The fate of the killer robin hobb how many chapters. Assassin's Fate (LP)
Our chance of success is slim. I just hope the others don't die following us.
He nodded. His fingers, hidden by a glove, found Bee's diaries by touch. He placed one on his lap and opened it at random. A woman with golden hair was riding a horse in the forest. “Three hunters as one on the edge of the path. Queen, fortune teller and groom; they are smiling".
I think it's a reference to the time we spent in the mountains. You, me and Kettricken. Hunting together.
He smiled sadly.
How is it possible that I remember such a harsh and dangerous journey with such fondness?
“Me too,” I admitted, and the gap between us disappeared.
We leafed through Bee's diaries, I read to him, and we talked about those times. At this moment, with each other, we felt the comfort we were striving for. And in these hours of calm, I finally realized what Amber’s mask was hiding. My friend was terrified of returning to Clerres; he was as reluctant to go down to land as if I had been forced to return to the dungeons of Regal. He could describe his torture in Clerres in the same words as the city: organized and well controlled, neat and precisely planned. The torture that I had to endure had nothing in common with them.
“I was too trusting,” he said bitterly. - When I first began to suspect that they were deceiving us, I had to run. Instead, Prilkop and I talked and discussed everything. I insisted that you need to be warned so they don't find you. And I convinced Prilkop that we must go and find this “wildborn” new prophet ourselves and give him the protection that I did not have at one time. Was he the Unexpected Son? No one could be sure of this. But we both knew that young White would no longer be allowed to go his own way. If the Servants had brought him to Clerres, they would have used him for their own purposes.
Bee's diary lay forgotten on his lap. He covered the pages with his palms as he spoke.
The next day we started planning our departure. We secretly sold some gifts we had received earlier and tried to buy passage on the ship, but there were no cabins for us. There was no other ship in the harbor that day. We tried to bribe a fisherman to take us to a nearby island - but he said he didn’t want to risk it. And when we continued to persist, we were lured into a trap, beaten and robbed.
Since then, the Four have abandoned all subterfuge. The guards at the gate said that we were not allowed to leave the island fortress. Four called us and asked what we were dissatisfied with. They said that it was a great honor for us to live in such rich conditions, and that we had to stay. So that we can share our dreams and pass on wisdom to young Whites. Thus began the first stage of our captivity.
This happened when Prilkop agreed that we should send someone else to warn you. I had my doubts, but we decided that this new prophet, Unexpected Son or not, must be found and protected. And besides you, we had no one in the outside world who could make this happen,” he swallowed, but it seemed as if a lump of guilt was stuck in his throat. - And so we sent our envoys, two, then two more. I did not dare to give them clear instructions and directed them with riddles in order to cover the trail leading to you. They were naive, like children who wanted to become heroes of fairy tales. Oh Fitz, I'm so embarrassed right now. Prilkop and I, we prepared them as best we could, and they were as determined to go as we were to send them. But they knew nothing about the outside world. They were inspired by the desire to help us, to save the world. And they left. But they never returned or sent any news. I think they all met a terrible end.
It is impossible to find an answer to such words. You can only listen. After some time he spoke again:
One evening, after dinner, I felt sick. I went to bed. And when I woke up, I found myself in a cell. Prilkop stretched out on the floor nearby. Coultry came to the door of our cell and said that we were charged with corrupting young Whites and inciting them to escape. And that we were no longer allowed to move freely around Clerres, but we could regain our position if we helped them find the Unexpected Son, a new White born in unusual conditions. To be honest, we said that we knew nothing about such a child - his smile was a grimace. “They kept us in cells at the highest level of the fortress. The back walls were filigree, like lace, and white, like bone, but thick, like my forearm. We were provided with comfortable beds and good food, as well as quill and parchment so we could write down our dreams. I knew we were still valuable to them. We were securely locked with four locks, but we were treated well. First time.
Even though we fell from grace, there were several manipulators and collators who remained loyal to us. We found a message baked with one of the small breads they brought us. It was a bold promise that they would continue to send messengers until they were sure that they had achieved their goal. It was terrifying to realize what dangers awaited them, but there was no way to ask them to stop. So I dared to hope.
He held his breath and closed the book lying on his lap. He groped for my shoulder and squeezed it tightly.
