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Anger.

      “oa, are you awake?”
The voice was kind but I did not want to wake up. I was tired and needed to sleep. Evicting Murlas from my mind had been seven kinds of hell, even if it had been a therapeutic experience, but now I felt entitled to some rest. It was not to be.
“Give her a stimulant,” another voice said. Unseen hands slapped my cheeks and fed me a bitter drink. I ignored them until a sharp sting in my arm magically cleared the fog away and made me pay attention. The two vague blobs turned into the faces of Cousin Alexander and king Monias.

I asked for a glass of water and a male nurse brought me a cup. They had strapped me into a straightjacket and laid me on a hospital bed, and now I was sitting up against a pile of pillows and had to drink the water through a straw. The straightjacket was - wait for it - pink!
“How are you?” the first voice asked. I looked up and left my contemplation of the colour of the jacket for later. It was Alexander who had spoken. I ignored him and closed my eyes.
“Do you recall what happened?”
I took a breath, tried to speak but my tongue felt stiff.
“Murlas.” I croaked. I wanted more water, craned my head and drank.
“What exactly did he do?”
Had I not known Alexander better I would have been touched by his concern, but all he wanted was to know what happened. Still, I had been victorious and would not hide the fact.
“He broke through…” I managed to say. “But I kicked him out…”
“To where?” Alexander asked. I wanted to go back to sleep and told him so, but he kept insisting, so I said:
“Murlas is with Samal. Now that lover of his can be stuck with him.”

The second voice; Monias, spoke up:
“So you claim to be yourself again?”
I opened my eyes and tried to focus on his face, and nodded.
“Good. Then you can stand trial tomorrow.”
Gods, that was true! I was in a pickle in Galoria, on a trumped up charge of espionage, with my friend Estefan dependent on me and my trumpdeck and good name on the line! I was in a straightjacket, on a hospital bed, because I had fought a mental battle with Murlas for possession of my body. I had had to get it back before Murlas had reached my prison with it because my rooms were isolated with Nexus and I could not use my powers there. I must have scared the guards, falling down in the corridor like that.

But Alexander would not let Monias change the subject.
“How did you get him to Samal?”
“Through a trumplink.” I answered. “Now let me sleep.”
On the other hand, now I had his attention, there were some things that had to be said.
“Alexander?” I said. My cousin turned to me.
“You know I’m not a spy. You brought me here yourself. You know Estefan, you know he’s not collaborating with the enemy.”
“I know it was not my intention to bring you here,” Alexander said.
It was hard to concentrate on his face. Was that a moustache or just a shadow on his upper lip? Alexander’s hair was a thick black line above his forehead.
“You know what it’s all about. Will you vouch for me? You know Estefan. Speak with him. He knows you, and you know him.”
“I have not studied the case, so I can’t—“

Ah, cowardly! I raised my voice to carry over the buzzing in my head.
“Alexander I need you! You know I’m innocent. Don’t let me down now!”
“I will see what I can do,” was all he said.
“You know I depend on you. At least speak with Estefan. You know him, don’t you? He… speaks highly of you.”
And there are not many who do so, cousin, but I did not say that aloud. Alexander is a bastard, but he is an honourable bastard. In the end, he will do what is right.

A guard had come up to Monias and whispered something in his ear. A royal eyebrow was raised.
“Well, we’d better let him in, then, won’t we.” Monias said. “Not in here, of course, that would not be fitting. Alexander, if you’d come with me..?”
My cousin and his king left the infirmary and I went back to sleep.

. . . _ . . .

When I woke up again it was to the gentle drone of a nurse reporting to what seemed to be the doctor in charge: a tall, blue skinned man in a white coat. ‘Caunas’, I remembered, that was what the little elves had called the tall blue people who had moved to Galoria to become its sailors and magicians.
“Can you hear me?” the doctor said when he saw I was awake.
I confirmed I could, asked for food and was fed. I was not allowed to feed myself, though, it seems I seriously harmed one of the guards during the violent stage of my ‘possession’. This could be true, I vaguely remembered pushing my thumb through an eye. I blushed at the memory and fervently hoped that it had been one of the Hendrake shapeshifters I injured; someone who could regenerate.

