Blood of Amber

«Then I'd better hear it over lunch. Are you hungry?» she asked.

I grinned.

«It figures. Come on.»

She led me out through a French Provincial living room and into a large country kitchen full of tiles and copper. I offered to help her, but she pointed at a chair beside the table and told me to sit.

As she was removing numerous goodies from the refrigerator, I said, «First»

«Yes?»

«Where are we?»

«San Francisco,» she replied.

«Why have you set up housekeeping here?»

«After I finished that business of Random's I decided to stay on. The town looked good to me again.»

I snapped my fingers. I'd forgotten she'd been sent to determine the ownership of the warehouse where Victor Melman had had his apartment and studio, and where Brutus Storage had a supply of ammo that would Ere in Amber.

«So who owned the warehouse?» I asked.

«Brutus Storage,» she replied. «Melman rented from them.»

«And who owns Brutes Storage?»

«J. B. Rand, Inc.»

«Address?»

«An office in Sausalito. It was vacated a couple of months ago.»

«Did the people who owned the place have a home address for the renter?»

«Just a post office box. It's been abandoned too.»

I nodded. «I'd a feeling it would be something like that,» I said. «Now tell me about Jasra. Obviously you know the lady.»

She sniffed. «No lady,» she said. «A royal whore is what she was when I knew her.»

«Where?»

«In Kashfa.»

«Where's that?»

«An interesting little shadow kingdom, a bit over the edge of the Golden Circle of those with which Amber has commerce. Shabby barbaric splendor and all that. It's kind of a cultural backwater.»

«How is it you know it at all, then?»

She paused a moment in stirring something in a bowl.

«Oh, I used to keep company with a Kashfan nobleman I'd met in a wood one day. He was out hawking and I happened to have twisted my ankle -»

«Uh,» I interjected, lest we be diverted by details. «And Jasra?»

«She was consort to the old king Menillan. Had him wrapped around her finger.»

«What have you got against her?»

«She stole Jasrick while I was out of town.»

«Jasrick?»

«My nobleman. Earl of Kronklef.»

«What did His Highness Menillan think of these goings-on?»

«He never knew. He was on his deathbed at the time. Succumbed shortly thereafter. In fact, that's why she really wanted Jasrick. He was chief of the palace guard and his brother was a general. She used them to pull off a coup when Menillan expired. Last I heard, she was queen in Kashfa and she'd ditched Jasrick. Served him proper, I'd say. I think he had his eye on the throne, but she didn't care to share it. She had him and his brother executed for treason of one sort or another. He was really a handsome fellow… Not too bright, though.»

«Do the people of Kashfa have any - uh - unusual physical endowments?» I asked.

She smiled. «Well, Jasrick was one hell of a fellow. But I wouldn't use the word unusual' to -»

«No, no,» I interrupted. «What I meant was some sort of anomaly of the mouth - retractable fangs or a sting or something of that sort.»

«Un-uh,» she said, and I could not tell whether her heightened coloring came from the heat of the stove. «Nothing like that. They're built along standard lines. Why do you ask?»

«When I told you my story back in Amber I omitted the part where Jasra bit me, and I was barely able to trump out because of some sort of poison she seemed to have injected. It left me numb, paralyzed and very weak for a long while.»

She shook her head.

«Kashfans can't do anything like that. But then, of course, Jasra is not a Kashfan.»

«Oh? Where's she from?»

«I don't know. But she's a foreigner. Some say a slaver brought her in from a distant land. Others say she just wandered in herself one day and caught Menillan's eye. It was rumored she was a sorceress. I don't know.»

«I do. That rumor is right.»

«Really? Perhaps that's how she got Jasrick.»

I shrugged. «How long ago was your - experience - with her?»

«Thirty or forty years, I'd guess.»

«And she is still queen in Kashfa?»

«I don't know. It's been a long time since I've been back that way.»

«Is Amber on bad terms with Kashfa?»

She shook her head. «No special terms at all, really. As I said, they're a bit out of the way. Not as accessible as a lot of other places, with nothing greatly desirable for trade.»

«No real reason then for her to hate us?»

«No more than for hating anyone else.»

Some delightful cooking odors began to fill the room. As I sat there sniffing them and thinking of the long, hot shower I would head for after lunch, Flora said what I had somehow known she would say.

«That man who dragged Jasra back… He looked familiar. Who was he?»

«He was the one I told you about back in Amber,» I replied. «Luke. I'm curious whether he reminds you of anyone.»

«He seems to,» she said, after a pause. «But I can't say just who.»

As her back was to me I said, «If you're holding anything that might break or spill if you drop it, please put it down.»

I heard something set to rest on the countertop. Then she turned, a puzzled expression on her face.

«Yes?»