Slave of Sondelle: The Eleven Kingdoms

by Bevan McGuiness

  ‘Why here?’ Keshik asked.

  ‘When the Readers fled under persecution, their leader was eaten here by a julle. So they stopped running and built the Rurthi.’

  ‘This leader, his name was Rurthi?’ Maida could not resist asking.

  Alberrich gave a wheezing snorting grunt that Maida presumed was laughter. ‘No, it was the name of his pet cat. His name was Leserlang.’

  ‘And the watching?’ Keshik pressed.

  ‘With no agriculture, no mining and no art heritage worth spitting on, we get bored. It is our main form of entertainment, watching others.’

  ‘And you, do you watch?’

  Alberrich gave the snorting grunt again and held out his misshapen arms. ‘I have been told that I am less than attractive to women, so what choice do I have?’

  Maida felt a sudden pang of pity for this ugly creature, living here below the ground in this ugly city.

  ‘Can you get us into the Rurthi?’ Keshik asked.

  ‘How could I do that? I live underground.’

  ‘You have others who work for you. They do not live underground.’

  ‘Sadly, I also have bills to pay, bribes to make and people to appease. I was offered a choice this morning — find and hand over the murderers to the Readers’ Guard, or suffer an intense scrutiny of all I do.’

  ‘And what did you decide?’

  Alberrich rose slowly from his chair. ‘I was made another offer just a little while ago. One which was much more profitable for me.’

  Maida’s heart sank.

  ‘I will take you outside the city walls and hand you over to the soldiers of the Blindfolded Queen. They have offered to pay most handsomely for you.’

  ‘The Blindfolded Queen?’ asked Maida. ‘What does she want with us?’

  Alberrich shuffled slowly out of her view. She heard him open a door before he spoke again. ‘I have no idea, but she wants the female friend of the Scarred Man. Odd, but no one said anything about wanting the Scarred Man. So you, Scarred Man, I shall hand over to the Readers’ Guard.’

  Glossary

  Acolytes of Varuun — mystical order, based in northern C’sobra, consisting of:

  Arms of Varuun — the warrior arm of the Acolytes

  Belly of Varuun — menial servants of the Acolytes

  Eye of Varuun — oracles, pureblood Mertian women

  Mind of Varuun — the priesthood of the Acolytes, individually called Wielders or Yielders of the Key of Varuun

  Aesla — archery master, working for Slaaj

  Alberrich — Leserlang native

  Aue — Key Wielder, one of the Mind of Varuun

  San Aven — Vogel nobleman, son of Lan Dieals

  Cort — Mollnde merchant

  Crossing — a time when the moon Grada passes in front of her sister, Yatil. It happens regularly and is used to mark the passage of time. Crossings are separated by 200 days and are preceded by a time known as the Kissing, when Grada appears to kiss the edge of Yatil. Each new Crossing is greeted by celebrations across all of the Eleven Kingdoms.

  Lan Dieals — Vogel noblewoman

  Drikka — woman working for Huenu, based in Vogel

  Emilengel — minor C’sobran noble

  Fraunhof — C’sobran Reader

  Hekseri — Vogel woman

  Hinrik — librarian, member of the Mind of Varuun

  Huenu — aged Siecentan warrior, now Jooure merchant

  Ileki — C’sobran Reader, visitor to Vogel

  Iskopra — sailor out of Aposmenos, skipper of the Sotiria

  Joukahainen — the Wielder and Guardian of the Key of Varuun

  Keshik — Tulugma Swordmaster

  Koslea — Key Yielder, one of the Mind of Varuun

  Kooy — swordmaster, working for Slaaj

  Koude — one of the Belly of Varuun

  Leserlang — centre of Reading in C’sobra

  Lijke — vorbynd freak

  Maida — companion to Keshik

  Manred — Venste native

  Mertians — ancient race, now all but extinct

  Mollnde — capital city of C’sobra

  Myrrhini — Oracle, an Eye of Varuun

  Onaven — Bane, one of the Belly of Varuun

  Panxo — Siecentan man working for Huenu

  Seagull — loose alliance of free sailors, often anecdotally linked with piracy and smuggling

  Scarens — ancient warrior race, all but wiped out by the Mertian-Varuun alliance

  Slaaj — mercenary supplier in Vogel

  Slave — slave of Sondelle

  Sondelle — sorcerer in Vogel

  Tatya — shapeshifter

  Thurgista — Jooure trader

  Tristan — Rilaman swordsman

  Tulugma — ancient warrior code, named for a legendary swordsman whose travels through the world form the basis for the Tulugma Way

  Ur Dee — cook, one of the Belly of Varuun

  Vorbyndjaarge — lit. ‘rat hunter’; the poor quarter in the city of Vogel

  Vyndde Luutes — leader of the vorbynd freaks

  Vogel — capital city of Lac’u

  Sana Waarde — Vogel noblewoman, daughter of Lan Dieals

  Wilfred — Rilaman Laird

  Preview

  Look out for

  Scarred Man

  THE ELEVEN KINGDOMS

  BOOK TWO

  In all good bookshops

  July 2011

  About the Author

  Bevan McGuiness lives near Perth with his wife and daughter. He has worked as a factory hand, geophysicist and laboratory assistant, and he is now a teacher of chemistry at a boys’ school in Perth. He has been writing for years and has published short stories, book reviews, a trilogy and pieces for texts on science education. You can contact Bevan at bevan.mcguiness@optusnet.com.au

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Books by Bevan McGuiness

  THE TRIUMVIRATE

  The Awakening (1)

  The First Weapon (2)

  The Way of Purity (3)

  THE ELEVEN KINGDOMS

  Slave of Sondelle (1)

  Copyright

  HarperVoyager

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

  First published in Australia in 2010

  This edition published in 2010

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © Bevan McGuiness 2010

  The right of Bevan McGuiness to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

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  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  McGuiness, Bevan

  Slave of Sondelle / Bevan McGuiness.

  ISBN: 978-0-7322-8979-9 (pbk.)

  ISBN: 978-0-7304-9394-5 (ePub)

  McGuiness, Bevan. Eleven kingdoms ; bk. 1.

  A823.4

  Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio

  Cover images by shutterstock.com

  Maps by Bevan McGuiness

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