Starling pried the Fool out of my arms. I drank some water and shook for a short while. Every part of me hurt as if bruised. As I sat recovering, something pushed into the front of my mind. I suddenly staggered to my feet.
'Six of them, and three have gone down as I did, he said.'
All eyes turned to me at my blurted words. Kettle was getting water down the Fool, but he did not look much better. Her mouth was pursed with worry and displeasure. I knew what she feared. But the fear the wolf had given me was more compelling.
'What did you say?' Kettricken asked me gently, and I realized they thought my mind was wandering again.
'Nighteyes has been following them. Six men on horses, one pack animal. They stopped at our old campsite. And he said that three of them went down as I did.'
'Meaning to the city?' Kettricken asked slowly.
To the city, Nighteyes echoed. It chilled me to see Kettricken nod as if to herself.
'How can that be?' Starling asked softly. 'Kettle told us the signpost only worked for you because you had had Skill-training. It didn't affect any of the rest of us.'
'They must be Skilled ones,' Kettle said softly and looked at me questioningly.
There was only one answer. 'Regal's coterie,' I said and shuddered. The sickness of dread rose in me. They were so horribly close, and they knew how to hurt me so badly. An overwhelming fear of pain flooded my mind. I fought panic.
Kettricken patted my arm awkwardly. 'Fitz. They'll not get past that slide easily. With my bow, I can pick them off as they cross.' Kettricken offered these words. There was irony in my queen offering to protect the royal assassin. Somehow it steadied me, even as I knew her bow was no protection from the coterie.
'They don't need to come here to attack me. Or Verity.' I took a deep breath, and suddenly heard an additional fact in my words. 'They don't need to physically follow us here to attack us. So why have they come all this way?'
The Fool leaned up on an elbow. He rubbed at his pasty face. 'Maybe they don't come here to pursue you at all,' he suggested slowly. 'Maybe they want something else.'
'What?' I demanded.
'What did Verity come here for?' he demanded. His voice was weak but he seemed to be thinking very carefully.
'The aid of the Elderlings? Regal never believed in them. He saw it only as a way to get Verity out of his path.'
'Perhaps. But he knew the tale he spread of Verity's death was a fabrication of his own. You yourself say that his coterie waited and spied upon you. In what hopes, if not to discover Verity's whereabouts? By now, he must wonder as much as the Queen does, why has Verity not returned? And Regal must wonder, what errand was so important that the bastard turned aside from killing him to set forth on it? Look behind you, Fitz. You have left a trail of blood and mayhem. Regal must wonder where it all leads.'
'Why would they go down into the city?' I asked, and then a worse question, 'How did they know how to go down into the city? I blundered into it, but how did they know?'
'Perhaps they are far stronger than you in the Skill. Perhaps the guidepost spoke to them, or perhaps they came here already knowing much more than you did.' Kettle spoke carefully, but there was no 'perhaps' in her voice.
It was all suddenly clear to me. 'I don't know why they are here. But I know I am going to kill them before they can get to Verity, or trouble me any further.' I heaved myself to my feet.
Starling sat staring at me. I think she realized at the moment exactly what I was. Not some romanticized princeling in exile who would eventually do some heroic task, but a killer. And not even a very competent one.
'Rest a bit first,' Kettricken advised me. Her voice was steady and accepting.
I shook my head. 'I wish I could. But the opportunity they've given me is now. I don't know how long they'll be in the city. I hope they'll spend some time there. I'm not going down to meet them, you see. I'm no match for them in the Skill. I can't fight their minds. But I can kill their bodies. If they've left their horses, guards and supplies behind them, I can take those things from them. Then when they come back, they'll be trapped. No food, no shelter. No game to hunt around here, even if they remembered how to hunt. I won't get a chance as good as this again.'
Kettricken was nodding reluctantly. Starling looked ill. The Fool had sagged back into his bedding. 'I should be going with you,' he said quietly.
I looked at him and tried to keep amusement out of my voice. 'You?'
'I've just a feeling … that I should go with you. That you should not go alone.'
'I won't be alone. Nighteyes is waiting for me.' I quested out briefly and found my comrade. He was crouched on his belly in the snow, downtrail of the guards and horses. They had built a small fire and were cooking food over it. It was making the wolf hungry.
Shall we have horse tonight?
We shall see, I told him. I turned to Kettricken. 'May I take your bow?'
She handed it over reluctantly. 'Can you shoot it?' she asked.
It was a very fine weapon. 'Not well, but well enough. They've no cover worth mentioning, and they aren't expecting an attack. If I'm lucky, I can kill one before they know I'm even around.'
'You'll shoot one without even issuing a challenge?' Starling asked faintly.
I looked into the sudden disillusionment in her eyes. I closed my eyes and focused on my task instead. Nighteyes?
Shall I drive the horses over the cliff, or just down the trail? They've already scented me and are getting anxious. But the men pay no attention.
I'd like the supplies they are carrying, if it can be managed.
Why did killing a horse bother me more than killing a man?
We'll see, Nighteyes replied judiciously. Meat is meat, he added.
I slung Kettricken's quiver over my back. The wind was kicking up again, promising more snow. The thought of crossing the slide area again turned my bowels to water. 'There is no choice,' I reminded myself. I looked up to see Starling turning away from me. She had evidently taken my remark as her reply. Well, it would serve there as well. 'If I fail, they will come after you,' I said carefully. 'You should get as far from here as you can; travel until you can't see anymore. If all goes well, we'll catch up with you soon enough.' I crouched down beside the Fool. 'Can you walk at all?' I asked him.
'For a way,' he said dully.
'If I must, I can carry him.' Kettricken spoke with quiet certainty. I looked at the tall woman and believed her. I gave a short nod of my head.
'Wish me luck,' I told them, and turned back to the slide zone.
'I'm coming with you,' Kettle announced abruptly. She stood up from retying her boots. 'Give me the bow. And follow where I walk.'
I was speechless for a moment. 'Why?' I demanded at last.
'Because I know what I'm doing crossing that rock. And I'm more than `good enough' with a bow. I'll wager I can drop two of them before they know we're there.'
'But … ' 'She is very good on the slide,' Kettricken observed calmly. 'Starling, take the jeppas. I'll bring the Fool.' She gave us an unreadable look. 'Catch up as soon as you can.'
I recalled that I'd tried to leave Kettle behind once before. If she was going with me, I wanted her to be with me, not coming up behind me when I didn't expect it. I glared at her, but nodded.
'The bow,' she reminded me.
'Can you really shoot well?' I asked her as I grudgingly surrendered it.
A funny smile twisted her face. She looked down at her crooked fingers. 'I would not tell you I could do a thing if I could not. Some of my old skills are still mine,' she said quietly.
We set out to clamber back up onto the tumbled rock. Kettle went first, her probing staff in hand, and I came behind her, one staff length back as she had bid me. She didn't say a word to me as she glanced back and forth between the ground at her feet and where she wished to take us. I could not discern what it was that decided her path, but the loose stone and crystalline snow remained quiet under her short steps. She made it look easy
