Blood of Amber

Chapter 7

I actually did get a fairly decent night’s sleep despite everything, including a distant dogfight and a lot of howling. Vinta had been disinclined to continue at questions and answers, and I hadn’t wanted her bothering Luke any more. I persuaded her to leave and let us rest. I sacked out on the comfortable chair, with my feet propped on the other one. I was hoping to continue my conversation with Luke in private. I remember chuckling right before I fell asleep as I tried to decide which of them I distrusted less.

I was awakened by the first brightening of the sky and a few arguments of birds. I stretched several times then and made my way to the bathroom. Half an ablution later I heard Luke cough and then whisper my name.

“Unless you’re hemorrhaging, wait a minute,” I replied, and I dried myself off. “Need some water?” I asked while I was doing it.

“Yeah. Bring some.”

I threw the towel over my shoulder and took him a drink.

“Is she still around?” he asked me.

“No.”

“Give me the glass and go check the hall, will you? I’ll manage.”

I nodded and passed it to him. I kept it quiet as I eased the door open. I stepped out into the hall, walked up to the corner. There was no one in sight.

“All clear,” I whispered as I came back into the room.

Luke was gone. A moment later I heard him in the bathroom.

“Damn! I’d have helped you!” I said.

“I can still take a leak by myself,” he replied, staggering back into the room, his good hand on the wall. “Had to see whether I could negotiate,” he added, lowering himself to the edge of the bed. He put his hand against his rib cage and panted. “Shit! that smarts!”

“Let me help you lie back.”

“Okay. Listen, don’t let her know I can do even that much.”

“Okay,” I said. “Take it easy now. Rest.”

He shook his head. “I want to tell you as much as I can before she comes busting back in here,” he said, “and she will, too — believe me.”

“You know that for a fact?”

“Yes. She’s not human, and she’s more attuned to both of us than any blue stone ever was. I don’t understand your style of magic, but I’ve got my own and I know what it tells me. It was your question about who she was that got me to working on the problem, though. Have you figured her out yet?”

“Not completely, no.”

“Well, I know she can switch bodies like changing clothes — and she can travel through Shadow.”

“Do the names Meg Devlin or George Hansen mean anything to you?” I asked.

“No. Should they?”

“Didn’t think so. But she was both of them, I’m sure.”

I’d left out Dan Martinez, not because he’d shot it out with Luke and telling Luke would raise his distrust of her even further, but because I didn’t want him to know that I was aware of the New Mexico guerrilla operation — and I could see that it might lead in that direction.

“She was also Gail Lampron.”

“Your old girlfriend, back in school?” I said.

“Yes. I thought there was something familiar about her immediately. But it didn’t hit me till later. She has all of Gail’s little mannerisms — the way she turns her head, the way she uses her hands and eyes when she’s talking. Then she mentioned two events to which there had only been a single common witness — Gail.”

“It sounds as if she wanted you to know.”

“I believe she did,” he agreed.

“Why didn’t she just come out and say it then, I wonder?”

“I don’t think she can. There’s something could be a spell on her, only it’s hard to judge, her not being human and all.” He glanced furtively at the door as he said this. Then, “Check again,” he added.

“Still clear,” I said. “Now what about —”

“Another time,” he said. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

“I can see your wanting to get away from her —” I began.

He shook his head. “That’s not it,” he said. “I’ve got to hit the Keep of the Four Worlds — soon.”

“The shape you’re in —”

“That’s it. That’s what I mean. I’ve got to get out of here so I can be in shape soon. I think old Sharu Garrul’s gotten loose. That’s the only way I can figure what happened.”

“What did happen?”

“I got a distress call from my mother. She’d gone back to the Keep after I’d gotten her away from you.”

“Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why’d she head for the Keep?”

“Well, the place is a power center. The way the four worlds come together there releases an awful lot of free power, which an adept can tap into —”

“Four worlds actually do come together there? You mean you’re in a different shadow depending on the direction you might take off in?”

He studied me for a moment. “Yes,” he finally said, “but I’ll never get this thing told if you want all the little details.”

“And I won’t understand it if too much gets left out. So she went to the Keep to raise some power and got in trouble instead. She called you to come help her. What did she want that power for, anyway?”

