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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Epigraph
In memoriam
Raymond Earle Kerr, Jr, 191787,
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, 833845
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 generally have one consistent pronunciation:
AE as the a in mane.
AI as in aisle.
AU as the ow in how.
EO as a combination of eh and oh.
EW as in Welsh, a combination of eh and oo.
IE as in pier.
OE as the oy in boy.
UI as the North Welsh wy, a combination of oo and ee. Note that OI is never a diphthong, but is two distinct sounds, as in carnoic (KAR-noh-ik).