The Eyes of the Dragon(94)

"Hoorah!" Dennis cried, grinning dizzily. "Hoorah for the King!"

Then Flagg screeched again far above them-the sound of a devil-bird cheated of its prey. The whooping, the kissing, and the hoorahing all stopped right then.

"You'll pay with your heads!" Flagg shrieked. He was insane with rage. "You'll pay with your heads, all of you! Guards of the Watch, to the Needle! To the Needle! The regicide has escaped! To the Needle! Kill the murdering prince! Kill his gang! Kill them all!"

And in the castle that surrounded the Plaza of the Needle on all four sides, windows began to be lit... and from two sides came the sound of running feet and the clash of metal as swords were drawn.

"Kill the prince!" Flagg shrieked hellishly from the top of the Needle. "Kill his gang! KILL THEM ALL!"

Peter tried to get up, floundered, and fell over again. Part of his mind was crying out urgently that he must get on his feet, that they must be away or they would be killed... but another part insisted that he was already dead, or severely wounded, and all of this was only a dream of his perishing mind. He seemed to have landed in a bed of the very napkins which had occupied so much of his mind over the last five years... and how could that be anything but a dream?

Ben's strong hand gripped his upper arm, and he knew it was all real, all happening.

"Peter, are you all right? Are you really all right?"

"Not hurt a bit," Peter said. "We have to get away from here."

"My King!" Dennis cried, falling on his knees before the dazed Peter and grinning the same dizzy, foolish grin. "My oath of fealty forever! I swear my-"

"Swear later!" Peter cried, laughing in spite of himself. As Ben had pulled him to his feet, so Peter now pulled Dennis to his. "Let's get out of here!"

"Which gate?" Ben asked. He knew-as Peter did himself that Flagg would already be on his way back down. "They come from all sides, by the sound."

In truth, Ben thought any direction would do for the battle which would surely come, and result in their eventual slaughter. But, dazed or not, Peter knew perfectly well where he wanted to go.

"The West Gate," he said, "and quickly! Run!"

The four of them ran, Frisky at their heels.

135

Still fifty yards from the West Gate, Peter's band met a party of seven sleepy, confused guards. Most of them had sheltered from the storm in one of the warm Lower Kitchens of the castle, drinking mead and exclaiming to one another that they would have something to tell their grandchildren about. They did not know the half of what they would have to tell their grandchildren about, as it happened. Their "leader" was a manboy of just twenty, and only a goshawk... what we would call a corporal, I suppose. Still, he hadn't had anything to drink and was reasonably alert. And he was determined to do his duty.

"Halt in the name of the King!" he called out as Peter's group closed with his slightly larger one. He tried to thunder this command, but a storyteller should tell as much of the truth as he can, and I must tell you that the goshawk's voice was more squeak than thunder.

Peter was unarmed, of course, but Ben and Naomi both carried shortswords, and Dennis had his rusty dagger. All three of them at once pushed in front of Peter. Ben's and Naomi's hands went to their hilts. Dennis had already pulled his dagger.

"Stop!" Peter cried; his voice was thunder. "You must not draw!"

Surprised-shocked, even-Ben threw a glance at Peter.

Peter stepped to the fore. He stood with his eyes flashing moonlight and his beard riffling in the light, chill-edged wind. He was dressed in the rough clothes of a prisoner, but his face was commanding and regal.

"Halt in the name of the King, you say," Peter said. He stepped calmly toward the terrified goshawk until the two of them were almost chest to chest-less than six inches separated them. The guard fell back a step in spite of his own drawn sword and the fact that Peter's hands were empty. "And yet I tell you, goshawk: I am the King."

The guard licked his lips. He looked around at his men.

"But..." he began. "You..."

"What is your name?" Peter asked quietly.

The goshawk gaped. He could have run Peter through in a second, but he only gaped helplessly, like a fish drawn from water.

"Your name, goshawk?"

"My Lord... I mean... prisoner... you... I..." The young soldier fumbled once more and then said helplessly, "My name is Galen."

"And do you know who I am?"

"Yes," one of the others growled. "We know you, murderer."

"I did not murder my father," Peter said quietly. "It was the King's magician who did that. He is hot behind us now, and I advise you-very strongly, I advise you-to 'ware of him. Soon he will trouble Delain no more; I promise this on my father's name. But for now you must let me pass."

There was a long moment of silence. Galen held his sword up again as if to run Peter through. Peter did not flinch. He owed the gods a death; it was a debt he had owed ever since he had come a shrieking, naked baby from his mother's belly. It was a debt every man and woman in creation owed. If he was to pay that debt now, let it be so... but he was the rightful King, not a rebel, not a usurper, and he would not run, or stand aside, or let his friends hurt this lad.

The sword wavered. Then Galen let it fall until the tip of the blade touched the frozen cobbles.