left hand and pulled the other's nose. Then he pushed him away, stepped back a pace, and smiled.
«What do you usually charge for lessons?» I overheard him asking as Jurt and I hurried down the path.
x x x
«I wonder how long it does take for one of the Powers to materialize a ghost,» Jurt said as we jogged toward the mountainous mass the trail entered.
«Several hours for Borel alone,» I said, «and if the Logrus wants the Jewel as badly as I'd guess, I'd think it would have summoned an army of ghosts if it could. I'm certain now that this place is very difficult for both Powers to reach. I get the feeling they can only manifest via the barest trickles of energy If that weren't the case, I'd never have gotten this far.»
Jurt reached out as if to touch the Jewel, apparently thought better of it, withdrew his hand.
«It seems you've definitely aligned yourself with the Pattern now,» he observed.
«Looks as if you have, too. Unless you're planning on stabbing me in the back at the last moment,» I said.
He chuckled. Then, «Not funny,» he said. «I've got to be on your side. I can see that the Logrus just created me as a disposable tool. I'd wind up on the scrap heap when the job's done. I've a feeling I might have dissipated already had it not been for the transfusion. So I'm with you, like it or not, and your back is safe.»
We ran on along the now-straight way, its terminus finally grown near. Jurt finally asked, «What is the significance of that pendant? The Logrus seems to want it badly.»
«lt's called the Jewel of Judgment,» I answered. «It is said to be older than the Pattern itself and to have been instrumental in its creation.»
«Why do you think you were led to it and obtained it with such ease?»
«I have no idea whatsoever,» I said. «If you get one before I do, I'll be glad to hear it.»
Soon we reached the place where the trail plunged into the greater darkness. We halted and regarded it.
«No signs posted,» I said, checking above and to either side of that entranceway.
Jurt gave me an odd look.
«You've always had a weird sense of humor, Merlin» he said. «Who'd put up a sign in a place like this?»
«Someone else with a weird sense of humor,» I replied.
«Might as well go on,» he said, turning back toward the entrance.
A bright red exit sign had appeared above the opening. Jurt stared for a moment, then shook his head slowly. We entered.
We took our way down a wandering tunnel - a thing which puzzled me a bit. The artificial quality of most of the rest of this place had led me to expect a ruler-straight trail through a smooth - walled shaft, geometrically precise in all its features. Instead, it seemed as if we were traversing a series of natural caverns - stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, and pools displayed at either hand.
The Jewel cast a baleful light over any features I turned to scrutinize.
«Do you know how to use that stone?» Jurt asked me.
I thought back over my father's story
«When the time comes, I believe that I will,» I said, raising the Jewel and studying it for a moment, then letting it fall again. I was less concerned with it than with the route we were following.
I kept turning my head as we made our way from damp grotto to high cathedral chamber, along narrow passages, down stony waterfalls. There was something familiar here, though I couldn't put my finger on it.
«Anything about this place bring back memories?» I asked him.
«Not for me,» Jurt replied.
We kept going, at one point passing a side cave containing three human skeletons. These being, in their fashion, the first real signs of life I had seen since the onset of this journey, I remarked on it.
Jurt nodded slowly.
«I am beginning to wonder whether we are still walking between shadows,» he said, «or whether we might actually have departed that place and entered Shadow - perhaps when we came into these caves.»
«I could find out by trying to summon the Logrus,» I said, causing Frakir immediately to pulse sharply upon my wrist. «But considering the metaphysical politics of the situation, I'd rather not.»
«I was just going by the colors of all the minerals in the walls,» he said. «The place we left behind kind of favored monochrome. Not that I give a shit about the scenery. What I'm saying is that if we have, it's a kind of victory.»
I pointed at the ground.
«So long as that glowing, trail is there, we're not off the hook.»
«What if we simply walked away from it now?» he asked, turning to the right and taking a single step in that direction.
A stalactite vibrated and crashed to the ground before him. It missed him by about a foot. He was back beside me in an instant.
«Of course, it would be a real shame not to find out where we're headed,» he said.
«Quests are that way. It'd be bad form to miss the fun.»
We hiked on. Nothing allegorical happened around us. Our voices and our footfalls echoed. Water dripped in some of the danker grots. Minerals flashed. Our way seemed a gradual descent.
For how long we walked I could not tell. After a time stony chambers took on a generic appearance-as if we passed regularly through a teleportation device which rerouted us back through the same caves and corridors. This had the effect of blurring my sense of time. Repetitious actions have a lulling effect and-
Suddenly our trail debouched into a larger passage, turned left. Finally, some variation. Only this way, too, looked familiar. We followed our line of light through the darkness. After a time we went by a side passage to the left. Jurt glanced up it and hurried past.
«Any damned thing might be lurking around here,» observed.
«True,» I acknowledged. «But I wouldn't worry about it.»
«Why not?»
«I Think I'm beginning to understand.»
«Mind telling me what's going on?»
«It'd take too long. Just wait. We'll be finding out pretty soon.»
We went by another side passage. Similar, yet different. 0f course.
I increased my pace, anxious to learn the truth. Another sideway. I broke into a run…
Another…
Jurt pounded along beside me, the echoes falling about us. Up ahead. Soon.
Another turning.
And then I slowed, for the passage continued ahead but our trail didn't. It curved to the left, vanishing beneath a big metal-bound door. I reached out to my right to where the hook was supposed to be, located it, removed the key that hung there. I inserted it, turned it, withdrew it, rehung it.
I don't like thif place, boss, Frakir noted.
I know.
«Seems as if you know what you're doing,» Jurt remarked.
«Yep,» I said, then added, «Up to a point,» as I realized that this door opened outward rather than inward.
I caught hold of the large handle to the left and began to pull upon it.
«Mind telling me where we've wound up?» he asked.
The big door creaked, commenced a slow movement as I walked backward.
«These are amazingly like a section of caverns in Kolvir beneath Amber Castle,» I replied.
«Great,» he said. «And what's behind the door?»
«This is much like the entrance to the chamber which houses the Pattern in Amber.»
«Wonderful,» he said. «I'll probably go up in a puff of smoke if I set foot inside.»
«But it is not quite the same,» I continued. «We had Suhuy come and look at the Pattern itself before I walked it. He didn't suffer any ill effects from the proximity.»
