by Brent Weeks
About the author
Brent Weeks was born and raised in Montana. After getting his paper keys from Hillsdale college, Brent had brief stints walking the earth like Caine from Kung Fu, tending bar, and corrupting the youth. (Not at the same time.) He started writing on bar napkins, then on lesson plans, then full time. Eventually, someone paid him for it. Brent lives in Oregon with his wife, Kristi. He doesn’t own cats or wear a pony-tail. Find out more about the author at www.brentweeks.com.
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BY BRENT WEEKS
Perfect Shadow (e-only novella)
The Night Angel Trilogy
The Way of Shadows
Shadow’s Edge
Beyond the Shadows
The Lightbringer Series
The Black Prism
The Blinding Knife
The Broken Eye
COPYRIGHT
Published by Orbit
ISBN: 9780748116997
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Orbit
Copyright © 2014 by Brent Weeks
Maps by Chad Roberts Design
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Orbit
Little, Brown Book Group
100 Victoria Embankment
London, EC4Y 0DY
www.littlebrown.co.uk
www.hachette.co.uk
Contents
About the Author
By Brent Weeks
Copyright
Character List
Dedication
Maps
Epigraph
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
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Character List
Adrasteia (Teia): A student at the Chromeria. She is slave to Lady Lucretia Verangheti of the Smussato Veranghetis; a Blackguard candidate and a drafter of paryl.
Aheyyad: Orange drafter, grandson of Tala. A defender of Garriston, the designer of Garriston’s Brightwater Wall; dubbed Aheyyad Brightwater by Prism Gavin Guile.
Ahhanen: A Blackguard.
Aklos: A slave of Lady Aglaia Crassos.
Amestan: A Blackguard at the Battle of Garriston.
Aram: A Blackguard scrub. His parents were Blackguards, and he has been training in martial arts since he could walk.
Arana: A drafting student, a merchant’s daughter.
Aras: A student at the Chromeria, a Blackguard scrub.
Arash, Javid: One of the drafters who defended Garriston.
Aravind, Lord: Satrap of Atash. Father of Kata Ham-haldita, corregidor of Idoss.
Arias, Lord: One of the Color Prince’s advisers. He is an Atashian in charge of spreading news about the Color Prince.
Arien: A magister at the Chromeria. She drafts orange and tests Kip on Luxlord Black’s orders.
Ariss the Navigator: A legendary explorer, discoverer.
Asif: A young Blackguard.
Asmun: A Blackguard scrub.
Atagamo: A magister who teaches the properties of luxin at the Chromeria. He is Ilytian.
Atiriel, Karris: A desert princess. She became Karris Shadowblinder before she married Lucidonius.
Ayrad: A yellow drafter. He was a Blackguard scrub years before Kip entered the class. He started at the bottom of his class (forty-ninth) and worked his way up to the top, fighting everyone. It turned out he’d taken a vow. Became commander of the Blackguard and saved four different Prisms at least once before someone poisoned him.
Azmith, Caul: A Parian general, the Parian satrapah’s younger brother.
Balder: A Blackguard scrub who has it in for Kip.
Bas the Simple: A Tyrean polychrome (blue/green/superviolet), handsome but a simpleton, sworn to kill the killer of the White Oak family.
Ben-hadad: A Ruthgari student at the Chromeria. He has been accepted into the Blackguards in an earlier class. A blue/yellow bichrome who has created his own mechanical spectacles that allow blue or yellow lenses to be used, he’s highly intelligent.
Big Ros: A slave of Aglaia.
Blademan: A Blackguard watch captain. He leads one of the skimmers in the battle at Ruic Head, along with Gavin and Watch Captain Tempus.
Blue-Eyed Demons, the: Mercenaries who fought for Dazen’s army.
Borig, Janus: An old woman. She is bald, smokes a long pipe, and is apparently a Mirror.
Bursar: The Omnichrome’s most important adviser. She is constantly doing figures with her small abacus and is in charge of one-third of the chits for the soldiers to use for prostitutes.
Burshward, Captain: An Angari captain (from beyond the Everdark Gates).
Burshward, Gillan: Captain Burshward’s brother.
Buskin: Along with Tugertent and Tlatig, the best archer Commander Ironfist has on the approach to Ruic Head.
Caelia: A dwarf servant of the Third Eye.
Carver Black: A non-drafter, as is traditional for the Black. He is the chief administrator of the Seven Satrapies. Though he has a voice on the Spectrum, he has no vote.
Carvingen, Odess: A drafter and defender of Garriston.
Cavair, Paz: Commander of the Blue Bastards at the Great Pyramid of Ru.
Cezilia: A servant/bodyguard to the Third Eye.
Clara: A servant/bodyguard to the Third Eye.
Companions’ Mother: Head of the Omnichrome’s army’s prostitute guild.
