The Riftwar Legacy: The Complete 4-Book Collection

London SE1 9GF

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

Copyright © Raymond E. Feist 1998

Cover illustration © Nik Keevil

Raymond E. Feist 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

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Source ISBN: 9780006483342

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 9780007374977

Version: 2018-09-04

Dedication (#ulink_acb91ec7-fcdb-575b-81ce-e2328d308353)

For John Cutter and Neal Hallford with thanks for their creativity and enthusiasm

Table of Contents

Cover (#u354a90e8-7627-5a66-8180-138e0d365f82)

Title Page (#u4a1f06da-9061-5490-b467-0217b9fd659f)

Copyright (#u0e558033-45c4-5d33-8b51-c3b53a9bfa51)

Dedication (#ueb3cca8f-dbcc-5353-8cc2-a355a36954a3)

Prologue: Warning (#u8b9328e0-3369-5d97-b375-c1c0b7821a46)

Chapter One: Encounter (#udd9eceb0-cb0f-5440-8552-69b861c48c69)

Chapter Two: Deception (#u5fd85fd0-775e-5bee-b602-f845cedb386f)

Chapter Three: Revelation (#u3ca883b7-e328-5d11-adf1-d7ce2f13b6a8)

Chapter Four: Passage (#uc2a1414a-fd98-518a-87a3-af79c5892816)

Chapter Five: Mission (#u2c2775be-dec7-50a6-9f3a-a0ff6d151f04)

Chapter Six: Journey (#ua3e89aac-0e39-5c01-8a2d-87ec56c7c758)

Chapter Seven: Murders (#u96778ca4-bf69-5492-864e-41bd5d125902)

Chapter Eight: Secrets (#ufea63cba-d273-54d1-8da6-6028b5409621)

Chapter Nine: Suspect (#u6c8b5e58-3017-537f-931e-2ad4686b2f35)

Chapter Ten: Nighthawks (#ub90f6b07-145d-5379-a33e-449c4d138245)

Chapter Eleven: Escape (#ue62cc0b4-c024-56f5-a8fb-3c83def06486)

Chapter Twelve: Preparations (#u9eb6029c-7e72-532e-a467-14efcbf39034)

Chapter Thirteen: Betrayal (#ucc1d100c-4bf9-52be-926e-fe1c85e91196)

Chapter Fourteen: Instructions (#u18323831-6cb1-5295-98ed-837348fdbcbd)

Chapter Fifteen: Quest (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen: Tasks (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen: Misdirection (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen: Regroup (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen: Encounter (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty: Retribution (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue: Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

Afterword (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

• PROLOGUE • (#ulink_82aa3a0b-062a-53fc-a9c4-bbf705e06211)

Warning (#ulink_82aa3a0b-062a-53fc-a9c4-bbf705e06211)

THE WIND HOWLED.

Locklear, squire of the Prince of Krondor’s court, sat huddled under his heavy cloak, astride his horse. Summer was quick to flee in the Northlands and the passes through the mountains known as the Teeth of the World. Autumn nights in the south might still be soft and warm, but up here in the north, autumn had been a brief visitor and winter was early to arrive, and would be long in residence. Locklear cursed his own stupidity for leading him to this forlorn place.

Sergeant Bales said, ‘Gets nippy up here, squire.’ The sergeant had heard the rumour about the young noble’s sudden appearance in Tyr-Sog, some matter involving a young woman married to a well-connected merchant in Krondor. Locklear wouldn’t be the first young dandy sent to the frontier to get him out of an angry husband’s reach. ‘Not as balmy as Krondor, sorry to say, sir.’

‘Really?’ asked the young squire, dryly.

The patrol followed a narrow trail along the edge of the foothills, the northern border of the Kingdom of the Isles. Locklear had been in court at Tyr-Sog less than a week when Baron Moyiet had suggested the young squire might benefit from accompanying the special patrol to the east of the city. Rumours had been circulating that renegades and moredhel – dark elves known as the Brotherhood of the Dark Path – were infiltrating south under the cover of heavy rains and snow flurries. Trackers had reported few signs, but hearsay and the insistence of farmers that they had seen companies of dark-clad warriors hurrying south had prompted the Baron to order the patrol.

Locklear knew as well as the men garrisoned there that the chance of any activity along the small passes over the mountains in late fall or early winter was unusual. While the freeze had just come to the foothills, the higher passes would already be thick with snow, then choked with mud should a brief thaw occur.