"So we have this doc.u.ment, in a tongue neither William nor I can read, but the Duke of Olasko's name is on it."

"Let me see it," said the former pirate. "I picked up a number of desert tongues when I . . . sailed along the Keshian coast."

James smiled. Trenchard the pirate had raided Keshian ports as often as Kingdom ports in his youth. Amos read the doc.u.ment twice. "The problem is that not only is this one of the more obscure dialects, the scribe was only semi-literate. Anyway, from what I get out of this, it's a death order. Someone is paying. . . no, I'm a.s.suming. Someone has ordered the a.s.sa.s.sins to kill the Duke of Olasko."

Arutha said, "But we think that's a false trail."

"Really?" asked Amos. "Tell me more."

'The Crown Prince of Olasko is also in the party and from the reports of the officer in charge of the attack on the duke, it appears it was really him they were after."

Amos sat back. He read the doc.u.ment again and said, "There are some other names here, Vladic and Kazamir, and Paulina."

"Members of the Royal House of Olasko and Roldem," said Arutha.

"Someone wants them dead, too."

Amos studied the doc.u.ment a bit, then shoved it aside. "Well, I'd get another opinion on the translation, Arutha. Have an expert look at it, because I might be wrong." After a moment of reflection, he said, "But, either way it looks like someone wants to start a war between the Kingdom and Olasko."

"Who?" asked William.

Amos looked at William and his eyebrows went up. "Find out why why, and that will tell you who."

James sat back. Looking out the large sterncastle windows, he saw the little moon rising as he considered what Amos had just said. Softly he wondered aloud, "Why?"

The weather was nearly perfect when they sailed into sight of Krondor. Amos had broken out both his personal banner as Admiral of the King's Fleet in the West and the Prince's royal pennant, and ships cleared the harbor as he headed for the royal docks.

The always-efficient Master of Ceremonies de Lacy had a formal guard waiting on the dock, along with the Princess and the children. Arutha endured the barest minimum of ceremony and spared a moment to kiss his wife and each child. Then he excused himself, James and Amos to a meetin with his staff.

Anita knew her husband well enough to recognize that the matter was urgent, and she took the children back to the royal apartments. Arutha gave orders for his best translators of Keshian desert languages to attend him by the time he had changed into clean clothing.

William bid James good-bye and hurried to the bachelor officers' quarters, where he endured a dozen questions from the other junior officers as he hurried to bathe and don a fresh uniform.

Gordon O'Donald came up the stairs as William was finishing a quick polish of his boots and said, "William! My best friend, how goes it?"

William smiled. "Best friend?"

"I'm giving you credit for getting Treggar out of here for the last few weeks. I can't say it's been heaven, but it's the closest thing to it I've experienced in a while."

William fixed him with a skeptical eye. "I think you judge the captain harshly, Gordon. Take my word: if you're in a fight, he's who you want standing next to you."

Gordon rubbed his chin. "Well, if you say so. Certainly the mess has been a great deal calmer."

William chuckled, then said, "How do I look?"

"Like a freshly-washed lieutenant."

"Good. I have to head back to the Prince's council room."

"Ah, I thought perhaps you were going to visit your little friend over at The Rainbow Parrot."

William had just started down the stairway, and he almost tripped, he turned around so quickly. "Talia?"

O'Donald said, "I checked up on her a few times while you were away."

As William's expression darkened, Gordon quickly said, "As a friend, of course."

With a grim smile, William echoed, "Of course."

Indulging in a theatrical sigh, O'Donald said, "Which is a good thing. That girl would have none of me. Or any other lad, I think. Seems you've got yourself a sweetheart, Will."

William couldn't control his grin. "Really?"

O'Donald gave him a playful shove. "Don't keep the Prince waiting. I'm sure you'll get some free time later to visit Talia."

William was so distracted by Gordon's comment that he almost fell down the stairs, just catching himself on the next step. Laughing, Gordon said, "Go on. You can't keep the Prince waiting."

William hurried through the armory and across the marshaling yard to the palace. By the time he arrived, the others were also arriving at the Prince's council chamber.

