Assassin 3 - Royal Assassin (47 page)

It was Verity's will that I immerse myself in
these new skills. I was given a bunk in the warehouse with the rest
of my shipmates. I learned to be unobtrusive, but energetic in
jumping to any order. The master was Six Duchies through and
through, but the mate was an Outislander, and he it was who really
taught us to handle the Rurisk and just what the ship could do.
There were two other Outislander immigrants aboard, and when we
weren't learning the ship or doing maintenance and sleeping, they
congregated and spoke quietly among themselves. I wondered that
they didn't see how this set the Six Duchies folk to muttering. My
bunk was near to theirs, and oftentimes as I lay trying to fall
asleep, I was aware of Verity urging me to pay attention to soft
words spoken in a language I didn't understand. So I did, knowing
that he made more sense of the sounds than I did. After a time I
came to realize that it was not so very different from the Duchies'
tongue, and that I could understand some of what was said for
myself. I found no talk of betrayal or mutiny among them. Only
soft, sad words of kin Forged away from them by their own
countrymen, and harsh bitter vows of vengeance to be carried out
against their own kind. They were not so different from the Six
Duchies men and women of the crew. Almost everyone onboard had lost
someone to Forging. Guiltily, I wondered how many of those lost
souls I had sent into the oblivion of death. It made a small
barrier between me and the other crew members.

Despite the fury of the winter storms, we took
the ships out nearly every day. We fought mock battles against each
other, practicing techniques for grappling or ramming another ship,
and also gauging a leap so that one boarded the other vessel rather
than ending up in the waters between them. Our master was at pains
to explain all our advantages to us. The enemy we would encounter
would be far from home, and already worn from weeks at sea. They
would have been living aboard their vessels, cramped and punished
by the weather, while we would be fresh each day and well fed. The
rigors of their journey would demand that every oarsman must also
be a Raider, while we could carry additional fighters who could use
their bows or board another vessel while keeping our oars fully
manned. Often I saw the mate shaking his head over these words.
Privately, he confided to his fellows that the rigors of a raiding
journey were what made a crew hard and fierce. How could soft,
well-fed farmers hope to prevail against sea-honed Red-Ship
Raiders?

One day out of ten I was allowed a day to
myself, and those days I spent at the Keep. They were scarcely
restful. I reported to King Shrewd, detailing to him my experiences
aboard the Rurisk, and taking pleasure in the interest that awoke
in his eyes at such times. He seemed better, but was still not the
robust King I remembered from my youth. Patience and Lacey likewise
demanded a visit, and I made a dutiful call on Kettricken as well.
An hour or two for Nighteyes, a clandestine visit to Molly's
chambers, and then the excuses to hurry back to my own chamber for
the rest of the night so that I might be there when Chade would
summon me for his quizzings. The following dawn, a brief report to
Verity, where with a touch he renewed our Skill bond. Often it was
a relief to return to the crew's quarters to get a solid night of
sleep.

Finally, as winter drew to a close, chance
afforded me an opportunity to speak privately with Shrewd. I had
gone to his chambers on one of my days away from the boat, to
report to him on our training progress. Shrewd was in better health
than usual and was sitting up in his chair by the fire. Wallace was
not about that day. Instead, there was a young woman, ostensibly
tidying the chamber, but almost certainly spying for Regal. The
Fool, too, was underfoot as always, and taking a keen pleasure in
making her uncomfortable. I had grown up with the Fool, and had
always accepted his white skin and colorless eyes as simply the way
he was. The woman obviously felt differently. She began, it must be
admitted, peering at the Fool whenever she thought he might not be
paying attention. But as soon as he noted it, he began to peek back
at her, and each time affected a more lascivious glance than the
last. She became more and more nervous, and when finally she must
pass by us with her bucket, and the Fool sent Ratsy on his scepter
to peek up under her skirts, she leaped back with a shriek, dousing
herself and the floor she had just scrubbed with dirty water.
Shrewd rebuked the Fool, who groveled extravagantly and
remorselessly, and then dismissed the woman to get dry clothes on.
I sprang to my opportunity.

