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"I didn't," I replied.
"Oh."
He edged his way to his right till he came to the wall. Maintaining contact with it, he began moving
about the Pattern's periphery, as if afraid to approach any nearer to it than he had to or to remove his
gaze from it.
From this side I could see Coral a bit more clearly, within the fiery hedge. Funny It was not as if
there were a large emotional investment here. We were not lovers, not even terrifically close friends. We
had become acquainted only the other day, shared a long walk about, around, and under the town and
palace, had a meal together, a couple of drinks, a few laughs. If we became better acquainted, perhaps
we would discover that we couldn't stand each other. Still, I had enjoyed her company, and I realized
that I did want to take the time to get to know her better. And in some ways I felt responsible for her
present condition, through a kind of contributory negligence. In other words, the Pattern had me by the
balls. If I wanted to free her, I had to repair it.
The flames nodded in my direction.
"It's a dirty trick," I said aloud.
The flames nodded again.
I continued to study the Broken Pattern. Almost everything I knew about the phenomenon had come
to me by way of my conversation with Jasra. But I recalled her telling me that initiates of the Broken
Pattern walked it in the areas between the lines, whereas the image in the Jewel was instructing me to
walk the lines, as one normally would the Pattern itself. Which made sense, as I recalled my father's
story. It should serve to inscribe the proper path across the breaks. I wasn't looking for any half assed
between-the-lines initiation.
Jurt made his way about the far end of the Pattern, turned, and began to move toward me. When he
came abreast of a break in the outer line, the light flowed from it across the floor. The look on his face
was ghastly as it touched his foot. He screamed and began to melt.
"Stop!" I cried. "Or you can find another Pattern repairman! Restore him and leave him alone or I
won't do it! I mean it!"
Jurt's collapsing legs lengthened again. The rush of blue-white incandescence which had fled upward
through his body was withdrawn as the light retreated from him. The expression of pain left his face.
"I know he's a Logrus-ghost," I said, "and he's patterned on my Least favorite relative, but you leave
him alone, you son of a bitch, or I won't walk you! You can keep Coral and you can stay broken!"
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The light flowed back through the imperfection, and things stood as they had moments before.
"I want a promise," I said.
A gigantic sheet of flame rose from the Broken Pattern to the top of the chamber, then fell again.
"I take it that is an affirmative," I said.
The flames nodded.
"Thanks," I heard Jurt whisper.
VIII
And so I commenced my walk. The black line did not have the same feeling to it as the blazing ones
back under Amber. My feet came down as if on dead ground, though there was a tug and a crackle
when I raised them.
"Merlin!" Jurt called out. "What should I do?"
"What do you mean?" I shouted back.
"How do I get out of here?"
"Go out the door and start shadow-shifting," I said, "or follow me through this Pattern and have it
send you wherever you want."
"I don't believe you can shadow-shift this close to Amber, can you?"
"Maybe we are too close. So get away physically and then do it."
I kept moving. There came small crackling sounds whenever I raised my feet now.
"I'd get lost in the caves if I tried that."
"Then follow me."
"The Pattern will destroy me."
"It's promised not to."
He laughed harshly.
"And you believe it?"
"If it wants this job done properly, it has no choice."
I came to the first break in the Pattern. A quick consultation of the Jewel showed me where the line
should lie. With some trepidation I took my first step beyond the visible marking. Then another. And
another. I' wanted to look back when I finally crossed the gap. Instead, I waited until the natural curving
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of my route granted me that view. I saw then that the entire line I had walked thus far had begun to glow,
just like the real thing. The spilled luminescence seemed to have been absorbed within it, darkening the
interstitial ground area. Jurt had moved to a position near that beginning; He caught my gaze.
"I don't know, Merlin," he said. "I just don't know."
"The Jurt I knew wouldn't have had guts enough to try it," I told him.
"Neither do I."
"As you pointed out, our mother did it. Odds are you've got the genes. What the hell. If I'm wrong,
it'll be over before you know it."
I took another step. He gave a mirthless laugh.
Then, "What the hell," he said, and he set his foot upon it.
"Hey, I'm still alive," he called out. "What now?"
"Keep coming," I said. "Follow me. Don't stop. And don't leave the line or all bets are off:" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]