Shadow of the Father (7 page)

He missed the warmth of Sinch at his side. But he couldn’t miss it, or he’d just drive himself crazy. He was to be a lord with a wife, whether he wanted one or not. If he’d learned nothing else from history, he’d learned the importance of succession.

He closed his eyes and tried to push away all the thoughts crowding his head. Volyan was breathing evenly, already asleep, but it took Yilon the better part of an hour to relax. He wasn’t even aware of having fallen asleep in the windowless room, but a moment later, Volyan was shaking him awake and the blackness outside the doorway was tinged with grey.

The sun hadn’t quite risen. They walked out to the stables all together, where Maxon was already waiting for them. The palace grooms had prepared two carriages, each with two mounts stamping the ground impatiently. Their breath steamed in barely visible puffs in the slight chill of the morning air. A plump raccoon supervised the fitting of the harnesses on Yilon’s carriage, while a wiry fox with a crossbow slung across his back sat atop and watched, his paws curling around a bowl from which he lapped occasionally. Yilon thought the fox was staring at him, but as soon as their eyes met, the other looked away.

Vinnix and three footservants brought down Yilon’s two trunks and Volyan’s one. Maxon had only one case with him as well as the plain leather bag. Yilon followed that one as the servants loaded the bags into the coaches.

A paw landed on his shoulder. He turned to his father, whose other paw rested similarly on Volyan’s shoulder. “This day is far too quickly come,” he said. “I would’ve liked to have kept you young for a little longer.”

Yilon rolled his eyes, while Volyan just laughed and hugged their father back. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks,” he said. “I know, but you’re going off to take your responsibilities.” Volle paused to take a breath. Yilon looked away from the shine in his eyes.

“To grow up and be lords.”

“Not me.” Volyan looked at Yilon. “Not for a while.”

“Maybe sooner than you think.” Their father cut off Volyan’s protest with a wave. “I don’t intend to step down or die any time soon. I just want you both to know that you’re not alone. You’ll always be part of this family.”

At that, Volyan reached his other arm to include Streak in the group. Yilon huffed, slipping away from his father’s paw to walk over to Maxon. As he reached the other fox’s side, he saw Sinch hurrying through the garden, with Jinna at his side. He waved for his father’s benefit, pretending he’d seen them coming and that was why he’d broken away.

His father came over to him anyway, as Volyan and Streak embraced and murmured to each other. Maxon stepped back discreetly at a look from Volle, who took Yilon to one side. “I know how you feel,” he said, “and I just want you to remember that there will come a time when you will want this family. Don’t say anything right now. All I ask is that you remember that when you do, it will be here.”

“Fine,” Yilon said.

“And there’s one more thing I wanted to tell you before you go,” Volle said.

“Am I late?” Sinch ran up, breathless, his bag slung over his shoulder. He looked around eagerly at the foxes.

“You fun fast enough,” Jinna grumbled, coming up behind him.

Her beads rattled, a colorful mess in the grey morning light.

“Just in time,” Maxon said, and coughed.

Yilon glanced at the steward, frowning at his tone, but didn’t say anything. Jinna was beckoning him to one side. He hoped his father wouldn’t follow them, but he did, and she didn’t stop him.

“I wanted to catch you before you left,” she said. “I pulled out some of our files on Dewanne last night. There’s a history of some factions there dating from the old pre-Unification time, renewed again when we conquered Delford. It’s primarily foxes and mice, though there may be some factions within the foxes as well. I didn’t have time to go through all the notes.”

“Why did you ask about factions?” Volle’s muzzle tilted, studying his son.

“Shouldn’t I find out about the land I’m going to be the lord of?” Yilon asked. He saw immediately from Jinna’s look that she wouldn’t keep the secret from his father, but he didn’t care.

“And nobody else has arrived at the palace from Dewanne in the past week. I sent Burberry to ask around the merchants, but that will take a few days. It’s okay, he doesn’t have much else to do at the moment except get in Cofi’s way. If I find anything, I’ll send it on.”

“Thank you,” Yilon said.

She nodded, making her beads rattle. “I thought you should know about the factions.” She looked past him at the carriages, quite deliberately, but when he turned he saw only Maxon and Sinch, ignoring each other. By the time he turned back, she was already waving to him. “Now I have to get back and see if I can finish Lord Fuster’s guest’s papers before she wakes up.”

