The Serpent's Fury
ACCOLADES AND PRAISE FOR
A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying
Winner of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award
Shortlisted for the OLA Silver Birch Award
A School Library Journal Best Middle Grade Book of 2019
An Ontario Library Association Top Ten Title of 2019
“A fast and fun read, [and] a great read-a-like for Tamora Pierce’s Tortall series.”
—Starred Review, School Library Journal
“A fresh take on familiar fantasy creatures and situations.”
—Starred Review, Shelf Awareness
“A rousing romp for monster hunters and monster lovers alike.”
—Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR
The Gryphon’s Lair
“Remarkably well-crafted, The Gryphon’s Lair is a memorable thrill filled with tough choices, hard-fought battles and unforgettable lessons.”
—Starred Review, Shelf Awareness
“A fun and fiery follow-up.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“An enjoyable follow-up to its rollicking predecessor.”
—School Library Journal
PUFFIN CANADA
an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House of Canada Limited
First published 2021
Text copyright © 2021 by K. L. A. Fricke Inc.
Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Xavière Daumarie
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Publisher’s note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover design: Kelly Hill
Cover art: © Cory Godbey
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: The serpent’s fury / Kelley Armstrong.
Names: Armstrong, Kelley, author. | Daumarie, Xavière, illustrator.
Series: Armstrong, Kelley. Royal guide to monster slaying (Series)
Description: Series statement: Royal guide to monster slaying | Illustrated by Xavière Daumarie.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200368958 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200368974 | ISBN 9780735270152 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780735270169 (EPUB)
Classification: LCC PS8551.R7637 S47 2021 | DDC jC813/.6—dc23
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020948566
www.penguinrandomhouse.ca
a_prh_5.7.0_c0_r0
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
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
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Excerpt from Monsters: A Field Guide, Part 3
CHAPTER ONE
“So, tell me about the dropbears,” my brother, Rhydd, says as we ride toward the Dunnian Woods.
“They’re bears,” Alianor says. “And they drop.”
At a look from me, she throws up her hands. “Fine, they’re marsupials. Happy? They still drop.”
“More like plummet,” I say. “Dive-bomb, maybe? Drop implies a slower—”
“Stop, Rowan. Just because you’re the royal monster hunter doesn’t mean you need to be so particular about monsters.”
“Um, I think the fact that I’m the royal monster hunter does mean I need to be particular. False information leads to—”
“La-la-la,” she says, hands pressed to her ears.
I turn to Rhydd. “Just wait until a dropbear falls on us. Alianor’s dying words will be ‘That monster moved so much faster than I expected.’ ”
Rhydd grins. In front of me, my jackalope’s nose rises, twitching, as he scans the sky for marsupial monsters plummeting from the clouds.
Dain rolls his eyes. “Trees, Jacko. They need trees to drop from. Remember?”
“Plummet.”
“Yes, princess.” Another eye roll for me, and he spurs his horse to catch up with the other hunters ahead.
The four of us are joking, keeping things light, trying to forget we’re heading into the monster-filled Dunnian Woods to deal with a dropbear-filled cabin. As for why there are dropbears in a cabin…The week before, they’d attacked us, and we’d lured them into the cabin to keep them contained until we could figure out what to do with them. We’d left food and water, as well as a couple of guards to ensure they survived their imprisonment.
Dropbears never used to come this close to Tamarel. Given the choice between a single gryphon and a swarm of dropbears, I’d rather face the former. Yes, a gryphon is as big as a small house, with a beak that can snap a person in two. But dropbears only come in swarms, attacking at night with claws and fangs, and a viciousness I haven’t encountered in any other beast.
Still, I never considered not joining this expedition. I am the royal monster hunter. Well, technically, I need to complete my trials first, but until then I carry the ebony sword and do my duty.
I’m also a princess. Mom’s the queen, and Rhydd will succeed her on the ivory throne. That’s how it works in our kingdom. The oldest child gets the throne, and the next one takes the sword. I’m two minutes older than Rhydd, but after my aunt died—killed by the gryphon that injured Rhydd’s leg—we switched roles, which is what we always wanted.
Our kingdom is Tamarel, and it’s separated from other kingdoms by the Dunnian Woods and the mountains, both infested with monsters, just like the ocean along our other borders. That’s why our clan—Clan Dacre—is in charge.
We have a gift for monsters, and not just hunting them. I’m riding a ceffyl-dwr—a carnivorous river horse—with a jackalope sitting in front of me. A pegasus filly flies overhead. A warg—which is like a giant wolf—runs at my side. Rhydd rides our late aunt’s unicorn, Courtois.
