Fool's Quest - Страница 91

I was already shaking my head. “No. I have to be there. It has to be me.” I could hear how foolish I sounded as I desperately added, “I lost them. I have to get them back.”

Dutiful and Kettricken exchanged a look. “I expected you would say that,” Dutiful said quietly, “as irrational as we all know it to be. And yet I understand it. What would I not do if one of my lads were taken? If you ride out tomorrow morning with your guard, you should arrive shortly after the Ringhill Guard does. You will be there to escort her home.”

“Are there no Skill-stones near Ringhill or Salter’s Deep?”

“That goes beyond irrational to plain stupidity. You cannot use the Skill safely for your own ends right now, let alone take troops through with you. The Ringhill Guard is a substantial force, and we have a Skilled journeyman among them. She will report to us everything that happens. Fitz, you know this is the best tactic. What could one man do against twenty Chalcedean mercenaries?” He paused, giving me an opportunity to agree with him. I could not. He sighed. “And looking at your face, I am glad to tell you that no, we know of no Skill-pillars that would shorten that journey.”

I stared at the map a moment longer. Then I looked out the window, over the vista where Verity had once scanned for his enemies. Salter’s Deep. I had to get there. Dutiful spoke behind me. “Fitz, you well know that a military campaign must be carried out with precision. Everyone follows orders. If each soldier did as he thought best, well. Then it’s a brawl. Not a battle plan.” He cleared his throat. “In this, I am in command. I have set it in motion. It needs to go as I have planned.”

“You are right,” I admitted. I didn’t look at him.

“Fitz. Must I remind you that I am your king?” Dutiful spoke the words gravely.

I met his eyes and spoke truthfully. “I am ever aware of that, my king.”

I had been outnumbered. Outmaneuvered. They’d withheld information from me. Worse, logic and rationality were on their side. They’d told no one who did not need to know. Their plan was good. I knew that they were right, if one considered only logic and rationality. Yet in my father’s heart, I knew they were wrong. It felt awful to stand before them and be lectured by my king and my daughter, to be told that the plan was already made and that my only real option was to fall in with it. I felt suddenly old, and stupid, and useless. The bruises I’d taken in my efforts to once more feel like a warrior, my muscles that screamed at me when I moved, all confirmed my incompetence. My softness. My age. I’d lost my daughter and Shine both by my failed ability to think three steps ahead. I could look back and see a dozen simple things I could have done that would have prevented the kidnapping. For days, I had been burning inside to make it right, to correct my mistakes and go forward and never, never again allow my little girl to fall into such danger.

And today, with the possibility of action dangled like fresh meat before me, I was instead told that others would rescue her and return her to me. Someone else would pick her up and hold her tight and tell her she was safe. Days later, she’d be returned to me, like a lost purse. I could sit home by the fire and wait for her. Or ride out with my guard to meet her rescuers.

I left them there on the tower top, dismissed to inform my small troop of new recruits and salvaged oldsters that we would be riding out on the morrow. I was allowed to tell them that we might actually encounter an enemy, but Dutiful and Elliania, Kettricken, and Nettle had decided that it would be best if alarm was kept at a low level in Buck Duchy until the matter had been settled. The Ringhill Guard was well trained and very experienced at dealing with the robber bands that sometimes plagued the king’s highway. They were the best men for the job. And if any escaped them, my guard would shortly arrive to tidy up any loose ends. The Chalcedeans would have to yield or fall as the jaws of the split force closed around them.

And my Bee would be caught there with them, in the teeth of those jaws.

I went to Chade. Had there ever been a time when I did not flee to him for advice? I tapped on his door, received no answer, and slipped quietly inside. To my disappointment, Steady was there, seated in a chair by the fireside, whittling at something and throwing the bits into the fire as he worked. He did not seem surprised to see me. Nettle had probably warned him I might be coming. “He’s asleep,” he said before I could ask.

“Has anyone told him that we think we know where Bee and Shine are? That we are going to try to recover them?”

