Assassin’s Fate

‘But you know, Fitz, after my brother died, I was more alone than I had thought I could ever be. Shrewd was my king, yes, and the man who commanded my hand, but in the hours after the castle was asleep, when he and I sat at the hearth in his bedroom and talked, he was also my friend.

I’ve had few friends in my lifetime. When I lived behind the walls, there were a few key spies I met with, often in one of my guises. Perhaps I came to depend on your companionship too much because of that isolation. Was I jealous of your friendships and romances? No. I think the better word would be envy. Even after I emerged from the walls and could move through Buckkeep as Lord Chade, it was difficult to form deep friendships, for always my history and trade had to remain a secret.

Look at your own friends through those days. How many of them truly knew what you were, what you had done and what you were capable of doing?

Missive from Chade to FitzChivalry Farseer

‘Fool,’ I said. The word barely reached past my lips as I stared into the darkened cell. I saw his pale face, eyes closed, the whiteness of his out-stretched hand and knew with swift certainty that he had taken my merciful exit. Blackness threatened the edges of my vision. I could neither look away nor speak. I’d given him his death. He’d taken it. We were here: we could have saved him. Why had I done it?

I heard small sounds of metal on metal. ‘Bring a light!’ Spark muttered. I turned my head. She was beside me, picks already in a very old lock. Then Lant came, carrying a fat lamp in both hands. He thudded it down beside her. It did little to light her task, but she laboured on. I studied the Fool in the flickering light. Blood on his face. He’d died alone in a cell. Better, perhaps, than the sustained torture he had feared, but I could not feel any relief.

‘Leave it. It’s too late. We need to seek for Bee,’ I whispered to Spark. Bee, I told myself. Think only of Bee. But Spark gave a sudden grunt as she moved two picks against each other and the lock gave way to her. And I could not help but push the door open and enter the cell to stand over him. Did I have to leave his body here? Could I do otherwise? The others clustered at the door, watching me as I stooped, reaching to wipe the blood from his face.

The swung chamber pot missed my head, but not by much. I felt the noisome wind of its passage and heard the clatter as it hit the cell wall. I jumped back as the Fool came up at me, clawed hands seeking my eyes. I caught him and hugged him tight to me saying, ‘Fool, Fool, it’s me, it’s Fitz! Stop, it’s me!’

An instant longer, his body was tense against mine and then he all but collapsed. ‘Capra.’ His swollen mouth softened his words. ‘I was expecting Coultrie. With the hot tongs. While she watched.’

‘No. We’re all here, to find you and to find Bee and bring her home. Fool, why did you go off without us?’ The question that had been fire in my gut all day.

‘Get to Bee. Rooftop cells. She’s up there. So is Prilkop.’

‘Motley told us. We’ll find her.’

He pushed his feet against the floor. I let him take some of his weight but didn’t drop him. The phrases came from him in gasps as I walked him to the cell door. ‘To save Bee. My fault they took her. I led them to her. And to kill them. To do my own dirty work. To fix the mess I’d made. To be the Catalyst this time. As you said I might.’

‘Let me help,’ Lant said, taking his arm, and Spark leaned in to look at his face, asking, ‘How badly is he hurt?’

‘I don’t know. Fool, I feared you’d eaten the poison I gave you. You didn’t. Did you?’ A horrible thing, to wonder if he had swallowed it just before we arrived.