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Lucas makes his way back to his own quarters, where he passes at once into the anteroom he has set aside for receiving visitors who are of a lesser rank.
Shrike is waiting in the anteroom, under the watchful eye of Gaston, who seems to believe that if the sailor was let alone in the anteroom, he'd steal everything.
Gaston asks Lucas if he wishes anything and departs, either to fulfill Lucas' commands or to handle other business, as appropriate.
Lucas dismisses him with a wave.
Shrike is standing, with a sailor's hat in his hands. He is squeezing the brim, likely from nervousness. He waits to be addressed.
"You must forgive me," says Lucas. "I was detained by affairs of state."
And for once this is technically true.
"Now," says Lucas, "you are ready to take me to the temple of the Paresh? How long will it take us?"
He nods his head, nervously. "Yes, my lord. It should be no more than a watch, my lord, unless you wish to spend more time below ground. It wasn't that long for the other lords."
"Good," says Lucas. "And will - perish the thought - any special equipment be needed? Grappling irons? Rope? Ah ... the things I do for literature!"
He catches sight of himself in the long looking glass set over the fireplace. "Assuredly," he murmurs, "I must change. Do you not agree? These trousers - a masterpiece of the tailor's art! - are not designed for scrambling, one feels."
"We shall need light, my lord. We are going underground.
"Into a basement, not a cave," he adds hurriedly, "it's not banned spelunking. I can make a torch, my lord."
"Good," says Lucas. "Wait here - Gaston will bring you anything you need for the torch."
A tug on the bell cord summons Gaston, and Lucas then disappears for a surprisingly short space of time, to return wearing dark jeans, sturdy walking boots, and a dark purple soccer shirt bearing the inscription on the front, "Each succeeds in reaching the goal by a different method", and on the back the legend: Machiavelli and the number 7. He also wears his rapier with casual insouciance - the grip today is a deep purple to match his sword.
"Shall we go?" he asks.
"As you wish, my lord. The temple is down in the temple quarter."
Lucas lets out a low whistle, and a small curly haired urchin in page's uniform, with a deceptively angelic expression, nearly explodes into the room with the velocity of a cork shot from a pop-gun.
"You called, my Lord?" he asks with an engaging grin.
Lucas sighs.
"Yes, Pert. I ... erm ... called. I want you to go down to the stables and have Cheval saddle Greybeard and ... " He looked speculatively at the studry sailor. "The Preacher, I think."
"Yes, my Lord," says Pert cheerfully, and disappears again with the same alacrity.
"Shall we make our somewhat more leisurely way to the stables?" asks Lucas. "You do ride, I trust? Or should I have summoned my carriage?"
"I've had basic instruction, my lord. I expect not to fall and to get to my destination. I prefer to sail, sir."
While Garrett is engaged with the mare, a small boy in page's uniform rushes in to the stable, calling, "Cheval! Cheval!"
It is Lucas and Solace's page, Pert, a boy of somewhat dubious morality but a singularly engaging manner. He looks round the corner of the stall where Garrett is working and beams at him.
"Have you seen Cheval?" he asks. "Monseigneur needs two of his horses immediately."
"Easy, lad! Slow down 'round the horses," Garrett chides lightly, mane comb in hand. "I think he's over in the tack building," he says, nodding in that direction. "You know where that is?"
Pert nods vigorously, then catches Garrett's eye and grins.
"No," he admits.
Garrett laughs. "C'mon, then. I'll take ya there," he says, tossing the comb into his grooming box. He ruffles the mare's mane and says, "Back soon, sweetheart," as he makes his way out of the stall, securing it behind him.
He leads Pert around to the rear of the royal stables and past the stock area to a long, low building near the outer bailey. "Cheval!" Garrett calls as he nears the building. "You still in there?"
After a moment, Cheval pokes his head out of the tack room. "What? Oh, it's you, Garrett. Hullo, Pert. What does Monseigneur need?"
"Hey, Cheval," Garrett says in greeting. "The lad here says the Marquis needs two horses straight away. You got it or you need help?"
"Greybeard and the Preacher," says Pert breathlessly - it seems he ran all the way to the stables. "And he's coming now, Cheval."
Cheval - a dour man - nods. "If you can spare time to help, Garrett, I'd be obliged. Monsigneur is very particular ... "
"I can help! I can help!" shouts Pert (who is still at that useful stage of boyhood that delights in handing around the sandwiches at grown up parties, rather than the slightly later stage that goes in for leaning moodily against walls and surveying the assembled company with a jaundiced and derisive eye).
"You!" says Cheval with amused contempt. "You'd be filching the bits out of the horses' mouths. Check your pockets, Garrett, to see if the little devil's made away with your pocket book."
