The Guns of Avalon, chapter 6

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.

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Corwin and Ganelon arrived in a shadow Avalon where Corwin's brother Benedict was the ruler. They decided to stay with him for a time, but he warned them not to use Avalon as a staging area for their planned assault on Amber. Corwin also met Dara, Bebedict's young great-granddaughter, who has a latent ability to manipulate Shadow but has not yet walked the Pattern in Amber that will fully enable her abilities.

Corwin plans to obtain guns on Earth and jeweller's rouge in Avalon. The latter is to use in place of gunpowder, which will not burn in Amber. He travels to a city and makes a deal for a large quantity of rouge with a jeweller. For payment, he gathers a quantity of uncut diamonds, which are easily obtained in this world.

Upon returning to Benedict's manor by night, he shares a drink with Ganelon, who declares his intent to retire to this Avalon, if he lives through Amber and if Benedict will have him. They discuss whether Benedict can be trusted not to take sides in the conflict. Ganelon also tells Corwin about four bodies he found buried in the woods: people he says Benedict killed and put in a shallow grave. When they part, he goes to the place and finds the grave, but does not dig for the bodies.

Corwin encounters Dara, and he tells her of his intent to attack Amber, kill Eric, and take the throne. They too discuss where Benedict's loyalties are. Dara wants Corwin to teach her to walk through Shadow, but he tells her to wait and repeats his previous invitation to contact him after he is in Amber. They kiss.

So Dara is Corwin's third love interest in this series, after Moore of Rebma and, um, Lorraine of Lorraine. A great-grandniece isn't a degree of consanguinity that would be considered illegal, but … bleah.

There's a lot of discussion in chapter 6 about where Benedict's loyalties lie, given that he is known to have met with two of Eric's allies, Gérard and Julian. I don't think there's anything newly revealed that I haven't commented on already. Except, perhaps, for four bodies he didn't want anyone to know about, for some reason.

Corwin confirms that gunpowder will not ignite in Amber. He discovered jeweller's rouge's explosive properties by accident while polishing a piece of jewelry and throwing the cloth in the fire.

His uncut diamonds were obtained in the Namib desert north of Cape Town. Zelazny seems to imply that the geography of Avalon is the same as our Earth. Is that true of all Shadow worlds, and presumably of Amber itself? Avalon had no Ernest Oppenheimer, and hence no De Beers diamond monopoly, so nothing stops Corwin from simply raking diamonds out of the Namibian sand to finance his rouge purchase.

Corwin and Ganelon are making plans to leave Avalon, but without Benedict's knowledge. Where do they go next? My guess would be Earth, to obtain munitions. Hopefully we'll find out in chapter 7. Three chapters to go.