Chaos and Amber

by John Gregory Betancourt

  "You can bring me along," he told me, "as chaperone."

  "Maybe she'd prefer your hand, since I'm spoken for."

  "I've already been considered, and rejected, as unsuitable husbandly material. Too artistic, I fear.

  The Ethshells have a strong military tradition."

  I looked at the invitation again. "It doesn't say anything about bringing a guest."

  "It will be fine. Dad should be the one going with you, but in his absence, any male family member will do."

  He took a piece of paper, wrote a brief reply, folded it up, and dribbled a bit of wax on it. Then he motioned for the servant who'd brought the message to approach.

  "Here is our reply," he said.

  "Very good, sir." He bowed and left.

  The moment he was outside, Port closed himself. I turned to Aber.

  "What's she like?"

  "Honoria? Oh… she's hard to describe."

  "Try."

  "Two or three extra eyes, half a dozen arms, red hair, and very well rounded. Quite a… woman, I guess you'd say."

  "Red hair?" I raised my eyebrows. Some of my favorite lovers had been redheads.

  "That's right. Very red, very long, very thick, and all over her body." He chuckled at my expression. "Well, as much of her body as I've ever seen. I can only imagine the rest."

  "This does not," I said, "sound promising."

  "Dinner will be a small but traditionally formal affair with the Ethshells. No more than twenty people. I'm sure you'll impress them all."

  "Traditionally formal? I'll guess that means fancy clothes, boring speeches, and pretentious old men and their wives?"

  "You've dined with them before?"

  I sighed. "With their counterparts in Ilerium, anyway."

  "You'll see," he said with an encouraging nod, "the food alone will be worth the trip. Now, though, we have to get you cleaned up for Aunt Lan's party."

  I tried on outfit after outfit, assisted by Horace and Aber. My brother kept summoning fancier garments using the Logrus, and each time I thought I looked magnificent, he would shake his head and try again. Fancy collars, shoes like golden hooves, hats of impossibly complex design-I tried them all on, then tore them all off. The stack of discarded silks, leather, and frilled lace grew high on top of my bed.

  When I finally stood back and regarded myself in a looking glass, I had a hard time keeping from laughing. My final costume seemed ludicrous. Crimson leggings, a heavily ruffled red shirt with sleeves that puffed out like over-ripe melons, and a jaunty cap with long flowing red feathers that trailed down behind-I had never seen anything so outlandish in my life.

  The sad thing was, Aber took it entirely too seriously. He adorned himself in dark blue, though his shirt had splashes of gold at the sleeves. His hat's feathers were longer and more spectacular than my own-not that I objected, of course.

  I studied my reflection in the looking glass. Not bad, I finally decided. Once you got used to the puffiness and color, everything fit me well and flattered my appearance.

  "If Helda could see me now," I murmured.

  "What did you say?" Aber asked from across the room. He brought my swordbelt over.

  "You're absolutely certain," I said for what must have been the tenth time, "that everyone will be dressed like this?"

  "Of course."

  By tradition, according to Aber, I could not arrive via Trump. I had to ride to Aunt Lanara's house in an open carriage, emerge in grand style, walk up the steps through a multitude of well-wishers, and finally enter the grand hall. There, a feast in my honor would commence, followed by dancing and entertainments into the small hours. I would get my first look at Braxara over dinner, when her father offered up a toast in our honor.

  "Aunt Lan's parties are notorious for their excesses," Aber told me. "Everyone important will be there. Perhaps even King Uthor himself."

  "What about Dad?"

  He frowned. "He should be there. Everyone will talk about it if he isn't. Want to try his Trump again?"

  I shrugged. "I suppose I'd better. Even if he doesn't show up, he ought to know what's going on."

  He brought our father's Trump to me, and I concentrated on it. It took a long time, but finally his image began to stir, as if he were far away. A misty, blurry image came into view-Dad, with a dense forest of pine trees behind him.

  "What is it?" he snapped at me.

  "We were worried about you," I said. "The audience with King Uthor -"

  "Never took place," he finished. "Forget about it. There are more important things happening. I will be back in a day or two. Guard your backs until then; our enemies are moving fast."

