by Robin Hobb
Her appearance shocked me. She wore a simple robe of drab brown, and she had cut her hair for mourning. She had left herself less than a hand’s-width of hair and, bereft of its rich weight, it stuck out about her head like a dandelion gone to seed. Its colour seemed to have been cut away with its length, leaving it as pale as the Fool’s. So accustomed had I been to seeing the heavy gold braids of her hair that her head now appeared oddly small upon her wide shoulders. Her pale blue eyes were made strange by eyelids reddened by weeping. She did not look like a mourning queen. Rather she appeared bizarre, a new kind of Fool for the court. I could see nothing of my queen, nothing of Kettricken in her garden, nothing of the barefoot warrior dancing with her blade; only a foreign woman, newly alone here. Regal, in contrast, was as lavishly clothed as if to go a-courting, and moved as surely as a hunting cat.
What I witnessed that evening was as cleverly-paced and carefully-led as a puppet-play. There was old King Shrewd, doddering and thin, nodding off over his dinner, or making vague and smiling conversation to no one in particular. There was the Queen-in-Waiting, unsmiling, barely eating, silent and mourning. Presiding over it all was Regal, the dutiful son seated next to the failing father, and beside him the Fool, magnificently clad and punctuating Regal’s conversation with witticisms to make the Prince’s conversation more sparkling than it truly was. The rest of the high table was the Duke and Duchess of Farrow, and the Duke and Duchess of Tilth, and their current favourites among the lesser nobility of those duchies. Bearns, Rippon and Shoaks duchies were not represented at all.
Following the meat, two toasts were offered to Regal. The first came from Duke Holder of Farrow. He toasted the Prince lavishly, declaring him the defender of the realm, praising his swift action on behalf of Neat Bay and lauding also his courage in taking the measures necessary for the best interests of the Six Duchies. That made me prick up my ears. But it was all a bit vague, congratulating and praising, but never quite laying out exactly what Regal had decided to do. Had it gone on any longer, it would have been suitable as a eulogy.
Early into the speech, Kettricken had sat up straighter and looked incredulously at Regal, obviously unable to believe that he would quietly nod and smile to praises not his due. If anyone besides myself noticed the Queen’s expression, none commented on it. The second toast, predictably, came from Duke Ram of Tilth. He offered a toast to the memory of King-in-Waiting Verity. This was a eulogy, but a condescending one, speaking of all that Verity had attempted and intended and dreamed of and wished for. His achievements already having been heaped on Regal’s plate, there was little left to add. Kettricken grew, if anything, whiter and more pinched about the mouth.
I believe that when Duke Ram finished, she was on the verge of rising to speak herself. But Regal arose, almost hastily, holding up his newly-filled glass. He motioned all to silence, then extended that glass toward the Queen.
‘Too much has been said of me this night, and too little of our most fair Queen-in-Waiting, Kettricken. She has returned home to find herself most sadly bereaved. Yet I do not think my late brother Verity would wish sorrow for his death to overshadow all that is due his lady by her own effort. Despite her condition,’ (and the knowing smile of Regal’s face was perilously close to a sneer), ‘she deemed it in the best interests of her adopted kingdom to venture forth to confront the Red Ships herself. Doubtless many Raiders fell to her valiant sword. No one can doubt that our soldiers were inspired by the sight of their queen, determined to do battle on their behalf, regardless of what she risked.’
Two spots of high colour began to glow on Kettricken’s cheeks. Regal continued, shading his account of Kettricken’s deeds with condescension and flattery. The insincerity of his courtier’s phrases somehow diminished her deed to something done for show.
I looked in vain for someone at the high table to champion her. For me to rise from my common place and pit my voice against Regal’s would have seemed almost more mocking. Kettricken, never sure of her place in her husband’s court, and now without him to sustain her, seemed to shrink in on herself. Regal’s retelling of her exploits made them seem questionable and reckless rather than daring and decisive. I saw her dwindle before herself, and knew she would not speak up for herself now. The meal resumed with a very subdued queen attending to the addled King Shrewd beside her, grave and silent to the King’s vague efforts at conversation.
