The Complete Tawny Man Trilogy Omnibus (260 page)

‘He visits the minstrel tavern often?’

‘So I’ve heard.’

I didn’t ask from whom, or why the Queen’s councillor would be kept informed of the habits of a woodworker’s apprentice. I merely said, ‘Thank you for watching over him.’

‘I told you I would. Not that I’ve done well at it. Fitz, I am sorry to tell you this. I don’t know the details, but I understand he got in a bit of trouble in town and has lost his apprenticeship. He has been staying amongst the minstrel folk.’

I shook my head at that, sick at heart. I should have done better by him. Time, definitely, to take the young man in hand. I decided I’d seek out Starling for gossip on where to find my boy. I felt guilty and remiss that I had not sought him out before this.

‘Any other news that I should know?’

‘Lady Patience whacked me quite soundly with her fan when she discovered that you had been in the infirmary for some days and no one had informed her.’

I laughed in spite of myself. ‘In public?’

‘No. She has gained some discretion in her old age. She summoned me to a private meeting in her chambers. Lacey was waiting for me. I went in, Lacey offered me a cup of tea, and Patience came in and whacked me with her fan.’ He rubbed his head above his ear and added ruefully, ‘You might have told me she knew you were alive and disguised as a guardsman. Something that she finds offensive in the extreme, by the by.’

‘I didn’t have a chance. So. Is she angry with me?’

‘Of course. But not as angry as she is with me. She called me an “old spider” and threatened to horsewhip me if I didn’t stop interfering with her son. How did she establish a connection between you and me?’

I shook my head slowly. ‘She’s always known more than she lets on.’

‘Indeed. That was the case even when your father was alive.’

‘I will go and see Patience also. Well, it seems that my life is as much a tangle as ever. How go things in the greater schemes of Buckkeep?’

‘Your plans have succeeded well enough. Those dukes who did not travel to the Out Islands on Prince Dutiful’s first sortie are glad to have a chance at making trade agreements with the kaempra who have been arriving. Some think there may be enough profit in it to persuade the Hetgurd to put an end to all raids. I do not know if they can wield that authority, but if all the dukes say, firmly, that trading agreements are contingent on an end to all raiding, it may cease. There has even, you may be surprised to hear, been talk of some marriage offers between Six Duchies nobility and the Out Island clans. So far, it has been all kaempras offering to join our “mothershouses” and we have had to caution our nobility that the Outislander notion of marriage is sometimes not so permanent as our own. But some may work out. Several of our higher nobles have younger sons they might offer to Outislander clans.’

He leaned back in his chair and poured brandy for himself. ‘It might even be a lasting peace, Fitz. Peace with the Outislanders in my lifetime. Truth to say, I never thought I’d see it.’ He sipped from his cup and added, ‘Though I’ll not count my chickens before they are hatched. We’ve still a way to go. I’d like to see Dutiful hailed as King-in-Waiting before the winter is over, but that may take a bit of doing. The lad is still impulsive and impetuous. I’ve cautioned him, over and over, that the crown sits on the King’s head, not his heart. Nor considerably lower. He needs to show his dukes a man’s measured thought, a king’s considered opinions, not a boy’s passions. Both Tilth and Farrow have said they’d rather see him wed first or with a few more years to steady him before they recognize him as King-in-Waiting.’

I pushed my brandy cup toward him and he filled it as well. ‘You say nothing of the dragons. There have been no problems, then?’

He gave a wry smile. ‘I think our Six Duchies folk are a bit disappointed that they have not seen so much as a scale of them. They would have relished having Icefyre come crashing through our gates to present his head to our queen. Or they think
they would. As for me, I am well contented with that situation. Dragons at a distance are amazing and noble creatures of legend. My closer experience of them makes me suspect they’d burp nobly after consuming me.’

‘Do you think they went back to Bingtown, then?’

‘Most emphatically not. We had a messenger from the Traders last week, seeking word of Tintaglia. From the scroll, I could not tell if they were worried for her well-being, or frantic at having become the sole providers for several earth-bound dragons. I was going to tell them we had no idea of what had become of them after Icefyre made his appearance at the Narwhal mothershouse. Then Nettle spoke up. She said that Tintaglia and Icefyre were feeding and mating and completely engrossed in those two activities. She could not say where; her contact with Tintaglia is intermittent, and a dragon’s idea of geography quite different from ours. But they were feeding on sea-bears. So I think that would put them to the north of us. We may yet see something of them if they decide to fly back to Bingtown.’

