The Cedna (Tales of Blood & Light Book 2) (34 page)

Read The Cedna (Tales of Blood & Light Book 2) Online

Authors: Emily June Street

Gantean Glossary

a
nbuaq
:
a magicked charm or amulet

b
loodlight
:
the energy in any living thing, visible in a magical trance and in Yaqi, the Spirit Layer.

T
he Cedna
:
the Gantean embodiment of the goddess, the figurehead of the Gantean culture. A powerful sorceress

T
he Hinge
:
A Gantean magical construct

I
jiq
:
physical reality, the shared world of perception

I
kniq
:
The Fire clan, one of four Gantean communities. They live in the island’s northwestern region.

I
ksraqtaq
:
The raw, pure people. The Ganteans’ name for themselves.

i
ksuruq
:
pregnant or overly well-fed, full

K
aluq
:
The Stone clan, one of four Gantean communities. They live in the island’s eastern regions.

s
ayantaq
:
cooked, used to describe outsiders to the Gantean culture or those who have been tainted by outside influences.

S
hringar
:
The Water clan, one of four Gantean communities. They live in the southern regions of the island.

S
keleton Woman
:
the origin goddess of Gante, the source of the Cedna’s arcane knowledge. She lives inside the Hinge.

S
ukaibiruq
:
The Slow Dance, Gantean cosmology

t
aaqsiraq
:
the color of the sky at twilight

t
aku
:
a road biscuit made from animal parts and root vegetables

t
iguat
:
the Gantean crèche, a community of children

t
ormaq
:
a totem

t
ormaquine
:
a bone carving worn as jewelry, depicting one’s tormaq

t
unixajiq
:
“The Balance,” the payment that must be made for magic. Sacrifice.

t
unuksaki
:
a white mushroom used to make a powerful inebriant tonic

T
uq
:
The Wind clan, one of four Gantean communities. They live on the island’s western coasts.

u
lio
:
a curved blade made from blackstone with a bone hilt. Used for ritual.

u
ng-aneraq
:
the blood-heart-breath. A cord of bloodlight that connects two people who have mated.

u
vliaq
:
a star that sits low on the horizon

Y
aqi
:
The Spirit Layer, the domain of magic

Cast of Characters

Ganteans

The Cedna:
the narrator, a young, troubled woman who must take on the mantle of Gante’s magical leader

Miseliq:
The Cedna’s mother, who served as Cedna before her

Skeleton Woman:
the matriarchal goddess of Gante, the face of the Cedna in Yaqi

Ikselian:
a leading Elder of the Kaluq clan, a knotwoman

Drasuq:
a leading Elder of the Kaluq clan

Verusuq:
a Kaluq Elder

Urasuq:
A master blackstone knapper

Atanurat:
a comely youth studying to be a blackstone knapper and shaman

Esteriaq:
A leader of the Ikniq clan, once a friend to the Cedna’s mother, Miseliq

Inarian:
a woman of the Ikniq clan

Nautien:
an Elder of the Shringar clan

Leila:
The Cedna’s baby, taken into Nautien’s care in the Shringar clan

Lethemians by House

House Entila

Malvyna Entila:
Head of House, unmarried

Culan Entila:
Malvyna’s son

Ghilene Entila:
Malvyna’s daughter

Tiercel:
the austringer

Idris Khayan:
a lienbound mage

Ronin Entila:
deceased, Lady Malvyna’s adventuring father

House Galatien

Mydon I Galatien:
Head of House, King of Lethemia

Jhalassa Galatien:
Mydon’s wife, the queen

Costas Galatien:
their eldest son and heir

House Ricknagel

Xander Ricknagel:
Head of House

Jenesis Ricknagel:
Xander’s wife

Stesichore Ricknagel:
elder daughter of the House

Sterling Ricknagel:
younger daughter of the House

Siomar Ricknagel:
Xander’s sister, a magitrix

Kyro Arten:
Xander’s personal mage and servant

Galen:
captain of the Ricknagel household guard

Imagus Marsyas:
a faithful mage of long service to the House

Taz Ballestos:
the House’s head lienbound battlemage

House Amar

Onatos Amar:
Head of House

Daria Powdin-Amar:
Onatos’s wife

Laith Amar:
Onatos’s bastard son

Jaasir Amar:
Onatos’s legitimate son and heir

Lujayn Arania-Amar:
Jaasir’s wife

Vhimsantese

Immaris Proseri:
Governor of Vorisipor

Jaxith:
the governor’s steward and servant

Lari:
the keeper of the women’s house

Miscellany

Ennis Angusina:
A magitrix charged with grave crimes

Taran Iverian:
a young scion of a minor noble house of Lethemia

Dario Powdin:
the heir to the Lethemian House Powdin

Vilanov:
a Vhimsantese ship captain working for Xander Ricknagel

Coming Soon

Sterling

Tales of Blood and Light: Book Three

A
bandoned
by every friend and labeled a traitor to the nation, Sterling, the last scion of House Ricknagel, must flee for her life even as she plumbs the dark secrets of her family’s past. To succeed, she must accept the assistance of the one man she cannot face: Erich Talata, the cruel rake she once planned to marry. Yet Erich has his own secrets to hide. Together, Sterling and Erich must build a new future on a precarious past.

Acknowledgments

P
eople who write need support
. We need friends willing to read our early efforts and listen to our long-winded plot plans. We need critiquers who are willing to tell us when we’ve taken a stray turn on our story-telling road, and readers who will tell us to keep searching for the story even when it’s crawled so far underground we think it must be lost in the abyss.

It’s my good fortune to have Beth Deitchman and Christine Kam-Lynch as my faithful readers and listeners. They both have endless reserves of patience, reading draft after draft and providing feedback at all stages. They have prove amazingly willing to talk books over meals.

Harrison Aye, Tony Caruso, and Tamara Shoemaker gave me their tough questions and elegant suggestions as beta readers.

Beneath its fantasy veneer, this is a book about mothers. It would not be complete without an enormous thank you to my mom, Nancy June Street, who always offers her heartfelt ideas and support. This time she told me not to over-edit, and I have tried to honor that advice.

It was my mom who, by reading aloud to me and my brother for all the years of our youth, sowed and watered the seeds of my coupled loves of reading and fantasy. This book is for her.

About the Author

E
mily June Street
is the author of three novels:
The Gantean, The Cedna, and Secret Room.
Her fourth novel,
The Velocipede Races,
will be available from Microcosm Publishing in April 2016. She has degrees in psychology and library science, but she divides her time between teaching Pilates and exploring alternate worlds in writing. She founded Luminous Creatures Press with Beth Deitchman in 2013. Look for more installments in the Tales of Blood & Light series in 2016.