David Gemmell'sfirst novel,Legend, was published in 1984. He has written many bestsellers, including the Drenai saga, the Jon Shannow novels and the Stones of Power sequence. He is now widely acclaimed as Britain's king of heroic fantasy. David Gemmell lives in East Sussex.

By David Gemmell



LEGEND

THE KING BEYOND THE GATE

WAYLANDER

QUEST FOR LOST HEROES

WAYLANDER II

THE FIRST CHRONICLES OF DRUSS THE LEGEND

WOLF IN SHADOW

THE LAST GUARDIAN

BLOODSTONE

GHOST KING

LAST SWORD OF POWER

LION OF MACEDON

DARK PRINCE

IRONHAND'S DAUGHTER

THE HAWK ETERNAL

KNIGHTS OF DARK RENOWN

MORNINGSTAR


The First Chronicles of

druss the legend

David A. Gemmell

AnOrbit Book



First published in Great Britain by Legend Books 1993

Reprinted by Orbit 1998, 1999, 2000



Copyright � David A. Gemmell 1994 The moral right of the author has been asserted.



All characters in this publication are fictitious and any

resemblance to real persons, living or dead,

is purely coincidental.



All rights reserved.



No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be

otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other

than that in which it is published and without a similar

condition including this condition being imposed on the

subsequent purchaser.

A CJP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.



ISBN I 85723 680 1



Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chathamplc, Chatham, Kent



Orbit

A Division of

Little, Brown and Company (UK) Brettenham House

Lancaster Place London WC2E 7EN




Dedication

Druss the Legendis dedicated with great love and affection to memory of Mick Jeffrey, a quiet Christian of infinite patience and kindness. Those privileged to know him were blessed indeed. Goodnight and God bless, Mick!

Acknowledgments

My thanks to my editor John Jarrold, copy editor Jean Maund, and test readers Val Gemmell, Stella Graham, Edith Graham, Tom Taylor, and Vikki Lee France. Thanks also to Stan Nicholls and Chris Baker for bringing Druss to life in a new way.

BOOK ONE: Birth of a Legend

Prologue

Screened by the undergrowth he knelt by the trail, dark eyes scanning the boulders ahead of him and the trees beyond. Dressed as he was in a shirt of fringed buckskin, and brown leather leggings and boots, the tall man was virtually invisible, kneeling in the shadows of the trees.

The sun was high in a cloudless summer sky, and the spoor was more than three hours old. Insects had criss-crossed the hoof-marks, but the edges of the prints were still firm.

Forty horsemen, laden with plunder . . .

Shadak faded back through the undergrowth to where his horse was tethered. He ...

Show full text: 693,169 characters