Coran, Adraea: Blessed. Said “war is a horror.”
Cordelia: A willowy female Blackguard.
Corfu, Ramia: A powerful young blue drafter. He is one of the Color Prince’s favorites.
Corzin, Eleph: An Abornean blue drafter, a defender of Garriston.
Counselor, the: A legendary figure. Author of The Counselor to Kings, which advised such cruel methods of government that not even he followed them when he ruled.
Crassos, Aglaia: A young noblewoman and drafter at the Chromeria. She is the youngest daughter of an important Ruthgari family, a sadist who enjoys the pain she inflicts on her slaves.
Crassos, Governor: Elder brother of Aglaia Crassos; the last governor of Garriston.
Cruxer: A Blackguard scrub. He’s the third generation to enter the ranks; his parents are Inana and Holdfast.
Daelos: A Blackguard scrub.
Dagnar Zelan: One of the original Blackguards. He served Lucidonius after converting to his cause.
Danavis, Aliviana (Liv): Daughter of Corvan Danavis. She is a yellow and superviolet bichrome drafter from Tyrea. Her contract is owned by the Ruthgari, and she is supervised by Aglaia Crassos.
Danavis, Corvan: A red drafter. A scion of one of the great Ruthgari families, he was also the most brilliant general of the age and the primary reason for Dazen’s success in battle.
Danavis, Ell: The second wife of Corvan Danavis. She was murdered by an assassin three years after their marriage.
Danavis, Erethanna: A green drafter serving Count Nassos in western Ruthgar; Liv Danavis’s cousin.
Danavis, Qora: A Tyrean noblewoman; first wife of Corvan Danavis, mother of Aliviana Danavis.
Delara, Naftalie: A woman Andross was going to “let” Gavin marry.
Delara Orange: The Atashian member of the Spectrum. She represents Orange and is a forty-year-old orange/red bichrome nearing the end of her life. Her predecessor in the seat was her mother, who devised the rotating scheme for Garriston.
Delarias: A family in Rekton.
Delauria, Katalina: Kip’s mother. She is of Parian or Ilytian extraction and is a haze addict.
Delclara, Micael: A quarryman and a Rekton villager.
Delclara, Miss: The matriarch of the Delclara family in Rekton. She had six sons who are quarrymen.
Delclara, Zalo: A quarryman, one of the Delclara sons.
Delelo, Galan: A master sergeant in the Omnichrome’s army. He escorts Liv to the gates of Garriston.
Delmarta, Gad: A young general of Dazen’s army who took the city of Ru and publicly massacred the royal family and their retainers.
Delucia, Neta: A member of the ruling council of Idoss (i.e., a city mother).
Djur: Along with Ahhanen, he is on duty as a Blackguard when Karris and Gavin leave the refugee ship.
Droose: One of Gunner’s shipmates.
Elessia: A Blackguard.
Elio: A bully in Kip’s barracks. Kip breaks his arm.
Elos, Gaspar: A green color wight.
Erato: A Blackguard scrub who has it in for Kip.
Essel: A Blackguard woman who broke the fingers of an Atashian nobleman when he began to take liberties.
Euterpe: A friend of Teia’s who was a slave. Her owners lost everything in a drought and rented her to the Laurion silver mine brothels for five months. She never recovered.
Falling Leaf, Deedee: A green drafter. Her failing health inspired a number of veteran drafters to take the Freeing at Garriston.
Farjad, Farid: A nobleman and ally of Dazen’s once Dazen promised him the Atashian throne during the False Prism’s War.
Farseer, Horas: Another ally of Dazen’s, the bandit king of the Blue-Eyed Demons. Gavin Guile killed him after the False Prism’s War.
Fell: A female Blackguard, the smallest in the force, she excels at acrobatic moves.
Ferkudi: A Blackguard scrub, a blue/green bichrome who excels at grappling.
Finer: A Blackguard seen in one of the cards.
Fisk, Trainer: He trains the scrubs with drills and conditioning. He just barely beat Karris during their own test to enter the Blackguards.
Flamehands: An Ilytian drafter and defender of Garriston.
Gaeros: One of Lady Aglaia’s slaves.
Galaea: Karris White Oak’s maid, and betrayer.
Galden, Jens: A magister at the Chromeria, a red drafter.
Galib: A polychrome at the Chromeria.
Gallos: A stableman at Garriston.
Garadul, Perses: Appointed satrap of Tyrea after Ruy Gonzalo was defeated by the Prism’s forces in the False Prism’s War. Perses was the father of Rask Garadul. He worked to eradicate the bandits plaguing Tyrea after the war.
Garadul, Rask: A satrap who declared himself king of Tyrea; his father was Perses Garadul.
Gazzin, Griv: A green drafter who fought with Zee Oakenshield.
