Tonight, Amber Castle is playing host to the celebration of the official announcement of the impending marriage of Lady Annmarie Dalton of Amber and Minister of Trade Arkesh of Antioch.
Lady Annmarie Dalton is the widow of Lord Timothy Dalton, with significant connections to the merchant community. Although she has lived five and a half decades, her proximity to Amber Castle, and the pattern in the basement, has kept her looking the younger side of forty.
At a tender twenty years of age, Minister Arkesh is notable for being the youngest person ever to attain the rank of Minister in the Antiochan civil service. He first met Lady Dalton when she was on a business trip to Antioch. For her, it was love at first sight. For him it was like being blindsided by a bull elephant.
The Antiochan presence in the castle for this occasion is considerable. Representatives of several prominent religious orders are in attendance, as are members of the Antiochan nobility and civil service.
Gustavs Story
I give myself a final check in the mirror and head for the door. A big fuss is being made over the festivities this evening, and it wouldn't do to be late. I regret again not being able to have Natashia along, but the conservative religious elements are currently wielding a great deal of influence in the Antiochan court, and attending a formal celebration of the impending marriage of one of their ministers with my mistress in tow would ruffle too many of the wrong feathers. I'll make it up to her somehow.
I arrive at the assembly area with several minutes to spare, only to discover that I needn't have worried. The King still hasn't put in an appearance. Five minutes go by, then ten. Finally, Galen is sent looking for him. Sighing to myself, I wonder if I'm going to have to be the one apologizing to the Ambassador Karnak for my fathers behavior. At last the King makes his appearance, we are all announced, and the festivities officially get under way.
The event proceeds smoothly enough. I schmooze with all the right people, politely deflect a few offers which would offend certain religious sensibilities, and swap a few improbable tales of travel and adventure. Dinner proves to be first rate, an event which is much less common at Amber state dinners than it ought to be. Carton gets up to chase some of our female guests while the rest of us put the finishing touches on the final course of the feast. I honestly don't think that he really appreciates fine cuisine.
I'm just contemplating getting up and finding a partner for the first dance of the evening, when something catches my eye. Up on the balcony, one of the young ladies who went with Carton up to the portrait gallery has split off from the main group. I'm just beginning to think she's showing uncommon good sense, when I notice she has a small crossbow attached to each wrist, and that she's aiming them at my father. Grabbing for the nearest piece of cutlery, a soup spoon as it turns out, I sent the weapon winging towards her eye.
The aerodynamic characteristics of the typical soup spoon are slightly different from those of your typical throwing dagger, and my improvised weapon fails to imbed itself in the hostile young ladies brain. It also arrives just too late to prevent her from firing the first of her deadly darts. The impact of the soup spoon against her skull does throw off the aim of her second shot, assisted no doubt by the impact of the portrait frame which Carton has swung at her. Theodore, I believe. Yes, definitely Theodore. Pity, it was quite a good likeness, but Carton is a bit jealous of our youngest brother.
Her intended target now invisible behind a wall of bodies, the assassin leaps from the balcony to the main floor. I vault the table and pursue; Caitlin getting the jump on me. Seeing no way out, the assassin bites hard. A hollow tooth cracks, releasing a fast acting poison. Before she can hit the ground her muscles have all spasmed and gone rigid, leaving us with a statue for a corpse.
Chaos and confusion have overtaken the hall. Root is running around barking nonstop commands to the palace guard, trying to impose some semblance of order. Caitlin takes off to do her part in organizing things, after ordering the dead assassin taken to a small anteroom. I head over to find out what happened to the King. He is being hustled off to his own quarters, under heavy guard. The assassin has failed. I return my attention to the room.
Seeing no evidence that the assassin was acting other than alone, I leave the main hall and walk to the antechamber to examine our corpse. It looks straight forward enough. The woman's features are Antiochan. All of her clothing and equipment looks to be of Antiochan origin. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say Antioch would be the place to start looking for who she really was and why she came here.
Further examination reveals a small piece of paper: "The Church of the Scarlet Flow" written clearly upon it. I furrow my brow. I recall the name, vaguely. A religious order in Antioch, small, fanatical, not against taking the direct approach to dealing with their enemies. Is this their way of claiming credit for the attack, or a red herring? No way to be sure without further investigation.
I fill in Caitlin and Root on what I discovered about the assassin, then head off to check on dad. He's in, and willing to see me. I inform him of my findings, and tell him I'd like to head to Antioch to start looking into the matter. He agrees, but adds what I consider an unnecessary complication. He wants Dexter to go along. Unfortunately, I can't think of any practical counter-arguments.
I encounter Dexter, machete in hand, in the hallway a while later. The blade looks like it's been smeared with something. I don't ask. Dexter says Martin has talked with him about going to Antioch, and Dexter has a plan. He'll be taking ship to Antioch with me, but he won't be on the ship with me. I eventually make this out to mean that he'll be travelling in some form of disguise, and doesn't want anyone to know he's in Antioch. Strangely enough, I take this as a good sign.