Which narrowed the field considerably.
I tried to picture the werebeast about its errand. First, it would have to locate me and- Of course. I suddenly recalled the dead dogs in the grove near Arbor House and the large doglike tracks in the vicinity. The thing had spotted me sometime before, then, and had been watching, waiting. It had followed me when I set out yesterday evening, and when I made my camp it made its move. It set up-or was set up with-the Trump Gate, for a retreat that would brook no pursuit. Then it came to kill me. And I had no way of telling whether it involved Sharu Garrul, Luke"s secret, the blue stones or the body-switching ent.i.ty"s mission. For now it would simply have to dangle as yet another loose end, while I concentrated on basics.
I overtook and pa.s.sed a line of wagons headed for Amber. A few horsec men went by me headed in the other direction. No one I knew, though everyone waved. The clouds continued to mount to my left, but nothing resembling a storm took shape. The day remained cool and sunny. The road dipped and rose again, several times, though overall it rose more than it dipped. I stopped at a large, busy inn for lunch, had a quick, filling meal and did not linger. The road improved steadily after that, and it was not long before I caught distant glimpses of Amber atop Kolvir, sparkling in the noonday light.
Traffic grew heavier as the sun advanced through the heavens. I continued to make plans and indulge in whatever speculations came to mind as I rode on into afternoon. My uphill way took several turnings as the route pa.s.sed through the heights, but Amber remained in sight most of the time.
I recognized no one along the way, and I reached the Eastern Gatepart of an ancient fortification-late in the afternoon. I made my way up East Vine and stopped at the Bayle town house, where I had once attended a party. I left Smoke with a groom at the stable in the rear, and they both seemed happy to see each other. I walked around to the front door then and knocked. A servant informed me that the Baron was out, so I identified myself and gave him Vinta"s message, which he promised to deliver when his employer returned.
That duty out of the way, I proceeded up East Vine on foot. Near the top, but before the slope grew roughly level, I smelled food and discarded my plan of waiting to eat until I was back at the palace. I halted and cast about me for the source of the aromas. I located it up a side sheet to my right where the way widened into a large circle, a fountain at its centerin which a rearing copper dragon with a wonderful green patina p.i.s.sed into a pink stone basin. The dragon faced a bas.e.m.e.nt restaurant called the Pit, with ten outside tables enclosed by a low fence of copper pickets, potted plants along its inside perimeter. I crossed the circle. As I pa.s.sed the fountain I saw a great number of exotic coins within its clear water, including a U.S. Bicentennial quarter. Crossing to the fenced area, I entered, made my way through and was about to descend the stair when I heard my name called.
"Merle! Over here!"
I looked about but did not see anyone I recognized at any of the four occupied tables. Then, as my eyes retraced their route, I realized that the older man at the corner table to my right was smiling.
"Bill!" I exclaimed.
Bill Roth rose to his feet-more a touch of display than any formality, I realized immediately. I hadn"t recognized him at first because he now sported the beginnings of a grizzled beard and a mustache. Also, he had on brown trousers with a silver stripe running down their outside seams, vanishing into a pair of high brown boots. His shirt was silver with brown piping, and a black cloak lay folded upon the chair to his right. A wide black sword belt lay atop it and a sheathed blade of short-to-medium length was hung upon it.
"You"ve gone native. Also, you"ve lost some weight."
"True," he said, "and I"m thinking of retiring here. It agrees with me."
We seated ourselves.
"Did you order yet?" I asked him.
"Yes, but I see a waiter on the stair now," he said. "Let me catch him for you."
Which he did, and ordered for me too.
"Your Thari"s much better," I said afterward.
"Lots of practice," he replied.
"What"ve you been doing?"
"I"ve sailed with Gerard. I"ve been to Deiga, and to one of Julian"s camps in Arden. Visited Rebma, too. Fascinating place. I"ve been taking fencing lessons. And Droppa"s been showing me around town."
"All the bars, most likely."
