Assassin 3 - Royal Assassin (41 page)

Someone comes.

I came awake. I was sprawled facedown on my bed,
scrolls tumbled around me. I hadn't meant to sleep, and seldom
slept so deeply. Had Nighteyes not been using my own senses to
watch over me, I would have been taken completely unaware. I
watched the door of my room ease open. The fire had burned low and
there was little other light in the room. I had not latched the
door; I had not expected to sleep. I lay very quiet, wondering who
came so softly, hoping to take me unawares. Or was it someone
hoping to find my room empty, someone after the scrolls perhaps? I
eased my hand to my belt knife, gathered my muscles for a spring. A
figure came slipping around the door, pushed it quietly shut. I
eased the knife out of its sheath.

It's your female. Somewhere, Nighteyes yawned
and stretched. His tail gave a lazy wag. I found myself taking a
deep breath through my nose. Molly, I confirmed to myself with
satisfaction as I took in her sweet scent, and then felt an amazing
physical quickening. I lay still, eyes closed, and let her come to
the bed. I heard her softly chiding exclamation, and then the
rustling as she gathered up the scattered scrolls and set them
safely atop the table. Hesitantly, she touched my cheek.
Newboy?

I could not resist the temptation to feign
sleep. She sat beside me and the bed gave sweetly with her warm
weight. She leaned over me, and as I lay perfectly motionless she
set her soft mouth atop mine. I reached out and drew her to me,
marveling. Yesterday, I had been a man seldom touched: the clap of
a friend on my shoulder, or the casual jostling of a crowd, or too
often lately, hands seeking to throttle me. That had been the
extent of my personal contact. Then, last night, and now this. She
finished the kiss and then lay beside me, gently arranging herself
against me. I took a deep breath of her scent and kept still,
savoring the places where her body touched mine and made warmth.
The sensation was like a soap bubble floating on the wind; I feared
even to breathe lest it vanish.

Nice, agreed Nighteyes. Not so much aloneness
here. More like pack.

I stiffened and pulled slightly away from
Molly.

Newboy? What's wrong?

Mine. This is mine, and not a thing to share
with you. Do you understand?

Selfish. This is not a thing like meat, made
more or less by sharing.

Just a moment, Molly. I've cramped a
muscle.

Which one? Smirking.

No, it is not like meat. Meat I would always
share with you, and shelter, and always I will come to fight beside
you if you need me. Always I will let you join me in the hunt, and
always I will help you hunt. But this, with my ... female. This I
must have to myself. Alone.

Nighteyes snorted, scratched at a flea. You are
always marking off lines that do not exist. The meat, the hunt, the
defending of territory, and females ... these are all pack. When
she bears cubs, shall l not hunt to feed them? Shall I not defend
them?

Nighteyes ... I cannot explain this to you just
now. I should have spoken with you earlier. For now, will you
withdraw? I promise we shall discuss it. Later.

I waited. Nothing. No sense of him at all. One
down, one to go.

Newboy? Are you all right?

I'm fine. I just ... need a moment. I think it
was the hardest thing I have ever done. Molly was beside me,
suddenly hesitant, on the point of pulling away from me. I had to
concentrate on finding my boundaries, on placing my mind in the
middle of myself and setting limits to my thoughts. I took the
breaths and let them out evenly. Adjusting harness. That was what
it always reminded me of, and the image I always used. Not loose
enough to slip, not tight enough to bind. Confining myself to my
own body, lest I startle Verity awake.

I heard the rumors, Molly began, then stopped.
I'm sorry. I should not have come. I thought perhaps you might need
... but maybe what you need is to be alone.

No, Molly, please, Molly, come back, come back,
and I flung myself across the bed after her and managed to catch
the hem of her skirt as she stood.

She turned back to me, still full of
uncertainty.

You are always exactly what I need.
Always.

A smile ghosted across her lips and she sat on
the edge of the bed. You seemed so distant.

I was. Sometimes I just need to clear my mind. I
stopped, uncertain of what else I could say without lying to
her.

I was determined to do that no longer. I reached
and took her hand into mine.

Oh, she said after a moment. There was an
awkward little pause as I offered no further explanation. Are you
all right? she asked carefully after a few more moments had slipped
by.

I'm fine. I didn't get in to see the King today.
I tried, but he wasn't feeling well, and-

Your face is bruised. And scratched. There were
rumors ....

I took a silent breath. Rumors? Verity had
enjoined the men to silence. Burrich wouldn't have spoken, nor
Blade. Perhaps none of them had spoken to anyone who hadn't been
there. But men will always discuss what they have witnessed
together, and it wouldn't take much for anyone to overhear
them.

Don't play cat and mouse with me. If you don't
want to tell me, then say so.

The King-in-Waiting asked us not to speak of it.
That isn't the same as not wanting to tell you about it.

Molly considered a moment. I suppose not. And I
shouldn't listen to gossip, I know. But the rumors were so strange
... and they brought bodies back to the Keep, for burning. And
there was a strange woman, weeping and weeping in the kitchen
today. She said that Forged ones had stolen and killed her child.
And someone said you had fought them to try and get the baby back,
and another said, no, that you'd come upon them just as a bear
attacked them. Or something. The rumors were so confusing. Someone
said you had killed them all, and then someone who had helped burn
the bodies said that at least two of them had been mauled by an
animal of some kind. She fell silent and looked at me. I didn't
want to think about any of it. I didn't want to lie to her, nor
even to tell her the truth. I couldn't tell anyone the complete
truth. So I just looked into her eyes and wished that things were
simpler for us.

FitzChivalry?

I would never get used to hearing that name from
her. I sighed. The King asked us not to speak of it. But ... yes, a
child was killed by Forged ones. And I was there, too late. It was
the ugliest, saddest thing I have ever witnessed.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. It's just so
hard, not knowing.

