with my companions.
I found myself looking at an absolutely lovely animal - black and orange - striped like a tiger. In this, he resembled Glemdenning with his red and black striping. In that I didn't know where Benedict's mount came from either, I was glad to let it be the place of magic.
I advanced slowly.
«Merle! Anything wrong?»
I didn't want to shout back a reply and frighten the poor beast. I placed my hand gently upon his neck.
«It's okay,» I said. «I like you. I'll undo it and we'll be friends, all right?»
I took my time untangling the reins, using my other hand to massage his neck and shoulders. When he was free he did not pull away, but seemed to study me.
«Come on,» I said, taking up the reins, «this way.»
I led him back the way I had come, talking the while. I realized by the time we emerged that I actually liked him. I met Luke about then, a blade in his hand.
«My God!» he said. «No wonder it took you so long! You stopped to paint it!»
«You like, huh?»
«You ever want to get rid of that one, I'll make you a good offer.»
«I don't think I'll be getting rid of him,» I said.
«What's his name?»
«Tiger,» I said without premeditation, and then I mounted.
We headed back to the trail, where even Dalt eyed my mount with something like pleasure. Nayda reached out and stroked the black and orange mane.
«Now we may be able to make it in time,» she said, «if we hurry.»
I mounted, and I guided Tiger over onto the trail. I anticipated all manner of reactions to the trail, as I recalled from my father's story the possibly intimidating effects of the thing upon animals. It didn't seem to bother him, though, and I released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
«In time for what?» I asked as we found a formation - Luke in the lead, Dalt behind him and to the right, Nayda to the left of the trail, rear, me to her right and somewhat back.
«I cannot tell for certain,» she said, «because she is still sedated. However, I do know that she is no longer being moved; and I have the impression that her abductors have taken refuge in the tower, where the trail is much wider.»
«Hm,» I said. «You wouldn't have happened to notice the rate of change in width per unit of distance traveled on this trail, would you?»
«I was in liberal arts,» she said, smiling. «Remember.»
She turned suddenly then, glancing in Luke's direction. He was still an entire horse's length ahead, eyes front-though he had looked back moments before.
«Damn you!» she said softly. «Being with you both this way gets me to thinking about school. Then I start talking that way-»
«In English,» I said.
«Did I say that in English?»
«Yes.»
«Shit! Help me if you catch me at it, will you?»
«Of course,» I said. «It seems to show you'd enjoyed it somewhat, despite its being a job Dara'd laid on you. And you're probably the only ty' iga with a degree from Berkeley.»
«Yes, I enjoyed it - confused as I was over which of you was which. Those were the happiest days in my life, with you and Luke, back in school. For years I tried to learn your mothers' names so I'd know who I was supposed to be protecting. You were both so cagey, though.»
«It's in the genes, I guess,» I observed. «I enjoyed your company as Vinta Bayle - appreciated your protection as others, too.»
«I suffered,» she said, «when Luke began his yearly attempts on your life. If he were the son of Dara I was supposed to protect, it shouldn't have mattered. But it did. I was already very fond of both of you. All I could tell was that you were both of the blood of Amber. I didn't want either of you harmed. The hardest thing was when you went away, and I was sure Luke had lured you into the mountains of New Mexico to kill you. By then, I suspected very strongly that you were the one, but I was not certain. I was in love with Luke, I had taken over the body of Dan Martinez, and I was carrying a pistol. I followed you everywhere I could, knowing that if he tried to harm you the geas I was under would force me to shoot the man I loved.»
«You shot first, though. We were just standing talking, by the side of the road He shot back in selfdefense.»
«I know. But everything seemed to indicate that you were in peril. He'd taken you to a perfect spot for an execution, at an ideal time-»
«No,» I said. «Your shot went wide, and you left yourself open for what followed.»
«I don't understand what you're saying.»
«You solved the problem of possibly having to shoot Luke by setting up a situation where he shot you.»
«I couldn't do that, under a geas.»
«Maybe not consciously,» I said. «So something stronger than the geas found a way.»
«You really believe that?»
«Yes, and it's all right for you to admit it now. You're released from the geas. My mother told me. You told me - I think.»
She nodded. «I don't know exactly when it came undone, or how,» she said. «But it's gone - though I'd still try to protect you if something threatened. It's good that you and Luke are really friends, and-»
«So why the secret?» I interrupted. «Why not just tell him you were Gail? Surprise the hell out of him pleasantly.»
«You don't understand,» she said. «He broke up with me, remember? Now I've another chance. It's like it was, all over again. He - likes me a lot. I'm afraid to say, `I'm really the girl you once broke up with. ' It might get him to thinking of all the reasons why, and make him decide he was right the first time.»
«That's silly,» I said. «I don't know what reasons he gave. He never told me about it. Just said there'd been an argument. But I'm sure they were specious. I know he liked you. I'm sure he really broke up with you because he was a son of Amber about to come home on some very nasty business, and there was no room for what he thought was a normal shadow girl in the picture. You'd played your part too well.»
«Is that why you broke up with Julia?» she asked.
«No,» I said.
«Sorry.»
I noticed the black trail had widened about a foot since we'd begun talking. I was in the market for a mathematical problem just then.
Chapter 10
And so we rode - six paces along a city street, amid the blare of horns, our black way edged by skid marks; a quarter mile along a black sand beach, beside a soft green sea, stirring palms to our left; across a tarnished snowfield; beneath a bridge of stone, our way a dead and blackened streambed; then to prairie; back to wooded way - and Tiger never flinched, even when Dalt put a booted foot through a windshield and broke off an antenna.
The way continued to widen, to perhaps twice its width when I had first come upon it. Stark trees were more common within it now, standing like photographic negatives of their bright mates but a few feet off the trail. While the leaves and branches of these latter were regularly stirred, we felt no wind at all. The sounds of our voices, of our mounts' hooves - came somehow muted now, also. Our entire course had a constant, wavery twilight
