I went back and got him a load of provisions. I dragged in the sleeping bag also.
I started up the ladder, then paused. “You don’t know your own mind on this yet,” I said, “do you?”
He smiled. “Don’t be too sure of that.”
When I got to the top I stared at the big boulder that had once sealed me in. Earlier, I’d thought of returning the favor. I could keep track of the time, come get him when he was back on his feet. That way, he couldn’t pull a disappearing act on me. I had decided against it, though, not only because I was the only one who knew he was here and if something happened to me he’d be dead. Mainly, it was because he wouldn’t be able to reach me with my Trump when he was ready to move, if I kept him fully confined. That’s what I told myself, anyhow.
I stooped and caught hold of the boulder, anyway, and pushed it nearer the opening.
“Merle! What are you doing?” — from below.
“Looking for fishing bait,” I answered.
“Hey, come on! Don’t…”
I laughed and pushed it a little nearer.
“Merle!”
“Thought you might want the door closed, in case it rains,” I said. “But it’s too damned heavy. Forget it. Take it easy.”
I turned and jumped. I thought the extra adrenaline might do him some good.
Chapter 8
When I hit the ground I kept going, back to the place from which I had conjured the ladder, out of sight from several directions.
I withdrew one of the blank cards. Time was running.
When I fished out the pencil, I discovered that its point had broken. I unsheathed my blade, which was about the length of my arm. I’d found another use for the thing.
A minute or so later I had the card before me on a flat rock, and I was sketching my room back at the Arbor House, the forces of the Logrus moving through my hands. I had to work deliberately, getting the proper feeling of the place into the drawing. Finally, when it was finished, I stood. It was right, it was ready. I opened my mind and regarded my work until it became reality. Then I walked forward into the room. Just as I did I thought of something I wanted to ask Luke, but it was too late.
Beyond the window, the shadows of the trees were stretching into the east. I had obviously been gone for most of the day.
When I turned I saw a sheet of paper upon the now made-up bed, secured against breezes by the edge of a pillow. I crossed to it and picked it up, removing the small blue button which lay atop it before I did so.
The writing was in English. It said. PUT THE BUTTON IN A SAFE PLACE TILL YOU NEED IT. I WOULDN’T CARRY IT AROUND TOO MUCH. I HOPE YOU DID THE RIGHT THING. I GUESS I’LL FIND OUT PRETTY SOON. SEE YOU AROUND.
It was unsigned.
Safe or not, I couldn’t just leave it there. So I wrapped the button in the note and put it in my pocket. Then I fetched my cloak from the closet and slung it over my arm.
I departed the room. The latch being broken, I left the door standing wide. I stopped in the hallway and listened, but I heard no voices, no sounds of movement.
I made my way to the stairs and headed down. I was almost to the bottom before I noticed her, so still did she sit, there beside the window to my right, a tray of bread and cheese, a bottle and a goblet on a small table at her side.
“Merlin!” she said suddenly, half rising. “The servants said you were here, but when I looked I couldn’t find you.”
“I was called away,” I said, descending the final stair and advancing. “How are you feeling?”
“How do you — what do you know about me?” she asked.
“You probably don’t remember anything that happened during the past couple of days,” I replied.
“You are right,” she said. “Won’t you sit down?”
She gestured at the empty chair at the other side of the small table.
“Please join me.” She indicated the tray. “And let me get you some wine.”
“That’s all right,” I said, seeing that she was drinking the white.
She rose and crossed the room to a cabinet, opened it and took out another goblet. When she returned she poured a healthy slug of Bayle’s Piss into it and set it near my hand. I guessed it was possible they kept the good stuff for themselves.
“What can you tell me about my blackout?” she asked. “I’d been in Amber, and the next thing I knew I was back here and several days had gone by.”
“Yes,” I said, taking up a cracker and a bit of cheese. “About what time I did you become yourself again?”
“This morning.”
“It’s nothing to worry about — now,” I answered. “There shouldn’t be a recurrence.
“But what was it?”
“Just something that’s been going around,” I said, trying the wine.
“It seems more like magic than the flu.”
“Perhaps there was a touch of that too,” — I agreed. “You never know what might blow in out of Shadow. But almost everyone I know who’s had it is okay now.”
She furrowed her brow. “It was very strange.”
I had a few more crackers and sips of the wine. They did keep the good stuff for themselves.
“There is absolutely nothing to worry about,” I repeated.
She smiled and nodded. “I believe you. What are you doing here, anyhow?”
“Stopover. I’m on my way back to Amber,” I said, “from elsewhere. Which reminds me — may I borrow a horse?”
“Certainly,” she replied. “How soon will you be leaving?”
“As soon as I get the horse,” I said.
She got to her feet. “I didn’t realize you were in a hurry. I’ll take you over to the stables now.”
“Thanks.”
I grabbed two more crackers and another piece of cheese on the way out and tossed off the rest of the wine. I wondered where the blue fog might be drifting now.
When I’d located a good horse, which she told me I could have delivered to their stable in Amber, I saddled him and fitted his bridle. He was a gray, named Smoke. I donned my cloak then and clasped Vinta’s hands.
