Sign of chaos

But the place seemed somehow smaller - the tables closer together, the music softer, the mural more compressed and its artist out of sight. Even the Caterpillar and his mushroom had retreated to a shadowy nook, and both seemed shrunken, the blue smoke less dense. I took this as a vaguely good sign, for if our presence there were a result of Luke's state of mind then perhaps the fixation was losing its hold on him.

«Luke?» I said.

He moved up to the bar beside me.

«Yeah?» he answered.

«You know you're on a trip, don't you?»

«I don't… I'm not sure what you mean,» he said.

«When Mask had you prisoner I think he slipped you some acid,» I said. «Is that possible?»

«Who's Mask?» he asked me.

«The new head honcho at the Keep.»

«Oh, you mean Sharu Garrul,» he said. «I do remember that he had on a blue mask.»

I saw no reason to go into an explanation as to why Mask wasn't Sharu. He'd probably forget, anyway. I just nodded and said, «The boss.»

«Well… yes, I guess he could have given me something,» he replied. «You mean that all this…?» He gestured toward the room at large.

I nodded.

«Sure, it's real,» I said. «But we can transport ourselves into hallucinations. They're all real somewhere. Acid'll do it.»

«I'll be damned,» he said.

«I gave you some stuff to bring you down,» I told him. «But it may take a while.»

He licked his lips and glanced about.

«Well, there's no hurry,» he said. Then he smiled as a distant screaming began and the demons started in doing nasty things to the burning woman off in the mural. «I kind of like it here.»

I placed the folded weapon back upon the bartop. Luke rapped on the surface beside it and called for another round of brews. I backed away, shaking my head.

«I've got to go now,» I told him. «Someone's still after me, and he just came close.»

«Animals don't count,» Luke said.

«The one I just chopped up does,» I answered. «It was sent.»

I looked at the broken doors, wondering what might come through them next. Fire Angels have been known to hunt in pairs.

«But I've got to talk to you…,» I continued.

«Not now,» he said, turning away.

«You know it's important.»

«I can't think right,» he answered.

I supposed that had to be true, and there was no sense trying to drag him back to Amber or anywhere else. He'd just fade away and show up here again. His head would have to clear and his fixation dissipate before we could discuss mutual problems.

«You remember that your mother is a prisoner in Amber?» I asked.

«Yes.»

«Call me when you've got your head together. We have to talk.»

«I will.»

I turned away and walked out the doors and into a bank of fog. In the distance I heard Luke begin singing again, some mournful ballad. Fog is almost as bad as complete darkness when it comes to shadow-shifting. If you can't see any referents while you're moving, there is no way to use the ability, that allows you to slip away. On the other hand, I just wanted to be alone for a time to think,

Now my head was clear. If I couldn't see anybody in this stuff, nobody could see me either. And there were no sounds other than my own footfalls on a cobbled surface.

So what had I achieved? When I was awakened from a brief nap to attend Luke's unusual sending to Amber, I'd been dead tired following extraordinary exertions. I was transported into his presence, learned that he was tripping, fed him something I hoped would bring him off it sooner, hacked up a Fire Angel, and left Luke back where he had started.

I'd gotten two things out of it, I mused, as I strolled through the cottony mist: I'd stalemated Luke in any designs he might still have upon Amber. He was now aware that his mother was our prisoner, and I couldn't see him bringing any direct action against us under the circumstances. Aside from the technical problems involved in transporting Luke and keeping him in one place, this was the reason I was willing to leave him as I just had. I'm sure Random would have preferred him unconscious in a cell in the basement, but I was certain he would settle for a defanged Luke at large; especially so, when it was likely that Luke would be getting in touch with us sooner or later regarding Jasra. I was willing to let him come down and come around in his own good time. I had problems of my own in the waiting room, like Ghostwheel, Mask, Vinta… and the new specter which had just taken a number and a seat.