Valdemar 06 - [Exile 01] - Exile’s Honor

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

“Highly recommended”
—Library Journal

 

“A treat for Valdemar fans”
—Booklist

 

“A top-notch Valdemar adventure with a twist. The
robust characterizations portrayed with complexity and
vitality are a joy to embrace.”
—Romantic Times

 

“A substantial and enjoyable addtion to the
chronciles of Valdemar.”
—Locus

 

“EXILE'S HONOR easily stands alone. A newcomer to
the series will enjoy it. It is also a bit of pleasant wish
fulfillment, in that we get to explore characters and a bit
of timeline not really covered before.”
—SF Site

 

“The author excels at the details of battle scenes, both in
large-scale fights and individual struggles. Working as
both a stand-out addition to the Valdemar universe and
as a starting place for those new to the series, EXILE'S
HONOR is a novel of both action and depth.”
—The Davis (CA) Enterprise

NOVELS BY
MERCEDES LACKEY

available from DAW Books:

ARROWS OF THE QUEEN
ARROW'S FLIGHT
ARROW'S FALL

 

 

MAGIC'S PAWN
MAGIC'S PROMISE
MAGIC'S PRICE

 

 

WINDS OF FATE
WINDS OF CHANGE
WINDS OF FURY

 

 

STORM WARNING
STORM RISING
STORM BREAKING

 

 

BY THE SWORD

 

 

THE OATHBOUND
OATHBREAKERS
OATHBLOOD
BRIGHTLY BURNING
TAKE A THIEF
EXILE'S HONOR
EXILE'S VALOR

 

 

Written with
LARRY DIXON
:

 

 

THE BLACK GRYPHON
THE WHITE GRYPHON
THE SILVER GRYPHON

 

 

OWLFLIGHT
OWLSIGHT
OWLKNIGHT

 

 

 

JOUST
ALTAN
¹
THE BLACK SWAN

 

 

THE SERPENT'S SHADOW
THE GATES OF SLEEP
PHOENIX AND ASHES
¹

 

 

(Written with Marion Zimmer Bradley)
REDISCOVERY

Copyright © 2002 by Mercedes R. Lackey.

eISBN : 978-1-101-11864-1

All rights reserved.

 

 

Timeline by Pat Tobin

 

DAW Books Collectors No. 1235.

 

DAW Books are distributed by the Penguin Group (USA).

 

 

All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

 

 

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the
Internet or any other means without the permission of the
publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only
authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or
encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

First paperback printing, October 2003

DAW TARDEMARK REGISTERED
U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES
—MARCA REGISTRADA.
HECHO EN U.S.A.
S.A.

Dedicated to the memory of NYFD crews lost 9/11/2001:

 

Brian Bilcher
Gary Box
Thomas Butler
Peter Carroll
Robert Cordice
David Fontana
Matthew Garvey
Stephen Siller
Edward Datri
Michael Esposito
Michael Fodor
James Amato

 

Eric Allen
David Halderman
Timothy Haskell
Andrew Fredericks
Lawrence Virgilio
William McGinn

 

Thomas Cullen III
Robert Hamilton
Michael Lyons
Gregory Sikorsky
Richard VanHine
Michael Healey

Tarel Coleman
Thomas Kuveikis
Peter Langone
Patrick Lyons
Kevin Prior

 

Ronnie Gies
Joseph Hunter
Jonathon Ielpi
Adam Rand
Ronald Kerwin

 

Robert Crawford

 

Ronald Bucca

 

Timothy Higgins
Michael Russo
Patrick Waters
Raymond Downey

 

Gerard Barbara
Donald Burns

S
ILVER stamped restively as another horse on the picket line shifted and blundered into his hindquarters. Alberich clucked to quiet him and patted the stallion's neck; the beast swung his head about to blow softly into the young Captain's hair. Alberich smiled a little, thinking wistfully that the stallion was perhaps the only creature in the entire camp that felt anything like friendship for him.

And possibly the only creature that isn't waiting for me to fail, hoping that I will, and ready to pounce on me and cut me to pieces when I do.
Life for an officer of Karsite troops was spent half in defeating the enemies of Karse and half in watching his own back.

Amazingly gentle, for a stallion, Silver had caused no problems either in combat or here, on the picket line. Which was just as well, for if he had, Alberich would have had him gelded or traded off for a more tractable mount, gift of the Voice of Vkandis Sunlord or no. Alberich had enough troubles without worrying about the behavior of his beast.

He wasn't sure where the handsome and muscular creature had come from; Shin'a'in-bred, they'd told him. The Voice had chosen the beast especially for him out of a string of animals “liberated from the enemy.” Which meant war booty, of course, from one of the constant conflicts along the borders. Silver hadn't come from one of the bandit nests, that was sure. The only beasts the bandits owned were as disreputable as their owners. Horses “liberated” from the bandits usually weren't worth keeping, they were so run-down and ill-treated. Silver probably came from Menmellith via Rethwellan; the King was rumored to have some kind of connection with the horse-breeding, blood-thirsty Shin'a'in nomads.

Whatever; when Alberich lost his faithful old Smoke a few weeks ago he hadn't expected to get anything better than the obstinate, intractable gelding he'd taken from its bandit owner. But fate ruled otherwise; the Voice chose to “honor” him with a superior replacement along with his commission, the letter that accompanied the paper pointing out that Silver was the perfect mount for a Captain of light cavalry. It was also another evidence of favoritism from above, with the implication that he had earned that favoritism outside of performance in the field.

Talk about a double-edged blade. . . .
Both the commission and the horse came with burdens of their own. Not a gift that was likely to increase his popularity with some of the men under his command, and a beast that was going to make him pretty damned conspicuous in any encounter with the enemy. A
white
horse? Might as well paint a target on his back and have done with it.