Garrett furrows his brow and pats his pockets. "Nothing missing yet," he teases.
Pert assumes an expression of such outraged innocence that it suggests there is some truth in Cheval's claim.
Garrett's used to dealing with children. He leans down to Pert's level, hands resting on his knees. "I've got a job for ya," Garrett says to Pert importantly, winking at Cheval. "If the Marquis will be taking these horses on a long ride, they'll get very thirsty. How 'bout you grab those pails by the door and fetch them some fresh water, then meet us by the front of the stable," he suggests, nodding in that direction.
Pert stares at him for a moment, unblinkingly weighing up the options. The he nods.
"Bien sur."
He trots away obediently.
Cheval watches him go, and then nods his approval. "A young rogue ... but with good in him. And devoted to Madame la Marquise. Alors, these horses."
He sets about tacking up the horses (with Garrett's assistance, if he chooses). Greybeard is a lovely dappled grey stallion; the Preacher is a thickset bay - a sturdy farmer to Greybeard's undeniable aristocrat.
Garrett helps get the horses ready, following Cheval's lead to get Lucas's "particulars" just right.
Bu the time the horses are tacked, Lucas strolls into the stable, wearing dark jeans, sturdy walking boots, and a dark purple soccer shirt bearing the inscription on the front, "Each succeeds in reaching the goal by a different method", and on the back the legend: Machiavelli and the number 7. He also wears his rapier with casual insouciance - the grip today is a deep purple to match his shirt.
He is followed by a man whose garb no less than his demeanour proclaims the sailor.
Garrett bows as Lucas enters. "Good morning, Lord Lucas." To the sailor, he nods, "Good day, sir." He has work to get back to, but waits for the proper dismissal.
Lucas sees Garrett, and nods. "Thank you," he says, in the quiet tone that signals dismissal, and then, before Garrett can leave, "I'll bring Hope down tomorrow morning, if the will be convenient."
Garrett bows again. "Very good, m'lord," he responds and he's off to finish grooming the mare.
Lucas mounts easily, and nods to Cheval to assist the Captain (if he needs it).
Shrike is an ordinary sailor. Captains in Amber are less unctuous. Or perhaps just differently unctuous.
"Shall we be off then?" he says.
Shrike mounts much less easily than Lucas, but manages to stay aseat. Lucas believes that he'd stay on in a hard wind, but not in a crisis. "As you wish, my Lord," Shrike says from his docile mount. "The temple is in the temple quarter," he adds.
Perhaps unexpectedly for one who is rumoured to spend so much of his time in the city indulging in such fleshpots as the Red Mill, Lucas seems to know his way to the Temple Quarter. While, however, he seems to recognise some of the larger and more ornate of the temples (and definitely receives short bows of acknowledgement from the priests of a couple that are rumoured to go in for somewhat decadent ceremonials), he is content to let Shrike take the lead in bringing them to what he expects to be the somewhat more austere regions of the Paresh.
The Temple Quarter has seen better times, and it's clear as Lucas and Shrike ride through that it was not a priority on the rebuilding list. It's like a patchwork with some buildings in good shape and others not only in need of repair, but apparently borrowed from to repair other places. The occupied buildings are clean, and the street is spotless, which is one of the obligations of groups using temples. There are few people on the street, mostly foreigners. The Temple Quarter seems to have suffered more from Amber's decline than other quarters.
Shrike stops at a large white building made of stone. He ties up the horses and finds a young boy to watch them for him (and for a coin).
"We should have brought Pert," murmurs Lucas. "On the other hand ... he looks angelic enough to run the risk of being seized by any number of faiths to become their acolyte. And then shortly afterwards being denounced as whatever their religion execrates as the devil .... "
Shrike looks disapproving at the mention of a child being seized. "I wouldn't know, my Lord."
[Shrike] leads Lucas around to the back, where he applies a crowbar to a boarded-up door. The door swings open and what looks like it might be a food preparation area is visible in the daylight streaming in from the opened door. Lucas may have heard scurrying, or it might have been his imagination. Lighting the torch and carrying the crowbar with him, Shrike says "This way, my Lord. The basement stairs are on the second floor." Shrike and the light enter the gloom of the boarded-up kitchen.
Lucas follows, not entirely unsurprised by the darkness or the possiblity of a rodent population. He does spare a minute for a glance around the area, as though assessing the kind of food preparation that went on here (austere vegetarianism, fatted calves on a regular basis, copious amounts of wine storage?).
From the space, Lucas thinks they were feeding a lot of people, but there's no evidence of what they were feeding them.
