Knight of Shadows

«Coral? You know where she is?»

He raised his hand, lowered it, gnashed his teeth.

«Coral? Is that her name? Let me in. We must discuss her.»

«We seem to be talking just fine the way we are.»

«Have you no respect for an ancestor?»

«I do. But I also have a shapeshifting brother who'd like to mount my head and hang it on the wall of his den. And he might just be able to do it real quick if I give him half a chance.» I sat up and rubbed my eyes, my wits finishing the job of reassembling themselves. «So where's Coral?»

«Come. I will show you the way,» he said, reaching forward. This time his hand passed my ward and was immediately outlined in fire. He did not seem to notice. His eyes were a pair of dark stars, drawing me to my feet, pulling me toward him. His hand began to melt. The flesh ran and dripped away like wax. There were no bones within, but rather an odd geometry - as if someone had sketched a hand quickly in a three-dimensional medium, then molded some fleshlike cover for it. «Take my hand.»

I found myself raising my hand against my will, reaching toward the fingerlike curves, the swirls of the knuckles. He chuckled again. I could feel the force that drew me. I wondered what would happen if I took hold of that strange hand in a special way.

So I summoned the Sign of the Logrus and sent it on ahead to do my handclasping for me.

This may not have been my best choice of actions. I was momentarily blinded by the brilliant, sizzling flash that followed. When my vision cleared, I saw that Dworkin was gone. A quick check showed that my wards still held. I perked up the fire with a short, simple spell, noted that my coffee cup was half full, and warmed its tepid contents with an abbreviated version of the same rendering. I reshrouded myself then, settled, and sipped. Analyze as I might, I couldn't figure what had just happened.

I knew of no one who had seen the half mad demiurge in years, though according to my father's tale, Dworkin's mind should have been largely mended whet Oberon repaired the Pattern. If it had really been Jurt, seeking to trick his way into my presence and finish me off, it was an odd choice of form for him to assume. Come to think of it, I wasn't at all certain that Jurt even knew what Dworltin looked like. I debated the wisdom of calling for Ghostwheel to solicit an inhuman opinion on the matter. Before I could decide, however, the stars beyond the cave mourh were occulted by another figure, much larger than Dworkin's - heroically proportioned even.

A single step brought it within range of the firelight, and I spilled coffee when I beheld that face. We had never met, but I had seen his likeness in many places in Castle Amber.

«I understand that Oberon died in redrawing the Pattern,» I said.

«Were you present at the time?» he asked.

«No,» I replied, «but coming as you do, on the heels of a rather bizarre apparition of Dworkin, you must excuse my suspicions as to your bona fides.»

«Oh, that was a fake you encountered. I'm the real thing.»

«What was it then that I saw?»

«It was the astral form of a practical joker - a sorcerer named Jolos from the fourth circle of Shadow.»

«Oh,» I responded. «And how am I to know you're not the projection of someone named Jalas from the fifth?»

«I can recite the entire genealogy of the royal House of Amber.»

«So can any good scribe back home.»

«I'll throw in the illegitimates.»

«How many were there, anyway?»

«Forty-seven, that I know of.»

«Aw, come on! How'd you manage?»

«Different time streams,» he said, smiling.

«If you survived the reconstruction of the Pattern, how come you didn't return to Amber and continue your reign?» I asked. «Why'd you let Random get crowned and muddy the picture even further?»

He laughed.

«But I didn't survive it,» he said. «I was destroyed in the process. I am a ghost, returned to solicit a living champion for Amber against the rising power of the Logrus.»

«Granted, arguendo, that you are what you say you are,» I replied, «you're still in the wrong neighborhood, sir. I am an initiate of the Logrus and a son of Chaos.»

«You are also an initiate of the Pattern and a son of Amber,» the magnificent figure answered.

«True,» I said, «and all the more reason for me not to choose sides.»

«There comes a time when a man must choose,» he stared, «and that time is now. Which side are you on?»

«Even if I believed that you ate what you say, I do not feel obliged to make such a choice,» I said. «And there is a tradition in the Courts that Dworkin himself was an initiate of the Logrus. If that is true, I'm only following in the footsteps of a venerable ancestor.»

«But he renounced Chaos when he founded Amber.»

I shrugged.

«Good thing I haven't founded anything,» I said. «If there is something specific that you want of me, tell me what it is, give me a good reason for doing it and maybe I'll cooperate.»

He extended his hand.

«Come with me, and I will set your feet upon the new Pattern you must follow, in a game to be played out between the Powers.»