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  "Treason!" Jarkadon screamed. "Murder!" He went running down the room to the doors. "Guards! Murder!"

  Those outside could not hear him through those doors, and in his haste he tried to push instead of pull. Then he got one open and renewed his yelling. The guards jumped forward; the other spectators back. There was confusion. The guards forced their way through, and then all jammed together in the doorway.

  When the would-be rescuers finally rounded the big chair and came rushing along the room, they froze in horror at the sight of the king's lifeless body.

  There was no one else there.

  Chapter 9

  "If you see a shadow move, don't blame the sun."

  --Proverb

  CLINK.

  Clink...clink...clink...

  He opened one eye.

  Clink!

  Both eyes open, he saw that a table by the bed held a tray. Someone was mercilessly rapping a spoon against a cup.

  He peered past the table: Ukarres, hunched forward in a chair.

  The old man grinned with the usual display of stumps. "Good sky to you, Prince Shadow."

  Shadow sat up fast. "What time is it?"

  The old man dropped the spoon and squirmed back painfully in his seat. "You have slept about one watch and a half."

  Shadow glanced around a fine, luxurious room, with bright hangings to hide the stone walls and thick rugs on the floor and well-carved, shiny furniture; bright sunlight shone through good, clear glass. He recognized the anteroom--through that door was the prince's room, probably the ducal bedroom in normal times, empty now, of course. He threw back the covers. "The patrols are ready?"

  "Oh, they left hours ago," Ukarres said in his wheezy voice.

  Shadow put his feet on the floor. His head was whirling, but most of the ache had gone.

  "Stop!" Ukarres said. "You can serve your prince better by staying where you are and listening to me."

  Shadow stared at him skeptically.

  "I mean it. I know things you do not. So eat that meal before it gets cold--it may be the last decent one you will ever see."

  He smelled coffee. Yes, he was hungry again, so he had been out for a long time. This had not come from the commons; the ducal kitchen itself had spawned the white bread and the plate with thick, glistening slices of ham and a huge fried goose egg. His mouth watered.

  He reached for the coffee, noticed that he was grubby and smelly and naked, and decided he did not care. "Then speak."

  "Do you trust me?"

  Shadow shook his head.

  "Wise of you," Ukarres said. "I am a trickster. I never tell the truth when a lie will do as well. Deceit is almost the only pleasure left to me, and it was always one of my favorites. This time, though, I find myself forced to be honest."

  "You lied to Lady Elosa," Shadow said with his mouth full.

  "Of course. I knew that the sight of the prince would dumbfound her--enough to be obvious, so that he would get the reason out of her. I never thought that Rorin would be sent along. That ruined it. I had a slight hope that he would have the sense...well, it didn't work." He sighed. "No need to hurry. You aren't going out to search with the others."

  "NailBiter?" Shadow barked, sputtering coffee in his alarm.

  "No, he's still there. But Lord Ninomar left written orders: You are to return to duty at somewhere called Jaur."

  "The sun will move first."

  Ukarres squirmed again and regarded him with some amusement.

  "He is trying to save you, you know."

  "Ha!"

  "Yes, truly. He maintains that only you can fly NailBiter. Of course that is all feathers--the duke can handle anything ever hatched. He's on your side, too."

  Shadow chewed for a while, wondering how much to risk. "I can understand the duke wanting me out of sight. But Ninomar hates me down to the hairs on my big toe."

  Ukarres shook his head, his one live eye shining, his wrinkles emphasized by a smile. "He admires you."

  "Mutes!"

  "I asked him about you before the accident. He said you were an insolent, smart-aleck peasant but one of the finest skymen he had ever met and fanatically loyal to the prince. Loyalty is one of the few things he understands. He despises you, yes, but secretly he thinks you deserve to escape. The king will have you publicly ground and roasted like a coffee bean as a warning to all future Shadows. No, the vice-marshal is risking a serious reprimand, but he has left the door open for you, the door to the world."

  Shadow started to eat more slowly. "To be an outlaw? No rank, no name, no honor?"

