Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart (85 page)

Tavis was besieged by every type of woman imaginable. Blushing maidens so shy they could hardly speak above a whisper were at least not offensive, but watching coquettes play their flirtatious games with a youth hardly into his sixteenth year was enough to make Allister's blood boil.

Minnow and Anemone were no better than the rest—though, of course, they were not interested in their brother. However, the hunt for his favor had made them prematurely aware of their own importance in the marriage races. A few moonspans ago at the wedding they had hardly known how to move in a formal gown. Today Allister had seen Anemone modeling a dress—a gift to her from some well-wisher—that made her look far too sophisticated for his tastes.

Until, that is, he had protested too bluntly and she had dissolved into tears, racing for her room trailing brocaded silk and lace after her.

Pearl had given him a look that held a mixture of exasperation and understanding before hurrying after the girl.

And Allister had headed for the roof.

There was a spot on one of the crenellated battlements that he particularly liked when he needed to think. Higher than much of the surrounding castle, it provided a good view of both the bay and the town. Whyte Steel approved of it for security reasons—a single guard could hold the base of the tower, though two were usually posted there. Allister couldn't complain. He hadn't forgotten the assassins.

Hood pulled up around his ears, Allister was leaning back against one side of the battlements, looking out over the ocean, when a peregrine falcon plummeted out of the sky behind him and perched on the stone.

Allister's first thought was
Here's a danger Whyte didn't anticipate, or he wouldn't have let me up here either
!

The falcon, however, broke from its stoop short of the king and perched on the edge of the battlement.

Allister thought that the bird looked vaguely familiar. As it cocked his head to look at him, he felt certain. He'd never seen a peregrine as large, but for one. It studied him with a certain regal arrogance and then emitted a chuffing, churling noise that so seemed a greeting that he responded.

"Elation, isn't it? Lady Blysse's bird?"

It hunched its shoulders and shrieked softly. Then it lifted one taloned foot. For a moment, Allister thought it was going to preen. Then he saw the lead capsule tied to the leg.

The bird lowered its head and rubbed against the capsule, churring encouragingly—or at least Allister hoped the noise was meant as encouragement. He felt rather nervous for his fingers as he brought them within reach of that cruelly curved beak and those deadly sharp talons, but the bird held its ground and suffered him to remove the capsule—indeed, it seemed grateful to have it gone.

With a preliminary stretching of its wings, it dove off of the tower. King Allister watched it plummet downward, then level off and soar gracefully as if glad to be free of its burden.

Curious and unwilling to face the probable distractions that would meet him if he descended, Allister hunkered down so that the wind might not blow the contents of the capsule from his hands and used his belt knife to cut open the lead.

As he had expected, there was a small curl of parchment within. On it was written in painfully tiny print:

King Allister
—

If the Ancestors still smile on us, Elation will get this to your hands. Citrine Shield has been taken hostage by those who hold Smuggler's Light. To save her we need their ships prevented from departing into the ocean.

We understand that you have ships patrolling the coast north to the Waterland border, lest certain parties get ideas. Pray divert one or more of these ships to the area near the lighthouse. Keep any ship from leaving.

Explanations can be given to any emissary you would send, but we must beg you act without more than this. Our role is not official, but we will also be begging aid from King Tedric. We do not expect to be refused as Citrine is his heir's sister.

Elation can bear news to us. She will find you a carrier if you wish messages borne to your ship captains. Pray, do not delay. The life of a little girl
—
at the very least
—
rests on prompt action
.

This peculiar note was signed "Jared Surcliffe, Knight of the White Eagle."

Allister was reading the note over for the second time when Elation landed again on the battlement. He noticed a pair of gulls riding the wind slightly above his tower. They were not calling or complaining as would be usual when confronted with a bird of prey in their territory. The king did not think this was coincidence.

"Come," he said to Elation. "I have a reply for you to carry."

