Chapter 6    Put to the Test

fter her period of convalescence, Ashlyn had returned to full duty.  During her absence she learned that Random had been busy with putting together a new mission to go and destroy the Keep of Four Worlds utterly and completely.  Why, she wasn’t so sure.  So far, Random had assigned Vincent, Pandora, Finch, Blake and even Octavian on this one.  For reasons unknown to her, her name was not on that list.  Could it be because of her parents?   Nah.  Could it?

            “Ashlyn!  How’s the hand, dear?” Fiona’s voice caught her off guard.  Ashlyn squelched the impulse to startle and cry out as she spun around to face her.

            “It feels as good as new.  Thank you,” she managed to say.

            “Now that you know about it you’re wondering about the new mission Random has put together, aren’t you?  Why you aren’t on the list?” she asked knowingly.

            “I would suppose so,” Ashlyn replied.  She found herself holding her breath as she was awaiting the answer Fiona would give her.

            “Well, how do I put this lightly?  Flora’s better at putting things lightly, so I suppose I’ll just have to be blunt.  Random’s wondering where your loyalties lie—we all are,” she said matter of factly, her hands on her hips, ready to hear Ashlyn’s explanation.  “You really haven’t done anything “spectacular” or “over the top” to prove yourself.  It turns out that your old crowd is involved in the happenings at the Keep—and by old crowd I mean Dalt, Jurt and Julia.  It’s also been confirmed that your father is definitely out of the Abyss, back together with your mother and is in charge of the happenings at the Keep.  As for his state of mind, no one can say.  No one really knows if your brother is with them or not.”

            “I see,” Ashlyn said quietly as she let Fiona’s words sink in.  “I am here serving the King and Queen.  If I wanted to do something to show that I was leaning toward my father’s old ideals, I would have done it a very long time ago.  Granted, I haven’t done anything “spectacular” as you might put it, but I don’t think I’ve given any real cause for anyone to doubt me otherwise.  As for the old “crowd” you speak of, yes, that would have to include Dalt, Jurt and Julia.  I never ran with them if that’s what you’re getting at—that’s Luke’s bunch of friends and he hasn’t had any serious or friendly contact with any of them in some time that I’ve been made aware of.  If you need to know more, I suggest taking that one up with Luke.  I think he’s been far too busy with ruling Kashfa to play with his little friends, but then, that’s just what I think.  If I ever was with them in the past, I was the little sister tag-along.  Apparently, my mother doesn’t quite know where my loyalty lies either, for she has not mentioned anything to me about this.  As for my father, I’ve never met the man and I’m not sure if I really want to after hearing all the stories people tell—don’t get me started.  I have not heard from my brother either,” Ashlyn said.

            “Yes, I believe you’re right.  I’ll go and talk to Random.  Here’s a chance to prove to us where your true loyalties lie.  I will see to it that you go on this mission,” Fiona said with a smile that Ashlyn wasn’t sure she liked.  She had turned on her heel and swiftly left.  Ashlyn felt a knot growing in her stomach.  She wasn’t sure that she liked where this was all heading and she could swear that her head was spinning.

            It was later in the throne room that she learned exactly what was going on.  Random had called in Mandor of Chaos for his talents with a power known as Primal Chaos and that he was there for the express deed of releasing it on the Keep, thereby destroying it and anyone who would be caught inside of it.  Pandora, Finch, Vincent, Octavian, Blake and Ashlyn were to accompany him to that shadow to act as Mandor’s bodyguards should the need arise.  Ashlyn felt the knot in her stomach compound itself tenfold, but she said nothing and squelched the nausea threatening to take over.  She felt as if everyone was staring at her for a reaction, but no one said anything and she was determined not to give one.  The only things being said only pertained to the mission at hand.  Ashlyn set her jaw and put herself in a determined kind of mindset to get through it and get it over with before she really had a chance to think it through.  She was dead set on keeping her emotions numbed until the mission had been completed.

            It was almost as if she was living in some kind of dream as a Trump gate was opened and they had all stepped through.  Ashlyn, Pandora, Vincent, Finch, Blake and Octavian took up their positions surrounding Mandor, facing outwards.  Ashlyn found herself facing the Keep.  In a strange sort of fascinated horror, she watched as the black swirl of Primal Chaos slowly enveloped the Keep and proceeded to “erase” it.  That was the best word she could think of to describe it.  A single tear rolled unnoticed down her cheek, but she stood her ground, unmoving.  No one else seemed to notice it.  As soon as the Primal Chaos began to consume the rest of the Shadow, Mandor had opened the Trump Gate back to the Castle and they safely stepped back through.

