“The ability lies within you,” I said.
She kissed me then, a sudden, impulsive thing, then rotated away, her hair bobbing on her slim neck as she tried to look at everything at once.
“Then I can do anything,” she said, coming to a standstill.
“There are limitations, dangers . . .”
“That is life,” she said. “How do I learn to control it?”
“The Great Pattern of Amber is the key. You must walk it in order to gain the ability. It is inscribed on the floor in a chamber beneath the palace in Amber. It is quite large. You must begin on the outside and walk it to its center without stopping. There is considerable resistance and the feat is quite an ordeal. If you stop, if you attempt to depart the Pattern before completing it, it will destroy you. Complete it, though, and your power over Shadow will be subject to your conscious control.”
She raced to our picnic site and studied the pattern we had drawn on the ground there.
I followed more slowly. As I drew near, she said, “I must go to Amber and walk it!”
“I am certain that Benedict plans for you to do so, eventually,” I said.
“Eventually?” she said. “Now! I must walk it now! Why did he never tell me of these things?”
“Because you cannot do it yet. Conditions in Amber are such that it would be dangerous to both of you to allow your existence to become known there. Amber is barred to you, temporarily.”
“It is not fair!” she said, turning to glare at me.
“Of course not,” I said. “But that is the way things stand just now. Don’t blame me.”
The words came somewhat stickily to my lips. Part of the blame, of course, was mine.
“It would almost be better if you had not told me of these things,” she said, “if I cannot have them.”
“It is not as bad as all that,” I said. “The situation in Amber will become stable again-before too very long.”
“How will I learn of it?”
“Benedict will know. He will tell you then.”
“He has not seen fit to tell me much of anything!”
“To what end? Just to make you feel bad? You know that he has been good to you, that he cares for you. When the time is ready, he will move on your behalf.”
“And if he does not? Will you help me then?”
“I will do what I can.”
“How will I be able to find you? To let you know?”
I smiled. It had gotten to this point without my half trying. No need to tell her the really important part. Just enough to be possibly useful to me later. . . .
“The cards,” I said, “the family Trumps. They are more than a mere sentimental affectation. They are a means of communication. Get hold of mine, stare at it, concentrate on it, try to keep all other thoughts out of your mind, pretend that it is really me and begin talking to me then. You will find that it really is, and that I am answering you.”
“Those are all the things Grandpa told me not to do when I handle the cards!”
“Of course.”
“How does it work?”
“Another time,” I said. “A thing for a thing. Remember? I have told you now of Amber and of Shadow. Tell me of the visit here by Gerard and Julian.”
“Yes,” she said. “There is not really much to tell, though. One morning, five or six months ago. Grandpa simply stopped what he was doing. He was pruning some trees back in the orchard-he likes to do that himself-and I was helping him. He was up on a ladder, snipping away, and suddenly he just stopped, lowered the clippers, and did not move for several minutes. I thought that he was just resting, and I kept on with my raking. Then I heard him talking-not just muttering-but talking as though he were carrying on a conversation. At first, I thought he was talking to me, and I asked him what he had said. He ignored me, though. Now that I know about the Trumps, I realize that he must have been talking to one of them just then. Probably Julian. Anyway, he climbed down from the ladder quite quickly after that, told me he had to go away for a day or so, and started back toward the manor. He stopped before he had gone very far, though, and returned. That was when he told me that if Julian and Gerard were to visit here that I was to be introduced as his ward, the orphaned daughter of a faithful servant. He rode away a short while later, leading two spare horses. He was wearing his blade.