Authors: Alma Alexander
Tags: #Fantasy, #General, #Fiction, #Magic, #Brothers and Sisters, #Pretenders to the Throne, #Fantasy Fiction, #Queens
“Then it is good that he is to come,” said al’Tamar. “How far to this lake?”
“In summer, perhaps just over an hour—an easy ride. Now…I don’t know. And we must keep an eye on the weather. I don’t want to be caught on the mountain with a storm front moving in.”
“I leave it with you, who knows this land,” he said. “When you give the word, I will be ready.”
Kieran, who had long since learned never to be surprised by anything to do with Anghara, took the news of the trip with commendable equanimity. Anghara would be the guide of this little expedition, but Kieran would be the leader, and he made preparations.
The mountains above Miranei were in Anghara’s blood, and she knew their moods; but it was Kieran who finally called a time for their departure, taking advantage of a break in the weather. For winter, it was warm; but nights were icy in the mountains, and there was a bite of that in the air as they left the keep in torchlight, in the pearly half-light of dawn. Somewhat ludicrously, al’Tamar wore a desert veil drawn across the lower half of his face. The cold air which hurt his throat when he breathed was likely to be even harsher the higher they climbed. Kieran and Anghara’s unfettered breath curled in visible plumes before their faces.
“This is crazy,” Kieran kept muttering, well into the first hour of their ride. The sun had risen and was glinting on the broad white expanses glimpsed through the trees above them. “The snow must be waist deep in places—al’Tamar, are you sure you wouldn’t rather come back after snowmelt? This place is not a transient hai’r that might vanish; this water would be here for you to see in the spring.”
“Spring would be too late.”
“Too late for what?” Kieran asked.
“For you,” al’Tamar replied, turning an inscrutable face on him, golden eyes glinting beneath a hood of white fox fur.
Kieran gave him a long, troubled look. This sounded like Sight, and Kieran knew well his measure against things that were of Sight; besides, the comment cut rather close to the bone. The choices before him had come to the point of painful decisions, and al’Tamar sounded as though he knew all about the thoughts that kept Kieran awake during the long winter nights.
The path was difficult but not impassable for the horses, and once he had satisfied himself that the venture lay within the realms of safe possibility Kieran relaxed and started enjoying the crisp winter day. The sky was an intense blue, and stretches of virgin snow marked only by deer tracks glittered in the bright sunshine. The air was still chilled, but the day had warmed a little, and al’Tamar had dropped his veil. They rode single file and Anghara, riding in the van, smiled occasionally as she sometimes turned around to glance at the deeply fascinated expression on al’Tamar’s face. It reminded her vividly of what her own must have looked like when al’Jezraal’s little caravan had started out for the place which was to become Gul Khaima. For Anghara the desert had been unimaginable; for al’Tamar, it was these endless expanses of shimmering white mountainside, threaded with the deep green of the pines beneath their loads of snow. Once they surprised a snow-hare fastidiously cleaning its long ears by their path; it gave a frightened snort and darted behind a tree.
“A snow
shevah,
” al’Tamar chuckled. “Our worlds are not so different.”
They made good time, given the season, reaching their goal by mid-morning. Most of the lake was frozen, except for one small area free of ice, where still water mirrored the winter-blue sky.
“There,” Anghara said, pointing at the pool when they had approached to within a few paces of it. “That’s the hot pool. We used to…”
“Wait,” al’Tamar lifted a hand for silence. “Listen. It is coming.”
The other two glanced at one another, then up at the wooded slope above the lake. The woods seemed silent, and quite deserted. “I can’t hear…” Anghara began, in a whisper, but Kieran suddenly reached over to touch her wrist and then pointed into the trees.
“It’s a white hind,” he murmured.
It was hard to believe al’Tamar could have heard this beast. She moved with a delicate grace, silently, placing her feet with careful precision in the hock-deep snow. Ignoring the three riders only a few feet away, the hind made her way to the edge of the open water and bent her head to drink. Then she looked up, tilted her head slightly in their direction as if in greeting, gave them a slow and measuring regal glance, then turned to go.
Kieran suddenly tensed as the white silence was broken by a low growl from amongst the trees. He saw the hind pause, uncertain, dainty ears flickering, trying to place the danger…but it was too late even as she turned. A huge wolf with great glowing golden eyes and a pelt matted with heavy whiter fur was already springing at the transfixed white hind, open jaws reaching for the throat…
“No!”
