Contents
Nineteen: Pursuit
Overview
After fleeing Moonseye, Fitz sends Kettle and Starling to safety while he draws Regal’s pursuit into the mountains. He uses the Skill to disrupt Regal’s torture of Burl and to threaten Regal directly, provoking intensified chase. Hunted by hounds and an Old Blood tracker, Fitz is shot with an arrow but, with Nighteyes’ help, survives and presses toward Jhaampe.
Summary
Under moonlight after the Moonseye escape, Fitz determines that Burl will blame Mountain raiders and pursue them. To protect Kettle and Starling, he converts the wagon team to riding horses, orders them toward the Mountain Kingdom, and vanishes with Nighteyes to draw pursuit west toward Jhaampe.
Choosing rough country to slow horsemen, Fitz makes camp under great cedars and Skilles toward Burl. He is shocked to sense Regal torturing Burl while Will and Carrod hold him. Outraged, Fitz re-enters the Skill-river and unleashes a devastating blast, disrupting the torture and alarming Regal’s coterie, but revealing his location.
Forced to flee, Fitz and Nighteyes grind through days of wintry travel while Will tests Fitz’s Skill-walls. Fitz debates seeking Kettricken in Jhaampe, fearing exposure of his Wit and its consequences, yet hopes to access Mountain libraries for Verity’s map.
They stumble into a patrol with hounds and a bonded Old Blood tracker. Nighteyes lays false trails, slashes through the pack, and draws the dogs off, buying time. Cornered at an icy ravine, Fitz climbs; the tracker’s handler shoots him in the back. Nighteyes drags Fitz over the lip and throws the remaining dogs back down, killing the mongrel and shattering the bond.
Bleeding and staggering, Fitz nearly abandons himself to the wolf. Nighteyes forces food into him, then snaps off the arrow’s shaft so Fitz can move. Fitz builds a small fire, warms himself, and at dawn the pair resume their harsh march toward Jhaampe, with pursuit blunted but not gone.
Who Appears
- FitzChivalry FarseerProtagonist; splits from companions, Skill-blasts Regal’s coterie, is hunted, shot in the back, and grimly continues toward Jhaampe.
- NighteyesFitz’s wolf-brother; lays false trails, attacks hounds, kills the bonded mongrel, drags Fitz to safety, snaps the arrow shaft.
- StarlingMinstrel ally; freed Fitz at Moonseye; rides for safety as Fitz diverts pursuit.
- KettleElderly companion; agrees to ride with Starling while Fitz draws hunters away.
- RegalUsurper king; revels in torturing Burl via Skill; orders intensified pursuit after Fitz’s Skill threat.
- WillSkilled coterie member; aids Regal’s torture, senses Fitz, then withdraws under Fitz’s blast.
- CarrodReluctant coterie member; helps restrain Burl, horrified when Fitz’s Skill assault breaks the torture.
- BurlSkilled hunter; suffers Regal’s torture for losing Fitz; freed inadvertently by Fitz’s Skill strike.
- Old Blood tracker and mongrelUnnamed bond-pair hunting Fitz; the dog is killed by Nighteyes, crippling their pursuit.