At a questioning glance from Arin, Egil said, "Funeral pyres."
Arin nodded, and they turned away.
They had circled perhaps three-quarters of the whole, when they came in among open-sided buildings set apart from the castle and housing caged animals on display.
"The mad queen's zoo," hissed Egil, so as not to be heard by nearby attendants.
They passed among confined snow jackals and cinnamon argali and mountain springers and black renders and other animals they could not name-all trapped in cages too small, where they paced or cowered or lay dull-eyed and inactive.
Now the four came in among the mews. Here they found raptors-trained hunting birds: grey falcons, red hawks, black kestrels, golden eagles. Among these raptors stepped an iron-collared attendant, removing the hoods from the perched birds and feeding them gobbets of raw meat.
"I say," called out Alos, "be these all of the birds?"
The thrall looked around and, spying them, removed his hat and said, "Die allgemein Sprache kann ich nicht."
"Ung," grunted Alos. "He doesn't speak common." The oldster then called out, "Mehr Vogel? Wo?"
The man's face lit up. "Ah." He gestured northward. "Don bei der Teich gibt es Geflugel."
Alos smiled and sketched a bow and said, "Wir danken Ihnen." The man held his hat to his chest and bowed low. Alos then turned to the others. "He says there's more birds, fowl, that is, down by the pond."
They stepped from the mews and turned to the north and started down the slope. Just ahead and below they could see a small mere dug into the hillside, its far perimeter an earthen dam. As they approached, quacking ducks and gabbling geese paddled toward them, as if expecting a handout. But these common fowl were not what captured the gazes of the foursome. Instead it was a large iridescent bird with a crested head and brilliant blue-green plumage. When it saw them coming it spread wide its great tail coverts, and each of these long feathers was marked with an iridescent eyelike spot.
"Adon," breathed Arin, "it is beautiful."
"Is it our rutting peacock?" asked Alos, turning to Aiko.
"A peacock, yes," she replied. "Rutting, I cannot say, for I see no peahens nearby." Aiko gazed about, then gasped and stepped down to the edge of the mere, where she squatted and plucked out of the water a floating tail feather of the peacock. She glanced up at Arin and raised the plume, its eye-spot scintillant. "Dara, is this a one-eye in dark water as well?"
Arin sighed and shrugged, but Egil said, "Damnation. Are we to be plagued with symbols and portents, none of which we can be certain represents the truth?"
"Ha," barked Alos. "Now we have three different one-eyes in dark water: Egil, a feather, and me." He gestured over his shoulder. "And back there is a statue that might or might not represent a cursed keeper of faith in the maze. And here before us is what might be a mad monarch's rutting peacock, except there isn't a thing to rut, unless of course he rides the ducks and geese. What progress we are making, eh?"
Aiko shook her head and held up four fingers. "You left out one of the one-eyes, Alos: the honeyed Troll's eye we keep in a sack."
"Eep!" squeaked Alos, shuddering.
At this, the peacock craned its neck and emitted a raucous calclass="underline" Karawah, karawah, karawah!
Egil looked at the bird and burst out laughing. When Arin's wide-eyed gaze fell upon him, Egil dropped to his knees and laughed all the harder, but managed to gasp out, "Adon, if we steal this thing, it'll give us away with its shrieks."
CHAPTER 39
With Egil on his knees, laughing, Arin said, "I do not plan on stealing it, chier, although we may take it with us. The queen shall have to consider it a loan for the greater good." This caused Egil to roar all the harder, and he pointed to Arin and then to the peacock. As if sensing an insult, the fowl craned its neck and bugled a karawah, karawah, karawah! Egil whooped and fell over backward and laughed up at the sky, and Aiko and Alos joined in, Aiko tittering behind her hand, Alos cackling in glee. Arin was caught up in the gaiety, her silver laughter blending in. And the bird strutted around and peered accusingly at them as they guffawed and tears ran down their faces. Finally they got control of themselves and, wiping their eyes, they left the offended peacock behind, though now and again one or another would break into laughter and the others would grin in return. Even so, they continued their exploration of the grounds, noting any detail they thought might be useful should it come to fight or flight. They walked along the banquette 'round the outer bulwark, peering over the edge now and again to spy out places where they might drop to the ground if they needed to flee across the wall. " 'Tis a thirty-foot fall, at best," said Egil. "I think we'll need a rope should we come this way."
Aiko looked at Alos. "Can you manage a rope?"
"Oh, I can slide down one," replied the oldster, then he looked at his hands, "but I'll need a pair of gloves. And climbing? Heh, I think I remember how; though strength plays a part, it's mostly technique, y' know."
"Umn," Egil grunted. "Let us hope it doesn't come to climbing or sliding at all"-he grinned at the other three-"especially with a squawking bird in hand."
Aiko smiled, then sobered and looked at Arin. "He does have a point, Dara: we wouldn't want the bird to sound an alarm. Does the rutting peacock need be alive? If not, we can simply wring its neck."
"We can knock it in the head and stuff it in the costume trunk," suggested Alos.
Arin made a negating gesture. "We will merely hood it; then it will make no sound at all."
Aiko glanced back at the distant mews. "Ah, like the raptors, yes?"
"Yes," replied Arin. "Now let us go onward. If we must flee, there may be an easier way out than rappelling down a wall."
They moved on 'round the banquette, as if out for a constitutional stroll, and when they came above the main entrance, they paused as if to rest. As they tarried, Egil talked casually with one of the guards, and discovered that the inner gate ordinarily was kept closed and the outer portcullis down, though during this time of celebration, queen's merchants and her guests came and went frequently, as well as those invited to perform.
Refreshed by their so-called rest, Egil and the others strolled onward, and when they were beyond earshot, Alos said, "Heh, this will be even easier than expected. I mean, we'll just come and go like the other entertainers. O' course, when we go, we'll have a hooded peacock hidden away, eh?"
Egil shook his head. "What you say is true on the surface, my friend, yet many a thing can go wrong 'tween now and then. We need at least one other plan in case this one goes ill." He turned to Arin. "I think I'll see if Dolph can get us a rope. If he asks, I'll say we need it for Aiko's sword dancing tomorrow night."
"Sword dancing!" exclaimed Aiko, her gaze growing hard. "Hear me: I demonstrate kenmichi, the way of the sword. It is not a dance… or if it is, it is a deadly one."
Egil grinned and bowed. "My error, Lady Aiko."
Mollified, Aiko canted her head, then said, "Alos needs gloves."
"And we need something to stuff a hooded peacock in," added Alos, "if we don't use the trunk, that is."
They located Dolph in their quarters and sent him to fetch a rope. When he had gone, Egil said, "Tomorrow, when he'll not think of it in connection with the rope, I'll ask Dolph to find us a sack." Egil glanced at Alos. "To carry the peacock in should we need go over the wall. And speaking of ropes and walls…" Egil rummaged about in his luggage and tossed a pair of gloves to Alos. The oldster tried them on and found they fit well enough.
Grinning his gap-toothed smile, Alos tucked the gloves away, then said, "What say we eat, eh?"
They took their midday meal in the dining hall of the east tower, and afterward explored the castle proper, all but the central spire. As they strolled about, they took special note of all points of egress in the event of a hasty exit. When they finally returned to their quarters, they found a length of rope lying on Lady Aiko's bed.