He then follows Shrike as they pass through to gain the second floor - Lucas quite interested to see what's on the ground and first floors as well ... (OOC - unless we are with the American system here, in which case Lucas will have to be interested in seeing only what is on the first floor).
(OOC - what does he see on the first floor as they go through? Have the rooms been stripped/looted/left intact? Are their signs of worship (e.g. plain walls, or richly decorated? Any symbolism?)
[You'd guess they took most of their stuff with them. Careful observation will indicate that there was something on the walls that isn't there now, like tapestries or hangings of some sort.]
"A slightly unusual arrangement, don't you think?" he remarks. "Having to ascend in order to decend. Architectural, or religious reasoning behind it, I wonder ... "
And he will endeavour to work that one out too.
"That's where Lord Vere had us break down the wall, my Lord. The stairs behind it went up and down."
Indeed, Shrike has led Lucas to a second [American system] floor corridor that has seen the business end of a pickaxe. Through the opening, Lucas sees stairs, going up and down.
Lucas nods. "But the Princes only went down?" he asks. "Or did they surmount to the heights as well as plummet the depths?"
He allows Shrike to proceed him through the hole - indeed he makes a gesture to confirm that arrangement - Shrike, after all, has the light.
"Tell me what the Princes did," he tells Shrike. "They are very thorough - and I see no need to duplicate their efforts in every direction."
"Sir? They went up the stairs to the roof, then we went down. They looked around for a while, then we pulled a large stone from the wall and they went into a passage behind it. " Shrike hesitates. "I...think that something magical happened. In the basement. I'm not really sure what I remember."
"How very unnerving," comments Lucas, who has drawn his dagger almost absently and is testing the walls of the stircase to either side. "Perhaps we had better start by descending then, and as we proceed you may beguile the time by relating to me all that you do recall. One often finds that the more one talks about it, the more clearly one recollects the episode. Or so that tedious little Austrian doctor was always saying to me ... well, at least he did until I started his talking cure. Between you and me, I'm almost half-inclined to believe he was a charlatan. But nonetheless, regale away."
"Prince Gerard's son kept talking, as if to someone. Level thought he might be a wizard talking to his familiar, because he knew stuff afterwards, but I wasn't sure."
"I suppose he might have been reading something aloud," says Lucas nonchalently. "Bright chap, my Cousin Vere. Haunts the library, dontcha know. Perhaps you saw something in his hands ... some little guide book. Something like that."
"No, my lord. It was definitely a conversation."
"When did all of you come down here before, by the way?"
"Some time back, my Lord. Just before Prince Jerod departed with the expedition that went to the wrong place."
Shrike's steps on the stone echo as he walks down a very long staircase that goes at least twice as far down as they've gone up. At the bottom is a large room, much larger than the light source can reach. The ceiling is tall and there are some small rooms near the staircase. On the ground is an oil lamp, extinguished and (if Lucas checks) about half full of oil.
The feeble glow of the torch is joined by the slightly less feeble glow of the lantern.
Lucas does indeed check and, if there seems no danger of it suddenly exploding, he lights it.
"Did you leave this here last time?" he asks. "Or do you think there've been more recent visitors?"
"We didn't leave that here, my lord."
"Well," says Lucas, "that answers that," and he looks at the lamp a little more closely.
(OOC obviously noting Clues like the brass plaque that says, 'Property of Amber Castle. Please so not remove and things of that ilk.)
Common as dirt. If you had a dime, you could have a dozen.
He proceeds to hold up the lamp so that he can examine the walls and then, when that is complete, the small rooms. If there seems anything interesting, he might test the walls with either the blade of his rapier (if the mortar seems loose) or rap it with the pommel to see if it sounds hollow.
The walls are covered with whitewash, which obscures some designs under them.
Lucas, with only the slightest grimace, draws a dagger and attempts to scratch off a little of the whitewash in hopes of exposing the layer below, and designs upon it.
Hard to tell.
Towards the center of the room Lucas sees some sort of mound rising towards the ceiling. It's at least 10 feet across. The room is large, but large on the order of a ballroom, not large on the order of a pattern chamber. The light does not reach the far wall.
The walls of the small rooms are also covered in whitewash. Lucas guesses that they had some sort of pictures or words, but he can't tell what it might have said.
"It would be give the mongraph a bit of a lift if we could find some church plate, dontcha know?" he explains to Shrike. "Something for the Museum ... I doubt these folks will be back, somehow."
"The building is royal property, my Lord. Anything here belongs to the crown already. I heard that the building was going to be sold."