“Thanks for the hospitality,” I said, “even if you don’t recall it.”
“Don’t say good-bye yet,” she told me. “Ride around to the kitchen door off the patio, and I’ll give you a water bottle and some food for the road. We didn’t have a mad affair that I don’t remember, did we?”
“A gentleman never tells,” I said.
She laughed and slapped my shoulder. “Come see me sometime when I’m in Amber,” she told me, “and refresh my memory.”
I grabbed a set of saddlebags, a bag of chow for Smoke and a longish tethering rope. I led him outside as Vinta headed back to the house. I mounted then and rode slowly after her, a few dogs capering about me. I circled the manor, taking the long way around, drew rein and dismounted near the kitchen. I considered the patio, wishing I had one just like it where I could sit and take coffee in the morning. Or had it just been the company?
After a time, the door opened and Vinta came out and passed me a bundle and a flask. As I was securing them, she said, “Let my father know that I’ll be back in a few days, will you? Tell him that I came to the country because I wasn’t feeling well, but that I’m all right now.”
“Glad to,” I said.
“I don’t really know why you were here,” she said. “But if it involves politics or intrigue I don’t want to know.”
“Okay,” I said.
“If a servant took a meal to a big red-haired man who seemed to be pretty badly injured, this would be better forgotten?”
“I’d say.”
“It will be, then. But one of these days I’d like the story.”
“Me too,” I said. “We’ll see what we can do.”
“So, have a good journey.”
“Thanks. I’ll try.”
I clasped her hand, turned away and mounted.
“So long.”
“See you in Amber,” she said.<
br />
I mounted and continued my circuit of the house until I was back near the stables again. I headed past them then to a trail we had ridden that led off in the direction I wanted. Back toward the house, a dog began to howl and another joined it moments later. There was a breeze out of the south, and it carried a few leaves past me. I wanted to be on the road, far away and alone. I value my solitude because that is when I seem to do my best thinking, and right now I had many things to think over.
I rode to the northwest. About ten minutes later I came to a dirt road we had crossed the other day. This time I followed it westward, and it finally took me to the crossroads with the marker indicating that Amber lay straight ahead. I rode on.
It was a yellow dirt road that I traveled, showing the impress of many wagon wheels. It followed the contours of the land, passing between fallow fields bordered by low stone fences, a few trees at either hand. I could see the stark outlines of mountains far ahead, standing above the forested area I was soon to encounter. We moved along at an easy gait, and I let my mind drift over the events of the past few days.
That I had an enemy I did not doubt. Luke had assured me that it was no longer him, and I had found him to be more than a little persuasive. He need not have come to me to be patched up, as both he and Vinta had pointed out. And he could have found his own way to the crystal cave or some other sanctuary. And the business about my helping him to rescue Jasra could have waited. I was more than half convinced that he was trying to get back on better terms with me again quickly because I was his only contact with the Court of Amber, and his fortunes had taken a turn for the worse. I had a feeling that what he really wanted was an official determination as to his status with Amber, and that he had mentioned the piece of important information he would be willing to surrender both as a sign of good faith and as a bargaining chip. I was not at all certain that I, personally, would be very crucial to any plan he might have for rescuing Jasra. Not when he knew the Keep inside and out, was some kind of sorcerer himself and had a band of mercs he could transport from the shadow Earth. For all I knew, that fancy ammo of his would work there as well as in Amber. And whether that was true or not, why couldn’t he just trump his attack force into the place? He wouldn’t even really have to win a battle — just get in, grab Jasra and get out. No, I did not feel that I was really necessary to whatever operation he finally decided upon. I’d a feeling he’d waved a red herring at me, hoping that when the air cleared we would simply consider what he had and what he wanted and make him an offer.
I’d a feeling, too, that he might be willing to call it quits on the vendetta now that Caine was out of the way and family honor satisfied. And I’d a notion that Jasra was the stumbling block on his side. While I’d no idea what hold she might have over him, it had occurred to me that the piece of information to which he’d referred might represent some means of neutralizing her. If he got it to us quietly and it seemed to come from our side, he could save face with her as well as buying peace with us. Tantalizing. My problem now was to find the best way to present this at court without looking like a traitor for having let him go. Which meant I had to show that the profit would be worth the investment.
There were more trees at the roadside now, and the forest itself was nearer. I crossed a wooden bridge above a clear stream, and the gentle splashing sounds followed me for a time. There were brown fields and distant hams to my left, a wagon with a broken axle off to my right…
And if I had read Luke wrong? Was there some way I might be able to pressure him and make my interpretation come out right anyway? A small idea began to form. I was not overjoyed with it, but I considered it nevertheless. Risk and speed were what it involved. It had its merits, though. I pushed it as far as I could, then put it aside and returned to my original train of thought.
Somewhere, there was an enemy. And if it wasn’t Luke, who was it?
Jasra seemed the most obvious candidate. She had made her feelings to ward me pretty clear on the occasions of our two meetings. She could well be the one who had dispatched the assassins I had encountered in Death Alley. In that case, I was probably safe for a time — with her a prisoner back at the Keep — unless, of course, she had sent along a few more before she had been captured. That would have been redundant, though. Why waste all that manpower on me? I had only been a minor figure in the event she sought to avenge, and the men who came after me had been almost sufficient for the task.
