SIGN OF CHAOS (23 page)

“You may have a point there,” I said, drawing up a small table.
 
I placed a pitcher and a goblet upon it; also, a hand mirror.

“I’d also suggest you support her, in case she collapses when the spell is removed.”

“True.”

I placed my left arm about her shoulders, thought of her deadly bite, stepped back, and held her at arm’s distance with the one hand.

“If she bites me, it will knock me out almost instantly,” I said.
 
“Be ready to defend yourself quickly if this occurs.”

Mandor tossed another metal ball into the air.
 
It hung there for an unnaturally long moment at the top of its arc, then dropped back to his hand.

“All right,” I said, and then I spoke the words that raised the spell.

Nothing as dramatic as I’d feared ensued.
 
She slumped and I supported her.
 
“You’re safe,” I said, and added, “Rinaldo knows you’re here,” to invoke the most familiar.
 
“Here’s a chair.
 
Do you want some water?”

“Yes,” she replied, and I poured some and passed it to her.

Her eyes were darting, taking in everything as she drank.
 
I wondered whether she’d recovered instantly and might not now be stalling for time as she sipped, her mind racing, spells dancing at her fingertips.
 
Her eyes returned more than once to Mandor, appraising, though she gave Nayda a long, hard stare.

Finally, she lowered the goblet and smiled.

“I take it, Merlin, that I am your prisoner,” she said, choking slightly.
 
She took another sip.

“Guest,” I replied.

“Oh? How did this come about? Accepting the invitation escapes my mind.”

“I brought you here from the citadel at the Keep of the Four Worlds in a somewhat cataleptic condition,” I said.

“And where might ‘here’ be?”

“My apartment in the Palace of Amber.
 
“

“Prisoner, then,” she stated.

“Guest,” I repeated.

“In that case, I should be introduced, should I not?”

“Excuse me.
 
Mandor, I introduce Her Highness Jasra, Queen of Kashfa.”

(I intentionally omitted the “Most Royal” part.) “Your Majesty, I request leave to present my brother, Lord Mandor.”

She inclined her head, and Mandor approached, dropped to one knee, and raised her hand to his lips.
 
He’s better at such courtly gestures than I am, not even sniffing the back of her hand for the scent of bitter almonds.
 
I could tell that she liked his manner-and she continued to study him afterward.

“I was not aware,” she observed, “that the royal house here contained an individual named Mandor.”

“Mandor is heir to the dukedom of Sawall in the Courts of Chaos,” I replied.
 
Her eyes widened.

“And you say he is your brother?”

“Indeed.”

“You’ve succeeded in surprising me,” she stated.
 
“I had forgotten your double lineage.”

I smiled, nodded, stepped aside and gestured.

“And this-“ I began.

“I am acquainted with Nayda,” she said.
 
“Why is the girl ...preoccupied?”

“That represents a matter of great complexity,” I said, “and there are other things I am certain you will find to be of much greater interest.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Ah! That fragile, perishable item-the truth,” she said.
 
“When it surfaces so quickly there is usually a claustrophobia of circumstance.
 
What is it that you want of me?”

I held my smile.

“It is good to appreciate circumstance,” I said.

“I appreciate the fact that I am in Amber and alive and not occupying a cell, with two gentlemen behaving in a conciliatory fashion.
 
I also appreciate the fact that I am not in the straits my most recent memories indicate I should occupy.
 
And I have you to thank for my deliverance?”

“Yes.”

“Somehow I doubt it was a matter of altruism on your part.”

“I did it for Rinaldo.
 
He tried getting you out once and got clobbered.
 
Then I figured a way that might work, and I tried it.
 
It did.”

Her facial muscles tightened at the mention of her son’s name.
 
I’d decided she’d prefer hearing the one she’d given him, rather than “Luke.”

“Is he all right?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, hoping it were so.

“Then why is he not present?”

“He’s off somewhere with Dalt.
 
I’m not sure as to his location.
 
But-“

Nayda made a small noise just then, and we glanced her way.
 
But she did not stir.
 
Mandor gave me an inquiring look, but I shook my head slightly.
 
I did not want her roused just then.

“Bad influence, that barbarian,” Jasra observed, choking again and taking another drink.
 
“I’d so wanted Rinaldo to acquire more of the courtly graces, rather than doing rude things on horseback much of the time,” she continued, glancing at Mandor and granting him a small smile.
 
