Shadowfell (43 page)
Authors: Juliet Marillier
Also by Juliet Marillier
First published 2012 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
Copyright © Juliet Marillier 2012
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Marillier, Juliet.
Shadowfell / Juliet Marillier.
Adobe eReader format: 9781743348307
EPUB format: 9781743348314
Online format: 9781743348291
Series: Marillier, Juliet.
Shadowfell triology; bk. 1.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Typeset in 11.5/15 pt Minion by Post Pre-press Group, Queensland
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Juliet Marillier
Daughter of the Forest
BOOK ONE OF THE SEVENWATERS TRILOGY
The seven of us are as the parts of one body. If we are torn asunder, it may seem as if there is no tomorrow for us. But like pools in the same stream, we must meet and part and meet again. We belong to the flow of the lake and to the deep beating heart of the forest
.
Lord Colum of Sevenwaters is blessed with seven children: Liam, a natural leader; Diarmid with his passion for adventure; twins Cormack and Conor each with a different calling; rebellious Finbar grown old before his time by his gift of Sight; and the young compassionate Padriac.
But it is Sorcha, the seventh child and only daughter, too young to have known her mother, who alone is destined to defend her family and protect her land from the Britons and the clan known as Northwoods. For her father has been bewitched by Lady Oonagh and her brothers bound by a spell that only Sorcha can lift.
Exiled from Sevenwaters and cast out into the forest and beyond, Sorcha falls into the hands of the enemy. Now she is torn between the life she has always known and a love that only comes once.
‘I enjoyed it immensely . . . a fine new fantasy writer’
A
NNE
M
C
C
AFFREY
‘. . . spellbinding . . . sheer storytelling magic . . . amongst the best of modern fantasy’
S
OPHIE
M
ASSON
, T
HE
C
OODE
S
T
R
EVIEW OF
S
CIENCE
F
ICTION
‘. . . a remarkable literary endeavour, a work of solid commitment and painstaking research’
P
ERTH
S
UNDAY
T
IMES
‘This saga will hold you entranced, with its forbidden romance and powerful adventure’
A
USTRALIAN
W
OMEN
’
S
W
EEKLY
‘This is one of the most beautiful, romantic, well-told fairy tale retellings that I’ve ever read’
N
EXUS
Juliet Marillier
Son of the Shadows
BOOK TWO OF THE SEVENWATERS TRILOGY
I saw an old, old man, wandering the empty halls of Sevenwaters alone, his gnarled fingers grasping a staff of yew for support. He was mumbling to himself,
They are all gone . . . no sons, no daughters . . . how can the forest be saved, if there are no children at Sevenwaters?
And I saw that this crippled ancient was my brother Sean
.
After years of happiness, darkness has fallen upon Ulster. Trouble is brewing and leaders are being called into strategic alliances to defend their land. Even those in the heart of the forest are not safe.
Of the three children at Sevenwaters, it is not golden-haired Niamh nor the young heir Sean, but Liadan, Sean’s twin, with her gift of Sight and her mother’s talent for healing, who seems to hold the key. Liadan’s road will be tortuous. She must journey into the shadowy world of the Painted Man and his warriors, and walk a fine line between right and wrong if she is to succeed.
But will Liadan risk the safety of her family to be a pawn in Ireland’s future?
‘full of the magic of the Celtic night . . . a wonderful, riveting story . . .’
B
ARBARA
E
RSKINE
‘confirmation of the author’s talent, storytelling magic and deep understanding of traditional culture. For those of you who have not yet ventured to Sevenwaters, don’t delay! This is a real treat of a novel, as was its predecessor’
S
OPHIE
M
ASSON
Juliet Marillier
Child of the Prophecy
BOOK THREE OF THE SEVENWATERS TRILOGY
The outstanding conclusion to Juliet Marillier’s award-winning
Son of the Shadows
and her international bestseller,
Daughter of the Forest
.
A freezing terror ran through me. It was not just that I had done the unforgivable. It was something far worse. Had not I just proved my grandmother right? She had told me I bore the blood of a cursed line, a line of sorcerers and outcasts. It seemed I could not fight that; it would manifest itself as it chose. Were not my steps set inevitably towards darkness? I turned and fled in silence.
Raised in an isolated cove in Kerry, the young sorceress Fainne has been sent to live at Sevenwaters and burdened with a terrible task. She must use whatever powers she can to prevent the Fair Folk winning back the Islands, no matter what the cost. Even if it means denying herself the one she loves.
But can Fainne turn her back on the family for whom she has come to care? And, more importantly, can she bring herself to rid the world of the chosen one . . . the child of the prophecy?
‘A rich tapestry of love and loss, family loyalty and personal sacrifice . . . Marillier’s strong voice and rolling, lucid prose seem appropriate for a 10th century Irish tale, and her command of a fantasy story’s elements make this an excellent conclusion to a fine trilogy’
P
UBLISHERS
W
EEKLY
‘a beautiful Celtic romance in the tradition of Marion Zimmer Bradley’
T
HAT
’
S
L
IFE
‘an utterly absorbing, satisfying end to the trilogy, and perhaps the best novel of the three’
T
HE
H
ISTORICAL
N
OVELS
R
EVIEW
Juliet Marillier
Heir to Sevenwaters
The chieftains of Sevenwaters have long been custodians of a vast forest, said by some to be one of the last refuges of the unpredictable Fair Folk of ancient story. An uneasy peace has existed, that is until Lady Aisling of Sevenwaters finds herself expecting another child and then everything changes.
Clodagh fears for her mother as she is long past the safe age for childbearing. When Aisling gives birth, the responsibility of caring for the infant falls to Clodagh while her mother recovers.
Then the family’s joy turns to despair when an unspeakable horror falls upon Sevenwaters. Clodagh must confront the shadowy mystery of the silent forest and descend to the Otherworld to find out why the trust between the two realms has been broken so tragically.
Accompanied on her quest by a warrior of uncertain allegiance, Clodagh will have her courage tested to breaking point. The reward may be far greater than she ever dreamed . . .
Juliet Marillier
Seer of Sevenwaters
Sibeal has always known that she is destined for a spiritual life, and is committed to it with all her heart. The only thing left for her to do before she enters the nemetons is to spend the summer visiting her sisters, Muirrin and Clodagh, on the northern island of Inis Eala.
But Sibeal has barely set foot on the island before a freak storm out at sea sinks a ship before her eyes. In spite of frantic efforts, only three survivors are fished alive from the water, and one of them, a man Sibeal names Ardal, clings to life by the merest thread.
Life continues on the island, as it must, and Sibeal befriends Ardal as he begins to regain his health. But it becomes clear there is something unusual about the three shipwrecked strangers. Why won’t the beautiful Svala speak? And what is it that the gravely ill Ardal can’t remember – or won’t tell? When a visiting warrior is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, and an attempt is made on Ardal’s life, Sibeal finds herself a pawn in a deadly game. The truth will be far more astonishing than she could ever have believed – and the consequences for Sibeal unimaginable.