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Ash: The Lost History Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Ash: The Lost History novel. A total of 172 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Ash: The Lost History.By Mary Gentle.Introduction.I make no apology for presenting a new
Ash: The Lost History.By Mary Gentle.Introduction.I make no apology for presenting a new translation of these doc.u.ments which are our only contact with the life of that extraordinary woman, Ash (b.l457[?]~ d.1477). One has long been needed.Charles Mallo
- 172 21 - [ Margaret of Anjou, wife of the English King Henry VI; funded in some of her attempts to regain the crown for her husband or her son by Louis XI of France. In 14763 Margaret is reported as just having been ransomed from England, and present in the F
- 171 The exact site of the Byrsa or walled hill during the 15c is conjectural, based on textual evidence.- Pierce ]3 - [ 'G.o.d protect you'.]4 - [ 'Green Christ, Christ Emperor'.]5 - [ More properly, Ego te absolvo: the priest's absolution of one's sins
- 170 30 - [ A term used in this text for Northern Europeans in general.]31 - [ As with the nave, this was in fact left unfinished until the nineteenth century.]Part Two: 1 - [ "For under the axis ['Axle' of Rota Fortuna] is written, 'Queen
- 169 "I don't understand."A fair-haired woman in a white overall walked towards us down the track. The wind made her slit her eyes, but I could see that they were green. She had had her head shaven and st.i.tched at some time in the recent past:
- 168 I intend the publication of these papers to act as a call to arms to the scientific community. We must investigate. We must act. We must prevent, somehow, the failing of Lost Burgundy; or create something we can put in its place. Or else, as Ash herself w
- 167 VAUGHAN DAVIES: Will you let me finish? Thank you. Whatever it is, whether a sub-atomic phenomenon of some kind, or an energy, I was most certainly exposed to it. I believe it to be stronger the more recently the artefact has become real. The exposure in
- 166 "A Lion!" Anselm's rallying voice: "A Lion!"The heat of breath touched her. She did not turn her head.In the corner of her vision, she sees a great needle-clawed paw set down upon the stone.Under her hand, there is no detectable h
- 165 'MAKE HUManITY AS IF IT HAD NEVER BEEN.'It sears into her: knowledge she does not want, would rather not know."I just thought you wanted to wipe us out because you wanted to be the only ones!"'IF YOUR SPECIES SURVIVES, THEN EVERYT
- 164 Vitteleschi came at the run: billmen forming up in front of her, arrows rattling off war-hats. One man grunted and reached down to snap off a shaft stuck out of his calf. Rickard reached for her reins, fumbling the mare and the Lion banner. She rattled a
- 163 "Do you need to take so many of the fit men to ride out and bring d.u.c.h.ess Floria back?" Olivier de la Marche questioned.Ash, on a borrowed Visigoth mare, grinned down at him from her war saddle. "Yup," she said cheerfully."You
- 162 "And another hundred wounded: about two-thirds of them walking wounded. The Lion's come out of this with less than two hundred of us, and that only if we're lucky."The bright wind blew cold. Awkwardly, she picked open the buckle of her right gauntlet
- 161 The ad hoc leader of Carracci's and Price's billmen shouldered hastily in beside her, as escort."Vitteleschi," he panted. "In charge of these guys if you say so, boss.""For now." Another spreading grin, that she can't resist: we did it, we did it
- 160 Anselm's helmet-m.u.f.fled voice bellowed, "Come on, girl!"She made to move off. One half-pace, and she stopped again, the noise of screaming men beating at her ears through the helmet-lining. She felt her arms too heavy to lift, her legs too heavy to
- 159 She c.o.c.ked her head, short bright hair flying, eyes alight; and deliberately surveyed them."You s.h.i.+t-faced b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you don't need me to tell you what to do! Kill Gelimer!"It echoes off the walls as they scream it back at her.In full armo
