On the other hand, maybe she had something interesting to tell me…
I found my shirt and drew it on. I ran a hand through my hair.
«Okay,» I said. «See you in a bit, Luke.»
«Hey,» he responded, «see if you can turn up a walking stick for me, or cut me a staff or something.»
«Isn't that rushing things a bit?» Vinta asked.
«Never can tell,» Luke replied.
So I fetched my blade and took it along. As I followed Vinta out and down the stairs, it occurred to me that when any two of us got together we would probably have something to say about the third.
As soon as we were out of earshot, Vinta remarked, «He took a chance, coming to you.»
«Yes, he did.»
«So things must be going badly for him, if he felt you were the only one he could turn to.»
«I'd say that's true.»
«Also, I'm sure he wants something besides a place to recover.»
«Probably so.»
`Probably,' hell! He must have asked by now.»
«Perhaps.»
«Either he did or he didn't.»
«Vinta, obviously you've told me everything you intend to tell me,» I said. «Well, vice versa. We're even. I don't owe you explanations. If I feel like trusting Luke, I will. Anyhow, I haven't decided yet.»
«So he has made you a pitch. I might be able to help you decide if you'll let me know what it is.»
«No, thanks. You're as bad as he is.»
«It's your welfare I'm concerned with. Don't be so quick to spurn an ally.»
«I'm not,» I said. «But if you stop to think about it, I know a lot more about Luke than I do about you. I think I know the things on which I shouldn't trust him as well as I do the safe ones.»
«I hope you're not betting your life on it.»
I smiled. «That's a matter on which I tend to be conservative.»
We entered the kitchen, where she spoke with a woman I hadn't met yet who seemed in charge there. She left our breakfast orders with her and led me out the side door and onto the patio. From there, she indicated a stand of trees off to the east.
«You ought to be able to find a good sapling in there,» she said, «for Luke's staff.»
«Probably so,» I replied, and we began walking in that direction. «So you really were Gail Lampron,» I said suddenly.
«Yes.»
«I don't understand this body-changing bit at all.»
«And I'm not about to tell you.»
«Care to tell me why not?»
«Nope.»
«Can't or won't?»
«Can't,» she said.
«But if I already know something, would you be willing to add a bit!»
«Maybe. Try me.»
«When you were Dan Martinez you took a shot at one of us. Which one was it?»
«Luke,» she replied.
«Why?»
«I'd become convinced that he was not the one - that is, that he represented a threat to you -»
«-and you just wanted to protect me,» I finished.
«Exactly.»
«What did you mean `that he was not the one'?»
«Slip of the tongue. That looks like a good tree over there.»
I chuckled. «Too thick. Okay, be that way.»
I headed on into the grove. There were a number of possibilities off to the right.
As I moved through the morning-lanced interstices, damp leaves and dew adhering to my boots, I became aware of some unusual scuffing along the way, a series of marks leading off farther to the right, where
«What's that?» I said, kind of rhetorically, since I didn't think Vinta would know either, as I headed toward a dark mass at the shady foot of an old tree.
I reached it ahead of her. It was one of the Bayle dogs, a big brown fellow. Its throat had been torn open. The blood was dark and congealed. A few insects were crawling on it. Off farther to the right I saw the remains of a smaller dog. It had been disemboweled.
I studied the area about the remains. The marks of very large paws were imprinted in the damp earth. At least they were not the three-toed prints of the deadly doglike creatures I had encountered in the past. They seemed simply to be those of a very large dog.
«This must be what I heard last night,» I remarked. «I thought it sounded like a dogfight.»
«When was that?» she asked.
«Some time after you left. I was drowsing.»
Then she did a strange thing. She knelt, leaned and sniffed the track. When she recovered there was a slightly puzzled expression on her face. «What did you find?» I asked.
She shook her head, then stared off to the northeast. «I'm not sure,» she finally said, «but it went that way.»
I studied the ground further, rising and finally moving along the trail it had left. It did run off in that direction, though I lost it after several hundred feet when it departed the grove. Finally, I turned away.
«One of the dogs attacked the others, I guess,» I observed. «We'd better find that stick and head back if we want our breakfasts warm.» Inside, I learned that Luke's breakfast had been sent up to him. I was torn. I wanted to take mine upstairs, to join him and continue our conversation. If I did, though, Vinta would accompany me and the conversation would not be continued. Nor could I talk further with her under those circumstances. So I would have to join her down here, which meant leaving Luke alone for longer than I liked.
So I went along with her when she said, «We will eat in here,» and led me into a large hall. I guessed she had chosen it because my room with its open window was above the patio, and Luke could have heard us talking if we ate out there.
We sat at the end of a long darkwood table, where we were served.
When we were alone again, she asked, «What are you going to do now?»
«What do you mean?» I asked, sipping some grape juice.
She glanced upward. «With him,» she said. «Take him back to Amber?»
«It would seem the logical thing to do,» I replied.
«Good,» she said. «You should probably transport him soon. They have decent medical facilities at the palace.»
I nodded. «Yes, they do.»
We ate a few mouthfuls, then she asked, «That is what you intend doing, isn't it?»
«Why do you ask?»
«Because anything else would be absolutely foolish, and obviously he is not going to want to do it. Therefore, he will try to talk you into something else, something that will give him some measure of freedom while he recovers. You know what a line of shit he has. He'll make it sound like a great idea, whatever it is. You must remember that he is an enemy of Amber, and when he is ready to move again you will be in the way.» «It makes sense,» I said.
«I'm not finished.»
«Oh?»
She smiled and ate a few more bites, to keep me wondering. Finally,
«He came to you for a reason,» she continued. «He could have crawled off to any of a number of places to lick his wounds. But he came to you because he wants something. He's gambling, but it's a calculated thing. Don't go for it, Merle. You don't owe him anything.»
