A Sword from Red Ice Read online

  A Sword from Red Ice

  Julia V Jones

  The Endlords have awoken from their eternal prison — the long night is upon the land and dark forces must sate their lust for destruction in the war to end all wars. This is the time when clans should stand together yet only the Sull, an ancient dwindling race, have heeded the warning signs. Sull legend warns of the Endlords and foretells The One Who Bears Loss, the warrior who will stay their malignant power. They believed this warrior would be one of their own but a clansman, Raif Sevrance, has found his destiny and must betray his past to fulfill it. The Sword of Shadows series is J. V. Jones' most ambitious work yet. A masterpiece of storytelling and world-building, it is rapidly becoming one of the major fantasy epics of the decade.

  Julia V. Jones

  A SWORD FROM RED ICE

  (Sword of Shadows –3)

  For dear Fergus for all his kindness

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thanks are due to Jim Frenkel and the good people at Tor for making this a better book.

  SWORD OF SHADOWS

  The Story So Far

  Raif Sevrance of Clan Blackhail was out shooting ice hares in the Badlands with his brother Drey when his father and chief were slain back at camp. Upon returning to their clanhold, Raif and Drey found that Mace Blackhail, the chiefs foster son, had declared himself head of the clan. Mace had been present at the camp that day, and blamed the murders on Vaylo Bludd, chief of a rival clan. A week later, when word arrived that Vaylo Bludd had sacked the Dhoonehouse, events seemed to bear out Mace's story of Bludd aggression. Raif found himself isolated. He alone believed that Mace Blackhail was a liar and a chief-killer.

  War against Clan Bludd followed, as Hailsmen sought to avenge their chiefs death. When Mace received word that a caravan of Bluddsmen were on tbp road, heading west to occupy the Dhoonehouse, he ordered an attack. Raif rode with the ambush party, and was horrified to discover that the caravan contained women and children, not warriors. He refused to kill them. By disobeying an order on the field and deserting his fellow clansmen in battle, Raif made himself a traitor to his clan. Four days later, Raif left Blackhail in the company of his uncle Angus Lok. Raif's oath to protect Blackhail had now been broken. There was no going back.

  The two men headed south. When they arrived at Duff's stove-house, they disofcvered that the stoiy of the massacre of innocents on the Bluddroad had preceded them. When challenged by a group of Bludd warriors, Raif admitted to being present during the slaughter. He did not tell them that he took no part in the massacre-loyalty to his clan prevented him from defending himself at their expense. With this amission, Riaif forever damned himself in the eyes of Bluddsmen.

  He was the only Bailsmen they knew for a certainty who was present during the slayings.

  Angus Lok and Raif made their way to Spire Vanis, the city at the foot of Mount Slain. Upon arrival, they rescued a young woman named Ash March who was being hunted down by the city's Protector General, Marafice Eye. Angus had a strong reaction when he saw the girl and immediately put himself in danger to save her. Raif s newly formed skills with the bow proved invaluable. He single-handedly rescued the girl by placing arrows through her pursuers' hearts.

  Heart-killing, it was called: the surest and quickest way of ending another person's life. Raif Sevrance was slowly coming to understand that he was master of it.

  Having escaped from the city, Raif, Ash and Angus turned north toward Ille Glaive. During the journey Raif learned that Ash was the Surlord of Spire Vanis' adopted daughter. She had run away because she feared that her father intended to imprison her in the Inverted Spire, which lay beneath the tower known as the Splinter. Heritas Cant, a friend of Angus Lok's, provided the reason for Ash's Gather's behavior. According to Cant, Ash was the first Reach to be born in a thousand years. She possessed the ability to unlock the Blind, the prison without a key that contained the destructive might of the Endlords. The Endlords' purpose was to annihilate the world, and every thousand years they rode forth to claim more men for their armies. Cant informed Ash that she must discharge her Reach-power or die. The only place to do so safely was the Cavem of Black Ice; anywhere else and she would tear open the Blind and free the Endlords.

