“Many men hope that by saying a thing they can make it so,” Chade said neutrally. “Even when they must know better,” he added as a darker afterthought.
“What do you think the Raiders want?” I asked.
He stared past me into the fire. “Now, there is a puzzle. What do the Raiders want? It is how our minds work, Fitz. We think they attack us because they want something from us. But surely, if they wanted something, by now they would have demanded it. They know the damage they do to us. They must know that we would at least consider their demands. But they ask for nothing. They simply go on raiding.”
“They make no sense.” I finished the thought for him.’
“Not the way we see sense,” he corrected me. “But what if our basic assumption is wrong?”
I just stared at him.
“What if they don’t want anything, except what they already have? A nation of victims. Towns to raid, villages to torch, people to torture. What if that is their entire aim?”
“That’s insane,” I said slowly.
“Perhaps. But what if it is so?”
“Then nothing will stop them. Except destroying them.”
He nodded slowly. “Follow that thought.”
“We don’t have enough ships to even slow them down.” I considered a moment. “We had best all hope the myths about the Elderlings are true. Because it seems to me they, or something like them, is our only hope.”
Chade nodded slowly. “Exactly. So you see why I approve of Verity’s course.”
“Because it’s our only hope of survival.”
We sat for a long time together, staring into the fire silently. When I finally returned to my bed that night, I was assailed by nightmares of Verity attacked and battling for his life while I stood by and watched. I could not kill any of his attackers, for my king had not said I could.