Peregrine, bastard son of King Paladrine, thought he had trouble when he was transformed by a sorcerer into a falcon. In fact, his real troubles began when the prepubescent Princess Ruby accidentally changed him back into...well, almost a prince: A bastard. Whereupon he was dragged off by a dyspeptic dragon, smooched by a sphinx, wooed by the weefolk, and finally appointed Sub-Imperial-sub-Legate, which is still not quite a prince, but somewhat more elegant than a bastard.... Rich in an exotic sense of place and love of strange incident, this second book in the Peregrine series is a dryly and exuberantly funny peregrination through the lighter side of the dark ages.