Fitz, they moved us once. From pleasant spacious chambers - to those located in the bowels of the fortress. It was dark and damp, and overlooked a sort of... stage, with seats for spectators all around. In the center of the stage there was a table and instruments for torture, from there there was a smell of old blood. Every day I was afraid that we would become more familiar with shackles, pincers and hot iron. But this did not happen. However, this kind of waiting and thinking... I can't tell you how long we spent in this state.
For the day they only gave us a small loaf of bread and a jug of water. But one evening, when our food arrived... - he began to choke. - The jug of water... was full of blood. And when we broke the bread, there were a lot of tiny bones baked into it. Knuckles... - his voice rose higher and higher.
I covered his gloved hand with my hand, clutching my shoulder. That's all I could do.
Day after day... bloody water and bone bread. It was impossible to understand how many of them were killed. On the second day, Prilkop was removed from me. And the jug of blood and bone bread continued to be brought. I had nothing else to eat or drink, but I didn’t give up. I didn't give up, Fitz.
He stopped to catch his breath, and that was all he could do for a while. It was as if he was running away from a terrible chase to avoid these memories. But in the end they still caught up with him.
Somehow it stopped. They gave me a small piece of coarse bread, and when I broke it, there seemed to be no bones in it. The next day, instead of bread, they gave me vegetables in some kind of dark broth. I ate it. Bone meal and blood soup. In three days. Then there is one tooth in the bread. And a pale eye floating in the soup. Oh Fitz.
You couldn’t know - I started to vomit.
I should have known. Should have guessed. I was so hungry. I was so thirsty. Did I know, did I guess - and refused to admit it? I should have known, Fitz.
There is no darkness in your heart to imagine such a thing, Jester, - I could no longer torment him that night. - Get some sleep. You've told me enough. Tomorrow we will pick up Bee. And before we leave this city, I will kill as many of them as I can.
If I sleep, I see it in my dreams,” he said with a tremble in his voice. - They were brave, Fitz. A bravery greater than I ever had. My allies did not stop, they helped me whenever they could. It was infrequent, and not much. A kind word whispered when someone passed by my cell. Once there was a cloth soaked in warm water,” he shook his head. “I'm afraid they were severely punished for these small favors.”
Tomorrow, as soon as Bee is with us, I will present various kinds of “mercy” to the Four, I promised him.
He couldn't smile in response to my extravagant promise.
ROBIN HOBB
Fate of the Killer
The translation was carried out by the team https://vk.com/robin_hobb (entirely on a disinterested basis)
Prologue
Chapter first. The bee stings.
Chapter two. A Touch of Silver
Chapter three. In the mountains.
Chapter Four. Kalsida.
Chapter five. Deal.
Chapter six. Revelations.
Chapter seven. Beggar woman.
Chapter eight. Tintaglia.
Chapter Nine. Smolyanoy.
Chapter ten. Bee's Diary.
Chapter Eleven. On my way.
Chapter twelve. Living ship Perfect.
Chapter thirteen. With all sails set.
Chapter fourteen. Deal with Paragon
Chapter fifteen. Merchant Akriel.
Chapter sixteen. Pirate Islands.
Chapter seventeen. Snake saliva.
Chapter Eighteen. Silver ships and dragons.
Chapter nineteen. New ship, new voyage
Chapter twenty. Faith.
Chapter twenty one. Under sail.
Chapter twenty two. Butterfly cloak.
Chapter twenty-three. Clerres.
Chapter twenty-four. Arm and leg
Chapter twenty-five. Bribe.
Chapter twenty-six. Silver secrets.
Chapter twenty-seven. Feather and blade.
Chapter twenty-eight. Unsafe harbor.
Chapter twenty-nine. Accusations.
Chapter Thirty. Barrier and black banner.
Chapter thirty-one. Butterfly Man.
Chapter thirty two. The way inside.
Chapter thirty-three. Candles.
Chapter thirty-four. Smoke.
Chapter thirty-five. Confrontations.
Chapter thirty-six. Surprises.
Chapter thirty-seven. Touch.
Chapter thirty-eight. Dragon ship
Chapter thirty-nine. Retribution.
Chapter forty. Warm water.
Chapter forty-one. Journey of the Mischief-maker.
Chapter forty-two. Farnich.
Chapter forty-three. Bingtown
Chapter forty-four. Up the river
Chapter forty-five. Princess of the Seers.
Chapter forty-six. Quarry.
Chapter forty-seven. Heart of a wolf.
Chapter forty-eight. Time
Chapter forty-nine. Lies and truth.
