Tome V:
The Year of Quietude
The next year passed quickly, and Konrad enjoyed his life in Amber City. It was a period of growth for him, a time spent establishing himself.
Amber City was abuzz with the creation of the University, a project overseen by Prince Quynn, who came to visit Cassilda and Konrad twice a week or so. Konrad aided him somewhat by helping him to screen the faculty of the proposed school of science and medicine. By this time his reputation as doctor became common knowledge and the number of patients seeking him out eventually forced him to open his own clinic. He continued to provide free service for the poor, and fees for the well-off generally took the form of barter. It was during this time that he established his willingness to teach other doctors his skills, as well as establishing his knack for healing involving the eyes. It had always fascinated him how a simple adjustment could correct far-sightedness, astigmatisms, crossed-eyes, etc. More than one young noble came to him to have some disfigurement corrected, though he was very firm to discourage minor cosmetic surgeries. His efforts did not go unnoticed, and through this he made a number of useful connections...establishing himself in a minor way both among the noble families of Amber and the common people of Amber City.
Konrad didn't spend the year simply pouring himself into his work, however. He also studied painting under Cassilda with the aim of developing his artistic side, and his paintings, though a touch haunting in their style, were of high caliber. He even went so far as to do several paintings of the royal family, especially Chadwick, who had been plaguing his thoughts more and more frequently. He sent one of the paintings to Chadwick on the occasion of his birthday, but never heard so much as a thank you note about it.
Konrad's growing interest in Chadwick troubled him...up until this point the whole concept of attraction had been very foreign to him...as his physiology was such that he had yet to reach any kind of sexual maturity, and he wondered whether this interest was a sign of change. He found that it was a rare day in which Chadwick didn't come to mind at least once, and the whole prospect of it reached the point where Konrad felt he needed to take some kind of action, but he recognized that he could better understand the situation if he understood Chadwick. For that reason he journed to shadow Earth and hired a private investigator to gather some info about this Chadwick Moore III. "Perhaps I'll learn some dark secrets of his past that will cause me to lose all respect for him...or I'll learn that I like him even more," he thought. Eventually, only shortly before undergoing his ritual purification, Konrad returned to Earth and picked up a detailed report on Chadwick...and along with it made a number of revelations.
Not wanting to neglect his physical development, he took lessons in fencing and archery. He realized that his swordsmanship was far from adequate by Amber standards, but he did want to ensure that he could at least avoid embarassing himself by his lack of knowledge (instead of his lack of skill). He learned how to use a crossbow, and developed physiological enhancements that would enable him to mount a crossbow into his right forearm. Through use of specialized muscle and bone structures, he made it possible to fire and cock the weapon automatically. Thus he could fire much more rapidly, provided his left hand was free to place the bolts.
One of the primary problems he had faced in his first dealings with the other Amberites was their seeming ability to penetrate his true nature at a glance. The King in Yellow had taught him magicks to cloak one's aura, and so a good portion of the year was spent in study of the finer aspects of those powers. To put it bluntly, Konrad worked at blending into a crowd. His goal was to see if he could go unnoticed by the Amberites...at least when not the center of attention. And so he spent many a day wandering through the streets of Amber City in borrowed forms, idly walking by Prince Torrence or Quynn or Cassilda...and much to his surprise he found that it was rather easy to go unnoticed. It was only when he did something to make himself the center of attention that he provoked a raised eyebrow from Cassilda. He learned that there was an art to blending in...a talent of social invisibility, and it was an art he worked at mastering.
Finding housing in Amber City proved to be a difficult process, as both Konrad and Cassilda wanted to avoid breaking the economy by introducing too much of his personal wealth. Eventually Quynn was able to help them secure a place using the 'royal credit'.
Often Konrad round himself thinking of his mother...wondering what was happening with her. Correspondence with her proved to be very slow at best, and it was nearly nine months after the initial message that he finally received a response.
