Honor's Paradox-ARC

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Honor's Paradox-ARC Page 30

by P. C. Hodgell


  “Trinity, yes. I was a fool to doubt you, wasn’t I?”

  Which of them he meant wasn’t clear, but one would do for both.

  The Commandant wondered, though, if Torisen’s fears were unjustified after all. Jameth would make a good randon, no doubt, but Kothifir would be lucky to survive her. Might not the same be said about the entire Kencyrath? What, after all, had he been nurturing in his nest at Tentir?

  Child of darkness, breathed the shadows. Lordan of light.

  But those were thoughts for a different time. Outside the hall door, he heard the cadets bringing the feast to the table amidst laughter and cheers. They had earned this day. So had Jameth. He thrust the door open and gestured them through.

  “Before you leave for Kothifir,” he heard the Highlord say, “we have to talk.”

  She threw back her head with a crow of triumphant laughter. “Finally!”

  The Commandant followed them up to the high table and there presented them to the assembled cadets.

  “I give you Torisen Black Lord and his sister Jameth!”

  The latter stood up. “For the last time,” she said in a clear, high voice, eyes locked on her brother’s, “my name is not Jameth. It’s Jame, short for Jamethiel. Jamethiel Priest’s-bane of Knorth.”

  LEXICON

  Addy—Shade’s gilded swamp adder

  Aden Smooth-face—a senior randon and Lord Ardeth’s younger brother

  Adiraina—the Ardeth Matriarch, beloved of Kinzi

  Adric—Lord Ardeth

  Anise—one of Jame’s ten-command, killed by the Noyat

  Anku—leader of the Merikit war maids, older sister of Gran Cyd

  Argentiel—That-Which-Preserves

  Arrin-ken—the third of the Three People of the Kencyrath; huge, catlike beings who act as judges

  Arrin-thar—use of claws or clawed gloves in combat

  Ashe—a haunt singer

  Bashti—one of the ancient kingdoms of the Central Lands

  Bashtiri shadow assassins—assassins who, thanks to special tattooing, are invisible and can cast their shadows

  Bear—Sheth’s brain-damaged elder brother, a former randon and Jame’s teacher in the Arrin-thar

  Beauty—a darkling wyrm

  Bel-tairi—a Whinno-hir, formerly Kinzi’s, now Jame’s

  blackheads—parasitical fish from the Silverhead

  Blackie—a nickname for Torisen

  Boden—Lord Brandan’s heir and nephew

  bonefire—a bonfire containing a Burnt Man’s bone

  Bran—a Brandan randon who teaches obscure weaponry

  Brant—Lord Brandan of Falkirr

  Brenwyr—Lord Brandan’s maledight sister

  Brier Iron-thorn—once a Caineron, now second in charge of Jame’s ten-command

  Brithany—Ardeth’s gray Whinno-hir mare

  Burley—the small stream that runs down beside Tentir to join the Silver River

  Burning Ones—servants of the Burning Man, mostly kin-slayers

  Burnt Man, the—the one of the Four who represents fire

  Burr—Torisen’s Kendar servant

  Caldane—Lord Caineron

  Cataracts, the—where the Kencyr Host and the Waster Horde met in battle

  Chain of Creation—a series of parallel universes connected through threshold worlds like Rathillien

  changer—one of the Master’s servants, who can assume any shape

  Chingetai—chief of the Merikit

  Clary—a Coman ten-commander

  Cloud—Sheth’s warhorse

  Commandant—title of the head of the randon college

  Corvine—a former Knorth Oath-breaker who has become a Randir sargent

  Cron—a Knorth Kendar

  d’hen—a Tai-tastigon knife-fighter’s coat

  Da—a Merikit woman who acts as a man; housebond of Ma

  Damson—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Dar—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Dari—Ardeth’s son and would-be heir

  Dark Judge—blind Arrin-ken obsessed with justice

  Death’s-head—a rathorn

  Director—title of the head of Mount Alban, the current one a blind Kendar

  direhounds—gaze-hounds used to run down prey

  Distan—Ardeth’s daughter, Pereden’s consort, Timmon’s mother

  dreamscape—the collective dream world of the Kencyrath

  Drie—an Ardeth cadet; Timmon’s half-brother and former whipping boy

  Dure—a Caineron cadet bound to a trock

  dwar—a deep, healing sleep

  Earth Wife, the—the one of the Four who represents the earth

  Eaten One, the—the one of the Four who represents water

  Erim—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Essiar—Lord Edirr, twin of Essien

