properly. Twice he has neglected it, and twice have the coast villages of Shoaks Duchy paid for his negligence. Has he gone beyond negligence to treachery? Does Kelvar confer with the enemy to his profit? We want you to sniff about and see what you can discover. If all you find is innocence, or if you have but strong suspicions, bring news back to us. But if you discover treachery, and you are certain of it, then we cannot be rid of him too soon.'
'And the means?' I was not sure that was my voice. It was so casual, so contained.
'I have prepared a powder, tasteless in a dish, colorless in a wine. We trust to your ingenuity and discretion in applying it.' He lifted a cover from an earthenware dish on the table. Within it was a packet made of very fine paper, thinner and finer than anything Fedwren had ever shown me. Odd, how my first thought was how much my scribe master would love to work with paper like that. Within the packet was the finest of white powders. It clung to the paper and floated in the air. Chade shielded his mouth and nose with a cloth as he tapped a careful measure of it into a twist of oiled paper. He held it out to me, and I took death upon my open palm.
'And how does it work?'
'Not too quickly. He will not fall dead at the table, if that is what you are asking. But if he lingers over his cup, he will feel ill. Knowing Kelvar, I suspect he will take his bubbling stomach to bed, and never awaken in the morning.'
I slipped it into my pocket. 'Does Verity know anything of this?'
Chade considered. 'Verity is as good as his name. He could not sit at table with a man he was poisoning and conceal it. No, in this endeavor, stealth will serve us better than truth.' He looked me directly in the eyes. 'You will work alone, with no counsel other than your own.'
'I see.' I shifted on my tall wooden stool. 'Chade?'
'Yes?'
'Is this how it was for you? Your first time?'
He looked down at his hands, and for a moment he fingered the angry red scars that dotted the back of his left hand. The silence grew long, but I waited.
'I was a year older than you are,' he said at last. 'And it was simply the doing of it, not the deciding if it should be done. Is that enough for you?'
I was suddenly embarrassed without knowing why. 'I suppose,' I mumbled.
'Good. I know you meant no harm by it, boy. But men don't talk about times spent among the pillows with a lady. And assassins don't talk about ... our business.'
'Not even teacher to pupil?'
Chade looked away from me, to a dark corner of the ceiling. 'No.' After a moment more he added, 'Two weeks from now, you'll perhaps understand why.' And that was all we ever said about it. By my count, I was thirteen years old.
CHAPTER EIGHT. Lady Thyme
A HISTORY OF THE DUCHIES is a study of their geography. The court scribe of King Shrewd, one Fedwren, was very fond of this saying. I cannot say I have ever found it wrong. Perhaps all histories are recountings of natural boundaries. The seas and ice that stood between us and the Outislanders made us separate peoples and the rich grasslands and fertile meadows of the Duchies created the riches that made us enemies; perhaps that would be the first chapter of a history of the Duchies. The Bear and the Vin rivers are what created the rich vineyards and orchards of Tilth, as surely as the Painted Edges Mountains rising above Sandsedge both sheltered and isolated the folk there and left them vulnerable to our organized armies.
I jerked awake before the moon had surrendered her reign over the sky, amazed that I had slept at all. Burrich had supervised my travel preparations so thoroughly the night before that, had it been left to me, I would have departed a minute after I had swallowed my morning porridge.
But such is not the way when a group of folk set out together to do anything. The sun was well over the horizon before we were all assembled and ready. 'Royalty,' Chade had warned me, 'never travels light. Verity goes on this journey with the weight of the King's sword behind him. All folk who see him pass know that without being told. The news must run ahead to Kelvar, and to Shemshy. The imperial hand is about to reconcile their differences. They must both be left wishing they had never had any differences at all. That is the trick of good government. To make folk desire to live in such a way that there is no need for its intervention.'
