me some advice."
"Of course," he replied, an expression of curiosity crossing his features, "although I have to ask how it is we're talking..."
I looked at him, then gave an apologetic smile.
"Sorry. I've got into the habit of using Trumps again, rather than crystals. I'd forgotten I hadn't called you like this before. Tell you what, take my hand, I'll bring you to me, and then we can split a rather fine bottle of The MacAllan I have while we talk."
As I spoke, I held out my hand to him, and after a cautious pause, he took it. I pulled him towards me, and a moment later he was standing in front of me outside the gate of the manor house. Like me he was dressed casually: cords and a short sleeved open necked shirt.
"Interesting trick," he commented, as he looked around, taking in where he was, "I hope you can get me back to Edinburgh as easily."
"Don't worry... that can be arranged," I answered with a smile, "come in."
I gestured towards the gate and led us inside, then teleported us to the house, and a couple of minutes later were in the library, and I was opening the bottle I had promised. I poured us both two fingers of the warm, golden liquid, and handed one to my guest. He took it, savouring the aroma, and then we sat down in two of the chairs by the fire, sipping our respective drinks in silence for a few minutes.
"I'll admit it," he said, finally, as he put his glass down on the coffee table, "that's a very fine bottle. How old, and which year?"
"It's a twenty-five year that isn't normally available to the public," I answered, although it probably wasn't the moment to tell him that I'd bought the distillery from its previous owners a couple of years before, which gave me access to some of its rarer products.
I saw him give a resigned smile, to which I answered: "I'll be sure to send you a bottle for Christmas."
He chuckled, and then asked: "So what did you wish my advice on?"
"Pendulum dousing," I answered.
"Not your usual method of working," he commented.
"That's pretty much why I'm asking your advice," I replied, with a smile, "I need to find something, and I haven't got the slightest idea where to start."
"Well, the theory is simple enough," he began, "it's tied to the laws of correspondence. It works best if you use some focus which is linked to the item you're looking for, and you need some representation of where to look."
"I can manage the first easily enough...the second could be harder."
"You could use a variety of things" he answered, "I find Ordnance Survey maps do the job pretty well."
"The trouble is, Ordnance Survey maps aren't available for the area I want to search," I replied.
He looked a little surprised at that.
"Not in the UK then? I'm sure there's an equivalent in other countries around Terra Magica."
"Not on this world," I replied. He took the comment with rather less surprise than I might have expected, all things considered. Instead, he merely nodded, as if I had confirmed something he had suspected all along. Still, I suppose it was fair to say that Adam was smart enough to have put together the pieces of conversations we'd had over the years, and realised that Andrew and I weren't what we seemed.
"Go on," he said, after a brief pause.
"I'm looking for a specific sword, and to my knowledge, the place where I believe it is has never been mapped. And even if it were, it's changed beyond all recognition in the last couple of years."
"Can you offer me anything to work with for location?"
"I can try to sketch the place from memory, but I'm not sure it'll be much help."
"Well, it might be a start," he said, with a sigh, "do you have something linked to it which I can use for the pendulum?"
"I thought you might ask that," I answered, and got a small piece of the same block of metal that the blades were forged from out of my pocket. One or two scraps had been left over, and I'd kept them as souvenirs of one of my rare forays into smithing. When he first touched it, he flinched.
"Problem, Adam?"
"I wasn't expecting it to be filled with residual power," he answered, then held out his hand and I placed it gently in his palm, "what is it? Meteoric iron?"
"I believe your sgian dubh is also made of the stuff."
"Yes, but most of the power within it has come from it being a Working item, rather than the metal itself. Curious."
"The scrap you have in your hand comes from the block of metal which two swords were forged from: one of them an item of great power, and the other related to it by virtue of having been forged at the same time, from the same metal. The blade we're looking for is the second of those. Let me sketch you some maps."
