Send Enclaves mailing list submissions to
enclaves@...

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://gamera.cc/mailman/listinfo/enclaves_gamera.cc
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
enclaves-request@...

You can reach the person managing the list at
enclaves-owner@...

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Enclaves digest..."


Today's Topics:

1. Re: Log 2, part 3 (Kaizan) (Brian A. Dewhirst)
2. Seth's death experiences (Allen Veazey)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:58:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Brian A. Dewhirst" <dewhirst@...>
Subject: Re: [Enclaves] Log 2, part 3 (Kaizan)


> Seth moved closer to the edge, next to where the unicorn stood. He
> looked down for a long moment at the swirling of pink and red around the
> parley. His hand moved up, hesitantly, but slopped short of actually
> touching the unicorn; he seemed to think better of it. Instead, he said,
> "It's good enough for me." He turned and started walking towards one end
> of the buried Pattern.

As he did so, Kaizan's voice sounded clearly in his head.

~I wish to show you how deep the pattern is, and to remind you of its
shape. Look to your left fifteen degrees, and I shall try to superimpose
it on your vision,~ Kaizan said as the jewel around Seth's neck glimmered
in the reflected light.

~Thanks,~ Seth thought back. ~And there's something else... we'll look for
a little bit of help. In my head.~

As he stared as Kaizan suggested, Seth was conscious of a wavering image
of the Pattern. What was clear to him was that the Pattern lay buried
under many heavy layers of plantaxy ... a sparkling glacial death.

+++

Kaizan once more heard the voice of the Unicorn.

~All Seth needs to do it trace over my hoofprints,~ The unicorn projected
to Kaizan. ~The gem he carries should do the rest... if he is strong
enough. And if no one tries to interfere.~

> ~I will pass along that message in an encouraging fashion. What did you do
> which provoked rose petals, if I may ask?~ Kaizan responded.

~I... don't know,~ the unicorn replied quietly, worry softly underlining
her thoughts. ~I didn't know there was anyone else here who might have
that power over the substance of shadow here in Gramerye.~

+++

The Unicorn gave another last look at the battlefield, then gracefully
turned and started toward the outward end of the Pattern. She looked down
at the thin layer of snow on the ground, and very deliberately started to
walk out onto the plateau, her hooves leaving a clear trail through the
flakes and crystal underneath them.

Where she stepped, the plantaxy began to melt ...

Kaizan spoke again.

~Seth... the unicorn says to trace over her hoofprints. The jewel will do
the rest. So long as there is no interference, she knows you will
succeed... but it will be difficult,~ Kaizan projected.

And then the unicorn took a step ... onto the thick plantaxy that overlaid
the Pattern intself.

And at once, a solid fountain wall of water, a cascade, lifted on either
side of her. Filled with rainbow lights it glittered and glowed, ever
changing, ever mutable. And the plantaxy melted beneath her feet, or
perhaps the Pattern was, in some strange way, lifting up, for Seth began
to see its outline through the planttaxy for where the unicorn walked,
what had been hidden and lost was found all over again.

And the unicorn moved forward, steadily, tracing out the Pattern between
the walls of shimmering water that rose high on either side.

The Pattern was still not clear as it had been in longlost Amber. But it
was, perhaps, passable where the Unicorn had trodden.

(The following was interposed and happened at the same time as Seth's
patternwalk. Kaizan spent most of his time at this point on "overwatch"
for trouble.)

And the Unicorn stepped forward, serene and graceful. Yet this was not
easy fir her, either. Each step was costing her, tiring her ... perhaps
even causing her pain. The graceful head was starting to droop a little
now, although the casacde rose about her as high as ever - perhaps even
higher.

...

> Kaizan considered contacting the unicorn, but he could see Opal
> straining at the plantaxy. He observed what she was doing with as much
> care as he could, while still keeping much of the rest of his attention
> on everything else that was happening. On potential dangers.
>
> But he really wished there was someone he could complain to... he didn't
> appreciate that there would be so much singing in saving the world.
> Singing.

