A fortnight later, I spotted the dust cloud raised by multiple vehicles on a dirt road. Out of curiosity, or maybe boredom, I hid in the thick brush on the east side of the driveway in front of Lord Herman's manor house. The well-dressed man and woman who had watched me and my boy in the garden were none other than Lord and Lady Herman. They stood in front of the manor with the servants fanned out to either side, ready to receive the visitors.

Five carriages escorted by a company of green-coated cavalry drew up to the manor in a perfectly orchestrated maneuver. Footmen opened doors and helped the occupants out. Most were servants, maids in black with white aprons, and manservants in dark green livery coats. They assembled in two neat groups on either side of the center carriage. When all movement ceased, a footman placed a gilded footstool in front of the door to the middle carriage. An older man in a butler's black coat with gold trim opened the carriage door and out stepped a magnificent red-haired man in his forties, taller than everyone around him. He wore a tawny velvet coat and a gold collar of estate from which a huge emerald hung.

He turned and helped a beautiful woman with long wavy blond hair off the carriage. She was tiny compared to the man. She wore a traveling gown, also of tawny velvet, and more strands of pearls than I could count. Two children, a tall blond boy, and a shorter red-haired girl followed. They were dressed to match the couple. It was a family group dressed to impress but looking at them made my head hurt.

Lord and Lady Herman greeted the visitors, with the inhabitants of the manor all bowing and curtsying in unison. I caught the words "your majesties." So this was the King and Queen of Nordweg. That meant my boy in the walled garden was a prince.

The royal family was here to visit my boy, my lonely neglected boy who was kept far from public view and hosted by the unfriendly Lord and Lady Herman in the furthest barony from the capital. There was so much wrong here in the undercurrents that a knot of fear grew in my stomach for his sake.

"So, Gregor," the King looked down on Lord Herman with a frown, "where's my Andray?"

"Sire? His Highness Andray is reading in the garden," Lord Herman explained in a helpful. "We did not want to disturb his daily routine for fear of upsetting his fragile health."

"HORSE PUKEY!" the King bellowed. "You, my lord, are telling me that Andray is in such sorry health that sitting in his wheelchair here on the front steps is more life-threatening than sitting in his wheelchair in the garden? Well? Are you?"

"Well...no, your Majesty. It's just...he's so frail and prone to colds, and..." Lord Herman tried to placate the annoyed King.

"And the colds he can catch on the front steps are so much worse than the colds he can catch in the garden? What kind of fool do you take me for, Sirrah?"

"Stephano," the Queen interjected in soothing tones, "Lord Herman is just trying to protect your son from..."

"Silence, woman," the King growled. "Lord Herman, take me to my son now, this instant."

"Your will, your Majesty," the little lord cowered.

As the lord baron led the King through the manor to the garden, the rest of the assembly broke up and servants began to carry trunks into the building. I saw the Queen and Lady Herman trade a conspiratorial and knowing look. The young princess appeared timid and said nothing, keeping her eyes on the gravel of the driveway in front of the manor. The blond prince watched everything and took it all in while maintaining a perfectly neutral expression. I could not tell at all what he might be thinking behind that perfect visage.

It did not escape me that the Queen had called Prince Andray "your son" when speaking with the King. She was not his mother, which suggested his real mother was dead.

I wanted to rush to one of the trees that overlooked the garden to see what happened when the King saw his son Andray; however, my chosen hiding place in the brush was too close to the two-footeds for me to leave unnoticed. I would have to wait until the unloading was done before I could spy on the garden.

When it was finally safe to leave the front of the manor, no one was in the garden.

Despite the boy's pleas that I stay far away from the manor, I chose an invisible perch in the trees and kept a watch on the garden right up to the beginning of the wolf hunts. I was happy to see the King and my boy talking for many hours in the garden, both laughing and smiling. The King showed a lot of love and care for his disabled oldest son. Prince Willam sometimes visited the garden too. The two boys seemed to get along and Willam lost that expressionless face of his when visiting Andray and replaced it with real smiles. The Princess and the Queen, in contrast, did not visit Andray once.

The hunts were delayed six days until two wagons arrived bringing the King's wolfhounds. The hunting parties assembled the next morning and met for the next five days. I stayed close to the village while the hunters were in the forest. I decided near the village was safer since none of the hunting parties would be looking for wolves so close to home.

I saw that Andray joined the hunt on the fourth and fifth days, riding a well-tempered mare and sitting on a custom-made saddle that accommodated his missing foot. He looked happy to be joining the hunt and the King surrounded the boy with so much cavalry that I wasn't worried for his safety.

I didn't realize that Andray never returned from the fifth day of hunting until the morning after when the search parties assembled.