I started with a very general map of the universe as I knew it. In no way I could claim it was accurate, but it would probably work as an item of correspondence, as I imparted a little power - akin to Trump - into it as I sketched. Once it was completed, I handed it to Adam, in the hope that he would be able to use it to start pinning down the location where we needed to look.
He made himself comfortable, tied a length of cotton to the piece of iron, and started to concentrate. He was silent for ten minutes or so, and then looked up at me.
"Whatever this map is, it's not linking to anything. Can you think of an alternative?"
I pondered for a moment, and then realised something very obvious. Millbank wasn't in the Amber Universe, and therefore there may well be no link to it from that location. Murray, on the other hand, was - that was its purpose - and so we might have more luck from Huntly.
"I have an idea," I said, "grab the map, I'll grab that bottle, and I'll take you somewhere where you might have more luck."
He shrugged, obviously curious, and did as I asked, and then I brought the Pattern to mind, slowed Terra Magica back down, and took us through to Huntly, arriving in the courtyard of the Palace.
"That was a different method of travel again, wasn't it?" he asked, "it felt like the power within the iron."
"Correct," I replied, "welcome to the Pattern Realm of Murray. You might want to try a check-spell."
He concentrated for a moment, and I saw a puzzled look cross his features, and then he smiled.
"I always wondered why that was in the King's College curriculum," he commented, "it had never seemed to serve a purpose before: a spell to check the magic of the world. After all, it never changes."
"I snuck it into the basic repertoire after I learned it," I replied, and he looked at me, slightly askance.
"When?"
"About 1905 if I recall correctly," I replied, and when askance became outright puzzled, I added, "I'm older than I look. But I thought you realised that."
"I knew you served in the War, but I'd always had the impression it was as a young man."
"Believe me, I wasn't that young," I said, with a chuckle, "but we can probably leave a discussion of de Lacy longevity for another day."
"So what is the Pattern Realm of Murray?" he asked, looking around him, noting both the similarities and the differences to Terra Magica.
"It's a place I built to stabilise a mistake I made a few years ago," I replied, "Murray is a bona fide alternate world to Terra Magica - and to Sable, where I live most of the time now."
"I didn't think you'd been around as much lately, although you always seem to make it to Council meetings."
"I still take my responsibilities there very seriously," I replied.
"And you've bought me here because..."
"Because that map I drew is connected to the world out here. It occurred to me that the fact that you were working away from the universe I'd mapped might be why it wasn't working."
"Plausible," he concurred, and I took him into Murray library. He looked around with interest, while I found a couple of glasses and poured us more whisky. "Nice place. Good selection - better than Millbank, I'd say."
"You know me. Obsessed with books," I answered, "feel like trying again?"
"Yes, let's," he replied, and we made ourselves comfortable. He got out the map again, and undertook the process he'd tried in Millbank once again, and this time it was obvious he'd got a fix. The pendulum let him to Rebma, as I had expected. We turned the map and tried again, and the result was the same.
"Is that where you were expecting?"
"It is," I replied, "now, to zone in a bit.
I brought to mind my understanding of the current geography of Rebma, which was far from an easy undertaking given how much it had changed since I had worked there with Morgaine, and started putting it down on paper. It took about half an hour, during which Adam browsed the library, and finished his whisky. However, eventually I was reasonably happy and presented him with the map. He sat back down and concentrated once more, and the pendulum began to swing.
It seemed to guide him away from the inhabited areas of that country, and on three separate attempts, he seemed to home in on the same region: towards the edges of the breathable water, the equivalent of the Rebman Badlands, if such a thing exists. I wondered if that area was actually under the control of the current management of Rebma, or if it was far enough out and wild enough to have outposts of the Undines. I guessed I would find out when I went to look.
I looked at Adam, and smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied, "do I get to come with you to find this sword?"
"Would you want to?"
"You've certainly piqued my curiosity," he replied.
"You'd best be aware that the place we'd be going is going to seem very strange to you, and I'm not sure what kind of reception we'll get here. The current management there are not entirely on the best of terms with me: haven't been for some time."
