Janny Wurts - Daughter of the Empire

Book One of the Empire Trilogy

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

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by

Grafton Books 1987

Copyright © Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts 1987

The Authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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 e-books.

HarperCollins Publishers 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: 9780586074817

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780007375646

Version: 2019-01-15

This book is dedicated to

Harold Matson

with deep appreciation, respect, and affection

Cover

Title Page RAYMOND E. FEIST and JANNY WURTS Daughter of the Empire Book One of the Empire Trilogy

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Map Chapter One: Lady Chapter Two: Evaluations Chapter Three: Innovations Chapter Four: Gambits Chapter Five: Bargain Chapter Six: Ceremony Chapter Seven: Wedding Chapter Eight: Heir Chapter Nine: Snare Chapter Ten: Warlord Chapter Eleven: Renewal Chapter Twelve: Risks Chapter Thirteen: Seduction Chapter Fourteen: Acceptance Chapter Fifteen: Arrival Chapter Sixteen: Funeral Chapter Seventeen: Revenge Keep Reading Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher Voyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Grafton Books 1987 Copyright © Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts 1987 The Authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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 e-books. HarperCollins Publishers 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: 9780586074817 Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780007375646 Version: 2019-01-15

Dedication

Map

Chapter One: Lady

Chapter Two: Evaluations

Chapter Three: Innovations

Chapter Four: Gambits

Chapter Five: Bargain

Chapter Six: Ceremony

Chapter Seven: Wedding

Chapter Eight: Heir

Chapter Nine: Snare

Chapter Ten: Warlord

Chapter Eleven: Renewal

Chapter Twelve: Risks

Chapter Thirteen: Seduction

Chapter Fourteen: Acceptance

Chapter Fifteen: Arrival

Chapter Sixteen: Funeral

Chapter Seventeen: Revenge

Keep Reading

Acknowledgements

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

The priest struck the gong.

The sound reverberated off the temple’s vaulted domes, splendid with brightly coloured carvings. The solitary note echoed back and forth, diminishing to a remembered tone, a ghost of sound.

Mara knelt, the cold stones of the temple floor draining the warmth from her. She shivered, though not from chill, then glanced slightly to the left, where another initiate knelt in a pose identical to her own, duplicating Mara’s movements as she lifted the white head covering of a novice of the Order of Lashima, Goddess of the Inner Light. Awkwardly posed with the linen draped like a tent above her head, Mara impatiently awaited the moment when the headdress could be lowered and tied. She had barely lifted the cloth and already the thing dragged at her arms like stone weights! The gong sounded again. Reminded of the goddess’s eternal presence, Mara inwardly winced at her irreverent thoughts. Now, of all times, her attention must not stray. Silently she begged the goddess’s forgiveness, pleading nerves – fatigue and excitement combined with apprehension. Mara prayed to the Lady to guide her to the inner peace she so fervently desired.

The gong chimed again, the third ring of twenty-two, twenty for the gods, one for the Light of Heaven, and one for the imperfect children who now waited to join in the service of the Goddess of Wisdom of the Upper Heaven. At seventeen years of age, Mara prepared to renounce the temporal world, like the girl at her side who – in another nineteen chimings of the gong – would be counted her sister, though they had met only two weeks before.

Mara considered her sister-to-be: Ura was a foul-tempered girl from a clanless but wealthy family in Lash Province while Mara was from an ancient and powerful family, the Acoma. Ura’s admission to the temple was a public demonstration of family piety, ordered by her uncle, the self-styled family Lord, who sought admission into any clan that would take his family. Mara had come close to defying her father to join the order. When the girls had exchanged histories at their first meeting, Ura had been incredulous, then almost angry that the daughter of a powerful Lord should take eternal shelter behind the walls of the order. Mara’s heritage meant clan position, powerful allies, an array of well-positioned suitors, and an assured good marriage to a son of another powerful house. Her own sacrifice, as Ura called it, was made so that later generations of girls in her family would have those things Mara chose to renounce. Not for the first time Mara wondered if Ura would make a good sister of the order. Then, again not for the first time, Mara questioned her own worthiness for the Sisterhood.