“Yes, of course,” the boy said, putting a hand on Taran’s arm. “My father said you’d been stabbed—I was terribly worried about you.”
His hand tightened on Taran as he leaned in. “I wanted to come see you, but those guards at your door wouldn’t allow it.” I had a strong urge to pull his pampered hand off Taran’s arm. It was a hand that had never done any real work in its life.
“We need to go, Your Highness,” I said and then turned to Prince Vannos’s son. “You’ll have to excuse us, sir.”
“Oh, okay,” Bryos said, using that human word I disliked again. It seemed the whole damned royal family used it. I suppose it was the equivalent of the word “hai,” a much better Tygerian alternative that meant “yes.” It was an unequivocal word, plain and simple. Not to mention elegant. There was no need for all these stupid human words. Nor was there any need for this boy to keep touching Taran so familiarly. They were cousins after all. Not by blood, but that shouldn’t have made a difference.
“But I promised you lessons on riding an arriz,” he went on. And on… And on…
“Be sure to let me know when you feel well enough for that.”
I got a message from the shuttle pilot, saying he had a window to take off within the hour before any more inclement weather moved back in.
Taran was smiling back at Bryos and probably would have stood there even longer, wasting my time, so I took his hand in mine and gave it a little tug. “We need to be on our way.”
I pulled him behind me and told Janos to get a move on things, because we had a small window to make the shuttle.
“Is someone going to tell Prince Larz where we are?” he asked, his face creased with worry.
“Of course.” But to be on the safe side, I pulled one of my men aside and spoke rapidly to him in Tygerian, which I knew neither Janos nor Taran really understood. I told them to get a message to the king for me that I had Janos in custody. And to tell him what the shuttle pilot had said. And I asked him to check on whether or not Prince Larz would be coming. I needed to know if Janos would give me trouble if Prince Larz didn’t show up.
I grabbed my own bag from my room, as did Taran and the guards with theirs, and as we were leaving to go to the shuttle, I received an urgent message from Consort Blake. He was telling me not to allow the pilots to take off until His Majesty, the consort and Prince Larz all joined us onboard. I sent an affirmative answer and then sighed.
It seemed as if this would be a bumpy ride to the ship after all. Prince Larz was sure to be furious about these arrangements and about him and Janos being forced to go back to Tygeria.
When I came out of my room, I saw Bryos still in the hallway, as if hoping for another word with Taran. I told him politely that it was dangerous for him to be in the corridors unguarded until we caught whoever had attacked Prince Larz and Taran, and he that he should get back to his own quarters right away. Then I stood and watched him as he went back down the long hall. I had to admit I was very glad to see him go, though I didn’t want to examine the feeling too closely.
****
When we arrived outside, we stood on the same broad front steps where I’d first seen Prince Larz and Taran on my scans of the palace, such a short time ago. It seemed like much longer. We were awaiting the shuttle, which was supposed to land very soon to take us up to the king’s ship. We’d have to walk across the bridge to get to it, because the area in front of the palace was too small. We were taking a cart drawn by two arrizes to accommodate all the luggage.
I motioned for the Consort Janos to ride across the bridge on the cart. He shook his head.
“N-no…” he said, drawing back. “I-I have a bad feeling about this. I’ll wait for Prince Larz.”
“Your Highness,” I said, keeping my voice low and keeping the impatience I was feeling out of it. “I have my orders to get you and your son Taran onto the shuttle and wait there. I promise you we won’t take off without him.”
“I’m sorry, but no. I-I won’t get on that cart. I can’t explain it, but I have a bad feeling about it.”
I didn’t want to have to put hands on him, but damn it, I had my orders. As I hesitated, thinking of what I should do, Taran came up beside his father and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll ride over with you, Majesty. I know the carts look a little rickety, but we came up this road on one, remember? We’ll get across in no time and then we’ll wait beside the shuttle for Larz—how would that be?”
He sighed and finally agreed. “All right, but I can’t shake this feeling, like something is wrong.” He moved closer to the cart anyway, and I quickly stepped up beside him and helped him climb aboard. But before Taran could climb up beside us, he suddenly snapped his fingers. “I forgot something. Let me run back upstairs and I’ll be right back.”
“No, Taran,” I said. “Whatever it is can wait.”
But he darted away without listening and ran back into the palace before I could stop him. Afraid that Janos might stage a similar mutiny if I left him there alone, I decided to stay with him and shouted for one of my guards to go and fetch Taran.
“Bring him back down here, even if you have to use force,” I told him. He turned away, and I called out to him, “Just not too much. He’s not a prisoner. Be careful with him.”
He snapped off a salute to me and disappeared through the huge, front doors. The guard reappeared a few minutes later, half-leading, half-dragging a mutinous looking Taran behind him. Taran’s face looked the same as it always did—stubborn, angry and bad tempered. I jumped down off the cart to confront him.
“Sending your guard after me was completely unnecessary, sir,” he shouted at me. “I told you I forgot something. I would have come right back.”
“And what, pray tell, was it that was so damned important that you’d keep us all waiting?” I tried to keep the irritation from my voice, but I was afraid I wasn’t too successful.
“My long coat. Well, it’s not actually mine. I borrowed it from Luc Dimitri, you see. I have to return it to him.”