My Enemies - part I
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Roger Zelazny.
It was April 30 when my son Rinaldo and I got the news of Brand's death. I was devastated. Brand was my husband - the only man I truly loved (if you know what I mean). Now he was dead. He was killed by his brother Caine. The only thing we wanted was revenge. We wanted to destroy the whole House of Amber. Caine was the one who killed my husband, but every Amberite was responsible in one way or another. Bleys and Fiona - his full brother and sister were the ones who allied with him and then betrayed. All the Amberites participated in the war against my husband and his death was the result of this war. I really wanted to have all of them dead. It is however much easier to want something than to achieve it. All the Amberites were out of reach. It was impossible just to attack Amber (my son's friend once tried to do it and nearly lost his life).
The only Amberite that could be hit at the moment was Corwin's son Merlin. I realized he was the least guilty. He did not participate in the battle so he was not responsible for Brand's death. On the other hand he consciously chose the side of Amber. So he was a friend of my husband's murderers. I thought it would be a good idea to start our vendetta from him. I discovered that he had enrolled to a university on Shadow Earth to study computer science. It was easy for my son to enroll to the same university and become his class mate. We decided that Rinaldo will organize the assassination of Merlin on the April 30. This date was symbolic to us. If he fails (which is always possible) he will repeat his attempt on the following April 30. This way my son would gain more practice to kill more prominent Amberites when the opportunity appears.
Unfortunately, things did not go the way they should . Assassination attempt failed and we lost one man. This was regrettable, but still, such things do happen. The worst came after some time. Namely, Rinaldo simply told me that he wouldn't try to harm Merle (he used this form of Merlin's name) any more. First I thought he became discouraged by the failure, so I tried to convince him that people do fail from time to time and the most important thing is not to give up. After all, practice was our primary goal. But Rinaldo said that Merle became his friend and he will never try to hurt him again. I was furious! My son calls an ally of his father's assassin a friend! That was too much for me. I decided not to count on my son any more and continue the attempts on my own. However I was not successful, either.
Seven years later I managed to encounter Merlin face to face. I found him at Victor Melman's place. Victor Melman was our man and Merlin had managed to kill him by the time I arrived. After a short fight I succeeded in biting Merlin. I have a special anatomic feature: venomous teeth. Merlin managed to trump away, but I did not bother much, because when I bite - a person is usually dead in few minutes. Merlin is an Amberite and they are much more resistant, but I believed in his case it should be a few hours.
In the meantime a good opportunity to kill the direct assassin appeared. Caine went for a diplomatic mission in a in Shadow Deiga and traitor Bleys went to another shadow for another mission. At last Rinaldo met my expectations and shot Caine. With Bleys we were less lucky and he was only slightly wounded. Nevertheless, it was my happiest moment since my husband's death, although I regarded we must not stop our efforts to hit the whole family. When they gather at the funeral it would be much easier to get to Amber and hit them. Rinaldo was a sort of reluctant, but I convinced him he should do this. He took a bomb, but someone spotted him and he missed. At least that was what he said.
My relationships with Rinaldo were never ideal. They slightly improved after he killed Caine, but not for long. The problem was that Rinaldo tried to keep more and more things secret from me. Even if our goals were similar, he usually wanted to achieve them in a different way I did.
I accidentally discovered that Merlin surprisingly had survived my bite. I also found out that he was in the Blue Cave. This cave was our family secret. It is useful to go there and hide, because the blue crystal walls block all the magic getting in and out. A person in the cave cannot be reached from other place. Obviously it must have been Rinaldo who brought him to the cave. I suspected the real reason he did this, was to keep Merlin safe. He never admitted that, but I think it was so. I also learned that Merlin had constructed an unusual computer called Ghostwheel. Ghostwheel could have been a very powerful tool, but the problem was that it needed a special environment and even more special means of controlling him. I can say "him", because it developed a sort of its own personality. Of course, if anyone could control him - it would be Merlin - his constructor.
