Reign of Beasts (40 page)

Lupercalia
— one-day festival in Lupercal during which men carouse in the streets wearing goatskins, goat masks and fake phalluses. Not unheard of for their real phalluses to hang out, in the name of veracity.

Lysandor
— member of the Creature Court; rank: Lord. Fled with Celeste during Garnet's tyrannical reign as Power and Majesty.

Macready
— sentinel. Weapons: Alicity (steel sword), Tarea (skysilver sword), Phoebe (steel dagger), Jeunille (skysilver dagger); hilts wrapped in green leather.

Margarethe
— one of the lower districts of Aufleur, run-down and poor.

Market-nines
— every ninth day (nundinae) is a public market day, regardless of other festival constraints. The phrase ‘market-nine' refers to these nine-day groupings. Market-nines fall on different days each year.

Mars/Warlord
— member of the Creature Court; rank: Lord; creature: panther (Khatri zaba in Zafiran). Born Maziz del Sara, he was the son of the Zafiran ambassador.

Matralia
— festival during month of Lucina, when mothers and maternal relatives everywhere are crowned with silverbreath and ivy.

Mercatus
— grand city-wide market festivals held in Cerialis and Ludi, the two months with the most sacred games.

Musette
— a theatrical establishment or performance, usually in the style of a music hall, variety show or pantomime.

Nefas
— means ‘unlucky', particularly in relation to a day; eg the day immediately after the Kalends, Nones or Ides of each month is nefas, and business transactions are rarely performed on these days.

Nova Stella —
a land far to the West of Ammoria, discovered and colonised two hundred years previously by explorers from Stelleza. Source for ciocolate and tobacco.

Nox
— night, but also ‘the world of the night', which belongs to the Creature Court and is visible only to them.

Orcadia
— northwestern region, known for its gentle climate and bubbled wine.

Orphan Princel
— Poet's theatrical alter ego and star of the Mermaid Revue.

Ortheus
— former member of the Creature Court; rank: King; Power and Majesty (before Garnet).

Palazzo
— home of the ruling ducal family, located on the Balisquine Hill and surrounded by other opulent residences. A former Palazzo, now abandoned, is located on the Avleurine Hill.

Parentalia
— nine-day festival from the 13 to 21 of Lupercal, during which all citizens of Aufleur travel to place flowers and sweetmeats on their family tombs and grave markers. White silk garlands are traditionally worn.

Paucini
— one of the twelve Great Families of Aufleur.

Piazza Nautilia
— public square at the conjunction of three major streets in Aufleur: Via Delgardie, Via Leondrine and Via Camellie; location of Triton's Church and the best public baths in Aufleur.

Poet
— member of the Creature Court; rank: Lord; creature: white rats. Moonlights as the Orphan Princel, a famous musette performer.

Power and Majesty
— leader of the Creature Court; must hold the rank of King.

Priest
— member of the Creature Court; rank: Lord; creature: pigeon.

Proctors
— public officials elected each year; one for each district in Aufleur. Included among the City Fathers.

Quirinalia
— One-day festival on 17 of Lupercal, overlapping with the Fornacalia and Parentalia. Bunches of myrtle are exchanged and worn at the belt to ward off ill-luck for soldiers. Vigiles and lictors are allowed this day off public duties for religious observance.

Reyenna
— formerly one of the three duchies of Ammoria. After disappearance of its capital city, Tierce, Reyenna became one of the baronies of Lattorio.

Rhian
— friend to Velody and Delphine; florister.

Sage
— Velody's brother, who was lost along with the rest of her family when Tierce was swallowed by the sky. Originally a dock worker, he was injured in an accident and ended up taking recreational potions for many years before cleaning up his act and getting factory work.

Saints
— worshipped by the daylight folk through rituals and festivals. ‘Saints and angels' and ‘saints and devils' are two common swearing phrases heard throughout the city.

Samara
— legendary former member of the Creature Court; female Lord who took in too much animor and blew apart. Cited as evidence that women cannot be Kings.