Konrad's forays into learning the local gossip about the Amberites turned up many interesting tidbits. In order to learn without attracting undue attention, he assumed the form of Lauren, an unemployed bar wench who disliked King Random's style of government. It was through her identity that he met the Sons of Eric, a political fringe group that believed in an apocalyptic vision of the return of Eric. Unfortunately, the group was very sexist in nature, and so he was forced to create a new form, that of Lauren's younger brother, Lucien, an unemployed sailor. Remembering the history he had read of Eric, Konrad crafted the form to contain several physical allusions to the Weir, Eric's shapeshifting servitors. And when the group discussed dreams and signs, his always included references to wolves, and his own nature in the dreams was rendered bestial. Eventually his researches paid off and he ran across a stranger at one meeeting who appeared to him to be Weir, and who sensed his own strangeness. He learned that the stranger was from a shadow called Tovignea, and that Torrence was involved with the Sons of Eric. He confessed much of this to Cassilda after she promised that she would say nothing of it to the others. Months later he met briefly with Prince Torrence and verified that he had indeed recently visited Tovignea, but in Konrad's mind there was some doubt as to whether Torrence was allied with this group or whether instead he was being set up as a traitor to the Crown. In the end, Konrad resolved to watch and learn and take no action.
During his stay in Amber City, Konrad was very careful to make no claims to royal birth, and never used the title Prince, though he always referred to Cassilda as Lady Cassilda. (She was, after all, the former queen of Yhtill.) He was also careful to gather what gossip he could about the royal family, and pleased to learn that he was still unknown. No connection had been made between Mandor's ward and the new physician of Amber City. It was always in the forefront of his mind that he would one day claim his birthright and secure a title in Amber, but he was unsure of how to go about it. Claiming his parentage through Karl did not really seem an option he was willing to exercise, and it seemed highly unlikely that Kianne would be an acceptable verification for his parentage. There were only two ways to prove is parentage: by walking the Pattern or by finding some proof of Kianne's link to Osric, who was now long gone.
Konrad spent many fruitless months trying to gather some information on Osric, but to no avail. Oberon had been very thorough in erasing his rebellious son from the history books. Only Benedict's journals might contain some information, but they were held under lock and key by Clarissa, and she never responded to Konrad's request for assistance.
One constant source of debate for Konrad over the course of the year was what to do with his future. On one hand, he could walk the true Pattern and easily establish his birthright, but this process would purge from him his Abyssal abilities and probably force him to renounce all claim to Carcosa. Or he could become a higher initiate of the Dark Pattern, but he feared the possible effects of this corruption. For any other Amberite it might be an easy choice between darkness and light, but for Konrad the issue was not so simple. The Dark Pattern was very dear to him...it represented what made him different from the others, a factor he was loathe to hide or inhibit. He did not want to conform to their standards. At the same time, however, he feared the taint of the Dark Pattern, and recognized that walking the true Pattern would purge the taint from him, prove his birthright, and eliminate the threat of his father's possession. Even the temptation of the dark power of the Abyssal Pattern could not sway him from this conclusion. And so he resolved to formally request permission from King Random to walk the Pattern.
Prior to this, however, he decided to undergo a ritual of purification. A week before sending the letter to Random, Konrad took a leave of Amber and returned to the Channard Institute. There he secured a private spot, far from civilization...a stony cave...which he cloaked in magics that would hide it from eyes both mundane and magical, setting Byakhee to watch over him. He went out one evening and fed to the point of bloating himself...acquired mass enough to double his body weight, and then he returned to his lair and cocooned himself in a hard, chitinous shell. Over the next two months he hibernated, his body following the proscriptions he had laid upon it. You see, he feared that his body might not be able to survive the Pattern, that there were still parts of him that weren't of royal blood...parts that remained the original librarian Konrad. In the cocoon he underwent a process of radical cell growth, replacing damaged and impure tissues, making sure that every cell in his body was completely his. He emerged thin and pink...his skin looking soft and clean and fresh as an infant's. He visit the Channard Institute again to undergo a barrage of tests...CAT scans...MRI...to learn whether or not he had been successful. The doctors looked grim as they came to him with the test results.
"I'm afraid that we've discovered an anomaly, Mr. Visceratus, ...a strange cancerous growth that seemed to be adding DNA subsets onto otherwise healthy cells. It doesn't appear to be causing you any harm, but we are concerned."
"How extensive is it?" he asked quietly.
"We've checked a number of times...it has spread to every cell of your body...even your spinal fluid and marrow has been affected. But this is no cause to worry...it is apparently benign...if it were somehow dangerous..." he continued.
Konrad ceased listening to him. It didn't matter. He smiled to himself, and muttered one simple word. "Success." And then he left, assured that he was ready for the Pattern. Yet, even as he left to return to Amber, he felt the image of Chadwick in his thoughts...and scowled anew....
This story continues with Tome 6: Revelations.