"Past time," Kharadmon's brisk comment flung back. Discorporate since mishap overcame him in the course of Second Age violence, the ghost Sorcerer added his usual caustic fillip. "He's Torbrand's true- b0m descendant, with the same nasty temper when his dignity's ran- kled, or his principles. When he sails back empty-handed, will you have a ready answer? He's bound to demand why our Fellowship never warned him that Kathtairr's seared lifeless by drake fire."

"Mind well, Kharadmon," a fruity, morose voice admonished. "If you fritter away words restating prehistory, there won't be a living land left for anyone's ship to return to." Luhaine's gloomy nature had scarcely improved since his body had perished in defense of a deposed high k'mg. Once a corpulent scholar who preferred cautious order, in five hundred years, he had yet to savor his free-ranging exis- tence as pure spirit. Nor had his tart rivalry eased into shared com- miseration as a shade. "In case you've gone drifty, we've work to complete before the advent of solstice."

"Oh, dance on it," Kharadmon retorted. A ripple of energies shot through by stars, he set to in exuberant relish. "You scold like some humorless grandmother with nothing to do but knit mufflers and r0ust up windy criticism."

Luhaine chose to ignore him. "Do I surmise we're summoned back to ^theta?" His prim query was presented to Sethvir alone, the inflection

85.

all plaintive acid. "The timing's a gross inconvenience, as you see.'

earth link would show that one last charge of power drawn lane tides at winter solstice would see their long labor first stage protection was urgent, and indispensable, against dire for delay.

'You're needed,' Sethvir insisted. 'The moment can't be helped.

s'llessid just condemned his first clan captives to chained slavery.

adepts have sent their appeal to invoke our duty to the compact.

choice but to confront him. In addition, Morriel Prime and her about to camp on my doorstep. I might as well have your company in port when she knocks to air her fresh grievance.'

Luhaine huffed his contempt.

offer their help, and not wasting themselves in frivolous cap volcanic vents whose existence but serves the earth's balance."~ "Now see who's nattering," injected Kharadmon. "I'm not watching you argue the stupidity of inviting Koriathain to mix meddlesome sigils in our works! If Sethvir wants an interview Prince Lysaer, I'll just be off to string the energy paths." A laugh and a swirl of sourceless current marked the Sorcerer's tous departure.

"Irresponsible jape," Luhaine grumbled. "Always flitting out."

sour eddies that flowed like rippled oil over a backdrop of stars, capped a precise flourish to a dangling knit of spell seals. "As ill loose ends remained here that shouldn't be stabilized first."

unseen touch launched a spiraling array of circles and bridge a crucial expanse of deep vacuum. "Trust Kharadmon to ~ like a truant, and meet ugly threats with light raillery. I can't why we put up with him."

Luhaine listed each shortfall he saw in his colleague's then plowed on to include notable past instances when he had abandoned to tidy disagreeable details. No answer came back. ~ the impersonal, high chime of remote constellations. Already, had moved on, his listening presence retuned to Athera, and across the long leagues into Shand to make contact with another cerer.

The discorporate presence of Kharadmon breezed into the chambers at Avenor a comfortable interval before noon. His raised no notice, passed off, perhaps, as an errant winter breathed through the swagged velvet curtains. The room appointed in rich carpets and gold. Wax candles shone from sconces. Against the satin glow of varnished hardwoods, the ~~L~~

86.

FUGITIVE PRINCE.

valet who served the Prince of the Light fussed to set Lysaer's last diamond stud.

"How right you were, your Grace." Head tipped, the servant stepped back to measure the dazzling effects of his handiwork. "Gold trim was excessive. You shall shine like a star in full sunlight."

Lysaer laughed. "Here, don't feed my vanity." He flicked the last pleats in his cuffs into place, his form all pale elegance, and his fea- tures cut marble beneath a molten ore cap of combed hair. "I don't need such show. For the gift of my bullion, the beggars will be suit- ably awed." Then he smiled at his valet, his unearthly, pure beauty transmuted to intimate warmth.

