Assassin 3 - Royal Assassin (84 page)

She never thought to ask me if I was
going.

As I climbed the stairs to my room I tried to
visualize Buckkeep as it would be. The High Table would be empty at
every meal, the food served would be the simple campaign food the
military cooks were most familiar with. For as long as the food
supplies lasted. I expected we would eat a lot of wild game and
seaweed before spring. I worried more for Patience and Lacey than I
did for myself. Rough quarters and coarse food did not bother me,
but it was not what they were used to. At least there would be
Mellow still to sing, if his melancholy nature did not overtake him
at his abandonment. And Fedwren. With few children to teach,
perhaps he and Patience could finally study out their paper making.
So putting a brave face on it all, I tried to find a future for
us.

Where have you been, Bastard?

Serene, stepping out suddenly from a doorway.
She had expected me to startle. I had known by the Wit someone was
there. I did not flinch. Out.

You smell like a dog.

At least I have the excuse of having been with
dogs. What few are left in the stable.

It took her an instant to discover the insult in
my polite reply.

You smell like a dog because you are more than
half a dog yourself. Beast-magicker.

I nearly responded with some remark about her
mother. Instead, I suddenly and truly recalled her mother. When we
were first learning to scribe, remember how your mother always made
you wear a dark smock, for you splattered your ink so?

She stared at me sullenly, turning the remark
every which way in her mind, trying to discover some insult or
slight or trick in it.

What of it? she asked at last, unable to leave
it hanging.

Nothing. I but remembered it. Was a time when I
helped you getting the tails right on your letters.

That has nothing to do with now! she declared
angrily.

No, it does not. This is my door. Were you
expecting to come in with me?

She spat, not quite at me, but it landed on the
floor at my feet. For some reason, I decided she would not have
done it had not she been leaving Buckkeep with Regal. It was no
longer her home, and she felt free to soil it before leaving it. It
told me much. She never expected to come back here.

Inside my room, I reset every latch and bolt
meticulously, then added the heavy bar to the door. I went and
checked my window and found it well shuttered still. I looked under
my bed. Finally, I sat down in a chair by my hearth to doze until
Chade summoned me.

I came out of a light doze to a tapping at my
door. Who is it? I called.

Rosemary. The Queen wishes to see
you.

By the time I had undone the latches and
catches, the child was gone. She was only a girl, but it still
unnerved me to have such a message vocalized through a door. I
groomed myself hastily and then hurried down to the Queen's
chambers. I noted in passing the wreckage that had once been the
oak door to Shrewd's room. A bulky guard stood in the gap; an
Inlander, not a man I knew.

Queen Kettricken was reclining on a couch near
her hearth. Several knots of her ladies gossiped in different
corners of the room, but the Queen herself was alone. Her eyes were
closed. She looked so utterly worn that I wondered if Rosemary's
message had been an error. But Lady Hopeful ushered me to the
Queen's side and fetched me a low stool to perch upon. She offered
me a cup of tea and I accepted. As soon as Lady Hopeful departed to
brew it, Kettricken opened her eyes. What next? she asked in so low
a voice that I had to lean closer to hear it.

I looked askance at her.

Shrewd sleeps now. He cannot sleep forever.
Whatever was given him will wear off, and when it does, we are back
to where we were.

The King-in-Waiting ceremony approaches. Perhaps
the Prince will be busied with that. No doubt there are new clothes
to be sewn and tried upon him, and all the other details he glories
in. It may keep him from the King.

After that?

Lady Hopeful was back with my cup of tea. I took
it with murmured thanks, and as she pulled up a chair beside us,
Queen Kettricken smiled weakly and asked if she might have one
also. I was almost shamed by how swiftly Lady Hopeful leaped to do
her bidding.

I do not know, I murmured in reply to her
earlier question.

I do. The King would be safe in my Mountains. He
would be honored and protected, and perhaps Jonqui would know
of-oh, thank you, Hopeful. Queen Kettricken took the proffered cup
and sipped at it as Lady Hopeful settled herself.

I smiled at Kettricken, and chose my words
carefully, trusting her to read my meaning. But it is so far to the
Mountains, my queen, and the weather so hard this time of year. By
the time a courier got through to seek your mother's remedy, it
would be nigh on to spring. There are other places that might offer
the same cure for your troubles. Bea
rn
s or Rippon, perhaps, might offer if we
asked. The worthy Dukes of those provinces can deny you nothing,
you know.

I know, Kettricken smiled wearily. But they have
such problems of their own just now, I hesitate to ask anything
more of them. Besides, the root we call livelong grows only in the
Mountains. A determined courier could travel there, I think. She
sipped again at her tea.

Who to send with such a request; ah, that would
be the hardest question, I pointed out. Surely she could see the
difficulties of sending a sick old man off on a journey to the
Mountains in winter. He could not go alone. The man that went would
have to be very trustworthy and strong of will.

Such a man sounds like a woman to me, Kettricken
quipped, and Hopeful laughed merrily, more to see the Queen's mood
lightened than at the witticism. Kettricken paused with her cup at
her lips. Perhaps I should have to go myself, to see the thing done
right, she added, and smiled when my eyes widened. But the look she
gave me was serious.

There followed some light talk, and a recipe of
mostly fictitious herbs from Kettricken that I promised to do my
best to find for her. I believed I took her meaning. When I excused
myself and went back to my room, I wondered how I would keep her
from acting before Chade could. It was a pretty puzzle.

I had scarcely refastened all my door catches
and bars before I felt a draft up my back. I turned to find the
entry to Chade's realm standing ajar. I climbed the stairs wearily.
I longed to sleep, but knew that once I lay down, I would be unable
to close my eyes.

