Raven: Blood Eye

• Title
  
• Title Page
  
• Copyright Page
  
• About the Author
  
• Dedication
  
• TO MY FELLOWSHIP
  
• HISTORICAL NOTE
  
• Map
  
• LIST OF CHARACTERS
  
• Epigraph
  
• Prologue
  
• CHAPTER ONE
  
• CHAPTER TWO
  
• CHAPTER THREE
  
• CHAPTER FOUR
  
• CHAPTER FIVE
  
• CHAPTER SIX
  
• CHAPTER SEVEN
  
• CHAPTER EIGHT
  
• CHAPTER NINE
  
• CHAPTER TEN
  
• CHAPTER ELEVEN
  
• CHAPTER TWELVE
  
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  
• CHAPTER NINETEEN
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY
  
• CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  
• Epilogue
  

RAVEN

BLOOD EYE

www.rbooks.co.uk

BLOOD EYE

Giles Kristian

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 9781409080695

Version 1.0

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TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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A Random House Group Company
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First published in Great Britain
in 2009 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Giles Kristian 2009

Giles Kristian has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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

ISBN: 9781409080695

Version 1.0

This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

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2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Born in Leicestershire, Giles Kristian writes full time. He is currently working on the next book in the RAVEN series. He lives between London, New York and Norway.

www.rbooks.co.uk

Raven
is for Sally, with whom
I have crossed oceans

Writing is sometimes called the 'lonely art.' It is. And it isn't. As important as the characters in the story itself are a host of real-life protagonists who jump aboard along the way. These folk are a rare and precious commodity to a writer for the simple reason that they
understand
. They get what we're up to day after day, month after month, year after year. Some of them
got Raven
so well that they even took it into their own lives and jobs, ballyhooing the story more eloquently than I ever could. These are the people to whom I owe so much, and it is my great pleasure to acknowledge them here.

My parents never made me conform. They know what I love and what drives me, and they have helped me in more ways than any one person can deserve. Pop, you are a jarl and a legend. Mum, you are the shore. I am proud of you both. Sally, I love you. Much love to my sword-brother James who shared his pay packet with me and has always supported my endeavours; to my beautiful sister, Jackie, who has always told me to 'never quit!'; and to Marky Mark who scraps like an old lady on Age of Empires (and still wins!). Thank you to Edie Campbell for being my second set of eyes, and to Roy and Eddie for loving historical fiction and encouraging me. Nikki Furrer championed
Raven
before anyone in the business, and in taking it on, my agent Dan Lazar of Writers House was my wave-maker. My gratitude to Peter Hobbs for 'putting a word in' and to Victoria Hobbs for steering my longship into friendly waters. Immeasurable thanks to Sara Fisher and Bill Hamilton of AM Heath who, one morning, gave me the best news I have ever received and made me dance around the bedroom like a drunken Viking on ice skates. To Tom, who convinces me that real jobs should be avoided and who always wants to celebrate, bottoms up! Thanks to the Milners for your love and support and to Stephen for giving me a desk to write at. To my pals in Manhattan, London and the Woodman Stroke Pub, we've not even started yet. Thanks to all at Transworld for your meadhall welcome. Your office is my Valhöll! Finally, thanks to my editor Katie Espiner who made it her business to make writing my business. Katie, you released
Raven
into blue skies and for that you have my sword.

Although
Raven
features a group of fictional characters, the story's historical context is consistent with contemporary sources and the conjecture of many of today's medieval scholars. Of course, in the tradition of the sagas,
Raven
does not escape the odd embellishment or hyperbole. The
Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle
is one of the most important documents to survive from the Middle Ages. Originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great in approximately ad 890, it was subsequently maintained and added to by generations of anonymous scribes until the middle of the twelfth century.

The entry for ad 793 reads:

This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.

In
AD
793 a flotilla of sleek longships sailed out of a storm and on to the windswept beach at the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off England's north-east coast. The marauders who leapt from these grim-prowed craft sacked the monastery there, slaughtering its monks in what was seen as a strike against civilization itself. This event marks the dawn of the Viking age, an era in which adventurous, ambitious heathens surged from their Scandinavian homelands to raid and trade along the coasts of Europe. Fellowships of warriors, bound by honour and wanderlust, would reach as far as Newfoundland and Baghdad, the sword-song of their battles ringing out in Africa and the Arctic. They were nobles and outcasts, pirates, pioneers and great seafarers. They were the Norsemen.

WESSEXMEN

Egbert
, king of Wessex
Edgar
, a reeve
Ealhstan
, a carpenter
Wulfweard
, a priest
Alwunn
Eadwig
Griffin
, a warrior
Burghild
, his wife
Siward
, a blacksmith
Oeric
, a butcher
Bertwald
Eosterwine
, a butcher
Ealdred
, an ealdorman
Mauger
, a warrior
Father Egfrith
, a monk
Cynethryth
Weohstan
Burgred
Penda
Eafa,
a fletcher
Egric
Alric
Oswyn
Coenred
Saba,
a miller
Eni
Huda
Ceolmund
Godgifu,
a cook
Hunwald
Cearl
Hereric
Wybert
Hrothgar

MERCIANS

Coenwulf
, king of Mercia
Cynegils
Aelfwald (Grey Beard)

NORTHUMBRIANS

Eardwulf
, king of Northumbria

NORSEMEN

Osric (Raven)
Sigurd the Lucky
, a jarl
Olaf (Uncle)
, shipmaster of
Serpent
Asgot
, a godi
Glum
, shipmaster of
Fjord-Elk
Svein the Red
White-haired Eric
, son of Olaf
Black Floki
Scar-faced Sigtrygg
Njal
Oleg
Eyjolf
Bjarni
, brother of Bjorn
Bjorn
, brother of Bjarni
Kalf
Bram the Bear
Arnkel
Knut
, steersman of
Serpent
Tall Ivar
Osten
Gap-toothed Ingolf
Halfdan
Thorolf
Kon
Thormod
Gunnlaug
Thorkel
Northri
Gunnar
Thobergur
Eysteinn
Ulf
Ugly Einar
Halldor,
cousin of Floki
Arnvid
Aslak
Thorgils
, cousin of Glum
Thorleik
, cousin of Glum
Orm
Hakon

GODS

Óðin
, the All-Father. God of warriors and war, wisdom and poetry
Frigg
, wife of Óðin
Thór
, slayer of giants and god of thunder. Son of Óðin
Baldr
, the beautiful. Son of Óðin
Týr
, Lord of Battle
Loki
, the Mischiefmonger. Father of Lies
Rán
, Mother of the Waves
Njörd
, Lord of the Sea and god of wind and flame
Frey
, god of fertility, marriage and growing things
Freyja
, goddess of love and sex
Hel
, goddess of the underworld
Völund
, god of the forge and of experience

Midgard
, the place where men live. The world
Asgard
, home of the gods
Valhöll
, Óðin's hall of the slain
Yggdrasil
, the World-Tree. A holy place for the gods
Bifröst
, the Rainbow-Bridge connecting the worlds of gods and men
Ragnarök
, Doom of the Gods
Valkyries
, Choosers of the Slain
Norns
, the three weavers who determine the fates of men
Fenrir
, the Mighty Wolf
Jörmungand
, the Midgard-Serpent
Hugin (Thought)
, one of the two ravens belonging to Óðin
Munin (Memory)
, one of the two ravens belonging to Óðin
Mjöllnir
, the magic hammer of Thór