The Four Forges (81 page)

Garner had found Jeredon and Nutmeg before they did. The smell of woodsmoke and food reached them with tantalizing goodness, along with voices and laughter on the air. They were all wrapped in bandages, and leaning upon one another, but they were none of them mangled, not as Grace had feared.

Nutmeg saw them first. She rose to her feet and ran, catapulting herself at Rivergrace, crying, “You did it!” She spun Rivergrace in a dance about her, hands tight upon her as if she would never let go. “The river runs from here, Jeredon tells us, into the high hills and then back down into the kingdom. You did it!”

Lariel went to her knees beside Jeredon and they held each other tightly for a long moment without words. He, alone, had not gotten to his feet. Then, holding him by the shoulders, she pulled back for an intense look.

“I will walk again,” he told her. “Someday. Meanwhile, we may have to find a smith to make me a chariot.”

“That will be the second thing I order, then,” his queen sister answered.

“And the first?”

“You know the first.”

“Would I ask if I did?”

“I have a war to prepare for, but this time, they must carry it to me, for I will not rush headlong to it.”

He gave a sigh, then a nod, and they hugged again.

Nonplussed, Garner kept turning the spit upon which he roasted a few rabbits until Rivergrace leaned over to knuckle his hair. “Kiss the cook,” he responded, grinning, and she planted a kiss on his tousled head.

Nutmeg pulled the packs to her, rifling through them, saying, “Grace, you’re hardly clothed. You’ll sunburn and freckle like you always do.”

She looked down at herself, faintly surprised that she was indeed, still blood and flesh, and took the clothes Nutmeg handed to her, her thoughts still somewhat absent and far away.

On the morning wind, a horse neighed. It rang down the mountain, a faint trumpeting challenge, and they all paused to listen, their heads turning in its direction. Rivergrace took a tentative step that way.

“It can’t be,” Lariel said.

“Sssssh,” her brother hushed her, his keen hunter’s gaze sweeping toward the wilderness. “It can’t be. We sent him to Larandaril carrying the body . . .” He listened, his eyes glistening.

She dropped the garments Nutmeg had pushed into her hands and walked to the rough trail, each step coming faster and faster until she broke into a run. Her heart beat in her throat with every step as a horse came into her view, hurtling itself heedlessly down the mountain pathway, Aymaran’s mane and tail bannered on the wind, and he bore a pale rider on his back.

She raced toward it as it raced toward her, and her heart leaped as he called to her, his voice full and mortal and bearing love.

“Aderro!”

300
—Magi create Galdarkan guards.

223
—The Raymy are defeated and retreat across the ocean, leaving Ravers stranded behind.

90
—Magi wars. Most magic users die and magic fades from Kerith.

0
—Collapse of the Empire.

90 AE (After Empire)
—Creation of City States through trader guilds.

112
—Galdarkan Rebellion, the collapse of which sends the survivors into the barrens as nomads.

312
—Vaelinars invade Kerith, starting a hundred years of slavery, strife, impressments.

423
—Accords signed, principally between the Houses and Strongholds of the Vaelinars for their own civil wars, but are extended to the City States.

501
—Bolger clans unite, begin warfare.

511
—Vaelinars step in to help defeat Bolger clans, but then retire to a deep seclusion, as their numbers are hard hit. Kanako defeats the Bolger tribes, but his lineage dies with him.

700
—Vahlinora is born.

703
—Gilgarran dies.

721
—Bolgers emboldened, and Raver raids begin anew.

723
—Nutmeg Farbranch pulls a waif from the Silverwing River waters.

723
—A major assassination attempt in Calcort signals new animosities toward the Vaelinars.

733
—Ravers and Bolgers join together in raiding groups with new aggressions.

737
—Accords Conference in Calcort brings riots, and the Accords are contested.

