Free Hatchling (Tameron and the Dragon) by Jean Lamb

were so lucky, but I'll find out. You're confined to the castle till further notice." Then she went off with the guard who'd decided on the short-cut in tow. Tameron was definitely glad not to be him!
    He wonde red if the puppet play about him being the Silver Dragon had anything to do with this intrigue. Where did he remember that white fletching from? If he asked Stine about it, how could he keep Lorin out of it? He didn't want to get his friend into trouble, especially since it hadn't been Lorin's idea to go into the alley, but Gerad's.
    Perhaps he could ask the Guardian. In the next few days, he tried to find an opportunity to speak with her, but she was nearly as busy as his father. He continued to help her judge cases, but was glad when they were done for the afternoon and he could spend some time in the outer courtyards. Enough snow had fallen so that he and some of the other trainees had snowball fights, though his side also built a short wall to hide behind.
    Even when confined inside, some of the cases the Guardian taught him how to judge were interesting. Perhaps if he did well with the problems of ordinary people, he could spare his father that task in Kelemath. Many mages grew impatient with apparently minor difficulties, but a dozen eggs gone missing mattered as much to a poor family as a whole warehouse lost in a fire did to a merchant in Kelemath. The Guardian also kept him busy looking through old books of law, which had stories about unusual problems and how they were resolved. It helped keep his mind off of being confined to the castle and its grounds, at least most of the time.
    Tameron often stared at the high stone walls of the stronghold. Did they offer protection or were they just another prison? Sometimes he remembered the girl who tried to lure him to his death. What if she'd meant what she'd said? Lord and Lady, friends like Lorin were good to have, but part of him pined for someone like that girl. She’d had such pretty red hair…
    As he wandered restlessly through the castle one afternoon when a new storm kept everyone inside, he stumbled onto another mystery. He was hungry, though the mid-day meal had been just a couple of hours ago, so he went into the kitchen hoping to talk the cook into a treat. The old, fat woman was gossiping with a dark-haired younger maid, and didn't hear him walk in. "I still wonder if the accident that killed the Protector's wife and children was really an accident," the cook said. "After what happened to the boy in that evil city, who knows?"
    That wasn't right, Tam thought. My mother lived long enough to have me. He left the room and sought out Randor, who was in his own room just one floor above the kitchen.
    His servant didn't know much. The older man and his wife Esa had made pilgrimage to Lochil in thanksgiving for a good harvest, when the weather turned bad and Esa was too pregnant to make the return journey in such conditions. Then she'd lost the baby, which made her a perfect wet-nurse for Lord Sidian's newest child.
    "I heard some strange gossip, but I don't know if any of it was true," Randor said. "Esa didn't care once she had you in her arms. I was sad my own son was gone, but as long as Esa was happy and my other boys were healthy it didn't matter so much. I was more worried about sending money to my brother so he could take over the farm and care for the rest of the family. The Protector had us follow him to Kelemath, just as the old Guardian here was said to be dying."
    "Was my father here?"
    "Of course he was, though he stayed in the castle, instead of being on the island with his wife." Randor frowned. "Lady Sigaldo, his sister, took over that duty, along with a couple of her own maidservants. She was already famous for her healing skills, especially with the problems of women. To be honest, I wish she'd been able to come down and help Esa. She might have been able to save my wife when Coris Mimn couldn't."
    "I wish she could have, too," Tameron