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Okay, I remember a ton about this book, so strap in.
First, I read this book in a high school library, and it had a personalized handwritten dedication in the front, so I believe it was a gift to the school.
Also, in the forward, I believe that the book was published posthumously by the author's relatives, and that it was a limited release/self-publish, or something like that. So, completely possible that there aren't many/any other copies out there.
So, the book is a gentle satire of the fantasy genre. The main character is a young man who is trying to join the royal guards, because that's what his father was before the father's death. The captain of the guards doesn't want to let him in, but as a favor to the dead father, sends him to an unofficial member of the royal guards to be his personal trainer. This unofficial member is a lunatic, but his zany ideas get results, and even saved the life of the king once, so he's allowed to stick around, but no one really listens to or respects him.
The king, by the way, has died, and his wicked brother has taken the kingdom. However, the king is actually alive, being held prisoner in a distant land, and his jailer is known as "the skull" (or some close variation), because his skin is transparent from being underground for his whole life, so you can see his skull through his skin and you think he's just a skeleton. Anyway, the king determines to escape, and manages to, over the period of some long time (months? years?) train a rat to get a message to the outside world. This message eventually makes its way to the loon and his apprentice. (This part is really memorable. The apprentice has just vented that he thought being apprenticed to a hero would be exciting, but all they've done is sit around all day. The loon then says that you can't plan for adventure, and it often just walks in through the door out of nowhere. Enter a man stumbling through the door with an arrow in his back, dying just after giving the king's message. The loon then says "see what I mean?")
The two heroes go on an adventure to rescue the king, going through several hijinx to reach the fortress of the skull, with the loon training the young man all the way. They sneak in, manage to rescue the king, who then kills the skull, and they make their way back to the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the king's brother has been doing general wicked things, including the generic kidnapping of beautiful girls to pick his wife. He chose one girl in particular, but she has, in assorted clever ways, made his life a living hell for this whole time (weeks? months?), to the point that he still hasn't even managed to sleep with her. Anyway, the king, the loon and the young man return, and they confront the evil brother, who either dies or is imprisoned in the same fortress the king was kept in. The young man and the beautiful girl meet, and they end up getting married. The book ends with her doing the same vent that the young man did earlier, and her husband doing the same "you don't know when adventure will just walk through the door", with another man stumbling through on cue, arrow in his back (the young man says "see what I mean?). The book then says that the three of them went on many other adventures, but those are stories for another time.
Any help would be appreciated figuring out the author or title.
Edited by Ricorum