Sloe
A runt dog belonging to Saradyn.
Sokai Vasiya
A Seeker who ends up in the same dajian camp Lilia is in. Recruited and bound by Lilia to help her get the dajian refugees across the Dhai border.
Sola
A young girl refugee on boat escaping Saiduan with Luna.
Song of Davaar
A song used to focus power to create an intricate net.
Song of One Breath
A song used to control the power of Oma, taught to Lilia by Taigan.
Song of Sorrow
An omajista litany.
Song of the Cactus
An attack litany.
Song of the Mountain
An offensive litany.
Song of the Pearled Wall
Defensive litany.
Song of the Proud Wall
A defensive litany.
Song of the Water Spider
An offensive litany.
Song of Unmaking
Litany that cuts a person off from their ability to draw on a satellite. Temporary, and easy to counter once one has become skilled.
Sorana Hasaria
Zezili’s youngest sister.
Sorat
Emlee’s nephew.
Soruza Morak Sorai
Replacement for Gaiso in overseeing Oma's Temple. A jista from the Temple of Tira.
Sorvaraa
Saiduan city south of Harajan.
Soul stealer
Saiduan term for a sinajista at the height of their power. Some sinajistas can capture and harness the soul or life essence of those they slay in their infused blades.
Sovaan Ortaa, Ren
A sanisi.
Sovonia
A seer and rebel leader on another version of Raisa.
Storm, Syre
The Empress of Dorinah’s only male legion commander. Not permitted to fight, but commands others. Given name
Lasli Laodysin.
Suari Febek
A Tai Mora stargazer.
Sulana Ofasa Daora
Parajista and Ora.
Tadisa Sinhasa Garika
One of Roh’s mothers. Also mother of Chali Tadisa Badu.
Taigan Masaao, Shao
An outcast sanisi aligned with Maralah, bound to her with a ward, after she was able to spare Taigan’s life when Taigan betrayed the Patron. Taigan has since been tasked with finding additional omajistas to help the Saiduan fight the Tai Mora.
Tai Mora
The invaders. The Tai Mora seek to escape through a permanent gate from mirror Raisa before their world is destroyed by the ascendance of Oma.
Tal (person)
A dajian. Pherl’s sister.
Tal (title)
A title among the Saiduan sanisi indicative of relative talent. Most powerful are Shao, then Ren, Tal and Shas.
Talamynii
Former allies of the Dhai, when the Dhai were a powerful nation. The Talamynii tamed wolves and used them as mounts. More fearsome than the Dhai, they were wiped out by the Saiduan. The few who remained intermarried with Saiduan people and their culture was subsumed by the broader one.
Talisa Gaiko Raona
Leader of Clan Raona.
Tanasai Laosina
Near-cousin to Zezili Hasaria. Tanasai was raised as part of Zezili’s family after the death of her mother, but was seen as a burden by Zezili’s mother.
Tanays Heydan
Saradyn’s second in command.
Taodalain Hasaria
Zezili Hasaria’s sister. Daughter to Livia Hasaria.
Tasia Gohina Garika (Dhai)
A young girl separated from her family.
Tasia Gohina (Tai Mora)
Kirana and Yisaoh’s child. Adopted from Kirana’s cousin.
Temple of Oma
A temple dedicated to Oma. Located in Dhai at the tip of the Fire Gate peninsula. The building itself is a living thing, made of some unknown combination of organic matter.
Temple of Tira
A Dhai temple located deep within the woodland. Somehow repels nearby dangerous plants. Its grounds contain the most renowned gardens in Dhai.
The Cage
A mountain range in Dorinah, near Lake Morta.
The Lament of Hahko
A very old Dhai ballad.
Thief Queen
Unseated Penelodyn and attempted to take power in Tordin. Was killed by Saradyn Lind. Also known as Quilliam of the Mountain Fortress, Quill of Galind, Quill the Thief Queen. Was once Saradyn’s ward.
