Brooks - The Splinter King: The God-King Chronicles, Book 2

The Golden. The Breaker of the Clans. The draug that had clambered up out of the Dawn Mountain and then brought fire and death to the entire archipelago, one island at a time. It wore a mans scarred flesh, and it spoke with a tongue that very nearly got all the sounds right, but Zheldu had seen into its eyes. There was nothing human there: nothing but ice and hatred.

The Golden had granted Fireheart command of the largest war fleet ever assembled. They crossed the ocean thought to be endless, though their provisions had nearly been exhausted in doing so. They landed on a shore they never dreamed they would see, and easily breached the walls of the small settlement where the Brown Eagle clan had settled alongside the locals. It should have been a slaughter. At first, it was.

Then the beasts came.

BY MIKE BROOKS

The God-King Chronicles
The Black Coast
The Splinter King

ORBIT

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Orbit

Copyright 2021 by Mike Brooks

Excerpt from The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

Copyright 2021 by John Gwynne

Map by Gemma Sheldrake/Rebellion Publishing

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-356-51393-5

Orbit

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Little, Brown Book Group

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This is for anyone who picked up the first one, and came back for more.

S aana Sattistutar, Chief of the Brown Eagle clan from the islands of Tjakorsha, is fleeing The Golden, a body-snatching spirit known as a draug that has broken the clans of her homeland and brought them under its rule. Saana has led her people westwards across the ocean to the land of Narida, where they have historically come as raiders, but now she intends to settle at the small, southernmost town of Black Keep. Opposed to her are the thane Asrel Blackcreek, his blood-son Darel, and his law-son Daimon. Asrel appears to honour Saanas flag of parley and meets her on the marshes in front of the town, but then attempts to kill her. Seeing only certain death for himself and his town if they resist, Daimon betrays his father and brother and agrees that the Brown Eagles can settle. Asrel and Darel are restrained and Daimon assumes the role of thane, but it is agreed that Saanas daughter Zhanna Saanastutar will be held as hostage against her clans good behaviour.

In the Naridan capital of Idramar, the God-King Natan Narida III reluctantly agrees to his sister Tilas plan to send more assassins after the Splinter King and his family, their exiled relations in Kiburu ce Alaba, the City of Islands. Tila is concerned by rumours that their divine ancestor Nari has been reborn, as prophesied centuries ago by Tolkar, the Last Sorcerer, and feels that the additional threat of the Splinter King must be removed, especially since Natan has no intention of fathering children, and the succession hinges on the male line of Nari. Tila undertakes the voyage herself in her secret identity of Livnya the Knife, head of Idramars criminal underworld.

In East Harbour, capital of Grand Mahewa, the largest of the islands, street thief Jeya is caught trying to pick the pocket of a wealthy youth, but is allowed to go free. Struck by hs attractiveness, sh locates hs house with the help of hr friend Damau, but when trying to sneak into the garden at night is shocked to find hm trying to sneak out. The youth reveals that hs name is Galem, and that h finds hr as attractive as sh finds hm. They commence a clandestine relationship.

In the Blackcreek lands, Daimon is forced into fighting the Brown Eagles champion Ristjaan the Cleaver, a close friend of Saana, when Ristjaan is identified as the murderer of the man Evrams brother some ten years before. Daimon wins and kills Ristjaan, which drives a wedge into the fragile alliance between him and Saana. Despite this, both peoples attempt to make the best of their strange situation, with the Naridans under threat of death from the more numerous Tjakorshi, and the Tjakorshi aware that their own lives will be in danger once word gets out of their presence, unless they can prove that they genuinely mean no harm. However, the freeman Shefal persuades Evram to sneak away north to the neighbouring thanedom of Darkspur to raise the alarm. Meanwhile, Daimon and Saana clash over cultural issues, since women can rarely hold power in Narida and are sometimes viewed as witches in service to the Unmaker, the queen of demons who was driven out of the land by the Divine Nari during his life. The Tjakorshi value the guidance of their witches and see no difference in status between men and women, but unlike Naridans, have taboos against men lying with men, and women with women. Daimon seeks to harbour good feeling by entrusting Zhanna with the raising of a young dragon called a rattletail, which she names Thorn.

In East Harbour, Tila uses her connections to find Kurumaya, a criminal boss known as a Shark. She provides Kurumaya with details of a family she wants killed, without disclosing either their true identity as the Splinter King, or her own identity as either Livnya the Knife or as Tila Narida. Kurumaya accepts the job and the payment, but the fighting ring where the meeting is taking place is raided by the Watch. Tila flees with her bodyguard Barach, and in the company of two other Naridans she met there that evening: Marin of Idramar, a thief, and his husband Alazar Blade or Sar Blacksword, a disgraced sar Naridas warrior caste who was fighting in the pits. Tila offers them passage off Grand Mahewa if they can get her back to her ship, which they do. However, she realises after boarding that Sar Blacksword was known to her twenty years ago as Alazar of White Hill, and is the man she blames for her fathers death.

Kurumaya entrusts the killing of the Splinter Kings family to Nabanda, a lifelong friend of Jeyas and, like hr and Damau, a former street orphan sheltered by Ngaiyu, an old person who opens thir home to those in need. Nabanda and a crew of thugs attack the Splinter Kings house at night and kill three of the family, but cannot find the last member, an adult masculine youth. Unbeknown to Nabanda, that youth the Splinter Prince is Galem, who had crept out to spend time with Jeya that night. The pair of them see Nabandas crew climb into the garden, although Jeya is not close enough to recognise Nabanda. Galem realises that another Naridan assassination attempt is taking place, and they flee. H reveals hs true identity to Jeya who, guided by an appearance from the golden-maned monkey god