Raymond Feist - Silverthorn

Harper Voyager

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Previously published in paperback by Grafton Books 1986

And by HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy 1995

Reprinted ten times

And by Voyager 1997

Reprinted thirty-two times

And by Harper Voyager 2006, 2009

Copyright © Raymond E. Feist 1986

First Published in Great Britain By Grafton Books 1986

Raymond E. Feist asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013. Cover photograph © Nik Keevil

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Source ISBN: 9780007229420

Ebook Edition © January 2013 ISBN: 9780007370221

Version: 2017-09-07

This book is dedicated to my nephews and niece,

Benjamin Adam Feist

Ethan Aaron Feist,

Alicia Jeanne Lareau,

Little magicians, all

Their rising all at once was as the sound

Of thunder heard remote.

– MILTON, Paradise Lost, BOOK II, 1. 476

Table of Contents

Title Page RAYMOND E. FEIST Silverthorn

Copyright

Dedication This book is dedicated to my nephews and niece, Benjamin Adam Feist Ethan Aaron Feist, Alicia Jeanne Lareau, Little magicians, all

Epigraph BOOK III Arutha and Jimmy Their rising all at once was as the sound Of thunder heard remote. – MILTON, Paradise Lost, BOOK II, 1. 476

Maps

Synopsis: Our Story So Far …

Prologue: Twilight

Chapter One: Reunion

Chapter Two: Krondor

Chapter Three: Plots

Chapter Four: Revelations

Chapter Five: Obliteration

Chapter Six: Reception

Chapter Seven: Wedding

Chapter Eight: Vow

Chapter Nine: Forest

Chapter Ten: Sarth

Chapter Eleven: Clash

Chapter Twelve: Northward

Chapter Thirteen: Stardock

Chapter Fourteen: Elvandar

Chapter Fifteen: Return

Chapter Sixteen: Moraelin

Chapter Seventeen: Warlord

Chapter Eighteen: Vengeance

Chapter Nineteen: Continuation

Epilogue: Retreat

Keep Reading

Acknowledgements

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

UPON THE WORLD OF MIDKEMIA, THE MIGHTY KINGDOM OF THE Isles arose, beside the vast Empire of Great Kesh to the south. The Kingdom was then nearing an era of greatness; the nation spanned a continent, from the Kingdom Sea to the Endless Sea.

In the twelfth year of the reign of Rodric the Fourth, in the westernmost province of the Kingdom, the Duchy of Crydee, an orphan kitchen boy named Pug was made apprentice to the magician Kulgan. An indifferent student of magic, he rose to high station, for he saved the daughter of Duke Borric conDoin, Princess Carline, from a dire fate and became a squire of the Duke’s court. Pug then found himself the object of Carline’s girlish infatuation and, as a result, rival to young Squire Roland, a member of the court.

With his best friend, Tomas, Pug discovered the wreckage of an alien vessel and a dying man of unknown nationality. The Duke’s priest, Father Tully, used his magic to learn that the dying man was from another world, Kelewan, dominated by a mighty empire of warriors, the Tsurani. They had reached Midkemia by a magic gate, a rift in space, and might be preparing the way for invasion. Duke Borric took council with the Elf Queen, Aglaranna, who agreed that some strange menace was approaching the Far Coast of the Kingdom; the elves had seen strange warriors mapping the West, men who vanished mysteriously.

Fearing this a prelude to invasion, Lord Borric and his younger son, Arutha, led a company of men to warn King Rodric of the possible attack, leaving Crydee to the care of his elder son, Lyam, and Swordmaster Fannon. The company numbered Kulgan the magician, Pug and Tomas, Sergeant Gardan, and fifty soldiers of Crydee. In the forest called the Green Heart the Duke’s party was attacked by the dreaded moredhel, the dark elves known as the Brotherhood of the Dark Path. After a long, bloody fight, the Duke and the other survivors were saved by Dolgan, a dwarven chief, and his companions.

Dolgan led them through the mines of Mac Mordain Cadal, where a wraith attacked, separating Tomas from the others in the company. Tomas fled deep into the ancient mine, while Dolgan led the others to safety.

Dolgan returned into the mine to find Tomas, discovering that the boy had been given refuge by one of the last of the mighty golden dragons, ancient and near death. The dragon, Rhuagh, told of his life, of his encounter with the strange sorcerer Macros the Black, and of other wonders. Rhuagh vanished in a wondrous final moment of glory, a boon of Macros, and left Tomas with a special gift, magic golden armour.

Duke Borric’s company reached the city of Bordon, where they took ship for Krondor, capital of the Western Realm of the Kingdom. They were driven by a storm to Sorcerer’s Isle, home of the legendary Macros the Black. There Pug met a mysterious hermit, discovered later to be Macros. He hints they shall meet again, but warns them not to seek him out.

In Krondor, Prince Erland, the King’s uncle and heir apparent, instructed the Duke to continue on to Rillanon, capital of the Kingdom, to see the King. While in Krondor, Pug met Princess Anita, Erland’s only child, and learned she was expected to marry Prince Arutha when she grew up.

In Rillanon, Duke Borric discovered the King to be a man of vision, also a man of doubtful sanity, given to outbursts of temper and rambling discourse. Duke Caldric of Rillanon, Borric’s uncle by marriage, warned that the burden of repelling the Tsurani, should they come, would fall to the western lords. The King distrusted the Prince of Krondor, dreaming of plots against the crown, and was even leery of Borric, who followed after Erland in the succession. He refused to allow the Armies of the East to leave the Eastern Realm. Then came the Tsurani invasion, and Rodric put aside his suspicions, giving Borric command of the Armies of the West. Borric and his companions rushed westward as the Riftwar began.