He and his father watched her scurry down the garden path in a
sshk-sshk
of bouncing beads. “Good,” Volle said, “I admire your diligence in researching Dewanne. It makes me feel that I don’t have to tell you this last thing.

Yilon waited. His father said, “Listen.”

He cocked his ears, but his father said nothing more. “I’m listening.”

Volle smiled. “No. Just that: listen. To the people who greet you, those who offer you favors, and those who offer scorn. Master Xoren tells me you are already practiced at that, but I thought—”

“You thought you’d remind me.”

“Yes.” Volle’s smile faded. “And now, I think Maxon and Sinch are ready for you.”

Yilon paused, the moment of separation calling up echoes of two years ago. “Thanks,” he said, awkwardly. “I’ll write when I get to Dewanne.”

His father smiled. “Travel safe.”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Sinch said, walking up to them. “Come on, Yilon, I think he wants to go.”

Volyan and Streak came back over for good-byes as well. Yilon hugged his brother and then waved to his family as he stepped up into the carriage, Sinch close behind them. Maxon had already seated himself on the rear bench, the leather satchel at his side, so Yilon and Sinch took the facing seats, their backs to the mounts. The plump raccoon climbed up next to the crossbow-wielding fox, and within moments, they were driving through the gates and into the city of Divalia.

By Yilon’s count, Maxon either coughed or cleared his throat nineteen times in the short drive to the walls of Divalia, even though he said not a word, his nose buried in his small book. Yilon stared out the window and tried to figure out in his head how many times it would happen on the whole trip.

Sinch finally spoke, looking out of his window at the receding buildings of Divalia. “I’ve never been outside the city,” he said. “Thank you for allowing me to come along.”

Maxon coughed, staring firmly down at his book. Yilon spoke up when it was clear the steward wasn’t about to. “Of course I wanted you along,” he said. “In fact, I brought something for you.”

Sinch’s eyes widened as Yilon brought the dagger out from under his belt. “For me?”

Yilon nodded. “What, like I’m going to carry a dagger around? What would I do with it?”

“Defend yourself?” Maxon suggested.

Yilon grinned. “I feel safer with Sinch having the dagger.”

“Really.” Maxon looked scornful.

“You should show him what you can do,” Yilon told Sinch.

“Maybe later.” The mouse turned the dagger over in his paws. “We’ll be driving for two weeks, right?”

Again, Maxon remained quiet. Yilon gave him a chance, and then said, “Depending on how fast the horses go. At this pace, that’s about right.”

“It’ll go fast,” Sinch said.

One of the things Yilon liked about the mouse was his general optimism, which is why it had been so strange that he was worried about the arrow. That led him to thinking about what Jinna had said, about the factions and the other people who’d traveled from Dewanne. There couldn’t be many, not at this time of year. Merchants wouldn’t be going home yet, and they were the majority of travelers on the roads. Now that he had a chance to relax in the safety of the carriage, he couldn’t seriously entertain the idea that someone was trying to hurt him. It was possible, of course, but who would travel all the way from Dewanne when he was going there himself? Why not just stay and wait for him? In Divalia, Yilon was surrounded by family and friends and the palace guards. Every mile put between him and the palace made him feel more isolated, less secure.

He shifted on his seat. Sinch, next to him, gazed raptly at the countryside, the cultivated fields with copse of trees defining their edges. Yilon had never asked whether his friend had left the city before. He himself thought the fields looked much the same as the fields between Vinton and Divalia, no real difference noticeable driving west rather than south from the capital. It was all bright green, dark green, with no real order to it, a field of brown here and there breaking the pattern where the early harvest had been taken in. He pretended, for an hour or two, that they were in fact driving south. That cheered him almost as much as Sinch’s presence beside him.

By the time the sun had nearly set, they’d seen three small villages and one large town, where they’d stopped for necessity and lunch. Maxon remained taciturn, clearing his throat though he never followed the sound with words. He was the one who chose to inn where they were to stay the night, saying only that he’d stayed there on the way in to the city and that it was clean. Yilon thought the name was curious: The Silent Muskrat. The inn stood by itself on the bank of a river, an hour or more from the last small town they’d seen. No picture indicated what a muskrat was or once had been, and the innkeeper, a large stag, and his young rabbit helper both scurried around too busily for Yilon to ask. But the name didn’t matter; the food was good, though entirely made up of vegetables, and the beds were well-made and clean.

