Oland realised that, when he visited the scryer, she had screamed at him so that he would be saved. He remembered Blaise’s story: “only the scryer herself will know the Rising Scryer”. She was nearing the end of her life, and she didn’t want a boy of his age to suffer her fate. The scryer knew that, along with the Thousandth Soul, the Rising Scryer was the most precious commodity in Envar.
Despite the terror of his realisation, Oland managed to mount his horse and pull Delphi up behind him.
Soon, the only sound he could hear was the sound of hooves on the Derrington cobbles, and Delphi’s breath in his ear. The horse galloped on, his motion solid and graceful in the worsening rain.
A bolt of lightning flashed overhead, and the puddles around them erupted with light. Oland closed his eyes. For the first time, he tried to capture what he had just seen, to harness his gift. At first, it felt like he was watching the past, but he slowly realised that, although they had common parts, it was clearly the future that was unfolding.
And then Delphi… no… not Delphi… he didn’t want to know Delphi’s future. He wanted the vision to end. But he had no idea how to control it.
Oland’s eyes shot open. He sucked in a huge breath of air. “Delphi!” he shouted. “Delphi!”
Frantically, he reached his arm back.
“I’m still here,” said Delphi, as she felt his hand against her side. She pulled herself closer, pressing herself against his back. “I’m still here.”
nd so, the downfall of Villius Ren was not just at the hands of one champion, but at the hands of many. The restoration of Decresian had begun, and the kingdom would go on to prosper.
Jerome Rynish was not wrong when he spoke of the archivist’s oath not to burden a story with his own entanglement. There was, indeed, another line to the oath:
I am sky on sky, water on water, fire on fire, earth on earth.
Invisibility was considered elemental to the tale. But on the night I chose to become an archivist, only because it was the wish of my dying father, I knew that part of the oath was being broken: I was passing on a letter from King Micah on which the future of Decresian depended. So I vowed only to what I could.
It gave me the freedom to swathe my fire-scarred flesh in bandages not unlike those of Malcolm Evolent in order to rescue Oland Born. When I saw his achievements in the arena, I knew how much attention he would draw and, if I took the first step of removing him from the castle, he could be safely away to embark on his quest. Although I knew nothing of Gideon Ren, nothing of his home in the walled garden, I knew of the existence of the tunnel – as a boy, it was the only way I had to sneak away from my father to study combat. I hoped to take Oland Born through the tunnel and out of Castle Derrington, but, luckily, that was not to be.
And so the Thousandth Soul and the Rising Scryer travelled onwards, each hiding a secret from the other, neither yet knowing the depth of their strength and their weakness, nor what it would mean for their future.
There are stories to be found everywhere – in eyes and in hearts and in hiding. It is for each person to choose where to look, and what to believe. In the first of The Trials of Oland Born, we discovered myths that were proven to be real, and realities that were proven to be myth.
In the second of The Trials of Oland Born, we will uncover fresh deceits. Where was the census and what would it reveal? Would the distillations, extractions, essences and infisions ever be found? And what of Gideon Ren? Would he be drawn, forever, to feed on the dead? And whose wrath did Delphi incur as Stoker carried her away from the burning Curfew Peak?
Oland and Delphi had both known such suffering by their fifteenth year, and had begun to carry in their young hearts such heavy burdens.
Perhaps time or love, like cinderberry salve, could make the scars go away.
I am Archivist Tristan Ault.
I am sky on sky, water on water, fire on fire, earth on earth.
I vow to tell the untold tales, and my master is the truth.
To my agent, Darley Anderson, and to everyone at The Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency: thank you for embracing my new, magical, still-a-little-criminal world.
To my editor, Rachel Denwood, thank you for your incisive and inspiring editing. You made this a better book.
To Samantha Swinnerton, thank you for a dazzling final act performance.
To Moira Reilly, thank you for being an instant champion of Oland Born, encouraging him beyond the first three chapters and cheering him to the end.
To Tony Purdue, thank you for everything you do.
Thank you to everyone at HarperCollins Children’s Books who worked on Curse of Kings and helped to bring it to life.
Thank you to early readers and marvellous note-givers, Lily Morgan and Vicki LeFeuvre.
Thank you to the always-generous Dr Martyn Linnie for his entomological genius.
To my wonderful parents, thank you for introducing me to books at an early age and for your constant love and support.
If there were gold medals for siblings, they would be awarded to: Ciaran, Ronan, Lanes and Damien. The same goes for sisters-in-law Melanie and Grainne.
To Sue Booth-Forbes, dear friend and freshly minted Irish citizen, thank you for the gifts you are kind enough to share every time.
To Mary Maddison, thank you for your faith and encouragement.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Ger, Lanes, and Majella for all the above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty bittts that no paragraph could contain.
Thank you to composer, David Geraghty, for your inspired pieces.
To Sue Swansborough, thank you for waves, smiles, cakes, and kindnesses.
Thank you to everyone who travelled with me on this epic journey; without you, I wouldn’t have made it outside the castle walls.
Special thanks to Paul Kelly, slayer of beasts, navigator of dark caves.
Lastly, but not leastly, thank you to all the wonderful children in my life. You are incredible little people. You are the reward.
Copyright
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2013
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London, W6 8JB.
The HarperCollins website address is: www.harpercollins.co.uk
1
Copyright © Alex Barclay 2013
Source ISBN: 9780007335756
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780007476299
Version 2
Alex Barclay 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 ebook 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 ebooks.
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
/> HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com
Curse of Kings (The Trials of Oland Born, Book 1) Page 24