- 158 "He's got fifteen thousand troops out there, he doesn't have to!""But - you could put me on the field: not as a commander, as your battle double-""I don't need your help. We've already wrung you dry. You're missing the point, Faris.""The point
- 157 Ash made to protest, and then grinned. "You might as well. If you can find anything in it other than spiders, you're welcome to it!""What?""It's my war-chest," Ash said. She watched the sitting woman; the light on the iron chains. "Not that money
- 156 Olivier de la Marche nodded. "And Fernando del Guiz himself?"Ash stopped pacing. Her head came up. "Put him with the prisoners. Put him in with Violante and Adelize and the Faris. The Faris could do with a confessor - he's the only Arian priest we've
- 155 "Because you're going to be training the men and women of Dijon. You may not have noticed, soldier, but they don't like soldiers. They think we're drunken, licentious, aggressive louts." Ash grinned at Ludmilla's expression of angelic innocence. "S
- 154 "Shall I send another man for my lord de la Marche?" Anselm gritted."Not yet. He'll be on his way."The Turkish commander pointed over the walls and said something. Ash looked as they pa.s.sed between two brattices; saw no particular movement in the e
- 153 26 December AD 1476-5 January ad 1477.Lost Burgundy1.Chapter One."And now," Ash said, "you need to order my execution."Light leaked through the unshuttered windows into the ducal chambers - the feast of Stephen dawning late, to a blistering cold. Free
- 152 Ninety per cent of it is VITRIFIED silicon. Gla.s.s.At the front, which is what we've been seeing on the image-enhancers, the shape of the head and the front of the torso are clear. Most of the rest of it, including the plinth, is melted. Silt and sa
- 151 '-AH, WITH YOU!''---WE HAVE KNOWN SINCE YOU CAME TO US.'.'SPOKE TO THE MACHINA, WHEN YOU WERE IN MIDST OF US.'.'CALLED OUT, IN THE DESERT SOUTH, ALMOST WITHIN TOUCH OF US-!''-ESTABLISHED THE DIRECT LINK WITH US
- 150 "Call down the lightning," she said. "Do it now."Her voice sounded flat, in the still, bitter air. She had a second to smear her eyes clear, to think, b.l.o.o.d.y idiots he and I are going to look if this is all for nothing- In the cen
- 149 "G.o.dfrey, you'll have me believing you were suckled like Our Lord, by a boar!"Without taking his hand away from the boarlet, G.o.dfrey Maximillian looked back towards her. "Bless you, child, I have been rescuing G.o.d's wild bea
- 148 Another of the rats - patched fur dim in this light, but she was almost sure it was lickfinger - ran up Adelize's arm to her shoulder. The woman c.o.c.ked her head, chuckling as the rat's whiskers tickled her face. She paid no attention to Ash.&
- 147 "How many incapacitated?""You know men," Blanche snapped. "All of them say they'll fight tomorrow. I'd say six of them will still be in bed next week. If the walls are standing!"The woman's asperity, Ash saw, w
- 146 "'This'?"The Visigoth woman switched to the language of southern Burgundy, speaking with a perceptible accent. "Refuge. Sanctuary. I gave the orders, I held my commanders back so that you could ride out into the wildwood."The
- 145 "Well, G.o.d's grace grant that we do it now!" De Vere was already turning, giving orders to the Janissaries, when Floria interrupted: "Wait.""Christ, Florian!" Ash shouted, appalled. "What do you mean, 'wait&#
- 144 Or, is Pierce under a lot of stress?- Anna * * *Message: #385 (Anna Longman) Subject: Ash Date: 16/12/00 at 11.03 a.m.From: [email protected] Anna, From a cursory glance at the files, I do not disagree substantially with anything that Pierce has written t
- 143 A wave of heat went through her. She flattened her hands against the stone wall behind her, keeping her balance. Her cheeks flushed bright red. Searing embarra.s.sment wiped out everything, even the stabbing pain under her breastbone. Her muscles tensed t
- 142 "Look at that." Ash pointed. "They couldn't resist it, could they!"Out in the centre of the hall, Robert Anselm and Euen Huw had abandoned their exaggerated and pantomime blows and were circling each other, on the rushes. As she s
