Snapshots #1: Tenterden/Dominion
Tenterden, 2009; Dominion 1953-65
Tenterden, February 2009
"Since when have you been a fan of family meetings?" Wolf asked as he walked into the Wittersham House library, where presumably Carmichael had directed him.
"Since I realised that I needed to play catch-up with some of my beloved cousins," I answered.
It had been a while since he'd been home to Tenterden. He was pretty much living full-time in Amber Castle now, and had even taken Ava to live with him in his comparatively extensive suite there. No North-West Wing for Bleys's Heir Presumptive and official apple of his eye.
Dammit Ian, you're sounding catty even to yourself.
"What kind of catch-up?" he said, curious.
"I've run out of excuses when they ask 'do you want to bring some of your troops to garrison the place, or shall I call in Brandenburg again?' Maybe it's time I actually had something I could bring to the party."
"I thought that was the point behind Armand building up Hawke Security for you."
"In case you hadn't noticed, he's been rather lacking in time lately. Between Rebma, Dieter and fighting the Weirmonken, he's hardly here anymore. Even less than you are. So I've been doing most of the work with Lyndon Powell this last couple of months."
"True enough," Wolf admitted, with a shrug, as he poured himself a Scotch. I already had a brandy I was nursing, as I sat beside the fire. "Which is why I'm biting the bullet and selling the flat."
"You love that flat."
"Yes, but I'm hardly ever there. It's really just gathering dust."
"What about when you want to..."
I tailed off, as I realised what I was about to ask. Gods, why did I even start that sentence?
"...Be with my good-looking young lover?" he answered, his tone mischievous as he flopped down in the settee opposite me, "We have places, and if needs, we can always get a hotel. Shadow's not exactly small."
"But why sell?" I said, digging myself back out of the hole I was fast excavating, "why not just let the place?"
"I wouldn't be here for the managing agent to talk to."
"I could deal with them if needs. Or Marina can. She's on-Shadow during the day more than me; I usually only get home in the evenings."
"Although at least you only have a two-minute commute from Amber to here," he pointed out, "you're not stuck on the Tube."
"True enough. But then neither are you," I answered, with a shrug, "just think about it - I'd be happy to keep an eye on it for you."
"I'll think about it...because you're right, I do love that place, and I've put a lot of work into getting it how I want."
I took a drink, then changed the subject.
"Does Armand ever talk to you?
"About what in particular?"
"How's he doing."
"How do you mean?"
"This time last year, he was a humble captain working for the German Embassy. Now he's a war hero who's been running full-on military operations across multiple Shadows. It's a big jump, and he's still, what...25? 26?"
"A little older than that," Wolf answered, "he's spent a bit of in fast time on the Amber Reserves project, so he's maybe reached 30. But what happened with the Lynx made him grow up fast, and being dumped in the middle of the Germania Coup, and what happened to him in the Wewelsburg, finished the job."
"I never heard the full story of that."
"Something happened - or nearly happened - and it scared the Hell out of him. Since then, he's worked hard, and become a lot more self-reliant and capable of defending himself, both physically and magically. But to be honest, from what he's said, he's operating so far out of his comfort zone, it scares the crap out of him."
Wolf's comment surprised me, as Armand never struck me as the sort to be afraid of responsibility, but it confirmed what I guess I was asking.
"He's always afraid that he's going to mess up."
"But he hasn't," I commented, "I've seen him in action. He's a natural."
"I know. But how confident were you of your abilities when you were 30?"
"I was being kicked across France by the Nazis when I was 30. I guess I grew up quickly as well."
"Armand is a good lad," he said, fondly, "and he does his best. It's just somehow, his best is quite extraordinary. How's Marina? Is she still serious about staying here and going back to her journalism career?"
"She certainly has no particular desire to live full-time in Amber, and be the Lady Mayoress. And even if she did, there's no way I'd want to take the twins there. Not given their..."
"Talents?"
"That's one way of putting it."
At eight months old and crawling, Rowan and Linden were well on the way to giving both of us grey hairs. More than once we'd gone to find them in the Nursery, to find Aoife tearing out her hair as they'd slipped her net again. Even warding the room didn't seem to stop them, because warding doesn't do much against the Pattern if the wielder is really determined. And you have no idea how determined a pair of eight-month-olds who want out can be.
"Fiona would grab them in an instant and stick them in one of her labs," I continued.
"I think you're being harsh on her," Wolf said, defensive as always of his tutor.
"Fully Pattern-capable infants?" I retorted, "don't get me wrong. I like Aunt Fiona, even if I don't know her as well as you do, but can you honestly tell me that despite any good intentions she may have, her curiosity wouldn't get the better of her?
"What have they got up to now?" Armand commented, walking into the conversation.
"Yesterday we caught them out playing in the herb garden. In the snow. At eight in the evening," I answered, with a sigh, indicating that Armand should help himself to a drink.
"Were they okay?" Wolf asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"Thankfully," I answered, "apparently they don't feel the cold. When we caught them, they were warm and happy. Despite having been rolling around in the snow in their onesies. Some of the herbs, on the other hand, fared less well. I had to do some repairs."
"But the herb garden's part of the ruin..." Armand said, puzzled, "...it's warded. No-one's supposed to want to go in there without your consent."
"I'm well aware of that," I commented, sighing again, "but you know, that doesn't seem to stop them."
"So what do you mean by the don't feel the cold?" Wolf asked, curious.
