Volume 5teaser
I'm early on translation (I still need to do the scanning.)
Therefore, you get the translated/quote-fished part of the preview available on the French editor's website. Free for reading to everyone, as a teaser!
Here: CLICK (click on "preview" under the cover image)
Page 03
/King-in-Waiting Verity departed Buckkeep at the beginning of the third winter of the Red Ship Wars. His real mission was disclosed to few except his companions…/
/… Ostensibly, he went to the Mountain Kingdom to treat with his queen’s father, King Eyod, about possible military support against the Red Ships./
/Hod, armsmaster for Buckkeep, was one of the first he selected…/
/… One other, Burrich, the master of stables at Buckkeep, joined the party of his own accord. His knowledge of animals would be needed in order to get the beasts alive through the mountains in mid-winter./
/I had no need to attend Verity’s formal departure…/
/The night before he was to leave, he summoned me to his study…/
Page 04
Verity: You don’t approve of this, do you? But what else is left to me? This, at least, is a chance for me to actually do something myself. Other than sit in that bedamned tower and Skill myself to death…
/For a few months, Verity had displayed renewed energy…/
Verity: You know as I do that long ago, King Wisdom was bitterly besieged by Raiders from the sea. He left his castle one autumn, resolved to spend the winter searching for a legendary folk. The Elderlings.
/… Both he and Kettricken had braced the Great Hall every evening since the decision had been made. She glowed in his presence like a burning candle…/
Verity: The Elderlings resided in the Rain Wilds beyond the tallest mountains of the Mountain Kingdom. Somehow, he found them, and he won their alliance…
/… Shield myself as I might, I was all too aware of how much they enjoyed their nights…/
Verity: … Together, they drove the Raiders and invaders away from the coasts of the Six Duchies. Peace and trade were re-established. And the Elderlings swore to him that if they were ever needed again, they would return…
Verity: … There has to be a road, on the maps Kettricken gave me, to reach the Elderlings. And we must find it.
Page 05
Verity: Fitz, I’ve a favour to ask you.
Two, actually!
Fitz: You know that I won’t refuse you.
Verity: The first is that you look after my lady.
Keep her safe until I return!
Fitz: That is always yours without asking, my prince.
Verity: And the other…
I wish to try to stay here, as well. In your mind. For as long as I can.
Fitz: Er…
My prince…
What of your coterie?
Verity: I leave them in place, in the watchtowers and on my ships for now.
Verity: Whatever message they must send, they can send to Serene. In my absence, she will take them to Shrewd.
If there is anything they feel I must know, they can Skill me.
Verity: There will be other sorts of information that I will seek through you. Things that I would prefer kept private.
Fitz: I will do it!
/Tidings of his queen, I thought to myself. How Regal will employ his powers in his brother’s absence. Gossips and intrigues…/
Verity: I will be as insconpicuous as I can.
/Verity was nestled inside my mind, small and silent as a seed waiting for spring./
/Kettricken had chosen to watch the departure from the frosty walls of the Queen’s Garden. She had said her farewells to him earlier, and chosen this spot so that if she wept, none will take it amiss./
/Then I felt that which sent a chill up my spine. Kettricken Wit-quested after him. Very faintly, it was true… And I felt pity for her…/
Page 06
/Twenty-three days after Verity left, I came back from a down hunt to find the keep abuzz…/
Fitz: Good-day, Sara!
What has happened?
It feels like the keep has turned into an ant-nest…
Cook Sara: A rider come in, his horse near to dead. Said there’s been a raid up at Ferry. The wall city near gone from the fires they set. Three shiploads of Raiders, the boy said.
Fitz: Why weren’t the signal tower fires lit? Or the message birds sent to Gulls and Sealbay?
Cook Sara: Boy said the signal fires were lit, at Ferry and at Ice Town. He says the birds were sent to Gulls. The ship never came.
Fitz: What has Regal done?
Sent out the Rurisk?…
Cook Sara: He told the boy it was too late now. The Raiders would be long gone. No sense to send a ship out now. Or soldiers.
Fitz: Too late to fight Raiders, perhaps. But what of those burned out in Ferry?…
Cook Sara: Says there’s no coin for it!
Cook Sara: Says the treasury was drained to build ships and man them. Said Verity took what little was left for this expedition to find Elderlings.
Fitz: Everything will be all right!
/A cold fury encoiled inside me. One clear glimpse of Verity’s intent. He wanted me to go to his study. In the back of a drawer, I would find an antique emerald necklace. It had been his mother’s mother’s…/
Page 07
Fitz: ?!
/To another man’s eyes, probably little would have seen amiss. But I saw the room both as myself and as Verity. It had been gone through…/
/Every drawer was neatly shut, every cupboard closed… It was all too tidy. Whoever had done it had not known Verity well./
/But the necklace was there…/
/If the jewellery had not been taken, what had been the goal of the search?…/
Fitz: ?