Saturnalia
— an eight-day festival, held from 17 to 24 of Saturnalis, in which masters and servants traditionally swap roles, men and women wear each other's clothing, etc. Also sometimes known as the Feast of Fools, it celebrates all things topsy-turvy. Traditional refreshments include hot cider, bean syrup and roasted chestnuts. Also an important theatre season.

Scratchlight
— weapon used by the sky in battle; kills one in fifty mortals it hits — not as effective as the rarer shadowstreak or gleamspray.

Seer
— member of the Creature Court but without animor. The Seer has the ability to look into the future and pull out visions of what is to come; serves the Power and Majesty only and has no other affiliations within the Court. The Seer never lies.

Sentinels
— the loyal armed servants of the Kings of the Creature Court. Each bears blades of steel and skysilver to represent the thin line they tread between belonging to the nox and the daylight. They are ready to give up their blood to their masters at a moment's notice.

Seonard
— member of the Creature Court; rank: courteso to Livilla; creature: wolf.

Serenai
— patron saint of gamblers and good fortune. Friendly bets often include promises for the loser to sacrifice to Serenai or other saints and angels on the winner's behalf.

Shade
— member of the Creature Court; rank: courteso to Dhynar (formerly courteso to Lief); creature: black darkhound.

Silent Sleep
— a fatal illness that tends to affect the very young and the elderly. A side-effect of skybattle, but to daylight folk a mystery illness that attacks without warning and leaves no contamination trail.

Silver Brethren
— a chaste order of male priests, who wear silver chains and shave their heads. They never speak once they have taken orders, only sing and chant during their street processions.

Silver Captain
— Nathanial, former leader of the sentinels. Died on Vestalia, three years before the return of Ashiol.

Silverstorm
— shards of skysilver generated by the sky during battle.

Skybattle
— when the sky opens and attacks the city, using all manner of deadly weapons. Only happens at nox, and only the Creature Court and their allies, such as the Seer and Sentinels, are aware of it. The Creature Court exists to battle the sky and protect the city. Any damage to buildings or other parts of the city is repaired at dawn, and any daylight folk affected by the sky's weapons recover and return to normal. Occasionally there are fatalities if a person has suffered a direct hit, particularly if they are very young or elderly. Such fatalities are referred to by the daylight folk as the Silent Sleep.

Skyburn
— the effect of some sky weapons on the sentinels. In its lightest form it is similar to sunburn; more serious symptoms include deeply reddened or bruised skin, fever and weakness.

Skyfall
— to be swallowed by the sky. Death by skyfall means a Court member's animor goes with them into the sky and is lost forever, instead of being shared among the survivors of the Creature Court. ‘The sky is falling' is an expression often used to indicate that a skybattle is beginning.

Skyseed
— a red cloud that is the seed of a deathstorm. Deathstorms bring flaming hail, ‘devils' (violent animated dust clouds) and ‘angels' (poisonous bursts of steam)' ] A skyseed can be destroyed by lancing — similar to lancing a boil, only a million times more disgusting.

Skysilver
— a metallic substance that falls from the sky. The Creature Court believe it comes from the stars. All skysilver is the property of Kings and given to the Smith, who forges it into weapons for the sentinels.

Slow rain
— a force of destruction from the sky, liquid that can burn a hole right through a member of the Court and give a sentinel skyburn. Usually occurs a couple of times a month, often heralding worse to come.

Smith, the
— a figure part of and apart from the Creature Court, only accessible for an hour at noon each day. The Smith crafts the skysilver into weapons for the sentinels, and has been around since before Aufleur was built.

Star tar
— hideous black muck that oozes through the cracks in the sky during the worst skybattles.

Stelleza
— an affluent country to the west of Ammoria, known for its adventurers and explorers. Strong trading partner with Aufleur.

Surrender
— a party potion that makes the user high and giddy.

Sweetheart Saints
— patron saints of romance and sweethearts.