"Just that. Apparently as well has having been born with the Pattern, they're also shape shifters. I guess they got it from their mother."
"You really are doomed, aren't you?" Armand said with a grin.
"I surely am," I answered, and took a drink from my glass.
"So who else is coming to this oh so mysterious family meeting?" my grandson asked, sitting down next to his father.
"Marina, Aoife - if she can get the twins to sleep - and hopefully..."
"Hang on..." he said, breaking off and putting up a hand.
His eyes glazed over, the obvious sign of a Trump call, and then he got to his feet and brought Artur through. My younger son was dressed casually for him, in a button-down shirt and Dockers. He smiled at Armand, then turned to take in the room.
"...Artur," I finished as he arrived, "thanks for coming."
"Evening Ian, evening Wolf. Is Mama around? Or is it just the four of us?"
"Upstairs - she'll be down shortly. Help yourself to a drink and then make yourself comfortable."
He did as he was bid, and the four of us chatted for a few minutes, before Marina and Aoife came in together.
"Guess it's Poirot time, Ian," Armand said, lightly.
"Pwaroe time?" Aoife asked, confused. But then, she hadn't really had much time to get to grips with Earth pop culture.
"You know...'I haf gazerred you all togezerr zis evenink...'" He stopped as she still looked at him blankly - although off to one side, I did notice a smile on Artur's face at Armand's joking - then shrugged, "never mind."
"There is a bit of that about it," I commented, "I guess the quick version is I've got fed up of my cousins assuming I have a massive resources base for helping sort out Amber-related problems, which I haven't. So it's time I set something up. Something that all of us could draw on if needs be, without having to resort to Germania, or Brandenburg, or anyone else."
"That's a big job," Armand commented, "I've done it to a degree on Amber's behalf with Edward, but it hasn't been easy, and it takes time. And yes, before you say it, I know I've been neglecting Hawke Security."
"Not your fault," I answered, "I can understand that too many other people have calls on your time. Hawke security is a project I intend to keep going as something more specialist, but it's not what I'm talking about here. I'm thinking of a single world, at least initially, on which we have enough control that if any of us need to bring in a division of paratroopers, we have one to bring."
"That's surprisingly cynical for you, Ian," Wolf commented, "you don't normally play the 'Shadow people are just resources' game."
"No, I don't," I conceded, "Which is why I've resisted doing this for so long. But what with Corwin, the Lynx and the various other things we end up having to garrison, I've come to the conclusion that I need to bite the bullet and do something about it."
Looking around the room, neither Artur nor Marina seemed particularly bothered at the fact that I was proposing establishing a world where periodically, we would could take their menfolk away to die; but then, they were used to first the GGR and then Germania. Aoife's expression was neutral, as was Armand's, probably because she was brought up in the Courts, and he had been doing something similar with Edward. The one who seemed most troubled at the idea - besides myself - was Wolf. And the silly thing was, I agreed with him. This wasn't a step I'd taken lightly.
"Do you have somewhere in mind," Artur commented, looking at me.
"I've found another alternate-history Earth-type. It's currently at 1953, and has some...unique problems."
"Which is why I wanted Ian to invite you both to this meeting," Marina said, looking at Artur and Armand, "he and I had differing views on one aspect of the place. But after a free and frank exchange of views, he agreed that it should be dealt with, because if he left that particular status quo as it was, then the Shadow in general probably wouldn't be as useful to us."
Free and frank exchange of views. That was one way of putting it. Our 'exchange of views' had disturbed the twins in the next room, but in the end, I'd had to admit she was right. It wasn't going to be much use for building resources if Germany had been destroyed by Russia.
"So what's the problem?" Armand asked.
"What piqued my curiosity about the place was yet another variant of WWII," I answered, "the appeasers gained control in Britain after Chamberlain resigned, and sued for peace. Hitler's death, at the end of 1952, has led to a bloody civil war between the SS and the Wehrmacht, over what should be done with Russia."
"And let me guess," Wolf commented, "you would have been happy to see the SS wiped out, but when Marina had other opinions. She is, after all, Dieter's daughter."
"See, even Wolf understands," Marina said, glancing over at me.
"And you want Armand to try to sort it out?" Artur asked, looking at his friend with a degree of pride.
"He is the golden boy of Germania," Marina answered, "thus far undefeated in battle."
"No pressure then..." Armand said, uncomfortably, and for a moment I could see in his expression exactly what Wolf had said earlier. My grandson was feeling the pressure people were putting on him, and doing his best not to disappoint. "How bad is it?"
"Himmler is Führer, backed up by Heydrich, who never died in Prague as the war was over by then," Marina replied, "but they're in a weak position and need someone to a) rally the Waffen-SS and b) try to find some accommodation with the Wehrmacht before Russia takes the whole country, which seems right up your street, Armand. And Artur, you could be very valuable to Heydrich..."
I tried not to wince as she said that.
"...who we're pretty sure is a Shadow of the one who was here."
"So where do you see me in all this?" Wolf asked.
"Helping me in England," I answered, "sorting out their military agreements, establishing additional troops who could be moved if needed. That kind of thing."
"How long do you expect this to take?"
"It's a long-term project. We need to stabilise it, then sort out the politics, and then build the reserves we need. But the time would give the twins the chance to grow up...and the same is true for Soren and Blaine."
"You sound like you're talking decades. You, me and Armand; we all have duties to Amber. And Artur has Hexenland and Germania to keep an eye on."