  Suddenly he was gone. I never had a chance to tell him about the serpent scrying on me, the lightning attack, Rèalla being sent to assassinate me, or my engagement to Braxara. Moving fast, indeed!

  I repeated what Dad has said to my brother.

  "Very curious." Aber's brow furrowed.

  "Very," I agreed.

  "At least he's planning on coming back. Where do you think he was? Any clue?"

  "Not in the Courts of Chaos, certainly. The forest behind him looked normal."

  "More important things are happening… what do you think he meant?"

  "I think insanity runs in our family."

  I buckled on my swordbelt. Though it had served me well, I had to admit now it showed its age.

  Aber, of course, noticed too.

  "You need a weapon suitable to your station," he said. "I'll get one of Dad's." He headed for the door.

  "Anything special about them?" I asked, following.

  "I'll pick one of the enchanted ones!" he called over his shoulder. Then he bounded down the hall, into an alcove, and up a small flight of steps.

  I didn't have long to wait. In less than a minute, he returned with the most beautiful weapon I had ever seen in my life. It was longsword, with intricate scrollwork along the entire length of the blade. The hilt, inlaid with gold, silver, and precious stones, fit my hand as though it had been made for me. I hefted it. It felt curiously light-far lighter than it should have been, considering its size and workmanship.

  "Well?" Aber asked.

  "It will do."

  "It will do? That's one of the finest swords ever forged. It belonged to our grandfather, Duke Esmorn. He carried it through the Logrus, and it gained magical powers as a result."

  "What sort of powers?" I asked.

  "I'm not sure. But that's what I've always been told. Dad refuses to use it."

  "Why?"

  Aber shrugged. "I don't know."

  I regarded the flat of the blade more closely and noticed a small inscription: "The meek have no need of arms." Truly, this was a warrior's weapon. I would take good care of it.

  I raised the sword and took a few practice swings. The hilt seemed to turn slightly in my hand, almost as if it had a will of its own will. Interesting. I noted it for future study.

  We left not long after, just Aber, Freda, and me-Fenn, pleading exhaustion, begged off-in a grand carriage drawn by white beasts. I hesitated to call them horses, for their necks stretched too long, their long, thin, bony tails had no hair, and their feet… well, six legs gave them speed, but somehow lacked the grace of thoroughbreds.

  We left from the courtyard by the rock garden, and the driver circled the main building at a fast trot. With red skies boiling overhead, and purple lightning flickering constantly, guards swung open tall gates for us. We drove out, and madness surrounded us.

  I did not know how to describe it. It was as though I stood at the edge of a great cliff, and before me streamed every nightmare known to mankind, pounding at my senses. Colors swirled in mid-air. The rush of wind, which had long died down to the merest whisper at the back of my mind, rose to a full-throated roar. Above, the clouds vanished, leaving a sky as black as midnight, but filled with stars that moved like fireflies.

  The horse-creatures began to gallop, hooves pounding. The carriage lurched and jumped. Air scre
amed around me.

  Standing in my seat, I threw back my head and laughed. So this was Chaos. So this was what I had feared!

  I drank it all in, arms wide. My every sense raged. The noise and color and tastes and textures assaulted me. I felt hopelessly jumbled and no longer tried to find angles, familiar elements, or anything to cling to. I reveled in the wildness, and my heart knew no boundaries. Chaos! Yes, Chaos! It flowed around me, through me, became me.

  Aber, laughing, pulled me down. I stared at him, beyond words, beyond emotions.

  "You are drooling," Freda said. She wiped my mouth with the hem of her dress.

  "Why didn't you tell me?" I cried.

  "This is the Beyond!" Aber said. "It's why we have walls, or all would be washed away!"

  The landscape outside had begun to change. I stared. I couldn't help myself. Every way I turned, I found something incredible. Colors that leapt and spurted like water from a fountain. Walking trees.

  Stones that roamed the land. Mountains that shook and heaved and abruptly flattened to prairies.

