A Sword from Red Ice

Julia V. Jone s 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, the 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.