The Lion of Senet

by Jennifer Fallon

  The air was cooler out on the water. The ringing of the smithy bounced across the delta, a constant echo that repeated itself over and over again as it ricocheted off the cliffs. Tia rowed in silence and, mindful of the extraordinary effort it must have cost her to finally introduce him to her father, Dirk said nothing that might upset her.

  It took about half an hour to row across the bay to a narrow strip of shale just wide enough to beach the dinghy. After helping Tia pull the boat above the waterline, Dirk followed her up a barely perceptible goat trail that wound through the scrubby foothills.

  Dirk was sweating heavily by the time they reached a small plateau high above the bay. He turned back to study the view, stunned at how far they had climbed. The settlement below appeared as small as a child’s play set.

  “Neris!” Tia looked around in concern. The plateau was only about thirty yards at its widest point. On the far side was the dark hollow of a large cave, but there was no sign of life within. “Neris!”

  “Perhaps he’s not here,” Dirk suggested when the only response was the soughing wind across the wide ledge.

  “He’s here,” she replied, with a slight frown. “Come on, Neris! Stop playing games. People are worried about you!”

  “I am the Deathbringer!”

  Dirk looked up at the sound of the cry to find the madman sitting on an outcropping of rock about twenty feet above them. He was as thin as a reed, his long hair matted and tangled and so filthy it was impossible to tell what color it might have once been. He had a straggling beard that covered hollow, sunburned cheeks, and his sunken eyes seemed to reflect pain rather than intelligence.

  Tia looked up. “What are you doing up there?”

  “I can see death up here.”

  Tia sighed and glanced at Dirk with a shake of her head. “I was afraid of that.”

  “Afraid of what?”

  “Once he starts talking about death, nothing will divert him.” She smiled up at her father, attempting to sound reasonable. “Come down here, Neris. I’ve brought someone to meet you. And we have blincakes. Your special ones.”

  “I am the Deathbringer,” he announced solemnly. “I am the Bringer of Death.”

  “Whose death?” Dirk asked curiously.

  “I am the Death of Reason. The Death of Enlightenment. Who are you?”

  “My name is Dirk Provin.”

  “Dirk? Dirk? A dirk is an insignificant blade: too small to be a weapon, too large to be a decent table knife. Just an annoying little poker with grandiose ambitions.”

  The madman’s words belied his appearance, Dirk thought. Beneath the filth and grime of insanity lurked an educated man.

  “Is that what you are, boy? An annoying little poker with grandiose ambitions?”

  Beside him, Tia laughed softly. She apparently thought that was rather funny.

  “What I am, is hot,” Dirk replied. “I want to get out of the sun. Come down here, so we can finish this discussion in the shade.”

  The Deathbringer studied Dirk through disconcertingly intelligent eyes. “You seek the shade, do you?” Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and howled like a dog caught in a trap. The sound was primal and unnatural. It sent a shiver down Dirk’s spine, and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Step into the shade, boy, and taste the Age of Shadows with me!”

  Tia gasped, as the madman teetered on the edge of the precipice with nothing below him but the stony ledge where they stood.

  “I am the Deathbringer!” he howled. “Come to me, all ye who lust for destruction, for I am the instrument you seek!”

  “Neris! Stop that!” Tia cried.

  “You brought him here to find out my secrets, didn’t you?” Neris accused, pointing his finger at Dirk. “Ella promised me that if I told her my secret, things would be better.” Neris’s shoulders slumped, his mood changing so quickly that it was impossible to keep up with him. “That’s why I told them. There’d been so much trouble, you see... so much suffering. I thought I’d be a hero!” Tears of remorse welled up in Neris’s dark eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to turn out like this, Tia. I didn’t know what she’d do . . .”

  “Neris, why don’t you come down?” Tia suggested gently. “Dirk wants to meet you.”

  Neris was instantly suspicious. “Why? Why does he want to meet me?”

  Tia smiled. “Because Dirk is really very clever, Neris. Even smarter than you.”

  “Is he?” Neris studied Dirk with a great deal more interest. “If you’re so smart, then, what’s a lion?”

  “What?” Dirk looked at Tia for help, but she just smiled at him.

  “What’s a lion?”

  “A lion? A big cat.”

  “How do you know it’s a big cat?”

  “There are lions all over Senet. It’s Antonov’s family crest.”

  “Yes, but have you ever seen a lion? A real one?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I suppose it’s because they’re not real. They’re creatures of myth, like dragons and fairies and wolves.”

  “Ha!” Neris declared. “He’s not so smart.” Then he looked down at Tia with a frown. “I know what you’re up to. It won’t work. I won’t tell you anything. Not now. Not after what happened.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Neris,” Tia said with the weary resignation of someone who had repeated the same assurance over and over. Her words did little to console the madman.

  “I am the Deathbringer,” Neris muttered.

  She sighed and turned to Dirk. “He’ll start to go into withdrawal soon, if we can’t talk him down.”

  “Can I do anything to help?”

