Free Assassin 3 - Royal Assassin by Hobb Robin Page B

Spread out on the table was the
beginnings of a map of the Chalced States. The corners of it were
weighted with a dagger and three stones. Various scraps of
parchment that littered the tabletop were covered with Verity's
hand and preliminary sketches with notes scratched across them. The
friendly litter that covered the two smaller tables and several of
the chairs seemed familiar. After a moment I recognized it as the
layer of Verity's possessions that had previously been scattered
about his bedchamber. Verity rose from awakening the fire and
smiled ruefully at my raised eyebrows. My queen-in-waiting has
small patience with clutter. `How,' she asked me, `can you hope to
create precise lines in the midst of such disorder?' Her own
chamber has the precision of a military encampment. So I hide
myself away down here, for I quickly found that in a clean and
sparse chamber I could get no work done at all. Besides, it gives
me a place for quiet talk, where not all know to seek
me.
    He had scarcely finished speaking when the door
opened to admit Charim with a tray. I nodded to Verity's serving
man, who not only seemed unsurprised to see me, but had added to
Verity's request a certain type of spice bread that I had always
enjoyed. He moved about the room briefly, making perfunctory
tidying motions as he shifted a few books and scrolls to free a
chair for me, and then vanished again. Verity was so accustomed to
him he scarce seemed to notice him, save for the brief smile they
exchanged as Charim left.
    So, he said, as soon as the door was fairly
shut. Let's have a full report. From the time you left
Buckkeep.
    This was not a simple recounting of my journey
and the events of it. I had been trained by Chade to be a spy as
well as an assassin. And since my earliest days Burrich had always
demanded that I be able to give a detailed account of anything that
went on in the stables in his absence. So as we ate and drank I
gave Verity an accounting of all I had seen and done since I had
left Buckkeep. This was followed by my summation of what I had
concluded from my experiences, and then by what I suspected from
what I had learned. By then, Charim had returned with another meal.
While we consumed this Verity limited our talk to his warships. He
could not conceal his enthusiasm for them. Mastfish has come down
to supervise the building. I went up to Highdowns myself to fetch
him. He claimed to be an old man now. `The cold would stiffen my
bones; I can't build a boat in winter anymore, that was the word he
sent me. So I set the apprentices work, and I myself went to fetch
him. He could not refuse me to my face. When he got here, I took
him down to the shipyards. And I showed him the heated shed, big
enough to house a warship, built so he might work and not be cold.
But that was not what convinced him. It was the white oak that
Kettricken brought me. When he saw the timber, he could not wait to
put a drawknife to it. The grain is straight and true throughout.
The planking is well begun already. They will be lovely ships,
swan-necked, sinuous as snakes upon the water. Enthusiasm spilled
from him. I could already imagine the rising and falling of the
oars, the bellying of the square masts when they were under
way.
    Then the dishes and oddments were pushed to one
side, and he began to quiz me upon the events in Jhaampe. He forced
me to reconsider each separate incident from every possible
perspective. By the time he was finished with me, I had relived the
entire episode and my anger at my betrayal was fresh and vivid once
more.
    Verity was not blind to it. He leaned back in
his chair to reach for another log. He flipped it onto the fire,
sending a shower of sparks up the chimney. You have questions, he
observed. This time you may ask them. He folded his hands quietly
into his lap and waited.
    I tried to master my emotions. Prince Regal,
your brother, I began carefully, is guilty of the highest treason.
He arranged the killing of your bride's elder