Daggerspell

by Katharine Kerr

  It stabbed like fire, remembering the time when she’d said those same words about Prince Galrion. But she’s no longer Brangwen, Nevyn reminded himself, and cursed if you’re going to play Gerraent.

  “I know you would, child. And it’s your choice. I only wanted to bid you farewell, but would it ache your heart if our roads crossed again? I might find myself wandering the same way you wander at times.”

  “Ache my heart? What? Never! Here, what would ache my heart would be never seeing you again.”

  And she ran to him and hugged him. For a moment, he stood as stiff as a swordblade with surprise; then he gave her a grandfatherly pat on the head.

  “Then we’ll meet again. I’ll promise you that.”

  “Splendid.”

  Jill spoke so sincerely that Nevyn felt his hope flare. She liked him, she trusted him, and someday he would make her see where her true Wyrd lay. After all, by following Rhodry, she’d set herself free for the dweomer. No longer would she be caught and buried by the intrigues of a powerful court, and the dangers of an unsettled life would keep her latent talents alive. He thought of broaching the subject of her dweomer talent then and there, but the time was still unripe. She would only react with panic this soon after having seen dweomer gone mad and turned to evil ends. He would have to wait, but by letting her go, he was not losing but keeping her.

  As they were sitting back down at Nevyn’s table, Rhodry came in. With his sword at his side, he strode over as if he were still a lord, but Nevyn could see the change in his eyes, so haunted and weary that he seemed to have aged several years.

  “I think I owe you my life,” Rhodry said.

  “Because of Rhys’s men yesterday, you mean? Well, indeed, I had a hand in that. Huh. No doubt your brother would have wept and wrung his hands when your body was found—at least in public.”

  “No doubt, the piss-proud drunken sot.” Rhodry sat down next to Jill. “Well, good sir, it looks like Eldidd will have to work out her Wyrd with no help from me.”

  “Perhaps so. We’ll have to see what the gods have in store.”

  While they ate, mostly in silence, Nevyn pondered what the Great Ones might want done, now that the lad had been sent away from the province he was born to serve. He also wondered whether Rhodry were in danger. Now that he no longer held political power, he might well be of no further interest to the dark dweomer, but the hope seemed an idle one. Yet as he considered the problem, not one single dweomer warning came to him, only the generalized and normal fear that silver daggers, after all, often died young in battle. The lack of warnings made it plain that at least for now, Rhodry was in no danger from the masters of the black craft. It would be safe, then, for Nevyn to let them go on their way and to keep watch from a distance while he tried to influence Rhys to recall the exile.

  “You know, Nevyn,” Rhodry said finally, “I’m cursed lucky that Jill loves me so much, or I’d have died soon enough on the long road.”

  “Oh, hogwash!” Jill broke in. “You’re not a half-wit. You would have learned how to fend for yourself.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” Rhodry’s voice went cold and flat. “In every battle I rode, I would have been volunteering for the point of the charge, or riding into the worst mob. There’s more than one way for a man to end his exile.”

  It was a confession, quietly said. Jill grabbed his arm.

  “But not now,” he went on. “Not when I’ve got you to live for.”

  Jill flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. Nevyn sighed aloud at the irony of it, that by keeping Rhodry alive, Jill was already serving the dweomer, though she knew it not.

  The next morning, Jill woke just at dawn and found Rhodry’s arms tightly round her. Gray light filtered in through the cracks in the stable walls, and the sound of rain drummed on the roof. She rested her hand on Rhodry’s chest and listened to the rain song mingling with his steady breathing, while she smiled at herself for finding Gadd’s hayloft more to her taste than her feather bed back in Dun Gwerbyn. When she thought of Cullyn, she had to close her eyes tight to force back her tears. Da, Da, I’m sorry, she thought, but you know I had to go. At least she’d left him in a safe place, where he’d never have to sleep in the rain again, no matter what happened to her. Bitterly she wondered if she would ever see him again, but she had made her choice, and she would follow Rhodry forever if the gods allowed.

  And the gods could do what they wanted, she decided. She’d always lived a single day at a time, simply because she’d never had any choice but to live that way. The long road stretches into mist, Cullyn always said, and no one can see the end of it. She had Rhodry and her freedom to ride. As she fell back to sleep, she decided that they would do splendidly for now.