  “Actually, you can.” She faced him squarely, almost defiantly. “You can repay the trust we’ve placed in you by offering you shelter here in Mil.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did you see what happened when I said you were as smart as Neris? He got all defensive and started asking bizarre questions, just to prove you’re not.”

  “I don’t understand where you’re going with this, Tia.”

  “Neris is like a child and, like a child, he has to prove himself—constantly.” When it was obvious that Dirk didn’t follow her reasoning, Tia looked a little annoyed. “It’s all part of the game, Dirk. He does it all the time. He drops hints, quite deliberately at times, and nobody understands them. It proves his secret is still safe.”

  “Hints about what, exactly?”

  “Neris was right. You really are thick, aren’t you?” She pointed up at the second sun. “To learn how long the Age of Shadows would last, Neris had to calculate an orbit, Dirk. That’s a big round thing, in case you didn’t know. How could he possibly do that, without discovering both when the sun would arrive and when it would leave again?”

  Dirk digested that silently.

  “I know you think our cause is futile, Dirk. The tragic thing is you’re probably right. I know we can’t really do much to hurt Antonov or Belagren. But neither can we stand by and allow them to do . . . that,” she declared, jerking her head toward Neris, “to anybody else.”

  Dirk thought about his answer for a long time. Tia wasn’t asking just for his help with her ludicrous plan. She was asking him to throw his lot in with the exiles and pirates of Mil and take part in their struggle.

  She was asking him to choose whose side he was on.

  “So you want me to outwit a madman, who’s not only the smartest person alive, but who’s been hiding the secret you want me to uncover for longer than I’ve been alive? Are you sure it’s your father who’s the crazy one?”

  She frowned, looking more like the Tia he remembered. “Will you help us, or not?”

  Dirk looked at her for a moment, then glanced up at Neris. “Do you seriously think he’ll blurt out the secret about the next Age of Shadows just to prove he’s smarter than me? That’s insane.”

  “Yes, actually it is insane,” she agreed. “But then, so i
s Neris.”

  Dirk hesitated, aware that if he agreed to this, there would be no going back. Then he realized he didn’t care.

  He didn’t want to go back.

  “I can try. But I don’t think this is going to work, Tia.”

  “I am the Deathbringer!” Neris howled from his perch above them.

  Tia looked up at her father for a moment, then turned to Dirk and shrugged.

  “You’ve got until the next Age of Shadows,” she said.

  CHARACTER LIST

  ALENOR D’ORLON—Princess of Dhevyn. Heir to the throne. Rainan’s daughter.

  ALEXIN SERANOV—Second son of the current Duke of Grannon Rock. Reithan’s cousin.

  ANALEE LATANYA—Deceased. Princess of Damita. Wife of Antonov. Mother of Misha, Kirshov and Gunta.

  ANTONOV LATANYA—The Lion of Senet. Father of Misha, Kirshov and Gunta. Husband of Analee of Damita.

  BALONAN—Seneschal of Elcast castle.

  BARIN WELACIN—Prefect of Avacas.

  BELAGREN—High Priestess of the Shadowdancers.

  BLARENOV—Member of the Brotherhood based in Paislee.

  BRAHM HALYN—Sundancer living on Elcast. Brother of Paige Halyn, the Lord of the Suns.

  CALLA—Mil’s blacksmith.

  CASPONA TAKARNOV—Shadowdancer in training with Marqel.

  CLEGG—Captain of the Calliope.

  DAL FALSTOV—Captain of the Orlando.

  DARGIN OTMAR—Master at Arms in the Queen’s Guard.

  DERWN HAURITZ—Butcher’s apprentice. Son of Hauritz the Butcher.

  DIRK PROVIN—Second son of Duke Wallin of Elcast and Princess Morna of Damita.

  DROGAN SERANOV—Deceased. Duke of Grannon Rock until the War of Shadows. Killed fighting with Johan against Senet. Father of Reithan. Husband of Lexie.

  ELESKA ARROWSMITH—Baenlander. Daughter of Novin Arrowsmith. Mellie Thorn’s best friend.

  ELLA GEON—Shadowdancer and physician. Expert in herbs and drugs. Tia’s mother.

  ERYK—Orphan from Elcast. Dirk’s servant.

  FARALAN—Daughter of the Duke of Ionan. Betrothed to Rees Provin of Elcast.

  FREDRAK D’ORLON—Deceased. Duke of Bryton. Killed in a hunting accident not long after his wife, Rainan Thorn, assumed the throne of Dhevyn. Alenor’s father.

  FRENA—Servant in Elcast Castle. The baker Welma’s daughter.

  GAVEN GREYBROOK—Pirate on Johan’s ship. Killed in the tidal wave that hit Elcast.

  GUNTA LATANYA—Deceased. Youngest son of Antonov Latanya and Analee of Damita. Sacrificed as a baby to ensure the return of the second sun.

  HARI—Pirate captured in Paislee. Sacrificed on Elcast during the Landfall Festival.

  HAURITZ—Butcher living in Elcast Town.

  HELGIN—Physician and tutor at Elcast.

  JOHAN THORN—Pirate. Exiled King of Dhevyn.

