"When I had concluded my tale, the Mothers went into conference. I believe they even sent messengers to the flightless. After much discussion and much flying to and fro, I was commanded to fly east once again, to seek you out, and to order you to come before the Royal Beasts."

Firekeeper waited for further explanation, but it seemed that none was forthcoming. Finally she asked, "But why? Surely you saw more than I did. Indeed, at first I needed you to explain to me the ways of monarchs and their va.s.sals. Why am I needed?"Elation looked uncomfortable. "I was told to tell you no more than I have, but out of respect for the friendship that is between us I will say a bit more. King Allister's War troubled the Mothers more than I should have thought possible. Indeed, I thought that the more impetuous among them would have flown to speak with you themselves. Some were ready to take wing when others pointed out that if humans saw so many of us, questions would be raised-questions we are not quite ready to answer."

"Questions?" asked Firekeeper.

Blind Seer raised his head from his paws. "Dearest, don't you recall the clamor that Elation and I raised when we accompanied you east? Should a flight of the rulers of the air come to visit you, surely other questions would be raised. Didn't you listen when Elation said that Earl Kestrel would have loved to take captive such a fine kestrel as Bee Biter? Such greed would be the least of the emotions that would be aroused."

Elation added, "Our tales tell how, in the years before humans came from across the seas, the Royal Beasts lived in the lands east of the Iron Mountains. Indeed, each year the Mothers warn the young hawks preparing to make their first pa.s.sage about the dangers of encountering humankind.

"I myself," and here the peregrine hunched her head between her shoulders, "was once drawn out of the air and kept by a small holder in the west of Hawk Haven for an entire season before I made my escape.

However, the land-bound rarely cross the mountains and, as human memory is short and history rapidly degenerates into fantasy, we have become as legend."

"But if the great birds were to come east in a group," Firekeeper replied, understanding, "then many would begin to wonder if there was truth to the fireside tales the old folks still tell."

"You understand." Elation nodded, a jerky motion that incorporated her entire body. "And now you know why you must come west if the Mothers are to question you."

"I still don't understand why they want to speak to me!" Firekeeper protested.

"Can you make the journey without knowing?" Elation asked. "If you would not do it out of friendship for me, then would you do it for those who fed you during the long years of your childhood?"

Firekeeper nodded. "I can and will, though I will still expect some explanation. I suppose these Mothers of yours want me to come at once."

"They do," Elation said, "but out of consideration for your limitations as a traveler, they have agreed to meet you on the most eastern verge of the mountains, in a place where humans rarely ever go-indeed where humans are certain not to go now that winter cold is stealing down the slopes."

"Where is this place?" Firekeeper asked.

"Almost due west of here," Elation answered, "as the falcon flies. Do you recall the rough, broken land that bordered the field upon which Allister's War was fought?"

"I do."

"Humans call those the Barren Lands, and they are well named. Nothing much grows there and few creatures live there if they have another choice. The ground becomes rougher the higher one climbs, but at the top there is an enormous lake-humans call it the Rimed Lake or Lake Rime, for the waters are often frosted, even in high summer. Among our people there is a tale that the lake is the child of a mountain that once breathed fire. This lake is the source of two rivers-the Barren, which divides Hawk Haven from Bright Bay...""I know that river," Firekeeper interrupted.

"And the Fox River, which is the border between Stonehold and Bright Bay. The Mothers will meet us on the western sh.o.r.es of that lake and with them will be some of the land-bound. I believe your own Ones will be among them."

"That alone," Firekeeper said, suddenly homesick, "is reason enough to make the journey. Give me time to make excuses to the humans. I cannot simply disappear as you did. Some might come looking for me and if they did, there might be seen what should not be seen."

Blind Seer wuffed his agreement. "Don't forget, Firekeeper, that you must make excuses to Princess Sapphire. She had wanted you to stand with her at both of her weddings. Even if we run hotfoot each night I doubt that we could return to Eagle's Nest in time for that occasion."

"True." Firekeeper bit her lower lip thoughtfully. "Still, I shall find some way to sweeten her. Elation, will you come to the castle with us?"

