Table of Contents

- CHAPTER 1

- CHAPTER 2

- CHAPTER 3

- CHAPTER 4

- CHAPTER 5

- CHAPTER 6

- CHAPTER 7

- CHAPTER 8

- CHAPTER 9

- CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 1

But it was April 30, and of course it would happen as it always did.It had taken me a while to catch on, but now I at least knew when it was coming. In the past, I'd bin too busy to do anything about it.But my job was finished now. I'd only stayed around for this.I felt that I really ought to clear the matter up before I departed.I got out of bed, visited the bathroom,showered, brushed my teeth, et cetera. I'd grown a beard again, so I didn't have to shave.I was not jangling with strange apprehensions, as I had been on that April 30 three years ago when I'd awakened with a headache and a premonition, thrown open the windows, and gone to the kitchen to discover all of the gas burners turned on and flameless. No.It wasn't even like the April 30 two years ago in the other apartment when I awoke before dawn to a faint smell of smoke to learn that the place was on fire. Still, I stayed out of direct line of the light fixtures in case the bulbs were filled with something flammable, and I flipped all of the switches rather than pushing them. Nothing untoward followed these actions.

This morning, though, I didn'.t want coffee that had been produced out of my sight.I set a fresh pot going and checked my packing while I waited for it to brew. Everything I valued in this place resided in two medium-sized cratesclothing, books, paintings, some instruments, a few souvenirss, and so forth.I sealed the cases. A change of clothing, a sweatshirt, a good paperback, and a wad of traveler's checks went into the backpack.I'd drop my key off at the manager's on the way out, so he could let the movers in. The crates would go into storage.

No jogging for me this morning.

I had simply been walking down the street on a bright spring afternoon when an oncoming truck had swerved, jumped the curb, and nearly combined me with portions of a brick wall.I was able to dive out of the way and roll. The driver never regained consciousness.It had seemed one of those freak occurrences that occasionally invade the lives of us all.

The following year to the day, however, I was walking home from my lady friend's place late in the evening when three men attacked me-one with a knife, the other two with lengths of pipe-without even the courtesy of first asking for my wallet.

Even then, I dismissed it as an odd coincidence.The matter of the mail bomb that had destroyed half of another apartment the following year did cause me to begin wondering whether the statistical nature of reality might not be under a strain in my vicinity at that season. And the events of subsequent years served to turn this into a conviction.

The effort failing, there would be another year's pause before an attempt was made again.It seemed almost a game.

My main concern was that he, she, or it seemed never to be present when the event occurred, favoring stealth and gimmicks or agents.I will refer to this person as S (which sometimes stands for "sneak" and sometimes for "shithead" in my private cosmology), because X has been overworked and because I do not like to screw around with pronouns with disputable antecedents.

Then I picked up my bag and departed.Mr. Mulligan wasn't in, or was sleeping, so I left my key in his mailbox before heading up the street to take my breakfast at a nearby diner.

I walked slowly, listening and looking.It was a pleasant morning, promising a beautiful day. I hoped to settle things quickly, so I could enjoy it at my leisure.

I took a seat beside the window.Just as the waiter came to take my order I saw a familiar figure swinging along the street - a former classmate and later fellow employee Lucas Raynard: six feet tall, red-haired, handsome in spite, or perhaps because, of an artistically broken nose, with the voice and manner of the salesman he was.

I knocked on the window and he saw me, waved, turned and entered.

"Merle, I was right," he said, coming up to the table, clasping my shoulder briefly, seating himself and taking the menu out of my hands.

"Missed you at your place and guessed you might be here."

He lowered his eyes and began reading the menu.

"Why?" I asked.

"If' you need more time to consider, I'll come back," the waiter said.

"No," Luke answered and read off an enormous order.

I added my own.

Then: "Because you're a creature of habit."

"I hardly eat here anymore."

"I know," he answered, "but you usually did when the pressure was on.

Like, right before exams - or if something was bothering you."

I spun the ashtray with its imprint of a unicorn's head, a smaller version of the stained-glass one that stood as part of a partition beside the doorway: "I can't say why," I finally stated."Besides, what makes you think something's bothering me?"

"I remembered that paranoid thing you have about April 30, because of a couple of accidents."

I never told you about all of them."

"So you still believe it?"

"Yes."

The waiter came by and filled our coffee cups.

"Have you had it yet today?"

"No."

I hope it doesn't pall your thinking."

I took a sip of coffee.

"No problem," I told him.

"Listen, I just got back to town yesterday .. ."

"Have a good trip?"

"Set a new sales record."

"Great."

.. I just learned when I checked in that you'd left."

I quit about a month ago."

But with your phone disconnected he couldn't call.He even stopped by a couple of times, but you were out."

"Too bad."

"He wants you back."

"I'm finished there."

"Wait'll you hear the proposition, huh? Brady gets kicked upstairs and you're the new head of Design-for a twenty percent pay hike: That's what he told me to tell you."

I chuckled softly.

But, like I said, I'm finished."

"You do have something lined up someplace else.He was wondering. Okay, if that's the case he told me to tell you to bring him whatever the other guys offer.He'll try like hell to top it."

I shook my head.

Period.I don't want to go back. I'm not going to work for anyone else either.I' m done with this sort of thing. I' m tired of computers."

Say, you going to teach?"

"Nope."

Did you come into some money?"

I believe I'll do some traveling.I've been in one place too long."

Then he leaned back, clasped his hands across his stomach, and lowered his eyelids slightly: He was silent for a time.

Did you just mean the job and your life here, or something else as well?"

"I don't follow you."

You'd be gone for a while and then just as suddenly turn up again.You always were vague about it, too. Seemed like you were leading some sort of double life.That have anything to do with it?"

"I don't know what you mean." He smiled.

When I did not reply; he added: "Well, good luck with it -whatever."

Our breakfasts finally arrived and we ate is silence for a while.

Then he asked, "You still have the Starburst?"

Sold her last fall," I told him."I'd been so busy I just didn't have time to sail. Hated to see her idle."

He nodded.

"We had a lot of fun with her, back in school.Later, too. I'd have liked to take her out once more, for old times' sake."

"Yes."

"Say, you haven't seen Julia recently."

I think she's still going with some guy named Rick.Have you?"

I stopped by last night."

"Why?"

He shrugged.

"She was one of the gang-and we've all been drifting apart.

"How was she?"

She asked about you.Gave me this ...to give to you, too."

It bore my name, in her handwriting.I tore it open and read:

was wrong: I know who you are and there is danger.I have to see you. I have something you will nod.It is very important. Please call or come by as soon as you can.

Love, Julia

"Thanks," I said, opening my pack and filing it.

In the extreme.I'd have to decide what to do about it later. I still liked her more than I cared to think about, but I wasn't sure I wanted to see her again.But what did she mean about knowing who I am?

I pushed her out of my mind, again.

He was unbelievably good.

"Still fence?" I asked him.

How about you?"

"Occasionally."

"We never really did find out who was better."

"No time now," I said.

"I guess not.When are you leaving?"

I' m just cleaning up a few odds and ends.When that's done I'll go."

"Where are you heading?"

Haven't decided on everything yet."

"You're crazy."

Wanderjahr is what they used to call it.I missed out on mine and I want it now."

Maybe I ought to try it myself sometime."

I thought you took your in installments, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't the only one who used to take off a lot."

"that was business, not pleasure.Had to do some deals to pay the bills. You going to see your folks?"

Neither of us had ever spoken of our parents before, except in the most general terms.

"How're yours?"

He caught my gaze and held it, his chronic smile widening slightly.

"We're kind of out of touch."

I smiled, too.

"I know the feeling."

. .

"So you won't be talking to Miller?" he asked.

"No."

The check came by and he picked it up:

"After all, I'm working."

Maybe I can get back at you for dinner.Where're you staying?"

"There.New Line Motel," he said.

"Say I come by about six?"

"Okay."

He settled up and we parted on the street.

"See you," he said.

Strange man.We'd known each other for almost eight years. Had some good times.Competed in a number of sports.

Dated the same girls sometimes.I wondered about him again—strong, smart, and as private a person as myself. There was a bond between us, one that I didn't fully understand.

I drove slowly, looking at things that had been fresh and new eight years before, saying good-bye to them now.During the past week I had said it to all of the people who had mattered to me. Except for Julia.

It was either now or not at all, and my curiosity had been piqued.I pulled into a shopping mall's lot and located a pay phone, but there was no answer when I rang her number. I supposed she could be working full-time on a dayshift again, but she could also be taking a shower or be out shopping.I decided to drive on over to her place and see. It wasn't that far.And whatever it was that she had for me, picking it up would be a good excuse for seeing her this one last time.

I locked the car, walked back to the corner, and turned right.The day had grown slightly warmer. Somewhere, dogs were barking.

I couldn't see her windows from the front.She was on the top floor; to the rear. I tried to suppress memories as I passed on up the front walk, but it was no good.Thoughts of our times together came rushing back along with a gang of old feelings. I halted.It was silly coming here. Why bother, for something I hadn't even missed.Still . ..

I wanted to see her one more time.I wasn't going '· to back out now. I mounted the steps and crossed the porch.The door was open a crack so I walked in.

Same tired-looking potted violet, dust on its leaves, on the chest before the gilt-framed mirror-the mirror that had reflected our embrace, slightly warped, many times.My face rippled as I went by.

A dog began howling somewhere out back.

I walked the short hallway, past the drab etchings and the old end table, turned 'and mounted the second staircase.Halfway up I heard a scratching noise from overhead and a sound like a bottle or a vase rolling on a hardwood floor. Then silence again, save for a few gusts of wind about the eaves.A faint apprehension stirred within me and I quickened my pace. I halted at the head of the stairway and nothing looked to be out of order, but with my next inhalation a peculiar odor came to me.I couldn't place it-sweat, must, damp dirt perhaps-certainly something organic.

The odor seemed stronger there, but I heard no new sounds.

For a moment it seemed that I heard someone stirring within, but only for a moment.I knocked again.

"It's me Merle."

Nothing.

I knocked louder.

I tried the doorknob.Locked.

I moved immediately to my left then, past the hinged edge of the door and the frame.I extended my left hand and applied gentle pressure to the upper panel with my fingertips.

No new sounds ensued, and nothing but a slice of wall and floor came into view, with narrow glimpses of a watercolor, the red sofa, the green rug.I eased the door open a little farther. More of the same.And the odor was even stronger.

I took a half step to my right and applied a steady pressure.

..

Lying there.Across the room. Bloody .. .

Upset furniture, torn cushions .. .

I suppressed an impulse to rush forward.

I crossed the threshold.There was nothing else/no one else in the room. Frakir tightened about my wrist.I should have said something then, but my mind was elsewhere.

I felt sick.From the doorway I had not been able to see that half of her face and her right arm were missing. She was not breathing and her carotid was silent.She had on a torn and bloodied peach-colored robe; there was a blue pendant about her neck.

They were not human footprints, however, but large, elongated, three-toed things, well padded, clawed.

There came another quick pulsing at my wrist.There was no sound, though. It was absolutely silent, but I knew that it was there.

They lined the muzzle belonging to several hundred pounds of doglike creature covered with coarse, moldy-looking yellow fur.Its ears were like clump of fungi, its yellow-orange eyes wide and feral.

It glanced off the bony ridge above its left eye without noticeable effect.

Still soundlessly the thing sprang at me.

..

They aim the killing blow, an inch or two above the junction of this X.My uncle taught me that. He didn't work in a slaughterhouse, though.Ire just knew how to kill things.

So I spun forward and to the side as it sprang, and I struck a hammer blow at the death spot: It moved even faster than I'd anticipated, however, and when my fist struck it, it was already rushing by Its neck muscles helped it to absorb the force of my blow.

It shook its head and turned with great speed then, and it was at me again.Now a low, rumbling growl came up from its chest and its leap was high. I knew that I was not going to be able to sidestep this one.

You need a good grip if it's a big one, and you've got to get it just right.I had no real choice at the moment. If I tried a kick and missed it would probably take off my foot.

I was sure it outweighed me and I had to meet its momentum as well.

I kept my arms extended and leaned into the impact.I was shaken by the force of its lunge, but I was able to maintain my grip and absorb it.

With a dog, you might be able to bash its head against anything hard and handy; its carotids are too deeply buried to rely on direct pressure to take it out.But this thing was strong and my grip was already beginning to slip against its frantic twisting. As I held its jaws away from me and kept pushing it upward, I also realized that it was taller than I was when extended along the vertical.I could try for a kick at its soft underside, but I would probably go off balance as well as lose my grip, and then my groin would be exposed to its teeth.

So I pushed as hard as I could and retreated again.I had been looking for a weapon, any weapon, but there was nothing handy that would serve.

I couldn't get out of its way either.

Bones popped and crunched as I twisted and its head lowered almost immediately to attack my wrists.But by then I was already rising, thrusting forward, springing up.

When its paws struck the floor, however, it made a sound halfway between a whimper and a snarl and collapsed forward.

It raised its right foreleg immediately upon standing and balanced itself on three legs, still growling, eyes fixed on my own, saliva dampening its lower jaw.I moved slightly to my left, certain that it was about to-rush me yet again, angling my bay, positioning myself in a way that no one had taught me, because I do occasionally have original thoughts.

Maybe I could have gone for the skull and gotten it.I don't know because I didn't try. I seized it once more by the neck, and this time it was familiar territory.It would not pull away as it had before in the few moments I needed. Without breaking its momentum I turned and dropped low and thrust and pulled, adding some guidance to its trajectory: With a shattering, splintering sound it passed through, taking most of the frame, the curtain and the curtain rod along with it.

When I rose and looked out I saw it twitch a few times and grow still, there on the concrete patio where Julia and I had often had a midnight beer.

I began to realize my anger.Someone had to be behind this. Could it be S again? Was this my April 30 present for this year? I'd a feeling that it was and I wanted to do unto S as I had just done unto the creature that had performed the act.There had to be a reason. There ought to be a clue.

Mechanically, I wiped my fingerprints from the fallen doorknob as I began my search of the apartment.

The moment I touched them and felt their coldness I realized that this was even more serious than I had thought.They had to be the thing of mine she'd had that I would be needing-only they were not really mine, though as I riffled through I recognized them on one level and was puzzled by them on another. They were cards, Trumps, like yet unlike any I had ever seen before.

Just a few cards, actually, and strange.I slipped them into my side pocket quickly when I heard the siren. Time for solitaire later.

Fido still lay where he had fallen and all the neighborhood dogs were discussing it.I vaulted fences and tram pled flowerbeds, cutting through backyards on my way over to the side street where I was parked.

Minutes later I was miles away, trying to scrub the bloody pawprints from my memory.,

CHAPTER 2

I stopped the car and got out and walked.

I seated myself on one of the benches, took out the Trumps and studied them.A few seemed half familiar and the rest were totally puzzling. I stared too long at one end seemed to hear a siren song.I put them down. I did not recognize the style.This was extremely awkward.

The question foremost in his mind was, Had he taken a lethal dose? He looked it up in a classic textbook that he himself had written years before.According to his own book he had had it. He checked another, written by an equally eminent professional.According to that one he had taken only about half the amount necessary to do in someone of his body mass. So he sat down and waited, hoping he'd been wrong.

I thought that I knew the work of everyone who might be capable of producing such items.I picked up one of the cards, which held a peculiar, almost familiar fascination for me-depicting a small grassy point jutting out into a quiet lake, a sliver of something bright, glistening, unidentifiable, off to the right. I exhaled heavily upon it, fogging it for an instant, and struck it with my fingernail.It rang like a glass bell and flickered to life. Shadows swam and pulsed as the scene inched into evening.I passed my hand over it and it grew still once again-back to lake, grasses, daytime.

Time's stream flowed faster there in relationship to my present situation.Interesting.

The cards were functional all right, not some clever imitations, and though I did not understand their purpose, that was not my main concern at the moment.

I had yet to confront the person who had been playing with my life.S had again employed a proxy menace. And that was no ordinary dog I had destroyed.And the cards . .. where had Julia gotten them and why had she wanted me to have them? The cards and the dog indicated a power beyond that of an ordinary person.All along I had thought I'd been the subject of the unwelcome attention of some psycho, whom I could deal with at my leisure. But this morning's events put an entirely different complexion on the case.It meant that I had one hell of an enemy somewhere.

I wanted to talk to Luke again, get him to reconstruct their conversation of the previous evening, see whether Julia had said anything that might provide me with a clue.I'd like to go back and search her apartment more carefully, too. But that was out of the question.The cops had pulled up in front of the place as I was driving away. There'd be no getting back in for some time.

There was Rick Kinsky, the guy she'd begun seeing after we'd broken up.I knew him on sight-a thin, mustached, cerebral sort, thick glasses and all. He managed a bookstore I'd visited once or twice.I didn't know him beyond that; though. Perhaps he could tell me something about the cards and how Julia might have gotten into whatever situation it was that had cost her her life.

I wasn't about to fool with them any further.Not yet. First, I wanted as much information as I could get.

As I walked I reflected that this April 30 wasn't over.Suppose S didn't really consider this morning's encounter as aimed directly at me? In that case there was plenty of time for another attempt. I also had a feeling that if I began getting close S would forget about dates and go for my throat whenever there was an opening.I resolved not to let my guard down at all henceforth, to live as in a state of siege until this matter was settled. And all of my energies were now going to be dire toward settling it.My well-being seemed to require the destruction of my enemy, very soon.

And if so, from whom? There was an awful lot I still didn't know about my heritage .. .

Not yet, I decided.I had to make every effort to handle things myself. Besides the fact that I wanted to, I needed the practice.It's necessary to be able to deal with nasty matters where I come from.

A few clouds blew in from the west.My watch ticked on my wrist, next to unseen Frakir. The news on the radio was international and cheerless.

He wasn't in.So I had a club sandwich and a milkshake in the dining area and tried again afterward. Still out.

Catch him later.I headed into town. The Browserie, as I recalled, was the name of the bookstore where Rick worked.

I parked a couple of blocks up the street and walked back.I had been alert all of the way across town, but could not detect any sign that I was being followed.

I saw Rick through the store's window, seated at his high counter reading a book.There was no one else in sight in the place.

He straightened and his eyes widened as I approached.

"Rick, I don't know whether you remember me."

"You're Merle Corey," he stated softly.

"I wondered whether you might be able to help me with a little information."

"What kind of information?"

"It's about Julia," I said.

"Look," he answered, "I never went near her until after you two had broken up."

I don't care about that.It's more recent information that I need. She'd been trying to get in touch with me this past week and-"

He shook his head:

"I haven't heard from her for a couple of months."

"Oh?"

Different interests, you know?"

"Was she okay when you-stopped seeing each other?"

"I guess so."

I didn't like that "I guess so." I could see that he was a little afraid of me so I decided to push it.

"What do you mean 'different interests'?" I asked.

"Well, she got a little weird, you know?" he said.

Tell me."

He licked his lips and looked away "I don't want any trouble," he stated.

What was the matter?"

"Well," he said, "she was scared."

"Scared? Of what?"

"Uh-of you."

I never did anything to frighten her.What did she say?"

Then she developed all these funny interests."

"Completely.She got weird? She got funny interests? What kind? What was going on? I really don't understand, and I'd like to."

I did.

He slowed when he reached a section full of books on natural healing and organic farming and martial arts and herbal remedies and having babies at home, but he went on past it into the hardcore occult section.

"She borrowed a few of these, brought them back, borrowed a few more."

I shrugged.

"That's all? That's hardly weird."

"But she really got into it."

"So do a lot of people."

"She started with theosophy, even attended meetings of a local group.She got turned off on it fairly quick, but by then she'd met some people with different connections. Pretty soon she was hanging around with Sufis, Gurdjieffians, even a shaman."

"No yoga?"

When I asked her that same thing she said that it was power she was after, not samadhi.Anyhow, she just kept fording stranger and stranger acquaintances. The atmosphere got too rarefied for me, so I said good-bye."

"I wonder why?" I mused.

"Here," he said, "take a look at this one."

I caught it.It was a copy of the Bible. I opened it to the publishing credits page.

"Something special about this edition?" I asked.

He sighed.

I'm sorry."

He took it back and replaced it on the shelf.

"Just a minute," he said.

It read JUST STEPPED OUT: WE'LL REOPEN AT and there was a clock face beneath it with movable hands.He set them to indicate a time a half hour hence and went and hung the sign in the door's window. Then he shot the bolt and gestured for me to follow him to a room in the rear.

He seated himself behind the desk and nodded toward the nearest chair.I took it. He switched on a telephone answering machine then, removed a stack of forms and correspondence from the blotter, opened a drawer and took out a bottle of Chianti.

"Care for a glass?" he asked.

"Sure, thanks."

He took a pair of glasses from a shelf and rinsed them.He brought them back, set them down, filled both, and pushed one in my direction. They were from the Sheraton.

"Sorry I tossed the Bible at you," he said, raising his glass and taking a sip.

"You looked as if you expected one to go up in a puff of smoke."

He nodded.

Are you into some form of occultism?"

"No."

"She talked sometimes as if you might even be a supernatural creature yourself."

I laughed.

He did, too, after a moment.

They can't all be right, but .. ."

I shrugged.

"Who knows? So you think she was looking for some system that would give her power to defend herself against me?"

"That was the impression I got."

I took a drink of the wine.

"That doesn't make sense," I told him.

And if I had driven her into the path of whatever had destroyed her, then I was partly responsible for her death.I suddenly felt the burden along with the pain.

"Finish the story," I said.

"I got tired of people who wanted to discuss cosmic crap all the, time and I split."

"And that's all? Did she find the right system, the right guru? What happened?"

He took a big drink and stared at me.

"I really liked her," he said.

"I'm sure."

"The Tarot, Caballa, Golden Dawn, Crowley, Fortune that's where she went next."

"Did she stay?"

But I think so.I only heard this after a while."

"Ritual magic, then?"

"Probably."

"Who does it?"

"Lots of people."

"I mean who did she find? Did you hear that?"

"I think it was Victor Melman."

I shook my head."I'm sorry. I don't know the name."

He stared off into the lavatory."I've heard it said-by a number of people, some of them fairly reliable-that he really has something going for him, that he has a hold on a piece of something, that he's known a kind of enlightenment, has been initiated, has a sort of power and is sometimes a great teacher. But he's got these ego problems, too, that seem to go along with that sort of thing.And there's a touch of the seamy side there. I've even heard it said that that's not his real name, that he's got a record, and there's more of Manson to him than Magus.I don't know. He's nominally a painter-actually a pretty good one.His stuff does sell."

"You've met him?"

A pause, then, "Yes."

"What were your own impressions?"

Well...I'm prejudiced.I can't really say."

"How come?"

He turned me down."

I thought-"

"I tried everything at some time or other, I mean.Everybody goes through phases. I wanted to develop, expand; advance.Who doesn't? But I never found it." He unbent and took another gulp of wine. "Sometimes I felt that I was close, that there was some power, some vision that I could almost touch or see.Almost. Then it was gone.It's all a lot of crap. You just delude yourself.Sometimes I even thought I had it. Then a few days would go by and I realized that I was lying to myself again."

"All of this was before you met Julia?" He nodded.

That might be what held us together for a while.I still like to talk about all this bullshit, even if I don't believe it anymore. Then she got too serious about it, and I didn't feel like going that route again."

"I see."

He drained his glass and refilled it.

"'There are an infinite number of ways of lying to yourself, of rationalizing things into something they are not.I guess that I wanted magic, and there is no real magic in the world."

"That why you threw the Bible at me?" He snorted.

