14488_00_i-iv_r5ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:14 PM Page i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Alphabet of Thorn 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27Shor 28Reg 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_00_i-iv_r5ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:14 PM Page ii 1 2 3 4 5 Ace Books by Patricia A. McKillip 6 7 THEFORGOTTENBEASTSOFELD 8 THESORCERESSANDTHECYGNET 9 THECYGNETANDTHEFIREBIRD 10 THEBOOKOFATRIXWOLFE 11 12 WINTERROSE 13 SONGFORTHEBASILISK 14 RIDDLE-MASTER: THECOMPLETETRILOGY 15 THETOWERATSTONYWOOD 16 OMBRIAINSHADOW 17 INTHEFORESTSOFSERRE 18 ALPHABETOFTHORN 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 hort 27 Reg 28 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_00_i-iv_r5ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:14 PM Page iii 1 2 3 4 5 Alphabet of Thorn 6 7 8 c 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 P A. M K 16 ATRICIA C ILLIP 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27Shor ACE BOOKS, NEW YORK 28Reg 2nd Pass Pages MASTER This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Alphabet of Thorn AN ACE Book / published by arrangement with the author All rights reserved. Copyright © 2005 by The ACE Publishing Group. This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability. For information address: The ACE Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is http://www.penguinputnam.com ISBN: 0-7865-5480-0 AN ACE BOOK® ACE Books first published byACE Publishing Group, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. ACE and the "A" design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc. Electronic edition: February 2005 14488_01_001-314_r6ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:15 PM Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 ONE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 On Dreamer’s Plain, the gathering of delegations from the 13 Twelve Crowns of Raine for the coronation of the 14 Queen of Raine looked like an invading army. So the young 15 transcriptor thought, gazing out a window as she awaited a 16 visiting scholar. She had never been so high in the palace li- 17 brary, and rarely so warm. Usually at this time of the morning 18 she was buried in the stones below, blowing on her fingers to 19 warm them so they could write. Outside, wind gusted across 20 the vast plain, pulling banners taut, shaking the pavilions 21 thrown up for the various delegations’ entourages of troops 22 and servants. A spring squall had blown in from the sea and 23 crossed the plain. The drying pavilions, huffing like bellows in 24 the wind, were brilliant with color. The transcriptor, who had 25 only seen invading armies in the epics she translated, nar- 26 rowed her eyes at this gathering and imagined possibilities. 27Shor She was counting the horses penned near each pavilion, pelts 28Reg 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_01_001-314_r6ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:15 PM Page 2 2 Patricia A. McKillip 1 lustrous even at a distance after the rain, and as clear, silhou- 2 etted against one another’s whites and grays and chestnuts, as 3 figures pricked on a tapestry, when the scholar finally arrived. 4 A beary man, he shed a fur cloak that smelled of damp and 5 an unusual scent of tobacco. He carried a manuscript 6 wrapped in leather that he laid upon the librarian’s desk as 7 gently as a newborn. As he unswaddled the manuscript, the 8 transcriptor standing silently at the window caught his eye. 9 His hands stilled. He stared at her. Then his head, big, dark, 10 and very hairy, jerked toward the librarian who had shown 11 him in. 12 “Who is this?” 13 “We called her Nepenthe,” the librarian said in his austere 14 voice. His name was Daimon; Nepenthe had known him all 15 her life, for he had found her and named her. Of the child she 16 had been before she became Nepenthe, neither of them knew 17 a thing. In sixteen years since then, she had changed beyond 18 recognition, and he had not changed by a moment, being the 19 same dispassionate, thin-haired wraith who had picked her up 20 with his bony hands and tucked her into a book bag to add to 21 the acquisitions of the royal library. “She is one of our most 22 skilled and creative translators. She has a gift for unusual al- 23 phabets. Such as you say you have, Master Croysus?” 