Cart and Cwidder (UK)

by Diana Wynne Jones

  Kestrel, the husband of Closti the Clam’s elder sister, Zara, an old man who married late in life when Zwitt refused to marry Zara after Closti had jilted Zwitt’s sister. Kestrel, it seems, did not wish to see Zara suffer through no fault of her own.

  Kialan, younger son of Keril, Earl of Hannart, and later his heir.

  King of the Riverlands of prehistoric Dalemark. Tanaqui never gives his name, perhaps out of respect, or perhaps because she never knew it. She clearly shows that he was not the correct man for dealing with the Heathen invasion, although he seems to have done his best at first, until his family was killed and his spirit broken.

  Kinghaven, in the earldom of Loviath, the main port city of North Dalemark and otherwise notorious for brewing bad lager.

  King’s Sayings, a collection of proverbs and wise thoughts memorised by all Singers and supposed to be the words of King Hern himself.

  King Street, the main thoroughfare in Kernsburgh.

  The King’s Way, a traditional song with a rousing tune which celebrates the customary journey of the new King down the green roads of North Dalemark to Kernsburgh to claim his crown. This song was banned in the South, where the earls did not wish to remind people there had once been Kings.

  Kiniron, the younger brother of the King of Haligland who led the main invasion of the clans to prehistoric Dalemark, where he died of wounds from the fighting.

  Kintor, Lord of Kredindale and cousin of Noreth Onesdaughter.

  Knots and crosses, one of the oldest and most potent charms of binding and, of course, the basic pattern of a net. See also Nets.

  Konian, the elder son of Keril, Earl of Hannart, executed in Holand in South Dalemark after a travesty of a trial.

  Korib, son of the miller in Shelling and an excellent shot with the longbow.

  Kredindale, a valley, town and lordship in the extreme northwest of North Dalemark where deposits of coal were found very early in history. From the reign of the Adon, mining became the main occupation of the valley until the mines were closed in the reign of Amil III. Kredindale was the birthplace of Noreth Onesdaughter. Its name is thought to be derived from Kankredin.

  Labbard, King of Dalemark prior to the Adon, an indolent and incompetent man who openly declared that he would rather sit and drink cider than rule the country.

  Ladri, one of Kankredin’s mages, whose task was to collect the souls caught in the soulnet.

  Lady, the wooden image of a woman which the family of Closti the Clam kept, according to the customs of prehistoric Dalemark, in one of the niches reserved for the Undying.

  Lagan, the villainous half-brother of the Adon, a student of sorcery and, some legends say, a pupil of Kankredin. Lagan seems to have been consumed with jealousy both of the Adon’s status and of the Adon’s love for Manaliabrid. Having conspired to have the Adon sent into exile, Lagan then followed him, disguised himself by sorcery, and stabbed him to death. The Adon was recalled from death and later killed Lagan.

  Lake, a large body of water in the centre of prehistoric North Dalemark, which must have been extensive even when the River was not flooding, to judge from the petrified remains of freshwater life to be found all over the central peaks. By historic times this lake had shrunk to a row of small tarns, the largest of which is Long Tarn.

  Lalla, housekeeper at Lithar’s mansion in the Holy Islands and an aspect of Libby Beer.

  Lament for the Earl of Dropwater, an old ballad song composed during the Adon’s wars, mourning the death of Kanart, who was one of many earls who opposed the Adon.

  Lathsay, one of the Holy Islands.

  Lavreth, a coastal town northwest of Hannart in North Dalemark.

  Lawman, a position of great power and prestige in North Dalemark. Lawmen served earls, lords and town governors as advisers, justices, or planners for the future and in many other ways, often for very large fees. Quite a few lawmen married into the families of lords or earls. Since the law was open to everyone, however lowborn, training as a lawman was a favourite way to rise in the world.

  Law of the sea was very largely unwritten but was held throughout Dalemark waters to be much more binding than the law of the land. It stated, among other things, that all ships must go to the assistance of any boat in trouble.

