He chuckled, and the mirror was emptied.
I turned away. I walked on.
More laughter. From the left. My mother's.
From within a red frame of carved flowers, she stared at me, a look of vast amusement upon her features. «Seek him in the Pit!» she said. «Seek him in the Pit!»
I passed, and her laughter continued at my back for a time.
«Hsst!» To my right, a long, narrow mirror bordered in green. «Masster Merlin,» she said. «I have ssought, but the ghosst-light bass not passsed my way.»
«Thanks, Glait. Keep looking, please.»
«Yess. We musst ssit together in a warm place by night once again and drink milk and talk of the old dayss.»
«That would be nice. Yes, we must. If we are not eaten by something bigger.»
«S-s-s-s-s!»
Could that be laughter?
«Good hunting, Glait.»
«Yess. S-s-s!»
… And on. Walking.
«Son of Amber. Wearer of the spikard» - this from within a shadowy niche to my left.
I halted and stared. The frame was white, the glass was gray. Within was a man I had never met. His shirt was black and opened at the neck. He wore a brown leather vest, his hair dark blond, eyes perhaps green. «Yes?»
«A spikard was hidden in Amber,» he stated, «for you to find. It conveys great powers. It also bears a series of spells that will cause its wearer to act in certain ways under certain circumstances.»
«I suspected this,» I said. «What is it set to do?»
«Formerly worn by Swayvill, King of Chaos, it will force the chosen successor to take the throne, behave in a certain fashion, and be amenable. to the suggestions of certain persons.»
«These being?»
«The woman who laughed and cried, `Seek him in the Pit. ' The man in black, who desires your return.»
«Dara and Mandor. They laid these spells upon it?»
«Just so. And the man left it for you to find.»
«I hate to surrender the thing just now,» I said, «when it's proving so useful. Is there a way to lift these spells?»
«Of course. But it should not matter to you.»
«Why not?»
«The ring you wear is not the one of which I speak.»
«I do not understand.»
«But you will. Never fear.»
«Who are you, sir?»
«My name is Delwin, and we may never actually meet - unless certain ancient powers come loose.»
He raised his hand, and I saw that he, too, wore a spikard. He moved it toward me.
«Touch your ring to mine,» he commanded. «Then it can be ordered to bring you to me.»
I raised mine and moved it toward the glass. At the moment they seemed to touch, there was a flash of light and Delwin was gone.
I let my arm fall. I walked on. On an impulse, I stopped before a chest and opened its drawer.
I stared. There was no way to one - up this place, it seemed. The drawer contained a miniature, scaled- down representation of my father's chapel - tiny colored tiles, diminutive burning tapers, even a doll-sized Grayswandir upon the altar.
«The answer lies before you, dear friend,» came a throaty voice I knew yet did not know.
I raised my gaze to a lavender-bordered mirror I had not realized hung above the chest. The lady within had long, coal-black hair and eyes so dark I could not tell where the pupils left off and the irises began. Her complexion was very pale, emphasized perhaps by her pink eye shadow and lip coloring. Those eyes… «Rhanda!» I said.
«You remember! You do remember me!»
«…And the days of our bonedance games,» I said. «Grown and lovely. I thought of you but recently.»
«And I felt the touch of your regard as I slept, my Merlin. I am sorry we parted so, but my parents-»
«I understand,» I said. «They thought me demon or vampire.»
«Yes.» She extended her pale hand through the mirror, took hold of my own, drew it toward her. Within the looking glass, she pressed it to her lips. They were cold. «They would rather I cultivated the acquaintance of the sons and daughters of men and women, than of our own kind.»
When she smiled I beheld her fangs. They had not been apparent in her childhood.
«Gods! You look human!» she said. «Come visit me in Wildwood one day!»
Impulsively, I leaned forward. Our lips met within the mirror. Whatever she was, we had been friends.
«The answer,» she repeated, «lies before you. Come see me!»
The mirror turned red and she was gone. The chapel stood unchanged within the drawer. I closed it and turned away.
Walking. Mirrors to the left. Mirrors to the right. Only myself within them.
Then «Well, well, nephew. Confused?»
«As usual.»
«Can't say as I blame you.»
His eyes were mocking and wise, his hair red as his sister Fiona's or his late brother Brand's. Or Luke's, for that matter.
«Bleys,» I said, «what the hell is going on?»
«I've the rest of Delwin's message,» he said, reaching into his pocket and extending his hand. «Here.»
I reached into the mirror and accepted it. It was yet another spikard, like the one I wore.
«It is the one of which Delwin spoke,» he said. «You must never wear it.»
I studied it for several moments.
«What am I to do with it?» I asked.
«Put it in your pocket. A use may suggest itself at some point.»
«How did you come by it?»
«I switched it after Mandor left it, for the one you wear now.»
«How many are there, anyway?»
«Nine,» he replied.
«I suppose you know all about them.»
«More than most.»
«That wouldn't be hard. I don't suppose you know where my father is?»
«No. But you do. Your lady friend with the sanguinary tastes told you.»
«Riddles,» I said.
«Always preferable to no answer at all,» he responded.
Then he was gone and I walked again. After a while, this was gone, too.
Drifting. Black. Good. So good…
A bit of light found its way through my eyelashes. I shut it out again. But the thunder rolled, and after a time the light leaked in once again.
Dark lines in brown, great horny ridges, ferny forests…
A little later the faculty that evaluates perceptions awoke and pointed out that I was lying on my side staring at the cracked earth between a pair of roots from the tree, clumps of grass dotted here and there across the prospect.
… And I continued to stare, and there was a sudden brightness as of a lightning flash followed almost immediately by a crack of thunder. The earth seemed to shudder with it. I heard the pattering of drops upon the leaves of a tree, the hood of a car. I continued to stare at the largest crack that traversed the valley of my
