CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Cast of Characters
Maps
Prologue
1. Rajmuat
2. Dragons, Crows, and Doves
3. Topabaw
4. The Pavilion of Delightful Pleasures
5. The Demands of Rebellion
6. Spies
7. Putting Darkings to Work
8. Plots Hatch
9. Reports and Conspiracies
10. Eclipse
11. A Few Changes
12. Meddlers
13. A Change of Plans
14. Dove Among the Nobles
15. Rebel Preparation
16. Dunevon's Birthday
17. Mourning
18. Conspiracies
19. Rittevon Square
20. Battle Joined
21. Work
Epilogue
Glossary
Notes and Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other books by Tamora Pierce
Copyright Page
To Bruce Coville, divinely tricky, magically inspiring—
one of the best men I've ever known,
and
To Mary Lou Pierce,
the best Ma in the world
In a time of fear, the One Who I Promised will come to the raka, bearing glory in her train and justice in her hand. She will restore the god to his proper temple and his children to her right hand. She will be twice royal, wise and beloved, a living emblem of truth to her people. She will be attended by a wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows. She will give a home to all, and the kudarung will fly in her honor.
—From the Kyprish Prophecy,
written in the year 200 H.E.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Acharn Uniunu
boy noble, member of Dunevon's court
Adona
luarin noble house
Alan of Pirate's Swoop
Alianne's seventeen-year-old twin brother
Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau
the Tortallan King's Champion, lady knight
Alianne of Pirate's Swoop
daughter of Alanna and George of Pirate's Swoop, former slave
Ankoret Obeliten
noblewoman at regents' court
Atisa Libo
pretty, plump, Guchol's sister, one of Aly's spy pack
Bacar
footman for a Balitang neighbor
Bean
darking placed in the palace
Boulaj
raka warrior, maid to Sarai, one of Aly's spy pack
Bronau Jimajen
Rubinyan's deceased brother, murderer of Mequen Balitang
Callyn
spy recruit, works for the harbormaster
Chenaol
free raka head cook for the Balitangs, armorer for rebels
Dorilize
Nuritin's maid, member of raka conspiracy
Dovasary (Dove) Balitang
Mequen's half-raka daughter from first marriage
Druce Adona
Dunevon Rittevon
boy king of Copper Isles
Edunata Mayano
luarin noblewoman, one of Imajane's ladies-in-waiting
Eleni of Olau
Myles's wife, Aly's grandmother
Elsren Balitang
Dunevon's heir, luarin son of Mequen and Winnamine
Eyun
part-raka warrior, determined, member of Aly's spy pack
Faithful
supernatural cat, Alanna's former companion
Feather
darking placed in Teak Sitting Room, Balitang House
Fegoro
hard raka warrior, member of Aly's spy pack
Ferdolin Tomang (Ferdy)
one of Sarai's suitors, count, wealthy luarin
Fesgao Yibenu
raka sergeant of Balitang men-at-arms, rebel war leader
Flame
darking placed to spy on Duke Nomru
Gazlon Lelin
boy noble, member of Dunevon's court
Genore Tomang
dowager countess, Ferdolin's mother, member of luarin conspiracy
George of Pirate's Swoop
Alanna's husband, Aly's father, baron and second in command of his realm's spies
Gian
Elsren's manservant, spy recruit
Graveyard Hag
trickster, primary goddess of Carthak, Kyprioth's kinswoman
Grosbeak
Topabaw's spy, collector of information
Guchol Libo
plump, good-humored, Atisa's sister, one of Aly's spy pack
Haiming
former raka ruling house
Hazarin
deceased former king
Herbrand Edgecliff
luarin bookseller, member of raka conspiracy
Hessken
soldier, Rittevon Guard
Hiraos
handsome raka, member of Aly's spy pack
Huldean Obeliten
boy noble, member of Dunevon's court
Hunod Ibadun
noble executed by the regents
Imajane Jimajen
born Rittevon, King Oron's half sister, princess regent
Imgehai Qeshi
priestess of Black God of death, member of luarin conspiracy
Inayica
female ship captain
Isalena Obemaek
luarin, one of Sarai's friends
Jesi
Nuritin's secretary
Jevair Ibadun
noble, one of Sarai's suitors
Jimarn
former slave, deadly member of Aly's spy pack
Jonathan of Conté
king of Tortall, Aly's godfather
Junai Dodeka
Ulasim's daughter, Dove's bodyguard, one of Aly's spy pack
Kaddar Iliniat
emperor of Carthak, patron and cousin of Zaimid Hetnim
Kadyet
noble house, Balitang neighbor
Kioka
pert raka, one of Aly's spy pack
Konutai
