Free KNIGHT OF SHADOWS by Roger Zelazny Page B

involved?
    You’re supposed to sit up all night and guard it.
    Against what?
    Against anything that tries to misappropriate it, I guess.   The powers of Order-
    or Chaos
    Yeah, I see what you mean.   Heaped up together that way, anything might come by to grab off a piece.
    I seated myself on the bench along the rear wall, between two doorways.   It was good to rest for a bit after my long climb.   But something in my mind kept grinding away.   Then, after a time, What’s in it for me? I asked.
    What do you mean?
    Say I sit here all night and watch the stuff.   Maybe something even comes along and makes a pass at it.   Say I fight it off.   Morning comes, the stuff is still here, I’m still here, Then what? What have I gained?
    Then you get to don your armor, pick up your weapons, and move on to the next stage of affairs.
    I stifled a yawn.
    You know, I don’t think I really want any of that stuff; I said then.I don’t like armor, and I’m happy with the sword I’ve got.   I clapped my hand to its hilt.   It felt strange, but then so did I.   Why don’t we just leave the whole pile where it is and move on to the next stage now? What is the next stage anyway?
    I’m not sure.   The way the Logrus threw information at me it just seems to surface at the appropriate time.   I didn’t even know about this place till I saw the entrance.
    I stretched and folded my arms.   I leaned my back against the wall.   I extended my legs and crossed them at the ankles.
    Then we’re stuck here till something happens or you get inspired again?
    Right.
    Wake me when it’s over, I said, and I closed my eyes.
    The wrist twitch that followed was almost painful.
    Hey! You can’t do that! Frakir said.   The whole idea is that you sit up all night and watch.
    And a very half assed idea it is, I said.   I refuse to play such a stupid game.   If anything wants the stuff, I’ll give it a good price on it.
    Go ahead and sleep if you want.   But what if something comes along and decides you had better be taken out of the picture first?
    To begin with, I replied, I don’t believe that anything could care about that pile of medieval junk, let alone lust after it - and in closing, it’s your job to warn me of danger.
    Aye, aye, Captain.   But this is a weird place.   What if it limits my sensitivity some way?
    You’re really reaching now, I said.   I guess you’ll just have to improvise.
    I dozed.   I dreamed that I stood within a magic circle and various things tried to get at me.   When they touched the barrier, though, they were transformed into stick figures, cartoon characters which rapidly faded.   Except for Corwin of Amber, who smiled faintly and shook his head.
    “Sooner or later you’ll have to step outside,” he said.
    “Then let it be later,” I replied.
    “And all your problems will still be there, right where you left them.”
    I nodded.
    “But I’ll be rested,” I answered.
    “Then it’s a trade-off.   Good luck.”
    “Thanks.”
    The dream fell apart into random images then.   I seem to remember standing outside the circle a little later, trying to figure a way to get back in....
    I wasn’t certain what woke me.   It couldn’t have been a noise.   But suddenly I was alert and rising, and the first thing I beheld was a dwarf with a mottled complexion, his hands clasped at his throat, lying unmoving in a twisted position near the armor pile.
    “What’s going on?” I tried saying.   But there was no reply.
    I crossed and knelt beside the short big-shouldered guy.   With my fingertips, I felt after a carotid pulse but couldn’ t locate one.   At that moment, however, I felt a tickling sensation about my wrist, and Frakir-phasing into and out of visibility-made her way back into touch with me.
    You took that guy out? I asked.
    There came a soft pulsation then.   Suicides don’t strangle themselves, she replied.
    Why didn’t you alert me?
    You needed your rest, and it wasn’t