The doctor, his name was Bardor, proceeded to ask me questions about my mental state. I explained what had happened as well as I could, but the man had got it into his head that I was suffering from something like repressed schizophrenia. He would not let go of that idea even after I explained Trump to him, and reminded him of ambassador Murlas, whom he must have seen about the castle sometimes. I must say I am rather proud of the way I kept my patience. The report dr. Bardor wrote was a joke, a model of ignorant prejudice (I can read upside-down) but Monias would understand what had happened if he read between the lines.

The only interesting thing that happened during my session on the couch was a shouting that came from another room in the infirmary, somewhere to my left. A woman’s voice shrieked:
“Galoria shall go down in blood and fire! Down! The end is nigh!”
Male and female nurses rushed to the scene and the woman was heard no more. With Galoria’s current mismanagement she might very well be right. Then there would be two perfectly sane people in this psychiatric ward.

When the doctor went away I closed my eyes to trump Ornach. It was now or never, soon Monias or Alexander would remember that their infirmary was not insulated with Nexus like my prison was been. The familiar power of trump and Pattern flowed through my mind and tingled behind my eyes. My employer’s face appeared, framed by his slate grey beard and hair. He seemed out of temper.
“Boadice!” he said. “It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? The last time I saw you, I gave you the afternoon off.”
That was not true! I had spoken with him only a couple of days ago, and went on an assignment for him, which was exactly what got me in all this trouble. He could at least have remembered!

The image I got was getting clearer, and I saw Ornach against the backdrop of the great stone hall in Ornach ways. My own background and the pink straightjacket I carefully kept out of sight.
“That is not true,” I said, “After the afternoon off, I came back and you sent me off to look for your daughter, remember? You lent me a trump.”
“You found her, I hope.”
“I did find her trail, but…” I loosened my control over the trumpcontact so Ornach could see the straightjacket.
“I am a prisoner in Galoria, on accusation of espionage, which is ludicrous of course. Alexander has—“
“WHY am I the last to hear about this?” Ornach bellowed. “I should be kept INFORMED about the whereabouts of my personnel!”
“Well, you should ask Galoria.” I said snippily. If he had kept his spy network up to date he would have known about me several days ago. I had been a prisoner for quite long enough.
“I will send someone to pick you up,” Ornach said.

No, he would not.
“Tomorrow, Galoria’s time,” I said, “I will stand trial. I am rather less useful to you if I am Persona Non Grata in Galoria, so I would like you to throw your political weight around to get me acquitted.”
“Someone will be sent to fetch you tomorrow,” Ornach said but I mentally put my hands on my hips (my real arms were still crossed over my chest and strapped tight) and said:
“I will not leave until my name is completely cleared!”
“You will leave when I tell you to!”
“Do you want my co-operation or not?” I snapped. “This is important! They have my trumps, among other things. And the evidence I gathered while searching for your daughter!”
Ornach sighed.
“Why do you keep complicating things?”
“Just do it my way, eh? I’m the one who—“
“It - will – take – a – lot – of – time!” Ornach said, thumping his fist on the table, underscoring each word. “There are more important things going on right now, different things. And you have to stand trial because of some ridiculous— !“
“Yes!” I said. He finally got it. “If you would just help me prove the charges are unfounded, that can’t be too much trouble! Just send over a lawyer, okay? A good one, then I’ll be out in no time, there are plenty of arguments in my favour.”
Ornach sighed again and set his jaw.
“Okay then. Have you got trumps of the place? Galoria, you said? Can be done.” He grumbled. “What a waste of time..!”
“The trial is tomorrow. I have seen places where this sort of thing takes a lot longer.”
Ornach frowned and shrugged.
“Very well, but hurry up. I need you. I think I have tracked down one of my other daughters, and we’ll have to go and follow up on that lead soon.”
“Fine,” I said. “I hope to see you soon, then.”
“Good,” Ornach said. “By the way, is that the latest fashion in Galoria?”
I looked down at my pink jacket.
“No,” I said, grinning, “They think I’m crazy.”
“Perceptive,” Ornach said, smiling.
“It is kind of ironic,” I said while starting to close the contact. “But I can’t be bothered. Yet.”
“I’ll send you a lawyer,” came my employer’s words over the contact, and I thanked him before I let it go.

. . . _ . . .