There was a buzzing in Seth's ears. The plantaxy that contained Kaizan
throbbed once with a strange power, and then was still once more.

For Kaizan, he was aware of the first notes of Seth's songline ...

Kaizan's mind ran back to the earlier discussions with Dot... a weapon,
deployed over songline... it could be very bad indeed if Seth answered
this tune.

And he knew he had the power to block it ...

The only question was - could he use the plantaxy to block it without
destroying the mind of the singer?

Kaizan then, ever so gently, started to apply counter-pressure to block
the songline. Since he could sing in harmony with Seth... he could try to
sing the anti-notes, notes half a phase off, just loud enough to block the
communication.

He did not wish to do Seth harm in the process, and hoped that if this was
merely a friendly attempt at communication they would get the hint. If the
intensity of the songlining increased, he would increase his intensity as
well.

The song stopped abruptly - and it was impossible for Kaizan to tell
whether the Singer had changed their mind or had broken off for any
reason, whether even his attempt at a gentle block had had some mortail
effect ...

Or whether that had been in the nature of an explantatory mental probe,
and that the Singer, the Attacker, would now try again to stop Seth from
walking.

(Sorry Jenever...)

+++


The unicorn ahead was moving slower now ... and slower. Its head was
drooping till the marvellous horn was almost resting on the plantaxy.

Slower ... slower ... until it had come to a halt ...

And Seth realised that the Unicorn was afraid ...

Seth knew that stopping on the Pattern wasn't an immediate death sentence,
especially here and now; but he himself couldn't stop. His mind, embroiled
as it was with memory and emotion and creation, was having a lot of
trouble registering what was going on, what he had to do. "Please!" he
called. "Go ahead! Whatever happens... I'm with you!"

~Kaizan!~ he fairly yelled into the plantaxy around his neck.

> ~I'm calling her... and will do what I can. Eyes on the road,~ was his
> immediate reply. Kaizan's thoughts were tinged with concern as well as
> faint distraction, as he forked his conscious attention.

There was a long pause ... and then the unicorn took a slow step forward

++++

(Kaizan talking to The Unicorn (Alys-at-the-wheel))

~What's wrong?~ Kaizan projected
>
>
> ~I can't! I'm being destroyed!~ the unicorn cried back at him. ~This
> shouldn't be me!~

>> ~You have gone this far... I believe you can do this. If you are
>> certain the effort will fail... can we exchange places?~ Kaizan asked
>> with his newfound dispassion.
>
> ~Trade? You would give up your soul so I could rest in your
> plantaxy?!?~ the unicorn's voice sounded incredulous.
>
> And then... ~Plantaxy... Yes! That's it!~
>
> The connection was broken.
>
> And the Unicorn took a small step forward.


+++

(Time passes. Seth completes his patternwalk, and meets Corwin.)

Kaizan's plantaxy had fallen to one side, as though discarded - but within
it, Kaizan was conscious of things ... people ... pressing close. Hands
that were not-hands, but that reached out to him. It was as though he was
in a room of mirrors - each one reflecting a face. An infinity of faces,
looking through the mirrors to him. And none of the faces was his. But
the hands that were not hands lifted to him and voices that made no sound
called to him - to join them. To lead them, where they must go.

(last two off-list posts)


> Kaizan's voice spoke to the unicorn - and he was aware that it was very
> weak. Could she even hear him?
>
> ~I hope you are alright... they seem to want me to lead them somewhere. Do
> you have any idea what I'm supposed to do now?~
>
> And the unicorn saw the light of plantaxy within and without the crystal
> that held Kaizan - the lost doomed souls were flocking to him, leaving the
> places where they had been held or had rested in the security that
> Benedict and Opal had tried to give them ... looking to him to lead them
> into a future that mere mortals could not grasp, that was beyond the
> grasp of Amber and Chaos and unicorns ...
>
> A possibility of other ... and for a short time, it was possible, within
> their reach. A transcendence that would mean their lonely, helpless
> deaths were not in vain.

