She kissed me.
“We are not yet beaten. You will be yourself again,” she said.
I shook my head.
“It is like the last chapter of Alice” I said. “If I shout, 'You are only a pack of cards!' I feel we will all fly into the air, a hand of painted pasteboards. I am not going with you. Leave me here. I am only the Joker, anyway.”
“Right now, I am stronger than you are,” she said. “You are coming.”
“It is not fair,” I said softly.
“Finish eating,” she said. “There is still some time.”
As I did, she went on, “Your son Merlin is waiting to see you. I would like to call him up here now.”
“Prisoner?”
“Not exactly. He was not a combatant. He just arrived a little while ago, asking to see you.”
I nodded and she went away. I abandoned my rations and took another swig of wine. I had just become nervous. What do you say to a grown son you only recently learned existed? I wondered about his feelings toward me. I wondered whether he knew of Dara's decision. How should I act with him?
I watched him approach from a place where my relatives were clustered, far off to my left. I had wondered why they had left me by myself this way. The more visitors I received the more apparent it became. I wondered whether they were holding up the withdrawal because of me. The storm's moist winds were growing stronger. He was staring at me as he advanced, no special expression on that face so much like my own. I wondered how Dara felt now that her prophecy of the destruction seemed to have been fulfilled. I wondered how her relationship with the boy actually stood. I wondered... many things.
He leaned forward to clasp my hand.
“Father...” he said.
“Merlin.”
I looked into his eyes. I rose to my feet, still holding his hand.
“Do not get up.”
“It is all right.”
I clasped him to me, then released him.
“I am glad,” I said.
Then: “Drink with me.” I offered him the wine, partly to cover my lack of words.
“Thank you.”
He took it, drank some and passed it back.
“Your health,” I said and took a sip myself.
“Sorry I cannot offer you a chair.”
I lowered myself to the ground. He did the same.
“None of the others seemed to know exactly what you have been doing,” he said, “except for Fiona, who said only that it had been very difficult.”
“No matter,” I said. “I am glad to have made it this far, if for no other reason than this. Tell me of yourself, son. What are you like? How has life treated you?”
He looked away.
“I have not lived long enough to have done too much,” he said.
I was curious whether he possessed the shapeshifting ability, but restrained myself from asking at this point. No sense in looking for our differences when I had just met him.
“I have no idea what it was like,” I said, “growing up in the Courts.”
He smiled for the first time.
“And I have no idea what it would have been like anywhere else,” he responded. “I was different enough to be left to myself a lot. I was taught the usual things a gentleman should know-magic, weapons, poisons, riding, dancing. I was told that I would one day rule in Amber. This is not true anymore, is it?”
“It does not seem too likely in the foreseeable future,” I said.
“Good,” he replied. “This is the one thing I did not want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to walk the Pattern in Amber as Mother did and gain power over Shadow, so that I might walk there and see strange sights and do different things. Do you think I might?”
I took another rip and I passed him the wine.
“It is quite possible,” I said, “that Amber no longer exists. It all depends on whether your grandfather succeeded in something he attempted-and he is no longer around to tell us what happened. However, one way or the other, there is a Pattern. If we live through this demon storm, I promise you that I will find you a Pattern, instruct you and see you walking it.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Now will you tell me of your journey here?”
“Later,” I told him. “What did they tell you of me?”
He looked away.
“I was taught to dislike many of the things about Amber,” he finally said. Then, after a pause: “You, I was taught to respect, as my father. But I was reminded that you were of the party of the enemy.”
Another pause. “I remember that time on patrol, when you had come to this place and I found you, after your fight with Kwan. My feelings were mixed. You had just slain someone I had known, yet-I had to admire the stance you took. I saw my face in your own. It was strange. I wanted to know you better.”
The sky had rotated completely and the darkness was now above us, the colors passing over the Courts. The steady advance of the flashing stormfront was emphasized by this. I leaned forward and reached for my boots, began pulling them on. Soon it would be time to begin our retreat.
“We will have to continue our conversation on your home ground,” I said. “It is about time to fly the storm.”
He turned and considered the elements, then looked back out over the abyss.
“I can summon a filmy if you wish.”
“One of those drifting bridges such as you rode on the day we met?”
“Yes,” he answered. “They are most convenient. I-”
There had been a shout from the direction of my assembled relatives. Nothing threatening seemed to be about when I regarded them. So I got to my feet and took a few steps toward them. Merlin rising to follow me.
Then I saw her. A white form, pawing air it seemed, and rising out of the abyss. Her front hoofs finally struck its brink, and she came forward and then stood still, regarding us alclass="underline" our Unicorn.
CHAPTER 13
For a moment, my aches and my fatigue fell away. I felt a tiny twinge of something like hope as I considered the dainty white form which stood before us. A part of me wanted to rush forward, but something much stronger kept me motionless, waiting.
How long we stood thus, I could not tell. Below, on the slopes, the troops had been readying themselves for travel. The prisoners had been bound, horses loaded, equipment secured. But this vast army in the process of march, ordering its gear had suddenly halted. It was not natural that they should have become aware so quickly, but every head that I could see was turned in this direction, toward the Unicorn on the brink, limned against that wild sky.
I was suddenly aware that the wind at my back had grown still, though the thunder continued to rumble and explode and the lightning flares threw dancing shadows before me.
I thought of the other time I had seen the Unicorn-at the recovery of the Shadow-Caine's body, the day I had lost a fight with Gerard. I thought of the stories I had heard... Could she really help us?
The Unicorn took a step forward and halted.
She was such a lovely thing that somehow I was heartened just by looking upon her. It was a kind of aching feeling that she aroused, though; hers was a beauty of the sort to be taken in small doses. And I could somehow sense the unnatural intelligence within that snowy head. I wanted very badly to touch her, but knew that I could not.
She cast her gaze all about. Her eyes lighted upon me, and I would have looked away if I had been able. This was not possible, however, and I returned that gaze in which I read an understanding beyond my own. It was as if she knew everything about me, and in this instant had comprehended all of my recent trials-seeing, understanding, possibly sympathizing. For a moment, I felt that I saw something of pity and a strong love reflected there-and perhaps a touch of humor.