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So they came to Sanctuary - the garden at the heart of the Shadows where Amon was the Guardian - with their gentle lawns and pavilions. In a low white buidling at the base of the hills, Malskeine had established a laboratory. He was to report to them over dinnder his findings on the blue chains.

But first ...

Amon sent them to wash and change.

"I shall be in the garden," he said.

And so they found him. He was wearing the robes of the Guardian, which were still rather loose on his frame, still largely human but he had removed the mask. The features of the Carouser were still apparent, but already they were thickening and coarsening, as though a life of dissipation had overtaken him at last - and yet it was just the first step of his metamorphosis back into the form of an ogre. The Carouser was not yet present.

The evening sun was slanting over the pool, casting a warm red light over the garden, as though it was seen through stained glass.

"Alys," he said slowly, as they joined him. "You asked about ... my agreement. Perhaps ... perhaps the time has come for me to tell you the story that lies behind it. The story of what ... I truly am."

Delphine waited quietly. She felt like an interloper on things that did not concern her. Except that they did concern her. Because of Perelle and the promises and friendships she had made.

Alys nodded solemnly. "Please tell us," she asked, coming to sit next to him. Her green eyes showed a mixture of worry and sympathy. "We will not think less of you for the truth."

Gerard was there, still clothed in his human appearance, perhaps holding the semblance of humanity through sheer force of will. He watched, silent.

"Then," said the Guardian, "we need to go back in time - almost to the turn of the first millennium after Patternfall. The children of the Pattern were all using clones by then, and experimenting. Fiona created the first of her super intelligent clones - the Dorothy and Roberts - although they still lagged a long way behind what they would later become as they were bred for pure genius.

"Bleys created an intelligent clone too - one known as Oscar. He was very like Bleys in many ways - the result of experiments to create a clone as like the original as possible. And Bleys ... was very good.

"But then, rather than creating a whole line of Oscars, he turned his attention elsewhere. One of his greatest weaknesses, you see. He had no staying power.

"And this time ... he turned his attention to twisting his genetic code to creating ... monsters."

"Not monsters," Alys corrected automatically. "Maybe to his eyes. But we know better," Alys admonished.

"Perhaps not even to his," said the Guardian. He smiled faintly. "Perhaps the greatest monster of all is the one that wears our own shape."

He was silent for a moment, as though looking back deep into the past. Finally he sighed.

"These experiments - took a long time. Some were fascinating in and of themselves. The Kraken, for example, that guards the seas off one of the Sanctuary Shadows. Vast, unfathomable. I don't think he ever wanted to transfer into that - but he became fascinated by the possibilities of how far the genetic code might be stretched and still remain - in essence - himself. Nature, you see. The nurture ... he had no concept of how thousands of years in such a form might change him.

"And all the while, as he threw himself into his experiments, Oscar watched. And worked with him.

"Of course, by then, there was no possibility that Oscar would be used for transfer. He was too valuable. He knew too much that was useful - no, invaluable to Bleys. And Bleys was even talking about the possibility of Oscar himself transferring - so that his intelligence might not be lost. But it was more than that. Bleys saw him as not just a resource. He saw him as a son, perhaps. A friend."

Delphine sat quietly. She didn't like the way the story was progressing - there was too much sense of foreboding in Amon's soft tones. All the same, she waited, hoping she would be wrong.

Alys frowned. "What... does this Oscar have to do with Sanctuary?" she asked worriedly.

The Guardian laughed quietly.

"Rather a lot," he said. "By now, Bleys had thrown himself so fully into his experiments that he was losing contact with the outside world. Fiona would send messages from time to time ... but often it would be Oscar who received them and brought them to Bleys. And Oscar too began to crave immortality.

"For this was the point of all the experiments, of course. To create creatures that would be immortal - to end the clone transfer which was crude and messy and wasteful. Each new form was an opportunity at studying that - although Bleys still found time for amusement. The bears of Karelia, for example ... that was amusement. And the satyrs ... well. Bleys could see interesting potential in assuming that form. And yet ... he didn't. Something held him back. Something ... He made his creatures, but all the time he moved from human clone to human clone ...

"He hadn't realised how deeply Oscar was like him. How driven Oscar had become by the quest. He should, perhaps have realised - the way Oscar reported the experiments that Fiona was carrying out with the mer, creating mer images of herself ... like you, Delphine. No, Bleys was now caught up in his greatest experiment - the creation of a being that brought together much of what he had learned in a single form. Grotesque ... monstrous ... more a beast than a man.

"So caught up that he didn't notice when Oscar's attitude suddenly changed. From being driven, he suddenly seemed shocked, dazed, defeated. It was only later, much later when Bleys learned of the urgent message Oscar had intercepted, how Oscar had realised the consequences for himself ... what they meant.

