Stalkon Deprived of the Crown had suddenly recovered his reason, and since he was the elder son of Stalkon the Ninth, he had more right to the throne than Stalkon of the Spring Jasmine.
“What does Spring Jasmine think about it all?”
“He’s never clung to power. He’d have been quite glad to let his elder brother have the crown. But his brother refused to take it. The elder son has been completely out of touch with the state of the kingdom for far too long in order to take power. You know, I think Artsivus was to blame for the prince losing his wits.”
“The same idea occurred to me, Kli-Kli. The question is: Why did the Master of the Order do it?”
“Who can understand the Player? But I think that somehow or other, the prince found out that Artsivus wasn’t really such a benign old gentleman after all. So the magician had to … He didn’t dare kill a prince of the royal blood, so he turned him into an idiot. And when Artsivus died, the spell was broken.”
We said nothing for a while. I checked the bags, Kli-Kli gnawed on her carrot. Invincible twitched his little pink nose.
“I see you’ve made friends with the ling.”
“Uh-huh. Honeycomb decided the mouse would be better off dining at the king’s table. I don’t have anything against the little beast.”
“Are you going to stay in Avendoom for long?”
“I don’t know. For as long as I’m needed. In any case, I’ll stay until everything settles down. Then I’ll go back home. I have to help my grandfather.”
“With his shamanism?” I chuckled.
“Yes, with his shamanism,” she chuckled in reply. “Maybe you shouldn’t go away?”
“Yes, I should,” I sighed. “There’s nothing to keep me in Avendoom. I’ve already put all my affairs in order, and the magicians … I should leave before they remember about me and the Rainbow Horn. The Master won this round of the Game, in spite of everything.”
“There’ll be more rounds to come. If the magicians lose the Horn, Valiostr’s in for trouble in three hundred years’ time.”
“I shan’t live that long. They can find some other fool to get the Horn for them,” I laughed.
“You will live that long,” she said, giving me a serious look. “You’re a Dancer.”
“And how are all our friends?”
To my great regret, I hadn’t managed to see any of them.
“Egrassa’s in Zagraba. He’s the head of the house now. I think our elf friend’s really got his hands full—the orcs gave the dark ones a really bad mauling. There’s talk of uniting all the dark houses. Egrassa could be top elf in the Black Forest before you know it!” She grunted delightedly. “The Wild Hearts have gone back to the Lonely Giant. They told me to say good-bye, they couldn’t just hang about here any longer. Before he left, Hallas palmed the h’san’kor horns off on the Order for a mountain of gold pieces. He bought an entire trade caravan of wine and a heap of other stuff, just like he was going to do with Deler. They’re already restoring the Lonely Giant, have you heard?”
“Yes. It’s a pity I didn’t get to say good-bye to them,” I said sadly.
“It is. By the way, Eel asked me to give you this,” she said, holding out a long bundle.
“What is it?”
“How should I know? You don’t think I’d go rummaging in other people’s things, do you?”
I politely ignored that and unwrapped the bundle. Just as I thought—it was Eel’s “brother” and “sister.”
“The Garrakian told me you knew what to do with these.”
“I do. How will he manage without them?”
“The king gave them all new weapons. Much more beautiful than the old ones.”
I wrapped the two blades in the cloth and set them beside the saddlebags.
“If you see Eel, tell him I’ll do everything he asked.”
“All right. Listen, about the Commission…”
“Yes?”
“You realize they’re not going to pay you fifty thousand gold pieces? The Commission was annulled.”
“Don’t worry, Kli-Kli, I understand.”
“But when the king found out what happened, he decided that wasn’t very fair.”
“And?”
“Well, here’s a royal pardon for you,” she said, handing me a charter rolled up into a tube. “The king pardons all your wrongdoings. Frago Lanten will be absolutely raging. And here’s some money for you. As much as they could manage…”
“And how much could they manage?” I asked, taking the heavy bag from the gobliness.
“You understand, after the war the treasury’s completely empty,” Kli-Kli began cautiously.
“Listen, just tell me, will you?”
“A hundred fifty gold pieces. It will be enough for a start.”
“Well, now,” I said with a nod. “That’s not bad at all.”
As I put the money away, I thought about the other two hundred gold pieces I’d taken from For’s secret hiding place. My old teacher had left the nest egg for me specially. So now I had quite a tidy sum.
“And there’s something else. Egrassa asked me to give you this.”
Kli-Kli laid a string of smoky yellow topazes in my hand. The same ones that Miralissa had worn at Balistan Pargaid’s reception. I breathed in sharply. These stones were valuable. Very valuable. But they had belonged to Miralissa … and that made them more valuable than any amount of gold.
“I’m afraid I’ll never bring myself to sell them, Kli-Kli.”
“I know,” she said with a smile. “I think Egrassa knew, too. And by the way, he said the doors of the House of the Black Moon will always be open to you.”
“It’s not likely I’ll ever be in Zagraba again. But thanks for the offer.”
We stopped talking. We both realized it was time for me to leave.
“Where will you go now?”
“First to Isilia, then by ship to Garrak. I’ll visit For—he’s in Hozg now—and I have to deal with Eel’s business. And after that … We’ll see. Maybe to the Lowlands.”
She gave a little nod.
“Is it time?”
“Yes.”
“Lean down.”
“What?”
“Lean down, you blockhead!”
I obediently leaned down and she kissed me on the cheek.
“You can go now.”
I climbed into the saddle.
“Be seeing you, Kli-Kli.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “We’ll probably never meet again; I think you understand that as well as I do.”
“Well, maybe sometime,” I said awkwardly.
“‘Sometime’ and ‘never’ are very similar. The world’s too big for us to meet, and some day you’ll go to join the shadows. I know that. So good-bye forever, Dancer in the Shadows.”
“Good-bye,” I sighed. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Likewise.” She cleared her throat. “Only when you go, don’t look back until you reach the city gates. That’s a bad sign for goblins.”
I nodded, looked at her one last time, and touched my heels to Little Bee’s sides. I kept my word and didn’t look back once. Although I wanted to very badly.
Although it was early morning, the Chicken Gates leading out of the city to the west were standing wide open. The guards were playing dice, and they took no notice of the solitary traveler leaving Avendoom at such an early hour. But then, our glorious servants of the law weren’t taking any notice of the beggar who was sitting right beside the gates with his clay cup for alms.
