24
It was late in the morning when the prince finally appeared. As he stepped out of his shelter, he nearly fell over Sparrow and the other children playing outside, with Creaking Bough and Thunder Storm apparently supervising them. He glanced up into the tree, but the owl was gone. However, as he scanned the area, he spotted a large black kite up in a distant tree but in full view of Tarkyn’s shelter.
“Good morning, all,” he said. “You’ve been playing very quietly. I didn’t even hear you.”
Sparrow looked up and gasped, “Tarkyn! You look terrible. I thought you were going to fix your face.”
The bruising had now come out on his face and the whole right-hand side was mottled dark blue and purple. He had a black eye, and his jaw and one side of his lip were swollen.
Thunder Storm stood u
