A Crown of Swords
Authors: Robert Jordan
Praise for Robert Jordan
“His writing is distinguished as literature by the richness of its fabric, with all the charm and naiveté of the Brothers Grimm, and the social/moral commentary of Huxley’s
Brave New World
. With his well-fleshed-out characters, dark imagery, comic relief, vivid landscapes, and a fascinating sense of timelessness, Jordan has created a complex literature with a language and reality all its own.”
—Brewster Milton Robertson,
The Sun News
(Myrtle Beach, SC)
Praise for The Wheel of Time
®
“The Wheel of Time [is] rapidly becoming the definitive American fantasy saga. It is a fantasy tale seldom equaled and still less often surpassed in English.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
“Jordan’s multivolume epic [is] a feast for fantasy aficionados.”
—
Library Journal
“For those who like to keep themselves in a fantasy world, it’s hard to beat the complex, detailed world created here.”
—
Locus
Praise for
A Crown of Swords
“The seventh volume of Jordan’s bestselling high fantasy series carries on the . . . colossal, dauntingly complex storytelling established by the previous entries. . . . Fans of the series will gobble down this generous addition.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“In the long-awaited sequel to the bestselling
Lord of Chaos,
Jordan returns to the [same] complex, detailed fantasy world. . . . Highly recommended.”
—
Library Journal
“In the seventh volume of Jordan’s preeminent high fantasy saga, intrigue and counter-intrigue continue to roil. . . . This latest installment of a major fantasy epic definitely will not disappoint its fans.”
—
Booklist
T
HE
W
HEEL OF
T
IME
®
by Robert Jordan
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter’s Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
by Robert Jordan
and Brandon Sanderson
The Gathering Storm
ROWN
OF
S
WORDS
ROBERT JORDAN
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This e-book is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this e-book, or make this e-book publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your personal devices.
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A CROWN OF SWORDS
Copyright © 1996 by The Bandersnatch Group, Inc.
The phrases “The Wheel of Time
®
” and “The Dragon Reborn™,” and the snake-wheel symbol, are trademarks of Robert Jordan.
All rights reserved.
Frontispiece by Mélanie Delon
Maps by Ellisa Mitchell
Interior illustrations by Matthew C. Nielsen and Ellisa Mitchell
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-4299-6057-1
First Edition: June 1996
First E-book Edition: April 2010
Manufactured in the United States of America
To Harriet,
who deserves the credit
once again
18
As the Plow Breaks the Earth
There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land. Soul of fire, heart of stone, in pride he conquers, forcing the proud to yield. He calls upon the mountains to kneel, and the seas to give way, and the very skies to bow. Pray that the heart of stone remembers tears, and the soul of fire, love.
—From a much-disputed translation of
The Prophecies of the Dragon
by the poet
Kyera Termendal, of Shiota, believed to
have been published between FY 700 and
FY 800
From the tall arched window, close onto eighty spans above the ground, not far below the top of the White Tower, Elaida could see for miles beyond Tar Valon, to the rolling plains and forests that bordered the broad River Erinin, running down from north and west before it divided around the white walls of the great island city. On the ground, long morning shadows must have been dappling the city, but from this prominence all seemed clear and bright. Not even the fabled “topless towers” of Cairhien had truly rivaled the White Tower: Certainly none of Tar Valon’s lesser towers did, for all that men spoke far and wide of them and their vaulting sky-bridges.
This high, an almost constant breeze lessened the unnatural heat gripping the world. The Feast of Lights past, snow should have covered the ground deep, yet the weather belonged in the depths of a hard summer. Another sign that the Last Battle approached and the Dark One touched the world, if more were needed. Elaida did not let the heat touch her even when she descended, of course. The breeze was not why she had had her quarters moved up here, despite the inconvenience of so many stairs, to these simple rooms.
Plain russet floor tiles and white marble walls decorated by a few tapestries could not compare with the grandeur of the Amyrlin’s study and the rooms that went with it far below. She still used those rooms
occasionally—they held associations with the power of the Amyrlin Seat in some minds—but she resided here, and worked here more often than not. For the view. Not of city or river or forests, though. Of what was beginning in the Tower grounds.
Great diggings and foundations spread across what had been the Warders’ practice yard, tall wooden cranes and stacks of cut marble and granite. Masons and laborers swarmed over the workings like ants, and endless streams of wagons trailed through the gates onto the Tower grounds, bringing more stone. To one side stood a wooden “working model,” as the masons called it, big enough for men to enter crouching on their heels and see every detail, where every stone should go. Most of the workmen could not read, after all—neither words nor mason’s drawn plans. The “working model” was as large as some manor houses.