"I am not a fool. I know far more of what goes on than you think I do. Find it. All of it, and return it here. Did you capture all the smugglers?"
The sergeant took a breath and decided on the truth. "There were a few with the pony team on the far side when we took down Nik. They rode off before…"
"Forget them. Where is the Bastard's accomplice?"
The sergeant looked blank. I believe he did not know the word.
"Did not you capture a minstrel? Starling?" Burl demanded again.
The sergeant looked uncomfortable. "She got a bit out of control, sir. When the men were subduing the Bastard on the ramp. She lit into the man holding her and broke his nose. It took a bit to… get her under control."
"Is she alive?" Burl's tone left no doubt of his contempt for their competence.
The sergeant flushed. "Yes, sir. But…" Burl silenced them with a look. "Were your captain still alive, he would wish he were dead now. You have no concept of how to report, or of how to retain control of a situation. A man should have been sent to me immediately, to inform me of these events as they happened. The minstrel should not have been permitted to see what was happening, but secured immediately. And only an idiot would have tried to subdue a man on a barge in the middle of a strong current when all he had to do was wait for the barge to land. He'd have had a dozen swords at his command there. As for the smuggler's bribe, it will be returned to me, or you shall all go unpaid until it is made up. I am not a fool." He glared around at everyone in the tent. "This has been bungled. I will not excuse it." He folded his lips tightly. When he spoke again, he spat out the words. "All of you. Go."
"Yes, sir. Sir? The prisoner?"
"Leave him here. Leave two men outside, swords drawn. But I wish to speak to him alone." The sergeant bowed and hastened out of the tent. His men followed him promptly.
I looked up at Burl and met his eyes. My hands were bound tightly behind me, but no one held me on my knees anymore. I got to my feet and stood looking down on Burl. He met my gaze unflinchingly. When he spoke his voice was quiet. It made his words all the more threatening. "I repeat to you what I told the sergeant. I am not a fool. I do not doubt that you already have a plan to escape. It probably includes killing me. I have a plan as well, and it includes my surviving. I am going to tell it to you. It's a simple plan, Bastard. I have always preferred simplicity. It is this. If you give me any trouble at all, I shall have you killed. As you have no doubt deduced, King Regal wishes you brought to him alive. If possible. Don't think that will prevent me from killing you if you become inconvenient. If you are thinking of your Skill, I will warn you my mind is well warded. If I even suspect you of trying it, we will try your Skill against my guard's sword. As for your Wit, well, it seems my problems are solved there, as well. But should your wolf materialize, he, too, is not proof against a sword."
I said nothing.
"Do you understand me?"
I gave a single nod.
"That is as well. Now. If you give me no problems, you will be treated fairly. As will the others. If you are difficult at all, they, too, will share your privations. Do you understand that as well?" He met my gaze, demanding an answer.
I matched his quiet tone. "Do you truly think I'd care if you spilled Nik's blood, now that he's sold me to you?"
He smiled. It turned me cold, for that smile had once belonged to the carpenter's genial apprentice. A different Burl now wore his skin. "You're a wily one, Bastard, and have been since I've known you. But you've the same weakness of your father and the Pretender; you believe even one of these peasants' lives to be worth the equal of yours. Be any trouble to me, and they all pay, to the last drop of blood. Do you understand me? Even Nik."
He was right. I had no stomach to visualize the pilgrims paying for my daring. I quietly asked, "And if I am cooperative? What becomes of them, then?"
He shook his head over my foolishness in caring. "Three years' servitude. Were I a less kindly man, I'd take a hand from each of them, for they have directly disobeyed the King's orders in attempting to cross the border and deserve to be punished as traitors. Ten years for the smugglers."
I knew few of the smugglers would survive. "And the minstrel?"
I do not know why he answered my question, but he did. "The minstrel will have to die. You know that already. She knew who you were, for Will questioned her back in Blue Lake. She chose to help you, when she could have served her king instead. She is a traitor."
His words ignited the spark of my temper. "In helping me, she serves the true king. And when Verity returns, you will feel his wrath. There will be no one to shield you or the rest of your false coterie."
For a moment, Burl only looked at me. I caught control of myself. I had sounded like a child, threatening another with his big brother's wrath. My words were useless, and worse than useless.
"Guards!" Burl did not shout. He scarcely lifted his voice at all, but the two were inside the tent instantly, swords drawn and pointed at my face. Burl behaved as if he did not notice the weapons. "Bring the minstrel to us here. And see that she does not get 'out of control' this time." When they hesitated, he shook his head and sighed. "Go on, now, both of you. Send your sergeant to me as well." When they had departed, he met my eyes and made a face of discontent. "You see what they give me to work with. Moonseye has ever been the refuse pile for Six Duchies soldiery. I have the cravens, the fools, the discontents, the connivers. And then I must face my king's displeasure when every task given them is botched."
I think he actually expected me to commiserate with him. "So, Regal has sent you here to join them," I observed instead.
Burl gave me a strange smile. "As King Shrewd sent your father and Verity here before me."
That was true. I looked down at the thick sheepskin covering the floor. I was dripping on it. The warmth from the brazier was seeping into me, causing me to shiver as if my body were giving up cold it had hoarded. For an instant I quested away from myself. My wolf slept now, warmer than I was. Burl reached to a small table beside his chair and took up a pot. He poured a steaming cup of beef broth for himself and sipped at it. I could smell its savor. Then he sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"We've come a long ways from where we began, haven't we?" He almost sounded regretful.
I bobbed my head. He was a cautious man, Burl, and I did not doubt that he would carry out his threats. I had seen the shape of his Skill, and seen, too, how Galen had bent and twisted it into a tool that Regal would use. He was loyal to an upstart prince. That Galen had forged into him; he could no longer separate it from his Skill. He had ambitions for power, and he loved the indolent life his Skill had earned him. His arms no longer bulged with the muscles of his work. Instead his belly stretched his tunics and the jowls of his cheeks hung heavy. He seemed a decade older than I was. But he would guard his position against anything that threatened it. Guard it savagely.
The sergeant reached the tent first, but his men came with Starling shortly afterward. She walked between them and entered the tent with dignity despite her bruised face and swollen lip. There was an icy calm to her as she stood straight before Burl and gave him no greeting at all. Perhaps only I sensed the fury she contained. Of fear she showed no sign at all.
When she stood alongside me, Burl lifted his eyes to consider us both. He pointed one finger at her. "Minstrel. You are aware that this man is FitzChivalry, the Witted Bastard."
Starling made no response. It was not a question.