  INCARNATIONS OF THE VARIOUS CHARACTERS

  1060 643 698

  Jill Brangwen Lyssa

  Cullyn Gerraent Tanyc

  Rhodry Blaen Gweran

  Nevyn Galrion Nevyn

  Seryan Ysolla Cadda

  Lovyan Rodda Cabrylla

  GLOSSARY

  Aber (Deverrian) A river mouth, an estuary.

  Alar (Elvish) A group of elves, who may or may not be bloodkin, who choose to travel together for some indefinite period of time.

  Alardan (Elv.) The meeting of several alarli, usually the occasion for a drunken party.

  Annwn (Welsh, literally, “no place.”) The name of the world to which the Deverrians emigrated.

  Astral The plane of existence directly “above” or “within” the etheric (q.v.). In other systems of magic, often referred to as the Akashic Record or the Treasurehouse of Images.

  Aura The field of electromagnetic energy that permeates and emanates from every living being.

  Aver (Dev.) A river.

  Bara (Elv.) An enclitic that indicates that the preceding adjective in an elvish agglutinated word is the name of the element following the enclitic, as can+bara+melim = Rough River. (rough+name marker+river.)

  Bel (Dev.) The chief god of the Deverry pantheon.

  Bel (Elv.) An enclitic, similar in function to bara, except that it indicates that a preceding verb is the name of the following element in the agglutinated term, as in Darabeldal, Flowing Lake.

  Blue Light Another name for the etheric plane (q.v.).

  Body of Light An artificial thought-form (q.v.) constructed by a dweomermaster to allow him or her to travel through the inner planes of existence.

  Brigga (Dev.) Loose wool trousers worn by men and boys.

  Broch (Dev.) A squat tower in which people live. Originally, in the Homeland, these towers had one big fireplace in the center of the ground floor and a number of booths or tiny roomlets up the sides, but by the time of our narrative, this ancient style has given way to regular floors with hearths and chimneys on either side of the structure.

  Cadvridoc (Dev.) A war leader. Not a general in the modern sense, the cadvridoc is supposed to take the advice and counsel of the noble-born lords under him, but his is the right of final decision.

  Captain (trans. of the Dev. pendaely.) The second-in-command, after the lord himself, of a nobles warband. An interesting point is that the word taely (which is the root or unmutated form of -daely,) can mean either a warband or a family depending on context.

  Conaber (Elv.) A musical instrument similar to the panpipe but of even more limited range.

  Cwm (Dev.) A valley.

  Dal (Elv.) A lake.

  Dun (Dev.) A fort.

  Dweomer (trans. of Dev. dwunddaevad.) In its strict sense, a system of magic aimed at personal enlightenment through harmony with the natural universe in all its planes and manifestations; in the popular sense, magic, sorcery.

  Elcyion Lacar (Dev.) The elves; literally, the “bright spirits,” or “Bright Fey.”

  Ensorcel To produce an effect similar to hypnosis by direct manipulation of a person’s aura. (Ordinary hypnosis manipulates the victim’s consciousness only and thus is more easily resisted.)

  Etheric The plane
of existence directly “above” the physical. With its magnetic substance and currents, it holds physical matter in an invisible matrix and is the true source of what we call “life.”

  Etheric Double The true being of a person, the electromagnetic structure that holds the body together and that is the actual seat of consciousness.

  Fola (Elv.) An enclitic that shows the noun preceding it in an agglutinated Elvish word is the name of the element following the enclitic, as in Corafolamelim, Owl River.

  Geis A taboo, usually a prohibition against doing something. Breaking geis results in ritual pollution and the disfavor if not active enmity of the gods. In societies that truly believe in geis, a person who breaks it usually dies fairly quickly, either of morbid depression or some unconsciously self-inflicted “accident,” unless he or she makes ritual amends.

  Gerthddyn (Dev.) Literally, a “music man,” a wandering minstrel and entertainer of much lower status than a true bard.

  Great Ones Spirits, once human but now disincarnate, who exist on an unknowably high plane of existence and who had dedicated themselves to the eventual enlightenment of all sentient beings. They are also known to the Buddhists as Boddhisattvas.

  Gwerbret (Dev.) The highest rank of nobility below the royal family itself. Gwerbrets (Dev. gwerbretion) function as the chief magistrates of their regions, and even kings hesitate to override their decisions because of their many ancient prerogatives.

