Pug walked with Owyn to the tent Arutha had set aside for their use. ‘‘What will you do after you return home?’’ asked Pug.
Owyn said, ‘‘I’m not sure. I know that my life will never be the same. I’ve seen too much and . . . it changes you.’’
Pug tapped Owyn’s head with his forefinger. ‘‘And you have too much up there to let it lie idle. Come back to Stardock.
Make sure we see no more mad wizards like Makala.’’
‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Owyn. ‘‘I think I would like to know more about these powers of mine, but I also think my father will have much to say about my future.’’
‘‘Such is the burden of nobility,’’ said Pug. ‘‘But, you have 372
KRONDOR THE BETRAYAL
time to ponder those choices, and you certainly have a great deal more to think about than before.’’
‘‘No doubt,’’ said Owyn, as they entered their tent.
‘‘Truth to tell, one of the reasons I left Stardock was because of all the politics. Your two Keshian students, Korsh and Wa-toom, they’re gathering followers, and I can see some very nasty business ahead if you don’t break up those factions.’’
‘‘As do I, but I’m unsure as yet what to do about it,’’ Pug admitted.
Pug sat upon his mat, and Owyn started to close the flaps.
For a moment Owyn paused and looked out at the calm woods around the camp. In the distance he could hear the soldiers of the Kingdom around their fires, and above the trees the stars shone brightly.
He wondered if somewhere out there, Gorath was with the Mothers and the Fathers, or in the Blessed Isles.
Wherever you are, Owyn thought as he tied the tent flap closed, you will never be forgotten. Then he added, my friend.
He turned to his own mat and lay down. Despite the unanswered questions and the countless possibilities still before him, Owyn fell quickly asleep.
Pug looked at the young magician and remembered when he had been that age, wrestling with the great powers Owyn didn’t even suspect he now possessed, and wondered which choices Owyn would make.
But whatever those choices, Owyn would make them, and Pug lay down relieved to know that his home and family were again safe. He basked in the knowledge that Gamina was home, and he would soon join his family at Stardock. With that thought in his mind, Pug drifted off to sleep. And it was a good, long, restful sleep.
373
Author’s Afterword
T he phone rang.
The voice on the other end of the line belonged to my agent, Jonathan Matson. He said there was a fellow named John Cutter, who wanted to speak to me about a game deal.
I told Jonathan to give him my phone number at home and forgot about it.
A while later the phone rang again and a pleasant voice at the other end identified himself as John Cutter, a game producer for Dynamix, Inc., a company in Eugene, Oregon.
John had produced the second game in the successful Might & Magic series while at New World Computing, Inc., and was itching to do the same for Dynamix, a company known primarily for flight simulations, particularly the popular Red Baron. He had been told by one of the firm’s founders, Jeff Tunell, that I was a good fantasy author and thought maybe I could write them a game.
I explained to John that he couldn’t afford me, but then introduced him to the idea of licensing, and from that point forward, we were on the same wavelength.
That’s how Betrayal at Krondor started.
Fantasy role-playing games and books both use stories, but in different ways. My experience prior to working with John and his crew at Dynamix was limited to my own involvement with the creation of Midkemia, the fantasy world in which my work resides, and with playing other people’s computer role-playing games.
Neal Hallford and John Cutter wrote the game. I got to re-
KRONDOR THE BETRAYAL
view things, but they wrote it. I talked with them about story, gave them ideas, listened to their ideas, and the game took form. But even I had no idea what it would look like, or play like, until it was finished. I got the script, but John had simply printed everything and sent it to me, without any idea how it hung together. The first time I jumped from the opening narra-tive to the initial dialogue in the first sub-quest, I was lost.
And that wasn’t the last time.
When I finally got a look at the finished game, it was at the Drake Hotel in Chicago before my first press interview on the game at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1993. It was a revelation. It was my world, but it wasn’t. These were my characters, but they weren’t. They came alive and ran around and fought and died and started over and fought again. When it came time to give the interview, I didn’t want to stop playing.
The rest, as they say, is history. Betrayal at Krondor won awards, sat atop the Entertainment Weekly CD game best-seller list for six months, and is considered by many to be the best computer fantasy role-playing game ever created. And most of the credit goes to John, Neal, and the team at Dynamix.
When I approached turning Betrayal into this novel, I was faced with many decisions, revolving around story elements that make for a really good game, yet are either inconsistent with the literary Midkemia or are just too silly to believe. The
‘‘Quest for Ale’’ and ‘‘Find The Lost Minstral,’’ to name two sub-quests in the game, were clearly going to totally destroy the tension of the story.
That being the case, I decided that rather than attempt to
‘‘novelize’’ the game, I would take the core story of the game and tell it in novel form. So that’s what I did; I took Neal and John’s story for the game, Betrayal at Krondor, and started churning it around in my head, deciding scene by scene what would go, stay, be changed, or introduced. The book you hold in your hand is the central story of the game, without most of the sub-quests and side trips, and without a great deal of what makes a game a game. But the story of Owyn and Gorath, James and Locklear is at the heart the same one.
So for those of you who have played the game, Betrayal at Krondor, this novel, Krondor The Betrayal, will be very familiar, 375
Raymond E. Feist
but will also contain a few surprises. For those who have never seen the game, just consider this another missing chapter in the ongoing history of the world of Midkemia and the City of Krondor.
Raymond E. Feist
Rancho Santa Fe, CA
March 11, 1998
376
About The Author
Raymond E. Feist’s previous novels include Magician, Silverthorn, Faerie Tale, Prince of the Blood and The King’s Buccaneer, as well as the four books of his New York Times bestselling Serpentwar Saga: Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, and Shards of a Broken Crown. He is the creator of the immensely popular computer game Betrayal at Krondor —which won Computer Magazine’s Best Game of the Year Award— and the follow-up game, Return to Krondor. Mr. Feist lives with his wife and family in Southern California.
Credits
Jacket illustration by Liz Kenyon
Jacket design by Amy Halperin
Text design by Kellan Peck
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