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from his home world. It was something else  something of far greater importance to Meeks. The
wizard's anger at Ben was fueled by events and circumstances that Ben hadn't yet uncovered. They had
compelled Meeks to return  almost out of desperation.
But Ben had no idea why.
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He did know that, despite what should have been adequate provocation, Meeks hadn't killed him when
he could have. That was puzzling. Clearly Meeks hated him enough to want him to suffer awhile as an
outcast, but wasn't it a bit risky letting him wander around loose? Sooner or later someone was going to
see through the deception and recognize the truth of things. Meeks could not assume his identity and Ben
remain a stranger to everyone indefinitely. There had to be some way to counter the magic of that vile
amulet Meeks had stuck him with, and he would surely search it out eventually. On the other hand,
maybe what he accomplished in the long run didn't matter. Perhaps time was something he didn't have.
Maybe the game would be over for him before he understood all the rules.
The possibility terrified him. It meant he had to act quickly if he didn't want to risk losing the chance of
acting at all. But what should he do? He had stared back across the lake at the dark shape of the castle
and reasoned it through. He was wasting his time here where he was a stranger to everyone  even to
his closest friends. If neither Questor nor Bunion recognized him, there was little chance anyone else at
Sterling Silver would. Meeks was King of Landover for the moment; he would have to concede that
much. It grated on him like sand rubbed on raw flesh, but there was nothing to be done about it. Meeks
was Ben  and Ben himself was some fellow who had slipped uninvited into the castle and tried to
cause trouble. If he attempted to break in a second time, he would undoubtedly wind up in worse shape
than he was in now.
Maybe Meeks was hoping for that. Maybe he was expecting it. Ben did not want to chance it.
Besides, there were better alternatives to choose from. Admittedly he did not know exactly what Meeks
was about, but he knew enough to know how to cause the wizard problems if he could act fast enough.
Meeks had sent three dreams, and two of them had already served their purposes. Meeks had regained
entry into Landover through Ben, and he had used Questor to bring him the missing books of magic.
Make no mistake, Ben admonished himself  Meeks had those books by now as surely as the sun
would rise in the east. That left only the third dream to be satisfied  the dream sent to Willow of the
black unicorn. Meeks was looking for something from that third dream as well; he had let a hint of it slip
in his anger. He was looking for the golden bridle that would harness the black unicorn and he fully
expected Willow to bring it to him. And why shouldn't she, after all? The dream had warned her that the
unicorn was a threat to her, that the bridle was the only thing that would protect her, and that she must
bring the bridle to Ben. That was exactly what she would think she was doing, of course, once she found
the bridle  except that it would be Meeks disguised as Ben who would be waiting to greet her. But if
Ben could reach the sylph first, he could prevent that from happening. He could warn Willow, and
perhaps the two of them could discover the importance of the bridle and the unicorn to the wizard and
throw a monkey wrench into his plans.
So off Ben went, heading south, the difficult decision made. It meant forgoing his responsibilities as King
of Landover and conceding those responsibilities to Meeks. It meant abandoning the problems of the
judiciary council, the irrigation fields south of Waymark, the always-impatient Lords of the Greensward,
the tax levy, and all the others who still waited for an audience with Landover's High Lord. Meeks could
act in his place with impunity in the days ahead  or fail to act, as the case might be. It meant
abandoning Sterling Silver and leaving his friends, Questor, Abernathy, and the kobolds. He felt like a
traitor and a coward going this way. A part of him demanded that he stay and fight. But Willow came
first. He had to find her and warn her. Once that was accomplished, he could turn his attention to
exposing Meeks and setting things right.
Unfortunately, finding Willow would not be easy. He was traveling down into the lake country because
that was where Willow had said she would go to begin her search for the unicorn and the golden bridle.
But Willow had been gone almost a week, and that search might have taken her anywhere by now. Ben
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would appear a stranger to everyone, so he could not trade on his position as Landover's King to
demand help. He might be ignored totally or not even be allowed into the lake country. If that happened,
he was in trouble.
On the other hand, it was difficult to imagine being in worse trouble than he was in already.
He walked all that day, feeling better about himself as he went, for no better reason than the fact that he
was doing something positive and not simply sitting around. He wound his way southward out of the
lightly forested hill country around his island home into the more densely grown woods that comprised the
domain of the River Master. The hills smoothed to grasslands, then thickened to woods damp with
moisture and heavy with shadow. Lakes began to dot the countryside, some no larger than marshy
ponds, some so vast they stretched away into mist. Trees canopied and closed about, and the smell of
damp permeated the failing light. A stillness settled down about the land as dusk neared, then began to fill
slowly with night sounds.
Ben found a clearing by a stream feeding down out of the distant hills and made his camp. It was a short
project. He had no blankets or food, so he had to content himself with the leaves and branches from a
stand of Bonnie Blues and the spring water. The fare was filling, but hardly satisfying. He kept thinking
that something was moving in the shadows, watching him. Had the lake country people discovered him?
But no one showed. He was quite alone.
Being so alone eroded his confidence. He was all but helpless when you got right down to it. He had lost
his castle, his knights, his identity, his authority, his title, and his friends. Worst of all, he had lost the
medallion. Without the medallion, he did not have the protection of the Paladin. He was left with only
himself to rely upon, and that was precious little against the dangers posed by Landover's denizens and
their mercurial forms of magic. He had been lucky to survive his arrival in Landover when he had enjoyed
the benefit of the medallion's protection. What was he to do now without it?
He stared off into the dark, finding the answers as elusive as the night's shadows. What distressed him
most was the fact that he had lost the medallion to Meeks. He could not figure out for the life of him how
that could have happened. No one was supposed to be able to take the medallion from him. That meant
he must have given it over willingly. But how had Meeks compelled him to do something so stupid?
He finished his meager dinner and was still brooding over the turn of events that had brought him to this
sorry state when he saw the cat.
The cat was sitting at the edge of the clearing, perhaps a dozen feet or so away, watching him. Ben had
no idea how long the cat had been there. He hadn't seen it until now, but it was keeping perfectly still, so
it might have been occupying that same spot for some time. The cat's eyes gleamed emerald in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]