I stooped and caught hold of the boulder, anyway, and pushed it nearer the opening.
“Merle! What are you doing?”from below.
“Looking for fishing bait,” I answered.
“Hey, come on! Don’t. . . .”
I laughed and pushed it a little nearer.
“Merle!”
“Thought you might want the door closed, in case it rains,” I said. “But it’s too damned heavy. Forget it. Take it easy.”
I turned and jumped. I thought the extra adrenaline might do him some good.
8
When I hit the ground I kept going, back to the place from which I had conjured the ladder, out of sight from several directions.
I withdrew one of the blank cards. Time was running.
When I fished out the pencil, I discovered that its point had broken. I unsheathed my blade, which was about the length of my arm. I’d found another use for the thing.
A minute or so later I had the card before me on a Bat rock, and I was sketching my room back at the Arbor House, the forces of the Logrus moving through my hands. I had to work deliberately, getting the proper feeling of the place into the drawing. Finally, when it was finished, I stood. It was right, it was ready. I opened my mind and regarded my work until it became reality. Then I walked forward into the room. Just as I did I thought of something I wanted to ask Luke, but it was too late.
Beyond the window, the shadows of the trees were stretching into the east. I had obviously been gone for most of the day.
When I turned I saw a sheet of paper upon the now made-up bed, secured against breezes by the edge of a pillow. I crossed to it and picked it up, removing the small blue button which lay atop it before I did so.
The writing was in English. It said. PUT THE BUTTON IN A SAFE PLACE TILL YOU NEED IT. I WOULDN’T CARRY IT AROUND TOO MUCH. I HOPE YOU DID THE RIGHT THING. I GUESS I’LL FIND OUT PRETTY SOON. SEE YOU AROUND.
It was unsigned.
Safe or not, I couldn’t just leave it there. So I wrapped the button in the note and put it in my pocket. Then I fetched my cloak from the closet and slung it over my arm.
I departed the room. The latch being broken, I left the door standing wide. I stopped in the hallway and listened, but I heard no voices, no sounds of movement.
I made my way to the stairs and headed down. I was almost to the bottom before I noticed her, so still did she sit, there beside the window to my right, a tray of bread and cheese, a bottle and a goblet on a small table at her side.
“Merlin!” she said suddenly, half rising. “The servants said you were here, but when I looked I couldn’t find you.”
“I was called away,” I said, descending the final stair and advancing.
“How are you feeling?”
“How do you-what do you know about me?” she asked.
“You probably don’t remember anything that happened during the past couple of days,” I replied.
“You are right,” she said. “Won’t you sit down?”
She gestured at the empty chair at the other side of the small table.
“Please join me.” She indicated the tray. “And let me get you some wine.”
“That’s all right,” I said, seeing that she was drinking the white.
She rose and crossed the room to a cabinet, opened it and took out another goblet. When she returned she poured a healthy slug of Bayle’s Piss into it and set it near my hand. I guessed it was possible they kept the good stuff for themselves.
“What can you tell me about my blackout?” she asked. “I’d been in Amber, and the next thing I knew I was back here and several days had gone by.”
“Yes,” I said, taking up a cracker and a bit of cheese. “About what time did you become yourself again?”
“This morning.”
“It’s nothing to worry about-now,” I answered. “There shouldn’t be a recurrence.
“But what was it?”