  Hiraedd (Dev.) A peculiarly Celtic form of depression, marked by a deep, tormented longing for some unobtainable thing; also and in particular, homesickness to the third power.

  Javelin (trans, of Dev. picecl.) Since the weapon in question is only about three feet long, another possible translation would be “war dart.” The reader should not think of it as a proper spear or as one of those enormous javelins used in the modern Olympic Games.

  Lwdd (Dev.) A blood price; differs from wergild in that the amount of lwdd is negotiable in some circumstances, rather than being irrevocably set by law.

  Malover (Dev.) A full, formal court of law with both a priest of Bel and either a gwerbret or a tieryn in attendance.

  Melim (Elv.) A river.

  Mor (Dev.) A sea, ocean.

  Pan (Elv.) An enclitic, similar to -fola- defined earlier, except that it indicates that the preceding noun is plural as well as the name of the following word, as in Corapanmelim, River of the Many Owls. Remember that Elvish always indicates pluralization by adding a semi-independent morpheme, and that this semi-independence is reflected in the various syntax-bearing enclitics.

  Pecl (Dev.) Far, distant.

  Rhan (Dev.) A political unit of land; thus, gwerbretrhyn, tierynrhyn, the area under the control of a given gwerbret or tieryn. The size of the various rhans (Dev. rhannau) varies widely, depending on the vagaries of inheritance and the fortunes of war rather than some legal definition.

  Scrying The art of seeing distant people and places by magic.

  Sigil An abstract magical figure, usually representing either a particular spirit or a particular kind of energy or power. These figures, which look a lot like geometrical scribbles, are derived by various rules from secret magical diagrams.

  Spirits Living though incorporeal beings proper to the various nonphysical planes of the universe. Only the elemental spirits, such as the Wildfolk (trans. of Dev. elcyion goecl) can manifest directly in the physical plane. All others need some vehicle, such as a gem, incense smoke, or the magnetism given off by freshly cut plants or spilled blood.

  Taer (Dev.) Land, country.

  Thought-Form An image or three-dimensional form that has been fashioned out of either etheric or astral substance, usually by the action of a trained mind. If enough trained minds work together to build the same thought-form, it will exist independently for a period of time based on the amount of energy put into it. (Putting energy into such a form is known as ensouling the thought form.) Manifestations of gods or saints are usually thought-forms picked up by the highly intuitive, such as children, or those with a touch of second sight. It is also possible for a large number of untrained minds to make fuzzy, ill-defined thought-forms that can be picked up the same way, such as UFOs and sightings of the Devil.

  Tieryn (Dev.) An intermediate rank of the noble-born, below a gwerbret but above an ordinary lord (Dev. arcloedd.)

  Wyrd (trans. of Dev. tingedd.) Fate, destiny; the inescapable problems carried over from a sentient being’s last incarnation.

  Ynis (Dev.) An island.

  HISTORICAL NOTE

  Many readers and reviewers have assumed that the Deverry books take place in some sort of alternate Britain or that the people of Deverry came originally from Britain. Since a few have even, in total defiance of geography, supposed that the series takes place on that island, I thought I’d best clarify the matter.

  The Deverrians emigrated from northern Gaul, the “Gallia” referred to in the text, after they spent a fair number of years under the Roman yoke but before Christianity became a religion of any note. As for their new home, Annwn, the name is Welsh and literally means “no place,” a good clue, I should think, as to its location here in our world. Later volumes in this series explain how the original group of immigrants reached their new country and tell something of the history of their settlement.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  KATHARINE KERR is the author of eight fantasy novels—Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, The Dragon Revenant, A Time of Exile, A Time of Omens, Days of Blood and Fire, Days of Air and Darkness—and three science fiction novels, Polar City Blues, Resurrection and Palace, which she wrote with Mark Kreighbaum. She is currently at work on her next novel. She lives in San Francisco with her husband.

  DAGGERSPELL

  A Bantam Spectra Book / published by arrangement with Doubleday

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Doubleday edition published 1986

  Del Rey edition published 1987

  Bantam revised edition / December 1993

  SPECTRA and the portraval of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1986 by Katharine Kerr.

  Revised edition copyright © 1993 by Katharine Kerr

  Maps designed by Eleanor Kostyk.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher

  For information address. Bantam Books.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-75583-4

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

  v3.0