"Then we shall hope that those who hired these men were not that clever. I shall find out who is plotting against me. Such treason cannot go unpunished."
Blade closed his eyes, wishing that she would go away. As if reading his thoughts, Minna stood up. "I will leave you to rest now, Lord Conash. Captain Redgard will be sent to you when you are feeling well enough to receive him."
He nodded, feigning utter exhaustion. "My Queen."
When the door had closed behind his visitors, he found that his exhaustion was not wholly feigned, and soon fell asleep.
The following day, he described his assailants to an attentive Captain Redgard, then spent the day in a restful doze, rousing only to eat and drink. Arken tiptoed in and out of the room as he tended his patient, and the healer came in the afternoon to change Blade's dressings again.
The day of his meeting with the assassin's guild, Blade forced himself to rise from the bed. His knees almost buckled when he tried to stand, and he hung onto the bedpost, wondering how he would attend the meeting when he could barely walk. Trying to ignore the pain, he tottered across the room to peer into the mirror, examining the fading bruises on his face. The swelling had gone down, but greenish marks dappled his skin like sickly shadows. He fingered his nose, glad to find it unbroken.
"Do not worry, you are still as handsome as ever."
The sound of Chiana's voice made him turn too quickly, and his bad leg buckled. He grabbed the table under the mirror as he fell, bringing several ornaments crashing down around him. The advisor hurried over and tried to help him up, but he slapped her hands away.
"Are you all right?" she enquired, looking worried.
"No thanks to you. Do you never knock?"
"I thought you might be asleep. I did not want to disturb you."
"Mighty considerate of you." He levered himself into a chair. The pain made sweat pop out on his brow, and he gritted his teeth.
"I did not expect to find you out of bed. You are still too weak."
"I noticed."
She raised a brow, a slight, mocking smile tugging at her lips. "Was it so important to look in the mirror?"
Blade glared up at her. "What do you want?"
"The Queen wishes to know how you fare."
"I was much better until you sneaked up on me with your rude comments."
"I did not sneak up on you, nor was my comment intended to be rude."
He snorted, looking away. Chiana moved to sit on a chair in front of him, arranging her skirts. Blade noted the slight flush in her cheeks, and the way her eyes avoided his.
"I only spoke the truth," she went on, "though I am surprised by your concern."
"So you find me handsome, and think me vain?"
"Yes."
"And what possible reason, do you suppose, would I have for being vain? Do you think that I wish to attract members of the opposite sex?"
Her cheeks reddened further. "No, I suppose not." She hesitated, then glanced at him. "So why are you so concerned about your appearance?"
Blade gave her a gentle, mocking smile that made her look away. "I have to attend a meeting tonight, of the assassin's guild, and I do not relish the idea of meeting my peers looking like I have been beaten to within an inch of my life. Call it pride, if you will, but not vanity. Spare me your girlish assumptions."
"But you are not well enough. You cannot travel."
"I will decide what I can and cannot do."
"You will tear open your wounds, and you barely have the strength to stand."
"I am not planning on doing anything more strenuous than riding a horse and talking to some old acquaintances."
She shook her head. "The Queen will not allow it."
"You will not tell the Queen until I have gone. I will need new daggers, and a horse tonight."
Chiana looked scandalised. "You cannot order me to keep secrets from the Queen."
"Why not?"
"She has a right to know where you go."
Blade's brows rose a fraction, and his lips curled at the corners. "She is not my keeper. I am free to go when and where I wish. Should she wish to prevent me, she must throw me into the dungeons and put me in chains. For this she has no reason."
"You endanger yourself, and she has need of you."
Blade leant forward, wincing. "Chiana, when she sends me to do her killing, she puts me in great danger, so do not claim that her concern is for anything other than selfish reasons. So long as I am a free man, my life is my own to do with as I see fit. I shall not die from my wounds, and this meeting is not dangerous."
Chiana shivered, and he wondered at the cause of it. Her expression told him that she would protest further, and he smiled, knowing it would cause the words to die on her lips. She averted her eyes.
"Then take someone with you, to help you, should you need it."
"You?"
"No, not unless you wish it."
"I must go alone, and I require no help."
She looked uncertain and worried, but nodded. "If this is your wish, Lord Conash, then I cannot prevent you, but the Queen will be angry when she hears of it."
He shrugged, unconcerned. "I am not afraid of her. Can you procure another dagger?"
"Of course."
"Good, bring me one before dusk, and arrange for a horse to be made ready. I shall ride out after dark."
"As you wish, My Lord." She rose to her feet. "And since you are feeling well enough to travel around attending meetings, I am sure you will have no trouble getting back to your bed."
With this tart remark, Chiana spun in a swirl of skirts and left, banging the door behind her. Blade gazed after her, then shook his head and struggled from the chair to continue his gentle exercise, loosening stiff muscles and forcing some strength into his legs.
By nightfall, the combination of exercise and good food had returned some of his vigour. Arken brought him a silver-hilted dagger, and a message that his horse was ready. The servant's frown held a wealth of disapproval for his charge's ill-advised jaunt. Blade dressed in his black leather garb, which had been washed and mended since the fight.
The ride to the meeting, although achieved at a sedate walk, proved to be painful and tiring. Blade arrived at the assigned location far weaker than he would have wished, and mustered all of his remaining energy to walk without a limp into the ring of torches that lighted the scene. A surprising number of assassins were assembled within the circle of tall grey stones whose origins had been lost in time. Their black clothes made them blend into a formless mass dotted with pale faces, their numerous familiars hidden amongst them. Many were apprentices, young boys barely in their teens.
Blade turned to face an older man who rose from the ranks, a dark wolf following him like a shadow. His former tutor's hair was touched with grey at the temples, and his well-trimmed beard bore twin white lines that gave him the distinguished air of a scholar. Then again, Blade mused, Kai had always looked distinguished, an asset that had helped his career. At almost forty years old, he was, by assassins' standards, venerable.
Had he remained an active assassin, he would not have achieved such a great age. Kai had retired in his late twenties, and now earned his living teaching young assassins for a share of their profits once they earned their tattoos. He was also an elder in the assassin's guild, which gave him the power to aid in their decisions and partake in the rituals, such as judging young assassins striving to attain their mark. Older retired assassins ranked above him, but in this instance, he was the guild's spokesman, as Blade's erstwhile tutor.
He smiled at his former pupil. "Welcome, Blade. I'm pleased that you have finally honoured us with your presence."
Blade inclined his head. "Talon." He addressed the elder assassin by his trade name, as was polite.