"Hope so."

We rode on, and we encountered no one else that day. I felt the rocksbeneath me when I wrapped myself in my cloak to sleep that night. Why did Ifeel them when I didn't feel a sword or a crossbow bolt? Too late to askShask whether he had felt anything, for he had turned to stone for thenight.

I yawned and stretched. A partly unsheathed Grayswandir felt normalbeneath my fingers. I pushed it back in and went to sleep.

Following my morning ablutions, we rode again. Shask was taking well tohellrides, as well as most Amber mounts did. Better, in some ways. We racedthrough a wildly changing landscape. I thought ahead to Amber, and I thoughtback to the time I'd spent imprisoned in the Courts. I had honed mysensitivity to a very high degree through meditation, and I began to wonderwhether that, coupled with other strange disciplines I'd undertaken, couldhave led to my intangibility. I supposed it might have contributed, but I'da feeling the Dancing Mountains were the largest donor.

"I wonder what it represents and where it came from?" I said aloud.

"Your homeland, I'd bet," Shask replied, "left especially for you."

"Why did you read it that way?"

"You've been telling me about your family as we rode along. I wouldn'ttrust them."

"Those days are past."

"Who knows what might have happened while you were away? Old habitsreturn easily."

"One would need a reason for something like that."

"For all you know, one of them has a very good one."

"Possibly. But it doesn't seem likely. I've been away for some time,and few know I'm free at last."

"Then question those few."

"We'll see."

"Just trying to be helpful."

"Don't stop. Say, what do you want to do after we get to Amber?"

"Haven't made up my mind yet. I've been something of a wanderer."