> For Kaizan it would mean leaving all possibility of human life behind,
> leaving a lovely lizard woman ... leaving all he had ever known ... and
> once the transcendence happened, he knew that there would be nothing
> left
that
> could truly be called Kaizan.
>
> But ... there would be wonder ... and beauty ... and power ...
>
> It was for Kaizan to choose.


~I have no idea...~ the Unicorn answered, her own voice tired and weak.
~Grandmother told me that there was the chance those in plantaxy could be
restored if I walked the Pattern for Seth. I do not know what happens
now.~

> ~I... think I do~ Kaizan said alkwardly after a lengthy pause.

~...good luck...~ the Unicorn's voice whispered as his consciousness began
to shft from this form and into his next.

+++

(finally... my last two posts, which were over the list. Kaizan becomes
the architect/keystone of The Union of All Sets.)

~ Fin ~



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 09:49:26 -0500
From: "Allen Veazey" <veazeyae@...>
Subject: [Enclaves] Seth's death experiences


This is after Seth was 'killed' by Clarisse, after he met Shirow in the
Dreamlands, and onward to his own walk in the Valley of the Shadow
of Death...

-----------------------

To look at them would imply awareness...

Shirow closed his eyes and concentrated, forming the same message he had
before, to see if he could form a link from here.

~Dierdre. Seth needs you. Just you. No army. You need to hurry.~ In
addition to the words he projected the emotions, attempting his best to
reach her... To convince her. ~Dierdre. Seth has Merlin and Clarisse.
But he needs you now. Hurry!~

Seth, somehow aware of the projection and its message,
merely nodded in agreement.

~Get in. Get out. Things are changed. I will see you when I can.~

There was a strange shimmer in the air - and suddenly Seth found himself
standing alone, on the road on the outskirts of town. When he looked over
his shoulder, he saw Aisling, some fifty yards away and standing in a
lighted doorway, one hand raised in solemn farewell.

Seth raised his own hand, gave her a wink, and turned
towards the low mountains outside the town. He did
not turn to look back.

The road out of the town was smooth and easy and, from a distance, it
appeared to be the same as it twisted and wound its way up the hillside.
But as Seth came closer, he saw the road was jagged, broken - until what had
appeared to be smooth and straight was barely more than a track - and then
even that vanished. But the terrain - ah, the terrain! The familiarity of
it was haunting him. He knew it so very well ...

And then he realised. In his mind, he was climbing into the refuge he and
Ayesha had built together - Geode.

Seth paused a few moments in his climbing, letting his
mind wander. Was this truly Geode, or part of his own
thoughts? If it was real, what was this going to mean? He
was almost afraid to find out. Since he had gone this
far... he put his head down and continued to where he
knew the entrance to be.

It was changed a little from the physical reality, but changed in ways he
knew he had not shaped with his hands, or in his mind. No, these were the
changes that only one person could have made, would have made. Someone who
loved Geode as much as he did. Someone who had shared in its creation.

And there she was, at the top of the track to the open door of the lab,
watching for him, waiting for him to take that final few steps that would
bring him home. But she wasn't going to wait - she had never been able to
wait. Suddenly she was laughing, laughing with the sheer pleasure of seeing
him, and running down to him, warm and vital, her fair hair tumbled all
anyhow around her face, and a smut from some experiment of other beside her
nose, and her clothes were rumpled, and there was the slight irregularity in
her teeth that gave a tiny space between the front two - all the
imperfections that made up the perfection of Ayesha ...

And then she was in his arms, without saying anything, and he could smell
the warm scent of her, and feel how she shook a little with laughter and
perhaps relief.

For a long minute she just held him close, and then she pulled back slightly
to gaze into his face, and her hand lifted to brush his hair back from his
face. He saw her own concern, and how she was trying to hide it from him.

