Tyrant's Throne
Page 57
A sound from behind me drew my attention: Monster was walking towards us. She jostled me aside and then sniffed at Ethalia’s face, then at her belly.
Then the Greathorse knelt down in front of us.
‘Your daughter will never want for protectors,’ Chalmers said.
I looked at these daring fools I loved more than anyhing in the world. ‘That’s not what matters.’ I wanted to tell them what did matter was that my daughter would have the truest of friends; that she would love and be loved, but I didn’t give any grand speech. Sometimes the words just don’t need to be said.
My name is Falcio val Mond.
I might just be the luckiest man who ever lived.
THE END
Postscript
Dear Fellow Traveller,
We meet here at the end. The Greatcoats Quartet and its recounting of the victories and tragedies of a particularly idealistic and romantic (as well as reckless and occasionally self-deceiving) duellist has reached its conclusion. Falcio has – in spite of all the improbabilities laid upon the world by the ill-intentioned actions of Gods and Saints alike – saved his country from conspiracy, civil war, divine retribution and, ultimately, the Greatcoats themselves. Of course, he did this with the indefatigable loyalty of Kest, the dauntlessness of Valiana, the inspiration and courage of two very different women named Aline, the love and wisdom of Ethalia and . . . I’m sure there was some other guy, but I forget now.
My ambition with the Greatcoats was to write a series of swashbuckling adventure novels that could sit on the shelf alongside Dumas’ Three Musketeers and C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower; that would speak to people whose hearts soared when they watched Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood or Captain Blood, and to those who discovered swashbuckling through The Princess Bride’s unparallelled homage to that remarkable heritage. Most of all, though, I wanted to write stories a reader would choose to go back to every once in a while, wanting to spend a little more time with Falcio, Kest and Brasti in their moments of friendly banter, daring heroism – and yes, heartbreaking loss.
So whether you bought this book from a store (be nice to bookshops – there wouldn’t be authors without them), borrowed it from a library (be even nicer to librarians – you might marry one some day and begin the adventure of a lifetime) or surreptitiously lifted it from a friend’s bookshelf (they’ll understand – really), you have my sincere gratitude and my promise that while the Greatcoats Quartet has come to an end, those troublesome travelling magistrates will one day return.
All my best,
Sebastien de Castell
twitter: @decastell
web: www.decastell.com
Vancouver, Canada
March 2017
Acknowledgements
Court documents will one day conclusively prove that Jo Fletcher, my redoubtable editor and acclaimed publisher, assured me without equivocation that the final book in a series is by far the easiest to write. ‘A piece of cake’, I believe she called it. ‘Practically writes itself!’
In all fairness, I could be lying on this point and she may – I say may – not only have warned me well in advance of the challenge I was undertaking with Tyrant’s Throne, but also devoted herself to countless hours reading, editing, re-reading and re-editing innumerable chapters of the book – all of which I sent to her in somewhat random order. Jo informs me that this particular authorial practice falls under the provisions of justifiable homicide.
I’d like to thank the following rather remarkable people for their invaluable support (as well as sneak in a few secrets about the Greatcoats you won’t find anywhere else):
The Saints:
(Also called The Sancti, also called extremely often by me at all hours of the day and night by me begging for help.)
Christina de Castell, who I promise I will not make read seven unfinished drafts of my books again.
Jo Fletcher, who I promise I will make read seven unfinished drafts of my books again.
Heather Adams, the world’s most wonderful literary agent, who may have created a monster.
Eric Torin, who taught me aspects of writing that I couldn’t have learned anywhere else.
Kim Tough, whose boundless passion for story and character you will one day adore in her books.
The Inquisitors:
(Possibly more accurately referred to as the Order of Noble Torturers)
Wil Arndt (@warndt)
Brad Dehnert (@BradDehnert)
Jim Hull (www.narrativefirst.com)
Shuran, leader of the Black Tabards, was once a member of the Dashini. Patriana paid him to assassinate King Paelis after he was deposed for fear that her fellow Dukes might balk at shedding royal blood when the time came.
The Inlaudati:
(Secretive, often unseen figures performing their strange magic in the shadows.)
Nathaniel Marunas, my favourite person to talk books with. ‘Gotta poo, Todd. Gotta poo.’
Olivia Mead, to whom I plan to be much less irritating this year.
Sam Bradbury, who, like Olivia, is destined to be a shining star in the industry.
Patrick Carpenter; the books never would have looked so amazing without you.
Melanie Thompson; the books never would have actually been made without you.