That last remark reminded me of the visions I had while I was hiding in the back of my mind. They made some kind of sense: all but the misty grey thing had been reminders of incidents when my psyche had been invaded or violated, by brute strength or by trickery. The need to evict Murlas from my mind forced me to me deal with them and I felt much better about myself. But what had the nothingness in the grey mantle been about? The others I could more or less place. But I would have to postpone my soul-searching to another time, I should take advantage of the situation and trump Random while I could. It was a pity that I had not memorised his trump. Yaslin, then.

It took some time for her to react to my trumping but when she accepted, I saw her stand in front of a blank wall, the kind of background you choose when you do not want anyone to see where you are.
“Sis!” Yaslin said, obviously surprised. Again, I kept my straightjacket out of sight.
“Lil’ sister!” I greeted. It was very good to see her. It had been too long.
“How are you?” Yaslin said.
“In deep shit,” I answered. She looked well, my little sister; well dressed in grey and green with her unruly reddish-brown hair in a clip behind her neck.
“Come to me, then,” Yaslin held out a hand but I declined.
“I can’t. I am stuck in Galoria.’
“Stuck? Shall I come over and chop at a couple of things till you’re free?”
“Ehm, I need political pressure rather than chopping…”
“Harrumph! Political pressure! They threw you in jail? How come you still got your trumps then?”
“I don’t.”
“So how are you trumping me?”
“I just can,” I said, grinning. “Good, isn’t it?”
“Very. Can you teach me the trick?”
“Have you got a year or fifteen?”
“Not at the moment,” Yaslin smirked. “Maybe later.”
I grinned broadly. It was good to talk to my sister, I had missed her a lot. I should take days off from saving the universe and spend more time with her.

“It’s okay. Galoria has imprisoned me on charges of espionage.”
“Ridiculous!”
“Absolutely! I haven’t, of course—“
“Why don’t you come to me, then?”
“I don’t want to be rescued, I—“
“Why not?!”
“I want to be acquitted, I want to clear my name. And for that I need polit—“
“Can’t you do that much better when you’re free to come and go when you—“
“No, I can’t do that better when I am free, it will be much worse if I were free.”
“Wait, I’ll come over.”
I objected and kept her from stepping through the trump contact by not holding out my hand to clasp.
“Would you please contact Random for me and ask him to trump me?”
Yaslin looked downcast and a little bit guilty.

“You know I would do anything for you, Boa, but there’s a small problem. I can’t trump Random.”
“Why can’t you trump Random?”
“He put a price on my head.”
Yaslin fidgeted with the hilt of her sword.
“Why?” I asked in my best elder-sister voice. “Honey, what have you been up to now?”
“Well, you remember Treon?”
I did, he was that boyfriend of hers she had picked up in shadow. Later, I heard he was also a member of the nobility of Amber, and I wondered about that, and had indeed put my information service on to him but had had no time to look at the files yet.
“Well, Treon has shown me how things really are in Amber. And it’s all wrong, Boadice! Random is a tyrant! The people just want to have a say in the way things are done, and I agree. Random is a bad king. And I told him so.”
Inwardly, I groaned and slapped my hand to my forehead.
“Ahah.”
“Well, Treon has… There are more of us, and we wrote down what we wanted to see changed, and we handed out pamphlets all over the city. And we let Random read it too, because they were all very clever ideas, and he should just do it, we thought. And.. and then he proved what a tyrant he is by having a couple of my friends arrested and thrown in jail. Well, I had to go and rescue them, you understand.”
“Yes…”
“Well, and then a couple of guards got killed, you know. We managed to escape, but…”
Yaslin stopped fidgeting and looked at me.

“So I understand that Random has imprisoned friends of yours, instead of hanging them like a real tyrant would do, and you pay him back by murdering innocent guards?”
“You’re not even on my side?” Yaslin wailed, upset.
“Of course I am. You just should not have killed people to promote your ideas about how, probably, the royals should not just kill anyone they please—“
“That is different! They were wrong, and I was fighting for a good cause! That’s different!
“Yes, well, we’ll have to talk about this some other time, okay?”
“Yes,” Yaslin nodded, “If I explain clearly, I’m sure you will understand and see things our way, and help. That’s far more important than whatever you are doing at the moment. So I you should come to me, right now.”
“I can’t,” I said and showed her the straightjacket.
“That’s horrible!’ Yaslin exclaimed.
“Yes!” I agreed. “Pink, I know!”
“That colour, how can they do that to you!?”
Now I don’t look all that bad in pink, it is just not one of my favourite colours.
“This Monias who’s king here,” I said, “he has no taste at all! He falls for dumb blondes, and—“
“Kings!” Yaslin interrupted. “They’re all the same. We should string ‘em up.”
“Can you trump Adrian for me?” I asked. “Can you ask Adrian if he would trump me?”
Yaslin thought she could,
“But why can’t I just get you out myself? I will introduce you to my friends, and together we shall re-distribute the power in Amber, differently!