She was scarcely clear of the room before I
spoke. My liege, there is something I have been wishing to petition
you about, for some time.

Some note in my voice must have alerted both
fool and king, for I instantly had their undivided attention. I
glared at the Fool, and he knew plainly I wished him to withdraw,
but instead he leaned closer, actually resting his head against
Shrewd's knee as he simpered at me infuriatingly. I refused to let
it rattle me. I looked at the King beseechingly.

You may speak, FitzChivalry, he said
formally.

I drew a breath. My liege, I would ask your
permission to marry.

The Fool's eyes grew round with surprise. But my
king smiled as indulgently as if I were a child begging a
sweetmeat. So. Finally, it has come. But surely you mean to court
her first?

My heart was thundering in my chest. My king
looked entirely too knowing. But pleased, very pleased. I dared to
hope. May it please my king, I fear I have already begun to court
her. Yet know I did not intend to do so presumptuously. It just ...
came about.

He laughed good-naturedly. Yes. Some things do.
Though when you did not speak out sooner, I wondered what your
intentions were, and if the lady had deceived herself.

My mouth went dry. I could not breathe. How much
did he know? He smiled at my terror.

I have no objections. In fact, I am well pleased
with your choice ....

The smile that broke out on my face was
amazingly echoed by one on the Fool's countenance. I drew a
trembling breath, until Shrewd continued, But her father has
reservations. He has told me that he would like to delay this, at
least until her older sisters are pledged.

What? I could barely utter the word. Confusion
whirled in me. Shrewd smiled benignly.

Your lady, it seems, is as good as her name.
Celerity asked her father for permission to court you the very day
you left for Buckkeep. I think you won her heart when you spoke so
plainly to Virago. But Brawndy denied her, for the reason I have
told you. I understand the lady raised quite a storm with her
father, but Brawndy is a firm man. He did, however, send word to
us, lest we take offense. He wishes us to know he has no opposition
to the match itself, only to her preceding her sisters in marriage.
I acceded in this. She is, I believe, but fourteen?

I could not speak.

Do not look so distressed, boy. You are both
young, and there is plenty of time. While he does not choose to
allow a formal courting to begin as yet, I am sure he does not
intend that you shall not see each other. King Shrewd looked on me
so tolerantly, with so much kindliness in his eyes. The Fool's eyes
flickered back and forth between us. I could not read his
face.

I was trembling, as I had not in months. I would
not allow this to continue, to become any worse than it was
already. I found my tongue, formed words in my dry throat. My king,
that is not the lady I was considering.

Silence descended. I met my king's eyes, and saw
his look change. Had I not been so desperate, I know I would have
looked aside from that displeasure. Instead I looked at him
beseechingly, praying he might understand. When he did not speak
further, I attempted to.

My king, the woman I speak of is presently a
lady's maid, but in her own right she is not a servant. She
is-

Be silent.

It could not have been sharper if he had struck
me. I was still.

Shrewd looked me up and down carefully. When he
spoke, it was with the force of all his majesty. I thought I felt
even the pressure of the Skill in his voice. Be entirely certain of
what I say to you, FitzChivalry. Brawndy is my friend, as well as
my duke. Neither he, nor his daughter, shall be offended or
slighted by you. At this time you shall court no one. No one. I
suggest you consider well all you are offered when Brawndy
considers you favorably as a match for Celerity. He makes no matter
of your birth. Few others would do so. Celerity will have land and
a title of her own. As will you, from me, if you have the wisdom to
bide your time and do well by the lady. You will come to find that
it is the wise choice. I will tell you when you may begin courting
her.

I summoned the last of my courage. My king,
please,

Enough, Chivalry! You have heard my word on this
subject. There is no more to say!

