Sign of chaos

I moved in a slow arc, stepping over the fallen ones. Coral stayed near to my side, moving in a similar fashion. He turned his head to follow our progress, and when the light finally fell upon his face, I saw that Jurt was glaring at me out of his one good eye - a patch covered the other - and I saw, too, that about half of his hair was missing, the exposed scalp covered with welts or scars, his half-regrown ear-stub plainly visible. From this side I could also see that a bandana suitable for covering most of this damage had slipped down around his neck. Blood was dripping from his left hand, and I suddenly realized that his little finger was missing.

«What happened to you?» I asked.

«One of the zombies hit my hand with his dagger as he fell,» he said, «when you expelled the spirits that animated them.»

My spell - to evict a possessing spirit… They had been within range of it…

«Coral,» I asked, «are you all right?»

«Yes,» she replied. «But I don't understand…»

«Later,» I told her.

I did not ask him about, his head, as I recalled my struggle with the one-eyed werewolf in the wood to the east of Amber - the beast whose head I had forced into the campfire. I had suspected for some time that it had been Jurt in a shape-shifted form, even before Mandor had offered sufficient information to confirm it.

«Jurt,» I began, «I have been the occasion of many of your ills, but you must realize that you brought them on yourself. If you would not attack me, I would have no need to defend myself-»

There came a clicking, grinding sound. It took me several seconds to realize that it was a gnashing of teeth. «Miy adoption by your father meant nothing to me,» I said, «beyond the fact that he honored me by it. I was not even aware until recently that it had occurred.»

«You lie!» he hissed. «You tricked him some way, to get ahead of us in the succession.»

«You've got to be kidding,» I said. «We're all so far down on the list that it doesn't matter.»

«Not for the Crown, you fool! For the House! Our father isn't all that well!»

«I'm sorry to hear that,» I said. «But I'd never even thought of it that way. And Mandor's ahead of all of us, anyhow.»

«And now you're second.»

«Not by choice. Come on! I'll never see the title. You know that!»

He drew himself upright, and when he moved I became aware of a faint prismatic nimbus that had been clinging to his outline.

«That isn't the real reason,» I continued. «You've never liked me, but you're not after me because of the succession. You're hiding something now. It's got to be something else, for all this activity on your pan. By the way, you did send the Fire Angel, didn't you?»

«It found you that fast?» he said. «I wasn't even sure I could count on that. I guess it was worth the price after all. But… What happened?».

«It's dead.»

«You're very lucky. Too lucky,» he replied.

«What is it that you want, Jurt? I'd like to settle this once and for all.»

«Me, too,» he answered. «You betrayed someone I love, and only your death will set things right.»

«Who are you talking about? I don't understand.»

He grinned suddenly.

«You will,» he said. «In the last moments of your life I'll let you know why.»

«I may have a long wait, then,» I answered. «You don't seem to be very good at this sort of thing: Why not just tell me now and save us both a lot of trouble?»

He laughed, and the prism effect increased, and it occurred to me in that instant what it was.

«Sooner than you think,» he said, «for shortly I will be more powerful than anything you ever met.»

«But no less clumsy,» I suggested, both to him and to whomever held his Tnimp, watching me through it, ready to snatch him away in an instant…

«That is you, Mask, isn't it?» I said. «Take him back. You don't have to send him again either and watch him screw up. I'll promote you on my list of priorities and come calling soon, if you'll just give me an assurance that it's really you.»

Jurt opened his mouth and said something, but I couldn't hear it because he faded fast and his words went away with him. Something flew toward me as this occurred; there was no need to parry it, but I couldn't stop the reflex.

Along with two moldering corpses and Jurt's little finger, a dozen or so roses lay scattered on the floor at my feet, there at the rainbow's end.

CHAPTER 5

As we walked along the beach in the direction of the harbor, Coral finally spoke:

«Does that sort of thing happen around here very often?»

«You should come by on a bad day,» I said.

«If you don't mind telling me, I'd like to hear what it was all about.»

«I guess I owe you an explanation,» I agreed, «because I wronged you back there, whether you know it or not.»

«You're serious.»

«Yep,»

«Go on. I'm really curious.»

«It's a long story…,» I began again.

She looked ahead to the harbor, then up to Kolvir's heights.

«…A long walk, too,» she said.

«…And you're a daughter of the prime minister of a country with which we have somewhat touchy relations at the moment.»

«What do you mean?»