Chapter fiftieth. Mountains.
Prologue
The children held hands, forming a circle. In the center stood a girl with a bandage on her face, on the fabric of which were drawn black eyes with a gaze, bordered in red. With her arms stretched out in front of her, the girl spun. The children danced in a circle and sang a song:
While the strong circle is unshakable -
You see everything in full view.
But make an effort of will
And the world will change around.
It all seemed like a fun game. Children in a circle shouted out phrases or entire sentences. I couldn’t hear them, but someone deprived of sight could make out the words. She shouted back, her voice broken by the rising wind: “Burn them all,” “Dragons will fall,” “The sea will rise,” “The skies are strewn with jewels.” “One will come for two”, “Four will regret”, “Two will come as one”, “Your reign is over!”, “Everyone will pay with their lives”, “No one will survive!”
At the last exclamation, a storm erupted from the girl standing in the center. Hurricane gusts hit in all directions, the wind picked up the screaming children and scattered them far from each other. Everything was plunged into darkness, only the white circle remained. In its center remained a blind woman, whose black, painted eyes still looked intently.
Dream journal of the Seeing Bee.
Chapter first. The bee stings.
The map room on Aslevjal depicted territories that included most of the Six Duchies, part of the Mountain Kingdom, the bulk of Chalcede, and the lands along both banks of the Rain Wilds River. I believe this allows us to delineate the boundaries of the ancient Elderling territories at the time the map was created. I haven't had a chance to personally explore the map room in the abandoned Elderling city now known as Kelsingra, but I'm sure they will be very similar.
On the map of Aslevjal, points were marked corresponding to the location of the stones in the Six Duchies. I think it is fair to assume that identical marks in the territories of the Mountain Kingdom, Rain Wilds and even Chalcede indicate the location of Skill Portal stones. The current state of these foreign portals is largely unknown, and some Skill users caution against attempting to use them until we can travel there and see that they are in excellent condition. For the Skill Columns in the Six Duchies and the Mountain Kingdom, it seems reasonable to not only send Skill-possessed messengers to each point, but also require all Dukes to ensure that each such stone is kept upright. Messengers who visit these stones must also document the contents and condition of the runes on each side of the stone.
In some cases we found standing stones that were not marked on the Aslevcal map. We do not know whether they were created later than the map, or whether these stones were no longer functional at the time the map was created. We must treat them with caution, as we all use Elderling magic. We cannot consider ourselves masters of their magic until we learn to duplicate their artifacts.
Skill Columns, Chade Fallstar.
I ran. I picked up the heavy white cloak I was wrapped in and ran. It was very hot, the cloak was dragging behind me, clinging to every branch. Behind us, Dvalia's screams were heard:
Catch her! Catch her!
I heard the noisy moo of the Chalcedean. He jumped wildly, once galloping so close that I had to jump to the side.
My thoughts were racing faster than my legs. I remembered how the kidnappers dragged me to the Skill Column. I also remembered how I bit the Chalcedean, hoping to force him to let Shun go. And he let go, but he held on to me and followed us into the darkness of the Skill Column. I didn’t see either Shun or Lurik, who completed our chain. Both she and Shun were probably left behind. I hope Shun runs away from her. Or perhaps she will run away from Shun? I remembered the cold of winter Bakk that had bound us when we fled. But now we were somewhere else, and instead of the chilling cold, I only felt chills. The snow retreated into narrow, dirty white fingers deep in the tree shadows. The forest smelled of early spring, but not a single branch had time to cover itself with leaves. How to jump from winter in one place to spring in another? Something was very wrong, but there was no time to think about it. I had a more pressing problem. How to hide in the forest without a single leaf? I knew I couldn't outrun them. I needed to hide.
I hated the cloak with all my soul. I couldn’t stop to tuck it in, and my arms felt as clumsy as fish fins, but it’s impossible to hide from your pursuers in a huge white cloak. So I ran, knowing I couldn't escape, but too scared to let them catch me.
There are now 5 cycles in The Elderling Saga. Three of them are dedicated to the Assassin and the Jester (or Fitz and the Lover). Assassin's Fate is the last book in the final trilogy.
Since the Assassin and the Fool finally died in this book, one can hope that the Elderling Saga has come to an end, although nothing can be completely certain.
