Royal Assassin (70 page)

“I could have told you a bit of that,” he said gruffly. He looked at the food Molly had brought, then poured himself more brandy. “As we came down the Buck River road there were rumors and tidings. Some said Regal sold the beasts and grain off to fund the defense of the coasts. Others that he sent the breeding stock inland to safer pastures in Tilth.” He drank his brandy down. “The best of the horses are gone. I saw that at a glance when I came back. In ten years, I might breed stock up again to the quality of what we had. But I doubt it.” He
poured again. “There’s my life’s work gone, Fitz. A man likes to think he’ll leave his touch on the world somewhere. The horses I had brought together here, the bloodlines I was establishing—gone now, scattered throughout the Six Duchies. Oh, not that they won’t improve anything they’re bred to. But I’ll never see what would have come if I’d been allowed to continue. Steady will be studding rangy Tilth mares, no doubt. And when Ember drops her next foal, whoever rubs it off will think it just another horse. For six generations, I’ve been waiting for just that foal. They’ll take the finest coursing horse that’s ever been foaled and hook it to a plow.”

There was nothing to say about that. I feared it was all true. “Eat something,” I suggested. “How’s your leg now?”

He lifted the blanket to inspect it casually. “Still there, anyway. I suppose I should be grateful for that. And better than it was this morning. The devil’s-club did draw out the infection. Chicken-brained as she is, the woman still knows her herbs.”

I did not need to ask to whom he referred. “Are you going to eat?” I prodded.

He set down his cup and took up a spoon. He tasted the soup Molly had set out, grudgingly nodded his approval. “So,” he observed between bites, “that was the girl. Molly.”

I nodded.

“Seemed a bit cool with you today.”

“A bit,” I said dryly.

Burrich grinned. “You’re as testy as she was. I imagine Patience did not speak well of me to her.”

“She doesn’t like drunks,” I told him bluntly. “Her father drank himself to death. But before he finished the job, he managed to make her life unpleasant for years. Beating her when she was smaller. Railing and berating her when she got too big to beat.”

“Oh.” Burrich carefully refilled his cup. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She was sorry to live it.”

He looked at me levelly. “I did not do it, Fitz. Nor was I rude to her when she was here. I’m not even drunk. Not yet. So
stuff your disapproval, and tell me what’s been going on at Buckkeep while I was away.”

So I stood and reported to Burrich, just as if he had a right to demand it. In a way, I suppose he did. He ate as I spoke. When I was finished, he poured himself more brandy and leaned back in his chair, holding it. He swirled the brandy in the cup, looked down at it, then up at me. “And Kettricken is with child, but neither the King nor Regal know of it yet.”

“I thought you were asleep.”

“I was. I half thought I’d dreamed that conversation. Well.” He downed the brandy. He sat up, swept the blanket off his leg. As I watched he deliberately bent his knee until the pulling flesh began to gap the wound open. I winced at the sight of it, but Burrich only looked thoughtful. He poured more brandy, drank it off. The bottle was half-gone. “So. I’m going to have to splint the leg straight, if I’m going to keep that closed.” He glanced up at me. “You know what I’ll need. Will you fetch it for me?”

“I think you should stay off it for a day or so. Give it a chance to rest. You don’t need a splint if you’re in bed.”

He gave me a long look. “Who guards Kettricken’s door?”

“I don’t think … I assume she has women who sleep in the outer chamber of her apartments.”

“You know he’ll try to kill her and the unborn child, as soon as he finds out.”

“It’s a secret still. If you start guarding her door, all will know.”

“By my count, five of us know. That’s no secret, Fitz.”

“Six,” I admitted ruefully. “The Fool surmised it some days ago.”

“Oh!” I had the satisfaction of seeing Burrich look shocked. “Well, at least that’s one tongue that won’t go wagging. Still, as you see, it won’t be secret long. Rumors will fly before the day’s out, mark my words. I guard her door this night.”

“Must it be you? Can’t you rest, and I will—”

“A man can die of failure, Fitz. Do you know that? Once, I told you, the fight isn’t over until you’ve won. This”—and he
gestured at his leg in disgust—“this will not be my excuse for giving up. Shame enough for me that my prince went on without me. I shall not fail him here. Besides”—he gave a bark of sour laughter—“there’s not enough in the stables now to keep both Hands and me busy. And the heart for it has gone out of me. Now. Will you go get the splint works?”

