Drowned Ammet
First edition
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| Author | Diana Wynne Jones |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Peter Whiteman |
| Country | Britain |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dalemark Quartet |
| Genre | Fantasy, High Fantasy, Children's Literature |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
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Publication date
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1977 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 255 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 51870315 |
| Preceded by | Cart and Cwidder |
| Followed by | The Spellcoats |
Drowned Ammet is a fantasy novel for young adults by British author Diana Wynne Jones. It is the second book in the series Dalemark Quartet.
The book begins with the birth of Alhammit Alhammitson, or Mitt, in South Dalemark, near a seaport called Holand. When Mitt is a young child, his family are evicted from their farm when the rent is doubled by Earl Hadd, the cruel and tyrannical ruler of South Dalemark. The entire family is forced to move to an unpleasant tenement in the city of Holand, where Mitt's father joins the Free Holanders, a resistance against Earl Hadd. However, after a raid on a warehouse which goes fatally wrong, Mitt's father disappears, most likely killed by the soldiers.
Mitt and his mother Milda are convinced that three of the elder Free Holanders, Siriol, Dideo and Ham, betrayed the younger members to the Earls soldiers because they were scared of the consequences of raiding the warehouse. Mitt is determined to take revenge on them for causing his father's death, and to do this, he joins the Free Holanders, hoping to bring them down from within. He ends up working on a fishing boat with Siriol out of Holand harbor. Milda, meanwhile, marries Hobin, a well-off gunsmith.
Mitt plans to take revenge on the Free Holanders by assassinating Earl Hadd with a homemade bomb during the annual Sea Festival, then letting himself be caught and, in turn, betraying the Free Holanders. Mitt's attempt fails miserably, when the Earl's youngest son, Navis, kicks away the bomb that Mitt planted at the Earl's feet, but the Earl is killed anyway by a sniper with a long-range gun, shooting from one of the many boats in the harbor.
Watching the festival are Navis's children, Ynen and Hildrida (Hildy). Hildy is furious with her father, since he had allowed her to be betrothed to Lithar, Lord of the Holy Islands, whom she has never met. After the assassination, she asks the new Earl, Harl, to break off her engagement, but he refuses. To get back at them, she and Ynen decide to make it look as if they'd run away and gone for a sail on her new boat, the Wind's Road.
Having been seen and recognized during the Earl's assassination, Mitt is forced to flee for his life. He hides on a magnificent boat—the very same one that Ynen and Hildy are running away on. They take the ship out of Holand harbor, with Mitt stowing away beneath deck, and when they are sufficiently far out to sea, Mitt shows himself, and demands that they take him to the North, where he can hide from the Earl's soldiers. Although the two are initially uncooperative, Mitt does his best to convince them that he is a rough, tough freedom fighter who will shoot them if he gets the chance; he partially succeeds, and Hildy and Ynen agree to take him North, if only because he has a gun, given to him by Hobin.
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