She was there yet she wasn't. It was the disjointed sense of presence one encounters in dream or stupor. I passed my hand over the card and ended our tenuous contact.

“What happened?” Jurt asked.

“I think she's drugged,” I replied.

“Then it would seem they've already got her,” he said. “Any way you can trace her in that state?”

“She could also be in the next building, on medication,” I said. “She wasn't well when I left.”

“What now?”

“Either way, we've got to talk to Luke,” I said, searching for his card.

I reached him in an instant on uncovering it. “Merlin! Where the hell are you?” he asked. “If you're in the palace, I'm next door,” I said.

He rose to his feet from what I now realized to be the edge of a bedstead, and he picked up a long-sleeved green shirt and drew it on, covering his collection of scars. I thought that I glimpsed someone in the bed behind him. He muttered something in that direction, but I could not overhear it.

“We've got to talk,” he said, running his hand through his rusty hair. “Bring me through.”

“Okay,” I said. “But first, you'd better know that my brother Jurt is here.”

“Has he got my dad's sword?”

“Uh-No.”

“Guess I won't kill him right now,” he said, tucking his shirt into his waistband.

Abruptly, he extended his hand. I clasped it. He stepped forward and joined us.

Luke grinned at me, scowled at Jurt.

“Where've you been, anyway?” he asked.

“The Courts of Chaos,” I replied. “I was summoned from here at the death of Swayvill. The funeral's in progress right now. We sneaked away when I learned that Coral was in danger.”

“I know that-now,” Luke said. “She's gone. Kidnapped, I think.”

“When did it happen?”

“Night before last, I'd judge. What do you know of it?”

I glanced at Jurt. “Time differential,” he said.

“She represented a chance to pick up a few points,” I explained, “in the ongoing game between the Pattern and the Logrus. So agents of Chaos were sent for her. They wanted her intact, though. She should be okay.”

“What do they want her for?”

“Seems they feel she's specially suited to be queen in Thelbane, what with the Jewel of Judgment as a piece of her anatomy and all.”

“Who's going to be the new king?”

My face felt warm of a sudden.

“Well, the people who came for her had me in mind for the job,” I replied.

“Hey, congratulations!” he said. “Now I don't have to be the only one having all this fun.”

“What do you mean?”

“This king business ain't worth shit, man. I wish I'd never gotten sucked into the deal in the first place. Everybody's got a piece of your time, and when they don't someone still has to know where you are.”

“Hell, you were just crowned. Give it a chance to shake down.”

“ `Just'? It's been over a month!” “Time differential,” Jurt repeated.

“Come on. I'll buy you a cup of coffee,” Luke said.

“You've got coffee here?”

“I require it, man. This way.” He led us out the door, turned left, headed down a stair.

“I had a funny thought,” he said, “while you were talking back there-about you reigning, and Coral a desirable queen. I could get the marriage annulled pretty damn quick, since I'm in charge here. Now, you want her for your queen and I want that Golden Circle Treaty with Amber. I think I see a way to make everybody happy.”

“It's a lot more complicated than that, Luke. I don't want the job, and it would be very bad for us if my kinsmen back in the Courts got custody of Coral. I've learned a lot of things recently.”

“Such as?” Luke said, opening a postern that let upon a walkway to the rear of the palace.

I glanced back at Jurt.

“He's scared, too,” I said. “That's why we're a little more cordial these days.”

Jurt nodded.

“It's possible Brand could have been partly victim of a plan originated in the Courts,” he said, “part of an idea that's still alive there.”

“We'd better go for the whole breakfast,” Luke said. “Let's swing around back and take it in the kitchen. '' We followed him down a garden path.

And so we ate and talked as the day brightened about us. Luke insisted I try Coral's Trump again, which I did with the same result. Then he cursed, nodded, and said,' “Your timing's actually pretty good. The guys who grabbed her were reported to have taken off along a black trail into the west.”

“It figures,” I said.

“I've reason to believe they didn't make it back to the Courts with her.”

“Oh?”

“I understand these black thoroughfares you guys use ', are dangerous to outsiders,” he observed. “But I can show you what's left of this one-it's a black pathway ;` now, actually. I'd like to follow it, but I don't know that I can, get away for long. Also, is there a way to protect me from the trail itself?”

“Just being in our company would keep you from harm as we traveled it,” Jurt said.

I stood. The cook and t vo dishwashers glanced in our direction.

“There is somebody you have to meet, Luke,” I told him. “Right now.”

“Why not?” he said, rising. “Where is he?”

“Let's take a walk,” I said.

“Sure.”

We got to our feet, headed back to the servants' door. “So, whether she was a willing accomplice or a magical time bomb, Mom might have conned Dad into his efforts to take over in Amber-and, ultimately, to change the world,” Luke said.

“Well, I gather he didn't exactly come to her with clean hands,” I said.

“True, but I wonder how elaborate his plans really were, to begin with,” Luke mused. “This is the most cheerful thing I've heard all month.”

We exited into the little covered walkway that ran along the side of the palace. Luke halted and looked around.

“Where is he?” he asked.

“Not here,” I said. “I just needed a point of departure with no witnesses to say I'd kidnapped the king.”

“Where are we -going, Merlin?” Jurt asked, as I

swirled a spiral from the center of the spikard, drawing upon sixteen different power sources.

“Good idea. Kidnap away,” Luke was saying as he was caught up along with Jurt.

I used it as I had when I'd transported myself from Amber to Kashfa, forming the target from memory rather than discovered vision. Only this time there were three of us and a long, long way to go.

“Have I got a deal for you,” I said.

It was like stepping into a kaleidoscope, and passing through about 120 degrees of cubist fragmentation and reassembly, before emerging on the other side beneath a towering tree, its top lost in the fog, in the vicinity of a red and white '57 Chevy, its radio playing Renbourn's “Nine Maidens.”

Luke's ghost emerged from the front seat and stared at the original. Luke stared back.

“Hi,” I said. “Meet each other. You hardly need an introduction, though. You have so much in common.” Jurt stared at the Pattern.

“That's my dad's edition,” I said.

“I could have guessed that,” Jurt told me. “But what are we doing here?”

“An idea I had. But I thought Corwin would be here, and I might discuss it with him.”

“He came back, and he left again,” said the resident Luke, overhearing me.

“Did he leave a forwarding address, or say when he might return?”

“Nope.”

“Damn! Look, something that got said just a little while ago gave me the idea that you Lukes might want to change places for a time-if this Pattern could be persuaded to approve some leave.”

Luke, whom I decided to continue calling Luke when his ghost was around, brightened suddenly. I resolved to think of his double as Rinaldo, to keep things sorted.

“It's an experience no man should do without,” he said.

“Then why are you so anxious to get away from it?” Rinaldo replied.

“To help Merle find Coral,” Luke said. “She's been kidnapped.”