‘I’ve a feeling we’ve not heard the last of them. But what about closer to home? Have we resolved anything with our Old Blood?’

‘Old Blood has shed much blood while we were gone. It has rocked several of our duchies to discover that Old Blood may run stronger in the nobility than was previously admitted. There was even a rumour about Celerity of Beams, that perhaps she and her hawk saw with the same eyes. Shocking. These revelations come out when vendettas run hot, and one set of murders lead to another. Kettricken has been hard pressed to keep order. But the gist of it is that Old Blood seems to have thoroughly cleaned their own house of “the Piebald blight”. Web was horrified at the news he received when he arrived home. He has pressed, more than ever, for Old Blood to make itself known and respectable. In some ways, the bloodletting has been a setback for him. Ironically, he has proposed to create a township for Old Blood, where they may demonstrate their diligence and civility. What once they opposed for fear it would lead to slaughter, they now propose as a way to demonstrate their harmlessness. When unprovoked. The Queen is considering it. Location would
require much negotiation. Many fear the Wit more than ever these days.’

‘Well, not everything can go smoothly, I suppose. At least it may be more out in the open, now.’ I sat a moment, wondering. Celerity of Beams, Witted? I did not think so. But looking back, I could not be certain.

‘And Lord FitzChivalry Farseer? Will he come out into the sunlight at last?’

‘What, only Lord? I thought I was to be King?’ And then I laughed, for never had I seen Chade struck dumb before. ‘No,’ I decided. ‘No, I think we will let Lord FitzChivalry Farseer rest in peace. Those important to me know. That was all I ever cared about.’

Chade nodded thoughtfully. ‘I could wish you a minstrel’s happy ending to your tale, “much love and many children”, but I do not think it will come to be.’

‘It never came true for you, either.’

He looked at me and then looked aside. ‘I had you,’ he said. ‘But for you, perhaps I would have died an “old spider” hiding in the walls. Did you never think of that?’

‘No. I hadn’t.’

‘I’ve things to do,’ he said abruptly. Then, as he stood, he rested a hand on my shoulder and asked, ‘Will you be all right now?’

‘As well as can be expected,’ I said.

‘I’ll leave you then.’ He looked down and added, ‘Will you try to be more careful? It was not easy for me, those days when you went missing. I thought you had fled Buckkeep and the duties of your blood, and then when the Fool came through, I believed you were dead somewhere. Again.’

‘I’ll be just as careful with myself as you are with yourself,’ I promised him. He lifted one brow at me and then nodded.

I sat for some time after he was gone looking at the package and the scroll. I opened the scroll first. I recognized the Fool’s careful hand. I read it through twice. It was a poem about dancing, and a farewell. I could tell he had written it before he discovered my absence. So. He had not changed his mind. He and Prilkop had paused here only to say goodbye to me, not because he’d had a change of heart.

The package was lumpy and rather heavy. When I untied the slithery fabric, a piece of memory stone the size at my fist rolled out on the table. The Fool’s Skilled fingers had carved it, I was sure. I poked at it cautiously but felt only stone. I lifted it up to look at it. It had three faces, each blending into the next. Nighteyes was there, and me, and the Fool. Nighteyes looked out at me, ears up and muzzle down. The next face showed me as a young man, unscarred, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. Had I ever truly been that young? And the Fool had carved himself as a fool, in a tailed cap with one long forefinger lifted to shush his pursed lips and his brows arched high in some jest.

It was only when I cupped the carving in my hand that it awoke for me and revealed the memories the Fool had imbued in it. Three simple moments it recalled. If my fingers spanned the wolf and myself, then I saw Nighteyes and I curled together in sleep in my bed in the cabin. Nighteyes sprawled sleeping on the Fool’s hearth in the Mountains when I touched both Fool and Nighteyes. The last was confusing at first. My fingers rested on the Fool and me. I blinked at the memory presented to me. I stared at it for some time before recognizing it as another of the Fool’s memories. It was what I looked like when he pressed his brow to mine and looked into my eyes. I set it down on the table and the Fool’s mocking smile looked up at me. I smiled back at him and impulsively touched a finger to his brow. I heard his voice then, almost as if he were in the room. ‘I have never been wise.’ I shook my head over that. His last message to me and it had to be one of his riddles.

