It was not the same as that lurking scrutiny when Mask had regarded me at Flora's place in San Francisco, though. Could it just be someone I knew trying to reach me and having trouble focusing? Injured, perhaps? Or-
«Luke?» I said. «Is that you?»
But there was no response and the feeling began to fade. Finally, it was gone.
«Are you all right?» Coral asked.
«Yeah, it's okay,» I said. «I guess. Someone tried to reach me and then decided otherwise.»
«Reach? Oh, you mean those Trumps you use?»
«Yes.»
«But you said `Luke'…» she mused. «None of your family is named-»
«You might know him as Rinaldo, Prince of Kashfa,» I said.
She chuckled.
«Rinny? Sure I know him. He didn't like us to call him Rinny, though…»
«You really do know him? Personally, I mean?»
«Yes,» she replied, «though it's been a long time. Kashfa's pretty close to Begma. Sometimes we were on good terms, sometimes not so good. You know how it is. Politics. When I was little there were long spells when we were pretty friendly. There were lots of state visits, both ways. We kids would often get dumped together.»
«What was he like in those days?»
«Oh, a big, gawky, red-haired boy. Liked to show off a lot - how strong he was, how fast he was. I remember how mad he got at me once because I beat him in a footrace.»
«You beat Luke in a race?»
«Yes. I'm a very good runner.»
«You must be.»
«Anyway, he took Nayda and me sailing a few times, and on some long hikes. Where is he now, anyway?»
«Drinking with a Cheshire cat.»
«What?»
«It's a long story:»
«I'd like to hear it. I've been worried about him since the coup.»
Mm… I thought quickly about how to edit this so as not to tell the daughter of the Begman prime minister any state secrets, such as Luke's relationship to the House of Amber… So, «I've known him for quite some time,» I began. «He recently incurred the wrath of a sorcerer who drugged him and saw him banished to this peculiar bar…»
I went on for a long while then, partly because I had to stop and summarize Lewis Carroll. I also had to promise her the loan of one of the Thari editions of Alice from the Amber library. When I finally finished, she was laughing.
«Why don't you bring him back?» she said then.
Ouch. I couldn't very well say that his shadow-shifting abilities would work against this until he came down. So, «It's part of the spell; it's working on his own sorcerous ability,» I said. «He can't be moved till the drug wears off.
«How interesting;» she observed. «Is Luke really a sorcerer himself?»
«Uh… yes,» I said.
«How did he gain that ability? He showed no signs of it when I knew him.»
«Sorcerers come by their skills in various ways,» I explained. «But you know that,» and I suddenly realized that she was smarter than that smiling, innocent expression indicated. I'd a strong feeling she was trying to steer this toward an acknowledgment of Pattern magic on Luke's part, which of course would say interesting things about his paternity. «And his mother, Jasra, is something of a sorceress herself.»
«Really? I never knew that.» Damn! Coming and going…
«Well, she'd learned it somewhere»
«What about his father»
«I can't really say,» I replied.
«Did you ever meet him?»
«Only in passing,» I said.
A lie could make the matter seem really important if she had even a small idea as to the truth. So I did the only other thing I could think of. There was no one seated at the table behind her, and there was nothing beyond the table but a wall. I wasted one of my spells, with an out of sight gesture and a single mutter.
The table flipped over as it flew back and crashed against the wall. The noise was spectacular. There were loud exclamations from several other patrons, and I leaped to my feet.
«Is everyone all right?» I said, looking about as if for casualties.
«What happened?» she asked me.
«Freak gust of wind or something,» I said. «Maybe we'd better be moving on.»
«All right,» she said, regarding the debris. «I'm not looking for trouble.»
I tossed some coins onto our table, rose, and headed back outside, talking the while of anything I could think of to put some distance between us and the subject. This had the desired effect, because she did not attempt to retrieve the question.
Continuing our stroll, I headed us in the general direction of West Vine. When we reached it I decided to head downhill to the harbor, recalling her fondness for sailing. But she put her hand on my arm and halted me.
«Isn't there a big stairway up the face of Kolvir?» she asked. «I believe your father once tried to sneak troops up it and got caught and had to fight his way along.»
I nodded. «Yes, that's true,» I said. «Old thing. It goes way back. It's not used very much these days. But it's still in decent shape.»
«I'd like to see it.»
«All right.»
I turned to the right and we headed back, uphill, toward the Main Concourse. A pair of knights wearing Llewella's livery passed us, headed in the other direction, saluting as they went by. I could not help but wonder whether they were on a legitimate errand or were following some standing order to keep an eye on my movements. The thought must have passed through Coral's mind, also, because she quirked an eyebrow at me. I shrugged and kept going. When I glanced back a bit later, they were nowhere to be seen.
We passed people in the garb of a dozen regions as we strolled, and the air was filled with the smells of cooking from open stalls, to satisfy a multitude of tastes. At various points in our career up the hill, we stopped for meat pies, yogurts; sweets. The stimuli were too overpowering for any but the most sated to ignore.
I noticed the lithe way she moved about obstacles. It wasn't just gracefulness. It was more a state of beingpreparedness, I guess. Several times I noticed her glancing back in the direction from which we had come. I looked myself, but there was nothing unusual to see. Once, when a man stepped suddenly from a doorway we were approaching, I saw her hand flash toward the dagger at her belt, then drop away.
«There is so much activity, so much going on here…,» she commented after a time.
«True. Begma is less busy; I take it?»
«Considerably.»
«Is it a pretty safe place to stroll about?»
«Oh, yes.»
«Do the women as well as the men take military training there?»
«Not ordinarily. Why?»
«Just curious.»
«I've had some training in armed and unarmed combat though,» she said.
«Why was that?» I asked.
«My father suggested it. Said it could come in hand for a relative of someone in his position. I thought he might be right. I think he really wanted a son.»
«Did your sister do it, too?»
«No; she wasn't interested.»
«You planning on a diplomatic career?»
