“In such a case, I wonder how they managed to confine him at all?”
“Fiona has similar strengths, and I believe Bleys did also. Between the two of them, they could apparently annul most of Brand’s power while they created a place where it would be inoperative.”
“Not totally,” I said. “He got a message to Random. In fact, he reached me once, weakly.”
“Obviously not totally, then,” he said. “Sufficiently, however. Until we broke through the defenses.”
“What do you know of all their byplay with me-confining me, trying to kill me, saving me.”
“That I do not understand,” he said, “except that it was part of the power struggle within their own group. They had had a falling out amongst themselves, and one side or the other had some use for you. So, naturally, one side was trying to kill you while the other fought to preserve you. Ultimately, of course, Bleys got the most mileage out of you, in that attack he launched.”
“But he was the one who tried to kill me, back on the shadow Earth,” I said. “He was the one who shot out my tires.”
“Oh?”
“Well, that is what Brand told me, but it jibes with all sorts of secondary evidence.”
He shrugged.
“I cannot help you on that,” he said. “I simply do not know what was going on among them at that time.”
“Yet you countenance Fiona in Amber,” I said. “In fact, you are more than a little cordial to her whenever she is about.”
“Of course,” he said, smiling. “I have always been very fond of Fiona. She is certainly the loveliest, most civilized of us all. Pity Dad was always so dead-set against brother-sister marriages, as well you know. It bothered me that we had to be adversaries for so long as we were. Things returned pretty much to normal after Bleys’s death, your imprisonment, and Eric’s coronation, though. She accepted their defeat gracefully, and that was that. She was obviously as frightened at the prospect of Brand’s return as I was.”
“Brand told things differently,” I said, “but then, of course, he would. For one thing, he claims that Bleys is still living, that he hunted him down with his Trump and knows that he is off in Shadow, training another force for another strike at Amber.”
“I suppose this is possible,” Julian said. “But we are more than adequately prepared, are we not?”
“He claims further that the strike will be a feint,” I continued, “and that the real attack will then come direct from the Courts of Chaos, over the black road. He says that Fiona is off preparing the way for this right now.”
He scowled.
“I hope he was simply lying,” he said. “I would hate to see their group resurrected and at us again, this time with help from the dark direction. And I would hate to see Fiona involved.”
“Brand claimed he was out of it himself, that he had seen the error of his ways-and suchlike penitent noises.”
“Ha! I’d sooner trust that beast I just slew than take Brand at his word. I hope you’ve had the sense to keep him well guarded-though this might not be of much avail if he has his old powers back.”
“But what game could he be playing now?”
“Either he has revived the old triumvirate, a thought I like not at all, or he has a new plan all his own. But mark me, he has a plan. He has never been satisfied to be a mere spectator at anything. He is always scheming. I’d take an oath he even plots in his sleep.”
“Perhaps you are right,” I said. “You see, there has been a new development, whether for good or ill, I cannot yet tell. I just had a fight with Gerard. He thinks I have done Brand some mischief. This is not the case, but I was in no position to prove my innocence. I was the last person I know of to see Brand, earlier today. Gerard visited his quarters a short time ago. He says the place is broken up, there are blood smears here and there, and Brand is missing. I don’t know what to make of it.”