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An Ill Fate Marshalling © 1988 by Glen Cook

A Path to Coldness of Heart © 2012 by Glen Cook

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cook, Glen, author. | Cook, Glen. Reap the east wind. | Cook, Glen. An ill fate marshalling. | Cook, Glen. A path to coldness of heart.

Title: Wrath of kings : a chronicle of the Dread Empire / by Glen Cook.

Other titles: Reap the east wind. | An ill fate marshalling. | A path to coldness of heart.

Description: New York : Night Shade Books, [2018] | Series: Dread Empire trilogy

Identifiers: LCCN 2017046343 | ISBN 9781597809382 (hardcover : acid-free paper)

Subjects: | GSAFD: Science fiction. | Fantasy fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3553.O5536 A6 2018 | DDC 813/.54--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046343

eIBSN: 978-1-59780-652-7

Cover design by Claudia Noble

Cover art by Raymond Swanland

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Reap the East Wind

An Ill Fate Marshalling

A Path to Coldness of Heart

Reap the East Wind

Contents

One: Year 1012 After the Founding of the Empire of Ilkazar; Armies in Shadow, Waiting

Two: Year 1016 AFE; A Time of Changes

Three: Year 1016 AFE; Gathering of the Mighty

Four: Year 1011 AFE; A Flashback to the War

Five: Years 1014-1016 AFE; The Gathering Storm

Six: Year 1016 AFE; The Desert

Seven: Year 1016 AFE; Conspiracies

Eight: Year 1016 AFE; Warlord of the Dead

Nine: Year 1016 AFE; The Fortress in the Borderland

Ten: Year 1016 AFE; Fire in the East

Eleven: Year 1016 AFE; The Stone Beast Speaks

Twelve: Year 1016 AFE; The Day

Thirteen: Year 1016 AFE; The Fates of Gods and Emperors

Fourteen: Year 1016 AFE; The Seed of Doom

Fifteen: Year 1016 AFE; Lioantung

ONE: YEAR 1012
AFTER THE FOUNDING OF THE EMPIRE OF ILKAZAR ARMIES IN SHADOW, WAITING

The beast howled and hurled itself against the wall of the cell next door. It raged because it could not sate its thirst for Ethrian’s blood.

The boy had no idea how long he had been incarcerated. Night and day had no meaning in the dungeons of Ehelebe. The only light he saw was that of the turnkey’s lamp when the man brought pumpkin soup or made his infrequent rounds.

Before the dungeon there had been an unremarkable childhood in the slums of Vorgreberg, capital city of a tiny kingdom far to the west. There had been a strange mother with witch blood, and a father stranger still….

Something had happened. He did not understand it. He thought it was because his father had become politically involved. He and his mother had gotten caught in the backlash. Men had come and taken them away. Now he was here, in irons, in darkness, with only the fleas for companions. He did not know where here was, nor what had become of his mother.