It would have been neat to see you vanish in a flash of fire.But no go."

I smiled.

"How can I find Melman?"

"Here."

He copied out an address on an index card and handed it to me.He took another drink of wine.

I nodded and set down my glass.

"I appreciate everything you told me."

He raised the bottle.

"Have another drink?"

"No, thanks."

He shrugged and topped off his own.

I rose.

"You know, it's really sad," he said.

"What?"

"That there's no magic, that there never was, there probably never will be."

"That's the breaks," I said.

"The world would be a lot more interesting place."

"Yeah."

I turned to go.

"Do me a favor," he said.

"What?"

"On the way out, set that sign for three o'clock and let the bolt in the door snap shut again."

The sky had grown a lot darker, the wind a bit more chill.I tried again to reach Luke, from a phone on the corner, but he was still out.

It had been a terrific day.The weather was perfect, and everything we did had worked out right. We went to a fan party that evening and afterward had a late dinner at a really good little place we'd stumbled upon by accident.We lingered over drinks, hating for the day to end. We decided then to prolong a winning streak, and we drove to an otherwise deserted beach where we sat around and splashed around and watched the moon and felt the breezes.For a long while. I did something then that I had sort of promised myself I would not.Hadn't Faust thought a beautiful moment worth a soul?

"Let's take a walk."

"Where to?" she asked, as I drew her to her feet.

"The fabled realms of yore.Eden. Come on."

The moon was generous and yellow, the sea sang my favorite song.

..

"Let's go in."

"It'll be dark."

"Good," I said, and we entered.

By then, though, I had spotted the turnoff to the left.

"It is dark!"

Just keep hold of me a little longer.It'll be okay." Fifteen or twenty steps and there was a faint illumination to the right. I led her along that turning and the way brightened as we advanced.

"We may get lost," she said softly.

"I don't get lost," I answered her.

'The way turned once more, and we proceeded along that last passage to emerge at the foot of a mountain in sight of a low forest, the sun standing at midmorning height above its trees.

"It's daytime!" she said.

"Come on."

We walked through the woods for a time, listening to the birds and the breezes, dark-haired Julia and I, and I led her after a while through a canyon of colored rocks and grasses, beside a stream that flowed into a river.

Standing there, staring out across the great valley that lay below, we beheld a city of spires and cupolas, gilt and crystal, through morning and mist.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Come."

Shadows and diamond beads .. .a roaring to approach the power of silence . ..

We followed it to a gallery, open to our left and looking out upon night and stars, stars, stars.. .. It was an enormous prospect, blazing with new constellations, their light sufficient to cast our shadows onto the wall behind us.She leaned over the low parapet, her skin some rare polished marble, and she looked downward.

"And to both sides! There is nothing below but more stars.And to the sides . .."

Pretty things, aren't they?"

It bore us out again to behold a ruined classical amphitheater beneath a late afternoon sky.Ivy grew over broken benches and fractured pillars. Here and there lay a shattered statue, as if cast down by earthquake.Very picturesque. I'd thought she'd like it, and I was right.We took turns seating ourselves and speaking to each other. The acoustics were excellent.

There was a glittering mass of rock off to my right.We walked out upon a small point cushioned with mosses and ferns.

Later still, I unbuttoned her blouse."Right here?" she said.

Don't you?"

Okay.Wait a minute."

After a time she slept, as I desired.

Then I dressed both of us and picked her up to carry her back.I took a shortcut.

Soon I slept also.

We did not awaken till after the sun was up, when the sounds of bathers roused us.

She sat up and stared at me.

But it couldn't have been real either.Could it?"

She furrowed her brow.

"What did you just agree to?" she asked.

"Let's go get some.Come on."

"Something unusual happened. What was it?"

"Why destroy the magic by talking about it? Let's go eat."

Stupid, the whole thing was stupid.I should never have taken her on that walk. It contributed to that final argument that set us permanently apart.

I realized that I had been in love with her, that I still loved her.Had I not taken her on that walk, or had I acknowledged her later accusation that I was a sorcerer, she, would not have taken the route that she took, seeking power of her own-probably for self protection. She would be alive.

I cut around the braking car in front of me and crashed a light.If I had killed the thing I loved, I was certain that the opposite was not going to be true.

CHAPTER 3

They seem to paralyze my memory of happier times, of friends, places, things; options.Squeezed by the grip of intense, unsettling emotion, I grow smaller in my single-mindedness. I suppose it is partly because I have discarded a range of choices, impairing in some measure my freedom of will.I don't like this, but after a point I have small control over it. It makes me feel that I have surrendered to a kind of determinism, which imitates me even more.Then, vicious cycle, this feeds back into the emotion that drives me and intensifies it. The simple way of ending this situation is the headlong rush to remove its object.The difficult way is more philosophical, a drawing back, the reestablishment of control. As usual, the difficult way is preferable.A headlong rush may also result in a broken neck.

I vowed not to depart until I had grown calm.All of my life I have had a tendency to overreact to things. It seems to run in my family.But I did not want to be like the others. They made a lot of trouble for themselves that way.The full-scale, all-or-nothing reaction may be all right if you always win, but that way also lies high tragedy or at least opera if you happen to be up against something extraordinary. And I did have indications that this was the case.Therefore, I was a fool. I told myself this till I believed it.

It would not do to seize Victor Melman on sight and try to beat the truth out of him.I resolved to proceed carefully, covering myself at all times. Life is never simple, I told myself.Sit still and gather, regroup.

No, I would not be like the others .. .

I sat there and thought for a long while before I started the engine again and drove on slowly.

It was four stories in height, with occasional spray-painted obscenities on the alley side and on the wall facing the narrower street.I discovered the graffiti, a few broken windows and the fire escape as I strolled slowly about the place, looking it over. By then a light rain was just beginning to fall.The lower two stories were occupied by the Brutus Storage Company, according to a sign beside the stairs in a small hallway I entered. The place smelled of urine, and there was an empty Jack Daniels bottle lying on the dusty windowsill to my right.Two mailboxes hung upon the flaking wall. One said "Brutus Storage," the other bore the legend "V M." Both were empty.

It did not.There were four knobless doors letting upon the second floor hallway, all of them closed. The outlines of what might be cartons were visible through several of the frosted panes in their upper sections.There were no sounds from within.

She arched her back, showed me her teeth, made a hissing noise, then turned and bounded up the stairs and out of sight.

It bore a small brass plate that read "Melman." I knocked.

I tried again several times, with the same result.No sounds from within either. It seemed likely that these were his living quarters and that the fourth floor, with the possibility of a skylight, held his studio.So I turned away and took the final flight.

I halted and listened for a moment.From beyond it came faint sounds of movement. I advanced and gave it a few knocks.I heard a sudden intake of breath from somewhere inside. I pushed on the door.

He held a brush in his left hand and a palette in his right.He wore a paint-smeared apron over his Levi's and had on a plaid sport shirt. The easel at his back held the outlines of what could be a madonna and child.There were a great many other canvases about, all of them facing the walls or covered.

"You are Victor Melman?"

He picked up a damp-looking cloth then and wiped his hands with it.

"And yourself ?" he asked, tossing the cloth aside and facing me again.

You knew Julia Barnes."

"Your use of the past tense would seem to indicate-"

I want to talk to you about it."

"Let's go downstairs then.No place to sit up here."

I followed him.He turned back and locked the studio before proceeding down the stairs. His movements were smooth, almost graceful.I could hear the rain on the roof.

He drew the door open and stood aside, gesturing for me to enter.I did, traversing a hallway that led past a kitchen, its counters covered with empty bottles, stacks of dishes, pizza cartons. Bursting bags of trash leaned against cupboards; the floor looked sticky here and there and the place smelled like a spice factory next door to a slaughterhouse.

There was a beautiful concert-sized piano in the far corner, before a wall covered with heavy red drapery.There were numerous low bookcases filled with occult materials, stacks of magazines beside them, atop them, and alongside a few easy chairs. What could be the corner of a pentacle protruded slightly from beneath the largest rug.The stale smells of incense and pot lingered in patches. To my right, there was an archway leading to another room, a closed door to my left.Paintings of a semireligious nature-which I took to be his work-were hung on several of the walls. There was a Chagall-like quality to them.Quite good.

"Have a seat."

"Care for a beer?"

"Thank you, no."

He seated himself on the nearer sofa, clasped his hands, and stared at me.

"What happened?" he asked.

I stared back at him.

"She came to you to learn more about them.She died this morning under very unusual circumstances."

He made no other movement.

"She came to me for instruction and I provided it."

"I want to know why she died." He continued to stare.

"It happens to everybody, in the long run."

Do you know anything about it?"

"The universe is a stranger place than most of us can imagine."

"Do you know or don't you?"

"She spoke of you, of course."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," he answered, "that I know you are more than a little aware of such matters yourself."

"And so?"

"The Arts have a way of bringing the right people together at the proper moment when there is work in progress."

"And that's what you think this is all about?"

"I know it."

"How?"

"It was promised."

"So you were expecting me?"

"Yes."

Would you care to tell me more about it?"

"I'd rather show you."

How? By whom?"

"All of that will become clear shortly."

"And Julia's death?"

"That, too, I'd say."

"How do you propose rendering me this enlightenment?"

"I just want you to take a look at something," he said.

I'm willing.Show me."

He nodded and rose.

"It's in here," he explained, turning and heading toward the closed door.

I got to my feet and followed him across the room.

He lifted it over his head and I could see that it bore a key.He used it to unlock the door.

"Go in," he said, pushing it open and stepping aside.

It was not a large room, and it was dark.He flipped a switch and a blue light of small wattage came on within a plain fixture overhead. I saw then that there was one window, directly across from me, and that all of its panes had been painted black.There were no furnishings save for a few cushions scattered here and there across the floor. A portion of the wall to my right was covered with black drapery.The other walls were unadorned.

"I'm looking," I said.

He chuckled.

"Have you any idea of my major concern in the occult arts?"

"You're a cabalist," I stated.

"How could you tell?"

"People in Eastern disciplines tend to run a tight ship," I stated. "But cabalists always seem to be slobs."

He snorted.

"It is all a matter of what is really important to you," he said then.

"Have a seat," he said.

"I'll stand." He shrugged.

"Okay," he said, and he began muttering softly.

After a time, still speaking quietly, he moved to the black curtain.He opened it with a single quick movement and I stared.

It was beautifully executed, and the sense of recognition that struck me as I regarded it was unsettling.It was no standard item from some head shop, but rather an original painting. It was not, however, in the style of any of the works hanging in the other room.Still, it was familiar to me.

As I studied it I had no doubt whatsoever that it had been painted by the same person who had done the Trumps I had found in Julia's apartment.

Melman continued his incantation as I regarded the painting.

"Is this your work?" I asked him.

Instead, he advanced and pointed, indicating the third sephiroth, the one called Binah.I studied it. It seemed to represent a wizard before a dark altar, and It shouldn't . . .

It was not just symbolic.He was real, and he was summoning me. He loomed larger, grew three-dimensional.The room began to fade about me. I was almost . . .

It was a place of twilight, a small glade in a twisted wood.An almost bloody light illuminated the slab before me. The wizard, his face hidden by cowl and shadov, manipulated objects upon the stone, his hands moving too rapidly for me to follow.From somewhere, I still seems to hear the chanting, faintly.

It was a black, obsidian dagger.He laid his left arm upon the altar and brushed it across the surface, sweeping everything else to the ground.

"Come here," he said then.

I began to smile at the stupid simplicity of the request.

But then I felt my feet move without my willing them to do so, and I knew that a spell lay upon me in this dark shadow.

I thanked another uncle, who dwelled in the most distant place imaginable, as I began to speak in Thari, a spell of my own.

.The wizard was not distracted, nor my feet freed, but I was able to raise my arms before me. I kept them at the proper level, and when they reached the forward edge of the altar I cooperated with the summoning spell, increasing the force of each automatonlike step that I took.I let my elbows bend.

I put all of my weight behind it and heaved at the stone.

The wizard scurried to avoid it, but it struck one-perhaps both-of his legs.Immediately, as he fell to the ground, I felt the spell depart from me. I could move properly again and my mind was clear.

and reached toward him.I moved to follow as he somersaults down a small slope and passed between two standing stones and into the darkened wood.

The incanting grew louder, seemed nearer, seemed to be coming from behind me.

I turned quickly.

Another cowled figure stood behind it, much larger than the first.This one was doing the chanting, in a familiar masculine voice. Frakir pulsed upon my wrist.I felt a spell building about me, but this time I was not unprepared. The opposite of my walk, a summons, brought an icy wind that swept the spell away like so much smoke.My garments were lashed about me, changing shape and color. Purple, gray .. .light the trousers and dark the cloak, the shirtfront. Black my boots and wide belt, my gauntlets tucked behind, my silver Frakir woven into a bracelet about my left wrist, visible now and shining.I raised my left hand and shielded my eyes with my right, as I summoned a flash of light.

"You offend me." The chanting ceased.

The cowl was blown back from his head and I regarded Melman's frightened face.

You wanted me," I stated, "and now you have me, heaven help you.You said that everything would become clear to me. It hasn't.Make it clear."

I took a step forward.

"It can be easy or it can be hard.But you will talk. The choice is yours."

He threw back his head and bellowed: "Master!"

"I will wait.For he, too, must answer."

He bolted then, but I was ready for this with a major summoning.The woods decayed and fell before he could reach them, and then they moved, were swept up in a mighty wind where there should be stillness. It circled the glade, gray and red, building an impenetrable wall to infinites above and below.We inhabited a circular island in the night, several hundred meters across, its edges slowly crumbling.

He cannot help you.No one will help you. This is a place of high magic and you profane it with your presence.Do you know what lies beyond the advancing winds? Chaos. I will give you to it now, unless you tell me about Julia and your master and why you dared to bring me here."

"Take me back to my apartment and I will tell you everything," he said.

I shook my head.

"Kill me and you will never know."

I shrugged.

Then I will give you to the Chaos."

I moved toward him.

"Give me my life for what I am about to tell you."

Talk."

Half heard, half intelligible voices babbled within the wind and fragments of forms swam there.Melman drew back from the crumbling edge of things.

"Yes, Julia came to me, as I had been told she would, and I taught her some things-not the things I would have taught her even a year ago, but pieces of some new things I had only learned myself more recently.I had been told to teach her in this manner, also."

"By whom? Name your master." He grimaced.

Like yourself, he is not human, but a being from some other plane."

"He gave you the painting of the Tree?" Melman nodded.

Magic worked in those places.I gained powers."

"And the Trumps? He did those, too? He gave them to you to give to her?"

"I don't know anything about any Trumps," he answered.

I thrust them at him and let him stare for a few moments, withdrawing them before he got the idea that they might represent a means of escape.

"I never saw them before," he said.

We withdrew to a point nearer the center.

"And you sent the creature that slew her?"

He shook his head vehemently.

I knew that she was going to die, for he had told me that that was what would bring you to me.He told me, too, that it would be a beast from Netzach that would slay her-but I never saw it and I had no part in its summoning."

"And why did he want you to meet me, to bring me here?"

He laughed wildly.

"To kill you, of course.He told me that if I could sacrifice you in this place I would gain your powers. He said that you are Merlin, son of Hell and Chaos, and that I would become the greatest mage of all could I slay you here."

Our world was at best a hundred meters across now, and the rate of its shrinkage was accelerating.

"Would I have gained had I succeeded?"

"You can usually get it if you're competent and it's the only thing you want in life.Would you have gained by it, though? I don't think so."

You know that."

I shook my head.

"Enough of this! Describe your master."

"I never saw him."

"What?"

He always wore a hood and a black trench coat.Gloves, too. I don't even know his race."

"How did you meet?"

I just turned around and he was standing there.He offered me power, said that he would teach me things in return for my service."

"How did you know he could deliver?"

"He took me on a journey through places not of this world."

"I see."

Our island of existence was now about the size of a large living room.

Our wraparound vision shifted constantly.The ground trembled without letup. The light was still baleful.A part of me wanted to kill Melman right then, but if he had not really been the one who had hurt Julia . ..

"Did your master tell you why he wanted me dead?" I asked him.

He licked his lips and glanced back at the advancing Chaos.

And he said that it was going to happen today, that he wanted it to happen today."

"Why today?"

He smiled briefly.

"I suppose because it's Walpurgisnacht," he replied, "though he never actually said that."

"He never mentioned where he was from?"

"He once referred to something called the Keep of the Four Worlds as if it were important to him."

"And you never felt that he was simply using you?"

He smiled.

"We all use somebody.That is the way of the world. But he paid for this use with knowledge and power.And I think his promise may yet be fulfilled."

It was the oldest trick in the world, but I turned.There was no one there. Immediately, I spun back to face him.

It must have been up his sleeve.He lunged at me, thrusting, mouthing fresh incantations.

He disengaged himself, sidestepping and slashing, turned and advanced again.This time he came in low, trying to circle me, his lips still moving. I kicked at the knifehand, but he snapped it back.I caught up the left edge of my cloak then, wrapped it about my arm. When he struck again, I blocked the thrust and seized his biceps.Dropping lower as I drew him forward, I caught hold of his left thigh with my right hand, then straightened, raising him high in the air, and threw him.

Too late.With my attention focused on my adversary I had not kept track of the rapid, grinding advance of the destroying winds. The edge of Chaos was much nearer than I had thought, and Melman had time for only the most abbreviated of curses before death took him where he would incant no more.

The day was not yet over and it was already my most memorable Walpurgisnacht ever.

CHAPTER 4

I changed my clothes on the way.My exit from the labyrinth took the form of a narrow alleyway between a pair of dirty brick buildings. It was still raining and the day had made its way into evening.I saw my parked car across the street at the edge of a pool of light cast by one of the unbroken streetlamps. I thought wistfully for a moment of my dry garments in the trunk, then I headed back toward the Brutus Storage sign.

I trudged on up the stairs, terminally moist and reasonably alert.The apartment door opened when I turned the knob and pushed. I switched on the light and entered, bolting the door behind me.

His trousers were too big in the waist and a bit long for me, though.I transferred my Trumps to a breast pocket to keep them dry.

I began a systematic ransacking of the place.

It was as messy as the rest of the place, with misspellings, crossed-out words, and a few beer and coffee stains.It seemed to contain a lot of derivative stuff mixed with the usual subjective business dreams and meditations. I flipped farther along in it, looking for the place where he'd met his master.I came to it and skimmed along. It was lengthy; and seemed mostly comprised of enthusiastic ejaculations over the workings of the Tree he had been given.I decided to save it for later and was about to stow it when a final riffling of the pages brought a brief poem into view. Swinburnian, overly allusive and full of rapture, the lines that first caught my eye were, "-the infinite shadows of Amber, touched with her treacherous taint." Too much alliteration, but it was the thought that counted.It revived my earlier feeling of vulnerability and caused me to ransack faster. I suddenly wanted only to get out, get far away and think.

I departed it, gathered an armload of strewn newspapers, carried them to the john, tossed them into the bathtub, and set fire to them, opening the window on the way out.I visited the sanctum then, fetched out the Tree of Life painting, brought it back and added it to the blaze. I switched aff the bathroom light and closed the door as I left.I'm one hell of an art critic.

I was halfway through my second heap when the telephone rang.

Of course.Today was the day when I was supposed to find my way here and be killed. Chances seemed decent that if it were going to happen it would -have happened by now.So this could well be S, calling to learn whether my obituary had been posted. I turned and located the phone, back on the shadowy wall near the bedroom.I had known immediately that I was going to answer it. Moving toward it, I was allowing two to three rings-twelve to eighteen seconds-in which to decide whether my response was to consist of a wisecrack, an insult and a threat, or whether I was going to try to fake it and see what I might learn. As satisfying as the former could be, spoilsport prudence dictated the latter course and also suggested I confine myself to low monosyllables and pretend to be injured and out of breath. I raised the receiver, ready to hear S's voice at last and find out whether I knew him.

"Yes?" I said.

"Well? Is it done?" came the response.

It was a woman.Wrong gender but a right sounding question. One out of two isn't bad, though.I exhaled heavily, then: "Yeah."

"What's the matter?"

"I'm hurt," I croaked.

"Is it serious?"

Got something-here-though.Better come-see."

"What is it? Something of his?"

Can't talk.Getting dizzy. Come."

I thought it very well played.I'd a feeling I'd taken her in completely.

I crossed the living room to the same chair I had occupied earlier, drew up one of the small tables bearing a large ashtray, seated myself, and reached for my pipe: Time to rest, cultivate patience, think a bit.

I was on my feet in an instant, snatching up the ashtray, butts flying like bullets about me, cursing my stupidity yet again as I looked frantically about the room.

Taking form .. .

I waited for the full outline, then hurled the ashtray as hard as I could.

An instant later she was there-tall, russet-haired, darkeyed, holding what looked like a .38 automatic.

The ashtray hit her in the stomach and she doubled forward with a gasp.

I was there before she could straighten.

Then I seized both her wrists, spun her around and seated her hard in the nearest chair.In her left hand she still held a Trump. I snatched it away.It was a representation of this apartment, and it was done in the same style as the Tree and the cards in my pocket.

"Who are you?" I snarled.

"Jasra," she spat back, "dead man!"

I felt the moist touch of her lips upon the back of my left forearm, which still held her own right wrist against the chair's arm.Seconds later I felt an excruciating pain there. It was not a bite, but rather felt as if a fiery nail had been driven into my flesh.

The movement was strangely slow, weakened.A cold, tingling sensation moved down into the hand and up along the arm. My hand dropped to my side and seemed to go away.She extricated herself easily from my grip, smiled, placed her fingertips lightly upon my chest and pushed.

I was ridiculously weak and I couldn't control my movements.I felt no pain when I struck the floor, and it was a real effort to turn my head to regard her as she rose to her feet.

"After you awaken, the remainder of your brief existence will be painful."

She passed out of my line of sight, and moments later I heard her raise the telephone receiver.

I was certain she was phoning S, and I believed what she had just said.

..

They still functioned, albeit slowly.Straining every bit of will and anatomy that remained under my control, I tried then to raise the hand to my chest. The movement that followed was a jerky, slow-motion thing.At least I had fallen upon my left side, and my back masked this feeble activity from the woman who had done me in.

For ages after, I seemed to pick at the edges of pieces of pasteboard.Finally, one came free and I was able to twitch it high enough to view it. By then I was very dizzy and my vision was beginning to blur.I wasn't certain I could manage the transfer. From across a vast distance I could hear Jasra's voice as she conversed with someone, but I was unable to distinguish the words.

It was a sphinx, crouched upon a blue, rocky ledge.I reached for it. Nothing.My mind felt as if it were embedded in cotton. I possessed barely enough consciousness for one more attempt.

I felt as if I were falling forward into a black wave that was rushing upward.

And that was all.

My consciousness dribbled back, but my limbs were still leaden and my vision clouded.The lady's sting seemed to have delivered a neurotropic toxin. I tried flexing my fingers arid toes and could not be certain whether I'd succeeded.I tried to speed up and deepen my breathing. That worked, anyway.

It stepped itself down a little later, and I realized it was my own rushing blood in my ears.A while after that I felt my heartbeat, and my vision began to clear. Light and dark and shapelessness resolved into sand and rocks.I felt little areas of chill, all over. Then I began to shiver, and this passed and I realized that I could move.But I felt very weak, so I didn't. Not for a while.

I also became aware of a peculiar odor.

"I say, are you awake?" This from the same direction as the sounds of movement.

I waited for more life to flow back into my limbs.

