Next, we were aboard a ship sailing up the coastline on a three masted schooner. They had boarded the horses in the hold and paid for two cabins as they carried me inside a smaller birdcage just large enough for me to squat but not lie down. It was kept covered constantly as long as we were around people and for the most part, I hadn’t seen daylight in days. He was careful about feeding and watering me. Every three days, he repeated the yellow powder forcing it down my throat with a bolus even though I didn’t fight it.
The cabin was small, barely big enough for one man and it held a bunk, a metal stove to produce heat and boil a kettle. There was a chamber pot, a small porthole he kept locked and covered with a rag. In the door was a bloody big iron key. His cabin connected with the other man’s and the rest of his crew slept in the hold or on deck.
He let me out once he locked us in and I wobbled on all fours as I felt the rocking motion of the deck. “Where are we going?” I asked and my voice came out like the squeak of a catbird. I cleared my throat and felt very odd. Almost insubstantial. I felt lighter, too. He frowned and poked me in the ribs, it hurt. He scooped up several pieces of black lint.
“You’re shedding scales and you’re thinner. Do you need to eat more? Are you hungry?” My appetite was gone. I hung my head between my legs and let my wings drag on the floor. “What ails you, Raven?” He seemed concerned and he called the other man in. I learned his name was Owfan but that Dieterhof was the leader.
“I’m too far from the Unicorn,” I answered.
“And?”
“The spell that animates me is weakening. Soon, I’ll be no more,” I answered understanding that I had traveled far from my safety zone and Amber. I worried suddenly about Roelle and Marcus, if they had made it home or more frightening – that they would try to find me.
“You’ll die?” Owfan asked sharply.
“I’m not really alive,” I returned sadly. “This body is only a magic spell.”
“Who are you then? What are you?”
I hesitated and knew that I should lie. Was amazed that I could even contemplate such an action. “My name is Raven. I am what is left of the Prince of Chaos.”
“You died. Were buried, I attended your funeral and saw you lie in state. I saw the Black Dragon, too.” He paused astonished. “He, too, was blind in his right eye.” He turned to Dieterhof. “Could it be? We have the great Black Dragon of Amber in our hands? Tell me the truth, are you one and the same?”
“Yesss. But it will avail you nothing if I cease to exist.”
“We can’t take you back to Amber,” he shook his head. “Mayhap, one of the King’s Witches could heal you. His mother is a learned witch and can transform things. Can you turn yourself back into your larger self?” At my nod, he asked puzzled, “why haven’t you, then?”
“Because you didn’t tell me to.”
“Can you fly? Carry the two of us? To Khafra?”
“I’m not sure,” I said uneasily.
He scooped me up, kicked open the door and carried me up to the foredeck to the utter astonishment of the crew who stopped what they were doing to watch us. He laid me on the deck and stepped back. “Do it,” he said but tethered me by the neck with a leather thong.
“When I change, that will either break or strangle me,” I said lifting my head to sniff the air. The wind snapped the sails and I wondered vaguely whether the ship was large enough to hold my weight. He cut the thong and freed me.
“Gigantum alternus!” I chanted and in seconds, I was back to my regular size. Scooting my head down, I shoved the two onto my back and leaped off into the skies to follow the coastline up. After their initial terror, the two relaxed enough to enjoy themselves. I enjoyed the flying and being back in my own body but I sensed a physical weakness that had not been there before. My Dragon wings made short work of the distance that the ship traveled in the same time. Shadows followed me, the long shape of my wings and body proclaiming that ‘here be dragons’.
After a few hours, they actually fell asleep and I dropped lower to nearly skim the surface of the water. I could see dolphins following me, leaping out of the water to flirt with me. I dipped my head and neck into the water and trolled for fish catching schools of them and filling my guts.
The sun was a blazing orb under the greenish sky when I saw the beginnings of the city spread out along the three sides of the harbor. Beautiful, full of spires and as fancy as a Disneyland Park, it was aglow in the setting sun.
The Castle was pretty impressive and built along the lines of the Minoan Palace at Knossos. Dieterhof set me down in a courtyard and all hell broke loose. Guards appeared from everywhere armed to the teeth. The horses in the stable yard panicked and tried to climb out of their stalls, over their grooms and kicked everything to pieces. I folded my wings up as both my riders dismounted and attempted to calm the wild eyed soldiers. Finally, I shouted them down and curled up, my muscles trembling from sudden exhaustion. I fell over, just missing a cart loaded with hay and a startled boy with blond hair.