  "The king of Piatorra would accept a good skyman with his own mount."

  He shook his head. "I shall stay and help search."

  Ukarres sighed.

  "Loyalty!" he said. "It is rare. Yet, in spite of my devious ways, young Shadow, I was always loyal to my duke. He trusts me. Nobody else dares to. I have served him all his life, kept his secrets, done a few things he wanted done but could not ask for..."

  He was silent for a while, as though pondering the next most likely strategy. "Vak Vonimor and I are blood enemies. He runs the aerie and I run the household, and Eagle Dome itself lies between. When I was there to greet your prince, it was the first time I had been in the aerie in...well, in almost your lifetime, I should guess. He is fiercely loyal to the keeper also, but we detest each other."

  "So?" Shadow said. Ukarres was a slimy old ruin, but he had a curious attraction about him.

  "Today we are friends," Ukarres said solemnly.

  "I don't understand," Shadow said, still working his way through the ham.

  "You were right--it was murder. You can work it out."

  Now Shadow paused, fork in hand, staring at the old man, trying to guess what message lay in that single watery eye.

  He thought back to the departure from the aerie. IceFire had been perched in a corner, with NailBiter next to her--it was standard practice to isolate a cawking pair. Then there was old WindStriker, then the duke's IceFlame and a group of birds that were not being used...Before the dressing, Shadow had laid all the equipment nearby on the floor. The prince had stood just inside the bars, facing into the aerie so that Shadow was properly at his back. He would have seen a bat being thrown from in there, and by the time he turned around to mount, WindStriker had been blinkered and unable to react.

  "Only one man had the opportunity!" he said. Why had he not seen that before? "You are accusing the duke himself?"

  Ukarres's eye slid away from his. "His Grace must take some blame. And so must I. And so must you, Shadow."

  "Me?" By God, that was unfair! "What more could I have done?"

  "Oh, you did too much, not too little," Ukarres sighed. "Now I must betray a trust. Listen! About four hours before the deed was done, in the middle of third watch, the duke came to my room and woke me. He had received a message from the king."

  "What?" Shadow shouted. "How?"

  "By bird, of course. The royal courier who came to announce the prince's plans, Sir Jion Something...he left his mount and took one of ours. It returned with this." He reached inside his old brown doublet and pulled out a letter, a seal still dangling from it. "It is an extraordinary document!"

  Shadow held out his hand, but the old man hesitated. "My duke is a passionate man, lad, in all ways: lust or rage or joy, but I have not seen him cry since he was a child. Yet this made him weep. The king would have my head...he would have the duke's for showing it to me, I think. Well...read it."

  Astounded, Shadow unfolded the parchment. The seal was certainly genuine, but the writing was scrawly, not that of a professional scribe, and the usual flowery preliminaries were missing. But he had seen the king scribble notes, and recognized his hand. It began even more starkly than the summons he had received at Hiando Keep.

  The King to his cousin of Foan: Greetings.

  Send the enclosed letter to intercept the crown prince at Gorr. It bids him terminate his journey there and forbids him to come to Ninar Foan.


  I was aware, as you must be, that for you to meet him in public would provoke scandal. I had decided to pay that price, in the belief that the gossip would be harmless and would eventually die. Now I have learned that I was wrong--not only has it already stirred dangerous thoughts in certain quarters, but I see that it could lead to the uncovering of other matters which must remain hidden. You will know to what I refer. Therefore, the isolation of your house from mine must be continued.

  Doubtless he has already met persons on the Rand who know you, but the court is where the danger lies, and so long as none of his companions see the two of you together, the harm will be small.

  Yet you should meet him. I have told him that a man named Ovla will seek him out in Gorr. Be careful that you are unobserved. Only Prince Shadow will be present. Inquire into his background--it is relevant.

  Shadow looked up in astonishment. "What has my background got to do with all this?"

  Ukarres shrugged. "If I knew, I would probably lie about it."

  He did know--Shadow was certain. Angrily he returned to the royal letter.

