YMAA Publication Center, Inc. PO Box 480 Wolfeboro, NH 03894 1-800-669-8892 • www.ymaa.com • [email protected]
Paperback edition 978-1-59439-258-0
Ebook edition 978-1-59439-259-7
© 2012 by Vincent Pratchett
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Editor: Leslie Takao
Cover Design: Axie Breen
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Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication
Pratchett, Vincent.
The raven’s warrior : a novel / Vincent Pratchett. -- Wolfeboro, NH : YMAA Publication Center, c2013.
p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978-1-59439-258-0 (pbk.) ; 978-1-59439-259-7 (ebk.)
Summary: Wounded in battle (900 A.D.), a near dead Celtic warrior is taken by Viken raiders and sold into a Baghdad slave market. He is dragged further East, through the desert, into the ‘Middle Kingdom’ where he is bought by a warrior priest and his beautiful daughter. Hazy images of silk, herbs, needles, potions and steel, can only lead to one thing, he has been purchased by a wizard and his witch. Arkthar fears for his soul.--Publisher.
1. Celts--China--Tenth century--Fiction. 2. Magic, Chinese--Tenth century--Fiction. 3. China--History--Tenth century--Fiction. 4. Taoist priests--China--Tenth century--Fiction. 5. Adventure fiction. 6. Historical fiction. I. Title.
PR9199.4.P73 R38 2013
813.6--dc23
2012954198
1301
Editor’s note: Viken is the historical name of a region in southeastern Norway, believed to derive from the Old Norse word vík, meaning cove or inlet. Etymologists have suggested that the modern word “viking” may be derived from this place name, simply meaning “a person from Viken”.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
DRAGON
Seal Script Calligraphy from the time of the First Emperor
QIN SHI HUANG DI
Every man’s life story begins at first breath, but this is not my story alone, and so it begins much closer to my last.
CONTENTS
THE NEEDLE POINTS NORTH
THE BEAR
ENTRENCHED
THE ORACLE SPEAKS
THE SIEGE
SACRIFICE
FIRST STRIKE
THE OAK
WATER AND FISH
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
STANDING AT PEACE
HEAT
CHI
THE GUARDIAN
THE FIRST EMPEROR
THE ENTRANCE
SLEEP
THE FIVE CUTS
THE LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS
THE VAJRA AND THE MIND
TO SEE BEYOND
THE MANNER OF KILLING CROWS
THE LAST MISSION
OVER THE WALL
THE WHORE AND THE CRONE
FIRE AND STRAW
CHANGES
A BARGAIN REFUSED
ON TWO WINGS
BOW AND SHIELD
THE BEGGAR’S BOWL
REACHING FOR THE RAIN