"There's someone here," she said. "Someone ... "

He was aware of a darkness in the doorway of the laboratory now, someone
standing there, looking out. Even though her back was towards the lab,
Ayesha seemed aware of it too, for her hands tightened on him.

"Seth," she said urgently, "he says he wants to help ... "

The man stepped forward into the light. A face Seth had seen many times,
many years ago, when time and his name were different. Someone he had
feared, and hated and loved despite himself.

A face he had seen in the cards, now saw in the flesh, quietly standing and
watching him.

Oberon.

"Dad..." Seth said, and then shook his head; he had just
had this out with Kaizan. Not Corwin. Even with the memories.
Just... Seth.

A detached part of him realized that he still had his arm around
Ayesha's waist. His body was acknowledging things that his
mind had yet to fully accept. He would not let her go. Ever.

"I saw you, in my dream," he said. "I knew I would see you."
His hand tightened around Ayesha. "I thought it would be
different. I thought all of this would be different. Where... what...
is this place?"

"It's my Geode," said Ayesha. "The one I've gone on with, the one where I'm
... " She hesitated, and then said, "The one where I'm dead. And ... it's
just beyond your dream town. But you can only come here because ... "

"Because you're dead too," said Oberon. "Your dreamscape comes close on the
borders of this land. And Ayesha hasn't wholly given up on the life she's
left. Her ... dreamscape comes as close to yours as she can make it. Which
is why this is the best place to meet - on the narrow border."

Ayesha's hand had sneaked around Seth's waist too now, and she was holding
on tightly. Her arm was warm, and whole and blessedly familiar.

"But you need to go back," said Oberon. "And Ayesha needs to let you go."

"Like hell we will," Seth said pleasantly. They were standing side
by side now, touching, her body a long bar of warmth against his.

Then it occurred to him that perhaps he didn't respond all that
pleasantly, after all.

He didn't care.

"So," said Oberon, smiling faintly, "you'll give up your body. You'll let
the people working on you fail, while you walk deeper into the lands beyond
with Ayesha. You've leave Merlin to walk the Pattern - no matter what
Mandor throws against them all to stop him. Or perhaps it will be poor
crazed Clarisse that someone will push onto the Pattern to save the
multiverse. Now, who would do that? Opal, I suspect. Or Jenever perhaps.
Both of them are ruthless enough, aren't they?

"Or perhaps Alys will get there first ... "

"Stop it!" said Ayesha furiously. "Hasn't he given enough? Haven't we both
given enough, over and over and over again?"

Oberon's smile faded.

"No," he said.

They stood there, silent, for a long moment.

"I stood up for you," Seth said, finally.

"I told Deirdre about you. About seeing you in my dream. I
told her that it gave me a feeling of relief, really, that you
were there somehow, that you were helping out." He shook
his head.

"I was wrong. You're playing the same old game of subterfuge
and manipulation you pulled thousands of years ago. I don't
really have to ask how you know about what's going on. But
it also means that you've had the ability to affect things. I've
had a taste of that kind of power... I see how you can feel
justified in what you do. But that's where the similarity ends."

Seth's expression grew flat. "I give people choice. I've fought
and bled for it. I've died for it. You don't... what you can't demand
directly, you tweak things until you get what you want. I'll bet
you feel pretty confident, talking to someone who's genetically
wired for a sense of duty. Someone willing to die to save his kids.
You've had this planned all along, to get me here, to convince us
to give one another up. For what?" Seth's eyes narrowed further.
"For nothing. Chaos will come back, and take over. Both the Patterns
are gone. It'll be just like it was in the beginning, before Dworkin
scribed the Pattern with the Jewel of Judgement. Chaos will
take over, just like Order is doing right now. For there to be a
balance, someone would have to come right behind me and
make a whole new Pattern-"

He stopped, amazed.

"Merlin."

"Merlin," said Oberon, "would be the best solution, as there'll be no child
of any union between you and Ayesha."

Ayesha stiffened at Seth's side.

