The Chronicles of Castellane/Extras

On this page will be a compilation of the extras, cut scenes, short stories, and other bonus features or special content within the series, released alongside *The Chronicles of Castellane* or by Cassandra Clare herself.

**Note**: Text added here belong to Cassandra Clare, and her publishers for some stories, taken from the public domain. They are copied verbatim and is not to be revised in any way.

## *Sword Catcher*

### Deleted teaser #1

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
“You came with the prince, didn’t you? Monseigneur Conor Aurelian?”

“I am his cousin,” lied Kel.

“Do you like him?”

Kel was silent. To even ask such a question was treason. One did not like or not like the King, or the Crown Prince. They simply were, like the Maquis, like the dark-jade canals of the Temple Quarter, like Queensfall itself. It was like asking if one liked the gods.

“I saw my sister coming up the stairs with him and the others,” said Merryn. “House Aurelian. One cannot say no to them, can one?”

“I never have,” Kel said, feeling suddenly weary. It had been a long day, too long; he felt drained to the bone. “Maybe in play or jest, with Conor, or Bram, but not in any seriousness. No.” To his own horror, his voice shook. *A sword-catcher does not show weakness. A sword-catcher is the strength of the Prince, his shield and armor.*

### Deleted teaser #2

source: Cassandra Clare on Twitter
“If I had not brought you,” said Mayesh, “Kel Saren would have died. That would have caused considerable unrest to the royal family. Conor’s safety depends upon him. Conor depends upon him.”

### Deleted teaser #3

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
A different version of the scene still exists in the final copy of the book.
Shocked, Kel could only stare as the new arrival made his way into the room. The dancers were still moving about, as were a few servants carrying bronze bowls of rosewater, apparently needed for the performance. In the gallery, the musicians tuned their instruments. No one had noticed the cloaked figure save Kel. He alone watched as the stranger — who was not at all a stranger — made his way to the shadow of an archway, and drew back the hood of his cloak.

Distance and shadows made little difference. Brown skin, tousled dark hair, smile like the curve of a scimitar. It was Conor, and he was obviously, life-alteringly, drunk.

### Deleted teaser #4

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
A different version of the scene still exists in the final copy of the book.
“But you should,” said the Ragpicker King. “There is a reason, you know, that the Sword Catcher ceases to be the Sword Catcher when the prince takes the throne. Because the King is a god, and no one can pretend to be a god. When Prince Conor becomes King, you will cease to be what you are. You will become an inconvenience to the throne. You will be sent some distance away, perhaps to Valderan, to spend the rest of your life inconspicuously. Is that your dream? To be inconspicuous?” His green gaze swept over Kel like water. “Everyone has a dream.”

Kel looked away before the Ragpicker King could see any change in his expression. The man already seemed to know far too much about him, and about the Palace. He did not need to guess more.

“I could help you get what you want,” said the Ragpicker King. “I am a great enthusiast of dreams.”

### Deleted teaser #5

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
A different version of the scene still exists in the final copy of the book.
Kel watched as Conor bit into a cherry and leaned up to kiss Audeta, a curvy girl from Valderan whose lids were painted in stripes of gold and scarlet. It seemed as good a time as any. Kel rose to his feet and made his way quietly out of the salon, heading for the back stairs. On the landing two young men were pressed up against a wall, kissing; neither noticed Kel as he went by. He kept going, ever upward, until he reached the last landing and a very familiar door.

### Deleted teaser #6

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
A slightly reworded version of the scene still exists in the final copy of the book.
The Crown Prince was dressed in steel-blue, just like Kel, with white lace at the cuffs of his jacket. He was not wearing a crown, not even a thin gold band, but Kel would have known him for a prince regardless. He was slim and tall for his age, and there was a sort of bright flame behind his eyes and the laughing expression on his face. Though he and Kel were the same ten years old, he seemed far more adult. He said,

“How was it, then? Being me?”

An ache had bloomed like a flower behind Kel’s ribcage. *I want to be like him,* Kel thought. *I want to walk through the world as if it will reshape itself around my dreams and desires. I want to seem as if I could touch the stars with light fingers and pull them down to be my playthings.*

It was strange to want something you had never known you wanted.

### Deleted teaser #7

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
A slightly reworded version of the scene still exists in the final copy of the book.
It gave off a soft but potent light, in which Kel finally saw his companion clearly. He was dressed in black. Not Merren’s rusty student black: this man’s clothes were rich and expensive-looking, from his velvet frock coat to the blackthorn-wood cane upon which he rested his left hand. A gold ring bearing the sigil of a bird — a magpie, Kel thought — gleamed on his bare left hand. His eyes were the only thing about him that was neither black or white. They were a very dark green, and seemed to hold a strange light inside them. He said, “Do you know who I am?”

*He goes round all in black, like Gentleman Death come to take your soul, and his carriage wheels are stained with blood.*

“Yes,” Kel said. “You’re the Ragpicker King.”

### Deleted teaser #8

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
“I have to say,” Merren said. “I’m finding this situation a bit confusing. In terms of your . . . intentions.”

“I’m going to kiss you,” Kel said.

Merren looked relieved. “Oh, good.”

### The Ragpicker King introduces himself

source: Cassandra Clare's newsletter
Cassie wrote this piece of the Ragpicker King introducing himself to readers as part of promo for the book.
Well, hello there. I’m the Ragpicker King. What’s your real name, I hear you ask? Well, I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. It’s not a joke by any means. I once invited three well known criminals to dinner, as I needed advice regarding a thorny problem (nothing you’d be interested in as it involved a shipload of stolen poppy powder and avoiding the ill-tempered tax officials at the customs house) - anyway, we had a jolly time, but at the end of the whole affair, just as the flaming custard tart was being served, I had them all executed. They knew far too much about my business for me to let them live. Hard to have friends in my line of work, you know.

And what is my line of work? Well, crime, obviously. You needn’t act as if I’m ashamed of it. I’m not some grubby Crawler, clambering up people’s walls and through their windows to steal their jewels while they sleep. I’m a businessman, as much as any merchant or trader. As important to the running of the city as the nobles living high up on the Hill. They call me the King in the City, just as Markus Aurelian is the King on the Hill. He comes to his place by blood, while I took mine with skill and cunning. But we are far more alike than we are different. We each have power. We are each feared in our city. And we each protect our people fiercely. The lowest pickpocket knows he walks beneath the protective shadow of my outstretched hand. Just as the King’s son, Conor, walks wrapped in the shielding armor of the Aurelian name.

Like I said. We are more alike than different. Markus knows it, though I shouldn’t say more about Markus. My job is not an easy one to get, but it is an even more difficult one to keep. And things have been uneasy in the city these days, what with young criminal upstarts like Prosper Beck thinking they can seize my place. Others have tried and failed, my boy. And this time I have a new weapon on my side, someone who knows everything there is to know about the secrets of the royals and the activities on the Hill. They call him the Sword Catcher….