SIGHERE, Lord—youngest son of Duke Sighere; later, Earl of Marley.
SORLE—Cinhil’s squire.
TAMMARON, Lord—human earl on Cinhil’s staff.
TERMOD of Rhorau, Lord—Deryni princeling, cousin of Imre, killed by Willimite terrorists in 903.
THOMAS—bailiff at Dolban, for Servants of Saint Camber.
THURYN—see Rhys.
TOBAN—hospice page.
TORCUILL de la Marche, Lord—Deryni baron, formerly a Festillic minister; now on Cinhil’s staff.
TURLOUGH, Bishop—one of Gwynedd’s six itinerant bishops.
UDAUT, Lord—a human earl; Constable of Gwynedd.
ULLIAM ap Lugh, Bishop—human Bishop of Nyford.
UMPHRED—Camber’s bailiff at Caerrorie.
WILLIAM—farrier at Grecotha.
WILLIM, Saint—child martyr to Deryni ill-use; patron saint of the Willimite movement.
WILLIMITES—terrorist group sworn to punish Deryni who escape justice through normal legal channels; mostly suppressed in 904 under Imre.
WILLOWEN, Father—human Dean of Grecotha Cathedral and assistant to Bishop Cullen.
WULPHER, Master—Cathan’s steward; doubled for Joram under a shape-changing spell.
APPENDIX II
INDEX OF PLACES
ALL SAINTS’ CATHEDRAL—seat of the Archbishop of Valoret, Primate of All Gwynedd.
ARGOED—potential site for new Michaeline Commanderie (military headquarters).
CAERRORIE—Camber’s principal residence, a few hours’ ride northeast of Valoret; Camber’s burial place.
CARBURY—town west of Valoret, where Elinor’s parents live.
CHELTHAM—site of the Michaeline Commanderie, destroyed by Imre in 904.
CLAIBOURNE—principal city of Kheldour; later, name of duchy given to Sighere of Eastmarch, after annexation of Kheldour by Sighere and Cinhil.
COLDOIRE—passage through the Rheljan Mountains, near the Arranal Canyon.
COR CULDI—hereditary ancestral seat and fortress of the Culdi earls, near the city of Culdi, on the Gwynedd-Meara border.
CÙILTEINE—potential site for a new Michaeline Commanderie.
CULDI—central city of the Honor of Culdi, on the Gwynedd-Meara border.
DHASSA—free holy city in the Lendour Mountains; seat of the Bishop of Dhassa.
DOLBAN—ruined manor bought by Guaire of Arliss as a site for the first monastery of the Servants of Saint Camber; on the main road between Valoret and Caerrorie.
EASTMARCH—independent holding of Sighere, Earl of Eastmarch; later given to Hrorik, Sighere’s middle son.
GRECOTHA—university city, site of the Varnarite school; seat of the Bishop of Grecotha. Camber, Anscom, and Cullen all attended school here at one time or another.
GWYNEDD—central of the Eleven Kingdoms; seat of the Festillic Dynasty, 822–904; restored to the Haldane Line in 904.
HAUT EIRIAL—a Michaeline establishment destroyed by Imre in 904.
HOWICCE—kingdom to the southwest of Gwynedd; loosely allied with Llannedd.
IOMAIRE—site of battle with Ariella, on Gwynedd-Eastmarch border.
KHELDISH RIDING—viceregality broken off Kheldour after annexation of Kheldour by Sighere and Cinhil in 906.
KHELDOUR—small kingdom north of Gwynedd, famous for textiles and carpets; associated with Rhendall and the Festils through Termod of Rhorau.
LLANNEDD—kingdom to the southwest of Gwynedd; loosely allied with Howicce.
MARLEY—small earldom carved out of Eastmarch and given to Sighere, youngest son of Duke Sighere, in 906.
MEARA—kingdom/princedom to the northwest of Gwynedd; nominally a vassal state of Gwynedd.
MOLLINGFORD—a Michaeline establishment destroyed by Imre in 904.
MOORYN—petty kingdom at the southeast of Gwynedd; formerly a powerful ally under Imre’s reign.
NYFORD—river town in central Gwynedd, near Saint Illtyd’s Monastery; seat of the Bishop of Nyford; site of Imre’s abortive new capital.
RHENDALL—lake region north of Gwynedd; formerly the Festillic holding of Termod of Rhorau; given to Ewan, eldest son of Duke Sighere, in 906 as the secondary title of the Duke of Claibourne.
RHEMUTH—ancient capital of Gwynedd under the Haldanes; abandoned during the Festillic Interregnum; slated to be restored under Cinhil.