"Deirdre was cleverer than I expected there," continued Oberon. "But not
clever enough to allow for Fate, and vivirds. And now the whole thing could
unravel ... because of you. And your children.

"Chaos is needed. Order will destroy the universe as surely as Chaos will
devour it. That's why the Courts were needed on both sides. To moderate.
To balance. Your progenitor won the war, and in so doing he unleased
uncontrolled Order. Chaos is back now - wild, primitive. It needs those
who can control it. And Order ... still needs to be contained."

He moved closer to Seth. "If you take the Pattern and die ... what loss?
Ayesha is waiting."

"Don't listen to him!" said Ayesha. "I know ... if you die, if you die here
and now, we'll be together. But if you die on the Pattern, you'll be gone
for ever. Obliterated."

Seth looked back and forth between the two of them. "I am
inclined to believe Ayesha," he said. "I've seen ahead. If I
take that path, my sight ends at the Pattern." He gave
Oberon a hard look. "But you had the Primal Pattern explode
out from under you, and you're still here. How did you do
it?"

"Seth," said Ayesha, "don't you understand? He's here ... with me. He came
from the Lands Beyond to find me - and to find you This is the only place
were we can meet you, Seth. Oberon's dead. He died on the Primal Pattern
long ago."

"I know," Seth said. "But the Pattern... Ultima... is almost totally
destroyed. He should have been obliterated, too. I thought he might
have known... something."

"But I learned," said Oberon. "And what I learned - you should be able to
repair Corwin's Pattern. And ... not die."

"Repair? Not erase?" Seth asked.

"The world needs Order, boy, as much as it needs Chaos," said Oberon. "But
not too much of either. I failed ... but you must succeed. Find Dworkin -
he'll help. In his way. Opal knows where he is. And Benedict too."

Ayesha turned to look up into his face, her own watchful ... but no longer
guarded as it had been when she had been hesitant about confessing her love.

Seth looked for a moment as if he were about to answer... but his
hand clamped down on Ayesha's instead.

"We're going for a little walk, Ayesha and I," he said. "And when
we return, we'll give you an answer."

Oberon nodded. "Very well."

He felt the pressure of Ayesha's hand on his. She approved, he knew, of
what he had done - although she said nothing.

Seth led her away, to an area where the hot springs had
spawned thick, short trees with huge bladed leaves; the
fallen leaf pads were soft and springy under their feet. Best
of all, Oberon was out of sight.

"I thought you gone forever," Seth said as they walked. "If I had
known you were this close... I would have found a way to contact you."

She turned and smiled at him.

"What would you have done, Seth? Put yourself on life support every time
you wanted to see me? I can't come back ... I can't even come any closer
than this. It was Oberon who knew how to get the message to you ... Seth
... "

Her breath suddenly caught, and she turned to him, reaching out to him.
"Seth ... it was so stupid ... so cruel. If only I'd told you then how I
felt ...

"Im not going to say we wasted time, because we didn't have any time to
waste. But I wish ... I wish there'd been more. If we'd only had one
summer together ... truly together. Not just ... as companions. As
comrades. But ... as we should have been."

"I was the fool," Seth said. "I knew it, too. I should have said
something before you left. I should have stopped you..." He
turned and faced Ayesha, lifted her chin with his index finger.

"I love you," he said. "I always have. I've never said it to you,
until now. I should have said it the moment I saw your head
upside-down over mine, at the Schloss. I was so... stupid.
There has hardly been a moment of my life that hasn't been
connected to you, somehow, since the day I met you." And
he kissed her, passionately, trying to convey at least a part
of the feelings he had had for her, and was never able to express.

And her passion matched his as she held close to him, as though she would
never let go. For a long time there were no words, there could be no words.
But at last there was time to speak, half-breathed sententences between soft
kisses, the gentle exploration of territory that there had never been time
for.

"I knew ... but I knew ... something ... of what Mother wanted ... I held
back ... I wanted to be sure ... that it was me ... what I wanted ... and
when I knew ... Seth .... when I knew how much I loved you ... I felt ...
ashamed. As though ... I was tricking you."

