BENEDICT

I finally broke into the prison,
I found my place in the chain.
Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows,
all the brave young men
they're waiting now to see a signal
which some killer will be lighting for pay.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture,
you whom I cannot betray.

I fought in the old revolution
on the side of the ghost and the King.
Of course I was very young
and I thought that we were winning;
I can't pretend I still feel very much like singing
as they carry the bodies away.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...

Lately you've started to stutter
as though you had nothing to say.
To all of my architects let me be traitor.
Now let me say I myself gave the order
to sleep and to search and to destroy.

Into this furnace I ask you now to venture...

Yes, you who are broken by power,
you who are absent all day,
you who are kings for the sake of your children's story,
the hand of your beggar is burdened down with money,

Key 4. He stood on a high hill overlooking a battle, and the wind blew back his long straight hair from his sharp jutting jaw. His features were cold, unyielding, his eyes stern. He wore brown and yellow and his cloak was of orange wool, clasped with a pin in the shape of a Chinese dragon. He wore a katana and wakizachi at his belt, and in his hand he held a lance with a metal tip. The figures on the battlefield could be seen to be chess figures of translucent jade and carnelian, save that where they fell they bled upon the earth.

Benedict remained loyal to his great grand-daughter, as might have been expected from Corwin's vision in Tir Na Nog'th. He serves as Amber's general and is the final word on anything relating to security or war. He is referred to as the Shogun, or Silverhand, for his metal hand was redesigned and remade by Dara as a gift to him. What Benedict feels about the situation is difficult to judge, for he will not answer questions about the Amber that was, preferring to dwell on the present, and he will not speak ill of Dara.

After helping to quell the most recent attack on Amber, Benedict has returned to his estates outside of Amber, where he keeps his personal command unit in a constant state of vigilance, and waits with morbid certainty for the next attack.