"Fast time is a wonderful thing."
"Fast time has its limits."
"And you have a better idea of what those are than me. So I'm hoping that you can help me set the time flow."
"Do you intend for everyone to be there all the time?" Artur asked, curious.
"Not necessarily. Armand has good deputies, so as long as he checks in with them regularly, that should be fine, as Corwin's been pretty quiet since the initial burst of troublemaking. And if he's needed, he's only a Trump call away, and he can always go and see to it. And you have a 2iC on Hexenland, right?"
"I do," he answered, "she does a good job."
I nodded, then turned back to Wolf.
"And as far as you and I are concerned, I'm hoping that if you're on board, we can get away with being in and out. If you can set it up so I can control the time there with more precision than Tenterden, then it should be possible to be in Amber some of the time, and there the rest, so our absences aren't as noticeable. And failing that, we should be able to do short hops back and forth to collect anything that needs attention, and then work on it at our leisure."
"I can't do it, Ian," he said, quietly, "Be away for decades."
"But you won't be - it'll only be a few weeks Amber time."
"A few weeks when I have appointments, and am supposed to be visible, and I ought to be helping Fiona and John keep Bleys in order. Let alone if I'm not there, Bleys is stuck in Amber, God help it. No...it just isn't practical."
I was disappointed, but I suppose I wasn't all that surprised. Since becoming Bleys's Heir, Wolf's priorities had changed. And so had the relationship between us. I still trusted him more than any other person alive, and I loved him as my son, my friend and my brother in the Group. But now there were other people and places he cared for in a way there hadn't been when it was just him and I, before we both came to Amber. I missed our old intimacy, and unfortunately, unless Bleys got run out of town, and we survived the fall-out, I couldn't see any way to get it back.
"I understand," I said, with a sigh, "Artur? Armand?"
"I'm in," Artur said, promptly, "it sounds like an interesting challenge, and I could do with some more high-end experience. Hexenland has been something of an eye-opener."
Armand was more hesitant, obviously weighing up how well he could trust his subordinates and risk being away, but eventually he nodded. "So am I."
"Thank you...Aoife?"
"It sounds as if you'll need someone to look after the twins, so yes," she answered, "although I'm not quite sure what you'll want me to do when they're older."
"You can do whatever you want," I replied," you could work for me doing something else, you could strike off on your own, or you could come back here, Amber or to the House. It's completely up to you."
"So when do you want to get started?" Armand asked.
"Let's say a week. Hopefully, that should give us time to organise what needs to be done in our absence, and establish procedures in case of emergencies," I suggested, "and Wolf, in the meantime, would you at least help me with the time flow?"
"That I can do."
"Thank you. Any other questions?"
Obviously, there were several, but I fielded them the best I could, and by the time we broke up for the evening, we had something resembling a plan.
* * * * * *
Getting Settled, Dominion 1953-57
Wolf and I got to work on the time flow aspect of the world I'd chosen - I'd called it Dominion, to differentiate it from my normal home - the morning after the meeting. Then, once that was set up, he departed back to Amber, while I stayed on to sort out the basics, like where to live. I didn't want to take too long about it, as the situation in Germany was getting more dire by the day, but the others had to have time to get things organised.
First, I put in motion the purchase of 12 Hyde Park Street, my old family home on Tenterden. The lower three floors had all been broken into individual apartments, but the upper three, including servants' quarters, were still one unit, which was conveniently vacant, which would allow us to move in immediately. As far as the other tenants were concerned, as the new freeholder, I had to honour their existing rental contracts. However, eventually we would be able to make it back into one house, as they departed at the ends of their various agreements.
I debated bringing Carmichael and his family to join us there, but in the end decided that they would be more valuable keeping an eye on things for me on Tenterden. More to the point, being 1953, the whole idea of domestic staff hadn't gone quite as far out of fashion, so I had a decent pool of employees to recruit from. So in the end I hired a whole new staff, led by an efficient and experienced butler named William Richmond, and a couple of weeks later, first Marina, Aoife and the twins, and then Artur and Armand came to join me.
Harder, was Kent. When I went investigating property records, I discovered that most of the grounds of what made up Wittersham House estate had been sold to a housing development. I suppose I could have bought somewhere else, but that was my other family home, and so I wanted to claim it. When I went to inspect the place, roads had already been laid out, as had the first few sets of foundations. The main house itself - here it was called Comb Wood Manor - was more along the lines of John Graham's Oakwood than my late-Victorian pile, but decrepit and run down, which is presumably why its owners had sold the land.
Securing title to both the building site, and the house and its remaining land, was a stickier process, and it was a good two years before I'd got everything locked down, and paid off everyone who needed to be paid. After that, it took a lot of specialist restoration to get it back to its former glory, and that took another couple of years and a not insignificant amount of money. I was delighted when we could move in for Christmas 1957, which then gave me somewhere to build a new Group. I'd missed the regular ceremonies, but it was difficult to do much when living in the centre of London.
Establishing a new Working space, using Graham's hedge maze idea with a gazebo at the centre, gave me a great deal of pleasure, especially given that I could help the beach hedges grow using my abilities with plants. In addition, given that I was intending to meddle with Dominion far more than I had chosen to do with Tenterden, I also established two different ritual configurations for the Maze, over and above what it looked like on a sunny afternoon: one for the use of my new Group, and one from which I could control everything on the Shadow, and potentially get anywhere on it in a hurry, if I needed to.