"I'd like to get on with it."

My curiosity finally overcame my judgment and I raised my head.

"There! I knew it!"

It licked its lips and revealed a formidable set of teeth.

"Get on with what?" I asked, raising myself slowly into a sitting position and drawing several deep breaths.

"The riddling," it answered, "the thing I do best."

"I'll take a rain check," I said, waiting for the cramps in my arms and legs to pass.

I must insist."

Most of the stories I recalled about sphinxes involved their devouring people who couldn't answer riddles.I shook my head.

"I won't play your game," I said.

"In that case, you lose by forfeit," it replied, shoulder muscles beginning to tighten.

"Give me a minute or two to recover and I'll probably feel differently:"

That would make it more official. Take five.Let me know when you're ready."

While I was about it, I surveyed the area quickly.We occupied a sandy arroyo, punctuated here and there with orange, gray, and blue rocks. The stony wall whose ledge the sphinx occupied rose steeply before me to a height of perhaps twenty-five feet; another wall of the same height lay at about that distance to my rear.The wash rose steeply to my right, ran off in a more level fashion to my left. A few spiky green shrubs inhabited rifts and crevices.The hour seemed verging upon dusk. The sky was a weak yellow with no sun in sight.I heard a distant wind but did not feel it. The place was cool but not chill.

Two ambling paces-as I continued swinging my arms and stretching-and it lay beside my right foot.

"Are you ready?" it asked.

"But I'm sure that won't stop you."

"You're right."

I felt an uncontrollable desire to yawn and did so.

"But here it is: I rise in flame from the earth.The wind assails me and waters lash me. Soon I will oversee all things."

Perhaps a minute passed.

"Well?" the sphinx finally said.

"Well what?"

"Have you the answer?"

"To what?"

"The riddle, of course!"

There was no question, only a series of statements.I can't answer a question if I don't know what it is."

The interrogative is implied by the context.Obviously, the question is, 'What am I?"'

"It could just as easily be, 'Who is buried in Grant's tomb?' But okay. What is it? The phoenix, of course, nested upon the earth; rising in flames above it, passing through the air, the clouds, to a great height-"

"Wrong."

It smiled and began to slit.

"It is not wrong.It fits. It may not be the answer you want, but it is an answer that meets the requirements."

It shook its head.

I do the defining."

"Then you cheat."

"I do not!"

Does that make it half full or half empty?"

Both."

Same thing.If more than one answer fits, you have to buy them all. It's like waves and particles."

"It would open all sorts of doors to ambiguity.It could spoil the riddling business."

"Not my fault," I said, clenching and unclenching my hands.

"But you do raise an interesting point."

I nodded vigorously.

"But there should only be one correct answer."

I shrugged.

"We inhabit a less than ideal world," I suggested.

"Hm."

"Nobody wins, nobody loses."

"I find that esthetically displeasing."

"It works okay in lots of other games."

"Also, I've grown a bit hungry."

"The truth surfaces."

I serve the truth, in my fashion.Your mention of a tie raises the possibility of a solution."

I'm glad you see things-'

Ask me your riddle."

"I don't have any riddles."

Because it's the only way out of our deadlock-that, or I judge you the loser."

My body felt as if it were afire.It also felt stronger.

"Okay.Just a second."

..

"What's green and red and goes round and round and round?"

I used the time that followed for some more deep breathing and some running in place.The fires subsided, my head grew clearer, my pulse steadied . ..

"Well?" I said some minutes later.

"I'm thinking."

"Take your time."

Did some isometrics, too.The sky had darkened a bit more and a few stars were now visible off to my right.

"Uh, I hate to rush you," I said, "but-"

"I'm still thinking."

"Maybe we should set a time limit."

"It shouldn't be much longer."

"Mind if I rest?"

"Go ahead."

I stretched out on the sand and closed my eyes, muttering a guard word to Frakir before I slept.

It took me several moments to realize that it was morning.The sky was brightening to my left, stars were fading to my right. I was thirsty.Hungry, too.

I got to my feet.I located my comb and ran it through my hair. I regarded the sphinx.

.. and goes round and round and round," it muttered.

No reaction.The beast was staring past me. I wondered whether I might simply be able to slip off...

The gaze shifted to me.

There was a brief gnashing of teeth.

If you haven't got it by now I don't care to play any longer."

"I don't like your riddle," it said at last.

"Sorry."

"What is the answer?"

"You're giving up?"

"I must: What is the answer?" I raised a hand.

"These things should be done in proper order.I should have the preferred answer to yours before I tell you mine."

It nodded.

All right-the Keep of the Four Worlds."

"What?"

The Keep of the Four Worlds ."

I thought of Melman's words: "Why?" I asked.

"It lies at the crossroads of the worlds of the four elements, where it rises from the earth in flames, assailed by the winds and waters."

"What about the business of overseeing all things?"

"It could refer to the view, or to its master's imperialistic designs. Or both."

"Who is its master?"

That information is not essential to the answer."

"Where'd you pick up this riddle, anyhow?"

"From a traveler, a few months back."

"Why'd you choose this one, of all the riddles you must know, to ask me?"

"It stopped me, so it had to be good."

"What became of the traveler?"

He'd answered my riddle."

"He had a name?"

"He wouldn't say."

"Describe him, please."

He was well muffled."

"And he said nothing more about the Keep of the Four Worlds?"

"No."

"I believe I'll follow his example and take a walk myself."

I turned and faced the slope to my right.

"Waitl"

"What?" I asked.

"I've given you the answer to mine.You must now tell me what it is that is green and red and goes round and round and round."

Oh, yes, there it was-my dumbbell-shaped stone.I took several steps and stood beside it.

"A frog in a Cuisinart," I said.

"What?"

I spoke a few words to Frakir and felt her stir as I squatted and caught hold of the stone with my right hand.

"It's one of those visual things-"

"That's a rotten riddle!" the sphinx announced.

With my left index finger I made two quick movements in the air before me.

"What are you doing?" it asked.

Frakir became visible at about that moment, sliding from my left wrist to my hand, twining among my fingers.The sphinx's eyes darted in that direction. I raised the stone level with my right shoulder.One end of Frakir fell free and hung writhing from my extended hand. She began to brighten, then glowed like a hot silver wire.

"What do you think?"

The sphinx licked its lips.

"I suppose you are right."

"Then I will bid you good day," I said.

Pity.Very well. Good day.But before you go may I have your name-for the record?"

"I am Merlin, of Chaos."

"Ah," it said, "then someone would have come to avenge you."

"It's possible."

Go."

I remained on guard until I was out of that place, but there was no pursuit.

I was thirsty and hungry, but I wasn't likely to turn up breakfast in this desolate, rocky place under a lemon sky.Frakir recoiled and faded. I began drawing deep breaths as I headed away from the risen sun.

I bore toward a cluster of boulders, passed among them.Seen from amid their shadows the sky grew greenish above me. Emerging, I came upon a softer plain, glitters in the distance, a few clouds rising to my left.

A grove of mop-topped trees in the distance .. .I headed for them, startling a small orange-furred creature that sprang across my path and tore away to the left. Moments later, a dark bird flashed by, uttering a wailing note, headed in the same direction.I ran on, and the sky continued to darken.

.. Heavy gusts of wind at irregular intervals .. .Nearer the trees . .. A singing sound emerges from their branches .. .The clouds sweep onward . .

.

.. I pass the first tree, treading upon long, fallen leaves .. .I pass among hairy-barked boles . .. The way I follow is hard-packed, becomes a trail, strange foot marks cast within it .. .It drops, curves, widens, narrows again . .. The ground rises at either hand .. .the trees sound bass viol notes . .. Patches of sky amid the leaves are the color of Morinci turquoise .. .Streamers of cloud snake forward like silver rivers . .. Small clusters of blue flowers appear on the trail walls .. .The walls rise higher, passing above my head . .. The way grows rocky .. .I run on...

.. Even before I see or hear it, I smell the water .. .Carefully now, among the stones . .. A bit slower here .. .I turn and see the stream, high, rocky banks at either hand, a meter or two of shoreline before the rise . ..

.. To follow its meandering .. .Bends, curves, trees high overhead, exposed roots in the wall to my right, gray and yellow talus-fall along the flaky base . ..

.. More sand and fewer rocks beneath my feet .. .Lowering, lowering . .. Headheight, shoulder-height .. .Another bending of the way, slope descending . .. Waist high .. .Green-leafed trees all about me, blue sky overhead, off to the right a hard-packed trail . .. I mount the slope, I follow it .. .

.. I suck the air, I lengthen my stride .. .I cross a wooden bridge, footfalls echoing, creek flowing to the now-masked stream, moss-grown boulders beside its cool . .. Low stone wall to my right now .. .Wagon ruts ahead . .

.. A sound of distant laughter, echoing .

.The neigh of a horse . .. Creak of a cart .. .Turn left . .:

.. Shadow and sunlight, shadow and sunlight .. .Dapple, dapple . .. River to the left, wider now, sparkling .. .Haze of smoke above the next hill . ..

I reach it walking, dusting my garments, brushing my hair into place, limbs tingling, lungs pumping, bands of perspiration cooling me.I spit grit. Below me and to the right lies a country inn, some tables on its wide, rough-hewn porch, facing the river, a few in a garden nearby Bye-bye, present tense.I am arrived.

I made my way to the porch then and took a small table, after waving to a serving woman I saw within.After a time, she brought me porridge and sausages and eggs and bread and butter and strawberry preserves and tea.

The second time through a feeling of returning normalcy occurred, and I slowed and enjoyed it and watched the river go by.

I had been looking forward to some leisurely travel, to a long lazy vacation, now my work had been done.The small matter of S had been all that stood in my way-a thing I had been certain I could settle quickly. Now I was in the middle of something I did not understand, something dangerous and bizarre.Sipping my tea and feeling the day warm about me, I could be lulled into a momentary sense of peace. But I knew it for a fleeting thing.There could be no tree rest, no safety for me, until this matter was settled. Looking back over events, I saw that I could no longer trust my reactions alone for my deliverance, for a resolution of this affair.It was time to formulate a plan.

Higher still was the determination of S's motive.My notion that I was dealing with a simple-minded psycho had dissolved. S was too well organized and possessed some very unusual abilities.I began searching my past for possible candidates. But though I could think of quite a few capable of managing what had occurred thus far, none of these were particularly ill-disposed toward me.However, Amber had been mentioned in that strange diary of Melman's. Theoretically, this made the whole thing a family matter and I suppose put me under some obligation to call it to the attention of the others.But to do so would be like asking for help, giving up, saying that I couldn't manage my own affairs. And threats on my life were my own affair.Julia was my affair. The vengeance on this one was to be mine.I had to think about it some more...

Ghostwheel .. .No. Untried.Still developing. The only reason it had occurred to me at all was because it was my pet, my major accomplishment in life, my surprise for the others.

I would need a lot more data to submit, which meant I had to go after it, of course.

..

I had the cards and the diary.I didn't want to fool with the Trumps any more at this point, since the first one had seemed something of a trap. I would go through the diary soon, though my initial impression had been that it was too subjective to be of much help.I ought to go back to Melman's for a final look around, though, in case there was anything I had missed. Then I ought to look up Luke and see whether he could tell me anything more-even some small remark-that might be of value.Yes . ..

I watched the river a little longer and finished my tea.I ran Frakir over a fistful of money and selected sufficient transformed coinage to pay for my meal. Then I returned to the road.Time to run on back.

CHAPTER 5

I'd almost failed to recognize it.It was covered with dust, ashes, and water stains. How long had I been away, anyhow? I hadn't tried to reckon the time differential between here and where I'd been, but my car looked as if it had been standing exposed for over a month.It seemed intact, though. It had not been vandalized and . . .

The building that had housed the Brutus Storage Company and the late Victor Melman no longer stood.A burnt-out, collapsed skeleton of the place occupied the comer, parts of two walls standing. I headed toward it.

The charred remains of the place were cold and settled.Gray streaks and sooty fairy circles indicated that water had been pumped into it had since evaporated. The ashy smell was not particularly strong.

I didn't think so.Mine had been a small enough blaze, and well confined, with no indication of its spreading while I was waiting.

Several minutes later he returned and halted about ten feet from me.He looked to be about ten years old.

"I saw it burn."

"When was that?" I asked him.

"Three days ago."

"'They know how it started?"

"Something in the storage place, something flam-"

"Flammable?"

"Maybe on purpose. Something about insurance."

"Really?"

My dad said maybe business was bad."

"Was anybody hurt in the fire?"

But they didn't see any bones or anything like that. It was a good fire.Burned a long time."

"Was it nighttime or daytime?"

I watched from over there." He pointed to a place across the street and back in the direction from which I had come."They put a lot of water on it."

"Did you see anyone come out of the building?"

"I got here after it was burning pretty good."

I nodded and turned back toward my car.

"You'd think bullets would explode in all that fire, wouldn't you?" he said.

"Yes," I answered.

"But they didn't." I turned back.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He was already digging in a pocket.

"Me and some of my friends were playing around in there yesterday," he explained, "and we found a mess of bullets."

As I moved toward him, he squatted and placed one of the cylinders on the sidewalk.He reached out suddenly, picked up a nearby rock and swung it toward it.

"Don't!" I cried.

The rock struck the shell and nothing happened.

"You could get hurt that way-" I began, but he interrupted.

No way these suckers will explode.You can't even set that pink stuff on fire. Got a match?"

"Pink stuff ?" I said as he moved the rock to reveal a mashed shell casing and a small trailing of pink powder.

"Funny, huh? I thought gunpowder was gray."

I rubbed it between my fingers.I sniffed it. I even tasted it.I couldn't tell what the hell it was.

"Won't even burn, you say?"

We put some on a newspaper and set the paper on fire.It'll melt and run, that's all."

"You got a couple of extras?"

.. yeah."

"I'll give you a buck for them," I said.

I ran Frakir over some odd Shadow cash and withdrew a dollar from the pile.He handed me two sootstreaked double 30's as he accepted it.

"Thanks," he said.

Anything else interesting in there?"

All the rest is ashes."

I ran it through the first car wash I came to, since the wipers had only smeared the crap on the windshield.As the rubbery tentacles slapped at me through a sea of foam, I checked to see whether I still had the matchbook Luke had given me. I did.Good. I'd seen a pay phone Outside.

New Line Motel," a young, male voice answered."You had a Lucas Raynard registered there a couple of days ago," I said. "I want to know whether he left a message for me.My name's Merle Corey."

Shuffle.Then: "Yes, he did."

"What does it say?"

I'd rather not"

"Okay I'll come by "

I located the man matching the voice at the desk in the lobby.I identified myself and claimed the envelope. The clerk-a slight, blond fellow with a bristly mustache-stared for a moment, then: "Are you going to see Mr. Raynard?"

Luke's name and room number were written on it.

Would you give it to him?"

"Sure," I said, and he passed it to me.

The ring was of pink gold and sported a blue stone.I couldn't recall ever having seen him wear it. I slipped it on the ring finger of my left hand and it fit perfectly.I decided to wear it until I could give it to him.

I opened the letter, written on motel stationery, and read:

I did wait around.Hope everything's okay. I'm leaving in the morning for Albuquerque.I'll be there three days. Then up to Santa Fe for three more.Staying at the Hilton in both towns. I did have some more things I wanted to talk about.Please get in touch.

Luke

I phoned my travel agent and discovered that I could be on an afternoon flight to Albuquerque if I hustled.In that I wanted a face-to-face rather than a phone talk, I did that thing. I stopped by the office, picked up my ticket, paid cash for it, drove to the airport and said good-bye to my car as I parked it.I doubted I would ever see it again. I hefted my backpack and walked to the terminal.

As I watched the ground drop away beneath me, I knew that a phase of my existence had indeed ended.Like so many things, it was not at all the way I had wanted it to be. I'd thought to wind up the matter of S pretty quickly or else decide to forget about it, and then visit people I'd been meaning to see for some time and stop at a few places I'd long been curious about.Then I would take off through Shadow for a final check on Ghostwheel, heading back to the brighter pole of my existence after that. Now, my priorities had been shuffled-all because S and Julia's death were somehow connected, and because it involved a power from elsewhere in Shadow that I did not understand.

Was I digging my grave as well as jeopardizing friends and relatives because of my pride? I wanted to handle this myself, friendly skies, but the more I thought about it the more impressed I became with the adversary powers I had encountered and the paucity of my knowledge concerning S.It wasn't fair not to let the others know-not if they might be in danger, too. I'd love to wrap the whole thing up by myself and give it to them for a present.Maybe I would, too, but . . .

I had to tell them.If S got me and turned on them, they needed to know. If it were a part of something larger, they needed to know.As much as I disliked the idea, I would have to tell them.

It wouldn't hurt, I decided, to wait until after I'd spoken with Luke.I was out of town and probably safe now. There was the possibility of picking up a clue or two from Luke.I'd rather have more to give them when I told my story. I'd wait a little longer.

I got a drink from the stewardess and sipped it.Driving to Albuquerque in a normal fashion would have taken too long. Short-cutting through Shadow would not work, because I'd never been there before and didn't know how to find the place.Too bad. I'd like to have my car there.Luke was probably in Santa Fe by now.

The things I found matched my mood, so I got out my paperback and read until we began our descent.When I looked again ranks of mountains filled my prospect for a time. A crackly voice assured me that the weather was pleasant.I wondered about my father.

Luke had already checked out, I learned.I phoned the Hilton in Santa Fe then. He had checked in there but was not in his room when they rang it for me.I made a reservation for myself and hung up. A woman at an information counter told me that I could catch a Shuttlejack to Santa Fe in about half an hour and sent me in the proper direction to buy a ticket.Santa Fe is one of the few state capitals without a major airport, I'd read somewhere.

Again.Then once again. I glanced quickly about the small bus, seeking the danger against which I had just been warned.

Up near the front was a middle-aged couple, speaking with Texas accents, wearing an ostentatious quantity of turquoise and silver jewelry; near the middle were three older women, talking about things back in New York; across the aisle from them was a young couple, very absorbed in each other; two young men with tennis racquets sat diagonally to the rear of them, talking about college; behind them was a nun, reading.I looked out the window again and saw nothing particularly threatening on the highway or near it.I did not want to draw to myself the attention that any location practices would involve either.

Even though the rest of the ride was uneventful, it bothered me, though an occasional false warning was possible just because of the nature of nervous systems.As I watched red shale and red and yellow earth streak by, bridged arroyos, viewed distant mountains and nearer slopes dotted with piÔon, I wondered. S? Is S back there somewhere, somehow, watching, waiting? And if so, why? Couldn't we just sit down and talk about it over a couple of beers? Maybe it was based on some sort of misunderstanding.

But I'd settle for just knowing what was going on, even if nothing were resolved.I'd even pay for the beers.

It felt about ten degrees cooler when I stepped down from the bus in front of the Hilton than it had when I'd boarded in Albuquerque.But then, I' d gained about two thousand feet in altitude and it was an hour and a quarter further along in the direction of evening.

I tried phoning Luke, but there was no answer.I showered then and changed into my spare outfit. Rang his room once more then, but still no answer.I was getting hungry and I'd hoped to have dinner with him.

I decided to find the bar and nurse a beer for a while, then try again.

I hoped he didn't have a heavy date.

He asked about my room, we exchanged a few pleasantries and he showed me the corridor leading off to the lounge.I started in that direction, but didn't quite make it.

"Merle! What the hell are you doing here?" came a familiar voice.

Sweaty and smiling, he was wearing dusty fatigues and boots, a fatigue cap, and a few streaks of grime.We shook hands and I said, "I wanted to talk to you." Then: "What'd you do, enlist in something?"

"I always do that when I'm out this way.It's great.

"Now it seems it's my turn to buy dinner."

"Let me catch a shower and change clothes.

Okay?"

See you."

It was medium-sized, dim, cool and relatively crowded, divided into two widely connected rooms, with low, comfortable-looking chairs and small tables.

I took the table.A little later a cocktail waitress came by, and I ordered a beer.

It had come to a halt at my side-just far enough to the rear to register only as a dark peripheral presence.

May I ask you a question?"

He was sufficiently well dressed and groomed to seem a local business type.I noted a chipped front tooth when he smiled so briefly-just a twitch-as to indicate nervousness.

He glanced at the chair across from me."Could I sit down a minute?"

"What's this about? If you're selling something, I'm not interested. I'm waiting for somebody and-'

He shook his head.

I'know you're waiting for someone - a Mr.Lucas Raynard. It involves him, actually "

I gestured at the chair.

Sit down and ask your question."

He did so, clasping his hands and placing them on the table between us.

He leaned forward.

Would you mind telling me for about how long you've known him?"

We went to college together, and we worked for the same company for several years after that."

Didn't know him before college, huh?"

"What did you want, anyway? Are you some kind of cop?"

I assure you I'm not trying to get your friend into trouble.I am simply trying to save myself some. Let me just ask you-'

I shook my head.

"I don't care to talk to strangers about my friends without some pretty good reasons."

He unclasped his hands and spread them wide.

In fact, I want you to.He knows me. I want him to know I'm asking around about him, okay? It'll actually be to his benefit.Hell, I'm even asking - a friend, aren't I? Someone who might be willing to lie to help him out. And I just need a couple simple facts-"

"And I just need one simple reason: why do you want this information?"

"Okay," he said."He offered me - tentatively, mind you – a very interesting investment opportunity. It would involve a large sum of money.There is an element of risk, as in most ventures involving new companies in a highly competitive area, but the possible returns do make it tempting."

I nodded.

"And you want to know whether he's honest."

He chuckled.

"My only concern is whether he can deliver a product with no strings on it."

I tried, but couldn't recall who it was:

"I'm slow today.Sorry. Of course this deal involves computers."

"Of course."

"You want to know whether his present employer can nail him if he goes into business out here with whatever he's bringing with him."

"In a word, yes."

"It would take a better man than me to answer that.Intellectual properties represent a tricky area of the law. I don't know what he's selling and I don't know where it comes from-he gets around a lot.But even if I did know, I have no idea what your legal position would be.

I smiled back.

He nodded and began to rise.

"Oh, just one thing more," he began.

"Yes?"

"Did he ever mention places," he said, staring full into my eyes, "called Amber or the Courts of Chaos?"

I was sure that he was sure I was lying when I answered him truthfully.

Why do you ask?"

He was smiling again.

Thank you, Mr. Corey.Nus a dhabzhun dhuilsha."

He practically fled around the corner.

"Wait!" I called out, so loudly that there was a moment of silence and heads turned in my direction.

I got to my feet and started after him, when I heard my name called.

"Hey, Merle! Don't run off ! I'm here already!"

Luke had just come in through the entrance behind me, hair still shower-damp.He advanced, clapped me on the shoulder, and lowered himself into the seat Martinez had just vacated. He nodded at my half finished beer as I sat down again.

"Lord, am I thirsty!" Then, "Where were you off to when I came in?"

Apparently, he had just missed seeing Martinez.

So: "I was heading for the john."

"I passed it on the way in." His eyes shifted downward.

"Say, that ring you have on-"

"You left it at the New Line Motel.I picked it up for you when I collected your message. Here, let me .. ."

I tugged at it, but it wouldn't come off.

"Funny.It went on easy enough."

"It could have something to do with the altitude.We're up pretty high."

He caught the waitress's attention and ordered a beer, while I kept twisting at the ring.

"Guess I'll just have to sell it to you;" he said: "Give you a good deal."

"Back in a minute."

He raised one hand limply and let it fall as I headed toward the rest room.

