The night I was taken from the place that had been my prison for my entire life was a night I will never forgot. The large man Gerard who rescued me brushed past the guards as though they were paper and told my that he was my kin as was rescuing me. There were so many questions that I wanted to ask at that time but not the time to ask them. There was also no time to remove the blue restrainers on my wrists and neck that they had put on me when they had discovered my talent and I had to satisfy myself in quietly following my rescuer.
We moved in the darkness of the Night Cycle through the Nexus to a place on the outskirts far from the Neon lights of the Casino's and bars that I had seen on Holo-TV. There The landscape suddenly shifted and into a place that was similar in architecture yet unfamiliar to me.
"I should have warned you about moving through Shadow" Gerard told me making it sound like fact rather than an apology.
Whatever this moving through Shadow was we certainly seemed to do a lot of it during the journey. Places became more and more unfamiliar too me as well as the peoples that inhabited them. We went through a place where the people all had skin tones of greens and blues with great horns atop their heads. They bowed to the man Gerard and some ran from their houses to sing a strange song that I did not understand.
Finally we took ship in a place that Gerard called Eregnor. The ship was a small vessel with a crew of about six men and women who all knew Gerard by name and called him Prince Gerard. Prince Gerard explained that we would be sailing across the Circle Sea to his home which was called Amber. The transitions in Shadow were disconcerting to me but even more so whilst we were at sea. By now the Day Cycle had come and the sun was shining down. I could not understand where Gerard was finding the Shadows to make whatever transition he was doing, but since he was busy with the ship I could not question him.
Eventually we passed a small lighthouse on a rock mounted on a peninsula that Gerard named Carba to me. In the distance I could see a city with a white castle in the distance atop the hill. It was unlike anything I had seen in the books I had read or on the Holo-Vids. The city, which could be seen more clearly as we approached the harbour, was a mish-mash of styles. It seemed that there were people in the city who wanted to impress and had been trying to outdo each other in their ostentatiousness. When we travelled through the city however I had to revise my opinion. It was only certain houses of a larger nature that had been so designed. The smaller dwellings were more uniform in design and functional. Such is the nature of power and wealth.
We travelled quickly up to the Castle which was guarded by men in armor with a green livery and a white unicorn on it. Gerard nodded to the guards as we passed who saluted him in return. We first headed to a place Gerard called the armoury where another strong looking man with thinning hair whom Gerard called Edron was working at a forge. Gerard asked to borrow the mans tools and made short work of the bracelet and neck brace, something I could not do even though I knew that I was strong.
After the armoury I was taken to an ornate hall and told by Gerard to wait whilst he consulted with the King and Queen. A man wearing a similar green tabbard approached me with a tray and offered me a glass containing a golden liquid. I took the glass and sniffed at it suspiciously. It had a pungent smell that reminded me slightly of apples. The man's quiet subservient attitude reminded me of the books I have read that contained desciptions of servants. Man should be able to think and do for himself so I told the man. "If you can tell me where the kitchens are I will fetch for myself next time thank you."
The man looked shocked and did not know what to reply, instead bowing and beating a hasty retreat. A short while later Gerard returned and told me that we had an audience with King Random and Queen Vialle.
We entered into what I guessed was the throne room as there was a shortish man with straw coloured hair and a mouth almost bursting out in a grin sat sideways with legs over the armrest upon a large ornate chair. Beside him on a similar chair sat more demurely was a small slender red-brown haired pale lady with pale blue eyes that were unfocused.
"So I gather that your own of the family then; welcome to Amber Fergus!" The young man said to me his face stretching so that the grin burst forth. It was not quite what I expected of a King but since I had only read of them before I guess I truly did not know what to expect.
"Thank you Random. I do not know if I am related to you or how you know but I thank you and Mr Gerard for rescuing me from my prison." I said. I noted that there were some in the room who bristled at my words but not it seemed the King or Queen.
"I'm sure that you are tired and require refreshment" Queen Vialle said in a kindly voice "we will have a guest room prepared for you." She make the smallest of motions and one of the green liveried servants dissappeared from the room.
"You are most kind Vialle. I do have many questions that I would like to ask."
"All in good time my dear Fergus. There will be time for questions later. Alas we have a ball to finish organising for tonight which you are welcome to attend, but the arrangements are taking more of King Random and my time than I would like. My sister in-law Flora here has done a fantastic job but there are certain things that I need to attend to myself." The Queen replied kindly pointing to a beautiful lady with long blond tresses who I took to be Flora.
"In which case I will not take up more of your valuable time and will look forward to talking later at the ball." I replied.
"Oh yeah, about the ball" Random started "Could you just stay at the back and observe for now. By all means help yourself to food and the like but don't wander too far. The guards don't really know who you are yet eh?" With that he winked at me in a conspiritoral manner that was so outrageous that I had to stop myself from laughing.
"I will do as you bid and will see you both later." With that I waited to take my cue to Gerard to withdraw.
Outside the throne room was another of the green liveried servants who Gerard said would take me to my room. I followed the man through a series of corridoors until we arrived at a large oaken door that he opened for me.
"Please Sir if you require anything just call for me outside your room and I will fetch it." The man said.
"I am perfectly capable of getting anything I want for myself. I have two arms and legs don't I? I am not a cripple." I bit back at the servant who struggled to hide the shock on his face. He scampered away quickly before I could say anything more and I was left on my own to explore the room assigned to me.
This place was colder than I was used to with no centralised heating system and only a fire to keep me warm. There also seemed to be no Holo-TV or Vids and I could find no books in the room to read so I spent a while exercising using two chair backs to do push ups. I did not like having my normal routines being broken but there were some things that were imposible here that I used to do in the prison. I decided to improvise as best I could else my nerves would fray.
Sometime later a different servant knocked on my door carrying a pail and asked if I would like hot water for a bath. I told him that I was capable of heating water myself and took the pail off him before he scuttled off quickly not knowing where to look. It was slow going heating water in a pail over a fire and the earlier buckets had started to cool when I finally got the last one into the bath in my suite. That had the effect of making the water manageably warm as I relaxed and scrubbed myself before the evening's festivities.