  And demon-creatures moved everywhere, on foot, on horseback, and in the air.

  The ride, perhaps an hour long, proved a mesmerizing but ultimately uneventful spectacle. I wasn't entirely sure when we left the Beyond and entered the Courts of Chaos, but that we did so I had no doubt.

  I had expected an assassination attempt on one or all of us, but it didn't happen. Perhaps Aunt Lanara's influence carried even this far: knowing I must attend her party, our enemies drew back. That, or they had another, more deadly plan in mind…

  At last the lands grew more normal and less motive, and streets of huge walled estates appeared.

  We drove more slowly now, as we encountered traffic-carriages similar to our own, mounted riders, even a few pedestrians. Most looked as human as we did. I found that strangely comforting.

  Slowing, our carriage turned in at a set of high iron gates. Behind it, towering over the wall, lay a house so immense it made ours look like a cottage in comparison. It blazed with light, inside and out, and

  I saw figures moving on a dozen different floors-many of them pressing up to windows to watch us.

  Liveried servants, who looked more like frogs than men, stood everywhere at attention. A dozen of them bounded forward to take care of us.

  "Announce Lord Oberon, Lady Freda, and Lord Aber," my sister said.

  "You are expected, Lords and Lady!" one of the frog-servants said.

  Freda motioned me out. "You must go through the motions of betrothal for now," she said softly, so only I could hear. "It is the honorable thing to do."

  I nodded. Then trumpets sounded, and a cheer went up as half a hundred doors were flung open and guests began to stream outside. There must have been a thousand of them, as the throngs grew deep around us. They began to call out: "Oberon and Braxara! Oberon and Braxara! Oberon and Braxara!" over and over again.

  "What should I do?" I asked Aber, as subtly as I could considering how many people were staring.

  "Get out, walk in, find our aunt!" he whispered back.

  I stood, raised one hand in a salute, and stepped down onto the steps which the frog-men had carried up to the carriage. The crowds parted for me, leaving a narrow passage up to the house's main entrance.

  There, just outside, Aunt Lanara stood beaming down at me. She wore a tiara of diamonds that sparkled and gleamed, and her long gown shimmered with starlight. Even her tusks had been polished and their tips capped in gold.

  Beside her stood an elderly man, white-haired, in gold and red pants and shirt. This had to be her husband, my uncle. Aber had told me his name: Leito.

  I stopped before them and bowed. "Uncle Leito. Aunt Lanara."

  "Welcome, Oberon. Come inside, my darling boy, and enjoy the hospitality of our house."

  "Thank you."

  A cheer went up from the men and women around me, and everyone began to file back inside.

  Turning, Leito and Lanara led the way.

  Their house proved a cavernous shell, at least in the front. The party seemed to be taking place on more than one level of the house. Above us, people stood on huge flat stones that floated in mid air, drifting up and down, though never bumping into each other or crushing their riders. People stepped from one stone to another freely as they passed, mingling, talking. Laughter, bits of song and poetry, and comments about Aber, Freda, and especially me reached my ears.

  "We must see to dinner preparations," Aunt Lanara said. "Stay here by the door, greet everyone who comes up to you, but commit to nothing. I will return for you shortly."

  "Thank you," I said.

  She patted my cheek and hurried across the floor, calling to servants. They began to spread out into the crowd on the ground floor, carrying trays of appetizers. Others stepped up onto the floating stones and began circulating among the guests overhead.

  "Try not to stare," Aber said in a quiet voice. He had come up behind me.

  "I can't help it!" I whispered back.

  A heavyset woman with three eyes, greenish-gray skin, and a pair of short horns jutting from her forehead floated down to us, surrounded by four young women who held up corners of her heavily layered and more heavily bejeweled dress. I literally fought back nausea. I had never seen such a repulsive creature before.

  "Countess Tsel," Aber said to her, bowing formally. After a second's hesitation, I did the same.

  "May I present my brother, Oberon?"

  "Please do." She offered me a cool hand, scaled like a snake's. I kissed it unhappily.

  "Enchanted," I said.