There followed immediate movement.Before I could issue another command, Frakir became shimmeringly visible in the act of uncoiling, crept across the back of my hand and wound about my ring finger. I watched, fascinated, as the finger darkened and began to ache beneath a steady tightening.

I got the idea.I unscrewed the ring along the track that had been pressed into my flesh. Frakir moved again as if to snag it and I stroked her.

"'Thanks.Return."

She retreated back across my hand, rewound herself about my wrist, and faded.

I passed Luke his ring as I seated myself, and took a sip of beer."How'd you get it off?" he asked.

"A bit of soap," I answered.

"Guess I can't take your money for it, then."

Aren't you going to wear it?"

You know, I hardly expected you to make the scene here," he commented, scooping a handful of peanuts from a bowl that had appeared in my absence."I thought maybe you'd just call when you got my message, and we could set something up for later. Glad you did, though.Who knows when later might have been. See, I had some plans that started moving faster than I'd thought they would-and that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

I nodded.

"I had a few things I wanted to talk to you about, too."

He returned my nod.

Although the entire setup did not sound as if it involved anything in which I had any interest any longer, I always feel more secure in talking with anyone-even friends-when I have at least a little special information they don't know r have.So I decided to keep it that way for now.

"So let's be civilized and hold everything important till after dinner," he said, slowly shredding his napkin and wadding the pieces, "and go somewhere we can talk in private then."

"Want to eat here?" He shook his head..

It's good, but I want a change.I had my heart set on eating at a place around the corner. Let me go and see if they've got a table."

"Okay." He gulped the rest of his drink and departed.

.. And then the mention of Amber.Who the hell was Martinez? It was more than a little necessary that I learn this, because it was obvious to me that he was something other than he appeared to be. His final words had been in Thari, my native tongue.How this could be and why it should be, I had no idea. I cursed my own inertia, at having let the S situation slide for so long.It was purely a result of my arrogance. I'd never anticipated the convoluted mess the affair would become.Served me right, though I didn't appreciate the service.

"We've got a reservation.Drink up, and let's take a walk."

He led me through the corridors and.back to the lobby, then out and along a hallway to the rear. We emerged into a balmy evening and crossed the parking lot to the sidewalk that ran along Guadaloupe Street.From there it was only a short distance to the place where it intersected with Alameda. We crossed twice there and strolled on past a big church, then turned right at the next comer.Luke pointed out a restaurant called La Tertulia across the street a short distance ahead.

"There," he said.

It was a low adobe building, Spanish, venerable, and somewhat elegant inside.We went through a pitcher of sangria, orders of pollo adova, bread puddings, and many cups of coffee, keeping our agreement not to speak of anything serious during dinner.

During the course of the meal Luke was greeted twice, by different guys passing through the room, both of whom paused at the table to pass a few pleasantries.

"You know everybody in this town?" I asked him a bit later.

"I do a lot of business here."

"Really? It seems a pretty small town."

It is the state capital.There're a lot of people here buying what we're selling."

"So you're out this way a lot?"

"It's one of the hottest spots on my circuit."

"How do you manage all this business when you're out hiking in the woods?"

He smiled.

"I get tired of cities and offices.I have to get away and hike around, or canoe or kayak or something like that-or I'd go out of my gourd. In fact, that's one of the reasons I built up the business in this town-quick access to a lot of good places for that stuff."

"You know," he continued, "it's such a nice night we ought to take a drive, let you get a feeling of what I mean."

"But isn't it too dark to see much?"

The moon'll be up, the stars are out, the air's real clear.You'll see."

Sure enough, the moon had risen.

"'This side."

He drove us out, turned at the nearest corner, and followed the Ala meda to the Paseo, took a right leading uphill on a street called Otero and another onto Hyde Park Road.From then on traffic was very light. We passed a sign indicating that we were heading toward a ski basin.

Soon we had left all signs of habitation behind us, and the night and the quiet settled fully No streetlights here.Through the opened window I smelled pine trees. The air was cool.I rested, away from S and everything else.

He stared straight ahead, brow furrowed.He felt my gaze, though, because he seemed to relax suddenly and he shot me a grin.

"Who goes first?" he asked.

"Go ahead," I answered.

When we were talking the other morning about your leaving Grand D, you said you weren't going to work anywhere else and you weren't planning on teaching."

"That's right."

"You said you were just going to travel around."

"Yep"

"Something else did suggest itself to me a little later on."

I remained silent as he glanced my way.

You know what I mean?"

"You think I came up with something-innovative-and didn't want Grand Design to have it."

He slapped the seat beside him.

"So you're screwing around now, to allow decent time for its development.Then you hunt up the buyer with the most bread."

But it isn't."

He chuckled.

"Just because I work for Grand D doesn't make me their fink.You ought to know that."

"I do know it."

In fact, I had other intentions completely.I'd like to see you make out with it, make out big."

"Thanks."

"I might even be of some assistance-valuable assistance-in the matter."

"I begin to get the drift, Luke, but-"

"Just hear me out, huh? But answer one thing first, though, v if you would: You haven't signed anything with anybody in the area, have you?"

"No."

It would seem a little premature."

The roadside trees were larger now, the night breeze a bit more chill.

We rounded several more curves, eventually commencing a long series of switchbacks that bore us higher and higher.I caught occasional glimpses of sharp drops to the left. There was no guard rail.

I'm not asking you for a piece of the action for old times' sake or anything like that.That's one thing and business is another-though it never hurts to do a deal with someone you know you can trust. Let me tell you some of the facts of life.If you've got some really fantastic design, sure, you can go sell it for a bundle to lots of people in the business-if you're careful, damn careful. But that's it.Your golden opportunity's flown then. If you really want to clean up, you start your own outfit.Look at Apple. If it really catches on you can always sell out then, for a lot more than you'd get from just peddling the idea.You may be a whiz at design, but I know the marketplace. And I know people-all over the country-people who'd trust me enough to bankroll us to see it off the ground and out on the street.Shit! I'm not going to stay with Grand D all my life. Let me in and I'll get us the financing.You run the shop and I'll run the business. That's the only way to go with something big."

"Man, it actually sounds nice.But you're following a bum scent. I don't have anything to sell."

"You know you can level with me.Even if you absolutely refuse to go that way, I'm not going to talk about it. I don't screw my buddies.I just think you're making a mistake if you don't develop it yourself."

"Luke, I meant what I said."

Then I felt his gaze upon me again.

When I glanced his way I saw that he was smiling.

"What," I asked him, "is the next question?"

"What is Ghostwheel?" he said.

"What?"

Ghostwheel," he answered. "Computer design incorporating shit nobody's ever seen before.Liquid semiconductors, cryogenic tanks, plasma-"

I started laughing.

"It's a joke, that's what it is.Just a crazy hobby thing. It was a design game-a machine that could never be built on Earth.Well, maybe most of it could. But it wouldn't function.It's like an Escher drawing-looks great on paper, but it can't be done in real life."

Then after a moment's reflection, I asked, "How is it you even know about it? I've never mentioned it to anyone."

The moon was raked by treetops.A few beads of moisture appeared upon the windshield.

"There were designs and graphs and notes all over your work table and drawing hard any number of times I was at your place.I could hardly help but notice. Most of them were even labeled 'Ghostwheel.' And nothing anything like it ever showed up at Grand D, so I simply assumed it was your pet project and your ticket to security.You never impressed me as the impractical dreamer type. Are you sure you're giving this to me straight?"

"If we were to sit down and build as much as could be constructed of that thing right here," I replied honestly, "it would just sit there and look weird and wouldn't do a damned thing."

He shook his head.

"It's not like you, Merle.Why the hell would you waste your time designing a machine that doesn't function?"

"It was an exercise in design theory" I began.

"You mean to say there's no place in the universe that damn machine of yours would kick over?"

I was trying to explain that I designed it to operate under bizarre hypothetical conditions."

In other words, if I find a place like that on another world we can clean up?"

"Uh, yeah."

You know that?"

"Uh-huh."

Oh, well .. .Say, is there anything unusual about it that could be adapted to the here and now?"

It couldn't perform its functions here."

"What's so special about its functions, anyhow?"

It's only amenable to a mathematical explanation."

"You sure?"

Sorry.Tell Martinez and associates it was a blind alley."

"Huh? Who's Martinez?"

"Dan Martinez-middle-aged, a bit short, kind of distinguished-looking, chipped front tooth .. ."

"Merle, I don't know who the hell you're talking about."

Seemed to know an awful lot about you.Started asking questions on what I can now see as the potential situation you just described. Acted as if you'd approached him to invest in the thing."

"I don't know him.How come you didn't tell me sooner?"

Didn't seem all that important, anyway.He even as much as asked me to let you know he'd been inquiring about you."

"What, specifically, did he want to know?"

"Whether you could deliver an unencumbered computer property and keep the investors out of court, was what I gathered."

"This makes no sense at all," he said."It really doesn't."

"It occurs to me that he might have been hired to investigate a bit-or even just to shake you up some and keep you honest-by the people you've been sounding out to invest in this thing."

Who do you think he could have been? What did he want?"

I shook my head, but I was remembering those words in Thari.

Why not?

"He also asked me whether I'd ever heard you refer to a place called Amber."

"Amber? You're kidding."

"No."

It has to be a coincidence-"

"What?"

But I never mentioned it to anybody.It was just drunken babbling."

"Who? Who said it?"

A real nut, but a very talented guy.Name's Melman. I like his work a lot, and I've bought several of his paintings.I'd stopped by to see whether he had anything new this last time I was in town. He didn't, but I stayed pretty late at his place anyway, talking and drinking and smoking some stuff he had.He got pretty high after a while and he started talking about magic. Not card tricks, I mean.Ritual stuff, you know?"

"Yes."

If it weren't that I was kind of stoned myself I'd swear that it worked-that he levitated, summoned sheets of fire, conjured and banished a number of monsters.There had to've been acid in something he gave me. But damn! It sure seemed real."

"Uh-huh."

I couldn't tell whether it sounded more like Sodom and Gomorrah or Camelot-all the adjectives he used.He called the place Amber, and said that it was run by a half mad family, with the city itself peopled by their bastards and folks whose ancestors they'd brought in from other places ages ago. Shadows of the family and the city supposedly figure in most major legends and such whatever that means.I could never be sure whether he was talking in metaphor, which he did a lot, or just what the hell he meant. But that's where I heard the place mentioned."

"Melman is dead.His place burned down a few days ago."

"Did you know him?"

Kinsky told me Julia'd been seeing him, and I looked the guy up to see what he could tell me about her.You see-well, Julia's dead."

"How'd it happen? I just saw her last week."

She was killed by a strange animal."

It looked upon a steep, tree-filled drop.Above the trees I could see the tiny lights of the city across a great distance.

He took a Durham's bag from his pocket and began rolling a cigarette.I caught him glancing upward and ahead.

"You've been checking that mirror a lot."

"I was just about sure a car had been following us all the way from the parking lot down at the Hilton.It was a few turns behind us for the longest while. Now it seems to have disappeared."

"Let's get some air."

He threw down the cigarette and stamped on it.

"'This is getting too involved! I knew Julia was seeing Melman, okay? I went to see her the night after I'd seen him, okay? I even delivered a small parcel he'd asked me to take her, okay?"

He nodded.

He barely glanced at them there in the dim light, but he nodded again.

Then: "You still liked her, didn't you?"

"Yes, I guess I did."

"All right.There are some things I'm going to have to tell you, old buddy. Not all of them nice.Give me just a minute to sort it all out. You've just given me one big problem-or I've given it to myself, because I've just decided something."

He kicked a patch of gravel and the stones rattled down the hillside.

"First, give me those cards."

"Why?"

"I'm going to tear them into confetti."

Why?"

"They're dangerous."

I'll hang onto them."

"You don't understand."

"So explain."

I have to decide what to tell you and what not to."

"Why not just tell me everything?"

Believe me-"

Luke didn't.He began running in a zigzag pattern toward a cluster of trees off to our left, from which two more shots were fired. He had something in his hand and he raised it.

Our assailant got off one more round.After Luke's second shot I heard someone gasp. I was on my feet by then and running toward him, a rock in my hand.After his third shot I heard a body fall.

I reached him just as he was turning the body over, in time to see what seemed a faint cloud of blue or gray mist emerge from the man's mouth past his chipped tooth and drift away.

"What the hell was that?" Luke asked as it blew away.

"You saw it, too? I don't know."

He looked down at the limp form with the dark spot growing larger on its shirtfront, a 38' revolver still clutched in the right hand.

"I didn't know you carried a gun," I said.

"When you're on the road as much as I am, you go heeled," he answered.

Airline security.Guess I won't be selling this one. I never saw this guy, Merle.You?"

I nodded.

"That's Dan Martinez, the man I was telling you about."

"Another damn complication.Maybe I should just join a Zen monastery someplace and persuade myself it doesn't matter. I-"

"Oh-oh," he said then."Merle, the keys are in the ignition. Get in the car and drive back to the hotel right away.Leave me here. Hurry!"

"What's going on? What-"

He raised his weapon, a snub-nosed automatic, and pointed it at me.

"Now! Shut up and go!"

"But-"

He lowered the muzzle and put a bullet into the ground between my feet.

"Merlin, son of Corwin," he said through clenched teeth, "if you don't start running right now you're a dead man!" I followed his advice, raising a shower of gravel and laying some streaks of rubber coming out of the U-turn I spun the wagon through.I roared down the hill and skidded around the curve to my right. I braked for the next one to my left.Then I slowed.

I killed the engine and the lights and put on the parking brake.I opened the door quietly and did not close it fully after I'd slipped out. Sounds carry too well in places like this.

It was very quiet.I rounded the first turn and headed for the next one. Something flew from one tree - to another.An owl, I think. I moved more slowly than I wanted to, for the sake of silence, as I neared the second turning.

I halted then and studied the area we had occupied.Nothing in sight. I advanced slowly, cautiously, ready to freeze, drop, dive, or spring up into a run as the situation required.

No one in sight.

I rose into a crouch and continued, still more slowly; still hugging the cover.

He had taken off for somewhere.I moved nearer, halted again and listened for at least a minute. No sounds betrayed any moving presences.

The body was gone.I paced about the area but could locate nothing to give me any sort of clue as to what might have occurred following my departure. I could think of no reason for calling out, so I didn't.

I couldn't even speculate as to what the hell was going on.

Then I went inside, walked to Luke's room, and knocked on the door.I didn't really expect a response; but it seemed the proper thing to do preparatory to breaking and entering.

It took a little longer, but there was no one in sight.I reached in and turned on the light, did a quick survey, then slipped inside quickly. I stood listening for a few minutes but heard no sounds of activity from the hall.

Suitcase on luggage rack, empty.Clothing hung in closet-nothing in the pockets except for two matchbooks, and a pen and pencil. A few other garments and some undergarments in a drawer, nothing with them.Toiletries in shaving kit or neatly arrayed on countertop. Nothing peculiar there.A copy of B . H.Liddell Hart's Strategy lay upon the bedside table, a bookmark about three-quarters of the way into it.

Nothing inside the boots but a pair of blousing bands.I checked the shirt pockets, which at first seemed empty, but my fingertips then discovered a number of small white paper pellets in one of them. Puzzled, I unfolded a few.Bizarre secret messages? No . .. No sense getting completely paranoid, when a few brown flecks on a paper answered the question.Tobacco. They were pieces of cigarette paper: Obviously he stripped his butts when he was hiking in the wilderness.I recalled a few past hikes with him. He hadn't always been that neat.

There was a damp bandana in one hid pocket and a comb in the other.Nothing in the right front pocket, a single round of ammo in the left. On an impulse, I pocketed the shell, then went on to look beneath the mattress and behind the drawers.I even looked in the toilet's flush box. Nothing.Nothing to explain his strange behavior.

I did not care that he'd know I'd broken in.In fact, I rather liked the idea. It irritated me that he'd poked around in my Ghostwheel papers.Besides, he owed me a damned good explanation for his behavior on the mountain.

I'd have left him a note, too, except that I don't like to create evidence and I had a strong feeling that he wouldn't be coming back.

CHAPTER 6

I sat in the study of his semi-rural home in upstate New York, sipping a beer and telling him my troubles.It was a breezy, star-dotted night beyond the window and he was a good listener.

"Did he send a message?"

" No."

"What exactly did you do that day?"

It was just as I'd left it.I went by the desk. Nothing, like I said.Then I had breakfast and I checked again. Nothing again.So I took a long walk around the town. Got back a little after noon, had lunch, and tried the room again.It was the same. I borrowed the car keys then and drove back up to the place we'd been the night before.No sign of anything unusual there, looking at it in the light of day. I even climbed down the slope and hunted around.No body, no clues. I drove back, replaced the keys, hung around the hotel till dinner time, ate, then called you.After you told me to come on up, I made a reservation and went to bed early. Caught the Shuttlejack this morning and flew here from Albuquerque."

"And you checked again this morning?"

Nothing new."

He shook his head and relit his pipe.

He was possibly the only man on Earth Dad had trusted, and I trusted him, too.I'd visited him a number of times during my eight years-most recently, unhappily, a year and a half earlier, at the time of his wife, Alice's, funeral. I had told him my father's story, as I had heard it from his own lips, outside the Courts of Chaos, because I'd gotten the impression that he had wanted Bill to know what had been going on, felt he' d owed him some sort of explanation for all the help he'd given him.And Bill actually seemed to understand and believe it. But then, he'd known Dad a lot better than I did.

"I've remarked before on the resemblance you bear your father."

I nodded.

"For a while there he had a habit of showing up like a downed fighter pilot behind enemy lines.I'll never forget the night he arrived on horseback with a sword at his side and had me trace a missing compost heap for him." He chuckled. "Now you come along with a story that makes me believe Pandora's box has been opened again.Why couldn't you just want a divorce like any sensible young man? Or a will written or a trust set up? A partnership agreement? Something like that? No, this sounds more like one of Carl's problems. Even the other stuff I've done for Amber seems pretty sedate by comparison."

"Other stuff ? You mean the Concord-the time Random sent Fiona with a copy of the Patternfall Treaty with Swayvil, King of Chaos, for her to translate and you to look at for loopholes?"

Then Flora wanted her library recovered-no easy job-and then an old flame traced-whether for reunion or revenge I never learned.Paid me in gold, though. Bought the place in Palm Beach with it.Then-oh, hell. For a while there, I thought of adding 'Counsel to the Court of Amber' to my business card.But that sort of work was understandable. I do similar things on a mundane level all the time.Yours, though, has that black magic and sudden-death quality to it that seemed to follow your father about. It scares the hell out of me, and I wouldn't even know how to go about advising you on it."

"In fact, they may color my thinking too much.You're bound to look at things a lot differently than I do. A blind spot by definition is something you're not aware of.What might I be missing?"

He took a sip of his beer, lit his pipe again.

"Your friend Luke-where's he from?"

"Somewhere in the Midwest, I believe he said: Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio-one of those places."

What line of work is his old man in?"

"He never mentioned it."

"Does he have any brothers or sisters?"

He never said."

"Doesn't that strike you as somewhat odd-that he never mentioned his family or talked about his home town in the whole eight years you've known him?"

After all, I never talked about mine either."

You grew up in a strange place that you couldn't talk about.You had every reason to change the subject, avoid the issues. He obviously did, too.And then, back when you came you weren't even certain how most people here behaved. But didn't you ever wonder about Luke?"

But he respected my reticence.I could do no less for him. You might say that we had a sort of tacit agreement that such things were off limits."

"How'd you meet him?"

"We were freshmen together, had a lot of the same classes."

You hit it off from the beginning..."

We barely talked to each other.I thought he was an arrogant bastard who felt he was ten times better than anybody he'd ever met. I didn't like him, and he didn't like me much either."

"Why not?"

"He felt the same way about me."

"So it was only gradually that you came to realize you were both wrong?"

We were both right.We got to know each other by trying to show each other up. If I'd do something kind of outstanding-he'd try to top it.And vice versa. We got so we'd go out for the same sport, try to date the same girls, try to beat each other's grades."

.. ?"

When we both made the Olympic finals something broke.We started slapping each other on the back and laughing, and we went out and had dinner and sat up all night talking and he said he didn't give a shit about the Olympics and I said I didn't either. He said he'd just wanted to show me he was a better man and now he didn't care anymore.He'd decided we were both good enough, and he'd just as soon let the matter stand at that - I felt exactly the same way and told him so. That was when we got to be friends."

"It's a specialized sort of friendship.You're friends in certain places."

I laughed and took a drink.

"Isn't everyone?"

Sometimes always.Nothing wrong with that. It's just that yours seems a much more highly specialized friendship than most."

"Maybe so."

Two guys as close as you got to be-with no pasts to show to each other."

What does it mean?"

"You're not a normal human being."

"No, I' m not."

"I'm not so sure Luke is either."

"What, then?"

"That's your department."

I nodded.

"Apart from that issue," Bill continued, "something else has been bothering me."

"What?"

He followed you out to the boondocks, stopped when you did, stalked you, then opened fire.Who was he after? Both of you? Just Luke? Or just you?"

I'm not sure which of us that first shot was aimed for.After that, he was firing at Luke-because by then Luke was attacking and he was defending himself."

If he were S - or S's agent - why would he even have bothered with that conversation with you in the bar?"

"I now have the impression that the whole thing was an elaborate buildup to that final question of his, as to whether Luke knew anything about Amber."

"And your reaction, rather than your answer, led him to believe that he did."

You think he was really gunning for someone from Amber?"

Luke is no Amberite, though?"

And I got plenty of lectures on genealogy.My relatives are like a sewing circle when it comes to keeping track of such matters - a lot less orderly about it than they are in Chaos - can't even decide exactly who's oldest, because some of them were born in different time streams-but they're pretty thorough"

"Chaos! That's right! You're also lousy with relatives on that side! Could-?"

"No way.I have an even more extensive knowledge of the families there. I believe I'm acquainted with just about all of the ones who can manipulate Shadow, traverse it.Luke's not one of them and-"

"Wait a minute! There are people in the Courts who can walk in Shadow, also?"

Or stay in one place and bring things from Shadow to them.It's a kind of reverse-"

"I thought you had to walk the Pattern to gain that power?"

It's a kind of chaotic maze.Keeps shifting about. Very dangerous.Unbalances you mentally, too, for a time. No fun."

"So you've done it?"

"Yes."

"And you walked the Pattern as well?"

I licked my lips, remembering.

Damn near killed me.Suhuy'd thought it would, but Fiona thought I could make it if she helped. I was-"

"Who's Suhuy?"

He's an uncle of mine, too.He felt that the Pattern of Amber and the Logrus of Chaos were incompatible, that I could not bear the images of both within me. Random, Fiona, and Gerard had taken me down to show me the Pattern.I got in touch with Suhuy then and gave him a look at it. He said that they seemed antithetical, and that I would either be destroyed by the attempt or the Pattern would drive the image of the Logrus from me, probably the former.But Fiona said that the Pattern should be able to encompass anything, even the Logrus, and from what she understood of the Logrus it should be able to work its way around anything, even the Pattern. So they left it up to me, and I knew that I had to walk it.So I did. I made it, and I still bear the Logrus as well as the Pattern.Suhuy acknowledged that Fi had been right, and he speculated that it had to do with my mixed parentage. She disagreed, though-"

"Wait a minute.I don't understand how you got your uncle Suhuy down into the basement of Amber Castle on a moment's notice."

"Oh, I have a set of Chaos Trumps as well as a set of Amber Trumps, for my relatives back in the Courts."

