Fool’s Quest

Fool’s Quest
Robin Hobb

'Fantasy as it ought to be written' George R.R. MartinRobin Hobb returns to her best loved characters with the second volume in a brand new series.Happy endings never last…Years ago, they freed a dragon from the glaciers on Aslevjal. Then they parted ways, the Fool returning to far-off Clerres, while Fitz finally claimed a wife, a family, and a home of his own.Now, betrayed by his own people and broken by torment, the Fool has made his way back to the Six Duchies. But as Fitz attempts to heal his old friend in Buckkeep Castle, his young daughter Bee is abducted from Withywoods by pale and mysterious raiders who leave ruin and confusion in their wake.Fitz must find a way to rescue his beloved Bee. At the same time it is the Fool’s fiercest wish to return to Clerres with the best assassin he has ever known, to gain vengeance and justice.Can Fitz bear to take up the tools of his old trade again, even to avenge his dearest friend and save his child?

Copyright (#u3d25a392-53b8-5238-8753-9c3fda3d1d09)

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk (http://www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2015

Copyright © Robin Hobb 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover illustration © Jackie Morris; lettering by Stephen Raw.

Map copyright © Nicolette Caven 2015

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

A catalogue copy of 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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007444212

Ebook Edition © August 2015 ISBN: 9780007444236

Version: 2018-09-24

Dedication (#u3d25a392-53b8-5238-8753-9c3fda3d1d09)

To Rudyard. Still my Best Beloved

after all these years

Contents

Cover (#u7d1417b8-68d2-55d1-9c64-a0c0803d7a05)

Title Page (#u5d4ad0e9-12e5-5d95-aeff-d44c218d5669)

Copyright

Dedication

Map (#uc57c057a-8990-557a-a729-679ef9ec34eb)

Chapter One: Winterfest Eve at Buckkeep

Chapter Two: Lord Feldspar

Chapter Three: The Taking of Bee

Chapter Four: The Fool’s Tale

Chapter Five: An Exchange of Substance

Chapter Six: The Witted

Chapter Seven: Secrets and a Crow

Chapter Eight: Farseers

Chapter Nine: The Crown

Chapter Ten: Tidings

Chapter Eleven: Withywoods

Chapter Twelve: The Shaysim

Chapter Thirteen: Chade’s Secret

Chapter Fourteen: Elfbark

Chapter Fifteen: Surprises

Chapter Sixteen: The Journey

Chapter Seventeen: Blood

Chapter Eighteen: The Changer

Chapter Nineteen: The Strategy

Chapter Twenty: Marking Time

Chapter Twenty-One: Vindeliar