female Stormwing, Taybur's friend
Kyprioth
trickster god
Lace
darking placed in raka meeting room, Balitang House
Lehart Obemaek
luarin lord, member of luarin conspiracy
Lelin
luarin noble house
Lohearn Mantawu
Topabaw, duke, Crown spymaster
Lokeij
raka hostler for the Balitangs, deceased
Ludas Jimajen
second in command of the luarin invasion of the Copper Isles
Lutestring
Topabaw's agent and information gatherer
Matfrid Fonfala
Winnamine's father, lord, member of luarin conspiracy
Mayce
soldier, Rittevon Guard
Meipun Kloulechat
raka baron
Mequen Balitang
deceased duke, father to Balitang children
Merani
luarin noblewoman
Murtebo
Balitang neighbor
Myles of Olau
head Tortallan spymaster, Aly's grandfather, Alanna's adoptive father
Nawat Crow
crow who turned himself into a man
Numair Salmalín
powerful mage, Daine's husband
Nuritin Balitang
great-aunt to Balitang children, unofficial head of extended Balitang family
Obeliten
luarin noble house
Ochobu Dodeka
mother of Ulasim, leader of mages of the Chain
Olkey
chubby, thoughtful, one of Aly's spy pack
Oron Rittevon
deceased king of the Copper Isles
Otaviyu Lelin
one of Sarai's friends, parents are members of luarin conspiracy
Pembery
part-raka, Winnamine's maid, belongs to rebellion
Peony
darking placed to spy on agent Grosbeak
Petranne Balitang
Mequen's first child with Winnamine
Qovold Engan
baron, royal astronomer, member of luarin conspiracy
Quartz
darking placed with Countess Tomang
Quedanga
Balitang housekeeper, head of communications, member of rebel leadership
Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak
lord, knight-commander of the King's Own, Alan's knight-master
Rasaj
handsome raka, member of Aly's spy pack
Rihani
raka healer, nursemaid to Petranne and Elsren
Rikash Salmalín
Daine and Numair's infant son
Rittevon Lanman
leader of luarin conquest of Copper Isles
Roald of Conté
prince, heir to Tortallan throne
Roger of Conté
King Jonathan's deceased uncle, rebel
Rosamma Tomang
one of Sarai's friends, Genore's daughter
Rubinyan Jimajen
luarin, husband of Princess Imajane, prince regent
Rufert
soldier, Rittevon guard
Saraiyu (Sarai) Balitang
Mequen's oldest daughter, half raka, from his first marriage
Sarralyn Salmalín
Daine and Numair's daughter
Sarugani Temaida
Mequen's first wife, raka, mother of Dove and Sarai, deceased
Sevmire Ambau
Rubinyan's personal spymaster, luarin
Shinkokami
princess, wife of Prince Roald, heir to Tortallan throne
Spot (now Secret)
darking first placed in king's bedroom, then with Aly
Sulion
royal governor of Tongkang
Taybur Sibigat
captain of King's Guard
Temaida
raka noble house, keepers of the Haiming bloodlines, Sarugani's family
Thayet of Conté
Queen of Tortall, co-ruler with her husband, King Jonathan
Thom of Pirate's Swoop
Aly's older brother, a student mage
Tkaa
basilisk, immortal and friend of Aly's family
Topabaw
people's name for Duke Lohearn Mantawu, Crown spymaster
Trick
darking who stays with Aly
Ukali
wicked, dangerous, one of Aly's spy pack
Ulasim Dodeka
head footman to Balitangs, general of rebellion, raka, Ochobu's son, Junai's father
Uniunu
luarin noble house
Vedec Golzai
young luarin noble
Veralidaine (Daine) Sarrasri Salmalín
half goddess, called the Wildmage for her skills with animals, Aly's adoptive aunt
Vereyu
raka servant, head of raka conspiracy at palace
Vitorcine Townsend
double agent, maid to Obemaek family
Vurquan Nomru
duke, luarin, popular, member of luarin conspiracy
Wayan
raka child, message runner at Balitang House
Wesedi
luarin noble house, friends of Winnamine's
Winnamine Fonfala Balitang
duchess, mother of Petranne and Elsren, member of luarin conspiracy
Yoyox
cheerful, bold raka, member of Aly's spy pack
Ysul
mage of the Chain, mute, member of raka conspiracy
Zaimid Hetnim
handsome Carthaki healer, friend of the Carthaki emperor
PROLOGUE
THE COPPER ISLES
In the winter of 462–463 H.E., the brown-skinned raka people and their many allies, part-bloods and white-skinned luarin, prepared for revolution against the luarin ruling house, the Rittevons. The raka plan was to replace the Rittevons with one who had the bloodlines of both the raka queens and the luarin rulers, a passionate girl named Saraiyu Balitang.