When I got back to Tenterden, I should probably do something similar with the ruins.
Marina and I quickly settled down into a routine. I bedded in as an adviser to the British Government, on matters military, scientific and legal, as I began to turn the country from a client of Germany (even if it wasn't officially said in as many words), back into a strong, Imperial power with its own rights and abilities as far as its scientific and military progress was concerned. As the ultimate aim was to build resources, I put particular stress on rearmament, and made sure that I was legally involved in that process, and the underlying potential chain of command.
Marina stayed home with Aoife and the twins for the first year or so, but eventually got to the stage of wanting to go back to work as a journalist. I had established duel German/British citizenship for her (although I never bothered for myself), which gave her the option of applying to one of the German papers as their British correspondent. Once she regained a reputation, she began to travel once more, leaving me at home with Aoife and the twins as often as not. But I didn't really mind. Living together full time had been odd, when previously we'd had a more long distance relationship, and I knew that wherever she was, she'd be home in a few weeks, and we'd be together again.
Over in Germany, Armand and Artur quickly started trying stabilise things. Armand took less than three months to work his way to the top of the Waffen-SS (okay, so I may have helped the probabilities) and once there, he used a combination of ability, charisma, and a heavy dollop of his usual charm, to make progress. His first task was to come to a rapprochement with Erwin Rommel, probably the most influential person on the Wehrmacht side of the conflict, and that opened the doorway for an end of the German Civil War, so they could pull together against the Russians.
Artur quickly established a good working relationship with Reinhard Heydrich, as Marina had known he would. He had taken over as RFSS when Himmler seized the Führership, as always, acting as Himmler's brains, and it was easy for Artur to slip into the RSHA hierarchy and get to work trying to calm things down from that side of the SS organisation.
Marina visited Germany on business once a quarter or so, for her paper, and therefore met up with them both on a semi-regular basis, although I mainly saw them at Christmas, or if they managed to find a way to spend time in England during the summer. Armand was the more visible of the two, of course, and therefore had more need of being smuggled in. However, his new-found skill as a sorcerer helped, combined with the Pattern, because at least he could make it so that when he walked down the street, people could never be sure if they'd really recognised him. After all, how likely was it that the head of the Waffen-SS would be shopping on Oxford Street?
As the twins grew up, and we started sending them to school, Aoife ended up with a lot more time on her hands, and actually found herself at something of a loss. She didn't feel she wanted to forge ahead and make a career for herself, the way Marina did, but equally she didn't want to sit at home and do nothing, and she seemed unwilling to return to House Helgram obscurity. So in the end, I invited her to act as my PA, to help me juggle my work for the Ministries of Defence and Science, and we made a surprisingly very good team.
All in all, when I reviewed my progress on Dominion, over brandy and a cigar that first Christmas in Comb Wood Manor, I was very satisfied with how things were progressing.
* * * * * *
Dominion, September 1965
Marina was on assignment in Paris, and I was sitting in my office in London, considering what I was going to have for lunch, when I felt what had to be an attack on the fabric of Dominion. It was as if someone had tried to use the Pattern to manipulate it in a way I hadn't agreed to. I buzzed through to Aoife to tell her to hold my calls, and headed out of the MoD as fast as I could without attracting notice. Then I found a quiet corner and gated back to Kent. Once home, I went out into the garden, activated the secondary configuration of the Maze and walked it to the centre. From there, I reached out with my arcane senses to try to work out where the breach was, and my heart sank as I realised it was in Canterbury. Where the twins were at school as weekly boarders.
Had Fiona found them after all?
And did I teleport or drive to get there? While there was the risk that my sudden arrival might be questioned if I teleported, if my children were in danger, I didn't want to take an hour to get there. And if all else failed, I could fall back on my control of the Shadow to plead my case. It wasn't a hard decision. I concentrated for a moment, then used the inherent transport properties within the Maze to take me to the school gates.
As I headed up the drive, it was obvious that the place was in considerable confusion. One of the buildings had been badly damaged, as if a corner of it had just ceased to be. The fire brigade were already onsite, undertaking recovery operations, and more than one ambulance was sitting beside it. I concentrated for a moment, and was almost blinded by the concentration of Pattern in the area.
"Dr Cushing?" came a voice from over to one side, and I turned to see Mr Cheyne, Linden's house master, and was struck with the distinct impression that I was the last person he wanted to see just then, "what are you doing here?"
"What happened?"
"There was a chemistry class in the lab. We think there was some kind of explosion."
Believe me, I've seen explosions in my time - this wasn't one of them.
"Which form?"
He noticeably paused before answering.
"2A."
That was Linden's form, which supported my fear that they'd been found by someone who meant them harm.
"Is my son alright?"
Before he could answer, a small, auburn-headed whirlwind grabbed me around the waist.
"Papa. Where's Linden? I can't feel him."
I rested an arm over her shoulder as she sobbed, and glared over at Cheyne, waiting for an explanation. Because if Rowan said Linden was missing, then he was: the bond between them was very strong.
"Four of the boys are still unaccounted for...I'm afraid Linden is one of them. I'm sorry."
I ducked down beside my daughter, so I was at her eye level.
"What happened?"
"He seemed really frustrated 'cos he couldn't make something work...and he wanted to be somewhere else, not paying with stupid chemicals...and then there was a bang...and then he was gone."
