The Fugitive Prince (Bell Mountain) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to find them.”
     

 
    Chapter 6

    How King Ryons Met a Man of God
     
    King Ryons lay sleeping in his bed on a summer night—the exact night, for reasons you will understand, has been kept a secret—when he woke up suddenly.
     
    All the lamps in his room were out and curtains drawn across the windows, so it was quite dark. Nevertheless, when by some unaccountable impulse he sat up in his bed, he saw someone sitting at the foot of it—not a shadowy shape, but a person who was plainly visible in spite of the darkness.
     
    Ryons slept with the door of his bedchamber locked on the inside and one of his Ghol bodyguards stationed outside in the hall. The Ghols called him “father,” although he was a boy and they were all grown men, and each and every one of them would gladly die to protect him. Therefore it was not possible for any stranger to be in his room; and yet there he was.
     
    “Sorry to wake you, King Ryons,” he said.
     
    You would think that anyone would be startled and unnerved by this. But Ryons felt perfectly calm, although he found it strange that he could see so well in the dark. Probably he was still asleep and this was just a dream, he thought.
     
    The visitor was an old man with a shiny bald head and an unruly white beard rippling down his chest. He wore farmer’s clothes and spoke to Ryons in Wallekki, the language he’d grown up with. (But he’d studied hard and learned fast, and now he was fluent in Obannese.) For some reason Ryons was sure he’d seen the man before.
     
    “I told you we’d meet again someday,” the old man said.
     
    Now he remembered! “Yes—when Cavall and I were on our way to the city before the great beast came, and the battle—”
     
    The man nodded. When Ryons trekked all the way from Lintum Forest to the city of Obann with only Cavall the hound for company, this man met them and encouraged him to finish his journey.
     
    And again, that time the people in the city closed the gates against him, it was an old man very like this one who went on ahead, leading the way. Ryons saw him, but none of the Ghols could. Riding along beside him, Queen Gurun saw someone else entirely. How that could be, Ryons never understood.
     
    “King Ryons,” said the visitor, “the Lord is pleased with you, and now He wants you to do something. Will you do as He asks?”
     
    Ryons nodded.
     
    “It’s necessary for you to leave Obann for a little while. You are to leave tonight, right now, and return to Lintum Forest, taking no one with you but your dog, Cavall. When you get there, seek out your friend Helki. He’ll know what to do.”
     
    What was all this for? Why leave Obann? Ryons couldn’t imagine.
     
    “Am I still king?” he asked. “Or does God want someone else?”
     
    The man smiled at him. “There is no one else, Your Majesty,” he said. “Someday, if you keep God’s commandments, a son of yours shall be king in Obann after you, and his son after him.”
     
    “But who are you?” Ryons cried. “And how is it I can see you in the dark?”
     
    “Shh—not so loud. I am a servant of God. And it’s time we were going. Please put on your clothes.”
     
    Ryons was able to find the clothes he wanted without lighting a lamp. This more than anything else made him sure he was dreaming. When he was all dressed, the man of God opened the door without unlocking it and beckoned him into the hall.
     
    There Ryons found lamps burning and Kutchuk, his bodyguard for the night, seated against the wall beside the door, head bowed down and snoring contentedly. The man of God shut the door and the lock went snick. That tiny bit of noise should have wakened Kutchuk, but it didn’t. The old man put a finger to his lips and led Ryons down the hall.
     
    The royal palace was part of a vast government building that used to be the Oligarchy’s headquarters, with offices, conference chambers, meeting halls, kitchens, and everything else. Now that the Temple lay in ruins, it