Stephen R. Lawhead - Tuck (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 3)

OTHER BOOKS BY STEPHEN R. LAWHEAD

KING RAVEN TRILOGY:

Hood

Scarlet

Tuck

Patrick, Son of Ireland

THE CELTIC CRUSADES:

The Iron Lance

The Black Rood

The Mystic Rose

Byzantium

SONG OF ALBION:

The Paradise War

The Silver Hand

The Endless Knot

THE PENDRAGON CYCLE:

Taliesin

Merlin

Arthur

Pendragon

Grail

Avalon

Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra

Empyrion II: The Siege of Dome

Dream Thief

THE DRAGON KING TRILOGY:

In the Hall of the Dragon King

The Warlords of Nin

The Sword and the Flame

KING RAVEN: BOOK 3

STEPHEN R.
LAWHEAD

2009 by Stephen R. Lawhead

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The Ballad of Rhi Bran 2008 by Ross Lawhead. Poem written by Ross Lawhead and based on an idea by Alice Lawhead.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Publishers Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lawhead, Steve.

Tuck / by Stephen R. Lawhead.

p. cm. (King Raven ; bk. 3)

ISBN 978-1-59554-087-4

1. Robin Hood (Legendary character)Fiction. 2. Great BritainHistoryNorman period, 1066-1154Fiction. 3. WalesHistory1063-1284Fiction. I. Title.

PS3562.A865T83 2009

813'.54dc22

2008043949

Printed in the United States of America

09 10 11 12 QW 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedicated to

The Outlaw Tony Wales

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Many of the old Celtic words and names are strange to modern eyes, but they are not as difficult to pronounce as they might seem at first glance. A little effortand the following rough guidewill help you enjoy the sound of these ancient words.

Consonants As in English, but with the following exceptions:

c: hard as in cat (never soft, as in cent)

ch: hard as in Bach (never soft, as in church)

dd: a hard th sound, as in then

f: a hard v sound, as in of

ff: a soft f sound, as in off

g: hard as in girl (never soft, as in George)

ll: a Gaelic distinctive, sounded as tl or hl on the sides of the tongue

r: rolled or slightly trilled, especially at the beginning of a word

rh: breathed out as if h-r and heavy on the h sound

s: soft as in sin (never hard, as in his); when followed by a vowel it takes on the sh sound

th: soft as in thistle (never hard, as in then)

Vowels As in English, but generally with the lightness of short vowel sounds:

a: short, as in can

: slightly softer than above, as in awe

e: usually short, as in met

: long a sound, as in hey

i: usually short, as in pin

: long e sound, as in see

o: usually short, as in hot

: long o sound, as in woe

: long o sound, as in go

u: usually sounded as a short i, as in pin

: long u sound, as in sue

: short u sound, as in muck

w: sounded as a long u, as in hue; before vowels often becomes a soft consonant as in the name Gwen

y: usually short, as in pin; sometimes u as in pun; when long, sounded e as in see; rarely, y as in why

The careful reader will have noted that there is very little difference between i, u, and ythey are almost identical to non-Celts and modern readers.

Most Celtic words are stressed on the next to the last syllable. For example, the personal name Gofannon is stressed go-FAN-non, and the place name Penderwydd is pronounced pen-DER-width, and so on.

Wintan Cestre

Saint Swithuns Day

K ing William stood scratching the back of his hand and watched as another bag of gold was emptied into the ironclad chest: one hundred solid gold byzants that, added to fifty pounds in silver and another fifty in letters of promise to be paid upon collection of his tribute from Normandie, brought the total to five hundred marks. More money than God, muttered William under his breath. What do they do with it all?

Sire? asked one of the clerks of the justiciars office, glancing up from the wax tablet on which he kept a running tally.

Nothing, grumbled the king. Parting with money always made him itch, and this time there was no relief. In vain, he scratched the other hand. Are we finished here?

Having counted the money, the clerks began locking and sealing the strongbox. The king shook his head at the sight of all that gold and silver disappearing from sight. These blasted monks will bleed me dry, he thought. A kingdom was a voracious beast that devoured money and was never, ever satisfied. It took money for soldiers, money for horses and weapons, money for fortresses, money for supplies to feed the troops, and as now, even more money to wipe away the sins of war. The gold and silver in the chest was for the abbey at Wintan Cestre to pay the monks so that his father would not have to spend eternity in purgatory or, worse, frying in hell.

All is in order, Majesty, said the clerk. Shall we proceed?

William gave a curt nod.

Two knights of the kings bodyguard stepped forward, took up the box, and carried it from the room and out into the yard where the monks of Saint Swithuns were already gathered and waiting for the ceremony to begin. The king, a most reluctant participant, followed.

In the yard of the Red Palacethe name given to the kings sprawling lodge outside the city wallsa silken canopy on silver poles had been erected. Beneath the canopy stood Bishop Walkelin with his hands pressed together in an attitude of patient prayer. Behind the bishop stood a monk bearing the gilded cross of their namesake saint, while all around them knelt monks and acolytes chanting psalms and hymns. The king and his attendantshis two favourite earls, a canon, and a bevy of assorted clerks, scribes, courtiers, and officials both sacred and secularmarched out to meet the bishop. The company paused while the kings chair was brought and set up beneath the canopy where Bishop Walkelin knelt.