Such enthusiasm, such naivety! It dazzled me, and I reminded myself that although my sister was born no more than a year after me, she had wandered in shadow for only a few years while for me eight decades had passed. It was a relief to hear her story like this; I had expected much worse when I saw her ghost battling the Family-dragon in Tir-na Nog’th. Later, Boa, later.

“At the moment,” I said, “I need the political pressure Amber alone can provide, or else I can never come back to Galoria. And there is much that needs reforming, here. Would you trump Adrian and ask him to trump me quick, please?”
“Can’t you trump him yourself? If you can trump me, can’t you trump him?
A valid question from one who knew nothing about the higher uses of trump.
“Err, no, I can’t,” I said. “I’ll explain some other time, okay?
Yaslin shrugged and sighed.
“I don’t get it. But, err, take care of yourself, will you? It sounds rather creepy, what you’re doing over there.”
“What you’re doing sounds scary too,” I said.
Just not as creepy as I had feared, it was a relief to hear she had not been recruited by the Enemy from Outside, at least not yet.
“But it is necessary,” my sister said with great conviction. “It’s for the cause. Believe me, this is important.”
“I believe you believe in yourself,” I said, and gave her a mental hug. “Will you trump Adrian for me?”
“I’ll try,” My sister said while she closed the contact. I was alone in my bed.

Trying to be silent, I shook with laughter, and when I could not hold it in anymore I reaffirmed the staff’s conviction that I was mad as a hatter by whooping with unrestrained mirth. ‘I think Random is a bad king, and I told him so.’ I wished I could have seen my uncle’s face when Yaslin and her friends came up to him and told him about the ‘improvements’ they had in mind! They probably wanted something like participation in the way Amber is governed, a voice for the nobility or even the guilds, or maybe even something like a parliament or a democracy. If she had spent more time in shadow, learning about how the worlds work and what politics actually is, she would have known better. A democracy only works on the level of a tribe, or perhaps a small city-state if you use census democracy. People need to see the ones they are going to vote for, and hear them debate, so you can’t give more people the vote than fit into a large amphitheatre. Moreover, in the dynamic interplay of larger kingdoms you need people who are brought up to it, people who are trained to rule from birth. They are able to make the snap decisions that are needed in times of crisis, and not some cumbersome senate that soon after it has been instigated degrades into a backstabbing club for old man.
Dear sister… Go with my blessing, and stay away from Amber and all other places of danger.

. . . _ . . .

I dozed, waiting for Adrian to trump me and musing upon my situation, until I heard the door open and Alexander came in. He was a welcome sight. I remembered the strange word he had spoken that had severed his trump contact with Murlas while the latter occupied my mind. It had felt like sorcery but it had been remarkable short and sharp. If I got on his good side, he might be persuaded to teach it to me. It was for that reason, and the fact that politeness costs nothing, that I greeted him pleasantly.

“Hello Boadice.” Alexander answered my greeting with equal geniality. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Physically, yes, a lot better. But I would like to get out or this straightjacket.”
“I will speak to Monias about it. Then you can be brought back to the other guest quarters.”
Alexander did have a moustache, a small pencilled thing that would have looked dashing on someone else, and his hair was very very dark brown, not black. He needed a haircut.

It bothered me a little that I had to have this conversation while strapped into a straightjacket. It put me at a mental disadvantage if I let it, but Alexander would not harm me, so I put it out of my mind.

“About your trial,” Alexander said, “I have been asking around and there’s a problem.”
“And that is?” I asked.
“It is unclear how you got on Estefan’s ship. Other things have come up that suggest Estefan has been spying for the enemy.”
“Our Estefan?” I asked, incredulous. Alexander would have to come up with some pretty convincing proof.
“Yes, but we’re not sure he knows he is doing it. He has been mapping the place on someone else’s orders.”
“No, he is not mapping anything, I have seen—“
Alexander held up a hand, interrupting me, pulled up a chair and sat down.
“We know… He has admitted he was trying to map all the nexus tunnels.”
“Nonono!” I objected. “I have spent a day or ten in his Flying Egg and he was not mapping the place.”
“No,” Alexander said, “He was taking you home.”
“But even before that, he wasn’t—“
“But that is not important,” Alexander interrupted again. He was getting on my nerves, Alexander always manages to rub me the wrong way. Now he cut me off again. Be patient, Boadice!