            The Keep of Four Worlds and the shadow it resided in were no more.  If Brand, Jasra and the rest of them were there, they were destroyed as well.  Ashlyn wasn’t sure what to think or how to react.  In fact, she just felt numb.  It was a quiet victory for the good of Amber.  After getting back, everyone was allowed to go their separate ways again and Ashlyn headed straight for her room.

            She pulled out her Trump deck and fished out Luke’s Trump.  It was never confirmed that he was in on it with dad.  She began to concentrate, but the card never reacted and she never got an answer.  Her heart began to sink as she sat down onto the bed, burying her face.

            If mom and dad were there, they were destroyed.  I can understand the vendetta against dad, since everyone believed that he was the horrible person they said he was—I wish I knew him to know for myself.  Mom had brought this on herself for hooking back up with him again.  Why didn’t she tell me?  Oh, just who the hell am I kidding?  I must be a horrible child!  I am a bad person who would knowingly murder my own parents!  But we went to destroy the Keep—not necessarily my parents.  If they were in the crossfire...

            Ashlyn continued to silently feed her anger by berating herself.  Feeling a sudden burst of restlessness, she headed downstairs to the cellar for a beer.  It was not her intention to get drunk, but to feel the giddiness of a slight buzz.

            “Well, how ‘bout a foosball table?” Vincent’s voice could be heard.

            “We could put in a billiards table.  Maybe pinball,” Blake’s voice sounded excited.

            “And a couch to relax on. You think the King would go for it?” Finch asked as Ashlyn entered.  She found all three of them bent over what looked like a catalog.

            “What are you three up to—picking out colors?” she tried to smile.  I won’t show that there’s anything wrong.

            “We want to turn this into a rec room,” Blake said excitedly.

            “Okay,” was all she could managed as she quickly grabbed her beer.  “Lemme know what the king decides.”  She didn’t think that turning the wine cellar into a rec room would hold her interest for very long.  No, she needed to just walk around, let her head clear, or fuzz with alcohol as the case could be, but just needed some time alone—

            “My lady!  Lady Ashlyn!  I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” a servant had rushed up to her.  “There’s a prisoner in the dungeon who has asked to see you.”

            “A prisoner?” Ashlyn was confused.  She wasn’t aware of any prisoners in the dungeon—let alone of anyone who would know who the heck she was.

            “Yes ma’am.  He’s been wanting to see you especially,” he replied knowingly.  His manner of “I know something you don’t” was very annoying to her.

            “Well, who is it?” she demanded.

            “I was not told.  Only to come tell you about it,” the servant said.

            “Thanks I think,” she dismissed him with a wave of her hand and immediately turned on her heel and headed for the dungeon, thinking it seemed all highly irregular, but her curiosity was piqued, just the same.  So down the long spiral staircase she went.

            “Good day, My Lady,” the guard greeted as she reached the entrance to the dungeons.

            “Good day...” Ashlyn greeted, struggling for his name.

            “Roger,” he prompted.

            “Ah, yes.  Forgive me.  I was told that a prisoner wanted to see me,” she said, looking at him expectantly.

            “Oh!  You must be Lady Ashlyn!  Yes.  He’s expecting you.  You’ll need a lantern.  Let me get that for you,” Roger began to rummage around in a box beside him.  “Tell me, is it a beautiful day today?  How’s the weather?  The reason I ask is because since I work the day shift, I only get to see what it’s like outside at night.”

            “Oh, it’s a lovely day out.  The sun is shining and the weather is real nice and warm,” Ashlyn answered automatically with a smile.  The question was actually a refreshing one.

            “Here we are!  Just oiled up, too.  Just take it to the end of the hall and make a left.  It will be the third cell to the left,” he handed her the lantern.

            “So who is it?” she asked.

            “I’m not to tell you, but you’ll soon see for yourself,” he replied.

            It was all dark and creepy walking the hallway.  There was no light except what came from the lantern and the occasional torch on the wall.  It seemed as if the darkness was threatening to swallow her whole.  She rounded the corner counting one, two, three...

            Ashlyn paused, taking a deep breath.  She raised her hand and opened the little window on the cell door.  Before she could even shine her light in to see who resided beyond it, she heard an unfamiliar voice call her by name.

            “Ashlyn?”  She seemed frozen to the spot and felt her mouth go dry.  “Ashlyn?  Is that you?”

