by Robin Hobb
‘I am not a fool. I know far more of what goes on than you think I do. Find it. All of it, and return it here. Did you capture all the smugglers?’
The sergeant took a breath and decided on the truth. ‘There were a few with the pony team on the far side when we took down Nik. They rode off before …’
‘Forget them. Where is the Bastard’s accomplice?’
The sergeant looked blank. I believe he did not know the word.
‘Did not you capture a minstrel? Starling?’ Burl demanded again.
The sergeant looked uncomfortable. ‘She got a bit out of control, sir. When the men were subduing the Bastard on the ramp. She lit into the man holding her and broke his nose. It took a bit to … get her under control.’
‘Is she alive?’ Burl’s tone left no doubt of his contempt for their competence.
The sergeant flushed. ‘Yes, sir. But …’
Burl silenced him with a look. ‘Were your captain still alive, he would wish he were dead now. You have no concept of how to report, or of how to retain control of a situation. A man should have been sent to me immediately, to inform me of these events as they happened. The minstrel should not have been permitted to see what was happening, but secured immediately. And only an idiot would have tried to subdue a man on a barge in the middle of a strong current when all he had to do was wait for the barge to land. He’d have had a dozen swords at his command there. As for the smuggler’s bribe, it will be returned to me, or you shall all go unpaid until it is made up. I am not a fool.’ He glared around at everyone in the tent. ‘This has been bungled. I will not excuse it.’ He folded his lips tightly. When he spoke again, he spat out the words. ‘All of you. Go.’
‘Yes sir. Sir? The prisoner?’
‘Leave him here. Leave two men outside, swords drawn. But I wish to speak to him alone.’ The sergeant bowed and hastened out of the tent. His men followed him promptly.
I looked up at Burl and met his eyes. My hands were bound tightly behind me, but no one held me on my knees any more. I got to my feet and stood looking down on Burl. He met my gaze unflinchingly. When he spoke his voice was quiet. It made his words all the more threatening. ‘I repeat to you what I told the sergeant. I am not a fool. I do not doubt that you already have a plan to escape. It probably includes killing me. I have a plan as well, and it includes my surviving. I am going to tell it to you. It’s a simple plan, Bastard. I have always preferred simplicity. It is this. If you give me any trouble at all, I shall have you killed. As you have no doubt deduced, King Regal wishes you brought to him alive. If possible. Don’t think that will prevent me from killing you if you become inconvenient. If you are thinking of your Skill, I will warn you my mind is well warded. If I even suspect you of trying it, we will try your Skill against my guard’s sword. As for your Wit, well, it seems my problems are solved there, as well. But should your wolf materialize, he, too, is not proof against a sword.’
I said nothing.
‘Do you understand me?’
I gave a single nod.
‘That is as well. Now. If you give me no problems, you will be treated fairly. As will the others. If you are difficult at all, they, too, will share your privations. Do you understand that as well?’ He met my gaze, demanding an answer.
I matched his quiet tone. ‘Do you truly think I’d care if you spilled Nik’s blood, now that he’s sold me to you?’
He smiled. It turned me cold, for that smile had once belonged to the carpenter’s genial apprentice. A different Burl now wore his skin. ‘You’re a wily one, Bastard, and have been since I’ve known you. But you’ve the same weakness of your father and the Pretender; you believe even one of these peasants’ lives to be worth the equal of yours. Be any trouble to me, and they all pay, to the last drop of blood. Do you understand me? Even Nik.’
He was right. I had no stomach to visualize the pilgrims paying for my daring. I quietly asked, ‘And if I am co-operative? What becomes of them, then?’
He shook his head over my foolishness in caring. ‘Three years’ servitude. Were I a less kindly man, I’d take a hand from each of them, for they have directly disobeyed the King’s orders in attempting to cross the border and deserve to be punished as traitors. Ten years for the smugglers.’
I knew few of the smugglers would survive. ‘And the minstrel?’
I do not know why he answered my question, but he did. ‘The minstrel will have to die. You know that already. She knew who you were, for Will questioned her back in Blue Lake. She chose to help you, when she could have served her king instead. She is a traitor.’