"All of this is fascinating, but we're straying from the point.Is there anyone else who can walk in Shadow? Or are there other ways of doing it?"

There are a number of magical beings, like the Unicorn, who can just wander wherever they want.And you can follow a Shadow walker or a magical being through Shadow for so long as you can keep track of it, no matter who you are. Kind of like Thomas Rhymer is the ballad.And one Shadow walker could lead an army through. And then there are the inhabitants of the various Shadow kingdoms nearest to Amber and to Chaos.Those at both ends breed mighty sorcerers, just because of their proximity to the two power centers. Some of the good ones can become fairly adept at it-but their images of the Pattern or the Logrus are imperfect, so they're never quite as good as the real thing.But on either end they don't even need an initiation to wander on in. The Shadow interfaces are thinnest there.We even have commerce with them, actually. And established routes become easier and easier to follow with time.Going outward is harder, though. But large attacking forces have been known to come through.That's why we maintain patrols. Julian in Arden, Gerard at sea, and so forth."

"Any other ways?"

"A Shadow-storm perhaps."

"What's that?"

The best comparison I can think of is a tropical storm.One theory as to their origin has to do with the beat frequencies of waves that pulse outward from Amber and from the Courts, shaping the nature of shadows. Whatever, when such a storm rises it can flow through a large number of shadows before it plays itself out.Sometimes they do a lot of damage, sometimes very little. But they often transport things in their progress."

"Does that include people?"

"It's been known to happen."

I did the same with mine.

"Could anybody learn to use them?"

"Yes."

"How many sets are there kicking around?"

"I don't know."

"Who makes them?"

That's where I learned. And there are Fiona and Bleys back in Amber - and I believe they were teaching Random"

.. Could any of them do up a set of Trumps?"

It is my understanding that you have to be an initiate of either the Pattern or the Logrus to do them properly.Some of them could do a sort of half assed set, though, one you'd be taking your chances on using-maybe winding up dead or in some limbo, sometimes getting where you were headed."

.. ?"

"They're the real thing."

"How do you account for them?"

That's all."

"I see."

"I'm afraid none of this is too productive."

"How else can I come up with lines of inquiry? You ready for another beer?"

I framed my desire and two of the swimming lines within the eidolon increased in brightness and thickness.I moved my arms, slowly, imitating their undulations, their jerkings. Finally, the lines and my arms seemed to be one, and I opened my hands and extended the lines outward, outward through Shadow.

Bill cleared his throat.

"Uh-what are you doing, Merle?"

"Just a minute." The lines would keep extending through an infinitude of Shadow till they encountered the objects of my desire-or until I ran out of patience or concentration.Finally, I felt the jerks, like bites on a pair of fishing lines.

An icy bottle of beer appeared in each of my hands.I grasped them as they did and passed one to Bill.

"I sent out to Shadow for a couple of beers.Saved you a trip to the kitchen."

He regarded the orange label with the peculiar green script on it.

You sure it's safe?"

"Yes, I ordered real beer."

"Uh-you didn't happen to pick up an opener, too; did you?"

"Sorry.I'll-"

"That's all right."

When he opened the first one it foamed a bit and he had to hold it over the wastebasket till it settled.The same with the other.

"I don't usually get my beer that way and I forgot-"

..

He tasted his beer then.

"I wonder .. .Naw."

"What?"

"Could you send out for a pizza?"

"What do you want on it?" I asked.

We strolled slowly, Bill with a stick in his hand and a pipe in his mouth, and he continued the previous evening's questioning.

You say that you and Luke actually made it up to the finals for the Olympics and then dropped out?"

"Yes."

"What area?"

We were both runners and-"

"And his time was close to yours?"

And sometimes it was mine that was close to his."

"Strange."

"What?"

The bank grew steeper, and we crossed on some stepping stones to the other side where the way was several feet wider and relatively flat, with a well-trod path along it.

From all I've heard, you Amberites are several times stronger than a normal human being, with a fancy metabolism giving you unusual stamina and recuperative and regenerative powers.How come Luke should be able to match you in high-level performances?"

"There are other people like that here-very strong and fast."

"I'm not arguing that," he said."It's just that it seems like one coincidence too many. This guy hides his past the same way you do, and then it turns out that he really knows who you are anyhow.Tell me, is he really a big art buff ?"

"Huh?"

He really cared enough about art to collect it?"

We used to hit gallery openings and museum exhibits fairly regularly."

He snorted, and swung his stick at a pebble, which splashed into the stream.

"Well," he observed, "that weakens one point, but hardly destroys the pattern."

.."

Less odd, though, when you say that the guy was good and that Luke really did collect art."

"He didn't have to tell me that he knew Melman."

But all of this plus his physical abilities .. .I'm just building a circumstantial case, or course, but I feel that guy is very unusual."

I nodded.

"If he's not really from here, I don't know where the hell he's from."

He glanced back in the direction from which we had come, then, "Tell me-completely off the subject-what's your, uh, rank?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

What does that make you?"

"You mean titles? I'm Duke of the Western Marches and Earl of Kolvir."

"What does that mean?"

Nobody has to worry about me scheming, no vendettas involving the succession" '

"Hm."

"What do you mean, 'Hm'?"

"I've read too much history.Nobody's safe."

"Last I heard, everything was peaceful on the home front."

"Well, that's good news, anyway."

I could see the high water line and a number of exposed roots from trees that grew along the top.Bill seated himself on a boulder back in their shade and relit his pipe. I rested on one nearby, to his left.The water splashed and rippled in a comfortable key, and we watched it sparkle for a time.

"Pretty place."

"Uh-huh."

Bill was looking back the way we'd come.

"Something there?"

Lost sight of him in all the turnings we took."

"Maybe I should take a stroll back."

It's a beautiful day.A lot of people do like to hike around here. Just thought that if we waited a few minutes he'd either show up or we'd know he'd gone somewhere else."

"Can you describe him?"

Caught only the barest glimpse.I don't think it's anything to get excited about. It's just that thing about your story made me a little wary-or paranoid.I'm not sure which."

For fifteen minutes or so we waited.But no one showed.

"False alarm," he said."I guess."

"Then that Jasra lady bothers me," he said."You say she seemed to trump in-and then she had that sting in her mouth that knocked you for a loop?"

"Right."

"Ever encounter anyone like her before?"

"No."

"Any guesses?" I shook my head.

But S seems almost too well organized to be a mental case.And as for the other-"

"Melman thought it was important."

I'd be surprised if he didn't come up with such a correspondence, whether it was intended or not.He admitted that his master had never told him that that was the case. It was his own idea.But you're the one with the background in the area. Is there any special significance or any real Bower that you know of to be gained by slaying someone of your blood at this particular time of year."

But of course there are a lot of things I don't know about.I'm very young compared to most of the adepts. But which way are you trying to go on this? You say you don't think it's a nut, but you don't buy the Walpurgis notion either."

I'm just thinking out loud.They both sound shaky to me, that's all. For that matter, the French Foreign Legion gave everyone leave on April 30 to get drunk, and a couple of days after that to sober up.It's the anniversary of the battle of Camerone, one of their bi, triumphs. But I doubt that figures in this either."

"Why a Trump that takes you someplace to trade dumb riddles or get your head bitten off ?"

"I'd a feeling it was more the latter that was intended."

But it's certainly bizarre.You know what?

I'll bet they're all that way-traps of some kind."

"Could be."

I put my hand in my pocket, reaching for them.

"Let's not look for trouble.Maybe you should ditch them, at least for a while. I could put them in my safe, down at the office."

I laughed.

No thanks.I want them with me. There may be a way of checking them out without any risk."

But tell me, could something sneak through from the scene on the card without you."

They don't work that way.They require your attention to operate. More than a little of it."

I-"

Someone was coming.I flexed my fingers, involuntarily.

Then I heard him let go a big breath.

"I know him.It's George Hansen. He's the son of the guy who owns the farm we're behind.Hi, George!"

He was of medium height and stocky build.Had sandy hair. He wore Levi's and a Grateful Dead T-shirt, a pack of cigarettes twisted into its left sleeve.He looked to be in his twenties.

"Swell day, huh?"

"'That's why we're out walking in it, instead of sitting at home."

George's gaze shifted to me.

"Real good day"

He's visiting me."

"Hi, Merle."

It was a little clammy.

"Recognize the name?"

"Uh Merle Corey," he said again.

"You knew his dad."

"Yeah? Oh, sure!"

"Sam Corey," Bill finished, and he shot me a glance over George's shoulder.

"Son of a gun! Good to know you.You going to be here long?"

"I didn't realize you'd known my father."

"Where you from?"

"California, but it's time for a change."

"Where you headed?"

"Out of the country, actually."

"Europe?"

"Farther."

I'd like to travel sometime."

"Maybe you will."

Well, I'Il be moving on.Let you guys enjoy your walk. Nice meeting you, Merle."

"My pleasure."

He backed away, waved, turned, and walked off.

I glanced at Bill then and noticed that he was shaking.

"What's the matter?" I whispered.

"Do you think he's on drugs?"

I didn't see any tracks.And he didn't seem particularly spacey."

He seemed very different.It was just on impulse that I used the name Sam for your dad, because something didn't seem right. His speech patterns have changed, his posture, his gait. Intangibles.I was waiting for him to correct me, and then I could have made a joke about premature senility. But t didn't.He picked up on it instead. Merle, this is scary! He knew your father real well-as Carl Corey.Your dad liked to keep his place nice, but he was never much for weeding and mowing or raking leaves. George did his yard work fog him for years while he was in school.He knew his name wasn't Sam."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I," he said, "and I don't like it."

"So he's acting weird-and you think he was following us?"

This is too much of a coincidence, timed with your arrival."

I turned.

"I'll find out."

Don't."

There are other ways."

It might encourage him to do something or say something later that could prove useful.On the other hand, anything you do-even something subtle or magical-might let him, or something, know that we're on to him. Let it ride, be grateful you're warned and be wary."

"Okay "

I want to stop by the office and pick up some papers and make some phone calls.Then I have to see a client at two o'clock. You can take the car and knock around while I' m doing that."

There were a number of things I had not told Bill.For instance, there had been no reason to tell him that I wore an invisible strangling cord possessed of some rather unusual virtues, woven about my left wrist. One of these virtues is that it generally warns me of nasty intentions aimed in my direction, as it had done in Luke's presence for almost two years until we became friends.Whatever the reason for George Hansen's unusual behavior, Frakir had not given me any indication that he meant me harm.

.. there was something about the way he talked, the way he said his words .. .

I headed out to the place where my father had lived years ago.I'd been by it a number of times in the past, but I'd never been inside. No real reason to, I guess, anyway.I parked up the road on a rise, off on the shoulder, and regarded it. A young couple lived there now, Bill had told me, with some kids-a thing I could see for myself from some scattered toys off to the side of the yard.I wondered what it would have been like, growing up in a place like that. I supposed that I could have.The house looked well kept, sprightly even. I imagined that the people were happy there.

There are a variety of ways in which a Trump sending can be blocked.In fact one of these situations was even said to apply in his case, though I didn't like to think about it.

She refused even to comment on this story.Another was that he had entered the universe of his own creation and never returned, which it seemed possible could remove him from the reach of the Trumps. Another was simply that he had perished at some point after his departure from the Courts and a number of my relatives there assured me that they had seen him leave after his sojourn.So, if the rumor of his death were correct, it did not occur in the Courts of Chaos. And there were others who claimed to have seen him at widely separated sites afterward, encounters invariably involving bizarre behavior on his part.I had been told by one that he was traveling in the company of a mute dancer-a tiny, lovely lady with whom he communicated by means of sign language-and that he wasn't talking much himself either. Another reported him as roaring drunk in a raucous cantina, from which he eventually expelled all the other patrons in order to enjoy the music of the band without distraction.I could not vouch for the authenticity of any of these accounts. It had taken me a lot of searching just to come up with this handful of rumors.I could not locate him with a Logrus summoning either, though I had tried many times. But of course if he were far enough afield my powers of concentration may simply have been inadequate.

I regretted this sorely, because my only long encounter with him had been on the occasion of hearing his lengthy story outside the Courts of Chaos on the day of the Patternfall battle.This had changed my life. It had given me the resolve to depart the Court, with the determination to seek experience and education in the shadow world where he had dwelled for so long.I'd-felt a need to understand it if I were to understand him better. I believed that I had now achieved something of this, and more.But he was no longer available to continue our conversation.

Following my cross-country trip, scheduled to wind up at Bill's place a month or two from now, I was going to head off to my personal anomaly of a place and begin the work.

.. other things had crowded in.The matters at hand would have to be dealt with before I could get on with the search.

Better not to know exactly what it was like inside.Sometimes a little mystery is best.

As I kept drawing blanks, he was the first to renew our serial conversation:

"Yes?"

You later felt that the whole thing could simply have been a ploy, to get you off guard and then hit you with that question about Amber and Chaos."

"Right."

He insisted, though, that he had not been in touch with potential investors and that he had never heard of Dan Martinet.When he saw the man dead later he still maintained that he'd never met him."

I nodded.

"Then either Luke was lying, or Martinet had somehow learned his plans."

"In fact, I've been thinking about that whole business some more.Just knowing him as I do, I don't believe Luke would have gone around looking for investors until he was sure there was something to put the money into. I think he was telling the truth on that, too.It seems more likely to me that this might have been the only real coincidence in everything that's happened so far. i have the feeling that Martinez knew a ' lot about Luke and just wanted that one final piece of information-about his knowledge of Amber and the Courts.I think he was very shrewd, and on the basis of what he knew already he was able to concoct something that seemed plausible to me, knowing I'd worked for the same company as Luke."

"But then when Luke really did-"

"I'm beginning to believe," I interrupted, "that Luke story was phoney, too."

"I don't follow you."

"I think he put it together the same way Martinez did, and for similar reasons-to sound plausible to me so that he could get some information he wanted."

What information?"

He wanted to know what it was."

"And he was disapointed to learn that it was just an exercise in exotic design, for other reasons than building a company?"

Bill caught my smile as I nodded.

Then: "Wait.Don't tell me. You were lying, too.It's something real."

"Yes."

If it's something big and very important it could be gotten out of me, you know.I have a low tolerance for pain. Think about it."

I sat there for some time, musing.

But I don't see how it could be-as you say-material.Not to Luke or to anyone else-because nobody even knows what it is but me. No.I can't see how it enters the equation beyond Luke's curiosity about it. So i think I'll follow your suggestion and just keep it off the record."

"Then there is the matter of Luke's disappearance-"

"Excuse me," Bill said.

He rose and went into the kitchen.

After a few moments, I heard him call, "Merle, it's for you!"

I gave him a questioning look as soon as I entered and he shrugged and shook his head.I thought fast and recalled the location of two other phones in the house. I pointed at him, pointed in the direction of his study and pantomimed the motion of picking up a receiver and holding it to one's ear.He smiled slightly and nodded. I took the receiver and waited a while, till I heard the click, only beginning to speak then, hoping the caller would think I' d picked up an extension to answer.

"Hello," I said.

"Merle Corey?"

"That's me."

"I need some information I think you might have."

"Who am I talking to?" I asked.

I can't tell you that."

"Then that will probably be my answer to your question, too."

"Will you at least let me ask?"

"Go ahead," I said.

You and Luke Raynard are friends." He paused.

"You could say that," I said, to fill the space.

"You have heard him speak of places called Amber and the Courts of Chaos."

Again, a statement rather than a question.

"Maybe," I said.

"Do you know anything of these places yourself?"

Finally, a question.

"Maybe," I said again.

This is serious. I need something more than a 'maybe."'

'Maybe' is all you're going to get, unless you tell me who you are and why you want to know."

"I can be of great service to you if you will be honest with me."

That last statement had been spoken in Thari.I maintained my silence.

Then: "Well, that didn't work, and I still don't really know."

"What? What don't you know?" I said.

"Whether he's from one of those places or whether you."

"To be as blunt as possible, what's it to you?" I asked him.

"Because one of you may be in great danger."

"The one who is from such a place or the one who is not?" I asked.

I can't afford another mistake."

"What do you mean? What was your last one about?"

"You won't tell me-either for purposes of self preservation, or to help a friend?"

But for all I know, it might be you that's the danger."

"I assure you I am only trying to help the right person."

"Supposing we were both from such places?"

"No.That couldn't be."

"Why not?"

What do I have to do to persuade you?"

Wait a minute.Let me think," I answered. "All right.How about this? I'll meet you someplace. You name the place.I get a good look at you and we trade information, one piece at a time, till all the cards are on the table."

There was a pause.

Then: "That's the only way you'll do it?"

"Yes."

I'll be back in touch soon."

"One thing-"

"What?"

"If it is me, am I in danger right now?"

Yes, you probably are.Good-bye." He hung up.

I managed to sigh and swear at the same time as I recradled the phone.

People who knew about us seemed to be coming out of the woodwork.

Bill came into the kitchen, a very puzzled expression on his face.

"How'd whoever-the-hell-he-is even know you're here?" were his first words.

"Think up another."

If he wants to set something up, are you really going?"

I suggested it because I want to meet this guy."

"As you pointed out, he may be the danger."

He's going to be in a lot of danger, too."

"I don't like it."

But it's the best offer I've had so far."

It's too bad there isn't some way of locating him beforehand."

"That passed through my mind, too."

"Listen, why not push him a little?"

"How?"

Let's not be here when he calls back.Don't let him think you're just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Make him wait a little.Go conjure up some fresh clothes and we'll drive over to the country club for a couple of hours. It'll beat raiding the icebox."

"This was supposed to be a vacation, one time.That's probably the closest I'll get. Sounds fine." I renewed my wardrobe out of Shadow, trimmed my beard, showered, and dressed.We drove to the club then and had a leisurely meal on the terrace. It was a good evening for it, balmy and star-filled, running with moonlight like milk.By mutual consent we refrained from discussing my problems any further. Bill seemed to know almost everyone there, so it seemed a friendly place to me.It was the most. relaxed evening I'd spent in a long while.Afterward we stopped for drinks in the club bar, which I gathered had been one of my dad's favorite watering spots, strains of dance music drifting through from the room next door.

"Thanks."

"I had a lot of good times here with your old man.

You haven't, by any chance-?"

"No, no news of him."

"Sorry."

"I'll let you know when he turns up."

Sorry."

We got in a little after midnight, said good night, and I went straight to my room.I shrugged out of my new jacket and hung it in the closet, kicked off my new shoes and left them there, too. As I walked back into the room, I noticed the white rectangle on the pillow of my bed.

SORRY YOU WERE NOT IN WHEN I CALLED BACK, It said, in block capitals.BUT I SAW YOU AT THE CLUB AND CAN CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND YOUR WANTING A NIGHT OUT. IT GAVE ME AN IDEA.LET'S MEET IN THE BAR THERE, TOMORROW NIGHT, AT TEN. I'D FEEL BETTER WTTH LOTS OF PEOPLE AROUND BUT NONE OF THEM LISTENING.

My first impulse was to go and tell Bill.My first thought following the impulse, though, was that there was nothing he could do except lose some sleep over it, a thing he probably needed a lot more than I did. So I folded the note and stuck it in my shirt pocket, then hung up the shirt.

I slept deeply and well, knowing Frakir would rouse me in the event of danger.In fact, I overslept, and it felt good. The morning was sunny and birds were singing.

There was a note on the kitchen table.I was tired of fording notes, but this one was from Bill, saying he'd had to run into town to his office for a while and I should go ahead and help myself to anything that looked good for breakfast. He'd be back a little later.

Some coffee I'd started first thing was ready shortly after I finished, and I took a cup with me out onto the porch.

My mysterious correspondent-conceivably S-had phoned here once and broken in once.How S had known I was here was immaterial. It was a friend's house, and though I did not mind sharing some of my problems with friends, I did not like the idea of exposing them to danger.But then, it was daylight now and the meeting was set for this evening. Not that much longer till some sort of resolution was achieved.Almost silly to depart at this point. In fact, it was probably better that I hang around till then.I could keep an eye on things, protect Bill if anything came up today Suddenly, I had a vision of someone forcing Bill to write that note at gunpoint, then whisking him away as a hostage to pressure me into answering questions.

Horace Crayper, his secretary, answered on the second ring."Hi, this is Merle Corey," I said. "Is Mr.Roth in?"

Could I have him call you back?"

Don't bother him.Thanks." I poured myself another cup of coffee and returned to the porch. This sort of thing was bad for the nerves.I decided that if everything wasn't squared away this evening I would leave.

A figure rounded the corner of the house.

"Hi, MerIe."

Frakir gave me the tiniest of pulses, as if beginning a warning and then reconsidering it.Ambiguous. Unusual.

How's it going?"

Is Mr.Roth in?"

He had to go into town for a while.I imagine he'll be back around lunchtime or a little after."

A few days ago he'd asked me to stop by when I was free, about some work he wanted done."

I shook my head.

He didn't mention it to me.You'll have to catch him later."

This T-shirt was a Pink Floyd.

"How are you enjoying your stay?" he asked.

You care for a cup of coffee?"

"Don't mind if I do."

I rose and went inside.

"With a little cream and sugar," he called after me.

I fixed him one and when I returned with it he was seated in the other chair on the porch.

His memory must've slipped."

He smiled.

What was it about the way he talked? His voice could almost be the one

It wasn't that comparison that was bothering me.

"He was a retired military officer, wasn't he? And some sort of government consultant?"

"Yes."

"Where is he now?"

"Doing a lot of traveling-overseas."

"You going to see him on your own trip?"

"I hope so."

"Ah! that's good!"

"You never lived with your dad, huh?"

"No, I grew up with my mother and other relatives."

"Pretty far from here, huh?"

"Overseas."

"What was her name?"

I'm not certain why, but I changed it to "Dorothy" before it came out.

He had been studying my face as I spoke.

"Why do you ask?" I said.

Or genetic nosiness, you might say.My mother was the town gossip."

He laughed and gulped coffee.

"Will you be staying long?" he asked then.

Probably not real long, though."

He rose then, stretched and added, "Nice talking to you."

Partway down the stairs he paused and turned.

"Good luck."

"You've a way with words."

See you around."

I simply didn't know what to make of him, and after several attempts I gave up.When inspiration is silent reason tires quickly.

He went and changed clothes while I was doing this.

What say we follow the creek in the other direction this afternoon?"

"Sure." As we hiked across the field I told him of George's visit.

"No," he said, "I didn't tell him I had any jobs for him."

"In other words-"

It would have been easy enough to see me leave, from their place."

"I wish I knew what he wanted."

"If it's important enough he'll probably wind up asking you, in time."

"I've decided to leave tomorrow morning, maybe even tonight."

I also told him my feelings about exposing him to stray shots, or intended ones.

"It may not be that serious," he began.

I hate to cut things short when I haven't seen you for so long, but I hadn't counted on all this trouble.And if I go away you know that it will, too. "Probably so, but .. ."

Then we finally dropped the matter as settled and returned to a fruitless rehashing of my puzzles.As we walked I looked back occasionally but did not see anyone behind us. I did hear a few sounds within the brush on the opposite bank at infrequent intervals, but it could easily have been an animal disturbed by our voices.

I froze.

Bill halted and turned toward me.

"What-"

I raised my hand.

"Long distance call," I said.

I also heard the noise in the bushes again, across the water.

"Merlin."

A few seconds later I saw him, seated at a desk in the library of Amber.

"Yes?" I answered.

At the same time, I still possessed my vision of the rest of my surroundings, though it was growing more and more peripheral by the moment.For example, I saw Gearge Hansen start up from among the bushes across the creek, staring at me.

