Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 7

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

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At Corwin's suggestion, all the Amberites simultaneously concentrated on contacting Brand, and succeeded in opening a clear gateway to his cell in the tower where Brand had found him. Gérard and Random freed him from his tower prison and brought him back to Amber. However, in the confusion, someone—;one of Corwin's brothers or sisters—;tried to kill Brand with a knife.

In chapter 7 the Amberites try and work out who is responsible for the stabbing, as well as the other attacks on Amber, such as the siege from the dark road and the murder of Caine, which are clearly connected.

According to Benedict, he, Brand, and Gé were the first to go searching for Corwin when he disappeared. Corwin notes that Brand's disappearance happened only about a month before his own reappearance.

According to Llewella, Brand spent several weeks in Rebma, trying to get in touch with Random's son Martin. It later occurred to her that his real mission was finding out everything he could about Martin. Random added that Brand had tried the same thing with him—;that he had a subtle way of getting information from people.

Corwin says that Julian and Gérard had spent some time recuperating in Avalon with Benedict after being injured while investigating the dark road, which he had learned from Dara. Gérard also kept Benedict abreast of events in Amber. However, Benedict omits the fact of Brand's frequent visits to Avalon, which Corwin also learned from Dara. Benedict is irritated by Corwin bringing her up again, even though the facts aren't in dispute. He protesteth too much, methinks.

Flora remarks on the tendency of Amber to attract "dangerous things" from Shadow, more forcefully so from the Shadows more adjacent to Amber, as well as the increasing frequency of such incursions. Benedict speculates that Oberon's disappearance is linked to his investigating this phenomenon.

Gérard believes he may be the last person to have seen Oberon. He met his father in the library while looking for a book. He recalls that Oberon was wearing the Jewel of Judgment at the time, and that the next time he saw the amulet, Eric was wearing it, during Corwin's first assault on Amber with Bleys.

Dara's last words before disappearing in the Pattern were: "Amber will be destroyed." Benedict doubts whether any of his siblings would actually want to bring that about. However, Random speculates that one of them might have conspired with their enemies but found himself in over his head. They agree that if that's the case, the perpetrator's life should be spared, though spent in exile. Only Julian disagrees with sparing the traitor, if he was personally responsible for Caine's death. They all swear an oath to that effect.

As the meeting comes to an end, Fiona warns Corwin of a side effect of wearing the Jewel of Judgment: prolonged exposure accelerates the wearer's metabolism and distorts his sense of time, causing the world to appear to slow down: "when people turn into statues you are either in the wrong place or in trouble."

Corwin retires to his rooms, but he is attacked by an unknown assailant. As he is stabbed in the belly, he realizes the attacker is moving too slowly.

Once again, this is a very dialogue-heavy chapter (and a long one), though the ending leaves us on a decent cliffhanger. Who tried to kill Corwin this time? Hopefully we'll find out in Chapter 8.