I put my arms around her and hugged her, as she cried, completely inconsolable.
"I'm going to find him, Rowan. I promise."
I looked up helplessly. Cheyne was being worse than useless, obviously trying to figure out how much I was going to sue for. However, I finally saw Rowan's house mistress, and older lady who reminded me a lot of Sylvia Dane. I unwound my daughter and took her hand, then walked her over to Mrs Monroe.
"Please, will you take her...I have to help."
She nodded and gently lead my little girl away to the school infirmary. Once I knew she was in good hands, I went over to where the firemen were working, convinced them to let me help, and began trying to look for my son.
At least I wasn't completely unversed in recovery operations, having been involved in a few during the war, and latterly in training and emergencies as an A&E doctor. It also helped that I could try to influence probability such that nothing fell when it shouldn't, and maybe the boys trapped underneath would be okay. But doing so took a lot more out of me than normal, as if weight of Pattern around the site was partially blocking me.
We worked for several hours, but finally we reached three of the boys. They had broken bones and concussions, but at least they were alive with no permanent damage. But there was no sign of Linden. It was as if he'd disappeared into thin air, which added to my fear that someone had taken him. That was when I realised that my only chance of finding my son was to get back to Comb Wood House, and try some kind of location ritual - assuming the Pattern didn't mess things up - and while I was glad to have helped the other boys, it did mean I was hours behind his kidnapper.
Before I left, I went to say goodbye to Rowan, but when I got to the infirmary she was lying there whimpering and repeating over and over again that she couldn't feel him. That was the point at which I picked her up, and told the nurse I was taking her home. Apparently my tone brooked no argument, as the nurse stood back and let me walk out with my daughter. I carried her down the corridor, and out into the grounds. I didn't have a car, so I was going to need to use a gate spell to get home, so I glanced around, found a suitable looking dark corner, and then worked through the spell and jumped us away.
We arrived by the front door, and I took her inside and upstairs. I settled her on her bed, knocking her out with a sleep spell, and then went into Linden's room. He was bound to have left something there that I could use as an arcane connection. By now, it was getting on for eight thirty, and my son had been missing for almost nine hours.
I had just picked up an old comb, when I felt a second rip in the fabric of Dominion. This one seemed a lot closer - almost on my own doorstep. I rammed the comb into my back trouser pocket, and then sprinted out to the. It was still configured for detection and transport, as I hadn't had a chance to change it back. I worked my way through it as quickly as I could, asking its forgiveness for treating it without my usual respect.
This time, when I checked for the location of the attack, it was virtually where I was standing. And yet nothing looked out of place. Scared, angry and running on adrenaline by this point, I brought the comb out of my pocket and did the quickest and dirtiest location ritual I could muster. The answer I got didn't make sense: if it was right, Linden should have been within twenty feet of where I was standing. I looked around, trying to see him and calling out for him, and after what seemed like forever, I got an answer. But it sounded odd, as if it was out of phase, like speakers plugged the wrong way round.
By the gods, was he caught in one of the other configurations of the Maze? How would that even be possible?
If that was somehow what had happened, then the chances are it would be its usual, dormant one: Linden hadn't been outside while the Group was meeting, as far as I was aware (although with them, nothing was impossible), and he'd certainly never seen the control configuration. I concentrated on the mental ritual which would click the Maze to its daylight configuration, and suddenly his voice was a lot clearer. I glanced around the gazebo and there, curled up in a foetal ball to once side, was my son. I'd never felt so relieved in my life. I sat down beside him, and lifted him back into a sitting position. Initially, he seemed terrified, but unhurt and soon he began to calm down, and snuggled up against me in the cooling air. Just for a moment, he was a little boy again.
Once the adrenaline wore off, and I actually had time to try to work out what had happened, I realised that I could feel the same concentration of Pattern that I had at the school, and that the source of that was curled up against me. I was about to get to pick him up and get to my feet, when I heard a voice from behind me.
"You've found him, Papa."
And there was Rowan. I'd not even heard her approach, which gave me something of a turn. I wasn't usually that careless. And then I realised that she, too, felt strongly of Pattern.
Oh crap.
"I knew you'd save him, Papa," she said, flinging her arms around us both - or at least as far as she could reach.
I wish I had my daughter's faith in me.
We stayed like that for a few minutes, and then I gently disentangled Rowan, got to my feet. I lifted Linden into as comfortable a position as I could: he wasn't the tiny little boy I used to carry around anymore, but at least Family strength is good for something. Then I took Rowan's hand in my left, and started walking out of the Maze.
First I needed to get him to bed and make sure he was as unhurt as he seemed. And then I had to contact the only person I could think of who might be able to tell me what had just happened. Wolf.
- - -
It was later that evening and Linden was resting comfortably in his room. I'd given him a proper check over using a combination of my medical and arcane abilities, and was satisfied that he hadn't taken any serious harm. Rowan was curled up beside him, the very picture of the worried older sister, and I'd left them both sleeping.
I called Marina to let her know, so she wouldn't get a shock if she read about the accident in the papers, although I didn't want to say too much over a Trump. Then I made my way out to the Maze, and through to the centre. I could still feel the traces of the Pattern, although they'd faded in the intervening couple of hours. I stood in the centre, and then shuffled Wolf's Trump out of my deck and concentrated on it.
