“What’s this?” Tich’ki wondered, fluttering around the White Elf. “You’re such a fair-haired fellow. What are red hairs doing on your shoulder?”
“Never mind that!” Eliathanis hastily brushed them from him.
“Mmm, and what’s this?’’ She sniffed audibly. “You taken to wearing perfume, elf?”
“No!” His fair skin reddened. “It—I—”
“Oh, you were learning something, all right!” the fairy taunted. “And I’m sure it was pretty important, too! Maybe nothing to do with the stolen girl, but—”
“I was talking to a troop of dancing girls,” the White Elf said with immense dignity. Struggling to ignore Lydia’s delighted whoop, he continued, “They travel all over the country. I thought they might know Charina’s whereabouts.”
“And they really hated talking to such a pretty fellow,” Tich’ki teased, then darted sideways in the air as Eliathanis, his face a fiery red by now, took a swipe at her. “You never will catch me like that, elf,” she mocked.
“Can’t you be serious for even a moment?”
“Now, now. Eliathanis.” Naitachal’s voice was studiously serious, but his eyes glinted under the black hood. “Seems to me you’re hardly the one to accuse anyone else of frivolity. Tsk, should have known there was something warmer than ice under that grim facade.”
“Don’t you dare criticize me, necromancer!”
“Oh for Powers’ sakes!” Lydia cried. “You two aren’t going to start that again, are you?”
“What do you expect of elves?” Tich’ki laughed. They’re almost as bad as humans!”
“Hey, whose side are you on, fairy!”
“My own, of course!”
Eliathanis frowned at Lydia. “Woman, I don’t need to be defended from the likes of her!”
This is getting out of hand, Kevin knew. If we don’t work everything out now, we’re going to wind up in prison. Or dead.
Kevin licked his dry lips, thinking feverishly. Maybe he hadn’t acted like a leader up to now. Maybe that was because he had been trying too hard to imitate the leaders in the heroic songs, those miracles of bravery who were gifted with unfailing charisma. Well, that was nonsense! The boy who had left Bracklin might never have accepted it, but he was no longer so naive. Such marvelous, infallible heroes like that could never have existed—but those like Master Aidan most certainly did. Master Aidan and those other good, sensible, down-to-earth people who’d saved King Amber. People who tried to understand those they were supposed to lead, who brought them together and got them to concentrate only on their goal.
“All right,” Kevin began.
Nobody noticed.
“I said right!”
As the others turned to him, he added sternly, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? Did you really mean to rob Count Volmar?”
Ha, that made them start. “What do you mean?” Eliathanis asked coldly. “I am not a thief.”
“No? You certainly aren’t earning your keep! You were hired to rescue the Lady Charina—not to fight with each other! But bickering seems to be all you can do!”
“Now, Kevin,” Lydia began, “that’s hardly fair—”
“Let me finish!” He glared at them all. “You, Eliathanis and you, Naitachaclass="underline" I know there are long hatreds between White and Dark Elves. 1 know those hatreds go back for generations. I don’t expect either one of you to settle such ancient grudges overnight. I don’t even ask you to try! But I don’t think elves of either race had anything to do with the kidnapping and if you really mean to show your peoples’ innocence the way you boasted, you had better stop fighting and show some of that famous elvish self-control! Or is that just a myth to make humans respect you?”
“It’s not,” Naitachal said shortly. “And you do have a point, bardling.”
Tich’ki snickered. “Such a daring boy—”
“And you,” Kevin’s finger stabbed at her with such fervor that she flinched. “You’ve done nothing so far but snipe at everyone else—I don’t care about your background, I don’t care what unhappiness you’re trying to hide—”
“I’m not!” she protested.
“—but I ‘m beginning to wonder if you’re in the pay of the enemy!”
The fairy froze in mid-air. “I most certainly am not!”
“Then stop acting like it!”
Lydia cleared her throat. “Don’t you think that’s going a bit far, kid?”
Kevin whirled to her. “And as for you, Lydia: look, I know I’m young, I know that compared to you I’m as ignorant of the world as they come. But one thing I am not is an idiot!”
“Oh, I never said—”
“But you think it. And as long as you go on thinking it, you’re not letting me do my job.”
“Which is?”
“The same as all of us: freeing Charina!”
They were getting restless. These weren’t naughty children, after all. If he didn’t change his tone, Kevin realized, he was going to lose them.
“Listen to me.” The bardling pitched his voice as smoothly as ever he’d been taught. “Lydia and I learned something truly alarming, something that makes all our quarrelling the petty thing it is. Carlotta is alive.”
“The sorceress?” Eliathanis exclaimed. “But that’s impossible! Everyone knows she died years ago!”
“So we were led to think. Carlotta, I repeat, is very much alive. And you and I know there is nothing she would like better than to discredit King Amber’s reign.” Kevin look a deep breath, stalling, trying to figure out what he was going to say next. “Look you, we all know there’s always been an undercurrent of uneasiness, of mistrust, between the different races in the realm. That’s not so surprising. It may not be logical, but elf or human, we fear the unknown. And if that unknown takes the form of someone with a different shade of skin “—he glanced at Naitachal—” or a different way of life—” this time his glance took in Lydia “—well, it’s all too easy to let fear turn to hate.”
“True enough,” muttered the Dark Elf, and Eliathanis nodded.
“But for thirty years,” the bardling continued, “those different races have managed to live in peace. And why is that? Because King Amber has been such a just, impartial ruler.”
This time it was Lydia who nodded—
“Well, Carlotta doesn’t like that!” Kevin said. “The more popular a ruler her brother becomes, the more difficult it’s going to be for her to replace him. She tried to kill him once before. We all know that. We also know how she failed. But Carlotta has had thirty years to think things over. I guess she’s decided to be more devious.”
The bardling paused to catch his breath, glancing at the others. They were watching him quite seriously; even Tich’ki showed no sign other usual mockery.
“Carlotta has to know exactly how things stand between the races,” Kevin continued. “What better way for her to destroy King Amber’s reign than to use a kidnapping to stir up all that latent hatred? Once the land is torn by strife, what better way for her to seize control?”
“Could be,” Tich’ki muttered.
“Not ‘could be,’ “ Kevin corrected. “Will be, if we don’t do something to stop her.”
“Why us?” Lydia asked.
Why, indeed? He couldn’t blame the woman—who, after all was a mercenary, not a subject of the king for asking. But before Kevin could find a good argument, Naitachal said thoughtfully, “I believe I can guess why Carlotta would choose Count Volmar’s niece to kidnap. His father was a true diplomat”