Praise for the Shadows of the Apt
Empire in Black and Gold
‘Occasionally a fantasy author comes up with a way to break the mould of traditional genre tropes: M. John Harrison’s Viriconium and China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station are two examples that immediately spring to mind. Tchaikovsky, on this evidence, looks like a new addition to that select hall of fame . . . This looks like a series with legs: six of them’
DeathRay
‘The insectile-humans premise is inventive, shaping the world in all sorts of ways’
SFX
‘Empire’s most singular distinction in the genre is its employment of a totally different selection of fantastical insect/human hybrids . . . This allows the author to achieve the unusual feat of creating a new universe populated by unique characters’
SciFiNow
‘Adrian Tchaikovsky makes a good and enjoyable mix between a medieval looking world and the presence of technology . . . I really enjoyed the novel and with certainty I will read the next novels of the series’
Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews blog
Dragonfly Falling
‘Full of colourful drama and non-stop action involving mass warfare and personal combat, Dragonfly Falling brilliantly continues the Shadows of the Apt epic fantasy series that began in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s remarkable debut novel, Empire in Black and Gold’
Fantasy Book Critic
‘A novel brimming with imagination and execution . . . The Shadows of the Apt series is quite distinct, mainly due to the insect-kinden and Tchaikovsky’s fertile imagination. His writing is accessible, if dense, while the sheer amount of extra content he has published on the web with regards to his series adds nuanced flavour to the proceedings’
SciFiNow
‘With all the groundwork laid so well in book one, book two leaps straight into the action and rarely lets-up for the entire of its almost 700 page length, and while the scale of book one was big, the story has now become nothing less than epic . . . Reminiscent of much that’s gone before from the likes of Gemmel, Erikson, Sanderson and Cook but with its own unique and clever touch, this is another terrific outing from Mr Tchaikovsky and a worthy sequel in this epic saga’
Sci-Fi-London
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.
Catch up with Adrian at www.shadowsoftheapt.com for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork.
Salute the Dark is the fourth novel in the Shadows of the Apt series. Have you read Empire in Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling and Blood of the Mantis?
ALSO BY ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY
Shadows of the Apt
Empire in Black and Gold
Dragonfly Falling
Blood of the Mantis
First published 2010 by Tor
This electronic edition published 2010 by Tor
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
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www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-330-52127-7 in Adobe Reader format
ISBN 978-0-330-52126-0 in Adobe Digital Editions format
ISBN 978-0-330-52128-4 in Mobipocket format
Copyright © Adrian Czajkowski 2010
The right of Adrian Czajkowski to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
To my parents, who are wondering how they lost out on book 3 to a dead Frenchman
Acknowledgements
I cannot thank enough: Simon, my agent, for his constant inspiration and encouragement; Peter Lavery, the master-draftsman of editors; Julie, Chloe and everyone else at Tor UK for their continuing support; Annie, my wife, for her help, and Alex, my son, for not playing up too much when deadlines were looming.
Beyond this: thanks to Hellfire and Horrors (Oxford), Storm Wolves (Reading), Wayne, Shane and Martin and everyone else who has been there to support me.
Glossary
People
Stenwold Maker – Beetle-kinden spymaster and statesman
Cheerwell ‘Che’ Maker – his niece
Tisamon – Mantis-kinden Weaponsmaster
Tynisa – his halfbreed daughter, Stenwold’s ward
Achaeos – Moth-kinden magician, Che’s lover
Atryssa – Tynisa’s mother and Tisamon’s former lover, deceased
Thalric – renegade Wasp-kinden, former Rekef major
Nero – Fly-kinden artist, old friend of Stenwold
Felise Mienn – Dragonfly-kinden duellist
Taki – Solarnese Fly-kinden aviatrix
Lineo Thadspar – Beetle-kinden Speaker for the Collegium Assembly
Balkus – renegade Sarnesh Ant-kinden, Stenwold’s agent
Sperra – Fly-kinden, Stenwold’s agent
Destrachis – Spider-kinden doctor, companion of Felise Mienn
Parops – Tarkesh Ant-kinden, leader of the free Tarkesh
Jons Allanbridge – Beetle-kinden aviator
Plius – foreign Ant-kinden in Sarn, Stenwold’s agent
Prince Minor Salme ‘Salma’ Dien – Dragonfly nobleman, leader of the Landsarmy
