Shadow

anything ever hatched. He's on your side, too.'

    Shadow chewed for a while, wondering how much to risk. 'I can understand the duke wanting me out of sight. But Ninomar hates me down to the hairs on my big toe.'

    Ukarres shook his head, his one live eye shining, his wrinkles emphasized by a smile. 'He admires you.'

    'Mutes!'

    'I asked him about you before the accident. He said you were an insolent, smart-aleck peasant but one of the finest skymen he had ever met and fanatically loyal to the prince. Loyalty is one of the few things he understands. He despises you, yes, but secretly he thinks you deserve to escape. The king will have you publicly ground and roasted like a coffee bean as a warning to all future Shadows. No, the vice-marshal is risking a serious reprimand, but he has left the door open for you, the door to the world.'

    Shadow started to eat more slowly. 'To be an outlaw? No rank, no name, no honor?'

    'The king of Piatorra would accept a good skyman with his own mount.'

    He shook his head. 'I shall stay and help search.'

    Ukarres sighed.

    'Loyalty!' he said. 'It is rare. Yet, in spite of my devious ways, young Shadow, I was always loyal to my duke. He trusts me. Nobody else dares to. I have served him all his life, kept his secrets, done a few things he wanted done but could not ask for...'

    He was silent for a while, as though pondering the next most likely strategy. 'Vak Vonimor and I are blood enemies. He runs the aerie and I run the household, and Eagle Dome itself lies between. When I was there to greet your prince, it was the first time I had been in the aerie in...well, in almost your lifetime, I should guess. He is fiercely loyal to the keeper also, but we detest each other.'

    'So?' Shadow said. Ukarres was a slimy old ruin, but he had a curious attraction about him.

    'Today we are friends,' Ukarres said solemnly.

    'I don't understand,' Shadow said, still working his way through the ham.

    'You were right--it was murder. You can work it out.'

    Now Shadow paused, fork in hand, staring at the old man, trying to guess what message lay in that single watery eye.

    He thought back to the departure from the aerie. IceFire had been perched in a corner, with NailBiter next to her--it was standard practice to isolate a cawking pair. Then there was old WindStriker, then the duke's IceFlame and a group of birds that were not being used...Before the dressing, Shadow had laid all the equipment nearby on the floor. The prince had stood just inside the bars, facing into the aerie so that Shadow was properly at his back. He would have seen a bat being thrown from in there, and by the time he turned around to mount, WindStriker had been blinkered and unable to react.

    'Only one man had the opportunity!' he said. Why had he not seen that before? 'You are accusing the duke himself?'

    Ukarres's eye slid away from his. 'His Grace must take some blame. And so must I. And so must you, Shadow.'

    'Me?' By God, that was unfair! 'What more could I have done?'

    'Oh, you did too much, not too little,' Ukarres sighed. 'Now I must betray a trust. Listen! About four hours before the deed was done, in the middle of third watch, the duke came to my room and woke me. He had received a message from the king.'

    'What?' Shadow shouted. 'How?'

    'By bird, of course. The royal courier who came to announce the prince's plans, Sir Jion Something...he left his mount and took one of ours. It returned with this.' He reached inside his old brown doublet and pulled out a letter, a seal still dangling from it. 'It is an extraordinary document!'

    Shadow held out his hand, but the old man hesitated. 'My duke is a passionate man, lad, in all ways: lust or rage or joy, but I have not seen him cry since he was a child. Yet this made him weep. The king would have my head...he would have the duke's for showing it to me, I think. Well...read it.'

    Astounded, Shadow unfolded the parchment. The seal was certainly genuine, but the writing was scrawly, not that of a professional scribe, and the usual flowery preliminaries were missing. But he had seen the king scribble notes, and recognized his hand. It began even more starkly than the summons he had received at Hiando Keep.

    The King to his cousin of Foan: Greetings.

    Send the enclosed letter to intercept the crown prince at Gorr. It bids him terminate his journey there and forbids him to come to Ninar Foan.

    I was aware, as you must be, that for you to meet him in public would provoke scandal. I had decided to pay that price, in the belief that the gossip would be harmless and would eventually die. Now I have learned that I was wrong--not only has it already stirred dangerous thoughts in certain quarters, but I see that it could lead to the uncovering of other matters which must remain hidden. You will know to what I refer. Therefore, the isolation of your house from mine must be continued.

    Doubtless he has already met persons on the Rand who know you, but the court is where the danger lies, and so long as none of his companions see the two of you together, the harm will be small.

    Yet you should meet him. I have told him that a man named Ovla will seek him out in Gorr. Be careful that you are unobserved. Only Prince Shadow will be present. Inquire into his background--it is relevant.

    Shadow looked up in astonishment. 'What has my background got to do with all this?'

    Ukarres shrugged. 'If I knew, I would probably lie about it.'

    He did know--Shadow was certain. Angrily he returned to the royal letter.

    It is a sadness when the scion of an ancient family lacks a son. I propose to give you one of mine. As soon as Vindax returns, I shall send Jarkadon to you. I hope that you will consider favorably a marriage between him and your daughter, that he may ultimately succeed you as keeper of the Rand. In return I shall issue patents that your titles may descend through the female line.

    He has merit, yet is scathed by the temptations of court life. I believe my older son does credit to my rearing. Perhaps you, in your more wholesome lands, can improve on the younger.

    I think you owe me this.

    Written in our own hand, this 9234th day of our reign in our capital of Ramo.

    Aurolron R.

    'Great fires of the Ark!' Shadow exclaimed, and read it all again. Then he stared at Ukarres. 'He as much as admits that the duke is the prince's father!'

    'He does not!' the seneschal snapped. 'But then, the duke would know that better than the king, would he not?'

    'Is he? Was there opportunity?'

    Again Ukarres knew, but the wily old man was not going to say. 'I told you it was a strange missive. The comments on Prince Jarkadon? Even the royal admission of error! Yes, we had better both keep quiet about this, my lad.'

    Banish Jarkadon? They would have to tie that young man on a bird's back before they would get him to the Rand.

    And if Vindax were truly the duke's son, then the king's letter was utterly incredible. No wonder the writing was shaky--it must have been written under great stress.

    'But the message to the prince?' Shadow demanded.

    Ukarres shook his head. 'The duke erred. He said, 'Well, he wants a hunt, so I shall give him this afterward. The damage is done now.''

    Of course! Shadow moaned aloud. The damage was done because he had juggled the royal itinerary in the name of security. That was what Ukarres had meant when he said it was his fault. He had innocently thwarted the king's plan.

    For a few moments his mind seemed to dance all over the Rand like a batted bird. The he remembered something else.