Chapter 9

King's Field was a large parcel of Crown land a short distance outside the city walls. Normally used for tournaments and public meetings, twice a year it was the site of the Royal Fair. The opening day of this Summer Fair was going to be a hot one in spite of the mild breeze fluttering the brightly colored flags and pennants. The sun was already beating down on the crowd of merchants, vendors and important customers listening to the speeches that preceded the opening. A gaily striped awning sheltered the occupants of the Royal Pavilion where the king sat on a massive throne, a prince standing to either side of him and the royal retinue and fair officials gathered around. Outside the gates, a large crowd waited impatiently for the fair to open.

Ty'lin stood motionless in his place slightly behind and to the right of the king as Ky'lin stood slightly behind and to the left of him. Years of training enabled him to keep his face expressionless as he stifled a sigh. How much longer could that pompous windbag go on? He could normally do this in his sleep, but today was different. They were actually going to see the Fair, not just stand here and listen to old bores prose on about it. He looked out over the crowd, searching for David. Ah, there he was. The blond knight had his head turned away, speaking quietly to Michael, but he looked up and smiled at Ty'lin as if he knew the moment the young man spotted him. Ty resisted the urge to smile back, but it was difficult. He wanted to be out there, with David, not up here pretending to be a statue! The pompous windbag wound up his remarks, the king stood, and Ty almost sighed again, this time with relief. Father never spoke long. A few more minutes and they would be free.

David stood well back in the crowd of merchants, enjoying the opportunity to gaze at his young lover. He didn't normally like purple but he had to admit it looked good on the princes. The long, thick braids were absent today, replaced by several smaller braids, intricately coiled so that they could be covered by floppy hats later on. They had taken advantage of that too, David thought as he surveyed the short length of the amethyst velvet tunics and the long expanse of leg showing beneath them. Those tunics would never stand up to the braid test.

"They don't miss an opportunity, do they?" Michael spoke softly in his ear.

"Never," David replied with a smile. "If they did, I'd call the court physician immediately."

The king began his speech and the knights straightened. Time to go to work. As the king declared the Fair open and the crowd burst into applause, the blond knight nodded slightly at the captain of the guard and they moved into position.

The twin princes spoke briefly to their father and then gracefully descended the steps from the pavilion and four members of their Royal Guard escorted them through the press of the crowd to where their closed carriage awaited. A few moments later it moved off, followed by a bevy of onlookers.

Malen, currently employed by the Wizard Andronicus, watched the princes get into their carriage and then nonchalantly strolled after it. This was one of the more boring parts of his job, but Braccus had insisted. He was to watch the princes from the time they left the pavilion until their carriage reached the main road, and report if they approached or spoke to anyone. He followed along as the carriage moved slowly against the tide of people coming into the fair, but stopped when it slowed even more as it passed an alleyway between the rows of booths, trying not to draw attention to himself.

"What the--?" he exclaimed as a heavy weight slammed against him, catapulting him to the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

He looked up at the giant blond knight standing over him apologetically, blinking to clear his blurred vision. "S'all right," he wheezed, taking the hand held down to him and allowing himself to be hoisted to his feet.

"I'm so sorry," the knight repeated, industriously brushing the dust off of Malen's clothing. "I was watching the carriage and I didn't see you. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"No, no, I'm fine." Malen struggled to turn and look after the carriage as the bumbling knight continued to brush him off and offer apologies. By the time he was able to get a good look it had cleared the crowd and was speeding up, heading back through the city gates.

"The least I can do is buy you a drink to make up for it," the knight urged.

The spy shrugged philosophically and took the knight up on his offer of a drink. A few yards down the street a similar scene was being played out as an off-duty guardsman escorted the queen's spy into another drinking establishment. There was no point in letting them compare notes after all.

Twenty minutes later, the blond knight reached the alleyway where Michael was helping the twins into their disguises.