“Mm. Well, I’d been having trouble with Ghostwheel. I thought I almost had him talked into coming over to our side, but she probably thought I wasn’t making progress fast enough and apparently decided to try binding him with a massive spell after —”

“Wait a minute. You were talking to Ghost? How did you get in touch? Those Trumps you drew are no good.”

“I know. I went in.”

“How’d you manage it?”

“In scuba gear. I wore a wet suit and oxygen tanks.”

“Son of a gun. That’s an interesting approach.”

“I wasn’t Grand D’s top salesman for nothing. I almost had him convinced, too. But she’d learned where I’d stashed you, and she decided to try expediting matters by putting you under control, then using you to clinch the deal — as if you’d come over to our side. Anyhow, when that plan fell through and I had to go and get her away from you, we split up again. I thought she was headed for Kashfa, but she went to the Keep instead. Like I said, I think it was to try a massive working against Ghostwheel. I believe something that she did there inadvertently freed Sharu, and he took the place over again and captured her. Anyhow, I got this frantic sending from her, so —”

“Uh, this old wizard,” I said, “had been locked up there for — how long?”

Luke began to shrug, thought better of it. “Hell, I don’t know. Who cares? He’s been a cloak rack since I was a boy.”

“A cloak rack?”

“Yeah. He lost a sorcerous duel. I don’t really know whether she beat him or whether it was Dad. Whoever it was, though, caught him in midinvocation, arms outspread and all. Froze him like that, stiff as a board. He got moved to a place near an entranceway later. People would hang cloaks and hats on him. The servants would dust him occasionally. I even carved my name on his leg when I was little, like on a tree. I’d always thought of him as furniture. But I learned later that he’d been considered pretty good in his day.”

“Did this guy ever wear a blue mask when he worked?”

“You’ve got me. I don’t know anything about his style. Say, let’s not get academic or she’ll be here before I finish. In fact, maybe we ought to go now, and I can tell you the rest later.”

“Un-uh,” I said. “You are, as you noted last night, my prisoner. I’d be nuts to let you go anywhere without knowing a hell of a lot more than I do. You’re a threat to Amber. That bomb you tossed at the funeral was pretty damn real. You think I want to give you another shot at us?”

He smiled, then lost it. “Why’d you have to be born Corwin’s son, anyway?” he said. Then, “Can I give you my parole on this?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m going to be in a lot of trouble if they find out I had you and didn’t bring you in. What terms are you talking? Will you swear off your war against Amber?”

He gnawed his lower lip. “There’s no way I can do that, Merle.”

“There are things you’re not telling me, aren’t there?”

He nodded. Then he grinned suddenly. “But I’ll make you a deal you can’t refuse.”

“Luke, don’t give me that hard-sell crap.”

“Just give me a minute, okay? And you’ll see why you can’t afford to pass this one up.”

“Luke, I’m not biting.”

“Only one minute. Sixty seconds. You’re free to say no when I’m done.”

“All right,” I said. “Tell me.”

“Okay. I’ve got a piece of information vital to the security of Amber, and I’m certain nobody there has an inkling of it. I’ll give it to you, after you’ve helped me.”

“Why should you want to give us something like that? It sounds kind of self-defeating.”

“I don’t, and it is. But it’s all I’ve got to offer. Help me get out of here to a place I have in mind where the time flow is so much faster that I’ll be healed up in a day or so in terms of local time at the Keep.”

“Or here, for that matter, I’d guess.”

“True. Then — uh-oh!”

He sprawled on the bed, clutched at his chest with his good hand and began to moan.

“Luke!”

He raised his head, winked at me, glanced at the door and commenced moaning again.

Shortly, there came a knocking.

“Come in,” I said.

Vinta entered and studied us both. For a moment, there seemed to be a look of genuine concern on her face as she regarded Luke. Then she advanced to the bed and placed her hands upon his shoulders. She stood there for about half a minute, then announced, “You’re going to live.”

“At the moment,” Luke replied, “I don’t know whether that’s a blessing or a curse.” Then he slipped his good arm around her, drew her to him suddenly and kissed her. “Hi, Gail,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

She drew away with less haste than she might have. “You seem improved already,” she observed, “and I can see that Merle’s worked something to help you along.” She smiled faintly for an instant, then said, “Yes, it has been, you dumb jock. You still like your eggs sunny-side up?”

“Right,” he acknowledged. “But not half a dozen. Maybe just two today. I’m out of sorts.”

“All right,” she said. “Come on, Merle. I’ll need you to supervise.”