  Essien—Lord Edirr, twin of Essiar

  Falconeer—any member of the Falconer’s class

  Falconer—blind teacher of those Shanir with bonds to animals

  Falkirr—Lord Brandan’s keep

  Fall, the—when Gerridon betrayed the Kencyrath to Perimal Darkling

  Falling Man, the—the one of the Four who represents air

  Fash—one of Gorbel’s ten-command

  Four, the—Rathillien’s elemental powers

  Ganth Gray Lord—Jame and Torisen’s father

  Gari—a Coman cadet with an affinity to insects

  Gen—a board game

  Gerraint—Ganth’s father

  Gerridon, Master of Knorth—the Knorth Highlord who betrayed his people to Perimal Darkling

  Ghill—Cron’s young son

  Ghost Walks, the—apartments where the Knorth lived at Gothregor before the Massacre

  Glendar—Gerridon’s younger brother, who became Highlord after the Fall

  Gnasher—wolver King of the Woods

  Gorbel—Caldane’s son and heir

  Gothregor—the Knorth keep

  Gran Cyd—queen of the Merikit

  Graykin—Jame’s Southron, half-bred servant

  Gray Lands—qhere the souls of the unburnt dead walk

  Gray-leggings—Gorbel’s warhorse

  Greshan Greed-heart—Ganth’s older brother; Jame and Tori’s uncle

  Grimly—Torisen’s friend, a wolver poet

  Hathir—one of the ancient kingdoms of the Central Lands

  Hatch—a young Merikit

  haunt—anything that has been tainted by the Haunted Lands and is therefore neither quite dead nor quite alive; usually mindless, but not in the case of Ashe

  Haunted Lands, the—lands to the northwest of Rathillien undercut by Perimal Darkling

  Hawthorn—a Brandan captain

  Higbert—one of Gorbel’s ten-command

  Highborn—the first of the Three People; ruling class of the Kencyrath

  Hinde—a Randir acolyte who can cause earthquakes

  Holly—Hollens, Lord Danior

  Holt, the—where Grimly and his wolvers live

  Honor’s Paradox—Where does honor lie, in obedience to one’s lord or to oneself?

  housebond—Merikit term for a husband

  Hurl—a Coman cadet

  Ice Maid—a Merikit girl offered to the Eaten One as his/her Favorite

  imu—primitive image associated with the Earth Wife

  Index—a scrollsman who specializes in the Merikit and on locating information

  Ivory Knife, the—one of the three objects of power, whose least scratch means death

  Jame—our heroine

  Jameth—a nickname which she hates

  Jamethiel Dream-weaver—Jame and Torisen’s mother, consort of the Master

  Jedrak—former Lord Jaran

  Jorin—Jame’s blind hunting ounce

  Karnid—a resident of Urakarn

  Kedan—temporary lord of the Jaran

  Kenan—Lord Randir

  Kencyr—generic term for any member of the Kencyrath

  Kencyr Houses—[see cha
rt]

  Kencyrath—the Three People; chosen by the Three-Faced God to stop Perimal Darkling

  Kendar—the second of the Three People; usually bound to a Highborn

  Keral—a darkling changer

  Killy—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Kindrie Soul-walker—a healer, cousin to Jame and Torisen

  King of the Wood—the wolver who leads the wolvers of the Deep Weald

  Kinzi Keen-eyed—Jame and Tori’s great-grandmother

  Kirien—the Jaran Lordan

  Kothifir—a great city on the edge of the Southern Wastes

  Krothen—current king of Kothifir

  Kruin—Krothen’s father

  Lawful Lie, the—the singer’s prerogative to stretch the truth

  lodge-wyf—a Merikit woman who owns a lodge and therefore can have housebonds

  lordan—a lord’s heir

  Ma—a Merikit lodge-wyf

  Macarn—Jame’s elderly Kendar friend

  Mack—a mouse

  maledight—a Shanir who can kill with a curse

  Marc—a Kendar friend of Jameth

  Massacre, the—some thirty years ago, shadow assassins killed all the Knorth ladies except for Tieri; no one knows why

  Master, the—Gerridon

  master-ten—the cadet in charge of a barracks

  Merikit—a northern hill tribe

  Mick—a mouse

  Mint—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Molocar—a type of massive, powerful hound

  Mother Ragga—the Earth Wife

  Mount Alban—the Scrollsmen’s College

  Mouse—an Edirr cadet and Falconeer

  Moyden—a scrollsman who knows about prehistory of the Southern Wastes

  Mullen—a Knorth Kendar whose name Torisen forgot

  Narsa—an Ardeth cadet; Timmon’s lover

  Nemesis—the incarnation of That-Which-Destroys

  Niall—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Nidling—chief of the Noyat

