City of Jade: A Novel of Mithgar Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword

  Chapter 1 - Cold Anger

  Chapter 2 - Training

  Chapter 3 - Opening of the Ways

  Chapter 4 - Wolf and Falcon

  Chapter 5 - Vadaria

  Chapter 6 - Reconnaissance

  Chapter 7 - Black Fortress

  Chapter 8 - Flight

  Chapter 9 - Trickery

  Chapter 10 - Securing the Watch

  Chapter 11 - Warding

  Chapter 12 - Vows

  Chapter 13 - Darda Galion

  Chapter 14 - Kraggen-cor

  Chapter 15 - Scout

  Chapter 16 - Greatwood

  Chapter 17 - Grotto

  Chapter 18 - Plot

  Chapter 19 - Plans

  Chapter 20 - At Sail

  Chapter 21 - Voyages

  Chapter 22 - Onset

  Chapter 23 - Risky Business

  Chapter 24 - Away

  Chapter 25 - The Black Dog

  Chapter 26 - On the Road

  Chapter 27 - Raudhöll

  Chapter 28 - West Bank

  Chapter 29 - Purloined

  Chapter 30 - River Drift

  Chapter 31 - Urchins

  Chapter 32 - Ashore

  Chapter 33 - Chicken Thieves

  Chapter 34 - Criminals

  Chapter 35 - Jade Carving

  Chapter 36 - Over the Wall

  Chapter 37 - Doom

  Chapter 38 - Nearing Vengeance

  Chapter 39 - Under Way

  Chapter 40 - Recruits

  Chapter 41 - Fair Warning

  Chapter 42 - Spy

  Chapter 43 - Augury

  Chapter 44 - Crossing

  Chapter 45 - Lurking

  Chapter 46 - Strife

  Chapter 47 - Respite

  Chapter 48 - Calamity

  Chapter 49 - City of Jade

  Chapter 50 - Escape

  Chapter 51 - Recovery

  Chapter 52 - Homeward

  Chapter 53 - The Red Slipper

  Chapter 54 - Dark Designs

  Afterword

  About the Author

  BY DENNIS L. Mc KIERNAN

  Caverns of Socrates

  The Faery Series

  Once Upon a Winter’s Night

  Once Upon a Summer Day

  Once Upon an Autumn Eve

  Once Upon a Spring Morn

  Once Upon a Dreadful Time

  The Mithgar Series

  The Dragonstone

  Voyage of the Fox Rider

  HÈL’S CRUCIBLE

  Book 1: Into the Forge

  Book 2: Into the Fire

  Dragondoom

  The Iron Tower (omnibus edition)

  The Silver Call (omnibus edition)

  Tales of Mithgar (a story collection)

  The Vulgmaster (the graphic novel)

  The Eye of the Hunter

  Silver Wolf, Black Falcon

  City of Jade

  Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar (a story collection)

  ROC

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

  Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, October 2008

  Copyright © Dennis L. McKiernan, 2008

  All rights reserved

  REGISTERED TR ADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

  McKiernan, Dennis L., 1932-

  City of jade : a novel of Mithgar / Dennis L. McKiernan.

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-1-436-28132-4

  1. Mithgar (Imaginary place)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3563.C376C58 2008

  813’.54—dc22 2008012568

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  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 electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To Martha Lee McKiernan

  The heart of my world

  Acknowledgments

  To Martha Lee McKiernan for her enduring support, careful reading, patience, and love. Additionally, much appreciation and gratitude goes to the Tanque Wordies—John, Frances, and Diane—for their encouragement throughout the writing of City of Jade. Lastly, I would say of all the languages used herein—some of my own devising, others of known nationalities—any errors in their usage are entirely mine.

  Foreword

  Back when I began the Mithgar series, I didn’t know about Aravan and his Elvenship, the Eroean. I wrote The Silver Call and The Iron Tower completely ignorant of that magnificent ship. Then I wrote Dragondoom, followed by Tales of Mithgar, and it was in Tales, in the very last story—“When Iron Bells Ring”—that the name Aravan first appeared, though we only saw the name and little else of that Elf.

  But then I wrote The Eye of the Hunter and there he was—Aravan, a crucial member in the search for Baron Stoke. It was here we first learned of the Eroean and of some unknown tragedy that lay in Aravan’s past, and of the disappearance of that splendid ship. What had happened, none knew . . . but Aravan held subdued grief in his eyes, and his ship was among the missing.