Lucas look around. "How delightful," he says flatly. "One must suppose the eager queues of would-be purchasers from the Royal Estates Office must stretch round half the castle. A mere snip, I am sure."
"It was one of the embassies that asked, or so they say. I don't think the King ever sells anything in the temple quarter, though."
"Very wise," murmurs Lucas. "If religion is the opium of the people, it's never a good idea to rely on a foreign dealer ... "
Lucas, with a faint moue of distaste, advances on the mould in the centre of the room.
"And was this here earlier too?" he asks Shrike, as he holds up the lantern to observe the substance more closely.
"The ash pile? Yes, my Lord."
The ash pile is aptly named, a large pile of ashes, with some metal bits sticking out from it. It has been disturbed in a few places.
"And my cousins were doubtless intrigued?"
Lucas regards it with disfavour. Even as a child, playing with mud pies had little appeal when compared with arranging his bibelots. He pokes at the ash-pile a little disparagingly with his rapier, then pulls out a clean handkerchief and wipes the blade carefully.
"For a moment, my Lord. Until they discovered the other passage at the back."
Shrike points out a rather large stone and some marks on the floor where it had been dragged out of place. The stone is large enough to cover a significant opening and there are two holes in it at about chest high.
"We put a rope through them holes and the block slid forward." He explains.
"Ah," says Lucas, looking at Shrike a little askance. "And do we have a rope? Let us utilise it, by all means. Or if not, perhaps you should describe what you discovered beyond."
If Shrike produces the rope Lucas will wait patiently for the block to be removed. If it proves necessary he will, with a faint sigh, remove his jacket, fold it carefully and place it on what appears to be the cleanest patch of ground, and then assist the physical endeavour.
If Shrike fails to produce a rope, Lucas regards him with a look of faint reproach.
Shrike threads a rope through the hole and grabs the doubled rope and sets himself to haul the stone out. In a moment he falls on his backside as the two halves of the rope part. The rope seems to have been cut cleanly. Investigating the stone hole, Lucas and Shrike find a small piece of paper, with a handwritten note on it.
This passageway has been sealed by order of the King of Amber.
Do not attempt to open my sealing.
Fiona of Amber
Lucas looks at the message with decided disfavour, and then places it in his wallet (withdrawn from the recesses of his jacket).
Lucas looks into the other small rooms and - if nothing intrigues him, suggests they return to the higher levels of the temple.
Shrike seems more than willing to do so. "There was some boxes in the attic that wasn't cleaned out, my Lord."
"Then let us go there forthwith," says Lucas. "Perhaps they left outgrown toys, or some racy novels ... "
He will follow Shrike up to the attics.
This attic has been sealed up for many years to beings larger than rats.
Lucas gives a faint shudder and steps fastidiously.
There is a door onto the roof with a padlock on this side, piles of disintegrating clothes, a few wooden trunks (containing old, disintegrating paper), and the remains of bed frames.
Lucas glances at the papers, turning them carefully with the point of his dagger, to see if there is anything legible.
This may have been some kind of dormitory at one point. From the dust and the state of the goods, Lucas suspects that it has been many, many years since anyone has been in here.
Or perhaps not, as there are a few sets of footprints and one of the trunks is disturbed. It has the word "Germaine" written on it in a child's scrawl.
Lucas examines the footprints with interest, looking at the directions in which they head ... and also the size of the footprints (compared with his own foot) and other salient characteristics - dragging marks, strange boot heel imprints etc.
Modern boots, perhaps a half-dozen or so. They go to the chest and to a door, both of which seem to have been opened.
Lucas ascertains - as best he can - that this was not Vere and Jerod (or Fiona, for that matter) - both by assessing the marks with narrowed eyes - and also by the more practical measure of asking Shrike.
"Them's ours, yes, from when the lords came through."
Finally he approaches the trunk and looks to see if it can be opened. If it can, then he does, cautiously. Caution might take the form of getting Shrike to do it - particularly if brute force is required.
It's not even latched. The chest holds decaying papers, a schoolchild's catechisms and lessons. At the top of the chest is a printed book, which is in much better shape. It is called 'The Witnessing of Thrift" and it seems to have been printed outside of Amber. In the margins are drawings and doodles. The inside back cover is a drawing of Vere, or perhaps someone who just looks very like him, wearing a stone around his neck.
Lucas appropriates the book, and directs Shrike to take the catechism and lesson books (one can learn much about a faith from what they teach the children). He also checks - as best he can - whether the book was originally left in the trunk - or planted by the Owners of the Boot Marks at a later date.
"They pulled that from the bottom. That's when these papers got so messed up."
The papers (other than the book) are really not readable. They are too damp and old to be very readable. Perhaps another chest might yield better papers.