"Because then Oscar threw himself into the creation of the new form more fervently than ever, obsessively - the monster that would hold its host forever, they both believed, in a debased form, admittedly. But it was a prototype, of course. A first attempt that would later be refined and perfected into the loveliest of forms - one in which Bleys would be content to begin his new immortality.

"The Beast, you see, would lead on to the Beauty.

"The project was nearing completion. It had taken many, many years. Oscar was growing old - even by clone age, his natural life was coming to an end. Bleys ... was still hearty. But then, he never wore a clone long.

"And the monster was fascinating. Ugly, yes. But strength, and power, almost beyond belief. The potential for a savagery that was intoxicating. And Oscar began to plead with Bleys ... that they should try the ultimate experiement - that they should try to Transfer into the monster. And Oscar should be the one to do it."

Delphine nodded. Everything was beginning to make sense.

Gerard was nodding, too, as if he understood exactly what the Guardian was talking about.

Alys frowned, obviously puzzling it out.

"Amon... Are you Oscar?" she asked hesitantly.

"Amon," Delphine murmured, almost too quietly to be heard, "the Hidden One..."

Amon bowed his head. "That is one meaning," he said. "Another is 'trustworthy'. I hope ... that both are applicable."

Delphine smiled and nodded her agreement.

He spoke again, without looking up.

"When Oscar made his proposal, Bleys refused. It was, he believed, too dangerous for a clone - and one he had come to love like he was a son. It should be he and he alone who took on the experiement.

"Oscar made objections - but finally appeared to acquiesce. Together they prepared ... Bleys was not intending to spend long in the beast, you understand. This first creature - it was to be a little while - to explore the parameters, to run some tests. There - there was a young clone ready. Little more than a boy - caged. Scared.

"So ... all was in readiness, and Bleys was about to begin.

"And then Oscar challenged him - to duel for the right to be the one to Transfer."

Delphine looked away. She was certain now - there could be no ending of this story which would be a happy one for Amon. She listened, but she did not want to see his face as he finished the tale.

Alys looked confused. "This is your body you are speaking of, yes?" she asked Amon.

"My body," Amon said. "Yes. My ... self. Someone else ... something else wore it for the first ten years of its life. But then ... it was forced out into the plantaxy by transfer - and I stepped into this body ... and into hell.

"You see ... in shaping the form, our concern had been with the longevity. Neither of us - Bleys nor Oscar - had given any thought to ... to the intellectual capabilities of the creature. Or ... perhaps he had. Perhaps ... he knew it would become a prison of flesh for me. Unable to talk ... it took me several centuries to train these muscles and bones to make recognisable sounds. At first I was unable to walk on two legs ... I could only manage to move on four. Decades before I learned ... All my pride, all my wit and intelligence ... reduced to a shambling monster ... "

He raised his head and looked at them. The human features were fading now - the contours of the monstrous beast becoming more apparent.

"I won the fight," he said simply. "How could I not? I was Bleys ... no-one save Benedict ever bested me.

"And Oscar - I did not wound him. He acknowledged my victory - and prepared to help me. I ... I felt a little remorse - ironic as that seems now. As I took the plantaxy from him, I said, "Oscar, if you wish it so much, then you shall transfer. We shall make you a suitable clone ... "

He gave a little laugh. "Even then I did not realise. He did, of course. He had received the message from Fi - the message that told of the trick Caine had played upon Llewella, trapping her in the form of a mermaid. And he realised ... if I were trapped - really trapped ...

"He could take my place."

Delphine's head whipped round and she stared at Amon. "Then that man... the Carouser... isn't Bleys at all? You are?"

"That smarmy little bastard," Gerard said to himself, then broke off and stared at Amon. "Prove it."

Alys wasn't looking at Amon. Or any of the others. Her eyes grew worried and she was looking out into the garden.

Amon shrugged his broadening shoulders.

"Prove what? That I was once Bleys, many thousands of years ago? He has lived as Bleys for longer, perhaps, than I have done - in different bodies. And he has my memories ... "

He smiled grimly.

"You see, after I was reduced to a brute beast in a cage, he took the clone we had prepared to be my escape route. I watched as he used the plantaxy ... he knew how to transfer. He had seen me do it - he'd made me explain it - as part of our preparation for the experiment - I believed, vain fool that I was, that in his love for me, he was determined that nothing should go wrong.

"He knew how to transfer ... the theory. But neither of us had known whether it would work - whether it would be possible for one clone to take on another. But ... I saw Oscar's old body fall lifeless - I saw the plantaxy glow ... and I saw the look in the boy's eyes as he turned to me. And I cowered in a corner of my cage like a whipped dog.