Luke gave me a funny look, doubtless certain she wanted to talk with me about him. And for that matter, I wasn’t certain I wanted to leave him alone even though I had all of his Trumps in my pocket. I was still uncertain as to the extent of his abilities, and I knew a lot less concerning his intentions. So I hung back.

“Maybe someone should stay with the invalid,” I told her.

“He’ll be all right,” she said, “and I might need your help if I can’t scare up a servant.”

On the other hand, maybe she had something interesting to tell me…

I found my shirt and drew it on. I ran a hand through my hair.

“Okay,” I said. “See you in a bit, Luke.”

“Hey,” he responded, “see if you can turn up a walking stick for me, or cut me a staff or something.”

“Isn’t that rushing things a bit?” Vinta asked.

“Never can tell,” Luke replied.

So I fetched my blade and took it along. As I followed Vinta out and down the stairs, it occurred to me that when any two of us got together we would probably have something to say about the third.

As soon as we were out of earshot, Vinta remarked, “He took a chance, coming to you.”

“Yes, he did.”

“So things must be going badly for him, if he felt you were the only one he could turn to.”

“I’d say that’s true.”

“Also, I’m sure he wants something besides a place to recover.”

“Probably so.”

“‘Probably,’ hell! He must have asked by now.”

“Perhaps.”

“Either he did or he didn’t.”

“Vinta, obviously you’ve told me everything you intend to tell me,” I said. “Well, vice versa. We’re even. I don’t owe you explanations. If I feel like trusting Luke, I will. Anyhow, I haven’t decided yet.”

“So he has made you a pitch. I might be able to help you decide if you’ll let me know what it is.”

“No, thanks. You’re as bad as he is.”

“It’s your welfare I’m concerned with. Don’t be so quick to spurn an ally.”

“I’m not,” I said. “But if you stop to think about it, I know a lot more about Luke than I do about you. I think I know the things on which I shouldn’t trust him as well as I do the safe ones.”

“I hope you’re not betting your life on it.”

I smiled. “That’s a matter on which I tend to be conservative.”

We entered the kitchen, where she spoke with a woman I hadn’t met yet who seemed in charge there. She left our breakfast orders with her and led me out the side door and onto the patio. From there, she indicated a stand of trees off to the east.

“You ought to be able to find a good sapling in there,” she said, “for Luke’s staff.”

“Probably so,” I replied, and we began walking in that direction. “So you really were Gail Lampron,” I said suddenly.

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand this body-changing bit at all.”

“And I’m not about to tell you.”

“Care to tell me why not?”

“Nope.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t,” she said.

“But if I already know something, would you be willing to add a bit!”

“Maybe. Try me.”

“When you were Dan Martinez you took a shot at one of us. Which one was it?”

“Luke,” she replied.

“Why?”

“I’d become convinced that he was not the one — that is, that he represented a threat to you —”

“— and you just wanted to protect me,” I finished.

“Exactly.”

“What did you mean ‘that he was not the one’?”

“Slip of the tongue. That looks like a good tree over there.”

I chuckled. “Too thick. Okay, be that way.”

I headed on into the grove. There were a number of possibilities off to the right.

As I moved through the morning-lanced interstices, damp leaves and dew adhering to my boots, I became aware of some unusual scuffing along the way, a series of marks leading off farther to the right, where —

“What’s that?” I said, kind of rhetorically, since I didn’t think Vinta would know either, as I headed toward a dark mass at the shady foot of an old tree.

I reached it ahead of her. It was one of the Bayle dogs, a big brown fellow. Its throat had been torn open. The blood was dark and congealed. A few insects were crawling on it. Off farther to the right I saw the remains of a smaller dog. It had been disemboweled.

I studied the area about the remains. The marks of very large paws were imprinted in the damp earth. At least they were not the three-toed prints of the deadly doglike creatures I had encountered in the past. They seemed simply to be those of a very large dog.

“This must be what I heard last night,” I remarked. “I thought it sounded like a dogfight.”

“When was that?” she asked.

“Some time after you left. I was drowsing.”

Then she did a strange thing. She knelt, leaned and sniffed the track. When she recovered there was a slightly puzzled expression on her face. “What did you find?” I asked.

She shook her head, then stared off to the northeast. “I’m not sure,” she finally said, “but it went that way.”

