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Dark Ages
John Pritchard
INTO THE DARKFran has come back to face her ghosts: the fears she buried four long years ago. If she confronts the creatures from her nightmares, she’ll know that they were only in her mind. Her best friend and the man she loves are waiting, and spring in sunny Oxford seems to light the way ahead. But on Salisbury Plain she meets a living shadow and finds she is destined for a darker road.Martin is still challenging his demons: the phantoms that he’s glimpsed and can’t forget. Before his eyes they swarmed out of a medieval star chart and vanished in the night without a trace. He has unleashed the Ravensbreed: a band of ruthless warriors, sworn to defend their ancient kingdom in its darkest hour. The world has moved on, and yet the land still needs them. Beyond the peaceful English fields, old enemies are gathering again.From city streets to wild woods, among outcasts and resisters, Fran and Martin must join the Ravensbreed in their final, desperate war – a long and bloody struggle which, if lost, will plunge their country and everyone they love into a brutal New Dark Age.
COPYRIGHT (#ulink_26cdcf38-8327-507d-ad9a-e5d2737dcfa1)
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 of localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper Voyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Copyright © John Pritchard 1998
John Pritchard asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
For permission to reproduce copyright material the author would like to thank the following:
Lyrics from Sell Out (words & music by Simon Friend, Charles Heather, Mark Chadwick, Jonathan Sevink & Jeremy Cunningham) © 1991 Empire Music Ltd, 47 British Grove, London W4 for the World. Used by permission of Music Sales Ltd. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Lyrics from The Fear (words & music by Simon Friend, Charles Heather, Mark Chadwick, Jonathan Sevink & Jeremy Cunningham) © 1995 Empire Music Ltd, 47 British Grove, London W4 for the World. Used by permission of Music Sales Ltd. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Lyrics from Forgotten Ground (words & music by Simon Friend, Charles Heather, Mark Chadwick, Jonathan Sevink & Jeremy Cunningham) © 1995 Empire Music Ltd, 47 British Grove, London W4 for the World. Used by permission of Music Sales Ltd. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Lyrics from Tell Me about the Forest, by Dead Can Dance, © 1993, reproduced by kind permission of Beggars Banquet Music/Momentum Music.
Lyrics from The People who Stumbled in Darkness, by Roger Ruston, reproduced by kind permission of the author.
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 ebook 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 ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780006496373
Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2016 ISBN: 9780008219499
Version: 2016-10-26
DEDICATION (#ulink_9844f10b-0993-54e4-83be-958a1574152a)
To
Mum and Dad,
who laid the deep foundations.
Michael Wood,
who made the past alive.
and F.M.E.,
who’s still my leading lady.
EPIGRAPH (#ulink_334c39b9-02b1-5975-8b09-8d26d8211bbd)
Behind them, to divide the carrion meat,
They left the raven, dark and shadow-clad,
With cruel beak; the dun-cloaked eagle too,
With his white tail – exulting in the feast,
A hungry battle-hawk; and the grey beast,
The wolf of the deep woods …
THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE, 937
Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left?
The watchman replies:
Dawn is coming, and also the dark.
ISAIAH 21:11 – 12
CONTENTS
Cover (#u5c9a3b06-7e9e-5fdd-a1cf-9fba5186cc76)
Title Page (#u14f8da79-279a-5821-b330-2ab353eae8cf)
Copyright (#ulink_fbf71501-19fc-5966-87f9-0239921705aa)
Dedication (#ulink_a398d1f4-e7ff-5e0b-b3c2-dff7ba6ddae4)
Epigraph (#ulink_533701ed-7f80-5887-96f2-123c6b9f90de)
PROLOGUE (1989) (#ulink_b9085fa7-8f27-5f88-8b19-4e7a3b6fd8be)
Rising Signs (#ulink_b9085fa7-8f27-5f88-8b19-4e7a3b6fd8be)
PART ONE WATCHERS (1993) (#ulink_b32aa1d1-611c-53f8-bb6d-8dfb378dcc6a)
I Spire Dreams (#ulink_ae10d790-e6e1-5ebc-bb23-dfd66dba30ec)
II Grey Ravens (#ulink_3e278ca7-5638-5454-a46e-7a980c59d077)
III Cross of Iron (#ulink_b7e896db-6802-54b4-a3bd-5ed37c927181)
IV Testament (#ulink_34f6e716-8a12-5fdd-8ebe-60d2c1be2494)
V Heaven and Hell (#ulink_b64c4800-3f3d-5ad4-a8b0-0f773bb211b9)
VI No Man’s Land (#ulink_dbbe04ce-851c-5aed-8a6f-67ad510857b4)
VII Running Blind (#ulink_020b9639-dc44-5e6f-a9ba-f7ba77b985ed)
VIII The Waste Down
PART TWO SLEEPERS
I Fiends and Ashes
II Out of the Deep
III Predicator
IV Mind and Memory
V Dreams and Decay
VI Grief Riders
PART THREE SHADOWS
I Green Blades Rising
II On Earth as It Is in Hell
III Wessexena Sky
IV Moonblade
V Harrow Path
VI Home from the Hill
VII Our Summer
PART FOUR HUNTERS
I The Watchman’s Mark
II Odysseus
III Stranger
IV Wolf Hook
V Witch Hunt
VI Tare Dog
VII Circle of Sorrow
VIII The Anger of God
IX Lightning East to West
X No Graves on Badon Hill
PART FIVE RAIDERS
I Land-Waster
II Bone Fire
III Celebrant
IV The Lych-Road
V Fields of Blood
VI The Fell Tale of the West
VII Dark Moon Rising
VIII The Sermon of the Wolf
PART SIX MARTYRS
I Massacre Is My Forgiveness
II A Thousand Silver Pieces on the Black
III True Cross
