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ROBIN HOBB
Dragon Keeper
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009
Copyright © Robin Hobb 2009
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016. Illustration © Jackie Morris.
Calligraphy by Stephen Raw. Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com (background)
Robin Hobb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
Source ISBN: 9780007342594
Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2014 ISBN: 9780007290253
Version: 2015-12-01
CONTENTS
Chapter Three: An Advantageous Offer
Chapter Five: Blackmail and Lies
Chapter Six: Thymara’s Decision
Chapter Seven: Promises and Threats
To the memory of Spot and Smokey,
Brownie-butt and Rainbow, Rag-Bag and Sinbad.
Fine pigeons, one and all.
Day the 2nd of the Plough Moon
Year the 6th of the Reign of the Most Noble and Magnificent Satrap Cosgo
From Erek, Keeper of the Birds, Bingtown to Detozi, Keeper of the Birds, Trehaug
This night have dispatched to you four birds, bearing in two parts our agreement with the Dragon Tintaglia, to be ratified by the Rain Wild Council. Trader Devouchet, leader of the Bingtown Traders’ Council, suggested that duplicates be sent. They sum up the formal agreement between the Traders and the Dragon. We are to aid her serpents in travelling up the Rain Wild River in exchange for her assistance with defending the Trader cities and waterways against the Chalcedean invaders.
