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GODDESS OF THE ICE REALM

[Lord of the Isles Book 5]


by David Drake
 DEDICATION
To Andre Norton, whose books have been the first contact many readers have with real Science
Fiction; and whose books have been a training manual, sometimes an unconscious one, in story values for
would-be SF writers.

I'm one of those readers and writers both.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As usual, my first reader Dan Breen has worked to make this a better book. Dan isn't always
right, but he's always worth listening to.

I didn't have an exceptional number of computer adventures with this one, but there were still
occasions when the familiar conclave of Mark Van Name, Allyn Vogel, and my son Jonathan muttered
things like, "I've never seen that happen before...."
A number of people provided me with background material for Goddess. Two who were
particularly helpful were Marcia Decker and my British editor, Simon Spanton.
My webmaster, Karen Zimmerman, has been of inestimable value.

And finally, a general thanks to the friends and family, in particular my wife Jo, who bore with me
as I focused, getting increasingly weird--as usual--until I finished the job.

Dave Drake
david-drake.com

AUTHOR'S NOTE
As is the case with most of my books, a good deal of the background to Goddess of the Ice
Realm is real. The general religion of the Isles is Sumerian, though in some cases I've interpolated cult
practice from the Late Roman Republic where we simply don't know the Sumerian details.

The magic, which is separate from religion in virtually every culture and in at least my fiction, is
that of the Mediterranean Basin during the Classical Period. The words of power, technically voces
mysticae, are the language of demiurges who act as intercessors between humans and the Gods.
I prefer not to voice the voces mysticae, but I have done so in conjuction with the audiobook
versions of the Isles series. So far as I can tell, there was no ill result. On the other hand, I've also
dropped loaded firearms without anything bad happening--that time. I don't recommend doing either
thing.
The works of literature imbedded in Goddess are Latin classics. Rigal equates with Vergil;
Celondre with Horace; and Pendill is Ovid, whom I find to bountifully repay the close readings I've been
giving him this past year.
Dave Drake
 PROLOGUE

The blue and crimson flickers were as pale as the Northern Lights. They quivered through the ice