Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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Following a reply from Jani to Keffria (the earlier message being here), “Dragon Warrior” begins with Hest continuing to languish as the Chalcedeans pursue Tintaglia, whom they assailed. Hest’s own condition and that of Tintaglia are detailed as pursuit continues.

For her own part, Tintaglia presses ahead, fuming at her pursuit and avowing that she will not be butchered as if livestock. She determines to assail her pursuers in the night, meaning to wreck them and flee with the eggs growing inside her.

Dargen has Hest escort him to the ship’s railing that he might relieve himself. As he does so, Hest spies Tintaglia, who attacks.

In Kelsingra, Rapskal and Thymara continue their explorations, joined by the rest of the expedition. Work to restore the well of Silver is in progress, that work detailed. Updates to the statuses of various keepers and crew of the Tarman are made. Spit gets a small taste of Silver while the work goes on, and the keepers note the change that comes upon him as he does, wondering what a greater, steady supply will do for the dragons. At length, enough of the well is cleared that the keepers can drop lights to check the level of Silver in the well, but the results are not promising. The dragons grow angry at the report, and Thymara, calling on embedded memories, explains more of the dragons’ need for the substance and Kelsingra’s rise to prominence among the Elderlings. Given the importance of the Silver, Reyn vows to find it for Phron.

In the wake of her assault on her Chalcedean pursuers, Tintaglia languishes. Further injuries beset her, and she calls out in what she believes will be her final battle.

In Kelsingra, Carson notes that the Silver may yet be accessible, and the keepers prepare to retire for the evening. As they do, however, Tintaglia’s call reaches them, and Malta calls for aid from the dragons and keepers about her. Rapskal begins to be overtaken by the memories of an ancient warrior, Tellator, and Thymara works to return him to himself as he makes ready to rush to Tintaglia’s aid.

The present chapter takes an interesting tack, I think, in presenting Hest’s increasing accommodation to his fallen status. And it is not that being a servant, as such, is demeaning; there is nobility in work of all sorts. The fall, rather, is that Hest is effectively enslaved, although he is not yet tattooed in accord with Chalcedean and Jamaillian practice, and he is adjusting to that status, even as he recognizes with some horror the changes occurring in him as he does so. Given the resonances between the Traders and the early United States, I find it hard not to see some proposed parallels at work, though I acknowledge I am not the person who ought to explicate them in any great detail.

I note, too, a return to descriptions echoing addiction in the attitudes the dragons, particularly Spit, voice towards the Silver. As a commonplace in the Realm of the Elderlings novels, addiction is something I’ve noted repeatedly throughout the rereading; I have to think it is among the most prevalent themes in the novels, and it seems the kind of thing that those more inclined to biographical criticism would want to pursue. (For my part, I know better than to look. HIPAA is in place for damned good reasons.) And, as I reread, I find myself in mind of the spice mélange from Arrakis in Dune and the following novels–itself addictive and enhancing; I am not at all up on literary scholarship treating Frank Herbert, so I cannot speak with any certainty to its own references, but I have to think that those at work in it are also at work with the Silver in Kelsingra, if at some remove.

Of more importance for the Realm of the Elderlings corpus is Mercor’s report of the powers associated with Silver for Elderlings–the strange features of Kelsingra, as well as the Skill-roads and the stone garden with which so much of the Farseer novels are concerned, and the Skill-pillars that feature prominently in the Tawny Man novels. Mercor’s remark on the peril of contact with Silver by humans is somewhat telling; Verity fairly bathes in it, and while he does meet his end, it is because of his quest rather than the direct effect of the Silver, itself. In effect, Hobb confirms in the present chapter that the Skill is itself a legacy of the Elderlings, something that puts me in mind of Tolkien (the “blood of Westernesse” notable in Denethor and Faramir but not in Boromir presents itself), although being put in such mind while reading Hobb is not a surprise.

(Another thought occurs, as well. The Silver, in its unadulterated form, offers power and mastery. Water that flows through it, however, becomes…problematic. The Earthblood that wells up under Melenkurion Skyweir in Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant novels seems antecedent. The source-studies implications of the present chapter are somewhat dizzying; I find myself once again longing for the time and resources to undertake such traceries. Perhaps another can work on such projects?)

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