Contents
Fifteen: Secrets
Overview
Verity unveils four warships at Winterfest to force the kingdom to face the Red Ships. Fitz clashes with the Fool, who reveals a distant origin and a prophecy-like purpose for Fitz. Drugged by residue from Shrewd’s herbs, Fitz stumbles through Winterfest until Patience and Lacey purge him. Chade returns, suspects Wallace, and sets a plan. Fitz spends the night with Molly, then fuses minds with Verity during axe training and finally finds the “knack.”
Summary
At Winterfest’s midday, Verity breaks tradition by launching four hastily finished warships, declaring them hunters for Red Ships to rouse a reluctant populace. Fitz hunts with Nighteyes, struggling to assert privacy within their Wit-bond, then retreats to his room seeking solitude.
The Fool confronts Fitz with a bargain and, when pressed, recounts a far-southern, eastern-sea origin and a life chosen to “thwart history.” He declares Fitz a keystone whose choices can alter a grimly woven future in which the Farseer line fails and darkness spreads. Overwhelmed, Fitz triggers a seizure and drives the Fool from his room.
Fitz later wanders Winterfest in a drugged haze—unknowingly dosed by ash residue from Shrewd’s herb braziers—until Patience and Lacey extract him and purge him with tea. Awakening, Fitz ascends to Chade, newly returned and invigorated. Chade deduces the ash poisoning, suspects Wallace’s meddling, and devises to expose what truly occurs in the King’s chambers. He feeds Fitz restorative food and sends him to rest.
Instead, Fitz goes to Molly. She receives him by candle and holly; they consummate their bond, and he slips back to his room before dawn. Burrich arrives early and drags Fitz to Verity’s tower for axe drills.
Exhausted and despairing as Verity’s burdens flood him, Fitz suddenly embraces the Skill link. Letting Verity “ride” his mind, Fitz reframes Burrich as a true foe and unlocks the fighting rhythm. After clean touches and decisive bouts, Burrich declares the axe Fitz’s weapon. Verity affirms the bond: Fitz is his.
Who Appears
- FitzChivalry FarseerProtagonist; argues with the Fool, is drugged by herb ash, reunites with Molly, and masters axe fighting by melding with Verity.
- The FoolReveals distant origins and a mission to alter history through Fitz; provokes Fitz’s seizure with dire foretellings.
- Prince VerityLaunches four warships and later rides Fitz’s mind during training, confirming Fitz as his chosen weapon.
- BurrichTrains Fitz with the axe; recognizes when Fitz finds the fighting knack.
- ChadeReturns secretly, diagnoses Fitz’s poisoning, suspects Wallace, and plans to expose the King’s mistreatment.
- MollyWaits for Fitz on Winterfest night; they consummate their relationship.
- PatienceIntervenes at Winterfest, removes Fitz from scandal, and helps purge the poison.
- LaceyAssists Patience in tending Fitz through the drugging and recovery.
- King ShrewdEnfeebled; surrounded by herbs and Wallace’s care that likely contributes to Fitz’s poisoning.
- WallaceCourt ‘healer’ overseeing Shrewd’s herbs; Chade targets his influence for exposure.
- NighteyesWit-bonded wolf; senses Fitz’s drugged state and challenges his lack of privacy.
- RegalSeen circling Verity and Kettricken like carrion in Fitz’s drugged visions; implied schemer.