"Sounds intriguing. Anyone I know?"
I shook my head. "Probably not. Some relatives of Andrew's."
"How is Andrew, by the way? I haven't seen him for, what, nearly two years."
"Two years?"
I was surprised. It had been considerably longer than that for me.
"Okay, daft question coming up. What was the date when you last saw him?"
"He spent Christmas with Ximena and myself and saw 2022 in with us. Ian and Theresa both decided to spend the evening with friends that year, so we were glad of the company."
It occurred to me that Adam's and Ximena's children would be in their mid to late twenties by now, so I could see why Hogmany with the parents might not have been their preferred choice, however good Adam's New Year parties were.
"And the date now?"
"Honestly, Robert...September 2023...What's wrong?"
I was mentally calculating comparative times - I had Terra Magica running slow to Sable, which meant that December 2022 would probably have been the equivalent of SY080 or thereabouts. And Andrew had disappeared in SY069. So how come he'd made contact with Adam in that time, even once, but not me?
"It's over forty years since I've seen him," I replied, "I was surprised to hear that you'd been in contact."
"You two always seemed pretty close."
"That rather took a hit when his marriage failed," I answered, and he was enough of a psychologist not to further press the question, although I think he was surprised at the concept of forty years having passed for me.
"So, you want to go somewhere run by Andrew's relatives, who you don't get on with," he said, changing the subject, "what's the place like?"
"You'll find it more backward than you're used to. And very, very wet."
"Wet?"
"Breathable water."
"Breathable water? How can that be?"
"I'm not entirely sure...but it seems to work."
"This sounds like a very strange place."
"Believe me, it is. And not as pleasant as it used to be when Morgaine ruled there."
"Morgaine? As in Andrew's wife?"
"Late wife," I answered, "yes."
"Curiouser and curiouser. Do I need to take anything?"
"How are you with a sword?"
"I fenced in my youth, but..."
"Do you think you'd be more dangerous to yourself or a potential attacker with one?"
"Are you serious, Robert?"
"Very," I replied, "swords work in Rebma. Magic works in Rebma. I can't much guarantee that anything else does."
"It's so long since I've tried, I'm not sure I have a good answer for you."
"Then let's find out."
I downed my drink, and stood up.
"If you're planning on coming with me, you might as well keep the pendulum. You can probably use it to lead us to the sword once we're in the vicinity."
He nodded and slipped it into his pocket, and then I led him out back out of the Palace and towards the Castle, where the soldiers were barracked and trained.
"Robert, those aren't fencing blades..." he said as we approached, and saw the men going through their exercises.
"When I said swords, I meant it," I replied. I concentrated and brought my own blade to me, complete with belt and scabbard, and strapped it round my waist. At least it didn't look too out of place over cotton trousers and a polo shirt.
The Master at Arms seemed surprised to see us, but nodded respectfully.
"Your Majesty..."
I noted Adam's surprise at the form of address.
"Robert, I feel there's something you're not completely telling me about this place," he commented, his tone puzzled, more than anything else.
"I built it, and I rule here," I answered, "at least most of the time, although I'm training my grandson, James, to stand as Regent for me."
"When did you get promoted from Duke to King?"
"When I created Sable," I replied, "Murray, here, came along later."
"Andrew mentioned Sable, although I hadn't quite appreciated what he was talking about."
"I think that might be another long story I owe you at some point," I replied.
"I'd be interested to hear it," he replied.
I turned my attention back to Sergeant Caddrick, and addressed him.
"I'd like you to put Sir Adam through his paces with a blade, and let me know how you get on."
"Of course, Your Majesty. And yourself?"
"If you can find me a couple of sparring partners, that would be appreciated. I'm out of practise."
Caddrick called for an armourer to bring over a selection of blades, so that Adam could try the for weight and pick the one which suited him best. He seemed bemused at the whole procedure.
