Contents
Thirty-One: Elfbark
Overview
Retracing their route toward the Skill plaza, the group is ambushed through the Skill when Burl uses a link to seize the Fool by mistake. Nighteyes drives Burl to escape via a pillar, and a massive Skill surge scatters Will’s coterie. Fitz stabilizes the Fool’s mind. Kettle reveals elfbark deadens Skill, likely stunting Fitz and Verity; the Fool drinks it while Fitz refuses, preserving risk and potential.
Summary
At dawn Fitz and Kettricken plan to rejoin the Skill road toward their destination. The Fool, stirred by memories from the stone plaza, wonders about Realder’s dragon; Fitz and Nighteyes sense life in the statues. The party marches hard and camps near the black-stone crossroads. Fitz, Nighteyes, and the Fool go hunting despite Kettle’s warning to avoid the road.
On a moonlit hillside, Nighteyes scents Burl. Fitz throws up his Skill walls as he realizes the columns permit instant travel. Listening, he overhears Will directing Burl, with Regal’s presence looming behind them. When Will brushes Fitz’s stray thought, the hunt is on.
The Fool blunders into Burl first and is seized through the tenuous link formed at the plaza. Simultaneously, Nighteyes physically attacks Burl, driving him to the black column; Burl vanishes into it. A sudden, overwhelming Skill wave crashes through the night, scattering Will’s coterie and stunning Fitz.
Kettle summons Fitz back to camp, where the Fool lies rigid, eyes open, trapped within. On Kettle’s urging, Fitz touches the Fool and carefully surrounds his mind in the Skill, helping him gather himself. The Fool describes Will, Burl, and Regal rummaging his memories, mistaking him for Fitz, before the mysterious Skill blast shook them off—Fitz believes Verity struck them.
Kettle explains that the brief plaza-link exposed a path the coterie exploited, and prescribes elfbark to deafen the Fool to further intrusion. She then reveals a harsh truth: elfbark deadens Skill, can stunt or destroy it, and may have blunted both Fitz’s and Verity’s talents during the war. The Fool drinks elfbark for protection; Fitz refuses, choosing to keep his fragile Skill despite the danger, and takes the night watch with Nighteyes.
Who Appears
- FitzChivalry FarseerProtagonist; hunted by Will’s coterie, rescues the Fool via Skill, rejects elfbark after learning it stunts Skill.
- The FoolSeized through a Skill link; Fitz stabilizes him. Learns elfbark can shield him and drinks it despite distaste.
- KettleReveals deep Skill lore; explains links and elfbark’s deadening effect; urges drugging the Fool; warns Fitz of the choice.
- NighteyesSenses Burl, orders Fitz to shield, physically drives Burl to the column; stands vigilant with Fitz.
- KettrickenLeads the route back toward the plaza; demands clarity; hopes the Skill blast means Verity lives.
- StarlingObserves the attack, seeks the song within their peril; witnesses Kettle’s revelations.
- BurlWill’s agent; attempts to seize Fitz, instead grabs the Fool; flees via the Skill pillar when attacked.
- WillCoterie leader coordinating the ambush through Burl; scattered by a massive Skill blast.
- RegalMalevolent presence behind Will and Burl; relishes Burl’s suffering and the hunt for Fitz.