"So I saw as he went to the corner of the room and lifted my own plantaxy - my own repository. All my memories ... all that made me ... Bleys. Stored there. He gazed into the plantaxy and attuned to it. Mt memories became his. Every part of what made me ... me ... he absorbed it and claimed it as his own. To all outsiders ... he was Bleys. Even Fi ... although he avoided her for a few decades until his confidence grew. And I was one of the freakish monsters he had made on a whim."

He shook his head. "Prove it? I cannot. Every memory you could challenge me with - he could match it. The only proof would be our different mastery of Pattern. But there is no Pattern now."

Delphine laid her hand on Amon's knee for a moment, gazing into his eyes with her saltwater blue ones. Then she released her grip and said, "In that case, it does not really matter which was which, does it? If Oscar can out-Bleys the Carouser, then let him have that title. You have proven to be something much more valuable, much more honorable. But now I must ask the callous question and ask you to forgive me - what does that have to do with the deal you both made about Sanctuary?"

"It was some several hundred years later," said Amon. "At first ... he kept me close by him. Caged. And then - he turned me lose. I have never been sure why - whether it was boredom or disgust at being confronted by me ... Or whether it was just carelessness. I could believe any of those ...

"At all events, he turned me out into Shadow to starve or thrive as I would. And I thrived. It took a long time - long even in the terms of an Amberite life - before I triumphed over the brute madness that had taken me. But then ... I began to walk, eventually to talk. And I began to gather around me a group of other Unchosen, all as twisted and broken as I was.

"When I came back to confront him, he thought I meant to kill him."

Alys was still looking out over the garden with unfocused eyes.

Then she turned to Amon, her face white.

"Where is Malskeine?" she asked tensely.

"He says he has set up a laboratory here," said Amon. "Why?"

"Because... if I was Oscar, and I was here... He's seen Gerard. He must know about the Warlord. Or suspect. If I was Oscar I would find out what you've discovered."

She turned to Amon worriedly. "Malskeine is doing the research on the chains. He has Caine's notes on Llewella. If I were Oscar... I would kill Malskeine if I knew and take the notes and the research and leave."

Gerard was looking back and forth between Alys and Amon. "He does?" he asked, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was there at the time.

"We must assume the Carouser has spies at Seahaven," Alys answered Gerard absently as she still looked at Amon.

"Where is Malskeine's lab? I will stay with him until the Carouser is gone from this area," Alys told Amon.

"That is not what he wants," Gerard said slowly.

Amon too was looking at Gerard, but there was a certain resignation in his expression.

"Elaine?" he asked.

Delphine looked pensive, as if all this information was just now sinking in. Finally she said, "I think you should send someone to stay with Malskeine anyway. Alys makes some good points and I do not believe from what we have heard today that this Oscar is trustworthy. It is probably more urgent that we continue the conversation from this point, and that of Elaine... but I will want the complete story eventually, monseigneur..."

Gerard nodded in response. "That is what he wants," he said. "I offer the information to you, because there is something you have that I want. Priorities have changed."

"What are your priorities?" Alys asked guardedly, her green eyes showing concern as she watched Gerard.

Amon was listening too - gravely.

"Llewella," Gerard said. "I didn't know that the secret of her transformation was here. I want it."

"We... intended to share it with you once we've learned what we can from it," Alys said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. " Malskeine even now is working on it"

"After all, we did make a deal with the Siren. But perhaps you don't remember," she said a little more thoughtfully. "She took Delphine's love hostage. And won't return him until we deliver the cure for her condition to her. Hopefully the cure can be applied to your condition."

Delphine flinched at the mention of Perelle and the bargain, but her gaze, growing steadily more concerned, remained on Gerard.

"Condition?" A raised eyebrow. "A very tacit word to describe many, many years of change and growth. It connotates a disease, something to get rid of." He extends an arm, looks at his human-appearing hand. "That is one way of putting it. There is something to be said for removing the ugly, brutish nature that sometimes comes to the surface. Yes, that would be an advantage." He glances back to the others. "We are going there now, yes?"

Delphine's expression went from concerned to resolute in an instant. She said nothing.

Alys didn't immediately answer Gerard, but glanced at Amon to see his response.

Amon was watching Gerard with a faint smile.

"Good old Gerard," he said. "Good old reliable Gerard - most dependable of all of us. Always seen as the stupid one, just as Flora was seen as the silly one. But Flora was never really silly. Shallow - maybe. And you ... were you really always the kindest of us all? Or did that great strength mask a mind as sharp as any of us?

"Tell me, Gerard - was it really brotherly love that made you fight so hard to save Brand?"

Alys looked somewhat surprised at Amon's words. For the truth was she'd never heard him speak like that to anyone, save Opal, before.

"That... was a very long time ago," Gerard said. He smiled. "Partly, to answer your question. My suspicions were with Corwin at the time. I wanted our brother to recover. I wanted answers. And I was not prepared to see one of us murder another right under my nose." His head tilted. "Too bad you weren't there. Fi didn't get the job done by herself. Where did you go, after you fell off Kolvir?"

