The fire snapped and flared orange. A king could not go off to face unknown dangers without his Royal Wizard, and if he did not realize it then I certainly did. He would have to take some knights with him too, of course. I glanced at their faces, wondering which ones. Joachim, the royal chaplain, cocked a questioning eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head.

“As I said,” said the king when he had everyone’s attention, “I want to tell you all something. I’ve mentioned to several of you at different times that I would like to go on a quest before I die. And now something has happened that indeed makes such a quest imperative. The queen’s uncle, Sir Hugo, who left on pilgrimage a year ago, has disappeared, and with him his wizard and two knights.”

The court had not heard this, and there was a murmur of concern and surprise.

“My quest, then,” the king continued, “will be to find him if he is alive, to avenge him if he has been killed, to rescue him if he is in danger, and if possible to bring him home.”

Again there was a surprised murmur. “How are you going to find him?” asked the queen’s aunt, the Lady Maria.

“The only thing go do,” said the king, “is to follow the route he took, through the western kingdoms, through the eastern kingdoms, to the Holy Land. He last sent a message to his wife from the pilgrimage sites.”

Most of the court were still trying to assimilate the news that their king, who rarely left Yurt, was actually planning a long journey. But two people reacted at once.

One was Prince Paul, who had been sitting quietly beside his mother. He now leaped up with an eager shout. “Oh, please, Father, please, may I come along?”

The other person was the chaplain. At the mention of the Holy Land, Joachim’s dark eyes caught fire, and he started to rise from his chair. He stopped himself then, but I could tell that the king was no more going on pilgrimage without his Royal Chaplain than without his Royal Wizard.