The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr [0]
“Go to the Old One’s villa, and see if you can find out anything about his scheme,” said the Hawkmaster. “In return, we will put you forward as a candidate for the Outer Circle. Our backing carries great weight, you know.”
“Oh yes, and I’m honored beyond dreaming.” One thin trickle of fear-sweat ran down Baruma the merchant’s ribs, but he forced himself to smile. “And I suppose someone will be keeping track of this mysterious Rhodry?”
“We can probably learn a great deal simply by asking this Rhodry the right questions. He might be unwilling to answer, but then, we have ways of dealing with the recalcitrant.”
“You certainly do, yes.” Baruma was by now thoroughly frightened, but he knew that he had to speak the truth now rather than let the master find it out on his own later. “But Rhodry can tell you nothing. The Old One ordered me to crush his mind. I followed my orders, of course. I wish you’d come forward earlier with this proposal.”
“So do I.” The master’s tone was ironic rather than angry, and Baruma could breathe more easily. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to restore his memory?”
“None. No matter how long he lives, he’ll never remember so much as his own true name.”
“That’s a pity, but well, we’ll have to work round it. You know, my friend, you and I might be able to work very well together. What do you think of my bargain?”
“I think that it’s a crucial turning of my fate, and that Pd be a fool to refuse it.” Also a dead man if I refuse it, he added to himself. “How shall we seal it?”
“The way these things are always sealed, my friend: in blood.”
Be sure to look for these other titles from Bantam Spectra
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The Godwars
Forbidden Magic
Dark Magic
IN MEMORY OF
HOWARD “JAKE” JACOBSEN
1934–1988
HE IS AND WILL BE SORELY MISSED.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For my translations from the Llywarch Hen corpus I used Patrick Ford’s edition of the text in his The Poetry of Llywarch Hen, University of California Press, 1974. Since I was also swayed by his arguments in the introduction to that edition, I have translated hen in this context as “the ancestor.” Any errors in these translations are of course mine alone, as are such minor acts of magic as my turning winter into summer for the epilogue’s epigraph.
My special thanks go to:
John Boothe of Grafton Books for his support of and enthusiasm for this entire project,
Judith Tarr for sage advice and encouragement at the line of battle,
Eva, Jean, Linda, and Elaine of Future Fantasy Books in Palo Alto, California, for backing my books early on and for running a splendid bookshop, and, as always, my husband, Howard Kerr, for everything.
A NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF DEVERRY WORDS
The language spoken in Deverry is a member of the P-Celtic family. Although closely related to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, it is by no means identical to any of these actual languages and should never be taken as such.
Vowels are divided by Deverry scribes into two classes: noble and common. Nobles have two pronunciations; commons, one.
A as in father when long; a shorter version of the same sound, as in far, when short.
O as in bone when long; as in pot when short.
W as the oo in spook when long; as in roof when short.
Y as the i in machine when long; as the e in butter when short.
E as in pen.
I as in pin.
U as in pun.
Vowels are generally long in stressed syllables; short in unstressed. Y is the primary exception to this rule.