The Courts Of Chaos

Then, «I said that I would need your help,» he stated. «There is another way to attune a person to the Jewel. It requires the assistance of someone who is already attuned. You would have to project yourself through the Jewel once more, and take me with you - into and through the primary Pattern that lies beyond.»

«And then?»

«Why, when the ordeal is past I will be attuned, you give me the Jewel, I inscribe a new Pattern and we are back in business. Things hold together. Life goes on.»

«What of Chaos?»

«The new Pattern will be unmarred. They will no longer have the road giving them access to Amber.»

«With Dad dead, how would the new Amber be run?»

He smiled crookedly.

«I ought to have something for my pains, oughtn't I? I will be risking my life with this, and the odds are not all that good.»

I smiled back at him.

«Considering the payoff, what is to prevent me from taking the gamble myself?» I said.

«The same thing that prevented Dad from succeeding - all the forces of Chaos. They are summoned by a kind of cosmic reflex when such an act is begun. I have had more experience with them than you. You would not have a chance. I might.»

«Now let us say that you are lying to me. Brand. Or let us be kind and say that you did not see clearly through all the turmoil. Supposing Dad did succeed? Supposing there is a new Pattern in existence right now? What would happen if you were to do another, here, now?»

«I… It has never been done before. How should I know?»

«I wonder,» I said. «Might you still get your own version of reality that way? Might it represent the splitting off of a new universe - Amber and Shadow - just for you? Might it negate ours? Or would it simply stand apart? Or would there be some overlapping? What do you think, given that situation?»

He shrugged his shoulders.

«I have already answered that. It has never been done before. How should I know?»

«But I think that you do know, or can make a very good guess at it. I think that that is what you are planning, that that is what you want to try - because that is all you have left now. I take this action on your part as an indication that Dad has succeeded and that you are down to your last card. But you need me and you need the Jewel for it. You cannot have either.»

He sighed.

«I had expected more of you. But all right. You are wrong, but leave it at that. Listen, though. Rather than see everything lost, I will split the realm with you.»

«Brand,» I said, «get lost. You cannot have the Jewel, or my help. I have heard you out, and I think that you are lying.»

«You are afraid,» he said, «afraid of me. I do not blame you for not wanting to trust me. But you are making a mistake. You need me now.»

«Nevertheless, I have made my choice.»

He took a step toward me. Another…

«Anything you want, Corwin. I can give you anything you care to name.»

«I was with Benedict in Tir-na Nog'th,» I said, «looking through his eyes, listening with his ears, when you made him the same offer. Shove it, Brand. I am going on with my mission. If you think that you can stop me, now is as good a time as any.»

I began walking toward him. I knew that I would kill him if I reached him. I also felt that I would not reach him.

He halted. He took a step backward.

«You are making a big mistake,» he said.

«I do not think so. I think that I am doing exactly the right thing.»

«I will not fight with you,» he said hastily. «Not here, not above the abyss. You have had your chance, though. The next time that we meet, I will have to take the Jewel from you.»

«What good will it be to you, unattuned?»

«There might still be a way for me to manage it - more difficult, but possible. You have had your chance. Goodbye.»

He retreated into the wood. I followed after, but he had vanished.

I left that place and rode on, along a road over nothing. I did not like to consider the possibility that Brand might have been telling the truth, or at least a part of it. But the things he had said kept returning to plague me. Supposing Dad had failed? Then I was on a fool's errand. Everything was already over, and it was just a matter of time. I did not like looking back, just in case something was gaining on me. I passed into a moderately paced hellride. I wanted to get to the others before the waves of Chaos reached that far, just to let them know that I had kept faith, to let them see that in the end I had tried my best. I wondered then how the actual battle was going. Or had it even begun yet, within that time frame?