THE
DAYLIGHT
WAR
PETER V. BRETT
For my parents, John and Dolores, who still read together on the couch at night.
Contents
Chapter 14: The Song of Waning
Chapter 16: Where Khaffit Cannot Follow
Prologue
Inevera 300 AR
Inevera and her brother Soli sat in the sunlight. Each held the frame of a basket between their bare feet, nimbly turning it as their fingers worked the weave. This late in the day, there was only a tiny sliver of shade in their small kiosk. Their mother, Manvah, sat there, working her own basket. The pile of tough date palm fronds at the centre of the ring they formed shrank steadily as they worked.
Inevera was nine years old. Soli was almost twice that, but still young to be wearing the robes of a full dal’Sharum, the black cloth still deep with fresh dye. He had earned them barely a week ago, and sat on a mat to ensure the ever-present dust of the Great Bazaar did not cling to them. His robe was cinched loosely on top, revealing a smooth, muscular chest glistening with sweat.
He fanned himself with a frond. ‘Everam’s balls, these robes are hot. I wish I could still go out in just a bido.’
‘You may have the shade if you wish it, Sharum,’ Manvah said.
Soli tsked and shook his head. ‘Is that what you expected? That I would come back in black and start ordering you around like …’
Manvah chuckled. ‘Just making certain you remain my sweet boy.’
‘Only to you and my dear little sister,’ Soli clarified, reaching out to tousle Inevera’s hair. She slapped his arm away, but she was smiling as she did it. There was always smiling when Soli was about. ‘With everyone else, I am mean as a sand demon.’
‘Bah,’ Manvah said, waving the thought away, but Inevera wondered. She’d seen what he did to the two Majah boys who teased her in the bazaar when they were younger, and the weak did not survive in