by Duncan Lay
‘I deserved the truth! If nothing else, before we Walked The Tree!’ she screamed.
‘Hey, you two — enough!’ Sendatsu staggered to his feet and towards them both.
‘What?’ They both rounded on him.
‘We are alive — we should be happy for that.’
‘Happy? You think I can be happy after this? What have I got to be happy about?’ Rhiannon asked bitterly.
Huw, who could see Rhiannon slipping away from him with every word, did not speak but his battered face said it all.
By contrast, Sendatsu’s mind was whirling and happiness was bubbling through him. Rhiannon could do magic. A human could do magic. This was not one of the answers he sought but it was exactly what Sumiko wanted. This would change everything in Dokuzen. This was his ticket home … was this also proof that there was no difference between humans and elves?
‘You can do magic now. You can come back to Dokuzen with me. You can get the elves to save Vales, you can change everything!’ He struggled to convey the enormity of it all to the pair of them.
‘What?’ Rhiannon’s head was spinning and she could not think straight.
‘You are the first human to do magic — you are the most important person in the world now!’
Rhiannon gaped at him, as did Huw.
‘I don’t feel important,’ she groaned, wanting to disappear down a deep hole, leave all this far behind.
‘Don’t you understand? You are the one person who can bring elves and humans together. You are the one these lands have been waiting for the last three hundred years!’
Silence greeted Sendatsu’s words as Huw and Rhiannon stared at him in shock.
Sendatsu smiled encouragingly at her, his heart singing. He had his answers, he had everything he ever dreamed of! He could go home, he could see his children, he could feel Mai’s and Cheijun’s arms around him even now and tears pricked his eyes as he imagined their reaction. Part of him was warning that Rhiannon’s life would be in terrible danger the moment she revealed her magic to the elves — but all he could think about was his children.
‘It’s not going to be like that at all,’ a harsh voice interrupted.
Sendatsu spun, Rhiannon and Huw turned also, to see Hanto walk into the clearing, Jin and Taigo at his shoulders. All three had their bows bent, the arrows pointed at them.
‘You really should learn how to stay hidden in woodlands. All that screaming and shouting led us right to you.’ Hanto smiled wolfishly. ‘I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this.’ He glanced at his companions. ‘Kill the humans.’
He kept his drawn bow pointed at Sendatsu, while the other two instantly loosed, sending arrows leaping across the clearing.
The story continues in
VALLEY OF SHIELDS
EMPIRE OF BONES, BOOK TWO
Author’s Note
Many of the place names in Bridge of Swords, indeed the whole series, are real names, to be found in the pages of history or even on today’s maps. However, the fictional towns and villages named in this series bear no relation to their real counterparts.
There are also several historical hints and notes, from the Chinese repeating crossbow to the Welsh flag and anthem. Again, there is no intention to make this, or them, real.
This is not only a work of fiction, it is a work of fantasy.
Discover Duncan Lay’s trilogy
THE DRAGON SWORD HISTORIES …
THE WOUNDED GUARDIAN
THE DRAGON SWORD HISTORIES, BOOK ONE
Martil is a haunted man — a war hero, now derided as the ‘Butcher of Bellic’. Leaving his beloved homeland he is set upon by bandits and tricked into taking a small child, Karia, to her uncle. But they only find one ex-bandit in the town, along with the Dragon Sword, a magical relic belonging to the rulers of Norstalos.
Norstalos’s first-ever queen is trying to keep her crown. Her cousin, Duke Gello, wants it and is prepared to do anything to get it.
Martil can find no way out of caring for a child, fighting for a queen and discovering that even a magical sword is no guarantee of victory …
THE RISEN QUEEN
THE DRAGON SWORD HISTORIES, BOOK TWO
Martil and his Rallorans are trying to gain control of the north for Queen Merren but winning the hearts of the people is proving impossible.
King Gello the usurper is planning to lead a massive army to crush the budding rebellion but, even if a way can be found to defeat him, the Fearpriests stand ready to come to his aid …
Karia is trying to persuade Martil that she has all the answers, while Merren is considering desperate solutions to the problems facing her and Norstalos. Perhaps the despised primitive ‘goblins’ might be the answer.
But on Dragonara Isle, the dragons have their own plans for Martil and particularly for the Dragon Sword …
THE RADIANT CHILD
THE DRAGON SWORD HISTORIES, BOOK THREE
Norstalos stands on the brink of destruction. But the three invading armies are probably the least of Queen Merren’s problems.
Her people despise their would-be saviours, the army of goblins she has won to her side, while the dragons want Martil and the fabled Dragon Sword for themselves.
Now Merren must make the most painful choice of her life … marry Count Sendric for the good of the Royal House or the man who loves her, the troubled Champion, Martil.
Acknowledgements
A book does not end up on the shelves without a great deal of work by a great many people. I need to thank my beta reader Belinda Lay, agent Sophie Hamley, publisher Stephanie Smith, editor Kate Burnitt, copy-editor Abigail Nathan, proofreader Ron Buck and designer Darren Holt. Without their help, advice and eagle eyes, Bridge of Swords would not be the same book. My name is on the cover yet they all helped to make it better and stronger, as well as hide flaws, correct mistakes and eliminate my talent for repeating key words and phrases.
About the Author
An interview with legendary American fantasy writer Raymond E Feist inspired Duncan Lay to try his hand at fantasy writing. He writes on the train, while commuting from his Central Coast home to his other job as Masthead Chief of The Sunday Telegraph. This is his second fantasy trilogy.
Connect with Duncan Lay at:
duncanlay.blogspot.com
facebook.com/duncan.lay
Twitter @DuncanLay
OTHER BOOKS BY DUNCAN LAY
THE DRAGON SWORD HISTORIES
The Wounded Guardian (1)
The Risen Queen (2)
The Radiant Child (3)
EMPIRE OF BONES
Bridge of Swords (1)
Copyright
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2012
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
www.harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Duncan Lay 2012
The right of Duncan Lay to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Lay, Duncan.
Bridge of swords / Duncan
Lay.
ISBN 978 0 7322 9418 2 (pbk).
ISBN 978 0 7304 9697 7 (epub)
Lay, Duncan. Empire of bones; 1.
Fantasy fiction.
A823.4
Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover images by shutterstock.com
Map by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio