Royal Assassin

"I don't know," I admitted grudgingly. "It shocked me when he set off on this ridiculous quest. He should have stayed here and continued with his original plan. By the time he returns, half his kingdom will be beggared or given away, the way Regal is going at things."

Chade looked at me levelly. " `His' kingdom is still King Shrewd's kingdom. Remember? Perhaps he has faith in his father to keep it intact."

"I do not think King Shrewd can even keep himself intact, Chade. Have you seen him of late?"

Chade's mouth went to a flat line. "Yes." He bit the word off: "I see him when no one else does. I tell you that he is not the feeble idiot you seem to believe he is."

I shook my head slowly. "If you had seen him tonight, Chade, you would share my anxiety."

"What makes you so sure I did not?" Chade was nettled now. I had no wish to anger the old man. But it seemed to be going all wrong, no matter how I spoke. I forced myself to keep silent now. Instead of speaking, I took another sip of my wine. I stared into the fire.

"Are the rumors about the Near Islands true?" I asked at last. My voice was my own again.

Chade sighed and rubbed at his eyes with his knuckly hands. "As in all rumors, there is a germ of truth. It may be true that the Raiders have established a base there. We are not certain. We have certainly not ceded the Near Islands to them. As you observed, once they had the Near Islands, they would raid our coast winter and summer."

"Prince Regal seemed to believe that they could be bought off: That perhaps those islands and a bit of Bearns's coast were what they were truly after." It was an effort, but I kept my voice respectful as I spoke of Regal.

"Many men hope that by saying a thing they can make it so," Chade said neutrally. "Even when they must know better," he added as a darker afterthought.

"What do you think the Raiders want?" I asked.

He stared past me into the fire. "Now, there is a puzzle. What do the Raiders want? It is how our minds work, Fitz. We think they attack us because they want something from us. But surely, if they wanted something, by now they would have demanded it. They know the damage they do to us. They must know that we would at least consider their demands. But they ask for nothing. They simply go on raiding."

"They make no sense." I finished the thought for him.'

"Not the way we see sense," he corrected me. "But what if our basic assumption is wrong?"

I just stared at him.

"What if they don't want anything, except what they already have? A nation of victims. Towns to raid, villages to torch, people to torture. What if that is their entire aim?"

"That's insane," I said slowly.

"Perhaps. But what if it is so?"

"Then nothing will stop them. Except destroying them."

He nodded slowly. "Follow that thought."

"We don't have enough ships to even slow them down." I considered a moment. "We had best all hope the myths about the Elderlings are true. Because it seems to me they, or something like them, is our only hope."

Chade nodded slowly. "Exactly. So you see why I approve of Verity's course."

"Because it's our only hope of survival."

We sat for a long time together, staring into the fire silently. When I finally returned to my bed that night, I was assailed by nightmares of Verity attacked and battling for his life while I stood by and watched. I could not kill any of his attackers, for my king had not said I could.

Twelve days later, Duke Brawndy of Bearns arrived. He came down the coast road, at the head of enough men to be impressive without being an open threat. He had mustered as much pomp and panoply as his dukedom could afford. His daughters rode at his side, save for the eldest, who had remained behind to do all that could be done for Ferry. I spent most of the early afternoon in the stables, and then in the guardroom, listening to the talk of the lesser members of his entourage. Hands acquitted himself well at seeing that there was space and care for their beasts, and as always, our kitchens and barracks made themselves hospitable places. Still, there was plenty of hard talk among the folk from Bearns. They spoke bluntly of what they had seen at Ferry, and how their summons for help had gone unheeded. It shamed our soldiers that there was little they could say to defend what King Shrewd had apparently done. And when a soldier cannot defend what his leader has done, he must either agree with the criticism or find another area in which to disagree. So there were fistfights between Bearns men and Buckkeep troops, isolated incidents for the most part, and over trivial differences. But such things did not usually happen under the discipline at Buckkeep, and so they were all the more unsettling. It underscored to me the confusion among our own troops.