Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The truth of the matter

"I am afraid so, my lord," replied the Fool softly. "Come here and let me help you back to bed. You'll feel better tomorrow, of course." "No. We both know I'm not going to recover." I didn't say those scary words, it was from King Shrewd, I heard it, and I knew it was a harsh reality he had to face every day .I was exhausted, every part of my body ached, I never knew my muscles could get so heavy, and even bending my fingers was so painful.I just want to rest and fall asleep again.Is this me, or Shrewd?I should have asked the Fool to help me to the bed and let the King rest, but the Fool still held on to that crucial piece of information, which made me gnash my teeth.He did a trick and took away the sliver of information I needed to keep me from knowing the truth of the matter.

"Is she dead?" I asked. He looked at me sadly, and suddenly stopped to pick up the mouse-head token again, only to see a small pearl-like teardrop slipping down the mouse's cheek.He stared at the mouse, and then his eyes drifted away again, wandering back and forth in a state of pain, and then said softly: "The woman in Muddy Bay, looking for a woman in Muddy Bay like a needle in a haystack. What is her fate? She is dead Was it? Yes. No. Badly burned but still alive. She had her arms cut off and was cornered and raped while the robbers killed her child, but still alive." The Fool's eyes grew more vacant, and Speak according to the scriptures, the voice has no cadence. "She and her children were burned alive when the wreckage of the burning house fell on her. She poisoned herself when her husband woke her up, choked to death with smoke, and died a few days later from infected sword wounds, stabbed to death by a sword , was suffocated by her own blood when she was raped, and slit her throat after the robbers chopped down the door and killed the child. After the robbery, she gave birth to the robber's child in the second summer and was found wandering a few days later. On the street, with severe burns and can't remember anything. Her face was disfigured by the burns, her hands were chopped off, but she lived for a while..."

"Enough!" I ordered him. "Enough, I beg you, enough!" He paused for a breath, turned his eyes back to me and looked at me. "Enough?" He sighed, covering his face with his hands, and spoke through his fingers, "Enough? Then let the women of Muddy Bay continue to scream! But the tragedy has happened, my lord. We can't stop what's happened, and it's too late." He lifted his face from his hands, looking tired. "Please!" I begged him, "Can't you tell me about that woman I saw?" I suddenly forgot her name, but she was very important to me.He shook his head, and the little silver bell on his hat rang faintly. "You can only find out the truth when you get there." He looked up at me. "If this is your order, I must obey it."

"Summon Verity," I corrected, "and I want to give him instructions." “Our soldiers couldn’t arrive in time to stop the raid,” he reminded me, “but they could only help put out the fire and help the residents rebuild from the devastation.” "Well, they should." My tone was heavy. "Let me help you back to bed, Your Majesty, or you will catch a cold. Let me bring you something to eat." "No, Fool," I told him sadly. "I eat here to keep warm while the children's bones are still cold? Get my robe and high boots, and fetch Verity."

The Fool bravely insisted on his position: "Can you breathe a sigh of relief for a child by making yourself uncomfortable, my lord? The tragedy at Muddy Bay has already happened, why should you be tortured?" "Why should I be tortured?" I smiled at the Fool. "In the fog tonight, every resident of Muddy Bay asks the same question. My jester, I suffer because they are suffering, and because I am their king. I am more a flesh and blood and saw what happened there. Think about it, jester! If everyone in the Six Duchies said to themselves, 'Well! The worst has happened to them, why should I give up on myself? I have the blood of the Zhanyuan family on my body, my fool, and they are my people. Will I suffer more tonight than they do? One's pain And trembling, how can it compare with the tragedy that happened in Muddy Bay? How can I hide here safely while the people are being slaughtered like cattle?"

"I'll just say those two words to Prince Verity," the Fool argued with me again, "'robber' and 'Mud Cove,' and he'll know what he needs to know. Let me help you back to bed, Your Majesty, then I'll rush out and tell him that." "No!" A cloud of pain built up in the back of my head, and I tried to push my consciousness out of my thoughts, and I forced myself to go to the chair by the fireplace, and sat down with difficulty. "When I was young, I tried my best to defend the borders of the six principalities, so that the land would not be invaded by outsiders. Is my broken and painful life now more precious? No, jester. Find my son immediately , he should pass on my technique, because I have no energy tonight. We can think about what we have seen and heard together, and then decide what to do. Go now, go!"

The Fool scrambled out of the room with his feet on the flagstones. I was alone again, just me and myself in the room.I put my hands to my temples and when I found myself there was a pained smile on my face.Boy, you are here!King Shrewd slowly turned his attention to me. Although he was very tired, he did not forget to use his Skill to touch my heart, which felt as delicate as blowing on a spider's web.I clumsily opened myself, trying to fully connect each other's skills, but it was still in vain.Our contact broke, fell apart like a rag, and then he was gone. I crouched alone on the bedroom floor in the kingdom of mountains, feeling too close to the fire.I was fifteen, and my pajamas were soft and clean.The fire in the fireplace died out, my burned fingers throbbed violently, and a tech-induced headache began throbbing in my temples.

I moved slowly and stood up cautiously.like an old man?No.Like a recovering young man, I finally understood the difference. My soft and clean bed calls to me like a soft and clean tomorrow. I turned them down, and instead sat in a chair by the fireplace, gazing into the flames and thinking.When Burrich came to say goodbye at the crack of dawn, I was ready to ride with him. Buckkeep is the best deep-water port overlooking the six principalities. The Buck River in the north flows into the sea, and most of the ships carry goods exported from the inland duchies of Tirs and Faro.The castle stands on a steep black cliff overlooking the estuary, harbor and sea.Buckkeep stood on a steep cliff, protected from the flood of the river, so that a large area was used for the harbor and docks.The original fort was a wooden structure built by the aborigines to resist raids from the Outer Islanders.It was captured by a pirate named the Requisitioner, who became a resident of the place as a result of the capture.In place of the original wooden structures he built the walls and towers of black stone gathered from the cliffs, sinking the foundations of Buckkeep deep into the stone in the process.Then, generation after generation of the Zhanyuan family made the city wall stronger and stronger, and the tower became stronger and stronger.Buckkeep has not been captured by an enemy since the Founder of House Farsighted, the Requisitioner.