Roger Zelazny - The Hand Of Oberon

Benedict was seated on a low stool beside a foot locker atop which a map had been spread. He was tracing something on the map with the long metal finger of the glinting, skeletal hand attached to the deadly, silver-cabled, firepinned mechanical arm I had brought back from the city in the sky, the entire device now attached to the stump of his right arm a little below the point where the sleeve had been cut away from his brown shirt, a transformation which halted me with a momentary shudder, so much did he resemble the ghost I had encountered. His eyes rose to meet my own and he raised the hand in greeting, a casual, perfectly executed gesture, and he smiled the broadest smile I had ever seen crease his face.

«Corwin!» he said, and then he rose and extended that hand.

I had to force myself to clasp the device which had almost killed me. But Benedict looked more kindly disposed toward me than he had in a long while. I shook the new hand and its pressures were perfect. I tried to disregard its coldness and angularity and almost succeeded, in my amazement at the control he had acquired over it in such a brief time.

«I owe you an apology,» he said. «I have wronged you. I am very sorry.»

«It's all right,» I said. «I understand.»

He clasped me for a moment, and my belief that things had apparently been set right between us was darkened only by the grip of those precise and deadly fingers on my shoulder.

Ganelon chuckled and brought up another stool, which he set at the other end of the locker. My irritation at his having aired the subject I had not wanted mentioned, whatever the circumstances, was submerged by the sight of its effects. I could not remember having seen Benedict in better spirits; Ganelon was obviously pleased at having effected the resolution of our differences.

I smiled myself and accepted a seat, unbuckling my sword belt and hanging Grayswandir on the tent pole. Ganelon produced three glasses and a bottle of wine. As he set the glasses before us and poured, he remarked, «To return the hospitality of your tent, that night, back in Avalon.»

Benedict took up his glass with but the faintest of clicks.

«There is more ease in this tent,» he said. «Is that not so, Corwin?»

I nodded and raised my glass.

«To that ease. May it always prevail.»

«I have had my first opportunity in a long while,» he said, «to talk with Random at some length. He has changed quite a bit.»

«Yes,» I agreed.

«I am more inclined to trust him now than I was in days gone by. We had the time to talk after we left the Tecys.»

«Where were you headed?»

«Some comments Martin had made to his host seemed to indicate that he was going to a place I knew of further off in Shadow - the block city of Heerat. We journeyed there and found this to be correct. He had passed that way.»

«I am not familiar with Heerat,» I said.

«A place of adobe and stone - a commercial center at the junction of several trade routes. There, Random found news which took him eastward and probably deeper into Shadow. We parted company at Heerat, for I did not want to be away from Amber overlong. Also, there was a personal matter I was anxious to pursue. He told me how he had seen Dara walk the Pattern on the day of the battle.»

«That's right,» I said. «She did. I was there, too.»

He nodded.

«As I said. Random had impressed me. I was inclined to believe he was telling the truth. If this were so, then it was possible that you were also. Granting this, I had to pursue the matter of the girl's allegations. You were not available, so I came to Ganelon - this was several days ago - and had him tell me everything he knew about Dara.»

I glanced at Ganelon, who inclined his head slightly.

«So you now believe you have uncovered a new relative,» I said, «a mendacious one, to be sure, and quite possibly an enemy - but a relative, nevertheless. What is your next move?»

He took a sip of wine.

«I would like to believe in the relationship,» he said. «The notion somehow pleases me. So I would like to establish it or negate it to a certainty. If it turns out that we are indeed related, then I would like to understand the motives behind her actions. And I would like to learn why she never made her existence known to me directly.»

He put down his glass, raised his new hand and flexed the fingers.

«So I would like to begin,» he continued, «by learning of those things you experienced in Tir-na Nog'th which apply to me and to Dara. I am also extremely curious about this hand, which behaves as if it were made for me. I have never heard of a physical object being obtained in the city in the sky.»

He made a fist, unclenched it, rotated the wrist, extended the arm, raised it, lowered it gently to his knee.

«Random performed a very effective piece of surgery, don't you think?» he concluded.

«Very,» I agreed.

«So, will you tell me the story?»

I nodded and took a sip of my wine.

«It was in the palace in the sky that it occurred,» I said. «The place was filled with inky, shifting shadows. I felt impelled to visit the throne room. I did this, and when the shadows moved aside, I saw you standing to the right of the throne, wearing that arm. When things cleared further, I saw Dara seated upon the throne. I advanced and touched her with Grayswandir, which made me visible to her. She declared me dead these several centuries and bade me return to my grave. When I demanded her lineage, she said she was descended of you and of the hellmaid Lintra.»

Benedict drew a deep breath but said nothing. I continued:

«Time, she said, moved at such a different rate in the place of her birth, that several generations had passed there. She was the first of them possessed of regular human attributes. She again bade me depart. During this time, you had been studying Grayswandir. You struck then to remove her from danger, and we fought. My blade could reach you and your hand could reach me. That was all. Otherwise, it was a confrontation of ghosts. As the sun began to rise and the city to fade, you had me in a grip with that hand. I struck it free of the arm with Grayswandir and escaped. It was returned with me because it was still clasping my shoulder.»

«Curious,» Benedict said. «I have known that place to render false prophecies - the fears and hidden desires of the visitor, rather than a true picture of what is to be. But then, it often reveals unknown truths as well. And as in most other things, it is difficult to separate the valid from the spurious. How did you read it?»

«Benedict,» I said, «I am inclined to believe the story of her origin. You have never seen her, but I have. She does resemble you in some ways. As for the rest…it is doubtless as you said - that which is left after the truth has been separated out.»

He nodded slowly, and I could tell that he was not convinced but did not want to push the matter. He knew as well as I did what the rest implied. If he were to pursue his claim to the throne and succeed in achieving it, it was possible that he might one day step aside in favor of his only descendant.

«What are you going to do?» I asked him.

«Do?» he said. «What is Random now doing about Martin? I shall seek her, find her, have the story from her own lips, and then decide for myself. This will have to wait, however, until the matter of the black road is settled. That is another matter I wish to discuss with you.»

«Yes?»

«If time moves so differently in their stronghold, they have had more than they need in which to mount another attack. I do not want to keep waiting to meet them in indecisive encounters. I am contemplating following the black road back to its source and attacking them on their home ground. I would like to do it with your concurrence.»