Chapter 183 Chapter 183 Finding the Ancient Spirit

I know that Verity can easily read my thoughts, but I have to stretch my perception to reach the messages he isn't sending me.I felt the cold all around him, the wound that made him breathe painfully, and his loneliness, and knew that the man who paid for his life had died for him in a faraway land.Hod, my own thoughts and mourning resonated with his, Charin, farewell too, and something else he was less able to convey.It was a lure to stagger around the edge, a pressure, a tug, similar to the Skill tug I felt from Tanning and Zegu.I tried pushing him away to get a better view, but he stopped me.

Some dangers are more sinister when confronted, he warned me.That's one of them, but I'm sure it's the path I should follow if I'm going to find the Elder. "Prisoner!" I woke up from a trance.A key was inserted into the lock of my cell door, and when the door opened there was a girl standing by the door.Regal was beside her, with a hand resting comfortably on her shoulder.Two guards in outback garb stood on either side of them, and one of them leaned forward to plant a torch in my cell.Inadvertently, I recoiled and sat down, blinking as I hadn't adjusted to the light. "Is that him?" Regal asked the girl gently, and she stared at me in horror, and I looked back at her, trying to remember why she looked so familiar.

"Yes, my lord, my lord prince, king, my lord. It is he. I went to the well that morning, and must, must draw water, or the baby will die of thirst, just as the robbers must have killed him. Then, For a while there was only dead silence in Jieyi Bay, so I went to the well early in the morning and crawled through the mist, my lord. And then there was this wolf, right by the well, staring at me, and when the wind blew When the mist cleared, the wolf disappeared, and became a man. That man, my lord, Your Majesty the King." She continued to stare at me with wide eyes. Now I can remember.Nighteyes and I stopped to rest by the well the morning after the battle of Kitty Cove and Fort Guards Cove.I remember it escaping when the girl approached and waking me up.

"You are a brave girl." Regal praised her, and then patted her on the shoulder. "Guard, take her upstairs and back to the kitchen, give her a good meal, and try to find her a bed. No, leave the torch." As soon as they exited the door, the guard slammed the door shut behind him.I heard footsteps leaving, but there was still light outside the door.Regal spoke again when the footsteps died away. "Okay, little bastard. Looks like the game is over, and I doubt your supporters will abandon you anytime soon once they figure out what you really are. There are other witnesses, of course, who will tell you When fighting in Yiwan, what happened to the wolf footprints all over the ground and the bite wounds on the enemy's corpse; With bite marks and paw prints." He sighed heavily, but his heart was full of joy.I heard him stick the torch into the wall candle, and he walked back to the door.He wasn't tall enough to be able to stare at me from there.I stood boyishly, then went to the door and looked down at him, and he backed away, to my great satisfaction.

But it angered him. "How gullible you are, what a fool. You limped home from the mountains with your tail between your legs, thinking that Verity's partiality for you would keep you alive. You and all your stupid tricks, I You know it all, you know it all, you little bastard. All the schmoozing between you and the queen, bribing Plondi in the queen's garden to turn him against me, even her plans to leave Buckkeep.With warm clothes, you tell her, 'the king will go with you'. He stood on tiptoe so I could see his smile. "She walked away with nothing, little bastard."There was no king, and no winter warmer she had packed in advance. He paused. "Not even a horse." His voice was soft as he uttered the last few words, as if he had kept them in his head for too long. He looked eagerly into my face.

I immediately realized how stupid I was.Rosemary, the sweet and quiet child, always nods in the corner and dozes off.So ice-smart that everyone trusts her with any errand, and so young they almost forget she even exists.However, I should have known earlier.I was around her age when Chade started teaching me how to be an assassin.I felt nauseous, and my expression must have shown it.I don't remember what was or wasn't said in her presence, or what Kettricken confided to the little dark curly head.What conversations with Verity had she seen, and what small talk with Patience?The Queen and the Fool are both missing, that's the only thing I know for sure, but did they get out of Buckkeep alive?Regal grinned, quite pleased with himself, and only the iron gate between us kept me from breaking my oath to Shrewd.

He smiled and left. Emperor Zun got the evidence that I have the original wisdom, and the girl in Jieyiwan is the conclusive evidence of the crime.All he had to do next was get me to admit to killing Shrewd, and he had plenty of time to do that.No matter how long it takes, it's not a problem for him. I sat down on the ground slumped.Verity was right, Regal had won. However, nothing will satisfy the wayward princess, who still hunts on her spotted stallion.All her ladies had warned her, but she turned her head away.All the knights had warned her too, but she laughed at their fears.Even the stable master dissuaded her, telling her: "Princess, this stallion will be burned in blood, because it was trained by a cunning sapiens, and will be loyal only to him!" said, "Isn't this my stable and horses? Can't I choose which horse to ride?" Then all fell silent because of her tantrum, and she ordered that the piebald stallion Slip on the saddle and get ready to go hunting.

So off they went, with a pack of barking hounds and flags waving in the wind.Then, Spotted carried her steadily, and quickly took her to the field ahead, far away from the whole group, until the other hunters could not see them.Later, when the wayward princess came to the far hills below the green woods, Spotted drove her here and there, until she lost her way and the barking of the hounds echoed on the hills. .Finally, she stopped by a stream to drink the cool water.But lo and behold!When she came back, the piebald was gone, and there was only the wily wit standing in the horse's place, covered with mottled spots like his wit, and then they were like a stallion and a mare She mates like that, so she comes back after many years with a big belly.When those who witnessed her giving birth saw the baby covered with mottled spots from face to shoulders, they cried out in terror.When the Wayward Princess saw his son, she screamed at once, and then went mad in blood and shame, because she gave birth to the son of the wily wily species.So the Piebald Prince was born out of fear and shame, and he brought that into the world.

-- "Legend of the Piebald Prince"