Fool’s Quest

It was hard to leave the room, and harder still to know where to go. I made my way to my new chambers. The key turned smoothly in the lock and I entered. It was a strange and foreign place. All trace of Patience and Lacey’s time here had long been tidied away. The chambers, like the rest of Buckkeep Castle, were far grander than they had been when I was a boy at Patience’s mercy. Someone had smoothed the bony stone walls with plaster and painted them a soft yellow that reminded me of an old skull. There was a carpet on the floor of the main room, and framed paintings of flowers. The hearth was tidy, with a small fire burning and a hod of logs waiting my need. There were several chairs with embroidered cushions, and a small table with cat’s feet on its legs, and nothing at all to suggest that I lived in this room.

In the larger bedchamber, I found my garments neatly stored in a wardrobe. They were the less gaudy attire of Lord Feldspar and a few pieces that Ash had apparently chosen for me. It gave me a turn to see Verity’s sword on the wall above my bed. Truly, the lad thought of everything. Or perhaps it had been Spark, I told myself, and wondered why it was so hard for me to reconcile them into one person. My pack from Withywoods was there, and I was relieved to find that my stores of poisons and small tools and weapons were still left to me, as was Bee’s book. The battered pack held the only items in the room that were truly my own. I lifted it, opened the cedar chest, and concealed the pack beneath the soft woolen blankets.

I paced around the chambers like a wolf examining the limits of his cage. In the servant’s room there was a narrow bedstead, a small chest for clothing, and a basin and ewer. The clothing chest was empty. Doubtless Ash and Spark would be more comfortable staying with the Fool.

There was a pleasant little sitting room, much larger than I recalled it. Doubtless Patience’s towers of clutter had diminished the size of the room in my mind’s eye. A cursory examination of the walls showed me no signs of hidden doorways. I did note a small notch in the plaster that might have been the opening for a spy-hole. I sat down on the chair and looked out the window. But there was nothing here to occupy my mind or my hands, nothing to distract me from the space where Bee was not. What was I to do with all the empty hours left in my life? I left my bland domicile, made my way to the Fool’s chamber, and knocked.

I waited some time before I heard the door unlocked. It was eased open a crack and then with a look of relief, Ash opened it wide for me. “I’m so glad you’ve come,” the greeting rushed from him. “He’s in such a state and I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s wrong?”

As soon as I stepped inside, Ash closed and locked the door behind me. “He’s terrified,” he said simply. “He did not wish to leave the hidden apartments, but Lady Rosemary insisted. She’s . . . I’m no longer apprenticed there. I’m glad to simply work here in Buckkeep Castle as a servant. I know that Lord Chade . . . but this is not time for me to be worrying you about my situation. All care was taken in moving him here, but he is still in shaking fear for his life. And I don’t know how to reassure him.”

The lad looked up at me and then stepped back from the fury on my features. “How dare she!” I burst out. “Where is the Fool?”

“He’s in the bedchamber. I brought him here by the secret passages, and I’ve done my best to bring everything familiar to him here. Physically, he’s so much better than he was, but this move has upset him so—”

I knew my way through these apartments. When the Fool had masqueraded as Lord Golden, I’d lived here as his servant Tom Badgerlock. The chambers were much more simply furnished than they had been in the extravagant days of Lord Golden. I went to the door of the bedchamber, tapped loudly, and said, “It’s me, Fitz. I’m coming in.”

There was no response. I opened the door slowly to find the room in semi-darkness. The shutters over the window were closed tightly; only the light from the hearth fire lit the room. The Fool was sitting in a chair facing the door. He gripped a dagger in his hand. “Are you alone?” he asked in a shaking voice.

“For now. Ash is right outside the door if we need anything.” I made my voice as even and calm as I could.

“I know you all think I’m silly. But, Fitz, I assure you the danger is real.”