  KALLEEN—Leader of Kalleen’s acrobat troupe.

  KIRSHOV LATANYA—Second son of the Prince of Senet.

  LANATYNE—Member of Kalleen’s acrobats.

  LANON RILL—Second son of Tovin Rill, Governor of Elcast.

  LEXIE SERANOV THORN—Wife of Johan Thorn. First husband was the Duke of Grannon Rock. Mother of Reithan Seranov and Mellie Thorn.

  LILA BAYSTOKE—Herb woman from Elcast.

  LILE DROGANOV—Pirate based in Mil.

  LINEL—Pirate captured in Paislee. Sacrificed on Elcast during the Landfall Festival.

  MADALAN TIROV—Shadowdancer and aide to the High Priestess Belagren.

  MARQEL—Also known as Marqel the Magnificent. Landfall bastard. Performs as an acrobat in Kalleen’s troupe until she is taken into the Shadowdancers.

  MASTER KEDRON—Elcast Master at Arms.

  MELLIE THORN—Daughter of Johan Thorn and Lexie Seranov.

  MISHA LATANYA—Eldest son of Antonov, the Lion of Senet. Also known as the Crippled Prince.

  MORNA PROVIN—Duchess of Elcast. Princess of Damita. Daughter of Prince Oscon. Sister of Analee. Married to Wallin Provin. Mother of Rees and Dirk.

  MURRY—Member of Mistress Kalleen’s acrobats.

  NERIS VERAN—Sundancer and mathematical genius. Believed to be dead.

  NOVIN ARROWSMITH—Pirate living in Mil.

  OLENA BORNE—Shadowdancer attached to Prince Antonov’s court.

  OSCON—Exiled ruler of Damita. Father of Analee and Morna.

  PAIGE HALYN—Lord of the Suns.

  PARON SHOEBROOK—Cobbler’s son on Elcast.

  PELLA—Baker in Mil.

  PORL ISINGRIN—Pirate. Captain of the Makuan. Based in Mil.

  RAINAN D’ORLON—Née Thorn. Queen of Dhevyn. Mother of Alenor. Johan Thorn’s younger sister.

  REES PROVIN—Eldest son of the Duke of Elcast. Dirk’s brother.

  REZO—Sailor on the Calliope.

  ROVE ELAN—Lord Marshal of Dhevyn.

  REITHAN SERANOV—Son of the late Duke of Grannon Rock and Lexie Seranov. Johan’s stepson.

  SABAN SERANOV—Duke of Grannon Rock. Father of Alexin and Raban.

  SERGEY—Captain of the Avacas Palace Guard in Senet.

  SOOTER—Member of Mistress Kalleen’s acrobats.

  TABOR ISINGRIN—Son of Porl Isingrin.

  TIA VERAN—Daughter of Neris Veran and Ella Geon.

  TOVIN RILL—Governor of Elcast.

  VARIAN—Nurse to the sons of Elcast.

  VIDEON LUKANOV—Head of the Brotherhood in Dhevyn.

  VONRIL—Juggler. Son of Kalleen.

  WALLIN PROVIN—Duke of Elcast.

  WELMA—The master baker at Elcast Castle.

  WILIM—Officer in the Queen’s Guard.

  YORNE—Apprentice baker. Welma’s son.

  YURI DARANSKI—Physician in the palace at Avacas.

  Don’t miss the next exciting new novel in

  The Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

  THE EYE OF THE LABYRINTH

  Sequel to THE LION OF SENET

  Dirk Provin fled Prince Antonov’s court in Avacas with Tia

  Veran, at the end of The Lion of Senet. Two years later, they

  are both hiding in the Baenlands with the pirates of Mil. But

  Antonov, the dreaded Lion of Senet, is determined to flush

  Dirk out into the open, and tries to do so with a series of

  atrocities Dirk can not ignore.

  Meanwhile, Kirsh, Antonov’s son, has married Princess

  Alenor, but he is still obsessed with the beautiful, young, and

  manipulative acrobat Marqel, who may yet cost him his life.

  Alenor discovers that married life is not quite what she

  imagined, and tries to concentrate on her new responsibilities

  as Queen of Dhevyn. Instead, she is inexorably drawn into a

  web of deceit and intrigue.

  Only in the ruins at Omaxin does Dirk have any hope of

  uncovering the truth of the Age of Shadows. But the truth he

  discovers is not at all what he bargained for.

  Coming in May 2004,

  followed a month later by the dramatic conclusion,

  LORD OF THE SHADOWS

  About the Author

  JENNIFER FALLON lives in Alice Springs in Central Australia where she writes full time and works occasionally as a trainer in business administration and computing. She shares her house with two dogs, two cats and a collection of dragons from all over the world.

  To find out more about Jennifer Fallon, her books

  and her writing, visit her Web site:

  www.jenniferfallon.com

  THE LION OF SENET

  A Bantam Spectra Book / April 2004

  Published by

  Bantam Dell

  A Division of Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2002 by Jennifer Fallon

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

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  or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written

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  eISBN: 978-0-553-89856-9

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