Queen of Stars by Dave Duncan Page B

said.
    “Nor did I.” Fomalhaut scowled at Rigel, rubbing his shoulder as if it had been soiled by the halfling’s touch.
    “I shall add Mintaka and Alkes to the summons that has already been sent to Prince Vildiar,” the queen announced. “If he cannot produce them when court assembles at noon tomorrow, we shall ask why.”
    She would never get Vildiar to testify on the Star of Truth and no one in the Starlands would dare to arrest a Naos, but she had apparently decided to provoke a confrontation of some sort. She showed her youth sometimes by refusing to listen to her advisors’ counsel. Only rarely did she pay attention to Rigel’s views; he was a foreigner, a mere babysitter, and not much older in years than Izar. All he could do was hope that she wasn’t making a horrible mistake.
    “However badly Mintaka got mangled,” he said, “they’ll never mistake him for human. I wonder if yesterday’s three bodies survived the fire?”
    “Enough of them did,” the queen said. She turned and walked away, so Rigel and the two mages necessarily followed. “We have identified two of them, Aludra and Benetnash. The third was unrecognizable. Starfolk Mizar and Achird were keeping watch over the gallery, and when the bodies were removed, they trailed the vehicles.”
    She came to a grouping of sofas and armchairs outside the seance court. Achird, another mage trainee, was stretched out there, fast asleep. Whereas Mizar was a typical halfling-despising snob, Achird was the closest thing to a friend Rigel had among the adult male elves. Mizar came from a family blessed by high magical talent, in which reds were commonplace and even Naos cropped up every few generations. By way of contrast, Achird had few relatives above yellow grade, which was the Starlands equivalent of being poor. He was the first red his family had produced in centuries. He was no taller than Rigel and his scalp fur was a sandy shade that would not have seemed out of place anywhere in northern Europe. He even had a sense of humor, unlike most starfolk over the age of a hundred.
    Talitha sank into a chair, but did not invite the others to sit. The smile she directed at Rigel was not a sharing smile. It made him think of tigers and young ladies of Niger.
    “They also kept watch on the room where the bodies were stored. A few hours ago, Hadar, Botein, Sadalbari, and Mintaka extroverted in. They proceeded to steal the bodies and introvert with them. Mintaka left the building on foot.”
    “But now the denizens of Earth may have two other cadavers to categorize,” Fomalhaut proclaimed. “Mizar, return to the seance court and determine whether the tweenling twosome extricated themselves from their vehicular contraption before it impinged on the other traffic.”
    His apprentice ran off. Talitha dismissed the problem with a flick of her fingers. She had lost interest in the extroverting halflings now that there was no urgency to find out what they were up to. The Light of Naos that glowed around her neck and shoulders was sparkling much redder than usual. Rigel had rarely seen her truly enraged and never before had her fury been directed at him. Perhaps now he would know better than to drink champagne with a promiscuous woman. Or not.
    “He had an access amulet, I suppose?” he asked. Earth’s best locks could not withstand magic.
    “Of course. But he set off alarms. That’s how the city guard was alerted, I imagine. Halfling Alkes was waiting outside with that big vehicle while he and Mintaka drove off to collect the guns. Mage Mizar was still watching, and he seanced after them. That’s when I tried to call you, halfling. And where exactly were you?”
    Fomalhaut sneered in the background.
    “I was with a friend, Your Majesty,” Rigel said.
    The starry glow had spread up her chin and down almost to her breasts. It glowed even redder. “It could only be that hairy halfling hussy, I suppose?”
    This was going to be their first lovers’ spat, and