I looked upon Lord Amber and knew the truth, several truths. But this was not the tune for the speaking of truth, nor the asking of whys and wherefores. He faced those who were deadly enemies, for there be no more deadly enemies then those of close blood-kin when evil works. And they were four against his one!
His one – ! I looked about me wildly. I had no weapons- not even Toross’ knife. But a stone – even my bare hands if need be – only this was not fighting as I had known it. This was a matter of Power – Power such as Math had loosed at her death hour. And I had no gift of such. I tried to clench my fist. A chain looped about my fingers and cut my flesh. The gryphon – I still had the gryphon! I remember how Rogear had used it before – could not Lord Amber do likewise? If I could throw it to him-But Rogear was between; he need only turn, wrest it from me, use it as he had before –
With this in mind, I wrapped my two hands tight about the globe, saying to myself that Rogear would not take it from me to use against my lord, not while I had life to defend it!
My lord Kerovan? I did not know the rights of that – whether Lord Amber had lied to me. But had he, my heart told me, then it had been with good reason. For just as I had shrunk from Rogear when he played Kerovan to entrap me, so did I now range myself with this other in time of battle. Old One or no, Kerovan or no, whether he wished it or no, in that instant of time I knew that we were tied together in such a way no axe bond or Cup and Flame ceremony could add to. That I welcomed this I could not have said, only it was as inevitable as death itself.
This being so, I must stand to his aid. Though how I could –
Almost I cried aloud with pain. My hands – ! I looked down. My shrinking flesh could not hide the glow I held. The gryphon was coming to life, growing hotter and hotter. Might I then use it as Rogear had – to strike out in flame? But I could not hold it – the pain was too intense now.
If I grasped it by the chain alone – ? I loosed it a little to dangle. It was as if all the lamps that had once burned in Ithkrypt’s shattered hall were gathered into one!
“Look to her!” The girl on my left leaped at me, her hand outstretched to strike the gryphon from my hold.
By its chain I swung it at her and she cowered away, her hands to her face, falling to the ground with a scream.
So I had learned how to use what I held! Having so learned, I prepared to put it into further practice. A small black ball fell at my feet, thrown by the other woman. It broke, and from it curled an oily black snake, to wreathe about my ankles with the speed of a striking serpent, holding me as fast as if those coils were chains of steel.
I had been so occupied by my discovery concerning the gryphon that I had not seen what chanced with my lord. But now, fast captive, unable to swing my globe far enough, I watched in despair.
The other man held forth his right hand, and Rogear clasped it. Just so was he handlinked to the woman, and the three faced my lord as one. Now the woman took into her other hand, from where it was set in her girdle as a sword might be, a rod of black along which red lines moved as if they were crawling things. She pointed this at my lord and began to chant, outlining his body with her wand-head to loins and up again to head.
I saw him tremble, waver, as if a rain of blows battered him. He held his arm ever before him, striving to move it so that the blue band about his wrist was before the point of the rod. Yet that he was hard set it was plain to see, and I wrestled with the smoky tangle about my feet, striving to reach those evil three with the globe.
“Unmade, I will it!” The woman’s voice rolled like thunder. “As I made, so shall it be unmade!”
My lord – by the Flame, I swear it! I saw his body shaken, thin, becoming more shadow than substance. And out of nowhere came a wind to whirl and buffet that shadow, tearing at it.
I feared to loose the gryphon, but this must be stopped – the wind, that roll of chant – thunder – the rod that moved, erasing my lord as if he had never been! Shadow though he was, torn as he was, still he stood, and it seemed to me the black rod moved more slowly. Was she tiring?
I saw Rogear’s face. His eyes were closed, and there was such a look of intense concentration there I guessed his will was backing hers. Did I dare loose my only weapon now?
Hoping I had not made the wrong choice, I hurled the gryphon at Rogear. It struck his shoulder, fell to the ground, rolled across the point of the star, stopped just within the circle. But the hand with which Rogear had gripped that of the woman fell from her grasp, limply to his side. He went to his knees, dragging with him the other man, who fell forward and lay still. While along Rogear’s body, spreading outward from where the gryphon had struck, played lines of blue like small hungry flames, and he rocked back and forth, jerking with his other hand to free himself from the hold on the prone man. Yet it appeared he could not loose that finger locking.
The lines of fire ran down his arm swiftly, crossing to the body of the other man. Now Rogear did not strive to break that hold, and I guessed that he was willing the fire to pass from him into the other, who was now writhing feebly and moaning.
While he fought thus with his will, the woman stood alone. And her wand was held in a hand plainly failing. My lord was no longer a shadow, and the wind was dying. He looked to the woman steadily and without fear. In his eyes was something I could not read. Now he did not trouble to move his hand to ward off the rod. Rather, he held the wristlet level between them at heart height and he spoke, his words cutting through her chant.
“Do you know me at last, Tephana. I am – “ He uttered a sound which might be a name, yet was unlike any name I had ever heard.
She raised her rod like a lash, as if she would beat him across the face in a rage too great to be borne. “No!”
“Yes and yes and yes! I am awake – at long last!” She twirled the rod at shoulder height, as I have seen a man ready a throwing spear. And throw it she did, as if she believed its point would reach his heart.
But, though he stood so close, it did not touch him, passing over his shoulder to strike against a rock and shatter with a ringing sound.
Her hands went to her ears, as if that sound were more than she could bear to hear. She wavered, but she did not fall. Now Rogear dragged himself up to his feet, moved beside her. His one hand still hung limply by his side, the other he raised swiftly, and let it fall on her shoulder. His face was white, stricken, yet I saw his eyes and knew that his will and his hate were blazingly alive.
“Fool!” His lips moved as if his face had stiffened into a mask. “Fight! You have the Power. Would you let that which you marred in the making triumph over you now?”
Lord Amber laughed! It was joyful laughter, as if he had no cares in the world.
“Ah, Rogear, you would-be opener of gates, ambitious for what, if you knew all, you would not dare to face. Do you not yet understand the truth? You seek to reach that which is beyond you: not only to reach it, but to put to use that which is not for your small mind – to Dark use – “
It was as if each word was a lash laid across Rogear’s face, and I saw such anger mirrored there as I thought no human features could contain. His mouth worked, and there was spittle on his lips. Then he spoke.