The Time Lord of Amber

by Alexander C Wolf

My mother was Deidre, princess of Amber, sister to King Corwin of Amber, and Aunt to King Merlin of Chaos. My dad was a little more complicated than that, but he was a Doctor, one of them anyway & an Arch Demon wants to have me for dinner, as an entree.

4. Chapter 4

Wanted – Dead or Alive.

Chapter 4

Its a special kind of fool who likes the sound of his own name... In this case it was my face on a wanted poster. Fortunately it was my old human face. It looks like my big blue disguise was a good idea. The amount of the reward was a bit excessive 25 million pounds. Dead or Alive.

Time to get the hell out of dodge. With a 25 million pound price on my head someone was sure to get wise to my disguise. It was time to take the fight to the bad guys. Why someone was after me was beyond me. Something about me was worth killing a lot of people for. It was also worth 25 million pounds… assuming the person who placed the bounty would kill the bounty hunter upon my delivery.

Now it was time to form a plan. My first obstacle was that an arch demon tends to be pretty powerful… and assuming that he was behind the wanted poster or not, it didn't change the fact that he was after me. There was also the nasty business with Auhfoor who was also presumably still after me, or at least waiting in line after the Arch Demon.

The "Arch Demon" needed a name, since I didn't have one I decided to call him Bob the Destroyer. Or Bobbie for short. Bobbie was to complimentary a name so I strained my brain to think of a more condescending one… I wouldn't want to offend any Bobs out there. I decided on Stanly Hitchcock or for short. Or maybe just "S".

I had to get away… and I had to do it fast. There was a huge gap in knowledge and power between me and the people pursuing me. I couldn't get lucky forever, I had to gain in power and knowledge of magic before I stood a chance against "S" and Auhfour.

I had to gain time. Of course, when you're me that shouldn't be a problem. I needed to do a hell ride and find, or create a shadow where I could gain the knowledge and power I needed to at least be a threat to the people who wanted to drink my blood. I didn't even have to overpower them. I just needed enough ability to give them pause, enough brute strength to make their lackeys wonder if chasing me was a good choice of healthy professions.

The funny thing about wanted posters is that they all have a return address on them. The person who places the bounty never thinks of that. This one was no exception. I took down the poster and placed it inside Mom's diary.

Time to find a bigger gun, a more powerful spell, a heavier hammer… a meaner looking dog.