Dave Duncan - Children of Chaos

CONTENTS

Preface

Prologue

Part I: Spring

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Part II: Summer

23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Part III : Fall

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

"You must decide..."

"What does Bloodlord Stralg hope to gain by slaying so many people? Does he not fear the wrath of the Bright Ones?"

A translation, then the Vigaelian sneered and replied at length.

Fiorella said, "Stralg says the only god he fears is Weru and warfare is His worship. We Florengians are timid and neglect the Terrible One, so we must be taught... to fear Weru until we wet our legs at the mere mention of His name. You and your wife may return to the city. He will keep your children as hostages for your continued obedience."

Papa flushed scarlet. "No! This is my eldest son, lord Dantio. He is eleven years old. I brought the others only to show that they are too young."

"He says all of them."

"Benard is eight and Orlando only three , in the holy names! The Lawgiver wrote that only males over the age of ten may be taken as hostages."

Stralg turned and waved a signal. Men started walking out of the woods behind him. They were unarmed, yet that was how they had slaughtered every man sent against them at Two Fords.

"The bloodlord says that he gives the laws here."

Orlando squirmed free of Dantio's grasp and made a break for freedom. Stralg held out his hands. Orlando went to him, trotting on stubby legs. The Werist lifted the toddler high overhead.

"The bloodlord asks if you want to see the inside of your son's head, lord." Fiorella's voice turned shrill. "He means what he says! He will kill the child."

"My sons, then!" Papa shouted. "Let him take the boys, but my daughter is a babe at suck. Holy Demern has written—"

The big man roared, not even waiting to have Papa's words translated.

"The bloodlord says he will take the cow, too, so the calf can feed. He says you must give them all up or watch them all die, and then he will put out your eyes."

Papa fell on his knees. "I beg him to show mercy to a mother and her babe! Does holy law mean nothing to him? Has he no pity?"

"He says no, he has no pity. He has never had pity. You must decide."

NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

CHILDREN OF CHAOS

Copyright © 2006 by Dave Duncan

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Edited by Liz Gorinsky

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN-13: 978-0-765-35381-8

ISBN-10: 0-765-35381-4

First Edition: June 2006

First Mass Market Edition: February 2007

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to the memory of

Robyn Meta Herrington

1961-2004

who loved it and helped make it.

Preface

THE GODS

The true rulers of the world are the Bright Ones:

Anziel, goddess of beauty

Cienu, god of mirth and chance

Demern, god of law and justice

Eriander, god-goddess of sex and madness

Hrada, goddess of crafts and skill

Mayn, goddess of wisdom

Nastrar, god of animals and nature

Nula, goddess of pity

Sinura, goddess of health Ucr, god of prosperity and abundance

Veslih, goddess of the hearth and home

Weru, god of storm and battle

(There is also Xaran, goddess of death and evil, whose name is not spoken.)

IMPORTANT MORTALS

Hrag Hragson begat a daughter, Saltaja, and four sons, Therek, Karvak, Stralg, and Horold.

Piero, the doge of Celebre, had three sons, Dantio, Benard, and Orlando, and a daughter, Fabia.

Karvak died in Jat-Nogul and Dantio in Skjar.

HELPFUL NOTES

12 Werists make a flank.

4 flanks and a packleader make a pack.

5 packs and a huntleader make a hunt.

5 hunts and a hostleader make a host, 1,231 men.

A pot-boilingis the time needed for a crock of cold water to come to the boil on an open fire, roughly one hour.

The unit of counting is one sixty, which therefore takes a singular-form plural: e.g., "four sixty," as we say "four hundred" or "four dozen."

SOME OBSCURE VOCABULARY

Chthonian: Related to the underworld

Corban: An offering sworn to God

Menzil: The distance a caravan travels in one day

Henotheist: A person who worships a single god without denying the existence of others (on Dodec, usually a member of a mystery cult)

Polytheist: A person who worships many gods (as most people on Dodec do)

Extrinsic:An outsider (used by members of a mystery to indicate a nonmember, either a polytheist or a member of another cult)

THE WORLD

The Dodecians' image of their world is a physical impossibility. I have summarized the logic in an appendix at the end of the sequel volume, Mother of Lies . Until you have a chance to read that, please be charitable. It is not so very long ago that most people thought the Earth was a flat disk. The Dodecians may be mistaken, but they are not crazy enough to believe anything as absurd as that.

Prologue

LORD DANTIO

was very frightened, clutching the rail as tightly as he could—much tighter than he needed to, because the chariot ran smoothly on the paving and Papa was not going fast. The axle squealed, the guanacos' little hooves clip-clopped, wheels rumbled, the leather straps of the floor creaked, but that was all. No other sound.