  Raif and Angus agreed to accompany Ash to the cavem in the far north. As soon as their small party reentered the clanholds they were captured by Bluddsmen. The Dog Lord, Vaylo Bludd, ordered Raifs torture in the Ganmiddich tower. The Bludd chief had lost seventeen grandchildren during the slaying on the Bluddroad, and Raif Sevrance had to pay for those losses. After days of torture, Raif developed a fever and began to fail. Yet when Death came to take him she changed her mind. "Perhaps I won't take you yet," she told him. "You fight in my image and live in my shadow, and if I leave you where you are you'll provide much fresh meat for my children. Kill an army for me, Raif Sevrance, any less and I just might call you back" Raif feared the grim words would become his life.

  The night before he was due to be killed by Vaylo Bludd, Raif was rescued by a group of Hailish warriors led by his brother Drey. "We part here. For always," Drey said as he let his younger brother, the traitor, slip away.

  Later that day Raif met up with Ash. While Raif was being tortured, Ash had been handed over to Marafice Eye, who planned on returning her to her foster father in Spire Vanis. Vaylo Bludd had a debt to repay. Penthero Iss, the Surlord of Spire Vanis, had aided Vaylo's taking of the Dhoonehouse. Vaylo had come to regret Iss's sorcerous help, and sought to end all relations with the surlord. Ash March was payment in full.

  Ash escaped Marafice's custody after his men attempted to rape her. Drawing forth her Reach-power, she blasted Marafice's party, killing everyone except Marafice himself and the surlord's special spy, Sarga Veys.

  Ash's and Raif' s journey to the Cavern of Black Ice proved arduous. Ash's health quickly deteriorated. After crossing the mountains, she collapsed in the snow. Unable to help her, Raif drew a guide circle and called out to the Stone Gods. Two Sull Far Riders, Mai Naysayer and Ark Veinsplitter, heard this call, and rode to Ash's aid. Upon seeing her, they suspected that Ash was the Reach. They also suspected that Raif was Mor Drakka, Watcher of the Dead—the one predicted to destroy the Sull. Not surprisingly the Far Riders were cool with Raif as they tended Ash. After a few days, the Far Riders led Ash and Raif onto a frozen riverbed and pointed the way to the Cavern of Black Ice.

  The cavern lay beneath the river. Ash discharged her power, but it was already too late. By blasting Marafice Eye's men in the Bitter Hills, she had caused a tear in the Blindwall. Back in her home city of Spire Vanis, a nameless sorcerer who had been enslaved by her foster father was already working to open the break. "Push and we will give you your name," the Endlords promised him. Bound by chains, broken and tortured, the sorcerer accepted the deal. "Baralis," the Endlords named the sorcerer as he broke open the wall.

  As this was happening, the clanwars were spinning out of control. Blackhail waged war on Bludd in revenge for the killing of the Hail chief; Bludd fought Blackhail for the slaying of its women and children; and Dhoone, dispossessed of its roundhouse by Bludd, fought to regain its territory. The clanhold of Ganmiddich, which was traditionally war-sworn to Dhoone, was overtaken first by Bludd and then Blackhail. Mace Blackball, now chief of Blackhail, forced an oath of loyalty from the Ganmiddich chief and then garrisoned Hailsmen in the Ganmiddich roundhouse to insure it was upheld.

  Meanwhile, infighting amongst Dhoonesmen over the chiefship came to a head. Skinner Dhoone was the deceased chiefs brother and first choice for the now-vacant chiefship, but the brash up-and-eomer Robbie Dun Dhoone fancied the title for himself The two factions split the clan down the middle. The deadlock ended when Robbie tricked Skinner into attacking Withy, t
he clan who made kings. Skinner's forces and Skinner himself were cut down by Rludd, freeing Robbie to take the chiefship of Dhoone. When infighting amongst Vaylo Rludd and his seven ungrateful sons resulted in the Dhoonehouse being held by a skeleton force, Robbie seized his chance and retook the Dhoonehold. The small occupying force of Bluddsmen were slain, and only Vaylo, his lady Nan, his two remaining grandchildren and a guardsman escaped.

  Robbie wasted no time naming himself chief and king. His half-brother, Bram Cormac, was left to pay the price for this victory. For in order to secure sufficient numbers to retake Dhoone, Robbie had sold his brother to Castlemilk.

  Back at Blackhail, the slain chiefs widow, Raina Blackhail, struggled to come to terms with her new life. Like Raif, Raina suspected that Mace, her foster son, was responsible for her husband s murder. At first she had not supported Mace's campaign for chiefship, but Mace put a stop to her opposition by raping her. Silver-tongued, he claimed the union was consensual: a momentary weakness between two grieving adults. Aware that most people in the clan believed his story, Raina chose to keep her silence. Her place in the clan was at stake; tell the truth and she would be branded a liar. Clannish honor demanded that she and Mace marry, so Raina wed her foster son and became chief's wife again.

