Not privately. Dutiful was furious with both of us as he broke in on our Skilling. Who is she? How long has this been going on? I demand to know. How dare you train another Skilled one and keep her existence concealed from me!
Go back to sleep! Thick’s ponderous Skilling was between a moan and a command. Go back to sleep and stop shouting. It was only Nettle and her dragon. Go back to sleep.
Everyone knows of her except me? This is intolerable. Dutiful’s Skilling held fury and frustration, and that terrible sense of betrayal when one discovers one has been excluded from a secret. I demand to know who she is. Right now.
I fenced my thoughts tightly and prayed, even though I knew it would avail me nothing.
Chade? The Prince drove him out of his silence.
I do not know, my lord. The old man lied gracefully and without remorse. I both damned and admired him.
FitzChivalry.
Truly, there is a power to the naming of a man by his true name. I shuddered at the impact, and then swiftly begged, Do not call me by that name. Not here, not now, lest the dragon be listening. It was not the dragon I feared, but my daughter. Too many bits of my secrets were falling into her hands.
Tell me, Tom.
Not this way. If we must speak of this, let us speak voice to ear only. Near me in the dark, Thick pulled his blankets up over his head, groaning.
Meet me now. The Prince’s voice was grim.
This isn’t wise. Chade counselled us both. Let it wait until morning, my prince. There is no sense in inviting questions by summoning a man-at-arms to you in the middle of the night.
No. Now. What was truly unwise was for both of you to deceive me about this Nettle person. I will know now what is going on behind my back and why. It was almost as if I were in the mothershouse by the bed-benches. I could feel how his anger chased the chill from his bared chest as he threw his covers aside, sense how furiously he thrust his feet into his shoes.
Give me time to dress then, Chade conceded wearily.
No. Stay where you are, Councillor Chade. You say you know nothing? Then there is no sense in your bothering to come. I’ll meet Fitz … Tom alone for this.
His anger roared like a fire now, and yet he still had refrained from saying my name. In some corner of my mind, I admired his restraint. But the greater part of my thoughts was taken up with a dilemma. This was my prince who was angry with me, and to his way of thinking, he was justified. How would I react to his questions? Who was I to him tonight? Friend, mentor, uncle or subject? I became aware that Thick was sitting up on his blankets, watching me dress.
‘I’ll only be gone a short time. You’ll be fine here alone,’ I reassured him even as I wondered if that was so.
I don’t want to leave Thick alone here. I Skilled to the Prince, hoping this excuse would spare me.
Then bring him. The Prince bit off his succinct order.
‘Do you want to come?’
‘I heard him,’ Thick replied wearily. He heaved a huge sigh. ‘You’re always making me go places I don’t want to go,’ he complained as he rummaged for clothing in the dark.
I felt a year had passed before he was dressed. He huffily refused any offer of assistance from me. Together we finally left the cottage and wound our way through the village. The odd twilight that passes for night in that part of the world lent its grey aspect to the world. It was oddly restful to my eyes and I finally identified the sensations. These dimmed colours reminded me of how Nighteyes had perceived the world on the evenings and dawns when we had hunted together. It was a gentle light, and undistracted by colour, the eye was free to pick up the small movements of game. I walked light as the wind, but Thick shuffled disconsolately along beside me. Every now and then, he coughed. I reminded myself that he was still not completely well and tried to find patience with his slow pace. Little bats flickered through the air over the town. I caught the furtive glide of a robber-rat as it slunk from a rain barrel to a doorstep. I wondered if it was the same one that Swift had tried to befriend, then put it out of my mind. We were drawing closer to the mothershouse. The courtyard was deserted. They posted no guard here, though they kept a lookout over the coast and harbour. Evidently they feared no attacks from within their own folk. I wondered then if Peottre had told me all he knew of Henja. Certainly he and the Narcheska seemed wary of the woman and he had said she was an outsider. Why, then, did he not post a guard against her?
I led Thick away from the main door. We approached the mothershouse from behind, past the stone walls and hedges that confined the sheep. Around the corner of a shed, the Prince was waiting for us near some bushes beside the privies. He shifted restlessly as he watched us approach, and I sensed his impatience. I lifted a silent hand to him to gesture to him to join us in the concealment of the hedge. Then:
Don’t come to me. Stand still. No, hide. Or go away.
I halted, confused by the Prince’s sudden command. And then I saw what had rattled him. Elliania wore a cloak over her nightgown as she leaned out from the door and glanced around. I barely had time to put a hand on Thick’s chest and urge him back out of sight behind the hedge-line. The little man angrily slapped my hand from his chest. ‘I heard him,’ he complained to me as I shushed him in vain.
We have to be very quiet, Thick. The Prince doesn’t want Elliania to know we are here.
Why not?
He just doesn’t, that’s all. We need just to hide here and be very quiet. I crouched down on the earth behind the hedge and patted the ground by me invitingly. Thick, hunched in the greyness, scowled down at me. I longed simply to take him home but I was sure Elliania would hear his shuffling tread if we tried to leave. It was better to wait. Surely she wouldn’t be long. She probably only needed to use the back house. I peered around the trunks of the hedge through a gap in the branches. Come join us here before she sees you, I Skill-suggested to the Prince.
No. She’s seen me. Go away. I’ll talk to you later. Then, disbelieving, I felt him raise his Skill-walls against me. He had grown stronger. It was by the Wit that I sensed him, poised and quivering in her steady-eyed regard as she came to him in the dusky light of a sun that scraped along the edge of the horizon, refusing to set.
I felt a lurch of dismay as I saw how swiftly she went to him and how close she stood to him in the dimness. This was not the first time these two had met clandestinely. I wanted to turn my eyes away and yet I stared avidly, peering at them through the bushes. Her words barely reached me. ‘I heard the door open and close, and when I looked out of the window, I saw you waiting here.’
‘I couldn’t sleep.’ He reached out as if to take her hands, but then dropped his hands back to his sides. I felt more than saw the sharp glance he sent my direction.
Go away. I’ll speak to you tomorrow. His Skill-sending was tight and small. I doubted that even Thick was aware of it. Royal command was in his tone. He expected me to obey him.