The Curse of Chalion
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Catégories : [ Livres/World of the 5 Gods ]
Cazaril comes back to Chalion after over one and a half years at the galley, where he had been sent after loosing a siege, because his name was (purposely) not on the list of the officers who would be ransomed. Without land or money, he's hired as secretary and tutor of the royesse Iselle, sister of the current roya, Orico. Soon after, Iselle is sent with her brother Teidez and her friend Betriz to the court. The king is sick and without a heir, and Teidez is next in line for succession. The Jironal brothers, Dondo and Martou (who is also the Chancellor and actual leader of the country, and the man because of whom Cazaril was sent to the galley) scheme to get closer to the power: Martou convinces the king to let Dondo wed Iselle, while Dondo tries his best to pervert young Teidez and make him his creature. Iselle and Cazaril try to find a way to prevent the wedding to happen. While Iselle prays the Lady of Spring, Cazaril prays the Bastard to send his demon and kill Dondo (well aware that this is illegal and going to cost him his life, the demon taking both the killer's and the victim's soul). Dondo dies, but Cazaril survives the operation, thanks to the Lady who traps both the demon and Dondo's soul in a tumor in Cazaril's abdomen. Soon after, Teidez kills all the sacred animals in Orico's menagerie, under the influence of the late Dondo who led him to believe that they were poisoning Orico's soul, when it was actually preventing him from dying. Being touched by the gods, Cazaril becomes a saint, and is given the power to see some people's auras. The royal family has a dark aura (including Iselle, her brothers, her mother), a curse dating from Orico's grandfather who had used dark magic to kill his enemy. Cazaril learns from Orico's wife that the Lady told her in a vision that if a man would lay down his life three times for Chalion the curse would be lifted. Cazaril also reasons that if Iselle gets married, she would get free of the curse. Orico's will states that Martou will become regent of Chalion after his death. The only politically worth candidate for Iselle would be Bergon, the heir of Ibra, and she sends Cazaril to negotiate a wedding agreement with his father, the Fox of Ibra. When Cazaril meets Bergon, the latter recognizes him as the man who helped him on the galley, where he had also been sent by his jealous elder brother (now dead in the civil war). Cazaril realizes that he has been controlled by the gods from a long time already. The negotiations go smoothly, and Cazaril and Bergon go back to Chalion, where Iselle and him get married. But this is not enough to get the curse lifted. Soon after, Martou's troops try to arrest Iselle on the pretense of rebellion, but when Martou tries to kill Cazaril, the demon escapes and takes Martou's soul, while Cazaril is resuscitated by the Lady. The curse is lifted, since Cazaril has laid down his life three times already (once at the galley to save Bergon, once when killing Dondo and just now). Iselle and Bergon become roya and royina of Chalion-Ibra, since Orico officially died just after the wedding (unofficially one day before, but his wife didn't want to give Martou a ground for declaring Iselle in rebellion and seize the power in Chalion).
[ Posté le 14 janvier 2009 à 23:47 | pas de commentaire | lien permanent ]