"Well, that"s not all. In fact, that"s why I"m here. He owns a half interest in the Pit, and I had to promise him I"d eat here a lot. A good place, though. When did you get back?"
"Just now," I said, "and I"ve another long story for you."
"Good. Your stories tend to be bizarre and convoluted," he said. "Just the thing for a cool autumn"s eve. Let"s hear it."
I talked throughout dinner and for a long while afterward.The day"send chill began making it uncomfortable then, so we headed for the palace. I finally wound up my narrative over hot cider in front of the fireplace in one of the smaller rooms in the eastern wing.
Bill shook his head. "You do manage to stay busy," he finally said. "I have just one question."
"What?"
"Why didn"t you bring Luke in?"
"I already told you."
"It wasn"t much of a reason. For some nebulous piece of information he says is important to Amber? And you"ve got to catch him to get it?"
"It"s not like that at all."
"He"s a salesman, Merle, and he sold you a line of s.h.i.t. That"s what I think."
"You"re wrong, Hill. I know him."
"For a long time," he agreed. "But how well? We"ve been all through this before. What you don"t know about Luke far outweighs what you do know."
"He could have gone elsewhere, but he came to me."
"You"re part of his plan, Merle. He intends to get at Amber through you."
"I don"t think so," I said. "It"s not his style."
"I think he"ll use anything that comes to hand-or anyone." I shrugged.
"I believe him. You don"t. That"s all."
"I guess so," he said. "What are you going to do now, wait and see what happens?"
"I"ve a plan," I said. "Just because I believe him doesn"t mean I won"t take out insurance. But I"ve a question for you."
"Yes?"
"If I brought him back here and Random decided the facts weren"t clear enough and he wanted a hearing, would you represent Luke?" His eyes widened, and then he smiled. "What kind of hearing?" he asked.
"I don"t know how such things are conducted here."
"As a grandson of Oberon," I explained, "he"d come under House Law. Random is head of the House now. It would be up to him whether to forget about a thing, render a summary judgment or call a hearing. As I understand it, such a hearing could be as formal or informal as Random wanted. There are books on the subject in the library. But a person has always had the right to be represented at one if he wanted."
"Of course I"d take the case," Bill said. "It doesn"t sound like a legal experience that comes along too often.
"But it might look like a conflict of interest," he added, "since I have done work for the Crown."
I finished my cider and put the gla.s.s on the mantelpiece. I yawned. "I have to go now, Bill."
He nodded; then, "This is all just hypothetical, isn"t it?" he asked.
"Of course," I said. "It might turn out to be my hearing. G"night."
He studied me. "Uh-this insurance you were talking about," he said. "It probably involves something risky, doesn"t it?"
I smiled.
"Nothing anyone could help you with, I suppose?"
"Nope."
"Well, good luck."
"Thanks."
"See you tomorrow?"
"Later in the day, maybe. . . ."
I went to my room and sacked out. I had to get some rest before I went about the business I had in mind. I don"t recall any dreams, pro or con, on the matter.
It was still dark when I woke. Good to know that my mental alarm was working.
It would have been very pleasant to turn over and go back to sleep, but I couldn"t allow myself the luxury. The day that lay ahead was to be an exercise in timing. Accordingly, I got up, cleaned up and dressed myself in fresh clothes.
I headed for the kitchen then, where I made myself some tea and toast and scrambled a few eggs with chilis and onions and a bit of pepper. I turned up some melka fruit from the Snelters, too-something I hadn"t had in a long while.
Afterward, I went out through the rear and made my way into the garden. Dark it was, moonless and damp, with a few wisps of mist exploring invisible paths. I followed a path to the northwest. The world was a very quiet place. I let my thoughts get that way, too. It was to be a onething-at-a-time day, and I wanted to start it off with that habit of mind in place.
