Guns Of Avalon

«Well - yes,» I said, coughing lightly. «As I was saying, we had some rather bitter arguments concerning the whole matter. Then one evening it went beyond mere words. We fought.»

«A duel?»

«Nothing that formal. A simultaneous decision to murder one another is more like it. At any rate, we fought for a long while and Eric finally got the upper hand and proceeded to pulverize me. At the risk of getting ahead of my story, I have to add that all of this was only recalled to me about five years ago.» Benedict nodded, as though he understood.

«I can only conjecture as to what occurred immediately after I lost consciousness,» I went on. «But Eric stopped short of killing me himself. When I awakened, I was on a shadow Earth in a place called London. The plague was rampant at the time, and I had contracted it. I recovered with no memory of anything prior to London. I dwelled on that shadow world for centuries, seeking some clue as to my identity. I traveled all over it, often as part of some military campaign. I attended their universities, I spoke with some of their wisest men, I consulted famous physicians. But nowhere could I find the key to my past. It was obvious to me that I was not like other men and I took great pains to conceal this fact. I was furious because I could have anything that I wanted except what I wanted most - my own identity, my memories.

«The years passed, but this anger and this longing did not. It took an accident that fractured my skull to set off the changes that led to the return of my first recollections. This was approximately five years ago, and the irony of it is that I have good reason to believe Eric was responsible for the accident. Flora had apparently been resident on that shadow Earth all along, keeping watch over me.

«To return to conjecture, Eric must have stayed his hand at the last moment, desiring my death, but not wanting it traceable to him. So he transported me through Shadow to a place of sudden, almost certain death - doubtless to return and say that we had argued and I had ridden off in a huff, muttering something about going away again. We had been hunting in the Forest of Arden that day - just the two of us, together.»

«I find it strange,» Benedict interrupted, «that two rivals such as yourselves should elect to hunt together under such circumstances.»

I took a sip of wine and smiled.

«Perhaps it was a trifle more contrived than I made it sound,» I said. «Perhaps we both welcomed the opportunity to hunt together. Just the two of us.»

«I see,» he said. «So it is possible that your situations could have been reversed?»

«Well,» I said, «that is difficult to say. I do not believe I would have gone that far. I am talking as of now, of course. People do change, you know. Back then…? Yes, I might have done the same thing to him. I cannot say for certain, but it is possible.» He nodded again, and I felt a flash of anger which passed quickly into amusement.

«Fortunately, I am not out to justify my own motives for anything,» I continued. «To go on with my guesswork, I believe that Eric kept tabs on me after that, doubtless disappointed at first that I had survived, but satisfied as to my harmlessness. So he arranged to have Flora keep an eye on me, and the world turned peacefully for a long while. Then, presumably, Dad abdicated and disappeared without the question of the succession having been settled-»

«The hell he did!» said Benedict. «There was no abdication. He just vanished. One morning he simply was not in his chambers. His bed had not even been slept in. There were no messages. He had been seen entering the suite the evening before, but no one saw him depart. And even this was not considered strange for a long while. At first it was simply thought that he was sojourning in Shadow once again, perhaps to seek another bride. It was a long while before anyone dared suspect foul play or chose to construe this as a novel form of abdication.»

«I was not aware of this,» I said. «Your sources of information seem to have been closer to the heart of things than mine were.»

He only nodded, giving rise to uneasy speculations on my part as to his contact in Amber. For all I knew, he could be pro-Eric these days.

«When was the last time you were back there yourself?» I ventured.

«A little over twenty years ago,» he replied, «but I keep in touch.»