[trooperdav]

Looking for a book I read in the 80's. The general plot is about warriors that go to a special school for training that makes them elite guardsmen in service to the king. One of the royals (maybe a prince?) attends without advertising who he is, and gets in a fight with another student. When the others find out who he is, the guy who fought with the prince cuts off his hand (that struck the prince?), and becomes the Prince's most-loyal guardsman. The guardsmen have some power - a yell of some sort, I think - that they issue when they're mortally wounded or fighting.

One other detail I remember... one of the kids attending the school had a father who was also one of these elite warriors, but was no longer part of the guard for some reason I can't recall. The father was attacked in his tent with the kid, and killed five or six of his attackers. No one believed that the kid's father was one of these special warriors, because it was extremely unusual to see them outside the kings service.

Any help is much appreciated.

[cgw]

Sounds generally like a Dave Duncan book, but not the specifics.

[trooperdav]

Unfortunately, not it. Very familiar with Dave Duncan's series. The book I'm looking for is a more sophisticated writing style, from what I recall.