Editing Red Sword Calls-FB Posts (section)

===5266-Drums and Duty-Random & Truman===

Sitting behind the sort of drum kit that is worthy of the King of Amber, Random set the sticks aside and reaches for his tankard. Setting his cigarillo aside he looks over at the nephew he is about to dump a metric ton of crap on. He watches him sling his ax aside and reach for his own tankard.

Sighing, and lays out his cards.

“So this is the problem. The shadows ebb, flow, and swirl in ways that boggle the mind. I've sat in the Jewel of Judgment and felt the way things flow and seen the islands of stability like rocks in the oceans. Amber is a huge island. It has shadows moving around it crashing on the sand. Squiggles like Bursain, Trasidy, Alamond, and even Azcala, are their own rocks. Avalon is another huge island. Mandalay is another. Each time a shadow crashes it gains a little something and loses a little something.”

“Its an imperfect metaphor, but it will have to do. The shadows obviously don't move but its the perceptions of the powers regarding them that I saw while in the jewel. But there is an exchange..I need people to observe it. The exchange isn't rocks and brush and oceans..Its people, thoughts, music, art, architecture... it could be anything. I need people that will note little things, as well as big things.”

“Currently I have Cogswell Mal At Riess as the ambassador to Mandalay. Hes kind of a wackadoo but a loyal one. He's musical as well as military so I thought he was a good choice since as a veteran of Patternfall and a Duke, he seemed respectable in rank. But it turns out that he isn't a good at noticing things. I don't expect Mandalay to be a military threat but that's all Cogswell seems to think is important for me to know. I don't need someone who only knows one song. I need someone who can play lead, but can strum the rhythm if the song requires it. And I think I need someone not only of rank, but of blood.”

“Mandalay is the center of Shadow, regardless of how the ebbs and flows of shadow veils work. If trends are coming from Chaos to Amber they will pass by there. And visa versa. Things bouncing off the squiggles will show up there as well. I need a clever eye, a ready wit, and person able to sing lead, but still be able to work with the chorus.”

“I also need someone to hang out with Adrian and his collection of Lords and lunatics as a Lord of the House Bariman. He has seven of my own siblings as Lords; Orsoloa, Sand, Elfwine, Hamilton, and Joseph. As well as Fleece and the ½ of Deirdre that is bonded to him. Toss in some of your cousins, Nadine, Kenshin, Houk, Dashel, Tender and Ghost, and that's a lot of family firepower outside of Amber. His other lords are a collection of nature gods as well as lots of musicians and artists. And of course Fleece's pack of Chaos hounds that turned on Chaos when Fleece did.”

“I don't expect him to raise an army but I do expect an attack on our culture. He can export music and theater that can change public opinion. He has Orson Wells running a road company of Les Misérables that spent a decade in the Dramaturge and is in Thelusia now. It opens in Amber soon. Like I need an anti-royalist theater production now? Bleys practically made my reign a farce at the beginning when he was on his drunk ambition tour. Adrian has friggin' David Bowie scouting concert venues here. Warohl prints made in Mandalay are turning up in Amber art galleries and it would not surprise me if Adrian didn't have Warhol as a Lord already. Branch Rickey, John McGraw, and Juke Talwig manage a baseball league in the Dramaturge with 80 teams spread across 30 shadows in the Green Sway and they are trying to get minor leagues set up in a half dozen Golden Circle kingdoms as well as cities along the Jeweled Road.”

“The problem is that Adrian knows that music, theater, art, and sports are things I really can't thump. I just need to know whats coming better so I can plan for it.”

“Another problem is that Mandalay is officially neutral in the battles between Chaos and Amber. So its like Casablanca for agitators. The Blade of Bursain is lost right now and whoever finds it can do a heck of a lot of damage with his lordship of Bursain. I won't bore you with the magical details but I need to know if there are rumors about where the Blade is. Such rumors will be scrubbed clean by the time they get here but they will be fresh and new in Mandalay. Azcala has been sending Jaguar and Puma cultists down the Jeweled Road for 20 years now and while CHAD has been pretty good at keeping them out of the city they are infiltrating the Golden Circle kingdoms. Azcala has a friggin Embassy in Mandalay. Lastly, Borlak is on the move. He usually raids around Regor since those shadows protect him from Vance's starships and my riflemen. The last thing I need is Borlak bringing his Flowing Horde to Amber.”

