I knew confronting Jade would be dangerous. My angle was to find out what I could about her activities pertaining to Merlin. If I could learn something damaging she might well try to capture me, or worse, to keep me from talking. I'd need some sort of defense.

I wrote out a quick note to Quinn and slipped it into my scabbard. If Jade insisted on speaking to me alone I would give my sword and scabbard to Quinn with instructions to draw my sword if I did not return. The message would relate my suspicions and the reason for my detention to Corwin. That should be enough to prompt the sort of action that might catch Jade off guard.

It would be even better to escape capture if things went sour with Jade. To this end I cast a complex combination of Deceptions of an All too Common Nature, A Total and Unexplained Disappearance, and A Precisely Occurring Event which would buy me some time by creating a double of me for Jade to battle while I remained safely invisible. The triggering event would be my quick leap backwards. You can never be too careful.

That complete, I concentrated on the card. I felt the card getting cold. Soon I was gazing upon Jade.

Jade

I was a little surprised. We had just been discussing the notion of Jade's potential ability to use the Dreamline to effect dreams. She was not reading my mind, but she was certainly spying on us.

As Jade considered it Locke took hold of my arm and joined the mental contact. The connection wavered for a moment, but did not break. She looked me over trying to read my intentions. I let a benevolent smile slowly slip into my face. It was a habit to use charm to put the people I deal with at ease.

She cut off the contact. I wondered if she was using this time to prepare magical defenses or to Trump contact an ally. If only I could have spied on her right then. If we did end up capturing her by force I'd have to be sure to use Visions from the Posterior of the Mind to find out what she'd done during this break. Soon I felt the tingle of a Trump call request.

Jade yanked both Locke and I through so hard I stumbled a little upon passing through the card. We were in a large room that was clinically clean and had a great deal of workspace. I located some sort of device that I was pretty sure functioned as a portal. I made a note to watch it for unwanted guests. Jade backed away from us uneasily and settled down a safe distance away. I wasn't used to conducting conversations at the distance of about 25 feet, but my voice was plenty loud for the task. I stood with Locke just behind and to my right.

First, I hinted at a plan that I'd thought of that might bring Eric back without requiring an assault on Random. Of course my plan was flawed in that it might well be twice as hard to accomplish than getting the Jewel from Random, but it was another option. It seemed to draw Jade's attention back to negotiation. Then, I began explaining my offer. I suggested that a full trade of all my knowledge for all of hers. At first she laughed it off. Eventually, I could tell she was considering it. The problem was the price. She valued her information to be worth so much more than mine. Jade conjured up drinks for herself and for us. I toyed with my drink, but didn't drink any for it was likely to be drugged. Locke didn't even touch his glass. Jade counter-offered that we trade information on a piece by piece basis. This was not acceptable. I showed no interest in it at all. This seemed to catch Jade off guard. Didn't I want to know all about the Dreamline? I'm sure there were other juicy bits of info she thought I'd be just dying to find out. I told her to think about it. I had her on the hook. Who knows maybe curiosity would do the trick. We discussed how to contact her. She bluffed having a Trump of me, but eventually admitted she couldn't contact me, and she herself was hard to reach. I shrugged it off as if contacting her was only of minor importance to me anyhow.

I drew the Trump of Castle Amber from my deck.

Our next stop would be to question Rinaldo.