Prized of Dragons – Butterfly-kinden, Salma’s lover
Phalmes – Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, former brigand, Salma’s lieutenant
Teornis of the Aldanrael – Spider-kinden Aristos and
Lord-Martial Odyssa – Teornis’ chief agent in Solarno
Cesta – Assassin Bug-kinden killer in Solarno
Scobraan – Soldier Beetle-kinden aviator in Solarno
Laetrimae – Mantis-kinden ghost from the
Shadow Box
Xaraea – Moth-kinden intelligencer in Tharn
Tegrec – Wasp-kinden major and magician, governor of occupied Tharn
Raeka – Wasp-kinden, Tegrec’s body-slave
Kymene – Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, leader of the Mynan resistance
Chyses – Mynan Soldier Beetle-kinden, Kymene’s lieutenant
Hokiak – Scorpion-kinden black-marketeer in Myna
Gryllis – Spider-kinden, Hokiak’s business partner
Alvdan II – Emperor of the Wasps
Seda – his sister
Maxin – Wasp-kinden general, Rekef
Reiner – Wasp-kinden general, Rekef
Brugan – Wasp-kinden general, Rekef
Malkan – Wasp-kinden general, Seventh Army
Latvoc – Wasp-kinden colonel, Rekef, Reiner’s aide
Gan – Wasp-kinden colonel, governor of Szar
Ulther – Wasp-kinden colonel, former governor of Myna, deceased
Axrad – Wasp-kinden lieutenant and aviator
Uctebri the Sarcad – Mosquito-kinden slave and magician
Gjegevey – Woodlouse-kinden slave and advisor
Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’) – halfbreed auxillian-colonel and master artificer
Totho – halfbreed artificer in Drephos’ cadre
Kaszaat – Bee-kinden artificer, in Drephos’ cadre
Big Greyv – Mole Cricket-kinden artificer, in Drephos’ cadre
Places
Capitas – the capital of the Empire
Asta – Wasp staging post for the Lowlands Campaign
Collegium – Beetle-kinden city, home of the Great
College The Commonweal – Dragonfly-kinden state north of the Lowlands, partly occupied by the Empire
The Darakyon – forest, formerly a Mantis stronghold, now haunted
Helleron – Beetle-kinden factory city, occupied
Myna – Soldier Beetle city conquered by the Wasps
Sarn – Ant-kinden city-state allied to Collegium
Solarno – Spider-ruled city on the Exalsee, occupied
Spiderlands – Spider-kinden cities south of the Lowlands, believed rich and endless
Szar – Bee-kinden city, conquered by the Wasps
Tark – Ant-kinden city-state, occupied
Tharn – Moth-kinden hold, occupied
Vek – Ant-kinden city-state, recently at war with Collegium
Organizations and things
The Ancient League – a Moth–Mantis alliance of Dorax, Nethyon and Etheryon
Assembly – the elected ruling body of Collegium, meeting in the Amphiophos
Buoyant Maiden – Jons Allanbridge’s airship
Crystal Standard, Path of Jade, Satin Trail – Solarnese political parties
Esca Volenti – Taki’s orthopter
Great College in Collegium, the cultural heart of the Lowlands
Landsarmy – force of refugees and irregulars led by Salma
Mercers – Dragonfly-kinden order of knights errant
Prowess Forum – duelling venue in Collegium
Rekef – the Wasp Empire’s secret service
Shadow Box – an artefact holding the heart of the Darakyon
Skryres – the magician-leaders of the Moth-kinden
Starnest – great Wasp airship used in the conquest of Solarno
Winged Furies – name for the Wasp Seventh Army
Summary
Following his victory over the Sarnesh field army, General Malkan prepares to lead his army towards Sarn itself to destroy the military capability of the Lowlands. The alliance of powers that Stenwold brokered at Sarn is still gathering its strength, so it falls to Salma’s Landsarmy to hinder the Wasp advance while the Lowlanders prepare.
Over the winter the Wasps have added the Spider city of Solarno to their Empire, and also the Moth hold of Tharn. However, careful manipulation by the Moth Skryres and their agent Xaraea has ensured that Tegrec, the new governor of Tharn, is secretly sympathetic to their case, being a magician who has hidden his true nature from his kin.
Meanwhile the maverick artificer Drephos has been ordered to take his secret weapons to the city of Szar, whose Bee-kinden people are in open revolt after the death of their queen, whom the Empire was holding as hostage for their continued servitude. However, amongst Drephos’ cadre is Kaszaat, a former citizen of Szar, and the lover of Stenwold’s former student Totho.
The mission to recover the Shadow Box has failed after Tynisa, under the control of the Mosquito-kinden Uctebri, stabbed Achaeos, leaving him severely wounded. The box, meanwhile, has fallen into Uctebri’s hands, and he has promised the Wasp Emperor that he will use the artefact to make Alvdan immortal. However, at the same time, Uctebri plots with the Emperor’s sister to dethrone her brother and make her into an undying Empress.
