Dawnspell. Katharine Kerr

      

      KATHARINE KERR

      Dawnspell

       The Bristling Wood

      For the profit of kins, well did he attack the hosts of the

      country, the bristling wood of spears, the grievous

      flood of the enemy…

      The Gododdin of Aneirin, Stanza A84

       Copyright

      Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.voyager-books.com

      Previously published in paperback by Grafton 1990 reprinted six times and by HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy 1993 reprinted two times

      First published in Great Britain by GraftonBooks 1989

      Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1989

      Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

      The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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      Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN 9780007404384

      Version: 2019-07-15

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       Epigraph

      In memoriam

      Raymond Earle Kerr, Jr, 1917–87,

      an officer and a gentleman

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Epigraph

A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words

Prologue: Spring, 1063

Part One: Deverry and Pyrdon, 833–845

1

       2

       3

       4

       Part Two: Summer, 1063

       1

       2

       3

       Appendix

       Keep Reading

       Glossary

       Acknowledgements

       About the Author

       By the Same Author

       About the Publisher

       A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words

      The language spoken in Deverry is a member of the P-Celtic family. Although closely related to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, it is by no means identical to any of these actual languages and should never be taken as such.

      Vowels are divided by Deverry scribes into two classes: noble and common. Nobles have two pronunciations; commons, one.

      A as in father when long; a shorter version of the same sound, as in far, when short.

      O as in bone when long; as in pot when short.

      W as the oo in spook when long; as in roof when short. Y as the i in machine when long; as the e in butter when short.

      E as in pen.

      I as in pin.

      U as in pun.

      Vowels are generally long in stressed syllables; short in unstressed. Y is the primary exception to this rule. When it appears as the last letter of a word, it is always long, whether that syllable is stressed or not.

      Diphthongs