I studied the ground further, rising and finally moving along the trail it had left. It did run off in that direction, though I lost it after several hundred feet when it departed the grove. Finally, I turned away.

“One of the dogs attacked the others, I guess,” I observed. “We’d better find that stick and head back if we want our breakfasts warm.” Inside, I learned that Luke’s breakfast had been sent up to him. I was torn. I wanted to take mine upstairs, to join him and continue our conversation. If I did, though, Vinta would accompany me and the conversation would not be continued. Nor could I talk further with her under those circumstances. So I would have to join her down here, which meant leaving Luke alone for longer than I liked.

So I went along with her when she said, “We will eat in here,” and led me into a large hall. I guessed she had chosen it because my room with its open window was above the patio, and Luke could have heard us talking if we ate out there.

We sat at the end of a long darkwood table, where we were served.

When we were alone again, she asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, sipping some grape juice.

She glanced upward. “With him,” she said. “Take him back to Amber?”

“It would seem the logical thing to do,” I replied.

“Good,” she said. “You should probably transport him soon. They have decent medical facilities at the palace.”

I nodded. “Yes, they do.”

We ate a few mouthfuls, then she asked, “That is what you intend doing, isn’t it?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because anything else would be absolutely foolish, and obviously he is not going to want to do it. Therefore, he will try to talk you into something else, something that will give him some measure of freedom while he recovers. You know what a line of shit he has. He’ll make it sound like a great idea, whatever it is. You must remember that he is an enemy of Amber, and when he is ready to move again you will be in the way.”

“It makes sense,” I said.

“I’m not finished.”

“Oh?”

She smiled and ate a few more bites, to keep me wondering. Finally, “He came to you for a reason,” she continued. “He could have crawled off to any of a number of places to lick his wounds. But he came to you because he wants something. He’s gambling, but it’s a calculated thing. Don’t go for it, Merle. You don’t owe him anything.”

“I don’t know why you think me incapable of taking care of myself,” I replied.

“I never said that,” she responded. “But some decisions are finely balanced things. A little extra weight this way or that sometimes makes the difference. You know Luke, but so do I. This is not a time to be giving him any breaks.”

“You have a point there,” I said.

“So you have decided to give him what he wants!”

I smiled and drank some coffee. “Hell, he hasn’t been conscious long enough to give me the pitch,” I said. “I’ve thought of these things, and I want to know what he’s got in mind too.”

“I never said you shouldn’t find out as much as you can. I just wanted to remind you that talking with Luke can sometimes be like conversing with a dragon.”

“Yeah,” I acknowledged. “I know.”

“And the longer you wait the harder it’s going to be,” she added.

I took a gulp of coffee; then, “Did you like him?” I asked.

“Like?” she said. “Yes, I did. And I still do. That is not material at this point, though.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“You wouldn’t harm him without good reason.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“He is no threat to me at the moment.”

“He does not seem to be.”

“Supposing I were to leave him here in your care while I went off to Amber to walk the Pattern and to prepare them for the news?”

She shook her head vigorously. “No,” she stated. “I will not — I cannot — take that responsibility at this time.”

“Why not?”

She hesitated.

“And please don’t say again that you cannot tell me,” I went on. “Find a way to tell me as much as you can.”

She spoke slowly then, as if choosing her words very carefully. “Because it is more important for me to watch you than Luke. There is still danger for you which I do not understand, even though it no longer seems to be proceeding from him. Guarding you against this unknown peril is of higher priority than keeping an eye on him. Therefore, I cannot remain here. If you are returning to Amber, so am I.”

“I appreciate your concern,” I said, “but I will not have you dogging my footsteps.”

“Neither of us has a choice.”

“Supposing I simply trump out of here to some distant shadow?”

“I will be obliged to follow you.”

“In this form, or another?”

She looked away. She poked at her food.

“You’ve already admitted that you can be other persons. You locate me in some arcane Fashion, then you take possession of someone in my vicinity.”

She took a drink of coffee.

“Perhaps something prevents you from saying it,” I continued, “but that’s the case. I know it.”

She nodded once, curtly, and resumed eating.

“Supposing I did trump out right now,” I said, “and you followed after in your peculiar fashion.” I thought back to my telephone conversations with Meg Devlin and Mrs. Hansen. “Then the real Vinta Bayle would wake up in her own body with a gap in her memory, right?”

“Yes,” she answered softly.