- 141 "Christ up a Tree, I need a drink!" Ash turned and began to pace the floorboards, beating her hands together for circulation. "And where the h.e.l.l is de la Marche? Let's get this 'envoy' c.r.a.p over with!"There were n
- 140 Gelimer ignored Ash. He spoke to Floria, his gaze s.h.i.+fting between her and the other Burgundians. "You can see beyond your walls, you are not blind. I have three full legions outside Dijon. It is obvious you cannot hold out. Surrender Dijon. By t
- 139 Disturbed, she contented herself with another nod; which the Faris again ignored. The Visigoth woman, armoured and in black livery, had a dagger at her belt; Ash could not see a sword-hilt, in among the crush of bodies.Why is Gelimer watching me? He shoul
- 138 Glancing around the chamber, Ash noted Richard Faversham among her own men; the English deacon's face shrunken, under his black beard. His eyes burned. He was nodding.Floria said, "But Gelimer specifies, if I'm not present, there's to
- 137 "Are you sure she hasn't?""Frankly? No." Ash turned to the Earl of Oxford. "This is speculation. What do you know?""I know," the Earl said, "that my men and I are a week in front of two Visigoth legions tr
- 136 Ash stripped off her gauntlet and clasped his hand, moved almost to tears of her own. "If it comes to that, I guess you have the distinction of being the only Englishman ever to employ the reigning prince of Burgundy - since she's still on my bo
- 135 "For-" Ash's silver brows went up. She put her unbandaged hand palm-flat on Baldina's belly, feeling the heat of the woman's body though kirtle and s.h.i.+rt and gauntlet-glove.In Ash's memory, a woman-physician of the Cartha
- 134 Unmelted frost crunched under her boots, coming into an open square. Wind brought tears leaking from her eyes. The frozen fountain in the middle of the square bulged with ice."We'll go up to the mills," she announced. "I want to check
- 133 The man squatted down, cut and filthy fingers plucking at the tied necks of the sacks. De la Marche reached over him, dagger out, and cut the twine with his blade. The man took two corner edges of one sack and lifted. A large heavy object rolled out on to
- 132 "That was me," Ash said. "I'm not going to make thirty; I don't want to f.u.c.k you; I love you as much as I can love anybody; I don't want you hurt. But right now I need to know what you're going to do, because I have t
- 131 "Except that she can't. Because of me.""First Charles, then you." Ash couldn't stop a smile. "Jeez, I thought I was good at finding trouble and jumping into the middle of it!""I didn't ask for this!"H
- 130 "She had a baby-?" Ash stopped and blushed."Just some man she f.u.c.ked one night," the surgeon said contemptuously. "He wasn't her lover. We had fights about that. We had more fights about Joseph - the baby. I was jealous, I
- 129 "Just to see her Grace does stay in there, all night." The woman jerked her thumb at the further side of the anteroom, where a curtain masked another doorway. Woven in green and gold thread, it s.h.i.+mmered heavily in the dull light."We�
- 128 "Ah, b.u.g.g.e.r off, rosbif!"He gave a happy, rumbling chuckle."Christ, you do need sleep!" Ash elbowed him. "Florian-""Don't go anywhere yet," the surgeon said bluntly, over the noise of men rising, bowing, a
- 127 Angelotti gave him a filthy look.De la Marche said, "We have scouts enough in towers and on the walls to give us warning of where an attack will come. If every man attends to the trumpets and standards, we can deploy our companies well enough to cove
- 126 The first smile tugged at her mouth.I'd like to see de la Marche copy my command-style.And then, her eyes on Lacombe and Romont and the others: If I get this wrong - if I'm not up to this job - all of you will be lying dead in the streets. And s
- 125 The bishop - a round-faced, dark man with some of the Valois look -appeared startled. "Now that is rank superst.i.tion.""Is it?" Ash came immediately to Angelotti's defence. She ignored de la Marche's thunderous frown. "
- 124 Olivier de la Marche, coming up to the d.u.c.h.ess, bowed stiffly to her. He kept his gaze on Ash. "How could they not?"It took her a moment to realise that it was a rhetorical question spoken with transparent honesty. She looked questioningly a
