EPILOGUE
EBON CONCENTRATED on the distant presence. He felt a moment’s disorientation as his spirit covered the leagues separating him from Luker Essendar, then blinked and found himself looking out through the other man’s eyes.
To find a fist swinging toward him.
He tensed.
Luker was already raising an arm to block. He retaliated with a right cross that thundered into his attacker’s chin and sent him reeling. More figures swarmed about him like bees round a honeypot. There was a fireplace to his right, crude tables and benches. A common room, then.
Ebon spoke in Luker’s mind. “I’ve caught you at a bad time.”
If the Guardian was surprised to find the prince in his head, he gave no indication. “Just give me a moment.” He’d gotten a woman by the neck and was holding her at bay. She couldn’t reach him with her punches, but that didn’t stop her from flailing about, her teeth bared, hissing in fury.
“I don’t think she likes you,” Ebon said.
“Oh, you noticed.”
Luker grabbed her between the legs with his free hand, then lifted her up and hurled her across the room. She landed on a table, and it collapsed with a crack sending glasses and tankards flying.
“Do you mind?” said a woman’s voice from out of picture—Jenna’s? “Some of us are trying to have a drink here.”
Luker scowled. “Do you think you could save the wisecracks for later, maybe give me a hand?”
The next man was on to him—a bald man with bloodshot eyes and drooping jowls. The Guardian swayed back from a punch, kicked his attacker in the groin. Baldy doubled over. A thrown tankard—Jenna’s?—thunked into his head, spraying ale. His eyes clouded.
Luker shoved him into the path of a woman coming up behind. “This about Parolla’s mother?” he asked Ebon. “Shroud tell you where she’s been reborn?”
Ebon nodded. “One of his disciples just paid me a visit.”
Luker must have heard something in his voice, for his expression darkened. He picked up a chair and broke it over a man’s head. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“No,” Ebon said. “No, you’re not.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks as usual to my editors, Marco Palmieri and Natalie Laverick, and to my publicists, Ksenia Winnicki and Lydia Gittins, for their efforts in promoting this book and the series as a whole.
I should also say thank you to the readers who have gotten in touch to share their thoughts on my books, or recommended them to others. I am grateful as well to the bloggers and reviewers who have hosted me for interviews or guest posts, and thus helped to provide a signal boost for the series. Particular thanks are due to Wendell Adams and Bob Milne who were beta readers of this book, and who came up with some very useful comments to help me fine-tune the manuscript.
Finally, thank you to my wife, Suzanne, for her support, advice, and encouragement. I really couldn’t do this without her. And thanks to my son, James, for being his wonderfully entertaining self. This book is for him. I’m looking forward to the day when he will be able to read it.
BOOKS BY MARC TURNER
When the Heavens Fall
Dragon Hunters
Red Tide
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARC TURNER was born in Toronto and grew up in England. Red Tide is his third novel, following When the Heavens Fall and Dragon Hunters. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Dramatis Personae
Map
PART I
Blood from Stone
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
City of Snakes
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
PART III
Deep Waters
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
PART IV
Red Tide
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Books by Marc Turner
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
RED TIDE
Copyright © 2016 by Marc Turner
All rights reserved.
Map by Rhys Davies
Cover art by Greg Manchess
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3714-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-3122-3 (e-book)
eISBN 9781466831223
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First Edition: September 2016