            “I am here,” she responded when she had found her voice.  Her insides felt as if they were doing the flip-flops and her spine tingled with a kind of excitement.  The voice was somewhat deep yet melodic.  She couldn’t recognize it at all.

            “Hold the light up and let me get a good look at you, child!” the man had come up to the bars.  Ashlyn felt an exhilarating rush as each studied the other.  She could pick out features she normally saw in Luke’s face, but this wasn’t Luke.  His hair was red and his eyes were green, seeming to be misted over with a kind of emotion.  She found herself holding her breath and getting light-headed.

            “What a beautiful woman you’ve grown into.  You’re so much more prettier than your Trump,” he said softly.

            Ashlyn suddenly felt a stab of fear.  “Who are you?” she asked quietly.

            “I’m your father, Brand,” he said with a soft smile.  Ashlyn almost felt overcome with the emotions that assaulted her.  For whatever the reason, she knew it to be true.  She did not doubt this man’s word.

            Ashlyn had a hand over her mouth to stifle an “Oh, my God” as she retreated a couple of steps to let the wall support her since her knees were feeling weak.  To finally meet her father!  But as the rush of elation swept through her, so did the sense of foreboding and the dread of what he really was.  Luke had told her of how he was a wonderful father, but was different with the rest of the family.

            “It’s alright Ashlyn.  Don’t be afraid,” Brand called out to her.

            “I’m not sure if I should be feeling that or not,” she straightened up, master of herself again.  “How is it that you come to be here?  Have you been here all this time?”

            “No.  I’ve been here ever since the Keep was destroyed.  Because the Fount being completely destroyed, I have had my humanity restored to me.  I don’t expect you to believe me, but I’m not the person I was.  I’m my old self again before this whole Fount-business began.  And to try to prove it, I have placed myself under house arrest.  Try the door.  It’s not locked,” he said.  Ashlyn reached out and easily turned the knob but didn’t open the door.

            “So you can leave anytime you want?” she asked.

            “No.  Part of the deal is that I not leave for any reason whatsoever.  I’m to be down here for at least the next five years—at least that’s what Random and Benedict have decided for now.  If I so chose, I could either leave by the door or just open up an Abyss Hole and I could just forget this whole redemption-thing, since I’ve learned how to control the Abyss and practically live there.  But I really want to try.  I really want us to be a family again,” he said in earnest.

            “Mom.  Is she—” Ashlyn couldn’t bring herself to finish it.

            “Oh, she’s alright.  And your brother was no where near the place when it went.  We had escaped just in time,” he explained.  Ashlyn visibly let out a huge sigh of relief.  So I’m not such a terrible person after all.  But she wasn’t about to tell him about her part in the Keep’s destruction.

            “Ashlyn, I admit that I really have done some very terrible things and I’m sorry for them.  Most of all, I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and your brother.  I wish that there was some way to make that up to you,” he said, the emotion evident in his eyes.

            “You should know better than that.  You’ve never met me before now.  You can’t just show up out of the blue and expect to be my father in an instant.  Don’t do that to me.  It’s not fair to either one of us.  So you’ll just have to excuse me while I don’t jump on the chance to have countless birthdays made up to me!” Ashlyn could feel her strength returning and her knees being able to support her again.

            “Of course.  I’ll take it however slow you want.  I may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but I am here for you now.  Feel free to visit me whenever you wish.  My window is always open,” Brand said with an understanding smile.  Ashlyn gave a little smile back, said her good-byes and began to head back up the passageway.

            After handing Roger the lantern back, she continued on her way, and realizing that she did not wish to spend the next half-hour climbing up those stairs, she pulled out her Trump deck.  Her hand easily pulled out Vincent’s Trump and she stopped to concentrate, knowing that he would be the least likely person to pull her through without question and she was right.  Vincent accepted the call.  By the looks of things, he was in the library with Blake and they were still pouring over catalogs.  She simply asked to be pulled through and without another thought, Vincent did as he was asked.

            “Thanks,” she mumbled and began to head to the door.

            “Hey, Ashlyn!  The king said yes to the rec-room idea and we’re trying to decide what should go in it,” Blake stepped aside to indicate the catalog, a silent invitation to join them, but Ashlyn either wasn’t interested, or else something was really bothering her.

            “That’s nice, Blake,” was all she said with an absent-minded air as she quickly left and headed straight for her room.

