“Certainly. I don’t need all this backbiting and grudgehunting. It’s all still so close to the surface that we’re likely to have real cabals, intrigues, and vendettas before long, if we don’t already, and some little misunderstanding could lead to violence again.”
“Do you think it’s one of the others?”
“Shit! I’m the same as they are. I get suspicious by reflex. It well may be, but I haven’t really seen a bit of evidence.”
“Who else could it be?”
He uncrossed and recrossed his legs. He took another drink of wine.
“Hell! Our enemies are legion. But most of them wouldn’t have the guts. They all know the kind of reprisal they could expect once we found them out.”
He clasped his hands behind his head and stared at the rows of books.
“I don’t know how to say this,” he began after a time, “but I have to.”
I waited again. Then he said quickly, “There’s talk it’s Corwin, but I don’t believe it.”
“No,” I said softly.
“I told you I don’t believe it. Your father means a lot to me.”
“Why would anybody believe it?”
“There’s a rumor he’s gone crazy. You’ve heard it. What if he’s reverted to some past state of mind, from the days when his relations with Came and Bleys were a lot less than cordial — or with any of us, for that matter? That’s what they’re saying.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“I just wanted you to be aware that it’s being kicked around.”
“Nobody’d better kick it in my direction.”
He sigh. “Don’t you start. Please. They’re upset. Don’t look for trouble.”
I took a drink of wine. “Yes, you’re right,” I said.
“Now I have to listen to your story. Go ahead, complicate my life some more.”
“Okay. At least I’m fresh on it,” I told him.
So I ran through it again. It took a long while, and it was getting dark by the time I finished. He had interrupted me only for occasional clarifications and had not indulged in the exploration of contingencies the way Bill had when he’d heard it.
When I had finished, he rose and lit a few oil lamps. I could almost hear him thinking.
Finally he said, “No, you’ve got me on Luke. He doesn’t ring any bells at all. The lady with the sting bothers me a bit, though. It seems I might have heard something about people like that, but I can’t recall the circumstances. It’ll come to me. I want to know more about this Ghostwheel project of yours, though. Something about it troubles me.”
“Sure,” I said. “But there is something else I am reminded to tell you first.”
“What’s that?”
“I covered everything for you pretty much the way I did when I was talking to Bill. In fact, my just having been through it recently made me almost use it like a rehearsal. But there was something I didn’t mention to Bill because it didn’t seem important at the time. I might even have forgotten it entirely in the light of everything else, till this business about the sniper came up — and then you reminded me that Corwin once developed a substitute for gunpowder that will work here.”
“Everybody remembered it, believe me.”
“I forgot about two rounds of ammunition I have in my pocket that came from the ruins of that warehouse where Melman had his studio.”
“So — ”
“They don’t contain gunpowder. There’s some kind of pink stuff in them instead — and it won’t even burn. At least back on that shadow Earth…”
I dug one out.
“Looks like a .30,” he said.
“I guess so.”
Random rose and drew upon a braided cord that hung beside one of the bookshelves.
By the time he’d returned to his seat there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called.
A liveried servant entered, a young blond fellow.
“That was quick,” Random said.
The man looked puzzled.
“Your Majesty, I do not understand…”
“What’s to understand? I rang. You came.”
“Sire, I was not on duty in the quarters. I was sent to tell you that dinner is ready to be served, awaiting your pleasure.”
“Oh. Tell them I’ll be along shortly. As soon as I’ve spoken with the person I’ve called.”
“Very good, Sire.”
The man departed backward with a quick bow.
“I thought that was too good to be true,” Random muttered.
A little later another guy appeared, older and less elegantly garbed.
“Rolf, would you run down to the armory and talk to whoever’s on duty?” Random said. “Ask him to go through that collection of rifles we have from the time Corwin came to Kolvir with them, the day Eric died. See if he can dig up a 30-30 for me, in good shape. Have him clean it and send it up. We’re going down to dinner now. You can just leave the weapon in the corner over there.”
“30-30, Sire?”
“Right.”
Rolf departed, Random rose and stretched. He pocketed the round I’d given him and gestured toward the door. “Let’s go eat.”
“Good idea.”
There were eight of us at dinner: Random, Gerard, Flora, Bill, Martin — who had been called back a little earlier in the day, Julian — who had just arrived from Arden, Fiona — who had also just come in, from some distant locale, and myself. Benedict was due in the morning, and Llewella later this evening.
I sat to Random’s left, Martin to his right. I hadn’t seen Martin in a long while and was curious what he’d been about. But the atmosphere was not conducive to conversation. As soon as anyone spoke everyone else evinced unusually acute attention — far beyond the dictates of simple politeness. I found it rather unnerving, and I guess Random did, too, because he sent for Droppa MaPantz, the court jester, to fill the heavy silences.
Droppa had a rough time at first. He began by juggling some food, eating it as it moved by until it was gone, wiped his mouth on a borrowed napkin, then insulted each of us in turn. After that, he commenced a stand-up routine I found very funny.