  "This is my brother, Duke Urchok," she said, indicating the squat man with a face full of tentacles, who had just come up to join her. "And my niece, Lady Portia, and her husband, Baron Yorlum." She indicated a well-dressed couple to her left, both with horns and slightly too-elongated faces, but human enough looking overall.

  "I am honored, Duke, Baron." I bowed to both men, then kissed Lady Portia's hand, my touch lingering for a moment. "And I am most delighted to meet you, my Lady." Would that she were my bride, instead of Braxara!

  Portia blushed. The Baron, with a dark glance at me, took her elbow and escorted her away.

  They stepped onto one of the floating rocks and drifted toward the ceiling.

  "Oberon," Duke Urchok said in a muffled voice filled with faint hisses and squeaks. He gave a nod. "Good to meet you. We have heard great things about you from your aunt."

  "Your house is old with tradition," Countess Tsel said, regarding me, "and you might find it profitable to meet my daughter Eleane."

  I glanced at Aber, who gave a slight nod of encouragement. These two must be important.

  Somehow, I didn't think Aunt Lanara would approve of my dining with them.

  "I would be honored," I murmured, forcing a polite smile.

  "Tomorrow?"

  "Alas, I have a prior engagement."

  "Then we will do it the following day. For dinner." He looked around the room. "Are any of your other brothers here? Locke, perhaps?"

  "No," I said. "It's just Aber and me. Locke is dead."

  "Dead! Oh dear. Poor boy, you're practically an orphan. Then you certainly must come to dinner.

  Bring Aber, but not your father. My dear Sikrad simply cannot have Dworkin in the house. They do not get along."

  Then the countess spotted someone else she desperately needed to talk to and swept away, followed by her brother and entourage. I stared after her, not quite sure whether to be insulted, bewildered, or amused.

  "Who is Sikrad?" I asked Aber.

  "Her husband. No one has seen him in decades. Half the court thinks Countess Tsel killed and ate him."

  "What!" I cried. "She's a -"

  "Hush! A cannibal. She's probably eaten a dozen husbands over the years."

  "And her daughter?"

  "Nothing but rumors about her… so far." He grinned at my horrified expression. "I'm sure you're safe enough, at least until after the marriage, sho
uld you get that far. Now keep your voice down. It's not polite to shout about such things."

  I swallowed hard. Monsters. Cannibals. Eligible daughters. What had I gotten myself into?

  "You could do worse than her daughter," Aber said. "The countess owns many of the finest krel farms in the Beyond."

  "In case you've forgotten," I said, "my engagement is about to be announced here!"

  "Do you really think that would stop someone like Countess Tsel from trying to marry you off to one of her offspring? After all, if you're good enough for Aunt Lanara, you're certainly good enough for the Countess! They have been rivals for longer than I can remember."

  "Why is it," I said, "that half the people here seem to have matrimony on their minds?"

  "Why do you think Dad's been married so many times?" he said with a laugh. "Maybe now you're beginning to see the reason I like life in Shadows better. I fully think half the females in Chaos are in search of mates at any one time."

  Then Aber's face hardened.

  "Be on your guard," he said, gazing over my left shoulder. "Our enemies approach."

  "Who?"

  "Oberon," Aber said loudly. He swallowed hard. "May I present Lord Ulyanash?"

  I turned, forcing a half smiling. Finally I would meet one of our enemies face to face. I would not let any fear or apprehension show.

  Ulyanash looked much like Rèalla's description-long, straight black hair, red eyes, two white horns on top of his head-and he dressed all in black, from pants to shirt to boots. Silver buttons at his sleeves added a splash of color. Rather than large and muscular, as I had expected, he was smaller than me and thin almost to the point of skeletal. I found it hard to guess his age, but it couldn't have been much older than I was-no more than five or six years. To my surprise, he carried no weapons.

  As we came face to face, his red eyes narrowed. I could tell he was sizing me up, too.

  "I am delighted to finally meet you," I said, smiling with all my teeth. "We have several acquaintances in common."

  "Oh?" He set his hands on his hips and looked me over with contempt. "I find that difficult to believe."