The Klieburg Mountains/Millbank Manor
19th January SY154
While I've become used to being called out of the blue by Rupert, whether I like it or not, random contact from his nominal superior is rather less frequent. Which is why I was a little surprised when Wilhelm gave me a call a couple of days after the incident on Cheyne.
"Guten Tag, Robert," he said as I opened the contact.
"Afternoon, Wilhelm," I replied, "what's the occasion?"
"I was hoping you would give me access to the Millbank Pattern," came the answer.
After he'd first walked the Pattern, I had taken some time to instruct him in its use to a high degree, given that at the time it seemed like one of the better weapons to help him fend off Rupert's inevitable machinations. During the course of that instruction, I'd taken him to all the 'regular' Patterns, as it were, ie not the Gules Fire Pattern, which as far as I was aware, only myself and probably my twin had attempted to essay, leaving him with a more than decent understanding of the way the universe worked. But I hadn't given him free access to Millbank, even though I knew he could reach the others if he wished.
"Any particular reason?" I asked, curious, and a trifle concerned...concerns which weren't allayed by his answer.
"I have some personal business to attend to."
"Care to be more specific?"
"Not particularly," came the reply, "and certainly not over a Trump link. You never know who might be listening."
"Perhaps you'd better come through. After all, let's face it, if you want to go to Millbank, I'm going to have to handle transport."
He shrugged, and then offered his hand.
"I suspected you might say that, but I'd rather you came here, in that case. Alone by preference. But don't worry...I don't intend you any harm."
"Glad to hear it," I replied, although I couldn't deny to myself that the thought had crossed my mind, given his unexpected contact. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound...
I took his hand and went through. As I arrived the overpowering smells were of pinewood and an open fire. As I looked around, I could see that I was in some kind of ski lodge. There was a roaring fire in a central stone-built hearth, around the room the furniture was sturdy and well made, and the whole impression was of warmth and comfort. I glanced towards the window and saw that outside, snow was falling, and beside it, staring out as if transfixed, was Wilhelm's sister Mina. She looked tired and pale, but then, there had been rumours circulating about her health for quite a while.
I looked at Wilhelm, expectantly, to see if he was going to be any more forthcoming now I was here.
"I wish to take my sister to the Millbank Pattern," he said, eventually.
"Has she ever even walked it before?" I asked, as I knew I'd never taken her anywhere near a Pattern.
"Once. About thirty years ago. I took her to Azure, preferring that option to Rupert's squiggle..."
"Understandable."
"...But she has never studied it the way you encouraged me to."
"Then why do you want to take her now?"
"That isn't your concern."
"Wilhelm, she's my daughter. Of course it's my bloody concern."
He looked at me, his expression fixed.
"And yet you've never really asked after her much, or seemed to care what happened to her."
"That isn't true, and you know it," I retorted, but he seemed unconvinced.
"Really?" he replied, quietly, "then perhaps you should occasionally let her know."
We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, looking at each other, and for a few moments, the only sound in the room was the roaring of the fire. Then, eventually, he shrugged again.
"Will you take us to Millbank?"
"I suppose so, but a little explanation would seem in order," I persisted.
He looked at me and sighed.
"She is suffering from amnesia. From our lessons, and your own experiences a couple of years ago, I believe I'm right in remembering that the Pattern may be able to help her recover her memories."
"Usually, only up to the point she last walked it," I replied, "unless there's something really peculiar going on. So if she hasn't been anywhere near it for thirty years...well, that's a pretty big gap. What happened?"
"She had an accident."
It was my turn to sigh, but as much for form's sake as anything else. Wilhelm can be a stubborn SOB when he chooses to be, and he'd obviously decide that now was the time. I wonder where he got that trait from?
"May I take a look at her?" I asked, quietly, "maybe I can help."
"I try not to come running to you for help unless I have to."
"But with due respect, you're not a mind mage. I am."
He considered for a moment, then said, quietly "So be it", and indicated for me to go ahead.
I crossed to where my daughter was sitting, and her head turned towards me as I heard her approach. As it did, I was horrified at how...empty...her expression was.
