Katharine Kerr - The Red Wyvern

KATHARINE KERR

THE RED WYVERN

Book One of The Dragon Mage

Voyager

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Voyager 1997

Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1997

Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020

Katharine Kerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780006478607

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780007378319

Version: 2019-12-10

For Jo Clayton

I must apologize to the faithful readers of this on-going project who have had to wait so long for the volume now in hand. I have been much distracted of late by legal matters, in particular the suits and counter-suits concerning a certain Elvish scholar of Elvish and his libellous attacks upon me. When Gwerbert Aberwyn ruled in our favour in Malover, my publishers and I hoped that the matter had ended at last, but alas, our opponent saw fit to appeal to the High King himself. After an ennervating journey by coach and barge on the part of myself and a representative of my publisher, we settled into a suite at a public guesthouse in Dun Deverry and filed our counter-suit. While we waited for our proceedings to be summoned, I once again applied myself to the craft for which I am better suited than legal wrangling, that of writing novels.

Some months later, we are still waiting. Let us hope that the High King’s courts take up and dispose of this matter soon.

Cover

Title Page KATHARINE KERR THE RED WYVERN Book One of The Dragon Mage

Copyright COPYRIGHT Copyright Map Dedication Author’s Note Prologue: Winter, in a Far Distant Land Part One: The North Country Part Two: Deverry, 849 Part III: The North Country Epilogue: Spring, in a Far Distant Land Keep Reading Appendices Glossary About the Author Other Books By About the Publisher Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Voyager 1997 Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1997 Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020 Katharine Kerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication. Source ISBN: 9780006478607 Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780007378319 Version: 2019-12-10

Map MAP Map Dedication Author’s Note Prologue: Winter, in a Far Distant Land Part One: The North Country Part Two: Deverry, 849 Part III: The North Country Epilogue: Spring, in a Far Distant Land Keep Reading Appendices Glossary About the Author Other Books By About the Publisher

Dedication DEDICATION Dedication Author’s Note Prologue: Winter, in a Far Distant Land Part One: The North Country Part Two: Deverry, 849 Part III: The North Country Epilogue: Spring, in a Far Distant Land Keep Reading Appendices Glossary About the Author Other Books By About the Publisher For Jo Clayton

Author’s Note AUTHOR’S NOTE Author’s Note Prologue: Winter, in a Far Distant Land Part One: The North Country Part Two: Deverry, 849 Part III: The North Country Epilogue: Spring, in a Far Distant Land Keep Reading Appendices Glossary About the Author Other Books By About the Publisher I must apologize to the faithful readers of this on-going project who have had to wait so long for the volume now in hand. I have been much distracted of late by legal matters, in particular the suits and counter-suits concerning a certain Elvish scholar of Elvish and his libellous attacks upon me. When Gwerbert Aberwyn ruled in our favour in Malover, my publishers and I hoped that the matter had ended at last, but alas, our opponent saw fit to appeal to the High King himself. After an ennervating journey by coach and barge on the part of myself and a representative of my publisher, we settled into a suite at a public guesthouse in Dun Deverry and filed our counter-suit. While we waited for our proceedings to be summoned, I once again applied myself to the craft for which I am better suited than legal wrangling, that of writing novels. Some months later, we are still waiting. Let us hope that the High King’s courts take up and dispose of this matter soon.