I walked until I ran out of garden, pa.s.sing through a break in a hedge and continuing along the rough trail my path had become. It mounted slowly for the first few minutes, took an abrupt turn and grew immediately steeper. I paused at one jutting point and looked back, from where I was afforded a view of the dark outline of the palace, a few lighted windows within it. Some scatters of cirrus high above looked like raked starlight in the celestial garden over which Amber brooded. I turned away moments later. There was still a good distance to travel.
When I reached the crest I was able to discern a faint line of lightening to the east, beyond the forest I had traversed so recently. I hurried past the three ma.s.sive steps of song and story and began my descent to the north. Slow at first, the way I followed steepened abruptly after a time and led off to the northeast, then into a gentler decline. When it swung back to the northwest there was another steep area followed by another easy one, and I knew the going would be fine after that. The high shoulder of Kolvir at my back blocked all traces of the pre-dawn light I had witnessed earlier, and star-hung night lay before me and above, rubbing outlines to ambiguity on all but the nearest boulders. Still, I knew approximately where I was going, having been this way once before, though I"d only halted briefly at that time.
It was about two miles past the crest, and I slowed as I neared the area, searching. It was a large, somewhat horseshoe-shaped declivity, and when I finally located it I entered slowly, a peculiar feeling rising within me. I had not consciously antic.i.p.ated all my reactions in this matter; but at some level I must have, I was certain.
As I moved into it, canyonlike walls of stone rising at either hand, I came upon the trail and followed it. It led me slightly downhill, toward a shadowy pair of trees, and then between them to where a low stone building stood, various shrubs and gra.s.ses grown wild about it. I understand that the soil was actually transported there to support the foliage, but afterward it was forgotten and neglected.
I seated myself on one of the stone benches in front of the building and waited for the sky to lighten. This was my father"s tomb-well, cenotaph -built long ago when he had been presumed dead. It had amused him considerably to be able to visit the place later on. Now, of course, its status might well have changed. It could be the real thing now. Would this cancel the irony or increase it? I couldn"t quite decide. It bothered me, though, more than I"d thought it would. I had not come here on a pilgrimage.
I had come here for the peace and quiet a sorcerer of my sort needs in order to hang some spells. I had come here- Perhaps I was rationalizing. I had chosen this spot because, real tomb or fake, it had Corwin"s name on it, so it raised a sense of his presence, for me. I had wanted to get to know him better, and this might be as close as I could ever come. I realized, suddenly, why I had trusted Luke. He had been right, back at the Arbor House. If I learned of Corwin"s death and saw that blame could be fixed for it, I knew that I would drop everything else, that I would go off to present the bill and collect it, that I would have to close the account, to write the receipt in blood. Even had I not known Luke as I did, it was easy to see myself in his actions and too uncomfortable a thing to judge him.
d.a.m.n. Why must we caricature each other, beyond laughter or insight, into the places of pain, frustration, conflicting loyalties?
I rose. There was enough light now to show me what I was doing.
I went inside and approached the niche where the empty stone sarcophagus stood. It seemed an ideal safe deposit box, but I hesitated when I stood before it because my hands were shaking. It was ridiculous. I knew that he wasn"t in there, that it was just an empty box with a bit of carving on it. Yet it was several minutes before I could bring myself to take hold of the lid and raise it. . . .
Empty, of course, like so many dreams and fears. I tossed in the blue b.u.t.ton and lowered the lid again. What the h.e.l.l. If Sharu wanted it back and could find it here, let him have the message that he was walking close to the grave when he played his games.
I went back outside, leaving my feelings in the crypt. It was time to begin. I"d a mess of spells to work and hang, for I"d no intention of going gently to the place where the wild winds blew.
11.
I stood on the rise above the garden, admiring the autumn foliage below. The wind played games with my cloak. A mellow afternoon light bathed the palace. There was a chill in the air. A flock of dead leaves rushed, lemming-like, past me and blew off the edge of the trail, rattling, into the air.
