Thirty-Seven: Feeding the Dragon

The chapter opens with a chronicle of worsening war: Red Ships seize Antler Island, burn Buckkeep Town, and besiege Buckkeep Castle while trade collapses across the duchies. Farrow and Tilth discover their armies have been drawn inland, leaving them exposed.

Fitz emerges from the Skill-pillar into Nighteyes’ jubilant greeting and Verity’s triumph: a dragon stirred when a soldier died on the boar statue. Verity and Kettle, freshly silvered from the river, have strengthened their link and accelerated the dragon’s making, fueling Fitz’s jealousy and Skill-hunger. Kettle warns that dragons must be fed with life and that the Fool’s contact with Girl-on-a-Dragon is draining him.

Fitz reports Regal’s soldiers are marching toward the quarry, spurring watch rotations. The Fool, exhausted from chipping the stone that mired Girl-on-a-Dragon, is drugged with the last elfbark and sent to rest. Verity and Kettle work feverishly, sustained by carris seed. Kettle forbids Fitz from touching the nearly complete dragon and explains the true cost: makers pour their whole lives into the dragon. She reveals Verity refuses to draw Fitz into it and tells Fitz painful truths about his mother’s love and that he must let Molly go.

Fitz confronts Verity, who demonstrates by Skilling away Fitz’s anger into the dragon. Verity clarifies he will not die but will continue as the dragon, with Kestrel and Gull within him. Fitz protests for Kettricken’s sake and over Verity’s plan to set Fitz’s daughter as heir; Verity will not relent. After a brief hunting interlude with Kettricken and Nighteyes, they return to find the dragon’s carving flawless yet still unawakened.

Verity admits he and Kettle have given almost everything, but it is insufficient. Kettle urges taking Fitz’s life; Fitz offers it freely if Verity will spare his child. Verity forbids it and collapses from carris exhaustion, fearing Regal’s coterie might kill him and seize the dragon. Kettle also collapses, and Kettricken breaks down in grief. Fitz and the Fool, bitter and powerless, fetch blankets as Regal’s threat looms.