The tent was blowing briskly when I opened my eyes and Murphy was seated on a stump carved into the likeness of a chair. He was curiously still, his eyes unblinking as he watched my face.
I felt less pain, cooler and definitely hungry. My IVs were still going but the blood had been removed from the pole. I felt lighter and fragile, as if one solid cough would send me spiraling away. When I lifted my arm off the cot, it felt as if I was moving an 80 lb. bag of cement.
My fingers rubbed at the covers over me, they were a soft fabric like wool but not itchy. The cot was wooden, the mattress crinkly as if stuffed with rushes. The tent walls were oiled canvas with a stove, metal chimney. Nowhere did I see anything that worked off electricity or was a synthetic. Except for the medical lines and bags. Those were plastic.
“Where are we?” It was an effort to breathe, my lungs were filled with water and gurgled. I hawked up a mouthful and spat green phlegm. It hurt, my ribs and belly protested.
“I can call the doctor, Corbin,” he said. “He will give you something for the pain.”
“Where are we, Murphy? This place is like...what I remember from the dreams. From years ago when I was a baby.”
“Arden. The Forest of Arden. Your uncle brought you here from a shadow world.”
“Shadow world? This isn’t New York?”
“No, Corbin. This is a place near to your home, called Amber. The one true world.”
I stared at him, decided he was crazier than me. “I want to go home,” I said. “To New York.”
“She will be there, looking for you.”
“She? You mean that bitch, Flora?”
“The Lady Florabel and others. She will have contacted others and told them about you,” he said and his teeth grew into fangs. “A long time ago, a man named Dworkin found Chaos and learned how to harness its power. He used it to create a...loci of power using his blood and the jewel he called the Jewel of Judgment. He created the Pattern, called it the Primal Pattern and when any of his blood walk its entire length reaching the center, it bestows upon that individual, the power to go anywhere your heart desires---you make a...shadow world that becomes real. The further away from the Pattern you travel, the more changes you will see until they are truly bizarre.
“Strangest of all are the Courts of Chaos, the Realm where demons and creatures dwell with their masters and lords. Your father grew up in those Courts and mastered them. He is Merlin, son of Dara, and Corwin, Prince of Amber. He rules the Courts as King, he lived on Shadow Earth for many years.”
“Does he know about me?” I asked. Murphy shook his head.
“He does not. The woman who was your mother was only a fleeting episode in his younger years, he never knew she conceived and she never tried to find him to tell him so. She believed in fact, that he was a Fae spirit, not a mortal man at all. You were conceived on Midsummer’s Day and born on the Feast of St. Michael’s. She held you until you were three and died in a fall running from hunters who were after you. She died protecting you and conjured me with her dying curse.”
“What was her name?”
“Amber Murphy-Sines. She named you Raven because of your black hair and yellow eyes. She said the ravens sang when you were born.”
“I wish I could remember her,” I said and moved my hands along my belly. I felt a bulk of bandages and a drain coming from the left side. Tenderness and pain but it was manageable. “I’m hungry.”
“Truly? I will see if Doctor Ooly will allow it.” He rose, all angles and power contained in an ill-fitting suit akin to a medieval peasant costume.
“Murphy, what is your true form?” I asked and he grinned, sharp-toothed like a ferret.
“Picture a cross between a shark and a gargoyle,” he said and slipped from my sight. Moments later, he returned with the orange haired doctor who seemed pleased that I was awake and coherent. He checked my belly, heart, lungs and the pulse at my wrist before studying my face and the IV bags.
“How do you feel, young sir? No more fever or chills? Are you warm enough? Any pain?”
“It hurts but not too bad,” I muttered. I stared at his eyes, he was minus eyelashes and his hairline resembled the portraits of Queen Elizabeth the 1st. Smooth, rounded dome with no wrinkles.
“I’m hungry. Thirsty, too.”
He handed me a glass half full of blue liquid that shimmered and moved like viscous oil. It smelled horrible and I wrinkled my nose. “I had more in mind a glass of chocolate milk and a burger.”
“This is a dye and will tell me if your viscera are leaking. I just cleaned up a nasty infection in your abdominal cavity. You can’t eat or drink until I’m sure your...guts are sealed.”
