Shadow

    'Five?' muttered the next boy, the one they called Crusher. He moved his lips as he counted out the coins with massive peasant hands, although his cards were quite worthless. His family was rich also, but four young men were going to have to crawl to their respective fathers bearing news of sudden incredible debts.

    Bills from merchants could be ignored. Not a debt to the king.

    By Shadow's rough calculation, the king had already won enough to run his palace for thirty days. The families would be crippled, forced to sell estates to pay for this evening.

    Aurolron had shown that he knew exactly who were the Lions, and brutality had never been mentioned.

    'Son?'

    Jarkadon was eyeing the cards thoughtfully. He had been as shocked as his playmates when he arrived, but he had recovered his poise as soon as he saw the nature of the plot. The king might keep his son on a slack rein, but he could hardly bankrupt himself, and he was obviously not about to go public with his knowledge, so Jarkadon at least was immune. The chief Lion was safe. Yet Jarkadon was also in a trap. Two cheaters working together could manage a crooked game much more easily than one. Whose side would the prince take? He had made the wiser choice.

    'I'll see your raise, Father,' he said, smiling, 'and raise you another five.'

    Four pairs of eyes turned to him in agony. Treachery! The stakes were becoming even more colossal as the game proceeded, with no sign of an ending.

    The next young man had some trouble speaking, but he asked the secretary for another hundred.

    It was a vintage performance.

    Then a herald came running out the door and was intercepted at once by a hovering equerry. Shadow saw the document passed, saw the glance toward the king. The equerry approached. As a welcome relief from long sitting, Shadow rose and stepped over to intercept in turn. He recognized the seal as he carried the letter back.

    The king muttered a polite apology to his guests, but he had noticed also, and he read the letter as close to his chest as he had played his cards. His expression did not change by an eyelash, but one does not stand by a man for five kilodays without coming to know him well. This was the high one, Shadow decided. He glanced over at Jarkadon--and the young devil was watching him, not the king. Damn!

    The king read the letter through a second time, then folded it up. He put his hands on the arms of his chair to rise, and the whole group was on its feet before him. Wild relief shone in four young faces.

    'Our regrets, gentlemen. Perhaps we can continue this another day?' Still no trace of expression, but the mere lack of it was ominous. They were courtiers; they could vanish gracefully and yet quickly. Jarkadon stood expectant, eyes gleaming. The king beckoned the equerry. 'Find Her Majesty. We believe she is attending a chamber concert somewhere. We would meet with her --in the cabinet, we think would be best. At her convenience.'

    He eyed Jarkadon and nodded. Jarkadon was trying very hard to conceal excitement, and not succeeding. The king walked toward the door; by the time he had reached the corridor beyond, he had collected guards before and behind and was moving within a convoy. Shadow could feel the emotional temperature rising steadily and the palace web beginning to quiver: The king has received a message from Ninar Foan and has summoned the queen-- and to the cabinet, not the private quarters.

    They moved through corridors and cloisters and passages...

    The great egg-shaped room seemed hot and airless after the balcony. The doors closed silently on the curious faces outside. Shadow stopped beside his chair; Jarkadon followed the king to the far end.

    'Bad news, Father?'

    Aurolron did not reply until he was seated. 'I think it must be, because of the odious smirk on your face. Remove it.'

    Jarkadon flushed in silence and did not presume to sit until invited to do so. He was left standing.

    The king read his letter again and then laid it face-down on the desk. Then he stared at it in oaken silence, and nothing seemed to happen for a long time.

    At last the doors opened and Queen Mayala stood in the entrance. Shadow rose. She looked at his face, and for once she did not smile.

    She wore a high-necked gown of dark green which merely emphasized the pallor of her face. The dull- dyed hair was coiled on top of her head and surmounted by a tiara of emeralds, her hands concealed in a white muff. Muffs had suddenly become fashionable because the queen had taken to using them--probably, Shadow thought, to conceal the constant tremor of her hands.

    He saw at once that it was one of her bad days.

    Then she swept past his chair and the door closed again, but the antechamber was filling up with ladies who had come with the queen and men who had sensed the tremors in the web and heard the tap of drums.

    The king rose and held out a chair for her. He remained standing on one side, Jarkadon on the other.

    'Vindax?' she said.

    'It is bad news, my dear.'

    'He has not reached Ninar Foan yet, though?'

    'Yes,' the king said. 'He arrived on the thirty-third--sooner than we had expected. There has been an accident.'

    The queen made a dry sobbing noise and said nothing. Shadow was trying to watch Jarkadon also, but he was too distant to see the young man's expression clearly.

    'He went hunting. Apparently his bird had taken a bat.'

    'Oh, my God!'

    'They have not found him yet. The letter was written the same day, so the search had just started. There is still hope.'

    'Hope?' she said. 'In that country? Up that high? Those hills?' She doubled over and buried her face in her muff.

    Silence.

    Aurolron put a hand on her shoulder. 'We must have faith, my dear. It is bad, but there is still hope.'

    The queen straightened up and leaned away from him, dislodging his hand. She looked at Jarkadon. 'Why are you smiling?' she asked quietly.

    He was startled. 'Mother...of course I am not smiling. It is terrible news.'

    The queen lurched to her feet, facing the king, and suddenly screamed.'You did it!'

    Shadow rose also; he could have heard that without the trick acoustics, and screaming near the monarch was his business. He hurried over toward the desk.

    'Mayala! Control yourself!' her husband snapped.

    'You planned this. Taken a bat! How often does that happen? You expect me to believe that it was an accident?'

    'Mother...' Jarkadon said.

    She ignored him, glaring at the king. He reached for her shoulders, and she backed away.

    Shadow slipped into position behind the king, and they did not even see him.

    Now Mayala's face was suffused, her eyes wild and rolling. 'You did it! You put one of your foul assassins in his party. You have murdered my son!'

    'Our son!' the king said angrily. 'Don't be absurd?'

    'You have killed Vindax!' she insisted. 'You want to put thatperverton the throne?' Jarkadon turned almost as red as she.

    Aurolron was startled also at her vehemence, but he paused to glance at the prince. 'That is another decision entirely,' he said. Jarkadon went just as suddenly ash-white.

    'Monster!'Queen Mayala hissed. She pulled a knife from her muff and struck at the king. He yelped and jumped sideways, tangling with a chair and half-caught by Shadow. Jarkadon grabbed the queen, who was screaming wordlessly.

    Then the king's knees buckled, and Shadow lowered him to the rug. Blood was spreading hideously over his white doublet; Shadow ripped it away from the wound.