There’s another monster who is very much on my mind these days. Tiera, a young gryphon I raised from birth. Last week, I left her in a gryphon aerie with others her age. It was the right thing to do, but it still hurts so much.
As happy as I am to have the monsters around, I’m thrilled to have so many of my favorite fellow humans on this mission. Ridin
g beside Rhydd is Alianor, daughter of the Clan Bellamy bandit warlord. She’s also a healer in training who has declared she wants to be Tamarel’s first monster doctor. And then there’s Dain, who’s training alongside me to be a hunter. As for grown-ups, we have our trainer, Wilmot, plus my guard, Kaylein, and six monster hunters, not to mention a few members of my father’s clan, including my great-great-aunt Yvain. Her family had been tracking the dropbears when we found them, and we left a couple of her granddaughters to watch the cabin.
That’s a huge group for an expedition into the Dunnian Woods. Proof of just how dangerous dropbears can be. It’s also large because Mom agreed to let Rhydd join us. All Tamarel’s kings and queens must be fully trained monster hunters, so he argued that he should come along. He isn’t allowed to actually get near the cabin, though. This is why I happily gave up the ivory throne to wield the ebony sword: One of these things is a whole lot more exciting than the other.
We took the back roads through Tamarel. That’s a must if we want to get anywhere fast. We’re the country’s prince and princess riding with an entourage of monsters. For local villagers, it’s like the best parade ever. This trip isn’t about meeting our subjects, though. It isn’t even just about handling a cabin full of dropbears. It’s about figuring out why the dropbears are here—what’s bringing them and other monsters to our border.
Wilmot and Yvain mapped out a route to minimize our path through the woods. At the edge, we need to leave the horses and the equine monsters behind. The forest is too thick for them to pass through easily, and if we’re attacked by predators, it’s also too thick for them to defend themselves properly.
We overnight there, and then two of the hunters remain with our mounts while we head into the forest. One problem with that is that equine monsters aren’t horses, and we don’t treat them as such. Courtois wears a saddle but no bridle. I’ve been riding Doscach—the ceffyl-dwr—bareback. Monsters are never under our control, and they always stay with us by choice. Courtois has no interest in venturing into the woods and happily stays behind. The pegasus filly, Sunniva, takes off flying, doing as she pleases. Doscach, though, insists on following me, and I have to ask him, very politely, to stay behind. When that fails, Courtois keeps him out by herding him away.
Once inside the forest, we need to move quickly. It’s a long hike to Dropbear Cabin, and with the marsupials being nocturnal, it’ll be easier to deal with them during the day. We’re off at the crack of dawn, and we eat our midday meal as we walk, reaching our destination by mid-afternoon.
That’s where my adventure comes to a screeching halt.
“Rhydd?” Wilmot says as our hunters check their weapons. “You’ll be staying here with Kaylein.”
“What?” Rhydd and I say in unison.
“Your mother said you could come as long as you didn’t get within a hundred feet of the cabin.”
“A hundred feet?” I say. “I know he can’t go to the cabin, but he can’t even see it from here.” I sweep my hand across the view, which consists of trees, trees and more trees.
“Rhydd and Kaylein will stay here and watch for stragglers,” Wilmot says. “We’ll surround the cabin and then close in on it. A couple of dropbears may escape.”
“And run in this exact direction?”
Wilmot skewers me with a look, but I only shoot the same look back.
“Remember that time when we were little?” Rhydd says to me. “We wanted to help Jannah and Dad drive off a pack of wargs, and they left us in the next town, standing on the inn steps with our practice swords, in case a warg came our way…while they chased them in the other direction.” He lifts his gaze to Wilmot’s. “I have no idea why this plan would remind me of that, since I’m no longer a child. Coincidence, I presume.”
Wilmot grunts and says nothing.
“I will be thirteen next month,” Rhydd says, his voice even. “I am a young man and a future king, and I would like to be treated as both. That doesn’t mean I insist on being allowed to join the hunt. It means I insist on being told the truth.”
Yvain walks over. “Your mother doesn’t want you within a hundred feet of that cabin, your highness, because you are the future king, and because your leg still causes you trouble, and because dropbears are a match for a fully trained hunter, which you are not yet. She’s allowed you on this excursion but drawn the line at actually allowing you to deal with the dropbears. If you feel that treats you as a child, I won’t say I blame you. It’s something you need to discuss with her, though.”
I open my mouth to protest, but Rhydd cuts me off with, “Understood. Thank you for telling me the truth.” He shoots a quick glance at Wilmot.
Wilmot grunts again, but this time there’s apology in it. I still want to argue, which is why my brother is better suited for the throne. We shouldn’t argue with those who are simply carrying out the queen’s orders.