In the same instant, Anghara saw the white hind walking away, her head bowed as if in pain—and as she did, she began to slowly fade. She could glimpse the trees of the woods beyond through the hind’s body as if through a fine curtain. Fading to a pale wraith…
“No!”
It was a cry torn from both throats in the same instant. Kieran was already reaching for his sword as his horse leaped forward under the pressure of his knees. The weapon stuck, and Kieran, knowing every second counted, let it go and drew his dagger, leaping recklessly off the horse to intercept the wolf. He saw its red jaws coming closer, and raised an instinctive hand to ward it off.
Anghara was already off her own horse, running toward the ghost deer on foot with her hands stretched out before her.
She was expecting to feel soft white fur; he was braced for the impact of teeth and bone. Instead, reaching hands met one another, palm against palm, fingers instinctively interlacing, and the images they had tried to touch shivered and melted away. The great wolf was gone, but beneath the bridge of two joined hands the white hind lifted a head which was no longer gentle and delicate but great and proud, bearing a set of mighty antlers which gleamed dull gold and looked much like a crown. The stag turned its royal head to gaze for a long moment first at Anghara, then at Kieran. Then it walked away, very slowly, toward the woods. Kieran thought he glimpsed a gray shadow which might have been all that remained of his wolf slink into the trees.
They watched the stag go, dazed, and then, slowly, met each other’s eyes over the interlaced fingers of their linked hands.
“You wish to leave Miranei,” a voice said suddenly, seeming to come from a great distance. Kieran looked up sharply at al’Tamar.
“You wish to leave, Kieran,” al’Tamar repeated, “and what you each saw was what would happen to the other if you do. Without you, Anghara would face the wolves alone—and there would be wolves, for she would be eighteen, a crowned queen, and in need of an heir to consolidate her throne. There are always men eager to make of their seed a royal dynasty. And if Kieran left you now, Anghara, and sought his fortune in places distant and strange, the memory of Miranei and the woman who remained would eat at him until he faded away, like the white hind. But together…”
“Leave?” Anghara said, gray eyes wide. “Why?”
His fingers tightened on hers a fraction, and then he dropped her hand. “How can I stay?”
“I thought it was over now. I thought the separations were over, that we could stay together,” she whispered.
He turned to face her at last, his pain clear in his eyes. “Anghara,” he said desperately, “I love you. It might have started when we were children together, and I cared for you as a sister—but I have long known that it wasn’t a sister for whom I searched all those years. And now—now you are queen, about to be crowned, and I cannot claim you.”
“But you were the one who helped put me here,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “But that is where you belong.”
“And where do you belong?”
He looked away. “I don’t know,” he said bleakly. “I am a miner’s son, a soldier, a knight; by force of circumstance I led a band of men to fight against a tyrant. I wasn’t born to a crown, like you. And that crown has narrowed your choices. Queens don’t…”
“
This
queen does,” she said, reaching to lightly trace the line of his jaw.
His hand had leapt to hers, with what intention it was not immediately clear—even he didn’t know whether he wanted to take her fingers from his face or hold them there. Her eyes, as she looked into his own, were full of tears.
“You have always been there for me, with me,” she whispered. “When Sif stole my soul, you carried it for me. Where were my eyes, that I didn’t see? Kieran…how could I possibly go on without you?”
He had known her in many guises. There had been young
Brynna, who had won his affection; there had been the winged goddess, ai’ Bre’hinnah, he himself had helped create. There had been a royal heiress, the last in the Kir Hama line. But in between, always and ever, she had been Anghara, part of his heart, part of his soul. Now, here, in the white winter morning in the mountains of Miranei, she was nobody’s but his own.
You are the hawk I will send to search for her…
Are you her qu’mar?
I see a great love almost lost…and battles gained…and then…and then a crown.
Ask what you will of me, for it has always been yours…
She will need a friend…
So be it.
He looked down into her eyes, and smiled.
******
Some names and concepts originating from different parts of the world have been annotated for ease of placement, i.e., Kheldrin (K); Roisinan (R); Shaymir (S); Tath (T).