"If you'd rather not bother, then I can go armed, and you can go shielded," I suggested.
"It's not that, it's...what about jackets, masks, that kind of thing?"
"Think of this as re-enactment, rather than fencing."
He shrugged, and nervously he picked a blade, and then he was taken off by Caddrick to see how he got on. When we met up again, a couple of hours later, he looked tired.
"That was an interesting experience."
"But do you think you're more of a danger to yourself or someone else?"
"How long have I got to make that decision?"
"We can probably stay here for a week or so if you want."
"What about Ximena? She'll worry."
"It won't be that long for her...time flows differently here than on Terra Magica."
"How...?"
"I'll add that to the list of things to tell you," I promised, "what do you think?"
"A week will probably get me to the stage where the aches on my aches are beginning to fade," he answered, with a half smile. I looked over at Caddrick.
"Sergeant?"
"Sir Adam will be fine, Sire. He just needs to get into practise."
"Will a week be sufficient?"
"Aye, Your Majesty. He has the speed. He just needs to get used to the weight."
"Are you game, Adam?"
"Heck, why not," he replied, "this is going to be an adventure."
"I hoped you'd see it that way."
We stayed in Murray for about a week, during which time I searched out any and all information I could find on Rebma in its current configuration. It was a harder task than I had suspected, but what I was reading seemed to confirm my assessment: that the area where Adam seemed to have located the sword was in the Rebman equivalent of the back of beyond. Morgaine really had found a corner to throw it into. Still, at least it meant that hopefully we wouldn't attract the attention of Rebma's current management as we paid a visit to try to reclaim the sword.
As for Adam, after a couple of days he began to enjoy himself. I made sure that clothing and other necessities were bought up from Huntly City for him, and he spent the week practising with Caddrick or mooching around in my library. Once or twice I stopped to watch as he was put through his paces. His skill with a sword and strength in wielding it were certainly better than the average human or Chaosian, albeit that he would have been in trouble on the family stage.
And in the evenings, as we worked our way through that bottle of The MacAllan, I tried to tell him about who I really was, what my family were, and other such information. He took it all in with surprising calm - better than I think I did when I had the same conversation with Brand. But then, perhaps Adam had suspected more about me and mine than I had realised all along.
We decided to depart the following Saturday, both of us dressed comfortably - in clothes that wouldn't drag too much in the water - and carrying swords and packs containing food and a change of clothing. He actually seemed quite eager to be gone by the time we were ready, so I concentrated and took us out into Shadow. For transport, I drew on the Amber Pattern I had originally walked, and which I was still reasonably competent with. It was very strange to draw on its old abilities, though. Not since I had Created had I used it. I found us some horses, and we rode in towards Amber, and as we did he watched the whole process of Shadow shifting with the interest of a true Adept being shown something new.
It took us a couple of days to get within striking distance of Rebma. I didn't want to hurry things and draw attention to myself and I also wasn't sure if Adam was up to a Hellride. Although given how well he'd taken everything up to that point, I probably didn't need to worry. Eventually, we drew rein at the coast, a couple of Shadow veils from Arden, and I released the horses.
"Aren't we going to need them?"
"Not from here," I replied, "from here the arcane stuff comes out. Shields ready?"
"As always," he answered.
"Then lets be about it. And remember, when we get under water, don't forget to breathe."
I brought the Amber Pattern to mind, and sent a lens towards the area of Rebma we were interested in. There were defences - I would have expected nothing less from the current management - but with care I made my way through them, and then transported my companion and I down into the depths of the world of water. Adam spluttered somewhat as he arrived, but I placed my hands on his shoulders, looked at him, and encouraged him to start to breathe normally. A couple of minutes later he nodded, indicating that he was fine, and I loosed my grip.
"I know you described what would happen, but I guess I wasn't ready for it."
"Neither was I the first time I came here, but you get used to it."
"Aye, I daresay you do," he replied, "so, where now?"