- 123 "Maybe. But I wouldn't count on it. I heard them after the hart was dead."Robert Anselm grunted. "If we're very, very lucky, they were damaged . . ."Picking up his words, Angelotti completed: "... if what happened when t
- 122 "That's ... I couldn't tell!" She shook her head, aware that men surrounded her, her own and others; and that Florian was giving loud, clear instructions. She did not know what the woman said.- Now, you hear me . . . And you fear, too,
- 121 "He was not interrogated," Angelotti called. "Only killed, madonna. Spear wound to the belly.""Ride on!" she called. "Get over in cover!"Angelotti spurred his horse. Anselm leaned from the saddle, said something to
- 120 Back at the city wall, she had to stand aside for a procession of her men coming down, two Greek Fire casualties with them; and Father Faversham treading the wet stone steps carefully in their wake.He put his hood back from his bearded pale face, gazing d
- 119 His hands slammed into the wall either side of her, pinning her into the window embrasure. She glanced down at the steel of his arms; then up into his face.Spittle sprayed from his mouth, dotting the front of her livery tabard. "I wanted to come to A
- 118 Perhaps it's because I'm a historian: despite the fact that we experience only the present, I retain a superst.i.tious conviction that the past exists - that it has been _real_. And yet we know nothing but this single present moment . . . What I
- 117 Floria del Guiz looked down at her red-brown hands. She said, "What did you see? What were you hunting?""A hart." Ash stared at the albino body on the mud. "A white hart, crowned with gold. Sometimes Hubert's Hart.6 Not this,
- 116 Simultaneously, as she spoke, white flicked in her peripheral vision, the greyhounds bayed and darted forward, one of the huntsmen sounded the call on his horn to let the Master of Game know his couple were released; and Floria del Guiz stood up in her st
- 115 The quality of the light changed again.We're too late. He's dying; the last breaths- Now, the wind blowing cold between the trees, all the high bare branches swayed, rubbing bark against bark, creaking and surging like the sea. The face of the c
- 114 The man-at-arms nodded, turning his mount awkwardly among wilted banks of briar and dead goldenrod; and spurred back into the company cavalry. She watched the few seconds necessary to see him approach the lance-leaders."Florian." She checked pos
- 113 She expected a protest, along the lines of let Geraint Morgan do it! Anselm only glanced at the city gates, and nodded acknowledgement."I'll put a watch up on the walls," he grunted. "Soon as I see you attack the camp, we'll shoot
- 112 - Anna * * *Message: #192 (Pierce Ratcliff) Subject: Ash Date: 14/12/00 at 10.31 p.m.From: [email protected] Pierce - Where the h.e.l.l are you?Well, I did it. I drove out to the old people's home this evening, and I saw William Davies and his brothe
- 111 "The Duke," Ash said. "Charles the Bold has begun to die."The Faris's hand, still clasped in her own, tightened. "If it is true, if I have no choice, now-!"Ash winced at the strength of her grip, grinding the small bones
- 110 "Yes.""Well, you're right," Ash said, and when the woman looked back at her, went on: "Your own men are in danger. The Wild Machines don't care how they win this war. For one thing, they're telling you to a.s.sault
- 109 Ash waved up at Floria del Guiz, tiny face almost invisible on the high walls. There was a cl.u.s.ter of lion livery jackets with her; they made up a sizeable proportion of the crowd."You can't keep anything a secret overnight." Ash turned
- 108 "Cold everywhere, now . . .""Yeah. f.u.c.king rag-'ead c.u.n.t. Why'd she have to bring her lousy weather with her?"Ash let the discussion ramble, apparently studying the map; studying instead the maps of faces, chiaroscuro i
- 107 The voice of G.o.dfrey, in her head, is not weary - has, in fact, the tireless ability that the machina rei militaris has always had, to speak when any human soul would be dropping from exhaustion.Her own voice is rasping, after bellowing on the walls of
