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“Fair enough,” I said, slipping it back on. Immediately, I felt a rush of energy throughout my system as the lines of control were reestablished.
“If you're not sure you can force the information out of your mother,” he said, “how do you propose finding Corwin and freeing him?”
“Several things suggest themselves,” I said. “The simplest way may be a foot in the door technique. That is, I'd open all of the cha
“Sounds as if it could be dangerous.”
“I can't think of any way to go about this that wouldn't be.”
“Then why haven't you tried it?”
“It only occurred to me recently, and I haven't had the time since then.”
“However you go about it, you're going to need some help,” he said. “So count me in.”
“Thanks, Luke. I—”
“Now, about the king business,” he said. “What happens if you simply refuse to take the throne? Who's next in line?”
“It's a bit tangled when you come to Sawall,” I said. “By rights, Mandor should be first in line of succession from our House. He'd removed himself from the line years ago, though.”
“Why?”
“I believe he claimed he was unfit to rule.”
“No offense, Merle. But he seems like the only one of you who is fit for the job.”
“Oh, without a doubt,” I responded. “Most of the Houses have someone like him, though. There's usually a nominal head and a de facto one, someone for show and someone for scheming. Mandor likes the climate behind the scenes.”
“Sounds as if your House has two,” he said.
“I'm not really clear on it,” I said. “I don't know Dara's status right now in her father's House-Helgram-or her mother's-Hendrake. But it might be worth a power struggle within Sawall if that's where the next king is coming from. Still, the more I learn of Mandor the more intimidating such a struggle would seem. I'd guess they're cooperating.”
“I take it you're next in line, and then Jurt?”
“Actually, our brother Despil is next after me. Jurt said that Despil would probably step aside for him, but I think that was wishful thinking. I'm not at all sure he would. Anyhow, Jurt says now that he isn't interested.”
“Ha! I think he's just taking a different approach. You whipped him too many times, and he's trying to get in good with you. Hope that spikard can protect your back.”
“I don't know,” I said. “I'd like to believe him. He spent a lot of time making sure that it wouldn't be easy, though.”
“Supposing you all decline. Who's next?”
“I'm not certain,” I said, “but I think it would go to Hendrake then.”
“Damn,” Luke said. “It's as twisted a place as Amber, isn't it?”
“Neither one's twisted, exactly. Just a little complicated, till you've learned the ropes.”
“What say I just listen, and you fill me in on everything that you haven't so far?”
“Good idea.”
So I talked for a long while, breaking to summon food and water. We halted twice during that time, causing me to realize just how tired I had become. And briefing Luke reminded me yet again that I should be telling all of this to Random. But if I got in touch and tried it I was certain he would order me back to Amber. And I couldn't disobey a direct order from the king, even if I was almost his opposite number.
“We're getting nearer,” Nayda a
Shortly thereafter, she remarked, “Much nearer.”
“Like just around the corner?” Luke asked.
“Could be,” she answered. “I can't be more precise, the condition she's in.”
But a little later, we heard distant shouts.
Luke drew rein.
“Something about a tower,” he said.
She nodded.
“Were they heading for it, holing up in it, or defending themselves there?”
“All of the above,” she said. “I understand now. Her captors were pursued, headed for a place of refuge, reached it, are there now.”
“How come you're suddenly that precise?”
She gave me a quick look that I took as a request for an explanation other than ty' iga powers.
“I was using the spikard,” I offered, “trying to see whether I could give her a clearer vision.”
“Good,” Luke said. “Can you boost it even more, so we can see what we're up against?”
“I can try,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her in inquiry. She responded with a very slight nod.
I wasn't certain how to go about it, so I just fed her energy in the way of that jolt I'd given myself a while back.
“Yes,” she said after a few moments, “Coral and her captors-six of them, I believe-have taken refuge in a tower near here. They are under attack.”
“How large is the party of attackers?” Luke asked.
“Small,” she said. “Quite small. I can't give you a number.”
“Let's go and see,” Luke said, and he led the way,: Dalt behind him.
“Three or four,” Nayda whispered to me, “but they're Pattern ghosts. That's probably all it can maintain this far from home, on a Black Road.”
“Ouch,” I said. “This makes it tricky.”
“How so?”
“It means I have relatives on both sides.”
“It also looks as if Amber's ghosts and the Court's demons are only agents, and that it's really a confrontation between the Logrus and the Pattern.”
“Damn! Of course!” I said. “It could easily escalate into another of those. I'm going to have to warn Luke what we're riding into.”
“You can't! Not without telling him what I am!”
“I'll tell him I learned it myself-that I had a sudden insight into a new spell.”
“But what then? Which side are you on? What do we do?”
“Neither,” I said. “We're on our own, and against both of them.”
“You're crazy! There's no place you can hide, Merle! The Powers divide the universe between them!”
“Luke! “ I cried. “I just probed ahead, learned the
attackers are Pattern ghosts!”
“You don't say?” he called back. “Think we should be taking their side? It's probably better for the Pattern to take her back than for the Courts to get her, wouldn't you think?”
“She shouldn't be used that way,” I said. “Let's take her away from both of them.”
“I agree with your feelings,” he stated. “But what if we succeed? I don't really care to be struck by a meteor or transported to the bottom of the nearest ocean.”
“As near as I can tell, the spikard doesn't draw its power from the Pattern or the Logrus. Its sources are scattered through Shadow.”
“So? I'm sure it's not a match for either one, let alone both.”
“No, but I can use it to start an evasion course. They'll be getting in each other's way if they decide to pursue us.”
“But eventually they'd find us, wouldn't they?” “Maybe, maybe not,” I said. “I have some ideas, but we're ru
“Dalt, did you hear all that?” Luke asked. “I did,” Dalt replied.
“If you want out, now's your chance.”
“And miss an opportunity to twist the Unicorn's tail?” he said. “Keep riding!”
We did, and the shouts grew louder as we raced ahead. There was a certain timeless feeling to it, though-with the muffled sounds and the dimness-as if we har always been riding here and always would be...
Then we rounded a bend and I saw the top of the tower in the distance, heard more shouts. We slowed as we came to the next turn, advancing more cautiously, working our way through a small stand of black saplings.
Finally, we halted, dismounted, worked our way forward on foot. We pushed aside the final screening branches and looked down a slight slope to a blackened, sandy plain beside a three-story gray tower with slit windows and a narrow entranceway. It took a while to sort out the tableau at its base.