  It was when I went back in the history of Mithgar and wrote The Voyage of the Fox Rider that we first got to sail on that Elvenship—with its crew of forty men and forty Dwarves, and a Pysk and two Mages—and sail we did, over much of the world. It was also there that we discovered why grief dwelt deep in Aravan’s gaze, and where the Eroean had gone when it vani
shed from the world.

  Once I discovered where the Eroean was, I realized then that Aravan had indeed sailed on the Eroean during the Winter War, a war at the center of the story told in The Iron Tower. And so when the book was revised, I added a single paragraph telling of Aravan’s mission during that conflict.

  However, after Voyage of the Fox Rider, we didn’t get to sail on the Elvenship again through three more Mithgarian novels—The Dragonstone and the two books of the Hèl’s Crucible duology—but finally we re-boarded that craft in Silver Wolf, Black Falcon, and then once again in Red Slippers: More Tales of Mithgar.

  And so, of the many books about Mithgar, in only two (or perhaps three) have we really spent time with the crew on the decks of the Eroean.

  This story—City of Jade—is about to rectify that dearth, for an untold adventure in that mislaid city was first mentioned in the opening chapter of Red Slippers, and many of you have pestered me to recount that tale, for once again you would voyage across the seas of Mithgar on the fastest ship in the world, with her Elven captain and Mage mistress and crew of forty men and forty Dwarves, and her scouts—a fox-riding Pysk and a Warrow or two. So unfurl all sails and heel to the wind and we’ll get under way.

  —Oh, and yes, bon voyage, my friends. Bon voyage to all.

  —Dennis L. McKiernan

  Tucson, 2008

  Background

  EVENTS IN THE LAST YEARS OF THE FIFTH ERA

  In the year 5E1009, in the Boskydells, three Warrows dreamt the very same dream—or was it a ghostly visitation? Regardless, they beheld the specter of Aurion Redeye, who told them that he was redeeming a pledge made long past. Redeye called for the Warrow Company of the King to be reassembled, formed as it was in the Winter War, for a great storm was coming from the east, and the Gjeenian penny would soon be seen on the borders of that small land, summoning the company to the side of the High King.

  And so, the word went out, and Warrows flocked to the cause. Among those who volunteered were two buccen—Binkton Windrow and Pipper Willowbank, who slipped away from their uncle Arley, and went to the village of Rood to see the local Thornwalker captain to join the ranks. The captain turned them down and sent them packing, for Pipper Willowbank was but thirteen summers old and Binkton Windrow just three moons older. Fuming in disappointment, they went back into the care of their uncle, who was training them in their professions yet to come.

  And as to this uncle Arley, his own past was shrouded in mystery; it was something he spoke little of, though the skills he taught to his nephews would be most useful in many ways.

  Regardless, Pipper Willowbank and Binkton Windrow resolved to run away and join the Company of the King, once it was on the march.

  In that same year of 5E1009, as foretold by Redeye’s apparition, a dreadful threat to the High King’s realm came from the east: it was Kutsen Yong, the Dragonking, and he would destroy all, he and his Golden Horde. He would be joined in this endeavor by the ancient enemies of the High King—the Lakh of Hyree, the Chabbains, the Rovers of Kistan, and the Fists of Rakka—Southerlings all. But the most terrible foes the High King’s Host would face were not the Southerlings nor the Golden Horde, but the Dragons under the sway of the Dragonking, for nought could withstand the might of Drakes . . . none but the gods, that is, for other forces were at work, other powers in motion.

  The Gjeenian penny arrived at the Thornwall, and the Warrow Company of the King set out to join the Host on the banks of the Argon. Binkton and Pipper then made preparations to follow after. Yet they were thwarted by a great blizzard that enveloped the Boskydells, and by the time the thaw came in the spring of 5E1010, the Dragonstone War was over.

  Even so, the end of the war was not the end of things to be done, for an Impossible Child—Bair by name—was yet to challenge those very same gods to stop their meddling in the fates of Man and Elf and Dwarf and Mage and all other beings as well.

  Caught up in this aftermath precipitated by Bair were Aravan and Aylis and others, later to include Binkton Windrow and Pipper Willowbank.

  This is their story.

  “Nervous, me? Pah. I mean, after all, what can possibly go wrong?”