Tir Salarihi Garika
Clan leader of Clan Garika. Father to Yisaoh Alais Garika, Hadaoh Alais Garika, Rhin Gaila Garika, Lohin Alais Garika and Kihin Moarsa Garika. Exiled.
Tira
Name of the satellite also referred to as Lord of the Living. Tira’s light is green.
Tirajista
Sorcerers who can channel the power of Tira when it is ascendant, which gives them the power to heal flesh and grow/train plants and other organics. Tirajistas are also skilled in the creation of wards.
Tolda
A dajian.
Tongue Mountains
Mountains in Tordin.
Tordin
Country on the southeastern shore of Grania, led currently by a King named Saradyn Lind. Constantly in a state of civil war. Was led by the Empress of Dorinah’s sister, Penelodyn, before she was unseated by the Thief Queen. The country is difficult to unite because of its geography—cities are far apart, and the terrain is hilly. Dangerous plants spring up again quickly after being cut.
Tulana Nikoel, Ryii
Leader of the Seekers hiding in the dajian camp where Lilia is held. An omajista.
Una Morinis Raona
Gatekeeper of the Temple of Oma.
Vestaria Mauvia
A Tai Mora at Caisau.
Voralyn Jovyn
A Dorinah Seeker recruited and bound by Lilia to help her get the dajian refugees across the Dhai border.
Water lily spiders
Semi-sentient plants that filter water when they breathe.
Willowthorn
Thorny weeping tree with small leaves which grows up to 175 feet tall. Saplings are infused with the power of Sina to create infused weapons.
Wind witches
Name for parajistas in Tordin.
Woodland Dhai
Those who have been exiled from – or who chose to exile themselves from –the Dhai settlements in the valley. The Woodland Dhai have a different dialect than those in the valley.
Wraisau Kilia, Ren
A sanisi.
Yisaoh Alais Garika (Dhai)
Yisaoh once contested Javia Mia Sorai for the title of Kai. Daughter of Tir Salarihi Garika. Sister of Rhin Gaila Garika, Hadaoh Alais Garika, Lohin Alais Garika and Kihin Moarsa Garika.
Yisaoh Alais Garika (Tai Mora)
Married to the Tai Mora leader, Kirana Javia.
Yivsa Afinisla
One of Kirana’s four line commanders.
Zezili Hasaria (Raisa Prime)
Captain general of Dorinah’s eastern force. Zezili’s mother, Livia Hasaria, is a titled Dorinahian and her father a dajian, making her half Dhai. Her title is Syre.
Zezili Hasaria (Mirror)
Incited a revolt against the Tai Mora and killed Kirana Javia’s Tai Mora father. Worked on the massive mirror the Tai Mora created to facilitate entry to prime Raisa, but was eventually killed for refusing to cooperate.
Zini
The smallest of Raisa’s three moons.
Acknowledgments
This was an extraordinarily difficult book to write on an extraordinarily difficult deadline. Many thanks to Marc Gascoigne at Angry Robot for fully supporting the book and my endless tinkering with it right up until page proofs. I keep thinking writing novels will get easier, as this is the fifth book I’ve published and the fourteenth I’ve written, but I tend to set extreme challenges for myself with every new work, and this one – with its multiple worlds
and multiple versions of dead and living characters– was the most challenging yet. Whether this book and the series as a whole succeeds or not is now up to readers. Thank you for taking a chance on it.
I set myself a high bar, and I had a lot of people supporting me in my attempt to reach it. Many thanks to my agent, Hannah Bowman, for going over this grueling book time and time again, and for buying me scotch. Thanks to my editor, Amanda Rutter – I know this series is a pain in the ass. Special thanks to Mike Underwood for his continued support of the books on the Angry Robot sales and marketing side, and for being a great person all around. Thanks to Caroline Lambe and Penny Reeve for publicity wrangling, Phil Jourdan for keeping it moving editorially, and Paul Simpson for swift copyediting work.
There was a lot of behind-the-scenes work here again from my assistant, Danielle Horn Beale, and I want to thank her for helping me hit these seemingly impossible deadlines. I would have lost my mind several times already this year without her to help me muddle through. Many thanks also to Jayson Utz for long talks about plot and supportive sanity checks, as well as his continued support and patience for my two-career life. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.
