1633880583 (F)
Authors: Chris Willrich
ALSO BY CHRIS WILLRICH
The Scroll of Years
The Silk Map
Published 2015 by Pyr®, an imprint of Prometheus Books
The Chart of Tomorrows: A Gaunt and Bone Novel.
Copyright © 2015 by Chris Willrich. 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, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, organizations, locales, and events portrayed in this novel either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Cover illustration by © Kerem Beyit
Cover design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht
Inquiries should be addressed to
Pyr
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Willrich, Chris, 1967-
The chart of tomorrows : a Gaunt and Bone novel/Chris Willrich.
pages ; cm
ISBN 978-1-63388-058-0 (softcover) -- ISBN 978-1-63388-059-7 (ebook)
I. Title.
PS3623.I57775C48 2015
813’.6—dc23
2015001966
Printed in the United States of America
In memory of Jane Eades, Georgia Grytness, and Anne Rohweder
CONTENTS
Imago Bone’s Notes on People, Places, and Things
Chapter 1: Mechanisms
Chapter 2: Otherfolk
Chapter 3: Runemark
Chapter 4: Storm
Chapter 5: Huginn
Chapter 6: Rubblewrack
Chapter 7: Muninn
Chapter 8: Jokull
Chapter 9: A Journey to Kantenjord
Chapter 10: Skalagrim
Chapter 11: Chroniclers
Chapter 12: Escape
Chapter 13: Torfa
Chapter 14: Changelings
Chapter 15: A Journey to Kantenjord, Continued
Chapter 16: Straits
Chapter 17: Ruin
Chapter 18: Skrymir
Chapter 19: Draug
Chapter 20: Wolves
Chapter 21: A Journey to Kantenjord, Continued
Chapter 22: Pyres
Chapter 23: Chooser
Chapter 24: Seter
Chapter 25: Council
Chapter 26: War
Chapter 27: Fossegrim
Chapter 28: Siege
Chapter 29: Sisterhood
Chapter 30: Larderland
Chapter 31: A Journey to Kantenjord, Continued
Chapter 32: Champions
Chapter 33: Fates
Chapter 34: Reunion
Chapter 35: Portals
Chapter 36: Queens
Chapter 37: Hearts
Chapter 38: A Journey to Kantenjord, Continued
Chapter 39: Gambit
Chapter 40: Yesterday
Chapter 41: Tomorrow
Chapter 42: Today
Chapter 43: Chosen
Chapter 44: The Middle
Chapter 45: Peace
Chapter 46: Summit
IMAGO BONE’S NOTES ON PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS BECAUSE HE IS GETTING OLDER
AND HIS MEMORY IS TAXED
A-Girl-Is-A-Joy:
Also, Joy Snøsdatter, Joy. Daughter of Snow Pine. Chosen to be the Runethane, champion of the Bladed Isles. It might have gone easier for her if she hadn’t.
A Tumult of Trees on Peculiar Peaks:
Also known as the Scroll of Years. A landscape painting that either contains or accesses a pocket dimension of accelerated time. You see, Gaunt? I can use magical jargon too.
Aile:
A headwoman of the Vuos people. I heard of her much later, yet somehow I feel she belongs here.
Alder:
A former wizardly apprentice, my comrade at the Gull-Jarl’s steading.
Alfhild:
A human raised as one of the fey uldra-folk. A princess of the uldra, no less. It seems to have affected her mind.
All-Now, the:
Mirabad term for the compassionate creator of the universe.
Anansi
:
An exploratory ship from Kpalamaa.
Arngrimur Townflayer:
One of the Nine Wolves. You may notice a theme in their names.
Arnulf Pyre-Maker:
One of the Nine Wolves.
Ash-lad, or Askelad:
A peasant hero from folktales.
Aughatai:
Jewelwolf’s horse. There was something very wrong with that horse.
Beinahruga:
Cairn.
Bone:
A fool. No, that’s not all. An old fool.
Brambletop:
A young woman of Larderland. It hurts to think of her now.
Breakwing Island:
A troll-inhabited island beside Spydbanen.
Cairn:
A Chooser of the Slain.
changeling:
A troll or uldra child, left in place of a kidnapped human child.
Chart of Tomorrows, The
:
The Winterjarl’s protean book, full of cryptic passages and alarming maps.
Chooser of the Slain:
An agent of the old gods of the Bladed Isles.
Claymore:
A troll.
Clifflion:
Grand Khan of the Karvaks.
Corinna:
Princess, later queen, of Soderland. I was never sure where we stood with her, but I was always sure she was in charge.
Crypttongue:
A magic sword Gaunt wielded for a time. I hate magic swords.
Deadfall:
A sapient magic carpet. Before I met it, those words would not have seemed frightening.
Dolma:
An exiled warrior of Xembala. For a time she helped my son. I am grateful.
Draug:
A spirit creature found upon the sea and within the Straits of Tid. Draugar can take the forms of dead folk you’ve known.
Draugmaw:
An unnatural, gigantic maelstrom. It has Draugar in it.
Einar Bringer of Wailing:
One of the Nine Wolves.
Eldshore, the:
A slowly crumbling but still mighty continental empire.
Erik Glint:
A foamreaver and Larderman.
Eshe:
Priestess, wanderer, warrior, spy. Possibly our employer.
eventyr:
Fairy tales.
Everart:
Rabble-rouser of Soderland. Quite good at it.
Fiskegard:
Independent-minded islands founded by fishermen, nominally part of Oxiland, periodically filled with itinerant workers. I came from a family of fishermen, and the scent was like home.
Five Fjords:
A shaky alliance of the towns of Lillefosna, Vestvjell, Vesthall, Grimgard, and Regnheim.
Floki:
A slaver.
Foamreaver:
Can be a seafarer, trader, raider, or all of them together.
Freidar:
An old tavernkeeper and Runewalker. Husband of Nan. Kind to Innocence, he was a good companion when we sailed aboard
Leaping Bison
.
Gamellaw:
A region governed by old laws under which steadings are the unit of civilization, not nations. Takes in Svardmark from the Morkskag to the Chained Straits, and all of Spydbanen.
Garmsmaw Pass:
A mountain pass connecting Garmstad territory to northern Svardmark.
Garmstad:
A town and territory allied to Soderland.
Gaunt:
What I call Persimmon when we’re about our errands. The other half of my mind.
Gissur Mimurson:
An Oxiland chieftain.
Gold-Jarl, or Gull-Jarl:
Ruler of the small country of Gullvik.
Grawik:
The steading of Ottmar Bloodslake.
Great Chain of Unbeing:
A huge artifact absorbing the power of the dragons whose immense bodies gave form to the Bladed Isles.
Grunndokk:
A town paying tribute to the Gull-Jarl.
Gullvik:
Name of a town and a small domain in Svardmark.
Gunlaug:
An overseer at the Gull-Jarl’s steading.
Haboob:
An efrit, a spirit of the desert.
Hakon:
The retired king of Soderland.
Harald the Far-Traveled:
Chieftain of the Laksfjord region.
Havtor:
A slave in the Gull-Jarl’s steading. May his name be honored.
Haytham ibn Zakwan ibn Rihab:
Inventor and gentleman of Mirabad, daring to combine natural philosophy and magic. He gave the world ballooning. I might regret that, had I never flown.
Heavenwalls:
Vast fortifications of Qiangguo—and beyond!—which somehow channel the land’s vital breath.
Hekla:
Huginn Sharpspear’s companion. I think she was more formidable than he.
Huginn Sharpspear:
A chieftain, lawyer, and tale-teller of Oxiland.