Bill, who was at my left, commented softly, “I know enough Thari to catch most of it, and that’s a George Carlin shtick! How — ”
“Oh, whenever Droppa’s stuff starts sounding stale, Random sends him off to various clubs in Shadow,” I explained, “to pick up new material. I understand he’s a regular at Vegas. Random even accompanies him sometimes, to play cards.”
He did start getting laughs after a while which loosened things up a bit. When he knocked off for a drink it became possible to talk without being the center of attention, as separate conversations had sprung up. As soon as this happened, a massive arm passed behind Bill and fell upon my shoulder. Gerard was leaning back in his chair and sideward toward me.
“Merlin,” he said, “good to see you again. Listen, when you get a chance I’d like to have a little talk with you in private.”
“Sure,” I said, “but Random and I have to take care of something after dinner.”
“When you get a chance,” he repeated. I nodded.
A few moments later I had the feeling that someone was trying to reach me via my Trump.
“Merlin!”
It was Fiona. But she was just sitting at the other end of the table…
Her image came clear, however, and I answered her, “Yes?” and then I glanced down the table and saw that she was staring into her handkerchief. She looked up at me then, smiled, and nodded.
I still retained the mental image of her, simultaneously, and I heard it say, “I dislike raising my voice, for a number of reasons. I’m certain that you will be rushed off after dinner, and I just wanted to let you know that we ought to take a walk, or row out on one of the ponds, or Trump out to Cabra or go look at the Pattern together sometime soon. You understand?”
“I understand,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”
�
�Excellent.”
The contact was broken then, and when I glanced her way she was folding her handkerchief and studying her plate.
Random did not linger, but rose quickly after he had finished his dessert, bidding the others a good night and gesturing for Martin and me to accompany him as he departed.
Julian brushed by me on the way out, trying to look somewhat less than sinister and almost succeeding.
“We must go riding together in Arden,” he said, “soon.”
“Good idea,” I told him. “I’ll be in touch.”
We departed the dining room. Flora caught me in the hall. She still had Bill in tow.
“Stop by my room for a nightcap,” she said, “before you turn in. Or come by for tea tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” I said. “We’ll get together. It all depends on how things run, as to just when.”
She nodded and hit me with the smile that had caused numerous duels and Balkan crises in the past. Then she moved on and we did too.
As we mounted the stair on the way to the library, Random asked, “Is that everyone?”
“What do you mean?” I said.
“Have they all set up assignations with you by now?”
“Well, they’re all tentative things, but yes.”
He laughed. “Didn’t think they’d waste any time. You’ll get everybody’s pet suspicions that way might as well collect them. Some might come in handy later. They’re probably all looking for allies, too — and you should seem a pretty safe choice.”
“I do want to visit with all of them. It’s just a shame it has to be this way.”
He gestured as we came to the top of the stairs. We turned up the hallway and headed toward the library.
“Where are we going?” Martin asked.
Although he resembled Random, Martin looked a little less sneaky, and he was taller. Still, he was not a really big.
“To pick up a rifle,” Random said.
“Oh? Why?”
“I want to test some ammo Merlin brought back. If it actually fires, our lives have just acquired an additional complication.”
We entered the library. The oil lamps were still burning.
The rifle was standing in a corner. Random went to it, dug the shell out of his pocket, and loaded it.
“Okay. What should we try it on?” he mused.
He stepped back out into the hall and looked around.
“Ah! Just the thing!”
He shouldered it, aimed at a suit of armor up the hall, and squeezed the trigger. There followed a sharp report and the ringing of metal. The armor shook.
“Holy shit!” Random said. “It worked! Why me, Unicorn? I was looking for a peaceful reign.”
“May I try it, father,” Martin asked. “I’ve always wanted to.”
“Why not?” Random said. “You still got that other round, Merlin?”
“Yes,” I said, and I rummaged about in my pocket and brought out two. I passed them to Random. “One of these shouldn’t work, anyway,” I said. “It just got mixed in with the other two.”
“All right.”
Random accepted both, loaded one. He passed the weapon to Martin then and began explaining its operation. In the distance I heard the sounds of alarm.
“We’re about to have the entire palace guard descend upon us,” I observed.
“Good,” Random answered, as Martin raised the piece to his shoulder. “A little realistic drill every now and then never hurts.”
The rifle roared and the armor rang a second time. Martin looked startled and quickly passed the weapon back to Random. Random glanced at the shell in his hand, said, “What the hell!”, loaded the final round and fired without sighting.
There was a third report, followed by sounds of a ricochet, just as the guard reached the top of the stair.
“I guess I just don’t live right,” Random remarked. After Random had thanked the guard for their prompt response to a training exercise and I overheard a mutter about the king being in his cups, we returned to the library and he asked me the question.
“I found the third one in the pocket of Luke’s field jacket,” I answered, and I proceeded to explain the circumstances.
“I can no longer afford not to know about Luke Raynard,” he finally said. “Tell me how you read what just happened.”
“The building that burned down,” I began. “Upstairs was Melman who wanted to sacrifice me. Downstairs was the Brutus Storage Company. Brutus apparently was storing ammo of this sort. Luke admitted that he knew Melman. I had no idea that there might be some connection with Brutes and the ammunition, also. The fact that they were located in the same building is too much, though.”
“If they’re turning it out in such quantities that it requires warehousing, then we’re in big trouble,” Random said. “I want to know who owned that building — and who owned the company, if it’s a different person.”
“It shouldn’t be too difficult to check.”
“Who should I send to do it?” he mused. Then he snapped his forgers and smiled. “Flora is about to undertake an important mission for the Crown.”
“Inspired,” I said.
Martin smiled at that and then shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on,” he told us, “and I want to.”
“Tell you what,” Random said. “You fill him in while I go give Flora her assignment. She can leave right after the funeral.”
“Yes,” I said as he departed, and I began telling my tale once again, editing for brevity.
Martin had no fresh insights and no new information, not that I had expected any of him. He had spent the past few years off in a more pastoral setting, I learned. I got the impression that he was more fond of the countryside than of cities.
“Merlin,” he said. “You should have brought this whole mess home to Amber sooner. We’re all affected.”
And what of the Courts of Chaos? I wondered. Would rifle have fired there? Still, it had been Caine and Bleys who had been targets. No one had summoned me back to the Courts to brief me on any incidents. Still… perhaps I ought to bring my other relatives aboard at some point.
“But up until a few days ago matters were a lot simpler,” I told Martin, “and then when things began developing fast I was too caught up in them.”
“But all those years… those attempts on your life.”
I said, “I don’t call home whenever I stub my toe. Nobody else does either. I couldn’t see any connection, all that time.”
But I knew that he was right and I was wrong. Fortunately, Random returned about then.
“I couldn’t quite get her to believe it was an honor,” he said, “but she’ll do it.”
We talked for a while then about more general matters, mostly what we had been doing for the past several years. I recalled Random’s curiosity about Ghostwheel and mentioned the project to him. He changed the subject immediately, giving the impression he wanted to save it for a fully private conversation. After a time, Martin began to yawn and it was contagious. Random decided to bid us good night and rang for a servant to show me to my room.
I asked Dik, who had led me to my quarters, to find me some drawing materials. It took him about ten minutes to turn up everything that I needed.
It would have been a long, difficult walk back and I was tired. So I seated myself beside a table and commenced the construction of a Trump for the bar at the country club Bill had taken me to the previous evening. I worked for perhaps twenty minutes before I was satisfied.
Now it was just a matter of time differential, a thing that was subject to variation, the 2.5-to-1 ratio being only a rule of thumb between Amber and the shadow I had recently inhabited. It was quite possible that I had missed my rendezvous with the nameless housebreaker.
I set everything aside except for the Trump. I rose to my feet.
There came a knock on my door. I was tempted not to answer it, but my curiosity won out. I crossed the room, unbolted the door, and opene
d it.
Fiona stood there, her hair down for a change. She had on an attractive green evening dress and a small jeweled pin that matched her hair perfectly.
“Hello, Fi,” I said. “What brings you around?”
“I felt you working with certain forces,” she answered, “and I didn’t want anything happening to you before we had our talk. May I come in?”
“Of course,” I said, stepping aside. “But I am in a hurry.”
“I know, but perhaps I can be of help.”
“How?” I asked, closing the door.
She looked about the room and spotted the Trump I’d just finished. She shot the bolt on the door and crossed to the table.
“Very nice,” she observed, studying my handiwork. “So that’s where you’re headed? Where is it?”
“The bar at a country club in the place I just came from,” I replied. “I’m supposed to meet an unknown party there at ten, local time. Hopefully, I will obtain information as to who has been trying to kill me, and why, and possibly even learn something of other matters that have been troubling me.”
“Go,” she said, “and leave the Trump behind. That way, I can use it to spy, and if you should suddenly need help I will be in a position to provide it.”
I reached out and squeezed her hand. Then I took up a position beside the table and focused my attention.
After several moments, the scene took on depth and color. I sank into the emerging textures, and everything advanced toward me, growing larger, crowding out my immediate surroundings. My gaze sought the wall cloak I remembered; to the right of the bar…
9:48
I couldn’t have cut things much closer.
I could see the patrons now, hear the sounds of their voices. I looked for the best point of arrival. Actually, there was no one at the right end of the bar, near that clock. Okay…
I was there. Trying to look as if — had been, all along. Three of the patrons snapped glances in my direction. I smiled and nodded. Bill had introduced me to one of the men the previous evening. The other I had seen, but not spoken with at that time. Both of them returned my nod, which seemed to satisfy the third that I was real, as he immediately turned his attention back to the woman he was with.
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