Shadow of a Dark Queen

Contents

Cast of Characters

Maps

Book 1 Erik's Tale

Prologue: Deliverance
   The drums thundered.

1 Challenge
   The Trumpet sounded.

2 Deaths
   Tyndal
was
dead.

3 Murder
   Erik halted.

4 Fugitives
   Erik fell.

5 Krondor
   The wagon halted.

6 Discovery
   The creature stirred.

7 Trial
   Roo stirred.

8 Choice
   The door opened.

9 Breakdown
   Erik groaned.

10 Transition
   The alarm sounded.

11 Passage
   Erik yawned.

12 Arrival
   Erik winced.

13 Search
   The barman looked up.

14 Journey
   Erik dismounted.

15 Village
   The lookout shouted.

16 Rendezvous
   Calis signaled a halt.

17 Discovery
   Roo pointed.

18 Escape
   Nakor waved.

19 Discovery
   A gong sounded.

20 Passage
   Calis signaled.

21 Attrition
   Erik ducked.

22 Infiltration
   Calis whispered.

23 Onslaught
   Erik blinked.

24 Escape
   Erik turned.

Epilogue: Reunion
   The traveler squinted.

About the Author

Books by Raymond E. Feist

Praise for The Serpentwar Saga

Copyright

About the Publisher

Aglaranna
—Elf Queen in Elvandar

Alika
—“demon” cook at Sorcerer's Isle

Althal—
elf in Elvandar

Avery, Rupert “Roo”—
boy from Ravensburg, companion of Erik von Darkmoor; later prisoner; later member of Calis's company

Biggo
—prisoner; later member of Erik's company

Calis
—half elf, half human son of Aglaranna and Tomas; known as “The Eagle of Krondor”; leader of a military company

Culli
—murdering mercenary

Dawar
—mercenary in Nahoot's company

de Loungville, Robert “Bobby”
—sergeant in Calis's company

de Savona, Luis
—prisoner; later member of Calis's company

Durany—
mercenary in Calis's company

Ellia—
elven woman saved by Miranda

Embrisa—
girl from Village Weanat

Esterbrook, Jacob—
merchant in Krondor

Fadawah, General—
Supreme Commander of the Armies of the Emerald Queen

Finia—-
woman at Village Weanat

Foster, Charlie
—guard corporal in Calis's company

Freida—
Erik's mother

Galain—
elf in Elvandar

Gapi—
general in Emerald Queen's army

Gert
—old crone/charcoal burner met by Erik and Roo

Goodwin, Billy
—prisoner; later member of Calis's company

Greylock, Owen
—Swordmaster of Baron of Darkmoor; later member of Calis's company

Grindle, Helmut
—merchant

Handy, Jerome
—member of Calis's company

Jarwa
—Sha-shahan of the Seven Nations of the Saaur

Jatuk—
son of Jarwa, heir and later Sha-shahan of the surviving Saaur

Kaba
—Shieldbearer to Jarwa

Kelka—
corporal in Nahoot's company

Khali-shi
—Novindus name for Death Goddess

Lalial
—elf in Elvandar

Lender, Sebastian
—
Litigator and Solicitor at Barret's Coffee House in Krondor

Lims-Kragma—
Death Goddess

Macros the Black
—legendary sorcerer; considered
the greatest practitioner of magic ever known

Marsten
—sailor on
Trenchard's Revenge

Mathilda
—Baroness of Darkmoor

Milo
—Innkeeper at Inn of the Pintail in Ravensburg

Miranda
—mysterious friend to Calis

Monis
—Jatuk's Shieldbearer

Mugaar
—horse trader in Novindus

Murtag
—Saaur warrior

Nakor the Isalani—
strange companion of Calis

Nathan—
new smith at Inn of the Pintail in Ravensburg

Notombi
—former Keshian Legionary, then prisoner; later member of Calis's company

Pug
—also known as Milamber; magician of great power; considered second only to Macros the Black in knowledge

Rian
—one of Zila's mercenaries

Rosalyn
—Milo's daughter

Ruthia
—Goddess of Luck

Shati, Jadow
—member of Calis's company

Shila—
Saaur home world

Sho Pi—
Isalani, former Monk of Dala; later prisoner; later member of Calis's company

Taber
—tavern keeper in LaMut

Tarmil—
villager at Weanat

Tomas
—consort of Aglaranna, father of Calis; wearer of the Armor of Ashen-Shugar
,
last of the Dragon Lords

Tyndal—
smith at Inn of the Pintail in Ravensburg

von Darkmoor, Erik—
bastard son of the Baron von Darkmoor; later prisoner; later mercenary in Calis's company

von Darkmoor, Manfred—
youngest son of Otto; later Baron

von Darkmoor, Otto—
Baron of Darkmoor; father of Erik
,
Stefan, and Manfred

von Darkmoor, Stefan—
Otto's eldest son

Zila—
treacherous mercenary leader

For Jonathan Matson:

more than my agent

a good friend

Days, when the ball of our vision

Had eagles that flew unabashed to sun;

When the grasp on the bow was decision,

And arrow and hand and eye were one;

When the Pleasures, like waves to a swimmer,

Came heaving for rapture ahead! —

Invoke them, they dwindle, they glimmer

As lights over mounds of the dead.

—G
EORGE
M
EREDITH

“Ode to Youth in Memory”

T
he drums
thundered.

Warriors of the Saaur sang their battle chants, preparing for the struggle to come. Tattered war banners hung limply from bloodied lances as thick smoke shrouded the sky from horizon to horizon. Green faces marked with yellow and red paint watched the western skies, where fires cast crimson and ocher light against the black shroud of smoke, blocking the vanishing sun and the familiar tapestry of the western evening stars.

Jarwa, Sha-shahan of the Seven Nations, Ruler of the Empire of Grass, Lord of the Nine Oceans, could not tear his gaze away from the destruction. All day he had watched the great fires burn, and even across the vast distance the howls of the victors and the cries of their victims had carried through the afternoon. Winds that once carried the sweet scent of flowers or the rich aroma of spices from the market now carried the acrid stench of charred wood and burned flesh. He knew without looking that those behind were bracing for the coming trial, resigned in their hearts that the battle was lost and the race would die.

“My lord,” said Kaba, his Shieldbearer and lifelong companion.

Jarwa turned to his oldest friend and saw the concern etched faintly around his eyes. Kaba was an unreadable mask to all but Jarwa; the Sha-shahan could read him as a shaman reads a lore scroll. “What is it?”