City of Dragons

334 Pages·2012·1.77 MB·English

by  Robin Hobb

City of Dragons
Volume Three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles
Robin Hobb
Dedication
To the Little Red Hen
Contents
Dedication
Cast of Characters
Prologue
Tintaglia and Icefyre
Chapter One
The Duke and the Captive
Chapter Two
Dragon Battle
Chapter Three
Pathways
Chapter Four
Kelsingra
Chapter Five
A Bingtown Trader
Chapter Six
Marked by the Rain Wilds
Chapter Seven
Dragon Dreams
Chapter Eight
Other Lives
Chapter Nine
Return to Cassarick
Chapter Ten
Kidnapped
Chapter Eleven
Flight
Chapter Twelve
Illumination
Chapter Thirteen
Second Thoughts
Chapter Fourteen
Shopping
Chapter Fifteen
Strange Bedfellows
Epilogue
Homeward Bound
About the Author
Also by Robin Hobb
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Cast of Characters
THE RAIN WILDS CHRONICLES
KEEPERS AND DRAGONS
ALUM: Pale skin, silvery gray eyes. Very small ears. Nose almost flat. His
dragon is ARBUC, a silver-green male. Courting Skelly.
BOXTER: Cousin to Kase. Coppery-eyed, short, stoutly built. His dragon is an
orange male, SKRIM.
HARRIKIN: Tall and slim, at twenty he is older than most of the other keepers.
Lecter is his foster brother. Linked with Sylve. His dragon is RANCULOS, a red
male with silver eyes.
ICEFYRE: An ancient black dragon, once entrapped in ice until freed by human
intervention (also appears in Fool’s Fate).
JERD: A blond female keeper, heavily marked by the Rain Wilds. Her dragon is
VERAS, a queen, dark green with gold stippling.
KASE: Boxter’s cousin. He has copper eyes and is short, wide, and muscular.
His dragon is the orange male DORTEAN.
LECTER: Orphaned at seven, raised by Harrikin’s family. His dragon is
SESTICAN, a large blue male, with orange scaling and small spikes on his neck.
Partnered with Davvie.
NORTEL: A competent and ambitious keeper. His dragon is the lavender male
TINDER.
RAPSKAL: A heavily marked keeper. His dragon is the small red queen
HEEBY.
SYLVE: The youngest of the keepers but mature and thoughtful for her age.
Linked with Harrikin. Her dragon is the golden male MERCOR.
THYMARA: Sixteen years old; has black claws instead of nails and is at home
in the trees. Good hunting skills. Her dragon is a blue queen, SINTARA.
TATS: The only keeper to have been born a slave. He is tattooed on the face with
a small horse and a spiderweb. His dragon is the smallest queen, green FENTE.
TINTAGLIA: An adult queen dragon, she assisted serpents to journey up the
river to cocoon. It has been years since she has been seen in the Rain Wilds.
Currently paired with ICEFYRE, an ancient black dragon.
WARKEN: A tall, long-limbed keeper who lost his life on the journey upriver.
His dragon, BALIPER, a scarlet male, has not chosen a new keeper.
THE BINGTOWNERS
ALISE KINCARRON FINBOK: Comes from a poor but respectable Bingtown
Trader family. The dragon expert. Married to Hest Finbok. Gray eyes, red hair,
many freckles. Now involved with Leftrin.
HEST FINBOK: A handsome, well-established, and wealthy Bingtown Trader.
SEDRIC MELDAR: Secretary and former lover to Hest Finbok, and friends with
Alise since childhood. Bonded with the copper queen dragon RELPDA.
Partnered with Carson Lupskip.
REDDING: Hest’s current paramour and Sedric’s replacement. Greedy
Bingtown Trader stock.
TRADER FINBOK: Hest’s father, a very successful Bington Trader. Married to
Sealia Finbok.
THE CREW OF THE TARMAN
BELLIN: Deckhand. Married to Swarge.
BIG EIDER: Deckhand. A large, powerful man of simple thoughts.
CARSON LUPSKIP: Hunter for the expedition. Leftrin’s old friend. Keeper of
SPIT, a small, temperamental, and dangerous silver dragon. Partnered with
Sedric.
DAVVIE: Apprentice hunter to Carson Lupskip. About fifteen years old. Bonded
to KALO, the largest blue-black dragon, after the death of Greft, Kalo’s previous
keeper. Partnered with Lecter.
GRIGSBY: Ship’s cat. Orange and obnoxious.
HENNESEY: First mate on the Tarman and something of a ladies’ man.