George began to move forward, splashing down into the water.

"Come on through," he said.

By now my outline must have begun shimmering, and I heard George cry out, "Stop! Wait! I have to come with-!"

I reached out and grasped Bill's shoulder.

"Come on!" With my other hand I clasped Random's.

"Stop!" George cried.

"The hell you say," I replied, and we left him to clasp a rainbow.

CHAPTER 7

He rose to his feet, which still left him shorter than either of us, and he shifted his attention to Bill.

"Merlin, who's this?" he asked.

"You've always dealt with him through agents in the past.I thought you might like to-"

Bill began dropping to one knee, "Your Majesty," on his lips, but Random caught him by the shoulders.

"We're not in Court." He clasped his hand, then said, "Call me Random.I've always intended to thank you personally for the work you did on that treaty. Never got around to it, though.Good to meet you."

I'd never seen Bill at a loss for words before, but he just stared, at Random, at the room, out of the window at a distant tower.

.." I heard him whisper moments later.

"Did I not see someone springing toward you?" Random said to me, running a hand through his unruly brown hair. "And surely your last words back there were not addressed to me?"

"That's the real reason I brought Bill along.You see, someone's been trying to kill me, and-"

"Spare me the details for the moment.I'll need them all later, but-but let it be later. There is more nastiness than usual afoot at the moment, and yours may well be a part of it.But I've got to breathe a bit."

It was only then that some deepened lines in his naturally youthful face registered and I began to realize that he was under a strain.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

Murdered," he replied."This morning."

"How did it happen?"

He was with Gerard, to renegotiate an old trade agreement.He was shot, through the heart. Died instantly."

"Did they catch the bowman?"

And he got away."

"I thought gunpowder didn't work around here." He made a quick palms-up gesture.

Nobody here can remember ever testing any there.For that matter, though, your father once came up with a compound that worked here."

I'd almost forgotten."

"Anyway, the funeral is tomorrow-"

"Bill! Merlin!"

Tall, slim and burnished, she hurried forward and kissed Bill on the cheek.I had never seen him blush before. She repeated the act for me, too, but I-was less moved, recalling that she had once been my father's warden.

"When did you get in?" Her voice was lovely, too.

"Just now," I said.

She immediately linked arms with both of us and attempted to lead us off.

"We have so much to talk about," she began.

"Flora!" This from Random.

"Yes, brother?"

Roth the full tour, but I require Merlin's presence for a time."

"Now you know what an absolute monarchy is," she explained to Bill."You can see how power corrupts."

You have my leave to depart, sister."

She sniffed and led Bill away.

"Unfortunately, she's been home for the better part of a year this time."

I made a tsking sound.

He crossed to a cabinet then.

"Wine?" he asked.

"Don't mind if I do."

"Someone also took a shot at Bleys," he said, "this afternoon, in another shadow.Hit him, too, but not bad. Gunman got away Bleys was just on a diplomatic mission to a friendly kingdom."

"Same person, you think?"

We've never had rifle sniping in the neighborhood before.Then two, all of a sudden? It must be the same person. Or the same conspiracy."

"Any clues?"

He shook his head and tasted the wine.

There are two things I'd like you to know."

I sipped the wine and waited.

With the attempt on Bleys it no longer appears to have been simply a personal thing directed at Caine.Somebody seems to have it in for us - or at least some of us. Now you say there's someone after you, too."

"I don't know whether there's any connection-"

But I don't like the possible pattern I see developing.My worst fear is that it may be one or more of us behind it."

"Why?" He glowered into his goblet.

This reached its latest peak in the scramble for the succession.I thought everything was pretty much settled, though, when I wound up with the job, which I certainly wasn't looking for. I had no real axes to grind, and I've tried to be fair.I know how touchy everyone here is. I don't think it's me, though, and I don't think it's the succession.I haven't had any bad vibes from any of the others. I'd gotten the impression they had decided I was the lesser of all possible evils and were actually cooperating to make it work.No, I don't believe any of the others is rash enough to want my crown. There was actually amity, goodwill, after the succession was settled.But what I'm wondering now is whether the old pattern might be recurring -that some of the others might have taken up the old game again to settle personal grievances. I really don't want to see that happen-all the suspicion, precautions, innuendoes, mistrust, double dealings.It weakens us, and there's always some possible threat ar other against which we should be strong. Now, I've spoken with everyone privately, and of course they all deny any knowledge of current cabals, intrigues, and vendettas, but I could see that they're getting suspicious of each other.It's become a habit of thought. And it wasn't at all difficult for them to dig up some of grudge each of the others might still have had against Caine despite the fact that he saved all our asses by taking out Brand.And the same with Bieys - everyone could fins motives for everyone else."

"So you want the killer fast, because of what he's done to morals"

I don't need all this backbiting and grudge-hunting.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?"

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 took another drink of wine.

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 bow to say this," he began after a time, "but I have to."

Then he said quickly, "There's talk it's Corwin, but I don't believe it."

"No," I said softly.

Your father means a lot to me."

"Why would anybody believe it?"

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."

"Don't you start.Please. They're upset.Don't look for trouble."

"Yes, you're right," I said.

Go ahead, complicate my life some more."

At least I'm fresh on it," I told him.

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.

I could almost hear him thinking.

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."

"But there is something else I am reminded to tell you first."

"What's that?"

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-"

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 30-30," 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.

.."

You came."

I was sent to tell you that dinner is ready to be served, awaiting your pleasure."

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.

"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."

He pocketed the round I'd given him and gestured toward the door."Let's go eat."

"Good idea."

Benedict was due in the morning, and Llewella later this evening.

I hadn't seen Martin in a long while and was curious what he'd been about.But tie 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.

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-"

I understand he's a regular at Vegas.Random even accompanies him sometimes, to play cards."

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.

Listen, when you get a chance I'd like to have a little talk with you in private."

"

I nodded.

A few moments later I had the feeling that someone was trying to reach me via my Trump.

"Merlin!"

But she was just sitting at the other end of the table . ..

She looked up at me then, smiled, and nodded.

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'll be in touch."

"

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."

"I'll be in touch."

Flora caught me in the hall.She still had Bill in tow.

Or come by for tea tomorrow."

"We'll get together.It all depends on how things run, as to just when."

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."

"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."

It's just a shame it has to be this way."

We turned up the hallway and headed toward the library.

"Where are we going?" Martin asked.

Still, he was not a really big "To pick up a rifle," Random said.

"Oh? Why?"

If it actually fires, our lives have just acquired an additional complication."

The oil lamps were still burning.

Random went to it, dug the shell out of his pocket, and loaded it.

What should we try it on?" he mused.

He stepped back out into the hall and looked around.

"Ah! Just the thing!'"

There followed a sharp report and the ringing of metal.The armor shook.

"It worked! Why me, Unicorn? I was looking for a peaceful reign."

"I've always wanted to."

"You still got that other round, Merlin?"

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."

In the distance I heard the sounds of alarm.

"We're about to have the entire palace guard descend upon us," I observed.

"A little realistic drill every now and then never hurts." ,

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.

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.

"Tell me how you read what just happened."

"Upstairs was Melman who wanted to sacrifice me.Downstairs was the Brutes 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."

"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."

Then he snapped his forgers and smiled."Flora is about to undertake an important mission for the Crown."

"Inspired," I said.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what's going on," he told us, "and I want to."

"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.

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.

"You should have brought this whole mess home to Amber sooner.We're all affected."

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."

.. those attempts on your life .: ."

Nobody else does either.I couldn't see any connection, all that time."

Fortunately, Random returned about then.

"I couldn't quite get her to believe it was an honor," he said, "but she'll do it."

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.

It took him about ten minutes to turn up everything that I needed.

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.

It was quite possible that I had missed my rendezvous with the nameless housebreaker.

I rose to my feet.

I was tempted not to answer it, but my curiosity won out.I crossed the room, unbolted the door, and opened it.

She had on an attractive green evening dress and a small jeweled pin that matched her hair perfectly.

"What brings you around?"

May I come in?"

"But I am in a hurry."

"I know, but perhaps I can be of help."

"How?" I asked, closing the door.

She shot the bolt on the door and crossed to the table.

"So that's where you're headed? Where is it?"

"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."

That way, I can use it to spy, and if you should suddenly need help I will be in a position to provide it."

Then I took up a position beside the table and focused my attention.

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 looked for the best point of arrival.Actually, there was no one at the right end of the bar, near that clock. Okay...

Trying to look as if I 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.

He recalled me from last night, also, because he asked whether Bill was around.

If I tried I could feel Fiona's presence.

So did a few patrons, new and old.None of them seemed particularly interested in me, though my own attention was drawn to an unescorted young lady with pale hair and a cameolike profile, which ends the resemblance because cameos don't smile much and she did the second time she glanced at me, right before she looked away. Damn, I thought, why did I have to be wrapped up in a life-and-death situation? Under almost any other circumstances I would have finished the beer, walked over for another, passed a few pleasantries, then asked her whether she'd care to join me.In fact...

I glanced at the clock.

10:20.

How much longer should I give the mystery voice? Should I just assume it had been George Hensen, and that he'd given up on tonight when he'd seen me fade? How much longer might the lady hang around?

Stick to business.I studied the narrowness of her waist, the swell of her hips, the tension of her shoulders . ..

10:25.

I took it over for a refill.

Dutifully, I watched the progress of the mug.

"Waiting for someone?"

She smelled strongly of a strange perfume.

"But I'm beginning to think it's too late."

She was smiling again."We could wait together," she concluded.

"I'd much rather pass the time with you."

She picked up her drink and followed me back to the table.

"My name's Merle Corey," I told her, as soon as we were seated:

I haven't seen you around before."

You, I take it, are not?" She shook her head slightly.

I live in the new apartment complex a couple of miles up the road."

I nodded as if I knew where it was located.

"Where are you from?" she wanted to know.

"The center of the universe," I said, then hastily added, "San Francisco."

What do you do?" I resisted a sudden impulse to tell her that I was a sorcerer, and instead described my recent employment at Grand Design.She, I learned in turn, had been a model, a buyer for a large store, and later manager of a boutique. I glanced at the clock.

She caught the look.

"I think we've both been stood up," she said.

"Probably," I agreed, "but we ought to give them till eleven to be decent about it."

"I suppose."

"Have you eaten?"

"Earlier."

"Hungry?"

Yes.Are you?"

I'll check."

I learned we could get sandwiches, so we got two, with some salad on the side.

"I hope your date didn't include a late supper," I said suddenly.

"It wasn't mentioned, and I don't care," she replied, taking a bite.

I'd finished my drink and the food, and I didn't really want another.

"At least the evening wasn't a total loss," she said, crumpling her napkin and setting it aside.

She wore very little or very pale makeup.It didn't matter at all. I was about to reach out and cover her hand with my own, but she beat me.

"What were you going to do tonight?" I asked her.

Silly things like that."

We could stroll on over."

"Why don't we?"

As we were leaving the bar, I heard Fiona, like a whisper:

"Merlin! If you leave the scene on the Trump you will be out of range to me."

"Hold on a minute," I answered.

"What?" Meg asked me.

"Uh - I want to visit the rest room first," I said.

I'll do the same.Meet you in the hall here in a couple of minutes."

I located Fiona's Trump in the packet I corned.Moments later, I reached Fiona.

"Obviously, no one's going to show.But the rest of the evening promises to shape up nicely, and I might as well have a little fun while I'm here. So thanks for your help.I'll just wander on back later."

"I don't tike you going with a stranger, under the circumstances.There may still be danger around there for you, somewhere."

"I have a way of knowing, and it doesn't register for her.Besides, I'm sure it was a fellow I'd met here and that he gave up when I trumped out. I'll be all right."

"I don't like it, " she said.

I can take care of myself."

Call me immediately if there are any problems."

You might as well turn in."

Don't worry about waking me.I want to bring you home personally."

Good night."

"Stay wary."

"I always am."

"Good night, then."

She broke the contact.

Meg had a strong tendency to lead.But what the hell, I can be led. I even tried being wary occasionally but there was nothing more threatening than loud music and sudden laughter.

There were several couples there, but her date wasn't.And no one even gave me a nod. We returned to the music.

We seated ourselves then and ordered a final drink.

So I did.

"I wish we could do it more often.But I'm going to be leaving tomorrow."

"Where are you headed?"

"Back to the center of the universe."

"Do you need a ride anywhere?"

"Anywhere you're going."

She smiled and squeezed my hand.

"Come on over and I'll make you a cup of coffee."

I even tried being wary again, but we seemed to be the only people in the lot.Her car was a neat little red Porsche convertible with the top down.

You care to drive?" she asked.

"No, you do it and I'll watch for headless horsemen."

"What?"

"It's a lovely night, and I've always wanted a chauffeur who looked exactly like you."

Fast, of course.It just seemed to follow. The roads were deserted and a feeling of exhilaration swept over me.I raised one hand and summoned a lighted cigar from Shadow. I took a few puffs and tossed it away as we roared over a bridge.I regarded the constellations, which had grown familiar to me these past eight years. I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.I tried to analyze my feelings and realized that I was happy. I hadn't felt that way in a long while.

A minute later we rounded a curve and I saw that it came from a small apartment complex off to the right.She slowed and turned there when we reached it.

She let us in and we crossed the lobby to the elevators.The ride up was over too soon, and once we reached her apartment she really did make coffee.

It was good coffee, and we sat together and sipped it.Plenty of time . ..

We found ourselves in the bedroom a bit later, our clothes on a nearby chair, and I was congratulating myself that the meeting for which I had returned had not come off.She was smooth and soft and warm, and there was just enough of her in all the right places. A vise in velvet, with honey .. .the scent of her perfume . ..

I was stroking her hair when she stretched, turned her head slightly, and regarded me through half-lidded eyes.

"Sure."

"What was your mother's name?"

But I wanted to see where this was leading."Dara," I told her.

"And your father?"

"Corwin."

She smiled.

"I thought so," she said, "but I had to be sure."

"Do I get some questions now? Or can only one play?"

You want to know why I asked."

"You're on the ball."

"Sorry," she said, moving her leg.

"I take it their names mean something to you?"

"You are Merlin," she stated, "Duke of Kolvir and Prince of Chaos."

"It seems everybody in this shadow knows who I am!Do you all belong to a club or something?"

"Who else knows?" she asked quickly, her eyes suddenly wide.

.. Why? These names ring any bells?"

I brought you here to warn you about him, if you were the right one."

"What do you mean 'the right one'?"

"If you were who you are - the son of Dara."

"So warn me."

"I just did: Don't trust him."

I sat up and propped a pillow behind me.

"What's he after? My stamp collection? My traveler's checks? Could you be a little more specific?"

"He tried several times to kill you, years ago-"

"What? How?"

Then the next year-"

"Gods ! You really do know ! Give me the dates, the dates he tried it."

"April 30, always April 30."

"Why? Do you know why?"

"No."

How do you know all of this?"

I was watching."

"Why didn't you do something about it?"

I didn't know which of you was which."

Who the hell are you, and what's your part in this?"

"Like Luke, I am not what I seem," she began.

There came a sharp buzzing around firom the next room.

"Oh my!" she said and sprang out of bed.

I followed her, arriving in the foyer as she pushed a button beside a small grating and said, "Hello?"

"I got home a day early.Buzz me in, will you? I'm carrying a bunch of packages."

Oh-oh.

She released the one button and pushed another, turning toward me as she did so.

"You've got to leave now.Please! Take the steps!"

"But you haven't told me anything yet!"

Please don't make trouble!"

"Okay," I said, hurrying back to the bedroom, pulling on my pants and slipping my feet into my loafers.

I stuffed my socks and underwear into my hip pockets drew on my shirt.

"You know more and I want it."

"Is that all you want?"

I kissed her cheek quickly.

I'll be back," I said.

"It won't be the same.We shall meet again, when the time is right."

I headed for the door.

"That's not good enough," I said as I opened it.

"It will have to be."

"We'll see."

I tore off up the hall and pushed open the door beneath the EXIT sign.

I paused at the bottom to draw on my socks .I ran a hand through my hair then and opened the door to the lobby.

Good.

As I left the building and headed down the walk a black sedan pulled up in front of me and I heard the hum of a power window and saw a flash of red.

"Get in, Merlin," came a familiar voice.

"Fiona!"

We began moving immediately, "Well, was she?" she asked me.

"Was she what?" I said.

"The one you went to the club to meet."

I hadn't thought of it that way until she said it.

"I think maybe she was."

She turned onto the road and drove back in the direction from which we had come earlier.

"What kind of game was she playing?" Fiona asked.

"I'd give a lot to know," I answered.

"Tell me about it," she said, "and feel free to edit certain portions."

"Well, all right," I said, and I let her have it.

We were back in the country club parking lot before I was finished.

"Why are we here again?" I asked:

It might belong to a friend of Bill's.I thought I'd be nice and bring it back."

"You used the Trump I'd made to go through to the bar in there?" I asked, gesturing.

I watched you for about an hour, mostly from the terrace.And I'd told you to be wary."

"Sorry, I was smitten."

I had to make do with a frozen marguerite."

Then you hot-wired a car and followed us when we left?"

I waited in her parking lot and maintained the most peripheral of touches with you via your Trump.If I'd felt danger I would have come in after you."

How peripheral?"

Very well, we're up to date."

"There's a lot more to the story than this fast part."

There is only one thing I am curious about at the moment.Would you happen to have a picture of this Luke Raynard?"

"Yes; I think I do."

I withdrew my shorts from my hip pocket and explored further.

"At least you don't wear jockeys," she remarked:

As I flipped the wallet open she leaned toward me, resting her hand on my arm.Finally, I found a clear colored photo of Luke and me at the beach, with Julia and a girl named Gail whom Luke used to date.

I felt her grip tighten as she drew in a short, sharp breath.

"You know him?"

She shook her head too quickly.

No," she said."Never saw him before in my life."

Who is it?"

"I don't know," she said.

"Come on! You nearly broke my arm when you saw him."

"Don't push me;" she said.

"It involves my life."

"It involves more than your life, I think."

"So?"

"Let it be, for now."

I must insist."

Smoke began to rise from her well-manicured fingertips.Frakir throbbed upon my wrist, which meant she was sufficiently pissed off to lean on me if it came to that.

I made a warding gesture and decided to back off.

"Okay, let's call it a day and head home."

Frakir became still.She withdrew a packet of Trumps from her purse and shuffled out the one for Amber.

"But sooner or later I'm going to have to know," I added.

"Later," she said, as the vision of Amber grew before us.

One thing I always liked about Fiona: she didn't believe in hiding her feelings.

I reached up and switched off the dome light as Amber came on all around us.

CHAPTER 8

Like Bloom in Ulysses, I think the most mundane things about the deceased and the current goings-on.The rest of the time my mind wanders.

This one seemed most appropriate for Caine's service in that-like Gerard-he had once expressed a desire to be laid to rest in one of the sea caves at the mountain's foot, facing the waters he had sailed so long, so often.One such had been prepared for him, and there would be a procession after the service to inter him there. It was a windy, misty, sea-cool morning with only a few sails in sight, moving to or-from the port over half a league westward of us.

So Gerard's booming voice filled the small stone building, reading long sections involving the sea and mutability.It was said that Dworkin himself had penned the Book in his saner days, and that long passages had come direct from the Unicorn. I don't know.I wasn't there. It is also said that we are descended of Dworkin and the Unicorn, which gives rise to some unusual mental images.Origins of anything tend to fade off into myth, though. Who knows? I wasn't around then.

.. And all things return to the sea," Gerard was saying.I looked about me. Besides the family, there were perhaps forty or fifty people present, mostly nobility from the town, a few merchants with whom Caine had been friendly, representatives of realms in several adjacent shadows where Caine had spent time on both official and personal business, and of course Vinta Bayle.Bill had expressed a desire to be present, and he stood to my left. Martin was at my right.Neither Fiona nor Bleys was present. Bleys had pleaded his injury and excused himself from the service.Fiona had simply vanished. Random had been unable to locate her this morning.Julian departed partway through the service, to check on the guard he had posted along the strand, someone having pointed out that a would-be assassin could rack up a high score with that many of us together in one small space. Consequently, Julian's foresters, with short sword, dagger, and longbow or lance, were spotted strategically all over the place-and every now and then we'd hear the baying of one of his hellhounds, to be answered almost immediately by several others, a mournful, unnerving thing, counter-pointing waves, wind, and reflections upon mortality.Where had she gotten off to? I wondered. Fiona? Fear of a trap? Or something to do with last night? And Benedict .. .he had sent regrets and regards, mentioning sudden business that precluded his making it back in time. Llewella simply hadn't shown, and could not be reached by Trump.Flora stood ahead and to the left of me, knowing she looked lovely in dark colors, too. Perhaps I do her an injustice.I don't know. But she seemed more fidgety than contemplative.

A number of Julian's troops came up to pace us as an armed escort.

I looked in that direction and beheld a black-cloaked and cowled figure standing upon a ledge in the shadow of a rocky projection.Bill leaned close so that I could hear him above the sound of the pipes and strings that were now playing.

"Is that one some part of the ceremony?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," I answered.

In another minute or so we would pass directly beneath the figure.

When he looked back I pointed upward.He halted and stared, squinting.

Instantly, the winds rose.

"Stop the procession! Everyone stay where you are!"

In the sky, as if by trick photography, a cloud blew itself together, growing, above Kolvir.A red, pulsing glow emerged from beneath Random's hand.

A tiny black object hung in the air, then began its descent.

"Everybody down!" Gerard called out.

He remained standing, watching, as lightning emerged from the cloud and played across the face of the cliff.

The distance had been too great.The bomb had gone off before it reached us-though it would probably have scored had we continued as we were, to pass beneath the ledge and have it dropped directly upon us. When the spots stopped dancing before my eyes, I regarded the cliff again.The dark figure was gone.

"Did you get him?" I asked Random.

The Jewel had ceased its pulsing.

"Let's get on with this funeral!"

There were no more incidents, and the business was concluded as planned.

Might the attacker have been one of our absent kin? And if so, which one? What.motives might each of them possess for the act? Where were they now? And what were their alibis? Could there have been a coalition involved? Or cold it have been an outsider? If so, how was access obtained to the local supply of explosives? Or was this imported stuff ? Or had someone local come up with the proper formula? If it were an outsider, what was the motive and where was the person from? Had one of us imported an assassin? Why?

I had not known him all that well.But then, several of the others had told me early on that he was not the easiest person to get to know. He was tough and cynical and had a streak of cruelty in his nature.He had made quite a few enemies over the years and seemed even to be proud of this fact. He had always been decent enough with me, but then we'd never been at cross-purposes over anything.So my feelings did not run as deep for him as they did for most of the others. Julian was another of this cut, but more polished on the surface.And no one could be certain what lay beneath that surface an any given day. Caine .. .I wish I'd gotten to know you better. I am certain that I am diminished by your passing in ways that I do not even understand.

For I felt they were.I don't mind small coincidences, but I don't trust big ones.

Husband or no husband, I decided, we had a date.Soon.

Excusing myself from the cold but attractive company of Vinta Bayle, third daughter of some minor nobility and apparently Caine's last mistress, I made my way to the far end of the hall and the small knot of people surrounding Random.I was standing there for several minutes, wondering how to break in, when he spotted me. He excused himself from the others immediately,: advanced upon me, and caught hold of my sleeve.

I want to get together with you again later this afternoon or this evening-as soon as I'm free.So don't go running off anywhere till we've talked, okay?"

I nodded.

"One quick question," I said, as he began turning back toward the others.

