Nine Princes In Amber tcoa-1 Page 11

  “Hello, Bleys,” I said, tucking the card into my belt with the others. “Thanks for the assistance.”

  I suddenly felt weak and realized the blood was still flowing from my left shoulder.

  “You’re wounded!” he said, throwing an arm about my shoulders, and I started to nod but fainted instead.

  Later that night, I sprawled in a big chair within the fortress and drank whiskey. We smoked and passed the bottle and talked.

  “So you were actually in Amber?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “And you wounded Eric in your duel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Damn! I wish you’d killed him!” Then he reflected. “Well, maybe not. Then you’d have held the throne. I might have a better chance against Eric than I’d have had against you. I don’t know. What are your plans?”

  I decided upon complete honesty.

  “We all want the throne,” I said. “so there’s no reason to lie to one another. I’m not about to try killing you for it — that would be foolish — but on the other hand I’m not about to renounce my claim because I’m enjoying your hospitality. Random would like it, but he’s pretty much out of the picture. No one has heard from Benedict for some time now. Gerard and Caine seem to he supporting Eric, rather than promoting their own claims. The same goes for Julian. That leaves Brand and our sisters. I don’t know what the hell Brand is up to these days, but I do know that Deirdre is without power, unless she and Llewella can raise something in Rebma, and Flora is Eric’s creature. I don’t know what Fiona is up to.”

  “And so that leaves us,” said Bleys, pouring us each another drink. “Yes, you’re right. I don’t know what’s going on in everone’s head right now, but I can assess our relative strengths and I think I’m in the best position. You made a wise choice in coming to me. Support me, and I’ll give you a regency.”

  “Bless your heart,” I said. We’ll see.”

  We sipped our whiskies.

  “What else is there to do?” he asked, and I realized that the question was important.

  “I might raise an army of my own, to lay siege to Amber,” I told him.

  “Where among Shadows lies your army?” he inquired.

  “That, of course, is my affair.” I said. “I don’t think I’d oppose you. When it comes to monarchs, I’d like to see either you, me, Gerard, or Benedict — if he still lives — upon the throne.”

  “Preferably you, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  “Then we understand one another. So I think we can work together, for the time being.”

  “And I,” I agreed, “else I would not have delivered myself into your hands.”

  He smiled within his heard.

  “You needed someone,” he said, “and I was the lesser evil.”

  “True,” I agreed.

  “I wish Benedict were here. I wish Gerard had not sold out.”

  “Wishes, wishes,” I told him, “Wish in one hand and do something else in the other, and squeeze them both and see which comes true.”

  “Well taken,” he said.

  We smoked a while in silence.

  “How far can I trust you?” he asked.

  “As far as I can trust you.”

  “Then let’s make a deal. Frankly, I had thought you dead for many years. I hadn’t foreseen your showing up at a crucial time and pressing your own claim. But you’re here, and that’s that. Let’s form an alliance, combine our forces and lay siege to Amber. Whichever of us lives through it winds up on top. If we both do, well — hell! — we can always fight a duel!”

  I thought about it. It sounded like the best deal I’d get anywhere.

  So I said, “I’d like to sleep on it. Tell you in the morning, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  We finished our drinks then and fell to reminiscing. My shoulder throbbed a bit, but the whisky helped, and the salve which Bleys had supplied. After a time, we were almost maudlin.

  It is strange, I guess, to have kin and to be without kinship, for as long as our lives had led us along our separate paths. Lord! We talked the moon out of the heavens before either of us grew tired. Then he clapped me upon my good shoulder and told me that he was beginning to feel his load and that a servant would be by in the morning to bring my breakfast. I nodded, we embraced, and he retired.

  Then I moved to the window, and from that vantage I could see down far into the chasm.

  The campfires below burned like stars. There were thousands of them. I could tell that Bleys had assembled a mighty force, and I was envious. But, on the other hand, it was a good thing. If anyone could take Eric, it was probably Bleys. He wouldn’t be a bad thing in Amber; it was just that I preferred me.

  Then I watched a while longer, and I saw that strange shapes moved among the lights. I wondered then as to the nature of his army.

  Whatever, it was more than I possessed.

  I made my way back to the table and poured me a final drink. Before I quaffed it, however, I lighted a taper. In its light, I withdrew the pack of cards I had stolen.

  I spread them before me and I came across the one depicting Eric. I laid it in the center of the table and put the rest away.

  After a time, it came to life; and I saw Eric in his sleeping garments and I heard the words, “Who is it?” His arm was bound.

  “Me,” I said, “Corwin. How are you?”

  He cursed then, and I laughed. This was a dangerous game and maybe the whisky had contributed to it, but I continued: “I just felt like telling you that all goes well with me. I also wanted to advise you that you were right when you spoke of the uneasy head. You won’t be wearing it long, though. So cheerio! Brother! The day I come again to Amber is the day you die! Just thought I’d tell you, since that day is not too far off.”

  “Come ahead,” he told me, “and I’ll not want for grace in the matter of your passing.”

  His eyes focused on me then and we were close.