  It is a sadness when the scion of an ancient family lacks a son. I propose to give you one of mine. As soon as Vindax returns, I shall send Jarkadon to you. I hope that you will consider favorably a marriage between him and your daughter, that he may ultimately succeed you as keeper of the Rand. In return I shall issue patents that your titles may descend through the female line.

  He has merit, yet is scathed by the temptations of court life. I believe my older son does credit to my rearing. Perhaps you, in your more wholesome lands, can improve on the younger.

  I think you owe me this.

  Written in our own hand, this 9234th day of our reign in our capital of Ramo.

  Aurolron R.

  "Great fires of the Ark!" Shadow exclaimed, and read it all again. Then he stared at Ukarres. "He as much as admits that the duke is the prince's father!"

  "He does not!" the seneschal snapped. "But then, the duke would know that better than the king, would he not?"

  "Is he? Was there opportunity?"

  Again Ukarres knew, but the wily old man was not going to say. "I told you it was a strange missive. The comments on Prince Jarkadon? Even the royal admission of error! Yes, we had better both keep quiet about this, my lad."

  Banish Jarkadon? They would have to tie that young man on a bird's back before they would get him to the Rand.

  And if Vindax were truly the duke's son, then the king's letter was utterly incredible. No wonder the writing was shaky--it must have been written under great stress.

  "But the message to the prince?" Shadow demanded.

  Ukarres shook his head. "The duke erred. He said, 'Well, he wants a hunt, so I shall give him this afterward. The damage is done now.'"

  Of course! Shadow moaned aloud. The damage was done because he had juggled the royal itinerary in the name of security. That was what Ukarres had meant when he said it was his fault. He had innocently thwarted the king's plan.

  For a few moments his mind seemed to dance all over the Rand like a batted bird. The he remembered something else.

  "You said you also bore blame?"

  Ukarres nodded sadly. "The duke departed at last, and he left that terrible document in my charge, for I am archivist, among many other things. I should have taken it at once to the castle vaults. But I am old, Shadow, and a cripple, and it was only a couple of hours until three bells. I thought a short delay..."

  "Who else saw it?"

  A curious reluctance came over Ukarres. "We are all downside up here just now, with so many guests. But while I slept, the person in the next room must have passed through mine. I am certain that the letter had been moved...it was on the chair by my bed..."

  Then Shadow knew and was horrified. "But why?" he said. "To protect her father against a charge of treason?"

  Ukarres rolled his single eye. "It would not occur to her."

  "Why, then?" Shadow persisted, even more appalled. "Why would she do such a thing?"

  "Motives make poor bandages, as they say," the old man muttered sadly. "She would not be the first to seek a throne through violence, would she? No..." He fell silent for a moment, as though he had not previously thought about motive. "She has five brothers that she knows of," he said at last, "in the town and castle--all illegitimate. She cannot inherit the title, nor most of the lands, for she is a woman. How does she feel about bastards, do you suppose? Contempt? Fear? How would she feel about one becoming king?"

  "And her destiny is to be queen?" Shadow groaned again. "It must have been done just as the blinkers were opened. I thought at first he was trying to return to the aerie. He must have heard or seen, too late. But if he is alive, then he knows who did it."

  The old man squirmed to relieve his back, or perhaps just his feelings. His dry whisper became even quieter. "That is why Vak and I are suddenly allies. We are loyal to our duke, but even great men have weaknesses. He has fathered seven bastards that I know of, all sons. From wedlock he obtained a single daughter. He must know she did it. But he will protect her. He has never denied her anything."

  Breakfast was forgotten. Shadow stood up. "I must join the search and warn the others at the next break. If the duke finds the prince first..."

  Ukarres shook his head angrily and thumped his cane on the rug. "Never! The prince was his guest! He would not stoop to that, and none of his men would support him in so dastardly a crime. Elosa is being watched--I know that. I meant only that he will not bring her to justice if the prince has died. And, strangely, I find that my lifelong loyalty has choked at last. Sit down! There is more."

