S
serak_the_preparer
Guest
<i>I'd been a fool not to have expected this attack, especially now.<br /><br />You see, night had fallen a little over two hours ago.<br /><br />And night is when you can expect Moonriders out of Ghenesh to attack from above.<br /><br />The brave warrior who had stepped over thirty or so of his fallen comrades to face my blade soon joined them. Giving me the opportunity to step back within my circle of soldiers. Quickly sheathing Grayswandir, I withdrew my deck of Tarots from my belt, shuffled out the Trump depicting my brother Benedict, the master strategist charged with the realm's defense.<br /><br />Holding the card before me, I concentrated on the man who was even more than a Prince of the Realm - the greatest warrior, in fact, ever to live. Tall, thin, brown-haired and hazel-eyed, with a jutting jaw, he wore an orange cloak, yellow shirt and brown leather trousers. I concentrated, knowing the image would soon become reality, that, if he willed, my brother could step through the card to stand with me in this hopeless-seeming battle, or send reinforcements, or at least advise me on what action to take. If not, he could bring me and mine to wherever he was.<br /><br />But it was not brother Benedict who answered the call of the Trump I held.<br /><br />The features shifted, solidified, and became a face unknown to me, an ancient gentleman with a green beard and green eyes. The place he was in seemed to be under the sea, like the city Rebma near my home.<br /><br />He hailed me.<br /><br />'Wake, Corwin, wake. This cause is neither yours to win nor to lose. You wish to defend the throne of fallen Oberon? Then wake! And trouble Time's waters no more!'<br /><br />And I woke.<br /><br />I had dreamed the dream again...</i><br /><br />Not the best example, perhaps, of what Chad Orzel has aptly dubbed 'First Person Smartass' narration. But there you have it. The beginning of a never-completed (as far as I k