And if it wasn’t Jasra? Then I was still in jeopardy. The wizard in the blue mask, whom I assumed to be Sharu Garrul, had caused me to be pursued by a tornado, which seemed a far less friendly overture than the flowers that had followed. This latter, of course, identified him with the individual behind my peculiar experience at Flora’s apartment back in San Francisco. In that instance, he had initiated the encounter, which meant that he had some designs on me. What was it he’d said? Something about the possibility of us being at cross-purposes at some future time. How interesting, in retrospect. For I could now see the possibility of such a situation’s occurring.
But was it really Sharu Garrul who had sent the assassins? Despite his familiarity with the power of the blue stone that had guided them — as evidenced by the blue button in my pocket — it didn’t seem to follow. For one thing, our purposes were not yet crossed. For another, it did not seem the proper style for a cryptic, flower-throwing master of elements. I could be dead wrong there, of course, but I expected something more in the nature of a sorcerous duel with that one.
The fields gave way to wilderness as I approached the verge of the forest. Something of twilight had already entered its bright-leafed domain. It did not seem a dense, ancient wood like Arden, however; from the distance I had seen numerous gaps within its higher reaches. The road continued wide and well-kept. I drew my cloak more fully about me as I entered the shadowed coolness. It seemed an easy ride, if it were all to be like this. And I was in no hung. I had too many thoughts that wanted thinking…
If only I had been able to learn more from that strange, nameless entity who had, for a time, controlled Vinta. What her true nature might be, I still had no idea. “Her,” yes. I somehow felt the entity to be more feminine than masculine in nature, despite its having controlled George Hansen and Dan Martinez. Perhaps this was only because I had made love to her as Meg Devlin. Difficult to say. But I had known Gail for some time, and the Lady in the Lake had seemed a real lady…
Enough. I’d decided on my pronoun. Other matters of greater importance were involved. Like, whatever she was, why was she following me about insisting that she wanted to protect me? While I appreciated the sentiment, I still had no insight into her motivation.
But there was something far more important to me than her motivation. Why she saw fit to guard me could remain her own business. The big question was: Against what did she feel I needed protection? She must have had a definite threat in mind, and she had not given me the slightest hint as to what it was.
Was this, then, the enemy? The real enemy? Vinta’s adversary?
I tried reviewing everything I knew or had guessed about her.
There is a strange creature who sometimes takes the form of a small blue mist. She is capable of finding her way to me through Shadow. She possesses the power to take control of a human body, completely suppressing its natural ego. She hung around in my vicinity for a number of years without my becoming aware of her. Her earliest incarnation that I know of was as Luke’s former girlfriend, Gail.
Why Gail? If she were guarding me, why go around with Luke? Why not become one of the women I’d dated? Why not be Julia? But no. She had decided upon Gail. Was that because Luke was the threat, and she’d wanted to keep a close watch on him? But she’d actually let Luke get away with a few attempts on my life. And then Jasra. She’d admitted that she’d known Jasra was behind the later ones. Why hadn’t she simply removed them? She could have taken over Luke’s body, stepped in front of a speeding car, drifted away from the remains, then gone and do
ne the same with Jasra. She wasn’t afraid to die in a host body. I’d seen her do it twice.
Unless she’d somehow known that all their attempts on my life would fail. Could she have sabotaged the letter bomb? Could she, in some way, have been behind my premonition on the morning of the opened gas jets? And perhaps something else with each of the others? Still, it would seem a lot simpler to go to the source and remove the problem itself. I knew that she had no compunction about killing. She’d ordered the slaying of my final assailant in Death Alley.
What, then?
Two possibilities came to mind immediately. One was that she’d actually come to like Luke and that she’d simply found ways to neutralize him without destroying him. But then I thought of her as Martinez, and it fell apart. She’d actually been shooting that night in Santa Fe. Okay. Then there was the other possibility: Luke was not the real threat, and she’d liked him enough to let him go on living once he’d quit the April 30 games and she saw that we’d gotten friendly. Something happened in New Mexico that made her change her mind. As to what it was, I had no idea. She had followed me to New York, then, and been George Hansen and Meg Devlin in quick succession. Luke was, by that time, out of the picture, following his disappearing act on the mountain. He no longer represented a threat, yet she was almost frantic in her efforts to get in touch with me. Was something else impending? The real threat?
I racked my brains, but I could not figure what that threat might have been. Was I following a completely false trail with this line of reasoning? She certainly was not omniscient. Her reason for spiriting me to Arbor House was as much to pump me for information as it was to remove me from the scene of the attack. And some of the things she’d wanted to know were as interesting as some of the things she knew.
My mind did a backward flip. What was the first question she had asked me?
Landing adroitly on my mental feet, back at Bill Roth’s place, I heard the question several times. As George Hansen she had asked it casually and I had lied; as a voice on the telephone she had asked it and been denied; as Meg Devlin, in bed, she had finally gotten me to answer it honestly: What was your mother’s name?
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