I’m wanting at all.’ There and then in the darkness, he unstrapped his bundle and tugged off oiled leather coverings. ‘Play me that tune I once asked for.’ Not waiting for answer he thrust his beautiful instrument into the arms of his apprentice.
Arithon caressed the scrolled soundboard, drew a breath that smelled of wax and resins and fine wood. He could not speak. He feared to move, lest he disturb the frailty of his happiness. Halliron Masterbard had laid a lyranthe between his hands and offered his heart’s whole desire.
Unseen in the fragrant summer gloom, the shy woodthrush ventured a last, lyric arpeggio. Crickets rasped undisturbed by any approaching footstep. After a moment of fractured suspension, Arithon laid to rest his final fear. He accepted that no one would burst from the wood in appeal for a cause he could not for conscience fail to shoulder.
For this night and others he was free. He could sit, set his hands to silver strings and at long last, bend sorrow into music.
In Mirthlvain Swamp, Asandir and Dakar join Verrain’s patrol of black pools, to check for resurgence of meth- snakes before the seasonal autumn spawning: Traithe and Kharadmon arrive in Shand; and while the Fellowship’s hope for the south centres on one last prince raised in hiding, the Warden of Althain tracks two cursed royal heirs who survive, and awaits against hope any sign that the Black Rose Prophecy might still hold valid…
In Korias the hour after sunrise, First Enchantress Lirenda presents report from the lane-watch to her mistress, Morriel Prime; and the news is unhappily received, that the initiates entrusted with scrying through fifth lane vibrations have lost track of the Master of Shadows…
In the lightless shaft of Rockfell, sealed behind triple rings of wards, the Mistwraith that once blocked sunlight from Athera languishes in confinement; and if it knows that its grand curse to destroy two half-brothers has once been tested and thwarted, it endures in unquiet hatred…
Glossary
ADON – statue of centaur king, one of the twins who founded the Ilitharis Paravian royal line in the First Age. The carving forms one side of the arch of Standing Gate on the road leading east into the Pass of Orlan, Camris, Tysan.pronounced: a-don, rhymes with ‘hay don’root meaning:
ALATHWYR TOWER – one of five towers built by Paravians in the middle of the First Age at Ithamon, principality of Daon Ramon, Rathain. Its stonework of white alabaster is warded by the virtue, Wisdom. It stands North, of the four towers that remain standing in the Third Age; hence the common name used by men, being Compass Point Towers, or Sun Towers.pronounced: ah-lath-weer (a’s to rhyme with as) emphasis on middle syllableroot meaning: wisdom:
ALITHIEL – one of twelve Blades of Isaer, forged by centaur Ffereton s’Darian in the Second Age from metal taken from a meteorite. Passed through Paravian possession, acquired the secondary name Dael Farenn, or Kingmaker, since its owners tended to succeed the end of a royal line. Eventually was awarded to Kamridian s’Ffalenn for his valour in defence of the princess Taliennse, early Third Age.pronounced: ah-lith-ee-elroot meaning:
ALTHAIN TOWER – spire built at the edge of the Bittern Desert, beginning of the Second Age, to house records of Paravian histories. Third Age, became repository for the archives of all five royal houses of men after rebellion, overseen by Sethvir, Warden of Althain and Fellowship sorcerer.pronounced: al like all, thain to rhyme with mainroot meaning:
AMROTH – kingdom on West Gate splinter world, Dascen Elur, ruled by s’Ilessid descendants of the prince exiled through the Worldsend Gate at the time of the rebellion, Third Age just after the Mistwraith’s conquest.pronounced: am-roth (rhyme with sloth)root meaning:
ANGLEFEN – swampland located in Deshir, Rathain. Town of same name at the river mouth with port to Stormwell Gulf. One of the six port towns that link sea trade-routes with Etarra.pronounced: angle-fenroot meaning is not Paravian
ARAETHURA-grass plains in southwest Rathain; principality of the same name in that location. Largely inhabited by Riathan Paravians in the Second Age. Third Age, used as pastureland by widely scattered nomadic shepherds.pronounced: ar-eye-thoo-rahroot meaning:
ARAITHE – plain to the north of the trade city of Etarra, principality of Fallowmere, Rathain. First Age, among the sites used by the Paravians to renew the mysteries and channel fifth lane energies. The standing stones erected are linked to the power focus at Ithamon and Methisle Keep.pronounced: araithe, rhymes with ‘a wraith’root meaning:
ARITHON – son of Avar, prince of Rathain, 1,504th Teir’s’Ffalenn after founder of the line, Torbrand in Third Age year 1. Also Master of Shadow, and the Bane of Desh-thiere.pronounced: ar-i-thon – almost rhymes with ‘marathon’root meaning:
ASANDIR – Fellowship sorcerer. Secondary name, Kingmaker, since his hand crowned every high king of Men to rule in the Age of Men (Third Age.) After the Mistwraith’s conquest, he acted as field agent for the Fellowship’s doings across the continent. Also called Fiend-Quencher, for his reputation for quelling iyats; Storm-breaker, and Change-bringer for past actions when Men asked to settle upon Athera.pronounced: ah-san-deerroot meaning:
ATAINIA – Northeastern principality of Tysanpronounced: ah-tay-nee-ahroot meaning:
ATH CREATOR – prime vibration, force behind all life.pronounced: ath to rhyme with ‘math’root meaning:
ATHERA – name for the continent which holds the Five High Kingdoms; one of two major landmasses on the planet.pronounced: ath-air-ahroot meaning:
ATHLIEN PARAVIANS – Sunchildren. Small race of semi-mortals, pixie-like, but possessed of great wisdom/keepers of the grand mystery.pronounced: ath-lee-enroot meaning:
