Fool’s Quest

“Yes, sir. I took that into account. The potion was old and often things like that lose their potency. So I doubled the dosage in the scroll. I gave him two full spoons of it.”

“Two spoons full of what?”

He left me then and went to Chade’s cupboard. When he came back, he bore the small glass vial I had seen there earlier. Half its contents were gone, but what remained of the dark-red potion had silvery threads that crawled and squirmed through it in a way that made me queasy.

“What is it?”

Ash looked astonished that I did not know at a glance. “Dragon’s blood, sir. It’s dragon’s blood.”

Chapter Eighteen The Changer

Given that dragons have speech, as men have, and trade their thoughts with us, how can we even consider commerce in their body parts? Would you ask us to sell you babies’ fingers or the livers of slaves? The tongues of women or perhaps men’s flesh? It is the considered decision of the Bingtown Traders’ Council that to traffic in the parts of dragons is an immoral trade, and one that we as Traders cannot countenance.

It seems unnecessary to add that it is a dangerous trade as well, one that only the foolish would seek to engage in. To slay a dragon for its body parts would be to invite the full wrath of all dragons upon any Trader so reckless as to do it. And doubtless that wrath would include any who indulged in secondhand commerce of such parts. In the course of defending Bingtown from the Chalcedean invaders, our fair city took extreme damage from a single dragon defender. This body refuses to consider what the concerted wrath of the Kelsingra dragons might do to our city.

Hence it is decided and declared that no Bingtown Trader may legally engage in any aspect of trade or commerce that involves the harvesting or marketing of goods sourced from dragons.

—Resolution 7431, Bingtown Traders’ Council

“He gave you dragon’s blood.”

I had persuaded the others there that, while I had concerns over the medicine that Ash had administered to the Fool, there was little to be done save wait and see. I had not told them precisely what that potion was. There was nothing to be gained by involving the king in the knowledge of Chade’s illegal trade. I was already appalled on his behalf. When Ash had first spoken of it, I had felt astonished. And then almost immediately I had known that, yes, if Chade were curious about the properties of dragon’s blood, he would obtain it, however he could. I only wished that Chade were not incapacitated right now. I had no idea if the suggested dosage Ash had located in Chade’s scroll was correct, let alone what side effects we should beware. And unfortunately for me, my best course was to keep all those worries to myself.

Fortunately for me, Dutiful had a kingdom to rule. Nettle needed rest, and seeing that she got it would occupy Riddle. And Kettricken had excused herself from the Fool’s bedside to go to Chade’s. I’d promised her that I would join her there soon, sent Ash off to fetch food for the Fool and me, and seated myself in the chair Kettricken had vacated. Then I had told him.

“What will it do to me?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Not for certain. I’ll have Ash sort out the scrolls that relate to cures from dragon parts. I’ll have him read through them, and set aside for me any that seem relevant.” I didn’t tell him that Chade regarded most of what was written in such scrolls as chicanery. We were in unknown territory, groping our way through the dark. “Do you feel well enough to talk to me?”