Shadow

    'And Father had a very selective memory for verbal agreements,' he said, 'so that would be part of it. But it's not enough. You are right about the blood--there are no witnesses left. And a truce could have been made by letter. Why a meeting?'

    'Ask Alvo when he gets here,' she said.

    'No!' he shouted. She jumped. 'I want to know now!' he said.

    She sighed. 'I suppose you should. The history books are faked, too, about Allaban. You think that the rebels were skymen? You think Karaman was a warrior? He wasn't. He was a priest, a sweet little man. There were no skymen on the other side, only farmers and priests and tradesmen. And eagles.'

    'You're joking!'

    'No,' she said. 'It wasn't a rebellion; it was a religious crusade, preached by Karman.' She swung around and looked at him fully for the first time. 'The eagles are intelligent!'

    'Well, yes...'

    'Not smart! Intelligent. Like people. Karaman had learned their language. Most of the fighting was done by the birds alone, without riders.'

    Jarkadon started to laugh and then saw that she was serious.

    'Have you ever tried flying a whole day on a blinkered bird?' she snapped. 'While trying to fend off attack? That was how we escaped--our own mounts were fighting against us. Many fled the palace; very few of us made it to Ninar Foan.''

    Her women had told him that this was one of her good days. She had seemed to be recovering her wits. But this?

    She guessed his thoughts and smiled. 'Just a mad old woman? But that was why the blood. 'My troopers can fight birds,' your father said, 'and they can fight men, but they cannot fight ideas.' He suppressed the heresy.'

    'Schagarn?'

    'Schagarn most of all,' she agreed. 'Karaman was a much better rebel than negotiator. He offered the truce as the price of a meeting. If he could convince the king, then the eagles would be freed in Rantorra. Of course he proved his point--I knew it all from Allaban, and so did Alvo. He made the birds do tricks and pass messages, anything your father could ask for. There was no doubt at all.'

    'But Father was not convinced?'

    'So he told Karaman, and the truce had been promised. Karaman went back to Allaban, and the birds stayed in the aeries.'

    'I should hope so!' Jarkadon Said.

    'And your father put the far Rand into quarantine, to keep the secret. That is why so few people have traveled between Ramo and Ninar Foan.'

    'Until Vindax.' Jarkadon snickered.

    'You have ended the treaty,' she said, and smiled at her hands in her lap.

    'Shadow ended it! We had a trial--brief, but legal. But you were not at Schagarn.'

    She did not look at him. 'No. I went to Kollinor. I had a great-aunt whom I had never met. Your father went to Schagarn to hunt--it was a good place for a secret meeting.'

    'He didn't trust you near dear Alvo?'

    Color showed in her face. 'Perhaps not. There were certainly many troopers around Kollinor.'

    'So Vindax is alive,' he said. He rose and moved his chair around so that he was directly in front of her. Then he leaned back and sat with folded arms until she raised her eyes nervously to meet his. It took quite a while.

    'You think I should abdicate?' he asked. 'Well, Mother, if you will give me your sacred oath that you never met Alvo after you left Ninar Foan, then I shall accept Vindax as my king. Go ahead.'

    It should not have been possible for that dry-bone face to go paler, but it did. 'You dare question my honor?' she asked pathetically.

    He felt an enjoyable sense of triumph. 'I don't need to. I checked the aerie records--as I suppose Father did when he at last became suspicious, long, long after. Kollinor is not far from Schagarn, and between them lies Hiando Keep, and one of your ladies was graciously allowed to fly home for third watch each night, for some kissing and cuddling. I suppose the guards grew accustomed to the habit. But on the last night of your stay she flew on WindStriker.'

    'That proves nothing!'

    'Mother, Mother!' he said patiently. 'I talked this over with Father, not long before King Shadow killed him. He said I had reminded him of something. That same day he had Sir Whatever-it-is Harl thrown in the dungeons and his wife, too. I suppose he would have put them to death, except that their son was Prince Shadow and his loyalty was needed--until Vindax returned.'

    He had been thinking that it was all a coincidence. Now he suddenly saw that it was not--Vindax had met Shadow, the Harls' son, in the palace school. The Harl woman was the connection--no real coincidence.

    'Had Vindax come back from the Rand, then there would have been a new Prince Shadow and two fewer witnesses. Of course Father had found out eventually about your little escapade, but he hadn't realized until we spoke that Harl was another Schagarn witness also. He had met Foan on the Range, perhaps even Karaman.'

    She bent her head. 'Yes.'

    He laughed. 'I pulled them out of the cells and explained that their son was now guilty of treason, because of Vindax. A royal pardon loosens tongues like nothing else!'

    She met his eye again momentarily. 'A sealed pardon?'

    'Certainly,' he said. Of course there were faults in the wording; the pardon could be repudiated, but that was none of her business.

    'So they will be willing witnesses if you decide to put Alvo and me on trial?' she asked, gazing at her own clasped hands.

    'Another interesting possibility. But if the likeness is as strong as I hear, then Foan's face at court should be enough.' He giggled. 'So you went to Hiando Keep and met dear Alvo. Only once...day 1165...but once is enough, and I expect you did it more than once.'

    Now he had roused some spark in her. 'You disgust me more every time I see you,' she said. 'Yes, we met at Hiando Keep. Yes, we were alone there for many hours. Whatever else I say, you will believe what you will believe. Fill in the details from your own experience.'

    'I can't guess,' he said, grinning. 'I prefer my women coy and reluctant, certainly not eager.' That made her redden, as he had known it would. 'What happened--afterward?'

    Darkside was warm compared to her stare.

    'The next day he went rightward on the Rand, and I came back to Ramo. And when your father and I were alone together, I asked him what had happened at Schagarn.'

    'Ah! I want to hear that.'

    She shook her head. 'No, you don't! He said it was terrifying. He said he had won peace for himself only, for his lifetime. But...' She closed her eyes. 'I think I remember his exact words. He said, 'But it will bring great trouble in future; great trouble for that son you carry, my darling.''

    Jarkadon's mouth opened and then closed.

    'I was pregnant!' she shouted at him. 'I had told the king. I told Alvo--he would have refused me otherwise. I was carrying Vindax when I went to Kollinor. That was day 1165, if you say so. And Vindax was born on 1374!'

    'It is still possible,' he mumbled. 'He was a very small baby. You could have been mistaken.'

    'Yes, I could have been mistaken. It was very early. But I never doubted.'

    'Wishful thinking!' Jarkadon could feel his face burning. 'I'm told it is an incredible likeness. Which is more probable: that you missed a thirty, or that remote cousinship could produce that?'

    She turned away from him and spoke very calmly. 'Neither is likely, but one happened. You make up your own mind--it won't change your plans.'

    'Vindax is Foan's bastard!' Jarkadon yelled, rising. 'I am the rightful heir. Why did you and Father not disown him? Perhaps you weren't sure when he was a child, but later it must have been obvious to both of you!'