Forest Friends

by Royal Dixon

There were the troops of lovely children, too, whose quarters were a whole part of the palace itself, and these were a delight to White Wing, for they were gentle with him and fed him all sorts of dainties from their little brown hands.

Among these was a lovely little girl who grew to be a favorite of the Emperor's and was deeply attached to White Wing.

One day, to the latter's great distress, he saw traces of tears on the child's face as she came hurrying across the enclosed garden to the sunken pool where White Wing was looking down into the water at the gold fish. There happened to be no one in the great courtyard at that moment but the child and the stately bird. She looked around first, to be sure that what she was about to say would not be overheard.

"Oh, Prince of the Dawn, dear Prince," she began, "do you know what has happened? I have run away from the others just to tell you. It's the saddest thing in the world. The Emperor is sending all the children away to the farthermost corner of the land to keep them in hiding. And only the soldiers and the priests are to live here now. There is only one hour left, for down below the great walls there are thousands of bearers and mules laden with everything, and a whole army of escorts. Maybe we shall never come back."

Then she threw herself at White Wing's feet and clutched the flowers on the border of the fountain as she cried.

But this was only the beginning of the troubles in that great palace. What the princess had told White Wing explained much that he had observed, but what the child did not know, and what the Emperor feared the most, was the plotting that went on against his own life and the rivalries among his generals. The kingdom was being attacked to the eastward. Up that same valley that White Wing had followed in his flight, a terrible army was marching against the capital of this realm. It was an army of men from the other side of the world. Such conquerors they were as even the Emperor himself had never dreamed of.

But now excited slaves came rushing in and bore the child off. She had scarcely time to say farewell, and poor White Wing heard her sobs as they died away through the courtyards and arched corridors. Yes, his palace was being deserted, and he could walk through empty rooms and suddenly stilled hallways without meeting a soul. Everybody was in the lower courtyard watching the departure of the household.

But just as White Wing, much depressed and filled with wonder, came to a little doorway in a corner of the great upper hall, he heard voices. They were the Emperor's councilors, he knew, but why they should be there now when everybody was so busy elsewhere, he wondered. They were not talking as usual, but whispering, and a great curtain had been drawn across the doorway.

White Wing knew that the chamber was lighted by a window that opened to a tiny courtyard of its own. To reach this court without passing through the room was impossible to any one but such as White Wing. He could mount the walls by a short flight from the garden, and descend within the secret yard.

This he did, for he was bound to learn what the priests and councilors were up to. The Emperor was not with them, and he felt sure that it was something treacherous that they were doing.