"I will come," the peregrine said, "though not with you. I should prefer to excite as little comment as possible. Tell me rather how to recognize your window or Derian's and I will go there."

Firekeeper did so, though she found such descriptions difficult. She had never thought about seeing the castle from the outside as the falcon would-nor had she considered the building in any detail. In the end, the time she and Blind Seer had spent on the parapets came to her aid and she satisfied the falcon's needs.

When this was resolved, they parted, Elation to hunt, Firekeeper and Blind Seer to return to the castle.

"In any case," Firekeeper said as she rose and began trotting across the damp earth, "we shall have begun to make the humans nervous by our absence. Ah! It will be good to be out of their care and free once again. I can hardly wait to run by night and sleep by day, to eat my food without spices and drink only clean water."

"And at night," the wolf added dryly, "the ground will be damp or frosted. Your feet will grow cold and you'll tuck them under my belly fur for warmth. The water may not always be clean and so you will go thirsty. If we stay on the roads, we may be seen and hunted. If we do not, we may run afoul of farmers and herders."

"Pessimist," she said, kicking him lightly in the ribs.

"Realist," the wolf protested. "Given what I recall of the Barren Lands, even at their lowest reaches, I really think you will miss those boots."

Firekeeper scoffed and he laughed. Jogging side by side, they ran through the marshy scrub toward the castle, where candlelight was setting fireflies behind the windows.

Chapter VII.

Derian was packing in antic.i.p.ation of Earl Kestrel's departure for Hawk Haven the next day.

Though his hands moved efficiently, Derian's thoughts were far away from his present task, wondering which of several choices for future employment he should make. He was still amazed by how his marketvalue had risen among people who wouldn't even have looked him in the face a few months before. Then a shrill screech at his window jolted him into the present.

Revelation Point Castle was equipped with gla.s.s windows-many of these relics of the days when it had belonged to some n.o.ble of the colony of Gildcrest-but no pane of gla.s.s, no matter how thick or how well set, could keep out the cry of a very large peregrine falcon, not when she was determined to be heard.

Derian leapt to his feet and flung open the window, unmindful of the faint, chill drizzle that had just begun to fall. The peregrine in all her glory swept in and took a perch on the back of a chair near the fire. It was a heavy chair, carved of solid maple and upholstered with heavy brocade fabric stuffed with horsehair, but even so she nearly toppled it. What her talons might have done to the finish could be left to the imagination, for-some might have thought by design-she had chosen the chair over which Derian had hung his outdoor coat when he had come in hours before.

"Elation!" Derian said, stroking lightly along her head and back feathers with his index finger. "Fierce Joy in Flight! I thought you'd gone forever!"

He had to swallow hard then to stop a sudden welling of emotion that was quite unmanly-there might even have been tears.

Elation purled and chuckled deep in her throat in response, and Derian felt certain that the sounds were more than meaningless expressions of contentment. As with Blind Seer, he had ample reason to think that Elation understood him far better than he did her.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, too," the young man said. "You look well fed, so I'll hazard you've been taking care of yourself as usual. Let me close the window."

He did so, noting that the drizzle was rapidly turning into steady rainfall.

"I hope that Firekeeper and Blind Seer have the sense to come in out of the rain," he said to the falcon, "but who can say with those two."

Elation flapped her wings slightly, perhaps to shake off the raindrops, but Derian couldn't help but feel that she was commenting on the incomprehensible motives of wolves.

"I was just packing," he said. "King Tedric departs tomorrow for home and Earl Kestrel is too mindful of opportunity not to leave with him. We'll go slowly, for Queen Elexa's health must be looked after. I think the king will be glad to have the earl's entourage added to his own. Counting myself-though I'm not certain Earl Kestrel would-we'll add four good fighters to the company, and Valet is priceless when matters of personal comfort are in question."

Derian kept talking, enjoying the peregrine's listening silence. "And then there is Firekeeper. She cannot be overlooked. Blind Seer will terrify the horses, and Firekeeper herself will run off into the night, causing comment and gossip. Still, though we travel through territory that is technically friendly, I will be happier knowing that she is there scouting for us. Race Forester has a human perspective and that means he trusts sometimes. I don't think Firekeeper ever trusts a stranger."

