Despite what happened last week, Gerhardt is now here doing stuff here.
Silas investigates the area where Dalt]'s captured soldier was recruited from.
Brie (Brand) has been talking to Rinaldo], about a charm to make people not think about Brand. Maeve questions Brie's clame about Amber being one of the most dangerous places in the universe. Maeve mentions having plans, but needing to get rid of Caine first. Brie mentions wanting to get back into the good graces of Amber. Misses being a prince of Amber. Is this about Nostalgia, asks Rinaldo? Rinaldo mentions that he cannot back out easily, Dalt would probably try to kill him if backed out. Brie suggests selling him to Amber. Rinaldo agreees this is the best play. They discuss who to sell Dalt to. He hands Brie a folder of info on Dalt. Rinaldo mentions he will have to go to ground once Dalt realizes he is betrayed. Brie works on a way using the [[Cauldron]]] to get a stealthy way to contact Dalt (using shapeshifting and trump?).
Silas has the captured soldier turned loose in Begma with a memory wipe and sets up shop to monitor, with a cover as a farm equipment salesperson.
Gerhardt is prepping for his excursion on the stair with Gerard. He tries to speak to Fiona. He name drops Morwen to get to see her. She invites him into her tower. They talk about Morwen and how they mutually used each other. Fiona says she is not actively malicious, she is very dangerous. Fiona mentions she learned curse magic from mer. And she has a way to know things about your past, present and future.
Brie gets the contact method to Rinaldo set up. She asks what Rinaldo wants to get out of this. He says that he wants full standing in the court, full pardon for anything he might have done. And basically to be a part of Amber society. Rinaldo mentions that personally he never liked Dalt. Also says he is not stupid.
Silas is spying on a camp of men when Dalt emerges from somewhere with a very large force of soldiers. Everyone seems well trained. This army came out of shadow. Dalt appears to have a superstructure placed over the army so he can leave it in control of these men here.
Brie trumps Silas and comes to his spy location. She hands him the folder of info from Rinaldo. He immediately takes her to a secure location in Amber's secret service in Amber, and goes over it. He then brings in Caine and they both question her on why Rinaldo would trust her. Caine says he will act on this info but he wants to talk to Caine directly first.'
After some hesitation, Brie agrees to convince Rinaldo so submit to some questioning in a fast time shadow.
Natasha is briefed on an operation to eliminate Dalt's forces on a signal.
Gerhardt commits a unit of the Iron Legion to this operation. They take out one of Dalt's army locations.
Brie contacts Rinaldo from a fast time shadow, and 5 minutes / 1 hour later, Rinaldo indicates he is ready. She is alone in the room (though probably bugged). She tells him that Caine requires verification via psychic contact from someone Rinaldo trusts. He agrees on Cassandra. Caine agrees and goes off and returns with Cassandra. Cassandra explains she has to work quickly and may learn other things when she verifies. Cassandra scans Rinaldo. Yes, okay, yes um, fine, okay, yes…. OH, Wow, really? (this would be about two pages of Zelazny sentence fragments in a book) oh, of course, okay. no no of course. We're on target, got all the information we need. Cassandra says she will no reveal anything she doesn't have to… but she's not gonna lie either. Brie feels she can keep info from Caine if need be. Cassandra gives the info to Caine via psychic contact. Caine then orders all units to proceed. Everyone but RInaldo is sent into the field..
The operation is swift and brutal, but the army holds up fairly well but the end is inevitable. Benedict ends up fighting Dalt directly and pinning him to the ground with a sword through his chest. The leaders (including Dalt) are captured alive.
Caine wonders whether Rinaldo's mother is a risk, and Brie says that with Rinaldo integrated with Amber she should not be a threat. She has apparently left the Keep of Four Worlds.
Rinaldo meets with Oberon and he is officially pardoned.
There is a brief party where this is all officially done. Rinaldo dances with Brie, which is awkward. He asks about Jasra. Brie says it is complicated, then Rinaldo says he loves them both, but Jasra is cray-cray.
Caine keeps wondering whether he can trust Brie. Has a video of Brie whispering "I'm in disguise" and shows it to Silas. He says he needs to know whether he can trust her. Silas says why don't you just tell her you know she is Brand. Caine says he has a standing order from Oberon to kill any Brands. So he can't know. He then instructs Silas to have her track down Elathan (Osric's son note may be renamed).
Brie and Silas meet on a secure room on his boat which is not bugged (as far as they can tell) by Caine or anyone else. He tells her that Caine knows and told him that she is Brand, and of the standing order. They discuss her long term goals of getting back into the family standing (as a prince or princess of Amber). Brie mentions needing to track down other brand fragments. He tells her of the assignment for Osric's son but also offers his help with her goals.
Silas goes and sees Dalt in prison. Dalt mouths off and is snarky to every question SIlas has, but does let slip that friends from chaos were who introduced him to Rinaldo. Silas tells Dalt he hopes he won't be executed, but sees little help if he has the same tone in court when he is judged. As he leaves he runs in to Benedict who also does not want to see Dalt die, as he thinks he has potential. Benedict mentions he doesnt trust Rinaldo since he betrayed his own forces.
Bree talks to another Brand with Maeve’s help. He seems nice and is interested in working together and possibly merging together. Suddenly he is shot with a ensorcelled bullet. Head explodes and contact is broken. Maeve is devastated. Seems likely this is another casualty of the “dark” Brand who is working against Amber. Bree goes to Clarissa to ask for help in coordinating a hunt to track down and neutralize this threat. When she sees the other Brand die she screams, falls to ground, and is inconsolable. Once she pulls herself together, she agrees to help.