The Rawn Chronicles Book One: The Orrinn and the Blacksword: Unabridged (The Rawn Chronicles Series 1)

THE

RAWN

CHRONICLES

BOOK ONE

THE ORRINN

AND THE

BLACKSWORD

Unabridged Edition

P.D.CEANNEIR

This novel is entirely the 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

This edition 2015 (Unabridged)

1

Copyright © P.D.Ceanneir 2013

Cover Design Raider Publishing/P.D.Ceanneir

Internal Illustrations © P.D.Ceanneir

Set in Baskerville Old Face 12 pnt

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Reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,

In any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not

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For my beloved wife

and best friend,

Jackie

…And to Alex Orr.

Thanks for all of your hard work on this edition.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Havoc De Proteous Cromme-
Crown Prince of the Roguns

Magnus Cromme-
Havoc’s half-brother

Ness Ri-
Consul to King Vanduke and member of the Ri Order

Mia
-Havoc’s elder sister

Eleana-
Handmaiden to Mia

Molna-
Queen of the Roguns, Havoc’s mother

Vanduke Cromme-
King of the Roguns, first of that name

Verna-
Havoc’s youngest sister

Hagan Cromme
-King of Sonora and Havoc’s uncle

Tilli
-Havoc’s cousin

Letti
-Havoc’s cousin

Kasan Cromme-
King of the Vallkytes and Havoc’s uncle

Cinnibar-
Countess of Sonora, Havoc’s great-great aunt

Soujonn-
Kasan’s illegitimate son

Sir Udren
-King Kasan’s Champion

Lord Rett, the Red Duke of the Rouge
-King Vanduke’s Champion

Sir Gillem-
Carras Knight and Havoc’s bodyguard

Plysov-
Vallkyte General

Mad-daimen-
Nithi Warlord, Overlord of the Wildlands

Jynn Ri-
Havant Priestess

Kellborne-
High Priest of the Havant Order

Saltyn Ri
-Member of the Ri Order and Consul to King Kasan

Sir Colby-
Carras Knight

Lady Vara-
Former Queen of Sonora
and Havoc’s aunt

Mulvend
-exiled daughter of the Count of Haplann

Hoban
-Owner of the Little Dell

Neiva-
Hoban’s wife

Garth
-Governor of Sloe

Powyss of the Hoath-
Former
Captain of the Sonoran Kings Guard

Lord Sernac-
Master to Cinnibar and a mysterious and powerful Ri

Gunach-
Dwarven Master Smith

Othell-
Former sergeant of
Sonoran Kings Guard
 

Whyteman-
Falesti Archer

Little Kith-
Former
sergeant of the Sonoran Kings Guard

Furran-
Former
sergeant of the Sonoran Kings Guard
 

Jericho-
Captain of the Tattoium Militia

Hexor-
Soldier of the Haplann Army

Foxe-
Soldier of the Haplann Army and twin brother of Hexor

Verkin-
Former
soldier of the Sonoran Kings Guard
 

Velnour-
Sergeant of the Tattoium Militia

Linth-
Falesti Archer

Brynd-
Falesti Archer

Ethyn-
Falesti Archer

Felcon-
Soldier of the Haplann Army

Mactan-
Soldier of the Tattoium Militia

Lo when the ruling tribes split asunder

And the wandering prince rages forth

The Blacksword will soon be fashioned

In the lonely pasture

In the deep dark forge it shall be born

Crafted by a son of Pelnier

In the right hand it shall wrought vengeance

In the left fear

The prince then rages not

His destiny looms

All enemies shall be vanquished

For he has the Sword that Rules

The Ancient Prophecy

of the Blacksword

Prologue

I

Annulos My’thos Orrinn

II

Gredligg Orrinn

III

The Roguns

and

the

Vallkytes

I

Annulos My’thos Orrinn

(
The Book of the Earth Shepherds
)

Extracts from the Annulos

Interpreted by Soneros Ri, chief historian to the Ri Order

These are the tales of the My’thos, the old gods, the Earth Shepherds, the ones who were here before all others. They were wise in power and noble in heart. Yet we know them little. Their knowledge is passed down to us by the Orrinns they wrote and by the stories that were told to us by the elders.