  I thumbed my nose at him and passed my palm over the card.

  It was like hanging up a telephone, and I shuffled Eric in with all the rest.

  I wondered though, as I approached sleep, concerning those troops of Bleys which occupied the defile below, and I thought upon Eric’s defenses.

  It would not be easy.

  Chapter 6

  The land was known as Avernus, and the assembled troops were not quite men. I reviewed them the following morning, walking behind Bleys. They were all of them around seven feet in height, had very red skins and little hair, catlike eyes, and six-digited hands and feet. They wore garments that looked as light as silk, but were woven of something else and were mainly gray or blue in color. Each bore two short blades, hooked at the end. Their ears were pointed and their many fingers clawed.

  The climate was warm and the colors bewildering, and everyone thought we were gods.

  Bleys had found a place where the religion involved brother-gods who looked like us and had their troubles. Invariably, in the terms of this mythos, an evil brother would seize power and seek to oppress the good brothers. And of course there was the legend of an Apocalypse where they themselves would be called upon to stand on the side of the surviving good brothers.

  I wore my left arm in a black sling and considered those who were about to die.

  I stood before a trooper and looked up at him. I asked him, “Do you know who Eric is?”

  “The Lord of Evil,” he replied.

  I nodded and said, “Very good,” and passed on.

  Bleys had custom-made cannon fodder.

  “How large is your army?” I asked him.

  “Around fifty thousand,” he replied.

  “I salute those who are about to Give Their All,” I told him. “You can’t take Amber with fifty thousand men, even providing you can get them all to the foot of Kolvir intact — and you can’t It’s silly even to consider using these poor bastards against the immortal city, with their toy swords and all.”

  “
I know,” he said, “but they’re not all I’ve got.”

  “You’ll need a lot more.”

  “Then how do three navies sound, half again the size of Caine’s and Gerard’s fleets put together?

  “I’ve a way.”

  “Not yet enough,” said I, “and barely a beginning.”

  “I know. I’m still building,” he said.

  “Well, we’d better build a lot more. Eric will sit in Amber and kill us as we march through Shadows. When the remaining forces finally reach the foot of Kolvir, he’ll decimate them there. Then there will be the climb to Amber. How many hundred do you think will remain when we reach the city? Enough to be dispatched in five minutes, at almost no cost to Eric. If this is the best you’ve got, brother Bleys, I have misgivings concerning this expedition.”

  “Eric has announced his coronation in three months’ time,” he said. “I can triple my forces by then — at least. Perhaps I can even have a quarter of a million Shadow troops to lead against Amber. There are other worlds like this one, and I will penetrate them. I will raise me such a force of holy crusaders as has never been sent against Amber before.”

  “And Eric will have had the same time to intensify his defenses. I don’t know, Bleys … it’s almost a suicide run. I didn’t know the full situation when I came here —”

  “And what have you brought with you?” he asked. “Nothing! It is rumored that you once commanded troops. Where are they?”

  I turned away from him.

  “They are no more,” I said. “I am certain.”

  “Gould you not find a Shadow of your Shadow?”

  “I don’t want to try,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  “Then what real good are you to me?”

  “I’ll go,” I told him, “if that’s all you had in mind, if that’s all you really wanted me around for — more bodies.”

  “Wait!” he cried out. “I spoke hastily. I don’t want to lose your counsel, if nothing else. Stay with me, please. I will even apologize.”

  “That is not necessary,” I said, knowing what this thing means to a prince of Amber. “I’ll stay. I think I can help you.”

  “Good!” and he clapped me upon my good shoulder.

  “And I’ll get you more troops,” I added. “Never fear.”

  And I did.

  I walked among Shadows, and found a race of furry creatures, dark and clawed and fanged, reasonably manlike, and about as intelligent as a freshman in the high school of your choice — sorry, kids, but what I mean is they were loyal, devoted, honest, and too easily screwed by bastards like me and my brother. I felt like the dee-jay of your choice.

  Around a hundred thousand worshiped us to the extent of taking up arms.

  Bleys was impressed and shut up. After a week my shoulder was healed. After two months we had our quarter million and more.

  “Corwin, Corwin! You’re still Corwin!” he said, and we took another drink.

  But I was feeling kind of funny. Most of these troops were destined to die. I was the agent responsible for much of this. I felt some remorse, though I knew the difference between Shadow and Substance. Each death would be a real death, however, I knew that also.

  And some nights I dwelled upon the playing cards. The missing Trumps had been restored to the pack I held. One of them was a portrait of Amber itself, and I knew it could bear me back into the city. The others were those of our dead or missing relatives. And one was Dad’s, and I skipped it over quickly. He was gone.

  I stared at each face for a long while to consider what might be gained from each. I cast the cards several times, and the same thing came up on each occasion.

  His name was Caine.

  He wore satin that was green and black, and a dark three-cornered hat with a green plume of feathers trailing down behind. At his belt there was an emerald-studded dagger. He was dark.

  “Caine,” I said.

  After a time, there came a reply.

  “Who?” he asked.

  “Corwin,” said I.

  “Corwin! Is this a joke?”