Lucas checks all of them ... well, he directs Shrike to check some, and checks the remainder himself.
He finds nothing that he thinks will be useful. More papers, but again, they are damp and would be difficult, if not impossible, to read.
Gaston has been trained in the reclamation and recension of ancient manuscripts. It will be good for him to have a chance to hone his skills - or so Lucas feels.
[Unless Gaston is a magician of some power, this is the kind of forensic art that fails miserably in Amber. Lucas has no reasonable expectation of success, although he may assign the task to Gaston. Not that Gaston expects reasonable expectations from the Marquis.]
Well, quite. If Gaston wants reasonable demands, Lucas is sure he can find work elsewhere. Less challenging, and less highly paid.
Later, remind us that you asked for this and we'll tell you that Gaston has not made any progress.
Remind me to berate him appropriately.
Gaston will pencil it in on your beratement calendar for you.
[As far as mundane skills for recovery of information from codices and scrolls, the librarians of Castle Amber are the renowned experts of which all others are ... but you know.]
Clearly Lucas will have to cultivate a librarian or two.
Lucas also checks whether the drawing is a trump of his cousin (or someone who just looks very like him).
It is not cold to the touch.
Nevertheless, he removes it for later study.
Then he nods to Shrike.
"The door, now, I think."
He heads in that direction.
Lucas opens a door onto the roof of the Temple. The view is glorious.
Lucas takes advantage of it.
"Did my cousins go out here?" he asks Shrike.
"No, my lord," Shrike says. "They looked out, but didn't go out."
He goes for a wander anyway - unless it proves logistically unfeasible.
The door opens out onto a catwalk, which if it were closer to the sea and facing the right direction, might best be described as a widow's walk.
Lucas wanders down to the far end of the walk, enjoying a lovely view of the Temple Quarter, and finds that he has reached another door. It is similar to the one from which he recently emerged onto the roof.
By this time, Lucas is (perhaps unsurprisingly) operating under the strong suspicion that Jerod, the ever-observant Vere and Fiona herself have between them been through this building with a fine toothcomb. The odds that they have overlooked anything are, he feels, somewhat remote. But nevertheless ...
He opens the door.
If nothing else, he reflects that he will probably find he has a quick entry to the other end of the long attic.
Perhaps, but if so, there is a wall about halfway between the two sections. This room is organized as an office and seems mostly empty. There is a roll-top desk and a small floor safe in the room.
Lucas heads first for the rolltop desk and - having checked it thoroughly for booby traps - opens it.
The desk contains desk-y things, such as string and pen nibs and a small knife. There is a book that lists class attendance at some education seminar or other, and a lot of sealing wax.
Only after he has searched it thoroughly (including checking for secret drawers, compartments and false bottoms) does he turn his attention to the safe.
(OOC - is it attached to anything, or is it of a size where he can take it away and open it at his leisure?)
It is not, and he could. It is heavy, but not too unwieldy.
Lucas looks around for a dustsheet, or a cloak or something to cover it. It is, after all, possible that the Paresh are still watching the Hole in the Wall where he entered. In addition, while quite happy with gossip about his fashion sense, his aphorisms and even his morals, Lucas feels that there is something faintly vulgar about being gossiped about for strolling through the Temple Quarter with a locked safe under his arm. Mysteriously wrapped objects now, that can jolly well verge on dashing if carried off (in both senses) with sufficient panache.
There is a cloth of some sort up here. In a drawer, Lucas finds what looks like a flag that will do.
Lucas does not forsee a lack of panache as being a problem here.
If Shrike were there, he'd be foreseeing Lucas having Shrike carry it...
Shrike will find out soon enough.
If he fails to find anything in the office, he supposes he can always utilise the old clothes in the attic with Shrike. After carefully checking this room to make sure there are no further hidden rooms beyond, he makes his way back to Shrike.
(OOC - unless we have more to explore ... )
There is a door here that leads to a stairs that do no seem to be bricked up. They seem to lead down in the normal fashion into the temple.
Lucas returns along the widow walk, and invites Shrike to join him. Once in the hidden room, Lucas helps Shrike to lift the safe, then takes his lantern and leads the way back down the stairs and into the temple, looking around for points of interest (such as how well concealed the entrance to this part of the attic is from this side).
If nothing further of note occurs or remains to be explored, he will be willing to set off back to the Castle, hopefully in time for lunch. Gouter had rather a fine fricassee planned, he seems to think.
All happens as Lucas desires, although the fricassee is a little less juicy than Lucas had hoped.
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XXII: Breakfast with the King | Index | XXIV: A Visit from a Sorcerer
