The last light was dragged out onto the road. It proved to be a disheveled bullyblade, arms held out from his body and his head obscured by a blinding whorl of light.
"No strangle-binding," a thick-necked Purple Dragon lionar ordered curtly, "and no 'accidents.' This one is to be kept alive for questioning."
Then he turned to peer at Doust, Semoor, and Jhessail. He waved his hand imperiously at the young war wizard riding beside him, who nodded and murmured something.
The shimmering shield around the three Knights faded, leaving the Knights staring into eyes that were as steel gray as the lionar's sparse hair-and held just a hint of weary amusement.
"Is fair upland Cormyr so devoid of interest," he asked almost tauntingly, "that you must swing swords for entertainment in the middle of the King's High Road? Or does being an adventurer demand your participation in a certain count of hopeless battles each month?"
Jhessail, who had risen to stand between the two priests behind Semoor, promptly bit Semoor's ear, and as he flinched in startle-ment said into it, "Whatever cleverness you're thinking of uttering in reply, don't. Nor yet the second witty thing that rises to mind. In fact, just leave the talking to me."
Not waiting for a reply, she grounded her sword, met the lionar's eyes, and told him, "We personally receive our orders from the Dragon Queen and are knights of the realm. As well as entertainment-starved adventurers."
The amusement in those gray eyes grew stronger. "Ah. That must be why we were given orders to see you safely out of the realm. Are any of you three hurt? Or can our healers get straight to work on the others?"
War wizards were busily vanishing through the row of tapestries at the back of the Griffonguard Room when the princess entered. They were hurrying under the lash of the Royal Magician's tongue, and he was spitting orders in a tone and at a rate that made it clear he was not in a good mood.
Alusair wondered briefly what had gone wrong in the realm now, and then decided she really didn't care one whit. She saw Vangerdahast start to turn in her direction, and she swiftly drove an imperious finger into the ribs of the Palace herald.
Who announced hastily yet grandly: "The Princess Alusair Nacacia Obarskyr!"
No one reacted in the slightest, but Alusair had expected that. She had also expected that Vangey wouldn't bother to hide his annoyance at her appearance in his ready chamber. He didn't.
"Princess," he greeted her with a curt nod, to what do I owe the pleasure of your-?"
He didn't even bother to finish the sentence but devoted himself to glaring at the herald until that courtier bowed hastily and withdrew-as far as the spot where Alusair's hand clamped fiercely down on his forearm. "Attend us, herald," she said loudly and merrily. "By our royal command, we require your presence with us a breath or two longer, to bear witness to what follows."
Vangey had still not even bothered to meet her gaze. He transferred his glare from the herald's back to the war wizard shadowing Alusair. He was one of an endless succession of silently polite escotts that Vangerdahast had assigned, seemingly to her elbow, to attend her every waking moment and report back to him everything she did. Every careless word, break of wind, and nose-picking moment. Gods, she hated wizards. This glaring one in front of her right now in particular.
"Royal Magician," she said, before he could speak again and so control the converse, "we have personally come to return this Wizatd of War who hath so ably and attentively attended us. He is polite and capable and hath offended us not at all, but his presence at our side every waking moment is no longer required. Cormyr needs his services-and those of all the war wizard escorts you so kindly have, seen fit to provide us with, these days paster more than we do. Now that we have our own personal champion, approved of by both our royal father, the king, and our royal mother, the queen, to protect our person and attend our every need."
Alusair delivered one of her sweetest smiles to the glowering Vangerdahast. She had determined beforehand that no matter what befell, she would remain oh-so-sweet during this confrontation, because if she lost her temper she lost everything in the fires of Vangerdahast's sneering satisfaction at her-what had he called them? Oh, yes-"immature inadequacies."
Vangerdahast slowly raised an eyebrow in the manner of a man condescending to humor a young fool. "Your Highness, this welcome news puzzles me, in that I am utterly unfamiliar with anyone suitable for such an important office, who is not already fully engaged in tasks vital to the realm. As Court Wizard it is imperative I know the identity of such a personage, to prevent loyal war wizards from destroying him-or her, I suppose-in their zeal to defend your person. So this, ah, champion of yours would be-?"
Oh, but the man was a right bastard. Alusair clawed at her rising temper with both hands. Seeing by his smirk that her color must already have heightened, she said, "Ornrion Taltat Dahauntul, better known to all as 'Dauntless,' has been named our personal champion. Ably protected by him, we shall no longer have any need of war wizards, to say nothing of their heavy-handed authority-or yours."
Her words fell into a sudden icy silence.
Two war wizards who'd just shouldered into view through separate tapestries froze, staring at the princess. The herald trembled beside her, and the tingling of the ring-shielding that Alusair had awakened as she swept through the Palace told her the war wizard escort had stepped behind her-no doubt to hide himself from Vangey's fury-and was shaking, too, probably with mirth.
Then, with a shivery little thrill of fear, Alusair realized she had succeeded in enraging the Royal Magician.
"No, Princess, your conclusion is unacceptable," he said. "Dispense empty titles if you feel the need, but your doing so can not affect my deployment of our loyal Wizards of War. Your survival is vital to Cormyr, wherefore your escort must remain on duty by your side. May I remind you that ruling is not a game? As your longtime tutor, I urge you to reconsider your behavior, and as Royal Magician of Cormyr, I order you-for the good of our Forest Kingdom-to return to your senses."
Alusair stared at him, fighting not to cower before the anger now bright and clear in his eyes. She forced herself to take a slow, leisurely step toward him.
"Tell me, mage," she said, abandoning formal pronouns because they were unfamiliar fripperies her tongue could all too easily stumble over, and she had to do this right. "Which of us in this room has royal blood in her veins and therefore a right to order the realm and so give orders to citizens of it-and which of us is an overbearing tyrant of an old man who wields just as much authority as we Obarskyrs let him have? Royal Magicians outlive their time and overreach their rightful authority, just as the gods tempt us all to do-and wizard, you long since ran out of yours, on both counts!"
Without waiting for a reply, proud that her voice had sharpened but neither risen into a shout nor ascended into querulous tones while speaking her last few words, Alusair turned away-and so of course found herself facing the white-faced herald and the open-mouthed and staring war wizard escort. "So this little mattet has been decided," she told them and treated them to a brief, bright smile. "Well and good."
She swept out, leaving a trembling-with-rage Vangerdahast staring after her.
He did not have to say a word to make the herald and the war wizard escort both bolt after the princess. They almost collided in the doorway in their haste to be out of the room. Tapestries roiled and billowed as the other two war wizards plunged back through them, leaving the Royal Magician alone in the room, glowering at an open doorway.
He was not alone fot long. Laspeera emerged from behind one of those busy tapestries so promptly it was obvious she had been eavesdropping. "She's fight, you know," she murmured, taking care not to smile.