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R.A.SALVATORE
THE HUNTER’S BLADES TRILOGY
The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, Book I
THE THOUSAND ORCS
©2002 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Distributed in the United States by Holtzbrinck Publishing. Distributed in Canada by Fenn Ltd.
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Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and regional distributors.
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of the Coast, Inc.
Made in the U.S.A.
Cover art by Todd Lockwood First Printing: October 2002 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001097175
987654321
US ISBN: 0−7869−2804−2 UK ISBN: 0−7869−2805−0 620−88619−001−EN
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FORGOTTEN REALMS NOVELS BY
THE ICEWIND DALE TRILOGY
The Crystal Shard
Si reams of Silver
The Halfling ’s Gem
The Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector’s Edition
THE DARK ELF TRILOGY
Homeland
Exile
Sojourn
The Dark Elf Trilogy Collector’s Edition
LEGACY OF THE DROW
The Legacy
Starless Night
Siege of Darkness
Passage to Dawn
Legacy of the Drow Collector’s Edition
PATHS OF DARKNESS
The Silent Blade The Spine of the World Servant of the Shard Sea of Swords
THE CLERIC QUINTET
Canticle
In Sylvan Shadows
Night Masks
The Fallen Fortress
The Chaos Curse
The Cleric Quintet Collector’s Edition
THE HUNTER’S BLADES TRILOGY
The Thousand Ores
The Lone Drow (October, 2003)
The Two Swords (October, 2004)
ALSO BY R.A. SALVATORE
DEMONWARS SERIES
The Demon Awakens
The Demon Spirit
The Demon Apostle
Mortalis
Ascendance
Transcendence
Immortalis (coming May, 2003)
Echoes of the Fourth Magic The Witch’s Daughter Bastion of Darkness
TARZAN’:
The Epic Adventures
STAR WARS’ NEW JEDI ORDER:
Vector Prime
STAR WARS:
Attack of the Clones
"Oh, well ye got to be pullin’ harder than that!" Tred McKnuckles yelled to his team of
two horses and three dwarves. "I’m hoping to be making Shallows afore the summer sun
shines on me balding head!"
His voice echoed off the stone around them, a bellow befitting one of Tred’s stature. He
was stout, even as dwarves go, with a body that could take a beating and lumpy arms that
could dish one out. He wore his yellow beard long, often tucked into the front of his huge
belt, and kept a throwing hammer-commonly called "a dwarven arrow"-strapped on the
back of each shoulder, ready for launch.
"It’d be easier if ye didn’t have th’ other horse sitting in the back o’ the wagon, ye blasted
fool!" one of the pulling dwarves yelled back.
Tred responded by giving him a crack on the rump with the whip.
The dwarf stopped, or tried to, but the fact that the wagon kept on rolling, and he was
strapped into the yoke, convinced him that maybe it would be a good idea to continue
moving his strong and stubby legs.
"Don’t ye doubt that I’ll be payin’ ye back for that one!" he growled at Tred, but the
other dwarves pulling, and the three others still sitting up on the wagon beside the boss
dwarf, all just laughed at him.
They had been making fine progress since leaving Citadel Felbarr two tendays earlier,
chancing the north run along the western face of the Rauvin Mountains. Breaking through
to the flat ground, the group had done some minor trading and re−supplying at a large
settlement of the Black Lion barbarian tribe. Named Beorunna’s Well, it, along with
Sundabar, Silverymoon, and Quaervarr, was a favored trading locale for the seven
thousand dwarves of Citadel Felbarr. Typically, the dwarves’ caravans would run to
Beorunna’s Well, swap their wares, then turn back to the south, to the mountains and
their home, but this particular group had surprised the leaders of the barbarian settlement
and had pressed on to the west−northwest.
Tred was determined to open up Shallows and the other smaller towns along the River
Surbrin, running the western edge of the Spine of the World, for trade. Rumors had it that
Mithral Hall had for some unknown reason slowed its trade of late with the towns
upriver, and Tred, ever the opportunist, wanted Felbarr to fill that void, Other rumors,
after all, said that some pretty amazing gems and even a few ancient artifacts, thought to
he dwarven, were being pulled from the shallow mines on the western edges of the Spine
of the World.
The late winter weather had been quite favorable for the fifty mile run, and the wagon
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