Knight of Shadows

An absolutely terrifying thought occurred to me just then. The Dworkin and Oberon figures had had me thinking briefly of three-dimensional computer simulations. And the Ghostwheel's shadow-scanning ability was based on digitized abstractions of portions of Pattern I believed to be particularly concerned with this quality. And Ghost had been wondering - almost wistfully, it now seemed - concerning the qualifications for godhood.

Could my own creation be playing games with me? Might Ghost have imprisoned me in a stark and distant shadow, blocked all my efforts at communication, and set about playing an elaborate game with me? If he could beat his own creator, for whom he seemed to feel something of awe, might he not feel he had achieved personal elevation - to a level beyond my status in his private cosmos? Maybe. If one keeps encountering computer simulations, cherchez le deus ex machina.

It made me wonder just how strong Ghost really was. Though his power was, in part, an analogue of the Pattern, I was certain it did not match that of the Pattern - or the Logrus. I couldn't see him blocking this place off from either.

On the other hand, all that would really be necessary would be to block me. I suppose he could have impersonated the Logrus in our flash encounter on my arrival. But that would have required Ghost's actually enhancing Frakir, and I didn't believe he could do it. And what about the Unicorn and the Serpent?

«Frakir,» I asked, «are you sure it was really the Logrus that enhanced you this time and programmed you with all the instructions you're carrying?»

Yes.

«What makes you certain?»

It had the same feeling as our first encounter back within the Logrus, when I was enhanced initially.

«I see. Next question: Could the Unicorn and the Serpent we saw back in the chapel have been the same sort of things as the Oberon or Dworkin figures back at the cave?»

No. I'd have known. They weren't like them at all. They were terrible and powerful and very much what they seemed.

«Good,» I said. «I was worried this might be some elaborate charade on the part of the Ghostwheel.»

I see that in your mind. Though I fail to see why the reality of the Unicorn and the Serpent defeats the thesis. They could simply have entered the Ghost's construct to tell you to stop horsing around because they want to see this thing played out.

«I hadn't thought of that.»

And maybe the Ghost was able to locate and penetrate a place that is pretty much inaccessible to the Pattern and the Logrus.

«I suppose you've a point there. Unfortunately this pretty much puts me back where I started.»

No, because this place is not something Ghost put together. It's always been around. I learned that much from the Logrus.

«I suppose there's some small comfort in knowing that, but-»

I never completed the thought because a sudden movement called my attention to the opposite quadrant of the circle. There I beheld an altar I had not noted before, a female figure standing behind it, a man dappled in shadow and light lying, fund, upon it. They looked very similar to the first pair…

«No!» I cried. «Let it end!»

But the blade descended even as I moved in that direction. The ritual was repeated, and the altar collapsed, and everything again swirled away. When I reached t site, there was no indication that anything unusual had occurred upon it.

«What do you make of that one?» I asked Frakir.

Same forces as before, but somehow reversed.

«Why? What's going on?»

It is a gathering of powers. The Pattern and the Logrus both attempting to force their way into this place, for a little while. Sacrifices, such as those you just witnessed, help provide the openings they need.

«Why do they wish to manifest here?»

Neutral ground. Their ancient tension is shifting in subtle ways. You are expected in some fashion to tip the balance of power one way or another.

«I haven’t the faintest idea how to go about such thing.»

When the time comes, you will.

I returned to the trail and walked on.

«Did I pass by just as the sacrifices were due?» I said: «Or were the sacrifices due because I was passing by?»

They were marked to occur in your vicinity. You are a nexus.

«Then do you think I can expect-»

A figure stepped out from behind a stone to my left and chuckled softly. My hand went to my sword, but his hands were empty, and he moved slowly.

«Talking to yourself. Not a good sign,» he remarked.»

The man was a study in black, white, and gray In fact, from the cast of the darkness upon his right-hand side and the lay of the light on his left, he might have been the first wielder of the sacrificial dagger. I'd no real way of telling. Whoever or whatever he or it was, I'd no desire to become acquainted.

So I shrugged.

«The only sign I care about here has 'exit' written on it,» I told him as I brushed past him.

His hand fell upon my shoulder and turned me back easily in his direction.

Again the chuckle.