He started to hold out his cloaked arm, remembered how cruelly talons could pierce even leather, and added:

"Do you by chance know where my private library window is? There is a balcony outside."

The hawk shrieked, but whether this was "yes" or "no" he couldn't be certain.

He compromised by saying: "I will have a red scarf hung out when I am ready. Please, take your leisure and hunt your fill in the meantime."

The peregrine leapt in the air with such promptness Allister had to believe he had been understood. The gulls followed one at a time, peeling off like soldiers in formation.

Shaking his head in wonder, Allister headed down the stairs, his footsteps becoming more and more rapid as he approached the bottom. He shook off several attempts to claim his time, stopping only to speak with Calico, his court clerk.

"Two tasks for you," the king said. "First, find out how quickly
Waveslicer
can be made ready for departure. Second, find Queen Pearl. Tell her I would speak with her—not immediately, for I must write several letters first, but at her earliest convenience."

Calico bowed. Curiosity was writ large on his patched face, but he valued the king's trust too much to pry.

King Allister had just finished drafting a reply to Sir Jared and three missives to the captains of those ships that should be in closest proximity to the Smuggler's light, when a knock came on his door. Pearl entered on the heels of her knock.

"Read this, my dear," Allister said, pushing across to her the missive Elation had brought, "but hold your questions while I check these letters."

Queen Pearl did so, her round face becoming quite grave before she finished. When Allister looked up from his own correspondence, he saw that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"What madness is this?" she asked, her voice calm and steady. "Who has laid hands on this child?"

"I don't know," Allister admitted. "I know no more than do you. My guess is Queen Valora is somehow at the bottom of this. Her assassins failed to kill Sapphire and Shad, and for some reason she has settled on working her revenge on Citrine. That, however, is just a guess."

"And you will send the ships as Sir Jared requests?"

Allister tapped the instructions he had just written and began to roll them into thin spills that could be inserted within carrying tubes.

"They are here along with a reply for Sir Jared. He doesn't mention timing, but my hope is that any assault from the land will be held until my vessels are present to close off escape by water."

Pearl laid a finger to one side of her face and nodded.

"Surely," she said comfortingly, "that is not an unreasonable hope. Why request support and then not wait for it to arrive?"

"My thoughts exactly."

"But why would anyone go after Citrine without waiting?"

Allister rose and opened the doors onto his balcony, answering Pearl as he secured a red kerchief onto a bit of ornamental carving. Outside, the wind had risen and he was glad to close the door behind him and return to his desk by the fire.

"Because, I fear, Sapphire is hotheaded and impulsive. I don't know what fondness she feels for this youngest sister, but even if she cares little for her…"

"I think she rather likes her," Queen Pearl interrupted.

"… she is quite likely to go to her rescue, even if only to revenge the insult paid to herself."

"Would Sapphire be so impulsive?" Pearl asked, then answered herself. "Of course she would be."

"But that is just a guess," Allister continued. "I desire more information. To get that, I must go to where the conflict is. You will reign in my absence."

"You can't go!"

"Yes," he replied firmly. "Tavis is too young to act as my emissary. Shad is in Hawk Haven. I hate to admit this, but as of yet there is no one immediately available in Bright Bay—other than your father, who is too old for such a voyage—who shares both prominence of rank and my trust. We have been in power too briefly. Therefore, I must go myself. Sapphire and Shad are my heirs as well as Tedric's. Their actions reflect on me—more so if I am not present to deny my sanction to any wilder course they may contemplate."

"I understand," Pearl said. "You will take
Waveslicer
?"

"Precisely. The shoals that flank Hawk Haven's bit of coastline would force a larger vessel to divert further out to seas. I am sending messages to the captains of the
Boisterous, Damselfly
, and
Sea Stallion. Boisterous
is to patrol the ocean side of the shoals to prevent a ship from escaping through there to the Isles. The other two are to come in closer to shore.

