by Robin Hobb
‘You have to get August. He’s the only hope Verity has.’
We were sitting in the greyness before dawn on a hillside above the palace. We had not gone far. The terrain was steep, and I was in no condition for hiking. I was beginning to suspect that Regal’s kick had renewed Galen’s old damage to my ribs. Every deep breath stabbed me. Regal’s poison still sent tremors through me, and my legs buckled often and unpredictably. Alone, I could not stand, for my legs would not support me. I could not even cling to a tree-trunk and hold myself upright: there was no strength in my arms. Around us in the dawn forest birds called, squirrels were gathering stores for the winter and insects chirred. It was hard, in the midst of all that life, to wonder how much of this damage was permanent. Were the days and strength of my youth already spent, and nothing left to me but trembling and weakness? I tried to push the question from my mind, to concentrate on the greater problems facing the Six Duchies. I stilled myself, as Chade had taught me. Around us, the trees were immense, with a presence like peace. I understood why Eyod would not cut them for timber. Their needles were soft beneath us, the fragrance soothing. I wished I could just lie back and sleep, like Nosy at my side. Our pains still mingled together, but at least Nosy could escape his in sleep.
‘What makes you think August would help us?’ Burrich asked. ‘If I could get him out here.’
I pulled my thoughts back to our dilemma. ‘I don’t think he’s involved with the rest of it. I think he is still loyal to the King.’ I had presented my information to Burrich as my own careful conclusions. He was not a man likely to be convinced by phantom voices overheard in my head. So I could not tell him that Galen had not suggested killing August, and therefore he was probably ignorant of the plot. I was still not sure myself of what I had experienced. Regal could not Skill. Even if he could, how could I have overheard Skilling between two others? No, it had to be something else, some other magic. Of Galen’s devising? Was he capable of a magic that strong? I did not know. So much I did not know. I forced myself to set it all aside. For now, it fitted the facts I had, better than any other supposition I could imagine.
‘If he’s loyal to the King, and has no suspicions of Regal, then he is loyal to Regal as well,’ Burrich pointed out as if I were a witling.
‘Then we’ll have to force him, somehow. Verity must be warned.’
‘Of course. I’ll just walk in, put a knife to August’s back, and march him out of there. No one will bother us.’
I floundered for ideas. ‘Bribe someone to lure him out here. Then jump him.’
‘Even if I knew someone bribable, what would we use?’
‘I have this.’ I touched the earring in my ear.
Burrich looked at it and almost jumped. ‘Where did you get that?’
‘Patience gave it to me. Just before I left.’
‘She had no right!’ And then, more quietly, ‘I thought it went to his grave with him.’
I was silent, waiting.
Burrich looked aside. ‘It was your father’s. I gave it to him.’ He spoke quietly.
‘Why?’
‘Because I wanted to, obviously.’ He closed the topic.
I reached up and began to unfasten it.
‘No,’ he said gruffly. ‘Keep it where it is. But it is not a thing to be spent in a bribe. These Chyurda can’t be bribed anyway.’
I knew he was right about that. I tried to think of other plans. The sun was coming up. Morning, when Galen would act. Perhaps had already acted. I wished I knew what was going on in the palace below. Did they know I was missing? Was Kettricken preparing to pledge herself to a man she would hate? Were Sevrens and Rowd dead yet? If not, could I turn them against Regal by warning them?
‘Someone’s coming!’ Burrich flattened himself. I lay back, resigned to whatever happened. I had no physical fight left in me. ‘Do you know her?’ Burrich breathed.
I turned my head. Jonqui, preceded by a little dog that would never climb a tree for Rurisk again. ‘The King’s sister.’ I didn’t bother whispering. She was carrying one of my nightshirts, and an instant later the tiny dog was leaping joyously around us. He romped invitingly at Nosy, but Nosy just looked at him mournfully. An instant later, Jonqui strode up to us.
‘You must come back,’ she said to me without preamble. ‘And you must hurry.’
‘Hard enough to come back,’ I told her, ‘without hurrying to my death.’ I was watching behind her for other trackers. Burrich had risen and taken a defensive posture over me.
