people no longer bothered with such superstitions. Who knew how they originated, back in the mists of time? Whatever mists were. Whatever time was--now, there was a good subject for a drinking session. Ninomar took another swallow, and the duke lifted the big steaming copper jug from the hearth and politely topped up his tankard and Sir Griorgi's.
'How is Sir Jion?' the old man asked.
'I believe he has been sick,' the courier said. 'Haven't seen him around.'
The duke had resumed his seat. He lifted a big roll of parchment. 'You have proclaimed this all along the Rand, have you not, Sir Griorgi?' he said. 'I may add it to the family archives, then? We have many similar.'
'I am tired of hearing it,' Griorgi said. 'You can stuff it anywhere your ducal honor wishes, Your Grace.'
Impudent young brat--they all laughed heartily.
The courier hiccuped, and that seemed to be a signal.
'I am a little confused,' Ukarres said quietly. 'When exactly did the terrible event occur?'
The courier blinked a few times and decided they were speaking to him. 'Just after His Grace's first letter arrived.'
'And what day was that?' Ukarres asked.
'That was the thirty-eighth, I think,' Griorgi said.
The other men exchanged glances. 'It took a few days to straighten things around, then?' the duke murmured. 'Normally a new king is proclaimed at once, I thought.'
This was what they wanted to hear, of course. 'Well, it was a little confusing,' the boy mumbled. He proceeded then to make it seem very confusing. '...and then the traitor striking down the king and abducting the queen...There were no precedents.'
Ukarres chuckled. 'It must have been absolute chaos.'
'Some of the high officials were a trifle perturbed.'
Ninomar started to giggle and stopped when he caught the duke's eye. Then they both laughed aloud. Tragic...terrible...but the confusion in the court...
Ukarres nodded to himself. 'Getting back to the timing of the new king's proclamation,' he said, 'the duke's third letter reported that the search had been called off and that there was certainly no hope. But that message can hardly have arrived before you departed, so when you left there must still have been some doubt about the fate of Prince Vindax.'
The boy tried to think that through.
'There is no doubt now, though?' he muttered.
'None at all. Prince Vindax is dead,' the duke said.
'Ah!' Young Sir Griorgi bent over and picked up his pouch, almost falling from his settle. 'I have some more documents, Your Grace.'
So that was what the duke was after! The courier produced a bulky package, wrapped in black ribbon. The duke rose and almost snatched it.
'One for you, my lord,' he said to the vice-marshal.
Ninomar took the document and examined the royal seal carefully, then broke it open. It was the missing citation, explaining his star. He squinted in the firelight. For diligence in searching for the body of...well, that was better. A little weak, though. He wondered uneasily if he had merely been given a bribe to make sure that he was on the right side.
But there was more. He looked up in surprise at the duke.
The duke was scowling at another parchment. 'I am summoned to court, Ukarres,' he said. 'At my earliest convenience, to do homage to the new king.'
'Your post is here!' Ukarres said sharply.
'The frontier is quiet, surely?' Ninomar muttered.
'It may not be so much longer,' Ukarres replied cryptically. He and the duke were frowning about something. The courier was slumping on the settle, sliding silently into one corner, his eyes closing.
'And here,' the keeper said, 'a death warrant for the man hitherto known as Prince Shadow, convicted in absentia of high treason, the sentence to be carried out in accordance with the law of...' He read on for a while and then growled. 'That belongs with the cooks' recipes!' He tossed the parchment onto the table with an expression of disgust.
It was very fortunate, thought Ninomar, that the man in question had taken the hint and drilled a hole in the sky. Not a bad kid, really. He had even had the tact to leave the fake orders which Ninomar had made for him-- and had so quickly destroyed when he recovered them. He hoped that young Shadow would find a better life in Piatorra, if he had the sense to go that far. He should be there by now.
'And,' the duke said, 'a royal letter addressed to my daughter.'
He stared at it thoughtfully and again exchanged glances with Ukarres.
Ninomar coughed politely. 'I am instructed to escort Lady Elosa to court, Your Grace.'
The duke took the orders from his hand without asking and read them through. His face grew grimmer than ever.
'Her mother is not invited also?' Ukarres asked.
'No,' the duke said. 'And the letter to me suggests that she is to remain and hold the castle.'
Sir Griorgi was asleep, snoring. The duke leaned down, peered in the courier pouch, and took out a second package, this one wrapped with red ribbon.
Ukarres chuckled.
'These, I suppose,' the duke of Foan said, 'were to be delivered in the event that Vindax had been recovered and was alive?'
'A reasonable supposition,' the old man said, grinning.
Both of them glanced at Ninomar, who smiled politely.
The duke laid the package on the table and opened it.
'Another for you, my lord.'
The vice-marshal felt his hands shake as he opened it. He peered at the writing, finding it very hard to focus. Then it was removed from his hand.
'You had it upside down,' the duke said. 'Let's see...an order for you to conduct the man calling himself Prince Vindax to court at once, regardless of his physical condition. Mmm? Also to conduct myself. At once. Interesting. I think you would have earned your bauble, my lord. Yes, here is the citation for it. Postdated, this one, I see. You would have had to deliver the goods.'
Ninomar took a long drink, emptying the tankard.
'And a summons for me,' the duke said. 'To come at once, though--no mention of convenience. No mention of Elosa. And a proclamation of bastardy against the person calling himself Prince Vindax! Well, well!' He was almost as red as the unconscious courier now, flaming with anger. 'It takes two to make a bastard, I understand. I wonder how the little punk's mother feels about this, if she knows. And here? A warrant, promoting Ensign Harl to flight commander!'
Ninomar was speechless.
'I wonder what he would have said? I think that young man's price might have been higher than flight commander.' The duke glanced thoughtfully at the vice-marshal's chest.
Ninomar quietly tucked the Order of the Eagle, Second Class, inside the edge of his tunic, out of sight. Dukes should be humored when in this sort of mood.
Foan read on. 'Ah! There's more. Sir Hindrin Harl and his wife have been released from jail.' He looked thoughtfully at Ukarres.
'Aurolron said that his background was relevant,' the old man wheezed. 'It would be Schagarn he was covering, I should guess. Both, maybe. The new king would prefer willing witnesses?'
The duke frowned angrily. It was all well above Ninomar's head, but he was not going to ask.
'The little creep has been busy,' Ukarres remarked, probably referring to his liege lord, King Jarkadon X of Rantorra.
'Very.' The duke bundled up the second group of documents and stuffed them back in the courier's pouch. 'We'll let this lad worry about these, I think. They are irrelevant, as the prince is dead.'
