Contents
Thirty-Three: The Quarry
Overview
The party reaches the Skill Road’s end at a vast quarry, where they find Carrod dead and Verity alive but transformed, his hands silvered with raw magic. Verity, fragmented and exhausted, has been carving a black stone dragon to hold his memories and strength. Kettricken’s hopes shatter at his detachment; the Fool stabilizes camp while Kettle explains the dragon-work and its grievous Skill cost.
Summary
Fitz, Kettricken, the Fool, Kettle, Starling, and Nighteyes reach a massive, silent quarry at the Skill Road’s end. Hope falters as Kettricken fears Verity is absent. Nighteyes scents death; they discover Carrod’s corpse without marks, likely slain by Skill. Uneasy, Fitz senses a flicker of life deeper within.
Advancing cautiously past crude and agonizingly lifelike dragon statues that emanate faint Wit-suffering, they find a colossal black stone dragon emerging from a block. Beside it lies a ragged, grey-dusted man—Verity—thin, near-blind with exhaustion, and gripping a notched sword. His forearms and hands shimmer with silver power. Kettricken rushes to him, but Fitz stops her, fearing contact with the magic.
Verity recognizes names in fragments and receives Kettricken with weary confusion, failing even to recall their lost son. Devastated, Kettricken withdraws to hunt, while Nighteyes comforts her. The Fool takes command of practicalities—camp, water, food—and tends Verity, careful not to touch his silvered skin. Verity speaks of companions driven off, of Charim’s painful death, and of pouring much into “the dragon.”
As dusk falls, Verity obsessively scrapes the statue with Hod’s ruined sword, saying he is carving a dragon to save the Six Duchies. Fitz recounts their journey to anchor him, but Verity’s focus remains on the work. Kettle coaxes him to tea and rest, noting he has gone long without food or sleep and cannot stop the task.
By the fire, Kettricken returns with a slain wood-sow, speaking calmly as Fitz and Kettle debate Verity’s state. Kettle reveals the truth: Verity has been carving the dragon with tools and magic, storing his memories and strength within it, which explains his vagueness. She believes Verity used the Skill to kill Carrod and suffered grievous backlash, nearly undone just short of finishing the dragon.
Who Appears
- FitzChivalry FarseerNarrator; leads the approach, finds Carrod’s body, stops Kettricken from touching Verity, and assesses Verity’s fractured state.
- Verity FarseerFound alive, emaciated, silver-handed; obsessively carving a black stone dragon to store memories and power; mind fragmented by the task.
- KettrickenQueen; devastated by Verity’s detachment and forgetfulness; hunts a wood-sow, masking grief with control.
- The FoolOrganizes camp, gathers water and greens, and gently tends Verity while avoiding his silvered skin.
- KettleIdentifies Verity’s dragon-carving as memory-storing magic; explains Skill costs and suspects Carrod’s death harmed Verity.
- StarlingSets up tents, cooks, supports Kettle; witnesses Verity’s condition and Kettricken’s reaction.
- NighteyesSenses Carrod’s corpse and living presence; comforts Kettricken and aids her successful hunt.
- CarrodMember of Regal’s coterie found dead in the quarry, likely slain by Verity’s Skill.