A Handful of Men: The Complete Series
Page 157
He was succeeded by his daughter Uomaya, who was herself elderly and also childless. When she died after a very brief reign, the throne passed on to her nephew the duke of Rivermead, oldest son of the late Princess Ylla.
Had Lord Umpily’s memoirs survived, then someone might have realized that this was a change of dynasty. Agraine’s line was ended and a grandson of Signifer Ylo sat upon the Opal Throne. Mortals’ memories are short, though, and to mortals Emshandar IV was by then only a name in the history texts, the last of the “old” imperors, his achievements irrelevant and even his crimes forgotten. The Gods remembered better, and in the fullness of time They had rendered justice for the Yllipo massacre.
But perhaps not even the Gods recalled how the Statue had prophesied this, one blustery summer day back in the previous millennium.
*The means by which Warlock Rap obtained the signature of the faun delegate, Mistress Shup-Uth, were never officially revealed, but in private the warlock admitted that he had merely threatened to wring her neck.
** And immensely wealthy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Duncan, born in Scotland in 1933, is a Canadian citizen. He received his diploma from Dundee High School and got his college education at the University of Saint Andrews. He moved to Canada in 1955, where he still lives with his wife. He has three grown children and four grandchildren. He spent thirty years as a petroleum geologist. He has had dozens of fantasy and science fiction novels published, among them A Rose-Red City, Magic Casement, and The Reaver Road, as well as a highly praised historical novel, Daughter of Troy, published, for commercial reasons, under the pseudonym Sarah B. Franklin. He also published the Longdirk series of novels, Demon Sword, Demon Knight, and Demon Rider, under the name Ken Hood.
In the fall of 2007, Duncan’s 2006 novel, Children of Chaos, published by Tor Books, was nominated for both the Prix Aurora Award and the Endeavour Award. In May 2013, Duncan, a 1989 founding member of SFCanada, was honored by election as a lifetime member by his fellow writers, editors, and academics.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Cutting Edge copyright © 1992 by D.J. Duncan
Upland Outlaws copyright © 1993 by D.J. Duncan
The Stricken Field copyright © 1993 by D.J. Duncan
The Living God copyright © 1994 by Dave Duncan
Cover design by Amanda Shaffer
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4712-8
This edition published in 2017 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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A HANDFUL OF MEN
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