The Fading Dream_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [1]
THE TREATY OF GALIFAR REDREW BORDERS
Where once a sprawling empire claimed the continent, disparate nations now clutter the landscape. Only four of the Five Nations still stand. Warrior elves defend their ancestral lands in Valenar. Goblins and monsters have established kingdoms of their own and demand recognition. Rebels take old grievances to the streets, and the dragonmarked houses gather power in secret. And no one has forgotten the old hatreds.
THE TREATY OF GALIFAR SPURRED DIPLOMACY
In the shadows of the cities and on the frontiers of the fledgling nations, a new kind of hero arises. They are veterans of the Last War, looking for closure. They are spies tasked with protecting their realm from new threats and old. They are inquisitives investigating crimes, trying to make a living while avoiding the state’s attention. They all want to forget the Last War …
BUT THE LAST WAR
WON’T FORGET THEM.
THE NEXT WAR IS BREWING.
To Jennifer Ellis, for dreams and inspiration
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map
Prologue - Cyre Olarune 20, 994 YK
Chapter One - Wroat, Breland Barrakas 20, 999 YK
Chapter Two - Wroat, Breland Barrakas 20, 999 YK
Chapter Three - Wroat, Breland Barrakas 20, 999 YK
Chapter Four - The Thunder Sea Barrakas 22, 999 YK
Chapter Five - The Thunder Sea Barrakas 22, 999 YK
Chapter Six - The Mournland Barrakas 22, 999 YK
Chapter Seven - Seaside, the Mournland Barrakas 23, 999 YK
Chapter Eight - The Mournland Barrakas 23, 999 YK
Chapter Nine - The Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Ten - The Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Eleven - Shaelas Tiraleth, the Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Twelve - Shaelas Tiraleth, the Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Thirteen - Shaelas Tiraleth, the Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Fourteen - The Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Fifteen - The Mournland Barrakas 24, 999 YK
Chapter Sixteen - The Ruins of Ascalin The Mournland Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Seventeen - The Pit Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Eighteen - The Pit Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Nineteen - The Pit Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty - The Lhazaar Principalities Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-One - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Two - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Three - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Four - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Five - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Six - Taer Lian Doresh Barrakas 25, 999 YK
Chapter Twenty-Seven - The Mournland Rhaan 3, 999 YK
About the Author
PROLOGUE
Cyre
Olarune 20, 994 YK
Drix ran through the forest, death close on his heels. Thorns tore at his skin, but sheer terror blocked out the pain. His foe crashed through the underbrush behind him, and he could feel the heat of its gaze, imagine those burning eyes and hungry teeth. There was nowhere to run, no safe haven in the southern woods.
His foot caught on an exposed root, and Drix tumbled to the ground. He ignored the agony; there was no time for it, nor time to run. He rolled onto his back, raising his crossbow and searching the darkness.
“Go away!” he shouted. “Leave me alone. I’m armed.”
It was a painful exaggeration. He’d built the weapon himself, and he’d never used it on anything larger than a rabbit—and the sad truth was that a few of those rabbits had survived the first bolt. Still, his father would have been proud; Drix was a tinker to the end. Even as the bushes shook and death came for him, Drix’s last thoughts were of ways to build a better crossbow.
He fired the instant it cleared the underbrush. His hand shook at the last moment, and the bolt struck soil. The fox that had burst from the shrubs was as surprised as he was;