  Lawschool at Gardale in North Dalemark, the only such school in the country until the reign of Amil the Great, very famous and much sought after. It took only those pupils who could reach a very high standard in its oral entrance exams, but a pupil could join the school at any age from nine to fifteen and then be assured of the very best education, both in law and other studies, and nobody ever failed to get a job after graduating. The Lawschool was well endowed with funds and gave quite a number of scholarships to poor students every year. Students entering the school found it a world in itself, with many strange customs and words that were not found anywhere else.

  When Amil the Great founded lawschools all over the country, the status of the Gardale school diminished. In the reign of Amil III it became simply a part of Gardale University.

  Law-woman, a female lawyer, had even more prestige in North Dalemark than a lawman and could command an even higher fee.

  Lengday, Lawschool slang for Midsummer Day.

  Lenina Thornsdaughter, niece of Earl Tholian of the South Dales, wife of Clennen the Singer, and mother of Dagner, Brid and Moril. Lenina was brought up as an aristocrat in the Earl’s household in Neathdale in South Dalemark and left there when she became betrothed to Ganner Sagersson. Clennen saw Lenina at the betrothal feast and persuaded her to marry him instead.

  Libby Beer, the name of the image made of fruit that was yearly thrown into the harbour in Holand in South Dalemark at the Sea Festival. The name is certainly a corruption of one of the little-known names of She Who Raised the Islands, the Undying mother of fruitfulness and wife of the Earth Shaker.

  Licence, a legal document with the seal of an earl attached, showing that the holder was allowed to exercise his or her trade anywhere in South Dalemark. Licences were expensive. Their main value was the unspoken assumption that the holder was allowed to travel between the South and the North. Without a licence, a traveller would be arrested at the border.

  Liss, Maewen’s aunt, who ran a livery stable near Adenmouth in the north of Dalemark.

  Litha, a woman of the prehistoric Riverlands who was killed by the Heathen invaders from Haligland.

  Lithar, Lord of the Holy Islands, who was of special value to the earls of South Dalemark, both because of his fleet and because, as lord of the onetime King’s Lands, he was not the subject of any earl. He was betrothed to Hildrida Navissdaughter when he was twenty and she was nine years old.

  Little Flate, a village on the slightly rising ground southwest of Holand in South Dalemark, which was the first landmark for ships sailing out of Holand. Sailors gave it a wide berth because of the shallows just offshore.

  Little ones, the name Holy Islanders give those mortals under the special protection of the Undying.

  Little Shool, one of the Holy Islands, barely yards from its neighbour, Big Shool.

  Lord, a lesser ruler under the earls, who owed allegiance to the earl in whose earldom his lordship was, paying taxes and providing fighting men when his earl required him to. A lord was also supposed to obey every other command from his earl, but not all lords did so. Otherwise a lord lived in his mansion, kept hearthmen, and ruled his subjects just as an earl did, but on a smaller scale.

  Lord of Mark, lord of the northernmost lordship in South Dalemark, a plump and middle-aged widower, betrothed to Harilla Harlsdaughter when he was thirty-eight and she was ten years old.

  Lovely Libby, one of the big merchant ships sailing out of Holand in South Dalemark. Like most of the tall ships of Holand, she was named from the Sea Festival for luck.

  Loviath

  1. The earldom on the northwest coast of North Dalemark.

  2. The name of Maewen Singer’s physics teacher.

  Luck ship and shore, the
ritual reply to the traditional greeting “The year’s luck to you” at the Sea Festival in Holand in South Dalemark.

  Lucky ship, any ship sailing out of Holand that could retrieve the image of Poor Old Ammet from the sea. The yacht Wind’s Road was doubly lucky from having accidentally brought the image of Libby Beer as well. Anyone noticing this fact had to be a Holander.

  Luthan, Earl of Dropwater and cousin of Noreth of Kredindale. Because of his almost accidental support of the King’s side in the Great Uprising, Luthan – and Dropwater with him – became extremely important in the reign of Amil the Great. Luthan was made chancellor and was twice elected prime minister.

  Lydda, Siriol’s daughter, a plump, good-natured girl who married a sailor from the merchant fleet of Holand. Her husband later took over Siriol’s boat and business.

  Maewen Singer, a teenage girl hijacked from modern Dalemark to take the place of Noreth of Kredindale. See also Mayelbridwen.

  Mage Mallard, the Undying musician-mage, youngest son of Closti the Clam and brother to the Weaver and King Hern. See also Duck.