"Where have you been?" the dark-haired knight asked, firmly pinning a floppy-brimmed hat onto the head of an impatient young prince. "Hold still," he admonished, swatting the wriggling bottom. "This has to be secure. We can't have your hat blowing off in the middle of the fair."

"I was getting rid of the spy," David said irritably as he adjusted the cup and spoon tied to Ty's belt. "I bought him one drink and he wanted to attach himself to me for the rest of the day."

"Why do we have to have a cup and spoon?" Ty asked as he twitched them back to their original position.

"The vendors at fairs don't provide dishes the ways inns or taverns do. You bring your own tankard and they fill it for you. Leave it there," he replied as he readjusted the cup on Ty's belt, and added a Look as the young man's hand strayed toward it. Joris had chosen the clothing well, he thought approvingly. They both wore patched brown breeches and baggy linen shirts covered by leather jerkins. The shabby outfits emphasized the slight build of the twins, making them look younger than their age, closer to 14 than 17. He didn't think there would be any problem passing them off as a pair of young squires out for a hard-earned treat. Except for one small detail. "Ty'lin."

"What?"

The blond knight held out his hand. "Give me the earring."

"Huh?"

"Squires don't wear earrings, especially gold and amethyst ones."

Ty touched his ear in surprise. "Oh." He blushed. "I forgot about it."

"Are we ready?" David asked as he stuck the errant piece of jewelry into his belt pouch.

"I think so," the dark-haired knight replied. He jabbed one last hairpin into Ky's hat.

"What are we going to do first?" Ty'lin asked, starting off toward the main thoroughfare.

"First," David grasped his shoulder and hauled him back, "we're going to have a talk about the etiquette of squires."

"We've already had a talk about the etiquette of squires," Ty objected.

"Which you've obviously forgotten already," the knight reproved. "You need to walk behind us, not in front of us. You pay attention to what we tell you and you do as you're told."

"Without arguing," Michael added as Ky opened his mouth.

"Call us sir. And try to look a little less regal," David continued.

"How do we look less regal?" Ky asked in confusion.

"Slouch a little," Michael advised. "Try not to look as if you own the place."

"But we do own the place," Ty objected.

"No, you don't," David said firmly. "The princes do. You're just two scruffy little squires and you don't own anything but what we give you."

"Try to look chastened, like we're going to beat you if you misbehave," Michael suggested.

"You are going to beat us if we misbehave," Ty pointed out.

"We are NOT going to beat you," David replied in exasperation. "Now stop arguing. Squires don't argue all the time."

"Try to act meek and obedient," Michael ordered them.

"We know that's a stretch for you," David added, "but try."

"Yes, sir," the princes chorused with a grin. "Whatever you say, sir."

The knights sighed, wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

"Can we go look now?" Ky asked, bouncing impatiently.

"All right," Michael agreed.

"Ty'lin!" David grabbed him by the shoulder as he eagerly started off. "WHAT did we just say about staying behind us??"

"Wait," Michael said, stopping Ky, as well.

"Now what?" the young man wailed. "The day's going to be over before we get out from behind this shed!"

"Their names," Michael told David, ignoring his lover's complaint. "There's no point in disguising them if we shout Ty'lin and Ky'lin across the fairgrounds every five minutes."

"Good point. Let's see. Morris and Boris?" David grinned.

"No, not rhyming names. How about Parcival and Ruyen?"

"No, they need something plainer. More common."

"Will and Bill."

"Will's all right, but I don't like Bill. How about Stephen and William?"

"Thomas and William."

"Good. All right, Thomas and William," David turned to them with a grin, "let's go see the fair."

The young princes - squires - meekly fell in behind their knights, trying to look suitably chastised as they ventured out into the crowd. The chastened looks lasted all of three minutes, just long enough for them to mingle with the throng streaming through the main gates of the fair.

"What are we going to do first?" Ky asked as he skipped along beside Michael, adding a little dance step every few feet.

"What's that I smell?" Ty asked at the same time, stopping mid-bounce to sniff appreciatively.

"Boots," Michael said.

"I smell boots?" Ty asked in confusion.

