Chapter One


Princess Anni walked briskly along the corridor ticking things off in her head. She had checked the food with the cooks, made sure there was enough fresh bedlinen, enlisted extra servants to look after the influx of guests and inspected most of the chambers prepared for them. She only had the rooms for the Amrad party to check, then she could go to her own room and try to don a more regal presence along with her formal gown for the ceremony. Of all the guests invited, the Amrads were the ones she most wanted to see and they were the only ones yet to arrive. As she reached the door of her brother, King Channan's, apartments, she paused. She ought to let Dovinna know how the preparations were going, but the Queen had not been her usual self since the birth.She thought better of it, turned and found herself with her head virtually in the chest of Lord Fordel.

"Princess Anni. How nice to bump into you." He grinned and stepped into her path as she attempted to get around him.

"Can you never be serious?" She tried to look stern but found herself smiling. "I thought you'd gone with Channan to check security at the gates." She made to step around him again.

"I did, and now we're back." He matched her step for step.

"I'm in a hurry."

"Shame. I was hoping you'd help me practise my dancing before the celebrations." He took her hands and twirled her around so that they changed places.

"I'm sure you can find plenty of ladies to help you do that." As she spoke, a door opened behind them.

"Fordel! I thought I heard your voice. Where's Channan?" Dovinna's manner instantly wiped Anni's smile away. A maid had obviously been in the process of dressing the Queen's hair to show off its bright autumnal colours, and she pulled a stray strand away as if it was a snake.

Fordel swept her an elegant bow. "Your Majesty. The King was right behind me, but he was detained by one of the ambassadors."

"Don't you mock me too." Dovinna looked inclined to hit him.

"I mock everyone, Dovinna. You know that," Fordel said. "How's the young heir? Been waking you up at night?"

"So now you're trying to say I'm a bad mother too."

Fordel almost took a step back. "No, Channan said..."

"All babies wake in the night." Anni tried to help. "It must be exhausting."

"I know I've been neglecting my queenly duties." Dovinna clenched her fists at her sides.

"No one expects you to do everything, and I'd be bored if you didn't let me help out." Anni found items on her list scrolling through her head again.

"I'm sure you know more about being a queen than I do." There was such bitterness in Dovinna's voice that Anni could not answer. There had been those not so long ago who had thought Anni anything but regal, including her poor mad sister. Suddenly, all the tension left the Queen, and Fordel stepped forward to support her. "I know, I'm not being fair, it's just..."

"You there, blackguard! Unhand my wife!" It was Channan's voice, a little too loud and slurred.

The three turned to watch him. He walked as if he expected the floor to tilt.

"He's drunk!" Dovinna hissed. "Fordel, how could you?" She backed away from him as if he had pinched her.

"I? Why blame me? He was sober a few minutes ago. We never touched a drink." Fordel looked at Anni for support.

"Channan, you have to learn to say 'no'," she said.

Channan hugged her, then held out his hands to Dovinna. "You know what it's been like, Dovi. Everyone wants to toast the baby, but I'm not drunk." Channan put his arm around her and tried to put his cheek against hers, but she pulled away. "Smell. No alcohol on my breath."

Anni saw a look like panic come into Dovinna's eyes as he continued.

"Can we sit down? I feel very tired."

"You feel tired!" Dovinna snapped.

"Best get him out of the corridor," Fordel said. He took Channan's arm and between them, he and Dovinna manoeuvred him into the royal apartments.

Anni watched with her lip caught between her teeth. If Fordel said they had not been drinking, she believed him. Channan had his best friend and his healer wife to look after him, there was nothing more she could add.

"Now, what was I doing?" she asked herself. "Ah, yes." She started down the corridor once more, but her thoughts were no longer on clean towels and fresh linen.

#

By the time Ro, Lar, Raimi and Lalli made their way from the palace to the temple of Ondd, the wind had piled the clouds into a great purple-tinged heap that roiled as if the dragon's tail lashed them. The gold of the temple's egg-shaped dome gleamed dully under a streak of sunshine that broke through the clouds, but none of the people still in the streets paused to look up. The weight of the sky made them walk with hunched shoulders.
Ro found the wind swirling around her so that she was fighting to push her way through it one moment and tottering to keep her balance when it vanished the next. Instead of being lined with gawkers, the streets were virtually empty. The wind whipped up grit and discarded rubbish, flinging it against those who had yet to shutter themselves against it. It tugged at hair and whipped the breath away, so that none of them spoke. Raimi carried Lalli against his shoulder, protecting her as best he could, but she still began a thin grizzle that penetrated the whooping of the wind, flapping awnings and the rattle of roof tiles. By the time they took their seats in the glinting interior of the temple, Ro felt as if she had been trying to wade chest deep through turbulent water.
The temple doors locked out the wind, but a rustling like a breeze through a barley field accompanied the chanting of the priests, as the congregation straightened their disordered robes and hair. Ro did her best to smooth her own. Her gaze caught on a group whose plainness set them apart from the other Najarindians, like sparrows amongst hummingbirds. Their stillness was not like that of Lar and Raimi either. It seemed to Ro that it was intended to show their piety rather than inner calm.

