“Why here? Why not in Amber?”
“It is Amber.”
“I mean, why not in the castle?”
“There is a castle. Why do you always have to be so tiresome? You’ve asked for this day. Besought me, besieged me, been a breathing hassle… It has come. And it’ll be gone, if you can’t make up your mind; you don’t have all night.”
“Thanks, father.” I set foot on the first stone step, paused. Glanced back. “Where shall I meet you?”
“I’ll still be around in the morning.” With a sigh, he had made his seat of a nearby rock. He was not looking in my direction anymore, but down there on Amber, the city gleaming faintly amongst the shadows of the night.
With a sigh equal to his, I put my foot on the third step, then on the next, which was not made of stone but shimmered like starlight. Through it, I could see the sea. Way, way below me. With a slight gulp, I raised my head, focusing on my destination: Tir-na Nog’th.
The city in the sky wavered like a dream, slowly taking a more definite shape as I was approaching. When, at long last, I had reached the last step, I was the one vacillating, no longer the landscape. |
The city was as still as it was silent. Not a soul in the streets, not even a ghost. I walked past the main arch, each of my steps echoing like the breaking of a glass, walked along buildings oftentimes familiar, eerily so in their quiet.
There was no reason for me to linger. Still walking but faster, I soon reached the precincts of the palace. Magnified in the all-pervading stillness, the stately building seemed intent on invading the sky, pocketing the moon and swallowing the stars.
In the absence of guards saluting as I passed the tall gates and ascended the large marble stairway, I felt like an intruder in this reflection of my ancestral home. It was almost subdued that I drew near the entrance. The imposing double door was not closed, and I could see expanding in front of me the vast ceremonial hall, studded with columns of porphyry, designed in such a way that from any position, the eye was driven to the back wall. To the throne.
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