“In this, I was disappointed.
 
Do you have s something stronger than water?”

“Yes,” I replied, and I uncorked a bottle of wine and poured some into a goblet for her.
 
I glanced at Mandor and at the bottle then, but he shook his head.
 
“But you have to admit he did well in that track meet against UCLA, in his sophomore year,” I said, not to let her put him down completely.
 
“A certain amount of that comes from the more vigorous side of life.”

She smiled as she accepted the drink.

“Yes.
 
He broke a world record that day.
 
I can still see him passing over the final hurdle.”

“You were there?”

“Oh, yes.
 
I attended all of your meets.
 
I even watched you run,” she said.
 
“Not bad.”

She sipped the wine.

“Would you like me to send for a meal for you?” I asked.

“No, I’m not really hungry.
 
We were talking about truth a little while ago...”

“So we were.
 
I gather there had been some sorcerous exchange back at the Keep, between you and Mask-“

“Mask?” she said.

“The blue-masked sorcerer who rules there now.”

“Oh, yes.
 
Quite.”

“I do have the story right, don’t I?”

“Yes, but the encounter was more than a little traumatic.
 
Forgive my hesitation.
 
I was surprised and did not get my defenses up in time.
 
That was really all there was to it.
 
It will not happen again.”

“I’m sure.
 
But-“

“Did you spirit me away?” she interrupted.
 
“Or did you actually fight with Mask to get me free?”

“We fought,” I said.

“In what condition did you leave Mask?”

“Buried under a pile of manure,” I said.

She chuckled.

“Wonderful! I like a man with a sense of humor.”

“I have to go back,” I added.

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because Mask is now allied with an enemy of mine - man named Jurt, who desires my death.”

She shrugged slightly.

“If Mask is no match for you, I fail to see where Mask and this man should represent a great problem.”

Mandor cleared his throat.

“Begging your leave,” he said.
 
“But Jurt is a shape shifter and minor sorcerer from the Courts.
 
He also has power over Shadow.”

“I suppose that would make something of a difference,” she said.

“Not as much as what the two of them apparently plan to accomplish,” I told her.
 
“I believe that Mask intends running Jurt through the same ritual your late husband undertook-something involving the Fount of Power.”

“No!” she cried, and she was on her feet, the rest of the wine mixing with Nayda’s spittle and a few old bloodstains on the Tabriz I’d purchased for its delicately detailed pastoral scene.
 
“It must not happen again!”

A storm came and went behind her eyes.
 
Then, for the first time, she looked vulnerable.

“I lost him because of that ...,” she said.

Then the moment was gone.
 
The hardness returned.

“I had not finished my wine,” she said then, reseating herself.

“I’ll get you another glass,” I told her.

“And is that a mirror on the table?”

I waited till she was finished primping, glancing out of the window at the snow and surreptitiously trying again to reach Coral or Luke while my back was turned to her.

No luck, though.
 
When she put down the comb and brush she’d borrowed from me and laid the mirror beside them, I gathered she’d finished organizing her thoughts as well as her hair and was ready to talk again.
 
I turned back slowly and strolled over.

We studied each other while practicing expressionlessness, then she asked, “Is anyone else in Amber aware that you have awakened me?”

“No,” I replied.

“Good.
 
That means I’ve a chance of leaving here alive.
 
Presumably, you want my assistance against Mask and this Jurt?”

“Yes.
 
“

“Exactly what sort of help do you desire, and what are you prepared to pay for it?”

“I intend to penetrate the Keep and neutralize Mask and Jurt,” I said.

“’Neutralize’? That’s one of those little euphemisms for ‘kill,’ isn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” I replied.

“Amber has never been noted for its squeamishness,” she said.
 
“You have been exposed to too much American journalism.
 
So, you are aware of my familiarity with the Keep, and you want my help in killing the two of them.
 
Correct?”

I nodded.

“Rinaldo has told me that if we were to arrive too late and Jurt had already undergone the transformational ritual, you might know a way to use that same power against him,” I explained.

“He’d gotten further into those notes than I’d realized,” she said.
 
“I am going to have to be frank with you then, since our lives may depend on it: Yes, there is such a technique.
 
But no, it won’t be of any help to us.
 
Some preparations are required to turn the power to such an end.
 
It is not something I could simply reach out and do at a moment’s notice.”

