flew on out over the lead-grey waves of the Sea of the Winds. My
wings seemed almost on fire, but I drove myself to keep going. I’m
not really sure how father managed, since he doesn’t really fly all
that well. Father surprises me sometimes.
We were crossing the harbor at Riva, and my eyes were fixed on
the grim battlements of the Hall of the Rivan King when mother’s
voice cracked sharply in my mind. ‘Pol! Down there – in the harbor!’
I looked down and saw something splashing quite a ways out
from the gravel beach.
‘It’s a little boy, Pol. Don’t let him drown!’
I didn’t even think. Changing form in midair isn’t really a good
idea. For a moment as you blur from one form to the other you’re
totally disoriented, but as luck had it I was still looking at the water
after I’d shed my feathers. I arched forward and plunged down,
tensing my body for the shock of impact with the surface of the
harbor. The jolt would have been much worse had I been higher,
but it still quite nearly knocked the wind out of me.
My dive took me deep down into the bone-chilling water, but I
arched myself and shot toward the surface, coming up into the light
and air only a few feet from the floundering little boy whose eyes
were filled with terror and whose flailing arms were barely keeping
him afloat.
A few strokes brought me to his side, and then I had him. ‘Relax!’
I told him sharply. ‘I’ve got you now.’
‘I’m drowning!’ he spluttered, his voice shrill.
‘No, you’re not. You’re safe, so stop waving your arms around.
Just lay back and let me do the swimming.’
It took a little persuading to unlock the death grip of his arms
around my neck, but I eventually got him calmed down and lying
on his back while I towed him toward the end of one of the wharves
jutting out into the bay. ‘See how much easier it is when you don’t
fight the water?’ I asked him.
‘I almost had the knack of it,’ he assured me. ‘That’s the first time
I’ve ever tried to swim. It’s not too hard, is it?’
‘You should probably practice in shallower water,’ I suggested.
‘I really couldn’t, ma’am. There was this man with a knife after
me.’
‘Polgara!’ father’s voice came to me. ‘Is the boy all right?’
‘Yes, father,’ I replied out loud, not even realizing that my voice
was audible to the little boy. ‘I’ve got him.’
‘Stay out of sight! Don’t let anybody see you!’
‘All right.’
‘Who were you talking to?’ the boy asked.
‘It’s not important.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘To the end of that wharf. We’ll hide there and keep very quiet
until the men with the knives have been driven off.’
‘All right. Is the water always this cold?’
It was the last time I was here.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before, ma’am.’
‘No. We only just met.’
‘That would explain it then.’ He was such a matter of fact little
fellow. I liked him immediately.
‘It’s probably best not to talk quite so much,’ I told him. ‘k-gulping
in a gallon or so of water right now wouldn’t be good for
you.’
‘If you say so.’
We reached the end of the stone wharf, and both of us grabbed
hold of a rusty iron ring to which ships were usually tied.
,What happened back there?’ I asked him.
,My grandfather took us all down to the shops on the beach,’ the
little boy replied. ‘Somebody there wanted to give us some presents.
When we got to their shop, though, they all pulled out their knives.
I’ll bet they’ll be sorry they did that. My grandfather’s the king here,
and he’ll be very angry with them about that. I’m really cold, ma’am.
can’t we get out of the water?’
‘Not yet, I’m afraid. We want to be sure it’s safe before we do
that.’
‘Do you come here to the Isle very often?’ His calm way of talking
reassured me just a bit. Evidently the assassination attempt had
failed.
‘What happened back there on the beach?’ I asked him.
‘I’m not really sure, ma’am,’ he replied. ‘Mother told me to run
just as soon as the fellow with all his hair shaved off pulled out his
knife. He was between me and the city gate, so the only place left
to go was out here in the water. Swimming’s a little harder than it
looks, isn’t it?’
‘It takes some practice, that’s all.’
‘I didn’t have much time for practice. Would it be polite for me
to ask what your name is?’
‘I’m known as Polgara,’ I told him.
‘I’ve heard of you. Aren’t you related to me?’
‘Distantly, yes. You might say that I’m your aunt. And what’s
your name.
‘I’m Geran. They call me “Prince Geran”, but I don’t think that
means very much. My oldest brother’s the one who’s going to get
to wear the crown when he grows up. I’ve been thinking about
being a pirate when I grow up. That’d be pretty exciting, don’t you
think so, Aunt Pol?’
There it was again. I sometimes think that every little boy in the
world automatically calls me ‘Aunt Pol’. I smiled at him. ‘I’d have
a talk with my parents – and my grandfather – before I decided on
Piracy as a career, Geran,’ I suggested. ‘They might have a few
objections.’
He sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right, Aunt Pol, but it would be
exciting, wouldn’t it.’
I think it’s over-rated.’
We clung to that rusty iron ring at the end of the wharf, shivering
in the cold. I did what I could to warm the water in which we were
immersed, but nobody could heat the entire Sea of the Winds, so
about all I could do was to take the edge off the chill.
After an hour or so – which seemed like an eternity – father’s
voice came to me again. ‘Polgara, where are you?’
‘We’re at the end of the wharf, father. Is it safe to come out yet.
‘No. Stay where you are, and keep out of sight.’
‘What are you up to, Old Wolf?’
‘I’m hiding the Rivan King. Get used to it, Pol, because we’ll be doing
it for quite a long time.’
The significance of his reference to the shivering little boy at my
side was not lost on me. Clearly, Salmissra’s assassins had succeeded
in butchering King Gorek and almost all the members of the royal
family. Geran’s flight from the scene had spared him the horror of
witnessing the disaster, and so he didn’t seem to know that he was
now an orphan. He’d have to be told, of course, and I knew exactly
upon whose shoulders that unpleasant task would fall.
It was well after dark when father and Brand, the Rivan Warder,
finally came down to the harbor. The four of us, father, Brand, Prince
Geran and I, boarded an unoccupied ship and sailed out into the
harbor with father manning the sails, without even bothering to
rise from the bench upon which he sat. I took the shivering little
prince below-decks, dried him off and created some dry clothes
for him.
Then I went back up on deck to have a word with father. ‘There
were no other survivors, I gather?’ I asked him.
‘Not a one. The Nyissans were using poisoned daggers.’
‘The boy doesn’t know. He ran away before the killing started.’
‘Good. Those Nyissans were very efficient.’
‘Then it was Salmissra who was behind it.’
‘Yes, but somebody else put her up to it.’
‘Who?’
‘I’m not sure. The next time I see her, I’ll ask her.’
‘How do you plan to get into Sthiss Tor?’
‘I’m going to depopulate the Alorn kingdoms to provide myself
with an escort. Then I’m going to march through Nyissa like some
kind of natural disaster. I’ll chase the Snake People so far back into
the trees that they’ll have to import daylight. You’d better tell the
boy that he’s an orphan.’
‘Thank you.’ I said it in a flat, unfriendly tone of voice.
‘You’re better at that sort of thing than I am, Pol. It might make
him feel better if he knows that I’m going to destroy Nyissa in
retaliation.’
‘he’s only a little boy, father, and his mother was just killed. I
don’t think the idea of retaliation’s going to comfort him very
much.’
‘That’s about the only thing we’ve got to offer him right now.
You’re going to have to fill in for his mother, I’m afraid.’
‘What do I know about raising little boys, father?’
,You didn’t do too badly with Daran after your sister died, Pol.
i’m sorry to saddle you with this, but there’s no one else available,
and the boy absolutely must be protected. You’re going to have to