Bard's Oath
Authors: Joanne Bertin
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.
For
Matthew Logan
Our own private miracle
Without whom this book would have been finished a lot sooner but not nearly as joyfully
and to
Sam
Daddy par excellence
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my editor, Jim Frenkel, for believing in this book and waiting for it. Also, thanks to Tom Doherty, whose vision makes Tor Books the great publishing company it is; my thanks also to Art Director Irene Gallo, who brought Bob Eggleton’s beautiful jacket art to my books; and thanks to the many other people at Tor in editorial, production, publicity, advertising and promotion, sales and marketing, who work together to produce and sell my own and so many other wonderful books.
Contents
The Story So Far
Dragonlord Maurynna Kyrissaean, the youngest
of the great weredragons, cannot Change from human to dragon at will. Such a thing has never happened before and the Lady of Dragonskeep wants to keep Maurynna close to ensure her safety.
But Maurynna’s childhood friend Raven Redhawkson journeys to Dragonskeep, bringing with him one Taren Olmeins, an escaped slave from the mysterious, isolated kingdom of Jehanglan far to the south. Years before, Taren had been on a northern ship that had dared the forbidden waters of Jehanglan and sunk. Taren had somehow survived the wreck and was taken prisoner. After years as a slave, he escaped to bring the Dragonlords news he had discovered.
The tale that the former slave brings to Dragonskeep horrifies everyone: a dragon is kept prisoner in Jehanglan, its magic used to confine a Phoenix and keep it from its pyre. The Phoenix’s magic keeps Jehanglan separate from the rest of the world. No one save one trading House in the island country of Assantik to the north of Jehanglan may enter or leave Jehanglan save by a secret sea route protected by magic.
But the prisoner, whether Dragonlord or truedragon, must be rescued. The truedragons, led by the ancient and powerful Morlen the Seer, fly to Jehanglan in an attempt to free the draconic prisoner. Their invasion fails and many die.
Now it is left to the Dragonlords to free the prisoner if they can. Dragonlord Lleld Kemberaene, nicknamed Lady Mayhem by her fellow weredragons, digs into the archives at Dragonskeep. She discovers that among the few things the Jehangli allow into their kingdom are troupes of entertainers whose memories are magically wiped before they are allowed to return to their home countries.
Before she was a Dragonlord, Lleld had been a performer in a troupe of acrobats. Despite the Lady of Dragonskeep’s misgivings, Lleld devises a plan: Some of the Dragonlords will form a troupe of entertainers. And although the Lady would like to forbid it, Maurynna must be one of the Dragonlords. As a result of her inability to Change, no Dragonlord or truedragon can sense her. Only she can approach the mountain where the dragon is held prisoner without alerting the Jehangli priests.
It is decided that the members of the troupe will be Maurynna and her soultwin Linden Rathan; Lleld and her soultwin Jekkanadar Surael; Raven and his great-uncle Otter Heronson, a bard; and Taren Olmeins, who will guide them.
According to old accounts Lleld has found, the Jehangli hold horses in high esteem. Raven comes up with the idea to use Llysanyins, a magic-touched breed of very long-lived, highly intelligent horses, as part of the show. But they need more than the four Llysanyins that are bonded to the Dragonlords themselves. All save Taren Olmeins visit the herd; Lleld asks if two would be willing to accept the truehumans Otter and Raven. As Llysanyins bond with their riders and live much longer than truehumans, that asked the intelligent animals to face heartbreak when their truehuman riders die.
At first, the herd turns away. Then two Llysanyins come forth, a grandmother and grandson. The elder, named Nightsong by Otter, agrees to carry the bard. Her grandson chooses Raven and is given the name Stormwind. Nightsong bullies two more of her offspring into joining as part of the troupe. Taren, claiming he is unworthy of the honor of riding a Llysanyin, is given an ordinary horse.
The company journeys first to Casna, a city in the realm of Cassori. They stay a few days with Maurynna’s Cassorin aunt, uncle, and cousins. At the Dragonlords’ request, the regent of Cassori gives them a ship and crew to take them to Thalnia, the island nation where both Maurynna and Raven grew up.
Once there, they spend the winter in a secluded estate belonging to Maurynna’s family, to devise a show and rehearse. The high point is to be a performance by the Llysanyins.
