Assassin 3 - Royal Assassin Read Online Free PDF Page A

could ask the Fool to
change them and he would. But I would just sweat anew if he did. It
was useless. I clutched at my covers with gnarled fingers. I asked
him bluntly, Why have you come here?
    He took my hand in his and patted it. My lord, I
mistrust this sudden weakness. You seem to take no good from this
healer's ministrations. I fear that his knowledge is much smaller
than his opinion of it.
    Burrich? I asked incredulously.
    Burrich? Would that he were here, my lord! He
may be the stablemaster, but for all that, I warrant he is more of
a healer than this Wallace who doses and sweats you.
    Wallace? Burrich is not here?
    The Fool's face grew graver. No, my king. He
remained in the Mountains, as well you know.
    Your king, I said, and attempted to laugh. Such
mockery.
    Never, my lord, he said gently.
Never.
    His tenderness confused me. This was not the
Fool I knew, full of twisting words and riddles, of sly jabs and
puns and cunning insults. I felt suddenly stretched thin as old
rope, and as frayed. Still, I tried to piece things together. Then
I am in Buckkeep?
    He nodded slowly. Of course you are. Worry
pinched his mouth.
    I was silent, plumbing the full depth of my
betrayal. Somehow I had been returned to Buckkeep. Against my will.
Burrich had not even seen fit to accompany me.
    Let me get you some food, the Fool begged me.
You always feel better after you have eaten. He rose. I brought it
up hours ago. I've kept it warm by the hearth.
    My eyes followed him wearily. At the big hearth
he crouched, to coach a covered tureen away from the edge of the
fire. He lifted the lid and I smelled rich beef stew. He began to
ladle it into a bowl. It had been months since I'd had beef. In the
Mountains, it was all venison and mutton and goat's flesh. My eyes
wandered wearily about the room. The heavy tapestries, the massive
wooden chairs. The heavy stones of the fireplace, the richly worked
bed hangings. I knew this place. This was the King's bedchamber at
Buckkeep. Why was I here, in the King's own bed? I tried to ask the
Fool, but another spoke with my lips. I know too many things, Fool.
I can no longer stop myself from knowing them. Sometimes it is as
if another controlled my will, and pushed my mind where I would
rather it did not go. My walls are breached. It all pours in like a
tide. I drew a deep breath, 'but I could not stave it off. First a
chill tingling, then as if I were immersed in a swift flowing of
cold water. A rising tide, I gasped. Bearing ships. Red-keeled
ships ...
    The Fool's eyes widened in alarm. In this
season, Your Majesty? Surely not! Not in winter!
    My breath was pressed tight in my chest. I
struggled to speak. The winter has crept in too softly. She has
spared us both her storms and her protection. Look. Look out there,
across the water. See? They come. They come from the
fog.
    I lifted my arm to point. The Fool came hastily,
to stand beside me. He crouched to peer where I pointed, but I knew
he could not see. Still, he loyally placed a hesitant hand on my
thin shoulder, and stared as if he could will away the walls and
the miles that stood between him and my vision. I longed to be as
blind as he. I clasped the long-fingered pale hand that rested on
my shoulder. For a moment I looked down at my withered hand, at the
royal signet ring that clung to a bony finger behind a swollen
knuckle. Then my reluctant gaze was drawn up and my vision taken
afar.
    My pointing hand indicated the quiet harbor. I
struggled to sit up taller, to see more. The darkened town spread
out before me like a patchwork of houses and roads. Fog lay in
hollows and was thick upon the bay. Weather change coming, I
thought to myself. Something stirred in the air that chilled me,
cooling the old sweat on my skin so that I shivered. Despite the
blackness of the night and the fog, I had no difficulty in seeing
everything perfectly. Skill watching I told myself, and then
wondered. I could not Skill, not predictably, not
usefully.
    But as I