And this is where I need to make a difficult decision. Where I need to remember who I am and my own responsibilities.
If I were the full-fledged royal monster hunter, I’d be leading this expedition. But the reason Alianor, Dain and I trapped the dropbears was because we couldn’t deal with them in any other way.
I’m not fully trained. I haven’t passed my trials. While I’m a good fighter, Kaylein is better, and she shouldn’t be left behind.
“I will stay with Rhydd,” I say. “Kaylein should take my place in the attack.” I turn to Alianor and Dain. “Alianor? Would you stay with me? Dain—”
“No,” Dain says, crossing his arms. “Don’t ask, princess. I’m not staying behind.”
“If Rowan asks, you will stay,” Wilmot says. “As long as you’re training as a hunter, you are part of her troop.”
Dain’s scowl should be aimed at Wilmot. Of course, it isn’t. Wilmot is the foster father who rescued Dain from a life of servitude. The one who gets his scowls is me, as usual.
“I was going to give you the option,” I say, channeling my brother with my calm voice. “You may go with the hunters or stay with us. I was also going to suggest to Wilmot that whoever does stay behind should patrol at a hundred-foot perimeter and deal with any dropbears who escape the hunters.” I look at Wilmot. “Would that fulfill my mother’s requirements?”
Wilmot lifts one shoulder. “I believe so.”
Yvain smiles as she pats my arm. “Well done, child. That is a fine plan.”
“All right, then,” Wilmot says. “Dain, you’ll help Rowan.”
“What happened to me getting a choice?” Dain squawks.
“That was your royal monster hunter talking. This is your guardian. Now come along, and I’ll show you the boundary line.”
CHAPTER TWO
We’re patrolling at a two-hundred-foot perimeter. That’s what Wilmot insisted on, to be absolutely certain we don’t come within a hundred feet. I can grumble, but I understand his point. It’s not as if we can accurately measure distance out here, and if we wander too close to the cabin and get hurt, Mom will blame him. Put us at two hundred feet, and we’re definitely far enough away.
I still feel like a child again, standing on that inn front step with my practice sword. Maybe I made the wrong choice here. I thought I was being mature, giving up the adventure to protect my brother and allow Kaylein to fight. I also thought we could provide a valuable service. But this far from the cabin, in the thick woods, we might as well be a mile away. We can’t even overhear the others.
“I can go see what’s happening,” Dain says. “Report back.”
I hesitate and then shake my head. “We should stick together. I’m sorry.”
“Leaders don’t apologize,” Alianor says.
I disagree, but in this case, she has a point. I should reserve my apologies for real mistakes, not toss them out like flower petals at a spring festival.
“The fact that we’re not hearing anything suggests noth
ing is happening,” I say. “Either the hunters are still planning or the dropbears are gone. Let’s keep patrolling.”
At my wave, Jacko leaps into the lead, his head high, nose higher, like a leporine army general. The warg, Malric, stays at the back of our group. I could say he’s guarding the rear, but the way he’s dragging himself along—while casting glances toward the cabin—tells me he’s feeling like a babysitter put in charge of the children while everyone else goes to the party.
“You can join them if you want,” I say.
I get a baleful, yellow-eyed stare for that. When Jannah died, she asked Malric to look after me. Kaylein might be assigned as my guard on expeditions, but the warg is my bodyguard, at my side nearly every moment of the day, whether he likes it or not.
I fall back beside him and murmur, “I know how you feel. This is boring, isn’t it?”
He chuffs. Monsters are smarter than regular animals, but they can’t talk or understand human speech. What they understand is body language and facial expression and vocal tone.
When Jacko lets out his alert cry, I swear all five of us—Malric included—perk up. Everyone reaches for their weapons, and Malric presses against my leg as he looks about. Jacko zooms to sit on my feet, which I appreciate. In his jackalope mind, he’s protecting me, but I just want him close so I can protect him.
Around us, the forest is silent, and I’m about to declare it a false alarm when a growl ripples Malric’s flanks.
I follow his gaze to see the undergrowth quivering. Something’s coming, fast, but it’s small, hidden beneath the ferns that tremble, the only sign of its passage.
Snake? There are several dangerous snake-monsters.
A shape bursts from the undergrowth, racing straight for us only to notice us at the last moment and nearly bowl itself over tumbling to a halt. The creature rises onto its hind legs, swaying from side to side as it surveys our group. Its gaze lands on Jacko, and it lets out a shriek and topples over backward in its panic to escape.
As it runs, I sputter a laugh. “Well, Jacko. That’s a first. Apparently, you’re scarier than Malric. At least to a colocolo.”