The Reawakened

EYES OF CROW

“There’s an abundance of riches in this book, and Smith-Ready handles them all so well. The cultures and customs are well thought out and rendered, the connections with the spirit guides are wonderfully magical and filled with mystery, and the complicated relationships of the tribespeople are handled with a realistic flair.”

—Award-winning author Charles de Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction

“Ms. Smith-Ready has woven an exquisite tapestry of a world, filled with texture and richness. Beware, reader! You may never want to return…”

—New York Times bestselling author P.C. Cast

“A spellbinding plot and smooth-flowing narrative draw the reader into a world of myth and magic…lovers of fantasy are about to embark on a great new series.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 4 1⁄2 stars Top Pick (Reviewers’ Choice Award, Best Fantasy Novel)

“Smith-Ready’s Eyes of Crow is just the first installment in what could be an entertaining and profoundly moving series. Jean M. Auel meets Mercedes Lackey.”

—Barnes & Noble Explorations

“Mystical, magical, romantic, suspenseful and action-packed, Eyes of Crow is an excellent example of what a fantasy novel should be.”

—Coffee Time Romance

“The first installment in this magical series is an emotional, engaging, and appealing fantasy. Smith-Ready is a born storyteller.”

—Book Loons

“Jeri Smith-Ready’s lyrical prose brings to life unforgettable characters and a poignant story that haunted me long after I finished the novel…Highly recommended.”

—Catherine Asaro, bestselling and Nebula Award-winning author of The Dawn Star

“Eyes of Crow draws the reader in one subtle thread at a time, catching them in a complex, beautiful world they may never want to retreat from.”

—C.E. Murphy, author of Hands of Flame

VOICE OF CROW

“Smith-Ready has outdone herself with the second book in the Aspect of Crow trilogy…The characterization is impressive. Book one focused primarily on the heroine; now we see the action through other characters as well. Readers will relate to these sympathetic people as they face heartbreaking challenges.”

—Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 41/2 Stars Top Pick

“A powerful second novel in a trilogy that has solidified Jeri Smith-Ready as a true force in the genre. Her powerful tale of magic and heroism is both poignant and unforgettable.”

—CK2’s Kwips & Kritiques

“Both a welcome addition to the Aspect of Crow series, and a fine novel on its own, if one hasn’t read Eyes of Crow yet.”

—Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore’s The Plot Thickens

“Many times, when the first book in a series is as good as Eyes of Crow was, the reader is disappointed by the succeeding volumes. This is not the case with Voice of Crow—if anything, it is more powerful, more gripping, than the first book, as the characters grow and mature and are more fully developed by this skillful author.”

—Merry Cutler, Annie’s Book Stop, for The Romance Zone

www.mirabooks.co.uk

In memory of Francisca “Paqui” Martin,

whose Spirit lives on—in the wind, in the mountains, in our hearts.

Many invaluable resources helped me build the story and world of The Reawakened, including Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife by John A. Nagl and Guerrilla Warfare by Mao Tse-Tung (translated by Samuel B. Griffith II). Lycas’s concept of the “war of the flea” was borrowed from Robert Taber’s landmark publication, The War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare.

Many thanks to my family, for all their love and faith from the beginning.

I’m indebted, as always, to my beta readers, for seeing what I couldn’t: Adrian Pastore, Terri Prizzi, Cecilia Ready and Rob Staeger. Kudos to the hardworking folks behind the scenes at Luna Books who brought the book to life: Tracy Farrell, Mary-Theresa Hussey, Margo Lipschultz, Marianna Ricciuto and Kathleen Oudit.

Thanks to my amazing, intrepid editor Stacy Boyd, who helped me whittle and trim the Amazing Colossal Manuscript into a novel that can be comfortably held with two hands. My agent, Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd., is the sweetest, strongest advocate I could have ever hoped for. I am beyond blessed to have both these ladies in my life.

Thanks most of all to my husband, Christian Ready, for his love and inspiration, and for keeping the Flying Fear Monkeys at bay.

You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

—In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (“Chief Joseph”), Nimiputimt (Nez Perce) tribe

PART ONE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two