Adamo Taurin: twin to Charo Taurin (q.v.), Chella’s younger sons, later important to Anghara’s cause
afrit (fem. afritah; pl. afrit’in) (K): evil desert spirit
-ah (K): feminine suffix added to words to indicate feminine gender; sometimes occurs within a word (as in havallah), implying an inherent grace, beauty, or feminine quality in the concept the word describes
ai’Bre’hinnah (K): secret name of the Kheldrini Goddess known as the Changer of Days, the Ender of Ages; the goddess has had male incarnations before (al’Bre’hin); each incarnation, when it appears in the world, has broken the world in some way and remade it in his or her own image
ai’Dhya (K): Kheldrini Goddess, Lady of the Winds
ai’Farra ma’Sayyed: Keeper of Records in Al’haria, chief an’sen’thar of the Al’haria Tower
ai’Jihaar ma’Hariff: blind Kheldrini priestess (see an’sen’thar); Anghara’s friend and teacher
ai’Lan (K): the Sun Goddess; similar to Roisinan’s Avanna except that her worship is more bloodthirsty—can offer great power and protection in return for the right sacrifice
ai’Raisa: young gray-robed sen’thar who remains as the voice of the oracle of Gul Khaima (q.v.)
ai’Ramia: bride of al’Tamar
Aise Aymerin: Prince of Shaymirai’Shahn, often known as ai’Shahn
al’Sheriha (K): messenger of the Gods, Water Spirit; a holy entity
Akka! (K): ki’thar command: Go!
Algira (T): a beautiful canal city in Tath, once pride of Roisinan; a training center for the Sighted, similar to Castle Bresse, lies nearby
Al’haria: red city of Kheldrin, place where the Records are kept, city of scholars, priestesses and craftsmen
al’Jezraal ma’Hariff: Lord of Al’haria, brother of ai’Jihaar
al’Khur (K): Lord of Death and also of dreams that come in the Little Death that is sleep, he manifests as half-man, half-desert vulture
al’Shehyr ma’Hariff: son of al’Jezraal
al’Tamar ma Hariff: nephew of al’Jezraal, son of his brother; sen’thar-gifted, but untrained because he is heir to an important Hariff silver mine
al’Zaan, Sa’id-ma’sihai (K): al’Zaan the One-Eyed, Lord of the Empty Places, Kheldrin’s chief God, cannot be worshipped in any confined place, only in the open
Anghara Kir Hama (ma’Hariff): Princess of Roisinan and an’sen’thar of Kheldrin, heiress of Red Dynan whose crown was usurped by her half-brother Sif when their rather died in the battle at Ronval River, powerfully Sighted, events turn around her
Ansen Taurin: Anghara’s oldest foster brother and cousin, son of her aunt, Chella
an’sen’thar (pl. an’sen’en’thari) (K): wearer of the gold robe in the sen’thar priesdy caste of Kheldrin; high priestess, used both as noun and form of address
arad (K): south
Arad Khajir’i’id: the Southern Desert, sometimes also known as Mal’ghaim Khajir’i’id (q.v.)
ari’i’d (K): desert
Ar’i’id Sam’mara: Desert Gate, name given to the canyon which forms the passage between Kheldrin’s coastal plain and Arad Khajir’i’d
Avanna of the Towers (R): Lady of the Lights, Roisinan’s harvest goddess, patron of all that is bright, glowing and growing; she created the sun, the moon, and the stars, and blesses everything grown under them; Roisinani infants are presented to the Gods within her towers
Aymer: capital of Shaymir, semi-desert independent principality to the north of Roisinan, origin of the Aymer Harp (q.v.)
Aymer harp: a difficult Shaymiri musical instrument.
