Raymond Feist - At the Gates of Darkness

This novel is entirely 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.

Harper Voyager

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Published by Harper Voyager 2010

Copyright © Raymond E. Feist 2010

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

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Source ISBN: 9780007264711

Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007290215

Version: 2018-10-08

For the ladies who make me look so good: (in alphabetical order) Jennifer Brehl, Emma Coode, Jane Johnson, and Katherine Nitzel; rarely does an author get one good editor, let alone four.

Title Page At the Gates of Darkness The Demonwar Saga Book Two Raymond E. Feist

Copyright

Dedication Dedication Dedication Chapter One: Sacrifice Chapter Two: Foreboding Chapter Three: Sergeant-Adamant Chapter Four: Death Magic Chapter Five: Legacy Chapter Six: Survivors Chapter Seven: Queg Chapter Eight: Fortress Chapter Nine: War Chapter Ten: Demon Lore Chapter Eleven: Escape Chapter Twelve: Allies Chapter Thirteen: Ancient Histories Chapter Fourteen: Slaughter Chapter Fifteen: Strategy Chapter Sixteen: Reconnaissance Chapter Seventeen: Summoning Chapter Eighteen: Attack Chapter Nineteen: Demon Unleashed Epilogue Keep Reading Acknowledgements About the Author By the Same Author About the Publisher For the ladies who make me look so good: (in alphabetical order) Jennifer Brehl, Emma Coode, Jane Johnson, and Katherine Nitzel; rarely does an author get one good editor, let alone four.

Chapter One: Sacrifice

Chapter Two: Foreboding

Chapter Three: Sergeant-Adamant

Chapter Four: Death Magic

Chapter Five: Legacy

Chapter Six: Survivors

Chapter Seven: Queg

Chapter Eight: Fortress

Chapter Nine: War

Chapter Ten: Demon Lore

Chapter Eleven: Escape

Chapter Twelve: Allies

Chapter Thirteen: Ancient Histories

Chapter Fourteen: Slaughter

Chapter Fifteen: Strategy

Chapter Sixteen: Reconnaissance

Chapter Seventeen: Summoning

Chapter Eighteen: Attack

Chapter Nineteen: Demon Unleashed

Epilogue

Keep Reading

Acknowledgements

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

HOWLS FILLED THE NIGHT.

The blasted hills smoked and the stench of char filled the air. Hundreds of robed figures slowly wended their way between rocky debris to reach the huge clearing below the remains of a fortress gate tower. A powerful man stood silently on top of the pile of stones, looking down upon his followers.

Another figure waited in the shadows, using his considerable skill to remain unseen, and wishing fervently that he was anywhere else in the world but here. James Dasher Jamison took a slow, even breath, as much to calm himself as to catch his breath, and struggled to keep his wits about him. Within the courts of the three largest nations of the region, he was known as a minor noble of the Kingdom of the Isles; a man who had inherited, not earned, his rank, being the grandson of the Duke of Rillanon. To others he was Jim Dasher, a businessman involved in some petty criminal dealings in the city of Krondor; and to a few, he was known as the Upright Man, leader of the Thieves Guild: the Mockers. But even fewer knew James Dasher Jamison as the head of the Kingdom of the Isles intelligent apparatus, reporting directly to his grandfather.

In his forty or so years, Jim had seen many strange and terrifying things—experiences that came with his various positions. At times he feared he had become as heartless a bastard as those he had put down in the name of the Crown, or for the Conclave of Shadows, with whom he often worked; but even his lifetime of violence and intrigue could not have adequately prepared him for what he now saw before him.

A massive fire encompassed a circle of stakes, to which were tied four human sacrifices. They were not the first, already the dead numbered in the dozens, if not hundreds; but what churned Jim’s stomach more than this terrible scene, was that the slain had seemed willing, even eager to embrace a painful, flaming death.

Around the edges of the clearing more victims dangled at the ends of ropes; moments before, Jim had witnessed them place the nooses around their own necks, and jump off small ladders, to hang themselves. Many necks had broken with an audible crack, but a few had died slowly, kicking for what had seemed far too long a time. Jim had seen more than his fair share of public hangings in Krondor, but this was far more horrific than a criminal reaping his just deserts. This was a chilling display of self-sacrifice to evil. The howls lessened as the masochists finally began to lose consciousness and die.