His words ignited the spark of my temper. ‘In helping me, she serves the true king. And when Verity returns, you will feel his wrath. There will be no one to shield you or the rest of your false coterie.’
For a moment, Burl only looked at me. I caught control of myself. I had sounded like a child, threatening another with his big brother’s wrath. My words were useless, and worse than useless.
‘Guards!’ Burl did not shout. He scarcely lifted his voice at all, but the two were inside the tent instantly, swords drawn and pointed at my face. Burl behaved as if he did not notice the weapons. ‘Bring the minstrel to us here. And see that she does not get “out of control” this time.’ When they hesitated, he shook his head and sighed. ‘Go on, now, both of you. Send your sergeant to me as well.’ When they had departed, he met my eyes and made a face of discontent. ‘You see what they give me to work with. Moonseye has ever been the refuse pile for Six Duchies soldiery. I have the cravens, the fools, the discontents, the connivers. And then I must face my king’s displeasure when every task given them is botched.’
I think he actually expected me to commiserate with him. ‘So, Regal has sent you here to join them,’ I observed instead.
Burl gave me a strange smile. ‘As King Shrewd sent your father and Verity here before me.’
That was true. I looked down at the thick sheepskin covering the floor. I was dripping on it. The warmth from the brazier was seeping into me, causing me to shiver as if my body were giving up cold it had hoarded. For an instant I quested away from myself. My wolf slept now, warmer than I was. Burl reached to a small table beside his chair and took up a pot. He poured a steaming cup of beef broth for himself and sipped at it. I could smell its savour. Then he sighed and leaned back in his chair.
‘We’ve come a long way from where we began, haven’t we?’ He almost sounded regretful.
I bobbed my head. He was a cautious man, Burl, and I did not doubt that he would carry out his threats. I had seen the shape of his Skill, and seen, too, how Galen had bent and twisted it into a tool that Regal would use. He was loyal to an upstart prince. That Galen had forged into him; he could no longer separate it from his Skill. He had ambitions for power, and he loved the indolent life his Skill had earned him. His arms no longer bulged with the muscles of his work. Instead his belly stretched his tunics and the jowls of his cheeks hung heavy. He seemed a decade older than I was. But he would guard his position against anything that threatened it. Guard it savagely.
The sergeant reached the tent first, but his men came with Starling shortly afterwards. She walked between them and entered the tent with dignity despite her bruised face and swollen lip. There was an icy calm to her as she stood straight before Burl and gave him no greeting at all. Perhaps only I sensed the fury she contained. Of fear she showed no sign at all.
When she stood alongside me, Burl lifted his eyes to consider us both. He pointed one finger at her. ‘Minstrel. You are aware that this man is FitzChivalry, the Witted Bastard.’
Starling made no response. It was not a question.
‘In Blue Lake, Will, of Galen’s Coterie, servant of King Regal, offered you gold, good honest coin, if you could help us track down this man. You denied all knowledge of where he was.’ He paused, as if giving her a chance to speak. She said nothing. ‘Yet, here we have found you, travelling in his company again.’ He took a deep breath. ‘And now he tell
s me that you, in serving him, serve Verity the Pretender. And he threatens me with Verity’s wrath. Tell me. Before I respond to this, do you agree with this? Or has he misspoken on your behalf?’
We both knew he was offering her a chance. I hoped she’d have the sense to take it. I saw Starling swallow. She did not look at me. When she spoke, her voice was low and controlled. ‘I need no one to speak for me, my lord. Nor am I any man’s servant. I do not serve FitzChivalry.’ She paused, and I felt dizzying relief. But then she took breath and went on, ‘But if Verity Farseer lives, then he is true king of the Six Duchies. And I do not doubt that all who say otherwise will feel his wrath. If he returns.’
Burl sighed out through his nose. He shook his head regretfully. He gestured to one of the waiting men. ‘You. Break one of her fingers. I don’t care which one.’
‘I am a minstrel!’ Starling objected in horror. She stared at him in disbelief. We all did. It was not unheard of for a minstrel to be executed for treason. To kill a minstrel was one thing. To harm one was entirely another.