She craned her neck to see the entrance. They had delayed leaving the palace as long as they could in hopes that the party from Amradoc would arrive, but it appeared they would miss the ceremony. It was a blow. Ro had been through so much with Jubb, and the magician Edun with his trio of onddikins. She missed the simple judgement and optimism of King Darian's so-called fool. She even missed the unruly mongrel he had adopted, and she had hoped that the Incredible Edun would need her help with his magic act. Lar put a hand on Ro's arm, and she realised she had been tugging a loose thread on her cuff.

A ripple went through the congregation as the chanting priests fell silent. There was a moment's pause, then the new Patriarch appeared in the open doorway. He strode up the main aisle, followed by King Channan and Queen Dovinna with their baby son in her arms, then Princess Anni, Lord Fordel and representatives from across the empire. The Patriarch lacked the stately dignity of his predecessor, bustling officiously like a secretary. Dovinna's gaze flitted between the baby and Channan, avoiding the stares of the congregation, unlike the King, who gazed fixedly at the Patriarch's back. The Queen's heavy brocade robes made her appear smaller than ever. Princess Anni watched them both, prepared to catch whichever one of them stumbled first.

The procession halted before Ondd's altar under the dome where the mechanical dragon's eyrie was hidden. Ro glanced up, hoping it would appear. The Patriarch briskly dispensed with the welcomes and began the ceremony. He took the baby from Dovinna's arms and paced the circumference of the space to a shrine where he picked up a glinting chain from which a stone dangled that shot out red sparks of light. He placed it over the baby's head. Ro glanced at Lar. The Earth-hearer's eyes were focused on the wall at the far end of the temple. Ro guessed she was going through the Iyessi naming ceremony in her head to block out this travesty. The Patriarch was not even visiting the elements in the right order. Ro's shoulders relaxed. Lar and Raimi were right. This ritual held little real belief, only the memory of it. Again she looked up into the dome, but was no longer surprised that nothing emerged. The Patriarch continued the round of elemental shrines until he reached the flower-decked vitae one. As he plucked one of the blooms to tuck into the baby's clothes, the musical dragon Ro's father had made, swooped from its hidden nest. Its song released a communal sigh from the congregation, and Lalli clapped her hands, squealing with delight.

The Patriarch raised his voice and help up the flower for all to see. "Know that this child's name is Tomec, and welcome him to..." He never reached the end of the sentence.

The doors crashed open and a blast of air blew out all the candles. The Patriarch was forced to step back, and the mechanical dragon circling above them was swept towards the wall, grazing one of its metal wings against the stone with a screech that made Ro clench her teeth. She gasped, thinking it would fall, but it recovered to fly jerkily over the astonished Patriarch, snatch the flower from his fingers and rise with the tip of one wing trailing back to its eyrie.

Ro turned to see what had happened, not knowing whether to hope that it was the missing Amrads or not. A woman stood just inside the doors waiting until all eyes were on her, then walked calmly up the central aisle. She looked untouched by the wind even though her outfit of brightly coloured cloth was draped in folds and layers and she wore a gauzy veil over her head. When she reached the royal party, she swayed into a bow making a formal salute with her hands together and her fingertips to her lips. The nearest courtiers hastily made space for her on their bench.

"Your Majesties, please forgive this humble ambassador's late arrival." She set back her veil. People gasped. Her head was shaven, and her features were accentuated with heavy, mask-like make-up. The fashion was unmistakable; she was Gindullan. Despite her apologetic words, her smile showed she was not displeased with the effect she had. "It was a far way here from Gindul, and we were delayed."


Ro saw Dovinna shudder and instinctively hold out her arms to take the newly named Tomec from the Patriarch.

The new arrival smiled and saluted the cleric, whose features pinched with disapproval. He drew himself up and continued the ceremony invoking Ondd's protection, but he might as well have sung a bawdy song. No one listened, except for the band of plainly dressed worshippers, who intoned the responses with a deliberation that was a rebuke to all those craning their necks for a glimpse of the Gindullan woman. Ro doubted that even the royal party were concentrating on the Patriarch. Dovinna curled her arm around the baby like a shield, and Channan stood stiff-shouldered, while Princess Anni resolutely kept her hands folded and her face neutral.  Even Lord Fordel took care not to look at her. Ro was sure they must have felt the same jolt that she had. To her, Gindul meant poison, and as far as she was aware, the only guests who had been missing were the Amrads. Where were they?

Finally, the Patriarch released the congregation with a blessing. The royal party started down the aisle. The Gindullan woman fell-in behind them. When they drew level with Ro and her family, she turned and shot Lalli a smile. Ro's breath caught in her throat, but Lalli was still reaching out to where the automaton had been. The Iyessi followed the others outside. Perhaps Ro was overreacting. Explanations would have to wait, that was if she had a chance to talk to Dovinna or Anni before she left. The unexpected arrival made her departure seem even more essential. She had become too comfortable in Najarind. She had allowed the fact that she had friends and was accepted there to lull her into thinking there was no rush, that things were back in balance. All the while she had been fooling herself, and now, who knew what damage the delay had caused?

