Fool’s Quest

“It’s a hard world. Imagine being a child torn open by a rapist. I have as much mercy for you as you had for her.”

“I did nothing to a child!”

“You allowed it to happen. You were the commander.”

“It was not my doing. Have you ever been in battle? A thousand things happen at once.”

“It was not a battle. It was a raid against an unguarded home. And you stole a little girl. My child. And a woman who was under my protection.”

“Heh. You blame me when you were the one who failed to protect them.”

“That’s true.” I eased the sword a finger’s breadth deeper into his chest, and he shrieked out loud. “I don’t like to be reminded of that,” I told him. “Why don’t you go on with your story? About how proud Chalcedean soldiers sold themselves like whores for gold to be the servants of a woman and a soft man?”

He said nothing, and I turned the sword slightly in his chest. He made a sound as if he would vomit.

“I am not just any commander, not just any man!” He drew breath, and I eased the sword slightly from its burrow. Blood welled. He bent his head to see it and began to pant. “I am Ellik. I was second only to the Duke of Chalced when he sat his throne. He promised me that I would follow him in ruling Chalced. I was to be Duke Ellik of Chalced. Then the damned dragons came. And his whore of a daughter, she who was given to me by her father, turned against her own people and proclaimed herself duchess! She squats on my rightful throne! And that is why I sell my sword. So I can regain what is rightfully mine! That is what they saw, those pale prophets and soothsayers! It will come to pass.”

“You are boring me.” I squatted next to him, put my sword aside, and took out my knife. I held it up and studied it. Long and sharp. I caught the winter light on the blade and tilted it so it traveled. “So. The woman and the child.”

He panted for a time. I made a gesture with my knife and he shook his head wildly. He gasped in air and spoke in short bursts. “We came on a ship. We hid with our weapons as her crew brought her into port. We thought there would be questions . . . at the docks, tariffs and . . . demands. But there was nothing. It was as if we were not there at all. The soft man led us . . . and we trooped off the ship and . . . off-loaded the horses and . . . rode off through the town. And not a head turned toward us. We were like ghosts. Even when we all began to laugh . . . and even to shout at the people on the street. No one saw us.”

For an instant his eyes rolled up, showing too much white. Had I gone too far? The blood from the sword-hole seeped and darkened his shirt. He gave another gasp and looked at me.

“She told us where to go. The boy kept us hidden. We soon chafed with it. We stole the sleighs and the teams. The pale folk knew exactly where to find them. We passed through towns unseen: fat, rich towns. So much we could have done—taken. But that woman, always saying no. And no. And no. And each time, to my men, I said no. And they obeyed. But they thought less of me. And less. And I felt . . . odd.”

He paused and for a time he was silent, breathing noisily through his nose. “I’m cold,” he said again.

“Talk.”

“We could have taken anything. Could have gone to Buckkeep. Taken the crown off your king’s head if that boy had been ours to rule. We could have gone back to Chalced and walked in and killed that whore who squats on my throne. If the boy favored us over her. My men knew that. We spoke of it. But I could not do it. We just did as she told us. So we went to that place, that big house.” He moved his eyes without shifting his head to look up at me. “It was your home, wasn’t it? Your holding?” He licked his lips, and for a moment avarice shone in his eyes. “It was rich. Fat for the taking. We left so much. Good horses. The brandy kegs. ‘Take only the son,’ she said. And we obeyed like slaves. We took the boy and his maidservant and turned back toward our ship. Moving through your land like sneaking cowards.”

He blinked. His face was getting paler. I found I didn’t care.

“Then I knew. She was using the boy on me. Clouding my mind. To make me weak. To enslave me! So I waited. And we planned. There were times when my mind was clear, when the boy was using his magic on others. So I waited until the magic-boy was away from her and me. I knew it would happen. And while he was with them, not thinking of controlling me, I confronted that woman. I put her in her place, and I took her magic-boy from her. It was easy. I told my men what to say to him, and he believed us. The next day, we tested him. We raided the town, in broad daylight, with no challenge from the inhabitants. We simply told Vindeliar it was what the woman wished him to do. To enjoy himself for that one day. To take whatever he wanted in the town, to eat whatever he wished. He asked us if it were his true path now. We told him it was. It was so easy. He was foolish, almost simple. He believed us.”