  From this position, she watched the decline of her clan. Mace had been born at Clan Scarpe, and it wasn't long before his old loyalties started to show. When the Scarpchouse was burned down by a neighboring clan, Mace opened the doors of the Hailhouse to Scarpe. Scarpemen in then hundreds poured into Blackhail and set about consuming it's resources. When Angus Lok, newly freed from captivity by the— Dog Lord, visited Raina, he planted the seed of dissent, "I will be chief," Raina found herself saying after he had left. Her husband was a chief-killer who had ordered the slaying of innocent women and children on the Bluddroad, and plunged his clan into needless war. Surely she could be a better chief than that? The two people she informed of her intentions—the senior warrior Orwin Shank and the clan matron Anwyn Bird—agreed with her, and Raina set about looking for opportunities to claim power.

  After departing Blackhail, Angus Lok returned to his home east of Ille Glaive. Upon arrival he found his worst nightmare had come to life: his house was empty and burned down. His three daughters and his wife were gone. Dead. Angus was a ranger, a member of the secret society known as the Phage. His work involved opposing the rise of the Endlords, and he blamed himself for leading evil to his door.

  Leaving the Cavern of Black Ice, Ash and Raif headed north into Ice Trapper territory. Once there, they met up with Mal Naysayer and Ark Veinsplitter. Raif was drugged, and awakened to find Ash and the Far Riders gone. Sadaluk, Listener of the Ice Trappers, informed Raif that Ash had chosen to leave, and could not be followed. Raif reluctantly accepted this and decided to head east. Sadaluk gave him two parting gifts: a sword salvaged from the corpse of a Forsworn knight and a single arrow. "Grow wide shoulders, Clansman," Sadaluk told him. "You will need them for all of your burdens."

  With a heavy heart, Raif departed. He had decided to join the Maimed Men, an outlaw clan who lived on the great cliffs above the Rift. During his journey he learned firsthand what the Endlords and their Unmade could do to men. In an ancient fastness on the edge of the Great Want, he found the smoking, disintegrating corpses of four Forsworn knights. They had been attacked by the Unmade—who were now escaping from the Blind—and as the knight's bodies smoked to nothing the Endlords claimed their souls. One knight remained alive but mortally wounded, and Raif learned that the only way to stop the man's body from becoming unmade was to kill him, thereby depriving the Endlords of his death. It was a chilling lesson, and Raif found himself embracing the name the Listener had given him, Watcher of the Dead.

  No man who was whole could join the Maimed Men, and upon arrival at the Rift, the tip of Raif's finger was taken by a man named Stillborn. Traggis Mole, the leader of the Maimed Men, was suspicious of Raifs claims to be a crack bowman, and ordered a test of arrows. Raif won the test, claimed a prize of a rare Sull longbow and earned the name Twelve Kill. His opponent was killed and thrown into the Rift.

  Meanwhile, Ash had become Sull. In a deep mountain cavern east of Ice Trapper territory, the Far Riders drained her human blood to make way for Sull blood. Ash learned the Sull were an ancient race whose numbers and influence were in decline. At one time they had occupied the entire Northern Territories; now they had been reduced to a region of land in the east. The Sull believed it was their destiny to fight the Endlords and the Unmade, and by becoming Sull Ash agreed to take on this fight. As they made their way south to the Heart of the Sull, they were pursued by the Unmade. Just north of the River Flow, they were attacked by unmade pack wolves. Ark was killed and Mal continued fighting as Ash floated to safety on an unhitched bridge. «Daughter» had been Ark's last word to her. The endearment almost broke Ash's heart.

  Penthero Iss, the Surlord of Spire Vanis and Ash's foster father, had been planning to use Ash's Reach-power to seize control of the clan-holds. With his daughter gone, he decided to send an army to attack the clanholds and chose Marafice Eye as its leader. While the army marched north, bent on attacking rich and vulnerable Ganmiddich, the surlord was left unguarded and vulnerable in Spire Vanis. Rival grangelords sharpened their knives. Yet it was not a rival for the sur-lordship that brought down Iss: it was Crope, the faithful servant of the sorcerer who was enslaved beneath the Splinter. Crope and his lord had been separated seventeen years earlier when Iss had captured Baralis. Crope himself had been seized by slavers and sent to work in the mines. It took him seventeen years to escape. As soon as he was free he traveled across a continent to save his lord. Crope had giant's blood in his veins and he brought down the Splinter, killed the surlord, and carried Baralis to safety.

