by Melanie Rawn
From within the High Chapel came the rippling notes of Alaen Blackpath’s lute. The Windthistles jostled through the entry, and Rafe’s parents rushed to kiss him and Crisiant, and Cade glimpsed Mieka yanking open the doors.
This life, and none other?
Any life rather than this one.
Places
Gallantrybanks capital city, seat of government; sometimes abbreviated as Gallytown; a Gallybanker is a native of the capital
Amberwall Square
Beekbacks Lane
Chaffer Stroll section of Beekbacks where the prostitutes walk
Criddow Close location of Blye’s glassworks
Downstreet tavern
Kiral Kellari upscale tavern, with a real stage
Marketty Round
Narbacy Street
The Plume waterfall near Waterknot Street
Redpebble Square street address of the Silversun house
Spillwater district in Gallantrybanks
Tullyhowe Lane
Waterknot Street ritzy area of Gallantrybanks
Wistly Hall the Windthistle home
The Winterly Circuit
Bexmarket rough industrial town
Castle Biding site of the major chartered fair
Castle Eyot country residence of Lord Rolon Piercehand
Clackerly Minster even rougher industrial town
Coldkettle Castle
Dolven Wold
Frimham seaside resort town
Lilyleaf resort town with mineral baths
New Halt roughest industrial town of all, and proud of it
Scatterseed
Seekhaven the royal family’s main country residence; site of Trials
Shollop university town
Sidlowe
Stiddolfe university town
Other Places
Cloffin Crossriver
Cranking Vale
Culch Minster combination monastery and prison
The Flood strait between the Kingdom and the Continent
Frannitch country directly across the Flood
Gowerion village outside Gallantrybanks
The Islands
Pennynine Mountains
Spoonshiner River
Tincted Downs
Vasty Moor
Westercountry
Terms
backs street behind buildings
bantling infant
becast bespell
beek to bask in the sun or before a fire
beholden thank you
bellytimber hearty, nourishing food
beseek beseech
bespoken betrothed
bind another word for a spell; also binding
blashed weak or watered down
blatteroon person who won’t shut up; constant talker
bodge to fix something badly
bonding the connection between an Elf and his or her beloved
bonelock arthritis
bothy hut for unmarried workmen; here, university dormitories
breedbate someone who likes to start arguments or stir up quarrels
broadsheet newspaper
chafferer a vendor who enjoys bantering while making a sale
chankings food you spit out
chapel generic for a church
Chapel specific church, or the religion itself
chavish the sound of many people chattering at once
cheveril kid leather
chirr vibrating, high-pitched trilling
chirurgeon surgeon
Circuit set round of venues for traveling players; includes theaters, castles, town halls, guild halls, etc.; the three levels are Winterly, Ducal, and Royal
cloffin to sit idly by the fire
cogger a charming trickster
collifobble to talk secretly
Colvado a type of apple brandy
corn-plaits stick figures made of corn stalks
cranking winding
cribble sort out
criddow someone broken or bowed down by age, sickness, poverty, or grief
croodle to coo like a dove
culch rubbish or refuse of every variety
cullion rude, disagreeable, mean-spirited person
downdrins an afternoon drinking session
Elf-light small flame conjured by persons with Fire Elf ancestry; also the light used in streetlamps
eyot a small island, especially one found in a river
fettler one who puts things in order
firepocket portable brazier, sometimes magically stoked
flirt-gill a light woman
flite to quarrel or brawl in words
fliting an exchange of invective, abuse, or mockery, especially one in verse set forth between two poets
flyndrig an impudent or deceiving woman
fribbler foolish, fussy man
fritlag a worthless, good-for-nothing man
frustle shake out and exhibit plumage
gallantry bank field where there used to be a gallows
ginnel a narrow passage between buildings
gleet slimy, sludgy, greasy filth
glisk subtle sensation; a slight touch of pleasure or a twinge of pain that penetrates the soul and passes quickly away
grassed informed upon; ratted out
grinagog stupid, gaping grin
hire-hack small carriage for hire
Huszar mercenary cavalry from the Continent
kag the stump of a broken tooth; in this, mutilated Elfen ears
Longseer someone who can view events at great distances
minster monastery/nunnery
miscreate illegitimate
nayword catchphrase, byword
nestcock househusband
pillock idiot; fool
pingle to fiddle with one’s food, showing little interest or appetite
playlet sequence of two or three short scenes; usually lasts fifteen minutes to half an hour
Presence Lamps lit outside the chapel or minster to signify the presence of the Lord and Lady, and of their priests, within
prickmedainty man or woman compulsively fastidious about dress, appearance, and manners
quidam an obscure somebody somewhere
quiddle to dawdle or procrastinate in carrying out one’s duty
rumbullion old word for rum
sapskull idiot
scroyle a scabby fellow
scuffled scrambled
smatchet impudent, contemptible child
snarge a person no one likes; a total jerk
sparge to make moist by sprinkling
stroll street where prostitutes parade
strutty boastful, conceited
swoophead a balding man trying to hide it with a comb-over
Thornlore the study of various drugs and their effects on different races
thorn-thralled addicted
tincted stained, dyed
tregetour originally a street magician; evolved into the word for a playwright
trimmings tips thrown onstage to players after the show
trull prostitute
twice-seen déjà vu
twitchie useless, bitchy, upper-class girl
wailful lamentable
wistly wistfully
yaffle to eat ravenously while making unpleasant noises
yark vomit
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Muchly beholden to: Russ Galen and Danny Baror, Beth Meacham and Melissa Frain, Laurie Rawn, Mary Anne Ford, Lee and Barbara Johnson, Jay and Sonia Busby, Teresa Taylor, AshLeigh Henson, Kandice Adams, and all the other knowledgeable habitués of www.melanierawn.com for research help.
There are quite a few words herein that I stole from a perfectly marvelous book called There’s a Word for It! by Charles Harrington Elster. (How could the English language possibly have left by the wayside the wondrous snarge and collifobble and glisk?) A couple of the terms I either adapted or made up myself, but as much as I’d love to claim all of them, I ain’t that
creative.
TOR BOOKS BY MELANIE RAWN
Spellbinder
Fire Raiser
Touchstone
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
TOUCHSTONE
Copyright © 2012 by Melanie Rawn
All rights reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
e-ISBN 9781429987240
First Edition: February 2012