By the time Shuran and his azu (Dashini partner) arrived at Aramor, Falcio had already helped Paelis die on his own terms. Rather than commit suicide for his failure, Shuran killed his azu and burned the Dashini markings from his own face, thus dishonouring his order long before his fellow assassins failed to kill Falcio.
Ian Binnie, who brings the artistry of typesetting to the UK editions.
Sharona Selby, whose proofreading saved us all from my roughly one thousand errors.
Dave Murphy and Ron Beard, for heroically kidnapping bookstore buyers until they agreed to stock the series.
Frances Doyle and Katie Day, for making sure the ebooks got everywhere.
The Bardatti:
It takes a lot of luck for a fantasy series to do well, and what I mean by luck is specifically the great good fortune to have people choose to actively champion your series. The Greatcoats could have ended up struggling to find a readership, had it not been for the enthusiasm and evangelism of bloggers, booksellers, librarians, fellow authors and fellow readers from all around the world. I am profoundly grateful to all of you, and I apologise that I can mention only a few people here:
Agnes Meszaros, whom I finally got to meet at Fantasy in the Court last year, who is just as delightful in person as she is online.
Amanda Craig, renowned author and journalist, for her kind words about the Greatcoats.
Peter Darbyshire of the Vancouver Province and a hell of an author in his own right. Stop getting me in trouble with George R.R. Martin fans.
Which is why Shuran is always referred to as a foreigner in Knight’s Shadow but no one knows where exactly he’s from.
Walter & Jill of White Dwarf Books, Vancouver’s amazing fantasy & sci-fi bookstore.
Alex, Danie and everyone at Forbidden Planet, London’s amazing fantasy & sci-fi bookstore.
Penny Bullock from Waterstones Lancaster – also amazing, though they sell other things, too.
David, Harry, Pavla and the rest of the fine crew at Goldsboro Books whose early support really helped the series take off.
Trin was the one person who knew Shuran’s secret, and her admiration for his deviousness and daring is one of the reasons she deemed him worthy to be her co-conspirator.
The wonderful French book blog, L’ours Inculte (ours-inculte.fr), who are kind enough to review even the English editions of the books!
The character of Darriana was named by Laura, a.k.a. Stars_Cascade, and was partially based on a nineteenth century actress from Zanesville, Ohio, named El
la Hattan.
Tracy Erickson, who was kind enough to hang out with me at WorldCon.
Joel Pearson, who has no excuse for not having come to WorldCon.
Andrew Mather from The Quill To Live (thequilltolive.com), who called me underrated, thus proving we’ve never met in person.
Charlie Hopkins of A Reading Machine (areadingmachine.com) for sending me an actual hand-written card.
Che from Che Adventure (youtube.com/CheAdventureBooks) for her lovely book vlog.
Samantha from Sam’s Nonsense (facebook.com/novelsandnonsense) for my favourite video posts about the series.
Ella Hattan, sometimes called ‘La Jaguarina’, was quite possibly the finest sword fighter of her era, and made her living challenging any male fencers who would face her to public duels. She was posthumously inducted into the US Fencing Hall of Fame.
Petros of Booknest (Booknest.eu) for his tireless work on the Fabulous Fantasy Fundraiser
Linda Akerman, the Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell (books-forlife.blogspot.com)
Stephenie Sheung at The Bibliosanctum (bibliosanctum.com)
Jasper de Joode of The Book Plank (thebookplank.blogspot.com), who I think did my very first interview.
Sachin Dev / Smorgasbord Fantasia (fantasy-smorgasbord.blogspot.ca)
Marc Aplin, and all the wonderful folks at Fantasy Faction (fantasy-faction.com) for – well, there’re too many things to list at this point!
Valiana’s mother, the woman who called herself Viscountess Belletrice and had a love affair with Jillard, is in fact still alive.
Sarah Avery at Black Gate Magazine (blackgate.com)
Lisa at Over The Effing Rainbow (overtheeffingrainbow.co.uk)
Liz Barnsley of Liz Loves Books (lizlovesbooks.com)
Cindy from Draumr Kopa (draumrkopablog.wordpress.com)
Rob Matheny & Phil Overby of the Grimdark podcast (thegrimtidingspodcast.com) Thanks for immortalising my horrible Irish whistle playing.
Bob Milne of Beauty In Ruins (beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com) whose review of Saint’s Blood made me terrified of what would happen if Tyrant’s Throne wasn’t as good.
Nazia Khatun, who is still my favourite.
To all of you who take the time to write me with your thoughts and questions about the Greatcoats, know that your emails are the highlights of my day.
Falcio, Kest and Brasti will return . . .
One day . . .