Assassin's Quest

Molly smiled to herself. "They are not like birds, silly. They only swarm when the old hive has too many bees. We might get a swarm that way, but not until high summer or autumn. No. Come spring, when the bees first stir, we'll try to find a bee tree. I used to help my father hunt bees when I was smaller, before I grew wise enough to winter a hive over. You put out a dish of warmed honey to draw them. First one, and then another will come. If you are good at it, and I am, you can find the bee line and follow it back to the bee tree. That is only the start, of course. Then you have to force the swarm out of the tree and into the hive you've made ready. Sometimes, if the bee tree is small, you can simply cut it down and take the bee gum home with you."

"Bee gum?"

"The part of the tree they nest in."

"Don't they sting you?" Burrich asked incredulously.

"Not if you do it right," she told him calmly.

"You'll have to teach me how," he said humbly.

Molly twisted in her seat to look up at him. She smiled, but it was not like her old smile. It was a smile that acknowledged that they were pretending it would all go as they planned. She knew too well now that no hope could be completely trusted. "If you'll teach me to write my letters. Lacey and Patience started, and I can read a bit, but the writing comes harder to me."

"I'll teach you and then you can teach Nettle," he promised her.

Nettle. She named my daughter Nettle, after the herb she loves, though it leaves great rashes on her hands and arms if she is careless when she gathers it. Is that how she felt about our daughter, that she brought pain even as she brought enjoyment? It pained me to think it was so. Something tugged at my attention, but I clung fiercely where I was. If this was as close as I could come to Molly right now, then I would take what I could and cling to it.

No. Verity spoke firmly. Come away now. You put them in danger. Do you think they would scruple to destroy them, if they thought by doing so they could hurt and weaken you?

Abruptly I was with Verity. He was somewhere cold and windy and dark. I tried to see more of what was around us, but he blocked my eyes. So effortlessly he had brought me here against my will, so effortlessly he closed off my vision. The strength of Skill on him was frightening. Yet I could sense he was tired, weary almost to death despite this vast power. The Skill was like a strong stallion and Verity was the fraying rope that tethers it. It pulled at him every minute and every minute he resisted it.

We are coming to you, I told him needlessly.

I know. Hurry. And do this no more, think of them no more, and give no thought at all to the names of those who would do us harm. Every whisper here is a shout. They have powers you do not imagine, in strengths you cannot defy. Where you go, your enemies may follow. So leave no trail.

But where are you? I demanded as he thrust me away from him.

Find me! he commanded me, and slammed me back into my own body and life.

I sat up in my blankets, convulsively gasping for air. It reminded me of wrestling and being slammed down on the flat of my back. For a moment I made tiny sounds as I sought to fill my lungs. Finally I drew a full breath. I looked about me in the darkness. Outside the tent, the windstorm howled. The brazier was a small red glow in the center that illuminated little more than Kettle's huddled form sleeping close to it.

"Are you all right?" the Fool asked me quietly.

"No," I said softly. I lay back down beside him. I was suddenly too tired to think, too tired to say another word. The sweat on my body chilled and I began to shiver. The Fool surprised me by putting an arm around me. I moved closer to him gratefully, sharing warmth. The sympathy of my wolf wrapped me. I waited for the Fool to say something comforting. He was too wise to try. I fell asleep longing for words that did not exist.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. Strategy

Six Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town

Climbed a hill, and never came down

Found their flesh and lost their skins

Flew away on stony wings.

Five Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town

Walked a road not up nor down

Were torn to many and turned to one,

In the end, left a task half-done.

Four Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town

They spoke in words without a sound

They begged their Queen to let them go

And what became of them, no one can know.

Three Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town

They'd helped a king to keep his crown.

But when they tried to climb the hill

Down they came in a terrible spill.

Two Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town

Gentle women there they found.

Forgot their quest and lived in love

Perhaps were wiser than ones above.

One Wiseman came to Jhaampe-town.

He set aside both Queen and Crown

Did his task and fell asleep

Gave his bones to the stones to keep.

No wise men go to Jhaampe-town.

To climb the hill and never come down.

'Tis wiser far and much more brave

To stay at home and face the grave.

"Fitz? Are you awake?" The Fool was bending over me, his face very close to mine. He seemed anxious.