‘No death,’ she promised me calmly. ‘Kettricken has forgiven you. I have been counselling her since last night, but only lately convinced her. She has invoked her kin-right to forgive kin for injury to kin. By our law, if kin forgive kin, no other can do otherwise. Your Regal sought to dissuade her, but only made her angry. “Here, while I am in this palace, I can still invoke the law of the Mountain People,” she told him. King Eyod agreed. Not because he does not mourn Rurisk, but because the strength and wisdom of Jhaampe law must be respected, by all. So, you must come back.’
I considered. ‘And have you forgiven me?’
‘No,’ she snorted. ‘I do not forgive my nephew’s murderer. But I cannot forgive you for what you did not do. I do not believe you would drink wine you had poisoned. Not even a little. Those of us who know best the dangers of poisons tempt them least. You would have just pretended to drink, and never spoken of poison at all. No. This was done by someone who believes himself very clever, and believes others are very stupid.’
I felt rather than saw Burrich lower his guard. But I couldn’t completely relax. ‘Why can’t Kettricken just forgive me and let me go away? Why must I come back?’
‘There is no time for this!’ Jonqui hissed, and it was the closest I had seen to an angry Chyurda. ‘Shall I take months and years to teach you all I know about balances? For a pull, a push, for a breath, a sigh? Do you think no one can feel how power slews and tilts just now? A princess must endure being bartered away like a cow. But my niece is not a playing-piece to be won in a dice game. Whoever killed my nephew clearly wished you to die also. Shall I let him win that toss? I think not. I do not know whom I wish to win; until I do, I will let no player be eliminated.’
‘That’s logic I understand,’ Burrich said approvingly. He stooped and hauled me suddenly to my feet. The world rocked alarmingly. Jonqui came to put her shoulder under my other arm. They walked and my feet marionetted across the ground between them. Nosy heaved himself to his feet and followed. And so we returned to the palace at Jhaampe.
Burrich and Jonqui took me right through the people gathered throughout the grounds and palace to my room. Actually, I excited little interest. I was just an outlander who had had too much wine and smoke last night. People were too absorbed in finding good places from which to view the dais to worry about me. There was no air of mourning, so I assumed the word of Rurisk’s death had not been released. When we finally entered my room, Jonqui’s placid face darkened.
‘I did not do this! I only took a nightshirt, to give Ruta a scent.’
‘This’ was the disassembly of my room. It had been thoroughly if not discreetly done. Jonqui immediately set to putting things right, and after a moment Burrich helped her. I sat in a chair and tried to make sense of the situation. Nosy, unnoticed, curled up in a corner. Unthinkingly, I extended comfort to him. Burrich immediately glanced at me, then at the woebegone dog. He looked away. When Jonqui left to fetch wash-water and food for me, I asked Burrich, ‘Have you found a tiny wooden chest? Carved with acorns?’
He shook his head. So they had taken my poison-cache. I would have liked to prepare another dagger, or even a powder to fling. Burrich could not always be beside me to protect me, and I certainly couldn’t fend off an attacker, or run away in my present condition. But my trade-tools were gone. I would have to hope I wouldn’t need them. I suspected Rowd was the one who had been here, and wondered if this had been his last act. Jonqui returned with water and food, and then e
xcused herself. Burrich and I shared wash-water, and with some help I managed to change into clean, if simple, clothes. Burrich ate an apple. My stomach quailed at the mere thought of food, but I drank the water, cold from the well, that Jonqui had brought me. Getting my throat muscles to swallow still took conscious effort, and I felt as if the water sloshed unpleasantly inside me. But I suspected it was good for me.
I felt each moment ticking by, and wondered when Galen would make his move.
The screen slid aside. I looked up, expecting Jonqui again, but August entered on a wave of contempt. He spoke immediately, anxious to do his errand and depart. ‘I do not come here of my own volition. I come at the bidding of the King-in-Waiting, Verity, to speak his words for him. This is his message, exactly. He is grieved beyond telling by …’
‘You Skilled to him? Today? Was he well?’
August seethed at my question. ‘He was scarcely well. He is grieved beyond telling at Rurisk’s death, and at your betrayal. He bids you draw strength from those around you loyal to you, for you will need it to face him.’
