Royal Assassin

The narrative shifts to a disorienting experience where Fitz awakens in a grand bedchamber, tended by King Shrewd’s Fool. Confused, Fitz is addressed as “my king” and realizes that he is experiencing a Skill-dream in which he perceives himself as King Shrewd, blurring between his own consciousness and the King’s perspective, while his physical body remains in the Mountain Kingdom cottage. He is suddenly pulled into a powerful Skill-vision of a brutal raid by Outislanders on the coastal village of Siltbay. Uncharacteristically, the raid occurs in deep winter; the raiders kill many, torching goods, homes, and ships. The Outislanders’ habit is to take captives, whom they Forge with magic—destroying their minds while leaving their bodies alive to attack the people they once loved. No one understands why they raid towns in such a destructive manner, ruining valuable goods rather than stealing them. They seem to act out of pure malice. The Fool looks into the future to reveal that in Siltbay, not one person was taken alive and Forged, as the villagers chose to die fighting or take their own lives instead.

During the vision, Fitz sees a woman who strongly resembles Molly desperately trying to protect two children in a root cellar. He watches in horror as Raiders shatter the cellar door, but a collapsing, burning building obscures her fate. Overwhelmed by the vision, Fitz thrusts his hand into a real fireplace, burning himself. He struggles with his identity, shifting between his own consciousness and that of King Shrewd, who feels the immense weight of his failure to protect his people. Though King Shrewd is constantly exhausted from old age, he refuses rest or comfort while his people are suffering. He orders the Fool to summon Prince Verity to organize a response. The vision abruptly ends, and Fitz is once again a 15-year-old boy recovering in the Mountain Kingdom. The experience reverses his earlier, despairing decision to remain behind, and when Burrich comes to bid him farewell at dawn, Fitz is dressed and ready to ride for Buckkeep.

After a harsh overland journey—with the route chosen by Burrich to avoid potential traps from Prince Regal—Fitz, Burrich, and the stable-boy Hands finally arrive at Buckkeep. At the main gate, a young soldier with a pike fails to recognize them; the watch sergeant, Blade, then rushes out with other soldiers to greet Burrich warmly. Blade does not recognize Fitz at first either and is shocked by his appearance, mentioning rumors that Fitz was near death from poison. Fitz handles the exchange with an unexpected authority that surprises Burrich, who warns him to act with more caution and less “princely” bearing to avoid provoking Regal.

Inside the stables, Fitz feels a comforting sense of homecoming but is too weak to care for his horse, Sooty; Hands offers to tend to her. Walking through the castle, Fitz notices that it is significantly cleaner and more orderly; he infers that this is the influence of Kettricken, Verity’s new wife, noting her name embroidered on a cloth on the candle table. He reports his return to King Shrewd’s guards and is told the king will see him later. When he attempts to report to Prince Verity, a guard smilingly informs him that the prince is occupied with his new wife. Understanding, Fitz goes to his own cold, dusty room and immediately falls into an exhausted sleep.

Fitz awakens determined to find Molly. He finds Prince Verity in his watchtower, looking revitalized by his marriage and excited about the new warships being constructed with timber from Kettricken’s dowry. In Verity’s study, Fitz gives a full report of Regal’s treason in the Mountain Kingdom. Verity explains that he cannot punish Regal directly without risking civil war but has assigned him the difficult and politically fraught task of raising war revenues. Showing concern for Fitz’s lingering illness, Verity grants him the next day off to search for Molly.