“And that would leave Luke here in the company of a woman who would be happy to destroy him if she had any inkling who he really is.”

She smiled faintly. “Just so,” she said.

We ate in silence for a time. She had attempted to foreclose all my choices, to force me to trump back to Amber and take Luke with me. I do not like being manipulated or coerced. My reflexive attempt to do something other than what is desired of me then feels forced also.

I refilled our coffee cups when I had finished eating. I regarded a collection of dog portraits that hung on the wall across from me. I sipped and savored. I did not speak because I could think of nothing further to say.

Finally, she did. “So what are you going to do?” she asked me.

I finished my coffee and rose. “I am going to take Luke his stick,” I said.

I pushed my chair back into place and headed for the corner of the room where I had leaned the stick.

“And then?” she said. “What will you do?”

I glanced back at her as I hefted the staff. She sat very erect, her hands palms down on the table. The Nemesis look overlay her features once again, and I could almost feel electricity in the air.

“Whatever I must,” I replied, and I headed for the door.

I increased my pace as soon as I was out of sight. When I hit the stairs and saw that she was not following, I took the steps two at a time. On the way up, I withdrew my cards and located the proper one.

When I entered the room I saw that Luke was resting, his back against the bed’s pillows. His breakfast tray was on the smaller chair, beside the bed. I dropped the latch on the door.

“What’s the matter, man? We under attack or something?” Luke asked.

“Start getting up,” I said.

I picked up his weapon then and crossed to the bed. I gave him a hand sitting up, thrust the staff and the blade at him.

“My hand has been forced,” I said, “and I’m not about to turn you over to Random.”

“That’s a comfort,” he observed.

“But we have to clear out — now.”

“That’s all right by me.”

He leaned on the staff, got slowly to his feet. I heard a noise in the hall, but it was already too late. I’d raised the card and was concentrating. There came a pounding on the door.

“You’re up to something and I think it’s the wrong thing,” Vinta called out.

I did not reply. The vision was already coming clear.

The doorframe splintered from the force of a tremendous kick, and the latch was torn loose. There was a look of apprehension on Luke’s face as I reached out and took hold of his arm.

“Come on,” I said.

Vinta burst into the room as I led Luke forward, her eyes flashing, her hands extended, reaching. Her cry of “Fool!” seemed to change into a wail as she was washed by the spectrum, rippled and faded.

We stood in a patch of grass, and Luke let out a deep breath he had been holding.

“You believe in cutting things close, buddy — boy,” he remarked, and then he looked around and recognized the place.

He smiled crookedly.

“What do you know,” he said. “A crystal cave.”

“From my own experience,” I said, “the time flow here should be about what you were asking for.”

He nodded and we began moving slowly toward the high blue hill. “Still plenty of rations,” I added, “and the sleeping bag should be where I left it.”

“It will serve,” he acknowledged.

He halted, panting, before we reached the foot. I saw his gaze drift toward a number of strewn bones off to our left. It would have been months since the pair who had removed the boulder had fallen there, long enough for scavengers to have done a thorough job. Luke shrugged, advanced a little, leaned against blue stone. He lowered himself slowly into a sitting position.

“Going to have to wait before I can climb,” he said, “even with you helping.”

“Sure,” I said. “We can finish our conversation. As I recall, you were going to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I was to bring you to a place like this, where you could recover fast vis-a-vis the time flow at the Keep. You, in turn, had a piece of information vital to the security of Amber.”

“Right,” he agreed, “and you didn’t hear the rest of my story either. They go together.”

I hunkered across from him. “You told me that your mother had fled to the Keep, apparently gotten into trouble there and called to you for help.”

“Yes,” he acknowledged. “So I dropped the business with Ghostwheel and tried to help her. I got in touch with Dalt, and he agreed to come and attack the Keep.”

“It’s always good to know a band of mercenaries you can get hold of in a hurry,” I said.

He gave me a quick, strange look but I was able to maintain an innocent expression.

“So we led them through Shadow and we attacked the place,” he said then. “It had to be us that you saw when you were there.”

I nodded slowly. “It looked as if you made it over the wall. What went wrong?”

“I still don’t know,” he said. “We were doing all right. Their defense was crumbling and we were pushing right along, when suddenly Dalt turned on me. We’d been separated for a time; then he appeared again and attacked me. At first I thought he’d made a mistake — we were all grimy and bloody — and I shouted to him that it was me. But he just kept coming. That’s how he was able to do a job like this on me. For a while I didn’t want to strike back because I thought it was a misunderstanding and he’d realize his mistake in a few seconds.”

“Do you think he sold you out? Or that it was something he’d been planning for a long time? Some grudge?”

“I don’t like to think that.”

“Magic, then?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

A peculiar thought occurred to me. “Did he know you’d killed Caine?” I asked.

“No, I make it a point never to tell anybody everything I’m about.”

“You wouldn’t kid me, would you?”

He laughed, moved as if to clap me on the shoulder, winced and thought better of it.

“Why do you ask?” he said then.

“I don’t know. Just curious.”

“Sure,” he said. Then, “What say you give me a hand up and inside, so I can see what kind of supplies you’ve left me?”

“Why?” I got to my feet and helped him to his. We moved around to the right to the slope of easiest ascent, and I guided him slowly to the top.

Once we’d achieved the summit he leaned on his staff and stared down into the opening.

“No really easy way down in,” he said, “for me. At first I was thinking you could roll up a barrel from the larder, and I could get down to it and then down to the floor. But now I look at it, it’s an even bigger drop than I remembered. I’d tear something open, sure.”

“Mm-hm,” I said. “Hang on. I’ve got an idea.”

I turned away from him and climbed back down. Then I made my way along the base of the blue rise to my right until I had rounded two shiny shoulders and was completely out of Luke’s line of sight.

I did not care to use the Logrus in his presence if I did not have to. I did not wish for him to see how I went about things, and I did not want to give him any idea as to what I could or could not do. I’m not that comfortable letting people know too much about me, either.

The Logrus appeared at my summons, and I reached into it, extended through it. My desire was framed, became the aim. My sending extending sought the thought. Far, far…

I kept extending for the damnedest long time. We really had to be out in the Shadow boonies…

Contact.

I did not jerk, but rather exerted a slow and steady pressure. I felt it move toward me across the shadows.

“Hey, Merle! Everything okay?” I heard Luke call.

“Yeah,” I answered, and I did not elaborate.

Closer, closer…

There!

I staggered when it arrived, because it came to me too near to one end.

The far end bounced on the ground. So I moved to the middle and took a new grip. I hefted it and carried it back.

I set it against a steep area of the rise a bit in advance of Luke’s position and I mounted quickly. I began drawing it up behind me then.

“Okay, where’d you get the ladder?” he asked.

“Found it,” I said.

“Looks like wet paint on the side there.”

“Maybe someone lost it just recently.”

I began lowering it into the opening. Several feet protruded after it reached the bottom. I adjusted it for stability, “I’ll start down first,” I said, “and stay right under you.”

“Take my stick and my blade down first, will you?”

“Sure.”

I did that thing. By the time I climbed back he had caught hold and gotten onto it, had begun his descent.

“You’ll have to teach me that trick one of these days,” he said, breathing heavily.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answered.

He descended slowly, pausing to rest at each rung, and he was flushed and panting when he reached the bottom. He slumped to the floor immediately, pressing his right palm against his lower rib cage. After a time, he inched backward a bit and rested against the wall.

“You okay?” I asked.

He nodded. “Will be,” he said, “in a few minutes. Being stabbed takes a lot out of you.”

“Want a blanket?”

“No, thanks.”

“Well, you rest here and I’ll go check the larder and see whether anything’s gotten at the supplies. Want me to bring you anything?”

“Some water,” he said.

The supplies proved to be in good order, and the sleeping bag was still where I’d left it. I returned with a drink for Luke and a few ironic memories of the occasion when he’d done the same for me.

“Looks as if you’re in business,” I told him. “There’s still plenty of stuff.”

“You didn’t drink all the wine, did you?” he asked between sips.

“No.”

“Good.”

“Now, you said you have a piece of information vital to the interests of Amber,” I said. “Care to tell me about it?”

He smiled. “Not yet,” he said.

“I thought that was our deal.”

“You didn’t hear the whole thing. We were interrupted.”

I shook my head. But, “All right, we were interrupted,” I acknowledged. “Tell me the rest.”

“I’ve got to get back on my feet, so I can take the Keep and free my mother…”

I nodded.

“The information is yours after we rescue her.”

“Hey! Wait a minute! You’re asking a hell of a lot!”