"No, you smell sugared almonds," David said, backtracking and placing a hand between his squire's shoulder blades to propel him forward. "Michael wants to get new boots first. If he has them fitted now, they'll be ready by the time we leave."

"Can we look around while he does that?" Ty asked, his head turning like a young owl's in his attempt to see everything at once. "And get some almonds? I'm hungry."

Michael looked at Ky, who was doing a similar bird imitation and grinned. A few minutes later, each prince held a twist of paper containing warm savory nutmeats coated with melted sugar and cinnamon.

"Now stand there, eat them, and stay out of trouble," Michael ordered as they stopped in front of one of the booths selling leather goods.

As he chose the uppers for his boots and had his feet measured for the soles, David looked over the other selections the vendor had to offer.

"Do you two have coin pouches?" he asked, walking back to where the twins stood watching a minor mage make flowers appear in young ladies' hair.

"No," Ky said. "We don't have any coins."

"We should have gotten some," Ty said in dismay. "We never thought about it."

David went back to the vendor and chose two small leather pouches, paid for them and brought them back, handing one to each twin. "Hold out your hands," he ordered and poured a small pile of coins into their outstretched palms. He watched as they carefully put the coins in the new pouches and tied them to their belts opposite the cups and spoons.

"Are we ready?" Michael asked, coming up behind them.

"I think so," David said, turning to him. "What do we want to do next?"

"Well, I think the first thing we should do is retrieve your squire," Michael grinned.

"He was right here a minute ago! How could he move so fast?" the blond knight asked in exasperation as he looked around. "Thomas, come here," he called as he spotted the young man a few booths down, looking at a jewelry display. "Thomas!" He snagged Ty'lin by the shoulder and pulled him away from the cloak brooch he was examining. "You need to come when you're called," he chastised the young man as he led him over to the others, "or we'll go back to the leather merchant and see what else he has for sale.

"But I'm not Thomas," Ty objected, prudently ignoring the last remark. "I'm William."

"You're not William. You're Thomas!" David said irately. "And what are you laughing at?" He turned to Michael, who was vainly trying to turn a chuckle into a cough.

"Me? Why would I laugh?" the dark-haired knight asked innocently, smothering another grin. "Just because you can't remember your squire's name."

"I can remember his name! It's Thomas."

"Are you sure?" Michael asked with a frown. "I thought he was William."

"No, I'm William," Ky asserted.

"You are not!" Ty told him. "I'm the oldest, I get to choose and I choose William."

"That's not fair!" Ky said hotly.

"Stop!" David ordered them. "We are NOT going to spend the day arguing about this. You're Thomas, Ty'lin. T for Ty'lin, T for Thomas. And you're William, Ky'lin."

"W for whiner, W for William," Ty said under his breath as the knights turned and strode away.