Delphine rose and stepped a few feet away, gazing off in the distance toward the sea. There was a hint of acid in the conversation now that she remembered from earlier days, from her first marriage and life under the waves. The memory came with bitterness, but she stayed close enough to hear the rest, in case it was important.

Amon smiled. "To Fi, of course. She took me to one of her pet hidden Shadows. As dull as hell ... she didn't want me to lose myself in sybaritic pleasures."

He shuddered suddenly, and raised his hand to his face.

"I must ... stop," he said hoarsely. "Talking like this ... I thought ... I thought it was gone. Long ago."

He moved away from them to lean on a low garden wall, his hands pressing into the stone, his shoulders bowed.

"I am not him," he said softly. "He is dead to me. I am Amon. The Guardian."

"No... you are who you think you are," Alys said, coming up to stand near him.

"You are Amon. And you are Bleys. You cannot change that. Even as I am Alys. And I am Opal." She smiled a small, bitter smile. "I cannot change who I am even as you cannot change who you are. But you can decide to do something about it."

"Sanctuary is doomed, no matter what we do here now. So.. will you honor a bargain to save something that cannot be saved? Or will you reclaim what you were?" she asked softly as she looked at Amon's back.

Delphine looked at Alys with pained eyes. "And what if it can be saved, dear madame? How can we abandon these people? How can you ask it when there is no better alternative available to us? Will it make the world a better place if Amon becomes Bleys again, uses his little barbs and witticisms and fights this Oscar at his own game? Forgive me if I prefer the Guardian of Sanctuary."

Alys was silent for a moment, looking at Delphine with a pained look. Whether she waiting or searching for words could not be told. But then...

Amon turned. It was the face of Bleys - a little altered as the changes grew ... but still recognisable as Bleys. And yet the eyes ... the eyes were those they had known as Amon's, the wise, patient Guardian of Sanctuary.

"I will not let Sanctuary be lost," he said in a low voice. "I am Bleys and Amon both - and I will protect Sanctuary from Karadon, from the Auburni, from Plantaxy. I will do what must be done."

He lifted his head higher to look at all three of them. "Are you with me? Or will you walk your own paths?"

"My path lies with you," Delphine said simply, "and with Sanctuary."

He smiled at her. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Gerard shook his head. "I will see what Malskiene has done," he said. "I will take what he has to Llewella. Then I will return." He met Amon's gaze. "What promises the Carouser offered to me were proved empty when he mis-represented himself to me. But you will need help to turn back Karadon's army."

"If she will allow it, bring Perelle back with you," said Delphine with a sudden hope in her eyes. "Please."

Alys hesitated. Did she mention that Amon also needed the cure? Would that even stop Gerard? And would saying anything dash Delphine's hopes?

She silently turned her head to watch Amon. To see what his reaction to Gerard's statement of intent and of Delphine's hope for Perelle would be...

Amon was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Bring Perelle. And bring yourself." He gazed down at his hand, slowly reverting to the paw of a great beast.

"The price I offer to Llewella and yourself is this ... until all is over, for good or ill, I will stay in the form of Amon, Guardian of Sanctuary." He was silent for a while - and it was clear what this offer to sacrifice the human form of Bleys cost him. But then he looked up, and even smiled faintly. "After all - with Oscar loose in the Universe as the Carouser ... do we really need two versions of Bleys?"

Delphine glanced at Amon with sudden concern. She had not considered that sending Gerard down to Llewella would keep Amon from getting his cure... She wanted to say something but felt small and selfish. She looked to Gerard.

Alys on the other hand looked almost angry. "What good does it do to leave Oscar free?" she asked. "He is not our ally. He has betrayed you before, and will betray us all if there is any gain to be had for him. And what gain for us for you to remain as you are?" she demanded of Amon.

"The creatures of Sanctuary know him, in this form," Gerard said. "Not in the other. They will need that, ere the end."

Alys frustratedly sighed, a strangely familiar sound. "Even if it is best for Sanctuary, do we really want this Oscar to do as he pleases?"

"Of course not," Delphine agreed. "But Sanctuary must be the first consideration of those who have sworn to protect her. Perhaps what Oscar needs is a minder..."

"What Oscar needs," said Amon, "is to be eradicated entirely. And there may be a fighter who can - and will - best him."

Delphine's eyebrows raised, her gaze flicked to Gerard and then back to the Guardian.

"Who?" Alys asked, surprised at this turn of the conversation.

"Benedict could," Gerard said. "But he's dead."

"It doesn't need Benedict," said Amon. "This is a clone of me ... he's not as good as I once was. I bred Oscar for brain and guile, not blade. Ever since, he's been refining elements, wanting to create a Bleys clone who could be the supreme warrior.