So Verity traveled with a pomp that clearly irritated the soldier in him. His picked troop of men wore his colors as well as the Farseer buck badges, and rode ahead of the regular troops. To my young eyes, that was impressive enough. But to keep the impact from being too martial, Verity brought with him noble companions to provide conversation and diversion at the end of the day. Hawks and hounds with their handlers, musicians and bards, one puppeteer, those who fetched and carried for the lords and ladies, those who saw to their garments and hair and the cooking of favorite dishes; baggage beasts; all trailed behind the well-mounted nobles, and made the tail of our procession.
My place was about midway in the procession. I sat a restive Sooty beside an ornate litter borne between two sedate gray geldings. Hands, one of the brighter stable boys, had been assigned a pony and given charge of the horses bearing the litter. I would manage our baggage mule and see to the litter's occupant. This was the very elderly Lady Thyme, who I had never met before. When she at last appeared to mount her litter, she was so swathed in cloaks, veils, and scarves that I received only the impression that she was elderly in a gaunt rather than plump way, and that her perfume caused Sooty to sneeze. She settled herself in the litter amidst a nest of cushions, blankets, furs, and wraps, then immediately ordered that the curtains be drawn and fastened despite the fineness of the morning. The two little maids who had attended her darted happily away, and I was left, her sole servant. My heart sank. I had expected at least one of them to travel within the litter with her. Who was going to see to her personal needs when her pavilion was set up? I had no notion as to waiting on a woman, let alone a very elderly one. I resolved to follow Burrich's advice for a young man dealing with elderly women: be attentive and polite, cheerful and pleasant of mien. Old women were easily won over by a personable young man. Burrich said so. I approached the litter.
'Lady Thyme? Are you comfortable?' I inquired. A long interval passed with no response. Perhaps she was slightly deaf. 'Are you comfortable?' I asked more loudly.
'Stop bothering me, young man!' was the surprisingly vehement response. 'If I want you, I'll tell you.'
'I beg pardon,' I quickly apologized.
'Stop bothering me, I said!' she rasped indignantly. And added in an undertone, 'Stupid churl.'
At this, I had the sense to be quiet, though my dismay increased tenfold. So much for a merry and companionable ride. Eventually I heard the horns cry out and saw Verity's pennant lifted far ahead of us. Dust drifting back told me that our foreguard had begun the journey. Long minutes passed before the horses in front of us moved. Hands started the litter horses and I chirruped to Sooty. She stepped out eagerly and the mule followed resignedly.
I well recall that day. I remember the dust hanging thick in the air from all those who preceded us, and how Hands and I conversed in lowered voices, for the first time we laughed aloud, Lady Thyme scolded, 'Stop that noise!' I also remember bright blue skies arching from hill to hill as we followed the gentle undulations of the coast road. There were breathtaking views of the sea from the hilltops, and flower-scented air thick and drowsy in the vales. There were also the shepherdesses, all in a row atop a stone wall to giggle and point and blush at us while we passed. Their fleecy charges dotted the hillside behind them, and Hands and I exclaimed softly at the way they had bundled their bright skirts to one side and knotted them up, leaving their knees and legs bare to the sun and wind. Sooty was restive and bored with our slow pace, while poor Hands was constantly nudging his old pony in the ribs to make it keep up.
We stopped twice during the day to allow riders to dismount and stretch and to let the horses water. Lady Thyme did not emerge from her litter, but one time tartly reminded me that I should have brought her water by now. I bit my tongue and fetched her a drink. It was as close as we came to conversation.
We halted when the sun was still above the horizon. Hands and I erected Lady Thyme's small pavilion while she dined within her litter from a wicker basket of cold meat, cheese, and wine that she had thoughtfully provided for herself. Hands and I fared more poorly, on soldier's rations of hard bread and harder cheese and dried meat. In the midst of my meal, Lady Thyme demanded that I escort her from the litter to her pavilion. She emerged draped and veiled as if for a blizzard. Her finery was of varying colors and degrees of age, but all had been both
