The Hand of Oberon

The Hand of Oberon is a fantasy novel by American writer Roger Zelazny, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Amber, published in book form by Doubleday in 1976. It was first published in serial format in Galaxy Science Fiction. Plot introduction Corwin explores the true Amber, and finds the source of the Black Road, in the damaged primal Pattern. He learns that to repair the damage will require the Jewel of Judgement, which he must retrieve from Earth. Plot summary Corwin, Random and Ganelon go down to the Primal Pattern and see that it is damaged, with a dark stain obscuring the pattern from the center to one edge, in the shape of the corrupted Vale of Garnath. They also see a pair of objects at the pattern's centre. While Corwin and Random discuss whether it would be safe to walk a damaged pattern, Ganelon runs through the stain to the center and retrieves the objects - a dagger, and a pierced Trump card. A purple griffin-like beast emerges from a cave, and Random's horse runs onto the pattern. The horse is consumed/ripped apart by a rainbow-coloured tornado. Ganelon discusses what it was like to run on the stain, and asks Random to drop a small amount of blood on the pattern. The blood drop stains the pattern in the same way, and they realize that the trump must have been used to spill blood onto the pattern by someone at its centre. Random recognizes the trump as that of his Rebman son, Martin. Corwin recognises the style of the trump as that of Brand.