So I did, and took them back to him, and helped him smear the wound with his salve before we wrapped it well and splinted it. He cut a pair of old trousers to go over the splint, and I helped him down the stairs. Then, despite his words, he went to Ruddy’s stall to see if his horse’s arrow wound had been cleaned and doctored. I left him there and went back up to the Keep. I wanted to speak to Kettricken, to let her know there would be a man on guard on her door that night, and why.

I knocked at her chamber door and was admitted by Rosemary. The Queen was indeed there, and a selection of her ladies. Most were working embroidery or small lap looms as they talked. The Queen herself had her window opened to the mild winter day and was looking out over the calm sea with a frown. She reminded me of Verity when he Skilled, and I suspected that much the same worries plagued her. I followed her gaze, and wondered, like her, where the Red-Ships would strike today, and what was going on up in Bearns. Useless to wonder. Officially, there was no word at all from Bearns. The rumors were that the coasts ran red with blood.

“Rosemary. I wish a quiet word with Her Majesty.”

Rosemary nodded gravely and went over to curtsy to her queen. In a moment the Queen looked up, and with a nod and a gesture invited me to join her in her window seat. I greeted her quietly and gestured smilingly out over the water as if we chatted of the fine weather. But softly I said, “Burrich wishes to guard your door, beginning this night. He fears that when others discover you are with child, your life will be in danger.”

Another woman might have blanched or at least seemed surprised. Instead, Kettricken lightly touched the very serviceable knife she always wore beside her keys. “Almost, I would welcome so direct an attack.” She considered. “I suppose it is wise. What harm can come of letting them know we suspect. Nay, that we know. Why should I be circumspect and tactful?
Burrich has already received their greetings, in the form of an arrow through the leg.” The bitterness in her voice, and the ferocity beneath it, shocked me. “He may take the guard post, and with it my thanks. I could choose a sounder man, but I would not have the trust in him that I have in Burrich. Will his leg injury permit him to do this duty?”

“I do not think his pride would permit any other to do it.”

“Fine, then.” She paused. “I will have a chair placed for him.”

“I doubt he will use it.”

She sighed. “We all have our own ways of offering sacrifice. It shall be there, nonetheless.”

I bowed my head in acceptance and she dismissed me. I went back up to my room intending to tidy away all that had been dragged out for Burrich’s use. But as I walked softly down the hall I was startled to see the door of my room open slowly. I eased to another doorway and flattened myself inside it. After a moment Justin and Serene emerged from my room. I stepped out to confront them.

“Still looking for a spot for your tryst?” I asked acidly.

They both froze. Justin stepped back, stood almost behind Serene. Serene glared at him, then stood firm before me. “We don’t have to answer to you for anything.”

“Not even for being in my room? Did you find anything interesting there?”

Justin was breathing as if he’d just run a race. I deliberately met his eyes. He was speechless. I smiled at him.

“We need not speak to you at all,” Serene announced. “We know what you are. Come, Justin.”

“You know what I am? Interesting. Rest assured that I know what you are. And that I am not the only one who knows.”

“Beast man!” Justin hissed. “You wallow in the filthiest of magics. Did you think you could go undetected amongst us? No wonder Galen found you unfit to Skill!”

His arrow had struck home and quivered in my most secret fear. I tried not to let it show. “I am loyal to King Shrewd.” Face composed, I gazed at them steadily. I said no more than that. Not in words. But I looked them up and down, measuring
them against what they should be, and found them lacking. In the minute shifting of their feet, in their quick glances at one another, I decided that they knew they were traitors. They reported to Regal; they knew they should report to the King. They were not deceived as to what they were; they understood. Perhaps Galen had burned a loyalty to Regal into their minds; perhaps they could not conceive of turning against him. But parts of them still knew that Shrewd was king, and that they were disloyal to a King they had sworn to. I tucked away that bit of knowledge; it was a crack that might someday hold a wedge.