  BINKTON WINDROW

  EARLY AUTUMN, 6E6

  1

  Cold Anger

  DARK DESIGNS

  LATE AUTUMN, 5E1010

  [THE FINAL YEAR OF THE FIFTH ERA]

  In a tall tower hidden deep in the Grimwalls, that long and ill-omened mountain chain slashing across much of Mithgar, a being of dark Magekind sat in his dire sanctum and brooded about retribution. In the time since the end of the Dragonstone War, the Ban had been rescinded and the ways between the Planes had been restored, though most of those crossings were now warded by Elves and Humans and even Magekind to prevent the passage of Foul Folk from Neddra into the High and Middle Worlds. But none of these things were what occupied the seething thoughts of Nunde. Instead, his rage was directed at the vile Dolh—vile Elf—who had slain the Black Mage’s god, to the ruin of all Nunde’s plans.

  Well he remembered that day, when Gyphon’s silent scream of the dying had sounded across the Planes; it had driven Nunde and all of Black Magekind to their knees in agony, the unbearable pain affecting all Drik and Ghok and Oghi and Vulpen, along with other fell beings, all the creations of the Dark God.

  How to take vengeance, how to gain redress, occupied all of Nunde’s thoughts. Aravan must die, that is certain, but the method of it is the question; for he is surrounded by staunch and powerful allies, and slaying him will be no easy task. Oh, there are ways the Dolh can be killed outright, but that isn’t the point at issue; instead agony and grief and unbearable despair must overwhelm Aravan before he suffers a dreadful death. Hence, stripping him of all he values comes first, and doing so in a fitting—some would say unspeakable—manner must precede the Dolh’s own demise.

  How to do it, how to accomplish what most certainly had to be done, that was the question, that was the issue, and that was what the Necromancer pondered throughout the long tides of night.

  Indeed, I could bring an army from Neddra to Mithgar, but where would be the pleasure in that? No subtlety, no iron taste of cold revenge? Pah! With the ways between the Planes now open, it isn’t like that time I slew ten thousand on Neddra to gain enough to bring a rout of Chûn and others through the temple in Drearwood despite the Sundering. Ah, what surprise upon the faces of those who sought to purge the ’Wood of Gyphon’s minions. They did not know that a small measure of Mithgarian blood flows in my veins along with the blood of Neddra, as well as that of Vadaria. Nor did any know that I could capture the rout in my , my aura greatly expanded by those I had slain. And we fell upon those Humans and Elves in a great killing; had it not been for Aravan’s crystal-bladed spear and Riatha’s cursed Darksilver sword, we would have slaughtered all ere Silverleaf and the others arrived, and we would have butchered them as well. But with the Gûk and their steeds and the Vulpen all brought down by Aravan and Riatha, the remainder of my Chûn were no match for them, and I had to flee. Even so, Riatha’s blade nearly was my undoing. Nunde’s fist smashed down upon the arm of his dark chair. This is another reason to render vengeance upon Aravan and all of those he cherishes.

  As dawn broke in the eastern sky, Nunde rose from his seat at the slit of a window, preparing to descend to his quarters. It was not as if he had to flee from the light of day, for, thanks to that fool of a boy Bair, the cursed Rider of the Planes, not only were the in-between ways now open, but Adon’s Ban had been lifted as well, and no longer did the Black Mage and his ilk suffer the withering death.

  No, instead Nunde, by force of ingrained habit—a habit many millennia long—was a creature of darkness, as were his minions, all beings of Neddra.

  Down the stone steps of the shadowy stairwell Nunde descended to his torchlit quarters below, and there he fell into a restless sleep, his mind still churning with thoughts of revenge, as it had done for weeks on end, ever since word had come t
hat it was Aravan, wielding a Silver Sword, who had put Gyphon to death.

  But as the sun came up on this day, Nunde would set aside his scheming and rest, for in the dusktime morrow night he would begin the long journey to the crossing to Neddra to meet with a small conclave of Black Magekind, where, if his immediate ruse came to fruition, the conclave would be under his heel. After all, he had plans to wrench their power from them.

  Aravan could wait.

  2

  Training

  BOSKYDELLS

  LATE AUTUMN, 5E1010

  [THE FINAL YEAR OF THE FIFTH ERA]

  It was a blustery day in the Boskydells, with the wind swaying the lofty pines to and fro and the tall grass in the adjoining field rolling in undulant golden waves. An eld buccan stood back from the edge of the woods, his cloak whipping in the air. Behind him sat a stripling in chains, his wrists shackled, his legs in irons. But the elder paid no heed to the youngster on the ground; nor did the chain-wrapped stripling seem concerned over his own fate. Instead both Warrows looked up high at a rope spanning the gap between two of the swinging pines, the line alternately looping slack and then snapping taut.