"Mina?" I said, quietly.
She looked up at me, but it was obvious that she didn't have the slightest idea who I was. Having had a bout of amnesia myself in the not too recent past, I had some idea of how it felt, but her lack of reaction seemed unnatural, even allowing for that.
"Wilhelm, what happened?" I repeated, looking at him, worry probably evident on my face.
"Andreas Delatz happened," he said, finally, "he broke her mind, and then he imprisoned her."
"When? Where?"
He stared at me, and I could detect annoyance from him.
"You know the answer to that as well as I do," he snapped, "after all, it was your people who brought her back to me...for which I thank them, by the way."
"My people..." I replied, genuinely baffled.
"For fuck's sake, Robert," he snapped, "They were only here yesterday. Doesn't Graham tell you anything?"
"He briefed me on an operation involving a group dealing with a problem left over from Cheyne..." I began, and the penny dropped, "Oh, you're kidding. The eagle?"
"An eagle was mentioned, albeit they seemed reluctant to go into details, but yes, they said that Cheyne was where she was found. Sounds like a God-forsaken place."
"I've been to worse," I replied, and looked back at Mina, but she didn't react any more than she had before.
I pulled up a chair and sat in front of her, taking her hand, and then very gently extended my magical senses towards her mind. Nothing. Apart from the basics of motor control and some rudimentary language skills, it was as if she was a virtually blank slate, with very little remaining of her life but occasional fragments. I was horrified.
Hoping that there might be something I was missing, I brought up the Pattern and looked at her through it to see if it could give me any more information. Immediately, I could sense the residual feeling of the black, alien and logical signature I was fast coming to associate with the Machine. It was as if she had been hit with it full force, and it had forced the Pattern from her, taking her memories with it in the resulting trauma. Wilhelm was right. Only Andreas Delatz had that much competence with the cursed thing.
I dropped my investigative senses, and looked at my son.
"Yes, I'll take you. But I can't promise how much it will help."
"So noted," he replied, and crossed to join us. He gently took Mina by the hand and helped her to stand, putting his arm across her shoulders protectively, and she gave a weak smile as he did. Then he looked expectantly at me, and in response, I concentrated on the Pattern, and jumped the three of us through to the Millbank Pattern chamber.
As we arrived her eyes went wide, and I could see fear come into them. Then she turned to her brother and buried her face in his shoulder, looking for all the world like a frightened child (an impression heightened by the fact that she is a good six inches shorter than him, and slightly built with it). In response, he spoke quietly to her in German, trying to reassure her that he was trying to help her. It made me feel strange and a little uncomfortable to watch, knowing that they were my offspring but that I had played so little part in their lives.
Eventually, Wilhelm's persuasion worked, Mina stood up straight and looked at the Pattern once more, steeling herself for the ordeal ahead. Her brother took her gently by the hand, and led her to the beginning of the Pattern, and I could hear him giving her the obligatory instructions. I just hoped that she a) understood them, and b) was physically strong enough to survive the experience.
As I watched, she placed her foot on the Pattern and started to walk, with Wilhelm waiting near the start as she did. I couldn't decide if he was just being protective, or if he was planning to follow her if she got into trouble, although I doubted that in the latter case, he'd have time to reach her if anything did go wrong. Still, after a timorous start, I could see her gaining confidence with every step, and began to relax until she began to shape shift as she walked.
"Why are you surprised?" Wilhelm said, obviously reading my expression as I crossed to him, "she's your daughter."
"True. And the fact that she managed to sub-consciously get rid of a blue crystal bullet should have reminded me that the gene was active within her. It isn't for you, if I remember rightly?"
"Thanks to my esteemed RFSS's policies, even if it were, I couldn't admit to it," he replied, his tone scathing, "the Kaiser of the Reich a stinking shifter? It just isn't possible."
"The same is surely true for her?"
"Yes, but over the years she's learned to hide it well," came the answer, "she's had to. She is intelligent, and she understands what she has to do. She certainly isn't the fragile creature I suspect you think she is...or at least wasn't before that bastard Delatz got to her. But of course, how would you know? You barely know her."