Finally, thanks to all of you. Thank you for reading my work, for telling your friends, for debating my stories endlessly on social media and in online forums and in book clubs and libraries and everywhere else. Thank you to everyone who has hand sold my work in a bookstore or at a convention table, or passed on a copy to a friend, or requested a copy from the library. Thank you for the fan letters, and the love.
It’s a tough time to be an author (it always has been), but your enthusiasm and support ensures I can keep telling weird and wonderful stories for you.
Can’t stop the signal.
The Big Red House
Ohio
Summer, 2015
About the Author
Kameron Hurley is an award-winning author, advertising copywriter and online scribe. She has won the Hugo Award, Kitschy Award, and Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer; she has also been a finalist for the Arthur C Clarke Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, BFS Award, the David Gemmell Morningstar Award, and the BSFA Award for Best Novel. Her non-fiction has been featured in The Atlantic, Locus, and the game-changing collection The Geek Feminist Revolution.
kameronhurley.com • twitter.com/KameronHurley
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ANGRY ROBOT
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Every world at war
An Angry Robot paperback original 2015
Empire Ascendant Copyright © Kameron Hurley 2015
Map by Steff Worthington
Kameron Hurley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
UK ISBN 978 0 85766 558 4
US ISBN 978 0 85766 559 1
EBook ISBN 978 0 85766 560 7
Cover by Richard Anderson.
Set by Argh! Nottingham.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
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Angry Robot and the Angry Robot icon are registered trademarks of Watkins Media Ltd.
ISBN 978-0-85766-560-7
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE WORLDBREAKER SAGA
The Mirror Empire
Empire Ascendent
THE BEL DAME APOCRYPHA
God’s War
Infidel
Rapture
The Light Brigade
Stars are Legion
Meet Me in the Future
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Only one survives
An Angry Robot paperback original, 2020
Copyright © Kameron Hurley 2020
Cover by Richard Anderson
Edited by Amanda Rutter and Paul Simpson
Map by Stephanie MacAlea
Set in Meridien
All rights reserved. Kameron Hurley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Sales of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed” and neither the author nor the publisher may have received payment for it.
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ISBN 978 0 85766 562 1
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Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by TJ International.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For those who dare to dream of better worlds.
“May your choices be shaped by your hopes, not your fears.”
– DHAI SAYING
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
The gnarled old woman carried a box of bones up the mountain. She bent low under the weight. The winking eye of Oma watched her ascent, ever-present in the rippling cerulean sky. Its sisters – violet Sina and twinkling emerald Tira – burned just beneath its glaring red pupil; patient, waiting.
As she climbed, she cursed Oma. A habit from another life. Another world, before all the worlds began to crash together.
At her hip, she bore her weapon: a yellow bonsa branch as long as her arm, inf
used with the power of Para. It glowed faintly, though Para was still descendant. If the seers were to be believed, Para would enter the sky again sooner than it had in other cycles. Until then, her powers were… limited. Still substantial, but limited.
The bones were a boon. The sole find of any value from her long, disastrous trek over the Kalai Mountains and into the lawless wilderness of warring states in the Tordinian valley to find a bit of ephemera kept safe for two thousand years by a race of slavering, gold-skinned interlopers. The interlopers were dead, burned out, but their storerooms and altars and thrones and the like had remained intact. Whatever force obliterated them had not returned for a second encounter. Kalinda certainly did not blame them.
She had tumbled through a rent in the fabric between her world and this one the year before, eager to begin again after losing everything. She had been a powerful figure, once. A world had bent at her word. She had promised to save them from the sky.
She had failed.
Now she was the last of her people left alive. And there was some good she could do still. Where she had failed, another might succeed. Hope was a delicious drug; though it, too, could kill, the experience of dying hopeful was far better than the reality of dying in despair. She had seen enough people die of both to know that.
The Worldbreaker Saga Omnibus Page 103