As far as we know, they had no names for themselves, and we do not know of their true form, for they were strange to us in body and in mind. It was the Elders who told us that they were their teachers in the Rawn Arts.

Genesis

The Annulos tells us that the Earth is a living thing representing a physical entity, which the My’thos called the Earth Mother. Long before the coming of the My’thos, the Earth was in turmoil. She was racked with pain. Her surface rippled and burst, sending up huge volcanoes and spilling out lakes of molten rock. Continents of black steaming land would send toxic fumes into the air, saturating the atmosphere with its bile. Rain would lash down upon the ground, eroding the mountains. The seas would boil and mighty waves that touched the sky would send down their corrosive acid upon the craggy shores.

Throughout the thundering storms, the Earth screamed, for this was the Earth in her youth. Therefore, the Earth Mother brought forth the My’thos to calm the angry seas, to seal the broken skin of the land and to soothe the lightning-splintered skies.

Many thousands of the old gods were pushed out of the ground. The energy needed to do this must have been immense. The power that created them was the lifeblood of the Earth, the high energy conduits of power that we call the
Dragon Lanes
. These lanes crisscross their way under the crust of the planet and cover her entire surface. The old gods use these conduits to travel around the globe to stem the tides of destruction wherever they may find it.

The My’thos are made up of all four elements of the Earth: earth, water, wind and fire. They use these elements to keep the Earth in a harmonic balance, calming the planet and allowing life to flourish. For the Earth can be a great giver of life and a destroyer of an entire species.

At first, the My’thos had no form to speak of; they were like a funnel of shimmering heat on a desert plain. However, that was all to change. As the ages passed, they took the forms of the land they lived in and controlled. Some were like the trees of the forests, twisted branches, and twigs for limbs and fingers, shaggy moss and bracken for hair. Some were like rocks and dwelt in caves; others of the sea had bodies of seaweed or were as transparent as jellyfish. Those of the sky were beautiful winged clouds of vapour that floated high in the atmosphere. In the deserts, they were tall columns of sand. All were giants, bipedal; with long, solemn faces, a thin mouth and a long, narrow nose. The eyes were the most striking of all, for they were deep dark pits, and at the centre were burning orbs of fire.

Some lived on their own; others in groups. Occasionally, they would meet at a My’thos Moot whenever there was need of them to repair damage or calm the pain of the Earth Mother. Otherwise, they would not see one another for many years.

Nevertheless, they could talk, though not as we do. Theirs is the language of the wind blowing, the waters crashing on the shore, or the land groaning with tremors, and, because of this, they could communicate at long distances.

Orrinns

We do not know when the My’thos wrote the Orrinns. It may be because they wished to share their knowledge and experience with others of their kind, for it is said that one of the old god’s wisdom in the life of mountains does not prepare them for the bottomless sea. However, it is also possible that, though they lived for many eons, they knew that they were not eternal, for calming the upheaval of the Earth was not without its casualties. Therefore, they wrote books; many of them we have found, but there are a great number yet to discover and to interpret, for the minds and language of the old gods are difficult to understand. They tell us of their lives, of the four elements and of their solemn piety to their duty, and of the love of the Earth Mother.

These books are neither of paper nor parchment, but are of stone. The My’thos encased their thoughts inside hard objects such as quartz, diamonds, jadeite and cobalt. They are held there for an eternity. In a sense, the Orrinns are their children, for we now know that the old gods could not procreate, so this was the continuing of their life, and faith.

The Dark Entity

Be warned, herein lays the doom of the world. In all the Orrinns they wrote, there was concern. Most spoke of the Dark Force of the Earth, a destructive entity that thrived on violence and would appear with every catastrophic upheaval of the planet. The My’thos needed to find a way to trap this force for eternity. The powerful thoughts within the Orrinns could be the answer, but not one book was strong enough to hold such energy; thankfully, though, in the past, the Dark Force had not appeared too often, because the My’thos kept the balance.

Nevertheless, a time would come when the old gods would gather to fend off this great foe and to create the most powerful of all the Orrinns.

Because the danger they would face would not come from
within
the Earth, but from
without
.