"Hey, Mihai," he said, as he answered, although there felt to be a slight lag or stickiness to the contact. Maybe because of the different in time flow between here and there, "how goes the great project?"
He looked exactly the same as he had when I'd last seen him, more than ten years ago. But of course he would, as for him it had only been a few days. Still, just then, I realised how much I'd missed having him around.
"Any chance you could spare me a few minutes?"
"As long as it doesn't turn into a thirty-year engagement," he answered, and offered me his hand. I took it, and pulled him through.
"It's good to see you," I said, as he arrived, and he gave a slight smile.
"You're the one who wanted to play with fast time," he said, looking around the gazebo, and then out at the garden, which was lit by a moon just a couple of days past full, before turning back to me, "what's up?"
"Can you take a look at this place, and tell me what you see?" I answered.
"I see a pleasant gazebo, and I'm guessing it's late-summer, early-autumn..."
"That's not what I meant," I answered, at which point I think he realised just how worried I was.
He nodded, and then began to concentrate, and I felt him bring up the Pattern.
"Interesting triple-phase effect," he commented, "some combination of ritual magic and your control of this place?"
"Something like that, but still not what I was hoping you'd look at."
"Okay...well, I can feel Trump, obviously, given that you just brought me through. And..."
He paused, and seemed to focus intently for a few moments, before looking a trifle surprised.
"Someone...actually, two someones...Pattern jumped in here. Within the last two or three hours, at a guess. I don't recognise either of them, which given the really short list of people I know who can do something like that..."
"It was Rowan and Linden."
"Excuse me?" He looked as surprised as I had been, when Rowan had appeared behind me, earlier in the evening, and had finally put two and two together, "What happened?"
"Linden nearly killed himself today. I think he did an uncontrolled Pattern jump. He took out a corner of the building he was in, buried three other kids, and disappeared off the face of this planet for something like nine hours."
"Timeflow?"
"About five years to an Amber week."
"Okay, that would mean he was probably only away for a few seconds as far as he knows."
That made perfect sense, if I'd actually paused to think about it, and he'd probably come back as soon as he realised something was wrong, scared out of his wits.
"Wolf, how the Hell could they have done this?"
"How old are they now?"
"Twelve."
"So they're pretty much just be getting into the hormone soup of puberty."
"That's about right, gods help us."
"Then my guess is that's triggering abilities that weren't obvious before. Higher-order Pattern abilities."
"Yeah, well if it triggers them much more, and they end up able to do the sorts of things you've learned from Fiona, with absolutely no idea how to control them, one or both of them are going to get themselves killed, and possibly a lot of other people with them. It was pure bloody luck this morning that none of the other kids in the lab was seriously hurt. Wolf, I know you don't want to be here long-term, but I really, really need your help."
"They're at school, presumably?"
"They were, but I brought Rowan home this evening, when I couldn't find Linden. I thought someone had taken him. I didn't realise then that he was the one who'd done the damage."
"What tipped you off?"
"They have a really strong link with each other, probably because of the whole in utero Pattern thing. She knew he was gone, and she knew the moment he came back. So she popped herself in where she thought he was, and that was when the penny dropped."
"Okay, how about this. I'll clear my calendar in Amber for a couple of days, which should be a year or more here, and I'll see how far I can get with them in that time. It certainly ought to get them safe. And then I'll see what I can do about spending the Amber evenings here."
"You know you could move Katharine and the boys here, as well, if you decide to spend the evenings here. They'd be safe. At least, they will be once my little Pattern-rogues know what they're doing. And she must be pretty much due to pop by now, isn't she?"
"It's still a couple of months..." he answered, but I could see that he was thinking about it.
"Whatever you think you can do...it's got to be better than this."
"Okay. Well, it's mid-afternoon in Amber now. If I head back and clear my schedule, then I should be back here in a few days soon. If you can keep them here until I get back..."
"I still don't know what caused Linden to jump, but I'll do my best."
"Does Marina know?"
"I called her once I knew Linden was safe. She was pretty freaked out as well, as you can imagine, so she was going to try to get a flight home."
"Okay. Well, hopefully the two of you can keep them calm. I'd suggest you keep them out of school until this is resolved, though."
"Assuming they'll even let me send them back there."
"It doesn't sound like Rowan did anything wrong. As I see it, the main thing you need to explain is where did Linden go, although given your control here, I'm sure you can work that one out. But I'd work on the theory of keeping them out for a year, and letting them go back next September."
"Agreed. I wouldn't want the death of any other parent's child on my conscience...it was too close today."
"You and I between us...I'm sure we can probably keep the mundane stuff ticking over for them, or failing that, knowing how well the Family usually learn, they'll have caught up their classmates long before they turn sixteen."
"I know it isn't what you wanted..."
"No. But I wouldn't forgive myself if there was something I could do for my little brother and sister, and didn't, and they really did get themselves killed. And I don't think you'd forgive me, either. Give me a few days: I'll talk to Katharine, see what she thinks, and either way I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Thank-you."
"I'll see you soon," he answered, and then shuffled out a Trump of Amber, and disappeared.
* * * * * *
Dominion, December 1965
Yuletide. As always, I'd invited Armand and Artur to spend it with us, and this year, for the first time, Wolf would be here as well, along with Katharine, the boys and their new baby girl. Elena had been born a couple of months after they came to Dominion, and Wolf was pleased as punch to have a daughter of his own blood. He loves Michel as his own, but he always remembers that she is his step-daughter.
