Arin leaned over and whispered to Egil, "If I knew not what my eyes saw, I would think him an Elf."
Egil whispered back: "If I knew not what my eyes saw, I would think her making love in bed."
Finally Delon's song came to an end, and applause erupted and there were many calls for more. But abruptly the queen stood, her eyes shining brightly. "It is late and we are weary. Come, Delon." And without another word, she swept down the steps of the dais and across the floor and out from the great hall, towing Delon on his silver chain after.
When Arin and the others returned to their room, they found that Dolph had turned down the beds and had opened the doors to the balcony, airing out the chamber. The September night was warm, and a half moon sank in the west, casting its light across the balustrade and into the room. Doffing their clothes, they prepared for sleep: Arin and Egil took to their bed, drawing the curtains closed; Aiko set her tatami mat to the floor and settled into cross-legged repose, her swords at hand, her back against the door; Alos glanced at her and, grumbling and huffing, lay down on his couch and pulled a thin cover over himself and fell instantly to sleep.
A quietness descended, the room silent but for the soft sonance of breathing. But then, drifting inward through the open balcony door, there came the distant sounds of someone, a female, in distress. Aiko's eyes flew open and she listened… No, not distress, but rather the hoarse panting groans of a woman in the throes of passion, moans of pleasure climbing and building, ending at last with a climactic shriek. Aiko stood and stepped to the balcony and peered down into the courtyard below. She could see no one in the moonlight and shadows. As she turned to go back in, movement caught at the corner of her eye, and there on the central tower and above, on the balcony to the queen's bedchamber stood Delon. Even though he stood in gloom, Aiko knew it was he, for a silver collar girded his neck and a silver chain arced down and into the black of the room behind. He was leaning on his hands on the railing, and his head hung down as if he were fatigued. He was unclothed.
Aiko slid back into the shadows of her balcony. She stood and watched. Of a sudden, the chain jerked once, twice, thrice. Wearily, Delon turned and plodded back into the queen's bedroom.
Long moments later, gasps of pleasure began drifting down once again.
Muttering "Now I know what the mad monarch is mad for," Aiko walked back to her tatami and resumed her lotus repose as the groans built toward a climax.
After a while, the moans began again…
… and again…
… and again.
Finally, growling, "Tenti! Is she never sated?" Aiko closed the balcony door, shutting away the sounds of unhindered lust.
CHAPTER 40
In the candlemark before dawn, Egil began to moan in his sleep as another of his nightly ill dreams beset him; as if it were somehow contagious, Alos, too, began thrashing about… and meeping. Aiko shook the oldster awake, and he raised up and looked about wildly, lost for a moment, but then with a groan he fell back onto the couch and pulled the cover over his head. In the canopied and curtained bed, Arin tried to awaken Egil, but could not until the flaying of Sturgi was complete. When sanity returned to Egil, he held onto Arin and wept and swore vengeance against Ordrune once the quest for the green stone was complete.
They settled back for what little remained of the night, yet when they finally awoke, the sun was well up in the sky.
Egil called for Dolph to help him prepare baths, and he and the lad filled tubs in the bathing cubicle and selected wood from the cord to build fires in the heating chambers underneath. As they were doing so, Egil said, "Dolph, we are going to need a rather large sack-something big enough to hold our rope and swords and drum and my axe and the other items we need for the act we are to put on for the queen. Do you think you can find us one."
"A grain sack, sir, would do, ja?" Dolph spread his arms wide, some three to four feet.
"Have you something a bit larger?"
Dolph managed to shrug as he poured another bucket of water into one of the tubs. "Know do I not, sir. Try will I."
Egil struck a spark and blew on the smoldering tinder to coax it into flame. He placed the shavings in the heating chamber and added small strips of kindling. As he watched the fire grow, he asked, "Dolph, do you know Baron Steiger?"
"So I think, sir. The tall one he is, ja?"
"Yes, and he has black hair and dark blue eyes."
"Seen him, sir, I believe I have."
Now Egil began adding heavier kindling to the fire, and he moved some of the burning brands to the grille under the second bathtub and added wood there as well, saying, "Dolph, I'd like to speak with Baron Steiger. Will you find where he's quartered?"
"Ja, sir, easy that will be. The chambermaids I will ask."
"Well and good, Dolph. Well and good."
When Aiko and Arin finished bathing, Egil and Alos took their turns, the old man yet swearing that too many baths would sicken a horse, much less a human being: "I mean, Hel, boy, we could die of exposure."
By the time they were finished, Dolph had returned with an assortment of grain sacks, one burlap bag clearly large enough to hold the peacock, though the lad knew it not. Egil thanked him, and Arin smiled at the youth, and he blushed and rushed away with the surplus, stammering to Egil that he would locate Baron Steiger now.
They broke their fast in midmorn and then took to the grounds again to see what they might have overlooked. The skies had grown dark with a cloudy overcast. Arin held a hand in the air, feeling the drift of the onshore wind, then pronounced, "Ere this day is done, rain will come."
On they continued, committing the defenses of the citadel to memory. As they came into the eastern quadrant, someone hailed. It was Dolph, and they waited for him.
"Baron Steiger, sir, at the castle no longer he is." Dolph jerked his head toward the stables on the southeastern side of the grounds. "Yestermorn rode he away, tell me the livery boys do. Hard. Some mad errand he was on. A remount he took. And back he has not yet come."
"Hmm," mused Egil. "I wonder…" He glanced at Arin and Aiko and Alos, but all three turned up their hands and shrugged.
"Mayhap he will return ere we depart," said Arin.
Egil took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then said, "One can only hope." He turned to Dolph. "Thanks, lad. Have the stableboys let you know when the baron comes back, and keep an eye out for him yourself. Then come find me."
"Sir, ja," said Dolph, and he sped away toward the stables.
Under lowering skies they continued strolling the grounds. At one point, they stopped in the mews and Alos paused in conversation with the Jutlander who tended the raptors. In due time, the man bobbed his head and walked with Alos to a shed and stepped inside. After a moment the man emerged and handed Alos something. With a "Danke," Alos bowed to the man, who seemed surprised at the gesture but bowed in kind, and then Alos rejoined his companions. When they were away from the mews, 'Think these'll fit the peacock?" he asked, showing them a shabby falconry hood and tattered jesses.
They strode on 'round the grounds, pausing at the kennels as if to admire the queen's hunting dogs, but in truth they had stopped there to make certain that the raptor attendant was not following.
Then, casually, they strolled to the pond and found the peacock nearby, and laughed when the iridescent fowl turned a suspicious eye their way, as if it were expecting ill-mannered gibes to fall to the ground from their lips. But Arin cooed softly to it and the bird drew near enough for her to gauge that the raptor hood would fit rather well.