The sleeping arrangements were somewhat difficult. Maxon insisted that he and Yilon stay together, which Sinch in the second room. Yilon protested, but Sinch said that he didn’t mind. “Fine,” Yilon said. “Let’s take a walk before bed, then.” Maxon showed no inclination to join them, which was good as Yilon had no intention of inviting him.

“I really don’t mind staying in a different room,” Sinch said. “As long as…”

Yilon pushed the door open and ushered his friend outside. The light of the inn died down behind them as the door swung closed. “As long as what?”

“As long as you’re careful,” the mouse whispered.

The concern in his tone stopped Yilon short just outside the door. “Did you hear what Jinna told me?” he asked in a quick, low whisper.

“Yes,” Sinch confessed.

Yilon flicked his ears. “And?”

“Did you think it might be Maxon? Who shot the arrow?”

The darkness outside the inn was nearly absolute. Clouds hid the moon and stars, so the only light came from the room in the inn where Maxon lay reading. Yilon’s eyes adjusted slowly, picking shapes out of the gloom. The river burbled quietly to their left, and the chilly air had a freshness he hadn’t smelled since Vinton: trees and grass, unpolluted by other people. “I thought about it.”

“He came from Dewanne. And he’s been acting weird. He insisted on sleeping with you.”

Yilon nodded. “But the guard’s in the room with us.”

“What if he’s in on it too?”

Now he could see Sinch twist his paws. He patted his friend on the shoulder. “If that were the case, they’d have killed us both and dumped us off on the road somewhere, blamed it on bandits. You’ve heard all the bandit warnings, right?”

Sinch dropped his paws to his sides. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “But be careful, okay? There’s something strange about him.”

Yilon nodded. “I agree. We’ll just have to stick together.”

“In separate rooms.”

He shrugged. “For the night.”

Sinch walked at his side without saying anything more, until they’d passed the inn. “We should go back,” he said.

Yilon nodded and turned with his friend, back along the path. On their way back into the inn, they passed the stag and rabbit, walking out into the night. Sinch waved to them, but they were deep in a quiet conversation and barely noticed him.

At the door to Yilon’s room, Sinch leaned in and whispered, “Take care of yourself.”

Yilon grinned. “Sleep well,” he said, and opened the door quietly. He slipped inside, nodded to the guard, and crawled into the empty bed.

 
Sinch didn’t join them for breakfast the next morning. When Yilon rose to check on him, Maxon rose at the same time. “Please, your lordship, allow me.”

Yilon stayed where he was, one paw on the table. Maxon looked sincere, his ears up, his expression perfectly composed.

“It’s no trouble,” Yilon said. He glanced at their guard, who stood next to the table. He was wearing his leather jerkin and a focused, attentive expression, scanning the room even though he didn’t have his crossbow with him.

The steward indicated the bread and honey on the desk. “Your lordship is in the middle of eating.”

“He’s usually down by now.” Yilon half-lowered himself back to his chair.

“You came to sleep at a rather late hour,” Maxon reminded him. “Perhaps his lordship’s friend was tired.”

“Perhaps.” It didn’t sound very likely, but Yilon was tired. And Sinch hadn’t had anyone to wake him up.

Maxon waved to the guard. The fox nodded crisply. He turned on his heel and marched up the stairs. Yilon sat down slowly in his chair and nibbled on his bread.

The guard returned, alone. “The young master requested another several moments of rest,” he said, before resuming his previous attentive position.

Yilon frowned. “Really?”

“He seemed very tired,” the guard said.

Maxon had already finished eating. “I shall prepare the carriage,” he said. “We have a long day of traveling.” He rose, bowed stiffly, and left the inn.

The bread was thick and chewy, the honey flavored with mint, but Yilon barely tasted it. He kept looking at the stairs waiting for Sinch to come down, his fur prickling with every second that passed. He finished his bread, finished the weak cup of tea, and the young rabbit cleared the dishes away, and still Sinch hadn’t shown up. Yilon looked at the guard, but the taller fox was looking everywhere but at him. Finally, he got up. “I’m going to go check on Sinch,” he said.