Nine Princes In Amber

I did so. and after a time the wooden gate creaked upon its huge iron hinges and swung inward.

"Go on in." he said. "It's safe."

I drove in, and off to my left were three bubble-headed Esso pumps, the small building behind them being one of the kind I had seen countless times before, under more ordinary circumstances. I pulled up before one of the pumps and waited.

The guy who emerged from the building was about five feet tall, of enormous girth, with a strawberry-like nose, and his shoulders maybe a yard across.

"What'll it be?" he asked. "Fill ‘er up?"

I nodded. "With regular," I said.

"Pull it up a bit," he directed.

I did, and asked Random, "Is my money any good here?"

"Look at it," he told me, and I did.

My wallet was stuffed with orange and yellow bills1 Roman numerals in their corners, followed by the letters "D.R."

He gri

"See, I've taken care of everything," he said.

"Great. By the way, I'm getting hungry."

We looked around us, and we saw a picture of a gent who sells Kentucky Fried Chicken in another place, staring down at us from a big sign.

Strawberry Nose sloshed a little on the ground to make it come out even, hung up the hose, approached, and said, "Eight Drachae Regums."

I found an orange note with a "V D.R." on it and three more with "I D.R." and passed them to him.

"Thanks," he said, and stuffed them in his pocket. "Check your oil and water?"

"Yeah."

He added a little water, told me the oil level was okay, and smeared the windshield a bit with a dirty rag. Then he waved and walked back into the shack

We drove over to Ke

Then we washed up in the outbuilding, beeped the horn at the gate, and waited till a man with a halberd hanging over his right shoulder came and opened it for us.

Then we hit the road again.

A tyra

"I am loath to relinquish Amber's sky," said Random, whatever that meant, and I grunted back at him.

"I'm afraid to try it all at once, though," he continued. "We might be torn to bits."

"Agreed," I agreed.

"But on the other hand, I don't like this place."

I nodded, so we drove on, till the silicon plain ended and bare rock lay all about us.

"What are you doing now?" I ventured.

"Now that I've got the sky, I'm going to try for the terrain," he said.

And the rock sheet became rocks, as we drove along. There was bare, black earth between, After a while, there was more earth and fewer rocks. Finally, I saw splotches of green. First a bit of grass here and there. But it was a very, very bright green, of a kind like yet unlike that common on Earth as I knew it

Soon there was much of it.

After a time there were trees, spotted occasionally along our way.

Then there was a forest

And what a forest!

I had never seen trees such as this, mighty and majestic, of a deep, rich green, slightly tinged with gold. They towered, they soared. They were enormous pines, oaks, maples, and many others which I could not distinguish. Through them crept a breeze of fantastic and lovely fragrance, when I cracked the window a bit. I decided to open it all the way and leave it like that after I'd had a few whiffs.

"The Forest of Arden," said the man who was my brother. and I knew he was right, and somehow I both loved and envied him for his wisdom, his knowledge.

"Brother," said I, "you're doing all right. Better than I'd expected. Thank you."

This seemed to take him somewhat aback. It was as if he'd never received a good word from a relative before.

"I'm doing my best," he said, "and I'll do it all the way, I promise. Look at it! We've got the sky, and we've got the forest! It's almost too good to be true! We've passed the halfway point, and nothing's bugged us especially. I think we're very fortunate. Will you give me a Regency?"

"Yes." I said, not knowing what it meant, but willing to grant it. if it lay within my powers.

He nodded then and said, "You're okay."

He was a homicidal little fink, who I recalled had always been sort of a rebel. Our parents had tried to discipline him in the past, I knew, never very successfully. And I realized. with that, that we had shared common parents, which I suddenly knew was not the case with me and Eric, me and Flora, me and Caine and Bleys and Fiona. And probably others, but these I'd recalled, I knew for sure.

We were driving on a bare, dirt roadway through a cathedral of enormous trees. It seemed to go on forever and ever. I felt safe in the place. Occasionally, startled a deer, surprised a fox crossing or standing near the road. In places, the way was marked with hoof prints. The sunlight was sometimes filtered through leaves, angling like tight golden strings on some Hindu musical instrument. The breeze was moist and spoke of living things. It came to me that I knew this place, that I had ridden this road often in the past. I had ridden through the Forest of Arden on horseback, walked through it, hunted in it. lay on my back beneath some of those great boughs, my arms beneath my head, staring upward. I had climbed among the branches of some of those giants and looked down upon a green world, constantly shifting.

"I love this place." I said, only half realizing I had said it aloud. and Random replied. "You always did." and there might have been a trace of amusement in his voice. I couldn't be sure.

Then off in the distance I heard a note which I knew to be the voice of a hunting born.

"Drive faster," said Random suddenly. "That sounds to be Julian's horn"

I obeyed.

The horn sounded again, nearer.

"Those damn hounds of his will tear this car to pieces, and his birds will feed on our eyes!" he said. "I'd hate to meet him when he's this well prepared. Whatever he hunts, I know he'd willingly relinquish it for quarry such as two of his brothers."

"'Live and let live' is my philosophy these days," I remarked.

Random chuckled.

"What a quaint notion. I'll bet it will last all of five minutes."

Then the horn sounded again, even nearer, and he remarked, "Damn!"

The speedometer said seventy-five, in quaint, runic numerals, and I was afraid to go any faster on that road,

And the horn sounded again, much nearer now, three long notes, and I could hear the baying of hounds, off to the left.

"We are now very near to the real Earth, though still far from Amber," said my brother. "It will be futile to run through adjacent Shadows, for if it is truly us that he follows. he will pursue us. Or his shadow will."

"What shall we do?"

"Speed. and hope it is not us that be follows."

And the horn sounded once again, almost next to us this time.

"What the hell is be riding, a locomotive?" I asked.

"I'd say he is riding the mighty Morgenstern, the fastest horse he has ever created."

I let that last word roIl around in my head for a while, wondering at it and wondering at it. Yes, it was true, some i

I remembered that I had call to fear that animal, and then I saw him.

Morgenstern was six hands higher than any other horse I'd ever seen. and his eyes were the dead color of a Weimaraner dog's and his coat was a light gray and his hooves looked like polished steel. He raced along like the wind, pacing the car, and Julian was crouched in his saddle-the Julian of the playing card, long black hair and bright blue eyes. and he had on his scaled white armor.