An Orbit Book

First published in Great Britain by Century 1986

Reprinted by Orbit 1998 (three times), 1999 (twice), 2000

© David A. Gemmell 1985 The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any

resemblance to real persons, living or dead,

is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be

otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other

than that in which it is published and without a similar

condition including this condition being imposed on the

subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.ISBN 1 85723 665 3Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham pi.c, Chatham. KentOrbit

A Division of

Little, Brown and Company (UK) Brettenham House

Lancaster Place London WC2E 7EN