Katharine Kerr: Dawnspell

The Bristling Wood

For the profit of kins, well did he attack the hosts of the

country, the bristling wood of spears, the grievous

flood of the enemy…

The Gododdin of Aneirin , Stanza A84

Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.voyager-books.com

Previously published in paperback by Grafton 1990 reprinted six times and by HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy 1993 reprinted two times

First published in Great Britain by GraftonBooks 1989

Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1989

Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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 onscreen. 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 e-books.

Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN 9780007404384

Version: 2019-07-15

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.

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

Change of font size and line height

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Text to speech

In memoriam

Raymond Earle Kerr, Jr, 1917–87,

an officer and a gentleman

Cover

Title Page KATHARINE KERR Dawnspell The Bristling Wood For the profit of kins, well did he attack the hosts of the country, the bristling wood of spears, the grievous flood of the enemy… The Gododdin of Aneirin , Stanza A84

Copyright Copyright Copyright Note to Readers Epigraph A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words Prologue: Spring, 1063 Part One: Deverry and Pyrdon, 833–845 1 2 3 4 Part Two: Summer, 1063 1 2 3 Appendix Keep Reading Glossary Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.voyager-books.com Previously published in paperback by Grafton 1990 reprinted six times and by HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy 1993 reprinted two times First published in Great Britain by GraftonBooks 1989 Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1989 Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019 The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work 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 onscreen. 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 e-books. Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN 9780007404384 Version: 2019-07-15 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.

Note to Readers Note to Readers Note to Readers Epigraph A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words Prologue: Spring, 1063 Part One: Deverry and Pyrdon, 833–845 1 2 3 4 Part Two: Summer, 1063 1 2 3 Appendix Keep Reading Glossary Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings: Change of font size and line height Change of background and font colours Change of font Change justification Text to speech

Epigraph Epigraph Epigraph A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words Prologue: Spring, 1063 Part One: Deverry and Pyrdon, 833–845 1 2 3 4 Part Two: Summer, 1063 1 2 3 Appendix Keep Reading Glossary Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher In memoriam Raymond Earle Kerr, Jr, 1917–87, an officer and a gentleman

A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words

Prologue: Spring, 1063

Part One: Deverry and Pyrdon, 833–845

1

2

3

4

Part Two: Summer, 1063

1

2

3

Appendix

Keep Reading

Glossary

Acknowledgements

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

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. When it appears as the last letter of a word, it is always long, whether that syllable is stressed or not.

Diphthongs generally have one consistent pronunciation:

AE as the a in mane.

AI as in aisle.

AU as the ow in how.