"And now ... he may have achieved it."

"Jenever," Alys breathed. "You think she could defeat Oscar?" she asked wonderingly.

"I think it's a possibility," said Amon. "He may be her progenitor, but the life he used to create her was mine."

"She's powerful, but erratic," said Delphine, considering. "Do you think we can convince her to do this?"

"The woman we met on the trail of the crystal man?" Gerard asked. "She's.... young."

Alys looked out over the garden, searching. "She hasn't found us yet... I begin to worry. Perhaps I should songline her now?" she offered.

"If we're going to ask her, you had better..." Delphine advised. "I think that she was going to exchange swords with... with Oscar when she returned..."

Amon nodded. "There is much she should know," he said quietly. "See if you can songline her."

Delphine looked at Alys. She, too, had Jenever's songline, but Alys had offered first.

Alys nodded, then softly sang Jenever's songline, her pitch perfect.

There was no response.

Alys looked back to the others and shook her head. "There's no reply. Either she won't answer, or can't. I think we should take either as a bad sign."

"Then for the moment, we should confront Oscar ourselves," said Amon. "perhaps without revealing that you know the truth."

"And if he's telling the truth about Karadon?" Gerard asked.

"That Karadon is without Caine, and will attack? I met Caine ... he was ambivalent, Gerard. Immortality in Karadon has grown stale for him ... well - could you face immortality with Flora and Julian, unleavened by even occasional visits from Fiona or myself?

"When he met the Resistance ... they excited him. They offered a challenge - such as challenge as he had not faced for centuries. And ... I believe that in some way he came to believe that they were the true Amberites, not the decaying hiulks that are all that are left of us. But now ... whether he has been won back to the cause of Karadon, or whether he has decided to take some indeterminate position of his own - your guess is as good as mine.

"Although," he added thoughtfully, "I would be interested to hear your guesses. You spent more time with this incarnation of Caine than I did, after all."

"He told me he expected the Resistance to win, provided they don't lose the battles before them," Alys said hesitantly. "And that he was going to make sure neither he nor his siblings would be a problem for us afterwards."

Amon's eyebrow lifted slightly, and he glanced at Delphine and Gerard. "Did he elaborate on that?" he asked.

"He didn't have to," Gerard said. "It's Caine that said it."

Delphine looked down. She did not feel altogether comfortable with the conversation, but she was willing to do anything for Sanctuary. "Perhaps..." she said quietly, "It is he that we need."

Amon smiled, bleakly. "Perhaps," he said. "It would be hard to leave my Sanctuary undefended, though. Although, perhaps, I have prepared you to take it over in my absence."

He looked around the garden. "All things draw to an end," he said. "Even Amberites, in time. Father knew how to accept his end. Perhaps we should too."

"I didn't mean..." Delphine whispered, then stopped short. It didn't matter now.

Alys looked at Delphine with a hint of worry.

Then he rose. "But first ... there are things to do. We should start by finding Elaine, Malskeine ... and Oscar."

Delphine nodded and rose, smoothing her skirts.

Alys stood. "I would expect we will find Oscar with Malskeine," she said. "He's one to waste no time or opportunity."

"Neither am I," Gerard said, moving up. "It is time, I think, to find out what they both have been up to."

"All right," Delphine agreed, prepared to follow as soon as they others began to move.

They made their way, led by Amon, to a long low building at the back of the garden. When they entered, they found Malskeine working with a variety of variegated test tubes at a long wooden bench. There was no-one else in the room.

"Where's the Carouser?" said Amon abruptly.

Malskeine looked around, frowning. "I thought he was here," he said. "He didn't leave through the door."

"Ultima!" said Amon.

"Maybe he did songline away," Alys agreed, "Or maybe he's slipped away to find Elaine." She looked up at the Guardian. "Can you tell?" she asked.

The Guardian shook his head, watching Malskeine.

"What did he ask you before he left?" Delphine asked.

"He asked where that girl was," said Malskeine. "Elaine. I told him she was hopeless with the experiments - always fidgeting. Her blood was fascinating though. The Amberite strain ... very potent. Then he suddenly started talking to himself. I ignored him. When I looked round again - he'd gone."

"He could be anywhere by now," Gerard said. Glancing at Malskeine, he asked, "Where is the girl?"

Malskeine looked around.

"She said something about going for a walk. To the heart of creation, she said. Girls that age - overly dramatic, don't you think?"

"Does anyone here have Elaine's songline?" Alys asked.

Amon shook his head. "Does she have one?" he asked.

"Anywhere," Delphine repeated in a whisper, considering. "No... if he's gone, he will return here... if he's here... he can be found."

Alys grimaced at the news. "Now what?"