"W for winner," Ky replied impudently, sticking his tongue out at his older brother. He neatly avoided Ty's mock blow and hurried to catch up to the knights.

~~~~~~~

The next couple of hours flew by for the princes.

They watched a glass blower turn tiny iridescent bubbles of molten glass into miniature bottles for them and then took the bottles to the perfumers where the knights helped them pick rich, heady scents to go into them. They watched jugglers tossing multiple daggers at one another and a man seem to swallow a flaming sword. They listened to minstrals sing sweet love songs, looked at rich fabrics from far away lands and furs from strange, exotic animals, and memorized the names of the merchants so they could have them brought to the castle later. They ate fat sausages on sticks and sweet bread coiled into intricate knots and candied fruits and nuts, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

"Michael," David said softly, drawing the other man to a halt next to him and pointing toward a brightly decorated booth. The brilliant orange and purple flag fluttering over it indicated that it was owned by a citizen of Samarcia. "Do you think he'd have avila ticks?"

Michael's blank look was quickly followed first by comprehension, then by a wicked grin.

"Ky," the dark-haired knight said, "there's a baker's booth right over there. Why don't you two go and buy us four cherry tarts. Come straight back here when you're done."

"Um..." Ky hesitated. "Alone?"

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Ty asked.

"No, go ahead," David told him. "You won't be out of our sight."

As the twins weaved their way through the crowd to the baker, the knights entered a quiet negotiation with the merchant from Samarcia. By the time the young men returned with their hands full of juicy tarts, Michael was returning his coin pouch to his belt while David tucked away a vial, tightly stoppered and heavily sealed with wax.

"What's that sign mean?" Ky mumbled through a mouthful of tart.

"That's the symbol for a hedge wizard," Michael replied, looking in the direction that Ky pointed. "They sell simple magic spells and potions. The one next to him is a fortune teller."

"Really?" Ty asked. "Can we have our fortunes told?"

Michael and David looked at each other over the twins' heads. "It's probably a waste of money," David told him. "A true foretelling requires a lot of magical talent and energy. You don't get that for a few coppers."

"Please?" Ky begged. "We don't care if it's accurate. It's just for fun."

"All right," Michael sighed, giving in to the puppy dog eyes.

"We need some more money to pay for it."

"What happened to the money I gave you earlier?" David asked in surprise.

"We bought the tarts," Ty reminded him.

"You spent all that money on four tarts??"

"Weren't we supposed to?" the young man asked in confusion.

"There was enough money there for four dozen tarts! Didn't you count it??"

"No. We just held out the money and he took it!" Ky explained, near tears at the harsh tone.

"But why did you give him all of it?" David persisted.

"We didn't know!" Ty began defensively.

"Don't you know what money is worth?"

"No."

"We've never had any before."

"We didn't mean to do anything wrong!"

"Easy, David." Michael touched his friend's shoulder. "You're scaring them."

David looked down at the woebegone faces. "I'm sorry, babes," he said remorsefully. "I didn't mean to shout at you. But surely you've been taught to handle money. How do you expect to run a kingdom if you don't know anything about finances?"

"We know about revenue and expenses," Ty explained to him. "We know how much the Crown takes in and how much it spends each year and how changing the tax rate affects the economy and how to judge how much the people can bear and what the Crown has to do to help out in a bad year."

"We've just never handled coins before," Ky said softly. "If we buy something the merchant bills the Treasury for it. The people there know what the price should be and pay the merchant accordingly."

"Why didn't you tell us that?" Michael asked them.

The princes looked at each other and shrugged uncomfortably.

"Next time tell us, all right? It's all right to admit that you don't know something and it will save trouble in the long run."

"Meanwhile, that merchant took advantage of them," David said darkly. "Wait here." He strode back to the baker's.

The dark-haired knight watched him argue with the man for a moment, then, as David reached out and grabbed the man by the collar and half-lifted him over the counter, Michael turned back to the princes.

"Pay attention," he instructed them as he took some coins from his pouch. "This is a half copper. It will buy one tart or one small loaf of bread or one mug of cider. This is a copper. It will buy one large loaf or one tankard of ale. This is a silver."

He was still explaining the different coins and what they were worth when David came back. "Here you go," he said, handing the twins their money. "The baker saw the error of his ways."

"With a little help from your fist?" Michael asked drily.

"He didn't respond to my charm," David replied with a grin.

"Can we go see the fortune teller now?" Ty asked hopefully.

~~~~~

"Well, that wasn't very exciting," Ty complained a little while later. "All she told us was that we're facing a grave danger. We already knew that."

"She told us we're going on a long trip," Ky reminded him. "And that we're going to have a lot of adventures."

"She probably tells every squire that," Ty said dismissively. "Now what?"

"I'm hungry," Ky announced.

"You've been eating nonstop since we got here!" Michael said disbelievingly. "All right, all right," he added as a tragic pout began to form. "What if we get some food and go to the entertainment green? We can watch the performances while we eat."

"Good idea," David agreed. "Ty-Thomas and I will get the food if you and William get the drinks."

"Ale?" Michael asked as he took David's tankard.

"That's fine. And cider for Thomas."