737
—Abayan Diort begins forcible unification of the Galdarkans.

aderro:
(Vaelinar corruption of the Dweller greeting Derro) an endearment meaning little one

alna:
(Dweller) a fishing bird

astiri:
(Vaelinar) true path

avandara:
(Vaelinar) verifier, truth-finder

Aymar:
(Vaelinar) elemental God of the wind and air

Banh:
(Vaelinar) elemental God of earth

Calcort:
a major trading city

Cerat:
(Vaelinar) deathdrinker

Daran:
(Vaelinar) the God of Dark, God of the Three

defer:
(Kernan) a hot drink with spices and milk

Dhuriel:
(Vaelinar) elemental God of Fire

emeraldbark:
(Dweller) a long-lived, tall, insect- and fire-resistant evergreen

forkhorn:
(Kernan) a beast of burden with wide, heavy horns

Hawthorne:
capital of the free provinces

kedant:
(Kernan) a potent poison from the kedant viper

Lina:
(Vaelinar) elemental Goddess of water

Nar:
(Vaelinar) God of the Three, the God of War

Nevinaya aliora:
(Vaelinar) You must remember the soul

Nylara:
(Kernan) a treacherous, vital river

quinberry:
a tart yet sweet berry fruit

Rakka:
(Kernan) elemental Demon, he who follows in the wake of the earth mover doing damage

skraw:
(Kernan) a carrion eating bird

staghorns:
elklike creatures

stinkdog:
a beslimed unpleasant porcine critter

Stonesend:
a Dweller trading village

tashya:
(Vaelinar) a warm-blooded breed of horse

teah:
(Kernan) a hot drink brewed from leaves

ukalla:
(Bolgish) a large hunting dog

Vae:
(Vaelinar) Goddess of Light, God of the Three

vantane:
(Vaelinar) war falcon

velvethorns:
a lithe deerlike creature

winterberry:
a cherrylike fruit

Abayan Diort
—mercenary Galdarkan captain and leader

Adeena
—a Kernan seamstress

Alton ild Fallyn
—a son of ild Fallyn Stronghold

Azel d’Stanthe
—the scholar of the shrouded Vaelinar domain, Ferstanthe, holder of lores

Berlash
—a healer for Greathouse

Bistane
—warrior poet

Bistel
—patriarch of House Vantane

Bregan Oxfort
—Kernan trader, powerful son of a powerful family

Cavender Barrel
—Barrel family patriarch

Croft
—a weasel of a Dweller

Daravan
—a rogue Vaelinar, unlisted in their original rolls

Frelar
—a female healer at Larandaril

Garner Farbranch
—oldest Farbranch son

Gilgarran
—a Vaelinar ranger

Guthry Barrel
—of the Silverwing militia (D)

Honeyfoot
—general supplies merchant

Hosmer Farbranch
—middle Farbranch son

Jeredon Eladar
—older half brother to Lariel Anderieon

Keldan Farbranch
—youngest of the Farbranch boys

Kever ild Istlanthir
—a son of House Istlanthir

Kobrir
—known assassins, Kurtiss and Kosh

Lariel Anderieon
—Warrior Queen

Lent Barrel
—of the Silverwing militia (D)

Lily Farbranch
—wife of Tolby Farbranch, a seamstress

Mistress Robin Greathouse
—a Dweller trader

Nutmeg Farbranch
—daughter of Tolby and Lily

Osten ild Drebukar
—the youngest scion of House Drebukar

Perty
—Mayor Stonehand’s assistant

Quendius
—a Vaelinar half-breed weaponsmith and armorer

Randall Hawthorne
—Grand Mayor of the free and western provinces

Rivergrace
—an escaped slave of Vaelinar heritage

Rufus
—a Bolger forge slave

Sevryn Dardanon
—a Vaelinar half-breed of the streets

Sweetbrook
—Dweller miller

Thom Stonehand
—Dweller mayor of Calcort

Tiiva Pantoreth
—last direct blood heir of House Pantoreth

Tiym Panner
—wealthy Dweller trader

Tolby Farbranch
—Dweller rancher and former caravan guard

Tranta Istlanthir
—Vaelinar caretaker of Tomarq

Tressandre ild Fallyn
—heir to Stronghold ild Fallyn

Willard Oxfort
—a Kernan trader of great wealth and power