The first trilogy, and especially the first book, “Assassin's Apprentice,” was good, but each subsequent book was weaker than the previous one. True, I liked the series about Living Ships. But the 4th books, and in particular the last two of them, about the Rain Wilds, were terrible.
The first two books of the last series are also uninteresting. But I’ll still tell you briefly about them.
In the final book of the Jester and the Assassin trilogy, the Jester returns to the Island of the White Prophets to continue his education, which was interrupted as a teenager. Once upon a time, the Jester, whom his parents called Beloved, because they were sure that everyone should simply adore their child, sent the boy to the school of the White Prophets. They did this because the boy was clearly from this breed. On the distant southern islands, unusual children were born from time to time in the most ordinary families. Unlike their dark-skinned parents, they had very white skin and hair, grew slowly, learned to read and write early, and saw strange dreams, which they wrote down in separate notebooks.
It was clear to everyone that this was the future White Prophet. Such people lived on a separate island in a fortress. There the children studied under the guidance of the White adults. Their dreams were recorded, analyzed, systematized. If one of the dreams was repeated several times by one person, and especially if several Prophets had such a dream, then the probability of its fulfillment was high. The community leaders (there were always four of them: two men and two women) used this knowledge for their own purposes. For example, they learned from dreams that there was a high probability of drought in a certain region and purchased wheat in advance in order to later sell it at a higher price. The situation was similar with changes in power, sudden deaths of important people, and natural acts.
Moreover, each Prophet was able to see the many possibilities emanating from each phenomenon.
The leaders selected one or one of the White Prophets and explained what needed to be done. Such a person was called the White Prophet of his generation. He had to find his Corrector and direct the threads of fate in the direction the leaders needed.
The Prophets in training lived in nice houses, they were fed deliciously, but if they were guilty of something, they were punished very severely. There was a prison at the fortress, and torture was practiced. They could have been punished, for example, for putting an ink when copying a book (don’t forget that this was the Middle Ages, and there were no printed books yet).
At first, the beloved lived in good conditions and was close to one of the leaders. But he did not want to obey and claimed that he was the White Prophet of his generation. And the leaders had already prepared their own candidacy for this place.
They began to punish him. Then, he refused to participate in the breeding program. The fact is that the leaders tried to improve the quality of the White Prophets by crossing male and female individuals with each other, but this often resulted in mutants being born.
Having sex with women was apparently disgusting to Beloved from his youth. In addition, one of the leaders was a homosexual and pedophile. It seems that he showed increased interest in Beloved. Perhaps all this turned him away from sex forever.
The main point of difference between Beloved and the leaders was that they did not want the revival of the Elderlings and dragons, but he saw such a possibility.
At one time, it was the White Prophets who destroyed the Elderlings and dragons. They learned in advance, through analysis of their dreams, about the impending catastrophe - an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, etc. But they did not warn the Elderlings. When the cataclysm began, many Erlings and dragons died immediately, but the surviving Elderlings rushed to the skill columns (portals that transport people to other places). However, near the exit from the skill columns, the White Prophets with swords were waiting for them. There were never many Elderlings - they were successfully killed. The dragons were also killed, their cocoons were destroyed. Only one dragon remained alive, which hid in the ice. It was the rescue of this dragon that became the plot of the second trilogy about the Assassin and the Jester. There were also a number of dragon cocoons left, from which people began to make Living Ships, and from one cocoon the dragoness Tantalya managed to hatch. This event is described in the Living Ships trilogy.
The White Prophets saw no benefit to themselves in the existence of dragons and Elderlings. They sought to kill the last dragon and destroy the dynasty of Seers, who were somehow connected to the Elderlings and dragons. The Beloved, on the contrary, wanted to save the Seers and the dragon in the ice.
At the end of the second trilogy, he achieves his goal with the help of his Changer - Fitz. He himself was sure that he would not survive these events - that’s what his dreams said. But Fitz revived Beloved. At that moment he came into very close contact with him. This probably could have ended with a new happy same-sex family, but the Jester didn’t want that. He left the Assassin and returned to the Island of the White Prophets. He himself explained this by saying that he and Fitz were not equals. Then he said that he did not want to interfere with the happiness of Fitzas Molly, whom Fitz loved in his youth and with whom he had an adult daughter: Molly had just become a widow. Once Fitz could not marry her, he had to hide for many years, but now everything was behind him.
Fitz married Molly. They were 35 years old at the time. They lived happily. The eldest daughter became a Skill Master and lived at court, Molly's sons from her first husband lived with their own families.