“The question is: how did you get on Estefan’s ship?”
“Like I told Monias, I—“
“King Monias told me you did not wish to tell him.”
“I did tell him; I fell through a hole in reality. It says so on the notes that were made the first time I was interrogated. So, I fell through a hole in reality and landed on Estefan’s ship.”
“Where was that hole?”
“I can’t tell you. I was searching for Ornach’s daughter, as Monias already knows, and—“
“You don’t have to tell me that you told Monias! He has made up his mind. And if you want me to come to an honest conclusion, and stop telling me ‘Monias already knows that,” my reaction will be that you told Monias everything and me nothing and then I can’t come to any conclusions of my own.”

Like so many times before, Alexander and I were getting on each other’s nerves in a way that would soon make civilised conversation impossible. But could I help it if Alexander had not done his homework? If I were him I would have read the notes and found out everything I could before talking to me.
“The problem is,” I said, “I already told Monias all I can.”
“But I want to form an opinion independent of the one that has been formed before, so I have not asked Monias what you said. I want to hear it from your mouth.”
That sounded reasonable. Perhaps there was hope for Alexander and me.
“Very well. I was looking for Ornach’s daughter. I can’t tell you where I was looking for her, or how, that is… confidential information, a professional secret if you wish. But if you insist I can swear that what I was undertaking would not harm or pose a threat to either Galoria or Amber. I found a hole in reality. I mis-interpreted the situation, was unaware it was indeed a hole, and well, I fell in. I fell for a while and, thank the Unicorn, landed on the Flying Egg. Estefan was good enough to take me in and bring me home. That took a while. Then came your— Nexus tractor beam, your pulling thingy, and you reeled us in and that’s how we got here.”

“Honestly,” Alexander said, and he put his elbow on his knee and rested his chin on his hand, “How likely do you think it is that when you are walking through our reality, you suddenly fall trough a hole and then you end up somewhere in a Nexus corridor that happens to contain Estefan?”
I managed to shrug inside the straightjacket.
“I don’t know anything about Nexus corridors.” I said. When I fell I did not fall through a tube, and the Flying Egg did not fly through a blue nexus corridor but through a kind of endless space where the realities shone like stars.

“In this reality there is only one hole, as far as I know, and that is the Abyss.”
I would have thrown up my hands in desperation if they had not been strapped down.
“I don’t know! These holes in reality are your speciality! You make them.”
“I’m sorry,” Alexander said, and he did not sound sorry at all, “but I think you would recognise a Nexus tunnel when you saw one. And you don’t fall through, you walk in.”
“O,” I said.

This is the wrong way to get information out of little old me, cousin dear.
“How believable do you think your story sounds?” Alexander said. “I would like to put in a good word for you with Monias but I need to know exactly where that hole you fell in, is.”
Oh yes, little cousin-with-the-moustache, you would like to bring your king that tasty bit of information, would you? ‘Look master, I did get it out of her!’ No dice, cuz, if only out of principle.
“I can’t tell you, I really can’t.”
“About where was that hole? In whose sphere of influence?”
“I can’t tell, really!”
“So you want me to take your word for it, when only a while ago you attacked me while my back was turned—“

That was it! The foggy grey thing in my mind must have been connected to my Logrus madness! I distinctly remembered fighting Alexander in the Cave of the Logrus, and how the Logrus was repaired, and how I threw myself on him, knowing that he was stronger and faster than me. There was a definite death wish there, at that moment. If Fiona had not been present, Unicorn bless her, I would have died.