Beit el’Sihaya (K): the Empty Quarter, from beit (geographic quarter) + sihaya (empty)
Beku: city of Kheldrin
Bodmer Forest: large forest in the heart of Roisinan
Bran: new god in Roisinan, born in the fires of Anghara’s metamorphosis into the Changer, after her return to Roisinan to claim her crown
Brandar Pass: mountain passage from Roisinan into Shaymir through the range behind Miranei
Bresse: see Castle Bresse
Brynna Kelen: Anghara Kir Hama’s alter ego, the name by which she was known at Cascin
burnouse (K): a head covering and desert veil against sand and heat
Calabra: main port city or Roisinan, at the mouth of the River Tanassa
Cascin (Cascin of the Wells): the ancestral manor of Anghara’s mother Rima, Anghara’s sanctuary in the first years of her exile, held by Lord Lyme, married to Rima’s sister, Chella
Castle Bresse (R): training school for the Sighted, where Anghara first learns a measure of control over her gifts; levelled by Sif in the first stroke of his vicious campaign against Sight
Cerdiad (R): Midsummer Harvest Feast with connotations of ancient fertility rites when harvested fields and the harvest are blessed on midsummer’s eve by a priestess of Avanna of the Towers, patron goddess of the feast and the rest of the night given over to celebrations; romantic superstitions practiced by girls wanting to know who they will marry are commonly associated with this night
Chanoch (R): The Festival of New Fire; on the night of the first full moon of winter all hearth fires are extinguished and every hearth scraped clean and the head of the family goes to the temple of Kerun to obtain a handful of blessed Temple Embers with which to kindle a new fire on the old hearth; very holy festival, under the auspices of Kerun the Horned One
Charo Taurin: twin to Adamo Taurin, Chella’s younger sons, Anghara’s foster-brother
cheta (R): a military company in the Roisinani army
chud! (K): a Kheldrini exclamation of frustration
colhot (S): a cross between a lion and a coyote—a lazy but dangerous predator of the Shaymir desert
Colwen: Sif’s first queen, put aside because she could not give him an heir
dan (fern: dan’ah) (K): alone
Dances (R): circles of huge hewn stones with an ancient and often feared power; there are four in Roisinan: in the hills by the river Tanassa, in the middle of the central plain in Shaymir, on the edge of the Vallen Fen in Tath, and in the Mabin Islands (now largely ruined); the three mainland Dances are more or less intact, their original purpose or ancient builders unknown; there may once have been more, as there are solitary stones in other places, which exude something of the power of the Dances, known as Standing Stones (q.v.); both Dances and Standing Stones are avoided at night, and especially during the high festivals as they are believed to be the haunt of spirits
desert sage (S): a herb with a sharp, bittersweet scent which grows in the Shaymir desert
diamondskin (K): lethally poisonous lizard found in the Khari’i’d; no antidote to its poison, which is almost instantly fatal; gray with black diamond-shaped markings on the skin
djellaba (K): desert cloak
Duerin Rashin: King of Tath; scion of the Rashin Clan who once wrested the Throne under the Mountain (q.v.) from the legitimate Kir Hama incumbent—Duerin’s ancestor failed, but Duerin still wants Roisinan, and went to war over it
dun (pl. dun’en) (K): desert horses, exported to Roisinan, Tath and Shaymir from Kheldrin but affordable only to the very rich; beautiful, graceful animals, faster than the wind, dun breeding is largely the province of the Sayyed clan
Dynan (“Red Dynan”) Kir Hama: Anghara’s father, King of Roisinan, killed in battle against Duerin Rashin of Tath
el’lah afrit (K): the Song of the Spirits; sometimes the desert sands sing in the evening, when the air cools rapidly; often this warns of an advancing storm, or heralds a change in the weather; this often brings a feeling of discomfort, hence the laying of blame on evil spirits
Empty Quarter, the: see Beit el’Sihaya
Favrin Rashin: Prince of Algira, son of Duerin Rashin of Tath
Feor: ex-priest of both Kerun and Nual, Sighted tutor in the household of Cascin who grooms Anghara Kir Hama for queenship
Fihra Hai’r (K): literally, The First Oasis; the name given to the first water-bearing oasis a traveller encounters upon emerging from the Khar’i’id—depending on which direction the voyager is travelling in, the same oasis can also be known as Shod Hai’r (q.v.)
Fodrun: Dynan’s Second General, on whom leadership devolves during the Battle of Ronval when Dynan is killed and Kalas, the First General, so badly wounded as to be permanently disabled; seeing the conflict ahead, he chooses to support Sif Kir Hama, Dynah’s grown son, in preference to his legitimate heiress, the nine-year-old Anghara, but not without some misgiving; also known as Fodrun Kingmaker
fram’man (pl. fram’man’en) (K): stranger
Gheat Freicadan (R): The Guardian of the Gates (see Kerun, Glas Coil)
Glas Coil (R): Grey Wood, something along the lines of the Celtic Tir’na’n’Og, land of youth—Roisinani believe in it as an afterlife
Gul Khaima (K): Oracle Anghara raises in Kheldrin, on a stone pillar by the sea; human oracle
Gul Qara (K): the ancient oracle in the Empty Quarter, which gives Anghara the name of its successor
had’das (K): species of fish caught off the coast of Kheldrin
Hai! Hai haddari! (K): an expression of amazement or admiration
hai’r (pi. hai’r’en) (K): oasis
Hama dan ar’i’id (K): Kheldrini adage: “You’re never alone in the desert”
han (R): inn, as in Halas Han (Inn on the river Hal)
hari: red (Kadun Khajir’i’id is sometimes known as Harim Khaijir’i’id)
Hariff: Powerful Kheldrini clan or family involved with silver mining; root hari, red, may indicate they originated in the Red Desert
Harim Khajir’i’id: the Red Desert (see Kadun Khajir’i’id)
haval’la or ha’vallah (pl. haval’len) (K): desert gazelle
iman’et (K): enter; response to sa’hari
iri’sah (K): hot desert wind
Isel Valdarian: mother of Favrin Rashin
jin’aaz spiders (K): large desert spiders who cocoon their larvae in a chrysalis of silk; Kheldrini use silkseekers (q.v.) to find jin’aaz spider lairs and extract this silk; much prized and very expensive—one of the main Kheldrini exports
kadun (K): north
Kadun Khajir’i’id: the Northern Desert; sometimes also known as Harim Khajir’i’id (q.v.)