The boy blushed. He bobbed a clumsy bow, then stammered an apology as his elbows jostled the palace officials who waited, clothed in stiff-faced magnificence. Each one wore a new sunwheel tabard, cut of shining champagne gold-and-white silk.

The realm's chancellor and the Lord High Justiciar forgave the boy's gaffe in cool tolerance. They advanced to attend their prince in full ceremony, paired as if cued to a stage drill. The dense, beaded threadwork on their garments somehow looked soiled beside Lysaer's stainless presence. In his shadow, they swept toward the doorway. There, four silent guards dressed their weapons and joined them, two ahead, two behind. No man looked askance at the unseen arrival which breezed on the heels of the royal train.

A second, more tangible obstruction awaited to waylay the prince.

The young boy who served as the royal bannerbearer could scarcely take position while a willowy form traced in sparkling jewels blocked off the arch to the vestibule. She had the prowling smooth stride and rich coloring of a lioness, and for today's prey, she stalked in chill rage.

"Princess, Lady Talith." Lysaer touched the foremost guardsman's shoulder as signal for him to keep station. Hunter's spear to her tinsheathed claws, he eased past, on an instant the solicitous hus- band. He clasped his wife's hand, drew her into the light, and lost his breath a split second, as he always did.

First sight of Talith's beauty unfailingly stunned a man foolish. She had finespun, tawny hair, and features refined to the delicate texture of robbed ivory. Her dress skimmed over her devastating curves, for this meeting, a calculated, flowing confection of damascened silk and jet buttons, cross-laced at wrist and bodice with silk ribbon.

"My dear, you look magnificent." The words framed an effortless courtesy, since his glance significantly avoided the cascade of yel- 10w citrine which sparkled like poured honey into the tuck of her

87.

JANNY ~URTS.

cleavage. Her smallest move and breath chased teasing reflecti0~ over her pearl-studded bodice, until the eye became trapped, the arrowed downward into a girdle fitted tight enough to hitch the in the throats of Lysaer's waiting attendants. "I'm delighted ~ course, but won't your need keep? I promise I'll see you directl after I've finished my appearance in the plaza."

Lady Talith narrowed dense, sable lashes over eyes like razor~ bronze. "The beggars can wait for their alms without suffering.

Risen to the challenge, she smiled. Her flawless, fine skin flushed fc the joy of a stabbing duel of wits. "Better still, let your chancellor d~ pense the day's coin in your stead. Dismiss your train. Now. I'll nev~ settle for begging court appointments, or standing in line for an ence."

"I can't dismiss my train. My chancellor is no fit replacement/'I grave, caring tenderness, Lysaer clasped her wrist to draw her clear ~ the doorway. "If privacy matters, we'll save our discussion for a hour when I'm not committed."

"Bedarrmed to privacy." Talith tested his hold, felt the steel in fingers, and laughed in a sheared peal of scorn. "Why play at p~ tense?" She aimed her next barb with all the sugared venom her Eta ran background could muster. "My pride wasn't stung by thr~ months in Arithon's company." She smiled, digging him with thre and innuendo, even daring his temper, since he had not shared shameful secret with his courtiers at Avenor. They were never to that the Master of Shadow was in true fact begotten when Lysael mother cuckolded her marriage in liaison with his father's rnc hated enemy.

Gratified by the vengeful jab of his fingers through her sleeve, ith hfted one porcelain shoulder in a shrug. At her throat, the je~'~ flashed, enticed, trembled in liquid invitation. "Why not say al0, what every servant in your palace already whispers behind yc back? That time enough has passed since my ransom. A year ant half gone, and all your court watching my belly like a pack of starr midwives. What pretense is left? My time in captivity was innocen~ dalliance."

Unlike your faithless mother, her swift, weighted pause suggest, Locked eye to eye, his arctic blue to her molten amber, Talith s~ "Since you can't claim avoidance for a nonexistent bastard, what ke you from sharing my bed?"

