AMRT Chapter 45: The Alend Monarch's Gamble

[dANdeLION]

I know this is supposed to be about Margonal, who after all is the Alend Monarch, but the chapter begins with the Alend army just sitting besides their tents, watching the forces of Orison leave their castle, going to battle against the forces of Cadwal. Fortunately, Alend doesn’t seem interested in stopping Orison (maybe they will just take the castle now that most of its fighting forces are leaving), so they’re only outnumbered about four to one. And that’s assuming their forces won’t be devastated by whatever evil things are conjured out of Eremis’ mirror that they know is focused at the crossroads in front of the castle.

Then again, why worry about that mirror? The men weren’t; Artagel told them Terisa could make it so it couldn’t translate any nasties there anymore. Too bad he didn’t ask her first. In fact, he waited till the Tor was almost at the crossroads before even mentioning it. Wonderful, huh? Well, fortunately, Terisa isn’t so afraid she can’t try, so after stopping the Tor from entering the intersection and consulting with a few Masters, Terisa decides to try to stop Eremis from making a translation, even though she can’t see Eremis or his mirror, which are hundreds of miles away. Oh, and she’s going to try it alone. Should be cake.

Terisa succeeds, after a fashion. It takes time to figure out how to shut the mirror down; and enough creatures get through to kill three men of Orison and seven of Kragen’s men. Kragen has to kill several of the nasties to keep Teresa from being killed, too. But, in the end Eremis loses a mirror; it is broken by the creatures being translated through it when Terisa changes the image in the mirror. This is a huge thing; no arch-imager in Mordant’s history could ever hope to accomplish such a thing as this. Of course, Geraden doesn’t notice the magnitude of her feat. No, he’s too busy being highly upset at the risk Terisa took, and makes her promise they will do things like that together in the future, which is interesting, because I’m not sure what kind of help the thinks he can provide her.

Now we come to Margonal, who has requested the Tor, Teresa, Geraden, Master Barsonage and Castellan Norge come to his tent. Hoping that an alliance can be had, they agree to see him, but first the Tor orders Barsonage and Norge to remain behind.

They reach the tent, which is darkened to hide the fact that the Alend Monarch is blind, which we know, but the Tor, Terisa and Geraden don’t know. Even though it is dark, Terisa notices a person sitting in the corner, and later sees that it is the lady Elega. Due to his injury, the Tor has to sit down and rest. What he needs to be doing is lying down in a hospital bed for about a month, but true to a Donaldson character, he keeps plugging along way after mere humans like you and I would have thrown in the towel. Still, it’s touching that Margonal cares for the Tor’s well being. He also is concerned about the whereabouts of King Joyse, but nobody knows where he is, so let’s continue with the conversation. Margonal really, really, really wants to know what Joyse is up to. He fears that Joyse will rescue Queen Madin and return to Orison to personally destroy Margonal. He also fears Joyse is mad, having been told that by just about everybody who knows Joyse. And even if Joyse is not a factor, High King Fessten and the Cadwal army is. Margonal wonders why the Tor and all Orison gladly march off to their apparent doom to serve their mad King. Margonal also wonders how Orison can stand against him when the major portion of their might is leaving to fight Cadwal. These days Margonal wonders a lot of things. I guess that’s what happens when you are so thoroughly defeated by your enemy; not knowing what Joyse is up to, Margonal conjures plots out of thin air, just because he has learned to fear Joyse. And the Congery, which Joyse still owns. In any event, the Tor & company are now done with the visit, and go back to their camp without having won the alliance they so desperately need. But, if that’s the case, why was Elega smiling at Terisa as she was leaving? And why does Ribuld (who followed them but was not allowed in Margonal’s tent) seem so chipper?

As they return to their people, and start to head out toward the waiting Cadwal army, they notice that the Alend army is also mobilizing, presumably to conquer Orison. The Tor is quite upset, as is most everyone else, but Ribuld still seems quite happy. After a few minutes, The Tor and everybody else realize that Kragen and seven thousand of his troops are following them to battle. They didn’t get the alliance they wanted, but they got the next best thing; more soldiers to fight against Fessten.

[duchess of malfi]

Great job, dAN. And you made a great point about Margonal and his fear of Joyse, too.

Terisa did a great job battling Eremis and his mirror! If Eremis were not so arrogant, I am sure he would be starting to worry about her, and her new-found abilities. And she is sure to only become more dangerous to the bad guys as she figures out and fine tunes what she is able to do.

[Myste]

Of course, Geraden doesn’t notice the magnitude of her feat. No, he’s too busy being highly upset at the risk Terisa took, and makes her promise they will do things like that together in the future, which is interesting, because I’m not sure what kind of help the thinks he can provide her.

This is an interesting way to look at it; I don't think I've ever noticed it before. Maybe it's because since Geraden believed all along that Terisa could do magnificent things, it doesn't surprise him much when she actually does? Remember--he always "had the strongest feeling" that she could be the Champion. Your last point is right on, dAN. What could he do, exactly, to help her out? Besides act as bait for the nasty horse-eating Imagery critters.

[duchess of malfi]

Well, it is the way that a man can act when he loves someone (woman, child, friend -- whomever). For some men, a fierce protectiveness is a definate part of the emotional package.