“How…is she?” I asked.
“Concussion,” Mandor replied, “and damage to the right eye.”
Random turned. Whatever he was about to say to me died on his lips when he realized who stood beside me.
“Dworkin!” he said. “It’s been so long. I didn’t know whether you were still alive. Are you…all right?”
The dwarf chuckled.
“I read your meaning, and I’m rational,” he replied. “I would like to examine the lady now.”
“Of course,” Random answered, moving aside.
“Merlin,” Dworkin said; “see whether you can locate that Ghostwheel device of yours, and ask it to return the artifact it borrowed.”
“I understand,” I said, reaching for my Trumps.
Moments later I was reaching, reaching…
“I felt your intent several moments ago, Dad.”
“Well, do you have the Jewel or don’t you?”
“Yes, I just finished with it.”
“’Finished’?”
“Finished utilizing it.”
“In what fashion did you…utilize it?”
“As I understood from you that passing one’s awareness through it would give some protection against the Pattern, I wondered whether it might work for an ideally synthesized being such as myself.”
“That’s a nice term, ‘ideally synthesized.’ Where’d it come from?”
“I coined it myself when seeking the most appropriate designation.”
“I’ve a hunch it’ll reject you.”
“It didn’t.”
“Oh. You actually got all the way through the thing?”
“I did.”
“What effect did it have upon you?”
“That’s a hard thing to assess. My perceptions are altered. It’s difficult to explain….It’s subtle, whatever it is.”
“Fascinating. Can you move your awareness into the stone from a distance now?”
“Yes.”
“When all of our present troubles have passed, I’m going to want to test you again. “
“I’m curious myself to know what’s changed.”
“In the meantime, there is a need for the Jewel here.”
“Coming through.”
The air shimmered before me.
Ghostwheel appeared as a silver circlet, the Jewel of Judgment at its center. I cupped my hand and collected it. I took it to Dworkin, who did not even glance at me as he received it. I looked down at Coral’s face and looked away quickly, wishing I hadn’t.
I moved back near Ghost.
“Where’s Nayda?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “She asked me to leave her-there near the crystal cave-after I took the Jewel away from her.”
“What was she doing?”
“Crying.”
“Why?”
“I suppose because both of her missions in life have been frustrated. She was charged to guard you unless some wild chance brought her the opportunity of obtaining the Jewel, in which instance she was released from the first directive. This actually occurred; only I deprived her of the stone. Now she is bound to neither course.”
“You’d think she’d be happy to be free at last. She wasn’t on either job as a matter of choice. She can go back to doing whatever carefree demons do beyond the Rimwall.”
“Not exactly, Dad.”
“What do you mean?”
“She seems to be stuck in that body. Apparently she can’t simply abandon it the way she could others she’s used. It has something to do with there being no primary occupant.”
“Oh. I suppose she could, uh, terminate and get loose that way.”
“I suggested that, but she’s not sure it would work that way. It might just kill her along with the body, now that she’s bound to it the way she is.”
“So she’s still somewhere near the cave?”
“No. She retains her ty’iga powers, which make her something of a magical being. I believe she must simply have wandered off through Shadow while I was in the cave experimenting with the Jewel.”
“Why the cave?”
“That’s where you go to do clandestine things, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. So how come I could reach you there with the Trump?”
“I’d already finished the experiment and departed. In fact, I was looking for her when you called.”
“I think you’d better go and look some more.”
“Why?”
“Because I owe her for favors past-even if my mother did sic her on me.”
“Certainly. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be, though. Magical beings don’t track as readily as the more mundane sort.”
“Give it a shot anyway. I’d like to know where she’s gotten to and whether there’s anything I can do for her. Maybe your new orientation will be of help -somehow.”