The Destiny of the Dead (The Song of the Tears Book 3) (90 page)

Regression Spell
:
A dangerous and painful spell to make oneself temporarily younger, though the
after-effects are extremely unpleasant.

Renewal
: A mighty
and desperately dangerous self-administered spell through which a mancer may
replace his old body with a new one, though more mancers die during the attempt
than succeed.

Revenants
:
Stilkeen’s severed spirit aspects, now trapped in the shadow realm.

Reversion
: A
dangerous and difficult spell employed to turn back the effects of another
spell, even long after it has been used.

Rulke
: A
Charon and the greatest of The Hundred. In ancient times Rulke was imprisoned
in the Nightland until a way could be found to banish him back to Aachan. When
Tensor opened a portal into the Nightland, Rulke was able to escape into
Santhenar, but he was later killed by Tensor. He was the father of Emberr.

Ryll
: A once
ostracised wingless lyrinx; a hero of the war and an honourable male, he rose
to become Patriarch of the lyrinx as they went to Tallallame.

Santhenar, Santh: The least of the Three Worlds, home
of the old human peoples.

Secret Art, or Art: The use of magical or sorcerous
powers (mancing). An art that very few can use and then only after considerable
training. The Art was greatly weakened ten years ago, after Tiaan destroyed all
the nodes of power, thus concentrating virtually all mancery in Jal-Nish’s
sorcerous Profane Tears.

Shadow realm
:
An uncanny, and very deadly, place where spirits and other non-mortals dwell
after death. Stilkeen’s revenants are trapped there.

Shazmak
: The
forgotten city of the Aachim, in the mountains west of Bannador. It was sacked
by the Ghâshâd after they were woken from their long years as Whelm and is now
only partly occupied by the Aachim Clan Elienor.

Skeet
: A
large, vicious bird used for carrying messages long distances.

Snizort
: A
locale in eastern Lauralin where there are vast underground tar deposits and
seeps. The lyrinx had an underground city there during the war, and the
destruction of the Snizort node led to the formation of the Profane Tears.

Span
: The
distance spanned by the stretched arms of a tall man. About six feet, or
slightly less than two metres.

Spying Devices
:
The God-Emperor has many spying devices, such as wisp-watchers, loop listeners
and snoop-sniffers, all relaying information back to the Profane Tear called
Gatherer.

Stilkeen, The
:
An immortal shapeshifting
being
,
originally composed of physical and spirit aspects (revenants) bound together
by chthonic fire. For half an eternity it roamed the eleven dimensions of space
and time, until Yalkara stole its chthonic fire. Now Stilkeen is trapped in one
physical form, and is in great pain, especially in the physical worlds. It
yearns desperately to be reunited with its revenants, which are in the shadow
realm, and burns for revenge for the mortal insult done to it, but before it
can do either it has to have its chthonic fire back.

Talent
: A
native skill or gift, usually honed by extensive training.

Tallallame
:
One of the Three Worlds, once the world of the Faellem. A beautiful,
mountainous world covered in forest but now, in a cosmic irony, infested by
alien creatures from the void, though the ferocious lyrinx are gradually
exterminating them.

Taphloid
: A
small egg-shaped object made from yellow metal which was given to Maelys by her
father, and which protects her by concealing the aura created by her untapped
gift for the Art. It has other, unknown powers and is said to contain an
important secret.

Tears
: see
Profane Tears.

Teller
: One
who has mastered the ritual telling of the tales that form part of the Histories
of Santhenar.

Tensor
: The
proud, flawed leader of the Aachim for thousands of years, he let Rulke out of
the Nightland. Tensor was killed at the end of the Tale of the Mirror.

Tetrarch
: A
person bearing the blood of all four human species, and (hopefully) free of
their individual frailties. The Numinator’s great breeding project aims to
create tetrarchs but after two hundred years all her efforts have failed. Also
called quartine.

Thapter
: A
flying construct. Tiaan and Malien created the first one during the war.

Three Worlds: Santhenar, Aachan and Tallallame.

Tiaan
: A
brilliant but troubled artisan who became a heroine towards the end of the
lyrinx war, but she could not bear to see all the ruin brought about by mancery
and destroyed all the nodes of power at the end of the war, taking most of the
world’s Arts with it. This had the unintended consequence of allowing Jal-Nish,
who held the Profane Tears, to seize ultimate power.

Time of the
Mirror
: The interval spanned by the Tale of the Mirror, roughly 224 to 220
years ago.

Tower of a
Thousand Steps
: The Numinator’s tower on the frozen Island of Noom, in the
far south. It was made of ice, but she recently destroyed it in an explosion of
distilled chthonic fire after Emberr died, and Flydd and his allies escaped
through a portal.

Triune
: A
double blending – one with the blood of all Three Worlds, three different
human species. They are extremely rare but may have remarkable abilities. Karan
and Maigraith were triune.

Tulitine
: A
mysterious old woman, healer and seer, who helped to bring together the
Defiance, and then encouraged and aided Nish on the way to the Range of Ruin,
even using the perilous Regression Spell on herself so she could reach him to
tell him that he had been betrayed. She is the Numinator’s granddaughter but
has been repudiated by her.

