The leader remained standing. “Denson, guard the outside door. Jopps, find us something to eat and drink.”
Denson, the wiry one, nodded and slipped out. The nondescript Jopps went through the only other door in the room, on the far side, leaving it open to reveal a slightly larger room with four beds ranged along the walls. Beyond that, through an archway, Karl saw a fire burning. Jopps went through the archway and turned left, disappearing from view.
“How did you get through the Barrier?” the leader said softly.
“What’s your name?” Karl countered.
A moment’s stillness. “Call me Vinthor.”
“Not your real name?”
A small smile. “It is not the name I was born with. Nor were the other names you have heard given my associates by their parents.” The smile vanished. “Now answer the question.”
“I don’t know,” Karl said. “I tried to get through the opening your men made, but I was too late. Yet somehow I went through anyway.” And how did your men make that opening? he wanted to ask. They were Commoners, so they must have used an enchanted device of some kind, but he would have sworn, and he thought Tagaza would have backed him up, that no mage now living could create such a device.
“Can the Heir move through the Lesser Barrier at will?” Vinthor said.
Karl shook his head. “I have never heard of it.” But in the back of his mind came the thought that perhaps, just perhaps, slipping through the Lesser Barrier was all one with his strange ability to cancel out minor spells and make enchanted objects stop working. But he wasn’t about to say anything about that to Vinthor.
“‘For even the wisest, the wide world holds endless mysteries and wonder,’ “ Vinthor said, and it took Karl a second to figure out why that sounded familiar. It was a quotation from The Eagle Falls, one of Verdsmitt’s earliest but still most popular plays.
Was Verdsmitt this mysterious Patron, then? But Falk had arrested him. Surely the Patron would not have allowed himself to be captured by the Minister of Public Safety!
Unless there was some reason he needed to be inside the Palace.. .
“Could your father have died this very evening, making you King without your knowing it?” Vinthor continued. He asked the question softly, but there was some hidden depth to it that Karl couldn’t fathom. “Perhaps the King has the power to pass through the Barrier.”
“I’ve never heard that, either,” said Karl. “And when my father dies, I will know it.”
“Hmmm.” Vinthor glanced at the fire for a moment, thinking. Karl closed his eyes and pounded his fists silently on his legs, willing the agony in his feet to retreat. It didn’t work.
Jopps bustled in with a plate piled with slices of bread, cheese, and meat of some kind, though Karl couldn’t quite decide what it was aside from gray and slightly slimy. Jopps went out again, returning in a moment gripping four mugs by their handles with one hand and an open wine bottle with the other. He slopped wine into the mugs, put the empty bottle aside, and went to the door, opening it to hand one of the mugs to Denson in the darkness beyond; then he closed the door again, picked up his own mug, and plopped down on the chair closest to the fire, between Vinthor and Karl. Placing a piece of cheese and a piece of meat between two slices of the bread, he ate noisily, apparently oblivious to both his leader and the Prince.
Vinthor gave him an irritated look, then nodded to Karl. “Eat, if you’re hungry.”
The expected after-show reception having failed to materialize, Karl was hungry, but the pain in his feet made it impossible to eat. “No, thanks,” he said, voice strained. “But I will take that wine.” He grabbed the goblet and took a large mouthful, prepared for something pretty vile, but pleasantly surprised to find it quite good. Not that he cared-it was the alcohol he wanted, hoping it might dull his increasing agony.
“The Healer will be here shortly,” Vinthor said. “Perhaps then.” He nodded toward the back room. “Perhaps you would be more comfortable lying down while you wait. And as I find I have lost my appetite,” he gave a significant look to the oblivious Jopps, who was chewing with his mouth open, “I will see if I can contact the Patron. And then, Prince Karl, Heir Apparent to the Keys and the Kingdom of Evrenfels, we will see what is to be done with you.”
He got up and disappeared back into the kitchen. Jopps kept eating, but his eyes followed Karl as he got to his feet, drained the rest of his wine in one long draft, and then limped, gasping with each step, into the next room. There he lay down, gaining some slight measure of relief when he lifted his feet from the floor. Throwing his arm over his eyes, he waited for the Healer… and his fate.
Lord Falk’s feeling of contentment did not survive breakfast. He was just spreading butter on a second piece of toast in the private dining area of his suite, enjoying the play of the sunshine on the lake outside, when he heard voices in the outer room and knew someone had come to call on him. He ignored them, and went on buttering his toast. There was always some new demand on his time, but toast only stayed hot for a minute.
He was halfway through the slice when Brich appeared. Falk swallowed, set the remaining portion of toast down on his plate (recently denuded of a healthy helping of ham and eggs), and said, “From your expression, Brich, you have something to tell me you suspect I will not enjoy hearing.”
“You’re quite correct, my lord,” Brich said grimly. “My lord-” and the fact he used the honorific twice in such quick succession was more testimony, if any were needed, to just how grim he felt, “Prince Karl is missing.”
Falk sat very still for a long moment, then said just two words, though each carried enough savagery to make even Brich pale a little. “When? How?”
“Sometime in the night, my lord,” Brich said. “His absence was discovered when his manservant went in this morning with breakfast. His bed had not been slept in. As to the how…” Brich licked his lips. “His window was open, my lord. It appears he simply climbed down the wall of the palace to the ground.”
“And Teran, his bodyguard? The other guards I left posted outside in the hallway?” Falk said softly. “They heard nothing?”
“No, my lord, but the thickness of the…” Brich’s voice trailed off, as though he thought perhaps it wasn’t wise to make excuses, even if they weren’t for himself.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Falk said, almost to himself. “He grew up in the Palace. As Brenna has recently reminded me, children have a way of finding secret ways of getting to places they aren’t supposed to be.” He took a deep breath. “Well, no doubt he is hiding somewhere on the grounds, enjoying the frantic search for his Royal Presence. The Heir may look a grown man on the outside, Brich, but he is still enough of a boy to enjoy such childish pranks.” He got to his feet. “Let us indulge him. Turn out the guard. Search everywhere. He must be inside the Lesser Barrier, after all.” He paused. “And send Teran to me,” he added softly.
“He’s already waiting in a cell,” Brich said.
Falk nodded once, and went to find him.
Teran sat on the cell’s bed, hands folded in his lap, head down. He looked up as Falk came in, then jumped to his feet. “Lord Falk, I-”
“Teran,” said Falk coldly. “How is it that the man to whom I have entrusted not only the Prince’s safety but also the task of keeping me informed as to his whereabouts and actions has once again failed at both duties?”
“My lord,” Teran said again. “He ordered me from his room. He was angry that I had not told him about the impending arrest of Verdsmitt.”
“It’s as well you did not,” Falk said. “What did he tell you?”
“Nothing, my lord,” Teran said. “As I said, he was angry. He pointed out that he was both the Prince and my friend. I told him that you were my supreme commander and I had to follow your orders unless he had specifically countermanded them… which he had not.”
“And he said nothing that indicated he intended to sneak out of the palace, Teran?” Falk said.
“No, my lord,” Teran said. “The last I saw of him he was pouring a drink. He seemed ready to settle in for the evening.”
“And you heard nothing?”
“Nothing, my lord.”
Falk gave Teran a hard look. “It seems to me,” he said softly, “that you have now failed your duty twice.”
Teran paled. “My lord-”
“The terms of your service,” Falk said, “have always been that you serve me well, and your mother and sister remain well. If you do not serve me well…” He let his voice fall to a silky whisper. “Would you say you have served