But worse was to come. At the end of the meal, Regal once more called for silence. He promised the assembled folk that there would be minstrels and puppeteers to follow the meal, but asked them to endure while he announced but one more thing. After much grave consideration and great consultation, and with great reluctance, he had realized what the attack at Neat Bay had just proven. Buckkeep itself was no longer the safe and secure place it was once. It was certainly no place for anyone of delicate health. And so, a decision had been reached that King Shrewd (and the King lifted up his head and blinked about at the mention of his name) would be journeying inland, to reside in safety at Tradeford on the Vin River in Farrow until his health had improved. Here he paused to lavishly thank Duke Holder of Farrow for making Tradeford Castle available to the royal family. He added too that he was greatly pleased it was so accessible to both the main castles of Farrow and Tilth, for he wished to remain in good contact with these most loyal dukes, who had so often of late journeyed so far to assist him in these troubled, troubled times. It would please Regal to bring the life of the royal court to the ones who had previously had to travel far to enjoy it. Here he paused to accept their nodded thanks and murmurs of continued support. They subsided in immediate obedience when he next raised his hand.
He invited, nay, he entreated, he begged, the Queen-in-Waiting to join King Shrewd there. She would be more safe, she would find it more comfortable, for Tradeford Castle had been built as a home, not a fortress. It would put the minds of her subjects at rest to know that the coming heir and his mother were well-cared-for and well away from the dangerous coast. He promised that every effort would be made to make her feel at home. He promised her a merry court would re-form there. Many many of the furnishings and treasures of Buckkeep were to be moved there when the King went, to make the move less upsetting for him. Regal smiled all the while that he relegated his father to a position of elderly idiot and Kettricken to brood-mare. He dared to pause to hear her acceptance of her fate.
‘I cannot,’ she said with great dignity. ‘Buckkeep is where my Lord Verity left me, and before he did so, he commended it to my care. Here I shall stay. This is where my child will be born.’
Regal turned his head, ostensibly to hide a smile from her, but actually to display it better to the assemblage. ‘Buckkeep shall be well guarded, my lady queen. My own cousin, Lord Bright, heir to Farrow, has expressed an interest in assuming the defence of it. The full militia will be left in place here, for we have no need of them at Tradeford. I doubt that they shall need the assistance of one more woman hampered by her skirts and a burgeoning belly.’
The laughter that erupted shocked me. It was a crude remark, a witticism more worthy of a tavern brawny than a prince in his own keep. It reminded me of nothing so much as of Queen Desire when she was at her worst, inflamed with wine and herbs. Yet they laughed, at the high table, and not a few at the lower tables joined them. Regal’s charms and entertainments had served him well. No matter what insult or buffoonery he served up tonight, these fawners would sit and accept it with the meat and wine they gobbled at his table. Kettricken seemed incapable of speech. She actually rose and would have left the table, had not the King reached out a trembling hand. ‘Please, my dear,’ he said, and his faltering voice carried all too clearly. ‘Do not leave me. I wish you at my side.’
‘You see, it is the wish of your King,’ Regal hastily admonished her, and I doubt that even he could fully token the good luck that had led the King to make such a request of her at such a time. Kettricken sank back unwillingly in her seat. Her lower lip trembled and her face
flushed. For one terrifying instant, I thought she would burst into tears. It would have been the final triumph for Regal, a betrayal of her emotional weakness as a breeding female. Instead, she took a deep breath. She turned to the King and spoke low but audibly as she took his hand. ‘You are my King, to whom I am sworn. My liege, it shall be as you wish. I shall not leave your side.’
