S. M. Stirling - The Sword of the Lady

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Table of Contents

NOVELS OF THE CHANGE

ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME
AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS
ON THE OCEANS OF ETERNITY

DIES THE FIRE
THE PROTECTOR'S WAR
A MEETING AT CORVALLIS

THE SUNRISE LANDS
THE SCOURGE OF GOD

OTHER NOVELS BY S.M. STIRLING

THE PESHAWAR LANCERS
CONQUISTADOR

ROC
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
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Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
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New Delhi - 110 017, India
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New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, September 2009

Copyright Steven M. Stirling, 2009

Map by Cortney Skinner
All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Stirling, S. M.
The sword of the lady: a novel of the change/S. M. Stirling.
p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-13468-9

1. Regression (Civilization)Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.T543S96 2009
813'.54dc22 2009015863

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are 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.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

http://us.penguingroup.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The saga continues and growsfor a solitary business, you need a lot of help!

Thanks to my friends who are also first readers:

To Steve Brady, for assistance with dialects and British background, and also natural history of all sorts.

Thanks also to Kier Salmon, for once again helping with the beautiful complexities of the Old Religion, and with local details for Oregon. And for further use of BD!

To Diana L. Paxson, for help and advice (amounting to virtual collaboration in the Norrheim chapters), and for writing the beautiful "Westria" books, among many others. If you liked the Change novels, you'll probably enjoy the hell out of the Westria booksI certainly did, and they were one of the inspirations for this series; and her Essential Asatru and recommendation of Our Troth were extremely helpful... and fascinating reading. To Dale Price, for help with Catholic organization, theology and praxis; and for his entertaining blog, Dyspeptic Mutterings, which can be read at http://dprice.blogspot.com.

To Brenda Sutton, for multitudinous advice.

To Will Sanders, for putting me in stitches with Princess Yump ing Yimminy; read his excellent mystery "Smoke" for his take on thisunbelievablyreal-life character.

To Melinda Snodgrass, Daniel Abraham, Sage Walker, Emily Mah, Terry England, George R.R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams, Vic Milan, Jan Stirling and Ian Tregellis of Critical Mass, for constant help and advice as the book was under construction. Thanks to John Miller, good friend, writer and scholar, for many useful discussions, for lending me some great books, and for some really, really cool old movies. And to Gail Gerstner-Miller, ditto. Also the steak pie recipe was delicious.

Special thanks to Heather Alexander, bard and balladeer, for permission to use the lyrics from her beautiful songs, which can beand should be!ordered at www.heatherlands.com. Run, do not walk, to do so.

Thanks again to William Pint and Felicia Dale, for permission to use their music, which can be found at www.pintndale.com, and should be by anyone with an ear and saltwater in their veins. Lyrics of "The Trawling Trade" are used by kind permission of the writer, John Conolly, who also wrote the folk classic "Fiddler's Green" (further details on myspace.com/johnconolly). And to Three Weird SistersGwen Knighton, Mary Crowell, Brenda Sutton, and Teresa Powellwhose alternately funny and beautiful music can be found at http://www.threeweirdsis- ters.com

And to Heather Dale for permission to quote the lyrics of her songs, whose beautiful (and strangely appropriate!) music can be found at www.HeatherDale.com, and is highly recommended. The lyrics are wonderful and the tunes make it even better.

The "ancestral epic" in Chapter Seventeen is actually the opening paragraph of The Broken Sword, a fantasy classic by Poul Anderson. Go out and get it!

Much overdue thanks to Russell Galen, my agent, who has been an invaluable help and friend for a decade now. By a stunning noncoincidence, my career has shot up like a sapling in this period. We make a good team; not only is he smart as a whip on the business side, but his advice on literary matters and on the conjunction between the two has been spot-on.

All mistakes, infelicities and errors are of course my own.

CHAPTER ONE

THE WILD LANDS (FORMERLY ILLINOIS) MIDDLE ILLINOIS RIVER AUGUST 18, CHANGE YEAR 24/2022 AD

"Shining pearl within the crimson sky,
Guide me in the coming night
Perfect seed within the humble husk,
Ground my feet in soil so I may rise
Patient leaf within the endless pool
Calm me when the torrent falls
Gentle wind within the slanting grass
Bear me ever on until I rest"

Rudi Mackenzie and Edain hadn't been singing the hymn; more of a breathy whisper, though it rang loud in their minds as the moon rose enormous on the horizon, and they'd come down here below the lip of the valley where there was more cover for the rite. Rudi stopped instantly when a stick snapped. The warm sense of communion ghosted away like dust in a desert, and he sank down behind the tangle of wild rose in a motion that was swift but smooth rather than a catch-the-eye jerk.

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