“When was that?” I asked to win time.
“In the Cave of the Logrus.”
“I was Logrus-mad at the moment! I had walked the Logrus only a couple of days before.”
Sometime soon I have to get a handle on the Logrus in me. I walked the fixed Logrus out of a mixture of curiosity and unthinking stupidity. When I have time I will have to deal with the stinking, writhing, alien…

“Well, hum, so I could not trust you then; I don’t know what strange things could have happened that would make me trust your word now, with such a farfetched story.”
“You can trust my word for the same reasons I can trust yours,” I said. “I know my story is farfetched. But this is what happened.”
“Still, what a kind of experiment has Estefan performed on you?”
I explained about the scanning. If Alexander wanted to sow doubt in my mind about my friend’s trustworthiness he would need better arguments.
“So you provided Estefan with the precise co-ordinates of this reality.”
“No,” I said, “You did that, by pulling us in with your tractor beam.”
Alexander did not like that.
“But you already gave him the co-ordinates.”
“As if we knew they would work! It was you who brought us here.”
Alexander protested but I said:
“It was either that or do a one by one search of an infinite number of realities.”

“Very well,” Alexander said, abandoning another fruitless angle of interrogation. “So you are prepared to swear that you don’t work for, let’s call it the Enemy, and that you were not spying.”
“I will swear to the last. And for the Enemy, I assume you mean the army from the other reality?”
Since my conversation with Malachie I knew I needed to be careful about vows like this.
“Yes,” Alexander said.
“That too, I will swear.”
Alexander seemed to have picked up on my strange reluctance to swear before I had identified the nature of the enemy in question. He raised his eyebrows and took a breath as if about to speak.
Quickly, I said:
“Hostility and alliances are always shifting around here, you could have meant Adrian. You could have meant anyone.”
“So you admit to spying for Adrian?” Alexander said but he said it with a smile, and the atmosphere turned almost jocular while I denied it.
So, without defining our enemy further, if you were not spying, you can swear you were not spying for the Enemy.”
“I was not spying, period!” I cried. That was a particularly nasty trap.
“Not for the enemy. So you can add that without problems. So now I want to hear those two oaths from you.”
“Alexander,” I said calmly, “I swear I was not spying, neither here nor elsewhere, and I swear I don’t work for the enemy you mentioned.”

Alexander was quiet for a long time, thinking about what I said. Finally, he got up and said:
“I will have to think about it.”
“What is there to think about?” I asked. His answer was outrageous.
“Well, if you had been sincere, you would have sworn at least by the Pattern or by the Unicorn.”
“Bullshit!”
“You yourself indicated what you want to swear by. And the more convincing you want to be… Well, look, what you have sworn now, you can get around easily so I am less convinced.”
I sighed. He did not know what he was talking about. I have sworn an oath by the Unicorn once, and it is not something you do lightly.
“Okay, if you want, tomorrow in the courtroom I will swear by the Pattern or by the Unicorn. But it is a lot to ask and you know it! You know you brought me here yourself. Of course I am not here to spy. You brought me here, remember?”
Alexander would not look me in the eye.
“Alexander, look at me,” I insisted. “You brought me here.”
“I did not mean to,” my cousin said, still not meeting my gaze. “I had not thought to find you there.”
“But you did. Look at me. I was not spying, I was trying to save my life.”
“Okay,” Alexander said while he started to leave. “I will think this over.”
He closed the door behind him.

Foolish, stupid man! He got my word, he got my promise to swear and he got me to tell my story, without giving anything in return, and still he was not satisfied because it was not what he wanted to hear! He wanted me to be guilty so his king would not lose face. Still, I would have to stay on his good side if I wanted him to teach me that one-word spell of his. It had something to do with trump, I remembered, and I wanted it badly. If I had known that spell, perhaps I could have kept Murlas and Adrian from invading my mind.

Adrian still had not trumped me.

. . . _ . . .

Soon after Alexander left, a trio of Hendrake guards entered the infirmary and took me to my old prison rooms. There I took a shower, changed and had tea, but it was not long before I heard another knocking at the door. My visitor turned out to be Alexander, again. As before, we greeted each other amiably. I even offered him tea.
“I see you have been given more comfortable quarters at my request. I hope I won’t get into trouble with the doctor, his rapport was not very favourable.”
“The doctor is a quack,” I said crossly. Perhaps I should have been more diplomatic in my answer, but the psychiatrist had done no more than waste my time, and the remark at being given comfortable quarters at his request was much too heavy handed. Ooooh, I am so grateful to have my old rooms back, thank you ever so much! Not.