His tone was cold, as it often is when we get onto the subject of himself, his sister and their upbringing, but Hell, if their mother had actually bothered to tell me that she was pregnant, rather than keep me in the dark, I'd have tried to do things differently. Twenty-twenty hindsight is a wonderful thing. I debated arguing with him, but decided we'd been over that territory before and to rake it over again wouldn't help anything, so in the end I held my peace and returned my attention to Mina.
She was making decent progress, although the shifting was becoming more extreme, as it often does the further you get into a Pattern walk. I could see that the combination was causing her strain, though, and I could tell that Wilhelm was worried. He even looked as if he was debating whether to follow her onto the Sign, in the hope that he could gain on her and be there if she needed him. Still, she kept on going, and wouldn't let herself falter. Whether the process was doing her any good, however, was something we wouldn't know until the end.
Eventually, almost stumbling with the effort, she took the final few steps and made it to the centre, human again.
"Come to me," Wilhelm called to her, "and then I can take you home."
I thought I saw her nod and then, a few moments later, she joined us. She looked tired and pale, but as she looked at me, at least there was understanding.
"Father..." she said, quietly, "how..."
But before she could complete the sentence, she crumpled and passed out. Very concerned, I knelt down beside her, as did Wilhelm. I checked her pulse and vital signs, and threw up a diagnostic spell to see what was wrong, and was relieved that there was nothing fundamental obvious.
"She's just exhausted," I answered, looking at my son and seeing the worry on his face.
"Has it helped?"
"At least she knew who I was...that's certainly an improvement over earlier."
"Can you look into her mind again?" he said, his eyes meeting mine as he asked, "to see if there's anything there?"
"If you're willing to let me, yes."
He considered for a moment, then nodded, so I brought up my magical senses and gently probed into my unconscious daughter's mind. The contrast with earlier was startling. Rather than the almost blank slate I'd seen before, there was now a jumble of memories. Admittedly, many of them confused, but I could almost feel them trying to reorder themselves into some kind of sense. With time she would probably get the majority of her life back, although anything she had experienced since she'd first walked the Pattern would probably be gone for ever, unless the restored memories, and the process of ordering them, were enough to dredge the few remnants of her life which had remained after Andreas had done his worse back from the depths of her mind. But still, even that was a vast improvement over her previous state.
"Well?" he asked, expectantly.
"I suspect that most, if not all, of the last thirty years are gone, and I wouldn't want to promise anything in regard to her recovering them, but given time and quiet, the rest should come back to her. She's just going to need to rest and recuperate and make sense of things. But given a couple of months, she should be alright."
He looked at me and nodded.
"At least that's something," he said, quietly, and he seemed relieved.
"Yes...she's lucky to have a brother who cares as much for her," I answered, "now, though, she needs rest and food, not necessarily in that order."
"Understood," he replied, and he scooped her up as if she was weightless and we both got to our feet.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," I said, quietly.
"Life is like that...you never get everything you want," he said, his tone philosophical.
"No you don't," I answered, quietly, "do you need me to take you home?"
"That won't be necessary," he replied, "as long as you make sure that the defences here won't kill me, I can get her home myself."
"Of course," I said, adjusting things accordingly, "there...it's done."
"Thank you for your help, Robert," he answered, and I saw a slight trace of a smile.
"You're welcome, Wilhelm," I replied.
Our eyes met once more, and he nodded. And then I felt him bring up the Pattern and a few moments later they were gone. When I was sure they were clear, I restored the defences, and once again, the only human who could get into the Pattern chamber was me.
"She will be fine," came a deep, rumbling voice from behind me, and I turned to see Anglia's bulky, feline form, padding across the room towards me.
"I hope you're right," I answered, resting my hand on the soft fur of his neck, and I could hear him purring.
We stood there in silence for a while, looking at the Pattern, and I found myself considering just what an implacable foe Andreas Delatz had become. The time had definitely come to reconsider Sable's priorities and decide who the real enemy was. And that involved the chat with Andrew which I'd been putting off for some time...