- 106 "Burgundy isn't an objective," Ash said. "Burgundy is an obstacle."Robert Anselm growled, "What the f.u.c.k, girl?"She stayed resting against Faversham's solidness because she doubted her ability to sit up on her ow
- 105 -I cannot tell, child. Time is nothing where I am. I read once in Aquinas that the duration of the soul in h.e.l.l may be only a heartbeat, but to the d.a.m.ned it is eternity.Momentarily, she lets herself feel his desolation. Then, harshly: "You hea
- 104 "What . . . what do they say?"- They say to me: we study you . . .In G.o.dfrey's voice, repeating it, she hears an echo of the voices that blasted her mind wide open."Maybe they want to know what people are like," she said, and ad
- 103 "I must have pa.s.sed six of the Duke's messengers on up to the walls since Nones6," he added, reading the rough charcoal lines and dots that represented enemy dispositions outside the walls, and not her face. "Did any of them happen t
- 102 The roof and beams cramped her. Ash stuck the shaft of her poleaxe forward past Euen as he recovered his balance. She hooked the curved back edge of the blade behind the second man's knee. Bracing both feet, she yanked.The razor edge of the axe hooke
- 101 Being wartime, the police investigations were a bit scanty.- Now it's sixty years later, the trail's cold.William says he always a.s.sumed his brother was caught in the Blitz, killed in the bombing, his body blown up or burned so as to be facial
- 100 "It's their knowledge, not mine." Ash wiped a hand over her face, hot with sweat, but did not s.h.i.+ft her stool away from the charcoal brazier. "I think they need a channel of some kind to speak to us, your Grace. Those like the Gree
- 99 Oh, you're good. Ash met his keen, black gaze. He was not very many years older than her; a decade, perhaps.23 Lines cut down the skin at the sides of his mouth, put there both by authority and, more recently, she guessed, by pain."Your Grace, I
- 98 "Maybe he's dead, boss," Thomas Rochester suddenly ventured."What, the Duke?""No, the a.s.shole - your husband."Just as Rochester said it, she recognised the vaulted chamber they were pa.s.sing through. Banners still hun
- 97 His deep voice reminded her briefly of G.o.dfrey Maximillian: she was unaware of the sharp crease that appeared in the flesh between her eyebrows."Names do not matter, my lord de la Marche. Here in the forests of the south, there in the cities of the
- 96 "I'll wear my other one." He snicked a buckle home, expertly threaded the tail of the belt through itself in a knot, and let the blue leather strap, studded with bra.s.s mullets, hang down over the pleated white damask skirts of her demi-go
- 95 "Okay, we'll take it from the top." Ash brushed crumbs off the front of her demi-gown. "If it's been long enough since you came through the sally-port for rumours to get out among the citizens, then it's more than long enough
- 94 I won't worry - not with you out of the combat line. Let's keep you and your doubts where they can't do any damage - and see if you can learn something about discipline while you're enforcing it..."Robert, you'll have your ow
- 93 The surgeon's voice, at her ear, breathed, "The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Those are Burgundian mercenaries!""Not any more! He must have gone over, after Auxonne! That's a lot of men out there. Cola doesn't have a company. He has a smal
- 92 Her smile faded.And it is G.o.dfrey . . . dear G.o.d: how?Ash returned her attention: raised her voice. "I have to find my men-!"I'm in. Are they? f.u.c.k!And - if we are - now how the h.e.l.l do I get us out again? Chapter Two.Growing firs
- 91 Have the Wild Machines already spoken through the machina and made House Leofric set a guard on it? Can I ask her that?No. I'm not getting through to this woman. Whatever I'd ask her - she doesn't want to know. She's shut down for the
- 90 At the Faris's word the two golems fell in behind her, their stone tread making the wooden floor creak. A flickering light danced on the tapestried walls.Ash stared at the backs of the golems. I was so d.a.m.n close. So d.a.m.n close to the Stone Gol
