The Valltol was a natural fortress with mountain walls made of crystalline black-and-white speckled rock. At the east end was the steep climb up the pass guarded by the city and citadel of Tammerhof on the Vorvall plateau. On the west end, the River Tek carved out a gorge along the best road into Gorgurak. Along the northern mountain wall of the Valltol, the high peaks hosted no easy paths across. There was one pass north into the County of Vorgurr starting where the Tek spilled into Gorgurak down a magnificent waterfall. Two passes went south into the County of Wesstepp.

The Perguy Road, the great east-west trade road that crossed the Valltol, carried the grain of Gorgurak to the rest of the world and the copper, tin, and salt of Nordweg into Gorgurk. Lining the Perguy Road were the vinyards that made Valltol a famous name in kingdoms thousands of miles to the east and south.

In the center of the Valltol was the Tolberg, a great domed mountain of fine-grained yellowish rock. On the top of the Tolberg was the walled city of Hoheit capped by the citadel and ducal residence simply known as the Hof.

The lord of this richest of fiefs was the Duke of Valltol, Valgard Nordweg, Duke Sven's, and King Stephano's uncle. He was the heavy weight of the old nobility and someone we needed as an ally. Where Duke Valgard walked, most would follow.

Everyone I know, including Sven, was intimidated by this old man. He had been first minister before the Regent pushed him out. Valgard had half of the standing army under his direct command since he was responsible for four fortified passes, two fortresses, and the safety of the Perguy Road. The rest of the army was split up between the garrisons at Vogeltal Pass, Welk, Sendor, and Tammerhof.

When he was ousted as first minister, Valgard decamped for the Hof with his family. He then made a practice of doing everything publicly or with copious witnesses from the time he rose in the morning to the time he went to bed with Duchess Dora every night. It was Valgard's defense against being framed like Garshom was.

There was no way we could approach him without being seen. At the same time, he was the one essential noble we had to have on our side for our current plan to succeed. What was our plan? It was authored by Blue Fox and it was boring and simple. It had three parts. First, the Elves and Calvary of Zimlakuliku would infiltrate the former Gan Swamp, across the river from Welk, as a diversion for Osterius. Second, we would meet up with as many nobles as we could between now and the summer solstice, which was 22 days from now, and encourage them to join us at the solstice to discuss the state of the Regency in Tammerhof. Third, we would harass and discredit Queen Griselda and Magus Keleher by any means at our disposal.

The interesting part of this plan was meeting with nobles. Because it would be difficult to conceal all the meetings we wanted with the nobility, Blue Fox suggested not to bother with concealment.

"Dress it up as a triumphal trip for Willam," Blue Fox suggested at our planning meeting at Queen Margo's palace, "who conquered the wyverns, was given a magnificent gift of a real flying carpet, and found his long-lost brother who he is bringing home. If you can convince Duke Valgard to join you, you will have all four living princes of the kingdom traveling together to meet the nobility, which is a powerful bloc of royal power. There is nothing illegal about such a trip, so what's to stop you other than fear of that woman? That's what she is counting on so don't indulge her."

Father Garshom was flying the carpet as we approached Hoheit so I got to look at the world below the carpet as much as I wanted. Garshom circled the city and then circled the Hof. I could see little figures of people running and pointing at us. Garshom backtracked and flew the carpet down to the road leading to the city's west gate. He leveled out about a yard off the ground and positioned the carpet at the end of the line of carts and wagons entering the city. I could feel the old priest's sense of mischief from where I sat next to my boy.

Andray was nervous. Having been raised as a prince in two different royal households, he was trained not to do things like fidget or make faces. I could still tell he was tense from the set of his shoulders and the way he clenched his teeth. We were getting a lot of interesting looks from the people around us. Those just rolled off the three royals and the ex-bishop.

The gate had two lines, one for vehicles and one for people on foot. The folks on foot were fascinated though wary. After all, there are still plenty of nobles in the world who treat commoners worse than they treat their hunting dogs.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look at the big kitty," a little girl, maybe six or seven years old ran over to the side of the carpet.

"Cordelia, don't. Come back here, now child," the mother looked work-worn. She had a basket of gathered herbs, probably to sell to apothecaries and physicians. Her expression was much more panicked than her voice.

"Can I pet the kitty?" little Cordelia asked Andray.

My boy smiled at her, "hello, Cordelia. I think you forgot the special word to use when asking a boon from someone. Want to try again?"

"Can I pet the kitty, please?" She smiled one of those irresistible smiles that little girls have at that age.

"Sure," Andray was enjoying this. Garshom slowed the carpet and I jumped off. I winked at the worried mother and started to purr. I rubbed my nose across Cordelia's smock and gave her the big kitty eyes.

"Oh, I wuv you," Cordelia wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me. Then she started to scratch my neck.

"We need to move up, Lady Fuzzy," Garshom said. "You need to catch up." I rolled my eyes for the benefit of the still-nervous mother. I nudged the girl toward her mother and trotted away.

"Bye-bye, big kitty," Cordelia called out. I stopped, turned, and waved a paw goodbye.

When we got to the head of the line, more soldiers were present than I could count quickly. I think every off-duty soldier showed up to see the weird nobles on a carpet that could fly. The on-duty soldier strolled up to the carpet with a pencil and a piece of paper tacked onto a wooden board. I was impressed because he managed to look bored with a large side order of "now I've seen everything."

He looked under the carpet, "no axles, so you don't need to pay the axle tax. Any trade goods to declare?"

"None," replied Duke Sven.

"Purpose of trip?"

"Visiting relatives," Sven managed not to laugh.

"Place you departed from today?"

"Kizdangengar."

The soldier blinked and then regained his composure but only for a moment.

"Names of people in your party?

"Prince Sven Nordweg. Duke of Vorvall. Prince Willam Nordweg. Crown Prince Andray Nordweg. Father Garshom de Welk. Lady Fuzzy."

The soldier's jaw dropped. "Crown Prince?" Andray smiled and waved.

"Pardon my asking, Highness, but I heard you were scarred from your head to your toes.

"That's correct," Andray grinned. "All the scars are on my left side. You can't see any scarring because it's hidden under clothing."

"One last thing, Highness. Could you please remove your mask so I can verify that you aren't on any of our wanted criminal notices?"

Andray removed his mask, "good enough?"

"Yes," the soldier looked embarrassed. "Thank you. You can enter the city now."