I stepped forward, and enjoyed watching Serene shrink away from me while Justin cowered between her and the wall. But I made no attack. I turned my back to them and opened my door. As I entered my room I felt a sneaky little wisp of Skill grope at the edges of my mind. Without thinking, I blocked as Verity had taught me to. “Keep your thoughts to yourself,” I warned them, and did not dignify them by looking back at them. I shut the door.

For a moment I stood breathing. Calm. Calm. I did not relax my mind guards. Then quietly, carefully, I worked my latches. Once the door was secured, I moved cautiously through my room. Chade had once told me that assassins must always believe the other person has more skill than they do. It is the only way to remain alive and keep sharp. So I touched nothing lest it had been coated with poison. Instead, I stood in the center of my room, closed my eyes, and tried to recall exactly how it had looked when I last left it. Then I opened my eyes and looked for changes in the room.

The small tray of herbs was squarely atop my clothing chest. I had left it to one end, within easy reach of Burrich. So they had been through my clothing chest. The tapestry of King Wisdom, that had been slightly askew for months, now hung straight. That was all I could see. It puzzled me. I had no idea what they had been looking for. That they had dug through my clothing chest seemed to suggest it was a small enough item to fit in there. But why lift a tapestry and look behind it? I stood still, thinking a moment. This had not been a random search. I was not sure what they had been hoping to find. But I suspected
they had been told to look for a secret passageway in my room. That meant that Regal had concluded that killing Lady Thyme had not been enough. His suspicions were stronger than Chade had led me to believe. I was almost grateful I had never been able to discover how to work the entry to Chade’s apartments. It gave me more confidence in its secrecy.

I inspected every item in my room before I handled it. I saw that every scrap of food that had remained on Cook’s trays was disposed of where no one and nothing would taste it. I discarded the water in the buckets as well as that in my ewer. I inspected my supply of firewood and candles for powders or resins, checked my bedding for powder, and reluctantly discarded my complete supply of herbs. I would take no chances. I could discover no possessions missing, nor that anything had been added to my room. Sometime later I sat down on my bed, feeling exhausted and unnerved. I would have to be more on my guard, I concluded. I recalled the Fool’s experience and pondered it. I did not want to encounter a bag and a beating the next time I entered my room.

My room suddenly seemed confining, a trap that I must return to each day. I left it, not bothering to lock it as I went. Locks were useless. Let them see I did not fear their intrusion. Even though I did.

Outside, it was a mild, clear late afternoon. The unseasonably kind weather ate at me, even as I enjoyed my walk through the inner circle of the Keep. I decided I would walk down to town, to pay a visit to the
Rurisk
and my shipmates there, and then perhaps go into a tavern for a beer. It had been too long since I’d walked to town, and far too long since I’d listened to the gossip of town folk. It would be a relief to get away from Buckkeep intrigues for a while.

I was going out the gate when a young guardsman stepped into my path. “Stand!” he commanded me, then: “Please, sir,” he added as he recognized me.

I halted obediently. “Yes?”

He cleared his throat, then suddenly went scarlet all the way to his hairline. He took a breath, then stood silent.

“Did you need something from me?” I asked.

“Please to wait a moment, sir,” the boy blurted.

The lad disappeared back into the guardhouse, and a moment later an older watch officer emerged. She regarded me gravely, took a breath as if to steel herself, then said quietly, “You are denied passage out of the Keep.”

“What?” I could not believe my ears.

She drew herself up. When she spoke, her voice was firmer. “You are denied passage out of the Keep.”

A surge of anger heated me. I forced it down. “By whose command?”

She stood firm before me. “My commands come from the captain of the watch, sir. That is all I know of it.”

“I would speak to that captain.” I kept my voice courteous.

“He is not in the guardroom. Sir.”

“I see.” But I did not, quite. I could perceive all the nooses tightening about me, but could not understand why just now. The other obvious question to ask, however, was “why not?” With Shrewd’s enfeeblement, Verity had become my protector. But he was away. I could turn to Kettricken, but only if I were willing to bring her into open conflict with Regal. I was not. Chade was, as always, a shadow power. All of this passed through my mind quickly. I was turning away from the gate when I heard my name called. I turned back.