"I want ale, too," Ty objected. "Or wine."

"Me too," Ky chimed in. "Cider is for babies."

"Do we need to have another discussion on the etiquette of squires?" Michael asked sternly.

"A hands-on discussion?" David queried.

"I'd like two mugs of cider and two tankards of ale," Ky told the vendor a few minutes later. He set their cups and the knights' tankards on the makeshift bar. "That's three coppers, right?" He carefully sorted 2 coppers and 2 half coppers from his small supply and then looked up at Michael for confirmation.

"Smart young man," the merchant complimented as Michael smiled approvingly. "You must be proud of him."

"I am," Michael smiled, and Ky glowed with pleasure.

Carrying the drinks, they met David and Ty, who were carrying an assortment of food, and they all walked to the entertainment green together. This was nothing more than a large grassy area with rough-hewn benches at one end and a platform at the other. The lucky people managed to find space on the benches, others sat in the grass or stood along the sides.

"There's a place big enough for all of us," David said, pointing to a bench that had just been vacated, and soon the twins were tearing into roast fowl, bread and cheese while watching an exhibition of falcons and hawks.

"Are the birds for sale?" Ty asked David as the show ended. "I liked that merlin he had."

"They are," David replied, "but you can't go talk to him now. A squire wouldn't have the money or the knowledge to choose one of those birds."

"Get his name and the princes can send for him," Michael advised. "It's better to bargain with him on your own ground anyway."

"They're going to do a play next," Ky observed as Ty ran off to find out the man's name. "Can we stay and watch it, too?"

"Sure," Michael said easily. "Why don't you stay here and hold on to our bench and David and I will get us some dessert."

Ty came back shortly after they left and Ky explained where they had gone.

"I'm glad we came," Ty said as he sat down next to Ky. "I'm having a good time."

"Me too," Ky agreed. "Being a squire isn't so bad."

Michael and David returned just as the play started and they dug into pastry cones full of golden custard as they watched the play, a fantasy about a poor young woman persecuted by her evil stepmother.

"Why did she get a fairy godmother to help out?" David muttered to Michael. "Evil stepmothers seem to be a lot easier to handle than evil dragons."

