Fool's Quest - Страница 156

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“I don’t think you’d like him much,” I replied ashamedly.

“On the contrary. Why do you think I urged you to drink it?” Slowly he held out a hand to me. “Fitz. Would you come here?”

I walked over to him. “I’m here.”

His gloved hand groped over my belly and then found my hand. He took it in his. He sighed. “I hate what I do to you. What I’ve done to your life. I am dependent on you, now more than ever, though I have always needed my Catalyst to accomplish anything. I am ashamed when I think of the danger, pain, and loss I’ve caused you. I hate knowing that you are ever mindful of me and my needs.”

“Loss?” I was confused.

“But for me, you might never have lost Molly for all those years.”

“No. I’d have been dead instead.”

His laugh was a hoarse bark. “True. But against all odds, I became fond of you early in our acquaintance. The look on your face when Shrewd pushed that pin through the front of your jerkin. You gave him your heart, as I had given him mine, and for a moment I knew purest envy. Because I suddenly wanted you for my own. Not just as my Catalyst. As my friend.”

“We’ve been that.”

“And more. And that was what the Servants never grasped until I betrayed you. That you were more to me than my Catalyst. Yet even I did not realize the full import of that closeness. That a child who was as much mine as yours and Molly’s would be the result. A child given to us. Because I used you so mercilessly. And a child stolen, because I betrayed you.”

“Fool. Stop. You gave me as much as you took from me.” The look of abject apology on his face was making me uncomfortable.

“Not really, Fitz. Not really.”

“You saved my life. More than once.”

“After endangering it, usually. Fitz. If you save a colt’s life because you intend later to ride it into battle, it tinges the act with a high degree of selfishness.”

There was a knock at the door. He released my hand. For a moment longer, I stood still. He spoke quietly. “Last night, you had one night without feeling obligations. For one night, you were able to let go of your grief. For one night, I released you to think only of yourself. One night of living as most men do every day. A very small respite.” He patted my chest. “You should see who is at the door.”

When I answered it, it was Spark. “I thought perhaps Lady Amber would need my assistance,” she said, and Amber immediately called to her to come and help. She hurried past me, pulling the door almost shut behind her, and for a time I listened to a lady give directions to her maid. When a second knock was a servant with a little wheeled table, they both emerged. Spark had painted Amber’s lips and rouged the tops of her cheeks. It more accented the pale scaling than concealed it, but I said nothing.

“I can serve them,” Spark suggested and the servant girl seemed only too happy to leave. Spark uncovered platters and poured tea for us both, and I sat down to a simple breakfast with Amber. Porridge with raisins cooked in it, and honey to sweeten it. Bacon. Stewed dried plums.

“Spark, have you eaten?” I asked the girl. She looked surprised.

“Of course. Hours ago, with the other servingfolk. They’ve made us very welcome. Everyone is very fond of Ephron. You are the hero of the day.”

“Hero,” I said softly. So strange.

“The bacon tastes a bit odd,” Amber observed.

“It’s bear. Bear bacon,” I told her. There was a folded sheet of pale-blue paper on the tray as well. I unfolded it and perused it quickly. “There’s a note here, from Queen Malta. She asks that as soon as we have breakfasted, we join her downstairs. The children will be waiting there.” I tried to keep foreboding from my voice as I relayed the message.

“You will do your best, Fitz. You’ve warned them.”

“Warning does not prevent disappointment,” I said. Of Spark, I asked, “Do you know if Perseverance is awake yet? And if Lord Lant has been summoned as well?”

“Yes to both, sir. Perseverance has leapt at the chance to be shown a bit of the city by one of the other serving boys. And Lant, I believe, went with them.”

I had not foreseen that. “Very well,” I said faintly. How befuddled had I been last night, not to have warned them to stay close? Some of my trepidation must have shown on my face for Spark added, “I’m sure they’ll be safe, sir. What you did for the prince last night? It was all the servants could gossip about this morning. They were very impressed and eager to be kind to us.”

“I wish Lant and Per had been a bit more cautious,” I grumbled. Amber lifted one shoulder in a delicate shrug.

Spark seemed to already know her way about the Greeting Hall. Amber put her hand on my arm and I followed Spark down the passage I recalled from the night before. “There are no windows at all,” I observed. “Only painted images of windows with views that move as if real when one pauses to look at them.”