He frowned. He was a member of the King’s Own Coterie. My news was no surprise to him, but perhaps he was surprised to discover that I now knew of it. He spoke softly. “I was told that all of it was to be kept secret. Surprising them is of the essence. As for Lord Chade, I am not sure he could mind his tongue. I do not think we should raise either hope or anxiety in him. We are trying to keep him peaceful and calm. Letting him gather himself.”

I shook my head and did not lower my voice. “Do you truly think he can feel any peace while his daughter is in the hands of Chalcedean mercenaries? When all is quiet around me, my fears for your small sister still run rampant in my mind. I have not known a moment of peace since I knew she was taken.”

Steady stared at me, stricken. From his bed, Chade gave the groan of an old man waking. I went to him and took his hand. He stirred very slightly. After a moment, he rolled his head toward me. His eyes were half-open.

“We’ve had news, Chade. The kidnappers were spotted. We believe they are on their way to Salter’s Deep. Dutiful has dispatched troops and we’ll seize the ship that is waiting for them, and then close in on them from behind.”

Chade blinked slowly. I felt a brush of Skill against my mind, softer than a butterfly’s wing. Go now. “Lant,” he said, his voice a bit rusty. “Take Lant. He feels so guilty. That they took her. Left him alive.” He paused and swallowed. “Save his pride. It’s taken a beating.”

“I’ll share the news,” I promised. For a moment, our gazes held. His look mirrored what I felt. He lay there, an old, aching man in his bed, while his daughter was in danger. And no one had even told him that she might be rescued, lest such news alarm him. Or prompt him to rash action. “I have to go,” I apologized but he knew it was a promise. “I need to give orders for my guard to prepare for tomorrow.”

For a moment, his gaze brightened. “Roust them out,” he told me. One of his eyelids sagged shut, then he opened both eyes wide. “We’re not done yet, boy. You and I, we’re not done yet.”

Then his eyes closed, he heaved a great sigh, and his breathing became regular again. I lingered a bit longer, his hand in mine. I glanced at Steady. “I doubt he’s a threat to our secrecy.” Then I tucked his hand back under his covers and left the room quietly.

I had not seen much of Lant since he had returned from Buckkeep. He had not really crossed my mind at all. And when he did, he left an unpleasant scent in my thoughts. He was a stony reminder of all the ways I had failed. I hadn’t protected him, or Shine, or my little girl. And in a dark corner of my heart, despite knowing he could not have done so, anger burned in me that he had not given up his own life before allowing Bee to be taken.

A page passed me, carrying someone’s laundry. “Lass, I’ve a task for you, when you’ve finished that one.”

She very nearly rolled her eyes, and then recognized me. “Of course, Prince FitzChivalry.” It’s difficult to bob a curtsy with both arms full of laundry, but she managed.

“Thank you. Find Lord FitzVigilant. Tell him I’ve urgent news to share with him. And remind him to visit Lord Chade today.”

“Of course, my prince.”

My prince. I wasn’t anyone’s prince today. I was a father.

I went directly to the practice grounds. I found Foxglove sitting on a bench outside the weapons sheds, rubbing liniment into her hand and wrist. She’d changed since I’d made her the captain of my guard. Her graying hair was severely braided into a warrior’s tail and her garb more leather than fabric now. She rubbed the ointment into her ropy, veiny wrist and hand. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me. Before she could rise, I sat down on the bench beside her. “I have to ask you to have my guard ready to ride beside me at dawn,” I said.

Her eyes flew wide. I held up a hand. As quickly and simply as I could, I told her all. She was my captain, my right hand. It would not have been right to ask her to ride blindly beside me. I doubted we were going into a confrontation. We’d simply be there in time to take charge of Bee after she had been rescued. But if by any chance we did have to cross swords with anyone, I wanted her to know why. And to know what was at stake.

She was the perfect second-in-command. She listened to me and accepted what I told her. Then she glanced at her boots and said, “Were it my operation, I would not go about it that way.”

“I’m listening.”

“Stealth. Get up on them while they are resting or asleep. Find out where the captives are and worry first about protecting them. Or employ simple bargaining. They’re mercenaries. Mercenaries can be bought. Whatever they’re being paid, we offer them more and safe passage. Later, after the girls are safe, we can decide if we are bound by our words. We can always poison the stores on board that ship and then let them go their merry way.”