Lord of the Shadows: Book 3 of The Second Sons Trilogy - Softcover

Buch 3 von 3: The Second Sons Trilogy

Fallon, Jennifer

 
9780553586701: Lord of the Shadows: Book 3 of The Second Sons Trilogy
Softcover
ISBN 10: 055358670X ISBN 13: 9780553586701
Verlag: Spectra, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Darkness threatens Ranadon again in the form of an eclipse. The Goddess wants to give the people of Ranadon a sign—and only Dirk Provin can interpret it. To do so, Dirk has systematically betrayed his one-time allies to join his most hated enemies. Now, with neither side trusting him, Dirk sets his own devious plot in motion

Senet’s Crippled Prince, Misha, has found unexpected and tenuous sanctuary among the Baenlanders of Mil. To secure their trust, he offers them the one thing they cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Alenor, Queen of Dhevyn, betrayed by her husband, Kirsh, and Tia Veran, deceived by Dirk, set out for revenge and to finally free their people at any cost. As the second sons and the rest of their generation
pursue different paths to survival and freedom, they discover that the will of the Goddess—and of men—works in mysterious ways. And as Dirk’s old enemies join with new ones, his attempt to save Ranadon may cost him his friends, his love...and his life.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jennifer Fallon lives in Alice Springs in Central Australia where she writes full time and works occasionally as a Trainer in Business Administration and Computing. She shares her house with 2 dogs, 2 cats, lots of stray people, and a collection of dragons from all over the world.

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Darkness threatens Ranadon again in the form of an eclipse. The Goddess wants to give the people of Ranadon a sign--and only Dirk Provin can interpret it. To do so, Dirk has systematically betrayed his one-time allies to join his most hated enemies. Now, with neither side trusting him, Dirk sets his own devious plot in motion
Senet's Crippled Prince, Misha, has found unexpected and tenuous sanctuary among the Baenlanders of Mil. To secure their trust, he offers them the one thing they cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Alenor, Queen of Dhevyn, betrayed by her husband, Kirsh, and Tia Veran, deceived by Dirk, set out for revenge and to finally free their people at any cost. As the second sons and the rest of their generation
pursue different paths to survival and freedom, they discover that the will of the Goddess--and of men--works in mysterious ways. And as Dirk's old enemies join with new ones, his attempt to save Ranadon may cost him his friends, his love...and his life.

Aus dem Klappentext

Darkness threatens Ranadon again in the form of an eclipse. The Goddess wants to give the people of Ranadon a sign and only Dirk Provin can interpret it. To do so, Dirk has systematically betrayed his one-time allies to join his most hated enemies. Now, with neither side trusting him, Dirk sets his own devious plot in motion

Senet s Crippled Prince, Misha, has found unexpected and tenuous sanctuary among the Baenlanders of Mil. To secure their trust, he offers them the one thing they cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Alenor, Queen of Dhevyn, betrayed by her husband, Kirsh, and Tia Veran, deceived by Dirk, set out for revenge and to finally free their people at any cost. As the second sons and the rest of their generation
pursue different paths to survival and freedom, they discover that the will of the Goddess and of men works in mysterious ways. And as Dirk s old enemies join with new ones, his attempt to save Ranadon may cost him his friends, his love...and his life.

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Chapter 1


Neris Veran was waiting as Tia climbed the goat path up to his cave overlooking the pirate settlement of Mil. His eyes were bright and he was unnaturally alert, a sure sign he'd recently taken another dose of poppy-dust. He must have been waiting for her since he spied her crossing the bay. It was raining, but it didn't seem to bother the madman. His thin shirt was soaked, his ragged, unkempt hair plastered to his head.

"Where's Dirk?" he asked as soon as she stepped onto the rocky ledge.

"Can't we go inside, Neris?"

"Where's Dirk?" he repeated stubbornly. "And why is everybody suddenly back in Mil?"

Tia glanced over her shoulder through the rain at the ships anchored below them. It was an unusual sight, all the pirate ships in port at the same time. She hadn't thought Neris would realize it, though.

"Let's go inside, Neris," she insisted. "I'm not going to stand out here in the rain being interrogated by you."

"It's only water," Neris said, turning his face upward. He let the rain fall on his closed eyes for a few moments, and then he looked back at Tia and grinned. "You're always complaining I don't wash often enough."

"Come on, Neris," she urged. "You'll catch your death if you stay out here."

"How do you know?"

Tia hurried across the ledge. He turned to watch her sheltering in the entrance of the cave, looking quite irritated. "You row across here in a downpour and that's perfectly all right for you, but if I stand in it, I'm being foolish! Suppose I want to catch my death? Suppose I'm too cowardly to take my own life so I'm standing here in the rain, tempting fate, daring her to take me?"

Tia sighed impatiently. There was no reasoning with him when he started asking questions like that.

