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Half the World
Joe Abercrombie
‘Grabbed me and refused to let go’ George R.R. MartinSOMETIMES A GIRL IS TOUCHED BY MOTHER WARThorn lives to fight. But she has been named murderer by the very man who trained her to kill.SOMETIMES A GIRL BECOMES A WARRIORFate traps her in the schemes of Father Yarvi, sending her across half the world to seek allies against the ruthless High King.SOMETIMES A WARRIOR BECOMES A WEAPONBeside her is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. A failure in his eyes and hers, he has one chance at redemption.AND WEAPONS ARE MADE FOR ONE PURPOSEMust Thorn be a tool in other hands or can she carve her own path? Is there a place beyond legend for a woman with a blade?
Copyright (#u2382b282-c063-5880-9d2c-9f02ec70241e)
HarperVoyager an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk (http://www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2015
Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2015
Map copyright © Nicolette Caven 2015
Jacket layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015
Jacket illustration © Mike Bryan. Jacket photograph © David Lomax/Robert Harding (Viking ship)
Joe Abercrombie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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: 9780007550234
Ebook Edition © January 2015 ISBN: 9780007550241
Version: 2016-11-11
Dedication (#u2382b282-c063-5880-9d2c-9f02ec70241e)
For Eve
Cattle die,
Kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But I know one thing
That never dies,
The glory of the great deed.
FromHávamál, the Speech of the High One
Table of Contents
Cover (#u8a8c86fb-ae17-596c-a09d-76a8f10c9849)
Title Page (#u120be891-d73f-5f1a-9051-397dd8d5fd9d)
Copyright (#u11d0b639-b996-5b17-a4e4-e0df4c64b35b)
Dedication (#ud26651b6-a57a-596a-bef0-c21113b9cf52)
Map (#ub6af6e78-f644-5025-9f99-a7f523ceb4a0)
Part I: Outcast (#u5494176b-0715-575a-81c1-b38a690b084b)
The Worthy (#ub0b05968-1e12-5243-b6c8-ee6a11b7ea6e)
In the Shadows (#u1396abe9-9977-528a-9e94-1dc620f66e1c)
Justice (#u163cc80e-54d9-56e9-a04f-f1deb9e258b7)
Family (#uf8e23961-2e4d-542f-bbbc-23e55d99f69c)
Kneeling (#u55afeef6-6e8d-59f2-b306-4aa0cac4a9dd)
Dead Man’s Mail (#u7043c463-a44f-5dc9-90b5-ddbfc323e648)
Poison (#u1e13cc95-f75b-5bf7-acee-424c3c485a65)
Lost and Found (#uba51e41b-e3b8-5080-9a5f-9c02a2cf8d94)
Part II: Divine and Denied (#u6dcf3395-7dbe-5dea-8fbe-993a9358a41c)
The First Lesson (#u1a14a422-55e5-5584-bc5c-9a37353d00dd)
The Second Lesson (#u03de89b9-5e15-5dd6-8ffa-5c913134966d)
The Third Lesson (#litres_trial_promo)
The Gods’ Anger (#litres_trial_promo)
Ready or Dead (#litres_trial_promo)
Itching (#litres_trial_promo)
Damn Them (#litres_trial_promo)
The Man Who Fought a Ship (#litres_trial_promo)
Strange Times (#litres_trial_promo)
A Red Day (#litres_trial_promo)
Battle-Joy (#litres_trial_promo)
Not Like the Songs (#litres_trial_promo)
What Gettland Needs (#litres_trial_promo)
Part III: First of Cities (#litres_trial_promo)
Luck (#litres_trial_promo)
Behind the Throne (#litres_trial_promo)
Old Friends (#litres_trial_promo)
Hopes (#litres_trial_promo)
Ruins (#litres_trial_promo)
Some Bloody Diplomat (#litres_trial_promo)
Rage (#litres_trial_promo)
Debts and Promises (#litres_trial_promo)
Strange Bedfellows (#litres_trial_promo)
Part IV: High Deeds (#litres_trial_promo)
Farewells (#litres_trial_promo)
Greetings (#litres_trial_promo)
Wrong Ideas (#litres_trial_promo)
Sort of Alone (#litres_trial_promo)
The Chosen Shield (#litres_trial_promo)
Halleby (#litres_trial_promo)
Fire (#litres_trial_promo)
Rissentoft (#litres_trial_promo)
Frozen Lakes (#litres_trial_promo)
Cowardice (#litres_trial_promo)
The Appointed Place (#litres_trial_promo)
A Brave Face (#litres_trial_promo)
Steel (#litres_trial_promo)
Blood (#litres_trial_promo)
Breath (#litres_trial_promo)
In the Light (#litres_trial_promo)
A Storm Coming (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Joe Abercrombie (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
(#u2382b282-c063-5880-9d2c-9f02ec70241e)
THE WORTHY (#u2382b282-c063-5880-9d2c-9f02ec70241e)
He hesitated just an instant, but long enough for Thorn to club him in the balls with the rim of her shield.
Even over the racket of the other lads all baying for her to lose, she heard Brand groan.
Thorn’s father always said the moment you pause will be the moment you die, and she’d lived her life, for better and mostly worse, by that advice. So she bared her teeth in a fighting snarl – her favourite expression, after all – pushed up from her knees and went at Brand harder than ever.
She barged him with her shoulder, their shields clashing and grating, sand scattering from his heels as he staggered back down the beach, face still twisted with pain. He chopped at her but she ducked his wooden sword, swept hers low and caught him full in the calf, just below his mailshirt’s flapping hem.
To give Brand his due he didn’t go down, didn’t even cry out, just hopped back, grimacing. Thorn shook her shoulders out, waiting to see if Master Hunnan would call that a win, but he stood silent as the statues in the Godshall.
Some masters-at-arms acted as if the practice swords were real, called a halt at what would have been a finishing blow from a steel blade. But Hunnan liked to see his students put down, and hurt, and taught a hard lesson. The gods knew, Thorn had learned hard lessons enough in Hunnan’s square. She was happy to teach a few.
So she gave Brand a mocking smile – her second favourite expression, after all – and screamed, ‘Come on, you coward!’
Brand was strong as a bull, and had plenty of fight in him, but he was limping, and tired, and Thorn had made sure the slope of the beach was on her side. She kept her eyes fixed on him, dodged one blow, and another, then slipped around a clumsy overhead to leave his side open. The best place to sheathe a blade is in your enemy’s back, her father always said, but the side was almost as good. Her wooden sword thudded into Brand’s ribs with a thwack like a log splitting, left him tottering helpless and Thorn grinning wider than ever. There’s no feeling in the world so sweet as hitting someone just right.