Mandor cleared his throat.

“I’d rather not see Jurt dead,” he stated, “if there’s a possibility I could take him back to the Courts as a prisoner.
 
He could be disciplined.
 
There might be a way of neutralizing him without really ...
 
neutralizing him, as you put it.”

“And if there isn’t?” I asked.

“Then I’ll help you to kill him,” he said.
 
“I have no illusions about him, but I feel obliged to try something.
 
I’m afraid that the news of his death could push our father over the edge.”

I looked away.
 
He could be right, and even though old Sawall’s death would mean his own succession to the title and control of considerable holdings, I was certain he was not anxious to acquire them at that price.”

“I understand,” I said.
 
“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“So give me a chance to subdue him.
 
If I fail, I’ll join you in whatever must be done.”

“Agreed,” I said, watching to see how Jasra was taking this.

She was studying us, a curious expression on her face.

“’Our father’?” she said.

“Yes,” I replied.
 
“I wasn’t going to mention that, but since it got out, Jurt’s our younger brother.”

Her eyes were alight now, at the scent of connivance.

“This is a family power struggle, isn’t it?” she asked.

“I suppose you could put it that way,” I said.

“Not really,” Mandor said.

“And yours is an important family in the Courts?”

Mandor shrugged.
 
So did I.
 
I’d a feeling she was trying to figure a way to cash in on that end of it, too, and I decided to stonewall her.

“We were discussing the task at hand,” I said.
 
“I want to take us in there and accept Mask’s challenge.
 
We stop Jurt if he gets in the way and give him to Mandor.
 
If it is impossible simply to subdue him, we go the rest of the way.
 
Are you with us?”

“We have not yet discussed the price,” she said.

“All right,” I acknowledged.
 
“I’ve talked about this with Rinaldo, and he told me to tell you that he’s called the vendetta off.
 
He feels things were settled with Amber when Caine died.
 
He asked me to release you if you would go along with this, and he suggested that in return for your help against the new lord of the citadel we restore the Keep of the Four Worlds to your sovereignty.
 
Bottom line, as he put it.
 
What do you say?”

She picked up the goblet and took a long, slow sip.
 
She’d stall, I knew, trying to figure a way to squeeze more out of this deal.

“You’ve spoken with Rinaldo very recently?” she said.

“Yes.”

“I am not clear as to why he is running about with Dalt; rather than being here with us, if he is so much in agreement with this plan.”

I sighed.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the story,” I said.
 
“But if you’re with us, I do want to get moving soon.”

“Proceed,” she said.

So I recounted the evening’s adventure in Arden, omitting only the fact that Vialle had placed Luke under her protection.
 
Nayda seemed to grow progressively distressed as I told the tale, uttering small whimpering sounds at odd intervals.

When I was finished, Jasra placed her hand upon Mandor’s arm and rose, brushing him lightly with her hip as she passed, and she went to stand before Nayda.

“Now tell me why the daughter of a high Begman official is restrained here,” she said.

“She is possessed of a demon that enjoys interfering in my affairs,” I explained.

“Really? I’ve often wondered what hobbies demons might pursue,” she observed.
 
“But it seems this particular demon has been trying to say something in which I might be interested.
 
If you would be so good as to free it for a moment’s conversation I promise to consider your offer afterward.”

“Time is running,” I said.

“In that case my answer is no,” she told me.
 
“Lock me up someplace and go to the Keep without me.”

I glanced at Mandor.

“In that I have not yet agreed to accept your offer,” Jasra continued, “Rinaldo would call this an entertainment expense.”

“I see no harm in it,” Mandor said.

“Then let her speak,” I told him.

“You may talk, ty’iga,” he said.

Her first words were not addressed to Jasra, however; but to me: “Merlin, you have to let me accompany you.”

I moved around to where I could see her face.

“No way,” I told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because your penchant for protecting me will actually hinder me in a situation where I will probably have to take some chances.”

“That is my nature,” she responded.

“And my problem,” I said.
 
“I mean you no ill.
 
I’ll be glad to talk to you when this is all over, but you’re going to have to sit this one out.”

Jasra cleared her throat.

“Is that the entire message? Or is there something you wished to tell me, also?” Jasra asked.

There followed a long silence, then, “Will you be accompanying them or not?” Nayda inquired.