One
Why do these things always come to plague us?
A fatuous thought for a man about to fight a war, but the war had not even begun and already Stenwold had seen too many people hurt – and hurt on his business too. The knot of horror he had felt when they had brought Sperra out had not gone away. And now this.
Achaeos this time. Oh poor Che, my poor Che, to have come home to this.
And not just Che.
‘I am so very sorry,’ Stenwold said softly. He tried to put a hand on Tynisa’s shoulder, but she flinched away from it and would not let him.
‘It isn’t me you should be sorry for,’ she said. He had never seen his ward like this – Tynisa had gone through life without fear, the face and grace of her Spider mother, the lethal skill of her Mantis father and a Collegium citizen’s implacable self-confidence. Now she was standing at the door of the College infirmary, afraid to go in, yet unwilling to leave. The beds were not short of patients still recovering from injuries sustained in the Vekken siege. On one bed lay Achaeos, his eyes closed, grey skin gone so pale it was almost white. He had yet to wake up, yet to speak. The College physicians would not commit themselves on whether he ever would.
By his bed sat Che, holding the ailing Moth-kinden’s hand. The sight of her clearly tore into Tynisa with a raw pain, yet she could not take her eyes away. Her sword had put Achaeos where he was, though Stenwold had not needed her father’s protestations of magic to know that she could not have meant the man any harm. That itself was a tragedy, but Stenwold knew that it was the injury to Tynisa’s foster-sister that cut deepest: the grief inflicted on Che, that marvel of innocence and foolishness, who would never again be quite the same.
Tynisa shuddered, and Stenwold as much as saw her think, I have now severed her from me for always.
‘This war is not finished with its casualties,’ Stenwold murmured. He was thinking about Sperra again, his thoughts returning and returning to the moment when the Sarnesh soldiers had brought out the little Fly-kinden’s tortured form. Sperra, who was walking now, even flying a little, but who would never forget what had been done to her. And by her allies! We do not even need the Wasps to maim us when we can harm ourselves.
‘Tynisa . . .’ he began.
‘No,’ she said, ‘I don’t care what you want, Sten. I can’t go out there again. I’m not safe now. I don’t want to do it any more.’
‘Tisamon has explained to me what happened—’
‘My father has simply invented something to make himself feel better.’ She glared round at him. ‘Don’t tell me you believe it?’
‘I believe that he truly believes it, and he knows more about such things than I.’ Stenwold shrugged. ‘Tynisa, you’ve been to the shrine on Parosyal.’
‘That was different. They drugged me, and I saw . . . visions, hallucinations.’
He stared down at his hands. ‘I used to think the way you do, but I’ve now seen so much . . . There is more to life than just the things we can see. Achaeos would say the same, of course.’
‘Much good it did him.’
‘Tynisa . . . will you come with me to the council?’
/> ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, Sten, but I can’t. I can’t trust myself any more. You’ll have to find someone else.’
He nodded slowly. I can’t force her, for all that I need her. Perhaps Tisamon would have more luck in persuading her. He spared one more look for his niece, Che, and then turned to go.
So the ranks diminish, he reflected sadly, yet the Lowlands was readying itself for battle. Sarn and Collegium and the Ancient League were summoning their allies. Stenwold needed every agent he could get, and he was still short, but he could not make the numbers add up. Sperra was now lost to him, as was Achaeos, who could have proved so useful amongst his own people. Tynisa would not fight, and he had not even asked Che to help him. His resources were growing fewer even as the Wasp armies massed.
He arrived at the council chamber early. Today was another war council and people were still calling him War Master since the siege. He was expecting to see old Lineo Thadspar turn up, and a score or so of other Assemblers, each with their own schemes and advice. There would be Tisamon as well, standing at the back and saying nothing, with a look of disdain on his face . . . and probably the Spider, Teornis . . .
Even as he thought the name the man himself came striding into the chamber, rubbing his hands briskly. He had chosen to wear a bone and leather cuirass over a red silk robe, while a cap of chitin, adorned with the feathery fronds of moth antennae, made him look like some ancient warrior-mystic. Behind him came the diminutive form of the Fly-kinden pilot known as Taki, who had brought Che home from her birthplace of Solarno, fleeing in the face of yet another Wasp conquest.
‘Master Maker,’ the Spider said, ‘times move faster than we do, I’m afraid.’
‘In what way?’
‘I’ve had news that calls me home, as swiftly as I can make the journey. I’ve arranged for an airship to take me and my retinue to Seldis.’
‘The Wasps?’
‘Camped outside our borders again, but this time it doesn’t look as though the Mantis-kinden will do our dirty work for us.’
Salute the Dark Page 1