PENGUIN CELEBRATIONS TIGANA GUY GAVRIEL KAY is the author of ten novels: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road (which comprise The Fionavar Tapestry); Tigana; A Song for Arbonne; The Lions of Al-Rassan; Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors (which comprise The Sarantine Mosaic); The Last Light of the Sun; and, most recently, Ysabel He is also the author of the acclaimed collection of poetry Beyond This Dark House His work has been translated into more than twenty languages He has twice won the Aurora Award, is a four-time World Fantasy Award nominee, and is the recipient of the International Goliardos Award for his contributions to the literature of the fantastic Guy Gavriel Kay lives in Toronto www.brightweavings.com Tigana GUY GAVRIEL KAY Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in a Viking Canada hardcover by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 1990 Published in Penguin Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 1991, 1999, 2005 Published in this edition, 2009 10 (WEB) Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay, 1992 The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to quote from copyright works: Princeton University Press for Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (trans and eds.), George Seferis: Collected Poems 1924–1955, copyright © Princeton University Press, 1967; New American Library for John Ciardi (trans.), Dante’s The Paradiso 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 Manufactured in Canada ISBN: 978-0-14-317159-1 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication data available upon request to the publisher Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent 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 Visit the Penguin Group (Canada) website at www.penguincelebrations.ca Visit the authorized Guy Gavriel Kay website at www.brightweavings.com For my brothers, Jeffrey and Rex ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS n the shaping of this work a great many people lent me their considerable skills and their support It is a pleasure to be able to acknowledge that aid Sue Reynolds once again offered me a map that not only reflected but helped to guide the development of my story Rex Kay and Neil Randall offered both enthusiasm and perceptive commentary from the early stages of the novel through to its last revisions I am deeply grateful to both of them I am indebted to the scholarship of a great many men and women It is a particular pleasure to record my admiration for Carlo Ginzberg’s Night Battles (I Benandanti) I have also been stimulated and instructed by the work of, among others, Gene Brucker, Lauro Martines, Jacob Burckhardt, Iris Origo and Joseph Huizinga In this regard, I wish also to pay grateful tribute to the memory of two men for whom I have long held the deepest respect, and whose work and sources of inspiration have so profoundly guided my own: Joseph Campbell and Robert Graves Finally, while it may often appear to be a matter of ritual or rote when an author mentions the role of a spouse in the creation of a book, I can only affirm that it is with both gratitude and love that I wish to acknowledge the sustaining encouragement and counsel I have received in the writing of Tigana, both in Tuscany and at home, from my wife Laura I A NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION or the assistance of those to whom such things are of importance, I should perhaps note that most of the proper names in this novel should be pronounced according to the rules of the Italian language Thus, for example, all final vowels are sounded: Corte has two syllables, Sinave and Forese have three Chiara has the same hard initial sound as chianti but Certando will begin with the same sound as chair or child F All that you held most dear you will put by and leave behind you; and this is the arrow the longbow of your exile first lets fly You will come to know how bitter as salt and stone is the bread of others, how hard the way that goes up and down stairs that never are your own —Dante, The Paradiso What can a flame remember? If it remembers a little less than is necessary, it goes out; if it remembers a little more than is necessary, it goes out If only it could teach us, while it burns, to remember correctly —George Seferis, ‘Stratis the Sailor Describes a Man’ ... Award for his contributions to the literature of the fantastic Guy Gavriel Kay lives in Toronto www.brightweavings.com Tigana GUY GAVRIEL KAY Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (Canada),...PENGUIN CELEBRATIONS TIGANA GUY GAVRIEL KAY is the author of ten novels: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road (which comprise The Fionavar Tapestry); Tigana; A Song for Arbonne;... Pearson Canada Inc., 1991, 1999, 2005 Published in this edition, 2009 10 (WEB) Copyright © Guy Gavriel Kay, 1992 The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to quote from