Read The Edge of the World Online

Authors: Kevin J. Anderson

Tags: #FIC009020

The Edge of the World

Copyright

Copyright © 2009 by WordFire, Inc.

Excerpt from
The Map of All Things
copyright © 2010 by WordFire, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.

Orbit

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com

First eBook Edition: June 2009

Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and
not intended by the author.

ISBN: 978-0-316-05287-0

Contents

Copyright

Part I

1 Off the Coast of Uraba

2 The Royal Cog, Sailing to Ishalem

3 The Soldan-Shah’s Galley, on the Middlesea

4 Olabar

5 Ishalem, Urecari District

6 Calay, Saedran District

7 Ishalem

8 Ishalem

9 Ishalem, Urecari Main Church

10 Olabar Palace

11 Saedran District, Calay

12 Ishalem, Urecari District

13 Ishalem, Aidenist District

Part II: Two Months Later

14 Outside of Calay Harbor

15 Calay

16 Calay Harbor

17 Olabar Palace

18 In Darkness

19 Calay, Saedran District

20 The Luminara

21 King Korastine’s Castle

22 Calay, Saedran District

23 Uncharted Seas

24 Windcatch

25 Olabar

26 Ishalem

27 Olabar

28 Calay

29 The Luminara

30 Windcatch

31 Off the Coast of Uraba

32 Corag Reach

33 Unnamed Island

34 Khenara, Outer Wahilir

35 Calay

36 Corag Reach

37 The Luminara

38 Off the Coast of Tierra

39 Calay

40 Olabar

41 Position Unknown

42 Urecari Slave Ship

43 Olabar Palace

44 Position Unknown

45 Calay, Saedran District

46 Olabar

47 Position Unknown

48 Alamont Reach

49 Windcatch

50 Uraba

51 Windcatch

Part III: Four Years Later

52 Ondun’s Lightning

53 Uraba

54 Olabar Palace

55 Corag Highlands

56 Iboria

57 Olabar, Asha’s Villa

58 Olabar Palace

59 Iboria

60 Olabar, Saedran District

61 Olabar Palace

62 Calay

63 Olabar, Saedran District

64 Olabar Palace

65 Uraba, Abilan Soldanate

66 Calay

67 Olabar Palace

68 Olabar, Saedran District

69 Calay

70 Olabar Palace

71 Tierra

Part IV: Five Years Later

72 Uraba

73 Missinia Soldanate

74 Olabar Palace

75 King Korastine’s Castle

76 Calay Harbor

77 Corag Highlands

78 Calay, Saedran District

79 Olabar

80 Gremurr Mines

81 Abilan Soldanate

82 Calay

83 Calay, Merchants’ District

84 Inner Wahilir, Sioara

85 Olabar Palace

86 Uraba

87 Wahilir Mountains

88 Calay

89 Olabar, Saedran District

90 Olabar

91 Calay

92 Tenér

93 King Korastine’s Castle

94 The Coast of Tierra

Part V: Two Years Later

95 Olabar

96 Iboria

97 Ishalem

98 Missinia Soldanate

99 Calay

100 Raven

101 Olabar Palace

102 The Edge of the Great Desert

103 Gremurr Mines

104 Iboria

105 The Great Desert

106 Gremurr Mines

107 Abilan Soldanate

108 Nunghal Lands

109 Olabar Palace

110 Calay, Shipbuilders’ Bay

111 Nunghal Lands

112 Corag Reach

113 Nunghal Clan Gathering

114 Corag Highlands

115 Nunghal Lands

116 Calay

117 Olabar Palace

118 Corag Highlands

119 Uraba

120 Ishalem

121 Calay

122 Olabar

123 Calay

124 Calay, Saedran District

125 Olabar

126 Calay

Glossary

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

Extras

Meet the Author

Interview

A Preview of
The Map of All Things

Criston unlashed himself and swung down, clinging to ratlines that were slick from the pounding rain.

With hands that were strong and callused, he worked his way to the first yardarm, hooked his arm through the ropes for stability,
and looked out again. Yes, the beacon was still there—and brighter now. Surely other crewmen had noticed it! He stared, yearning
for that light, knowing what it represented. He wasn’t looking down at the sea. Even if he could have sounded an alarm, it
was far too late.

The monster that rose from the black depths was impervious to the storm, greater than ten sea serpents. Its bullet-shaped
head was as large as the
Luminara
’s prow, and when it opened its maw, Criston saw row upon row of sharp teeth, each one as long as an oar. It had a single
round squidlike eye in the center of its forehead, and spines like a mane around its neck and ringing its gills. Armfuls of
tentacles sprouted from each side, lined with wet suckers, each with a barb in its center. The tentacle ends were blind sea
serpents, opening to show fang-filled mouths.

For a moment, Criston could not speak, could not breathe. He found his voice and bellowed with all his strength and all his
soul, projecting his voice with enough power to call the attention of the sailors on deck.
“Leviathan!”

Books by Kevin J. Anderson

TERRA INCOGNITA

The Edge of the World

THE SAGA OF SEVEN SUNS

Hidden Empire

A Forest of Stars

Horizon Storms

Scattered Suns

Of Fire and Night

Metal Swarm

The Ashes of Worlds

Veiled Alliances
(graphic novel)

To Neil Peart,

A friend for nearly twenty years, and his music has given me tremendous inspiration for much longer than that. Without those
lyrics triggering a cascade of ideas, many of my stories would never have been conceived.

“When you reach the edge of the world, you can fly.”

— The Book of Aiden

Part I
1
Off the Coast of Uraba

These foreign seas looked much the same as the waters of home, but Criston Vora knew the lands were different, the people
were different, and their religion was contrary to everything he had been taught in the Aidenist kirk. For a twenty-year-old
sailor eager to see the world, those differences could be either wondrous or frightening—he wouldn’t know which until he met
the people of Uraba, which he was about to do.

The
Fishhook
had made this voyage several times, and Criston’s captain, Andon Shay, was confident in his abilities to negotiate another
trade deal with the Uraban merchants. The young man kept his eyes open and studied the unfolding coastline as the ship sailed
far, far south of everything he had known.

From his fishing village of Windcatch, he had always felt the call of the sea, wanting to see what lay beyond the horizon,
yearning to explore. Though he had signed on for only a short trading voyage, at least he was seeing the other continent:
Uraba
. A place of legends and mystery.

Though connected by a narrow isthmus, the world’s two main continents, Uraba and Tierra, were separated by a wide gulf of
history and culture. Ages ago, at the beginning of time, when Ondun—God—had sent two of his sons in separate sailing ships
to explore the world, the descendants of Aiden’s crew had settled Tierra, while those from Urec’s vessel colonized Uraba.
Over the centuries, the followers of Aiden and the followers of Urec developed separate civilizations, religions, and traditions;
despite their differences, they were bound together by ties of trade and necessity.

Other books

Trent by Kathi S. Barton
Bible Camp Bloodbath by Joey Comeau
My Savior by Alanea Alder
Light Fantastique by Cecilia Dominic
Sweet Mercy by Naomi Stone
Elegy for a Broken Machine by Patrick Phillips
A Ransomed Heart by Wolfe, Alex Taylor
Stupid Cupid by Sydney Logan
The Telling by Beverly Lewis


readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024