This time the falcon did reply, a thin, peeping noise that Derian was at a loss to interpret.

He continued packing in relative silence for a bit, but whereas before his thoughts had been his company, now he simply relaxed into happiness that the peregrine had returned. Perhaps because he hadn't wanted the loss to hurt, he hadn't let himself admit how much he had been worried about her.City born and bred though Derian was, he had been given ample opportunity to see how the n.o.bles valued a good hawk. That Elation was superlative went without saying. He had seen the covetous glances she had attracted back when the armies were gathered at the twin towns of Hope and Good Crossing.

For all his recent honors, Derian knew himself a commoner and knew there were those who wouldn't think him worthy of such a bird. That the bird had chosen him, not the other way around, would matter not at all. Most would not believe the truth if they were told it, and those few who did would probably not be among those who would covet another's possession.

But as real as the possibility that Elation had been interred in some alien mews, snapping at her keeper and tearing at jesses twined around her ankles, this had not been what Derian truly feared. It had seemed far more likely to him that as whimsically as the bird had taken a fancy to him, she could grow bored.

After all, she had arrived with Firekeeper, transferred her attentions to him, and now, quite possibly, some third party or interest had lured her away.

And now Elation had returned and sat drowsing by his fire, leaving the occasional line of hawk chalk to be scrubbed from his coat and his floor. Derian could not have been more content.

A thumping on his door broke his tranquility.

"Come in," he called, and the door was flung open and Firekeeper and Blind Seer romped in.

Both were bedewed with raindrops and panting hard, but they seemed to have escaped the worst of the rain. Firekeeper, Derian noted, was barefoot.

"Where are your boots, Lady Blysse?" he asked sternly.

She turned to him, all wide-eyed innocence.

"They were tugged off by the mud. The forest floor is wet and full of wet places. I stepped in one before I know what it is and away go the boot."

"Boot?"

"I could not run in just one, could I? I left the other for the creatures to chew on."

"Those boots," Derian said with a sigh, "cost what a good farmer might earn in a year. You are absolutely incorrigible."

"What that?" Firekeeper asked, honestly perplexed.

"Never mind. It wasn't a compliment."

While they had been talking, Firekeeper had been shaking off the worst of the rain from her hair and combing the damp locks into some sort of order with her spread fingers. It didn't seem to bother her that her vest and breeches were wet and, as the leather had been treated to shed water, they probably weren't too uncomfortable.

Blind Seer, fortunately, had apparently shaken off earlier, probably all over the guards in the courtyard, who would have been too scared to protest.

Derian noted that neither woman nor wolf seemed surprised to see Elation there and surmised that the falcon had sought them out first.

"Derian," Firekeeper said, sitting herself in front of the fire with Blind Seer next to her-the roompromptly became suffused with the odor of damp dog-"I have a problem. Elation tell me that I am wanted back home."

"Home?" For a moment Derian was puzzled; then he understood. "You mean with the wolves?"

Firekeeper seemed pleased by his quick comprehension.

"Yes, with the wolves and..." She stopped, and Derian had the definite impression she was leaving something out.

"The Ones," he prompted.

She nodded. "Yes, the Ones. They wish to see me."

"Can't it wait until spring? Travel across the mountains is going to be difficult this time of year. Elation could carry a message, perhaps. It's easier for her."

The peregrine preened as if accepting his praise.

Firekeeper shook her head. "No. I am wanted now and if I not go, they may be angry. You not want me to make wolves angry, do you?"

"I don't," Derian agreed. He'd gotten used to Blind Seer, mostly by thinking of the wolf as a unique individual. The idea of an entire pack of such wolves was rather terrifying.

"Then I must go and you must help me talking."

"With the wolves?" Derian started, less than happy with this thought.

True, he'd planned to make a trip west-perhaps in the comfortably distant spring-in order to place markers on the graves of those who had been of Prince Barden's party. However, a trip when autumn would be wheeling into winter...

