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The Malice
Peter Newman
‘The Malice was entertaining and riveting, with almost never a dull moment. …Do yourself a favour, buy this book. And the first one, too, if you don’t already own it. You will regret nothing.’ Geeks of DoomIn the south, the Breach stirs.Gamma’s sword, the Malice, wakes, calling to be taken to battle once more.But the Vagrant has found a home now, made a life and so he turns his back, ignoring its call.The sword cries out, frustrated, until another answers.Her name is Vesper.
Copyright (#ua2334d19-c7d4-5402-ab44-36587b5d6baf)
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street,
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Published by HarperVoyager 2016
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
Copyright © Peter Newman 2016
Jacket layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016
Jacket illustration © Jamie Jones
Peter Newman 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
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 e-books
Source ISBN: 9780007593163
Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007593187
Version: 2017-01-19
Dedication (#ua2334d19-c7d4-5402-ab44-36587b5d6baf)
For Daniel
Table of Contents
Cover (#u65c3e3a2-6d1b-598d-b05a-9d9358d9dae7)
Title Page (#ua088dd74-9e3e-5e2c-a669-b2493dcbf434)
Copyright (#u16c62617-4773-5463-9c7c-d533b07f836d)
Dedication (#u9bd40c40-9877-5598-bf7b-c0a8ceb3891e)
Chapter One (#ua406f4b5-0fc8-55ed-a9f4-0c83035c5d8d)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Years Ago (#ud344cb3f-3114-57de-ba5f-77f95fa2c8b4)
Chapter Two (#ua9ff719e-2969-5ace-89ea-7f98fef85222)
Chapter Three (#uff6e2adb-8257-5131-8ff8-6e89f339de3d)
Chapter Four (#ubc22cdae-cec0-5e9c-a7f8-454564857177)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-Six Years Ago (#u9877feb3-9202-5bba-904d-cb28ee74af7e)
Chapter Five (#u8d3bd2e4-6d7c-5416-8056-225192006bc7)
Chapter Six (#uffe7a6a4-258e-534d-8d17-7479b1c5402c)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Sixteen Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Sixteen Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand, One Hundred and Fourteen Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand One Hundred and Thirteen Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand One Hundred and Eleven Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand One Hundred and Five Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand One Hundred and Two Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand and Ninety-Seven Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand and Ninety-Seven Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
One Thousand and Seventy Years Ago (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Coming Soon … (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Peter Newman (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua2334d19-c7d4-5402-ab44-36587b5d6baf)
In the south, the Breach stirs.
For over a thousand years it has grown. Slowly at first, a hidden cancer under the skin of the earth, a hairline crack exhaling alien wisps, disturbing yet harmless. But beneath the surface, pressure grows until the crack becomes an opening, and the opening splits wide, a gaping womb, a wound in the world, erupting.
Infernals pour forth, shapeless nightmares that slaughter their way into reality, inhabiting the bodies of the fallen and mutating them, taking the natural order and tainting it, corrupting plants, animals, even the air itself.
As the infernals take on physical form, they find identities and names: greatest of them is the monstrous Usurper, who raises itself to power by force of will, who strikes down Gamma of The Seven and breaks her armies. It is the Usurper who heralds the end of hope and the retreat of humanity’s influence.
But Gamma’s living sword is not destroyed and its continued presence nags at the marks left on the Usurper’s essence, festering, weakening. The Usurper sends its horde in search of the sword, named Malice by the infernals, but their efforts fail. A man takes the sword from them, and in time its power topples the Usurper and a kind of peace returns. Not true peace, too much is broken for the world to simply recover. This is merely a pause, a holding of breath. It is but a temporary thing. For in the south, the Breach stirs.
*
On the other side of the world a man stands by a window, his amber eyes intent on a small figure outside. Her name is Vesper. She is doing nothing of note and yet the man smiles as he watches her, her very existence comforting, warming like the suns.
For a long time he was alone and lost, a vagrant. Now he has a home, a family and more goats than he knows what to do with. It is a good life.
And yet lately a shadow seems to loom around the corner, a hint of coming disquiet. His home is built outside the Shining City, a step removed from people and politics and the expectations of others. News has to battle to get to his door. This is no accident.
Behind him, the sword begins to tremble, rocking back and forth, folded wings tip-tapping on the wall, but the eye remains closed. For years it has slept, deeply, peacefully, a quiet companion.
He turns to it, a smile sliding from his face. Absently, he scratches at old scars, on his thigh, his face, the side of his head. It has taken years to heal. Years of gentle work to make a new life, a safe space for those he loves.
His attention goes back to Vesper, who chats idly with the goats. Slowly, he returns to work but the tapping of the sword continues, like a thorn in his boot, needling, never quite out of mind. Lips form a line. At his sides, fists clench.
The sword is taken to his room, the door shut.
It is not enough.
He wraps the sword, making a thick bed of fabric for it, muffling the sounds it makes.
It is not enough.
Though it no longer bumps against the wall, the sword’s unease comes out in half-made notes, little things that catch on the edges of his soul.
He finds himself standing at the door, staring, one hand starting to open it, to reach out to the sleeping sword. It would be a small matter to lift it, to wake it once more, to …
‘What are you doing?’
He starts, turns to find Vesper standing there, face bright. With her, every day is a marvel. How tall she has become! How reminiscent of her mother.
Her head tilts to one side, trying to see past him. ‘What are you doing?’
He musters a half-smile, shrugs.
‘Are you okay?’
He nods.
‘What’s in there? I thought I heard a noise. Can I have a look? Is it an animal? It sounded unhappy. Can I see?’
He waves the questions away and puts a gentle hand on her shoulder, moving away from the room and taking her with him.
