Knight's Shadow (54 page)

Brasti and Dariana snorted in perfect synchronicity, but Ethalia just smiled and ignored my stupidity, which she’d been doing for some time now, probably since the day we met, if I was being honest with myself.

‘I brought you this,’ she said, and handed a bundle to me.

I looked down at the thick leather material, the clasps and straps; the stains and nicks I knew as well as I knew my own skin.

‘I don’t understand.’

Ethalia stood in silence, waiting for me to put the coat on, and when I’d finished she pulled on the lapels and drew me to her. She kissed me deeply, and when she’d finished, she brushed imaginary dust off my shoulders.

‘That’s better,’ she said at last. ‘The night is cold and it comforts me to know you are warm.’ She let me go and walked back towards the stairs, but before she took the first step she turned and said, ‘Don’t stay up too late. It’s cold down there as well and I too deserve to be warm.’

I listened to the sound of her footsteps as she descended the stairs.

‘Will someone tell me what that was all about?’ Brasti asked.

It means love is not a cage
, I thought. I turned to the others, and for once I knew exactly what to say.

‘What’s wrong with his face?’ Dariana asked.

‘He’s smiling,’ Brasti replied. ‘It’s a rare and altogether terrifying—’

‘Shut up, Brasti,’ Kest said.

I turned to Nehra and even though she wasn’t playing any louder, the melody coming from her guitar filled my ears. I felt as if I needed to shout to be heard over it.
No, I don’t
need
to shout. I
want
to let them all hear it – let the whole world hear it
. ‘When you tell the story of what happened here, Nehra, tell it however you like. Have me standing atop a mountain pushing back the clouds if you want. But when you reach the end, there’s something I want you to tell those listening.’

Nehra paused in her playing and let the last notes ride out into the night sky. ‘What would you have me say?’

‘Tell them the Greatcoats are coming.’

THE END

The story of Falcio, Kest, Brasti and the Greatcoats continues in
Tyrant’s Throne

Acknowledgements

THE GREATCOATS OF
KNIGHT’S SHADOW

I was in a bar in Toronto in 2012 with my new publisher, Jo Fletcher, with whom I had just signed a four-book deal for the Greatcoats series, when I confessed that I was terrified of writing the sequel to
Traitor’s Blade
. She was very understanding and proceeded to say a number of very reassuring things, none of which I can remember because I was too busy telling myself that I was completely screwed.

*

When you find yourself in this kind of situation, it helps to have an army of Greatcoats at your back . . .

The Trio

Falcio, Kest and Brasti are the stars of the Greatcoats series but I turn to a different set of heroes when I’m writing my books.

Christina de Castell – in addition to being a constant source of inspiration, my darling wife helped me break through several huge blocks as I was writing
Knight’s Shadow
.

Eric Torin – my frequent writing partner and a true friend, who always challenges me to go deeper with my writing. I can’t wait for you to one day read one of the books that Eric and I have written together.

Heather Adams – go and find a book about agents, read all the sections about how you can’t bother your agent, shouldn’t expect them to help you with writing problems and they absolutely won’t listen to you whine. Heather’s the opposite of all that.

The Saints

It’s common for Falcio to utter the names of Saints when in dire need (and sometimes just when he’s swearing at the world). Unlike his Saints, mine always reply to my e-mails.

*

Jo Fletcher-who-obliterates-clichés, Saint of Editing

Adrienne Kerr-who-faces-the-oceans, Saint of Supporting Authors

Nathaniel Marunas-who-knows-all-markets, Saint of Navigating Strange Waters

Andrew Turner-who-tweets-the-world, Saint of Publicity

Nicola Budd-who-hammers-the-details, Saint of Getting Things Done

The Secret Greatcoats

Then, of course, there are people whom I almost never, ever get to see but who work tirelessly to make this book and so many others possible.

*

My thanks goes to Patrick Carpenter, Keith Bambury, Melanie Thompson and the sales, marketing and rights teams, and
buerosued.de
for the cover design and illustration.

My Fellow Swashbucklers

The folks in my critique group are more than just fellow writers – they are fencing partners who (thankfully) are willing to skewer me every time my chapters aren’t sharp enough: Wil Arndt, Brad Dehnert (@BradDehnert), Sarah Figueroa, Claire Ryan (
www.ryanfall.com
)and Kim Tough.

Kat Zeller, Mike Church and Sam Chandola were kind enough to read this book at various stages and help point out ways to make it a better story.

The Bardatti

Books and stories need champions to help people find them. The heroes of the publishing world in the twenty-first century are the bloggers, booksellers, librarians and readers who go out of their way to share books they’ve discovered with the world. I couldn’t hope to name all of the wonderful people who’ve helped get the Greatcoats noticed here, but I thank you all and wanted to share a few stories:

Book Bloggers, in case you haven’t met any, are these rather amazing people who give up their own free time not just to find books they love but to write with eloquence and passion so that others can discover new stories and adventures. Folks like:

Marc Aplin of
Fantasy-Faction.com

Stefan Fergus of
Civilian-Reader.blogspot.co.uk

Tabitha Jensen of
NotYetRead.com
are just a few of the wonderful people I’ve connected with recently. I very much hope to meet many more of you over the next few years.

Goldsboro Books took a risk on
Traitor’s Blade
, issuing a special first edition that helped to get the book noticed even before it was released. I had the pleasure of meeting Harry Illingworth who probably hand-sold half of them. Thanks, Harry!

Some of the most wonderfully supportive people have turned out to be the folks who work in bookstores, like Nazia Khatun from Waterstones in London, who I had the pleasure of meeting in person.

Walter and Jill of White Dwarf Books in Vancouver have also been incredibly supportive, as they have been of so many fantasy and science fiction writers over the years. If you ever come to Vancouver, you owe it to yourself to check out their store and meet them.

Finally, to those of you who read the Greatcoats series and make it such a joy to write, thank you so much for your e-mails, tweets and other good vibes that make being an author anything but a lonely profession.

With gratitude,

Sebastien de Castell

twitter:
@decastell

web:
www.decastell.com

Vancouver, Canada

November 2014

P.S. If you’ve read this far then you are a true lover of books and those who make them. For you alone do I give the following secret of the Greatcoats: Ugh’s real name, which is not revealed anywhere else in the series, is Vadren Graff. As a young man he wanted to study philosophy, but his size and strength soon got him pressed into the Ducal guards. His captain called him Dog and considered him too stupid (and scary) to be kept with the other men, and so Vadren was sent to work in the dungeons of Rijou and later forced to become a torturer. No one ever asked him his name – they simply called him ‘the Dog’, which suited Vadren fine. Until he met Falcio he’d convinced himself that he could live with his role because even the worst torturer is unlikely ever to kill as many innocent people as a soldier does. Vadren would have made a decent, if controversial, philosopher.