“Don’t reach within my sphere,” he told me.
“I wouldn’t hurt him,” she said, as she wiped her eyes, her cheeks, her chin. “I told you, I mean only to protect him.”
“We require more information than that,” Mandor said, as he reached for the sphere again.
“Wait,” I said. Then, to her, “Can you at least tell me why you can’t tell me?”
“No,” she answered. “It would amount to the same thing.”
Suddenly I saw it as a strange sort of programming problem; and I decided to try a different tack.
“You must protect me at all costs?” I said. “That is your primary function?”
“Yes.”
“And you are not supposed to tell me who set you this task, or why?”
“Yes.”
“Supposing the only way you could protect me would be by telling me these things?”
Her brow furrowed.
“I…” she said. “I don’t… The only way?”
She closed her eyes and raised her hands to her face. “I… Then I would have to tell you.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” I said. “You would be willing to violate the secondary order in order to carry out the primary one?”
“Yes, but what you have described is not a real situation,” she said.
“I see one that is,” Mandor said suddenly. “You cannot follow that order if you cease to exist. Therefore, you would be violating it if you permit yourself to be destroyed. I will destroy you unless you answer those questions.”
She smiled.
“I don’t think so,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Ask Merlin what the diplomatic situation would be if a daughter of the Begman prime minister were found dead in his room under mysterious circumstances — especially when he’s already responsible for the disappearance of her sister.”
Mandor frowned and looked at me.
“I don’t understand what that’s all about,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter,” I told him. “She’s lying. If something happens to her, the real Nayda simply returns. I saw it happen with George Hansen, Meg Devlin, and Vinta Bayle.”
“That is what would normally occur,” she said, “except for one thing. They were all alive when I took possession of their bodies. But Nayda had just died, following a severe illness. She was exactly what I needed, though, so I took possession and healed the body. She is not here anymore. If I depart, you’ll be left either with a corpse or a human vegetable.”
“You’re bluffing,” I said, but I remembered Vialle’s saying that Nayda had been ill.
“No,” she said. “I’m not.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “Mandor,” I said, turning to him, “you said you can keep her from vacating that body and following me?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Okay, Nayda,” I said. “I am going somewhere and I am going to be in extreme danger there. I am not going to permit you to follow me and carry out your orders.”
“Don’t,” she answered.
“You give me no choice but to keep you pent while I go about my business.”
She sighed.
“So you’ve found a way to get me to violate one order in order to get me to carry out the other. Very clever.”
“Then you’ll tell me what I want to know?”
She shook her head.
“I am physically unable to tell you,” she said. “It is not a matter of will. But… I think I’ve found a way around it.”
“What is that?”
“I believe I could confide in a third party who also desires your safety.”
“You mean — ”
“If you will leave the room for a time, I will try to tell your brother those things I may not explain to you.”
My eyes met Mandor’s. Then, “I’ll step out in the hall for a bit,” I said.
And I did. A lot of things bothered me as I studied a tapestry on the wall, not the least being that I had never told her that Mandor was my brother.
When my door opened after a long while, Mandor looked in both directions. He raised his hand when I began to move toward him. I halted, and he stepped outside and came toward me. He continued to glance about as he advanced.
“This is Amber palace?” he inquired.
“Yes. Not the most fashionable wing, perhaps, but I call it home.”
“I’d like to see it under more relaxed circumstances,” he said.
I nodded. “It’s a date. So tell me, what happened in there?”
He looked away, discovered the tapestry, studied it.
“It’s very peculiar,” he said. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“You still trust me, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Then trust me in this. I’ve a good reason for not telling you what I learned.”
“Come on, Mandor! What the hell’s going on?”
“The ty’iga is not a danger to you. It really does care about your welfare.”
“So what else is new? I want to know why.”
“Leave it,” he said, “for now. It’s better that way.”
I shook my head. I made a fist and looked around for something to hit.
“I know how you feel, but I’m asking you to drop it,” he said.
“You mean the knowledge would hurt me in some way?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Or do you mean that you’re afraid to tell me?”
“Drop it,” he said.
I turned away and got control of myself.
“You must have a good reason,” I finally decided.
“I do.”
“I’m not going to give up on this,” I told him. “But I haven’t the time to pursue it further against this kind of resistance. Okay, you have your reasons and I have pressing business elsewhere.”
“She mentioned Jurt and Mask and the Keep where Brand gained his powers,” he said.
“Yes, that’s where I’ll be heading.”
“She expects to accompany you.”
“She is wrong.”
“I would counsel against taking her, too.”
“You’ll keep her for me until I’ve taken care of things?”
“No,” he said, “because I’m coming with you. I’ll put her into a very deep trance, though, before we depart.”
“But you don’t know what’s been going on since our dinner. A lot has happened, and I just haven’t the time to bring you up to date.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I know that it involves an unfriendly sorcerer, Jurt, and a dangerous place. That’s enough. I’ll come along and give you a hand.”
“But that may not be enough,” I countered. “We may not be enough.”
“Even so, I think the ty’iga could turn into a hindrance.”
“I wasn’t referring to her. I was thinking about the stiff lady near the door.”
“I’d meant to ask you about her. Some enemy you’re punishing?”
“She had been an enemy, yes. And she’s nasty, untrustworthy, and has a poisonous bite. She’s also a deposed queen. I didn’t freeze her, though. The sorcerer who’s after me did it. She’s the mother of a friend, and I rescued her and brought her back here for safekeeping. I had no reason for releasing her, until now.”
“Ah, as an ally against her old enemy.”
“Exactly. She’s well acquainted with the place I’m going. But she doesn’t like me and she’s not easy to deal with — and I don’t really know whether her son gave me enough ammunition to make her trustworthy.”
“Do you feel she’d be a real asset?”
“Yes. I’d like to have all of that animus on my side. And I understand she’s an accomplished sorceress.”
“If additional persuading is needed, there are only threats and bribes. I’ve a few private hells I’ve designed and furnished — for purely esthetic reasons. She might find a quick tour very impressive. On the other hand, I could send for a pot of jewels.”