Royal Assassin

"My king was being ... taciturn. It had started out as a pleasant conversation between father and son, with Regal telling him how pleased he should be to have him finally as king-in-waiting. King Shrewd was rather vague, as he often is these days. Something about it irritated Regal, and he began to accuse him of not being pleased, of even being opposed. Finally he began to insist there was a plot, a conspiracy to see that he never came to the throne. No man is so dangerous as the man who cannot decide what he fears. Regal is that man. Even Wallace was put ajar by his rantings. He had brought the King one of his brews, to deaden his mind along with his pain, but as he brought it near, Regal dashed it from his hands. He then spun on the poor trembling Wall's Ass and accused him of being part of the conspiracy. He claimed Wallace had intended to drug our king to keep him from speaking what he knew. He ordered Wallace from the room, saying the King would have no need of him until he had seen fit to speak plainly to his son. He ordered me out as well, then. My reluctance to leave was overcome by a couple of his hulking inland plowmen."

A creeping dread rose in me. I remembered my moment of sharing the King's pain. Regal would remorselessly watch while that pain crept past the numbing herbs to overwhelm his father. I could not imagine a man being capable of this. Yet I knew Regal would do it. "When did this happen?"

"Just an hour or so ago. You are not an easy person to find."

I looked more closely at the Fool. "Go down to the stables, to Burrich. See what he can do for you." The healer, I knew, would not touch the Fool. Like many around the Keep, he feared his strange appearance.

"What will you be doing?" the Fool asked quietly.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. This was exactly one of the situations I had warned Chade about. I knew whether I acted or not, the consequences would be grave. I needed to distract Regal from what he was doing. Chade, I was sure, was aware of what was going on. If Regal and all others could be lured away for a time ... I could think of only one piece of news that might be important enough to Regal to make him leave Shrewd.

"You'll be all right?"

The Fool had sunk down to sit on the cold stone steps. He leaned his head against the wall. "I suppose so. Go."

I started down the steps.

"Wait!" he called suddenly

I halted.

"When you take my king away, I go with him."

I just stared up at him.

"I mean it. I wore Regal's collar for the sake of that promise from him. It means nothing now to him."

"I can make no promises," I said quietly.

"I can. I promise that if my king is taken, and I do not go with him, I will betray every one of your secrets. Every one." The Fool's voice was shaking. He put his head back against the wall.

I turned away hastily. The tears on his cheeks were tinged pink from the cuts on his face. I could not bear to see them. I ran down the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. Conspiracy

The Pocked Man at your window

The Pocked Man at your door

The Pocked Man brings the plague days

To stretch you on the floor.

When blue flames at your candles suck

You know a witch has got your luck.

Don't suffer a snake upon your hearthstone

Or plague will whittle your children to bone.

Your bread not to rise, your milk to stand sour,

Your butter not to churn.

Your arrow shafts to twist as they dry,

Your own knife to turn and cut you,

Your roosters to crow by moonlight

By these may a householder know himself cursed.

"We will need blood from somewhere." Kettricken had heard me out, and now made this request as calmly as if asking for a cup of wine. She looked from Patience to Lacey seeking for ideas.

"I'll go fetch a chicken," Lacey said unwillingly at last. "I'll need a sack to put it in to keep it quiet-"

"Go then," Patience told her. "Go quickly. Bring it back to my room. I shall fetch a knife and a basin, and we shall do it there, and bring but a cup of the blood back here. The less we do here, the less we must conceal."

I had gone first to Patience and Lacey, knowing I would never get past the Queen's attendants on my own. While I made a quick visit to my room, they had gone before me to the Queen, ostensibly taking her a special herbal tea but really to quietly beg a private audience for me. She had dismissed all her ladies, telling them she would be fine with just Patience and Lacey, and then sent Rosemary to fetch me. Rosemary played by the hearth now, absorbed in dressing a doll.