‘Did you not hear me?’ Burl asked the man when he hesitated.
‘Sir, she’s a minstrel.’ The man looked stricken. ‘It’s bad luck to harm a minstrel.’
Burl turned away from him to his sergeant. ‘You will see he receives five lashes before I retire this night. Five, mind you, and I wish to be able to count the separate welts on his back.’
‘Yes, sir,’ the sergeant said faintly.
Burl turned back to the man. ‘Break one of her fingers. I don’t care which one.’ He spoke the command as if he had never uttered the words before.
The man moved toward her like a man in a dream. He was going to obey, and Burl was not going to stop the order.
‘I will kill you,’ I promised Burl sincerely.
Burl smiled at me serenely. ‘Guardsman. Make that two of her fingers. I do not care which ones.’ The sergeant moved swiftly, drawing his knife and stepping behind me. He set it to my throat and pushed me to my knees. I looked up at Starling. She glanced at me once, her eyes flat and empty, then looked away. Her hands, like mine, were bound behind her. She stared straight ahead at Burl’s chest. Still and silent she stood, going whiter and whiter until the guardsman actually touched her. She cried out, a hoarse guttural sound as he gripped her wrists. Then she screamed, but her cry could not cover the two small snaps her fingers made as the man bent them backwards at the joints.
‘Show me,’ Burl commanded.
As if angry with Starling that he had had to do this, the man thrust her down on her face. She lay on the sheepskin before Burl’s feet. After the scream, she had not made a sound. The two smallest fingers on her left hand stood out crazily from the others. Burl looked down at them, and nodded, satisfied.
‘Take her away. See she is well guarded. Then come back and see your sergeant. When he is finished with you, come to me.’ Burl’s voice was even.
The guard seized Starling by her collar and dragged her to her feet. He looked both ill and angry as he prodded her out of the tent. Burl nodded to the sergeant. ‘Let him up, now.’
I stood looking down at him, and he looked up at me. But there was no longer the slightest doubt as to who was in control of the situation. His voice was very quiet as he observed, ‘Earlier you said you understood me. Now I know that you do. The journey to Moonseye can be swift and easy for you, FitzChivalry. And for the others. Or it can be otherwise. It is entirely up to you.’
I made no reply. None was needed. Burl nodded to the other guardsman. He took me from Burl’s tent to another one. Four other guards inhabited it. He gave me both bread and meat and a cup of water. I was docile as he retied my hands in front of me so I could eat. Afterwards, he pointed me to a blanket in a corner, and I went like an obedient dog. They bound my hands behind me again and tied my feet. They kept the brazier burning all night, and always there were at least two watching me.
I did not care. I turned away from them and faced the wall of the tent. I closed my eyes, and went, not to sleep, but to my wolf. His coat was mostly dry, but still he slept in exhaustion. Both the cold and the battering of the river had taken their toll of him. I took what small comfort was left to me. Nighteyes lived, and now he slept. I wondered on which side of the river.
EIGHTEEN
Moonseye
Moonseye is a small but fortified town on the border between the Six Duchies and the Mountain Kingdom. It is a provisioning town and traditional stopping-place for trade caravans using the Chelika trail to the Wide Vale pass and the lands beyond the Mountain Kingdom. It was from Moonseye that Prince Chivalry negotiated his last great treaty with Prince Rurisk of the Mountain Kingdom. On the heels of finalizing this treaty came the discovery that Chivalry was father to an illegitimate son conceived with a woman from that area and already some six years old. King-in-Waiting Chivalry concluded his negotiations and immediately rode home to Buckkeep, where he offered his queen, father and subjects his deepest apologies for his youthful failure, and abdicated the throne to avoid creating any confusion as to the line of succession.