  Mages were fairly common in primitive Haligland and much respected because much feared. No one dared insult a mage of any kind, but the greatest fear and respect were reserved for the so-called college of mages, which was always made up of fifty of the strongest and most experienced enchanters in the land. When Kankredin came to head this college, he seems to have made it a condition that every mage should have passed ritually through death before he joined, which was not the case before his time. College mages were always male, but female mages also existed, with a coven of fifty of their own.

  A man came over the hill …, a rhyme woven into the skirt of Robin Clostisdaughter by her sister Tanaqui, but hopelessly garbled. As far as can be understood, the rhyme seems to be about the meeting of Closti with Anoreth, or else it refers to a much older but very similar story.

  Manaliabrid

  1. The Undying wife of the Adon, daughter of Cennoreth the Weaver.

  2. The full second name of Brid Clennensdaughter (her first name was Cennoreth).

  Manaliabrid’s Lament, a song in the old style, said to have been composed by Osfameron after Lagan killed the Adon. It has a tune of strange broken phrasings, so unlike the usual style of Osfameron that many consider that Manaliabrid may have composed the Lament herself.

  Mansion, the large semi-fortified house of an earl or lord, always the most prominent in the area. Besides housing the lord’s family and many servants, the mansion had to be big enough for a band of hearthmen, advisers, lawyers, clerks and numerous other assistants.

  Markind, an area in the very south of the South Dales, the lordship of Ganner Sagersson, and notable for its many little hills and valleys, which are, in fact, the worn-down remnants of volcanoes.

  Marks, an old name for the fifteen divisions of Dalemark that later became the earldoms.

  Mark Wood, a large forest at the northern edge of the third and highest Upland in the earldom of the South Dales, part of the lordship of Mark. It was full of clearings stockaded against possible invasion by the North, where wood was cut and charcoal was made. The inhabitants hated the North heartily and put up the stoutest resistance met by the army of Amil the Great at the start of the Great Uprising.

  Marriage by proxy, a custom among earls of holding a wedding without the bride’s being present. Her place would be taken by a woman who was married already. The practice probably originated to save the nobly born bride the trouble and expense of a journey, but it was widely used if the bride was unwilling, or a child, or both.

  Marshes, a huge area of volcanic swamp to the east of Dalemark. Throughout historical times the Marshes were considered worthless, remarkable only for curious plants and birds, and they became King’s Lands because nobody else wanted them. When, in recent times, oil was discovered there, they remained the property of the crown but added considerably to the wealth of the country.

  Mattrick, chief among the freedom fighters in Neathdale in South Dalemark.

  Mayelbridwen, a form of the name Manaliabrid from Fenmark; Maewen Singer’s full name.

  May the clay purge from you …, the start of the ritual spoken when the image of the One was put into its yearly fire. The speakers of this invocation had, for generations, no idea that what they were uttering was a spell for the unbinding of the One.

  Medmere, the valley where Clennen the Singer was murdered. The round lake in the middle is the centre of an old volcano.

  Middle vokes, Lawschool slang for the second stage of the training course.

  Midsummer flags, traditional bright banners flown at Midsummer Fairs all over Dalemark. The devices on them – the Eye, the Sheaf, the River, et cetera – are versions of the Old Writing. The flags are thought to be the debased remnants of flags once carried in religious ceremonies.

  Milda, the mother of Mitt and afterwards the wife of Hobin the gunsmith, who was the father of her two daughters. Sadly, neither Milda nor her daughters survived the Great Uprising. Though there are several highly coloured stories about their deaths, the most likely theory is that they perished in the terrible violence and confusion after the mob stormed the Earl’s palace in Holand, when the earls of Dermath and Waywold sacked the city in reprisal.

  Mitt, short for Alhammitt. Mitt was born at Dike End in the earldom of Holand in South Dalemark, on the day of the Sea Festival. He moved to the city of Holand as a child, where he became a freedom fighter and was forced to escape to the North to avoid arrest. After just under a year in Aberath, in training as a hearthman, he left to follow Noreth of Kredindale in her bid for the crown.

  Modes, Lawschool slang for a progress report on the term’s work.