‘Is that all?’ I asked.
‘From the King-in-Waiting, Verity, it is. Prince Regal bids you attend upon him, and swiftly, for the time of the ceremony is only hours away, and he must be attired for it. And your cowardly poison, no doubt meant for Regal, has found poor Sevrens and Rowd. Now Regal must do with an untrained valet. It will take him longer to dress. So do not keep him waiting. He is in the steams, to try to restore himself. You may find him there.’
‘How tragic for him. An untrained valet,’ Burrich said acidly.
August puffed up like a toad. ‘It is scarcely humorous. Have not you lost Cob as well to this scoundrel? How can you bear to aid him?’
‘If your ignorance were not protecting you, August, I might dispel it.’ Burrich stood, looking dangerous.
‘You, too, will face charges,’ August warned him as he retreated. ‘I am to say to you, Burrich, that King-in-Waiting Verity is not unaware of how you attempted to help the bastard escape, serving him as if he were your king instead of Verity. You will be judged.’
‘Did Verity say so?’ Burrich asked curiously.
‘He did. He said you were once the best of King’s men to Chivalry, but apparently you had forgotten how to aid those who truly serve the King. Recall it, he bids you, and assures you of his great wrath if you do not return to stand before him and receive what your deeds merit.’
‘I recall it only too well. I will bring Fitz to Regal.’
‘Now?’
‘As soon as he has eaten.’
August glowered at him and left. Screens cannot be effectively slammed, but he tried.
‘I have no stomach to eat, Burrich,’ I protested.
‘I know that. But we need time for this. I marked Verity’s choice of words, and found more in them than August did. Did you?’
I nodded, feeling defeated. ‘I understood also. But it is beyond me.’
‘Are you sure? Verity does not think so, and he knows of such things. And you told me that was why Cob tried to kill me, because they suspected you of drawing on my strength. So Galen believes you can do it, too.’ Burrich crossed to me, and went down stiffly on one knee. His bad leg stretched awkwardly behind him. He took my lax hand and placed it on his shoulder. ‘I was King’s man to Chivalry,’ he told me quietly. ‘Verity knew it. I have no Skill myself, you understand. But Chivalry gave me to understand that for such a taking, it was not as important as the friendship between us. I have strength, and there were some few times that he needed it, and I gave it willingly. So I have withstood this before, in worse circumstances. Try, boy. If we fail, we fail, but at least we will have tried.’
‘I don’t know how. I don’t know how to Skill, and I certainly don’t know how to tap someone else’s strength to do it. And even if I did, if I succeeded, I might kill you.’
‘If you succeed, our king may live. That is what I am sworn to. And you?’ He made it all seem so simple.
So I tried. I opened my mind, I reached for Verity. I tried, with no idea how, to draw strength from Burrich. But all I heard was the twittering of birds outside the palace walls, and Burrich’s shoulder was only a place to rest my hand. I opened my eyes. I didn’t have to tell him I’d failed; he knew. He sighed heavily.
‘Well. I suppose I take you to Regal,’ he said.
‘If we did not go, we would be forever curious as to what he wanted,’ I added.
Burrich did not smile. ‘You have a fey mood on you,’ he said. ‘You sound more like the Fool than yourself.’
‘Does the Fool talk to you?’ I asked curiously.
‘Sometimes,’ he said, and took my arm to help me up.
‘It seems as if the closer I walk to death,’ I told him, ‘the funnier everything seems.’
‘To you, perhaps,’ he said crossly. ‘I wonder what he wants.’
‘To bargain. There can be nothing else. And if he wants to bargain, we may be able to gain something.’
‘You speak as if Regal follows the same rules of common sense as the rest of us. I’ve never known him to do that. And I’ve always hated court intrigue,’ Burrich complained. ‘I’d rather clean stalls.’ He pulled me again to my feet.
If I had ever wondered how deadroot felt to its victim, I knew it now. I did not think I would die of it. But I did not know how much of a life it would leave me either. My legs trembled under me, and my grip was uncertain. I could feel random muscle-twitches throughout my body. Neither my breath, nor the beating of my heart was predictable. I longed to be still, where I could listen to my own body and decide what had been done to it. But Burrich guided my steps patiently, and Nosy drooped along behind us.