RHORAU—fortress seat of Lord Termod, cousin of King Imre, in the Rhendall lake region.
SAINT FOILLAN’S ABBEY—establishment of the Ordo Verbi Dei, in the mountains, three days’ ride southeast of Valoret, where Camber and Rhys found Prince Cinhil Haldane.
SAINT LIAM’S ABBEY—a Michaeline-staffed abbey school, four hours’ ride northeast of Valoret.
SAINT NEOT’S MONASTERY—stronghold of the Order of Saint Gabriel, an esoteric, all-Deryni order, in the Lendour Highlands.
TORENTH—kingdom to the east of Gwynedd; ruled by the Deryni King Nimur.
VALORET—Festillic capital of Gwynedd, 822–905.
About the Author
Katherine Kurtz was born in Coral Gables, Florida, during a hurricane. She received a four-year science scholarship to the University of Miami and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. Medical school followed, but after a year she decided she would rather write about medicine than practice it. A vivid dream inspired Kurtz’s Deryni novels, and she sold the first three books in the series on her first submission attempt. She soon defined and established her own sub-genre of “historical fantasy” set in close parallels to our own medieval period featuring “magic” that much resembles extrasensory perception.
While working on the Deryni series, Kurtz further utilized her historical training to develop another sub-genre she calls “crypto-history,” in which the “history behind the history” intertwines with the “official” histories of such diverse periods as the Battle of Britain (Lammas Night), the American War for Independence (Two Crowns for America), contemporary Scotland (The Adept Series, with coauthor Deborah Turner Harris), and the Knights Templar (also with Harris).
In 1983, Kurtz married the dashing Scott MacMillan; they have a son, Cameron. Until 2007, they made their home in Ireland, in Holybrooke Hall, a mildly haunted gothic revival house, They have recently returned to the United States and taken up residence in a historic house in Virginia, with their five Irish cats and one silly dog. (The ghosts of Holybrooke appear to have remained behind.)
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1978 by Katherine Kurtz
Map by Bob Porter
Cover design by Michel Vrana
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3118-9
This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Also by Katherine Kurtz
The Deryni Novels
The Chronicles of the Deryni
Deryni Rising
Deryni Checkmate
High Deryni
The Legends of Camber of Culdi
Camber of Culdi
Saint Camber
Camber the Heretic
The Histories of King Kelson
The Bishop’s Heir
The King’s Justice
The Quest for Saint Camber
The Heirs of Saint Camber
The Harrowing of Gwynedd
King Javan’s Year
The Bastard Prince
The Childe Morgan Trilogy
In the King’s Service
Childe Morgan
The King’s Deryni
Other novels
King Kelson’s Bride
Camber the Heretic
For Sven Lugar and John Innis
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.—I Peter 2:9
I For of the Most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour of the king.—Ecclesiasticus 38:2
II And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.—Daniel 11:21
III He that loveth his son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that he may have joy of him in the end.—Ecclesiasticus 30:1
IV Judge none blessed before his death: for a man shall be known in his children.—Ecclesiasticus 11:28
V For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it may tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.—Habakkuk 2:3
VI Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.—I Timothy 4:14
VII Or ever the silver cord be loosed … then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.—Ecclesiastes 12:6–7
VIII Now I say, that the heir, so long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by his father.—Galatians 4:1–2
IX Woe unto thee, O land, when thy king is a child.—Ecclesiastes 10:16
X But at present it is expedient for thee, and for thy house, to be grieved.—III Hermas 7:12
XI Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?—Isaiah 28:9
XII Show new signs, and make other strange wonders.—Ecclesiasticus 36:6
XIII Strangers conspired together against him, and maligned him in the wilderness.—Ecclesiasticus 45:18
XIV And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand.—Micah 5:12
XV I will not be ashamed to defend a friend; neither will I hide myself from him.—Ecclesiasticus 22:25
XVI For the elements were changed in themselves by a kind of harmony.—Wisdom of Solomon 19:18
XVII A faithful friend is a strong defense: and he that hath found such an one hath found a treasure.—Ecclesiasticus 6:14
XVIII The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.—Isaiah 40:3
XIX There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous.—Nahum 3:19
XX Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.—Wisdom of Solomon 2:17
XXI An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw thee into a pit: he will weep with his eyes, but if he find opportunity, he will not be satisfied with blood.—Ecclesiasticus 12:16
XXII For the chief-priest has his proper services, and to the priests their proper place is appointed.—I Clement 18:18
XXIII And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold.—Habakkuk 1:16
XXIV They plundered the sanctuary of God, as though there was no avenger.—Psalms of Solomon 8:10
XXV In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine.—Hosea 7:5
XXVI So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.—Zechariah 3:5
XXVII As for the illusions of art magick, they were put down, and their vaunting in wisdom was reproved with disgrace.—Wisdom of Solomon 17:7
XXVIII It is the part of a brave combatant to be wounded, yet overcome.—Polycarp 1:14
XXIX But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.—Isaiah 47:9
XXX For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branches thereof will not cease.—Job 14:7
EPILOGUE And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.—Isaiah 58:12
Appendix I: Index of Characters
Appendix II: Index of Place
Appendix III: Partial Lineage of the Haldane Kings
Appendix IV: The Festillic Kings of Gwynedd and Their Descendants
Appendix V: Partial Lineage of the MacRories
About the Author
PROLOGUE
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.
