by Dave Duncan
“I am not in the habit of apologizing for crimes I did not commit, Chancellor!” Nor for those he did commit. “How much bargaining room do you have with Ambassador Marcelo?”
“That will depend on who originated the, um, misunderstanding, Your Grace.”
Ambrose made an effort to square his well-rounded shoulders—the ruler was about to make a ruling. “You have a fair copy of the authentic orders on file, Secretary?”
“Of course, sire. In the vault.”
“Provide it to Chancellor Roland, so that he can explain to the ambassador that the captain of Ranulf must have heard these absurd rumours about buried treasure in that area, and faked authority for him to go and look for it. King Rodrigo can hang him if he wants, or he can send him back here so we can. Get the best price you can, Chancellor. You can go as high as one million crowns if necessary. That is to cover their expenses, you understand. You will make no admission of guilt.”
The story was absurd, and certainly the cost of buying back Ranulf was going to cost a lot more than that. Durendal and Don Marcelo had privately agreed that their respective royal masters should be guided to a compromise settlement of around fifty million crowns and the wretched scapegoat captain allowed to escape before he met the headsman’ axe.
“And quitclaim any right to, or interest in, the rumoured treasure, sire?”
The king’s sudden glower showed that he assigned some credence to the aforesaid rumours. “And just what do you know about those rumours?”
Durendal had a very good grasp of those rumours. Very little of importance that happened in Chivial escaped the chancellor’s attention, and absolutely nothing that concerned the Blades did. The two gold cups found in Goodwin’s possession when he was arrested bore the name of Sir Rhys, who had turned out to be the son of Sir Spender, who had met with disaster in that same royal residence on the coast of Fitain many long years ago. Durendal was happy that Spender and his companions had found the pot of gold, as Don Marcelo had hinted to him.
“Only that the death of Lord Bannerville in the spring awakened interest in an old tragedy, sire. Was there a lost treasure?”
Ambrose hesitated and then said, as if the words hurt, “Certainly not. Yes, you may deny any knowledge of that, or any claim on it. King Rodrigo is welcome to anything he can find there.”
Chancellor and secretary bowed and departed; the tailors scuffled back in to complete their work. As Kromman shut the door on them, Durendal said—loud enough for the Blade guards to hear—“How long will it take you to fake the allegedly original orders?”
The inquisitor’s fishy eyes were as lifeless as a shark’s. “To locate them in the vault, you mean, my lord?”
“Of course. But the sooner I can display them to Don Marcelo, the more convincing they will seem. Not that I expect him to be deceived.”
“I should locate them within the hour.”
“That’s very fast writing,” Durendal said. “Make sure the ink is dry before you send them to me. Time is of the essence, you know.”
Time was always of the essence. The quarry had escaped again, but the day of reckoning would surely come. One day Wolfbiter would be avenged.
Afterword: All the King’s Blades
Why am I adding to the Blades saga a dozen years after ending it with The Jaguar Knights? Because of Sir Spender.
All Blades books are standalone novels. The series began with The Gilded Chain, published in 1997. (That book tells both the beginning and the end of the feud between Durendal and Inquisitor Kromman.) It was followed by Lord of the Fire Lands and Sky of Swords, together forming a trilogy called, Tales of the King’s Blades. Note, though, that they do not make a typical series, being more contemporaneous than sequential. These three are best read in the above order, but if you read any two you will need to read the third to straighten out certain apparent contradictions.
With these books selling well, my publisher asked me to write some Blade adventures for the Young Adult market, which resulted in a novella series called The King’s Daggers. This elaborated on events that the adult books had dealt with only in passing. They have since been reissued as a fourth volume in the Tales group under the title of The Monster War.
After the Tales of the King’s Blades came the Chronicles of the King’s Blades, namely Paragon Lost, Impossible Odds, and The Jaguar Knights. These are all standalone novels set in the reign of King Ambrose’s grandson, Athelgar.
