She had kept his presents, yes, but they could never bring a smile to her face when he had stayed away for a long time. Only fire could do that, and for a moment – a seductive moment Dustfinger was tempted to step out of the gaping crowd, take his place among the other entertainers performing tricks for the prince’s grandson, and summon fire just for his daughter’s sake. But he stood where he was, invisible behind the throng, watching her smooth back her hair with the palm of her hand in the same way as her mother did so often, unobtrusively rubbing her nose and shifting from foot to foot, as if she’d much rather be dancing down there than standing stiffly here.
“Eat him, bear! Eat him up this minute! So he really is back, but do you think he’s planning to go and see an old friend?”
Dustfinger spun around so suddenly that he almost fell off the barrel where he was still standing.
The Black Prince was looking up at him, with his bear behind him. Dustfinger had hoped to meet him here, surrounded by strangers, rather than in the strolling players’ camp, where there were too many who would ask where he had been. . The two of them had known each other since they were the same age as the prince’s grandson enthroned in his chair on the platform – the orphaned sons of strolling players, adult before their time, and Dustfinger had missed that black face almost as much as Roxane’s.
“So will he really eat me if I get off this barrel?”
The Prince laughed. His laughter sounded almost as carefree as in the old days. “Maybe. After all, he’s noticed that I really do have a grudge against you for not coming to see me. And didn’t you scorch his fur last time you two met?”
Jink crouched on Dustfinger’s shoulder as he jumped off the barrel, chattering excitedly in his ear. “Don’t worry, the bear doesn’t eat your sort!” Dustfinger whispered to him – and hugged the Prince as hard as if a single embrace could make up for ten years.
“You still smell more of bear than man.”
“And you smell of fire. Now tell me, where’ve you been?” The Black Prince held Dustfinger at arm’s length and looked at him as if he could read in his face everything that had happened during his friend’s absence. “So the fire-raisers didn’t string you up, then, as many folk say. You look too healthy for that. What about the other story – that the Adderhead locked you up in his dankest dungeon? Or did you turn yourself into a tree for a while, as some songs say, a tree with burning leaves deep in the Wayless Wood?” Dustfinger smiled. “I’d have liked that. But I assure you, even you wouldn’t believe the real story.”
A whisper ran through the crowd. Looking over all the heads, Dustfinger saw Farid, red in the face, acknowledging their applause. Her Ugliness’s son was clapping so hard that he almost fell off his chair. But Farid was searching the throng for Dustfinger’s face. He smiled at the boy – and sensed that the Black Prince was looking at him thoughtfully.
“So the boy really is yours?” he said. “No, don’t worry, I’ll ask no more questions. I know you like to have your secrets, and I don’t suppose that has changed much. All the same, I want to hear the story you spoke of, sometime. And you owe us a performance, too. We can all do with something to cheer us up. Times are bad, even on this side of the forest, though it may not seem so today. . ”
“Yes, so I’ve heard already. And the Adderhead obviously doesn’t love you any better than before. What have you done, to make him threaten you with the gallows? Did the bear take one of his stags?” Dustfinger stroked Jink’s bristling fur. The marten never took his eyes off the bear.
“Oh, believe me, the Adderhead scarcely guesses half of what I do, or I’d have been dangling from the battlements of the Castle of Night long ago!”
“Oh yes?” The tightrope-walker was sitting on his rope above them, surrounded by his birds and swinging his legs, as if the milling crowd down below had nothing to do with him. “Prince, I don’t like that look in your eye,” said Dustfinger, looking up at the men walking the rope.
“You’d do better not to provoke the Adderhead anymore, or he’ll have you hunted down just as he’s hunted others. And then you won’t be safe on this side of the forest, either!”