KATHARINE KERR
THE FIRE DRAGON
Book Three of The Dragon Mage
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
HarperVoyager
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First published in Great Britain by Voyager 2000
Copyright © Katharine Kerr 2000
Katharine Kerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780006482611
Ebook Edition © JULY 2014 ISBN: 9780007375387
Version: 2017-05-02
For my grandfather,
John Brahtin
He gave me my social conscience
CONTENTS
Author's Note
It occurs to me that readers might find it helpful to know something about the overall structure of the Deverry series. From the beginning of this rather large enterprise, I have had an actual ending in mind, a set of events that should wrap up all the books in a dramatic conclusion. It’s merely taken me much longer to get there than I ever thought it would.
If you think of Deverry as a stage play, the sets of books make up its acts. Act One consists of the Deverry books proper, that is, Daggerspell, Darkspell, Dawnspell, and Dragonspell. The ‘Westlands’ books, A Time of Exile, A Time of Omens, A Time of War, and A Time of Justice, make up Act Two, while Act Three will unfold in the current quartet, ‘The Dragon Mage,’ that is, The Red Wyvern, The Black Raven, and its ‘sister’, The Fire Dragon. The Gold Falcon will bring the sequence to its end at last.
As for the way that the series alternates between past and present lives, think of the structure of a line of Celtic interlace, some examples of which have decorated the various books in this set. Although each knot appears to be a separate figure, when you look closely you can see that they are actually formed from one continuous line. Similarly, this line weaves over and under itself to form the figures. A small section of line seems to run over or under another line to form a knot.
The past incarnations of the characters in this book and their present tense story really are one continuous line, but this line interweaves to form the individual volumes. Eventually – soon, I hope – the pattern will complete itself, and you will be able to see that the set of books forms a circle of knots.
Katharine Kerr
Deverry Spring, 850
The year 850. The gods saw fit to give our prince the victory, but never had we dreamt how high a price they would set for it.
The Holy Chronicles of Lughcarn
Sunlight streamed into the tower room and pooled on the wooden floor. Grey gnomes with spindle legs and warty faces materialized in the warmth and lolled like cats. Despite his great age, Nevyn felt tempted to join them. He sat in the chamber’s only chair and considered his apprentice, who was sitting cross-legged among the gnomes. She turned her face up to the sun and ran one hand through her blond hair, which fell to her shoulders in a ragged wave.
‘Spring’s truly here,’ Lilli said. ‘I’m so glad of it, and yet I dread summer. You must, too.’
‘I do,’ Nevyn said. ‘It won’t be long now before the army rides out, and the gods only know what the battles will bring.’
‘Just so. All I can do is pray that Branoic rides home safely.’
‘You’ve grown truly fond of Branoic, haven’t you?’
‘I