Geomancer (Well of Echoes)

Geomancer

I
AN
I
RVINE
was born in Bathurst in 1950, and educated at Chevalier College and the University of Sydney, where he took a BSc (Hons) in geology and a PhD in marine science.

After working as an environmental project manager, Ian set up his own consulting firm in 1986, carrying out studies for clients in Australia and overseas. He has worked in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. An expert in marine pollution, Ian has developed some of Australia’s national guidelines for the protection of the oceanic environment.

Ian Irvine lives with his family in the mountains of northern New South Wales. His previous fantasy quartet,
The View from the Mirror
, has also been published in the United States and the United Kingdom, and in translation. He is currently working on the second and third volumes of
The Well of Echoes Trilogy
.

A T
ALE OF
T
HE
T
HREE
W
ORLDS

Volume One of T
HE
W
ELL OF
E
CHOES

VIKING

Viking

Penguin Books Australia Ltd
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Penguin Books Ltd
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First published by Penguin Books Australia, 2001

Text copyright © Ian Irvine, 2001

Maps copyright © Ian Irvine, 2001

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

www.penguin.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-74-228295-4

To Simon

Thanks to Eric, Simon and Angus for their comments on the manuscript, to my agent Selwa Anthony, to Cathy Larsen, Janet Raunjak, Laura Harris and all the lovely sales and marketing people at Penguin Books, and to my tireless editor, Kay Ronai.

C
ONTENTS

M
APS

P
ART
O
NE

A
RTISAN

P
ART
T
WO

A
RTIFICER

P
ART
T
HREE

S
EEKER

P
ART
F
OUR

F
LESH
-F
ORMER

P
ART
F
IVE

G
EOMANCER

G
LOSSARY

P
ART OF THE
S
OUTHERN
H
EMISPHER OF
S
ANTHENAR

M
IRRILLADELL AND THE
G
REAT
M
OUNTAINS