Dragonsbane

Dragonsbane
Barbara Hambly

A rich and breath-taking fantasy classic full of whirlwind adventure, magic and dragons – Dragonsbane is the first book in Barbara Hambly’s landmark epic quartet, The Winterlands. When the Black Dragon seizes the capital of Bel, the young noble, Gareth, must journey into the decaying Northlands to find John Aversin, Dragonsbane – the only living man ever to slay a dragon. Upon arrival, Gareth also meets Jenny Waynest the half-taught sorceress and mother of Aversin's sons. A bargain is struck: witch and dragonkiller agree to rid the city of its monster in return for the king’s aid in their wintry home which is beset by bandits. But when they reach court, nothing is as they expected. For Gareth is no mere noble, and the king is in the thrall of a deeply evil power that seeks total control over the land. The kingdom crumbles. Perhaps the dragon that Jenny and John have been brought to slay is the least of their enemies…A rich and breath-taking fantasy classic full of whirlwind adventure, magic and dragons – Dragonsbane is the first book in Barbara Hambly’s landmark epic quartet, The Winterlands.

DRAGONSBANE

BOOK ONE OF THE WINTERLANDS QUARTET

Barbara Hambly

Copyright (#udea137e0-1f14-5297-a8f6-9bbca04d4d54)

HarperVoyager

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by Del Rey 1985

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1988

Copyright © Barbara Hambly 1985

Map © Shelly Shapiro

Cover illustration © Nakonechnyi Jaroslav

Cover design by Andrew Davis © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Barbara Hambly asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a 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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008374181

Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008374198

Version: 2019-10-14

Dedication (#udea137e0-1f14-5297-a8f6-9bbca04d4d54)

For Allan

Contents

Cover (#u81b9c923-e79c-5de8-8d32-a731530ac773)

Title Page (#u3a3584a5-318d-547c-bb9e-28d4604f9b58)

Copyright

Dedication

Maps

Chapter One (#u5487bcda-ed38-5cea-9279-95d37c4f71f0)

Chapter Two (#u9da9de72-3628-5ce7-b889-c8c0d4c7e15b)

Chapter Three (#u51eede61-ae2b-5951-8a40-d3a00ea45650)

Chapter Four (#ubad7c855-4347-521c-8fdf-6181cb8a70fb)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)