She turned to Malskeine. "Have you made any success with Caine's formulas?" she asked the geneticist.

"Oh yes," he said. "It's a fascinating problem. It's the element of Chaosian blood that does it. One uses that, you see, to shapeshift. I've managed it on a small scale tissue level. Theoretically it could be done on a larger scale - but you'd nneed an expert to teach you how - and how to maintain the new form, probably.

"The blue chains accelerate the process, you know. But they're no match for expertise."

"So... anyone of us could shapeshift using these chains over time?" Alys asked astonished.

"But then... why doesn't the Siren use them?" she asked, confused. "They are from her realm. She must know of their properties." She looked at the others questioningly.

"I think," said Malskeine, "she may have used them for other purposes. They are strong ... and pure ... bound up with sea-water and plantaxy."

He looked at all of them thoughtfully.

"It occurs to me that she may have been trying to use them not to heal herself ... but to heal Rebma's Pattern."

Alys paused. "Why would you think that?" she asked carefully. "Do you remember something from your time in Argent?"

"I was forbidden to approach the Pattern Chamber - or what was once the Pattern Chamber," said Malskeine. "I found that, in itself, interesting - if it were truly no more than a relic of the past."

"I did not go," Gerard said. "I did not try." He turned away. "I did not wish to see. It is the past."

"Perhaps," Delphine said. "But if it can be repaired... That could be a great aid to us... Although, if it is done while the plantaxy still grows, could it not also be a hindrance? More order in a universe of order?"

Alys frowned, considering. Too much felt wrong here. She knew Malskeine had been a prisoner of the Siren. And Gerard an unwilling guest.

Delphine had a point though. There was too much order in their universe. They'd heard no word that the others were any closer to their objectives of redressing the balance.

They didn't know where the Carouser was. They didn't know where Elaine was...

"What is the center of creation?" she asked out loud, still frowning. "If that's where Elaine's gone to... is that a place somewhere in Sanctuary? Or has she gone elsewhere?"

"She was waiting for her father," said Malskeine. "Only he seems to have left without her."

"Her father," said Amon, "is Seth."

Malskeine shrugged. "Not the way she sees it. And to her - the centre of creation is the place where all this grew from. The Pattern in Gramerye. I think that's the sum of her ambitions."

"She means to walk it," Gerard said. "If she doesn't see Seth as her father, then who?"

"But what good will it do her to walk it now?" Delphine asked. "I think we had best find Oscar. Right now."

"We don't have his songline," she pointed out. But she did dig into her pocket and put out her compact. Alys opened it, and focused on where the one they'd called the Carouser was.

"I can't find him," Alys told the others. "All I see is blackness."

"He is no longer here. He may be in Ultima, but I know of no way of getting there directly," she said with a grimace.

"Can you see Elaine?" asked Amon.

Alys looked back down into her mirror, searching for Seth's second daughter with her element.

She saw a boat, drifting on a peaceful mere. In the distance a misty castle. Elaine sat within the boat: her eyes fearful, a golden circlet around her brows. A rich cloth was spread over the boat, and all around was a sensation of dreamy menace.

While Alys concentrated, Gerard spent time looking at the experiment Malskeine was doing.

Malskeine was manipulating infinitely fine strands of DNA - what Gerard might recognise as Amber DNA, and bonding it with the molecules of the strange blue chains ...

Alys looked confused. "She is on a boat, a small craft on a lake somewhere. There's a castle near by. There's... I think... she may be in some danger. She definitely looks scared. And... I am picking up a feeling of menace."

"I might be able to go through shadow to get to the castle," she said, glancing up. "There's enough imagery to make it findable."

"I know the place, I think," said Amon grimly. "A twisted perversion of Corwin's Avalon ... it lies between here and Gramerye."

"Then she is on her way," Delphine said. "I don't like that at all... What good can it do her, now?"

"I believe the Auburni have some plan," said Amon. "They intend her - blood of Seth, blood of Corwin, to put paid to the plantaxy by walking the Pattern."

"And how can she walk the Pattern? It's covered with plantaxy..." Alys added, perplexed.

"Unless she knows something we don't?" Alys suggested to the others.

"I don't know," said Amon. "The plantaxy ... until it started to invade the Sanctuary shadows, I ignored it."

"It appears," Gerard said, "she's found a way around that. Do you know what that would be?"

Amon shook his head.

"But if the Auburni are behind it - we should go there, I believe. Soon."

Delphine nodded. "They must have something - Werewindle?"

"Or the certainty of getting it soon," said Amon grimly.

"Malskeine? How much longer would it take you to arrive at a solution for Amon and Gerard and the Siren?" Alys asked the scientist.

Malskeine frowned. "A theoretical one, or a practical working solution?" he asked.

