A cold settled in me. I whispered back, “The two Forged villages. Did you hear what ones they were?”
“Whalejaw up in Bearns. And Siltbay in Buck itself.”
The darkness settled darker around me, and I lay watching it all night.
The next morning we left Turlake. On horseback. Overland. Burrich would not even let us keep to the road. I had protested in vain. He listened to me complain, then took me aside, to fiercely demand, “Do you want to die?”
I looked at him blankly. He snorted in disgust. .
“Fitz, nothing has changed. You’re still a royal bastard, and Prince Regal still regards you as an obstacle. He’s tried to be rid of you, not once, but twice. Do you think he’s going to welcome you back to Buckkeep? No. Even better for him if we never make it back at all. So let’s not make easy targets of ourselves. We go overland. If he or his hirelings want us, they’ll have to hunt us through the woods. And he’s never been much of a hunter.”
“Wouldn’t Verity protect us?” I asked weakly.
“You’re a King’s Man, and Verity is king-in-waiting,” Burrich had pointed out shortly. “You protect your king, Fitz. Not the reverse. Not that he doesn’t think well of you, and would do all he could to protect you. But he has weightier matters to attend. Red-Ships. A new bride. And a younger brother who thinks the crown would sit better on his own head.
No. Don’t expect the King-in-Waiting to watch over you. Do that for yourself.”
All I could think of was the extra days he was putting between me and my search for Molly. But I did not give that reason. I had not told him of my dream. Instead, I said, “Regal would have to be crazy to try to kill us again. Everyone would know he was the murderer.”