The Last Light of the Sun

The Last Light of the Sun
Guy Gavriel Kay

From the multiple award-winning author of Ysabel, Tigana and A Song for Arbonne, this powerful, moving saga evokes the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse cultures of a thousand years ago.There is nothing soft or silken about the north. The lives of men and women are as challenging as the climate and lands in which they dwell. For generations, the Erlings of Vinmark have taken their dragon-prowed ships across the seas, raiding the lands of the Cyngael and Anglcyn peoples, leaving fire and death behind. But times change, even in the north, and in a tale woven with consummate artistry, people of all three cultures find the threads of their lives unexpectedly brought together…Bern Thorkellson, punished for his father's sins, commits an act of vengeance and desperation that brings him face-to-face, across the sea, with a past he's been trying to leave behind.In the Anglcyn lands of King Aeldred, the shrewd king, battling inner demons all the while, shores up his defenses with alliances and diplomacy-and with swords and arrows-while his exceptional, unpredictable sons and daughters pursue their own desires when battle comes and darkness falls in the woods.And in the valleys and shrouded hills of the Cyngael, whose voices carry music even as they feud and raid amongst each other, violence and love become deeply interwoven when the dragon ships come and Alun ab Owyn, chasing an enemy in the night, glimpses strange lights gleaming above forest pools.

GUY GAVRIEL KAY

The Last Light of the Sun

Copyright

Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay 2004

Guy Gavriel Kay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007342075

Ebook Edition © 2010 ISBN: 9780007352098

Version: 2016-10-14

for George Jonas

I have a tale for you: a stag bells;

winter pours summer has gone.

The wind is high, cold; the sun is low;

its course is short the sea is strong running.

The bracken is very red; its shape has been hidden.

The cry of the barnacle goose has become usual.

Cold has taken the wings of birds.

Season of ice; this is my tale.

—FROM THE LIBER HYMNORUM MANUSCRIPT

Contents

Cover (#u613f9355-a896-54bd-9d3f-a9929a2cd3fc)

Title Page (#u7e1c6a68-0ea1-51c4-a781-d49bee39f918)

Copyright (#ue47cb692-0191-5fcb-96ea-8bfaecdf334f)

Dedication (#u096a07ca-8f67-5683-bc1a-b2d3aa67cb85)

Epigraph (#udc6e7937-da77-5aad-ba07-e1e0d22ac67e)

Characters: A Partial Listing (#u490f27ae-b67f-51a5-b27c-5681068e4989)

Part One (#u0d06807b-3eef-55d2-a603-8347a21da5d9)

Chapter I (#u25081201-79b3-503c-9c9d-81d1c870be8c)

Chapter II (#u9656d95d-2140-5881-ad07-e2a5628e8047)

Chapter III (#u4362b8b1-3e04-59c3-a06c-1faaaf87c8d3)

Chapter IV (#u08f37a6d-5381-579f-a5b2-062384f41c78)

Chapter V (#u8b9519ba-e306-5991-b4e6-800238ed87c8)

Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VI (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter VIII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter IX (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter X (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XI (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIII (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XV (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVI (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVII (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)