24 “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Master Croysus 25 said. He continued unwrapping the manuscript, still tossing 26 glances at Nepenthe. She stood quietly, her long fingers hort 27 tucked into her broad black sleeves, trying to look skilled and Reg 28 creative, while wondering what the scholar found wrong with 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_01_001-314_r6ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:15 PM Page 3 Alphabet of Thorn 3 her face. “It looks like an alphabet of fish. Where did you 1 come from?” 2 “Don’t let her youth deceive you,” Daimon murmured. The 3 scholar shook his head absently, squinting at Nepenthe until 4 she opened her mouth and answered. 5 “Nowhere, Master Croysus. I was abandoned on the cliff 6 edge outside the palace and found by librarians. The last 7 foundling they took in was named Merle. N was the next 8 available letter.” 9 Master Croysus made an incredulous trumpet sound 10 through his nostrils. “I’ve seen that face,” he said abruptly, “on 11 a parchment older than Raine. I don’t remember what it was, 12 except that the ancient kingdom it came from lay far beyond 13 the Twelve Crowns and it no longer exists except on paper.” 14 The librarian looked curiously at Nepenthe; she wished she 15 could take off her head and look at herself. 16 “A clan of wanderers,” he suggested, “remnants of the for- 17 gotten kingdom. Perhaps they were passing through Raine 18 when Nepenthe was born.” 19 “There was no one—?” 20 “No one,” Daimon said simply, “came looking for her.” He 21 paused, added to clarify and end the subject, “It was assumed 22 that whoever left her in that precarious spot—her mother, 23 most likely—flung herself for her own reasons into the sea. 24 The child was left in hope, we also assumed, of a less difficult 25 life, since she was left alive and wailing with great energy 26 when we found her.” 27Shor The scholar grunted, which seemed his last word on the 28Reg 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_01_001-314_r6ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:15 PM Page 4 4 Patricia A. McKillip 1 subject. He laid the manuscript bare and gestured to Ne- 2 penthe. 3 She stepped to the desk. They all gazed at the strange, 4 elongated ovals neatly imprinted on something that Nepenthe 5 did not recognize. 6 She brushed it with her fingertips. It was supple and tough 7 at once. Some kind of pelt, it seemed, though it was white as 8 birch and strangely unwrinkled. 9 “What is this?” she asked puzzledly. 10 The scholar regarded her with more than fantastic interest. 11 “Good question. No one knows. I’m hoping that the contents 12 may indicate the tools.” He was silent a moment, his bushy 13 brows raised inquiringly at her, and then at the librarian. “I 14 can stay only as long as the delegation from the Ninth Crown 15 stays after the coronation. I’m traveling in the company of 16 Lord Birnum, who will pay his respects and go home to civi- 17 lization as soon as he can. It is a powerful gesture and a stir- 18 ring custom for rulers to be crowned in the palace of the first 19 King of Raine, but not even he, with all his ambitions, imag- 20 ined the rulers of Twelve Crowns under his ancient roof at the 21 same time.” 22 “Are you with Lord Birnum in the palace?” Daimon asked 23 delicately. 24 “No,” Master Croysus sighed. “In a leaky pavilion.” 25 “We can offer a bed of sorts among the books.” 26 The scholar sighed again, this time with relief. “I would be hort 27 immensely grateful.” Reg 28 “I’ll see to that, while Nepenthe takes you down to show 2nd Pass Pages MASTER 14488_01_001-314_r6ri.qxd 1/26/04 12:15 PM Page 5 Alphabet of Thorn 5 you where she will be working on your manuscript. Tran- 1 scriptors dwell in the depths. As well, I must warn you, as do 2 visiting scholars.” 3 “I trust the depths don’t leak.” 4 “No.” 5 “Then I’ll sleep happily buried in stone.” He wrapped his 6 manuscript again in leather and himself in fur, and followed 7 Nepenthe. 8 She led him down and down until mortared stone became 9 solid stone, until they left even the green plain above them and 10 the only light came from windows staring across the sea. Un- 11 til then, he questioned her; she answered absently, wondering 12 about the fish wrapped in his arms. 13 “You don’t remember anything of your life before the li- 14 brarians found you?” 15 “How could I? I had no teeth; I didn’t know words for any- 16 thing. I don’t even remember—” She stopped to light a taper, 17 for the stairways had begun to plunge into hand-hewn bur- 18 rowings. “I do remember one thing. But I don’t know what it is.” 19 “What is it?” 20 She shrugged. “Just a face, I think.” 21 “Whose?” he demanded. 22 “I don’t know. I’m an orphan, Master Croysus,” she re- 23 minded him patiently. “A foundling. The librarians have al- 24 ways taken us in; they train us to become scribes and 25 translators. We get accustomed early to living and working in 26 stone suspended between sky and sea.” 27Shor “So you’re content here?” 28Reg 2nd Pass Pages MASTER