“Not for what I’m paying.”

“Sounds like I’m buying a pig in a poke.”

“Yes, I guess you are. But believe me, it’ll be worth knowing.”

“What if it becomes worth knowing while I’m waiting?”

“No, I’ve figured the timing on this. My recovery is only going to take a couple of days, Amber time. I can’t see the matter coming up that fast.”

“Luke, this is starting to sound like some sort of trick.”

“It is,” he said, “but it will benefit Amber as well as myself.”

“That’s another thing. I can’t see you giving something like this away to the enemy.”

He sighed. “It might even be enough to get me off the hook,” he added.

“You’re thinking of calling off your feud?”

“I don’t know. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and if I did decide to go that route it would make for a real good opener.”

“And if you decided not to, you’d be screwing yourself. Wouldn’t you?”

“I could live with it, though. It might make my job harder, but not impossible.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “If word of this gets out and I’ve got nothing to show for letting you get away like this, I’ll be in real hot water.”

“I won’t tell anybody if you won’t.”

“There’s Vinta.”

“And she keeps insisting that her big aim in life is to protect you. Besides, she won’t be there if you go back. Or rather, there will be the real Vinta, having awakened as from a troubled sleep.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’ve left. She’s probably already off seeking you.”

“Do you know what she really is?”

“No, but I’ll help you speculate sometime.”

“Not now?”

“No, I’ve got to sleep some more. It’s catching up with me again.”

“Then let’s go over this deal one more time. What are you going to do, how do you intend to do it and what are you promising me?”

He yawned. “I stay here till I’m back in shape,” he said. “Then when I’m ready to attack the Keep I get in touch with you. Which reminds me, you still have my Trumps.”

“I know. Keep talking. How do you intend taking the Keep?”

“I’m working on it. I’ll let you know that too. Anyhow, you can help us or not at that point, as you see fit. I wouldn’t mind having another sorcerer with me, though. Once we’re in and she’s freed, I’ll tell you what I promised and you can take it back to Amber.”

“What if you lose?” I asked.

He looked away. “I guess there’s always that possibility,” he finally agreed. “Okay, how’s this? I’ll write the whole thing out and keep it with me. I’ll give it to you — by Trump or in person — before we attack. Win or lose, I’ll have paid my way with you.”

He extended his good hand and I clasped it.

“Okay,” I said.

“Then let me have my Trumps back, and I’ll be talking to you as soon as I get moving again.”

I hesitated. Finally, I drew out my pack, which was now grown quite thick. I shuffled out my own then along with a number of his and passed him what remained.

“What about the rest?”

“I want to study them, Luke. Okay?”

He shrugged weakly. “I can always make more. But give me back my mother’s.”

“Here.”

He accepted it, then said, “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but I’ll give you a piece of advice: Don’t screw around with Dalt. He’s not the nicest of guys when he’s normal, and I think there’s something wrong with him right now. Keep away from him.”

I nodded, then got to my feet.

“You’re going now?” he asked.

“Right.”

“Leave me the ladder.”

“It’s all yours.”

“What are you going to tell them back in Amber?”

“Nothing — yet,” I said. “Hey, you want me to bring some food up here before I go? Save you a trip.”

“Yeah. Good idea. Bring me a bottle of wine, too.”

I went back and got him a load of provisions. I dragged in the sleeping bag also.

I started up the ladder, then paused. “You don’t know your own mind on this yet,” I said, “do you?”

He smiled. “Don’t be too sure of that.”

When I got to the top I stared at the big boulder that had once sealed me in. Earlier, I’d thought of returning the favor. I could keep track of the time, come get him when he was back on his feet. That way, he couldn’t pull a disappearing act on me. I had decided against it, though, not only because I was the only one who knew he was here and if something happened to me he’d be dead. Mainly, it was because he wouldn’t be able to reach me with my Trump when he was ready to move, if I kept him fully confined. That’s what I told myself, anyhow.

I stooped and caught hold of the boulder, anyway, and pushed it nearer the opening.

“Merle! What are you doing?” — from below.

“Looking for fishing bait,” I answered.

“Hey, come on! Don’t…”

I laughed and pushed it a little nearer.

“Merle!”

“Thought you might want the door closed, in case it rains,” I said. “But it’s too damned heavy. Forget it. Take it easy.”

I turned and jumped. I thought the extra adrenaline might do him some good.