"Stop calling me that!" The words came out faster and meaner than I'd intended, but Thord only smiled. He had changed. In the old days he might even have apologized. "Well, I didn't read about this specific ring." I glared at it. I wouldn't dare to take it off my finger because I'd hate to drop it in the ocean. And finally, I thought of my brother and asked myself, what sort of trick would he pull? When he was Corwin, it would be something mean. Like I'd have to drip my own blood on the ring. But this version of my brother—this new brother who didn't even have a name yet—he wasn't as cruel as Corwin. So he would make it something only he and I would know.
"He told me to 'I the ring,'" I said.
"Well, he truly is a wizard, because that doesn't even make grammatical sense," Thord said. "And I wasn't so great at grammar."
"But does he mean I should become the ring? I mean, how do I even do that?"
Then it came to me. "Oh," I said. "Of course."
Then, as Thord watched, I lifted my hand to my face so that the ring was gently resting against the eyelid of my dragon eye. "Eye the ring. It needs the magic of my dragon eye to awaken it."
I felt a chill. Then the ring grew slightly hot, and I pulled my hand away. The band was glowing. I wondered if I'd have to take it off, but it cooled and became a plain old ring again.
"Is that it?" I asked.
"No, that's not it," a voice said. My brother was floating right beside me. "That's just the start."
6
Orders
He was seated as if he were leaning against a tree with his legs crossed and tucked under him, except there wasn't a tree and he was high above the ocean sitting on nothing. There was a black floating circle below him that looked like pure darkness.
"Are you here?" I asked.
He looked around as if taking in the surrounding sights. He glanced down at the water. Then examined his hands.
"No. I am not here," he answered. I could slightly see through him. "If the 'I' you are referring to is your brother. I am just a copy. A ghost."
"So I'm not talking to my actual brother?" I said.
"No. I'm your brother's duplicate astral spirit. A part of himself that he invested with... well, with help. That is why I am here."
"So you could make us dinner, then?" Thord asked. "Something hot and scrumptious that will fill my stomach."
"Yes, I can do that. It is relatively easy. You just have to ask."
"Wait, Thord," I started to say. "You—"
"Make us a wonderful fine dinner!" Thord said. "Right now. Please." And the moment after he said please, a meal appeared in front of me. It was a plate neatly piled with grapes and some sort of smoked fish, carrots and potatoes. All of it perfectly steaming and cooked. It smelled heavenly. And pails with oats and other grains appeared floating near the swans, who each stuck their beaks in.
"Oh my!" Thord said. "I have never liked your brother as much as I do in this moment." He was holding a large piece of roast in one hand that he'd already taken several bites out of. He then scooped up baby potatoes with his other hand and shoved them into his mouth. One fell out and floated in front of him. So he chomped on it.
It was a nightmare. In more ways than one.
"You shouldn't have done that!" I hissed. "We can only use the ring three times."
"What?" Thord paused his chewing long enough to spit out a few words, along with some of his food. "What do you mean?"
"The ring has been invested with enough power for three requests," my brother's spirit said. "So two requests remain. It is not a large enough container for more magic than that."
"But..." To my surprise, Thord was blushing. "Oh, this stupid hunger. It is always there. But..." He raised a greasy finger and pointed at my brother's astral spirit. "But I asked you. She didn't."
The spirit shrugged apologetically. "She didn't give me specific orders to ignore her companions."
"Ring spirit. Brother copy... whatever you are," I said. "Please, please in the future only take requests from me."
"Done," the spirit said. "Now is that all you want to ask me about?"
I shook my head. "No, I—"
"I'm really sorry, Carmen," Thord said. He wasn't so saddened that he had stopped eating, but he still looked chagrined.
"You didn't know," I said, though I must admit my tone was a little frosty. Thord had changed. He'd never been so impulsive before. Maybe once his stomach was full, his brain would work a bit better. Unless it was being taken over by bear brains.
"Do the plates fill up again?" Thord asked. "I mean like magic plates?"
The spirit shook his head. "No. They will vanish when you are finished. That way no one has to wash dishes."
The idea of washing dishes this high in the air seemed ludicrous. I ate the last bite of fish and my plate disappeared. A moment later Thord's plate was gone, too. "I really am sorry," he said.
"Let's just concentrate on the task at hand." I couldn't help adding, "I hope you can do that now that you've been fed."
"Yes!" he said. "Yes, of course."
"Good, let me make the request," I said and turned to my brother's spirit floating beside me. He looked calm and patient and ethereal, so it was like I was being visited by my brother's ghost. His one odd wizard eye still glowed, and I found that disconcerting. Was my real brother looking through that eye right now? Or was he sleeping on a cot in the wizard's home?
I looked him up and down, and my eye was drawn to the round, perfect circle below him. "May I ask a question?"
"You just did." The spirit grinned as if he didn't realize that joke was ten thousand years old.
I crossed my arms. "I mean on top of getting you to fulfill a request."
"Yes. Yes," he said. "Ask away. I'll tell you if it falls into the category of a request. You're probably still sensitive about using up that first one."
"What's the black circle you're sitting on?"
"Oh, that?" He poked his hand down and it went through the circle and disappeared. "It's a void. A tiny one, of course. It's how my spirit travels through the spirit world to here."
"Can others travel through it?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yes, it's possible. And it can take you wherever you want to go. That's a wonderful thing about a void."
I nodded and filed that away in my memory. "Thank you for explaining that. I do have a request now. We are having difficulty finding the land where the giants live."
"You already know that they like heat and smoke and mountains." He didn't say this like it was a question, so I didn't answer it. He obviously had more knowledge of what we had discussed than I expected. "And your idea of following a grid is a good one, though even travelling at the speeds allowed on the airstreams it might take months. Or years. So it's a mistake to try that, considering the precarious position you left the dragons in."