  There could not possibly be more. Shadow sat down.

  "Now," the old man wheezed. "We all know that the chances are very, very slim. Perhaps one man in twenty survives a batted bird. But the bird usually does, right? If the rider tied his reins. They do not often fly into a hill, for there is just too much sky. So where did she go, afterward?"

  Gods! For a moment Shadow had a foul vision of WindStriker arriving back at the palace with the lifeless, rotting body of the Prince...but no, she was a widow. He had inquired carefully. A bird removed from its mate for long became fractious, which was why he had brought only pairs and widows, with very few singles. So she had no mate to go back to.

  "I expect she is wandering the hills."

  "Who chose her?"

  Shadow shrugged. "The prince. I suggested a mature female. She came from the family private collection. She is the queen's official mount, although the queen has not flown in kilodays."

  Ukarres nodded. "I remember her, and Vonimor knew her the instant she arrived. We were on the Allaban expedition, both of us, and Princess Mayala flew on WindStriker. She has been here before."

  The story was quite plausible. She might have belonged to the queen's grandmother also. "She had a mate back in Allaban?"

  "We're not sure, but Vak thinks she might have done." He smiled ruefully. "Our departure was hardly orderly, you know. It was almost every man for himself. But I think that if the prince lives, then he lives now in Allaban."

  "She would have flown into certain death on Eagle Dome."

  The seneschal shook his head gently. "Not necessarily. There is another way to Allaban. A more direct way."

  Shadow smelled treachery. "How?"

  "It is known as Dead Man's Pass. Quite simply, you fly around the back of Eagle Dome. It is very high. The wilds can use it, of course, but they do not live there, in the dark. It is not guarded, as the sun side is. It is extremely dangerous for men, but a few have made it throughout history, for one reason or another. More have failed. It takes an exceptional mount and an exceptional skyman, but it can be done."

  "Would WindStriker have known of that way?"

  Ukarres shrugged. "The eagles have strange ways of finding the best route, Shadow, as you know."

  It could be a trap. He was the one shouting murder, so the duke and Ninomar and now Ukarres were all trying to find ways to make
him leave and shut him up.

  Treachery?

  "Vonimor will confirm what I have said," Ukarres suggested. "Of course, we are both the duke's servants and you can doubtless find reasons why the duke may have put us up to this. Basically you have three choices, though. You can stay here, helping in the search, but you will only be one more pair of eyes among seventy.

  "Ramo has no more of our birds, and no courier can be here within twelve days at a minimum. He will certainly bring orders for your arrest. You know what will be done to you then. Or you can go through the window the vice-marshal left open for you--dress NailBiter and flee."

  "Or you can gamble your life and health and sanity and go to Allaban."

  "The rebels?"

  Ukarres shrugged. "They will certainly not hand you over to Aurolron. They may take NailBiter from you, of course. If you release him first, he will return here, to IceFire. If the prince is indeed alive, then perhaps they will treat you well--they may be holding him as hostage. The possibilities became innumerable, and we cannot guess..."

  Shadow weighed the odds. One more added to seventy was very little, true. Flight to exile was somehow unthinkable, although he did not know why. He rubbed his prickly face. Off the prince's chamber was a bathroom with a bathtub, the only one he had seen on the Rand. A tub of hot water was one of the greatest luxuries in the world.

  "Let us talk more while I shave," he said.

  "Don't," Ukarres said. "Stubble keeps the cold off."

  NailBiter sat alone on the perching in a strangely empty aerie, with only Vak Vonimor in attendance. Ukarres had provided Shadow with a magnificent flying suit in brown calfskin lined with lamb's wool. It would have cost a trooper a kiloday's pay; Shadow had not inquired who owned it. Vonimor eyed it and said sadly, "You fly to rightward, then?"

  Shadow nodded.

  The older man shook his head. "It is a slim chance for him and not much more for you. But you will need this." He had laid out a daunting heap of equipment.

  "I'll fly straight underground with that lot," Shadow complained.