"I think we are past time for theories, and need a practical solution as soon as you are able," Alys told him. "Do you have any idea when that might be?"

Malskeine shrugged. "With a good r&d team? Five years, tops. I could cut corners and maybe managed three."

"We need it tomorrow morning," said Amon. "We're going to have to go outside Sanctuary - and hope no-one notices."

Gerard visibly winced.

"I do agree with you on the necessity of leaving, monseigneur," Delphine said, "but I think that someone ought to remain behind to guard Sanctuary and communicate with the others about what is happening here."

"Someone as in... who?" he asked.

"It is more who of us will go with Malskeine," said Amon. "My suggestion would be that some of us go to a fast Shadopw where the process can be developed while those of us remain secure Sanctuary - or least set those procedures in place with trusted people. We should do this before as little time as possible has passed in Sanctuary time, I believe. The route Elaine is taking may lead her through some slow Shadows, but they will not delay her forever."

He looked ropund at them. "I should be one of those who remain," he said. "These are my people."

"I will work on the research," Gerard said. "I'm involved with it, after all."

Delphine hesitated, looking at Alys. She obviously did not wish to decide for herself and was hoping someone would tell her what choice she ought to make.

"I will follow after Elaine. Delphine has my songline and you can all join me once the research is done," Alys announced. "Delphine can stay with Sanctuary till then. Amon, you and Gerard go with Malskeine and finish the research. I will just shadow Elaine until you are all ready to come to me."

Alys and Amon stepped aside for a short conversation.

They rejoined the others and soon parted - Gerard, Alys and Malskeine to find a fast Shadow for research; Delphine and Amon to set in train the defence of the already battered and beseiged Sanctuary Shadows.

Delphine doesn't know a whole lot about fortification, so she's willing to yield to Amon's wishes in the matter. What she does intend to do is quietly and competently keep everything going, organize the various efforts, and perhaps arrange to train some of the less martial members of Sanctuary.

An entire morning had passed in Sanctuary, and it was now early afternoon. Together Amon and Delphine had developed strategies for strengthening Sanctuary's defences ... and had devised a plan for putting them into effect.

They had even found time for lunch.

Now there were in Amon's favourite pavilion oin the garden at the heart of Sanctuary, studying a Shadow map that set out the route to the mysterious Shadow that Amon called Astalott.

Delphine leaned over the map, frowning slightly. "Is there a quicker route to Gramerye, perhaps?" she asked. "Instead of following, you might be able to head her off - get there ahead?"

Gerard was away from the pavilion at the moment. He was a little distance away, turned away from the rest of the group. He had come back to Sanctuary still wearing the chains, but had been gone the entire morning; having met the others, he broke away at the earliest opportunity to be alone with his thoughts.

"It is the quickest route," said Amon heavily. "Unless one is able to arrive in Gramerye direst. And since we do not know now what effect the outgrowth of plantaxy has had upon the place ... "

Delphine nodded, her expression troubled.

Alys moved to join them in the pavilion. Four years had aged her. Her expression was tired, her form thinner than it had been when she left, almost as thin as when Flaubon and Seth had found her.

"Malskeine has what he thinks is the solution," she announced in a soft, clear voice as she stood in the doorway. "I don't know if Gerard has taken it. I think he is still considering what it is he wants."

She nodded to Amon and Delphine. "I need to go see my son Amon. It was... four years. In a shadow I selected to be immune to scrying. I'll be back in a little while."

"Of course," Delphine said warmly. "We'll be waiting when you return."

Gerard chose to start walking back at that moment, a leisurely stroll that would bring him to the others within a few moments.

"Go then," said Amon, "with my blessing."

He smiled at Alys - and then looked at Gerard, approaching.

"You have not tried the serum yet? If it works ... I think someone should take it to Llewella ... and purchase Perelle's freedom."

Delphine smiled at that, her face still turned away, but betrayed no more reaction than that. It took most of her strength to keep her excitement down, but she did not want to get her hopes up again simply to have them dashed.

"I have, just this morning," Gerard said. He reached up, unwinding the chain from around his body...

Alys paused in her departure, curious now as to what the real effect of Malskeine's serum would be on one such as Gerard. Or Amon.

There was no change - no reversion to the monstrous form of the Warlord. But then, as they knew, the reversion toook some time to begin.

Malskeine entered the pavilion at this point and stood watching.

"Does it work?" asked Amon. "Is it safe?"

"It will work," said Malskeine. "And permanently too. Safe?" He shrugged. "Is anything?"

"Not anything worth having," Gerard said. He examined his arms and sighed. "We shall have to see what the psychological effects will be, for good or ill. Yes. I shall be looking forward to it."

"Are there known side effects?" Delphine clarified, keeping her voice quiet and even.

"Not in the tests and simulations I ran," said Malskeine. "But then ... nothing functions quite like an Amberite. The best test will be in the fields."

