Corwin returns to Castle Amber bearing the body of one of the spined, bloodshot-eyed humanoid creatures that had pursued Random to Flora's house on Earth—one that had moments earlier killed his brother, Caine.
One day he received an unusual Trump call in the form of the Jack of Diamonds, that spoke to him as his brother, Brand, asking for help to escape from an unfamiliar shadow.
Random set out to rescue Brand from the shadow, a land lit without a sun, where boulders orbit each other in complicated patterns.
She also warns Corwin that the Jewel is more than just a weather-control device; in truth, it is an artifact of great power which draws upon its bearer's life force — and may well have been what killed Eric.
He realizes that the Jewel is killing him, so he hides it in the house's compost heap and heads for the road, hoping to hitch-hike to a hospital where he can recover.
He is eventually picked up by Bill Roth, a lawyer who recognizes him as Carl Corey, the name Corwin had used in the past to pass for a human.
In hospital, he learns that his car accident happened during his escape from a mental asylum, where he had been committed by a Dr. Hillary B. Rand by his brother Brandon Corey.
Brand gradually tells Corwin about how he, Bleys and Fiona had removed Oberon and tried to claim the throne, but were opposed by the triumvirate of Eric, Julian and Caine.
He says that after he objected to Bleys and Fiona's plan to ally with the forces of Chaos, he was pursued and came to Earth seeking Corwin as an ally—trying to restore his memories with shock therapy—but was captured and imprisoned in the tower where Random found him.
With Random and Ganelon watching him from mount Kolvir, he ascends to Tir-na Nog'th, and in the throne room sees Dara as queen, flanked by Benedict wearing a metallic arm.
"[1] Alexei and Cory Panshin of F&SF called it "Zelazny's best book since Lord of Light" and wrote that while it "could stand a second draft", the characters "begin to take on form and weight and individuality" and the last two chapters "toss away all the certainties and selfprotections that Zelazny has bounded himself with — that crucial move that Smith and Bishop and Russ could not make.
"[2] Richard E. Geis of The Science Fiction Review called it a "failure as a self-contained novel" and that it is "still incomplete, still the preamble to the final, climactic book(s?)