Blood of Amber. Chapter 7, 8
7
I actually did get a fairly decent night’s sleep despite everything, including a distant dogfight and a lot of howling. Vinta had been disinclined to continue at questions and answers, and I hadn’t wanted her bothering Luke any more. I persuaded her to leave and let us rest. I sacked out on the comfortable chair, with my feet propped on the other one. I was hoping to continue my conversation with Luke in private. I remember chuckling right before I fell asleep as I tried to decide which of them I distrusted less.
I was awakened by the first brightening of the sky and a few arguments of birds. I stretched several times then and made my way to the bathroom. Half an ablution later I heard Luke cough and then whisper my name.
“Unless you’re hemorrhaging, wait a minute,” I replied, and I dried myself off. “Need some water?” I asked while I was doing it.
“Yeah. Bring some.”
I threw the towel over my shoulder and took him a drink.
“Is she still around?” he asked me.
“No.”
“Give me the glass and go check the hall, will you? I’ll manage.”
I nodded and passed it to him. I kept it quiet as I eased the door open. I stepped out into the hall, walked up to the corner. There was no one in sight.
“All clear,” I whispered as I came back into the room.
Luke was gone. A moment later I heard him in the bathroom.
“Damn! I’d have helped you!” I said.
“I can still take a leak by myself,” he replied, staggering back into the room, his good hand on the wall. “Had to see whether I could negotiate,” he added, lowering himself to the edge of the bed. He put his hand against his rib cage and panted. “Shit! That smarts!”
“Let me help you lie back.”
“Okay. Listen, don’t let her know I can do even that much.”
“Okay,” I said. “Take it easy now. Rest.”
He shook his head. “I want to tell you as much as I can before she comes busting back in here,” he said, “and she will, too-believe me.”
“You know that for a fact?”
“Yes. She’s not human, and she’s more attuned to both of us than any blue stone ever was. I don’t understand your style of magic, but I’ve got my own and I know what it tells me. It was your question about who she was that got me to working on the problem, though. Have you figured her out yet?”
“Not completely, no.”
“Well, I know she can switch bodies like changing clothes-and she can travel through Shadow.”
“Do the names Meg Devlin or George Hansen mean anything to you?” I asked.
“No. Should they?”
“Didn’t think so. But she was both of them, I’m sure.”
I’d left out Dan Martinez, not because he’d shot it out with Luke and telling Luke would raise his distrust of her even further, but because I didn’t want him to know that I was aware of the New Mexico guerrilla operation-and I could see that it might lead in that direction.
“She was also Gail Lampron.”
“Your old girlfriend, back in school?” I said.
“Yes. I thought there was something familiar about her immediately. But it didn’t hit me till later. She has all of Gail’s little mannerisms-the way she turns her head, the way she uses her hands and eyes when she’s talking. Then she mentioned two events to which there had only been a single common witness-Gail.”
“It sounds as if she wanted you to know.”
“I believe she did,” he agreed.
“Why didn’t she just come out and say it then, I wonder?”
“I don’t think she can. There’s something could be a spell on her, only it’s hard to judge, her not being human and all.” He glanced furtively at the door as he said this. Then, “Check again,” he added.
“Still clear,” I said. “Now what about “
“Another time,” he said. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“I can see your wanting to get away from her-“ I began.
He shook his head. “That’s not it,” he said. “I’ve got to hit the Keep of the Four Worlds-soon.”