Tasha
— former member of the Creature Court; rank: Lord; creature: lion. Recruited Ashiol, Garnet, Poet and Livilla as her courtesi. Died foresworn, and returned as a shade who dragged corruption and disease through the city before she was stopped.

Temple of the Market Saints
— located on the Avleurine hill. The Market Saints are the patron saints of all traders and merchants.

Tierce
— capital city of Reyenna, and where Velody, Delphine and Rhian come from. When Tierce disappeared, Reyenna became a barony of the duchy of Lattorio.

Trajus Alysaundre —
third Duc d'Aufleur;
see also
‘Gardens of Trajus'.

Velody
— friend to Rhian and Delphine; dressmaker. Member of the Creature Court; rank: King; creature: little brown mouse.

Vestalia
— a rural festival on the ninth day of Lucina in which people dress up in milkmaid costumes, aprons and other ‘peasant' attire. Other features are green paper lanterns and sacrifices of cake, bread and salt. The day is also considered sacred to bakers and millers.

Via Ciceline
— a vibrant shopping strip in the heart of the wealthy Centrini district.

Via Silviana
— a narrow street crammed between the affluent Vittorine hill and the shabby, bustling Giacosa commercial district. The shop belonging to Velody, Rhian and Delphine stands at the halfway point between Vittorine and Giacosa, under the sign of the rose and needle.

Vittorine
— one of the hill districts of Aufleur; also extends below the foot of the hill into an upmarket shopping district that meets the thriving merchant district of Giacosa.

Warlord
— member of the Creature Court;
see
‘Mars'.

Xandelian
— one of the districts of Aufleur. Also the name of the current ruling ducal family, whose members include Ynescho, Augusta, Artorio, Isangell and Ashiol.

Ynescho Xandelian
— the old Duc, grandfather to Isangell and Ashiol, father of Artorio and Augusta. Ruled with an iron fist until his wits gave way; his wife, Duchessa Givette, took over as his Regenta.

Zafir
— an eastern country rich with culture, source of the popular ‘princessa and djinn' plays that are a regularly revived trend in the Aufleur theatres and musettes.

Zero
— member of the Creature Court; rank: courteso to Poet; creature: weasel.

This trilogy has been a very long time in the making. When I first started writing it, I was a PhD student with no children, and a remarkable amount of free time. Seven years later, I am the mother of two, and writing takes place thanks to naps and daycare.

Many people contributed to making this book happen. I can't thank them all without ending up with another book on my hands, but here are the highlights:

The many editors, proofers and other people at HarperCollins who have worked on making Creature Court as good as it can be, especially Stephanie Smith and Anne Reilly. Nicola O'Shea's structural and copy edits have been magnificent — with every book I hoped she would be able to squeeze me into her busy schedule, and she made the editorial process far less stressful than it usually is!

My agent, Anni Haig-Smith.

The RoRettes: Marianne de Pierres, Rowena Cory Daniells, Margo Lanagan, Maxine McArthur, Trent Jamieson, Richard Harland and Dirk Flinthart, who read
Power and Majesty
at various stages and contributed so much to the structure of that vital first novel. I am so grateful for their continuing support and love, and for the way they make me think harder about what kind of book I am writing.

Kaia, my Swedish writing fairy, first reader and sharp wielder of the red pen. I rely utterly on her to tell me when I have accidentally plagiarised dialogue from popular TV
shows, to critique my portrayal of dressmaking, and to care just that little bit more deeply about the deaths of beloved characters than even I do myself.

My friends and family, who have been so madly supportive of these books, and my writerly ‘comeback'. A particular shout out to Isabel, who has bought extra copies whenever she needed a present, who sneakily organises publicity for me when she can, and who managed to bring more family members to the
Power and Majesty
book launch than I did!

My mother, Jilli, whose mapmaking skills came to the fore in my hour of need. Collaborating with her on this aspect of the books was an unexpected pleasure.

Andrew, my partner and biggest fan, who makes a point of acquiring my books in every possible format, and who makes sure our daughters see how much he values my work.

Raeli and Jem, who make me happy every time they pick up a book, even if it's the same one every five minutes.