Vivimord
:
See Monkshart.

Void, the
:
The endless space between the real worlds. A Darwinian place where life is more
brutal and fleeting than anywhere. The void teems with the most exotic life
imaginable, for nothing survives there without remaking itself constantly, and
everything there longs to escape to one of the real worlds.

Vomix, Seneschal
:
Jal-Nish’s seneschal in Fadd. A vicious brute who destroyed Maelys’s clan
because of something she said about him as a child. He pursued Nish and Maelys
relentlessly after Nish’s escape, until she nearly destroyed him with the touch
of her taphloid, which gruesomely inverted his aura.

War, the
:
See Lyrinx War.

Whelm
: See
Ghâshâd.

Xervish Flydd
:
A great mancer, former scrutator (i.e. spy-master and master inquisitor) and
military commander during the lyrinx war, and one of the architects of the
peace that ended it. Flydd went into hiding after Jal-Nish took over at the end
of the war, and ended up trapped by old age and infirmity at the top of
Mistmurk Mountain for nine years, until Nish and Maelys found him there. Maelys
convinced Flydd to take renewal so they could try to find the antithesis to the
tears, but the renewal went wrong. He is slowly recovering but seems colder,
harder and less trustworthy. Subsequently, fleeing from the God-Emperor and
Vivimord, he discovered the chthonic fire and used it to make a portal and
escape, though they ended up in the Nightland. After visiting a cave in
Elludore, where Flydd obtained the mimemule, he took Maelys to the Tower of a
Thousand Steps in search of the antithesis, precipitating the fall of the
tower, Maelys’s second visit to the Nightland, and finally their escape with
Yggur and others to the Range of Ruin.

Yalkara
: one
of the greatest of all the Charon, she took the surviving, sterile Charon back
to the void, to extinction, at the end of the Tale of the Mirror, but then
returned to Santhenar, trying to find a way to get her son Emberr out of the
Nightland. It has since emerged that Yalkara stole chthonic fire in ancient
times, so the Charon could escape from the void, but that fire made most of
them sterile on Aachan, caused the volcanic ruin of Aachan and then, most
ironic of all, her own son’s death. Now she is hunting Maelys, thinking that
she could be pregnant with Emberr’s child. If she is, Yalkara plans to take it.
She also appeared in Flydd’s mind, after his renewal, as the woman in red; and
as Bel she helped he, Maelys and Colm to escape from Plogg, on their way to
Elludore.

Yggur
: A
great mancer who has lived for far more than a thousand years. No one
understands the reason for his incredibly long life, nor his unusual powers
which, unlike almost all others’, were not lost when the nodes were destroyed
at the end of the war. He was held prisoner by the Numinator for seven years
but has recently been freed by his old rival, Flydd.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ian Irvine was born in Bathurst in 1950, and educated
at Chevalier College and the University of Sydney, where he took a PhD in
marine science.

 
After working as
an environmental project manager, Ian set up his own consulting firm in 1986,
carrying out studies for clients in Australia and overseas. He has worked in
many countries in the Asia-Pacific region. An expert in marine pollution, Ian
has developed some of Australia’s national guidelines for the protection of the
oceanic environment and continues to work in this field.

 
Ian lives with
his family in northern New South Wales. His 11-book epic fantasy series,
comprising
The View from the Mirror
,
The Well of Echoes
and
The Song of the Tears
, has been
published Australia, the UK, the US and in many translations, and has sold over
a million copies. He is currently working on the long-awaited sequel to
The View from the Mirror
.

 
Ian can be
contacted at
https://www.facebook.com/ianirvine.author

 
His web site is
http://www.ian-irvine.com

 
Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/153703.Ian_Irvine

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

Epic fantasy

THE THREE
WORLDS SEQUENCE

THE VIEW FROM THE MIRROR QUARTET

 
A Shadow on the Glass

 
The Tower on the Rift

 
Dark is the Moon

 
The Way Between the Worlds

 
THE WELL
OF ECHOES QUARTET

 
Geomancer

 
Tetrarch

 
Scrutator

 
Chimaera

 
SONG OF
THE TEARS TRILOGY

 
Torments of the Traitor

 
The Curse on the Chosen

 
The Destiny of the Dead

OTHER EPIC
FANTASY

THE TAINTED REALM TRILOGY

 
Vengeance

 
Rebellion

 
Justice

 
Thrillers about catastrophic climate change

 
THE HUMAN RITES TRILOGY

 
The Last Albatross

 
Terminator Gene

 
The Life Lottery

For younger
readers

 
THE RUNCIBLE JONES QUARTET

 
Runcible Jones, The Gate to Nowhere

 
Runcible Jones and The Buried City

 
Runcible Jones and the Frozen Compass

 
Runcible Jones and the Backwards
Hourglass

 
THE GRIM
AND GRIMMER QUARTET

 
The Headless Highwayman

 
The Grasping Goblin

 
The Desperate Dwarf

 
The Calamitous Queen

 
For primary readers

 
THE SORCERER’S TOWER

 
Thorn Castle

 
Giant’s Lair

 
Black Crypt

 
Wizardry Crag