Firekeeper rea.s.sured him. "No, Fox Hair, not to the wolves, to the humans. I need to tell Sapphire I no be in wedding at Eagle's Nest. I need to tell Earl Kestrel, since he call me his ward and daughter." She sniffed slightly at this presumption. "I need to tell the king because he have been kind to me.

"I not worried about the king," she continued, "for he make no claim to me, but I worried about the earl and the princess."

Derian nodded. "As always, Firekeeper, you have put your finger on those who would be most likely to be offended. Let's see. If we see the king first and he gives his permission, the others could hardly deny it, but then they might be offended-as if you were pulling rank..."

He mused for a few moments. "I think I have it. You should see Princess Sapphire first, since the earl's immediate objection will be that you might offend her. When you get her permission, then you should see the earl. That way you can use the king as a reserve if either of them balk."

"Do you think they balk?" Firekeeper asked, her brow furrowed with worry.

"I think they might, initially," Derian replied honestly. "But I'll let you explain in your own words and stand by as backup."

"Be easier," Firekeeper grumbled as if to some comment Derian had not heard, "to just go, but then someone would be sent to look for me.""Probably your humble kennel keeper," Derian said, pointing his thumb at his own chest, "with Race Forester as backup. Do us a favor and don't send us on such a chase. I know we couldn't find you if you didn't want to be found."

Firekeeper grinned agreement. "I make it easy on you then, Derian Fox Hair, even if it make it harder on me."

Although Crown Princess Sapphire and Crown Prince Shad had both been permitted out of bed, for now their freedom was restricted to the castle's main building-no stables, kennels, kitchens, storage buildings, or mews. Their guards didn't even want to let them outside the building, but Doc's insistence that fresh air and sunlight-pallid though the autumn sunlight was as it filtered through the mist from the bay-were needed for the pair's recovery to full health extended their parole to a few of the interior gardens.

However, by the time Firekeeper had told Derian her story and they had discussed their strategies, it was time to dress for dinner. After the dinner-really a formal banquet to honor the departing Hawk Haven n.o.bles before sending them on their way-Sapphire found time to grant Firekeeper a private audience.

Shad was not with her, his time being even more in demand than hers since this was the kingdom where his father reigned. In any case, it was Shad's job to make himself visible to as many of the visitors as possible in order to quell rumors that he was ill or dying.

When Firekeeper, Blind Seer, and Derian were conducted into the crown princess's presence, the dark-haired beauty was in a mellow mood. Apparently, Derian thought, the much antic.i.p.ated wedding night had been a success, nor had it hurt the proud, young woman's sense of well-being to be fawned over by the many who had much to gain by acquiring her favor.

Immediately upon their entry, Derian could tell that Firekeeper's bow-the same she offered to any but King Tedric-was not sufficiently deep and formal to please the princess. Apparently Sapphire's opinion of herself had changed over the last several days-or maybe, he thought, recalling how Sapphire had behaved during the trip from Eagle's Nest to Hope in the days before King Allister's Wal, maybe it was returning to where it had been before the shocks of being murderously a.s.saulted, revolting against her mother's domination, and experiencing her first pitched battle had granted her greater perspective and humility.

And maybe, Derian added to himself, Sapphire doesn't like that she is not the heroine of that fracas in the Sphere Chamber. If anyone stood out from the crowd, it was Firekeeper. Sapphire has never cared to have her light dimmed by another's.

Firekeeper started speaking almost at once.

"Am glad to see you are strong again, Princess Sapphire," she said, and her tone was sincere.

Sapphire looked somewhat mollified.

"I have great favor to ask of you," Firekeeper continued. "Wish not to come to Hawk Haven and be at second wedding."

A gamut of emotions rippled across the princess's face: surprise, indignation, and, finally, something like scorn.

"I suppose," Sapphire said, her tone so expressionless as to const.i.tute a gibe more pointed than open disapproval, "that you are afraid that there will be another attack.""I no such afraid," Firekeeper replied without heat. "King Tedric too greatly value you to take such risk.

Am sure will be careful guest-watching. Even if was a.s.sa.s.sin come," she added in admiring tones, "you should be match for all."