I know.. I reached out to touch her hair. She
leaned her head against my hand. I told you once that I had dreamed
of you, at Siltbay. I journeyed from the Mountain Kingdom, all the
way back to Buckkeep, not knowing if you had survived. Sometimes I
thought the burning house had fallen on the cellar; other times, I
thought the woman with the sword had finished you ....

Molly looked at me levelly. When the house fell,
a great wind of sparks and smoke whooshed toward us. It blinded
her, but my back was to it. I ... I killed her with the ax. She
suddenly started to tremble. I told no one of it. No one. How did
you know?

I dreamed it. I pulled gently at her hand and
she came down on the bed beside me. I put my arms around her, and
felt her trembling still. I have true dreams, sometimes. Not often,
I told her quietly.

She drew back a little from me. Her eyes
searched my face. You would not lie to me about this,
Newboy?

The question hurt, but I deserved it. No. This
is not a lie. I promise you that. And I promise that I shall never
lie-

Her fingers stopped my lips. I hope to spend the
rest of my life with you. Make me no promises that you cannot keep
for the rest of your days. Her other hand went to the lacing of my
shirt. It was my turn to tremble.

I kissed her fingers. And then her mouth. At
some time Molly got up and latched and barred my door. I remember
sending up a fervent prayer that this would not be the night that
Chade finally returned from his journeying. It was not. Instead I
journeyed afar that night, into a place that was becoming ever more
familiar, but no less wondrous to me.

She left me in the deep of the night, shaking me
awake to insist that I latch and bar the door after her. I wanted
to dress and walk her back to her room, but she refused me
indignantly, saying she was perfectly capable of going up some
stairs, and that the less we were seen together, the better. I
reluctantly conceded her logic. The sleep I fell into then was
deeper than any the valerian had induced.

I awoke to thunder and shouting. I found myself
on my feet, dazed and confused. After a moment the thunder turned
to pounding on my door, and the shouting was Burrich's repetition
of my name. A moment! I managed to call back. I ached everywhere. I
dragged on some clothes and staggered to the door. It took a long
time for my fingers to manage the catch. What's wrong? I
demanded.

Burrich just stared at me. He was washed and
dressed, hair and beard combed, and carrying two axes.

Oh.

Verity's tower room. Hurry up, we're already
late. But wash first. What is that scent?

Perfumed candles, I extemporized. They're
supposed to bring restful dreams.

Burrich snorted. That's not the kind of dreams
that scent would bring me. It's full of musk, boy. Your whole room
reeks of it. Meet me up in the tower.

And he was gone, striding purposefully down the
hall. I went back into my room, groggily realizing that this was
his idea of early morning. I washed myself thoroughly with cold
water, not enjoying it, but lacking the time to warm any. I dug
about for fresh clothes and was dragging them on when the pounding
at my door began again. I'm nearly there, I called out. The
pounding went on. That meant Burrich was angry. Well, so was I.
Surely he could understand how badly I ached this morning. I jerked
the door open to confront him, and the Fool slipped in as smoothly
as a waft of smoke. He wore a new motley of black and white. The
sleeves of his shirt were all embroidered with black vines crawling
up his arms like ivy. Above the black collar, his face was as pale
as a winter moon. Winterfest, I thought dully. Tonight was the
first night of Winterfest. The winter had already been as long as
any five others I had known. But tonight we would begin to mark the
midpoint of it.

What do you want? I demanded, in no mood for his
silliness.

He took a deep appreciative sniff. Some of what
you had would be lovely, he suggested, and then danced back
gracefully at the look on my face. I was instantly angry. He leaped
lightly to the center of my tousled bed, then to the other side,
putting it between us. I lunged across it after him. But not from
you, he exclaimed coquettishly and fluttered his hands at me in
girlish rebuke before retreating again.

I've no time for you, I told him disgustedly.
Verity's expecting me and I cannot keep him waiting. I rolled off
the bed and stood to adjust my clothing. Out of my room.

Ah, such a tone. Time was when the Fitz could
handle a jest better than this. He pirouetted in the center of my
room, then stopped abruptly. Are you truly angry with me? he
demanded straightforwardly.

I gaped to hear him speak so bluntly. I
considered the question. I was, I said guardedly, wondering if he
was deliberately drawing me out. You made a fool of me that day,
with that song, before all those people.

He shook his head. Don't take titles to
yourself. Only I am the Fool. And the Fool is always only what I
am. Especially that day, with that song, before all those
people.

You made me doubt our friendship, I said
bluntly.

Ah, good. For doubt not that others must always
doubt our friendship if we are to remain doughty
friends.

I see. Then it was your end to sow rumors of
strife between us. I understand, then. But I still must
go.

Farewell, then. Have fun playing at axes with
Burrich. Try not to be dumbstruck with all he teaches you today. He
put two logs onto my failing fire and made a great show of settling
himself before it.

Fool, I began uncomfortably. You are my friend,
I know. But I like not to leave you here, in my room, while I am
gone.

I like it not when others enter my room when I
am not there, he pointed out archly.

I flushed miserably. That was long ago. And I
apologized for my curiosity. I assure you, I have never done it
again.

Nor shall I, after this. And when you come back,
I shall apologize to you. Shall that do?

I was going to be late. Burrich was not going to
be amused. No help for it. I sat down on the edge of the rumpled
bed. Molly and I had lain here. Suddenly it was a personal area. I
tried to be casual as I tugged the quilts up over the feather beds.
Why do you want to stay in my room? Are you in danger?

I live in danger, Fitzy-fitz. As do you. We are
all in danger. I should like to stay here for part of the day, and
try to find a way out of that danger. Or at least a way to lessen
it. He shrugged significantly toward the scatter of
scrolls.