I had not really stopped to admire the view, however. I had halted while I blocked an attempted Trump contact-the day"s second. The first had occurred earlier, while I was hanging a spell like a rope of tinsel on the image of Chaos. I figured that it was either Random-irritated that I was back in Amber and had not seem fit to bring him up to date on my most recent doings and my plans-or Luke, recovered now and wanting to request my a.s.sistance in his move against the Keep. They both came to mind because they were the two individuals I wished most to avoid; neither of them would much like what I was about to do, though for different reasons.
The call faded, was gone, and I descended the trail, pa.s.sed through the hedge and entered the garden. I did not want to waste a spell to mask my pa.s.sage, so I took a trail to the left, which led through a series of arbors where I was less exposed to the gaze of anyone who happened to glance out of a window. I could have avoided this by humping in, but that card always delivers one to the main hall, and I had no idea who might be there.
Of course, I was headed that way. . . .
I went back in the way I had come out, through the kitchen, helping myself to a sandwich and a gla.s.s of milk on the way. Then I took the back stairs up a flight, lurked a bit and made it to my rooms without being spotted. There, I buckled on the sword belt I had left hanging at the head of my bed, checked the blade, located a small dagger I had brought with me from Chaos-a gift from the Pit-diver Borquist, whom I"d once fixed up with an introduction that led to a patronage (he was a middling-good poet)-and hung it on the other side of my belt. I pinned a Trump to the inside of my left sleeve. I washed my hands and face and brushed my teeth, too. But then I couldn"t think of any other ways to stall. I had to go and do something I feared. It was necessary to the rest of my plan. I was overwhelmed by a sudden desire to be off sailing. Just lying on the beach would do, actually.
Instead, I departed my quarters and made my way back downstairs, returning the way I had come. I headed west along the back corridor, listening for footsteps and voices, retreating once into a closet to let some nameless parties pa.s.s. Anything to avoid official notice for just a little longer. Finally, I turned left, walked a few paces and waited the better part of a minute before entering the major corridor, which led past the large marble dining hall. No one in sight. Good. I sprinted to the nearest entrance and peered within. Great. The place was not in use. It wasn"t normally used every day, but I"d no way of knowing whether today was some state occasion-though this was not a normal dining hour either.
I entered and pa.s.sed through. There is a dark, narrow corridor to its rear, with a guard normally posted somewhere near the pa.s.sage"s mouth or the door at its end. All members of the family have access there, though the guard would log our pa.s.sage. His superior wouldn"t have that information until the guard reported when he went off duty, though. By then it shouldn"t matter to me.
Tod was short, stocky, bearded. When he saw me coming he presented arms with an ax that had been leaning against the wall moments before. "At ease. Busy?" I asked.
"To tell the truth, no, sir."
"I"ll be heading down. I hope there are some lanterns up here. I don"t know that stairway as well as most."
"I checked a number inside when I came on duty, sir. I"ll light you one."
Might as well save the energy that would have gone into the fire spell, I decided. Every little bit helps...
"Thanks."
He opened the door, hefted, successively, three lanterns which stood inside to the right, selected the second one. He took it back outside, where he lit it from the ma.s.sive candle in its stand partway up the corridor.
"I"ll be awhile," I said as I accepted it from him. "You"ll probably be off duty before I"m finished."
"Very good, sir. Watch your step."
"Believe me, I will."
The long spiraling stair turned round and round with very little visible in any direction but below, where a few chimneyed candles, sconced torches or hung lanterns flared along the central shaft, doing more for acrophobia than absolute blackness might, I suppose. There were just those little dots of light below me. I couldn"t see the distant Boor, or any walls. I kept one hand on the railing and held the lantern out in front with the other. Damp down here. Musty, too. Not to mention chilly.
Again, I tried counting the steps. As usual, I lost count somewhere along the way. Next time. . . .
My thoughts went back to that distant day when I had come this route believing I was headed for death. The fact that I hadn"t died was small comfort now. It had still been an ordeal. And it was still possible that I could screw up on it this time and get fried or go up in a puff of smoke.
Around, around. Down, down. Night thoughts in the middle of the afternoon. . . .