I must admit Rinaldo was right to spare Merlin. I could say he was right for wrong reasons. He believed Merlin was his friend, while I would say Merlin could be very useful for us. If we could take control over him so that he works for us, and take control over Ghostwheel, we would complete our vendetta and do other right things such as regaining our throne in Kashfa. This was very logical, but my son was not logical any more, so I did not know how he would react if I told him we should take Merlin under control. This procedure is pretty drastic, I must admit, it involves deep changes in personality, some people even compare them to effective death. Theoretically everything is reversible, but I had reasons to believe Rinaldo will oppose me, so I decided not to tell him, at least not now.
Unfortunately things again went wrong. Rinaldo was so careless that he left Merlin in the cave, allowing him to keep a powerful magic weapon. I lost two men and was nearly strangled. Fortunately, for some reason Merlin wanted me alive. This gave Rinaldo a time to rescue me. I felt really humiliated by the fact I was rescued by someone my relationships with had not been the best lately and I decided to do something without his help - to go to the Keep of Four Worlds. It was another place (apart form Kashfa) where I was the queen. Recently I've heard that there was something wrong going on there. Apparently a powerful sorcerer took over the power while we were busy with our vendetta. Rinaldo was probably unaware of it and there was no need to inform him on that stage. Instead, I suggested him that we should get back our throne in Kashfa. I even advised him to get in touch with his friend Dalt. I've never liked Dalt too much, but I must admit, he can be very useful. I know it would be nice to go to Kashfa and get rid of Kasman - the brother of my ex-lover I had to have killed. Kashfians hated me for that (and some other things), but I believe traitors should be killed. Interesting, if a man in my position is tough in dealing with his enemies he is usually called a great king. When a woman does the same, people call her a bitch. I wonder if I can do anything about it. Anyway, things in Kashfa could wait a bit. I decided to head for the Keep.
I arrived in the Keep and discovered the rumors were true. There was something terribly wrong going on there. Frankly speaking I do not remember many details. Everything that happened later on I know from the story told by my enemy.
Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Roger Zelazny.
It was April 30 when my son Rinaldo and I got the news of Brand's death. I was devastated. Brand was my husband - the only man I truly loved (if you know what I mean). Now he was dead. He was killed by his brother Caine. The only thing we wanted was revenge. We wanted to destroy the whole House of Amber. Caine was the one who killed my husband, but every Amberite was responsible in one way or another. Bleys and Fiona - his full brother and sister were the ones who allied with him and then betrayed. All the Amberites participated in the war against my husband and his death was the result of this war. I really wanted to have all of them dead. It is however much easier to want something than to achieve it. All the Amberites were out of reach. It was impossible just to attack Amber (my son's friend once tried to do it and nearly lost his life).
The only Amberite that could be hit at the moment was Corwin's son Merlin. I realized he was the least guilty. He did not participate in the battle so he was not responsible for Brand's death. On the other hand he consciously chose the side of Amber. So he was a friend of my husband's murderers. I thought it would be a good idea to start our vendetta from him. I discovered that he had enrolled to a university on Shadow Earth to study computer science. It was easy for my son to enroll to the same university and become his class mate. We decided that Rinaldo will organize the assassination of Merlin on the April 30. This date was symbolic to us. If he fails (which is always possible) he will repeat his attempt on the following April 30. This way my son would gain more practice to kill more prominent Amberites when the opportunity appears.
Unfortunately, things did not go the way they should . Assassination attempt failed and we lost one man. This was regrettable, but still, such things do happen. The worst came after some time. Namely, Rinaldo simply told me that he wouldn't try to harm Merle (he used this form of Merlin's name) any more. First I thought he became discouraged by the failure, so I tried to convince him that people do fail from time to time and the most important thing is not to give up. After all, practice was our primary goal. But Rinaldo said that Merle became his friend and he will never try to hurt him again. I was furious! My son calls an ally of his father's assassin a friend! That was too much for me. I decided not to count on my son any more and continue the attempts on my own. However I was not successful, either.
