Half an hour passed. The shadow was giving Hugh ample time to fall into deep sleep.
The Hand waited patiently. It wouldn’t be too long now. Day had dawned fully. The sun was shining. The man must fear they would waken and start on their way again. The assassin watched the thin ribbon of gray light streaming in through the partially shut door. When that ribbon began to widen, Hugh’s hand tightened its grip on the dagger.
Slowly, silently, the door swung open.
A head thrust inside. The man looked long and carefully at the supposedly slumbering figure of Hugh beneath the blanket, then turned the same careful scrutiny to the boy. Hugh held his breath. Apparently satisfied, the man entered the shed.
Hugh expected the man to be armed and to immediately attack the dummy of himself. The assassin was disconcerted to see that the man carried no weapon in his hand and was padding soft-footed over to the boy. It was just to be a rescue, then.
Hugh leapt, wrapped an arm around the man’s neck, and put the dagger to his throat.
“Who sent you? Tell me the truth and I’ll reward you with a quick death.”
The body in Hugh’s grasp went limp and the assassin saw, in astonishment, that the man had fainted.
CHAPTER 15
PITRIN’S EXILE, VOLKARAN ISLES, MID REALM
“NOT EXACTLY THE SORT OF PERSON I’D SEND OUT ON A MISSION TO RESCUE MY SON from the hands of an assassin,” muttered Hugh, stretching out the comatose man on the floor of the shed. “But then, maybe the queen’s having trouble finding bold knights these days. Unless he’s shamming.”
The man’s age was indeterminable. The face appeared careworn and haggard. He was bald on the top of his head; wispy gray hair hung in a long fringe around the sides. But his cheeks were smooth, and the wrinkles around the mouth came from worry, not age. Tall and gangly, he appeared to have been put together by someone who had run out of the correct parts and been forced to substitute. His feet and hands were too big; his head, with its delicate, sensitive features, seemed too small.
Kneeling beside the man, Hugh lifted a finger and bent it back until it almost touched the wrist. The pain was excruciating, and a person feigning unconsciousness would invariably betray himself. The man didn’t even twitch.
Hugh gave him a sound smack on the cheek to bring him around, and was about to add another when he heard the boy coming up to his side.
“Is that who was following us?” The prince, keeping close to Hugh, stared curiously. “Why that’s Alfred!” The boy grasped hold of the collar of the man’s cape, jerked his head up, and shook him. “Alfred! Wake up! Wake up!”
Bang! went the man’s head against the floor.
The prince shook him again. The man’s head bumped the floor again, and Hugh-relaxing-sat back to watch.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Alfred groaned each time his head hit the floor. Opening his eyes, he stared dazedly at the prince and made a feeble effort to remove the small hands from his collar.
“Please . . . Your Highness. I’m quite awake, now . . . Ouch! Thank you, Your Highness, but that won’t be necess-”
“Alfred!” The prince threw his arms around him, hugging the man so tightly he nearly smothered him. “We thought you were an assassin! Have you come to travel with us?”
Rising to a sitting position, Alfred gave Hugh-and particularly Hugh’s dagger-a nervous glance. “Uh, traveling with you may not be quite feasible, Your-”
“Who are you?” interrupted Hugh.
The man rubbed his head and answered humbly, “Sir, my name-”
“He’s Alfred,” interrupted Bane, as if that explained everything. Noting from Hugh’s grim face that it didn’t, the boy added, “He’s in charge of all my servants and he chooses my tutors and makes certain my bathwater’s not too hot-”
“My name is Alfred Montbank, sir,” the man said.
“You’re Bane’s servant?”
” ‘Chamberlain’ is the correct term, sir,” said Alfred, flushing. “And that is your prince to whom you are referring in such a disrespectful manner.”
“Oh, that’s all right, Alfred,” said Bane, sitting back on his heels. His hand toyed with the feather amulet he wore around his neck. “I told Sir Hugh he could call me by my name, since we’re traveling together. It’s much easier than saying ‘Your Highness’ all the time.”