The Ale Boy's Feast
Read The Ale Boy's Feast Online
Authors: Jeffrey Overstreet
The Auralia Thread
“Overstreet’s writing is precise and beautiful, and the story is masterfully told.”
—P
UBLISHERS
W
EEKLY
“The rich details, well-developed characters, and complex story will make this a new favorite among fantasy readers.”
—L
IBRARY
J
OURNAL
“With a skillful pen, Overstreet shows a world that exists in another dimension. A true treat to fantasy fans.”
—A
UTHOR’S
C
HOICE
R
EVIEWS
“The Ale Boy’s Feast
is a great, sprawling poem. Its rich language moves and breathes and awakens every sense. Jeffrey Overstreet has made something beautiful here. His story reminds us that beauty is an agent of grace.”
—J
ONATHAN
R
OGERS
, author of
The Charlatan’s Boy
“Jeffrey Overstreet’s imagination is peopled with mysteries and wonders. Reading
Raven’s Ladder
is like staring at a richly imagined world through a kaleidoscope: complex, intriguing, and habit-forming.”
—K
ATHY
T
YERS
, author of
Shivering World
and the Firebird series
“Jeffrey Overstreet writes like Van Gogh painted. He is a literary impressionist, and his understated yet vivid narrative style overwhelms the imagination.
The Ale Boy’s Feast
does more than just tell the end of a story; it invites the reader into the world of the Expanse with a cast of beautifully complex characters to join them in pursuit of the mystery that calls us all.”
—L
INDSAY
S
TALLONES,
evangelicaloutpost.com
“Through word, image, and color, Jeffrey Overstreet has crafted a work of art. From first to final page, this original fantasy is sure to draw readers in.”
—J
ANET
L
EE
C
AREY
, award-winning author of
The Dragons of Noor
“It’s entering a beautiful dream you don’t want to leave, with exhilarating tension that takes you beyond story and into deep truths.”
—S
IGMUND
B
ROUWER
, author of
Broken Angel
and
Flight of Shadows
“A darkly complex world populated by a rich and diverse cast of characters, in which glimpses of haunting beauty shine through. Sometimes perplexing but always thought-provoking,
Raven’s Ladder
is the work of a fertile and striking creative imagination.”
—R. J. A
NDERSON
, author of
Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter
LSO BY
J
EFFREY
O
VERSTREET
Fiction:
Auralia’s Colors
Cyndere’s Midnight
Raven’s Ladder
Nonfiction:
Through a Screen Darkly:
Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth, and Evil at the Movies
T
HE
A
LE
B
OY’S
F
EAST
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATERBROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Jeffrey Overstreet
Map copyright © 2011 by Rachel Beatty
Illustration by Mike Heath, Magnus Creative
Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920,
www.alivecommunications.com
.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown
Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Overstreet, Jeffrey.
The ale boy’s feast : the white strand in the Auralia thread / Jeffrey Overstreet. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-72938-5
I. Title.
PS3615.V474A78 2011
813′.6—dc22
2010051190
v3.1
For Anne
Her imagination inspired the adventure
,
her belief in these stories gave me confidence
,
her listening ear helped me tune the instruments
,
her hard work alongside me made the series possible
,
and her presence was a blessing on the journey
from the grasses beside the River Throanscall
to the mists beyond the Forbidding Wall
.
ONTENTS
T
HEY CALL THE BOY
“R
ESCUE
”
FOR A REASON
…
The ale boy was once an errand runner, almost invisible as he served House Abascar. As he grew up—an orphan raised by House Abascar’s beer brewer and wine-maker—his real name remained a secret, even from him.
But what he did know proved useful indeed. As he gathered the harvest fruits beyond Abascar’s walls, worked with brewers below ground, delivered drinks across the city, and served the king his favorite liquor, the ale boy learned the shortcuts and secrets of that oppressed kingdom.
When the ale boy met Auralia, a mysterious and artistic young woman from the wilderness, they formed a friendship that would change the world. Auralia’s artistry shone with colors no one had ever seen, and when she revealed her masterpiece within House Abascar, the kingdom erupted in turmoil that ended in a calamitous collapse. Auralia vanished, as did her enchanting colors. And hundreds of people died.
Brokenhearted but brave, the ale boy sought out survivors in Abascar’s ruins and helped them find their way to a refuge in the Cliffs of Barnashum. There, led by their new king, Cal-raven, the people endured a harsh winter and an attack from the Cent Regus beastmen.
During those hard days, the ale boy became a legendary hero. The people called him “Rescue.”
Afterward, King Cal-raven sought two things: the origins of Auralia’s colors, and the Keeper—the mysterious dream-creature who had inspired Auralia in the first place.
Cal-raven trusted that the Keeper would lead his people out of their desperate circumstances and into a glorious future. And in that belief, he discovered an ancient, legendary city called Inius Throan standing in the shadow of the northern mountains.
But now his hopes of leading Abascar’s remnant have all but collapsed.
His people have found protection and provision in the care of House Bel Amica on the western coast. They’ve settled in. Bel Amica’s a dangerous place, even for its own rulers, who have exposed treachery among Queen Thesera’s advisors, the Seers.
Heightening their peril, the Deathweed—a creature made of roots and branches—has spread across the Expanse, poisoning and killing everything within its reach.
Worst of all, Cal-raven has made a disastrous mistake. Taking the beastman called Jordam with him as a guide, he left House Bel Amica behind to make a risky journey into the heart of beastman territory. There he hoped to rescue some of his people who were imprisoned and enslaved.
But even though Jordam and the ale boy offered Cal-raven help, things have gone terribly wrong. Many are dead. The ale boy has fallen from a bridge into a dark abyss. And Cal-raven’s faith in the Keeper has collapsed in the aftermath of a shocking discovery.
Now, Cal-raven too is lost in the chaos.
Captain Tabor Jan and the people of Abascar wait in desperate hope for their king to return. Their future seems uncertain.
Shall they go on alone toward Inius Throan without Cal-raven to guide them?
Was the promise of Auralia’s colors just an illusion?