“I’d dearly love to see them,” Amber said wistfully in the Fool’s voice.

“I wish you could,” I rejoined, and her grip on my arm tightened for a moment.

As soon as we reached the ground floor, a serving man came to meet us. “This way, if you please. King Reyn and Queen Malta await you in the Reception Hall.”

But when we approached the door of the chamber, General Rapskal stood before it, his arms crossed on his chest. Now that I was somewhat rested and alert, not to mention recovered from our Skill-portal journey, he looked less imposing. Part of that was that he had no dragon with him. Amber’s grip on my arm tightened slightly. “What is it?”

I lifted my voice. “General Rapskal. So nice to meet you under more pleasant circumstances.”

“You escort a thief.”

My smile was bland. “I do not take your meaning, sir.”

His gaze flickered to Amber, lingered for a moment on her eyes, and then came back to me. “Perhaps not. But you shall.”

He pushed away from the wall he had leaned on and stood blocking our way. The servant who had been leading us gave a small gasp of dismay and scampered away. No help from that quarter, then. I set my weight on the balls of my feet. Amber felt that slight shift and lifted her hand from my arm so I’d be free to move quickly if I had to.

“Let me be plain, then. The women who accompany you were prowlers in the streets of Kelsingra but four nights ago. They dared to invade a part of our city that is forbidden to travelers.”

Four nights. Four nights. We’d lost time in the portal again … I snapped my thoughts back to the present. “And they supposedly stole something? What did they steal?” I tried to keep my voice bemused. The news of the time loss rattled me more than his accusation of theft.

He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. His scaling flushed with sudden color. I felt his anger as an undirected ripple of Skill. Somewhere, a dragon trumpeted shrilly. He glared at Lady Amber who stared blindly ahead, her expression puzzled. I heard footsteps approaching behind me and turned my head just enough to catch them at the edge of my vision. Two Elderlings approached, in battle harness similar to that their general wore. One was short and broad, almost squat for an Elderling. The other at his side had the tall, lanky build I had come to regard as normal. Both wore sheathed swords, as did their general. I was unarmed, assuming that, as at Buckkeep Castle, one did not wear a weapon when summoned to an audience with the king. This could go very badly for us in a very short time. From the corner of my eye, I saw Spark unobtrusively sidle up to Amber’s unguarded flank. Thank you, Foxglove. I hoped she had a knife in her boot.

“Take them into custody,” Rapskal ordered his men. “We need to confine them to a secure area for questioning.”

The Fool had always been an excellent actor, long trained to concealing his thoughts and feelings. But torture breaks many things in a man. He took a tiny, audible breath and then stood very still.

“If it please you, General Rapskal,” I intervened, “we are summoned to a meeting with the king and queen this morning. Spark, have you the note we received?”

“Yes, my lord. It is here.”

I did not turn to look at her. I heard the rustle of her garments as she sought a note in her pocket. I hoped she also took the opportunity to be sure the smaller tools of our trade were ready to her hands. How well had Chade trained her? And where was Lant? Already taken into custody?

Before us, the double doors suddenly swung wide open and General Rapskal had to skip aside to avoid being struck. “There is no need for her to produce a note when I am here to welcome my guests.” King Reyn stood suddenly in the open door before us. The manservant who had fled us was two steps behind him, wringing his hands. “Welcome. Please come in. And you, too, General Rapskal. Did not you also receive my invitation? I see that Kase and Boxter are here. Excellent. I summoned all of the keepers, I believe.” He focused himself on me. “Four children await you. As I told you, there are not many, but these four need your aid the most.”

“My lord, these people are dangerous. Especially the woman.” Rapskal’s followers moved to form up behind him.

Reyn sighed. “General Rapskal, the ‘woman’ is Lady Amber, long known to my queen, since before our war with Chalced. She was an artisan in Bingtown in those days, with her own shop on Rain Wild Street. She made beads and charms carved from wood. Later she served aboard Paragon, and was instrumental in the recovery of Igrot’s treasure. Her generous loans from that wealth helped rebuild Bingtown and helped the Tattooed begin new lives in Trehaug. You will treat her with respect.”

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