The Shadow Isle

The Shadow Isle
Katharine Kerr

The penultimate novel in Katharine Kerr’s highly acclaimed epic fantasy series, the interweaving tale of human and elvish history of several hundred years, and many reincarnated lives comes full circle.As the tale of Deverry and her people draws near to its close, questions will be answered and mysteries uncovered…The wild Northlands hold many secrets, among them the mysterious dweomer island of Haen Marn, the mountain settlements of Dwarvholt, and the fortified city of Cerr Cawnen, built long ago by escaping bondmen from Deverry itself. And just who or what are the mysterious Dwgi folk?Thanks to the Horsekin, who continue to push their religious crusade south toward the borders of the kingdom, the human beings of Deverry and their elven allies realize that the fate of the Northlands lies tangled with their own. Although the dwarven race holds strong, the island of Haen Marn has fled and Cerr Cawnen seems doomed. Only the magic of Dallandra and Valandario and the might of the powerful dragons, Arzosah and Rori, can reveal the secrets and save the Northlands from conquest.

THE

SHADOW ISLE

BOOK SIX OF

THE DRAGON MAGE

KATHARINE KERR

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_5f965ae4-63bd-5398-8a11-d42c0cdce27f)

Published by Harper Voyager an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road,

Hammersmith, London w6 8JB

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

First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2008

Copyright © Katharine Kerr 2008

Katharine Kerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for 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.

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780007268924

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2014 ISBN: 9780007283378

Version: 2014-08-11

DEDICATION (#ulink_5a6841b8-fd58-5b54-96de-f0c42349bea8)

For Elizabeth Pomada

CONTENTS

Cover (#u2e47c1bb-4ed5-50bc-aa5c-73c9fdc623bf)

Title Page (#ua85ebd56-3902-53df-ace9-0d27091cca0c)

Copyright (#ulink_88ff6b4d-9793-5936-81c3-4505a86f34d2)

Dedication (#ulink_a2a279d9-a1aa-5a44-a590-463ff61d9334)

Author’s Note (#ulink_6f94db5f-52d5-519d-9214-78bbbbdc61d1)

Prologue: In a Far Country (#ulink_4518950c-bae8-5f94-aa45-3b956912fad3)

Part I: The Westlands Spring, 1160 (#ulink_009a7669-ee3e-5ee5-8efa-e0e9cea0a2c3)

Part II: The Northlands Spring, 1160 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part III: The Northlands Summer, 1160 (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Other Books By (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

AUTHOR’S NOTE (#ulink_6d0b3ccb-555b-5b3d-afa5-d0fc7fbf6614)

Despite what you may have heard or read elsewhere, The Shadow Isle is not the last book in the Deverry sequence. It is, however, the beginning of the end, Part I of the last Deverry book, as it were. The true end will be published soon as The Silver Mage, also from HarperCollins.

PROLOGUE (#ulink_1c15fda6-e0fb-55ed-a14e-e0ca3ffaf053)

In a Far Country (#ulink_1c15fda6-e0fb-55ed-a14e-e0ca3ffaf053)

You say that the three Mothers of All Roads run tangled beyond your power to map them. Why then would you ask to travel the seven Rivers of Time? Their braiding lies beyond even the understanding of the Great Ones, so be ye warned and stay safely upon their banks.

The Secret Book of Cadwallon the Druid

Laz woke to darkness and noise. Gongs clanged, men shouted. Not one word made sense to him, and no more did the sound of water lapping and splashing. He could smell nothing but water. Pain – his hands burned, but the rest of him felt cold, soaked through, he realized suddenly, sopping wet. How his hands could burn when he was sopping wet lay beyond him. The gongs came closer, louder. Waves lifted him and splashed him back down. Floating, he thought. I’m floating on water.

The shouting came from right over his head. Hands suddenly grabbed him, hauled, lifted him into the air while the shouting and the gongs clamoured all around. Hands laid him down again on something hard that rocked from side to side. The shouting stopped, but the gongs clanged on and on. Through the sound of gongs he heard a dark voice speaking. Not one word of it!

The voice tried yet another incomprehensible language, then a third. ‘Here, lad, speak you this tongue?’

Lijik Ganda, he thought. Just my luck. ‘I do,’ Laz said aloud. ‘A bit, anyway.’

‘Splendid! Who are you?’