  Noyat—a northern hill tribe under the influence of Perimal Darkling

  Nusair—Caldane’s son, killed by a changer

  Oath-breaker—a Knorth who refused to follow Ganth into exile

  Obidin—Gorbel’s five-commander

  Odalian—a prince of Karkinaroth

  Old Blood—a Shanir

  Old Tentir—the fortress part of Tentir, as distinct from the cadets’ barracks

  ounce—a hunting cat the size of a serval

  Pereden Proud-prance—Ardeth’s favorite son

  Perimal Darkling—an entity eating its way down the Chain of Creation from threshold world to world

  pook—a strange little dog capable of tracking across the folds in the land

  Prid—a Merikit girl

  Quill—one of Jame’s ten-command

  Ran—term of respect for a randon officer

  Randiroc—the exiled Randir Lordan

  randon—officer class

  Randon Council—nine senior randon, one from each house, who alternate as Commandant of Tentir

  rathorn—an ivory-clad, horned beast rather like a cross between a horse and a dragon

  Rawneth—the Randir Matriarch

  Reef—Randir master-ten

  Regonereth—That-Which-Destroys, the Third Face of God

  River Snake—the chaos serpent which extends down the length of the River Silver’s bed

  Rowan—Torisen’s steward

  Rue—Jame’s servant; one of her ten-command

  Sar—title of respect for a randon sargent

  scrollsman—a scholar or singer

  scythe-arms—a weapon composed of two double-pointed blades of unequal length

  Sene—a combination of the Senetha and the Senethar

  Senetha—dance form of the Senethar

  Senethar—unarmed combat composed of earth-moving, fire-leaping, wind-blowing and water-flowing

  Senethari—a master or teacher

  Shade—a Randir cadet, Kendar daughter of Lord Randir

  Shanir—Kencyr with special powers or traits; all have at least some Highborn blood

  Sheth Sharp-tongue—Caineron war-leader and current commandant of Tentir

  shwupp—a subterranean scavenger that traps its prey in muddy pits

  Silver Steps, the—the series of falls between the Silverhead and the River Silver

  Silverhead, the—the headwater of the Silver

  singer—a scrollsman or scrollswoman entitled to use the Lawful Lie

  soul-image—the image that embodies each person’s soul

  soulscape—the collective space where all Kencyr soul-images overlap

  Southern Host, the—the largest standing Kencyr army, employed by King Krothen of Kothifir

  Storm—Torisen’s warhorse

  Tarn—a Danior cadet and Falconeer

  Tentir—the randon college

  Thal—a Tastigon god

  Those-who-returned—Kencyr who tried to follow Ganth Gray Lord into exile, whom he drove back

  Three-Faced God, the—the god of the Kencyrath, composed of Creation, Preservation, and Destruction

  Timmon—the Ardeth Lordan

  Tirandys—a darkling changer; also Jame’s Senethari or teacher

  Torisen Black Lord—Lord Knorth, Highlord of the Kencyrath; Jame’s twin brother

  Torvi—Tarn’s Molocar

  Trishien—the Jaran Matriarch

  trock—an omnivorous creature that looks like a rock

  Tungit—a Merikit shaman

  Twizzle—Gorbel’s pook

  Tyr-ridan—three individuals who represent the Three Faces of God

  Urakarn—a city on the eastern edge of the Southern Wastes

  Vant—Jame’s former five-commander and master-ten

  war maid—a Merikit woman who chooses to fight and hunt like a man

  Waster Horde—a cannibalistic mass of people who endlessly circle the Southern Wastes

  watch wierdling—a leather-encased Merikit corpse that acts as a watchman

  Weald, the—the greater forest, of which the Holt is part

  Whinno-hir—near immortal equines, allies of the Kencyrath

  White Hills, the—where Ganth battled the Seven Kings and lost

  White Knife, the—the agent of an honorable death, modeled on the Ivory Knife

  Willow—Marc’s little sister

  Winter War—an annual military exercise carried out within Tentir

  Witch of Wilden—Rawneth

  Wither—Spokesman for Kenan

  wolver—werewolves or wolfmen who change at will

  Women’s World, the—most Highborn women belong to this largely secret society

  wyrm—a darkling crawler, or very large creepy-crawly with a poisonous bite

  yackcarn—big, ugly beasts; a cross between wooly mammoths and warthogs

  Yce—Torisen’s wolver pup

  yondri-gon—threshold-dwellers; Kendar without a lord who take on temporary service with a house

 

 

 


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