Assassin’s Apprentice

Assassin’s Apprentice
Robin Hobb

‘Fantasy as it ought to be written’ George R.R. MartinThe kingdom of the Six Duchies is on the brink of civil war when news breaks that the crown prince has fathered a bastard son and is shamed into abdication. The child’s name is Fitz, and his is despised.Raised in the castle stables, only the company of the king’s fool, the ragged children of the lower city and his unusual affinity with animals provide Fitz with any comfort.To be useful to the crown, Fitz is trained as an assassin; and to use the traditional magic of the Farseer family. But his tutor, allied to another political faction, is determined to discredit, even kill him. Fitz must survive: for he may be destined to save the kingdom.

Copyright (#u18630a83-ed92-5d72-a7df-1d15a22e83d0)

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995

Copyright © Robin Hobb 1995

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014. Illustration © Jackie Morris. Calligraphy by Stephen Raw. Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com) (background).

Robin Hobb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780007562251

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007374038

Version: 2014-08-29

Dedication (#u18630a83-ed92-5d72-a7df-1d15a22e83d0)

Table of Contents

Cover (#u6ffaf04c-ae30-5fc3-bf1f-05dc392ee55e)

Title Page (#ud31ca507-f7c5-58ff-8bbf-e5a429bb5ac8)

Copyright

Dedication

Map (#u68c9654e-5a13-593b-a2de-b8288087a6af)

Chapter One: The Earliest History

Chapter Two: Newboy

Chapter Three: Covenant

Chapter Four: Apprenticeship

Chapter Five: Loyalties

Chapter Six: Chivalry’s Shadow

Chapter Seven: An Assignment

Chapter Eight: Lady Thyme

Chapter Nine: Fat Suffices

Chapter Ten: The Pocked Man

Chapter Eleven: Forgings

Chapter Twelve: Patience

Chapter Thirteen: Smithy

Chapter Fourteen: Galen

Chapter Fifteen: The Witness Stones

Chapter Sixteen: Lessons

Chapter Seventeen: The Trial

Chapter Eighteen: Assassinations

Chapter Nineteen: Journey

Chapter Twenty: Jhaampe

Chapter Twenty-One: Princes

Chapter Twenty-Two: Dilemmas

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Wedding

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Aftermath

Epilogue