But when Molly turned 50, she announced that she was pregnant. Nobody believed her. Both her daughter and Fitz thought she was a little crazy. Molly slept almost all the time, and this lasted almost 2 years, but then, to the embarrassment of her husband and daughter, she gave birth to a tiny girl with very white skin. This girl was named Bee. She did not speak for a long time and grew very slowly. Fitz thought she was a fool, but in fact Bee already knew how to write and wrote down her dreams. Obviously, Bee turned out to be the White Prophet - somehow the Jester's genes worked.
Then Molly died: she was struck by a stroke. Fitz began raising his daughter himself. It must be said that thanks to repeated healings from wounds with the help of the skill, he looked 40 years old, although he was already 64 years old.
Like the eldest daughter, Fitz was accepted at court. He was finally recognized as a prince. But Fitz rarely visited the capital, preferring to live on his estate.
I wish I could live without bothering him, but not with his happiness.
Fitz had no idea that his Little Bee was very interesting to the White Prophets. They saw dreams about some Unexpected Son and about the Destroyer. In their dreams, these two were destroying the island of the White Prophets - they had to be found and neutralized.
The jester made a big mistake by returning to his alma mater. There he was quickly tied up and placed in a dungeon. What makes him think that he will be forgiven for the revival of dragons? And he thought that everyone would admit he was right.
Among the White Prophets was a very ambitious woman, Dvalia. She was busy with the Prophets' breeding program, sorting offspring. Once she saved mutant twins, although she should have killed them. The boy's name was Vindeliar. He had the ability to take control of someone else's mind. True, he could only do this by taking a special potion made from the poisonous saliva of sea serpents (a transitional form to dragons). The White Prophets kept several sea serpents captive and “milked” them.
Dwalia believed that the Unexpected Son was the son of the Beloved: the dreams of her twin wards spoke about this. She tortured him for a long time, terribly mutilated him, blinded him and got him to name his Changer - Fitz. Some Prophets thought that the Unexpected Son of prophecy was him. But Dwalia believed that we were talking about the Jester’s child.
Next, Dvalia secured the consent of one of the leaders for the expedition. She made sure that Beloved was able to escape. Her spies tracked where he would go. Their lover led them to Fitz's house. He looked terrible: a dirty, crippled beggar. The little bee wanted to give him alms. At that moment, Beloved grabbed her hand. He realized that this was Fitz's child, and she sensed many possibilities that looked like open doors. The bee got scared and screamed. Fitz decided that the beggar was threatening his daughter and stabbed him with a knife. But then he recognized Beloved.
Fitz immediately decided to take the Jester to the capital so that, together with other people who own the skill, they could try to heal him. And he left his daughter to his manager and faithful servants.
When Fitz left, Little Bee was kidnapped by Dwalia's expedition.
Further, the narration is told on behalf of Bee and on behalf of Fitz. The little bee tells how Dwalia took her to the Island of the White Prophets, and she tried to escape. She ran away several times, but was caught. The girl was beaten, but she did not remain in debt - she did harm as best she could. So she bit Dwalia’s cheek, which left her with an ugly scar. Vindeliar played a big role in this journey - he disguised the expedition, and no one noticed them, or he suggested that they needed help, take them onto the ship, etc.
At this time, in the royal palace, Fitz partially treated the Jester, but the blindness could not be removed. Having learned about what happened, the friends went together in search of Bee. The Jester also considered Little Bee his daughter. On this basis, the Killer and the Beloved even sometimes quarreled. But overall they got along well with each other.
During this search, the friends visited the Rain Wilds and interacted with new Elderlings and dragons. There, Fitz, with the help of his skill, managed to cure several children born by new Elderlings from developmental defects (this was the influence of dragons).
The friends managed to tell the dragons that the White Prophets were trying to destroy them. The dragons were very indignant and promised to wipe the Island of the Prophets from the face of the earth, but not now, but a little later. Now it was necessary to have time to save Bee before the punitive operation of the dragons.
Fitz and Darling sailed to the island on the living ship "Perfect", which was one of the heroes of the Living Ships trilogy. This ship had the problem that it was made not from one dragon cocoon, but from 2. As a result, the ship suffered from something like schizophrenia. The jester figured out how to turn a living ship into dragons, which the ship's owners were very unhappy with.
