by Stuart Daly
Caspan thought at first that Frostbite was afraid of aggravating his wound, but he started to doubt this after his guardian had a playful wrestle one afternoon with Roland’s manticore. When the drake pinned the enormous, winged lion to the ground, Caspan quickly dismissed any thoughts that Frostbite might be worried about injuring himself. Thinking back to the bear tracks, and placing this in perspective of the recent fight against the Roon, Caspan realised that Frostbite had now become overly protective of him. He was flattered that his Warden cared so much for his welfare, but he didn’t want to fall behind in his training due to the drake’s overvigilance.
Late one afternoon, Caspan and Frostbite sat outside the House of Whispers, enjoying dusk’s crisp breeze. Caspan was looking to the north, wondering when the Masters would decipher the strange language written on the border of the map. He had heard that the Masters were searching through archived texts and scrolls in the hope of finding clues. He was sure it would only be a matter of time, though, before he and his friends would be summoned to Duke Connal’s office and be briefed on what the Masters had discovered. The Brotherhood would then be sent to explore the location revealed on the map. Perhaps it was another Dray tomb, riddled with traps even more perilous than the one they’d encountered beneath Saint Justyn’s.
The memory of Ro Dool’s tomb and its forbidding sand trap made Caspan’s stomach tighten with unease. Frostbite nudged against him and licked his face, as if sensing his anxiety. He chuckled to himself, thinking that if he were back at the siege of Darrowmere, Frostbite would more than likely sit on top of him, preventing him from going anywhere near battle. Caspan pulled back just in time to avoid another of his Warden’s licks.
‘Hey, none of that.’ Caspan laughed and, holding Frostbite by the sides of the snout, blew a raspberry in his face. ‘I’m sure we’ll be heading off on another adventure soon,’ he said wistfully, scratching his drake affectionately behind an ear. ‘I’ll watch your back if you’ll watch mine. Deal?’
Frostbite stared back at him and snapped at a fly.
Caspan smiled and tickled his Warden under the chin. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
A sincere thank you to the following:
My family and friends. As always, to Belinda, Winter, Ronan and Willow, all of whom make everything possible; Gavin and Warren Daly; David and May Hardy; Stephen Pace; Brian Downton; Tony, Jackie, Tiana and Jacob Harb; Grace Silvio; and Joe and Lisa Gioia.
The Saturday-night gamers: Ben, Sim and Les. What can be better than copious amounts of Coca Cola, pizza, good friends and Magic?
The team at Random House Australia, particularly my publisher, Zoe Walton, who has the patience of a saint and without whose guidance Brotherhood of Thieves would never have been written; and Cristina Briones, who does for my unedited drafts what Michelangelo did to blocks of stone.
To the students at International Grammar, for all your kind words (not to mention inundating me with requests to be characters in my next novel).
And finally I’d like to acknowledge my faithful bathtub, for all the hours of peace and serenity it’s offered, providing me the opportunity to write.
Stuart Daly is a History teacher in a private high school in Sydney. He is the author of The Witch Hunter Chronicles series, an epic tale of witch hunting and demon slaying set in the seventeenth century. Brotherhood of Thieves is his new action-packed fantasy series about a secret order of treasure hunters. Stuart lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Brotherhood of Thieves
9780857983282
Copyright © Stuart Daly 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House Australia book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Random House Australia in 2014
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Daly, Stuart
Title: Brotherhood of thieves [electronic resource]
ISBN: 978 0 85798 328 2 (ebook)
Series: Daly, Stuart. Brotherhood of thieves; 1
Target Audience: For secondary school age
Subjects: Thieves – Juvenile fiction
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover illustration by Jeremy Reston
Cover design and typography by www.blacksheep-uk.com
Map by Stuart Daly and Anna Warren
Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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