She lifted her head and looked up at him.

"I wanted it to be simple between us. Open - no secrets ... "

And then she was kissing him again, with all the urgency that she might have
shown if she had known it was the day of her doom.

"It's the past," he said softly when they broke again. "I
don't want to feel regret for the time we've lost. I want
to enjoy the present. I want you. I don't want to worry
about the future."

And he kissed her again, and began to undo the fastenings of
her clothing, and pulled her down with him to the soft mat of
the forest floor.

For a second - a half second - she resisted. But then she relaxed against
him, and her own hands reached to unfasten tyhe buttons on his shirt, those
swift, light hands, so quick and sure in their gestures, so soft and certain
against the warmth of his skin.

And then there was no more words ... no more worries ...

They had come to a place that was wholly theirs.

..........

He woke, shivering, their nude bodies still entwined on the forest
floor. He was covered in goosebumps where a slight breeze
had blown over them, at least where his skin was not pressed
against hers. A slight chill, faint...

It was then he realized that his body was fading, that it was
time to do something. Decide one way or another.

She was still asleep bedise him - her eyeslashes looking very dark against
her cheeks, so much darker than her tumbled golden hair. There was a
strange innocence about her as she slept, a vulnerability ...

As he moved, she half-smiled and her body moved too, unconsciously, shaping
herself to him. Then suddenly the lashes swept up and his eyes were open,
staring up at him.

"Seth?"

"Hi," he said. He reached up and stroked her hair, then moved
so that their foreheads were touching. He smiled, looking in her
eyes up close.

"I woke up. I felt... a chill. My body is fading, I think."

She tried to smile.

"You've ... chosen then."

Her hand reached for his, for comfort.

After a long moment she said, "Oberon will want to talk to you - before you
go back."

"I don't want to go back," Seth said immediately, almost
spitting out the words. Then, he hung his head. "If we were
able to stay here forever... if the rest of them could do this
without me, or even if the worlds were covered in plantaxy
and we were here together, forever... I would know. I would
have you, but I would always be haunted by the knowledge
that I had the chance to fix things, and turn away. That all
my efforts, all the people who stood with me when
I needed them, I would have betrayed everything that they
were fighting for. It would ruin even the paradise we would
hope to have."

She was quiet in his arms for a while, keeping her face lowered as though
afraid of what he would see there. At last she gave a little sigh.

"Once you've gone ... Oberon wants me to go with him. Away from this half
place. He told me ... He told me I have to let you go. I couldn't -
because there was so much to regret between us. So much unspoken ... and
undone."

She looked up at him now, and he saw the love in her face - but also a new
confidence, a contentment.

"We had another chance, Seth. Not long in time. But it's been long enough
... to love one another. And to say goodbye."

~Unknowing captor
You never know how much you
Pierce my spirit
But I can't touch you
Can you hear it
A cry to be free
Oh I'm forever under lock and key
As you pass through me~

"I would ask you to stay," Seth said, "to wait for me. But I
hear it in your voice... I see it in your eyes. Half-place,
you said it yourself. There's a better place for you..."

~Now I see your face before me
I would launch a thousand ships
To bring your heart back to my island
As the sand beneath me slips
As I burn up in your presence
And I know now how it feels
To be weakened like achilles
With you always at my heels~

He took her in his arms, held her tight, holding
her head against his own. His body shook with
silent sobs.

~This bitter pill I swallow
Is the silence that I keep
It poisons me I can't swim free
The river is too deep
Though I'm baptized by your touch
I am no worse than most
In love with your ghost...~

It was a long time before they came back to Oberon,
holding hands, walking as slow as they could.

"I'm... we're... ready," he said, when they finally
stopped before him.

Oberon was waiting exactly where they had left him. He seemed unsurprised
by their return - perhaps he had counted on it. Perhaps he simply planned
for all eventualities - so that nothing could surprise him.