It was just as well that Alexander came quickly to the point.
“But I’m here for another problem: tomorrow’s hearing. I heard from king Monias that you consider Estefan to be your servant?”
Oops. Criticism and antagonism disguised as misinformation.
“No,” I answered pleasantly, “I have officially placed him under my protection.”
“You realise what this means, if he is convicted of espionage?”
Ah, that was his game: to drive a wig between Estefan and me.
“I don’t care,” I said and put my teacup on my plate with a calculated click. “First, he won’t be convicted for espionage, and secondly, I owe my life to him.”
Alexander frowned. I would too, if I were him.
“That makes things much more difficult. The problem is: Estefan has admitted he was spying.”
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.
“I spoke with him, officiously, to see what our options were. Together we have concluded that he could have been spying, if unconsciously, and we are almost sure that he at least has been used by our enemy.”
Well, at least Alexander had taken my advice and talked to Estefan. I wondered if my cousin had bothered to listen to him too.

“That seems unlikely to me, though not impossible.”
“His assignment was to explore and investigate the Nexus, and explore the different realities. Together, we also concluded that their chief employer almost certainly does not hail from their reality, and is a member of some other collective. To provide this person with information, Estefan had been given data that enabled him to travel more or less straight to the reality of the Black Unicorn. And the info he got about that reality was quite accurate.”
“I see,” I said.
“So you understand the problem?”
I understood the way he wanted me to react. He wanted me to suspect Estefan of shady connections and give him up as a hopeless case that could best be handled by Galoria. But did Alex know that I knew that when I met Estefan, he was not spying or mapping the Nexus on anyone’s request but on his own initiative? My friend had stolen a Flying Egg and set off by himself to explore the new universe he had discovered. He did this after his organisation had given the assignment to do research to someone else, to whit: Dr. Bowmore. If Estefan had been a tool, he had not been one when Alexander pulled us to Galoria.

But Alexander had asked if I understood the problem, and it was time to make my views known.
“Yes, I understand, and I think I have a solution. But because Monias was being difficult with these ‘lawsuits’, I did not get the chance to mention it.”
“What was your plan?”
“I was thinking of a co-operation between Galoria and Amber,” I said, launching enthusiastically into a description of my ideas.
“A research-collaboration. Both powers will keep tabs on Estefan. Galoria will keep his findings about the Nexus, and Amber will keep his findings on Pattern. Amber and Galoria have done this sort of thing before. Do you remember that guy from Hywara, the one with the collars?”

A long time ago both Alexander and I had been set to investigate an uprising in Hywara, one of the Golden Circle shadows. Alex went for Galoria and me for Amber. There had been a civil war that was instigated by a couple of upstarts who thought they could get away with thwarting Amber’s might because they had found a mineral that, once set into a special collar, could negate the innate powers of an individual, be they magical or otherwise. I had been at the wrong side of such a collar-and-leash thing but had still managed to spy on the rebel’s camp. Once free of the collar (after a nasty incident involving the Chartin family) I managed to make a trump of the rebel army’s camp and with the help of Amber’s soldiers, defeated them. I had also managed to secure the scientist who had made the collars. The scholar’s name was Parcellus, if I remember correctly. Parcellus had been handed over to Galoria in exchange for the Jewel of Judgement, which had been in Galoria’s possession at that moment. I remember thinking that this must have been the bargain of the year.

By mentioning Hywara I intended to remind Alexander that Galoria and Amber were able to work together. Surely he remembered that incident as well as I did.
“We got to an agreement about that, didn’t we? We might need Estefan’s findings if more armies from outside our reality decide to drop by. So: Galoria and Amber will make a settlement. If Galoria will drop the charges of espionage I will stop complicating your life, we will call it all a big misunderstanding and raise our glasses to the happy ending.”
“The problem is,” Alexander said, “Your supposed protection of Estefan. At this moment, Monias is in doubt about Estefan’s punishment.”

I smelled trouble as soon as Alexander said ‘punishment’ instead of ‘sentence’. And he had not reacted to my proposal at all!
“As things are now, Estefan will be convicted of espionage. You, at best, will be facing a prison sentence. We won’t talk about the worst thing that could happen. Any alternatives would be appreciated, and Monias was thinking of the following: Instead of a prison sentence you will wear a collar for a time. I think, given the situation and my opinion of you, this is quite exaggerated as punishment, as your protection of Estefan has not officially been registered. So, my idea is that you will be acquitted on lack of evidence. You refrain from demanding retribution for suffered damages, and we will not charge you for the costs we made when you had your little problem with Murlas. Besides that, you will renounce Estefan and his possessions. Estefan will not be convicted of espionage but of complicity. He will be allowed to remain in Galoria, and be officially– “Alexander used a word I did not recognize, “--so he is unable to pass his knowledge on to the enemy. The results of his research that have to do with the Pattern, Galoria will share with Amber. Monias will declare you Persona Non Grata.”

