Guy Gavriel Kay A Song for Arbonne Copyright HarperVoyager An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1992 The Author 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. A SONG FOR ARBONNE. Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay 1992. 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 e-book 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. 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: 9780007342051 Ebook Edition © JUNE 2011 ISBN: 9780007352029 Version 2014-12-18 This book is dedicated, with love, to the memory of my father, Dr. Samuel K. Kay, whose skill and compassion as a surgeon were enhanced all his life by a love for language and literature—a love he conveyed to his sons, among so many other gifts. Contents Copyright A Note on Pronunciation On a morning in the springtime of the year, when… Part One: Spring Chapter I There was very little wind, which was a blessing. Pale… Chapter II Some mornings, as today, she woke feeling amazingly young, happy… Chapter III Ademar, king of Gorhaut, slowly turns away from the diverting… Part Two: Midsummer Chapter IV Walking briskly through the crowded streets, calling cheerful replies to… Chapter V It wasn’t, of course. It wasn’t the same man; the… Chapter VI Lisseut, if asked in the midst of that swirling, suddenly… Chapter VII Even when he saw the peacocks in the extravagantly lit… Chapter VIII The crimson-clad guard of Carenzu took Lisseut through the late… Part Three: Autumn Chapter IX On the bright, mild morning in autumn when her life… Chapter X Roban, the chancellor of Arbonne, had had an intensely trying… Chapter XI ‘A challenge!’ shouted the trovaritz from Aulensburg. The tavern was… Chapter XII ‘I hope you realize I do not want her back,’… Chapter XIII Tournaments in Arbonne and duels performed in the presence of… Chapter XIV The blue moon is full tonight, Ranald realizes belatedly, lending… Part Four: Winter Chapter XV On the night appointed there was fog at Garsenc Castle.… Chapter XVI Roche the priest was in disgrace on Rian’s Island in… Chapter XVII The identical message by a different messenger came to the… Chapter XVIII The battle that ended Gorhaut and Arbonne as the world… Chapter XIX Blaise was unaware for the first part of his ride… Acknowledgments About the Author Also by Guy Gavriel Kay Credits About the Publisher A Note on Pronunciation It will likely be evident to the reader that the French language has provided the basis for most of the proper names herein. There is one caveat to this. Historically, the language of what is now the south of France (Provence or Languedoc or Aquitaine), unlike modern French, normally involved the pronunciation of a final ‘s’. I have followed this, and, accordingly, names such as Aelis or Cauvas ought to have their final consonant sounded. From the vidan of the troubadour, Anselme of Cauvas … Anselme, who has ever been acknowledged as the first and perhaps the greatest of all the troubadours of Arbonne, was of modest birth, the youngest son of a clerk in the castle of a baron near Cauvas. He was of middling height, dark haired, with a quiet manner in speech that was nonetheless wondrously pleasing to all who heard him. While yet tender in years, he showed great skill and interest in music and was invited to join the celebrated choir of the Cauvas sanctuary of the god. It was not long, however, before he felt the beginnings of a desire to make music very different from that acceptable in the service of the god, or indeed of the goddess Rian in her temples. And so Anselme left the comforts of the chapel and choir