  Moril, younger son of Clennen the Singer. Clennen bequeathed to Moril a cwidder said to have belonged to the minstrel Osfameron. After the death of his father, Moril went to Hannart in North Dalemark, where he briefly joined Hestefan the Singer before leaving to take part in the Great Uprising. He played a considerable part in the Uprising and afterwards became court musician and chief architect of the Royal Dalemark Academy of Music, collecting travelling Singers from all over Dalemark and gathering them together in Kernsburgh. This caused such changes and improvements in the making of music that by the end of Amil the Great’s reign the old travelling Singers had ceased to exist.

  Mount Tanil, a very tall volcano on the edge of the Marshes southeast of Gardale, thought by unlearned people to be the home of the One.

  Mucks, Lawschool slang for gloved hands, the gloves often weighted by being stuffed with metal or stones.

  Natives, the term given by the Heathen invaders to the prehistoric inhabitants of Dalemark, who were mostly dark and squarely built. After the invasion many of these people went South, where they intermarried with the settlers there to give rise to the average Southerner, pale-skinned and brown-haired. Those who stayed in the North interbred with the invaders to produce the brown-skinned, light-haired Northerner.

  Navis Haddsson, third son of the Earl of Holand, a brilliant and efficient soldier and a ruthless politician, who was forced to escape North from the palace plots in Holand (he was disliked by both the old Earl and the new for having shown too much sympathy for the plight of the common people of Holand). He spent nearly a year as a hearthman in Adenmouth before leaving to follow Noreth of Kredindale and to take part in the Great Uprising. It was probably thanks to Navis that the bloodshed was not greater. Early in the reign of Amil the Great, Navis was made Duke of Kernsburgh, partly in reward for his services and partly because he then outranked the earls it was now his job to control. A year later he married Eltruda, widow of Lord Stair of Adenmouth.

  Neathdale, a large market town in the South Dales, the seat of Earl Tholian. Because it was the last major town before the North, Neathdale flourished both on legal trade and by smuggling goods and people in and out of North Dalemark. The earls’ spies and security forces were particularly active there, which led to the Siege of Neathdale during the Great
Uprising.

  Nepstan, a country in the far South.

  Nets, a potent item of magecraft, akin to weaving. The netmaker, working with power, could design his net to perform various tasks. Kandredin’s soulnet, besides trapping departing souls, was intended to draw Gull’s soul to him and to bind the One. Tanamil’s nets likewise had several purposes: concealing the army, blocking the mages and forcing them to assume their true shapes.

  New Flate, the drained flatlands some miles west of Holand in South Dalemark, where Halain, grandfather of Earl Hadd, was supposed to have had dikes dug and drained the sea marsh. In fact, the New Flate was probably older than that. It was very fertile farmland but was denied prosperity until the reign of Amil the Great by the ridiculously high taxes imposed by the earls of Holand.

  Noreth, known as Onesdaughter, of whom it was said that the One spoke to her all her life, telling her she was to take the crown when she reached the age of eighteen. She was born in Kredindale to the Lord’s unmarried daughter, Eleth, who died soon after Noreth’s birth, declaring that the child’s father was the One himself. If this was true, it gave Noreth the strongest possible claim to be Queen. She was educated first in Adenmouth, where she was left in the care of her aunt Eltruda, and then at the Gardale Lawschool, from which she graduated early, then spent the next two years at Dropwater as junior law-woman to her cousin Luthan. The Midsummer after her eighteenth birthday Noreth returned to Adenmouth, where she formally declared her intention of riding the royal road to claim the crown.

  North, the seven earldoms of Hannart, Gardale, Aberath, Loviath, Dropwater, Kannarth and the North Dales, all these being north of a line drawn east and west from the Point of Hark. This was the earliest part of the kingdom of Dalemark and also the most mountainous, where the people, though generally poor, had a long tradition of independence and freethinking. The earls of the North quickly learnt that injustice was not to be tolerated (quite a few earls lost either their lives or most of their subjects to the mountains while this lesson was being learnt), and the laws of the North were therefore fair and lenient, applying to earl and commoner alike. From well before the reign of the Adon, the North was known as the place of freedom. It was also, perhaps because it was the oldest-settled part of Dalemark, renowned for strange old beliefs and even stranger happenings.