: Suzanne Francis
: Dawnmaid
: Mushroom eBooks
: 9781843193883
: 1
: CHF 3.90
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 308
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Gwenn and Gunnar travel to Khalama to fulfill a last request, but when they arrive, nothing is as it seems. For one thing, the man whose lifeless body they faithfully transported, Arkady Svalbarad, turns out not to be dead after all. And his old teacher, Dawa Tinley, is strangely absentminded. When Gunnar disappears, Gwenn has to make the best of her situation, so she turns once more to Arkady. The consequences of their union will bring both mortal peril and new hope to the peoples of Yrth.
Katkin and Huw have holed up in an old farmhouse for the winter, but the addition of two children to their family has left Katkin feeling trapped and miserable. After Huw is arrested for a terrible crime, she must decide whether to run, or stand by his side. When Katkin is reunited with an old love, the choice becomes even more difficult, until a betrayal and a chance meeting steer her to the right path. When she finally arrives on Starruthe, she is just in time to help Gwenn with the baby, but is it too late for Gunnar? Only Gwenn and keth'fell can save him now.
When the Dawnmaid comes into the world, it will take a miracle to hide her from Maggrai, who has come back from the future with a weapon of total annihilation. But Gunnar also has a secret weapon, though he is loath to use it. Will he come to terms with his true identity in time to protect the Dawnmaid from Maggrai's wrath?
Contains adult themes.

Chapter two


Methuit Sequent


He is lost. Ben’aryn has wandered too long, and too far in that all-encompassing darkness. His mind has no more thoughts of self and substance. He drifts, dreamily, like an unmoored sailboat on a flat, black sea.

Then they come, and pull him back from the brink of dissolution.

* * * *

When Huw Adaryi first spied the familiar green caravans he raced forward with a cry of joy. His people, the Firaithi, were camped by the Sharm River, close to the ford that marked the boundary between Mardon and Secuny. Huw had been searching for them for many weeks, with his companion, the former Queen of Beaumarais, Katrione du Chesne Benet. She rode behind him, on their horse, Ajax. Katkin hung back as he approached the circle of caravans, nervously wondering how well Huw’s Kindred would receive her.

A woman, shabbily dressed, was the first to notice the approaching figures. As Huw shouted a stream of Firai, she hurried forward, drying her hands on her apron. Katkin watched as the two embraced warmly. Suddenly the caravans emptied and three dozen people, mostly women and children, surrounded Huw. A tall man stepped forward, with his arms extended, crying, “Huw! The moon gives you greeting. By the Un-Named One, you come back to us! I believed you had perished on the ship of those cursed slavers. How did you escape, my brother?”

Huw smiled broadly. “And I thought you might be dead as well, Padarn. We have many stories to tell, it seems. May we share your fire?”

“We? Who is your companion, Huw?” Padarn peered over at Katkin, who had dismounted from Ajax, but still hung back, waiting for Huw to introduce her.

Huw walked to stand beside Katkin. “You know her already. This is Katrione Benet, of the Kindred of Anandi.” Padarn stared at the petite woman before him. She had long, wavy chestnut hair and striking green eyes. Her left arm ended just below the elbow, but she wore a cunning wooden prosthesis, shaped like a hand, with jointed fingers that could be locked into any position by sliding a switch on the back of the wrist.

“The ex-Queen of Beaumarais? Can it be true she belongs to one of our Kindreds?” Padarn still used the Firai tongue, thinking that Katkin wouldn’t understand him. “She is a dangerous friend, Huw. Her son, King Tristan, has placed a high price on her head. You would be well-advised to send her on her way alone. But you, of course, will share our fire and reclaim your rightful place as our Tane,[2] now that your father has crossed throughTsmar’enth.[3]“

Katkin could speak Firai well, but she thought that it might not be wise to let these secretive people know she understood their language, so she merely said in Maraison, “What does he say, Huw? He doesn’t look very happy to see us.”

Huw spoke softly to Padarn in Firai. “Have a care, my brother, for I love this woman, and I would not send her away, even if the price was all the gold in Yr. If she cannot share the fire of our Kindred, then I will not stay either.”

Padarn looked very distressed at this. Suddenly, one of the women screamed, pointing at Katkin, “That is her! The mother of the one they call the Faircrow. I have seen her picture nailed up on nearly every tree. The one-armed traitor of Beaumarais. She he