Then he took the princess’s hand and helped her out; she was blinded by the sunlight. And then Jalon, and it was good to see the little jotunn, and give him a hug and thump on the back. He’d shaved and cleaned up since Rap had last seen him as their boat sailed into the bay; but he still smelled strongly of salt water. And Jalon seemed absurdly glad to be able to hug Rap, trying to keep his eyes closed against the light and weep with them at the same time, mumbling nonsense.
Rap let go of the shift and it began to shrink at once. The guards weren’t through the bricked-up doorway yet, and when they arrived, both ladder and shift would have vanished. Let the red horrors chew on that problem!
Inos’s Aunt Kade was staring at the squad of brownclad family men approaching. They went striding blindly by her. She glanced down at her filthy, gory robe, then at Rap. Then Jalon. She pushed back her wild-flying white hair, and her fingers discovered the bloodstains even there . . .
“Can you escort us safely back to my quarters, Master Rap?”
“Certainly, ma’am.”
“And then I do hope you both will join me for breakfast. We have much to discuss.”
At the top of the long staircase, two very bored guards slouched outside the door to Kadolan’s suite. They were not the gymnasts she had seen in the night, but they looked no older, nor any more impressed by their responsibilities. She could, of course, complain to Prince Kar about the quality of the protectors he had assigned to her—despite her fatigue, the absurdity of that whimsy made her chuckle. When Rap touched the door and the lock clicked, one of the youths looked around, vaguely puzzled, but he obviously did not register that three people were going in.
In her chamber, Kadolan changed back into her night attire and passed her soiled garments out to Rap, who promised that they would be seen no more. Then she wiped some stains from her hands and face and rang for her attendants. Astonishingly, the sun was not yet far above the horizon.
The housekeeper, Mistress Zuthrobe, had not impressed Kadolan even before the night’s revelation of what her young wards were getting up to with the guards. Now Zuthrobe soared into panic when told that the sultan and sultana were expected for breakfast. She flew off without inquiring how Kadolan had received such a message unbeknownst to her staff. Intrigue was certainly catching, Kade decided, and it was endemic in Arakkaran.
This had been the hardest night of her life, but excitement was still buoying her up, and a warm tub refreshed her. Then she hurried out to her balcony to find a sumptuous meal already being demolished by a starving faun and . . . bother! . . . the imp guttersnipe, Thinal.
Rap jumped up when she approached, but the little thief just leered, displaying a mouthful of irregular and dirty teeth. He was wearing nothing but a ragged pair of shorts. He needed a shave, a haircut, and a very thorough washing.
Seeing that conversation would have to wait—and feeling pleasantly hungry after her night’s exertions—
Kadolan helped herself to some generous portions and joined in the feasting. No one spoke at all while the eating continued.
Able at last to study him properly, she was surprised at how large and—er—husky, Master Rap was. He was the only faun she had ever met, but she had always understood that fauns were one of the smaller races. Even allowing for the fact that he was sitting next to the puny Thinal, Rap seemed big, larger than most male imps, approaching jotunn or djinn size. Of course he was part jotunn—as was Inos, of course.
Off in the distance, troops of guards were hurrying to and fro, and she could guess that she had thrown the palace authorities into unprecedented turmoil. The thought was not unpleasant.
As her appetite waned she began to wish that Doctor Sagorn was present, to provide some cultured discourse, or even Andor, were he sober. Almost any of the five would be better than Thinal, who tended to stare at her with an appraising, avaricious gaze even as he chewed. He made her feel like a pet rabbit in the presence of something feral, and hungry. His eyes were red-rimmed and he yawned a lot, often when he had his mouth full.
His manners were atrocious, by any standards. Master Rap, on the other hand, was handling his skimpy cutlery—and when necessary his food—very well, much as she did herself. He might require less coaching than she had been anticipating, in order to turn him into a respectable consort for Inos. She wondered if he would consent to having his hair curled; obviously it would never lie flat.
Inos and Azak must have sailed by now, but a mage ought to be able to arrange good-quality transportation, and perhaps even speed its passage. Most ships stopped in at all the major ports along the coast. So she would pursue, with Master Rap’s assistance, and at Brogogo, therefore, or Torkag, they would intercept the sultan. Then Rap could cure Inos’s injuries and use some occult persuasion on Azak to get the marriage annulled. It was still, of course, a marriage in name only.
Once Inos and the faun had been reunited under Kadolan’s tutelage, they could all start giving some thought to the problem of Krasnegar. And if that was insoluble, then a comfortable estate within some pleasantly civilized corner of the Impire ought to be within reach of a mage. just like one of the poet’s romances—the lovers would find a happy ending!
Feeling extremely pleased with herself—and properly grateful to the Gods, of course—Kade selected another pomegranate. These tropical delicacies certainly helped to compensate for the absence of some of her more familiar favorites.
The two youths ate much faster than she did, but all three seemed to reach their capacity at about the same time. Thinal belched and pushed his chair back. He set to work paring his toenails with a fruit knife. Kadolan dabbed her lips with a linen napkin. Rap poured her another cup of coffee, and one for himself.
Then he glanced at the door and frowned. “You have a visitor, ma’am. I think I can keep us unobserved.”
That seemed likely, after their unremarked return across the palace complex. Before Kadolan could ask what sort of visitor, Mistress Zuthrobe came hurrying in, veiled and wide-eyed with fright.
“His Highness Prince Kar, ma’am!”
Again Kadolan opened her mouth but was prevented from speaking. Without waiting for her invitation, Kar strode out onto the balcony, shadowed by two of the fearsome family men. He came right to her chair and stared down at her with a sinister little smile, as if he were a teacher and she an errant pupil.
She had met the baby-faced chief of security a couple of times at the wedding rehearsals, but even those brief, formal encounters had explained why Inosolan found him so intimidating. The presence of two obvious interlopers at Kadolan’s table was no help in this instance, even if Kar did not seem to notice them.
He turned to regard the Zuthrobe woman, who was fidgeting in the background with the apparent intent of chaperoning the unorthodox interview. He did not need to speak—his expression alone was enough to send her fleeing back indoors. Then he resumed his baleful inspection of Kadolan.
“You are expecting company, I understand?”
She plied him with her most innocent smile. “Well, Inosolan called on me last night. I am aware that she has departed.”
“And?” A smile so thin on Kar implied a scowl. From the corner of her eye, Kadolan could tell that the invisible Thinal was making obscene gestures at Kar, causing Rap to grin faintly.
“And I understand that the departure is to be kept secret as long as possible. I thought I could start a rumor that they had eaten breakfast here; muddy the waters a little.”
His eyes were chips of pink granite. “His Majesty is touring the northlands this morning.”
“Oh!” Kadolan said. “Well, that’s nice. Then I have provided a secondary alibi?”
“You have weakened a cover story that cost enormous preparation. You did not eat all that by yourself.”
Beginning to feel flustered, she waved a hand at the empty air beyond the balcony. “Of course not, your Highness”
Now his smile would have frozen the marrow of her bones had she not had a mage within reach. “I feel that these quarters are inadequate, ma’am. We may be able to find you something more appropriate and more easily guarded.”
“These are quite satisfactory. I find the antiques fascinating. Something is wrong?”
“Intruders are prowling the palace. Guards have been murdered—and the faun has escaped!”
“I am delighted to hear it,” she said calmly. “If you think I am hiding him, then I grant you leave to search my quarters.”