William glanced around and James waved him to come sit beside him near the Prince. Between the Prince and James was the chair reserved for the Knight-Marshal of Krondor, empty since Gardan's retirement. Amos had joined the council, which also included Captain Guruth, Sheriff Means, and Captain Issacs who commanded the Royal Household Guard.

Arutha said, "I have a half-dozen of our scribes who are fluent in the more obscure Keshian dialects examining those scrolls. Father Belson of the Temple of Prandur is examining the chest and will be here shortly with his initial impressions." He looked at the two captains and the sheriff, and said, "For those of you who were not with us, let me sum up our situation."

Even after ten years in the Prince's service, James marveled at how Arutha's mind worked. He knew exactly how to impart the necessary information without embellishment, yet with enough detail to drive home the relative weight of the various topics.

As Arutha was finishing his background for the two captains and the sheriff, Father Belson entered the room.

"Highness," began the priest of Prandur, "I have used every art available to me and as far as I can determine, there is nothing mystic about that seal. It appears to be a simple wax seal designed to show if the chest has been opened or not."

Arutha waved him to an empty chair. "We'll examine it after we adjourn." To the group, he said, "I want the guard doubled on the duke and his family until they depart."

Captain Issacs looked uncomfortable as he said, "Sire, His Grace is recovering from his injuries, and is complaining about the guards we have protecting him now. He's . . . made the acquaintance of a number of ladies who . . . visit him."

Arutha looked caught between irritation and amus.e.m.e.nt. "Well, the best advice I can offer, captain, is to remind the duke that his wife would certainly want him protected. Perhaps within earshot of those . . . ladies, you mentioned."

James grinned and William had to struggle to keep a straight face. Amos laughed out loud and slapped the table. He started to say something, but Arutha cut him off. "Don't you dare tell me I take the fun out of life, Amos."

Amos's laughter redoubled.

To Captain Guruth and Sheriff Means, Arutha said, "We tore out the heart of the Nighthawks in the area, but we didn't destroy them all."

Amos nodded. "d.a.m.n things are like c.o.c.kroaches. Turn on the light and they're scurrying for the shadows. You don't see them most of the time, but they're there."

James kept grinning, while Arutha showed his displeasure at the interruption. "As I was saying, we didn't destroy them all. If some of them reach the city, and if there are already agents here, they may mount a renewed attack on the duke to discharge their obligations."

The door opened, and a soldier admitted a scribe, who bowed. "Highness, I've read the text you surmised as being the most important." He was a little man, in a simple blue tunic with gray trousers, and plain black boots. His most noticeable feature was a tendency to squint.

"What can you tell me?" asked Arutha.

"Admiral Trask mentioned to you the possibility the scribe might have been semi-literate," said the clerk. "That is how it might look to the untrained eye, but rather than such being the case, it's actually a clever code."

"Code?"

"Not a cipher, such as the Quegans use-badly I might add-but rather a set of agreed-upon phrases that I believe are subst.i.tutions. The names of the duke and his family are quite plain to read, but other pertinent information is cleverly disguised by phrases that are seemingly innocuous.

"Let me cite an example: 'Our lord instructs everyone to be in place by the tide of green fulfillment.' Tide of green fulfillment' is obviously a particular time agreed upon in advance by the writer and whoever the message was intended for. Here's another: The gift must reach the named one before he departs the feast of crows.'"

Arutha said, "Is there any way to make any sense of this?"

"Had you a captive who knew these keys, and if you could get him to give them to you, then all would be clear. But to guess at what these arbitrary phrases mean is fruitless."

"Read a couple more, please," asked James.

"Ah . . ." began the scribe, ""Word must reach the master at winter's coldest night.'"

James nodded. "I doubt this will help, but there used to be a Keshian gang that ran slaves out of Durbin. Called themselves the Woeful Brothers, or something like that."

"Brotherhood of Woe," supplied Amos. "I ran up against them a couple of times in my . . . raiding days. Bad bunch. Ignored laws in every land, took freeborn as well as prisoners and sold them on the blocks at Durbin."