“Raven?” Dieterhof asked tentatively. “Raven, can you hear me?”
My eye tracked a tall image coming towards me dressed in blue jeans, of all things. I watched him dully as he came closer, ringed by armed men.
“The Black Dragon of Amber,” he spoke in a tone of voice that told me he had spent time in California. “Is he dead?”
“Luke,” I managed and he sat back surprised. “My dad…Merlin…Says hi.”
“What?” He prompted but as the sun died below the horizon, I went with it.
***********
I was vaguely aware of something moving me. A hoist of some kind lifting me up and onto a flat surface that rolled. The smell of sand and sage, softness under me that was heated. The smell of blood and meat, fresh water and magic hovered in the air. I slept uneasily with images racing across my mind’s eye and under my eyelids. It made my heart pound in sudden fear until I bolted upright and awoke just as the sun rose from behind a black wall.
I looked around. I was inside an amphitheater, lying on heated sand. Near me were the carcasses of a cow, several deer as well as hogs. A huge metal tank of fresh water and a hogshead of some kind of liquor lay next to that. I wished I was hungry but the thought of eating did not tempt me.
A woman stood near the entrance to this arena dressed in a scarlet robe. She was pretty but older with masses of auburn hair and deep colored eyes. I knew instinctively that she was the king’s mother –Jasra. A witch and a powerful one.
“Your power wanes the further and longer you remain away from Amber,” she said and I found myself agreeing. “So, it is true. You do speak. Tell me, son of Amber, why have you come here?” She came close enough to touch me, skirting the carcasses.
“I came because those two told me to.”
“That is not all the story,” she hissed and laid her hand on my horns, pulling my head down to stare into my eyes. Her touch was ice cold. “Your father turned me into a coatrack and I never forgave him for that,” she returned. “Would you like to suffer the same fate?”
“Mother!” Luke’s voice rang out over the sands and she let go. My head felt to the ground with a thump. I didn’t care if the two wanted to fight over me. Nothing seemed to matter to me anymore.
“He is not eating,” she observed. “And has lost much weight.”
“So I see. What’s wrong, Raven?” He seemed to be concerned over my welfare.
“The magic that keeps me alive and in this body is weak away from Amber,” I replied listlessly. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Me? I didn’t.” He turned to Jasra. “Mother? Did you order this?”
“If you control the Black Dragon, you control both Amber and the Courts and you control Merlin and Corwin.”
“I’m not at war with either Merlin or Random,” he said.
“No, but you hold an uneasy alliance with both and there are factions who want you off the throne. With him, you can keep your seat secure.”
“And how do you propose to force a Dragon to obey me? Especially how do you plan on keeping him alive?”
“There are magic spells that I can try,” she shrugged. “As for his compliance, I gave Dieterhof the yellow pollen of the Atarax tree. As long as he breathes it every three days, his will is subservient to ours.”
“They fed it to me,” I said dully. “Forced it down my throat.”
She sucked in her breath. “You ate it?” Her eyes were round. “Those idiots!” Without another word, she threw her cape over her head and disappeared in it swirls.
“Raven?” I opened my eyes. “How is Merlin?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in several weeks. Maybe months. I’m not sure how much time has gone by since the wedding.”
“Wedding?” He sat on my hind leg and ran his hands on the scales. They were dulled and dusty. He studied my talons and the tail where once had been a deadly barb but some soldier of Amber had hacked it off with a broadsword.
“The wedding of Captain Rouen to Lynette of the Golden Treaty alliance. Berengen, I think.”
“I sent gifts,” he mused.
“Something spectacular, I believe,” I returned. “Would you go away, I’m tired.” I closed my eyes again but he persisted.
“How did you survive, Raven? I know you were buried and laid to rest in Corwin’s Cenotaph. I sent flowers and condolences.”
“I died,” I said flatly. “My body had been terribly used and abused. It could not survive. Nor could the Dragon form that Jurt gave me. The Unicorn gave me this form created out of the magic of Amber and the Pattern but it only exists close to her magic. Sort of like a battery running out of juice and the recharging station is too far away.”
“My mother will think of something. If we save your life, will you help me?”
“What do you want?” I sighed. He told me and really, I had no choice but to do as he asked.