kaiss (T): (pron. kish; the ss sound is like the English sh): a broad concept covering the women’s quarters in Tath culture, a semi-purdah to which married women withdraw and from the confines of which high-born women are married, from father’s kaiss to husband’s (q.v. Silk Curtain)
kaissan (T): (pl. kaissen; pron. kishan, kishen) (T): a woman living in a kaiss
kaissar (T) (pron. kishar): castrates who rule the kaiss
Kalas: Dynan’s First General, badly wounded at the Battle of Ronval
Keda Cullen: sister to Kieran Cullen, gifted musician from Shaymir
Kerun (R): Roisinani god, also known as The Horned One; he is the Guardian of the Gates to Glas Coil (q.v.). He is the avatar responsible for death and life through death. He is the God of War, of Destruction, of Catastrophe; he must be propitiated at the beginning of every new venture, lest he claim it for his own; his sacrifices often involve gold, and he has his own incense, manufactured specially by the priesthood
khaf (K): strong brewed desert beverage, similar to coffee
khai’san (K): hot storm wind of the desert
khajir (K): sandkhar (K): stone
Khar’i’id: black stone desert of Kheldrin; deadly, hot and poisonous, but also strange and generous with occasional obscure and hermetic gifts; sometimes known as Rah’honim Ar’i’id, the Black Desert
kharkhajir (K): coarse sand, rock-sand
Kheldrin: Land of Twilight, from khel (dark, twilight) + drin (land, country); desert country to the west of Roisinan, for many ages closed to outsiders, except for a tiny cultivated strip in the lee of the coastal mountains, where Roisinani visit the trade port of Sa’alah to bargain for silk, esoteric drugs or dun’en
khi’tai (K): medicinal plant; reduces fevers, acts as a painkiller for minor aches; can be used as an anesthetic in conjunction with lais (q.v.)
Kieran Cullen: a Shaymiri boy, Anghara’s foster-brother, already fostering at Cascin manor when she is sent there; later knighted in battle
ki’thar (pl. ki’thar’en) (K): camels, desert animal of Kheldrin
lais (K): squat, ill-favored small bush found largely in Kadun Khajir’i’id; lais tea, soporific, slightly opiate and possibly addictive, can be made either from the whole leaf or from dried leaf powder; sometimes exported from Kheldrin into Roisinan and Tath; well known in Shaymir, where the plant is named selba
mal’gha (K): yellow (Arad Khajir’i’id is sometimes known as Mal’ghaim Khajir’i’id)
Melsyr: son of First General Kalas, whose wounding at the battle of Ronval where Red Dynan fell gave command of his armies to Second General Fodrun
Miranei: Roisinan’s capital and the King’s Keep, a powerful fortress never taken by force—and only a few times by treachery
Morgan of Bresse: the head of the Sisterhood of Bresse, she chose death by martyrdom at Sif’s hand in the knowledge that this would hasten the return of Sight to Roisinan’s persecuted people
Nual (R): Roisinani God of the Waters; not as powerful as Kerun and Avanna, but noteworthy because his temples are sanctuaries which cannot be breached; as some stay a lifetime Nual is sometimes also known as the God of Exile; his temples are always found near water, and anything found on or near the water has always been his; every shipwreck is salvaged by his priests; usually content with light offerings, a garland of flowers thrown into a river is pleasing to him; his priests are as simple as Kerun’s are devious and plot-ridden, and dress in blue in honor of his element
omankhajir (K): soft sand
pa’ha (K): fermented juice of the pahria fruit
pahria palms (K): desert palm bearing large, hard-shelled fruit, soft inside, juicy but tart—an acquired taste; sometimes cultivated, but usually grows wild in desert hai’r’en (q.v.) qu’mar (fem. qu’mar’ah; pl. qu’mar’en) (K): spouse, mate Qi’Dah: Favrin Rashin’s bodyguard