Why now, A Velvet Glove? Because of that scene at the beginning of Lord of the Fire Lands where the crippled Sir Spender turns up at Ironhall to Return the swords of his two slain companions and drop a few hints of the horrors he has been through. That little snippet has bothered me ever since, and I tried to expand it several times.
Eventually it came together. I discovered that Spender did go through hell, and thus the laws of storytelling required that he be suitably rewarded. That is why he won the happily-ever-after ending. I was tempted to subtitle the book A Fairy Tale of the King’s Blades.
I hope surviving Blades fans will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it—as a spoonful of nostalgia. If you are not already familiar with the Blades books, be warned that they tend to be deeper and darker than this (rather frivolous) one.
About the Author
Originally from Scotland, Dave Duncan has lived all his adult life in Western Canada, having enjoyed a long career as a petroleum geologist before taking up writing. Since discovering that imaginary worlds are more satisfying than the real one, he has published more than fifty novels, mostly in the fantasy genre, but also young adult, science fiction, and historical. He has at times been Sarah B. Franklin (but only for literary purposes) and Ken Hood (which is short for “D’ye Ken Whodunit?”)
His most successful works have been fantasy series: The Seventh Sword, A Man of His Word and its sequel, A Handful of Men, and six books about The King’s Blades. He is an inductee of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
He and Janet were married in 1959. They have one son and two daughters, who in turn are responsible for a spinoff series of four grandchildren. Dave now lives in Victoria, BC.
Books by Five Rivers
NON-FICTION
Big Buttes Book: Annotated Dyets Dry Dinner, (1599), by Henry Buttes, with Elizabethan Recipes, by Michelle Enzinas
Al Capone: Chicago’s King of Crime, by Nate Hendley
Crystal Death: North America’s Most Dangerous Drug, by Nate Hendley
Dutch Schultz: Brazen Beer Baron of New York, by Nate Hendley
Forgotten Injustice: The Ron Moffat Story, by Nate Hendley
John Lennon: Music, Myth and Madness, by Nate Hendley
Motivate to Create: a guide for writers, by Nate Hendley
Steven Truscott, Decades of Injustice by Nate Hendley
King Kwong: Larry Kwong, the China Clipper Who Broke the NHL Colour Barrier, by Paula Johanson
Shakespeare for Slackers: by Aaron Kite, et al
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
The Organic Home Gardener, by Patrick Lima and John Scanlan
Shakespeare for Readers’ Theatre: Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, by John Poulson
Shakespeare for Reader’s Theatre, Book 2: Shakespeare’s Greatest Villains, The Merry Wives of Windsor; Othello, the Moor of Venice; Richard III; King Lear, by John Poulsen
Beyond Media Literacy: New Paradigms in Media Education, by Colin Scheyen
Stonehouse Cooks, by Lorina Stephens
FICTION
Black Wine, by Candas Jane Dorsey
Eocene Station, by Dave Duncan
Immunity to Strange Tales, by Susan J. Forest
The Legend of Sarah, by Leslie Gadallah
The Empire of Kaz, by Leslie Gadallah
Cat’s Pawn
/> Cat’s Gambit
Growing Up Bronx, by H.A. Hargreaves
North by 2000+, a collection of short, speculative fiction, by H.A. Hargreaves
A Subtle Thing, by Alicia Hendley
The Tattooed Witch Trilogy, by Susan MacGregor
The Tattooed Witch
The Tattooed Seer
The Tattooed Queen
A Time and a Place, by Joe Mahoney
The Rune Blades of Celi, by Ann Marston
Kingmaker’s Sword, Book 1
Western King, Book 2
Broken Blade, Book 3
Cloudbearer’s Shadow, Book 4
King of Shadows, Book 5
Sword and Shadow, Book 6
A Still and Bitter Grave, by Ann Marston
Indigo Time, by Sally McBride
Wasps at the Speed of Sound, by Derryl Murphy
A Quiet Place, by J.W. Schnarr
Things Falling Apart, by J.W. Schnarr
A Poisoned Prayer, by Michael Skeet
