Royal Assassin

I awoke again. I could tell time had passed by how much thirstier I was. Other than that, everything was remarkably the same. This time I determined that the bench I was lying on was also made of stone. There was nothing between me and the stone save the clothes I wore. "Hey!" I called. "Guards!" There was no answer. Everything seemed a bit vague. After a time I could not recall if I had already cried out, or if I was summoning the strength to do so. After a bit more time I decided I did not have the strength. I went back to sleep. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

I awoke to Patience's voice arguing. Whoever she was arguing with wasn't answering much, and wasn't giving in. "It's ridiculous. What are you afraid I'll do?" A silence. "I've known him since he was a child." Another silence. "He's hurt. What possible damage can it do for me to at least look at his injuries? You can hang him whole as easily as you can wounded, can't you?" Another silence.

After a time I decided I might be able to move. I had a lot of bruises and scrapes I couldn't account for, probably gained on the journey between the Great Hall and here. The worst part of moving was that it tugged my clothing against the scabbed over cuts. I decided I could stand it. For such a small room, it was a very long way from the bed to the door. When I got there, I discovered I could just see out the little barred window. What I could see was the stone wall on the opposite side of the narrow corridor. I gripped the bars with my good left hand.

"Patience?" I croaked.

"Fitz? Oh, Fitz, are you all right?"

Such a question. I started to laugh and coughed instead, finishing with the taste of blood in my mouth. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't fine, but it wasn't healthy for her to be too interested in me. Even as fuddled as I was, I knew that. "I'm all right," I croaked at last.

"Oh, Fitz, the King is dead!" she called to me from down the hall. The words tumbled from her in her haste to tell me all. "And Queen Kettricken is missing, and King-in-Waiting Regal says you are at the bottom of all of it. They say-"

"Lady Patience, you'll have to leave now," the guard attempted to break in. She ignored him.

"-you went crazy in grief over Verity's death, and killed the King and Serene and Justin, and they don't know what you've done with the Queen, and no one can-"

"You cannot speak to the prisoner, madam!" He spoke with conviction, but she paid no mind.

"-find the Fool. Wallace, he's the one, he said he saw you and the Fool quarreling over the King's body, and then he saw the Pocked Man, come to carry his spirit away. The man is crazy! And Regal accuses you, too, of the low magic, of having the soul of a beast! That's how he said you killed the King. And-"

"Madam! You have to leave now, or I will have to have you taken away."

"Then do that," Patience spat at him. "I just dare you to try. Lacey, this man is bothering me. Ah! You dare to think of touching me! I, who was Chivalry's queen-in-waiting! Now, Lacey, do not hurt him, he's only a boy. A mannerless boy, but a boy nonetheless."

"Lady Patience, I beg you ...." A change in tone from the guard.

"You can't very well drag me away from here without leaving your post. Do you think I'm so stupid I can't see that? What will you do? Attack two old women with your sword?"

"Chester! Chester, where are you?" the guard on duty bellowed. "Damn you, Chester!" I could hear the frustration in his voice as he yelled for his partner, who had taken a break. He was probably up in the watch room off the kitchen. Drinking cold beer. Eating hot stew. A wave of dizziness passed over me.

"Chester?" The guard's voice was fading. He had actually been fool enough to leave Lady Patience by his post and go looking for his comrade. In a moment I heard the light patter of her slippers outside my door. I felt the touch of her fingers on my hand that gripped the bar. She was not tall enough to look in, and the corridor was so narrow she could not step back where I could see her. But the touch of her hand was as welcome as sunlight.

"Keep watch for him coming back, Lacey," she directed, then spoke to me. "How are you, really?" She spoke low, pitching her voice for my ears alone.

"Thirsty. Hungry. Cold. In pain." I saw no point in lying to her. "What is happening in the Keep?"