“She can best just about anyone,” said Seg. “I know. I trained her.”
“Then, Seg,” I said, speaking comfortably. “Tyfar owes you his life, for Jaezila — Lela — feathered a thing all fangs and jaws in a swamp. It would have chomped Tyfar’s head for dinner; but Jaezila’s shot was precisely through one red-slitted eye.”
Jaezila looked at me over a shoulder, all round and firm under her russets. “Aye, Jak! And in the next heartbeat you sworded the monster’s mate that would have had me for its dinner.”
“I remember. You asked me if Tyfar was my son—”
“I did. And you were my father all the time! Opaz plays strange tricks on us, to be sure.”
Seg laughed, turning back to the controls. “And if all I hear and see is true then this Prince Tyfar will be your son Dray, after all.”
“If he has any se