Gerain: An old man in Garriston who exhorted people to join King Garadul.
Gerrad: A student at the Chromeria.
Gevison: A poet (long deceased).
Golden Briar, Eva: A woman Andross was going to let Gavin choose to marry.
Goldeneyes, Tawenza: A yellow drafter. She teaches only the three most talented yellows each year at the Chromeria.
Goldthorn: A magister at the Chromeria. Barely three years older than her disciples, she teaches the superviolet class.
Gonzalo, Ruy: A Tyrean satrap who sided with Dazen during the False Prism’s War.
Goss: A Parian Blackguard scrub, one of the best fighters.
Gracia: A mountain Parian scrub. She’s taller than most of the boys.
Grass, Evi: A drafter and defender of Garriston. She is a green/yellow bichrome from Blood Forest and is a superchromat.
Grazner: A Blackguard scrub. Kip breaks his will in a bout.
Green, Jerrosh: Along with Dervani Malargos, he is one of the best green drafters in the Omnichrome’s army, and a Blood Robe.
Greenveil, Arys: The Sub-red on the Spectrum. A Blood Forester, she is a cousin of Jia Tolver, and her sister is Ana Jorvis’s mother, Ela. Her parents were killed in the war by Lunna Green’s brothers. She has twelve children by twelve different men.
Greyling, Gavin: A new Blackguard. He is brother to Gill Greyling, named after Gavin Guile. He is the handsomer of the two brothers.
Greyling, Gill: A new Blackguard. He is elder brother to Gavin Greyling, and he is the more intelligent of the two.
Grinwoody: Andross Guile’s chief slave and right hand. He is barely a drafter, but Andross pulled strings to get him into training for the Blackguard, where he made friends and learned secrets. He made it all the way through Blackguard training, and on oath day decided to sign with Lord Guile instead, a betrayal the Blackguards remember.
Guile, Andross: Father of Gavin, Dazen, and Sevastian Guile. He drafts yellow through sub-red, although he is primarily known for drafting red, as that is his position on the Spectrum. He took a place on the Spectrum despite being from Blood Forest, which already had a representative, by claiming that his few lands in Ruthgar qualified him for the seat.
Guile, Darien: Andross Guile’s great-grandfather. He was married to Ze
e Oakenshield’s daughter as a resolution to their war.
Guile, Dazen: Younger brother of Gavin. He fell in love with Karris White Oak and triggered the False Prism’s War when “he” burned down her family compound, killing everyone within.
Guile, Draccos: Andross Guile’s father.
Guile, Felia: Married to Andross Guile. The mother of Gavin and Dazen, a cousin of the Atashian royal family, she is an orange drafter. Her mother was courted by Ulbear Rathcore before he met Orea Pullawr.
Guile, Gavin: The Prism. Two years older than Dazen, he was appointed at age thirteen.
Guile, Kip: The illegitimate Tyrean son of Gavin Guile and Katalina Delauria. He is a superchromat and a full-spectrum polychrome.
Guile, Sevastian: The youngest Guile brother. He was murdered by a blue wight when Gavin was thirteen and Dazen was eleven.
Gunner: An Ilytian pirate. His first underdeck command was as cannoneer on the Aved Barayah. He later became a captain.
Ham-haldita, Kata: Corregidor of Idoss, the Atashian satrap’s son.
Harl, Pan: A Blackguard scrub. His ancestors were slaves for the last eight of ten generations.
Helel, Mistress: She masqueraded as a teacher in the Chromeria and tried to murder Kip.
Hena: A magister at the Chromeria who teaches a class on luxin construction.
Hezik: A Blackguard whose mother commanded a pirate hunter in the Narrows. He can shoot cannons fairly accurately.
Holdfast: A deceased Blackguard. His son is Cruxer and his widow is Inana, another Blackguard.
Holvar, Jin: A woman who entered the Blackguard the same year as Karris, though she is a few years younger.
Idus: A Blackguard scrub.
Inana: Cruxer’s mother, and a Blackguard. Widow of Holdfast, a Blackguard.
Incaros: One of Lady Aglaia Crassos’s room slaves.
Ironfist, Harrdun: Commander of the Blackguard, thirty-eight years old, a blue drafter.
Isabel (Isa): A pretty young girl in Rekton.
Izem Blue: A legendary drafter and a defender of Garriston under Gavin Guile.
Izem Red: A defender of Garriston under Gavin Guile. He fought for Gavin during the False Prism’s War. A Parian drafter of red with incredible speed, he wears his ghotra in the shape of a cobra’s hood.
Jalal: A Parian storekeeper who sells kopi.
Jevaros, Lord: A young idiot who could become the next Blackguard commander and Andross Guile’s tool.
Jorvis, Ana: A superviolet/blue bichrome, student at the Chromeria, one of the women Andross Guile would allow Gavin to marry.