The Logrus appeared at my summons, and I reached into it, extended through it. My desire was framed, became the aim. My sending extending sought the thought. Far, far. . . .
I kept extending for the damnedest long time. We really had to be out in the Shadow boonies. . . .
Contact.
I did not jerk, but rather exerted a slow and steady pressure. I felt it move toward me across the shadows.
“Hey, Merle! Everything okay?” I heard Luke call.
“Yeah,” I answered, and I did not elaborate.
Closer, closer. . . .
There!
I staggered when it arrived, because it came to me too near to one end.
The far end bounced on the ground. So I moved to the middle and took a new grip. I hefted it and carried it back.
I set it against a steep area of the rise a bit in advance of Luke’s position and I mounted quickly. I began drawing it up behind me then.
“Okay, where’d you get the ladder?” he asked.
“Found it,” I said.
“Looks like wet paint on the side there.”
“Maybe someone lost it just recently.”
I began lowering it into the opening. Several feet protruded after it reached the bottom. I adjusted it for stability,
“I’ll start down first,” I said, “and stay right under you.”
“Take my stick and my blade down first, will you?”
“Sure.”
I did that thing. By the time I climbed back he had caught hold and gotten onto it, had begun his descent.
“You’ll have to teach me that trick one of these days,” he said, breathing heavily.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answered.
He descended slowly, pausing to rest at each rung, and he was flushed and panting when he reached the bottom. He slumped to the floor immediately, pressing his right palm against his lower rib cage. After a time, he inched backward a bit and rested against the wall.
“You okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “Will be,” he said, “in a few minutes. Being stabbed takes a lot out of you.”
“Want a blanket?”
“No, thanks.”
“Well, you rest here and I’ll go check the larder and see whether anything’s gotten at the supplies. Want me to bring you anything?”
“Some water,” he said.
The supplies proved to be in good order, and the sleeping bag was still where I’d left it. I returned with a drink for Luke and a few ironic memories of the occasion when he’d done the same for me.
“Looks as if you’re in business,” I told him. “There’s still plenty of stuff.”
“You didn’t drink all the wine, did you?” he asked between sips.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Now, you said you have a piece of information vital to the interests of Amber,” I said. “Care to tell me about it?”
He smiled. “Not yet,” he said.
“I thought that was our deal.”
“You didn’t hear the whole thing. We were interrupted.”
I shook my head. But, “All right, we were interrupted,” I acknowledged. “Tell me the rest.”
“I’ve got to get back on my feet, so I can take the Keep and free my mother. . . . ”
I nodded.
“The information is yours after we rescue her.”
“Hey! Wait a minute! You’re asking a hell of a lot!”
“Not for what I’m paying.”
“Sounds like I’m buying a pig in a poke.”
“Yes, I guess you are. But believe me, it’ll be worth knowing.”
“What if it becomes worth knowing while I’m waiting?”
“No, I’ve figured the timing on this. My recovery is only going to take a couple of days, Amber time. I can’t see the matter coming up that fast.”
“Luke, this is starting to sound like some sort of trick.”
“It is,” he said, “but it will benefit Amber as well as myself.”
“That’s another thing. I can’t see you giving something like this away to the enemy.”
He sighed. “It might even be enough to get me off the hook,” he added.
“You’re thinking of calling off your feud?”
“I don’t know. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and if I did decide to go that route it would make for a real good opener.”
“And if you decided not to, you’d be screwing yourself. Wouldn’t you?”
“I could live with it, though. It might make my job harder, but not impossible.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “If word of this gets out and I’ve got nothing to show for letting you get away like this, I’ll be in real hot water.”
“I won’t tell anybody if you won’t.”
“There’s Vinta.”
“And she keeps insisting that her big aim in life is to protect you. Besides, she won’t be there if you go back. Or rather, there will be the real Vinta, having awakened as from a troubled sleep.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’ve left. She’s probably already off seeking you.”
“Do you know what she really is?”
“No, but I’ll help you speculate sometime.”
“Not now?”
“No, I’ve got to sleep some more. It’s catching up with me again.”
“Then let’s go over this deal one more time. What are you going to do, how do you intend to do it and what are you promising me?”
He yawned. “I stay here till I’m back in shape,” he said. “Then when I’m ready to attack the Keep I get in touch with you. Which reminds me, you still have my Trumps.”
“I know. Keep talking. How do you intend taking the Keep?”
“I’m working on it. I’ll let you know that too. Anyhow, you can help us or not at that point, as you see fit. I wouldn’t mind having another sorcerer with me, though. Once we’re in and she’s freed, I’ll tell you what I promised and you can take it back to Amber.”
“What if you lose?” I asked.
He looked away. “I guess there’s always that possibility,” he finally agreed. “Okay, how’s this? I’ll write the whole thing out and keep it with me. I’ll give it to you—by Trump or in person—before we attack. Win or lose, I’ll have paid my way with you.”
He extended his good hand and I clasped it.
“Okay,” I said.
“Then let me have my Trumps back, and I’ll be talking to you as soon as I get moving again.”
I hesitated. Finally, I drew out my pack, which was now grown quite thick. I shuffled out my own then along with a number of his and passed him what remained.
“What about the rest?”
“I want to study them, Luke. Okay?”
He shrugged weakly. “I can always make more. But give me back my mother’s.”
“Here.”
He accepted it, then said, “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but I’ll give you a piece of advice: Don’t screw around with Dalt. He’s not the nicest of guys when he’s normal, and I think there’s something wrong with him right now. Keep away from him.”
I nodded, then got to my feet.
“You’re going now?” he asked.
“Right.”
“Leave me the ladder.”
“It’s all yours.”
“What are you going to tell them back in Amber?”
“Nothing—yet,” I said. “Hey, you want me to bring some food up here before I go? Save you a trip.”
“Yeah. Good idea. Bring me a bottle of wine, too.”
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 return
ing 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 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.
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 so
litude 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.
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