Dark Prince
Authors: David Gemmell
DAVID GEMMELL
“I can say of David Gemmell, that he’s the only writer of historical fiction or heroic fantasy whose prose I actually study, line by line, trying to decode how he produces the effects that he does.”
—S
TEVEN
P
RESSFIELD
,
author of
Gates of Fire
and
The Virtues of War
“I am truly amazed at David Gemmell’s ability to focus his writer’s eye. His images are crisp and complete, a history lesson woven within the detailed tapestry of the highest adventure. Gemmell’s characters are no less complete, real men and women with qualities good and bad, placed in trying times and rising to heroism or falling victim to their own weaknesses.”
—R.A. S
ALVATORE
“In the best sense of the word, you could say that Gemmell’s a brand; an assurance of passionate, cleanly written prose, imaginative plots, and, above all, terrific storytelling. For anyone who appreciates superior heroic fantasy, David Gemmell’s offerings are mandatory.”
—Time Out London
“Gemmell is very talented; his characters are vivid and very convincingly realistic.”
—C
HRISTOPHER
S
TASHEFF,
author of the Wizard in Rhyme novels
“Gemmell is a master of plot, but his triumph is creating men and women so real that their trials are agony and their triumph is glorious.”
—C
ONN
I
GGULDEN
,
author of
Emperor: The Gates of Rome
Published by Ballantine Books
LION OF MACEDON
DARK PRINCE
ECHOES OF THE GREAT SONG
KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN
MORNINGSTAR
DARK MOON
IRONHAND’S DAUGHTER
THE HAWK ETERNAL
THE DRENAI SAGA
LEGEND
THE KING BEYOND THE GATE
QUEST FOR LOST HEROES
WAYLANDER
IN THE REALM OF THE WOLF
THE FIRST CHRONICLES OF DRUSS THE LEGEND
THE LEGEND OF DEATHWALKER
WINTER WARRIORS
HERO IN THE SHADOWS
WHITE WOLF
THE SWORDS OF NIGHT AND DAY
THE STONES OF POWER CYCLE
GHOST KING
LAST SWORD OF POWER
WOLF IN SHADOW
THE LAST GUARDIAN
BLOODSTONE
THE RIGANTE
SWORD IN THE STORM
MIDNIGHT FALCON
RAVENHEART
STORMRIDER
TROY
LORD OF THE SILVER BOW
SHIELD OF THUNDER
Dark Prince
is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
2007 Del Rey Mass Market Edition
Copyright © 1991 by David A. Gemmell
Excerpt from
Troy: Shield of Thunder
copyright © 2007 by
David A. Gemmell
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
D
EL
R
EY
is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in Great Britain by Legend, an imprint of Random Century Group, in 1991. Published in the United States in trade paperback format by Del Rey Books in 1993.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book
Troy: Shield of Thunder
by David Gemmell. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79764-3
v3.1
Dark Prince
is dedicated, with great affection, to all my friends at Random, past and present, and to all those who have experience of the quote, “The louder they spoke of their honor, the faster we counted the spoons.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my editor, Deborah Beale, to Charon Wood, to my copyeditor Jean Maund, and test readers Valerie Gemmell, Edith Graham, Stella Graham, Stan Nicholls, and Tom Taylor, whose advice throughout was invaluable.
BOOK ONE, 352B.C.
PELLA, MACEDONIA, SUMMERThe golden-haired child sat alone, as he usually did, and wondered whether his father would die that day. Some distance away, across the royal gardens, his nurse was talking to the two sentries who guarded him during the hours of daylight. The soldiers, grim-eyed warriors, did not look at him and shifted nervously if he approached.
Alexander was used to this reaction. Even at four he understood it.
He remembered with sadness the day three weeks earlier when his father, garbed for war, had walked along this same garden path, his cuirass gleaming in the sunlight. It was so beautiful that Alexander had reached out to touch the gleaming plates of iron edged with gold, the six golden lions on the breast. But as his hand came forward, Philip had moved swiftly back.
“Don’t touch me, boy!” he snapped.