Lysaer stroked a light finger beneath her chin, while a frown consummate puzzlement came and went between his brows.

love, you're distraught." By an act of brazen sympathy he behavec

88.

'~c air .~d of 'ectly r-cut 1 for dis- _wet ~di- ~;s 'e- r- ~t '.s S.

t FtlOITIVE PRINCE if they stood alone, though the guardsmen behind exchanged discom- fited glances. They knew well enough his nights were spent in the royal suite, since their ranks supplied the watch set over the pr'mce's apartments.

"No doubt, you have cause for distress," Lysaer temporized. "I realize how desperately you desire to conceive. But chasing me about in a lather is unlikely to help your fertility."

Talith hissed out a breath at this vicious twist. "How dare you!"

Her lashes swept down, a black veil for a murderous flare of hatred.

"Y0u'll never be able to bury your lapse with state excuses, or claim I am flawed or infirm. If I'm barren, my ladies-in-waiting all know, it's because your elaborate show of appearance masks the fact that you won't couple with me. Tell me, your Grace, what are you hiding? A mistress? Boy lovers? Revulsion on the chance I fell victim to incest?"

"Here, I'll be late. Your troubles must bide for a little bit." As she snapped breath to sink her barb of victory, Lysaer cupped her face, slipped a quick kiss on her lips, then handed her off to his ranking man-at-arms. His low, rapid orders cunningly disarmed her most brilliantly raking response. "See my lady to a healer for a posset to soothe her nerves. Say I'll return to check on her the earliest instant I am free."

She threw him a withering epithet.

In pained sorrow, the prince shut his eyes: as if by flat denial he could pretend for a heartbeat such beauty did not harbor so vile a contempt. Then he roused himself, straightened. Every regal inch of him contained into painful, mannered sympathy, he reassumed his place with his chancellor and Lord Justiciar. Despite Talith's glare like an auger at his back, he expanded the circle of his confidence.

"I'm sorry for the scene." His hushed voice carried backward as his party advanced through the echoing, high vaults of the hallway. "The 10ss of her brother at Dier Kenton Vale so soon after the months she was kept in duress by the Spinner of Darkness have left Talith strained and unsettled. We must all be patient. Give her care and understanding. I'm certain the moment we manage to conceive our first child, her usual staunch nature will prevail."

The chancellor murmured banal commiseration. Less suave, the guardsmen showed pity, while the red-faced valet who watched from the dressing chamber gave the princess the gawky, bold stare that admired for sheer, brainless loveliness.

Talith swept off with the appointed guardsman, chin raised in smoldering rebellion. Born a pedigree Etarran, she was too well sea- soned to the ways of court infighting to augment Lysaer's strategy JANNY WURTS.

with protests. If he sought to discredit her as a woman harsh circumstance, he had to know, the new-forged, spite in her heart would admit no defeat while she breathed.

"On my life," she called after her royal husband in a tone like~ cet poison, "I'll birth you an heir to make the s'Ilessid name even as your lady mother did before me!"

Appalled by the sharp, sudden pallor that blanched his prince'!

face, the Lord Justiciar of Avenor's state council tipped his gray hea~ in assurance, "Give her time. She'll weather her disappointment 0ve~ children. Women do." He pursed his lips, prepared to co~ti~ue ~ fatherly advice.

But Lysaer raised a hand and touched him silent. "Not h~r~,."

The royal train reached the outer postern. Composed anti brittle a!

an artwork in glass, the Prince of the Light mastered the ~t~rt cer~.

mony while a heavy box of coins changed hands from Ave~r's .~l~- ister of the Treasury into the care of his chancellor. He ste?pcd ~'i~t his retinue through the outer doorway into the blast of wi~ter ~'i~d The cold nipped his cheeks back to color Against the luminous, aqua.

marine sky, his hair gleamed like the tinseled weave shot throug~ ripple of Atchaz silk. His poise, now restored, was steel masked in fei~.

as he dealt his justiciar a swift and shaming rebuke. "A year and~ half is criminally soon to say whether my lady's unfit to bear an hei: Discretion is called for. Her Grace's distress will fare all the w~rse !'.

unkind rumors start to circulate."

