The King’s Justice
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Authors: Katherine Kurtz
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Also by Katherine Kurtz
The Deryni Novels
The Chronicles of the Deryni
Deryni Rising
Deryni Checkmate
High Deryni
The Legends of Camber of Culdi
Camber of Culdi
Saint Camber
Camber the Heretic
The Histories of King Kelson
The Bishop's Heir
The King's Justice
The Quest for Saint Camber
The Heirs of Saint Camber
The Harrowing of Gwynedd
King Javan's Year
The Bastard Prince
The Childe Morgan Trilogy
In the King's Service
Childe Morgan
The King's Deryni
Other novels
King Kelson's Bride
The King's Justice
The Histories of King Kelson, Volume Two
Katherine Kurtz
For
Cameron Alexander MacMillan
What a Neat Kid!
C
ONTENTS
And the king shall do according to his will.
I
With arrows and with bow shall one come thither.
II
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
III
For they have begotten strange children.
IV
This is the faithful and prudent steward, whom the master will set over his household.
V
He shall direct his counsel and knowledge, and in his secrets shall he meditate.
VI
Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
VII
For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee.
VIII
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear.
IX
She entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs.
XI
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
XII
Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions.
XIII
The king's strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness.
XIV
The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
XV
Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
XVI
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
XVII
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer.
XVIII
The skill of the physician shall lift up his head.
XIX
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
XX
So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued he him that punished.
XXI
He hath stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
XXII
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Preview:
The Quest for Saint Camber
Appendix   I:  Index of Characters
Appendix  II:  Index of Places
Appendix  III:  Partial Lineage of the Haldane Kings
Appendix  IV:  The Festillic Kings of Gwynedd and Their Descendants
Appendix  V:  Partial Lineage of the MacRories
P
ROLOGUE
And the king shall do according to his will
.
âDaniel 11:30
“I tell you, he isn't
going
to change his mind,” the Deryni Bishop Arilan said, slapping the ivory table with both palms for emphasis as his gaze swept the three men and three women seated with him in the vaulted chamber. “Not only will he not changeâhe refuses to even
discuss
it.”
“But, he
must
discuss it!” Laran ap Pardyce, wizened and frail-looking in his black scholar's robes, was clearly appalled. “No Haldane king has
ever
done this before. Surely you've warned him what might happen.”
In the wan, purpled light filtering through the room's great octagonal dome, Arilan leaned his head against the high back of his chair and breathed a forbearing sigh, praying for patience.
“I haveârepeatedly.”
“And?” the woman to his left asked.
“And if I continue to press the point, he may cease to confide in me at all.” He turned his head to look at her wearily. “You may not think that likely, Kyri, but it could yet come to that. God knows, he certainly doesn't trust us as a group.”
The group was the Camberian Council, of course; and the subject of their discussion was the seventeen-year-old King of Gwynedd: Kelson Cinhil Rhys Anthony Haldane, now more than three years on his murdered father's throne.
Nor had the last three years been easy, for Council, king, or kingdom. Any boy-king might have fostered uneasiness among those designated to advise himâand despite the fact that few outside the room even knew of its existence, the Camberian Council considered itself so designated for the House of Haldane. But Kelson, unlike most sovereigns come prematurely to their thrones, had fallen heir to magic: the puissant and forbidden Deryni bloodline of his mother, Queen Jehana, her heritage unknown even to herself before she was forced to use it at his coronation, and the equally powerful Haldane potential for the assumption of magical abilities from King Brion, his father.
In anyone but Kelson, the combination might have been deadly, for Deryni were almost universally feared throughout Gwynedd, and hated by many. Before the Haldane Restoration two centuries before, Gwynedd had lain under Deryni domination for generations, Deryni sorcery enforcing the will of a despotic line that had not hesitated to advance Deryni fortunes over human in whatever way was most expedient. So had Deryni magic come to be despised as well as feared; and few knew or remembered any longer that Deryni as well as humans had fought to overthrow the Deryni tyrants, or that a discredited Deryni saint, besides giving his name to the Council that met in this secret chamber, had first triggered the magic of the Haldane kings.