She bowed her head, and Regal nodded affably, and a general outbreak of conversation congratulated itself on her agreement. Regal nattered on a bit longer when the din died down, but he had already achieved his goal. He spoke mostly of the wisdom of his decision, and how Buckkeep would be better able to defend itself without fearing for its monarch. He even had the audacity to suggest that by removing himself and the King and Queen-in-Waiting, he would be making Buckkeep a lesser target for the Raiders, as they would have less to gain by capturing it. It was all a nothing, a winding-down for show. Not long after, the King was taken away, carted off back to his chamber, his display-duty done. Queen Kettricken excused herself to accompany him. The feast broke down into a general cacophony of entertainments. Kegs of beer were brought out, along with casks of the lesser wines. Various Inland minstrels held forth at opposite corners of the Great Hall, while the Prince and his cohorts chose the amusement of a puppet show, a bawdy piece entitled The Seduction of the Inn Keeper’s Son. I pushed back my plate and looked to Burrich. Our eyes met, and we rose as one.
TWENTY-SIX
Skilling
‘The Forged ones appeared to be incapable of any emotion. They were not evil, they did not take joy in their wickedness or crimes. When they lost their capacity to feel anything for fellow humans, or any other creatures of the world, they lost their ability to be part of society. An unsympathetic man, a harsh man, an insensitive man still retains enough sensibility to know that he cannot always express how little he cares for others, and still be accepted into the kinship of a family or a village. The Forged ones had lost even the ability to dissemble that they felt nothing for their fellows. Their emotions did not simply stop; they were forgotten, lost to them so entirely that they could not even predict the behaviour of other humans based on emotional reaction.
‘A Skilled one might be seen as the other end of this spectrum. Such a man can reach forth, and tell from afar what others are thinking and feeling. He can, if strongly Skilled, impose his thoughts and feelings on others. In this increased sensitivity to the emotions and thoughts of others, he has a surfeit of what Forged ones lack entirely.
‘King-in-Waiting Verity confided that the Forged ones seemed immune to his Skilling abilities. That is, he could not feel what they felt, nor discover their thoughts. This does not, however, mean that they were insensible to the Skill. Could Verity’s Skilling have been what drew them to Buckkeep? Did his reaching out awaken in them a hunger, a remembrance perhaps of what they had lost? Drawn as they were, through ice and flood, to travel always toward Buckkeep, the motivation must have been intense. And when Verity departed Buckkeep on his quest, the movement of Forged ones toward Buckkeep seemed to abate.’
– Chade Fallstar
We arrived at King Shrewd’s door and knocked. The Fool opened it. I had marked well that Wallace was one of the feasters below, and had remained when the King had departed. ‘Let me in,’ I said quietly while the Fool glared at me.
‘No,’ he said flatly. He started to close the door.
I put my shoulder to it, and Burrich assisted. It was the first and last time I would ever use force against the Fool. I took no joy in proving that I was physically stronger than he was. The look in his eyes as I forced him aside was something no one should ever see in a friend’s face.
The King was sitting before his hearth, mumbling rapidly. The Queen-in-Waiting sat desolately beside him, while Rosemary dozed at her feet. Kettricken rose from her seat to regard us with surprise. ‘FitzChivalry?’ she asked quietly.
I went swiftly to her side. ‘I have much to explain, and a very little time in which to do it. For what I need to do must be done now, tonight.’ I paused, tried to decide how best to explain it to her. ‘Do you remember when you pledged yourself to Verity?’
‘Of course!’ She looked at me as if I were crazy.
‘He used August, then, a coterie member, to come and stand with you in your mind, to show you his heart. Do you remember that?’
She coloured. ‘Of course I do. But I did not think anyone else knew exactly what had happened then.’
‘Few did.’ I looked around, to find Burrich and the Fool following the conversation wide-eyed.
‘Verity Skilled to you, through August. He is strong in the Skill. You know that, you know how he guards our coasts with it. It is an ancestral magic, a talent of the Farseer line. Verity inherited it from his father. And I inherited a measure of it from mine.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘Because I do not believe Verity is dead. King Shrewd used to be strong in the Skill, I am told. That is no longer the case. His illness has stolen it away, as it has stolen so many other things. But, if we can persuade him to try, if we can rouse him to the effort, I can offer him my strength to sustain him. He may be able to reach Verity.’
‘It will kill him.’ The Fool spoke his challenge flatly. ‘I have heard of what the Skill takes out of a man. My king has not that left to give.’
‘I don’t think it will. If we reach Verity, Verity will break it off before it hurts his father. More than once, he has drawn back from draining my strength, to be sure of not injuring me.’
