Moments later they were under way. The standard bearers first, then a line of officers in dress uniforms with lots of gold and glitter on them. Then Aidan and Damien, bracketed by another pair of officers, and then the foot soldiers after them, a solid column of blue and silver that marched in perfect step.

It took nearly two weeks to make the trip from the tower to Porttown. Aidan could have flown the distance alone in four days without even pushing hard. He could have made it with Damien in probably no more than six. Even by caravan it would only have been a week and a half or so. But the soldiers went as slowly as any ox cart, and they went slower yet every time they passed through a village, because it ended up being something of a parade. Aidan was much amused, but he refrained from waving and acting like it really was a parade. Damien followed his lead and just looked around with interest. And of course the soldiers and officers marched or rode impassively, the way military men have always done. But they went more slowly through the towns, and a crowd always ended up gathered. Aidan could hear the whispers, see the looks. These people had read the posters, and those who hadn't had heard the story anyhow. And now here was a pair, almost certainly the two mentioned, but riding amid Tara's soldiers. Anybody who knew anything about the heraldry used in Tara would know that the central banner was that of the one being so escorted, and those who knew it told everyone else. The two could not possibly be prisoners or there would have been no banners but Tara's, they had to be somebody important. The posters must have been a lie, but why? Rumors flew around, and Aidan's sensitive ears picked up several theories that almost made him burst out in laughter.

Damien, who was getting used to riding, urged his pony closer to Aidan. "How come you're grinning like that?"

Aidan turned his grin on his son. "Well, partly because I am a terrible person, and I can't help messing with people. I'm letting them see my fangs." He grinned even wider. "If you could hear some of the things they're saying!"

"Like what?"

"Well, apparently I am a prince from somewhere on the other side of the elven lands, here to make a treaty with Tara, and you are my heir, and the posters that were put up were part of a plot by the King of the Wood to undermine the alliance, so that he wouldn't be surrounded by two allied powers. I think that's my favorite so far, but the one that prompted the grin was because apparently I really am a vampire, but you are also a vampire, and together we have taken over the Tower, and locked up the queen, and have all her soldiers under a spell so they serve us now, and we're headed to Porttown to take the port and control the rest of the kingdom. I don't know, would you rather be an evil vampire lord, or a foreign prince?"

Damien giggled. "Maybe I'll be an evil vampire price?"

Aidan did laugh at that. "There you go, have the best of both worlds!"