I had not been to the steams before, but Burrich had. A separate tulip bud enclosed a bubbling hot spring, tamed to use as a bath. A Chyurda stood outside it; I recognized him as the torch-bearer from the night before. If he thought anything odd about my reappearance, he did not show it. He stepped aside as if expecting us, and Burrich dragged me up the steps to enter.
Clouds of steam fogged the air, carrying a mineral scent with them. We passed a stone bench or two; Burrich walked carefully on the smooth tile floor as we approached the source of the steam. The water rose in a central spring, with bricked sides built up around it to contain it. From there it was channelled in troughs to other, smaller baths, varying the heat by the length of the trough and the depth of the pond. The steam and the noise of the falling water filled the air. I did not find it pleasant; I laboured just to breathe already. My eyes adjusted to the dimness, and I saw Regal soaking in one of the larger baths. He looked up at our approach.
‘Ah,’ he said, as if well-pleased. ‘August told me Burrich would bring you. Well. I suppose you know the Princess has forgiven your murder of her brother? And in this place, at least, by doing so she preserves you from justice. I think it a waste of time, but local customs must be honoured. She says she considers you part of her kin-group now, and so I must treat you as kin. She fails to understand you were not born of a lawful union, and hence have no kin-rights at all. Ah, well. Will you dismiss Burrich and join me in the springs? It might ease you. You look very uncomfortable, held up like a shirt on the washing-line.’ He spoke so genially, so affably, as if unaware of my hatred.
‘What do you wish to tell me, Regal?’ I kept my voice flat.
‘Will not you send Burrich away?’ he asked again.
‘I am not a fool.’
‘One could argue that, but very well. I suppose I must send him away, then.’
The steam and the noise of the waters had cloaked the Chyurda well. He was taller than Burrich, and his cudgel was already in motion as Burrich turned. If he hadn’t been supporting my weight, he could have avoided it. Burrich turned his head, but the cudgel hit his skull with a terrible, sharp sound, like an axe biting wood. Burrich fell, and I with him. I landed half in one of the smaller ponds. It was not scalding, but nearly so. I managed to roll out of it, but could
not regain my feet. My legs would not obey me. Burrich beside me lay very still. I reached a hand toward him, but could not touch him.
Regal stood up, and motioned to the Chyurda. ‘Dead?’
The Chyurda stirred Burrich with a foot, gave a curt nod.
‘Good.’ Regal was briefly pleased. ‘Drag him back behind that deep tank in the corner. Then you may go.’ To me, he said, ‘It’s unlikely anyone will be coming in here until after the ceremony. They’re too busy jostling for positions. And back in that corner … well, I doubt if he’ll be found before you are.’
I could make no response. The Chyurda stooped and seized Burrich by the ankles. As he dragged him away, the dark brush of his hair feathered a trail of blood on the tiles. A dizzying mixture of hatred and despair rolled with the poison through my blood. A cold purpose rose and set in me. I could not hope to live now, but it did not seem important. Warning Verity did. And avenging Burrich. I had no plans, no weapons, no possibilities. So play for time, Chade’s counsels advised me. The more time you create for yourself, the better the chance that something will present itself. Delay him. Perhaps someone will come to see why the Prince is not dressing for the wedding. Perhaps someone else will want to use the steams before the ceremony. Engage him somehow.
‘The Princess …’ I began.
‘Is not a problem,’ Regal finished for me. ‘The Princess did not forgive Burrich. Only you. What I have done to him is well within my rights. He is a traitor. He must pay. And the man disposing of him was most fond of his Prince Rurisk. He has no objections to any of this.’
The Chyurda left the steams without a glance back. My hands scrabbled weakly on the smooth tile floor but found no purchase. Regal busily dried himself all the while. When the man was gone, he came to stand over me. ‘Aren’t you going to call for help?’ he asked brightly.
I took a breath, pushed down my fear. I mustered as much contempt for Regal as I could find. ‘To whom? Who would hear me over the water?’
‘So you save your strength. Wise. Pointless, but wise.’
‘Do you think Kettricken will not know what happened?’