Copyright
HarperVoyager an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2017
Copyright © Mark Lawrence 2017
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018 Cover images: © Tomasz Jedruszek (girl), Shutterstock.com (background images)
Mark Lawrence asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008152291
Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008152314
Version: 2018-10-26
Dedication
To Celyn, who needs no words for eloquence.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Authors Note
Red Class
Prologue
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
Grey Class
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
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Also by Mark Lawrence
About the Publisher
Authors Note
Rather than place this background information in an appendix at the back where you might not notice it until youve finished the book (Ive done that before) Im putting it here at the front. However, it is best to skip it and return only if you find you need it. All the information here is given to you in the text and unfolds naturally with the story.
The people of Abeth descend from four tribes. These tribes were:
Gerant distinguished by their great size
Hunska distinguished by their speed. A dark-haired, dark-eyed people
Marjal distinguished by their ability to tap into the lesser magics
Quantal distinguished by their ability to walk the Path and work greater magics
The great families of empire adopt the suffix -sis when the head of the family is named a lord by the emperor. The emperors own family are the Lansis. Other families of note include the Tacsis, Jotsis, Memsis, Galamsis, Leensis, Gersis, Rolsis, and Chemsis.
In the Convent of Sweet Mercy novices move through four classes on their way to taking holy orders. A novice must graduate from each class. The classes are named after the four orders of nun:
Red Class typical novice age 9-12
Grey Class typical novice age 13-14
Mystic Class typical novice age 15-16
Holy Class typical novice age 17-19
On taking holy orders novices become nuns. They follow one of the following paths:
Bride of the Ancestor (Holy Sister) a nun concerned with honouring the Ancestor and maintaining the faith. The most common calling
Martial Sister (Red Sister) a nun skilled in armed and unarmed combat, usually showing hunska blood
Sister of Discretion (Grey Sister) a nun skilled in espionage, stealth, and poisons. Often showing marjal blood and a talent for shadow-work
Mystic Sister (Holy Witch) a nun able to walk the Path and manipulate threads. Always showing quantal blood
Dramatis Personae
Nuns (in order of superiority)
Glass: Abbess of Sweet Mercy Convent, also known as Shella Yammal
Rose: Sister Superior, Holy Sister, runs the sanatorium
Wheel: Sister Superior, Mistress Spirit, Holy Sister, teaches Spirit classes
Apple: Mistress Shade, Grey Sister, also known as the Poisoner, teaches Shade classes
Pan: Mistress Path, Holy Witch, teaches Path classes
Rule: Mistress Academia, Holy Sister, teaches Academia classes
Tallow: Mistress Blade, Red Sister, teaches Blade classes
Chrysanthemum: Holy Sister, mostly known as Sister Mop
Flint: Red Sister, Grey Class mistress
Kettle: Grey Sister
Oak: Holy Sister, Red Class mistress
Rock: Red Sister
Novices
Alata: junior novice
Arabella Jotsis: junior novice, quantal and hunska blood
Clera Ghomal: junior novice, Nonas friend, hunska blood
Croy: junior novice
Darla: junior novice, gerant blood
Ghena: junior novice, hunska blood
Hessa: junior novice, Nonas friend from Giljohns cage, quantal blood
Jula: junior novice, Nonas friend, studious
Kariss: junior novice
Katcha: junior novice
Ketti: junior novice, hunska blood
Leeni: junior novice
Mally: junior novice, Grey Class head-girl
Ruli: Nonas friend, marjal blood
Sarma: junior novice
Sharlot: junior novice
Sheelar: junior novice
Suleri: senior novice
Others
Emperor Crucical: his palace is in the city of Verity
Sherzal: the emperors sister. Her palace is close to the Scithrowl border
Velera: the emperors sister. Her palace is on the coast
High Priest Jacob: head of the Church of the Ancestor
Archon Nevis: high-ranking priest
Archon Anasta: high-ranking priestess
Archon Philo: high-ranking priest
Archon Kratton: high-ranking priest
Thuran Tacsis: lord, head of the Tacsis family
Raymel Tacsis: heir to Thuran Tacsis, Caltess ring-fighter, gerant blood
Lano Tacsis: Thuran Tacsiss second son, hunska blood
Academic Rexxus Degon: senior Academy man
Markus: child from Giljohns cage, marjal blood
Saida: child from Giljohns cage, gerant blood
Willum: child from Giljohns cage, marjal blood
Chara: child from Giljohns cage, marjal blood
Partnis Reeve: owner of the Caltess fight-hall
Gretcha: Caltess ring-fighter, gerant blood
Maya: Caltess apprentice, gerant blood
Regol: Caltess trainee, hunska blood
Denam: Caltess trainee, gerant blood
Tarkax: known as the Ice-Spear, renowned warrior from the ice-tribes
Yisht: warrior from the ice tribes, serves Sherzal
Zole: girl from the ice tribes, Sherzals ward
Irvone Galamsis: high court judge
Sister Owl: legendary Red Sister (dead)
Sister Cloud: legendary Red Sister (dead)
Safira: former senior novice, works for Sherzal
Malkin: Abbess Glasss cat
Argus: prison guard at Harriton
Dava: prison guard at Harriton
John Fallon: prison guard at Harriton
Herber: graveman
Jame Lender: prisoner executed at Harriton
Red ClassPrologue
It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size. For Sister Thorn of the Sweet Mercy Convent Lano Tacsis brought two hundred men.
From the front of the convent you can see both the northern ice and the southern, but the finer view is out across the plateau and over the narrow lands. On a clear day the coast may be glimpsed, the Sea of Marn a suggestion in blue.
At some point in an achingly long history a people, now lost to knowledge, had built one thousand and twenty-four pillars out on the plateau: Corinthian giants thicker than a thousand-year oak, taller than a long-pine. A forest of stone without order or pattern, covering the level ground from flank to flank so that no spot upon it lay more than twenty yards from a pillar. Sister Thorn waited amid this forest, alone and seeking her centre.
Lanos men began to spread out between the columns. Thorn could neither see nor hear her foe approach, but she knew their disposition. She had watched earlier as they snaked up the west trail from Styx Valley, three and four abreast: Pelarthi mercenaries from the ice-margins, furs of the white bear and the snow-wolf over their leathers, some with scraps of chainmail about them, ancient and dark or bright as new, depending on their luck. Many carried spears, some swords; one man in five carried a short-bow of recurved horn. Tall men in the main, fair-haired, their beards short or plaited, the women with lines of blue paint across their cheeks and foreheads like the rays of a cold sun.
Heres a moment.
All the world and more has rushed eternitys length to reach this beat of your heart, screaming down the years. And if you let it, the universe, without drawing breath, will press itself through this fractured second and race to the next, on into a new eternity. Everything that is, the echoes of everything that ever was, the roots of all that will ever be, must pass through this moment that you own. Your only task is to give it pause to make it notice.