Free The Fugitive Prince (Bell Mountain) by Lee Duigon Page A

than my hand. Boy, howdy, did he grow fast! But he’s attached to me, and he won’t go anywhere without me. Don’t be afraid of him. He won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt me. Come and sit down, and have a bite to eat.”
     
    Cavall didn’t seem to be too much put off by the bird or the man, so Ryons decided to sit down.
     
    “What’s your name, boy?”
     
    “Ryons.”
     
    “Just like the king, eh? Ever seen him?”
     
    “No.” Ryons shook his head. Maybe he should have lied about his name, but it was too late now.
     
    “Never been in Obann City, myself,” Perkin said. “I don’t think they’d let me in with Baby, and I won’t go without him.” He looked up at the bird. “Sit down, Baby.” And the killer sat down next to him. “Where are you headed, Ryons—if you don’t mind my asking?”
     
    Ryons shrugged. “Lintum Forest,” he answered.
     
    “That’s a long way off. And the country’s full of bandits. It’s dangerous. Maybe I’d better go with you for a ways.”
     
    “Why would you want to do that?”
     
    “I can do anything I please,” Perkin said. “I want to protect you from the bandits. You see this wagon? There were people in it. The bandits took them to sell them into slavery, or else just kill them for the fun of it. They took the animals, too, and everything that was in the wagon. They didn’t want the wagon, so they broke it up and burned it. I saw the whole business from a hilltop. But there were an even dozen of them, all on horseback, so Baby and I didn’t interfere. When the bandits left, I came down to cook my dinner on the fire.”
     
    He withdrew the stick from the flames, sniffed it, and took a little taste. He tore off a piece and tossed it into the air. Baby caught it and swallowed it.
     
    “Roast rabbit,” he said. “Have some.”
     
    It was delicious, and finished all too soon. Cavall got a share, too. Perkin yawned and stood up.
     
    “Let’s move on,” he said. “It’s a nice day for a walk, and it’s a long way to Lintum Forest.” Ryons noticed, then, that he wore a short sword in a leather sheath and had a sling tucked into his belt.
     
    Why would the stranger want to protect him? Maybe it was a trick. Maybe he and Cavall could quietly leave him during the night, Ryons thought. But he said, “It’s good of you to travel with me, sir. Thank you.”
     
    Perkin had a lean, tired, weather-beaten face; but when he grinned at Ryons, he looked full of life and ready for anything.
     
    “It’s my pleasure to do it,” he said. “Anyhow, I wouldn’t like to trip over your skeleton someday and think it was my fault you were killed. Besides, you’ll be someone to talk to for a few days.”
     
    Ryons walked off with the wanderer, with the enormous killer bird stalking ahead of them and Cavall sticking close to Ryons’ side. He hadn’t entirely made up his mind about these strangers. But Ryons reminded himself that he was under God’s protection, and silently prayed it would continue to be so.
     

 
    Chapter 13

    How Dakl Came to the Palace
     
    Gurun was not really queen of anything, although everybody called her one and she’d given up trying to make them stop. The people of the city cheered her whenever they saw her (which she didn’t understand), and the chiefs accepted her because she, like Obst, had the gift of understanding tongues.
     
    But now or never, she supposed, she would have to play the queen. If the chiefs decided to cast her out of the city, so be it.
     
    She went to see the Chief Spy in his office, and she went alone, telling no one of her errand. It used to be a little-used storeroom in a remote corner of the sprawling government edifice that was now the royal palace. For all most people in the palace knew, it still was.
     
    “How may I serve you?” Gallgoid asked. He didn’t say “Your Majesty.” But he did go to his door, peer up and down the hall before shutting it, and move a chair into position for her.