—I Peter 2:9
The document was written in the tight, crabbed court hand of one of the castle scribes, and covered an entire large sheet of creamy vellum. The man reading it had thought it innocent enough at first glance—dull, routine procedures for the running of yet another royal commission—but now, as he scanned it a second time and began to catch the more subtle nuances of phrase and intent, he looked up at his companions in amazement.
“Murdoch, I don’t know what to say. This is brilliant—everything we could have hoped for. He’ll never sign it, though.”
“He already has,” Murdoch said in his thin, nasal voice, taking the document and handing it to a third man. “I slipped it in among a stack of other routine documents yesterday. This is only a copy.”
The third man, who was also the youngest of them, glanced over the text with hungry eyes that did not miss a thing, an oddly academic quirk in a man so obviously a soldier in every other way. Big-boned, well-muscled, solid but not fat, Baron Rhun of Horthness was a rising star in the army of Gwynedd at only thirty-two. The sparse, wolfish grin now spreading slowly across his face was a feature which had made friends and enemies alike refer to him as Rhun the Ruthless.
“I assume that Cullen hasn’t seen this,” Rhun said, his tone clearly confirming a fact rather than asking a question.
Murdoch nodded, steepling spiderlike fingers in a gesture mixed of confidence and arrogance. “He hasn’t, and he won’t,” he said. “As far as our dear chancellor is concerned, the king’s will remains exactly as we all witnessed it last fall. And because this is not a change of the will, but only an alteration of the guidelines for a potential regency council, there is no reason that he should see it until after the king is dead and it cannot be changed. God grant that the king’s death may be painless, and soon,” he added piously.
Rhun chuckled at that, a low, dangerous rumble, but the first man did not even smile. As he glanced at Murdoch again, his expression was thoughtful.
“Tell me, does anyone know when Bishop Cullen will be returning?” he asked.
“Too soon to suit me,” Murdoch said. “The king sent Jebediah to fetch him yesterday. Knowing the way our illustrious earl marshal rides, he should reach Grecotha by tomorrow at the latest, even allowing for bad weather. That puts Cullen back in Valoret well before the first of February. I had hoped he would winter at Grecotha, but—” He shrugged, a surly twitch of the narrow shoulders. “At least this will probably be the last time. The king can’t last much longer.”
“He’s that ill, then?” asked the third man.
“I wasn’t certain he would survive past Twelfth Night,” Murdoch replied coolly, “though the Healer Rhys seems to have kept body and soul together rather better than I hoped. Curse the miserable Deryni, anyway!”
The exclamation elicited a short, taut silence, as each of the men considered what the king’s death might mean to him personally. Finally Murdoch rolled up the document and bound it with a length of vermillion cord. As he glanced at his companions again, he tapped it several times against the heel of his hand.
“Well, I’m off, then. I want to show this to Hubert before I put it away for safe-keeping. Either of you care to come along?”
“I will,” said Rhun.
After they had gone, Earl Tammaron Fitz-Arthur, Third Lord of the High Council of Gwynedd, sat quietly for several minutes, thinking. If things went according to plan, he could very shortly be the next Chancellor of Gwynedd.
A few days later, on a snow-clogged road leading south toward Valoret, the Deryni Camber MacRorie and his escort trotted at a steady pace, the sound of their passage muffled by the snow and carried away by the wind.
Camber, whom the world knew as Bishop Alister Cullen, onetime Vicar General of the powerful Order of Saint Michael and now Lord Chancellor of Gwynedd, had received the king’s message before dawn, grouchy at being rousted from his warm bed until he realized that the king’s messenger was his old friend Jebediah of Alcara, Grand Master of the Michaelines as well as Earl Marshal of Gwynedd. He and Jebediah read the words of the royal missive together in the bishop’s study—terse and typical of King Cinhil. Jebediah then gave Camber the true gist of the message.
The Legends of Camber of Culdi Trilogy Page 87