Rides A Dread Legion

Rides A Dread Legion
Raymond E. Feist

The first book in a brand new series by the master of epic fantasy, Raymond E. Feist. Ten years after the cataclysmic events of Wrath of a Mad God took place, Midkemia now faces a new danger thought buried in myth and antiquity.A lost race of elves, the taredhel or ‘people of the stars’, have found a way across the universe to reach Midkemia. On their current home world, these elves are hard pressed by a ravaging demon horde, and what was once a huge empire has been reduced to a handful of survivors. The cornerstone of taredhel lore is the tale of their lost origins in the world they call simply ‘Home’, a place lost in the mists of time. Now they are convinced that Midkemia is that place, and they are coming to reclaim it.Ruthless and arrogant, the taredhel intend to let nothing stand in their way; but before long, Pug and the Conclave realise that it's not necessarily the elves, but the demon horde pursuing them where the true danger lies. And hanging over Pug always is the prophecy that he will be doomed to watch everyone he loves die before him…

Copyright (#ulink_8bc6a70c-599a-5197-a107-2b21fdfded45)

Harper Voyager

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpervoyagerbooks.com (http://www.harpervoyagerbooks.com)

Copyright © Raymond E. Feist 2009

Cover illustration © Nik Keevil

Raymond E. Feist asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 e-books.

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: 9780007264681

Ebook Edition © MARCH 2009 ISBN: 9780007310296

Version 2015-01-30

Contents

Cover (#u5b3921c9-d5cd-5843-aed6-369888e1550e)

Title Page (#ucc0520cb-caa2-559d-a73e-4452f5a51c5b)

Copyright (#u8639702d-6a14-584b-a753-3eb405ae8c8d)

Chapter One: Warlock (#u71cc5ea8-e635-5ca8-99e2-6d1c31f8fbfb)

Chapter Two: Knight-Adamant (#u61c7b847-5e3a-5f03-9793-6d11049297a9)

Chapter Three: Taredhel (#ud34a218b-f702-5553-b5a0-16682397a2ba)

Chapter Four: Harbinger (#ubf77b760-8fb5-5c3e-adb8-fe2516867cf8)

Chapter Five: Exodus (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six: Premonition (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven: Prophesy (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight: Demon Master (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine: Warning (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten: Threat (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven: Upheaval (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve: Survival (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen: Conclave (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen: Bargains (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen: Plotting (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen: Allies (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen: Determination (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen: Exploration (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen: Onslaught (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue: Epitaph (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

Continue the Adventure … (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

• CHAPTER ONE • (#ulink_3dff22fc-8256-5c27-a3e5-7fbbb4f66b34)

Warlock (#ulink_3dff22fc-8256-5c27-a3e5-7fbbb4f66b34)

THE DEMON HOWLED ITS OUTRAGE.

Amirantha, Warlock of the Satumbria, reeled backwards from the unexpected explosion of mystic energy hurled at him. Had his protective wards not been firmly established, he would have died instantly. The demon responsible was powerful enough to force through the barrier and slam the magic user hard against the cave wall behind him. The blow Amirantha took on the back of the head was going to raise a nasty bump.

Demons always carried a large amount of mystic energies, enough to destroy any unprepared mortal standing nearby as the monsters entered this plane of reality. It was one of the reasons for erecting wards, beyond merely confining the demon to a specific location. This one had arrived with a much more impressive explosion than the Warlock anticipated, and had surprised him.

Amirantha incanted a single word, a collection of otherwise meaningless syllables that together formed a key, a word of power that activated a much more complicated enchantment; a trick taught to him years before that had often meant the difference between controlling a summoned demon effectively and dismemberment at its hands. The word strengthened the ward spell that now confined the creature.

Amirantha regained his feet as the demon continued to howl at discovering itself summoned and confined. Experience had taught the Warlock that demons rarely objected to being summoned as they found this world easy to plunder, but they hated being trapped and controlled. Their hate was the one thing that made Amirantha’s area of study problematic; his subjects kept trying to kill him.