Julian placed three cups upon the table, filled them with Bayle's Best, gestured for us to help ourselves as he corked the bottle, then picked up the remaining cup and took a swallow before either of us could do more than sniff ours. A quick assurance that we weren't being poisoned and that he wanted to talk business.
«When I met with him we each brought two retainers along,» he said.
«Armed?» I asked.
He nodded.
«More for show, really.»
«Were you mounted or on foot?» Luke asked.
«On foot,» he replied. «We each left our lines at the same time and proceeded at the same pace till we met there in the middle, several hundred paces from either side.»
«I see,» Luke said. «No hitches?»
«None. We talked and returned.»
«When was this?»
«Around sundown.»
«Did he seem to be a man in a normal state of mind?»
«I'd say. I count a certain arrogant posturing and a few insults toward Amber as normal for Dalt.»
«Understandable,» Luke said. «And he wanted me or my mother, or both? And failing to get us, he threatened to attack?»
«Yes.»
«Did he give any indication as to why he wants us?»
«None,» Julian replied.
Luke took a sip of his wine.
«Did he specify whether he wanted us dead or alive?» he asked.
«Yes. He wants you alive,» Julian answered.
«What are your impressions?»
«If I give you to him, I'm rid of you,» Julian said. «If I spit in his eye and take him on in battle, I'm rid of him. Either way, I come out ahead.»
Then his gaze moved to the wine cup, which Luke had picked up with his left hand, and for an instant his eyes widened. I realized he had just then noticed that Luke was wearing Vialle's ring.
«It looks as if I get to kill Dalt, anyway,» he concluded.
«By impressions,» Luke went on, unperturbed. «I meant, do you believe he will really attack? Do you have any idea where he came from? Any indication where he might be headed when he leaves here - if he leaves?»
Julian swirled his wine in his cup.
«I have to go under the assumption that he means what he says and plans to attack. When we first became aware of his troop movements, he was advancing from the general direction of Begma and Kashfa - probably Eregnor, since he hangs out there a lot. Your guess is as good as anyone's as to where he wants to go if he leaves here.»
Luke took a quick swallow of wine a fraction of a second too late for it to conceal what appeared to be a sudden smile. No, I realized right then, Luke's guess was not as good as anyone else's. It was probably a hell of a lot better. I took a quick drink myself, though I'm not sure what expression I might have been concealing.
«You can sleep here,» Julian said. «If you're hungry, I'll have some food brought in. We'll set up this meeting for you at daybreak.»
Luke shook his head.
«Now,» Luke said, with another subtle but obvious display of the ring. «We want it set up right away.»
Julian studied him for several pulsebeats. Then, «You'll not be in the clearest sight of either side in the dark, especially with snow coming down,» he said. «Some little misunderstanding could result in an attack, from either side.»
«If both of my companions bore large torches - and if both of his did the same-» he suggested, «we ought to be visible to both sides at a few hundred yards.»
«Possibly,» Julian said. «All right. I'll have the message sent to his camp, and I'll choose two retainers to accompany you.»
«I already know who I want to have with me,» Luke said. «Yourself and Merlin here.»
«You are a curious individual,» Julian observed. «But yes, I agree. I would like to be there when whatever happens, happens.»
Julian moved to the front of his tent, opened the flap, and summoned an officer with whom he spoke for several minutes. In this space, I asked, «You know what you're doing, Luke?»
«Certainly,» he replied.
«I've a feeling this is a little more than playing it by ear,» I said. «Any reason why you can't tell me your plan?»
He appraised me for a moment, then said, «I only recently realized that I, too, am a son of Amber. We've met, and we've seen that we're too much like each other. Okay. That's good. It means we can do business, right?»
I allowed myself to frown. I wasn't sure what he was trying to say.
He clasped my shoulder lightly.
«Don't worry,» he said. «You can trust me. Not that you have a great deal of choice at this point. But you may a a bit later. I want you to remember then that, whatever happens, you must not interfere.»
«What do you think is going to happen?»
«We haven't the time or the privacy to speculate,» he said. «So let it go, and remember everything I said this evening.»
«As you said, I haven't much choice at this point.»
«I want you to remember it later,» he said, as Julian lowered the flap and turned toward us.
«I'll take you up on that meal,» Luke called to him. «How about you, Merle? Hungry?»
«Lord, no!» I replied. «I just sat through a state dinner.»
«Oh?» he inquired almost too casually. «What was the; ocasion?»
I began to laugh. It was too much for one day. I was about to tell him that we hadn't the time or the rivacy. But Julian had just reopened the tent flap and was calling for an orderly, and I wanted to throw a few curve balls through Luke's broken field just to see what they did to his composure.
«Oh, it was for the Begman prime minister, Orkuz, and some of his staff,» I explained.
He waited while I pretended to take a long drink of wine. Then I lowered it and said, «That's all.»
«Come on, Merlin. What's it about? I've been relatively square with you recently.»
«Oh?» I said.
For a minute I didn't think he'd see the humor in it; but then he began to laugh, too.
«Sometimes the mills of the gods grind too damned fast and we get buried in grist,» he observed. «Look, how about giving me this one for free. I don't have anything brief to trade right now. What's he want?»
«You'll bear in mind that this is classified until tomorrow?»
«Okay. What happens tomorrow?»
«Arkans, Duke of Shadburne, gets crowned in Kashfa.»
«Holy shit!» Luke said. He glanced at Julian, then back at me. «That was a damned clever choice on Random's part,» he said after a time. «I didn't think he'd move this fast.»
He stared off into some vanishing point for a long while. Then he said, «Thanks.»
«Well, does it help or hurt?» I asked.
«Me, or Kashfa?» he said.
«I hadn't split it down that fine.»
«That's okay, because I'm not sure how to take this. I need to do some thinking. Get the big picture.»
I stared at him and he smiled again.
«It is interesting,» he added. «You got anything else for me?»
«That's enough,» I said.
«Yeah, probably you're right,» he agreed. «Don't want to overload the systems. Think we're losing touch with the simple things, old buddy?»
