A Kingdom Besieged
Discover the fate of the original black Magician, Pug, and his motley crew of agents who safeguard the world of Trigia, as prophecy becomes truth in the Midkemian trilogy.THE KINGDOM BESIEGEDThe Darkness is coming…The Kingdom is plagued by rumour and instability. Kingdom spies in Kesh have been disappearing - either murdered, or turned to the enemy side. Information has become scant and unreliable; but one thing appears clear. Dark forces are on the move…Since Pug and the Conclave of Shadows enforced peace after the last Keshian invasion, the Empire has offered no threat. But now factions are rising and Jim Dasher reports mobilizations of large forces in the Keshian Confederacy.As the men of the West answer the King's call to muster, Martin conDoin - left as caretaker of Crydee Keep - will suddenly be confronted with the vanguard of an invading army. He reminds himself that he is a year older than his legendary ancestor, Prince Arutha, was when he stood firm against the Tsurani invasion, but Arutha had an army to command, and Martin is left with old men and young boys.Massive events are about to unfold, events which threaten the future of all human life in Midkemia…
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RAYMOND E. FEIST
A KINGDOM BESIEGED
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Published by HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 2011
Copyright © Raymond E. Feist 2011
Raymond E. Feist asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007264766
Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780007290178
Version: 2014-09-19
This oneâs for John and Tammy
CONTENTS
THE SKIES SHRIEKED.
Overhead, a storm of black energies shot out tendrils that reached forth and attached themselves to the first structure they encountered. The sound generated was almost as terrifying as the sight of everything they touched collapsing into rubble.
The inhabitants of the city fled in abject terror, ignoring the plight of others, even family or close friends. Above the onrushing tide of darkness loomed a figure, a thing of such massive size and monstrosity that it lay beyond comprehension.
The remaining Kingâs Guardians did what they could to oppose the Darkness: but there was little they could achieve against such madness. A female fled through the streets amidst the trampling throng. Fearful of what she might see, she chanced a quick glance behind her and clutched her child to her chest.
Other city residents huddled in doorways, given over to despair, waiting the inevitability of their own destruction, clinging weeping to one another, or staring towards the Centre, whence the Darkness was coming.
From the Time Before Time legends about the Final End had persisted, but these stories were seen as nothing more than metaphors, cautionary tales with which the Elders might teach children so they could contribute usefully to the People during this particular Endurance.
It was said that some Elders had repeated the Endurance so many times that they remembered bits and pieces of previous incarnations and had begun to piece together the plan of everything in the world. It was even whispered that some had ventured into the realms of madness â known as the âOther Placesâ or âthe Outsideâ â or even to the edge of the Void, and returned, but few credited such reports as anything other than tall tales.
The People rejoiced in their Existence and their Endurance, and when their personal end came they knew it was no more than an interruption of the Eternal Journey.
But what they faced now was the Final End, the termination of the Eternal Journey, and no words existed to express the terror and anguish that assailed them.
The female pushed through a knot of the People clustered at an intersection in the centre of the cityâs Eastern Canton. Some had come to seek the Sunrise Gate but having come here did not seem to know what to do next.
Nothing in the history of the People had prepared them for the Darkness.
The mother looked down at her child, who clutched her robe with delicate claws, her black eyes enormous in the still-tiny face. âMy child,â she whispered, and although the screams and cries from those surrounding them drowned out the sound, the child saw her motherâs lips move and understood. She smiled at her mother, showing rapidly growing fangs. Her baby skin had already sloughed off and her first set of scales were visible. If she could feed her, her mother thought, she would grow quickly and would be better able to flee.
âBut flee where?â
East.
Out of the gate to the Quartz Mountains and through the Valley of Flame, then on to the Kingdomâs boundary. It was rumoured that others had found safety in the Kingdom of Maâhar, to the south, where age-old enmities had been put aside in the face of the common terror.