"I suggest you get the pendulum out of your pocket and we use it as a focus to draw us in."
He nodded and did as I had suggested, and we started to get a feel for direction. What we were looking for - or at least, whatever the piece of iron had fixed on - was a few miles to the north of us.
"No handy horses this time, Robert?"
"Only Shanks's pony, I'm afraid."
"Ah well. Shall we?"
And we headed off in the direction we were being guided. As we moved, we seemed to be getting deeper and deeper into kelp beds - almost like walking through a dark forest, as the light flickered above us, interrupted by the fronds of weed - and I have to admit I felt somewhat ill at ease. At my side, Adam spent a lot of time looking around, although whether out of concern or just general interest wasn't entirely clear.
We pressed on, and soon I needed my blade to cut us a pathway through. Then, after a couple of hours, the kelp beds gave way to a clearing. Well, perhaps clearing isn't quite the correct word. The kelp stopped in a neat semi-circle about 50ft from a cave mouth in a cliff face. I glanced around, and noted at least one watcher, concealed in the kelp to one side.
"Let me deal with him," I said, quietly to Adam, and started moving round to where the guard was standing, sheathing my blade as I went. As I approached, I could see that he was natural born Rebman, although there was little else I could tell from him. Unwilling to kill him out of hand, I approached quietly and then knocked him out with a blow to the back of the neck. I caught him as he fell, and then dragged him into the kelp bed, before making myself known to Adam. We moved back together and then slowly approached the cave from one side.
We checked the area with our respective magical abilities. Warded, and I didn't like the feel of them. From Adam's expression, I don't think he did, either. There was the distinct tang to them which we had long come to associate with someone dying. I threw up an external ward around the extent of the one we were studying, while Adam set to work unpicking the other one, and after a short while, we reckoned we could get through. Hopefully, we hadn't triggered too many alarms by our approach.
We quietly slipped into the cave mouth, and waited for a few moments for our eyes to adjust: initially it seemed dark, although soon we realised that there was a weak light from some kind of luminous moss. I adjusted my eyes for low-light, although I appreciated that that wasn't an option Adam had open to him. Still, as I watched he quickly cast a spell, after which he seemed to be moving more easily, and given that one of his specialities was healing, it was quite possible he had cast a magical equivalent of what I had achieved with shifting. I suppose one of the things about being a shapeshifter, is you stop casting spells which will affect your own body, as you have an alternative way of doing it.
It was silent within the cave, and as we looked around, we saw a passageway heading off towards the back. We moved carefully towards it, blade drawn in my case although Adam seemed less comfortable with that idea than I was. As we moved, we had our magical senses up and therefore avoided tripping an internal ward across the passageway. We analysed it, and decided that it would need to be dismantled: there was no way of going over, under or through it without tripping it. Defensive magic being another of Adam's specialities, he set to working on the ward, while I stood guard, watching and waiting.
A couple of minutes I could hear footsteps from the direction in which I had come. I was pretty sure that the guard I'd dispatched wouldn't have woken up yet, although that didn't preclude the possibility that there was another one I'd missed. I threw up a covering ward so that the newcomer wouldn't automatically see Adam, and then moved quietly back a few paces to wait for him.
He approached cautiously - from what I could see he was alone, and it wasn't the one I had seen earlier. As he got beside me, I quickly took him down, although I wasn't fast enough to catch him this time, and as he fell there was a little noise. Hopefully it wouldn't be amplified too badly by the water. The other problem was that in a four foot wide tunnel, the opportunities for concealment were small, so I picked him up and moved back to the original cave, where I found the darkest corner I could find to leave him.
By the time I got back to Adam, he had dismantled the ward, and we were free to go onwards. However, we moved even more cautiously, ready for other tricks and traps along the way, of which there were certainly a couple. Finally, however, we could see light at the end of the tunnel, but at the same time we began to hear chanting. The language sounded like the liquid speech of Rebma, although there were harsh, guttural elements which I could not understand.
"Okay, Adam?" I asked, quietly.
"I have to give you the fact that you're offering me a new and interesting experience, Robert," he replied, and we moved to the light to take a look inside, letting our eyes adjust to the slightly higher light level as we did so.
It was a circular chamber, in the centre of which was an altar. The sword we were seeking was hanging suspended above this - from what, we couldn't tell, which implied that magic was the most likely method - over the chest of a red-headed man tied to the stone. There were half a dozen figures in the chamber, clad in dark green robes, so it wasn't immediately possible to tell whether they were male or female, and all had ritual daggers in their hands. Around the working area, we could feel wards to protect from intrusion, and the fact that they took the form of swirls of arterial red in the water, like liquid suspended in a hemispherical pattern, didn't give either of us much confidence.
I gestured towards the blade at Adam's waist, and he quietly drew it, and then I prepped a null-field spell which would hopefully take out the wards. At the same time, I got ready a telekinesis spell to knock the blade off course, as I had a feeling that the moment I took out the magic in the area, it would come smashing down on the poor unfortunate underneath it. And then I triggered the spells and we moved in.
The sword flew off to one side, as the blood wards began to dissipate. The cloaked figures turned towards us, initially in surprise, and then started moving towards us, blades at the ready, and the fight was joined. Having felt the generally dark tang of the magic in the area, I had little compunction in fighting to kill. The first two went down quickly, and I engaged the third, although to my side I saw that Adam was being quite hard-pressed by two of the others. As fast as I could, I dispatched number three, and then attempted to move over to help him. As I did, the sixth robed figure managed to catch me on the left forearm with the blade it was carrying, and I felt the cut sting like bloody Hell. The blades, themselves, had been tainted, cursed.
I heard Adam cry out, and saw blood welling from the wrist carrying the sword, and redoubled my efforts to get rid of number six. As he (she?) went down, I moved quickly over to my friend and managed to get my blade between him and the dagger aimed at his heart by one of the two remaining acolytes. I flicked my blade back at the attacker, and managed to jar the weapon free, whereupon Adam struck the killing blow. That just left one. However, as I moved to engage, there was a bright flash and I was momentarily disorientated - especially given that I had been working in low-light conditions. It took a couple of minutes for my eyesight to recover, and when it did, I saw Adam on the ground, and no sign of the remaining acolyte. I knelt down beside my friend, and saw that he'd taken a dagger blade to the side.
"Sorry. Must have walked into that one," he muttered, "you go, find the sixth person. I can look after myself."
I nodded, then rose and started looking around the chamber. As far as I could tell, there were no other ways out, so I headed back down the corridor through which we had arrived. However, by the time I got back to the original cave, there was no sign of anyone but me, and as I stood in the mouth of it, all I could see was the kelp beds waving in the current. Cursing, I returned to the ritual chamber to see how my friend was, considering the wound on my arm as I went. It was still stinging, and my inherent shifting wasn't showing any signs of doing anything about it yet. The curse seemed to be related to keeping the blood flowing.
I found him propped up against the wall, the sgian dubh in his hand, and concentrating on his Adept ring. His colour looked better - at least, as far as I could tell in the greenish, luminescence-lit water. He looked deep in the middle of something, so I decided it was best not to disturb him. Instead, I headed over to the altar, where the red-headed man lay in a drugged stupor. I checked him over, and noticed that his body was criss-crossed with cuts which were still bleeding sluggishly. From the stone I could see gutters down which the blood was running, and which formed a circle around the altar at the extent of the wards we had seen when we arrived. His blood had been strengthening the wards, even as the acolytes of this place had been planning to relieve him of his life. I picked him up and laid him outside the bounds of the blood circle.
One thing I was pretty sure of, though, was that he wasn't a member of the Family, although I guessed he was high-born Rebman. I cast a couple of purification spells on him, to start his body resisting the drugs in his system, and hopefully retard the bleeding. And then looked for the sword. It was off to one side, where I had knocked it, hidden from immediate view by an outcrop of rocks. As I reached for it, I realised that it felt wrong and cast an investigative spell on it. It had also been tainted by the use it had been put to - the red-headed man wasn't the first to be lain on that altar, and his predecessors hadn't gotten off the stone block alive. We would need to work on it when we got it back to Murray.
I wrapped the hilt in a handkerchief, and then headed back to the victim, although there didn't seem to be much change in his condition as yet.
"Is everything okay, Robert?" came Adam's voice, and as I glanced over towards where he had been, I saw that he had managed to get to his feet.
"I missed the other acolyte," I answered, "the victim isn't in a good way. Among the people of Rebma - some of them, anyway - sacrificing red-heads for the good of the country had been done for thousands of years. My guess is that is what we've interrupted here."
"How can that be?"
"It is the way the Undines - the spirits of Rebma - celebrate what we know of as the rituals of the Sacred King," I replied, "when I worked here with Morgaine, we tried to stamp that practise out. However, it would appear that under the new management it is undergoing a renaissance out here in the back of beyond."
Adam crossed to victim and again brought dagger and ring into play, beginning to work to save the red-head. In the meantime, I set about dealing with the altar, such that no-one could ever be sacrificed on it again. After about half an hour, Adam came over to me..
"He will recover. I needed to remove the malign influence of the blades from him, but now that's gone, whatever you set in motion seems to be working. Now, let me take a look at that arm of yours."
He supported my forearm in his left hand, and started passing his right, complete with the Adept ring and still holding the sgian dubh, over the injury, muttering quietly to himself as he did so. Praying? Whatever he was doing, it quickly started to work, and about five minutes later the pain had receded, and the wound was healing of its own accord.
"Thanks, Adam," I said, with a slight smile.
"You have your specialities, I have mine," he answered.
"You always did have a more direct link to the Powers that Be than me."
He smiled slightly and answered: "Perhaps...Do you have what we came for?"
"I do."
"Then I suggest we get out of here - taking him with us, so we can make sure he recovers."
"Agreed."
We collected together sword and victim, and then I brought the Amber Pattern to mind and jumped us back out into open Shadow. With the wards around the cave down, there was nothing to hinder me. From there, I took us back to Murray. We took our rescuee up to the infirmary, where I insisted that the doctor on duty check Adam over as well as the victim. Thankfully, whatever my friend had done in the chamber had been enough to help both of them, and while Adam was still favouring his side slightly, he was declared fit. Once the doctor was satisfied, Adam and I returned to the library with the blade.
"Re-consecrating an item to the Light is more your field of expertise than mine, I think," I commented.
"I'm sure we can manage it between us, Robert. Don't sell your own abilities in that line short: in the years we've known each other it's become pretty apparent to me that you have your own connection to the Light, even if you don't work in exactly the same tradition that I do. Yours still has its primary roots in Christianity. Do you have a chapel in this place?"
"Why don't we go back to Millbank to deal with that," I replied, and we duly did so.
I speeded the time there back up, and then we collected everything we required for the ceremony Adam would need to perform, and then headed for the small chapel in the basement, off the lab. I suppose it took about half an hour, and as the Master of the Hunt worked, I could feel the dark taints lifting from the blade. Soon it was lying there, as pristine as it had been the day Andrew and I had forged it.
"It's a fine blade," he commented, as we closed down the Working, and then returned upstairs with it.
"That's why I did not want it lost any longer," I answered, "thank you for your help on a job well done."
"You're welcome," he replied, and then added with a chuckle, "it certainly makes a change from my usual, run-of-the-mill tangles. And it isn't every day I discover that one of my closest associates is not from the world I know."
I shrugged.
"It's not something I spread around. People will only worry."
"Aye, they would," he replied, with a nod, then smiled, "come on then, Robert, we still have to finish that bottle of the MacAllan..."