Figurehead

twenty-two

The healers who taught me about poultice application were not exaggerating. There are indeed five palace guards standing before the doors to the king's rooms, keeping careful watch over anyone who enters, and anyone who leaves. My heartbeat is thunder.

It is before these five that we come to a stop. I recognise Gri and Juk in the centre. The other three are unknown to me, but none of them ask who I am. Instead, Gri and Juk part wordlessly and open the doors for me to pass through.

Oed does not follow.

I try not to think of the masks the guards wore so well, as the doors close loudly behind me. In the front room, it is not difficult to see how things have been changed since I was last here. There is a fire in the firepit, there are chests of drawers on either side of the room, and there are two pallets to the right of the room, neither of which are currently occupied.

Am I to stay here? Was Oed serious? My pulse doesn't slow when I see the door to his bedroom half-open, and I force myself to move forward.

I push the door open and stand in the doorway. A serving-boy closes the waste pot in his arms from where he stands beside the bed, a healer places a sheet over Dein's sleeping figure. Both turn to stare at me. I stare back.

The boy looks away first, one foot tapping against the floor before he dips his head and hastily leaves the room, bringing with him the scent of waste. The healer keeps staring at me. "Janf, you look terrible," she finally manages.

I raise my eyebrows. "That's the first thing you say to me? Really?"

She shakes her head. "Sorry." She glances at Dein, then at me as I approach slowly.

"I suppose this disrupted your plan of staying in Deritri," I murmur, coming to stand at the end of his bed.

Tui sighs. "Definitely. For now, I mean." She looks me up and down. "At least you're awake."

"They wouldn't let me see Lus or Sher." I don't mention Nirs.

Tui releases another sigh. "I only arrived last night, with Tri and Yef; we were in a rush, as you can imagine." I can't nod, so I don't speak. "Tri and Yef will leave after the parting ceremony. They're waiting for Tri's parents to arrive." She turns her gaze back to her sleeping kin.

I exhale, leaning my forearms on the end of his bed, the staff pressing into my left upper arm, next to my armpit. He sleeps. Of course he sleeps; I'm sure a healer gave him a half-leaf of krufid to eat too, if not more. As long as he consumes less than a krufid leaf each month, he should be fine. I hope wholeheartedly that he'll wake, that he won't feel a craving for krufid- whole, smoked or ash- and therefore won't be in danger of turning out like his brother.

Please, Lord, let him wake. And please, keep him from krufid addiction. Please, Lord.

Your will be done, Your will be done, Your will be done..

"Apparently I've been 'moved' here," I say after a long pause.

Tui nods. "There must be someone trusted in the room at all times." She shrugs. "He's king, after all, and the highest target."

"So I sleep in the front room? I saw two pallets." I don't move my gaze from him.

In my periphery, I see her shake her head. "You sleep in here." My breath catches in my throat as my heart momentarily seems to stop. "I'm staying in the front room with the serving-boy." Thank you. If only I could say it and not just think it.

I raise my eyebrows. "Does the boy know that? Doesn't he have his own room somewhere in the palace?"

She nods. "His name is Fiut, and yes, he does know and he does live in the palace. But Dein needs someone who can remove his waste and clean him with the help of a guard or two, at any time."