            There was still some time before dinner, and she had to find a way to keep herself occupied until then, and the library was out.  She wouldn’t be alone there.  Her head was swimming with just had just happened and she was still trying to take it all in.

            Ashlyn paused for a moment in front of her bed to throw down her sword and change her tunic.  She figured that she would actually do something about looking presentable for dinner for once.  She figured that it would help clear her mind a little to be doing something.

            She reached into the fireplace with a pair of tongs to pull out a couple of coals that had been smoldering nearly all day.  She placed them in the holder under her curling iron and went about getting ready for dinner while it heated up.  As she was working her hair, she could have sworn that she discerned movement behind her in the mirror.  With a gasp she turned to find a deadly snake heading straight toward her.  Quick as thought, she grabbed the hot iron and beat its head in, successfully killing it.  As soon as she had cleaned up the mess and put the snake’s body in a little bag to dispose of it, she felt the oncoming of a Trump call.

            Whoever it was, the caller had taken great pains to conceal their identity.  Ashlyn found herself frozen to the spot.  She couldn’t move, she couldn’t cry out, she couldn’t scream.  All she could do was breathe.  In horror, Ashlyn watched helplessly as a second snake slithered out from under the bed and was slowly making its way toward her.  Ashlyn gritted her teeth and tried to mentally “push” the caller away, but all it got her was a terrible pain in her head.

            Great.  What a crappy day I’ve been having.  What a crappy ending!

            Ashlyn never felt so helpless in her life as the snake inched its way closer.  She could feel a hot tear of anger course down her cheek.  Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

            “Ashlyn?  You in there?”  It was Blake’s voice.

Oh, but I can’t say anything, I can’t move!  Please don’t leave!

            “Ashlyn?  You okay?” Blake pounded now.  He opened the door and poked his head in.  His eyes went wide at what he saw.  He wasted no time in dispensing with the snake that was a mere two inches away from Ashlyn’s ankle.  Once he had, Ashlyn was freed from the Trump and she sank into the nearest chair.

            “Thanks, Blake.  I thought I was truly done for,” Ashlyn said quietly.

            “Your welcome.  That’s two you owe me, you know,” he said with a smile.  “I came up to see how you were.  You were acting a little strange down there.  Vince pulls you through and you take off.  You just weren’t being you.  Everything okay now?”

            “It is for the moment I guess.  Two snakes came out from under my bed and whoever held me frozen with that Trump contact took great care not to let me know who it was,” she said as Blake began poking around under the bed to make sure that nothing else would come out.  He pulled out a bag that apparently held the snakes.  He put his hand inside and pulled out a scrap of paper and handed it to Ashlyn.

            “Mean anything to you?” he asked as she studied it.  All there was to it was a simple smiley face.  J  No note, no signature.  Ashlyn shook her head.

            “Let’s worry about it after dinner,” she said and followed him out.

            So someone does appear to have some sort of vendetta against me.  Who could it be, and why?

            Random had made his announcement after dinner of Brand’s presence in the dungeon and laid out all the ground rules should anyone have a reason to go and see him.  Now it wasn’t a secret.  Brand really did seem to want to make the effort to be good again.

            Ashlyn tried her best to not notice that people were throwing looks in her direction.  She only wanted to have the day over with.  When the opportunity presented itself, she politely excused herself and retreated to her quarters whereupon she allowed herself an entire emotional breakdown.

            It had been an overwhelming past few days.  The fight against Dalt, losing her hand, gaining it back and then put through an emotional wringer of a test to see where her loyalties lay.  She had taken part in attempted murder on her own family and she was feeling tremendous guilt over it.  Her father finally came into her life and then she nearly loses it to an unknown assassin.  The emotional strain of it all was becoming too much.

            Ashlyn wasn’t quite sure what to make of herself.  She secured the door to her room and bolted the door.  She removed her sword belt and in an angry yell of frustration she threw it against the room where it hit the opposite wall with a visible spark.  She found her couch pillows and started to pound them with her fists as hard as she could.

She was uncertain for how long she had been pounding on the same poor pillow now that half of its stuffing was on the floor, but she was aware that her face was hot and her eyes were stinging.  Raising her hand to her cheek she was surprised to find that it was moist.  So I really am crying!

            She had also realized that her whole body was shaking and that she was making a strange hiccup noise.  Her gut felt sore and her breathing was coming in great gulps.  She tried to stop herself but the tears kept coming and the sobs wouldn’t quit.  Angered at herself for even crying, she sank down onto the bed and cried herself to sleep.

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