Fitz: My queen?!…
Verity wanted these put away while he was gone. Damp can harm them.
Kettricken: It seems so empty and cold in here without him…
There is no scent of him, none of his clutter…
Fitz: Then you tidied in here?
Kettricken: No!
Kettricken: I want him to come home to his own things in their places. But this room is the least of it… Have you heard the news about Ferry?
Fitz: Only the gossip.
Kettricken: The guardsmen went to Regal, to tell him of the messenger’s arrival. Surely they should have sent to me? Do not they think of me as a queen at all?
Fitz: The message should have been taken directly to King Shrewd. I suspect it was, and Regal’s men, who mind the king’s door, sent for him instead of you.
Fitz: I wonder if other messages have similarly gone astray… The message birds, the signal fires. A Skill message. Surely at least one of these things should have brought us word that Ferry was attacked…
Kettricken: The Duke of Bearns will believe his call for aid went unheeded. This is treachery to defame Verity!
Kettricken: We will have visitors. The Duke of Bearns and his lesser nobles, come to demand answers. I go to see King Shrewd, I shall ask what he intends to do. Hide those, for now!
Fitz: I will!
Page 08
Shrewd: Well, lad! Did you have a good day? Have a cup of tea!
Fitz: I have had a… worrisome day, my king.
Fool: Drink as deeply as our king does, and you shall share his serenity.
Fitz: A pleasant brew, but is not merrybud addictive?
Shrewd: Not in such a small quantity.
Wallace has assured me it is good for my nerves, and for my appetite as well.
Regal: A vexatious day, Fitz?
Fitz: I went to the stables where I learnt that the best horses of Buckkeep had been sold…
Regal: With the treasury as depleted as it it, we have had to take hard measures.
Fitz: I have heard nothing of a failed harvest…
Regal: Tomorrow, I will have to tell the men working on the new ship that they must either labour for the love of it, or leave off their work.
Regal: There is no longer coin to pay them, nor to buy the materials that will be needed to finish the ships.
Fitz: This is true, my king?
What is to be done about the situation in Bearns?
Regal: Nothing can be done about the situation in Bearns.
Regal: We cannot beggar all Six Duchies to protect a barren stretch of coastline.
Fitz: And when did Bearns cease to be part of the Six Duchies?
My king, I beg you, order Serene to come. Have her Skill to Verity, that you may counsel together about this.
Enjoy!
Therefore, you get the translated/quote-fished part of the preview available on the French editor's website. Free for reading to everyone, as a teaser!
Here: CLICK (click on "preview" under the cover image)
Page 03
/King-in-Waiting Verity departed Buckkeep at the beginning of the third winter of the Red Ship Wars. His real mission was disclosed to few except his companions…/
/… Ostensibly, he went to the Mountain Kingdom to treat with his queen’s father, King Eyod, about possible military support against the Red Ships./
/Hod, armsmaster for Buckkeep, was one of the first he selected…/
/… One other, Burrich, the master of stables at Buckkeep, joined the party of his own accord. His knowledge of animals would be needed in order to get the beasts alive through the mountains in mid-winter./
/I had no need to attend Verity’s formal departure…/
/The night before he was to leave, he summoned me to his study…/
Page 04
Verity: You don’t approve of this, do you? But what else is left to me? This, at least, is a chance for me to actually do something myself. Other than sit in that bedamned tower and Skill myself to death…
/For a few months, Verity had displayed renewed energy…/
Verity: You know as I do that long ago, King Wisdom was bitterly besieged by Raiders from the sea. He left his castle one autumn, resolved to spend the winter searching for a legendary folk. The Elderlings.
/… Both he and Kettricken had braced the Great Hall every evening since the decision had been made. She glowed in his presence like a burning candle…/
Verity: The Elderlings resided in the Rain Wilds beyond the tallest mountains of the Mountain Kingdom. Somehow, he found them, and he won their alliance…
/… Shield myself as I might, I was all too aware of how much they enjoyed their nights…/
Verity: … Together, they drove the Raiders and invaders away from the coasts of the Six Duchies. Peace and trade were re-established. And the Elderlings swore to him that if they were ever needed again, they would return…
Verity: … There has to be a road, on the maps Kettricken gave me, to reach the Elderlings. And we must find it.
Page 05
Verity: Fitz, I’ve a favour to ask you.
Two, actually!
Fitz: You know that I won’t refuse you.
Verity: The first is that you look after my lady.
Keep her safe until I return!
Fitz: That is always yours without asking, my prince.
Verity: And the other…
I wish to try to stay here, as well. In your mind. For as long as I can.
Fitz: Er…
My prince…
What of your coterie?
Verity: I leave them in place, in the watchtowers and on my ships for now.