‘Even a Fool can see the failure of your logic.’ The Fool tugged at the cuffs of his fine new shirt. ‘If you reach Verity, how will we know it is true, and not a show?’
I opened my mouth in an angry protest, but the Fool held up a forbidding hand. ‘Of course, my dear, dear Fitz, we should all believe you, as you are our friend, who has only our very best interests at heart. But there may be a few others prone to doubt your word, or regard you as so selfless.’ His sarcasm bit at me like acid, but I managed to stand silent. ‘And if you don’t reach Verity, what do we have? An exhausted and drained king to be further flaunted about as incapable. A grieving queen, who must wonder, in addition to all her other pains, if perhaps she grieves for a man who is not dead yet. That is the worst type of grieving there is. No. We gain nothing, even if you succeed, for our belief in you would not be enough to stop the wheels that are already turning. And we have much to lose if you fail. Too much.’
Their eyes were on me. There was question even in Burrich’s dark eyes, as if he debated the wisdom of what he had urged me to do. Kettricken stood very still, trying not to pounce on the bare bone of hope that I had thrown at her feet. I wished that I had waited, to talk first with Chade. I suspected I would never have another chance after this night, to have these people in this room, Wallace out of the way and Regal busy below. It had to be now or it would not be.
I looked at the only one who was not watching me. King Shrewd idly watched the leap and play of the flames in his hearth. ‘He is still the King,’ I said quietly. ‘Let us ask him, and let him decide.’
‘Not fair! He is not himself!’ The Fool flung himself between us. He stood high on his feet to try to look me in the eye. ‘On the herbs fed him, he is as tractable as a plough horse. Ask him to cut his own throat, and he’ll wait for you to hand him the knife.’
‘No.’ The voice quavered. It had lost its timbre and resonance. ‘No, my Fool, I am not so far gone as that.’
We waited, breathless, but King Shrewd spoke no more. At last I slowly crossed the room. I crouched down beside him, tried to make his eyes meet mine. ‘King Shrewd?’ I begged.
His eyes came to mine, darted away, came back unwillingly. At last he looked at me.
‘Have you heard all we have said? My king, do you believe Verity is dead?’
He parted his lips. His tongue was greyish behind them. He took a long breath. ‘Regal told me Verity is dead. He had word …’
‘From wh
ere?’ I asked gently.
He shook his head slowly. ‘A messenger … I think.’
I turned to the others. ‘It would have to have come by messenger. From the mountains, for Verity must be there by now. He was nearly in the mountains when Burrich was sent back. I do not believe a messenger would come all the way from the mountains, and not stay to convey such news to Kettricken herself.’
‘It might have come by relay,’ Burrich said unwillingly. ‘For one man and one horse, it is too exhausting a trip. A rider would have to exchange horses. Or pass on the word to another rider, who would go on, on a swift horse. The last is most likely.’
‘Perhaps. But how long would such word take, to come to us all the way from the mountains? I know Verity was alive on the day Bearns departed here. Because that was when King Shrewd used me to speak to him. That night when I all but fainted on this hearth. That was what had happened, Fool.’ I paused. ‘I believe I felt him with me during the battle at Neat Bay.’
I saw Burrich count back the days in his mind. He shrugged unwillingly. ‘It is still possible. If Verity were killed that day, and word were sent out immediately, and the riders and horses were both good … it could be so. Barely.’
‘I don’t believe it.’ I turned to the rest of them, tried to force my hope into them. ‘I don’t believe Verity is dead.’ I turned my eyes up to King Shrewd once more. ‘Do you? Do you believe your son could have died, and you not feel anything?’
‘Chivalry … went like that. Like a fading whisper. “Father”, he said, I think. Father.’
A silence seeped into the room. I waited, crouched on my heels, for my king’s decision. Slowly his hand lifted, as if it had a life of its own. It crossed the small space to me, rested on my shoulder. For a moment that was all. Just the weight of my king’s hand on my shoulder. King Shrewd shifted slightly in his chair. He took a breath through his nostrils.