“So...Truman, i'd like you to take the post of Ambassador to Mandalay from Amber. Go, hang out with the lords, chat up the family members, spend time in the Dramaturge. Hell, Adrian might offer to let you walk the Mark. I'll be encouraging your kin to drop by and visit you. With the exceptions of Bleys, Flora, Vance, you and I, few of the Amber side kin have spent much time in Mandalay.”

Sitting with a crooked frown, Truman does a one-hand roll and lights the wrap, with a offhand flick.

“Well now, Random, it sounds like I have little choice in the matter. Still, I have been through the Dramaturge a bunch. You know of course that Hamilton, Dashel, Vance, and I run a Famous Concert Tour business out of the place. I've done Woodstock a couple times with them, as well as some stuff at the Fillmore, some Dead shows, Mozart directing “the Magic Flute”, “Ajax”, staring Sophocles. Took a few tours to the games in Rome, but that was a bit...gruesome. Oh, and a really bizarre tour of Musicals with really bizarre combinations of actors in lead roles. John Wayne and Elinor Roosevelt in “Hello, Dolly”, Charlie Chaplin and Whoppie Goldberg in the “King and I”; That kind of thing... I suppose I could lead some of the kin around there without too much trouble. Dashel would probably better at that. He maybe a lord in Mandalay but he considers himself more cosmopolitan. As for the rest, I'll keep busy.”

Tapping off the wrap and taking a chug of the dark, he continues.

“I hate to be a greedy weasel about it Random, and I'll do it of course, but whats in it for me? I get a staff I'm sure. Valuable parting gifts? Copy of the home game?”

Random nods, “Of course.. Well, You'll have plenipotentiary powers of course... But there is one other thing. Tell you what, you go get your affairs in order. When you are ready call me.”


Hours pass as Truman gets his traveling kit together. Putting his blade on his belt, and his guitar on his back, he opens a trump to the King.

“You ready? Come ahead” Random extends his hand.

“Ya, I suppose.” Truman grasps it and steps forward.

Arriving at the flat rock plain, the crooked trees, and the glowing artifact of the Primal Pattern. Dworkin stands at the center of the pattern. Fiona and Gerard look from mouth of the cave leading back to Dworkin's apartments.

“Ah, well, this isn't what I expected.” Truman looks around the stark landscape he has only heard rumors of before.

Random walks to the start of the pattern. Reaching under his tunic, he withdraws the Jewel of Judgment.

“Come ahead. Take this and walk the pattern. When you get there Dworkin will guide you in attuning it."

"Ah, Random, ...You want me attuned to the Jewel of Judgment? Really? I know a few power words but its been years since I toyed with sorcery."

Ranom says, "I know. Im going to have Fiona come to Mandalay on the sly and tutor you on sorcery. I know this is a lot to dump on you but I trust your sense of Duty. And frankly I trust your father's willingness to turn you over his knee if need be. "

"Adrian is attuned to the Jewel, and got it on this pattern as well. Adrian will know how seriously I'm taking the post if I send someone known to be in my inner circle, hell in my garage band, who also has the same attunement he has. Dworkin and I spoke in depth about it and we think that if he offers to let you assay the mark you should, and you have my permission."“

Nodding, overwhelmed, he takes the stone and begins walking, feeling the strain of the effort an octave above his previous passages through the pattern.

Reaching the center, Dworkin takes his hand and the stone. “Concentrate on the stone. Look into it deeply. Transport into the center. I'll follow you in. “

The experience is musical, he feels the glow inscribe itself on his sense of self. Standing in the crimson center Dworkin is suddenly there beside him. The gyrating patterns around him moving like writhing snakes around him. Dworkin reaches out and grasps small broken sections of writhing snakes, drawing them together and passing them through the stunned Truman. Dworkin weaves expertly the writhing strands through the Ambassador to Mandalay. He feels the writhing inscriptions impose themselves on his soul.

Coming to awareness he stands in the center of the patter. Dworkin supports him as he recovers from his weakness. The stone on its chain hangs around Dworkin's neck.

“Go to the Dramaturge. Walk to Mandalay from there. Your patent of appointment is in your satchel.”

Moments pass and the transport completes. The new Ambassador to Mandalay contemplates the changes in his life that a few hours could make.

[[File:D-Random.jpg]]  [[File:T Truman.jpg]]