The leaders of the raka rebel conspiracy did not spend the winter months dozing. Throughout the Isles, Crown tax collectors vanished from their beds, never to be seen again. Even more baffling, all the suspects who were questioned in their disappearances swore under truthspell that they had last seen the missing officials alive and well. Property damage on luarin estates that winter far exceeded that expected from heavy rains. Dams collapsed, sweeping away acres of rice fields. Blackrot invaded grain silos, destroying winter stores. Bridges fell. Overseers and a few nobles were murdered. When the Crown sent soldiers to kill the people of the nearest raka village, as the law required, the troops found that the inhabitants had vanished. Many people reported hearing war gongs sounding from deep within the lowland jungles.
Life for the Balitang family in the highlands of Lombyn Isle had two sides. One was that of a family that had just lost its patriarch and had to get through the winter months before they could return to the capital city of Rajmuat at the behest of the ruling family. Duchess Winnamine Balitang took solace from her two older stepdaughters, Saraiyu and Dovasary, and her own children, six-year-old Petranne and five-year-old Elsren. She conducted lessons, had snowball fights, told stories, and did her best to keep everyone from screaming with boredom. She also helped train Sarai's maid, a twenty-three-year-old raka woman named Boulaj, and Dove's maid, the former slave Aly Homewood from the kingdom of Tortall.
Beneath this comfortable domestic life lay a second, less visible and more directed. Many of the leaders of the hoped-for revolution were servants to the Balitangs. They guarded the two older girls and perfected their plans. They sent and received information through a network of mages called the Chain, who used their powers to pass messages from island to island. The members of the household practiced fighting arts, from unarmed combat to sword and spear work, in the outbuildings at Tanair Castle. They had an unusual teacher for new ways of fighting: Nawat, a young man who had once been a crow. The duchess saw this practice as much-needed exercise, and both she and her daughters joined in. To the raka's regret, Sarai refused to continue her lessons in swordcraft after she fought and beheaded her would-be lover, Prince Bronau, the night he slew her father.
Busiest of all the members of the rebel conspiracy was the newest to join, seventeen-year-old Aly Homewood. She was in reality Alianne of Pirate's Swoop, the daughter and granddaughter of Tortall's spymasters, raised from the cradle to compete in the world of international espionage. During the previous summer she had acted as chief bodyguard to the Balitang children. With the arrival of spring and the move to Rajmuat, Aly knew she would become the rebellion's spymaster. Although the Balitangs' former housekeeper, Que-danga, has remained in Rajmuat to collect information from long-standing networks of spies, Aly's specially recruited spies and those they will train have their own unique work ahead. They will collect information for the rebel leaders to use against their enemies, and conduct whatever actions of sabotage and psychological operations required to put the raka's enemies at odds with each other. For sixteen years she studied such work under her father's eye. Now she would do it herself, for the promise of better leadership for the Isles.
In preparation, Aly used the winter to build a cadre of trained spies, people among the household who could learn and use all she had to teach. The lessons of these raka and part-raka in their twenties and thirties included written and spoken codes and code breaking, lock picking, and climbing. She
also taught them sign language, thorough searches, medicines and herbs, and the detection of other spies. Because she was younger than many of her trainees, Aly treated them in a teasing, grandmotherly way, while they awarded her the raka nickname of Duani or “boss lady.” Aly also spent time with the raka mage Ochobu, creating suicide spells and magic detection charms, and with the rebels' armorer, choosing weapons for her pack and for herself.
Aly dared not tell anyone why she was so eager to take up the mantle of spymaster. To do so, she would have to reveal her true parentage. The raka would see her as a tool of the Tortallan Crown, while the forces loyal to the Rittevon king and his regents would see her as a spy. Only one being knew her true history: the deposed god of the Copper Isles, the trickster Kyprioth. It was he who had brought Aly to the service of the rebellion that would return him to his seat of power. Although responsible for her presence, Kyprioth did not speak to Aly throughout the long winter. She assumed he was hiding from the god brother and goddess sister who had cast him from his Isles: Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess.