* Andray, now that you have had your fun torturing Father Garshom, I do have thoughts and questions for you. We will be in Tammerhof in just a few minutes. I have three concerns, and they are you, your father, and your sister. If I know you are safe, I can start searching for your father and sister. That leads me to a question: what will the rest of you do when we arrive. I have my own thoughts on this, but I want to hear what others think. Andray? *

“It’s a bit frightening when you call me that, Fuzz.”

* Your childhood is behind you, Your Royal Highness, and the time of pretending you were just another boy is behind you. Your childhood left you five years ago and you know it, but now you must face it. Are you a mage and healer with inconvenient royal blood or are you the Crown Prince come to rescue your future kingdom? *

“Can we talk about this later?” Cat’s brow’s knitted together and his mouth turned down.

* I know you too well, Cat. Whenever you are pushed to the wall, a mantle of authority drops out of the sky and onto your shoulders. When you speak, people listen because there is something in your voice and your demeanor that compels them. When you make a decision, you always know why and if questioned, your answers reveal that you have a clear moral compass behind what you decide. I begin to think that your sister Wren is right. You have the makings of a king. So when you walk off this carpet into your city, will you accept your birthright or will you run away from it? *

“We don't need to do this now, Fuzz," he shook his head. "We just need to find my father and my sister and make them safe from the Regent and her henchmen. Just that one thing will win this little undeclared war for us."

* People will want to know, you fool, who the little man is who speaks with such giant command and wears his charisma more comfortably than his stockings. So, who are you to those panicked, leaderless subjects of Nordweg? Will you lead them or will you run away? *

“Fuzz," he was beginning to look annoyed at me when his eyes widened. "May the Lady save us! Cloud Eye!" A great rumbling noise grew in volume as a wall of flame broke through the palace roof where it met the wall on the north side of the palace. The wall teetered toward the square where Beaver Tooth and Cloud Eye were attempting weather magic to rain away the fire.

“Μει δε γενεδε ἐν κρηφτ φαν Ενλεελ, μειε δε τολε ινεν δε ρâλδ ἐν δ μυορρεν στιλ âλδε σα λανγ ἀς γοαδεν ἰτ ταστεαν!” Cat shouted the spell of stasis, pulling out a large amount of his magical power to stop the debris from the collapsing wall from falling on the two elves, who were now running for their lives.

Stasis is never cast at this scale and it lasts less than a minute. The common saying among mages is that stasis endures only for as long as the act that makes children. I’ve always assumed that the act referred to making human children. If it were salmon, for example, it would only take a second, since female salmon lay their eggs in gravel and males swim over and squirt their sperm on the eggs. That’s it. The stasis spell does not depend on how long salmon take to have sex.

Regardless, the oversized stasis spell worked though I could tell Cat was struggling. Garshom and Dora both ran over and put their hands on his shoulders and passed some of their magical stamina to my boy. I couldn’t. I had to land the carpet in a place where it would be safe.

I chose a spot between the enclosure wall between the temple and the decorative bushes that lined it on the inside. Dora and Garshom helped an unsteady Cat off the carpet while the rest rolled it up and pushed it next to the wall, out of sight to any casual passer-by.

We heard, rather than saw, the debris of the wall finally hit the ground. Willam ran into the square on his own, calling Cloud Eye’s name. He was back in a moment with a winded Cloud Eye and Beaver Tooth. They both wore black cat masks.

“Cat!” Cloud Eye ran up to my boy and wrapped him in a hug. Duke Valgard was startled and then started to draw his sword.

Sven stopped him, "Uncle, he's one of the prince's best friends." By now, Beaver Tooth joined the embrace. Both elves were significantly taller than my boy, who was slightly shorter than Viscountess Alianora.

“It’s only been five days,” Cat protested.

Beaver Tooth and Cloud Eye stood back from Cat, but Beaver Tooth grabbed both of Cat's shoulders, "Cat Rider, that spell had your aura written all over it. Thank you for that, my boy. Oh, I believe I hear the rest of the people you just saved."

A squad of twelve men in Regent's Guard uniforms came running into the cramped space between the bushes and the wall.

“See, Captain, I told you saw a flying carpet,” a young guard remarked to a man in an upscale uniform in the Regent’s colors of olive green with rose pink facings.

“These may be the traitors the Queen was telling us about,” the Captain began to pull his sword out.

Beaver Tooth grabbed his wrist and stopped him, "Captain, this is the young mage who just saved you from that falling wall. In fact, I see three mages in this company of carpet riders, all of whom I know and all of whom can help get this fire out. Besides, it is not wise to pull your sword at a man wearing the regalia of the royal house of the Green Elves. Cat Rider is a prince."

Willam turned away and bit his finger to keep from laughing. The Captain’s face was a symphony of confusion.

“Mage? Prince?” he let his sword slide back into its scabbard. “He doesn’t look like an elf. Where’ the funny clothes?”

The Captain spoke with the accent of someone from Zugg or Gan, so he came from the border marches. That fit the description of the Regent’s Guard with its Osterian personnel.

“Captain,” Cat’s perfect friendly smile broke out, “I was born with the elvish sun disease and also was in a bad fire with my brother Motley Owl." His accent was 100 percent elvish. "We are both scarred with burns. As for me, the Sun disease lightens the skin, changes hair and eye color, and stunts growth. Most sun disease sufferers die before they are 20, and I am only 16. As for the clothes, they were a gift from the Goblin Queen because she knew I intended to travel to Nordweg with my fellow wyvern hunter, Prince Willam."

“Don’t underestimate him,” Sven strolled up to Cat and put a protective hand on his shoulder. “He’s one of the best mages the elves have ever trained. This young elf has killed two wyverns with his magic. He came here to help. We saw the fire from the battlements of Vogelberg and traveled as fast as we could. And we brought a fourth mage to help who Beaver Tooth has not met yet.”

Sven clasped his aunt’s hand a drew her forward, “this is my aunt, the Princess Consort Dora de Welk, Duchess of Valltol, an excellent mage in her own right.”

All the talking and the mix of half-truths and prevarication had undermined the Captain's confidence in the face of an elven prince, a duchess, and Duke Sven. "I meant no offense, my lords and ladies," he bowed respectfully to my boy. "If you would pardon my boorish behavior, Your Grace," he took the Duchess' hand and bowed as he kissed it. "We had a warning that a party traveling on a flying carpet was visiting nobles wanting to revolt. What were you all doing at the fortress of Vogelberg? That's not a spot for tourists, even ones who are mages."

(this scene is continued in installment 87)