RANDOM

Four o'clock in the afternoon
and I didn't feel like very much.
I said to myself, "Where are you golden boy,
where is your famous golden touch?"
I thought you knew where
all of the elephants lie down,
I thought you were the crown prince
of all the wheels in Ivory Town.
Just take a look at your body now,
there's nothing much to save
and a bitter voice in the mirror cries,
"Hey, Prince, you need a shave."
Now if you can manage to get
your trembling fingers to behave,
why don't you try unwrapping
a stainless steel razor blade?
That's right, it's come to this,
yes it's come to this,
and wasn't it a long way down,
wasn't it a strange way down?

-Leonard Cohen,
from Dress Rehearsal Rag

Key 10. The figure here was thin and pale, bound to an enormous wheel. He wore brilliantly colored rags of satin and leather, at his right arm red, right leg yellow, left leg black and left arm blue, and his torso was in white, his belt golden. His hair was long and yellow and wildly tossed and tangled so that it hid his left eye, but his right eye was brilliantly blue, and his face, though twisted in pain, showed more anger and hatred than despair.

Imprisoned in the Zoo after his ill-advised rebellion and the death of Prince Merlin, the punishment of Random is still used to frighten children and has found its way into many mythologies. Saint Sangremains himself thought it up, and he and Merlin had been close. Random was bound to an enormous wheel that revolved every five minutes. There were 24 different stops on the wheel, and six of these did him no damage, allowing him a brief respite from pain. The others were as follows: fire, acid, electricity, cold, poison, and blades - three stations of each. In constant torment, but continually regenerating, Random has not learned any humility or regret from this torture, but rather it has served to further his anger and hate.

Random was recently released from the Zoo by his daughter Lily, and almost immediately lead an assault on Amber. Rumors state that he snuck away from this to attack Dara in person, though how he managed to get inside the palace is anyone's guess. His current whereabouts are unknown.