When Bee was finally brought to the Island of the Prophets, she was put in a cell. She managed to escape and kill Dvalia and one of the leaders. She also started a fire in the library where the dream records were kept. Dwalia was wrong: she brought the Destroyer to the island.
At that moment, Fitz, the Jester and their assistants entered the fortress. Fire, panic, fights and all that. Nevertheless, the saviors managed to find Bee and take her out of the fortress through an underground passage before the avenging dragons arrived. But Fitz found himself buried under the arches of the tunnel. He asked the Jester to take care of Bee. Finally, he managed to cure the Jester of blindness: he no longer saved his strength. Everyone assumed that the Killer was dead.
The dragons destroyed the island and the nearby city. The ship "Perfect" turned into 2 dragons. But Bee and her saviors managed to reach the Six Duchies.
The Jester tried to work with Bee, to teach her to interpret her dreams correctly, but she couldn’t stand him. The girl, not without reason, believed that without this creature she and her father would have lived in complete peace.
That's why Fitz was fading away. When he realized what was happening, he decided to return to the place where the ancient Elderlings kept their tombstones. It was a quarry with skill stones. The Elderlings carved a dragon and turned into stone - this way they could sleep forever in stone, which partially ensured their immortality. King Vérité from the first trilogy once did this, which Fitz witnessed.
Fitz, instead of a dragon, decided to sculpt his Nightwolf - the one with whom he was associated in the first trilogy. By this time, his presence was discovered by Bee, the eldest daughter, and friends. They all came to say goodbye to him. They camped near Fitz, who was working, and tried to help him with something. Several weeks passed like this. There was almost nothing left of Fitz, but there was no way he could turn into the Wolf.
Then Little Bee told the Jester that his father would not leave without him. Fitz would really like that. But he himself did not ask Beloved to stay with him, but, on the contrary, persuaded him to live and raise Little Bee. Bee said that the Jester always used Fitz, and he loved him. After these words, the Jester approached the Wolf and he and the Killer turned into stone.
The figure came to life. Night Wolf's eyes lit up and he ran into the forest. Now Night Wolf will be active for some time and then fall asleep, but if he is needed, he will wake up.
The Assassin, his Night Wolf and the Jester are now together forever.
The Jester gave his life to revive the dragons. What's good about them? They fly, they shit, they eat everything, they don’t respect people.
True, the Elderlings, with the help of dragons, managed to learn how to make all sorts of useful things: clothes that do not tear, do not wrinkle and are adjusted to the size of the person who wears them; eternal lanterns, beautiful glowing crystals; invisibility cloaks. These items appear in every book and always cause great delight among the heroes. Maybe for this?
But the Elderlings had big problems with their offspring: children in most cases were born sick and suffered greatly. True, this time there is hope that they will be treated with the help of a skill. But it's all so shaky...
ROBIN HOBB
Fate of the Killer
The translation was carried out by the team https://vk.com/robin_hobb (entirely on a disinterested basis)
Prologue
Chapter first. The bee stings.
Chapter two. A Touch of Silver
Chapter three. In the mountains.
Chapter Four. Kalsida.
Chapter five. Deal.
Chapter six. Revelations.
Chapter seven. Beggar woman.
Chapter eight. Tintaglia.
Chapter Nine. Smolyanoy.
Chapter ten. Bee's Diary.
Chapter Eleven. On my way.
Chapter twelve. Living ship Perfect.
Chapter thirteen. With all sails set.
Chapter fourteen. Deal with Paragon
Chapter fifteen. Merchant Akriel.
Chapter sixteen. Pirate Islands.
Chapter seventeen. Snake saliva.
Chapter Eighteen. Silver ships and dragons.
Chapter nineteen. New ship, new voyage
Chapter twenty. Faith.
Chapter twenty one. Under sail.
Chapter twenty two. Butterfly cloak.
Chapter twenty-three. Clerres.
Chapter twenty-four. Arm and leg
Chapter twenty-five. Bribe.
Chapter twenty-six. Silver secrets.
Chapter twenty-seven. Feather and blade.
Chapter twenty-eight. Unsafe harbor.
Chapter twenty-nine. Accusations.
Chapter Thirty. Barrier and black banner.
Chapter thirty-one. Butterfly Man.
Chapter thirty two. The way inside.
Chapter thirty-three. Candles.
Chapter thirty-four. Smoke.
Chapter thirty-five. Confrontations.
Chapter thirty-six. Surprises.
