Voyager
KATHARINE KERR A Time of Omens
A Novel of the Westlands
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.
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992 Previously published in paperback by Grafton 1993 and by HarperCollins Science Fiction & Fantasy 1994 Copyright © Katharine Kerr 1992 Cover design and illustration by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019 A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library Katharine Kerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on–screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 hereafter 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: 9780586211960 Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2014 ISBN: 9780007375363 Version: 2019–10–08 For Nance Jordan Ashton My Grandmother
Contents
One: The Knave of Flowers Bardek, 1098
Two: The Prince of Swords The Westlands, Autumn 1112
Three: The Queen of Golds Arcodd, Summer 1116
Author's Note
Glossary
About the Publisher
A Note on the Pronunciation of Deverry Words
The language spoken in Deverry is a member of the P-Celtic family. Although closely related to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, it is by no means identical to any of these actual languages and should never be taken as such. Vowels are divided by Deverry scribes into two classes: noble and common. Nobles have two pronunciations; commons, one. A as in father when long; a shorter version of the same sound, as in far, when short. O as in bone when long; as in pot when short. W as the oo in spook when long; as in roof when short. Y as the i in machine when long; as the e in butter when short. E as in pen. I as in pin. U as in pun. Vowels are generally long in stressed syllables; short in unstressed. Y is the primary exception to this rule. When it appears as the last letter of a word, it is always long whether that syllable is stressed or not. Diphthongs generally have one consistent pronunciation. AE as the a in mane. AI as in aisle. AU as the ow in how. EO as a combination of eh and oh. EW as in Welsh, a combination of eh and oo. IE as in pier. OE as the oy in boy. UI as the North Welsh wy, a combination of oo and ee. Note
