The universe will end as we know it. That is unless we stop it. We three cousins that are still allowed in Amber we supposed to meet with Random. After several hours of searching in vain, the queen told us what she knew. The basics of what happened was that Random held a meeting with the Elders that were around Amber. Random had found out that two other Patterns, Corwin's and the one Merlin repaired, are growing in power. These alternate universes are growing and could "replace" the reality that we are familiar with. We need to enter these universes and destroy the growing power. One problem is that our Pattern wants this "merger" to occur, and so it might not be wise for us to utilize its power. I am not sure about the implications of this last part. Is the Pattern capable of refusing the request of the Royal family? If it can refuse us, will it only stop us from reaching our goal? What if we called upon it to save our lives, independent of the other Patterns?
No one has seen any of the Elders since that meeting. Nobody can contact anyone who left. The Elders went to repair one of the Patterns and they expected us to find allies and fix the other one. One additional problem was that Random was somehow unable to return. This meant two things. First, Random encountered something unanticipated which prevented him from contacting us. Second, because he was unable to contact us, we don't have all of the available information, including which Pattern to fix!
Naturally with new information to ponder about, my fellow cousins took it upon themselves to go through every possible scenario, even though it served no purpose. I soon grew tired of the endless ramble and decided to do something. (What a novel idea!) I paid Harlequin a visit, thinking that a Logrus Master might solve our transportation dilemma. It turns out that Harle is a Logrus Master, and after explaining the cosmic importance of our mission, he agreed to help us. Harle took us to Corwin's Pattern. Once at the Pattern, I Trumped Miyel and told her that I had made it to the Pattern. The inevitable confrontation thus began. First of all, my fellow companions did not like the idea of my hiding Harlequin. First of all, my relations with other people are none of their concern. Second, with an ace like Harle, you don't just advertise your hand. (Bad play-on-words for Trumps.) All of them would have done the same in my position. (Or at least they should if they were smart.) Anyway, it is obvious that D'lar has a dislike of Harle and of me for associating with him. To make a long story short, nobody trusts anyone. (Amazing.) I find it amazing that Miyel seems to implicitly trust Harlequin even though before she felt that he wanted to kill her.
Several minutes of experimenting with the Pattern revealed that no one could walk it. (Except for D'lar who refused to try.) We left Miyel to guard that Pattern while the rest of us Trumped to Castle Amber so Harlequin would have an easier time finding Merlin's Pattern. (Side note to myself: Miyel went to the Pattern this morning, why?) D'lar wasn't thinking clearly because he came through with us to the main hall. He instantly knew that he made a mistake. The fool actually thought I would let him have Bhelliom (my sword) so that he could fight the guards! To make another long story short, Harlequin and I stood back and watched as Chance held off a couple guards and let D'lar escape. Soon we were at Merlin's Pattern. (Actually it's not Merlin's Pattern, it's just the one he fixed.) So she wouldn't be lonely, we decided to let Miyel in on the fun. Before my companions began their endless rambling, I took a step on the Pattern and continued to walk . . .