"And how did we end up with both?" Michael muttered back.

~~~~~

"Now what?" Ty asked as the play ended.

The knights looked at each other over the princes' heads. "My boots won't be ready yet," Michael said. "What if we go look at the games?"

"Games?" The twins brightened. "What kind of games?"

"Mostly games of skill," David explained as they walked along. "There are games of chance, but they're usually rigged in favor of the vendors. The games of skill are, too, but you have a better chance of winning them. At least we do," he added with a grin, pausing to watch two men engaging in a mock battle while balanced on a log lying in a pool of water. "Michael?"

"No, not that one," Michael said with a laugh as one of the men lost his balance and landed with a splash. "You might try your hand at the dagger throw, though."

A short while later, the twins were laden with small prizes that the knights had won at the dagger throw, the axe throw, the miniature catapult and the climbing wall.

"Why don't you try the archery?" Michael suggested as he fastened a newly won leather band on Ky's hat. "I think you're both good enough to win something."

"Do you really think so?" Ky asked doubtfully.

"Try it," David advised.

To the twins' intense delight, they each placed 3 arrows in the smallest circle on the target and were able to pick out small gifts for the knights.

"What's this?" Ty asked, fingering a small iridescent teardrop that lay among the other prizes in the basket.

"It's a dragon's tear," the vendor replied expansively. "Collected at great personal risk from an evil dragon's lair high in the mountains of-"

"The glassblower's booth," David interjected as Ty jerked his hand away from the basket. "He makes them out of bits of leftover glass."

"Oh." Reassured, Ty picked one up and looked it over carefully. It was a small many-hued swirl of rich blues and greens, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. "I'll take this one."

Ky picked out a similar one in blues and purples and they handed them to the knights as they walked away.

"It's not very much," Ty said awkwardly. "But maybe they're a good omen."

"I'll treasure it," David told him sincerely, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a quick hug.

"What are they doing?" Ky asked, pointing to a small crowd gathered around some kind of game.

"Let's take a look," Michael told him as he carefully put the teardrop away.

A tall post stood in a cleared area surrounded by the laughing, cheering crowd. Two rope ladders were attached at the top of it on opposite sides and fastened to the ground about 20 feet away, at a 30 degree angle. There was a brass bell on top of the post and two townsmen were trying to climb the ladders and ring the bell while the spectators cheered them on. One man made it about 4 feet before the ladder twisted under him and he fell to the ground. The other one made it a short distance higher, then the ladder turned under him as well, dumping him on his back in the dirt. The crowd erupted in more laughter and applause as the two men ruefully stood and two more took their places.

"What are they doing?" Ky asked in puzzlement.

"It's based on a technique for getting a man into a moated castle," Michael explained. "You attach a rope ladder to a line on a grappling hook and throw the hook over the wall. Once you're sure it caught, you stake the other end of the ladder to the bank and you can cross the moat and go over the wall. Then you can open the gate and let your troops in."

"Wouldn't it be pretty easy to pick you off while you were crossing?" Ty asked skeptically.

"That's why you do it in the middle of the night," David replied.

"Here, they have to climb the ladder and ring the bell to win," Michael continued. "Since the ladders are attached by a single rope in the center at the top and bottom, you have to keep your weight perfectly balanced or the ladder turns over and you fall off."

There was another round of cheering and jeering as two more men fell, knights this time. A tall, well-dressed, pretentious-looking man, a member of the queen's faction by the look of him, swaggered to the head of the line. "Let me show you how it's done," he ordered pompously. "The way a real knight does it, not a bunch of country bumpkins."

He carefully laid aside his richly embroidered surcoat and then got a good grip on the sides of the ladder. He made the first two rungs with no problem, then he slowly and carefully moved first one foot and then the other as the ladder swayed from side to side and the crowd oohed at his skill. He moved one hand and the ladder teetered, but he quickly put his hand back and held still until it stopped shuddering.

"He isn't going to make it," David announced, surveying him clinically. "Once you stop like that you're gone."

"A copper says he does," a heavyset farmer overheard him and called out.

"It's your money," the blond knight replied with a grin. "But I have to tell you he's going about it all wrong."

"What do you know?" the knight on the ladder demanded, twisting around to glare at David. The sudden movement was his undoing as the ladder flipped him over to hang from its underside. He clung tightly for a moment, then let go and landed on his back with an audible thud as the crowd laughed and jeered.

He bounced up and strode over to where David was collecting his copper. "I suppose you think it was funny, distracting me like that!" he lashed out. "I suppose you think you could do better!"

"I know we could," David laughed as he put the copper away.

"Two silvers says you can't!" the man blustered, and the crowd hushed expectantly at the new entertainment.

"Two silvers says we can," David returned in obvious enjoyment.

"Wait a minute," Michael interrupted the exchange. "Are you challenging both of us? And if so, is it two silvers each or two silvers to the one that does it first?"

