Assassin's Quest

"A bit," he admitted. Then his misery broke though and he said, "I am cold as I have never been before. My back and my jaws ache from shaking with it."

Flank him, suggested Nighteyes. The big wolf shifted to press more closely against him. I added my blankets to those covering the Fool and then crawled in beside him. He said not a word but his shivering lessened somewhat.

"I can't recall that you were ever ill at Buckkeep," I said quietly.

"I was. But very seldom, and I kept to myself. As you recall, the healer had little tolerance for me, and I for him. I would not have trusted my health to his purges and tonics. Beside. What works for your kind sometimes does nothing for mine."

"Is your kind so vastly different from mine?" I asked after a time. He had brought us close to a topic we had seldom even mentioned.

"In some ways," lie sighed. He lifted a hand to his brow. "But sometimes I surprise even myself." He took a breath, then sighed it out as if he had endured some pain for an instant. "I may not even be truly ill. I have been going through some changes in the past year. As you have noticed." He added the last in a whisper.

"You have grown, and gathered color," I agreed softly.

"That is a part of it." A smile twitched over his face, then faded. "I think I am almost an adult now."

I snorted softly. "I have counted you as a man for many years, Fool. I think you found your manhood before I did mine."

"Did I? How droll!" he exclaimed softly, and for a moment sounded almost like himself. His eyes sagged shut. "I am going to sleep now," he told me.

I made no reply. I shouldered deeper into the blankets beside him and set my walls once more. I sank into a dreamless rest that was not cautionless sleep.

I awoke before first light with a foreboding of danger. Beside me, the Fool slept heavily. I touched his face, and found it warm still and misted with sweat. I rolled away from him, tucking the blankets in tight around him. I added a twig or two of precious fuel to the brazier and began drawing my clothes on quietly. Nighteyes was immediately alert.

Going out?

Just to sniff about.

Shall I come?

Keep the Fool warm. I won't be long.

Are you sure you'll be all right?

I'll be very careful. I promise.

The cold was like a slap. The darkness, absolute. After a moment or two, my eyes adjusted but even so I could see little more than the tent itself. An overcast had blotted the stars even. I stood still in the icy wind, straining my senses to find what had disturbed me. It was not the Skill but my Wit that quested out into the darkness for me. I sensed our party, and the hunger of the huddled jeppas. Grain alone would not keep them long. Another worry. Resolutely I set it aside and pushed my senses further. I stiffened. Horses? Yes. And riders? I thought so. Nighteyes was suddenly beside me.

Can you scent them?

The wind is wrong. Shall I go see?

Yes. But be unseen.

Of course. See to the Fool. He whimpered when I left him.

In the tent, I quietly woke Kettricken. "I think there may be danger," I told her softly. "Horses and riders, possibly on the road behind us. I'm not certain yet."

"By the time we are certain, they will be here," she said dourly. "Wake everyone. I want us up and ready to move by light."

"The Fool is still feverish," I said, even as I stooped and shook Starling's shoulder.

"If he stays here, he won't be feverish, he'll be dead. And you with him. Has the wolf gone to spy for us?"

"Yes." I knew she was right, but it was still hard to force myself to shake the Fool to consciousness. He moved like a man in a daze. While the others bundled our gear, I hurried him into his coat and nagged him into an extra pair of leggings. I wrapped him in all our blankets and stood him outside while the rest of us struck the tent and loaded it. Of Kettricken I asked quietly, "How much weight can a jeppa bear?"

"More than the Fool weighs. But they are too narrow to straddle comfortably, and they are skittish with a live load. We might put him on one for a ways, but it would be uncomfortable for him and the jeppa would be difficult to control."

It was the answer I had expected, but it did not make me happy.

"What news from the wolf?" she asked me.

I reached for Nighteyes, and was dismayed to find what an effort it was to touch minds with him. "Six riders," I told her.

"Friend or foe?" she asked.

"He has no way to know," I pointed out to her. To the wolf I asked, How do the horses look?

Delicious.

Large, like Sooty? Or small, like Mountain horses?

Between. One pack mule.

"They are on horses, not Mountain ponies," I told Kettricken.

She shook her head to herself. "Most of my folk do not use horses this high in the Mountains. They would use ponies, or jeppas. Let us decide they are enemies and act accordingly."

"Run or fight?"

"Both, of course."'

She had already taken her bow from one of the jeppa's loads.

Now she strung it to have it ready. "First we look for a better place to stage an ambush. Then we wait. Let's go."