When spring comes, the company sails to Jehanglan. Taren warns the Dragonlords not to use any of their magic, not even to mindspeak, because doing so might enable the priestmages of the Phoenix to detect their magic and hunt them down.
Maurynna and Raven are to split off from the others to free the captive dragon from his prison. The plan is hardly to the liking of Linden, Maurynna’s soultwin, but it is feared that to do otherwise would risk that the priestmages might “feel” Linden’s Dragonlord magic and the quest would fail.
But unknown to the Dragonlords, Taren is leading them into a trap. He is not an escaped slave, but instead is the trusted servant of a Jehangli noble who wants the Phoenix throne for himself. A prophecy made in Jehanglan promises the throne to the one who fulfills it:
One alone—the Hidden One—means the end of the Phoenix. But four will give you the throne.
The Dragonlords and their friends travel through Jehanglan unaware of their danger. But there is one trailing them, someone only Maurynna senses, though she has no idea who or what it is. That someone is a dragon-child named Miune Kihn, a waterdragon, a breed unknown in the north, and the only one of his kind left in the world. When Miune realizes Taren is bringing soldiers to capture them, he warns the Dragonlords and their friends. They break free and as planned, the group splits: Maurynna and Raven depart on their mission, and the others head in a different direction to draw pursuit away.
Linden, Lleld, Jekkanadar, and Otter are taken prisoner by a band of Zharmatians, one of the tribes the Jehangli consider barbarians, and their bitter enemies.
When some soldiers pursue Maurynna and Raven across a river, Miune Kihn comes to their rescue, attacking the soldiers’ horses from below. Maurynna and Raven travel for days to reach their goal. They ride hard and the journey is exhausting, especially for Maurynna who is still an indifferent rider.
During a break in riding, Maurynna goes down to a river to bathe, and she meets Miune Kihn for the first time. Kyrissaean, Maurynna’s dragon half who should be sleeping for many years yet, resents her human half’s speech with the young waterdragon. But when Miune mentally “thumps” her dragon half, Maurynna realizes what has been going on within her divided self: Kyrissaean, only a dragon-child herself, had been awakened too early and was throwing tantrums. At Miune Kihn’s urging, Kyrissaean subsides—somewhat.
Later in their journey, Maurynna and Raven meet a young man, a Tah’nehsieh tribesman named Shima, who in turn is the spirit drummer to a shaman named Zhantse. Shima brings them to his home where, to Maurynna and Raven’s astonishment, they find his mother, Lark, is a Yerrin who had been shipwrecked on the Jehangli shore years before.
There Maurynna learns of Taren Olmeins’s true identity: a kinslayer under a death sentence who had tricked the captain of the ship Lark was on into taking him on board. Lark blames Taren for the madness that came upon the captain and caused him to dare the enchanted waters around Jehanglan. Of all on board that ill-fated ship, only Lark and Taren lived. She is certain that the gods punished the crew for unknowingly aiding a kinslayer.
Because Raven’s strawberry blond hair would stand out in a country filled with dark-haired people, it is decided that Shima will go with the black-haired Maurynna for the final stage of her journey. Raven is not happy with this. When he tries to follow, Lark confronts him. She appeals to Raven’s Llysanyin, Stormwind, telling him of Zhantse’s Seeing that the mission will fail if he goes. Stormwind refuses to go any farther.
But Raven is not balked for very long. With the connivance of Shima’s little brother, Tefira, and a fake “Seeing” that they made up, Raven and Tefira convince Stormwind that they need to follow Maurynna and Shima. What neither realizes is that Tefira’s Seeing is indeed the truth: They are needed to save the youngest Dragonlord.
By now Maurynna and Shima have figured out what dragon is the prisoner: Pirakos, a truedragon. Maurynna and Shima reach the place where he is held underground. Maurynna is armed with the sword of the dead Dragonlord Dharm Varleran who had accompanied Pirakos on their ill-fated expedition to Jehanglan. They sneak into the tunnels that lead to the chained Pirakos.
It’s only when Maurynna’s conjured ball of coldfire disappears that she discovers that Shima has recently suffered from intense attacks of claustrophobia. They find a place in the tunnel system with an opening to the outside and rest there. To their horror, they see Raven and Tefira are prisoners of a Jehangli patrol. Maurynna orders Shima to go help them; she’ll continue alone.