Beside the bronze finials of the palace gate spread the circuit,.

plaza which centered the city of Avenor. This site retained its dvsigr since the Paravian ruin underwent Lysaer's restoration. His ~aste: masons had found the proportions and placement too pleasin~ t~ di~.

rupt. The facades of the formal state buildings had arisen on the ri~!

of Second Age foundations. The ancient worn slates, wit~ their cracked channels of queer inlay, were now paved over in arv, b~r-and.

white block incised with a sunwheel pattern. The vista with its innat~ grandeur presented the ideal setting for Lysaer's noon practice t~t di~.

pensing largesse to the poor.

Since the crushing defeat in Vastmark, the coins struck for th~ ?~r.

pose were embossed with the new order's blazon upon one side,, ~uc stamped on the other with a sigil of ward against darkness. [ ~r~bbed shadow-banes by their recipients, merchants in Tysan took t~t'rn i.~ trade, then resold them as amulets for more than their value in ~t~ld No edict was signed to curtail the practice. "Why sap the f~,unda- tions of the common people'~ hope?" Prince Lysaer gave instt~ctit~r.

to his council. "For as long as the Shadow Master lives at larg.., their 9O.

~ dul- nce's head over ~ his kerror is ~ea~ anc~ )us~'li-iecl. Let ~olk grasp whatever comfort they may.

Suffering and losses could harm them soon enough. Folk will fare better for not feeling helpless in their worry."

Speculation became rooted into belief. The name of Arithon Teir's'Ffalenn was anathema, and feared, and the coins, dispensed with the blessing of Lysaer s'Ilessid himself. They could not be other than talismans infused by his blessed gift of light.

Prince Lysaer never walked in the public eye without due presence and ceremony. His daily custom of charity became a dazzling display of royal pageantry, while the poor and the downtrodden elbowed for- ward to claim the trinkets which held the reputed power to protect them.

This day, the plaza was packed to capacity, despite the bracing wind that snapped the fringed banners on their poles. The out-of- town merchants and the bored rich who thronged to observe from the balconies clutched their caped cloaks and furred hoods. Below, in jostling chaos, the waving, cheering supplicants pressed to catch sight of their savior. More than the city poor and village crofters shouted and surged against the guardsmen's cordon. Petitioners now traveled from far-distant cities to receive Avenor's royal alms. A second row of pikemen ringed the central dais to keep order, their polished buckles and appointments backed by white silk bunting tied up with gilt cord and tassels.

Lysaer stepped through the gateway just before the advent of noon. The wind's icy buffet ruffled his ingot gold hair. His white- clad person seemed etched into air, set off from the commonplace sea of dark woolens like a mote struck into incandescent purity by the sil~,er-ice fall of winter sunlight. The welcoming roar which greeted Prince Lysaer rocked echoes off the high, amber brick of the watch- t~,vvers. Engulfed in a mounting crescendo of noise, he ascended the dais stair, his honor guard and high council ministers a parade pace behind him.

The thronging stew of voices grew hushed as Lysaer s'Ilessid took his place. He accepted the bullion coffer from his chancellor, then addressed the adoring crowd. "Hail the Alliance of Light! Through the dedication of all people, moral strength shall prevail against dark- nessF' He tipped up his face. As though his appeal was presented to heaven, he summoned the powers of his ~ift. A dazzling shaft speared down from the zenith to lend grand display to his benefi- cence.

Yet this time, the flaring, fired brilliance which answered was not completely his own.

91.

]ANN Y ~)~7LIR TS.

The two officers nearest sensed something amiss: as if were too fine, too potent, charged through by an force outside the range of mortal senses. They called in saw their prince jerk up short. His calm shattered astonishment as his frosty, white finery spun awry in a uncanny, cold air.