Wolf and his family were living in London, although he was coming down every day to work with the twins, who were proving quick studies. He'd found the equivalent property to his flat in Lancaster Gate, but this time, he'd bought the freehold and had the builders knock it back into a single house. There wasn't a lot of garden, but they seemed to like it, and if the kids wanted to run around and indulge in country living, I was only a Trump call away.
Rowan and Linden were now of an age with Blaine and Soren, having been here longer, and the four of them had bonded. Rowan, being the only girl among them, found she had to prove her place in the circle by coming up with most of the ideas. Soren had learned exactly how to egg Blaine on into doing somewhat foolhardy things on occasion, made easier by the fact that he'd had the benefit of a British education that encouraged free thinking, while Blaine had been brought up in the regimented environment of the German school system. However, Linden usually managed to break things up before Blaine actually did himself a mischief, and of the four of them, those two had probably developed the closest regular friendship.
Wolf and his family were planning to arrive in Kent on the 21st so he could join my little Group for the Solstice celebrations that night. As usual at Summer and Winter Solstice, Armand wouldn't be able to make the celebration - the SS usually held their own rites on those dates, which he was expected to attend - but was aiming to arrive on the evening of the 22nd, if he could arrange the leave and a meeting he couldn't avoid finished on time.
Unfortunately, Artur had called to say that he wasn't sure he'd make it, as he was up to his eyeballs in work. Given what had been happening in Germany in the last few months - or at least, what the papers were willing to report - I wasn't particularly surprised. Three months before, Reinhard Heydrich had been tipped off to an assassination attempt, which had apparently been instigated by RFSS Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Gestapo Muller. If the newspaper reports into the subsequent investigation were even remotely accurate, it had been intended as a precursor to a full coup attempt by certain elements of the SS who were unhappy with the policy of rapprochement with the Wehrmacht. And Artur, as head of the RSHA for the past eight years, was the one leading the investigation.
I still wasn't sure how I felt about his holding that particular position. It certainly made me uneasy if I actually stopped to think about what that meant he did for a living, and I had no doubt about his efficiency in that role. He and I...we don't talk politics.
Every father thinks his little girl is the cutest thing on the planet, and it was obvious over drinks on the 22nd that Wolf and I would never be reconciled over the matter of Rowan versus Elena at three months. When he walked into the library to join us, after arriving later than he'd intended, Armand joined in the general consumption of alcohol, but refused to act as a referee. He seemed like his usual self, but I had the impression from the way he was acting, that something had happened back in Germany and he was unwilling to share what it was.
We were just finishing Christmas Eve dinner when I felt the stirrings of a Trump call. As I could see Wolf and Armand, and very few other people called me on a regular basis on Dominion, I assumed it was Artur and stepped outside into the hall, before opening up the link.
"Greetings of the season, Ian," he said, with a slight smile, "May the gods of Solstice bring peace to you and yours."
"And may they light your way in all the dark places, Artur," I answered, remembering the counter Wolf had given Dieter, that odd Christmas when I'd first met my son, "are you able to join us after all?"
"If there's a place for me," he answered, "I have news, and while I don't think you're particularly going to like all of it, I'd rather tell you in person. More to the point, it would be good to see you all, and there's someone with me who you should probably meet."
Puzzled, I offered my hand, expecting him to take it. He did, but before stepping through himself, he passed through a woman I'd never met before. She stood about 5'6", and looked to be in her early-thirties. Blonde, of course, with her hair caught back in a loose bun; and curious eyes that were blue at the edges, but changed almost to brown around the pupils. Moreover, the keen intelligence behind those eyes told me that this wasn't just some stupid Aryan bimbo. She could easily be Artur's match
My son followed her through with their luggage. They were both smartly dressed - him in an Oxford shirt and tidy trousers, with a dark blazer and his usual rank pin in the lapel; and her in a blouse and smart knee-length skirt. They really didn't look like they were arriving for a family Christmas.
"Gisela, this is my father, Ian Cushing."
"Pleased to meet you, Dr Cushing," she said in decent, but accented English. At least she didn't seem surprised that I didn't look old enough to be Artur's father. I think we'd all got more adept at getting the Shadows to lie about our ages nowadays. More interesting, though, was that she seemed to take a Trump transit with surprising equanimity.
"Ian, this is Gisela Richter...Acker...my wife."
Artur was married? I'd never heard him talk of a girlfriend - or anything else - or even show much interest in sex at all. In fact, after his admission that New Year's Eve back on Tenterden, I'd rather assumed he 'wasn't the marrying kind', as the old euphemism went, not that he would do anything which might endanger his position in any of the variants of the SS in which he served.
"Welcome to Comb Wood Manor, Gisela," I said, trying to cover my surprise, "I can see we have a lot to talk about. Richmond will show you to a room. Have you eaten?"
"We knew we were going to get here late, so we grabbed something before we left Berlin," he answered.
"Well, we're just finishing dinner, so why don't you freshen up, and then join us in the library once you're ready. "
"We will."
Richmond took them upstairs, and I headed back to where the others were sitting.
"Anything wrong?" Marina asked, looking at my probably still puzzled expression.
"Artur just arrived," I answered, and I saw her face light up. So did Linden's, as he's very fond of his younger elder brother, although Rowan took the news with twelve-year old disdain.
"That's wonderful," Marina said.
"He has someone with him..." I continued cautiously, and glanced over at Armand, "is there something you forgot to mention?"
