The Gold Falcon - Katharine Kerr [0]
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
THE POISONED ROOT OF IT ALL
ARCODD PROVINCE SUMMER, 1159
Raves for Katharine Kerr’s Deverry:
“Much as I dislike comparing anything to The Lord of the Rings, I have to admit that on this occasion it’s justified.”
—Interzone
“There is a solid depth to Deverry and its inhabitants that make it seem very real. She’s also a master at creating tension, then balancing it with a quiet or humorous moment . . . effectively connects past events with present ones, showing the characters’ real growth . . . the best-written dragon in fiction. Recommended.”—Starlog
“Katharine Kerr is both a good writer and a thorough Celtic scholar. Indeed, her work is beginning to invite comparisons with Katherine Kurtz’s massive Deryni saga.”
—The Chicago Sun-Times
“Kerr fluently and gracefully limns her Celtic-based medieval world, depicting attractive and colorful men, women and elves.”—Publishers Weekly
“. . . a solid fantasy background, engaging characters and a plot that is intricate without being tangled. Certainly Kerr can . . . be compared to that other great Katherine—Kurtz—and her Deverry series can stand honorable comparison with the Deryni books.”—Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
“One of the best sword and sorcery novels I have read in some time.”—Andre Norton
“No one does real, live gritty Celtic fantasy better than Katharine Kerr.”—Judith Tarr
THE
GOLD FALCON
Katharine Kerr’s
Novels of Deverry,
The Silver Wyrm Cycle
Now available from DAW Books:
THE GOLD FALCON
THE SPIRIT STONE
Forthcoming from DAW:
THE SHADOW ISLE
Copyright © 2006 by Katharine Kerr.
eISBN : 978-1-101-09889-9
All rights reserved.
DAW Books Collectors No. 1367
DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
First Paperback Printing, May 2007
DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED
U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES
—MARCA REGISTRADA
HECHO EN U.S.A.
S.A.
http://us.penguingroup.com
For Peg Strub, M.D.,
whose sharp eyes saved my life.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I seem to have inadvertently caused some confusion among readers of this series by my system of subtitles for the various volumes in it. All of the Deverry books are part of one long story, divided into four “acts,” as it were. Here’s the correct order:
Act One: Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, The Dragon Revenant.
Act Two, or “The Westlands”: A Time of Exile, A Time of Omens, Days of Blood and Fire, Days of Air and Darkness.
Act Three, or “The Dragon Mage”: The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven, The Fire Dragon.
Act Four, or “The Silver Wyrm”: The Gold Falcon, which is the book you have in hand. Yet to be published: The Spirit Stone and The Shadow Isle.
THE POISONED ROOT OF IT ALL
IN THE YEAR 643, deep in the Dark Ages of the kingdom of Deverry, a loose coalition of clans, allied with the few merchants and craft guilds of that time, put a new and unstable dynasty on the throne of the high king. In those wars the Falcon clan lost most of its men, noble-born and commoners both. In gratitude, the king betrothed his third son, Galrion, to the last daughter of the Falcon, Brangwen. But her brother, Lord Gerraent, loved her far more than a brother should, and Prince Galrion loved the magical dweomer power more than he did his betrothed. When Galrion broke off the betrothal, his father the king banished him from the royal line forever. The prince took the name of Nevyn, which means “no one” in the Deverrian tongue, and went off to study the dweomer with the master