Seven years later I managed to encounter Merlin face to face. I found him at Victor Melman's place. Victor Melman was our man and Merlin had managed to kill him by the time I arrived. After a short fight I succeeded in biting Merlin. I have a special anatomic feature: venomous teeth. Merlin managed to trump away, but I did not bother much, because when I bite - a person is usually dead in few minutes. Merlin is an Amberite and they are much more resistant, but I believed in his case it should be a few hours.
In the meantime a good opportunity to kill the direct assassin appeared. Caine went for a diplomatic mission in a in Shadow Deiga and traitor Bleys went to another shadow for another mission. At last Rinaldo met my expectations and shot Caine. With Bleys we were less lucky and he was only slightly wounded. Nevertheless, it was my happiest moment since my husband's death, although I regarded we must not stop our efforts to hit the whole family. When they gather at the funeral it would be much easier to get to Amber and hit them. Rinaldo was a sort of reluctant, but I convinced him he should do this. He took a bomb, but someone spotted him and he missed. At least that was what he said.
My relationships with Rinaldo were never ideal. They slightly improved after he killed Caine, but not for long. The problem was that Rinaldo tried to keep more and more things secret from me. Even if our goals were similar, he usually wanted to achieve them in a different way I did.
I accidentally discovered that Merlin surprisingly had survived my bite. I also found out that he was in the Blue Cave. This cave was our family secret. It is useful to go there and hide, because the blue crystal walls block all the magic getting in and out. A person in the cave cannot be reached from other place. Obviously it must have been Rinaldo who brought him to the cave. I suspected the real reason he did this, was to keep Merlin safe. He never admitted that, but I think it was so. I also learned that Merlin had constructed an unusual computer called Ghostwheel. Ghostwheel could have been a very powerful tool, but the problem was that it needed a special environment and even more special means of controlling him. I can say "him", because it developed a sort of its own personality. Of course, if anyone could control him - it would be Merlin - his constructor.
I must admit Rinaldo was right to spare Merlin. I could say he was right for wrong reasons. He believed Merlin was his friend, while I would say Merlin could be very useful for us. If we could take control over him so that he works for us, and take control over Ghostwheel, we would complete our vendetta and do other right things such as regaining our throne in Kashfa. This was very logical, but my son was not logical any more, so I did not know how he would react if I told him we should take Merlin under control. This procedure is pretty drastic, I must admit, it involves deep changes in personality, some people even compare them to effective death. Theoretically everything is reversible, but I had reasons to believe Rinaldo will oppose me, so I decided not to tell him, at least not now.
Unfortunately things again went wrong. Rinaldo was so careless that he left Merlin in the cave, allowing him to keep a powerful magic weapon. I lost two men and was nearly strangled. Fortunately, for some reason Merlin wanted me alive. This gave Rinaldo a time to rescue me. I felt really humiliated by the fact I was rescued by someone my relationships with had not been the best lately and I decided to do something without his help - to go to the Keep of Four Worlds. It was another place (apart form Kashfa) where I was the queen. Recently I've heard that there was something wrong going on there. Apparently a powerful sorcerer took over the power while we were busy with our vendetta. Rinaldo was probably unaware of it and there was no need to inform him on that stage. Instead, I suggested him that we should get back our throne in Kashfa. I even advised him to get in touch with his friend Dalt. I've never liked Dalt too much, but I must admit, he can be very useful. I know it would be nice to go to Kashfa and get rid of Kasman - the brother of my ex-lover I had to have killed. Kashfians hated me for that (and some other things), but I believe traitors should be killed. Interesting, if a man in my position is tough in dealing with his enemies he is usually called a great king. When a woman does the same, people call her a bitch. I wonder if I can do anything about it. Anyway, things in Kashfa could wait a bit. I decided to head for the Keep.
I arrived in the Keep and discovered the rumors were true. There was something terribly wrong going on there. Frankly speaking I do not remember many details. Everything that happened later on I know from the story told by my enemy.