Chapter thirty-seven. Touch.
Chapter thirty-eight. Dragon ship
Chapter thirty-nine. Retribution.
Chapter forty. Warm water.
Chapter forty-one. Journey of the Mischief-maker.
Chapter forty-two. Farnich.
Chapter forty-three. Bingtown
Chapter forty-four. Up the river
Chapter forty-five. Princess of the Seers.
Chapter forty-six. Quarry.
Chapter forty-seven. Heart of a wolf.
Chapter forty-eight. Time
Chapter forty-nine. Lies and truth.
Chapter fiftieth. Mountains.
Prologue
The children held hands, forming a circle. In the center stood a girl with a bandage on her face, on the fabric of which were drawn black eyes with a gaze, bordered in red. With her arms stretched out in front of her, the girl spun. The children danced in a circle and sang a song:
While the strong circle is unshakable -
You see everything in full view.
But make an effort of will
And the world will change around.
It all seemed like a fun game. Children in a circle shouted out phrases or entire sentences. I couldn’t hear them, but someone deprived of sight could make out the words. She shouted back, her voice broken by the rising wind: “Burn them all,” “Dragons will fall,” “The sea will rise,” “The skies are strewn with jewels.” “One will come for two”, “Four will regret”, “Two will come as one”, “Your reign is over!”, “Everyone will pay with their lives”, “No one will survive!”
At the last exclamation, a storm erupted from the girl standing in the center. Hurricane gusts hit in all directions, the wind picked up the screaming children and scattered them far from each other. Everything was plunged into darkness, only the white circle remained. In its center remained a blind woman, whose black, painted eyes still looked intently.
Dream journal of the Seeing Bee.
Chapter first. The bee stings.
The map room on Aslevjal depicted territories that included most of the Six Duchies, part of the Mountain Kingdom, the bulk of Chalcede, and the lands along both banks of the Rain Wilds River. I believe this allows us to delineate the boundaries of the ancient Elderling territories at the time the map was created. I haven't had a chance to personally explore the map room in the abandoned Elderling city now known as Kelsingra, but I'm sure they will be very similar.
My heart is breaking into pieces. I'm ready to go into the flow of Skill, but... but this is impossible.
I only have books that I re-read over the years. And there is the last book that will not let me go for a long time.
Those who know Robin Hobb's work and share my love for her do not all agree with my assessment of the latest book. Moreover, not everyone even agrees that the author should have written the Saga of Fitz and the Jester. Their story was already over. But she left behind many unsolved secrets, questions, fan speculation and vulgar erotic fan fiction.
Have all the secrets of the world been revealed now? Don't think. The world of the Elderlings is so beautifully written, so real, that its demiurge probably doesn’t yet know the answers to half the questions.
Is the story of the main characters now over? At the risk of slipping into spoilers, which I really don’t want to do, I’ll say that although the perspective of the plot can always be created, the story has ended.
In my opinion, neither the last book, nor the last Saga were worse than the previous ones. An intricate world, deep psychology of the characters, beautiful language and unexpected plot twists - everything is there, everything remains. Robin Hobb's books make you want to devour them in one gulp, but then they leave only a sweet aftertaste of apricot brandy. No, you need to read them slowly, rolling every phrase on your tongue, passing through every gesture of the characters in your imagination, then you will feel all the power and depth, all the hidden layers that are hidden behind the pages.
It's the same story with the last book. We pounced on her like a hungry wolf on its prey. They swallowed it and many were confused in the end, not feeling the usual satiety - what? this is all! how so?!! But you need to find time and, if not re-read, then think about it. The ending turned out to be the only possible one. And it doesn’t matter that the soul of the admirers, eaten away by worms, turned to stone. It was predetermined. All the necessary guns were fired, and all possible predictions came true. End. Then the letters float, drenched in my tears.
Now all that remains is to remember and reread. I would like to become more silent, flexible and infinitely loving, like the Jester. To take pleasure in simple household chores, but to know, as Fitz knew, that nothing in life is above duty. You want to protect your feelings and the boundaries of your Beloved, no matter what the cost. I want to change myself. ABOUT! I apparently drank too much elf bark and look at the world around me too gloomily.
Although, looking into the still summer blue sky, I hope to see dragons.
And I know for sure that somewhere out there, in a distant but close to my soul, the world and its gloomy reflection, huge boundless Love splashes and shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow.
