Shadow

    'If you get him, then you kill his bird also.'

    'True,' Shadow admitted. 'And he can shoot my bird, which is an easier target than I am, and I may hit his by accident. It's still no better than even, is it?'

    Karaman nodded once more. 'And being blind in the air is deepest hell for an eagle. They can imagine no greater torture, nor any worse way to die.'

    'So if Aurolron had spurned your truce and moved against the republic...'

    'The birds would have stayed out. It would have been the skymen against the peasants again--no contest.'

    It had been Aurolron who had been outfoxed at Schagarn.

    With a deep thunder of wings, NailBiter and IceFire passed overhead and settled on the ridge of the house to watch the coming proceedings.

    The meeting place was a semicircle of chairs set out on grass in the shade of the house. Toys were scattered about. Vindax was there already, waiting--he did not like people to see him being carried around. He was talking to two small, naked children idling on swings which hung from a frame in the center of the lawn. They jumped down and fled at the sight of the newcomers.

    Shadow put on his cheerful face and made the formal nod that Shadow should give his prince. But this was not the prince he had served--and failed? The old Vindax had gone. The new one was a poor fragment of a man, shrunken and crippled, paralyzed from the waist down, a noseless horror. He had lost ail his fingers and thumbs except two stumps, on one of which blazed the gold signet of the crown prince of Rantorra. Gone were the fine clothes of royalty; he wore only the brown homespuns of the peasants who supported him on their charity, and even those looked too big for him. Always Shadow wondered what Elosa would think if she were to see her handiwork--and what thoughts of Elosa burned inside that tragic ruin.

    And was Elosa perhaps already floating among the silks and glitter of the court, even now betrothed to the reigning king?

    Shadow took the chair on Vindax's right, moving it back slightly as though he were taking his proper place behind, but really so that he need not look too directly into that ravaged face.

    'Shadow?' Vindax sighed. 'I should not be calling you that now. Sald is your name, but you are the chief and only minister in my government, so you should have a title. Pick a name and I will make you a duke.' That was at least an attempt at humor, which was a small improvement.

    'I am honored, King,' he replied. 'But a coronet would not suit me, I think, and I do not feel like Sald Harl anymore. The eagles call me 'The-one-who-came-through-the-dark'--which isn't far off being called a shadow, is it? I think I shall stay with that name until we shed some light on Rantorra.'

    Karaman, having finished a feeble lecture to an unrepentant Potro, sat on the other side of Vindax. The three of them were looking darkward, across a wide grassy place. The grass that grew in the fixed shade of the house was not the same as the sunlit grass next to it. Beyond the little meadow was the pool, and trees and then fields.

    And hills--hills stretching up endlessly, ridge after crumpled ridge, growing bluer and dimmer with distance, as far as the human eye could see into the sky. Beyond that stood the cobalt canopy of space, crenellated along its lower edge by faint icy peaks.

    'Those are volcanoes, you know,' Karaman remarked, making safely neutral conversation. 'It is geothermal heat in this area which melts the ice of the High Rand, feeding springs and making Allaban so fertile.' He was knowledgeable on almost any subject after a lifetime of studying the ancient lore. The conversation continued on impersonal topics.

    The wind was a gentle torment, hot from its long fall off the High Rand, growing ever hotter as it sped past toward the deserts far below, but soon Shadow could see tiny specks drifting down that unlimited hillside-- others coming to the meeting.

    It took an hour or more for them all to assemble--farmers and merchants mostly, both women and men. Some of the men were enormous compared to Shadow and Karaman and Vindax, but the eagles could manage them in slings. There were introductions to 'Citizen Vindax' and 'Citizen Shadow,' awkward attempts to shake hands with Vindax's stump, and courteous chat. Then they all settled into the chairs of the arc and waited.

    NailBiter and IceFire were preening themselves on the roof; the birds had infinite patience. A few of the arrivals' mounts joined them, while the others returned to the sky. Shadow did not know whether that was a personal choice or whether juniors were not allowed to join in the meeting--the other half of the meeting, high in the air.

    Finally the group was assembled.

    An eagle swooped in across the reservoir, braked, then landed awkwardly on the fiat grass. It stalked forward a few paces and stopped, its great bulk seeming to complete the arc and turn it into a circle.

    A full-face view of an eagle was still unnerving to Shadow, a sight he had rarely seen before he came to Allaban. This was an elderly female, brown with a few silver primaries, and on flat ground she stood twice as high as he would have done, glaring slowly around the circle. Her gaze finally settled on Karaman.

    High above, not much more than spots in the sky, hung two or three dozen others. Far away beyond human sight there would be others watching, and others beyond them. The talk would be reported all across Allaban.

    'Er...who speaks to the High Ones?' the president asked.

    'Me!' Potro said eagerly, jumping forward into a circle of disapproving glances.

    'All right,' Karaman said, indulging him. 'Sit here.' The skinny form dropped cross-legged to the grass and faced toward the bird.

    The president stood up. He was a lanky, bony, middle-aged spice merchant, shabby in his work clothes and smelling strongly of coffee and cinnamon.

    'You want to do the talking, Ryl?' he asked hopefully.

    Karaman shook his head. He had half twisted in his chair, as though not too much concerned in the affair at all, but he had stayed next to Vindax, which was a hopeful sign, worth many votes if there were to be voting. 'You do fine, Jos,' he said.

    The president shuffled a toe at the ground, finally leaning back against the frame of the children's swing set and sticking his hands in his pockets. 'Citizen Vindax,' he mumbled. 'When you arrived, we said that you were welcome to stay until you got better and then we'd send you back. With no conditions.'

    Porto's fingers were racing and the eagle's fierce glance was following them, her comb moving as she passed the speech up to the watchers in the sky. Karaman was unobtrusively watching the translation but seemed to be satisfied with it.

    'Well, we meant that,' the president said. 'And that's still fine by us. But the death of...of your father...has made a bit of a difference. See, we got a letter from Ramo. Seems they still had a bird they took from Allaban, and they've sent this note to us and we've talked it over and it makes things a bit tricky, like.'

    He explained at length, but Shadow had been told earlier by Karaman. Jarkadon wanted 'the pretender Vindax' turned over to him. In return, he would renew the truce his father had made, to last for the duration of his own reign.

    'Well, we don't want a war,' the president said apologetically.

    That was obvious--it would be a rout, although perhaps Jarkadon did not know that. 'But we don't fancy turning you over--under the circumstances.'

    He dried up for a while, looking around hopefully for volunteers and not finding any. 'We thought if you wanted to stay, then maybe the king would settle for a letter from you,' he said at last, uncomfortably. 'Waiving any claims on his throne.'

    'And Allaban,' someone muttered.

    Vindax nodded and waited. Shadow wondered who would support him and feed him. The republic was not very good at raising taxes, even when the government voted them. Who would provide charity for a helpless cripple with no family?

    But certainly these politicians would have thought about finance, and eventually the president glanced toward Shadow. 'We think we could find a house and a bit of land for you and your friend,' he said. 'If that's what you want to do.'

    So Shadow would be peasant for two, would he? And also nurse. The damage to Vindax had been drastic,