And the Angels Sang: a collection of short speculative fiction, by Lorina Stephens
Caliban, by Lorina Stephens
From Mountains of Ice, by Lorina Stephens
Memories, Mother and a Christmas Addiction, by Lorina Stephens
Shadow Song, by Lorina Stephens
The Mermaid’s Tale, by D. G. Valdron
YA FICTION
Eye of Strife, by Dave Duncan
Ivor of Glenbroch, by Dave Duncan
The Runner and the Wizard
The Runner and the Saint
The Runner and the Kelpie
Avians, by Timothy Gwyn
Type, by Alicia Hendley
Type 2, by Alicia Hendley
Tower in the Crooked Wood, by Paula Johanson
A Touch of Poison, by Aaron Kite
The Great Sky, by D.G. Laderoute
Out of Time, by D.G. Laderoute
Diamonds in Black Sand, by Ann Marston
Hawk, by Marie Powell
www.fiveriverspublishing.com
Eocene Station
ISBN 9781988274058
eISBN 9781988274058
by Dave Duncan
Trade Paperback 6 x 9
October 1, 2016
A new Dave Duncan novel is always a reason to celebrate, and his trademark blend of high adventure, hard science, and wry humour makes Eocene Station a must read.
K. N. ‘Cannon’ Ball and his superstar wife, Tempest, are running for their lives. Cannon has exposed a fraud so huge even heads of government are implicated and determined to keep Cannon from ever testifying. Nowhere is safe, so they step out of time to a research station fifty million years in the past. The dinosaurs died out eons ago and there aren’t any people around, so they ought to be safe then, right? Wrong, very wrong!
Absolutely smashing.
Goodreads
…brilliant settings, plot, action and character development…entirely enjoyable.
LibraryThing
Shadow Song
ISBN 9780973927818
eISBN 9780986563041
by Lorina Stephens
Trade Paperback 6 x 9
September 1, 2008
Vengeance in the backwoods of Upper Canada. An uncle insane with retribution, a midewiwin following a vision, and the girl caught between both worlds.
Danielle Michele Fleming, 10 year old daughter of a French aristocratic mother, and the second son of English gentry, finds herself caught in the economic ruin that surrounds the failure of the Bourbon Monarchy. She finds herself aboard ship, destined for the Queen’s Bush of Upper Canada and a life with the catalyst of her doom, her uncle, Edgar Fleming. Relentless in his hunt for her, her uncle has her tracked not only by bounty hunters, but in the end through another shaman of evil intent and a blood-debt to settle with Shadow Song.
Lorina Stephens has proven herself an engaging author.
The (Hanover) Post
The book Shadow Song is as diverse as the woman who wrote it.
Susan Doolan, The Barrie Examiner
A thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing and intelligent read.
Goodreads
A Poisoned Prayer
ISBN 9781988274119
eISBN 9781988274126
by Michael Skeet
Trade Paperback 6 x 9
May 1, 2017
En garde! Paris, in the 1680s. Dashing swordsmen compete for the favours of licentious women, and magic—God’s Blessing—is strong enough that prayers really are answered.
Into the City of Light comes Lise de Trouvaille, a young noblewoman of modest means and no apparent Blessing, searching for an advantageous marriage. But the first eligible man she meets—during a werewolf attack, no less—is exactly the wrong person. Rafael, duc de Bellevasse, is at once too good for her and too bad (he is both the scion of one of the great families of France and a scoundrel presumed to be in league with the Devil, paying huge sums for death-magic spells).
Knowing they are wrong for each other, Lise and Rafael find themselves drawn into plots and conspiracies combining a peasant uprising with the glittering aristocracy surrounding the imperial court. Each has a reason for wanting to solve a series of murders. And each has more than one reason for wanting to avoid the attentions of Nicolas de La Reynie, lieutenant-general of the Paris police and a man who knows, more than most, that something is going badly wrong in Paris.
I didn’t want to put this book down.
Goodreads
A great historical mystery with a strong woman brandishing a rapier!
Amazon