"We don't have long," he said to Seth. "This will be your last chance to
ask me questions. This will be my last chance to give you advice."

Ayesha pressed closer against him - but already she was feeling more
insubstantial - her hand within his felt almost like the memory of a hand
...

Still, he held on, hoping that just the pressure of his hand
on hers would help her stay just a little longer with him.

"All right," Seth said. "I hope to get a Jewel, myself, and Werewyndle
all together. If all goes well, I'll be standing on a giant hill of
plantaxy in Graymerye. How do I get down to the Pattern to
erase it? How -do- I erase it?"

"The Eye," said Oberon, "can be fitted in the pommel of the sword. Once you
do that - you'll find you can carve out a path through the plantaxy, which
will retreat from the Chaos in the jewel. There will be difficulties. This
will be nmo simple Pattern walk - not even the far greater task of Pattern
creation. You must reproduce the Pattern that your progenitor created long
ago, in all its details, so that the two marry completely and become one."
His shoulders slumped slightly as though he was tired.

Seth's jaw dropped. It hadn't occurred to him that he would
have to scribe the Pattern exactly as Corwin had created it. And to
do so, he would have to get into Corwin's memories so far he might
never find his way back. It might be the same as going the way of
a Chosen. It scared him. And the Eye... would he need Opal to
fit it into Werewyndle, like he would have needed her to fit it into the
crystal
sword? Was she even still alive? And if she were, would she want to
do it after Ultima?

"Merlin," said Ayesha softly.

"Ah yes," said Oberon. "Merlin. He saw that Pattern - he tried to walk it.
He must be there - before you begin, he can show you the perimeters - he is
the only one. But his Chaos blood is too powerful for him to be the one to
walk it - that must be you."

"It isn't fair!" said Ayesha suddenly - and her voice was a sigh - an echo
of her usual clear tones. "Seth is Corwin's clone - but his sample was
taken long before Corwin made his Pattern! The Pattern isn't in his blood!"

"That Pattern isn't," said Oberon - and he too was becoming insubstantial.
"But the true Pattern, the original Pattern, that is there. And that must
be enough."

So much for your grand plan, Deirdre, Seth thought. Mine, too.
Merlin wouldn't be able to do it. Just he and Clarisse and Elaine...
and he had the memories.

"Seth," said Ayesha, and her voice was a whisper in his ear. "Seth ... I
love you ... remember that ... "

"You must not walk alone ... " Oberon's voice too was a whisper. "Others
must defend you ... others must keep open what you create ... "

"But..."

> "The unicorn ... "

"...will I..."

"The unicorn ... "

It was Ayesha, but when he turned his head to look at her, her face was no
more than the impression on a mist - and then even that faded.

And Seth was alone.

"...survive?"

But did it matter, truly?

Ayesha was gone. And this time, gone forever.

Seth knelt, and wept.

Tears at first. And then great tearing sobs that tore at his chest, tore at
his guts. Great shuddering gasps ... for air.

He opened his eyes, the suddenly swirling sensation as angles changed making
him dizzy, giddy. And the light hurt his eyes.

Then the light was blocked, shaded. He felt warm breath on his cheek, and
realised he was staring upwards at the lean face and dark eyes of Merlin.

"Dad?" he said softly. "Seth?"

And even before Seth could answer, Merlin's face was breaking into a wide,
almost incredulous grin.

Seth could not make him out for a moment- his features were too
blurry. He blinked; a fat tear left the corner of his eye, left a slow
cold track down the side of his face.

"Merlin," he croaked. His voice was hoarse and raspy from
disuse. The light in his eyes felt like knives, like pokers...
no. Best not to think of that.

"My best trick," he managed after a moment of swallowing.
"How... how long?"

--
Allen Veazey
veazeyae@...

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much
liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.-- Thomas
Jefferson



------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Enclaves mailing list
Enclaves@...
http://gamera.cc/mailman/listinfo/enclaves_gamera.cc


End of Enclaves Digest, Vol 25, Issue 37
****************************************