Table of Contents
BOOKS BY D. M. CORNISH
Foundling
Lamplighter
Title page illustration: Monster-blood tattoo on Master Fransitart’s arm
SPEAK
Published by the Penguin Group
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Text and illustrations copyright © D. M. Cornish, 2006
eISBN : 978-1-101-11886-3
eISBN : 978-1-101-11886-3
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
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for Will and Mandii,
who were the first to believe
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Amazed gratitude first to God, the opener of doors; to Dyan, my lofty and passionate publisher, whose enthusiasm has fueled this book from the start; to Celia, my ever-patient and tactfully brilliant editor, who makes me look like a better writer than I really am; to Eija, my equally patient art director, for bearing with my neurotic ways and for linguistic appreciation; to Geoff and Ricki, my loving parents, for living an example to follow and for giving me a safe place to land; to Will, faithful friend, for all those sessions in which we bounced ideas about. It is to him that I owe the term “monster-blood tattoo”—the very title of this series. Genius. To Mandii, insightful friend, for loving Europe as much as I do, and for “brown”; to Jacey, far-off encourager, for all the advice, from types of cloth to what was right and wrong; and to those who have read manuscripts or encouraged me through it all: my daring and caring sister Sheri, Phil “Mr. Ip” and Em “Mrs. Ip,” Matty McHam, Craigus Grovus, Edwin “Man of Steele,” Gary, Toom, Kirsty-Lee, Sue-Ellen, Jordan, David B, Cheryll, Ange, Maggie, Raquel, Emily, Andrew and Steph, the Cousins Lock, David K and the Once-a-Month-Wednesday Illustrators, and any others my sieve of a mind has neglected. Thank you.
D. M. C.
This is the map of the southern and central portions of the Half-Continent.
The area within the small rectangle is shown in detail on the following page.
There are also several pages of enlargements of this main map towards the end of the book.
1
IT BEGAN WITH A FIGHT
foundling
(noun) also wastrel. Stray people, usually children, found without a home or shelter on the streets of cities or even, amazingly, wandering exposed in the wilds. The usual destinations for such orphaned children are workhouses, mills or the mines, although a fortunate few may find their way to a foundlingery. Such a place can care for a small number of foundlings and wastrels, fitting them for a more productive life and sparing them the agonies of harder labor.