Occurrences Concerning Azcala
'Random at Castle Amber
Sitting on a high parapet of the castle Amber, Random looks down to the harbor of Amber.. From the King's Perch, he sees out to the light on the tip of of the Lighthouse of Cabra. For a moment, it flashes green and gold, and the thought of a stalking puma enters his mind... he mutters..."Oh damn... that can't be good..."
2: Tonacat and the Puma
In shades of gray and green the swirls of chaos rise and fall. The winds of stale herbs and old letters wafts from the stone behind which an old man sits, writing..
The stone that bears him floats in the stuff of chaos and he is not distracted.
A sleek beast flows like water on four fleet feet up grains of sand few would know as a trail, save he and the old man. Its tawny fur speckled with lights in yellows and oranges, shifts from fur to strings like a woven basket, to flecks like graven stone. It arrives behind the man, in flesh and teeth, and sits beside him.
"The Serpent has given me the Key, old man. You need but cross to Zilla, give tribute at the Fane, and we are free."
The man looks from the page he writes. Folding the cover of the book, he ties it with a cord woven of heartstrings. "You are free. I will have to make tribute. The others?"
"A bird has landed at Cabra. My brother has taken his post by the Mark. The High Lord has told me when you make your tribute, you may use the Key. Have you chosen a realm? "
The old man stands, sliding the book in a satchel of human skin. Reaching below the rock he draws out a long thin blade of carved of volcanic glass, carved with intricate runes. Buckling it to his belt, he draws a thick black dagger of volcanic glass, a twin to the killing blade. Examining it with care.
"Yes.. tribute.. It is time to make a sacrifice. Peasant's blood to appease the High Lord, and a King's blood to avenge my father's faults"
The beast and the man walk down the trail together. If other ears were near them, they would have heard them chortling.