  “No.”

  “What do you want?”

  “What’ve you got?”

  “You know that.” and his eyes shifted and lay upon me, but I watched his hand, which was near to his dagger.

  “Where are you?”

  “With Bleys.”

  “There was a rumor you’d shown up in Amber recently — and I wondered at the bandages on Eric’s arm.”

  “You’re looking at the reason,” I said. “What’s your price?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let us be frank and to the point. Do you think Bleys and I can take Eric?”

  “No, that’s why I’m with Eric. And I won’t sell out my armada either, if that’s what you’re after — and I’d imagine you are.”

  I smiled.

  “Perceptive brother,” I replied. “Well, it’s been nice talking to you. See you in Amber — maybe.”

  I moved my hand, and he cried out.

  “Wait!”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t even know your offer.”

  “Yes, you do,” I said. “You’ve guessed it, and you’re not interested.”

  “I didn’t say that. It’s just that I know where the equities lie.”

  “You mean the power.”

  “Okay, the power. What’ve you got to offer?”

  We talked for maybe an hour, after which time the northern seaways were open to the three phantom fleets of Bleys, which might enter expecting reinforcements.

  “If you fail, there’ll be three beheadings in Amber,” said he.

  “But you don’t really expect that, do you?” I asked.

  “No. I think either you or Bleys will sit upon the throne before too very long. I’ll be satisfied to serve the winner. That regency would be nice. I’d still like Random’s head as part of the price, though.”

  “No deal,” I said. “Take it as you’ve heard it or forget it.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  I smiled and placed my palm upon the card and he was gone.

  Gerard was a matter I’d leave for the morrow. Caine had exhausted me.

  I rolled into bed and slept.

  Gerard, when he learned the score, agreed to lay off us. Mainly because it was I who was asking, as he had considered Eric a lesser of potent evils.

  I concluded the deal quickly, promising him everything he asked, as no heads were involved.

  Then I reviewed the troops again and told them more of Amber. Strangely, they got along like brothers, the big red guys and the little hairy ones.

  It was sad and it was true.

  We were their gods, and that was that.

  I saw the fleet, sailing on a great ocean the color of blood. I wondered. In the Shadow worlds through which they sailed, many of them would be lost.

  I considered the troops of Avemus, and my recruits from the place called Ri’ik. Theirs was the task of marching to Earth and Amber.

  I shuffled my cards and cast them. I picked up the one called Benedict. For a long while I searched it, but there was nothing but the cold.

  Then I seized upon Brand’s. For another long while there was nothing but the cold.

  Then there came a scream. It was a horrible, tormented thing.

  “Help me!” came the cry.

  “How can I?” I asked.

  “Who is that?” he asked, and I saw his body writhe.

  “Corwin.”

  “Deliver me from this place, brother Corwin! Anything you name shall be yours in return!”

  “Where are you?”

  “I —”

  And there came a swirling of things my mind refused to conceive of, and another scream, torn forth as though in agony and ending in silence.

  Then the coldness came in again.

  I found that I was shaking. From what, I did not know.

  I lit a cigarette and moved to the window to consider the night, leaving the cards where they h
ad fallen upon the table-top of my room within the garrison.

  The stars were tiny and misted over. There were no constellations that I could recognize. A small blue moon dropped quickly through the darkness. The night had come on with a sudden, icy chill and I wrapped my cloak close about me. I thought back to the winter of our disastrous campaign in Russia. Gods! I’d almost frozen to death! And where did it all lead?

  To the throne of Amber, of course.

  For that was sufficient justification for anything.

  But what of Brand? Where was he? What was happening about him, and who had done this thing to him?

  Answers? None.

  I wondered, though, as I stared up and out, tracing the path of that blue disk in its descent. Was there something I was missing in the whole picture, some factor I didn’t quite dig?

  No answer.

  I seated myself at the table once more, a small drink at my hand.

  I fingered my way through the pack and found Dad’s card.

  Oberon, Lord of Amber, stood before me in his green and his gold. High, wide, and thick, his beard black and shot with silver, his hair the same. Green rings in gold settings and a blade of golden color. It had once seemed to me that nothing could ever displace the immortal liege of Amber from his throne. What had happened? I still didn’t know. But he was gone. How had my father met with his end?

  I stared and concentrated.

  Nothing, nothing —

  Something?

  Something.

  There came a responding movement, though ever so weak, and the figure on the card turned in upon itself and shriveled to a shadow of the man he had been.

  “Father?” I asked.

  Nothing.

  “Father?”

  “Yes …” Very faint and distant, as though through a seashell, immersed in its monotone humming.

  “Where are you? What has happened?”

  “I …” Long pause.

  “Yes? This is Corwin, your son. What came to pass in Amber, that you are gone?”

  “My time,” he said, sounding even further away.

  “Do you mean that you abdicated? None of my brothers has given me the tale, and I do not trust them sufficiently to ask them. Eric now holds the city and Julian guards the Forest of Arden. Caine and Gerard maintain the seas. Bleys would oppose all and I am allied with him. What are your wishes in this matter?”