Royal Assassin

Even by the light of day, it was still difficult to understand all that had happened. The earth around the blackened remains of the Queen’s shelter was trampled into mud. Here the fighting had been heaviest. Here was where most of the enemy had fallen. Some bodies had been dragged aside and tumbled into a heap. Others still lay where they had fallen. I avoided looking at them. It is one thing to kill in fear and anger. It is another thing to consider one’s handiwork by the chill gray light of morning.

That the Outislanders had tried to break through our siege was understandable. They had, perhaps, had a chance of making it as far as their ships and reclaiming one or two of them. That the attack seemed to focus on the Queen’s tent was least comprehensible. Once clear of the earthworks, why had not they seized their chance for survival and headed for the beach?

“Perhaps,” observed Burrich, gritting his teeth as I probed the angry swelling on his leg, “they did not hope to escape at all. It is their Outislander way, to decide to die, and then to attempt to do as much damage before doing so. So they attacked here, hoping to kill our Queen.”

I had discovered Burrich, limping about the battleground. He did not say he had been looking for my body. His relief at seeing me was evidence enough of that.

“How did they know it was the Queen in that tent?” I pondered. “We flew no banners, we issued no challenges. How did they know she was here? There. Is that any better?” I checked the bandage for snugness.

“It’s dry and it’s clean and the wrapping seems to help the pain. I don’t suppose we can do much more than that. I suspect that whenever I work that leg hard, I’m going to have the swelling and heat in it.” He spoke as dispassionately as if he discussed a horse’s bad leg. “At least it stayed closed. They did seem to make straight for the Queen’s tent, didn’t they?”

“Like bees to honey,” I observed tiredly. “The Queen is in Bayguard?”

“Of course. Everyone is. You should have heard the cheer when they opened the gates to us. Queen Kettricken walked in, her skirts still bundled to one side, her drawn blade still dripping. Duke Kelvar went down on his knees to kiss her hand. But Lady Grace looked at her, and said, ‘Oh, my dear, I shall have a bath drawn for you at once.”

“Now there is the stuff they make songs of,” I said, and we laughed. “But not all are up at the Keep. I saw a girl just now, coming for water, down in the ruins.”

“Well, up at the Keep they are rejoicing. There will be some who will have small heart for that. Foxglove was wrong. The folk of Neatbay did not yield easily before the Red-Ships. Many, many died before the Neatbay folk retreated to the Keep.”

“Does anything strike you as odd about that?”

“That folk should defend themselves? No. It is—”

“Does not it seem to you that there were too many Outislanders here? More than five ships’ worth?”

Burrich halted. He looked back to the scattered bodies. “Perhaps those other ships had left them here, and then gone out on patrol. . . .”

“That is not their way. I suspect a larger ship, transporting a sizable force of men.”

“Where?”

“Gone now. I think I glimpsed it, going into that fog bank.”

We fell silent. Burrich showed me to where he had tethered Ruddy and Sooty and we rode together up to Bayguard. The great doors of the Keep stood wide open, and a combination of Buckkeep soldiers and Bayguard folk mingled there. We were greeted with a shout of welcome, and offered brimming cups of mead before we were even dismounted. Boys begged to take our horses for us, and to my surprise, Burrich let them. Within the hall was genuine rejoicing that would have put any of Regal’s revels to shame. All of Bayguard had been thrown open for us. Ewers and basins of warm scented water had been set out in the Great Hall for us to refresh ourselves, and tables were heavy with food, none of it hard bread or salt fish.

We remained three days at Neatbay. During this time our dead were buried, and the bodies of the Outislanders burned. Buckkeep soldiers and Queen’s guard fell in alongside the people of Neatbay to assist in the repairs to Bayguard’s fortifications and in salvaging what was left of Neatbay Town. I made a few quiet inquiries. I found that the watchtower signal had been lit as soon as the ships were sighted, but that the Red-Ships had made extinguishing it one of their first goals. What of their coterie member? I asked. Kelvar looked at me in surprise. Burl had been recalled weeks ago, for some essential duty inland. He had gone to Tradeford, Kelvar believed.