Outside, the wind had dropped, although sudden gusts still skirled up dust and made the courtiers' gowns billow. A cry above them made Ro look up. Three black specks streaked overhead, sped on by a following gust.

"Onddikins!" Ro's heart soared. It could only mean one thing–the Incredible Edun had arrived. The beasts wheeled over them.

Ahead, Channan missed his footing and stumbled. Hands reached out on all sides, the Gindullan ambassador's amongst them. Instead of the King, she caught the arm of Lord Fordel.

"Your pardon, Lord," she said, but her smile did not look apologetic to Ro, and her touch lingered until he moved his arm away. Ro was not the only one to notice. Anni's chin tilted higher as she walked on.

Then the onddikins spotted Ro and began to swoop and make their fluting cries over her head, so close that Ro almost feared they would tangle in her hair as Pirik's had the first time they met. Their leathery wings and bodies were glossy and well-fed, and their feathery ruffs iridesced in the fitful gleams of sunshine.

"You'd better return them to Edun before there's an accident," Lar said.

Ro did not need telling twice. "Take me to him," she told them. She stepped out of the procession, ignoring the 'tuts' and irritated gestures of the nearest courtiers, and tried to keep up with the excited onddikins, who raced to show her the way. She knew she should have restrained her eager feet to a dignified pace, but she was infected with the onddikins' carefree joy. Life in Najarind was as bound about with rules and restrictions, in its way, as Iyessa was. Ro laughed. Leaving the city would not all be sadness.

They arrived back at the palace and Ro raced up to the great hall where everything except the Incredible Edun's stage had been left set up for the return of the court. Ro almost collided with a servant leaving the room in her haste to see the friends hidden behind the curtained stage that they had swiftly erected. Instead of stepping aside and offering her a deferential salute, the man pushed past with his head down. Then the onddikins swooped over the curtainrail and a voice made Ro forget him.

"So, you've decided to come back, have you?" The voice was theatrically angry.

Ro peeped through a gap in the curtains. The onddikins settled on a rail beside Edun's magic cabinet and preened their ruffs as the magician scolded them. His hair was as black and well-groomed as she remembered, but his manner was more harassed than swaggering. A gangling figure sat on a trunk watching him work.

"They couldn't wait to find our old friends," he said. "I wonder where Ro is?"

"Right here, Jubb." Ro flung open the curtains.

The Amrad king's fool almost fell off the trunk. He threw his arms around her.

Edun dodged out of his way. "Steady, Jubb. If you break her nose, she won't be able to tell us where she's been."

Jubb relinquished his place, so that the magician could give Ro a hug. The onddikins chirred contentment as Edun took her by the shoulders and held her at arm's length for a better look. Ro smoothed the hair at her neck, aware how different she must look from the crop-haired girl who could easily pass for a boy the last time they met.

"You missed the ceremony," she said. "Lar and Raimi were beginning to worry that they'd be called on to provide after-dinner entertainment."

"We were delayed." Edun looked drily at Jubb as he spoke.

The fool's forehead furrowed. "You did know Darian and Uwert weren't coming, didn't you? There's trouble with bandits raiding from the southern swamps again."

"Yes, but..." Ro broke off. Something was missing. "Where's Chickens?" How could she not have noticed before? The mongrel was even more clumsy and unruly than its master.


Jubb beamed at her. "He's a father. The rat-catcher's terrier, Snatcher, and he have five beautiful puppies."

"I've seen prettier mudfish–squashed mudfish," Edun said.

Jubb's face fell again. "Beautiful, but Uwert said I couldn't bring them with me, and he was right. They need to stay at home with their mum, and Chickens has to look after them, but I couldn't leave before I was sure they'd be all right. Channan and Dovinna won't be angry, will they?" His hand went to the breast of his tunic where he used to keep his words of power.

Ro looked questioningly at Edun.

The magician rolled his eyes. "He asked me for new ones. What could I do?"

"Just the same as before," Jubb said.

"Don't worry, you won't need their protection from Channan and Dovinna. Everyone will be delighted to see you."

"But not like that," Edun said.

Jubb tried to flatten his hair and straighten his tunic.

Edun sighed. "I've finished here. Where can we make ourselves presentable?"

"I'll show you." Ro linked an arm with each of them to show them out. At the door, she hesitated, remembering the servant who had been loitering when she arrived. "Perhaps I'd better call a guard to prevent curiosity getting the better of anyone while you aren't here."

"No need." Edun signalled Quinik, and the onddikin flapped back to perch on the curtainrail. "It's Quinik's turn to keep watch. Lead on. You can bring us up-to-date on all the news."

Ro took a deep breath. "Actually," she began. "I need to ask you a favour."


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