Assassin's Quest

She nodded her agreement. "I understand that the King's guards pressed two barges and their crews a week ago, and forced them to attempt the trip. Bodies from at least one barge washed back to shore. Men and horses. No one knows if the other soldiers made it across or not. But" she smiled with satisfaction and drew closer to me as she dropped her voice "I do know of one group who are still bound for the Mountains."

"Who?" I demanded.

She made me wait a moment.

"Smugglers." She spoke the word very softly.

"Smugglers?" I asked cautiously. It made sense. The tighter the restrictions on trade, the more profitable for those who managed it. There would always be men who would risk their lives for a profit.

"Yes. But that is not truly why I sought you out. Fitz, you must have heard that King Regal has come to Blue Lake. But it's all a lie, a trap to lure you in. You must not go there."

"I knew that," I told her calmly.

"How?" she demanded. She spoke quietly, but I could see how annoyed she was that I had known before she had told me.

"Perhaps a little bird told me," I told her loftily. "You know how it is, we Witted ones speak the tongues of all the animals."

"Truly?" she asked me, gullible as a child.

I raised one eyebrow at her. "It would be more interesting to me to know how you knew."

"They tracked us down to question us. Everybody they could find from Madge's caravan."

"And?"

"And such tales as we told! According to Creece, several sheep were lost along the way, dragged off at night without a sound. And when Tassin told of the night you tried to rape her, she said it was only then she noticed that your nails were black like a wolf's claws, and your eyes glowed in the darkness."

"I never tried to rape her!" I exclaimed, and then hushed myself when the waiting-boy turned toward us inquiringly.

Starling leaned back in her chair. "But such a fine tale as it made, it fair brought tears to my eyes. She showed the Skillwizard the mark on her cheek where you'd clawed her, and said she would never have escaped you but for the wolfsbane that happened to grow nearby."

"It sounds to me as if you should follow Tassin about if you are looking for a song," I muttered disgustedly.

"Oh, but the tale I told was even better," she began, then shook her head at the serving boy as he approached. She pushed away her empty plate and glanced about the room. It was starting to fill with the evening's customers. "I have a room upstairs," she invited me. "We can talk more privately there."

This second meal had finally filled my belly. And I was warm. I should have felt wary, but the food and the warmth were making me sleepy. I tried to focus my thoughts. Whoever these smugglers were, they offered the hope of getting to the Mountains.

The only hope I'd had lately. I gave a small nod. She rose and I followed with my carry-basket.

The room upstairs was clean and warm. There was a feather bed on the bedframe, with clean wool blankets upon it. A pottery ewer of water and a washbasin rested on a small stand by the bed. Starling lit several candles in the room, driving the shadows back into the corners. Then she gestured me in. As she latched the door behind us, I sat down on the chair. Odd, how a simple, clean room could seem such a luxury to me now. Starling sat down on the bed.

"I thought you said you had no more coin than I did," I commented.

"I didn't, back then. But since I came to Blue Lake, I've been in demand. Even more so since the guards' bodies were found."

"How is that?" I asked her coldly.

"I'm a minstrel'' she retorted. "And I was there when the Wit-Bastard was taken. Do you think I can't tell the story of that well enough to be worth a coin or two?"

"So. I see." I mulled over what she had told me, then asked, "So, do I owe my glowing red eyes and fangs to your telling?"

She gave a snort of disdain. "Of course not. Some street corner ballad maker came up with that." Then she halted, and smiled almost to herself "But I'll admit to a bit of embroidery. As I tell it, Chivalry's Bastard was stoutly thewed and fought like a buck, a young man in the prime of his years, despite the fact that his right arm still bore the savage marks of King Regal's sword. And above his left eye, he'd a streak of white as wide as a man's hand in his hair. It took three guardsmen just to hold him, and he did not stop fighting, even when the leader of the guard struck him so hard it knocked the teeth from the front of his mouth." She paused and waited. When I said nothing, she cleared her throat. "You might thank me for making it a bit less likely that folk would recognize you on the street."

"Thank you. I suppose. How did Creece and Tassin react to that?"

"They nodded all the while. My story only made theirs all the better, you see."

"I see. But you still haven't told me how you know it was a trap."