He held out a small vial of light green liquid to Amon who took it gingerly.

"The effect won't be as fast as the chains," said Malskeine. "Hours rather than minutes. But it should be permanent. Or ... semi-permanent.."

"Semi?" said Amon.

"One projection calls for repeat doses every five decades," said Malskeine with a shrug.

"Ah," said Amon, and he lifted the vial to his lips.

"And aging?" Gerard asked. "My old body was... very... long-lived."

Delphine watched with fascination and a little concern.

Alys, too, listened for Malskeine's answer. Her trip to see her son could wait a few more minutes.

"There should be no aging," said Malskeine. "Unless there are unforeseen complications."

Amon hesitated a little, but then he downed the contents of the vial.

Nothing happened - but then, Malskeine had warned of this.

"Alys," said Amon, "you should be off. We need to make all speed."

"Perhaps I should see about packing," Delphine offered.

"I will songline Baronne," Alys told them. "She should be with my son now. It won't take long..."

And she hummed Marguerite's songline quietly.

Amon nodded. "Make any preparations you need," he said to her. He was watching Gerard thoughtfully.

Gerard gave him a toothy grin in return. It looked genuine... almost.

"I'm sure we'll find what we need on the way," he said to Delphine.

She returned the smile without much conviction. "Perhaps it would be better to make certain," she said neutrally. "I shall only be perhaps a half hour... most things have already been arranged."

And with that she slipped from the building.

Delphine headws to the house in which she has been living, quickly packing up the important things that were there - some weapons she knew how to use, some clothing, but mostly knick-knacks and mementos, things that had personal import. Gerard had been right about finding what they needed in shadow - except for the things which were irreplaceable.

And then she walked out and looked towards the distant sea, perhaps for the last time, and stared off at the horizon ...

Soon she would be travelling there, with Gerard. So they would be bringing Malskeine's creation to Llewella ... the price that was needed to purchase Perelle ...

She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about that... then returned to the place she had left Gerard and Amon.

Amon looked at her. "Are you ready to go back to the sea, to Llewella?" he asked.

She nodded. "I have desired nothing more. Thank you for this opportunity, Guardian... and you as well, Gerard."

Gerard waved his hand dismissively. "It's on my way," he said. "Always ready to disseminate the good news, and all that."

"Your way to ... where?" asked Amon softly.

"For now," Gerard said, "my goal is to take care of our sister. The Siren. You remember her." The flash of a smile in his bearded face. "We'll see how long that takes. And after... I can't tell you how much I want to avoid the catastrophe that happened when Dad tried to fix his Pattern, brother. Whatever I need to do to make things work the way they need to work, that is what I want. I want to survive. I want to end up with better circumstances than last time."

Delphine nodded impassively. "I, too," she said, "will do whatever it takes to protect those things I love. But perhaps it is time now to go."

Amon nodded. "Do you have Marguerite's songline? You can go to Seahaven, where she is now, and from there to Llewella's kingdom beneath the waves." He smiled at Delphine. "It will be familiar to you."

She smiled back.

"All I'll need is a tall ship and a star to sail her by," Gerard said. "Or something like that. I'm itching to find out if I still remember how to shift in Shadow."

Amon shot another long glance at Gerard. In view of his previous transformation, perhaps 'itching' struck the Guardian as a strangely apposite word to choose.

"I haven't got Marguerite's songline, either," Delphine said. "But I do have Alys'... She may still be in Seahaven."

"Please," said Amon, "go ahead."

And as Delphine sang the songline, she felt the sensation of the sea.

"Delphine... you wish to come through to the sea?" Alys asked with a relieved smile.

"Please," Delphine replied, returning the smile with her own gentle one. She glanced over to where Amon and Gerard were speaking. "And I think that Gerard will be accompanying me."

"Very well... We'll need to switch places, since I am to rejoin the Guardian and depart with him."

She looked down at Amon. "I'm leaving now. I'm going to step through the songline and Delphine will take my place here. So... be strong, and remember I love you very much." She leaned down, kissed his brow while squeezing his hand.

Then she turned and reached out to Delphine through the songline.

Delphine turned toward Gerard. "Vous etes pretes?"

She extended her hand, palm upwards.

"Oui, mon chere." Gerard smiled. "Now that is a language I have not enjoyed in a long time. The words tumble like satin from one's lips. Now that I have lips." He whistled a few bars of what Amon would recognize as one of Caine's bawdiest sea shanties as he took Delphine's hand.

And Delphine smiled at the response, a wide smile that was almost silent laughter... and taking hold of Alys, she drew the blond woman forward as they stepped closer...

And Alys partook of the dance, turning and pulling Delphine through even as she pivoted around and took the sea dweller's place in the heart of Sanctuary.

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