Jasra took just as long to respond, obviously weighing her words:

“This is a clandestine, personal operation,” she said.
 
“I am not at all certain it would be countenanced by Merlin’s seniors here in Amber.
 
While it is true that I stand to gain if I cooperate, I will also undergo considerable risk.
 
Of course, I want my freedom and the restoration of the Keep.
 
It is almost a fair trade.
 
But he also asks a quitclaim on the vendetta.
 
What assurance have I that this means anything here, and that the hierarchy of Amber will not hunt me down as a troublemaker afterward? He cannot speak for the others when he operates on the sly this way.”

Somehow, it had become a question addressed to me, and since it was a very good question to which I did not really have an answer, I was glad that the ty’iga had something to say:

“I believe that I can persuade you that it would be in your best interest to agree to accompany them and to render every assistance you can,” she offered.

“Pray, begin,” Jasra told her.

“I would have to speak with you in private on this matter.”

Jasra smiled, out of her love for intrigue, I am certain.

“It is agreeable to me,” she said.

“Mandor, force her to say it now,” I said.

“Wait!” Jasra declared.
 
“I will have this private conversation or you can forget about my help.”

I began wondering just how much help Jasra really represented if she couldn’t call upon the Fount to dispose of Jurt, should that become our biggest problem.
 
True, she knew the Keep.
 
But I didn’t even know for certain how accomplished a sorceress she might be.

On the other hand, I wanted this thing settled now, and one more adept could make the difference.

“Nayda,” I said, “are you planning something that could be damaging to Amber?”

“No,” she replied.

“Mandor, what do ty’iga swear by?” I inquired.

“They don’t,” he said.

“What the hell,” I said.
 
“How much time do you want?”

“Give us ten minutes,” she told me.

“Let’s take a walk,” I said to Mandor.

“Surely,” he agreed, tossing another metal ball toward Nayda.
 
It joined the others in orbit about her, a little above waist level.

I fetched a key from my desk drawer before departing.
 
And as soon as we were in the hall I asked him, “Is there any way Jasra could free her?”

“Not with the additional circuit of confinement I established on the way out,” he replied.
 
“Not many could figure a way past it, and certainly not in ten minutes.”

“She’s just full of secrets, that damned ty’iga,” I said.
 
“Kind of makes me wonder who’s really the prisoner here.”

“She’s only trading some bit of knowledge for Jasra’s cooperation,” he said.
 
“She wants the lady to accompany us if she can’t go herself, since it will mean extra protection for you.”

“Then why can’t we be present?”

“Nothing that I learned from her sheds any tight on this,” he said.

“Well, since I have a few minutes, there is a small errand I want to run.
 
Would you keep an eye on things here and take charge if she calls us in before I get back?”

He smiled.

“If one of your relatives strolls by, should I introduce myself as a lord of Chaos?”

“I thought you were also a lord of deception.”

“Of course,” he said, and he clapped his hands and vanished.

“I’ll hurry,” I said.

“Cheerio,” came his voice, from somewhere.

I hurried off up the hall.
 
It was a little pilgrimage, I suppose-one that I had not made in a long while.
 
On the brink of an enterprise such as this, it seemed somehow appropriate.

When I reached the door, I stood outside it for a moment, my eyes closed, visualizing the interior as last I had seen it.
 
It was my father’s apartment.
 
I had wandered through it on many occasions, trying to judge from the furnishings, the layout, his bookshelves, and his curious collections something more than I already knew about the man.
 
There was always some little thing that caught my attention, that answered a question or raised a new one-an inscription on the flyleaf of a book or a note in a margin, a silver hairbrush bearing the wrong set of initials, a daguerreotype of an attractive brunette signed “To Carl, Love, Carolyn,” a snapshot of my father shaking hands with General MacArthur...

I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

I did not move for several seconds, however, as a light glowed inside the place.
 
For more long moments I listened, but there were no sounds from within.
 
Slowly then, I entered.
 
A number of candles burned upon the dresser set against the far wall.
 
There was no one in sight.

“Hello?” I called.out.
 
“It’s me.
 
Merlin.” There came no answer.

I drew the door closed behind me and moved forward.
 
A bud vase stood upon the dresser amid the candles.
 
It contained a single rose, and it appeared to be silver in color.
 
I drew nearer.
 
Yes, it was real, not artificial.
 
And it was silver.
 
In what shadow did such flowers grow?