"Shoot," he said.

"Are there any Amberites currently in residence on the shadow Earth I just departed-agents of any sort?"

He shook his head.

I have a number of contacts there in different places, but they're all natives-like Bill."

His eyes narrowed.

"Something new come up?" he asked then.

I nodded again.

"Serious?"

"Possibly."

"I wish I had the time to hear it, but it'll just have to keep till we talk later."

"I understand."

"I'Il send for you," he said, and he returned to his companions.

It also foreclosed the possibility of my taking off to see her as soon as I could leave the gathering.

After a time, Flora entered the hall, studied all the knots of humanity, then made her way among them to settle beside me on the window seat.

"No way of talking to Random right now without an audience," she said.

"May I get you something to eat or drink?"

Maybe you can help.You're a sorcerer."

I didn't like that opening, but I asked, "What's the problem?"

He's gone."

"Wasn't his door locked? Most people do that around here."

So he must have trumped out.I broke in when he didn't answer, since there'd been one attempt on his life already."

"And what would you want of a sorcerer?"

"Can you trace him?"

"But even if I could, I'm not so sure that I would.He knows what he's doing, and he obviously wants to be left alone."

"But what if he's involved? He and Caine had been on opposite sides in the past."

"If he's mixed up in something dangerous to the rest of us you should be happy to see him go."

"So you can't help-or won't?"

I nodded.

Any decision to seek him out should really come from Random, don't you think?"

"Maybe."

No use stirring up fruitless speculations among the others.Or I' ll tell him, if you' d like. I' m going to be talking with him a bit later."

"What about?"

Ouch.

"It's something he wants to tell me, or ask me."

She studied me carefully.

"We haven't really had our own little talk yet," she said then.

"Looks like we're having it now."

May I hear about your problems in one of my favorite shadows?"

I felt that this would be the final time, though.Once Flora knew it I was confident it would make the rounds.

We chatted for a while then-local gossip-and she finally decided to get something to eat.She departed in the direction of the food and did not return.

I did not hear anything that I did not already know.I was introduced to a number of people I had not met before. I memorized a mess of names and relationships since I had nothing better to do.

When things finally broke up, I kept an eye on Random and contrived to depart at about the same time he did.

"Later," he said as we passed, and he went off with a couple of guys he'd been talking with.

When things are brewing you take your rest whenever you can.

..

Someone else was with me, but I did not know who it was.This did not seem to matter. I heard a familiar howling.Suddenly, there were growling noises near at hand. The first time I looked about I saw nothing.But then, abruptly, they were there-three huge, doglike creatures similar to the one I had slain in Julia's apartment. They were racing toward me across the garden.The howling continued, but they were not its authors. They restricted themselves to growling and slavering as they came on.Just as suddenly, I realized that this was a dream and that I had dreamt it several times before only to lose track of it upon awakening. The knowledge that it was a dream, however, in no ,way detracted from the feeling of menace as they rushed toward me.All three of them were surrounded by a kind of light-pale, distorting. Looking past them, through their haloes, I did not see the garden but caught glimpses of a forest.When they drew near and sprang to attack it was as if they had encountered a glass wall. They fell back, rose and dashed toward me once more only to be blocked again.They leaped and growled and whined and tried again. It was as if I stood beneath a bell jar or within a magic circle, though.They could not get at me. Then the howling came louder, came nearer and they turned their attention away from me.

"I should charge you something for pulling you out of a nightmare."

.. And I was awake and lying on my bed and there was darkness beyond my window-and I realized that Random had called me via my Trump and tuned in on my dream when he'd made contact.

I yawned and thought him my answer,

"Thanks."

"Finish waking up and let's have our talk," he said.

Where are you?"

The little sitting room off the main hall to the south.Drinking coffee. We've got it to ourselves."

"See you in five."

I sat up, swung my feet over the side of the bed, and rose.I crossed the room to the window and flung it wide. I inhaled the crisp evening air of autumn.Spring on the shadow Earth, fall here in Amber-my two favorite seasons. I should be heartened, uplifted.Instead a trick of the night, the tag-end of the dream-it seemed for a moment that I heard the final note of the howling. I shuddered and closed the window.Our dreams are too much with us.

Random let me get through half a cup of coffee before he said, "Tell me about the Ghostwheel."

"It's a kind of para-physical surveillance device and library."

Random put down his cup and cocked his head to one side.

"Could you be more specific?" he said.

"In other words, I had to locate a shadow environment where the operations would remain pretty much invariant but where the physical construct, all of the peripherals, the programming techniques and the energy inputs would be of a different nature."

"You've lost me already."

I also chose a place where different physical laws apply, so that it could operate along different lines.I was then able to write programs for it which would not have operated on the shadow Earth where I'd been living. In doing so, I believe that I created a unique artifact.I called it the Ghostwheel because of certain aspects of its appearance."

What do you mean by that?"

"Program it for whatever you want checked out and it will keep an eye on it for you.I was planning it as a surprise. You could, say, use it to determine whether any of our potential enemies are mobilizing, or to follow the progress of Shadow-storms, or-"

"How? How does it flip through shadows that way? What makes it work?"

"In effect," I explained, "it creates the equivalent of multitudes of Trumps in an instant, then-"

Back up.How can you write a program for the creation of Trumps? I thought they could only be done by a person who had an initiate of either the Pattern or the Logrus."

I incorporated elements of the Pattern itself into its design."

"And you were going to surprise us with this?"

"Yes, once it's ready."

"When will that be?"

It had to gather certain critical amounts of data before its programs could become fully operational.I set it to do that a while back, and I haven't had a chance to check on it recently."

Random poured some more coffee, took a drink.

"Say I'm curious about something in Shadow.I go and investigate, or I send someone. Now, say that instead I want to use this thing to check it out.I still have to spend the time going to the place where you keep it."

"You summon a remote terminal."

"Summon? A terminal?"

It showed a silver wheel against a dark background.I passed it to Random and he studied it.

"How do you use it?" he asked.

You want to call it to you?"

"I want to watch."

"But while I've set it to gathering data across the shadows it still won't know a whole lot that's useful at this point."

"I don't want to question it so much as I want to see it."

I raised the card and stared, seeing through it with my mind's eye.

I called it to me.

There followed a small crackling sound and a feeling of ionization in the air as a glowing wheel about eight feet in diameter materialized before me.

"Diminish terminal size," I ordered.

It looked like a pale picture frame, occasional sparks dancing within it, the view across the room constantly rippling as seen through its center.

Random began to extend a hand.

"You might get a shock.I still don't have all the bugs out."

"It can transmit energy?"

No big deal."

.. ?"

It has to be able to transmit energy here to sustain the terminal, and through Shadow to operate its scanners."

"I mean, could it discharge it at this end?"

Yes."

"What are its limits in this?"

"Whatever it has available."

"And what does it have available?"

But-"

Could it do an electrocution?"

"I don't see why not.But that's not its purpose-"

But I'm not sure I like it."

"No one knows where it's located.No one goes there. This Trump I have is the only one.Nobody else can reach it. I was going to make one more card, just for you, and then show you how to operate the thing when it was ready."

.."

"Ghost, within five thousand Shadow veils, this location-how many Shadow-storms are currently in existence?"

The words came as if spoken within the hoop: "Seventeen."

"Sounds like-"

"Ghost, give us some pictures of the biggest one."

A scene of chaotic fury filled the hoop.

"Can it transport things?"

"Sure, just like a regular Trump."

"Was the original size of that circle its maximum size?"

Or smaller."

But supposing you made it larger-and then told it to transmit that storm, or as much of it as it could manage?"

It would try.It would probably be like opening a giant window onto it."

It's dangerous."

"Like I said, nobody knows where it is but me, and the only other way to reach it is-"

Tell me, could anybody access it with the proper Trump, or just by finding it?"

I didn't bother with any security codes because of its inaccessibility."

Shut it down.Now."

"I can't."

"What do you mean?"

I would actually have to travel to the site itself to do that:"

I want it turned off until there are a lot more safeguards built into it.Even then -well, we'll see. I don't trust a power like that.Not when I don't have any defenses against it. It could.strike almost without warning. What were you thinking of when you built that thing?"

Look, we're the only ones-"

I know, I know-you're in love with your handiwork-and I appreciate what you had in mind.But it's got to go."

"I have done nothing to offend you." It was my voice, but it came from the wheel.

Random stared at it, looked at me, looked back at it.

"It's your potential that I'm concerned about.Merlin, turn off the terminal!"

"Withdraw terminal." It wavered a moment, then was gone.

"Had you anticipated that comment from the thing?" Random asked me.

I was surprised."

Maybe that shadow environment is actually altering the thing in subtle ways.You know my wishes. Give it a rest."

"Whatever you say, sir."

Don't be a martyr.Just do it."

No reason to crash the whole project."

I don't need another worry."

I got to my feet.

Thanks for the coffee," I said."I'll let you know when it's done."

He nodded.

"Good night, Merlin."

"Good night."

On the floor between them lay a large dead animal.I halted and stared. It was one of those same damned dog things I had just dreamed about, like at Julia's.

I approached.

What is it?" I asked gesturing.

He shook his head.

But the hellhounds just killed three of them in Arden.I trumped these guys up with one of the carcasses, to show Random. You wouldn't know where he is, would you?"

I stabbed with my thumb back over my shoulder.

"In the sitting room."

I went nearer and prodded the animal with my toe.Should I go back and tell Random I'd met one before?

I couldn't see how the information would be of any vital use.

Then I stopped by the kitchen and filled my backpack with food.I didn't feel like saying good-bye to anyone, so I just headed for the back and took the big rear staircase down into the gardens.

Starry.Cool. Walking, I felt a sudden chill as I neared the spot where, in my dream, the dogs had appeared.No howls, no growls. Nothing.I passed through that area and continued on my way to the rear of that well-kept site, to the place where a number of trails led off through a more natural landscape. I took the second one from the left.It was a slightly longer route than another I might have chosen-with which it intersected later, anyway-but was easier going, a thing I felt I needed in the night. I was still not all that familiar with the irregularities of the other way.

I halted then, took a drink of water and rested for a few minutes before I began the descent.

One has to put some distance between oneself and Amber in order to do it properly.So all I could do at this point was hikewhich was fine with me, because it was a good night for walking.

I increased my pace somewhat after that.I did want to make it off the mountain by morning.

I was angry with Random for not giving me a chance to justify my work.

If it hadn't been for Caine's funeral I would not have returned to Amber until I'd had the thing perfected.And I wasn't even going to mention Ghostwheel this time around, except that it had figured in a small way in the mystery that had engulfed me and Random had wanted to know about it in order to have the whole story. Okay.He didn't like what he'd seen, but the preview had been premature. Now, if I shut it down as I'd been ordered I would ruin a lot of work that had been in progress for some time now.Ghostwheel was still in a Shadow-scanning, self-education phase. I would have been checking on it about now, anyway, to see how it was coming along and to correct any obvious flaws that had crept into the system.

Random had not exactly ordered me to dump everything it had accumulated thus far.He' d simply told me to shut it down. Viewed the way I chose to view it, that meant I could exercise my own judgment as to means.I decided that gave me leeway to check everything out first, reviewing systems functions and revising programs until I was satisfied that everything was in order. Then I could transfer everything to a more permanent status before shutting it down.Then nothing would be lost; its memory would be intact when the time came to restore its functions again.

..

But perhaps he'd reconsider.Worth thinking about...

I was more than halfway down Kolvir by then and the going was becoming progressively easier.I could already feel the force of the Pattern as somewhat diminished.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that Random would just get angry if I proceeded along the lines I had been thinking and probably wouldn't even give me a full hearing.On the other hand, I was angry myself.

I'd have plenty of time to mull it over.

I regarded a stand of trees across the way, one large one a familiar landmark . . .

I'd flung up both hands at the lightning stroke, but I could still hear cracking wood and the echo of the blast for several seconds afterward.

Then a voice cried out, "Go back!"

"May we talk this over?" I responded.

There was no reply.

I was listening and watching the while, hoping that whoever had pulled that stunt would betray his position in some fashion.

From that angle their proximity gave me a small inspiration.

I reached then, not through Shadow but up the slope to where a fairly good-sized rock was poised above a mass of others.

It was too heavy to topple easily, so I began rocking it.Slowly, at first. Finally, I got it to the tipping point and it tumbled.It fell among the others and a small cascade began. I withdrew further as they struck and sent new ones bouncing.Several big ones bean to roll. A fracture line gave way when they fell upon its edge at a steeper place.An entire sheet of stone groaned and cracked, began to slide.

I had not anticipated setting off anything this spectacular.The rocks bounced, slid and flew into the grove. I watched the trees sway, saw some of them go down.I heard the crunching, the pinging, the breaking.

There was much dust in the air and half of the grove was down.Then I rose to my feet, Frakir dangling from my left hand, and I advanced upon the grove.

I climbed upon the trunk of a fallen tree.

No answer.

"Okay, be that way," I said, and I headed north into Arden.

If I was being followed, though, the horsemen showed no interest in closing with me.Most likely, I was passing in the vicinity of one of Julian's patrols.

I soon located a trail and began the small adjustments that bore me farther and farther from them.

..

.. Odd bird note, strange mushroom .. .

And the shifting grew easier and easier the farther this took me from Amber.

The sky grew a paler blue .. .The trees were all green now, but most of them saplings . ..

I broke into a jog.

.

Grasses were more abundant.The trees were divided into clusters now, islands in a waving sea of those pale grasses. My view took in a greater distance.A flapping, beaded curtain off to my right: rain.

I breathed deeply of the clean damp air and ran on.

.. Waters rushed through canyons and arroyos all about me .. .Torrents poured from overhead onto the rocking terrain . ..

I cursed each time I picked myself up, for my over-eagerness in the shifting.

The thunder halted in mid-rumble and a wind rose .. .

Long-abandoned, partly overgrown, strange mounds lined its broken main street.

..

The sky was sootstreaked, the snow hard-packed, my breath feathery as I entered the skeletal wood where frozen birds perched: an etching.

..

.. Mucky ground and clumps of green .. .

..

.. Threading my way amid acres of heaps .. .Rats scurrying...

.. Shifting faster, breathing harder .. .Skyline beneath smog cap . .. Delta bottom .. .Seashore . .. Golden pylons along the road .. .Countryside with lakes . .. Brown grasses beneath green sky .. .

.. Rolling grassland, river and lake .. .Slowing . .. Breeze and grass, sealike .. .Mopping my brow on my sleeve . .. Sucking air .. .Walking now . ..

The wind made soft noises as it passed among the' grasses.The nearest lake was a deep lime color. Something in the air smelled sweet.

A little later, I was certain that I heard a distant sound of hoofbeats.But again, I saw nothing. That's the trouble with shadows-you don't always know what's natural there; you're never certain what to look for.

Several minutes passed, and then I smelled it before I saw anything.

The next instant there was a rush of fire.A long line of flame cut across my path.

And again the voice: "I told you to go back!"

I turned to head away and saw that it was already flanking me.It takes a while to build up the proper mental set for shadow-shifting, and I had let mine go. I doubted I could set it up again in time.

I began running.

I did not pause to admire the precision of the thing, however, as I could feel the heat by then and the smoke was getting thicker.

My eyes were beginning to water, though, and streams of smoke further diminished my vision.And again, I detected no sign of the person who had sprung the trap.

The flames flashed higher, drew nearer as the circle coshed toward closure.

The rider drew back the reins, but the horse-a chestnut-was not too happy at the nearness of the flames it bared its teeth, biting at the bit, and tried several times to rear.

"Hurry! Behind me!" the rider cried, and I rushed to mount.

I caught only a glimpse of her features.She managed to turn the horse back in the direction from which she had come, and she shook the reins. The chestnut started forward, and suddenly it reared.I managed to hang on.

It was almost into the flames when it wheeled again.

"Damn!" I heard the rider say, as she worked almost frantically with the reins.

Bloody spittle dripped from its mouth.And by then the circle was closed, the smoke was heavy and the flames very near. I was in no position to help, beyond giving it a pair of sharp kicks in the flanks when it began moving in a straight line again.

I had no idea how wide the band of fire was at that point.I could feel a searing along my legs, though, and I smelled burning hair.

I felt myself sliding backward just as we broke through the ring of fire and into a charred, smoldering area where the flames had already passed.I fell amid hot black clumps; ashes rose about me. I rolled frantically to my left, and I coughed and squeezed my eyes shut against the cloud of ashes that assailed my face.

My vision came clear in time for me to see the chestnut rising from where he had apparently fallen atop his rider.The horse immediately tore off, to be lost among clouds of smoke. The woman lay very still and I rushed to her side.Kneeling, I brushed sparks from her clothing and checked for breathing and a pulse. Her eyes opened while I was doing this.

"Don't feel-much.. ..Escape-if you can. .. .Leave me. I'll die-anyway."

"But I've got to move you.There's a lake nearby, if I remember right."

I inched her onto it as carefully as I could, folded it over her to protect her against the flames and began dragging her in what I hoped was the proper direction.

My throat was raw, my eyes watering steadily and my trousers on fire when I took a big step backward and felt my heel squish downward into mud.I kept going.

I leaned forward, pushed a flap of the cloak back from her face.Her eyes were still open, but they looked unfocused and there was no movement. Before I could feel for a carotid pulse, however, she made a hissing noise, then she spoke my name.

"Merlin," she said hoarsely, "I'm-sorry-"

"I'm sorry."

"No good-with horses.They're-following you."

"Who?" I asked.

But the - fire - is someone - else's.Don't know - whose."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Between the soot and her singed, disheveled hair it was difficult to judge her appearance.

"Someone-ahead-too.Didn't-know-about that one. Sorry."

"And who are you? How do you know me? Why-"

". .. Sleep with you.Can't now. Going .. ." Her eyes closed.

"No!" I cried.

She expelled it then, using it to form the whispered words.

G'bye .. ."

I held my breath and shut my eyes as a larger billow followed, engulfing us.When the air finally cleared again, I studied her. Her breathing had ceased and there was no pulse, no heartbeat.There was no non-burning, non-marshy area available for even an attempt at CPR. She was gone.She'd known she was going.

Last of all, I folded a flap over her face.I fixed everything into place with the clasp I'd used to close it at my neck when I'd worn it. Then I waded out into deeper water.

..

"Wish I knew your name.Thanks again."

The waters swirled.She was gone. After a time, I looked away then moved away.Too many questions and no answers.

..

CHAPTER 9

I bathed in a shallow stream and afterward summoned fresh clothing out of Shadow.Clean and dry then, I rested on the bank and made myself a meal.

It seemed as if everyone I met knew me, and as if everyone were playing an elaborate double-game.People were dying all about me and disasters were becoming a common occurrence. I was beginning to feel like a figure in a video game.What would be next? I wondered. A meteor shower?

The nameless lady who had given her life to pull me out of the fire had said that someone was following me and that there was someone ahead of me, also.What did that mean? Should I wait for my pursuer to catch up and simply ask him, her, or it what the hell was going on? Or should I push on fast, hopefully catch the other party and make inquiry there? Would either give me the same answer? Or were there two different answers involved? Would a duel satisfy someone's honor? I'd fight it, then. Or a bribe.

All I wanted was an answer followed by a little peace and quiet.I chuckled. That sounded like a description of death-though I wasn't that sure about the answer part.

"Shit!" I commented, to no one in particular, and I tossed a stone into the stream.

Written in the sand on its opposite shore were the words GO BACK.I stepped on them and broke into a run.

Vegetation fell away.

.

..

..

.. Purple to lavender above .. .Sharp cries within the strains of sound . .. Earth cracking...

I am giant.Same landscape; infinitesimal now . .. Cyclopean, I grind the glowing stones beneath my feet .. .Dust of rainbows upon my boots, puffs of cloud about my shoutders . ..

..

.. Slow motion, my best efforts .. .Swimming in it . .. Castles fit for aquaria drift by .. .y: Bright missiles like fireflies assail me . .. I feel nothing .. .

.. Thinning, thinning .. .Blue smoke and air like incense . .. The reverberation of a million invisible gongs, incessant ..-. I clench my teeth.

Blue to pink, spark-shot .. . A catlick of fire . .. Another .. .Heatless flames dance like sea plants : . .Higher, rising higher . .. Walls of fire buckle and crackle .. .

Footfalls at my back.

Shift.

.. Here and gone

.. Again: Again.Three days in as many heartbeats . .. I breathe the air spicy .. .Swirl the fires, descend to purple earth . .. Prism in the sky .. .I race the course of a glowing river across a field of fungus color of blood, spongy . .. Spores that turn to jewels, fall like bullets .. .

.. Knobbed machinelike plants clanking, metal flowers retracting back to metal stalks, stalks to consoles .. .Clank, clank, sigh . .. Echoes only, at my back?

I spin once.

Through glass and sandpaper, orange ice, landscape of pale flesh .. .

.. There is no earth .. .Only thin bridges and islands in the air . .. The world is crystal matrix .. .

: .Through a hole in the air and down a chute . ..

.. To a cobalt beach beside a still copper sea .. .

.. Faint glow everywhere .. .Dead, dead this place . .. Blue rocks .. .Broken statues of inhuman beings . .. Nothing stirring .. .

I drew a magic circle about me in the sand and invested it with the forces of Chaos.I spread my new cloak then at its center, stretched out and went to sleep. I dreamed that the waters rose up to wash away a portion of the circle, and that a green, scaly being with purple hair and sharp teeth crept out of the sea and came to me to drink my blood.

I must have slept very deeply.

I retrieved my strangling cord and crossed another bridge over infinity.

I was no longer unwary, however, and I kept ahead of it long enough to shift away.I received another warning-in burning letters on the face of an obsidian mountain-suggesting I withdraw, retire, go home. My shouted invitation to a conference was ignored.

I found myself an easily defended cleft, warded it against magic and slept.

I was instantly awake, and then I wondered why.I heard nothing and I saw nothing untoward within my limited field of vision. But Frakir-who is not 100 percent perfect-always has a reason when she does give an alarm.I waited, and I recalled my image of the Logrus while I did so. When it was fully before me I fitted my hand within it as if it were a glove and I reached .. .

It's too damned cumbersome having several feet of steel hanging at my side, bumping into me, catching onto bushes, and occasionally even tripping me up.My father, and most of the others in Amber and the Courts, swear by the heavy, awkward things, but they are probably made of sterner stuff than myself. I've nothing against them in principle.I love fencing, and I've had a lot of training in their use. I just find carrying one all the time to be a nuisance.The belt even rubs a raw place on my hip after a while. Normally, I prefer Frakir and improvisation.However . ..

For now I heard bellows-like hissing sounds and scrambling noises from somewhere outside and to my left.

I extended, I extended .. .

I had come far from any metalworking culture of the appropriate anatomy and at the proper phase in its historical development.

Far, very far.And the sounds came nearer, louder, faster. There came rattling, stamping and spitting noises.A roar. Contact!

Seize and summon! I called it to me, and I was thrown against the wall by the force of its delivery.I hung there a moment before I could draw it from the sheath in which it was still encased. In that moment, things grew silent outside.

Fifteen.Half a minute . .. Nothing now.

I continued to listen.Finally, I advanced.

There was nothing immediately before the opening save a light fog, and as the peripheral lines of sight opened there was still nothing to behold.

.. No.

I was right at the threshold now.I leaned forward and darted a quick glance in either direction.

There was something off to the left-dark, low, unmoving, half masked by the fog.Crouched? Ready to spring at me?

