Fey 02 - Changeling Read Free Page B

The King never traveled alone any more.   Before the Fey arrived, he traveled with two guards whom he would often dismiss so that he could talk with his people alone.   He stopped that practice immediately, and introduced measures all through the Isle that protected the Islanders from the Fey.   Rugar sometimes felt that his biggest mistake was not disobeying his own father's wishes, but underestimating the Islander King.
    The cloud was growing bigger.   Rugar brought up his bow, placed the end of the arrow against the string, and waited.   He could make out tiny figures now — a dozen men, maybe more.   Even with all his learning, the King had not yet discovered women as a powerful fighting force.   The Islanders' innate dismissal of women probably caused some of the trouble Jewel was having in the palace.
    Rugar glanced at the revolving circle of lights.   Still there.   Still waiting.   The Powers were with him.   None of this would be worthwhile if he didn't survive.   Jewel would not know how to take advantage of the changes, and Gift was too young.   Rugar would have to guide them all.
    Now he could make out faces, some of whom he recognized from his brief dealings with the Islanders.   Lord Stowe rode at the King's right side.   Stowe did not wear a hat on his balding head, but his long brown curls were pulled away from his face.   He held the reins with a mincing precision that belied his strength as a negotiator.  
      Lord Enford rode on the King's left.   Enford was slender to the point of gauntness, with hollow eyes and sunken cheeks.   His blonde hair, also pulled back, was thin and scraggly.   He was older than the King's other advisors, but had a cunning that Rugar had discovered during his second meeting at the palace after Jewel's wedding.
    Four guards rode out front, and four trailed behind, while another four encircled the King and his nobles.   Such a large contingent.   It made Rugar wonder if this were more than a routine check of the outlying provinces.
    Alexander, the King, rode a large black stallion.   The animal had a lot of power, yet submitted completely to Alexander's control.   Somehow Rugar had not expected the Islander King to be a horseman — another underestimation.   This man was the only man in the history of the Fey to defeat a Fey invasion force.   Of course he had hidden talents and powers.   Even if Jewel had yet to discover them.
    Rugar squinted, lining up his shot.   The King was still too far away, but it would only be moments now.
    Alexander was younger than Rugar by a good decade or more.   He had a non-athletic stockiness when Rugar first met him, but that had faded over the years.   Alexander was a trim man now who looked only a few years older than his own son, Jewel's husband.   The two men resembled each other enough to be brothers.   Alexander's hair was shorter, his bearing straighter, his manner less impulsive, all things difficult to determine from a distance.
    Rugar had thought of the difficulties in telling the King and Prince apart, then decided that it didn't matter.   King or Prince, a death in the royal family would destroy the Islanders' spirit.
    Alexander was almost within range.   Rugar mentally saluted him.   Alexander had proven a worthy adversary.   Rugar would mourn his loss.
    The approaching force did not talk.   The dust cloud traveled with them, surrounding them, but obscuring nothing.   The horses' hooves clomped in unison, adding a comforting rhythm to the morning.   Rugar leaned forward just enough to make certain his target was within his sights.  
    One shot.
    One chance.
    Alexander's perfectly straight torso was within range.   Rugar pulled the bow even tighter.   He imagined Alexander's heart, beating constantly, rhythmically, pictured it as a target, and then released the bowstring. The snap sounded loud to him, but the arrow flew silently between two guards.   It pierced Alexander's breast.   He glanced