this mischief.' His hands moved apart. 'But if another way could be found – dangerous yet possible – what say you to that?'
'The dangers would count as nothing,' said Arthur fervently. 'The possibility of achieving our goal would be all the calculation we needed.'
An assenting nod from Ambrose. 'I half-suspected, half knew of the multiple Excaliburs and the problem they pose us. But there are also factors in the situation that work to our advantage. To wit – the power that is presently divided among the four swords is in an unstable condition. It yearns to be gathered into one again. Wherever Merdenne has hidden them, they still seek to be united. If each one were to be located, seized from whoever has it, and brought against this one, their metals would meld into one sword, the inscription could be read again, and Excalibur's power would be as before. As would yours be as well, Arthur.'
In my heart I damned myself for a doubt-ridden coward, but I spoke up again. 'A dangerous undertaking, indeed,' said I. 'Now that we have liberated Arthur, as well as one of the Excaliburs, surely Merdenne has alerted those allies of his that hold the other swords. Their vigilance in guarding them will beat a ferocious pitch by now.''
'I think not,' said Ambrose. 'The net of intrigue that binds Merdenne's agents to his service is weakened by corrosive suspicion on all sides. 'Thieves fall out,' as the old saw has it. If Merdenne were to reveal to his accomplices that we had wrested both Arthur and one of the Excaliburs from his grasp, his entire organisation might abandon its allegiance to him. No, I think Merdenne is forced to play a lone hand against us in this matter.'
'But still,' I said. 'His cunning is now augmented with anger at having once been bested. He seems a more formidable opponent now than ever.'
'Are you afraid of him, Hocker?' said Ambrose quietly.
My spine stiffened as his eyes, as well as Arthur's and Tafe's, focused upon me. 'Of course I am,' I replied with some heat. 'If I'm to be the only prudent member of this little alliance, then so be it. I fancy I've acquitted myself as well as anyone here who considers himself absolutely fearless.'
'Well spoken, that.' said Arthur approvingly. 'On the battlefield all hearts tremble, but the courageous hand lifts its weapon nonetheless. Here – I'll drink to that.' He lifted his beer again, swaying a little as he did so. In his weakened state, the alcohol was making a strong impact on him.
'Actually, Hocker,' said Ambrose, 'you may not have to face Merdenne at all in order to acquire the other Excaliburs. I eliminated Merdenne from the scene before; I intend to do so again, leaving you a more open field in which to pursue your quest.'
'But how?' He had already told us of the stratagem he had employed when Tafe and I had gone into the clinic. 'Surely he would not be deceived like that again!'
'Though I always prefer deception to any other means, in this case it is not my plan,' said Ambrose. 'I intend to overpower Merdenne, to bring the full weight of my will and strength against him. As you say, there would be little hope of tricking him once more. I must follow a more dangerous course.'
'How do you mean?'
He spread his pale hands out upon the table. 'While you were in the clinic I had transposed Merdenne and myself into a future time when all London was empty of inhabitants. But I did not use my strength to attempt to hold Merdenne there. It would have been pointless, as his own strength would have been sufficient to elude my grasp and return to this Time. What I intend to do now is to forcibly transpose both Merdenne and myself into a point in Time so distant that neither one of us will be able to return by our own strength. We will be like those Arctic explorers who expend all their energy to push on toward the Pole, despite the knowledge that they lack the means of returning to warmth and comfort.'
'But this is insane!' I cried. 'Why, you'd be lost forever in some dismal period of the future, trapped in the world's wreckage with your bitterest enemy! And what hope could we who are left behind, have of locating the other Excaliburs and restoring the weapon to its proper state? I can't see how our chances are much improved with this proposed gambit of yours.'
'Good old Hocker,' said Ambrose, smiling, 'with your quick, sceptical mind. To answer your first objection, I need not be trapped forever in the far future. All this mucking about with Time in which Merdenne and the Morlocks have engaged has frayed the fabric of the Cosmos to the ripping point. By restoring Excalibur and Arthur's strength thereby, and then destroying that cursed Time Machine, you will restore the natural order of the Universe. The three Excaliburs that Merdenne snatched from their proper points in history will be automatically restored to those points, and I will be fetched back to this time once more. To carry my Arctic analogy a little further, I shall be like that explorer who has gone beyond the point of no return, only to be happily rescued and brought back to civilization by others.'
'That is all well and good,' said I, 'but I fear you may yet find yourself stranded in Time's Arctic wastes. I still don't see how we, without your assistance, are to accomplish the task you have set us. Merdenne has no doubt hidden the swords in the farthest crannies of the Earth. And even if he hasn't revealed how he was tricked out of this one, his henchmen will still be on their guard against anyone who comes snooping after the swords.'
'True enough.' Ambrose remained unruffled in the face of my many protests. 'It will take great courage and guile on the parts of all of you to accomplish what must be done. And failure is more likely than not, no matter how valiantly you struggle. But you won't be merely casting about in the dark for the scattered Excaliburs. As I said earlier, I have suspected for a little while the nature of Merdenne's plotting. Many persons of both high and low rank, odd and conventional positions, are in my employ, for one reason or another. Some of them value the same ideals as I do, others are a little more mercenary. They have all been enlisted to locate the hidden Excaliburs, and have met with some success. The swords are objects of such power, even in their weakened state, that they cannot long be hidden from eyes that know what to look for. These agents of mine will assist you in your task.'
'How are we to contact them?' He drew a sealed envelope from his coat pocket and handed it across the table to me. 'Here is the name and house number of the person whom I feel you should seek out first. It will soon be daylight. I would advise that the three of you retire to my residence and rest until this evening. Work of this kind, no matter how good its intentions, is best done under the cover of darkness, and you will need all your strength as well. In the meantime I will do that which I have set for myself. When you set out once more upon your errand, it will be in a world that holds no direct threat from Merdenne – or assistance from me.'
Arthur tapped the side of his empty glass. 'A course lined with pitfalls,' he mused. 'But I can see no other.'
'We've done all right so far,' said Tafe.
I struck the palm of my hand with the envelope Ambrose had given me, while refraining from voicing the doubts that crept upward along my spine. What good would it do to say that none of us – not even Ambrose – accurately knew the true nature of the accomplices of Merdenne from whom we had to wrest the several Excaliburs? Indeed, how trustworthy were the cohorts of Ambrose into whose hands we were entrusting our lives and mission? Misgivings darker than these, perhaps even unnameable, moved within me.
The sun's edge reddened the oily waters that lapped against the docks. I slipped the envelope that held the thread-end of our destiny into my breast pocket, just over my unquiet heart.
6
A dark place that resisted the ascending light of morning; to this came a figure whose pale face and hands con trasted with his dark cloak. He pushed open the narrow, craze-hinged door and entered, leaving behind him the cramped street where the buildings leaned together to provide pools of shadow for the tattered forms of men and women, London's human refuse, that loitered at the base of the dark walls.
Candles guttered in the room, and shapes moved and watched beyond the yellow circles of light. Another face, so pale it seemed to shed its own ghastly radiance in the dark, turned away from its companion and up at the newcomer. 'Dr. Ambrose.' The voice was flat, unemotional. Only a nar rowing of the eyes revealed the hate and