"Quite a lot happened at Winter Solstice," he answered, looking slightly sheepish, "but he wanted to tell you himself."
"So he implied," I commented, thinking about what Artur had said. And Armand's loyalty would always be to his friend.
Dinner began to break up, and as Richmond and the staff started doing their thing, most of the adults headed for the library for mulled wine and mince pies, although Aoife offered to help Katharine see if Elena was settled okay. Meanwhile, the nearly-teens headed for the games room, where we had accumulated snooker, table tennis, bar football, air hockey and assorted other methods of keeping them amused. When they weren't plotting to take over the universe. Four highly intelligent twelve year olds, two of them APIs in training, pretty meant the doom of all us adults.
Aoife and Katharine joined us a few minutes later, reporting that Elena was sleeping peacefully, and Artur and Gisela arrived shortly after them. They'd changed into something more casual, and looked all the better for it. From her place on the settee, Marina's took her son's companion in with the interest of a cat watching a mouse.
"Do you want to do the introductions?" I asked him as they joined us in the centre of the room.
"Might as well," he answered, and the smile he gave to Gisela was surprisingly gentle, "everyone, this is my wife, Gisela....and this is my family - or at least the older generations of it. Armand you know..."
My grandson smiled warmly, and gave her a peck on the cheek. In contrast, Marina's stunned expression was something to be believed.
"My brother Wolf and his partner, Katharine. My cousin Aoife. And this is my mother, Marina."
She got to her feet in one smooth movement, and went to hug first Artur, and then his wife. Then she stepped back for the obligatory interrogation, as she tried to decide if her new daughter-in-law was good enough for her boy.
"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, "how long have you been married?"
"Winter Solstice," he answered, "Armand agreed to be my best man."
"But you didn't invite your parents?"
"Things have been rather complicated, lately, Mama...it wouldn't have been appropriate."
"Why ever not?"
"It was all tied up with the quarterly Gruppenführersaal meeting," Armand answered, coming to his friend's defence, "Führer Heydrich was there, and security was pretty tight."
So they'd married at the Wewelsburg. Inevitable, I suppose.
"Well, at least tell me how long you've known each other," Marina asked, obviously miffed.
"We met at the Party Conference in June," Gisela answered, "I work in the Reich Chancellery, and Artur was one of the speakers. Armand introduced us."
And there it was. Back to Armand.
"Who wants a drink?" Wolf asked, recovering fastest from the shock, and started playing barman. Then, once we were all suitably equipped with mulled wine, we settled down and did the general get to know each other thing.
We broke up at around eleven, so Wolf, Katharine and Armand could get ready to go to Midnight in Tenterden. Marina and Gisela decided to go with them, while Aoife headed upstairs for the night, shooing the pre-teens in front of her like a mother hen. Which left Artur and me alone in the library.
"There's something else, isn't there," I said, finally.
After all, there was nothing about him getting married, however surprising it might be - although she seemed like a genuinely lovely girl, and she and Marina had hit it off once my wife's initial disappointment at not being invited to the wedding had worn off - that could be described as something I wouldn't particularly like.
"Yes. But I wanted to tell you quietly, on your own, as I suspect you're not going to be happy."
"It's something to do with the Gruppenführersaal meeting, isn't it?"
"Yes. Führer Heydrich has appointed me as Reichsführer-SS."
Oh brother. If I'd been uncomfortable at him being head of the RSHA...
"Couldn't you say no?"
"I could have, but I didn't want to," he answered, "you and Mama asked me and Armand to come here to help sort things out in Germany, and as the coup attempt proved, there's still a lot to do. And as it's not a job my other grandfather is ever likely to give me, I agreed."
"And is your sudden venture into matrimony just a coincidence?"
"No. Heydrich's been on at me for a while to find someone to settle down with, and unlike Armand, who can charm him away from that conversation, I didn't really have a choice."
"Do you love her?"
"Do you love Mama?"
"It's not the deep romance that Wolf and Susanne had, or I had with Audrey, but yes. We're good for each other, we care deeply for each other, but we know how to give each other space when we need it."
"Gisela and I are the same. She's my friend, and I've come to care for her a great deal since I've known her. And given that I had to marry someone, she was my choice."
"How does she feel about that?"
"She's ambitious. I think she wants to be Party Chairman...woman one day, so marrying me suited her. I think it should work out well for both of us."
"And it gets Heydrich off your back."
"Which believe me, is always sensible."
"I hope it works for you, Artur. I really do."
"So do I," he answered, "but as you can imagine, it's all rather new to me just now."
"How close were things in September?"
"Closer than they should have been. Kaltenbrunner and Muller obviously knew I was loyal, so they hadn't approached me to be part of the conspiracy. But we figured out what was going on with about a day and a half to spare. And when I made my report...well, shall we say, Heydrich wasn't merciful."
"That I can believe," I answered, visions of the Plötzensee Prison and piano wire in my mind, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. You're uncomfortable enough about how I live my life, and I'm well aware that my promotion isn't going to make that any better. I'd rather just let it be."
"I understand."
"But I did want to be the one to tell you, rather than you reading about it in Das Tag."
"I appreciate that," I answered, "and if this makes you happy, then I'll try to be supportive."
"Happy doesn't really come into it," he replied, with a shrug, "but it is my duty."
"Be careful, Artur," I said, quietly.
"Oh believe me, Ian. I will," he replied.