Sign of the Unicorn

«I hope so,» he said, snapping his briefcase shut and rising. «Well, get your rest. I'll clear things up with the doctor and have those papers sent over today.»

«Thanks again.» I shook his hand.

«By the way,» he said, «you did agree to answer a question.»

«I did, didn't I? What is it?»

«Are you human?» he asked, still gripping my hand, no special expression on his face.

I started in on a grin, then threw it away.

«I don't know. I-I like to think so. But I don't really-Of course I am! That's a silly… Oh hell! You really mean it, don't you? And I said I'd be honest…»

I chewed my lip and thought for a moment. Then, «I don't think so,» I said.

«Neither do I,» he said, and he smiled. «It doesn't make any real difference to me, but I thought it might to you - to know that someone knows you are different and doesn't care.»

«I'll remember that, too,» I said.

«Well… see you around.»

«Right.»

CHAPTER 9

It was just after the state patrolman left… Late afternoon. I was lying there feeling better, and feeling better that I felt better. Lying there, reflecting on the hazards involved in living in Amber. Brand and I were both laid up by means of the family's favorite weapon. I wondered who had gotten it worse. Probably he had. It might have reached his kidney, and he was in poor condition to begin with.

I had stumbled across the room and back again twice before Bill's clerk came over with the papers for me to sign. It was necessary that I know my limits. It always is. Since I tended to heal several times faster than those about me in that shadow, I felt that I ought to be able to stand and walk some, to perform in the same fashion as one of these after, say, a day and a half, maybe two. I established that I could. It did hurt, and I was dizzy the first time, less dizzy the second. That was something, anyway. So I lay there feeling better.

I had fanned the Trumps dozens of times, dealt private solitaires, read ambiguous fortunes among familiar faces. And each time I had restrained myself, suppressing my desire to contact Random, to tell him what had happened, to inquire after new developments. Later, I kept telling myself. Each additional hour they sleep is two and a half for you, here. Each two and a half for you, here, is the equivalent of seven or eight for some lesser mortal, here. Abide. Think. Regenerate.

And so it came to pass that a little after dinnertime, just as the sky was darkening again, I was beaten to the punch. I had already told a well-starched young member of the State Patrol everything that I was going to tell him. I have no idea whether he believed me, but he was polite and he did not stay long. In fact, it was only moments after he left that things began to happen.

Lying there, feeling better, I was waiting for Dr. Bailey to stop by and check whether I was still oriented. Lying there, assessing all of the things Bill had told me, trying to fit them together with other things that I knew or had guessed at…

Contact! I had been anticipated. Someone in Amber was an early riser. «Corwin!» It was Random, agitated.

«Corwin! Get up! Open the door! Brand's come around, and he's asking for you.»

«Have you been pounding on that door, trying to get me up?»

«That's right.»

«Are you alone?»

«Yes.»

«Good. I am not inside. You have reached me in Shadow.»

«I do not understand.»

«Neither do I. I am hurt, but I will live. I will give you the story later. Tell me about Brand.»

«He woke up just a little while ago. Told Gerard he had to talk to you right away. Gerard rang up a servant, sent him to your room. When he couldn't rouse you, he came to me. I just sent him back to tell Gerard I'd be bringing you along shortly.»

«I see,» I said, stretching slowly and sitting up. «Get in some place where you can't be seen, and I'll come through. I will need a robe or something. I am missing some clothes.»

«It could probably be best if I went back to my rooms, then.»

«Okay. Go ahead.»

«A minute, then.»

And silence.

I moved my legs slowly. I sat on the edge of the bed. I gathered up my Trumps and replaced them in their case. I felt it important that I mask my injury back in Amber. Even in normal times one never advertises one's vulnerability.

I took a deep breath and stood, holding on to the bed frame. My practice had paid off. I breathed normally and relaxed my grip. Not bad, if I moved slowly, if I did not exert myself beyond the barest essentials required for appearances' sake… I might be able to carry it until my strength really returned.

Just then I heard a footfall, and a friendly nurse was framed in the doorway, crisp, symmetrical, differing from a snowflake mainly in that they are all of them alike.

«Get back in that bed, Mr. Corey! You are not supposed to be up!»

«Madam,» I said, «it is quite necessary that I be up. I have to go.»

«You could have rung for a pan,» she said, entering the room and advancing.