A short time later he dismissed me, and I went
shaking from his rooms. I do not know if fury or heartbreak were
the force behind my trembling. I thought again of how he had called
me by my father's name. Perhaps, I told myself spitefully, it was
because in his heart he knew I would do as my father had done. I
would wed for love. Even, I thought savagely, if I had to wait
until King Shrewd was in his grave, for Verity to keep his word to
me. I went back to my rooms. To have wept would have been a relief.
I could not even find tears. Instead I lay on my bed and stared at
the hangings. I could not imagine telling Molly what had just
transpired between my king and me. Telling myself that not to speak
was also a deception, I resolved to find a way to tell her. But not
right away. A time would come, I promised myself, a time when I
could explain and she would understand. I would wait for it. Until
then, I would not think about it. Nor, I resolved coldly, would I
go to my king unless I were summoned.

As spring drew closer Verity arranged his ships
and men as carefully as tokens on a game board. The watchtowers on
the coast were always manned, and their signal fires kept ever
ready for a torch. Such signal fires were for the purpose of
alerting local citizenry that Red-Ships had been sighted. He took
the remaining members of the Skill coterie Galen had fashioned and
distributed them in the towers and on the ships. Serene, my nemesis
and heart of Galen's coterie, remained at Buckkeep. Privately I
wondered why Verity used her there, as a center for the coterie,
rather than having each member Skill individually to him. With
Galen's death, and August's forced retirement from the coterie,
Serene had taken on Galen's post, and seemed to consider herself
the Skill Master. In some ways, she almost became him. It was not
just that she stalked Buckkeep in austere silence and wore always a
disapproving frown. She seemed to have acquired his testiness and
foul humor as well. The serving folk now spoke of her with the same
dread and distaste they had once reserved for Galen. I understood
she had taken over Galen's personal quarters as well. I avoided her
assiduously on the days I was home. I would have been more relieved
if Verity had placed her elsewhere.

But it was not up to me to question my
king-in-waiting's decisions.

Justin, a tall gangly young man with two years
on me, was assigned as coterie member to the Rurisk. He had
despised me since we had studied the Skill together and I had
failed so spectacularly at it. He snubbed me at every opportunity.
I bit my tongue and did my best not to encounter him. The close
quarters of the ship made that difficult. It was not a comfortable
situation.

After great debate, with himself and me, Verity
placed Carrod aboard the Constance, Burl at the Neatbay Tower, and
sent Will far north, to the Red Tower up in Bea
rn
s that commanded such a wide view of the
sea as well as the surrounding countryside. Once he had arranged
their tokens on his maps, it made a reality of the pathetic
thinness of our defenses. It reminds me of the old folktale of the
beggar who had but a hat to cover his nakedness, I told Verity. He
smiled without humor.

Would that I could move my ships as swiftly as
he did his hat, he wished grimly.

Two of the ships Verity set to duty as roving
patrol vessels. Two he kept in reserve, one docked at Buckkeep, and
that was the Rurisk, while the Stag anchored in South Cove. It was
a pitifully small fleet to protect the Six Duchies' straggling
coastline. A second set of ships was being constructed, but it was
not expected they would be finished soon. The best of the seasoned
wood had been used in the first four vessels, and his shipwrights
cautioned him he would be wiser. to wait than to attempt to use
green wood. It chafed him, but he listened to them.

Early spring saw us practicing drills. The
coterie members, Verity privately told me, functioned almost as
well as carrier pigeons at relaying simple messages. His situation
with me was a more frustrating one. For his own reasons, he had
chosen not to disclose to anyone his training of me in the Skill. I
believe he was enjoying the advantages of being able to go with me
and observe and listen undetected to the everyday life of Buckkeep
Town. I understood that the Rurisk's master had been given word
that I was to be heeded if I requested a sudden change in course or
announced that we were required at a certain location immediately.
I fear he saw this mostly as Verity's indulgence of his bastard
nephew, but in this he followed his orders.