Originally published: Bantam Spectra, 1996.

Young Fitz has just survived his first perilous mission as an assassin. But the cost has been high, and a brush with death has left him little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he has vowed to remain in the distant Mountain Kingdom, despite the fact that his oath as a King's Man requires him to return to Buckkeep. But love and events of terrible urgency soon draw him back to the court of the Six Duchies, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family. Meanwhile, the terrible Red-Ship Raiders have renewed their vicious attacks on the coast, leaving burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under attack from within, as plotting and treachery threaten the throne of the ailing King Shrewd. In this time of great danger, it soon becomes clear that the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz's hands - and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.