- 89 s.h.i.+t! I'm surrounded by bodies!A clear sky brought lower temperatures: frost glittering on the mud; cat-ice forming a skin on puddles, water-filled holes, and expanses of quagmire. Around her, crammed together in the slopping impa.s.sable mud rut
- 88 The boarlets strayed further from the herd, into the white forest."They'll die!" Ash felt her throat tighten. She began to sob, wretchedly; felt the muscles of her throat moving, felt her eyes dry and without tears; felt the hard stuffed ca
- 87 "No. I'm not mad. Yes: we had a defeat at Carthage. Yes: I needed to think. Yes: I am going to do something." Half teasing, she added, "Once my banner goes up in Dijon, the Faris will know I'm alive anyway.""So don'
- 86 Florian's voice said, "Before this year, the Twilight was only over Carthage. It spread. But not here. Have you thought? Maybe that's why the Faris is here with an army. We may be beyond where the Wild Machines can reach.""Even if
- 85 Christendom's been fighting Visigoths, Burgundy's been fighting Visigoths -but that isn't all there is to it, is there?"It was a rhetorical question: she was momentarily off-balance when Geraint muttered, "That's what I said,
- 84 There was no discernible pain in Floria's expression. I can't read her, Ash thought. There's, what, five, ten years between us? It could be fifty!Ash got her feet under her, pus.h.i.+ng herself up from the table. The earth was slick under t
- 83 "We're a legion. We're soldiers. We can do it.""I must stop getting you to read me Vegetius ..."There was a chuckle from the men around her at that.Ash paused momentarily. A new cold dread sat in her stomach, and gnawed at he
- 82 "Yeah." She grinned, invisible in the black night. Grabbing for arms and hands at random, she found herself pulled back on to her feet. The cold was bitter enough now to make her body shake, and she beat her hands against her arms - seeing neith
- 81 You must not pa.s.s this on, any of it, not to Jonathan whatsisname, your MD, to n.o.body, don't even talk about it in your sleep.Isobel just said get off the machine so here it is: She and her team have been out here since September primarily becaus
- 80 "You reckon?" Ash took it, crammed it in her mouth as her stomach groaned with hunger, and pa.s.sed two more handfuls on to Huw and Morgan. Saliva filled her mouth. She chewed raggedly, swallowed, licked her fingers, and exclaimed, "Wat, wh
- 79 "To Rome . . . the Prophet Gundobad went to Rome and died-"'FOUR HUNDRED TURNS OF THE SUN ABOUT THE EARTH Pa.s.sED, A LITTLE, LITTLE SOUL CAME CLOSE TO US, MAKING HIS MACHINES FROM BRa.s.s. WEAK, BUT STILL ANOTHER SOUL THAT COULD WORK WONDE
- 78 Scaling ladders led them down from the aqueduct, four miles beyond the city walls.Ash's feet hit the desert dirt. She is estimating, thinking, planning - doing anything except paying attention to the silvery light gilding the broken ground."They
- 77 She met de Vere's gaze, with plainly the same thought in it."Madam," he said bluntly, in front of her men, "ask your voice. Ask the Golem."She abruptly turned, gestured for everyone to move back, even her frowning officers; and wa
- 76 She tried to see his face, in the dim light. She remembers many of the men she has seen in Leofric's household. This man is unrecognisable, a little soft brown hair poking out from under the lining of his helmet. Two slashes from her edge have choppe
- 75 "That ought to do it-" Ash broke off.She stands in a bare alley, the stars of the southern sky above her head; sounds of crossbows being frantically winched towards the front of the House, but here nothing, nothing except John de Vere treading w
- 74 Rope-and-wood ladders hung from their scaling hooks on the parapet, twenty feet above her head. She reached up, had one terrifying moment when her arms seemed too weak to pull her up - Christ, I've rested, I can't be sick now! - and then she fou
- 73 "Master Captain Angelotti," Euen Huw answered. "He's up there trying to bust into this s.h.i.+t-rich lord-amir's house - 'course, his house couldn't fall down like the rest of them, could it? No chance!""Which