Verity: Whatever message they must send, they can send to Serene. In my absence, she will take them to Shrewd.
If there is anything they feel I must know, they can Skill me.
Verity: There will be other sorts of information that I will seek through you. Things that I would prefer kept private.
Fitz: I will do it!
/Tidings of his queen, I thought to myself. How Regal will employ his powers in his brother’s absence. Gossips and intrigues…/
Verity: I will be as insconpicuous as I can.
/Verity was nestled inside my mind, small and silent as a seed waiting for spring./
/Kettricken had chosen to watch the departure from the frosty walls of the Queen’s Garden. She had said her farewells to him earlier, and chosen this spot so that if she wept, none will take it amiss./
/Then I felt that which sent a chill up my spine. Kettricken Wit-quested after him. Very faintly, it was true… And I felt pity for her…/
Page 06
/Twenty-three days after Verity left, I came back from a down hunt to find the keep abuzz…/
Fitz: Good-day, Sara!
What has happened?
It feels like the keep has turned into an ant-nest…
Cook Sara: A rider come in, his horse near to dead. Said there’s been a raid up at Ferry. The wall city near gone from the fires they set. Three shiploads of Raiders, the boy said.
Fitz: Why weren’t the signal tower fires lit? Or the message birds sent to Gulls and Sealbay?
Cook Sara: Boy said the signal fires were lit, at Ferry and at Ice Town. He says the birds were sent to Gulls. The ship never came.
Fitz: What has Regal done?
Sent out the Rurisk?…
Cook Sara: He told the boy it was too late now. The Raiders would be long gone. No sense to send a ship out now. Or soldiers.
Fitz: Too late to fight Raiders, perhaps. But what of those burned out in Ferry?…
Cook Sara: Says there’s no coin for it!
Cook Sara: Says the treasury was drained to build ships and man them. Said Verity took what little was left for this expedition to find Elderlings.
Fitz: Everything will be all right!
/A cold fury encoiled inside me. One clear glimpse of Verity’s intent. He wanted me to go to his study. In the back of a drawer, I would find an antique emerald necklace. It had been his mother’s mother’s…/
Page 07
Fitz: ?!
/To another man’s eyes, probably little would have seen amiss. But I saw the room both as myself and as Verity. It had been gone through…/
/Every drawer was neatly shut, every cupboard closed… It was all too tidy. Whoever had done it had not known Verity well./
/But the necklace was there…/
/If the jewellery had not been taken, what had been the goal of the search?…/
Fitz: ?
Fitz: My queen?!…
Verity wanted these put away while he was gone. Damp can harm them.
Kettricken: It seems so empty and cold in here without him…
There is no scent of him, none of his clutter…
Fitz: Then you tidied in here?
Kettricken: No!
Kettricken: I want him to come home to his own things in their places. But this room is the least of it… Have you heard the news about Ferry?
Fitz: Only the gossip.
Kettricken: The guardsmen went to Regal, to tell him of the messenger’s arrival. Surely they should have sent to me? Do not they think of me as a queen at all?
Fitz: The message should have been taken directly to King Shrewd. I suspect it was, and Regal’s men, who mind the king’s door, sent for him instead of you.
Fitz: I wonder if other messages have similarly gone astray… The message birds, the signal fires. A Skill message. Surely at least one of these things should have brought us word that Ferry was attacked…
Kettricken: The Duke of Bearns will believe his call for aid went unheeded. This is treachery to defame Verity!
Kettricken: We will have visitors. The Duke of Bearns and his lesser nobles, come to demand answers. I go to see King Shrewd, I shall ask what he intends to do. Hide those, for now!
Fitz: I will!
Page 08
Shrewd: Well, lad! Did you have a good day? Have a cup of tea!
Fitz: I have had a… worrisome day, my king.
Fool: Drink as deeply as our king does, and you shall share his serenity.
Fitz: A pleasant brew, but is not merrybud addictive?
Shrewd: Not in such a small quantity.
Wallace has assured me it is good for my nerves, and for my appetite as well.
Regal: A vexatious day, Fitz?
Fitz: I went to the stables where I learnt that the best horses of Buckkeep had been sold…
Regal: With the treasury as depleted as it it, we have had to take hard measures.
Fitz: I have heard nothing of a failed harvest…
Regal: Tomorrow, I will have to tell the men working on the new ship that they must either labour for the love of it, or leave off their work.
Regal: There is no longer coin to pay them, nor to buy the materials that will be needed to finish the ships.
Fitz: This is true, my king?
What is to be done about the situation in Bearns?
Regal: Nothing can be done about the situation in Bearns.
Regal: We cannot beggar all Six Duchies to protect a barren stretch of coastline.
Fitz: And when did Bearns cease to be part of the Six Duchies?
My king, I beg you, order Serene to come. Have her Skill to Verity, that you may counsel together about this.
Enjoy!