The smell of food enticed me as I entered
Chade's chamber, and I was suddenly aware I was hungry. Chade was
already at the small table he had set out. Sit down and eat, he
told me tersely. We must plot together.

I was two bites into a meat pie when he asked me
softly, How long do you think we might keep King Shrewd here, in
these chambers, undetected?

I chewed and swallowed. I've never been able to
find a way into this chamber, I pointed out quietly.

Oh, but they do exist. And as food and other
necessities must go in and out of them, there are some few who are
aware of them, without knowing exactly what they know. My warren
connects to rooms in the Keep which are regularly stocked with
supplies for me. But my life was much simpler when food and linens
were supplied for Lady Thyme.

How will you fare after Regal is gone to
Tradeford? I asked.

Likely not as well as I have. Some tasks will be
done out of habit, if those with the habits remain, no doubt. But
as food becomes scarcer some will wonder why they store supplies of
it in a disused part of the Keep. But we were speaking of Shrewd's
comfort, not mine.

It depends on how Shrewd disappeared. If Regal
thought he had left the Keep by ordinary means, you might keep him
hidden here for some time. But if Regal knows he is within Buckkeep
still, he will stop at nothing. I suspect his first order would be
to put men with hammers to work on the walls of the King's
bedchamber.

Direct, but effective, Chade
concurred.

Have you found a safe place for him, at Bearns
or Rippon?

As swift as that? Of course not. We would have
to hide him here, for days or perhaps weeks before a place was made
ready. And then he must be smuggled out of the Keep. It would mean
finding men who can be bribed, and knowing when they are on the
gate. Unfortunately, men that can be bribed to do a thing can be
bribed to speak of it later. Unless they had accidents. He looked
at me.

Let that not be a concern. There is another way
out of Buckkeep, I told him, thinking of my wolf's way. We have
another problem also, and that is Kettricken. She will act on her
own if she does not soon know we have a plan. Her own thoughts have
taken her in the same direction as yours. Tonight she proposed
herself taking Shrewd to the Mountains for safety.

A pregnant woman and a sick old man in
midwinter? Ridiculous. Chade paused. But. It would never be
expected. They would never look for them on that road. And with all
the flow of folk that Regal has created going up the Buck River,
one more woman and her ailing father would scarcely be
marked.

It's still ridiculous, I protested. I did not
like the sparks of interest I had seen kindle in Chade's eyes. Who
could go with them?

Burrich. It would save him from drinking himself
to death from boredom, and he could manage their animals for them.
And likely much else they would need. Would he go?

You know he would, I said unwillingly. But
Shrewd would never survive such a trip.

He is more likely to survive such a trip than to
survive going with Regal. That which eats at him will continue to
devour his life, wherever he is. He frowned more darkly.

But why it eats at him so much more swiftly
these days is beyond me to say.

The cold. The privation. It will not help
him.

There are inns for part of the way. I can find
some coin for them yet. Shrewd looks so little like he used to, we
almost need not fear him being recognized. The Queen would be
trickier. There are few women with her coloring and height. Still,
clothed heavily, we could increase her girth. Hood her hair,
and-

You cannot be serious.

Tomorrow night, he replied. We must do something
by tomorrow night. For that is when the sleeping potion I gave
Shrewd will wear off. Another attempt will probably not be made on
the Queen until she is on her way to Tradeford. But once Regal has
her in his power, well, so many accidents can happen on a journey.
A slip from a barge into a freezing river, a runaway horse, a meal
of bad meat. If his assassin is half as good as we are, he'll
succeed.

Regal's assassin?

Chade gave me a pitying look. You don't suppose
our prince is up to spreading grease and lampblack on steps
himself, do you? Who do you think it is?

Serene. The name popped to my lips.

Then most obviously it is not her. No, we will
find it to be some mouse of a man with a pleasant demeanor and a
settled life. If we ever find him out at all. Ah, well, set it
aside for now. Though there's nothing quite as challenging as
stalking another assassin.

Will, I said quietly.

Will what? he asked.

I told him of Will, quickly and quietly. As he
listened his eyes widened.

It would be brilliant, he said admiringly. A
Skilled assassin. It's a wonder no one thought of it
before.

Perhaps Shrewd did, I said quietly. But perhaps
his assassin failed to learn ....

Chade leaned back in his chair. I wonder, he
said speculatively. Shrewd is closemouthed enough to have such an
idea, and keep it even from me. But I doubt, myself, that Will is
any more than a spy, just now. A formidable one, and no mistaking
that. You must be especially vigilant. But I do not think we need
fear him as an assassin. He cleared his throat. Ah, well. The
urgency for speed becomes ever plainer. The escape must be made
from the King's room. You must find a way to draw the watchers all
off again.

During the King-in-Waiting ceremony-

No. We dare not wait that long. Tomorrow night.
No later than that. You need not keep them occupied long. Just a
few minutes will be all I will need.

We must wait! Otherwise, the whole plot is
impossible. By tomorrow night, you wish me to have the Queen and
Burrich prepared, which means telling them you exist. And Burrich
will have to see to horses and supplies-

Plug horses. Nothing fine. They would be noticed
too quickly. And a litter for the King.

Plug horses we have in plenty, for they are all
that is left. But it will stick in Burrich's craw for his king and
queen to ride them.

And a mule for himself. They are to be humble
folk, with scarce the coin to journey inland. We have no wish to
attract highwaymen.

I snorted to think of Burrich astride a mule. It
cannot be done, I said quietly. The time is too short. It must be
done the night of the King-in-Waiting ceremony. All will be down at
the feasting.