I took my treasures and crawled back behind the hearth and set the panel back in place. I went to my workroom and hid them there. Gilly appeared, with many questions about the lack of sausages. I promised him I’d look into it. He told me I should, and bit a finger firmly as a reminder.

Then I left the workroom and slipped back into the main halls of Buckkeep. I knew that Starling would be sniffing over the visiting minstrels, so I went to the lower hall where they usually rehearsed and were generously hosted with viands and drink. The room was stuffed with entertainers, competing with one another in that boisterous and co-operative way they have, but I saw no sign of Starling. I then sought her in the Great Hall and the Lesser, but
without success. I had given up and was leaving on my way down to Buckkeep Town when I caught a glimpse of her in the Women’s Gardens. She was walking slowly about with several other ladies. I waited until I was sure she had seen me and then went to one of the more secluded benches. I was certain she would find me there and I did not have to wait long. But as she sat down beside me, she greeted me with, ‘This is not wise. If people see us, they will talk.’

I had never heard her voice concern over that before and it took me aback, as well as stinging my feelings. ‘Then I will ask my question and be on my way. I’m going to town to look for Hap. I’ve heard he’s been frequenting one of the minstrel taverns and I thought you’d know which one?’

She looked surprised. ‘Not I! It’s been months since I’ve been to a minstrel tavern. At least four months.’ She leaned back on the bench, her arms crossed and looked at me expectantly.

‘Could you guess which one?’

She considered a moment. ‘The Pelican’s Pouch. The younger minstrels go there, to sing bawdy songs and make up new verses to them. It’s a rowdy place.’ She sounded as if she disapproved. I raised my brows to that. She clarified, ‘It’s fine enough for young folk new to singing and telling, but scarcely an appropriate place for me these days.’

‘Appropriate?’ I asked, trying to master a grin. ‘When have you ever cared for appropriate, Starling?’

She looked away from me, shaking her head. She did not meet my eyes as she said, ‘You must no longer speak to me so familiarly, Tom Badgerlock. Nor can I meet you again, alone, like this. Those days are over for me.’

‘Whatever is the matter with you?’ I burst out, shocked and a bit hurt.

‘The matter with me? Are you blind, man? Look at me.’ She stood up proudly, her hands resting on her belly. I had seen bigger paunches on smaller matrons. It was her stance rather than her size that informed me. ‘You’re with child?’ I asked incredulously.

She took a breath and a tremulous smile lit her face. Suddenly, she spoke to me as if she were the old Starling, the words bubbling from her. ‘It is little short of a miracle. The healer woman that Lord Fisher has hired to watch over me says that sometimes, just when a woman’s
chances for it are nearly gone, she can conceive. And I have. Oh, Fitz, I’m going to have a baby, a child of my own. Already, I love it so that I can scarcely stop thinking of it, night or day.’

She looked luminously happy. I blinked. Sometimes, she had spoken of being barren with bitterness, saying that her inability to conceive meant she would never have a secure home or a faithful husband. But never had she uttered a word of the deep longing for a child that she must have felt all those years. It stunned me. I said, quite sincerely, ‘I’m happy for you. I truly am.’

‘I knew you would be.’ She touched the back of my hand, briefly, lightly. Our days of greeting one another with an embrace were over. ‘And I knew you would understand why I must change my ways. No breath of scandal, no hint of inappropriate behaviour by his mother should mar my baby’s future. I must become a proper matron now, and busy myself only with the matters of my household.’

I knew a shocking moment of greenest envy.

‘I wish you all the joys of your home,’ I said quietly.

‘Thank you. You do understand this parting?’

‘I do. Fare you well, Starling. Fare you well.’

I sat on the bench and watched her leave me. She did not walk, she glided, her arms across her belly as if she already held her unborn child. My greedy, raucous little bird was a nesting mother now. I felt a twinge of loss to watch her go. In her own way, she had always been someone I could turn to when my days were hard. That was gone now.