It took some time for my face to relax from its raised-brow rigor. These were not the opening moves of a negotiation, these were threats.
“This is unacceptable,” I said with difficulty. Alexander said nothing.
“Estefan will stay under my protection. I have given my word. Amber will have a say about Estefan and the fruits of his research. Do you believe that Amber will wait until Galoria, out of the mercy of its heart, shares the results of his labour?”
“The problem is,” Alexander said and now he was really getting on my nerves, “Estefan’s knowledge is vital, so to Galoria it is unacceptable to let him leave. At the moment we have two options. Either both of you will be convicted for espionage, and that will mean the death sentence, or you will be convicted for complicity and that means life-long imprisonment.”

Ah, it had come to death threats now, had it? Not only was he being inaccurate, he was overdoing the ‘you are in no position to make demands’ by a mile or six. Even if he had a point, this was downright insulting!

“No,” I said. “Let it come to a trial. The truth will be out. And Amber will let it come to war before they allow Estefan become Galoria’s completely.”
“What I offered,” Alexander said and I could see he was as vexed as I was, “was that we share the information Estefan has about the Pattern with Amber. I can ask Monias to hand all things in Estefan’s ship that have to do with Pattern over to Amber.”
“Amber will not be content with the crumbs that fall from your table. It is an equal sharing of Estefan or nothing. Amber and Galoria have shared like this before, it is possible!”
“I don’t think Monias will allow Estefan to leave Galoria. If the knowledge he has gathered falls into the wrong hands, Galoria can be destroyed. Imagine: someone is found in Amber, on a research mission, and he has a method to bring the Pattern down for, say, a week. Imagine: no pattern, no trumps, for a whole week. Would Random let that person walk? Maybe he would not want to share that info. Do you think that Jaill Helgram would?”

I sighed inside. Of course I understood the situation. I understood Estefan was important to Galoria, but he was just as important for Amber, and empty death treats would not make me betray my friend. I don’t have many friends, and the longer I knew Estefan, the more I got to like him. I said:
“We will have to leave this part of the negotiations to Galoria and Amber themselves. I don’t know what Random wants, specifically.”
“Apart from tomorrow’s trial,” Alexander said, “what if Estefan is found guilty of espionage? What is your position in this? I only care about you withdrawing your protection from Estefan, then you can get back to Random, and Random can work out a diplomatic solution with Galoria.”
I had to unlock my jaws before I spoke. How stupid did he think I was?
“I will not withdraw my protection from Estefan,” I said, “Because if I do we won’t have anything left to negotiate with.” I had enough of this.
“The rest, we will see about in court. Will you convey my proposal to Monias?”
“I am sorry,” Alexander lied, “I only deal with the question of guilt, not the political implications. The way things are now, Estefan will be convicted and because he falls under your protection you are responsible so you will too. And if Monias convicts Estefan of espionage, you will be convicted of the same, and you both will die.”

“Don’t think you can scare me, Alexander.” I said. I got up and shook out my skirts.
“These are the facts,” Alexander said and he also got up from his chair. “I am not threatening you. This is the way things are, and these are Monias’ opinions. He can acquit you if you give over your responsibility for Estefan, but if you don’t, everything will be on your head. And if Estefan is convicted for espionage—“
“Yes yes,” I interrupted, “I think I got your point by now. I know your position, and you know mine.”
“I will tell king Monias that you demand Estefan is extradited to Amber.”
“The least you can do is convey my real words instead of lies.”
The air over the tea table was crackling with anger.
“This is the essence of what you told me about Estefan.”
“In that case you did not understand what I said.”
“Then, could you tell me what you want to do with Estefan?”
“I told you what I want. You take my proposal to king Monias.”

Alexander bowed stiffly, turned and walked out, barely managing not to slam the door. I took deep breaths and counted to one hundred and seventy-five.

. . . _ . . .

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