I did the same.After a time, I noticed another dark form of the same general outline beyond it-and possibly a third even farther away. None of them showed any inclination to raise the sort of hell I had ' been listening to but minutes before.

I continued my vigil.

Nothing was roused by my movement.I took another step and waited. Then another.

An ugly brute, covered with scales the color of dried blood.A couple of hundred pounds' worth of creature, long and sinuous . .. Nasty teeth, too, I noted, when I opened its mouth with the point of my weapon.I knew it was safe to do this, because its head was almost completely severed from the rest of it. A very clean cut.A yellow-orange liquid still flowed from the wound.

In all ways.They were dead, too. The second one I examined had been run through several times and was missing one leg.The third had been hacked to pieces. All of them oozed, and they smelled faintly of cloves.

Mixed in with that strange blood and the dew were what seemed to be the partial impressions of a boot, human-scale.I sought farther and I came across one intact footprint. It was pointed back in the direction from which I had come.

My pursuer? S, perhaps? The one who had called off the dogs? Coming to my aid?

I was tired of looking for sense where there wasn't any.I continued to search, but there were no more full tracks. I returned to the cleft then and picked up my blade's sheathe.I fitted the weapon into it and hung it from my belt. I fastened it over my shoulders so that it hung down my back.The hilt would protrude just above my backpack once I'd shouldered that item. I couldn't see how I could jog with it at my side.

Drank some water, too, and a mouthful of wine.I resumed my journey.

I ran until I was tired, and I rested and ate and ran some more.I rationed my food, for I'd a feeling I'd have to send far for more and such an act places its own energy demands upon the body. I eschewed shortcuts, for flashy shadows spanning hell-runs also have their price and I did not want to be all whacked out when I arrived.I checked behind me often. Usually, I saw nothing suspicious.Occasionally, though, I thought that I glimpsed distant pursuit. Other explanations were possible, however; considering some of the tricks the shadows can play.

There came no new disaster followed by an order to turn back.I wondered fleetingly whether this was a -good sign, or if the worst were yet to come. Either way, I knew that one more sleep and a little more journeying would put me where I wanted to be.Add a little caution and a few precautions and there might even be reason for optimism.

Whether they were truly living things or represented some geological phenomenon; I did not know.They distorted perspectives and made shifting difficult. However, I saw no signs of living things in that glossy, glassy place, which led me to consider making my final campsite there.

I constructed a circular palisade standing to about shoulder-height, myself at its center.I unwound Frakir from my wrist then voiced the necessary instructions as I paced her atop my rough and shining wall.

I felt safe.I did not believe anything could cross that barrier without Frakir's springing loose and twining herself to deathly tightness about it.

For how long, I am not certain.

There were no disturbances either.

In every direction but down the view was filled with interwoven crystal branches.I climbed slowly to my feet and pressed against them. Solid.They had become a glass cage.

Those which I had planted initially had thickened considerably, having apparently rooted themselves solidly.They would not yield to my strongest kicks.

I swung my blade and glassy chips flew all about.I muffled my face with my cloak then and swung several times more. Then I noticed that my hand felt wet.When I looked at it, I saw that it was running with blood. Some of those splinters were very sharp.I desisted with the blade and returned to kicking at my enclosure. The walls creaked occasionally aid made chiming noises, but they held.

I raged for perhaps ten minutes before I forced myself to sufficient calmness that I might think clearly.

I placed my fingertips upon her and spoke an order.Her brightness increased. and she ran through the spectrum and settled into a red glow The first creaking sound occurred a few seconds later.

If I crouched, I decided; some of the overhead pieces would fall a greater distance, striking me with more force.So I stood upright, protecting my head and neck with my arms and hands as well as with the cloak.

I was suddenly struck across the shoulder, but I maintained my footing.

I held my ground, though I was struck several times more.

Several of the side members had splintered off at near to ground level.Others now stood at unnatural angles, and this time a few well-placed kicks brought them down.

The stuff crunched underfoot as I departed.

I traveled for perhaps half an hour then, leaving the place far behind me, before I halted and took my breakfast in a hot, bleak valley smelling faintly of sulfur.

A horned and tusked purple thing went racing along the ridge to my right pursued by a hairless orange-skinned creature with long claws and a forked tail.Both were wailing in different keys.

It was just one damned thing after another.

Then at last, hours later, I saw the low range of dark hills, and aurora streaming upward from behind them.That was it. I needed but approach and pass through and I would see my goal beyond the last and most difficult barrier of all.

It would be good to finish this job and get on with more important matters.I would trump back to Amber when I was finished there, rather than retracing my steps. I could not have trumped in to my destination, though, because the place could not be represented on a card.

I was disabused of this notion when small pebbles began to roll aimlessly about the ground before me.Why not?

It was as if my strange nemesis were working down through a checklist and had just now come to "Earthquake." All right.At least there was nothing high near at hand to fall on me.

"One day real soon it won't be so funny!"

As I watched; the ground began to subside in places, tilt in still others.I looked about quickly, trying to decide whether to advance, retreat, or stay put. Small fissures had begun to open, and now I could hear a growling, grinding sound.

I turned and began sprinting back the way I had come.The ground seemed less disturbed there.

A particularly violent tremor followed, knocking me from my feet.Before I could rise a large crack appeared within reaching distance. It continued to widen even as I watched.I sprang to my feet, leapt across it, stumbled, rose again, and beheld another opening rift-widening more rapidly than the one I had been fleeing.

The ground seemed torn everywhere now with the dark lightning strokes of rifts, heaving themselves open widely to the accompaniment of awful groans and screechings.Big sections of ground slipped from sight into abysses. My small island was already going.

I leaped again, and again, trying to make it over to what appeared to be a more stable area.

I missed my footing and fell.But I managed to catch hold of the edge. I dangled a moment then and began to draw myself upward.The edge began to crumble. I clawed at it and caught a fresh hold.Then I dangled again, coughing and cursing.

It yielded somewhat beneath the thrusting of my boots and I dug in, blinking dirt from my eyes, trying for a firmer hold overhead.I could feel Frakir loosening, tightening into a small loop, one end free and flowing over my knuckles, hopefully to locate something sufficiently firmset to serve as an anchor.

My lefthand hold gave way again.I clung with my right and groped for another. Loose earth fell about me .as I failed, and my right hand was beginning to slip.

Dark shadow above me, through dust and swimming eyes.

I thrust with my legs for another try.

A big hand with a powerful grip held me.Moments later, it was joined by another and I was drawn upward, quickly, smoothly. I was over the edge and seeking my footing in an instant.My wrist was released. I wiped my eyes.

"Luke!"

He seemed to be using a rolled cloak for a backpack, and he wore its clasp like a decoration upon his left breast-an elaborate thing, a golden bird of some son.

"This way," he said, turning, and I followed him.

The footing grew steadier as we hurried that way, mounting at last a low hill that seemed completely out of range in the disturbance.Here we paused to look back.

"Come no farther!" a great voice boomed from that direction.

"Thanks, Luke," I panted. "I don't know how you're here or why but-" He raised a hand.

"Right now I just want to know one thing," he said, rubbing at a short beard he seemed to have grown in an amazingly brief time, and causing me to note that he was wearing the ring with the blue stone.

"Name it," I told him.

"How come whatever it was that just spoke has your voice?" he asked.

I knew it sounded familiar."

"You must know.Every time you're threatened and it warns you back it's your voice that I hear doing it-echolike."

"How long have you been following me, anyhow?"

"Quite a distance."

"Those dead creatures outside the cleft where I' d camped-"

Where are you going, and what is that thing?"

But the answer should lie beyond that next range of hills."

I gestured toward the aurora.

He stared off in that direction, then nodded.

"Let's get going," he said.

..

"We can cut around it and proceed."

"And quite possibly encounter its continuance."

He shook his head.

"It seems to me," he said, "that whatever it is that's trying to bar your way exhausts itself after each effort and takes quite a while to recover sufficiently to make another attempt."

"But the attempts are getting closer together," I noted, "and more spectacular each time."

"Is it because we're getting closer to their source?" he asked.

"Possibly."

"Then let's hurry."

We descended the far side of the hill, then went up and down another.

The tremors, by that time, had already subsided to an occasional shuddering of the ground and shortly these, too, ceased.

No fresh perils were presented.

"Luke," I asked after a time, "what happened on the mountain, that night in New Mexico?"

"I had to go away - fast," he answered.

"What about Dan Martinez's body?"

"Took it with me."

"Why?"

"I don't like leaving evidence lying about."

"That doesn't really explain much."

I paced him.

"And you know who I am," I continued.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Not now."

I matched it."And why were you following me?"

"I saved your ass, didn't I?"

But it still doesn't answer the question."

"Race you to that leaning stone," he said, and he put on a burst of speed.

Try as I could I couldn't pass him, though.And we were breathing too hard by then to ask or answer questions.

He did, too, keeping up.The leaning stone was still a good distance off. We stayed side by side and I saved my reserve for the final sprint.It was crazy, but I'd run against him too many times. It was almost a matter of habit by now.That, and the old curiosity. Had he gotten a little faster? Had I? Or a little slower?

I got control of my breathing, maintained it in an appropriate rhythm.I edged a little ahead of him and he did nothing about it. The stone was suddenly a lot nearer.

We held our distance for perhaps half a minute, and then he cut loose.

Time to dig in.

The blood thudded in my ears.I sucked air and pushed with everything I had. The distance between us began to narrow again.The leaning rock was looking bigger and bigger . ..

We raced past it side by side and collapsed together.

"Photo finish," I gasped.

"You always surprise me-right at the end."

He took a swig and handed it back.We emptied it that way, a little at a time.

"Let's see what's over those hills."

I got up and went along.

When I finally recovered my breath the first thing I said was, "You seem to know a hell of a lot more about me than I do about you."

"I think so," he said after a long pause, "and I wish I didn't."

"What does that mean?"

"Later.You don't read War and Peace on your coffee break."

"I don't understand."

"There's always either too much time or not enough.Right now there's not enough."

"You've lost me."

"Wish I could."

We trudged steadily onward.

I also thought of that round of strange ammunition I'd found in Luke's jacket.

"That's your Ghostwheel, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Then: "So you were telling the truth back in Santa Fe when you told me it required a peculiar environment.What you didn't say was that you'd found that environment and built the thing there."

"What about your plans for a company?" I asked him.

"That was just to get you to talk about it."

"And what about Dan Martinez-the things he said?"

I really didn't know him.I still don't know what he wanted, or why he came at us shooting."

"Luke, what is it that you want, anyhow?"

"Did building it out here in the boonies endow it with some sort of special properties?"

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Like a few I didn't even think of - unfortunately," I answered.

"Name one."

"Question and answer is a two-way game."

"Hey, I'm the guy who just pulled you out of a hole in the ground."

"I gather you're also the guy who tried to kill me on a bunch of April thirtieths."

"Honest."

"You mean you really did?"

.. yeah.But I had reasons. It's a long story and-"

"Jesus, Luke! Why? What did I ever do to you?"

"It's not that simple," he answered.

We reached the base of the nearest hill and he started climbing it.

"You can't go over."

He halted.

"Why not?"

"The atmosphere ends thirty or forty feet up."

"You're kidding."

I shook my head.

"We have to find a passage through.There's one farther to the left."

Shortly, I heard his footfalls.

"So you gave it your voice," he said.

"So?"

It's become sentient in that crazy place you built it.It went wild, and you're heading to shut it down. It knows it and it's got the power to do something about it.It's your Ghostwheel that's been trying to get you to turn back, isn't it?"

"Probably "

"Why didn't you just trump in?"

What do you know about Trumps, anyway?"

"Enough," he said.

I saw the passage I was seeking up ahead.

I approached the place and I halted before I entered it.

I will tell you something for free, though.This could be very dangerous. Maybe you ought to go back to wherever you came from and let me handle it.There's no reason to place you in jeopardy."

"Besides, I might be useful."

"How?"

He shrugged.

I want to see that thing."

Come on."

I led the way into the narrow place where the stone had been riven.

CHAPTER 10

There was an ammonia-like odor in the air, and my feet were cold and my face flushed, as usual.I blinked hard several times, studying the latest outlines of the maze through the shifting mist. A pearl-gray pall hung over the entire area.Intermittent orange flashes penetrated the gloom.

"Uh-where is it?" Luke inquired.

I gestured straight ahead, toward the site of the latest flicker.

"Out there," I told him.

The ridges zigged and zagged their way out toward a fortress-like island, a low wall running about it, several metallic structures visible beyond.

"Do we travel it down in the passages or up on top of the walls?"

I smiled as he studied it.

"Sometimes up and sometimes down."

"Well, which way do we go?"

I have to study it each time.You see, it keeps changing, and there's a trick to it."

"A trick?" ,.

The whole damn thing is floating on a lake of liquid hydrogen and helium.The maze moves around. It's different each time.And then there's a matter of the atmosphere. If you were to walk upright along the ridges you would be above it in most places.You wouldn't last long. And the temperature ranges from horribly cold to roasting hot over a range of a few feet in elevation.You have to know when to crawl and when to climb and when to do other things - as well as which way to go."

"How do you tell?"

"I'll take you in, but I'm not giving you the secret."

The mists began to rise again from the depths and to collect into small clouds.

"I see now why you can't make a Trump for it," he began.

I continued to study the layout.

"This way."

"What if it attacks us while we're in the maze?" he asked.

"You can stay behind if you want."

Are you really going to shut it down?"

Come on."

A faint circle of light appeared in the air before me; grew brighter.I felt Luke's hand upon my shoulder.

"What-?" he began.

"No farther!" the voice I now recognized as my own said to me.

"I have several ideas and-"

"I heard what Random said."

"I am prepared to disregard his order;" I said, "if there is a better alternative."

You want to shut me down."

"You're making things worse with all these power displays," I said. "I'm coming in now and-"

"No!"

I saw my sleeve turn brown, then orange.It began to fray even as I watched.

"What are you doing? I have to talk to you, explain-"

"Not here! Not now! Never!"

An arctic blast assailed us and icy crystals danced before my eyes.Bright colors began to flash then, half blinding me.

"Stop!" I cried, but nothing did.

The ground seemed to tilt beneath us and suddenly there was no ground.

It seemed rather as if we hung suspended in the midst of a blizzard of light.

"Stop!" I called out once again, but the words were swept away.

I realized, however, through the sensory overload, that it was Luke and I who were receding from the light, that we had already been blasted a great enough distance to drive us halfway through the hill.But there was nothing solid in any direction about us.

It grew into a humming, then a dull roar.In the distance, I seemed to see a tiny steam locomotive negotiating a mountainside at an impossible angle, then an upside-down waterfall, a skyline beneath green waters. A park bench passed us quickly, a blue-skinned woman seated upon it, clutching at it, a horrified expression on her face.

I dug frantically within my pocket, knowing we might be destroyed at any moment.

"What," Luke screamed into my ear, his grip now almost dislocating my arm, "is it?"

"Hang on!" I added unnecessarily.

Something struck against my left foot.

The roaring increased in volume.The light seemed to pulse by us now, in wide bands of color, touching us with a near-physical force. Heat lamps and wind chimes...

We traversed a region of lightning-like flashes where my hair stood on end and my skin tingled.

At this point we were beginning to spin and I was afraid they would be torn from my hand.I held them tightly, fearing to sort through them, keeping them close to my body. I drew them upward slowly, carefully.Whichever one lay on top would have to be our exit.

Dark bubbles formed and broke about us, discharging noxious fumes.

Luke's hand upon my arm looked cadaverous, and when I glanced back at him a grinning death's head met my gaze.

It was hard to focus my vision, through the grayness, through a peculiar distancing effect.But it finally came clear: It was the grassy spit of land I had regarded-how long ago? - quiet waters about it, the edge of something-crystalline and bright jutting into view off toward the right.

Sounds from beyond my shoulder indicated that Luke was trying to address me, but I could not distinguish his words.I continued to regard the Trump and it grew clearer. But slowly, slowly something struck me hard, below the right side of my rib cage.I forced myself to ignore it and continued to concentrate.

There was a familiar sense of coldness to it now as the scene engulfed me and I it.An almost elegiac feeling of stillness hung over that little lake.

I was gasping, and the subjective sense of worlds rushing by me was still present, like the afterimages of highways upon closing one's eyes at the end of a long day's drive.

Smelling sweet water, I passed out.

'There followed a spell of full unconsciousness, shading over into sleep and dreaming . .. .I walked the streets of a ruined Amber beneath a lowering sky.A crippled angel with a fiery sword stalked the heights above me, slashing. Wherever its blade fell, smoke, dust, and flame rose up.Its halo was my Ghostwheel, pouring forth mighty winds ridden by abominations that streamed past the angel's face like a dark, living veil, working disorder and ruin wherever they fell. The palace was half collapsed, and there were gibbets nearby where my relatives hung, twisting in the gusts.I'd a blade in one hand and Frakir dangled from the other. I was climbing now, going up to meet and do battle with the bright-dark nemesis.An awful feeling lay upon me as I mounted my rocky way, as if my imminent failure was a thing foregone. Even so, I decided, the creature was going to leave here with wounds to lick.

Its face was still hidden as it raised its weapon.I rushed forward, regretting only that I had not had time to envenom my blade. I spun twice as I went in, feinting, to strike somewhere in the vicinity of its left knee.

I fell so for what seemed an age and a half, coming to rest at last upon my back atop a large stone table marked out like a sundial, its stylus barely missing impaling mewhich seemed crazy even in a dream.There were no sundials in the Courts of Chaos, for there is no sun there. I was located at the edge of a courtyard beside a high, dark tower, and I found myself unable to move, let alone rise.Above me, my mother, Dara, stood upon a low balcony in her natural form, looking down at me in her awful power and beauty.

"Free me!"

"I have sent one to help you," she answered.

"And what of Amber?"

"I do not know."

"And my father?"

"Speak not to me of the dead."

The stylus turned slowly; positioned itself above my throat; began a gradual but steady descent.

"Hurry!"

"Where have you gone?"

"I'm still here!" I yelled.

"Where are you?"

I felt the stylus touch the side of my neck-The vision broke and fell apart.

Someone had just squeezed my shoulder, the hand brushing against my neck.

"Merle, you okay? Want a drink?" a familiar voice was, asking.

I blinked several times.The light was blue, the world a field of lines and angles. A dipper of water appeared before my mouth.

"Here." It was Luke's voice.

I drank it all.

"Want another?"

"Yes."

"Just a minute."

I regarded the diffusely illuminated wall six or seven feet before me.

It seemed to be of the same material.

I drained it and handed it back.

"Want more?" he asked.

Where are we?"

"In a cave - a big, pretty place."

"Where'd you get the water?"

"Several barrels of it in there.Also lots of food. Want something to eat?"

Are you okay?"

You don't seem to have any broken bones, and that cut on your face has stopped bleeding."

"That's something, anyway," I said.

I saw then that Luke had turned and was walking away.I followed him for several paces before I thought to inquire, "Where are you going?"

"In there," he answered, pointing with the dipper.

Four large wooden barrels stood along the wall to my left, and Luke proceeded to hang the dipper upon the upper edge of the nearest.Against the far wall were great stacks of cartons and piles of sacks.

"Fruit; vegetables, ham, salmon, biscuits, sweets.Several cases of wine. A Coleman stove.Plenty of sterno. Even a bottle or two of cognac."

He turned and brushed quickly past me, headed on up the hall again.

"Now where?" I asked.

I had to hurry to catch up.

We passed several branches and openings before he halted at another, nodding.

Just a hole with some boards over it.Good idea to keep it covered, I'd say."

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

"It will all become clear in a minute.This way."

Almost completely disoriented, I moved in that direction.After several turns and one cutback, I felt totally lost. Luke was nowhere in sight.

Not a sound except for my own breathing.

"Luke! Where are you?" I called.

"Up here," he answered.

I ducked beneath a low arch and came into a bright blue chamber of the same crystalline substance as the rest of the place.I saw a sleeping bag and a pillow in one comer. Light streamed in from a small opening about eight feet overhead.

"Luke?" I asked again.

"Here," came his reply.

Finally, I shaded my eyes.Luke's head and shoulders was lined above me, his hair a crown of coppery flame in what could be the light of early morning or of evening. He was smiling again.

"That, I take it, is the way out," I said.

"For me," he answered.

"What do you mean?"

There followed a grating noise and the view was partly occluded by the edge of a large boulder.

"What are you doing?"

"Moving this stone into a position where I can block the opening quickly," he replied, "and stick in a few wedges afterward."

"Why?"

"There are sufficient tiny openings for air so that you shan't suffocate," he went on.

Why am I here, anyway?"

"This isn't a philosophy seminar."

"Luke! Damn it! What's going on?"

"The blue crystal, by the way, will block any Trump sendings and negate your magical abilities that rely on things beyond the walls.I need you alive and fangless for now, in a place where I can get to you in a hurry."

I studied the opening and the nearby walls.

"I have the advantage of position."

"Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

He stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

Any suggestions?"

"It's not on the best of terms with me at the moment.I'm afraid I can't help you."

"I'll just have to see what I can do.God, what a weapon! If I can't swing it myself I'll have to come back and pick your brains for some ideas. You be thinking about it, okay?"

You're not going to like some of them."

"You're not in a position to do much."

"Not yet," I said.

He caught hold of the boulder, began to move it.

"Luke!" I cried.

He paused, studied me, his expression changing to one I had never seen before.

"That's not really my name," he stated, after a moment.

"What, then?"

"I killed Caine, and I came close with Bleys.I missed with the bomb at the funeral, though. Someone spotted me.I will destroy the House of Amber with or without your Ghostwheel - but it would make things a lot easier if I had that kind of power."

.. Rinaldo? Why the vendetta?"

"I went after Caine first," he continued, "because he's the one who actually killed my father."

"I didn't know that Brand had a son," I finally said.

That's another reason why I can't let you go, and why I have to keep you in a place like this.Don't want you warning the others."

"You're not going to be able to pull this off."

He was silent for several seconds, then he shrugged.

"Win or lose, I have to try."

"Tell me that."

"It was the day I got the news of my dad's death."

He drew upon the boulder and it slid into the hole, blocking it fully.

There followed some brief hammerings.

"Luke!"

I could see his shadow through the translucent stone.After a while it straightened, then dropped from sight. I heard his boots strike the ground outside."Rinaldo!"

He did not answer and I heard his retreating footsteps.

It has been over a month since my imprisonment, though I do not know how slowly or rapidly time flows here in relation to other shadows.I have paced every hall and chamber of this great cave, but I have found no way out. My Trumps do not work here, not even the Trumps of Doom.My magic is useless to me, limited as it is by walls the color of Luke's ring. I begin to feel that I might enjoy even the escape of temporary insanity, but my reason refuses to surrender to it, there being too many puzzles to trouble me: Dan Martinez, Meg Devlin, my Lady of the Lake .. .Why? And why did he spend all of that time in my company, Luke, Rinaldo, my enemy? I have to find a way to warn the others. If he succeeds in turning Ghostwheel upon them then Brand's dream-my nightmare of vengeance-will be realized.I see now that I have made many mistakes . .. Forgive me, Julia .. .I will pace the measure of my confinement yet again. Somewhere there must be a gap in the icy blue logic that surrounds me, against which I hurl my mind, my cries, my bitter laughter.Up this hall, down the tunnel. The blue is everywhere.The shadows will not bear me away, for there are no shadows here. I am Merlin the pent, son of Corwin the lost, and my dream of light has been turned against me.I stalk my prison like my own ghost. I cannot let it end this way.Perhaps the next tunnel, or the next...

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10