"Two silvers each if you both do it," the man offered recklessly. "None if only one of you makes it."

"Done!" Michael said. "And I'll bet you a silver I make it first," he added to David with a grin.

The two knights removed their boots and handed them to their squires.

"Normally we'd either wear soft boots to do this, or we'd tie our boots together and put them around our necks so we'd have them on the other side," David told them. "But for today, you can hold them for us."

He and Michael took up their positions a few feet from the ends of the ladders and spit on their hands, then looked at the vendor. "Ready."

"Not yet," he announced severely. "Someone has to give me two half-coppers first."

"Pay the man, David," Michael instructed his partner.

"Why me?" David asked indignantly.

"Because you got us into this," his partner replied. "*I* was just going to watch."

David sighed and pulled a copper out and handed it to the vendor, then got back into position. "Ready," he repeated.

"One... two... three... GO!" shouted the vendor.

They both hit the ladders at the same time, moving quickly and expertly. The ladders twisted and teetered back and forth as the knights shifted their weight rapidly from one hand and foot to the other. Just as it seemed a knight would be flipped off he threw his weight back to the other side, never quite reaching the point of no return. It seemed an even race at first, but Michael pulled ahead at the last minute, reaching out to ring the bell a split second before David.

As the crowd applauded, they collected their silvers from the disgruntled knight and David handed one of his to Michael.

"Why could you do it and those other knights couldn't?" Ky asked curiously as the two men sat down to pull on their boots.

"It isn't something knights usually do," David explained. "Most of them are pretty snobbish. They have a narrow range of skills that they consider proper for their status and they won't do anything outside that range. We're mercenaries, so we're willing to do a lot of things that knights wouldn't ordinarily do. That little extra skill can make a difference in whether we're hired or not."

"And whether we win or lose the war afterwards," Michael added.

"So if we ever go to war, we need to hire mercenaries," Ty said shrewdly.

"Well, either that, or start a new training program for your knights," Michael replied with a laugh.

"If we did, would you be in charge of it?" Ty asked thoughtfully.

"Ask us again when you're king," David told him with a smile.

"What's that?" Ky asked, pointing to a framework that looked like a guillotine with a heavy weight attached to it.

"That's a medallion press," Michael told him. "Let's go take a look."

They joined the small crowd gathered around the press.

"You choose two dies," David explained. "One for each side of your medallion. They put them in the press with a bronze disk between them. He raises the weight and when he drops it, it lands with enough force to press the images into your medallion."

As they watched, the weight was winched up to the top of the framework and the vendor let it go to come crashing down on the press. The vendor winched it up again and tied it off, then offered the buyer the choice of a ribbon or leather cord to go with it.

"Would you like one?" Michael asked Ky. "As a souvenir of your first fair?"

"Please," Ky replied.

Ty looked at David, who nodded. "One for you, too."

They waited until there was an opening in the onlookers and then took their turn at the heavy wooden case that held the dies.

"The stag for one side," Michael told Ky. "It's part of my family's crest. You choose what goes on the other side."

Ky fingered the various dies indecisively. "Not the crown," he said. "But I don't know what to choose instead."

"How about your initial?" Ty asked him, pointing out the stylized letter K. "Then I could get a T and David could get a..." he looked at the big knight.

"A hawk," David contributed. "That's a symbol of my family."

"Can we get two of each?" Ty asked. "We'd like you to have a souvenir of today, too."

Soon the vendor had taken the first two dies and created medallions for Michael and Ky. As he changed the dies and started the process for the other two, Michael drew Ky to one side. Tying the leather cord he had chosen, he slipped it over Ky's head with a wordless smile, giving him a brief hug at the same time.

"Bend down," Ky requested, standing on tiptoe to slide the cord of the other one over Michael's head. He gave it a brief pat as it rested on the big man's shirt.

"Now what?" Ty asked as he joined them, fingering the bronze disk that David had placed on him.

"Now we get my boots and go home," Michael replied, looking at the sun.

"But we haven't seen everything yet," Ky protested.

"We've seen enough," David said firmly. "It's going to be dark soon and we need to get you two back into the castle before the guards change."

They picked up Michael's boots and then strolled to the stable where the knights had left their horses, the princes hanging back as much as they dared, trying to take in one last glimpse of everything.

"Come on, you two," Michael called as they dallied in front of a stand selling honey-nut cakes.

"Gods, don't you two ever get full?" David asked, going back and putting a hand between Ty's shoulder blades and pushing him along.

At last they reached the stable and the knights retrieved their mounts. They led them out into the lane and swung up into the saddles, holding their hands down to the twins. Pulling the young men up behind them, they joined the throng of fairgoers returning to the city.

"Thank you for taking us," Ky said as he wrapped his arms around Michael's waist and rested his head tiredly against the strong back. "I had a really good time."

"Me, too," Ty echoed with a contented sigh, matching Ky's position. "It was a great day."