Whitemantle. Robert Goldthwaite Carter. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Robert Goldthwaite Carter
Издательство: HarperCollins
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Героическая фантастика
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9780007388004
Скачать книгу
id="u0cbce374-bc4e-55e2-8376-177dfcc103cf">

      

      Whitemantle

      Book Three of the Language Of Stones

      Robert Carter

      

       For Andrew Ritchie – the Brompton man – who gave me back my fitness.

       ‘I think we ought to have as great a regard for religion as we can, in order to keep it out of as many things as possible.’

      Sean O’Casey

      The Plough and the Stars

      Table of Contents

       Cover Page

       Title Page

       Epigraph

       PART TWO THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT BE KING

       CHAPTER NINE THE LAMB HYTHE YALE

       CHAPTER TEN THE WINDOWLESS CHAMBER

       CHAPTER ELEVEN PROMISES AND PIECRUSTS

       CHAPTER TWELVE THE KING OF PENTACLES

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN PROPHECIES, LIBELS AND DREAMS

       PART THREE ON THE SEVENTH DAY

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE FAST-FLOWING STREAM

       CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE SLEEPLESS FIELD

       CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MUCKLE GATE

       CHAPTER EIGHTEEN THE DOOMSTONE OF THE WEST

       PART FOUR THE END OF ALL THINGS

       CHAPTER NINETEEN THE IRON TREE

       CHAPTER TWENTY THREE SUNS

       CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE THE SECOND DUEL

       CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO THE STONE THAT WAS HEALED

       CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE EDWARD

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR A BROKEN LAND

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE WHITE SNOW, RED RIVER

       EPILOGUE

       AUTHOR’S HISTORICAL NOTE

       About the Author

       By Robert Carter

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

       PROLOGUE

      THE STORY SO FAR

      Whitemantle is the third novel in the Language of Stones cycle. The first two, called The Language of Stones, and The Giants’ Dance, recount the story of Willand, an ordinary boy who stands on the threshold of manhood. On the day that Will turns thirteen, the wizard Gwydion takes him away from home and explains certain extraordinary prophecies that concern the third and final coming of an ancient hero-king called Arthur. Gwydion suggests that Will himself is that predicted incarnation, but Will does not want to believe it.

      However, as Will’s adventures progress dark forces are seen to be at work, chiefly embodied in the person of Maskull, a ruthless sorcerer and Gwydion’s arch-enemy, and the Sightless Ones, a sinister order of tax collectors who squeeze the common people and try to persuade them to believe in the mind-enslaving ‘Great Lie’. Gwydion is at pains to hide Will’s true identity from the world, and so the boy is lodged in secret, first with the fearsome hog-headed Lord Strange, then with the family of Duke Richard of Ebor, where he is educated in lordly ways. Will also comes to learn ‘the redes’ – the rules that govern magic – and he meets a girl named Willow who becomes his friend. He is also befriended by the House of Ebor’s venerable herbalist, Wortmaster Gort, and he stands up to Edward, the Duke of Ebor’s wilful heir, eventually winning his respect.

      But while Will is learning, the Realm is slipping into war, for the present king is descended from a usurper, and there are many who believe he is not the rightful king. In fact, King Hal is being controlled by his beautiful but greedy queen, Mag, and her violent ally, Duke Edgar of Mells. Set against their party is the House of Ebor and its allies, who believe that Duke Richard must be recognized as sovereign. Duke Richard himself is content to wait until the sickly Hal dies, for the latter has no heir, but when the queen falls unexpectedly pregnant, rumours begin to circulate that the child has been fathered by the Duke of Mells as part of a scheme to keep Richard from his just deserts. The gauntlet of conflict