"They used to come into Krondor from time to time, and the Mockers would run them right back out as soon as we knew they were around," said James. "I heard they used this code in which a place was a person, a person was a time, a time was a place, like that."

"So the 'feast of crows' could be a place, rather than an event?" asked Arutha.

"Yes," said James. "Not that it will help much to know that, but I thought I'd mention it."

Arutha sat back. "It might." Looking at the scribe he said, "Does that help?"

The scribe said, "Perhaps. We have quite a number of such phrases in a large number of doc.u.ments. Maybe we can learn something by looking for similar or identical phrases."

Arutha waved him from the room, saying, "See to it, and report tomorrow morning on what you have learned."

To Captains Issacs, Guruth, and the sheriff, Arutha said, "Turn over every rock and if you find any of those murderers, bring them here and don't let them speak to anyone."

The three men saluted and departed.

Arutha stood and the others at the table immediately did likewise. "Let's look at that trunk." To the priest, he said, "Father, if you would join us, just in case there's some magic that eluded your inspection?"

The priest of Prandur nodded.

William and James fell in behind the Prince, and Arutha said, "Join us, Amos?"

With a laugh, Amos answered, "As if you could stop me."

They went to a large storage room used by the royal family for a variety of purposes. It was currently half-filled with furniture, trunks of old clothing, toys the royal children had outgrown, and other family items.

James said, "Perhaps we should move this lot down to the lower dungeon before we open it?"

"After you inspect the lock, squire, if you think it's dangerous, we will do so."

James produced a set of tools, rolled up in a leather strip. He untied it, unfolded it, and took out a probe. He examined the lock and after a few moments said, "There is a trap, but it's a very simple needle, almost certainly poisoned." He removed a tool and inserted it in the lock. He experimented a bit, then everyone in the room heard a loud click. At that instant, James swiftly removed the probe, and cut the needle with a tiny pair of metal dippers.

"Just in case," suggested James as he stood up, "everyone stand back."

James lifted the hasp from the lock and opened the trunk.

Instantly the room darkened, as if a cloud had pa.s.sed over every light in the chamber. A puff of wind came from within the trunk and a dark shape billowed up.

It was man-shaped, but lacked depth, as if a shadow could be cast in air, without a surface upon which to rest. It appeared to look around the room, then stepped out of the trunk and hurried toward the door.

Everyone in the room was rooted to the spot in astonishment, until James shouted, "Stop it!"

Arutha pulled out his sword, as did William and Amos. William was the only one in a position between the ent.i.ty and the door, and he tried to block its movement by thrusting his sword before it. The creature walked through the sword as if it wasn't there.

"After it!" shouted Arutha. To James he said, "What is this thing?"

"I've never seen anything like it," said Amos.

"Neither have I," said James, "but I've heard about them."

"What is it?" repeated Arutha.

"It's a Shadow Stalker. A magical a.s.sa.s.sin. The reason the chest was so easy to open is that someone wanted it here and easy to open!"

"You'll have a hard time convincing me the a.s.sa.s.sins let their entire population be slaughtered so that we could bring this chest here," said Arutha, hurrying after the creature as it pa.s.sed through a closed door into the hall.

They pulled open the door and peered down the hall. There was no sign of the creature. James said, "I don't think that, Highness, but they might have been getting ready to bring that chest to someplace we could find it-there!" He pointed down the hall.

"What?" asked Arutha.

"Movement in the shadows."

"I see nothing," said Amos.

James was running, Arutha a step behind him. James shouted, "You could have looked right at it, admiral. You wouldn't have seen a thing!"

Abruptly a ball of flame came flying overhead, then it came to a halt and hung at the corner where the hallway turned to the right. All shadows seemed to fade in the bright light, except for the man-shaped shadow-a.s.sa.s.sin who stood revealed in stark relief.

Arutha and the others looked behind and saw Father Belson holding his hand aloft, as if guiding the ball of fire. Trandur's fire burns true, Highness. I do not know if I can halt the creature, but I can show you where it hides!"

"Keep following, Father!" shouted the Prince.

William said, "Highness, where is it going?"

"Wherever His Grace, the Duke of Olasko, rests," said the Prince.