“Very well,” I assured him. I paused. “Were you at the Keep well last night, about midnight? Supposedly the Pocked Man was seen. Some are saying it means the well will go bad. Others are seeing it as a bad omen for Regal’s ceremony.”

“Oh? Well, and perhaps it is.” Chade chuckled to himself. “Omens and portents they shall have, boy, until a vanishing King and a missing Queen seem but a natural thing in the midst of it.” He grinned like a boy, and the years dropped from his face. Something like their old spark of mischief came into his green eyes. “Go get some rest. And let Burrich and the Queen know of our plans. I shall speak to Shrewd and the Fool. No others are to know even a whisper. For some of it, we must trust to luck. But for the rest, trust to me!”

His laughter was not a wholly reassuring sound as it followed me down the stairs.

28

Treasons and Traitors

PRINCE REGAL WAS the only child of King Shrewd and Queen Desire to survive birth. Some say the midwives never cared for the Queen and did not do overmuch to see her babes lived. Others that the midwives, in their anxiety to spare the Queen her birth pangs, gave her too much of those herbs that dull pain. But as only two of her stillborn children had been carried more than seven months in her womb, most midwives say the Queen’s use of intoxicants was at fault, as well as her evil habit of carrying her belt knife with the blade toward her belly, as all know this is bad luck for a woman of childbearing years.

I did not sleep. Whenever I pushed my worries about King Shrewd from my mind, Molly stood there instead, beside someone else. My mind shuttled between them, weaving me a coat of misery and worry. I promised myself that as soon as King Shrewd and Kettricken were safe, I would find a way to win Molly back from whoever had stolen her from me. That decided, I turned over and stared into the dark some more.

Night’s reign was still solid when I rolled from my bed. I ghosted past empty stalls and sleeping animals to go silently up Burrich’s stairs. He heard me out, then asked gently, “Are you sure you’ve not had a bad dream?”

“If I have, it’s lasted most of my life,” I pointed out quietly.

“I begin to feel that way myself,” he agreed. We were talking in the dark. He was still in bed and I was sitting on the floor beside it, whispering. I would not suffer Burrich to build up his fire, or even light a candle, for I did not desire anyone to wonder about a sudden departure from his routine. “For us to accomplish all he is asking in two days means that every task must be done perfectly the first time. I have come to you first. Can you do it?”

He was silent and in the darkness I could not see his face. “Three sturdy horses, a mule, a litter, and supplies for three. All without anyone noticing it.” Another silence. “I can’t very well just load up the King and Queen and ride out through the gates of Buckkeep, either.”

“You know that copse of alder where the big dog fox used to den? Have the horses waiting there. The King and Kettricken will meet you there.” Reluctantly I added, “The wolf will guide them to you.”

“Must they know, as well as I, what you do?” He was aghast at the thought.

“I use what tools I have. And I do not perceive it as you do.”

“How long can you share minds with one who scratches and licks himself, who will roll in carrion, who goes mad when a female is in season, who thinks no further than his next meal, before you accept his values as your own? Then what will you be?”

“A guardsman?” I hazarded.

Despite himself, Burrich gave a snort of laughter. “I was serious,” he said after a moment.

“So am I, about the King and Queen. We must put our minds to how we will accomplish this. I no longer care what I sacrifice to accomplish it.”

He was quiet a moment. “So somehow I’m to get four animals and a litter out of Buckkeep without exciting any interest?”

I nodded in the dark, then: “Can it be done?”

Grudgingly he said, “There’s a stable hand or two left that I trust. It’s not a favor I like to ask of anyone. I don’t want a lad swinging over something I asked him to do. But I suppose it could be made to look as if they were part of a coffle being taken upriver. But my lads are not stupid; I won’t have a stupid hand in the stable. Once the news is out that the King is missing, they’ll figure it out quickly.”

“Choose one who loves the King.”

Burrich sighed. “Food supplies. It won’t be sumptuous rations. More like marching fare. Am I to supply winter clothing as well?”