The two Nordweggian royals strolled back to their camp.

"I believe we shouldn't tell anyone that we have that book here in the carriage," Cat pronounced. "I don't think they would try to make off with it but there is virtue in keeping honest people honest. We need to remember to tell Owl when he gets back."

* I am going to stretch my legs, * I told my two-footeds. Before anyone could protest, I cast invisibility on myself and ran after the duke and the prince.

"… eye is the same but the left eye is scary, Uncle Sven," Willam said.

"The left eye is not a good basis to eliminate Cat Rider as your long-lost brother," Duke Sven pointed out. "The elves have some talented healers. It's possible that the contents of the left eye socket are artificial and made to look like an eye. It could also be a glamour. That's the explanation I like best to account for the eye-to-flame-to-eye thing we saw. It would be easy to do that with a glamour. Don't forget that they have two powerful mages in their party. So I wouldn't take the left eye as proof that it's not Andray."

"He's too short to be a member of the Nordweg family," Willam said.

"You're a year and a half younger than your brother. When you were 12, you were already taller than he was. He was short of stature for as long as I knew him. He took after his mother, who was a tiny slip of a girl. Also, both Queen Eleanor and Prince Andray caught the sweating fever. Andray was one of the lucky few who survived it but he never caught up physically after that. He always had fragile health and childhood illness can affect height."

"What about the spirit beast with a bond for Princess Roaming Wren? It protected the Princess from me."

"It doesn't fit," Sven reasoned. "The spirit beast carries only Cat Rider. No one has ever seen Wren ride the spirit beast. The spirit beast spent the day in the carriage with Cat Rider and tagged along behind Cat Rider every time I saw him. Spirit beasts only carry their bond. There's another line of evidence, though it's more circumstantial. A spirit beast in the form of a mountain cat was confirmed in the forest around Herman's Close about a half year before your brother disappeared. That spirit beast visited your brother most afternoons in Lord Herman's garden. When your brother disappeared, so did the spirit beast.

"But the..."

The duke cut the prince off: "I have more. Two of the men I sent to infiltrate the elven realm were stopped by a mountain cat spirit beast. That spirit beast by all accounts lived at the home of the King of the Green Elves."

"Cat Rider talks like an elf."

"He's lived with elves for over three years. You'd talk like an elf too if you lived with them for that long."

"Blond hair."

"There are bleaching dyes that can make darker hair into blond hair."

"The left leg."

"It's a fake. All the motion is in the knee. That tall boot is just a wrapper around a wooden leg."

"You're not making this easy, Uncle."

"Of course. I confess it would be wonderful if this young mage is your brother, but we would then have a succession crisis on our hands. We must be sure that it is Andray before the opposition can discover him. Did you know that when Prince Andray tested for magical talent, he passed but your father refused to have him trained?"

"I did not," Willam was surprised, "but why refuse to train that talent? A king who was also a mage would be an incredible combination. For starters, people would think twice before cheating you or invading you."

"I asked my brother that question after he became ill. I managed to get through all the people whose job was to keep everyone out. It was only about ten or twelve days after he fell ill, but even then he wasn't coherent." The duke's tone of voice was bitter.

The royal uncle and his nephew walked in silence for a way, then Willam asked: "What do you think the goblins will do with the Bishop of Tammerhof?"

"It will be a difficult decision for the goblins, Willam, and don't be fooled by the fact that they let us go free. They can take us into custody any time they want, If they declare war, they will. The men working for the Bishop invaded the house of the First Minister, who is also the Goblin Queen's sister, with the intent to murder foreign royalty while the Goblin Queen herself was on the premises. That's cause for war right there. Personally, I would throw a party if the goblins found cause to hang him or cut off his head," Duke Sven smiled at the thought.

"I think I would settle for cutting off his hands, cutting out his tongue, and gouging out his eyes," Willam said. "That way, he would be unable to communicate any more directions to the commission of murders, framings, and maimings. Then I would put him in a cage with a starving bear."

"Now, now, we do not have conclusive proof that the Bishop was behind the last attack on your brother," Duke Sven counseled, "and the confessions of a madman do not carry any legal weight."

"Uncle, if Cat Rider is my brother," Willam looked up at the stars overhead, "then half of that prophecy has already come true."

Duke Sven turned around and looked down the line of tents with a frown, "I've had this itchy feeling on the back of my neck as if someone was following us."

Prince Willam turned and looked, "we're the only two people I can see. Most of the troopers who aren't on sentry duty are over at Georg's wagon making sandwiches for breakfast and lunch."

"Willam, here's a serious question for you. If Cat Rider is Andray, what will you do?"

"I would determine if he would be a good king, Uncle because I do not want to be king. If he looked like he would be a bad king, I would find a way to prevent his rule even if it led to bloodshed. Then I would take the throne, unless, of course, I could foist it off on you."

"No, no, no. No, you don't. I do not want to be king."

"Uncle, here's a hard question for you. If Cat Rider is Andray, would he be physically able to be king?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Here he is, a weak and lame boy who could have stayed at home with no recrimination for doing so, and yet, he is out adventuring despite his disabilities. That's inspiring behavior and I find his refusal to take the easier, softer path through life admirable."

"I see. I guess I didn't look past what was obvious on the surface."

"There's another thing you missed, nephew. Do you have any friends that would stab themselves through their palms just to warn others away from merely insulting you? Those three friends gave up the traditional forms of adventuring to allow Cat Rider to go adventuring despite his being lame and having a useless arm. What does that tell you about Cat Rider?"

"That he can inspire deep loyalty from highly competent people," Willam replied.

"And that, Willam, is a kingly quality."