The Dagger of Adendigaeth (A Pattern of Shadow & Light)
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Authors: Melissa McPhail
THE DAGGER OF
ADENDIGAETH
A Pattern of Shadow & Light
Book Two
MELISSA MCPHAIL
Books by Melissa McPhail
Cephrael’s Hand
The Dagger of Adendigaeth
The Dagger of Adendigaeth
A Pattern of Shadow & Light
Book 2
This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
The Dagger of Adendigaeth A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book 2 All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2012 Melissa McPhail v1.0
Cover art by Kentaro Kanamoto
http://kentarokan
amoto.com
Map art by Ramah Palmer and Brandon Lidgard
Edited by Purple Pen Editing and Melissa Bowling
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc.
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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4327-9824-6
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4787-2013-3
Ebook ASIN:
B0046A9VLO
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To my incredibly loyal and supportive friends and family—for your patience and unconditional love despite my becoming a missing person so often during the writing of this novel; for the endless discussions and conjecturing that so often spurred new threads of storyline, for your amazing feedback, for tea and quiet moments of inspiration, for your constant, unwavering support. And to Sarah, Juliet and Shon, for loving me in spite of my many hours spent creating with the characters in this tale instead of with you. Thank you—a hundred times, thank you.
Dannym & Surrounding Kingdoms
When dealing
with an epic fantasy spanning multiple books—especially when said books are published over a period of years—some authors choose to include within the story of each subsequent book a sort of refresher on what happened in the book just before it, finding a way (they hope) to seamlessly integrate the backstory of say, Book One, into the forward story of Book Two.
But the tale encompassed by a Pattern of Shadow & Light does not stop, rewind and auto-generate a summary every hundred-thousand words. Therefore, you won’t find any cagey attempt on my part to bring you up to speed on what you may or may not remember. Yet I realize it may have been some years since you visited the realm of Alorin. So if you desire a quick refresher, I’ve provided that information here, within this Author’s Note.
For those of you who are well versed in the story of
Cephrael’s Hand
, by all means, skip this orientation and continue on to
The Dagger of Adendigaeth.
***
At the end of
Cephrael’s Hand
, Prince Ean had recovered from his near-death episode with the Malorin’athgul, Rinokh, only to face him again at the Temple of the Vestals in Rethynnea. Teaming up with his blood-brother Creighton (now a Shade), and the Espial Franco Rohre, Ean defeated Rinokh by holding onto his pattern while Creighton pulled the man, unprotected, across an open node. This exposed the Malorin’athgul to the raw power of the pattern of the world, which unmade him, but not before Rinokh cast a powerful working that destroyed the temple. Aided by Franco, Ean and Creighton then used the same node to escape the pursuing forces of the Vestal Raine D’Lacourte.
Raine was fighting in the fray when Rinokh revealed himself, and in facing the Malorin’athgul, the Vestal was finally forced to admit that the creatures
do
exist. With the assistance of the pirate Nodefinder Carian vran Lea, and accompanied by the avieth Gwynnleth, Raine chased Ean and Franco across the node. However, he and the others did not end up in the same location as Ean and Franco and found themselves instead in the desolate landscape of T’khendar.
When we left the Adept Healer Alyneri, she’d been taken hostage by men sworn to the Duke of Morwyk with help from the wielder Sandrine du Préc. That same night however, their fleeing coach was caught in a landslide, and Alyneri was thrown off a cliff into a river raging in flood.
Meanwhile, our young truthreader Tanis was waiting for his lady when he noticed a fiery-eyed man, whose gruesome thoughts accosted Tanis’s sensitive mind during a chance meeting of gazes. Compelled by a sudden sense of duty, Tanis followed the man from the tavern, departing without a word of explanation for the Lord Captain Rhys val Kincaide or Alyneri.
Lastly, when we left the soldier Trell, he had just pulled a nameless girl from a flooded river near the old desert woman Yara’s Veneisean farm and brought her back to Yara for help.
“Knowledge is the dagger of Adendigaeth.
Forgiveness is the balm.”
– The Fifth Vestal Björn van Gelderan
Three moons ago in Alorin…
The Hermit
closed his eyes against the blinding afternoon sun and shifted his position on the rocky cliff. He’d been sitting there for hours, his way of relaxing, of meditating…of atoning. His deeply tanned skin testified to this habit. While his iron-grey hair and the lines at his brown eyes proclaimed a man who’d seen a half-century of life, the sinewy muscles beneath his linen tunic and wide-legged pants seemed to belong to a much younger man—indeed, much,
much
younger than his actual age, though he had long ago forgotten how many centuries that numbered.
Far below his seaside cliff, surrounded by olive orchards and pastures and farmland, the Agasi village of Talieri appeared as a dusting of tiny red-roofed houses cramped up against the sparkling inland sea
. Toy fishing boats puttered through glassy waters, leaving wakes twenty times their length, while larger craft hoisted breezy sails to head south toward the violet-hazed mountains on the far horizon.
The Hermit’s home comprised a landscape of chalk cliffs, green hills, and depthless
blue sea-lakes that beckoned to fishermen and barefoot boys with equal appeal. Further north, in the foothills of the high mountains of Tirycth Mir, lay the Solvayre, a region of lush pastures and vineyards where grapes were grown and pressed and fermented into Agasan’s famous wines.