'Corwin--If you would...?' Oberon said.
I drew Grayswandir and it, too, ventured into fighting song--as I had only heard it do on great battlefields in the past. The two tones joined together into a devastating duet.
'Cut Luke.'
Luke nodded and I sliced the back of his hand with Grayswandir. An incision line occurred, reddening immediately. The sounds from our blades rose and fell. I sheathed Grayswandir to shut her up. Luke did the same with Werewindle.
'There's a lesson there somewhere,' Luke said. 'Damned If I can see what it is, though.'
'They're brother and sister weapons, you know, with a certain magic in common. In fact, they've a powerful secret in common,' Oberon said. 'Tell him, Corwin.'
'It's a dangerous secret, sir.'
'The time has come for it to be known. You may tell him,'
'All right,' I said. 'Back in the early days of creation, the gods had a series of rings their champions used in the stabilization of Shadow.'
'I know of them,' Luke said. 'Merlin wears a spikard.'
'Really,' I said. 'They each have the power to draw on many sources in many shadows. They're all different.'
'So Merlin said.'
'Ours were turned into swords, and so they remain.'
'Oh?' Luke said. 'What do you know?'
'What do you deduce from the fact that they can do you harm when another weapon cannot?'
'Looks as if they're somehow involved in our enchantment,' I ventured.
'That's right,' Oberon said. 'In whatever conflict lies ahead--no matter what side you are on--you will need exotic protection against the oddball power of someone like Jurt.'
'Jurt?' I said.
'Later,' Luke told me. 'I'll fill you in.'
I nodded.
'Just how is this protection to be employed. How do we lot back to full permeability?' I asked.
'I will not say,' he replied, 'but someone along the way here should be able to tell you. And whatever happens, my blessing--which is probably no longer worth much--lies on both of you.'
We bowed and said thanks. When we looked up again, he was gone.
'Great,' I said. 'Back for less than an hour and involved in Amber ambiguity.'
Luke nodded.
'Chaos and Kashfa seem just as bad, though,' he said. 'Maybe the state's highest function is to grind out insoluble problems.'
I chuckled as we moved on, regarding ourselves in dozens of pools of light. For several paces nothing happened, then a familiar face appeared in a red-framed oval to my left.
'Corwin, what a pleasure,' she said.
'Dara!'
'It seems that my unconscious will must be stronger than that of anyone else who wishes you ill,' she said. 'So I get to deliver the best piece of news of all.'
'Yes?' I said.
'I see one of you lying pierced by the blade of the other. What joy!'
'I've no intention of killing this guy,' I told her.
'Goes both ways,' Luke said.
'Ah, but that is the deadly beauty of it,' she said. 'One of you must be run through by the other for the survivor to regain that element of permeability he has lost.'
'Thanks, but I'll find another way,' Luke said. 'My mom, Jasra, is a pretty good sorceress.'
Her laughter sounded like the breaking of one of the mirrors.
'Jasra! She was one of my maids,' she said. 'She picked up whatever she knows of the Art by eavesdropping on my work. Not without talent, but she never received full training.'
'My dad completed her training,' Luke said.
As she studied Luke, the merriment went out of her face.
'All right,' she said. 'I'll level with you, son of Brand. I can't see any way to resolve it other than the way I stated. As I have nothing against you, I hope to see you victorious.'
'Thanks,' he said, 'but I've no intention of fighting my uncle. Someone must be able to lift this thing.'
'The tools themselves have drawn you into this,' she said. 'They will force you to fight. They are stronger than mortal sorcery.'
'Thanks for the advice,' he said. 'Some of it may come in handy,' and he winked at her. She blushed, hardly a response I'd have anticipated, then she was gone.
'I don't like the tenor this has acquired,' I said.
'Me neither. Can't we just turn around and go back?'
I shook my head.
'It sucks you in,' I told him. 'Just get everything you can out of it--that's the best advice I ever got on the thing.'
We walked on for perhaps ten feet, past some absolutely lovely examples of mirror making as well as some battered old looking glasses.
A yellow-lacquered one on Luke's side, embossed with Chinese characters and chipped here and there, froze us in our tracks as the booming voice of my late brother Eric rang out:
'I see your fates,' he said with a rumbling laugh. 'And I can see the killing ground where you are destined to enact them. It will be interesting, brother. If you hear laughter as you lie dying, it will be mine.'
'Oh, you always were a great kidder,' I said. 'By the way, rest in peace. You're a hero, you know.'
He studied my face.
'Crazy brother,' he said, and he turned his head away and was gone.
'That was Eric, who reigned briefly as king here?' Luke asked.
I nodded. 'Crazy brother,' I said.
We moved forward and a slim hand emerged from a steel-framed mirror patterned with roses of rust.
I halted, then turned quickly, somehow knowing even before I saw her who I would behold.
'Deirdre...' I said.
'Corwin,' she replied softly.
'Do you know what's been going on as we walked along?'
She nodded.
'How much is bullshit and how much is true?' I asked.
'I don't know, but I don't think any of the others do either--not for sure.'
'Thanks. I'll take all the reassurances I can get. What now?'
'If you will take hold of the other's arm, it will make the transport easier.'
'What transport?'
'You may not leave this hall on your own motion. You will be taken direct to the killing ground.'
'By you, love?'
'I've no choice in the matter.'
I nodded. I took hold of Luke's arm.
'What do you think?' I asked him.
'I think we should go,' he said, 'offering no resistance--and when we find out who's behind this, we take him apart with hot irons.'
'I like the way you think,' I said. 'Deirdre, show us the way.'
'I've bad feelings about this one, Corwin.'
'If, as you said, we've no choice in the matter, what difference does it make? Lead on, lady. Lead on.'
She took my hand. The world began to spin around us.
Somebody owed me a chicken and a bottle of wine. I would collect.