"Hawk Haven," Allister continued a trace smugly, "has a navy, but their people are not sailors like ours. Most of their vessels will be in dry dock for the winter. I suspect that is one reason Sir Jared appealed to me."

"One reason?" Pearl prompted gently.

"The other may be something to do with Sapphire or with Valora or some other mystery I don't yet know enough about to understand."

Pearl sighed and pushed her hands through her hair.

"Since there may be danger to Sapphire's other sisters," she said, her tone that of one who plans aloud, "I must restrain Ruby and Opal from going too far afield, and place strong guard on them when they do. That should prove interesting."

Allister looked up from sealing the message capsules.

"Interesting?"

"I believe Opal is forming an attachment. She will not like being so heavily chaperoned. No matter. I was intending to have her freedom curtailed in any case. She cannot be permitted to form any alliances without her mother's permission. It is time she learned the drawbacks of her increased prominence."

Allister rose. "It is difficult to imagine any one of Lady Melina's daughters doing anything without their mother's permission."

"Yes," Pearl agreed slowly, "and that rather makes little Citrine's case all the more interesting. Where is her mother in all of this?"

"I expect to hear momentarily from Hawk Haven," Allister admitted. "Surely Lady Melina will have already appealed to Sapphire. She would not wait for Sir Jared to do so."

"True."

Feeling as if he might be about to make a fool of himself, Allister went and opened the door onto the balcony again. He had dreaded finding nothing there, but Elation was waiting. As he came out, bracing himself against the cold, she gave a shrill cry and two gulls dropped from the skies and landed near.

As if demonstrating what was expected, the peregrine stretched up her body so that the king could easily secure the message capsule. He held his palm flat so that Elation could see the three that remained.

"I'd hoped to send messages to three of my ships," he said. "Could you find another messenger?"

Elation stiffly shook her head—the motion was more a leaning of her entire body from side to side, but the meaning was unmistakable.

"Ah." Allister frowned thoughtfully. "That was probably too much to ask. Could one of the gulls carry two capsules?"

Again the falcon indicated "no."

"Wait then," he said. "I need to make a change."

He hurried back inside and adapted the message he had written for the
Sea Stallion's
captain, indicating that he should pass on her orders to the
Damselfly's
captain at the first opportunity.

"That should work," he explained to Pearl. "They're sailing in company."

He went outside again, Pearl accompanying him this time despite his protests that she'd take a chill.

"I don't want to miss this" was all she would say.

Allister turned again to Elation:

"Your message is for Sir Jared. Do your companions here know how to recognize the ships
Boisterous
and
Sea Stallion
?"

Elation nodded, a gesture that involved squatting low as if to cover her feet with her feathers then raising her torso as high as possible, and repeating the motion a few times. From slightly behind and beside him, Allister heard Pearl gasp in amazement. He fancied the peregrine was pleased.

"This capsule," he continued, "is for the
Sea Stallion
. She should be sailing closer to the coast."

One of the gulls edged closer. It was markedly more apprehensive than the falcon and Allister guessed that while Elation was accustomed to at least some human handling, the gulls were truly wild.

Thinking of this and recalling how he had seen gulls use their beaks to neatly flense flesh from the carcasses of whales and sharks, he had to fight to keep his hands steady as he fastened the capsule to the gull's leg.

"This capsule," he said, turning to the other gull, "is for the
Boisterous
. Weather permitting, she's out in deeper water, closer to the Isles."

Neither gull offered any indication that they had understood him.

"I guess," he said, stepping back to Pearl's side and sliding his arm around her shoulders, "we'll need to trust Elation to translate if needed."

The peregrine shrieked something unintelligible, and without further ceremony the three birds took flight. Elation caught a wind and moved north. The gulls soared higher and headed out to sea.

Clad only in an indoor gown, Pearl was trembling from the chill air, but she insisted on watching until the birds were out of sight.

"That may be," she said, "the most amazing thing I can ever hope to see."