The White Gryphon

This mage was about to level a magical blow at him—and he didn't even have the defenses of a mouse.

He tried to move, and discovered that he couldn't; the bar dropped from his numb fingers and clattered on the floor. This was no spell. It was nothing but pure, overwhelming fear.

I am going to die.

It wasn't even a guess. It was a fact.

:BAD MANS!:Kechara screamed into his mind.

He reeled and dropped to both knees beside his iron bar, momentarily "blinded" and "deafened" by her mental shout, so strong it was clear even to someone who was not a Mindspeaker. Both of the men facing him went stiff with surprise, as if they "heard" it too. Instinctively, he threw up his shields again—which was what she had been waiting for.

:Bad, bad mans!:she screeched again, this time accompanying her angry scream with a building mental shriek, aimed at the two facing him. It came like a windstorm that would not stop building, filling his ears.

The two conspirators were notexpecting anything of the sort. Neither was Amberdrake, for that matter. He was so used to thinking of Kechara as a child, as a complete and total i

Both of Amberdrake's opponents collapsed on the spot.

:Ow,:said Kechara, with a mental wince—and her presence vanished from his mind.

Ow, indeed.For one moment, he took the time to shiver in awe at her power—and to be very glad that she had the guidance of all of her friends who loved and cared for her. Now he understood why Urtho had kept her locked up in his Tower for so very long. Her range in Mindspeaking was impressive enough to have made her valuable, but this demonstration of her full potential had been considerably more than impressive. With that kind of mental power, she could have been so dangerous—

Danger. He hadn't been mindblasted by Kechara, but he couldn't move either. He had just experienced, with certainty, imminent death, and he could only sit among the pieces of broken pottery and stare at the still bodies of the two conspirators.

" Drake?" a voice called from above, after an indeterminate amount of time. All he could tell, when such matters came to mind through the shock, was that it was fully light again outside. " Drake? Are you all right? Where are you?"

"Down here, at the bottom of the stairs!" he croaked back. A few moments later, Skan, Aubri, andZhaneel came tumbling breathlessly down the staircase, following the sounds of a great many hard-shod feet from the presumed direction of the outer door.

" Drake!" Skan bellowed, as soon as he caught sight of Amberdrake, making him wince and shake his head as his ears rang. The gryphon grabbed him with both foreclaws, seizing him and staring at him as if he was afraid that Amberdrake would vanish or crumble into dust in the next instant. "Drake—Kechara said you were in trouble, then she just—just blanked out on us. We thought something had happened to both of you! We thought you were—"

"Kechara was right, I was in trouble," Amberdrake interrupted, before Skan could work himself up into hysterics.

Not that he hasn't earned a few hysterics. For that matter, so have I!

With a dazed look he was certain made him look very silly—as if vanity could matter at a moment like this—he peered around at the people filling the area. That was when he recognized King Shalaman.

"This one—" he pointed at the larger man "—is your blood-mage. He was just about to level me with a magical attack, when—I broke their scrying-bowl and they fell down." Amberdrake shrugged. He and the gryphons exchanged hasty warning glances; they all knew Kechara was somehow involved, and they also knew about the prohibition on Mindspeaking. It would be a great deal better for all concerned if the Haighlei never learned about Kechara.

Shalaman said nothing, staring unflinchingly through slitted eyes at one of the motionless—but still living—bodies.

"Gods save us!" one of Shalaman's bodyguards stammered. "That is the Disgraced One. The Nameless One."

"Who?" Skan said, "What? What are you talking about?"

"This is the One With No Honor," Shalaman said levelly. "My brother."

The "Nameless One" was bundled up like so much trash, put under as many magical bindings and coercions as the priests could get to work, and then hustled off to some unknown destination. His compatriot was not even treated with the respect one gives sewage. Somehow, Amberdrake had the feeling that this was going to be the most pleasant portion of their experiences with the priests....

Neither Amberdrake nor Skandranon were permitted to leave, although Aubri and Zhaneel were told politely to return to the main part of the Palace with Shalaman and his bodyguard, and wait for them. Amberdrake wasn't particularly worried; actually, he was wearied, not worried. In many ways, he and Skan were the heroes of the moment; you don't mistreat your heroes, not even when they've learned something politically delicate, so he didn't have any fear that the "escort" was a thinly veiled guard. In the meantime, he leaned against Skandranon, resting in the glossy black feathers.

Eventually, Leyuet himself arrived, and with him, Palisar.

Skan pulled himself up to his full height as they came through the door, and leveled a stern eye on both of them. "All right," he said. "I assume that we are still here because we now know something that is delicate. So you wanted to speak to us in relative privacy, with no other ears about but those of the Spears. So—speak. You can start with this so-called Nameless One, and what he did to get that way. The sooner we know, the sooner we can eat and bathe and sleep and climb our mates, in whatever order feels right at the time."

"I understand. I would rather not speak of this one," Palisar said with distaste as he took a seat. "Hadanelith has already revealed to us that this piece of trash called himself Noyoki, which means No One, and we would all wish he had beenno one." Palisar's brows knitted together as he frowned. "He is a blot upon the honor of his family. Still, you have earned the right to know all, and Shalaman has ordered us to reveal it to you. I will not swear you to an oath, but I would ask that what we tell you goes no farther than your respective mates. The fewer who know the whole of this, the better."

He looked pointedly at the two Spears still in the room. They took the hint, and left, closing the door behind him firmly. Amberdrake leaned forward, expectantly.

"The 'Nameless One' is Shalaman's brother," Leyuet began, but Palisar interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"Half-brother," the priest corrected. "Shalaman's mother was King Ibram's First Consort, and—let us continue to call him Noyoki—this man Noyoki was the last son of the Third Consort, who would be ashamed to have given birth to him were she still alive."

"She was a good woman," Leyuet agreed. He rubbed his temples wearily; by now he must have a headache that matched Amberdrake's. "There is no blame to her for giving birth to a creature without honor. Perhaps if others had the rearing of him—well, it may be that we shall never know. Perhaps he was without honor from the begi

Palisar raised a skeptical eyebrow but did not comment upon that observation. "Noyoki was selected as a child as one who had many powers," Palisar continued. "He was sent to the priest-school, just as others of his kind have been and will be. He then misused his magical powers and supposedly was rendered magically impotent. Somehow this did not take place, and you may be certain we will find out what it was that prevented the removal of his powers, and why it was not discovered that he had been left potent."