Thirty-One: Torture

An old legend of the Piebald Prince opens the chapter, framing fear and shame around the Wit. In his cell, Fitz spirals between defiance and despair until he reaches for Nighteyes, confirming the wolf had led the fugitives to Burrich. Nighteyes’s immediate concern—a porcupine quill—reveals Burrich’s proximity and help, but offers little concrete detail beyond that the plan changed at the last moment.

Will arrives, sheathed in controlled Skill. Fitz throws up his defenses and discerns Will’s likely assignment with the white ships before Will withdraws. Sleepless and terrified of mental violation, Fitz is hauled to a torchlit room where Regal coolly directs a spectacle: guards surround, Will pressures with the Skill, and Bolt begins a calculated beating. Fitz chooses to protect his mind over his body, enduring taunts and blows; his nose is broken and crudely reset as Regal demands visible proof of the Wit.

Will explains Serene and Justin’s prior account of Fitz’s wolf-attack in the Skill, and Regal orders the torment to continue. Verde takes a turn, knocking Fitz down repeatedly while Will probes. Regal savors Fitz’s futile resistance, gauging his guards’ reactions. Eventually Fitz is dumped back in his cell, battered but with no bones broken, and he weighs suicide by the poison hidden in his cuff.

Before he decides, Burrich arrives with Blade, loudly drunk and enraged. Burrich publicly denounces Fitz, spits in his face, and urges him to “lie down and die,” planting the idea of feigned death while bribing distracted guards. After Burrich is hauled away, Fitz discovers the spittle hid a leaf pellet pinned by a porcupine quill—carryme, a potent sedative and mercy-killer.

Nighteyes relays Burrich’s true message: lie still and come as the wolf, using carryme only if necessary. Trusting Burrich and Nighteyes, Fitz hides his own poison, secures the pellet in his sleeve, then wraps himself in Brawndy’s cloak, lies down, and surrenders to the Wit. He and Nighteyes “speed away” across snowy country in the wolf’s world, beginning a covert escape through shared mind.