"Did you want to hear about Dirk or not?" she called to him over the steady patter of raindrops, hoping that would entice him to come in out of the rain. She didn't wait for his answer. Instead, shivering a little in her wet clothes, Tia hurried over to the small fire in the cave and began to coax it back to life.

"So where is Dirk?" Neris asked her again as he stepped into the cave, shaking his head like a dog, showering everything within reach with a fine spray of raindrops.

"In Avacas," Tia replied shortly as she tended the fire. "He's joined the Shadowdancers."

Neris didn't reply.

Tia turned to look at him. "Did you hear what I said? Dirk Provin has betrayed us. He's joined Belagren and Antonov. He made a deal with the High Priestess, handed me over to them as part of it, Neris, just to save his own stupid neck."

Neris nodded, walked to the bed and sat down, oblivious to the fact that he was soaking the bed with his wet clothes.

"He betrayed me without so much as a flicker of remorse, Neris."

Her father's expression was thoughtful, rather than upset. He was taking the news far better than she anticipated. Where was the rage? The feelings of grief and torment over Dirk's unconscionable betrayal? Tia had felt little else since Omaxin, when she'd heard Dirk inform the High Priestess Belagren that he was ready and willing to join her.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"I'd like some tea."

"I meant about Dirk."

"I know. But I'd still like some tea. What did you do?"

"When he betrayed me? I shot him."

"Well, you never did have much of a sense of humor."

"Neris! This is nothing to joke about! He sent a message to Reithan. He told him he was going to tell Antonov the route through the delta."

"That would be logical."

"Logical! Are you--" Tia was going to ask: Are you crazy? As her father's insanity was a well established fact, it seemed a rather pointless question. "Neris, are you listening to me? Don't you understand what he's done?"

"Better than you, probably."

"Dirk Provin has betrayed us. He handed your only daughter over to the High Priestess to be tortured and killed. I thought you'd be upset."

"I'm a little surprised," Neris conceded. "But why would I be upset? Anyway, as you obviously haven't been tortured and killed, why should I waste time worrying that you might have been?"

Tia cursed under her breath as she moved the kettle over the fire. "I don't know, Neris. Why would I think you might be upset? Perhaps because, thanks to Dirk Provin, we're all likely to be dead in six weeks?"

"Is that supposed to frighten me? I've been trying to work up the courage to kill myself for more than twenty years, Tia."

"And that's all you can say?"

"What else did you want me to say? I'd actually like to say 'I told you so,' but I didn't, so there wouldn't be much point, would there? Or I could say 'Naughty Dirk,' but you've undoubtedly called him far worse. Or I could say . . ."

"Just forget it, Neris."

"Now you're mad at me. Still, I suppose with Dirk gone, you have to find someone to be mad at."

Tia rose to her feet, fighting back the urge to take him by his thin, wasted shoulders and shake some sense into him.

"We're evacuating the settlement."

"That's probably a wise move."

"You won't be able to take much with you, but--"

"I'm not leaving," he cut in, quite indignantly. "I'm staying right here! I'll get the best view from up here. Do you think they can get the Calliope through the delta? I've heard she's a magnificent sight under full sail."

"Is that all you care about? Seeing the Calliope?"

"I suppose I'd like to see the other ships, too . . ."

"There is no Calliope, Neris. Reithan burned it in Elcast when we tried to save Morna Provin."

"What a shame," Neris sighed.

Tia wanted to scream at him. "Neris! Concentrate, please! We're evacuating Mil. You can't stay here when we leave."

"Why not?" He seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Because you'll be killed or . . ." She didn't finish the sentence, not wishing to remind her father an even worse fate awaited him. It would be far better for all of them if he were dead, if the only alternative was Neris in the clutches of the Lion of Senet or the High Priestess of the Shadowdancers.

Neris's eyes narrowed cannily. "You think Dirk will have told Antonov and Belagren I still live, don't you?"

"Why not?" she replied. "He seems to have told them everything else."

"He won't tell them about me."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Because if Dirk wants to secure his position in Avacas with the High Priestess, then he needs her to believe I'm dead. While Belagren thinks Dirk is the only man alive who can tell her when the next Age of Shadows is due, he's indispensable. If she knew that I lived, it would reduce his value to her significantly and he's too smart to let something like that happen."

Tia stared at her father, surprised to hear him make such an astute observation.

"Neris, did Dirk say anything to you before he left?" she asked suspiciously. "Did he give you any hint about what he was planning?"

"Why would he tell me what he was up to?"

"He told you lots of things, didn't he?"

"Tia, Dirk's a very smart boy. The last thing he'd do if he was planning to betray us would be to confide in a madman."

Tia stared at...

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Verlag
Spectra
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
055358670X
ISBN 13 
9780553586701
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
592
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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