Later, Fitz is intercepted by Lacey, maid to Lady Patience, his father’s widow. Patience scolds him for his absence and his informal attire. During the visit, a trembling fit overtakes Fitz—a consequence of his poisoning by Regal; he spills his wine and nearly pitches forward, and Patience sends him to bed from her chambers. On the stairs, he nearly collapses and is helped by a serving girl who reveals herself to be Molly. She is furious with Fitz for abandoning her without a word and for showing up unannounced after all these years. She believes he is drunk, which deepens her anger. She explains that her father had an alcohol addiction that led to her family’s financial ruin. After he died, she inherited his unpaid debts and lost her shop. Penniless, she went to live with relatives in Siltbay, but they died in the raid. She then returned to Buckkeep to ask Fitz—who she believed was a stable boy—for help. Having learned his true identity from Patience before this encounter, she accuses him of deceit. Before Fitz can explain, she slams the door and leaves in anger.

Fitz sleeps for a full day. When he wakes, he is visited by Lady Patience, who forbids him from contacting Molly. She explains the political complexities of his status as Prince Chivalry’s “illegitimate” son: He cannot marry without the King’s permission, and his all-consuming duty to the crown makes a true partnership impossible. To prevent scandal and protect Molly from Fitz’s court enemies like Regal, Patience has made Molly her lady’s maid and insists they must act as strangers.

Fitz seeks counsel from his mentor, Chade, who agrees with Patience’s strategy. Chade advises Fitz to befriend and support the lonely Queen-in-Waiting, Kettricken, which could win him a powerful ally for a future match with Molly. He also warns Fitz to be vigilant, as Regal would oppose any potential heirs from either Verity or Fitz.

Frustrated and angry, Fitz wanders into Buckkeep Town. At the market, he feels an overwhelming Wit-connection to a cruelly treated wolf cub. Consumed by empathetic rage, he pays the merchant six copper coins for the cub—the merchant considers it robbery but accepts out of desperation; Fitz also frees a crow and two jays from the merchant’s other cages during the transaction. After a brief struggle to assert dominance, Fitz carries the cub back toward the castle, planning to secretly nurse it back to health in a remote, disused cottage before releasing it to the wild. He explicitly warns himself against bonding with the cub, telling himself it is good they will not be together long.

Weeks pass as Fitz settles into a new routine. He trains daily to regain his physical strength, spends time in the stables, and secretly tends to the wolf cub, though he resists bonding with it for fear of losing Burrich’s trust. Following Chade’s advice, he becomes a companion and advisor to the lonely Queen-in-Waiting, Kettricken. He finds her frustrated with the passive, ceremonial nature of her role and teaches her how to navigate court politics to build her own base of influence and support Verity’s rule.

King Shrewd finally summons Fitz, appearing frail and confined to his bed. He informs Fitz that he has accepted an apology from Regal and commands Fitz to drop the matter. He then gives Fitz a mission: A woman named Virago is amassing a rebellious following in the duchy of Bearns by challenging the rule of Duke Brawndy, a member of the Farseer line. Under the cover of a scribing task to copy scrolls, Fitz is to travel there and neutralize her. Before he leaves, Shrewd extracts from Fitz a promise not to injure “one of mine” (116)—meaning a Farseer—an exchange specifically aimed at the Regal situation, to which Fitz replies that he is sworn to the Farseer line. As he leaves Shrewd’s chambers, he sees Serene, the strongest of those who trained in the Skill under Galen, the castle’s now-deceased Skillmaster. He is aware that she hates him, and her aptitude in the Skill intimidates him. She blocks his path down the narrow stairs and tells him that she knows what he did and that soon everyone will know.

At Ripplekeep—Duke Brawndy’s castle in Bearns, Fitz carries out his scribing task, copying out a list of the King’s supporters in Bearns, with assistance from the Duke’s youngest daughter, Celerity, who becomes infatuated with him. Soon, Virago publicly insults Fitz at the Duke’s table. Fitz counters her provocations and challenges her to a duel. Before the fight can occur, Fitz secretly poisons Virago, causing disfiguring sores to erupt on her mouth. Those at Ripplekeep, unaware of the poisoning, attribute the affliction to the legendary divine punishment for one who lies to companions and betrays vows. Disgraced and abandoned by her followers, she flees, and Fitz’s mission is a success.