  Meanwhile, Effie Sevrance, Raif's eight-year-old sister, had been forced to leave her clan. Effie had been born to the stone lore and was able to tell when bad things were about to happen. She was present when Raina was raped by Mace, and Raina feared this knowledge made Kflfie vulnerable. Seeking to remove the girl from Mace's sights, Raina sent Effie to Clan Dregg. As she traveled south in the company of gold smugglers, Effie began to master her lifelong fear of being outside. When her wagon was attacked by Dhoonesmen she was able to hide until the danger passed. The smugglers were killed during the attack, and Effie was left to fend for herself. Finding a secluded clearing near the Wolf River, she settled down to catch fish and live alone for a while. However, she was soon spotted by a chance predator, who swooped in and kidnapped her.

  The gold the smugglers had been transporting had come from a Blackhail mine, Black Hole. Traggis Mole, believing that Raifs loyalties still lay with his former clan, not the Maimed Men, ordered Raif to participate in a raid on the mine. The raid was a success. Quickly overcoming the miners' defenses, RaiPs party entered the mine and seized the stockpile of gold. As he climbed to the surface, Raif encountered his childhood friend Bitty Shank. Bitty was now a sworn Blackhail warrior, and he refused to let Raif leave with the gold. Raif had little choice but to fight and heart-kill his old friend.

  Bereft and believing he was damned, Raif headed out alone into the uncharted territory of the Great Want. He had learned from the Maimed Man Thomas Argola that a long-deserted fortress lay hidden in the depths of the Want. By finding it he hoped to stop the formation of a second crack in the weakened Blindwall. The Great Want was filled with flaws, and a Shatan Maer, an unmade creature of terrible power, had found one such flaw and was pushing against it. The flaw lay beneath Kahl Barranon, the Fortress of Grey Ice. Using the arrow given to him by the Listener, Raif located the position of the fortress. Once there, he quickly found the flaw and waited for the Shatan Maer to emerge. The battle that followed was long and grim. The Shatan Maer possessed inhuman strength and quickness… but Raif Sevrance was Watcher of the Dead. He had deserted his clan and slain a fellow clansman. He was forever damned and had little to lose. And there was no other living man who co
uld heart-kill as he could.

  The Shatan Maer fell, the flaw in the Blindwall was sealed, and the North was freed from danger for a while …

  PROLOGUE

  The Hail Wolf Returns

  Inigar Stoop opened his eyes and blinked into the darkness of the guidehouse. The smoke fires had gone out while he slept, and it took him long moments to make sense of the unfamiliar shadows of deepest night. Something in his chest wasn't right. His heartbeat was the same as ever, but there was a vague soreness beneath his ribs, a sense that muscle had been working while he slept.

  Indistinct forms loomed around him, their edges bleeding into the darkness like ink spilled on cloth. To calm himself Blackhail's clan guide named the forms in his head—the little stone font where he drew his water, the hog-backed coffer where he kept his ceremonial robes, the statue of lone that had been carved from a riven fragment of the guidestone by the great warrior-guide Harlec Sewell—but the ache in his chest persisted. Raising a hand to knead his rib cage, Inigar became aware of the great stillness he disturbed. The guide-house was as cold and quiet as a grave dug for a horse. The smell of damp earth had pushed through the sandstone walls, and Inigar could feel its coolness moving through his lungs. Fighting the desire to shiver, he swung his legs over the side of the pallet and rose to standing.

  Something is wrong here.

  Rock dust crunched beneath his bare feet as he crossed toward the fire pit. He had not swept here in many days, and debris from the guidestone lay thick on the flagstone floor. The time for spring tilling was fast approaching and every farmer in the clanhold would soon demand a measure of this dust to scatter in his fields along with the grain. Night soils to fertilize the earth; stone soils to hallow it. Nothing shed from the Hailstone was wasted. Sometimes Inigar thought he was as much butcher as shaman-dividing the carcass of the monolith, grinding down its bones.