Burl kept his word. By day I walked, flanked by guards, my hands bound behind me. I was housed in a tent by night and my hands unbound that I might feed myself. No one was unnecessarily cruel to me. I do not know if Burl had ordered that I be strictly left alone, or if enough tales of the Witted, poisoning Bastard had been spread that no one ventured to bother me. In any case, my trek to Moonseye was no more unpleasant than foul weather and military provisions made it. I was sequestered from the pilgrims so I knew nothing of how Kettle, Starling and the pilgrims fared. My guards did not talk among themselves in my presence, so I had not even camp gossip for rumours. I dared not ask after any of them. Even to think of Starling and what they had done to her made me ill. I wondered if anyone would pity her enough to straighten and bind her fingers. I wondered if Burl would allow it. It surprised me how often I thought of Kettle and the children of the pilgrims.
I did have Nighteyes. My second night in Burl’s custody, after a hasty feeding of bread and cheese, I was left alone in a corner of a tent that housed six men-at-arms as well. My wrists and ankles were well bound, but not cruelly tight, and a blanket flung over me. My guards soon became engrossed in a game of dice by the candle that lit the tent. It was a tent of good goat leather, and they had floored it with cedar boughs for their own comfort, so I did not suffer much from cold. I was aching and weary and the food in my belly made me drowsy. Yet I struggled to stay awake. I quested out toward Nighteyes, almost fearful of what I might find. I had had only the barest traces of his presence in my mind since I had bid him sleep. Now I reached for him and was jolted to feel him quite close by. He revealed himself as if stepping through a curtain, and seemed amused at my shock.
How long have you been able to do that?
A while. I had been giving thought to what the bear-man told us. And when we were apart, I came to know I had a life of my own. I found a place of my own in my mind.
I sensed a hesitancy to his thought, as if he expected me to rebuke him for it. Instead I embraced him, wrapping him in the warmth I felt for him. I feared you would die.
I fear the same for you, now. Almost humbly he added, But I lived. And now at least one of us is free, to rescue the other.
I am glad you are safe. But I fear there is little you can do for me. And if they catch sight of you, they will not rest until they have killed you.
Then they shall not catch sight of me, he promised lightly. He carried me off hunting with him that night.
The next day it took all of my concentration to stay on my feet and moving. A storm blew up. We attempted a military pace despite the snowy trails we followed and the shrieking winds that constantly buffeted us with threats of snow. As we moved away from the river and up into the foothills, the trees and underbrush were thicker. We heard the wind in the trees above us, but felt it less. The cold became dryer and more bitter at night the higher we went. The food I was given was enough to keep
me on my feet and alive, but little more. Burl rode at the head of his procession, followed by his mounted guard. I walked behind in the midst of my guards. Behind us came the pilgrims flanked by regulars. Behind all that trailed the baggage train.
At the end of each day’s march, I was confined to a swiftly-pitched tent, fed and then ignored until the next day’s rising. My conversations were limited to accepting my meals, and to night-time thought-sharing with Nighteyes. The hunting on this side of the river was lush compared to where we had been. He found game almost effortlessly and was well on his way to rebuilding his old strength. He found it no trouble at all to keep pace with us and still have time to hunt. Nighteyes had just torn into a rabbit’s entrails on my fourth night as a prisoner when he suddenly lifted his head and snuffed the wind.
What is it?
Hunters. Stalkers. He abandoned his meat and stood. He was on a hillside above Burl’s camp. Moving toward it, slipping from tree to tree, were at least two dozen shadowy figures. A dozen carried bows. As Nighteyes watched, two crouched in the cover of a dense thicket. In a few moments, his keen nose caught the scent of smoke. A tiny fire glowed dully at their feet. They signalled the others, who spread out, noiseless as shadows. Archers sought vantage points while the others slipped into the camp below. Some went toward the picket-lines of the animals. With my own ears, I heard stealthy footsteps outside the tent where I lay trussed. They did not pause. Nighteyes smelled the stench of burning pitch. An instant later, two flaming bolts went winging through the night. They struck Burl’s tent. In a moment, a great cry arose. As sleeping soldiers stumbled out of their tents and headed toward the blaze, the archers on the hillside rained arrows down on them.
Burl stumbled out of the burning tent, wrapping his blankets about himself as he came and bellowing orders. ‘They’re after the Bastard, you fools! Guard him at all costs!’ Then an arrow went skipping past him over the frozen ground. He cried out and flung himself flat into the shelter of a supply wagon. A breath later two arrows thudded into it.