those moments , as he padded across the darkening marketplace , convinced that he was walking towards an agonizing death , were the worst moments in yodrens life ; so when the chambermaid awaiting him at the palace gates , a girl even younger than he and twice as skittish , lead him wordlessly to the dimly-lit dining hall , where the queen was having a quiet if one-sided conversation with the luxuriously bedecked corpse of prince fantyr , yodrens relief and astonishment had been so sudden and profound , hed nearly broken out in laughter .