Tome XI:
Orphan of Amber
Nicholas had grown much since their last meeting in Ambre, and the powers that eddied about him were awe-inspiring and disturbing at the same time. Konrad recognized the scent of the Abyss about him...that taint of the King in Yellow. He had also learned the beginnings of shapeshifting, and made mention of being ready to assay the Logrus. They talked, and soon it became apparent that some kind of a deal was being offered. Nicholas was looking for allies, and so he came to the one person who could be viewed as a brother to him by birth and alienation...and offered him the chance to save his mother, Kianne. Konrad was unsure what to think of this, but agreed to accompany Nicholas to see his mother.
Down the hallways of Castle Amber they came to a simple guarded door. The guard was asleep, due to Nicholas' magic, and the door lead to a set of stairs that lead down deep under the castle to the catacombs Konrad had read about in Mandor's library. Eventually they came to a large cavern, where stood Caliban...and to the far corner, a bundled figure...Kianne. Konrad approached her silently, knelt beside her and began to examine the extent of her wounds. Physically she was fine, but her powers were held in tight check. She was like a trap, waiting to spring...all the chaos energy bubbling and boiling inside her, waiting to burst out in an explosive finale. But this could be stopped. He realized that he could tap some of this energy, draw it into himself and thus restore her. But what would it do to him...so fresh from the Pattern? This was the deal offered him by Nicholas: restore my ally, your mother, at the expense of yourself in return for my favors. But this wasn't what Konrad wanted.
Konrad trumped Cassilda, and their conversation was brief. She knew from the lay of the cards that he involved in something dark. He expressed his worry, his fear, and ended by saying that he only hoped he was doing the right thing. She expressed her concern for him, and he ended contact.
He talked with Nicholas for a moment about her condition, and Nicholas passingly mentioned that Karl was now dead, which shocked and annoyed Konrad. All his planning and scheming...for naught. Konrad knelt beside her again, assume his avatar form, that of a golden-skinned, faceless man with elements of Pattern inscribed into his skin. He looked very much like the King in Yellow, but grander somehow. He called up all his magical wards and spells, and looked into her soul. Roiling chaos there, and when he came back, hours had passed. But his plan had been decided. Carefully he extended his control into her, slowing down her cells...slower and slower...pushing her into stasis until she was a tight core of energy bound in layers of white marble with but one small vulnerable point on her forehead. Konrad lifted her stone form, one finger poised over this delicate pressure point, and announced to Nicholas that he was leaving with her. Talia's son made no protest, and let him leave.
Konrad quickly realized that he would never find his way from here, and so he trumped Quynn, asking to be brought through, and that he bore Kianne in stone. Quynn was angry with him for involving himself with her again, but Konrad protested that he had been given little choice. He also explained that he needed to take her somewhere, and Quynn felt that anywhere but Amber would be fine. Annoyed at Quynn's reticence, and worried about what Nicholas might do, Konrad cut off contact with Quynn and trumped to the Institute, just as Quynn was trying to reach him again. The result was that they both arrived there. They talked as Konrad finished turning her completely to stone, and eventually Konrad was persuaded to take her to Mythos. There Quynn took her form off into a side room, to deal with her.
Konrad was very angry about Quynn's heavy-handed behavior, but at the same time he recognized that he was incapable of making an objective decision where Kianne was concerned. She was his mother, and though he loved the idea of a mother, he realized that she was not it, that she was quite mad...that her only remaining motivation for living was her hatred and desire for revenge. He understood that she had to be destroyed, and deep in his mind some part of him applauded this decision. With Karl and Kianne gone, he could at last be free. He attempted to leave, only to be told by Quynn's servants that he could not, and so he asked for a table, chair, paper, and writing instruments, and began to draft a few letters.
This story continues in Tome XII: God-King of Europe, which will be added later.