"Zelazny, Roger - Amber 05 - Courts Of Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

"Do you know how he was captured in the first place?"
She shook her head.
"I only know that Brand effected his presence in a shadow far enough from Amber that he could be taken there. I believe it involved a fake quest for a nonexistent magical tool which might heal the Pattern. He realizes now that only the Jewel can do it."
"Your helping him to get away... How did this affect your relations with your own people?"
"Not too damned well," she said. "I am temporarily without a home."
"And you want one here?"
She smiled again.
"It depends on how things turn out. If my people have their way, I would as soon go back--or stay with what shadows remain."
I withdrew a Trump, glanced at it.
"What of Merlin? Where is he now?"
"They have him," she said. "I fear he may be their man now. He knows his parentage, but they have had charge of his education for a long while. I do not know whether he could be gotten away."
I raised the Trump, stared at it.
"No good," she said. "It will not function between here and there."
I recalled how difficult Trump communication had been when I had been to the fringes of that place. I tried anyway. The card grew cold in my hand and I reached out. There was the faintest flicker of a responding presence. I tried harder.
"Merlin, this is Corwin," I said. "Do you hear me?"
I seemed to hear a reply. It seemed to be, "I cannot--" And then there was nothing. The card lost its coldness.
"Did you reach him?" she asked.
"I am not sure," I said. "But I think so. Just for a moment."
"Better than I thought," she said. "Either conditions are good or your minds are very similar."
"When you began waving Dad's signet around you spoke of orders," Random said. "What orders? And why is he sending them through you?"
"It is a matter of timing."
"Timing? Hell! He just left here this morning!"
"He had to finish one thing before he was ready for another. He had no idea how long it would take. But I was just in touch with him before I came here--though I was hardly prepared for the reception I walked into--and he is now ready to begin the next phase."
"Where did you speak with him?" I asked. "Where is he?"
"I have no idea where he is. He contacted me."
"And...?"
"He wants Benedict to attack immediately."
Gйrard finally stirred from the huge armchair in which he had sat listening. He rose to his feet, hooked his thumbs in his belt and looked down at her.
"An order like that would have to come directly from Dad."
"It did," she said.
He shook his head.
"It makes no sense. Why contact you--someone we have small reason to trust--rather than one of us?"
"I do not believe that he can reach you at the moment. On the other hand, he was able to reach me."
"Why?"
"He did not use a Trump. He does not have one for me. He used a reverberation effect of the black road, similar to the means by which Brand once escaped Corwin."
"You know a lot of what has been going on."
"I do. I still have sources in the Courts, and Brand transported himself there after your struggle. I hear things."
"Do you know where our father is right now?" Random asked.
"No, I do not know. But I believe that he has journeyed to the real Amber, to take counsel with Dworkin and to re-examine the damage to the primal Pattern."
"To what end?"
"I do not know. Probably to decide on the course of action he will take. The fact that he reached me and ordered the attack most likely means that he has decided."
"How long ago was this communication?"
"Just a few hours--my time. But I was far from here in Shadow. I do not know what the time differential is. I am too new at this."
"So it could be something extremely recent. Possibly only moments ago," Gйrard mused. "Why did he talk with you rather than one of us? I do not believe that he could not reach us if he wished to."
"Perhaps to show that he looks upon me with favor," she said.
"All of this may be entirely true," Benedict stated. "But I am not moving without a confirmation of that order."
"Is Fiona still at the primal Pattern?" Random asked.
"Last I heard," I told him, "she had set up camp there. I see what you mean...."
I shuffled out Fi's card.
"It took more than one of us to get through from there," he observed.