longer room for courage and character in the western kingdoms, because the wizards and priests between them had ended most wars and adventures. Lucas has always been worried, you see, that he was going to grow old, like Father, without ever having done anything. I myself was not so sure that the old wars were ever as glorious as they seem in the legends, but I knew better than to try to tell my brother that.”
He had been staring at the lizards as he spoke, but now he turned to look at me. “One thing did seem strange, that our wizard seemed to be trying to discredit the wizards’ school, pointing out such things as that there were now wizards in more and more courts, and talking about a plot to wrest control from the kings. It didn’t make any sense to me for someone I knew had graduated from the school.”
It didn’t make any sense to me either. I remained silent and let Vincent continue.
“I guess I just never took him seriously-or I felt that if princes should distrust wizards, I would start by distrusting
I gave Vincent my wizardly glare, but he was looking away. As he sat here, talking in a half-amused, half- apologetic manner, I thought that, if he were not planning to marry the queen and murder Paul, I would find myself liking him quite a bit. “Paul believed you,” I said.
He smiled ruefully. “That’s your real problem, isn’t it, Wizard.” It wasn’t, but I did not answer. “I’d been trying all spring to win his friendship, and it occurred to me that to give him a share in a secret, something we princes could work against together, might make him a little less distant toward me.”
“You bought his friendship with the red roan stallion.”
Vincent chuckled. “Come on, Wizard. You and I don’t need to be rivals for Paul’s affection.” We had actually been rivals for the queen’s affection. This conversation was getting more confused by the moment. “And I wouldn’t say I ‘bought’ his friendship. I knew he wanted a red stallion, and when the Romneys had the horse for sale I thought I’d better buy it at once. There can’t be many others like it. They knew it too-they certainly charged enough! I’d also thought, of course, that Paul was a little timid and deferential for someone who was going to be king so soon, and that if I said a few things to make him rely on himself rather than others’ counsel it might help a bit. But from what Lucas told me, your trip up north did much more for him than my hints and suggestions ever could!”
Ever since Joachim first telephoned me at the wizards’ school, to tell me there were twinkling lights at night on his new tower, I had been creating and disposing of a long series of theories to account for the events in Caelrhon and Yurt. Long after I knew that the original problem had been Theodora practicing climbing and fire magic at the same time, new crises and diabolical plots kept appearing. The only two points on which I was now firm was that a renegade wizard, who hated the Church, had brought a gorgos to the cathedral city, and that Vincent was trying to seize Yurt for himself.
A quick glance at the sky still revealed no dragons. “I want to ask you about that stallion,” I said.
Vincent gave me a look of genuine amusement. “Lucas told me you thought the horse was a trap. It’s an intriguing theory, but it’s certainly not true.”
“Where did the Romneys get the stallion?”
He shrugged. “You don’t ask horse-traders where they get their horses. But the Romneys are right here if you want to try.”
I was not yet ready to give up my suspicions of him. “If you didn’t intend the horse as a trap,” I asked, “how were you planning to murder Paul?”
Vincent jumped to his feet. Shock, fury, and then incredulity passed across his face in a series of waves of white and red. I saw him ready to attack me, then remember both that he was unarmed and that a sword wouldn’t do much good anyway. Very slowly, he sat down again, staring at me. “Are you serious?”
It was exactly what I would have expected him to do if I was wrong. “How else did you plan to become king of Yurt?”
Both of us sat in silence for a moment, trying to sort out our thoughts. Vincent continued to stare. Below us, the constable’s men were finishing preparing the lists for the tournament. A number of the knights already had their armor on and were walking back and forth between the tents, showing off for each other. The horrible certainty that I had just created a diplomatic crisis between Yurt and Caelrhon grew on me.
V
“Well,” said Vincent after a minute, “maybe I had that coming, for spreading rumors about a wizardly plot against princes. But I do want to reassure you I never intended to be king of Yurt.”
“Then why are you marrying my queen?” I demanded.
“Because I love her, of course,” said Vincent with a smile. “I know you wizards never marry, so you probably haven’t noticed, but she’s the most beautiful and the most delightful and desirable woman in the western kingdoms.”
The one positive thing I might be able to salvage from this conversation was the knowledge that the queen had never told Vincent about my proposal to her.
“I hope you appreciate how ironic this is,” said Vincent. “My brother is terrified that when I marry your queen, Yurt may make it an excuse to take over Caelrhon. And now I find out that you have been expecting the exact opposite!”
I felt I ought to apologize but didn’t know what to say.
“Look, Wizard,” Vincent went on. “Let’s be reasonable about this. The queen and I both want you to stay on as Royal Wizard after we’re married, and I’m certain Paul really does too, even if I may have inadvertently turned him against you for the moment. When you were off at the school this spring, the queen wondered whether she might have to get a new wizard if you ended up staying there, but she also told me she hoped that you’d be back. So let’s forget all this and forgive each other. All right?”
He started to rise, taking my agreement for granted, but I was not through with him yet. “A wizard brought a gorgos to the cathedral city last month, and brought these creatures here today. What do you know about him?”
He paused on one knee. “I don’t know anything about this. Lucas refused to hire a new wizard after Sengrim’s death, and the only other magic-worker I’ve spoken to since then is you.” He stood up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to get my armor on.”
Without waiting for an answer, he started back toward the bridge into the castle, whistling. Just before he reached the bridge, I called him back. “Prince Vincent!”
He turned back slowly but not, I thought, particularly grudgingly. If I had been a prince instead of a wizard, I really would have wanted to be just like him. “Can it wait?”
“I have a quick favor to ask you.” He came back and stood before me, hands on his hips. “Could you see if you could find the Romney from whom you bought the horse? Even though”-I just barely kept myself from phrasing it as “Even if”-”you have no plots against Paul, it’s possible someone else does.”
He shrugged. “All right. But I don’t want to be late for the tournament!” He went off through the tents, greeting the knights and joking with them as he went. In a few moments, I saw him reemerge from beyond the tents and this time go directly into the castle. At least, I thought, I had not actually created a diplomatic rift between the twin kingdoms.
A Romney man walked slowly toward me, not uncertainly but as though he wanted me to realize that he moved at his own pace, not mine. I swallowed my impatience and waited.
He sat down next to me and adjusted his red kerchief. “A lot of the knights of Caelrhon have horses they bought from me,” he said casually. “Were you thinking of buying one yourself? I’m afraid we don’t have much with us right now, but I could find you a good steed by next week.”
I had to admire the Romney’s ability to turn any opportunity into a potential sale. “I wanted to ask you about the red roan stallion you sold Prince Vincent at the beginning of the summer,” I answered. “I might want one like that-no ordinary horse for a wizard!”
He gave me a shrewd look from intensely black eyes. Neither one of us believed for a minute the talk about buying a horse. “It might be hard to find one just like that,” he said. “Horses that good are scarce, as you realize. I