“Oh.” I grimaced and swallowed the contents as he held the cup to my lips. It actually didn’t taste too awful, sort of like mango and kiwi. It did warm up my insides as it went down, a nugget of heat in my belly and radiated slowly out to my arms and legs. It helped with my thirst, too. He held a flat metallic plate shaped like a cookie tray over my gut and moved it side to side, back and forth staring into its shiny surface. After some fifteen minutes, he grunted and pronounced me clean and safe. “Clear liquids to start,” he ordered and told someone just out of my sight what my new menu was supposed to be and any foods I should avoid. Which seemed to be most everything I liked.
I yawned, suddenly sleepy and he pulled the sheets up to my chin. Murphy made some noise and I barely heard the doctor’s reply.
“He’ll sleep. Part of the dye was a sedative to relax his muscles. We must move him soon. Julian fears we have been discovered.”
Murphy’s voice rumbled in a deep basso. “He cannot protect the boy here in Arden?”
“He will not. He has been fair and impartial because he detests Flora, not because he feels anything for Corwin or Merlin. I told Lord Julian it would be safe to transport him by plane-car in two days.”
“Where will we go?” Murph asked and it was almost a wail.
“Back to where you came from,” he paused. “If he is only mortal, how did you reach this shadow realm without power from the Pattern? Did someone trump you into Arden?”
Murphy shrugged. “I never said he was only mortal. He has the blood of Kings in his veins and the power of both the Logus and the Pattern.”
I went back to sleep wondering where this realm resided.
***
I grumbled, spit, growled and turned over to the amusement of both my entire retinue and the owner of this place. I grumbled because I was literally ravenous and would eat Murph if I thought I could digest him. There wasn’t one of those nurse call buttons near to hand so I opted for yelling. My voice surprised me, it was barely a squeak. Murph must have been just outside the tent, he came in too quickly to have heard my feeble complaint unless he was just outside the flap. Best of all, he carried a tray from which steam and delicious smells emanated.
“Gimme,” I said and attempted to sit up. My belly and ribs complained nastily and he set the tray down on a table and helped me sit up. Hands under my shoulder blades and he slowly inched me up, propping my back with pillows.
“Okay?” he asked anxiously. I raised my hand to my forehead and wiped at sweat.
“Holy Christmas,” I mumbled. “I feel like a 90 year old man.”
“Corbin, you nearly died,” he said. “Your liver was punctured, your intestines slashed, ribs broke and your kidneys torn. If Julian hadn’t gotten you a doctor, you would have died in my arms.”
“Those things were going to...eat me,” I shuddered. “Alive. With me watching.” Suddenly, I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“You should eat. Dr. Ooly has had you on liquid nutrition but you need real food for the injuries to heal.” He coaxed me until I finished a bowl of clear meat soup, pudding that tasted like vegetables and hot tea. After a few bites, I was full and pushed the rest away. All I wanted was to sleep. He had other ideas, though. He swung my legs over, sat me up and dressed me in the same ridiculous costumes as he wore. I was grateful for the looseness of trousers and blouse against my bandages. I couldn’t do much to help him, I was as useless as a retarded noodle.
“Where are we going, Murph? If you’re getting me up, I have to go to the bathroom. Where is it? Oww, you’re hurting me, take it easy.”
My feet hit the floor, it was indoor/outdoor carpeting over forest dirt. I could feel lumps beneath my bare feet. Murphy didn’t answer me but his serious and rapid urging to move was making me nervous.
“They’re coming, aren’t they? They’ve found us?” I pushed at his hands and yelled, “Alright! Just tell me what to do, Murphy and I’ll hurry!”
“Raven, the whole bloody cavalry is after us. From Flora, from the Courts and from Amber. All headed right for this tent. So bloody move your arse!”
I pulled on my sneakers and pulled out the IV lines, wrapped the blanket around me like a cape and picked up my dagger. The back wall of the tent was easy to slit open and we exited there to stand facing the tree line. It was nearly dusk and shadows abounded. I didn’t see any guards or any other tents set up nor was the big black horse in sight.
My first steps were tentative and I needed Murph’s arm to hold me up. Once in the deep trees, he led the way leaving very little trace behind. I didn’t have the breath to ask questions, I needed all my energy to keep up with him
.