Shannon Hale - River Secrets

Praise for River Secrets

An ALA Teens Top Ten

This novel will be a special treat for readers of Hales other two companion books, but it also stands on its own as a unique and tender coming-of-age story. Publishers Weekly, starred review

This high fantasy is rich in detail and lyrical in writing....Fans of the genre will no doubt rejoice in immersing themselves in this magical world. SLJ, starred review

[Hales] language glimmers like firelight, like sunshine on water as she propels readers along a river of wonderful writing to the tumultuous and heart-tugging climax. Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Suspenseful, magical, and heartfelt, this is a story that will wholly envelop its readers. Booklist, starred review

The settings, customs, and festivals of both Bayern and Tira are easy to imagine. Fans of Hales previous books will enjoy this one and will hope that there is more to come. VOYA

All elements join together to form an adept Tamora Piercelike fantasy adventurealthough when it comes to Hales subtlety of description and limber turns of phrase, there really is no comparison. The Horn Book

Hales imagined world is danger-filled: gruesome deaths are alarmingly frequent, attempts on lives more so, and even talents or gifts are double-edged as potential curses if used incorrectly. It is to the authors credit, therefore, that she has also created a landscape and characters with enough beauty, depth, and complexity to keep readers eagerly anticipating visits. BCCB

ALSO BY SHANNON HALE

T HE B OOKS OF B AYERN:

The Goose Girl

Enna Burning

Princess Academy

Book of a Thousand Days

G RAPHIC N OVEL

with Dean Hale

illustrations by Nathan Hale

Rapunzels Revenge

F OR A DULTS:

Austenland

THE BOOKS OF BAYERN

River
Secrets

SHANNON HALE

Copyright 2006 by Shannon Hale

First published by Bloomsbury U.S.A. Childrens Books in 2006

Paperback edition published in 2008

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Published by Bloomsbury U.S.A. Childrens Books

175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Hale, Shannon.

River secrets / by Shannon Hale. 1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Young Razo travels from Bayern to Tira at wars end as part of a diplomatic
corps, but mysterious events in the Tiran capital fuel simmering suspicions and anger,
and Razo must spy out who is responsible before it is too late and he becomes trapped
in an enemy land.

eISBN: 978-1-59990-409-2

[1. Fairy tales. 2. DiplomacyFiction. 3. SpiesFiction. 4. Self EsteemFiction.
5. NatureEffect of human beings onFiction.] I. Title.

PZ8.HI34Riv 2006 [Fic]dc22 2005035500

Typeset by Westchester Book Composition

Printed in the U.S.A. by Quebecor World Fairfield

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

All papers used by Bloomsbury U.S.A. are natural, recyclable products
made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes
conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

For all the boys in my family

But especially, triumphantly, adoringly

for the one and only

Max Stonebreaker Hale

A river has its secrets

Far under folds of water

Deeper than the buried dark

Where all is slick and softer

A fire has its secrets

Dancing bare before your eyes

Trimmed in heat and lost in gold

Something in its brightness lies

A boy has his secrets

His fist clasped tight as stone

Watching water, spying fire

In a crowded room, alone

Table of Contents

I ngridan was an ancient city. Memory ached in its stone arches, crept down its narrow alleys, sluiced through its seven rivers. And its newest memory still burned, raw and sorea failed war, a nation shamed, and an army dishonored.

On the western edge of Ingridan, just across the Rosewater River, someone watched a man die. The man had been poor and desperate for a bit of coin, but now he was just dead, his body black from burning.

When the smoke cleared, the watcher dragged the corpse out of the nearly empty warehouse, rolled it into the river, and kept watch as it floated into the sea.

They will pay for making me do this, spoke the voice that no one else heard. Ill see Bayern in flames.

R azo hopped up and down, but he could see only backs of heads. Soldiers and courtiers lined the grand hall, craned their necks, stood on toes. And everyone was taller than him.

Thats just perfect, Razo muttered.

Rumors had been buzzing all week that something weighty would be announced today, and now here he was without a hope of a decent view. If only he were in the Forest and could just climb a tree.

He looked up. Then again...

Razo squeezed to the outer wall of the chamber and leaped at a tapestry, just catching the lower fringe. A brief sound of tearing, quick as the squeak of a mouse in a trap, and he found himself dangling above a hundred heads, waiting for a terrifying rip to send him down. The tapestry shivered, then held, so Razo crossed his eyes once for luck and climbed up.

He pushed his feet against the wall and sprang onto the decorative shelving. At last he had an agreeable view of his friends Isi and Geric, Bayerns queen and king, seated on a dais three steps below their thrones. Beside them were the white-robed emissaries from Tira and a handful of Tiran soldiers who, Razo imagined, had been handpicked for looking brutish and menacing.

The yellow-haired Tiran woman was speaking....years of animosity cannot be quickly forgotten, yet we see the benefit of forming an acquaintance with Bayern as we have not for many hundreds of years.

That is our wish as well, said Geric, and so we propose an exchange of ambassadors. This spring, well send one of our own south to live among the Tiran people in the capital city of Ingridan.