In the Ruins
Authors: Kate Elliott
Praise for the CROWN OF STARS series:
“… the first volume of Elliott’s new high fantasy … proves an entirely captivating affair … a resounding narrative revolving around three appealing protagonists….”
—
Publishers Weekly
starred review
“A break-out book … a grand and powerful piece of writing … what really counts are her characters. They keep the plot moving irresistibly forward and draw us into her work.”
—Katharine Kerr, author of
The Black Raven
“The saga’s world is exceedingly well built (including a working economy, for instance), its pacing is brisk enough to keep the pages fluttering…. This certainly could become one of the best multivolume fantasies—fans take note!”
—
Booklist
“There’s a bone-deep reality to the world that informs its people in both the small details and the large. Elliott has a strong ability to create a sense of other that is nonetheless human and compelling; one of the best arguments for the value of multivolume works.”
—
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
“A complex fantasy world with intriguing parallels to European history, colorful characters, and plenty of action and magic.”
—
Locus
“Grand-scale storytelling…. Elliott weaves together the destinies of star-crossed lovers, ambitious churchmen, and barbarian invaders in a dazzling medieval fantasy set in an alternate Europe. Reminiscent of Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni series, this engrossing saga should appeal to fantasy lovers and fans of historical epics alike.”
—
Library Journal
“There’s enough going on in this one for an entire series of novels … a world with depth and color … once you’re caught up in the story, you’re going to spend many pleasant hours before you reach the conclusion.”
—
SF Chronicle
DAW Novels by
KATE ELLIOTT
Crown of Stars
KING’S DRAGON
(Volume One)
PRINCE OF DOGS
(Volume Two)
THE BURNING STONE
(Volume Three)
CHILD OF FLAME
(Volume Four)
THE GATHERING STORM
(Volume Five)
IN THE RUINS
(Volume Six)
CROWN OF STARS
(Volume Seven)
The Novels of the Jaran
JARAN
AN EARTHLY CROWN
HIS CONQUERING SWORD
THE LAW OF BECOMING
&
with Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson
THE GOLDEN KEY
Ruins
VOLUME SIX
of
C
ROWN OF
S
TARS
DAW BOOKS, INC.
DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, FOUNDER
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ELIZABETH R. WOLLHEIM
SHEILA E. GILBERT
PUBLISHERS
Copyright © 2005 by Katrina Elliott.
All Rights Reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-101-63980-1
Cover art by Jody A. Lee.
For information on artwork and prints by Jody A. Lee,
visit
www.jodylee.net
Map by Patricia Tobin.
DAW Books Collectors No. 1335.
DAW Books are distributed by the Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
First paperback printing, February 2006
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
As all of my readers know, this has been a long and complicated series, with a long and complicated plot. Indeed, after a certain point in writing this series, there was simply no way to turn back.
In the two years it took me to write the final volume, I considered only the needs of the characters and the story in order to write as strong an ending as possible to
Crown of Stars
. I am satisfied that I did my best and, as much as I could, achieved the ending I envisioned.
However, at approximately 430,000 words, the manuscript I turned in to my publishers was simply too long to bind as a single volume. I was left with a choice. I could cut several hundred pages out of the book—and weaken the end of the series by leaving plot threads and characters’ fates unresolved—or I could split the manuscript into two volumes, each of which would run about as long as
Prince of Dogs
.
I spent a lot of time agonizing over length, wondering whether any book needs to be this long. In the end, however, I couldn’t see a way to make the cuts without losing a significant amount of the story’s impact, so I chose to make the split in order to preserve the story. This means that
Crown of Stars
will be published in seven volumes, rather than six.
In retrospect, I note that the number “seven” echoes the mage’s ladder, so perhaps in some way this was inevitable.
For those who welcome or are at least resigned to this development, thank you so much for your patience. For those who are understandably irritated by it, please accept my apologies. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started.
XII Where Their Flight Took Them
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE WORLD’S BEGINNING
FEATHER Cloak was fertile, the only pregnant woman left among her people. Indeed, she was the only woman living who had quickened more than once. Therefore, she presided over the council of tribes because she had power the others did not possess, power that had been draining from the land during their exile. No one could explain this slow leaching, but they knew it presaged the death of both land and people. If anyone could save them, it must be the one in whom power still resided long after it had departed from the rest.
