his presence have influenced his father's hair coloring?
It also explained Safar's bewildering and boorish behavior with Queen Yorlain. Which in turn had wounded his Aunt Leiria. His father would never commit either of those acts.
He nodded, accepting the twinsa€™ theory.
'What should we do about it?' he asked. 'Can we come up with some sort of spell to purge Iraj from my father's body?'
'That'd be hard!' Gundara said.
'Really, really hard!' Gundaree put in.
'And even if it worked, we could kill them both,' Gundara added.
Palimak saw his whole world collapsing under him. Everything that was good had turned out to be evil.
His own father was trapped inside the body of the murderous Iraj Protarus!
'It would be easier to think of some kind of solution,' Gundara said, 'if we had something to eat.'
'That's very true, Little Master,' Gundaree said. 'Thinking is hungry work.'
Absently, Palimak fished sweets from his pocket and fed the Favorites. In his mind, past moments shared with his father were being blown about by gusts of nostalgia.
Palimak's first memory, so vague it might not even be real but a thing made up from tales adults tell their children, was as a baby held in Leiria's arms.
He was looking at his father over Leiria's shoulder. She was mounted on a snorting, ground-pawing warhorse and Palimak was tied in a sling about her back. Thumping against her chain mail as the horse moved. And there was his father, seen for the first time: tall and dark with fiery blue eyes that melted into softness when they settled on his adopted son.
There were a whole host of other memories: The cheese monster; the battles against the Great Wolf, Iraj Protarus; the flight across the badlands; the race through the Machine of Caluz; but especially the long talks late into the night as Safar patiently and gently taught his son the theory and practice of magic.
Then, with a start, he remembered a riddle his father had once posed. He'd said that if either of them could ever answer this riddle from The Book of Asper then many things might become clear.
It was the Riddle of the Two Kings:
'I know it!' Palimak shouted aloud. 'I know the answer!'
Gundara covered his fangs with a paw and burped politely. 'The answer to what, Little Master?', he asked.
'The Riddle of the Two Kings!' Palimak said. 'My father and Iraj Protarus are the two kings!'
'Of course they are,' Gundaree said, brushing crumbs from his tunic.
'Didn't you know that, Little Master?'
'But don't you understand?' Palimak said. 'That means we shouldn't do anything. The last thing that ought to happen is for us to interfere.'
Gundara yawned. 'That's fine with me, Little Master,' he said. 'It sounded like a lot of work, anyway.'
Gundaree curled up in a little ball. 'Wake me when it's time for dinner,' he said to his twin. 'All this doing nothing has tired me out.'
* * * *
'Thoth cloudth look pretty bad, Biner,' Arlain said.
Biner nodded, brow furrowed in worry. 'Ain't that the truth, lass,' he said. 'Some kind of blow brewin', that's for certain.'
They were hovering hundreds of feet above the Castle of the Two Kings, the volcano barely visible as the clouds swiftly drew a veil over the Demon Moon.
'We're too clo'th to that thing,' Arlain said, indicating the volcano. 'If a thtorm whipth up, we could run right thmack into it.'
'Maybe we'd better get to ground,' Biner said.
He turned to shout orders to the crew, but just then he saw-or thought he saw-movement along the rim of the valley.
'Take a look there, lass,' he said to Arlain, pointing at the deeper shadow where the road came over the rise. 'Do you see somethina€™ on yon road?'
Arlain's dragon eyes were sharper even than the proverbial eagle's. This was only one of many reasons for her incredible acrobatic skills. In a darkened tent she could see a thin guy wire as if it were broad daylight. A fire breather, her vision was also unaffected by sudden flashes of the pyrotechnics the circus used to wow the crowds.
She turned her head to where Biner was pointing, dragon's tongue flickering between pearly teeth as she concentrated.
Many miles away, Queen Clayre's litter was being carried over the rise by her slaves. Careful as they'd been to obscure the gilded ornamentation with lampblack, a small speck of blackening had been knocked off when one of her slaves had brushed against it.
Just then, lightning from the gathering storm flared in the sky, reflecting off the exposed gilding. It was only a tiny spark of light, but it was more than enough for Arlain.
She not only saw the reflected light, it helped pinpoint the entire shadowy column coming over the rise.
'Tholdierth!' Arlain hissed. 'Lot'th of them!'
Instantly, Biner roared orders to the crew, commanding them to fly over the approaching enemy. And as the airship turned about, he issued other orders to prepare for bombardment.
Meanwhile, Arlain shot off a red flare to warn Safar. But a strong wind suddenly blew up, casting it far away.
Biner grabbed the wheel, steadying it against the buffeting. But he'd no sooner steadied the craft then another heavy gust hit, driving the nose off course.
He started to curse the vagaries of nature, but then a squall hit full force, drenching him with what seemed like tons of water.
The wheel broke free from his strong hands, spinning wildly, and the airship was whipped about until the heavy winds were hitting it square on.
There were
No one was hurt, but two of the cables snaked up to pierce a balloon and air squealed out as the airbags quickly deflated.
'Get her down!' Biner roared to his crew. 'Get her down before she crashes!'
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
When the first spear of lightning struck, Tabusir saw its reflection flash from Clayre's litter and raced to intercept her.
The queen gave him a terrible look as he ran up, so he aped surprise and made a hasty bow as if he'd accidentally stumbled into her presence. Using his sleeve, he quickly smeared lampblack over the bare spot to dull the glitter.
Fortunately, the queen was busy with some task. He caught a brief glimpse of her head bending low over a golden table, then the litter moved past.
When she was gone, he looked up into the darkening heavens and saw the airship swinging swiftly around. The cause of its movements was so obvious that even an apprentice spy would have known that Rhodesa€™ troops had been spotted and the king's surprise attack was now no longer much of a surprise.
Rhodes was about a hundred yards away and Tabusir sprinted forward to warn him. But he'd taken no more then six steps when he heard Clayre shout something in a mysterious language.
