In this place of ancient knowledge and timeworn ritual, such obvious surprise frightened Barrick. “What? Why are you looking at me that way?”
“He is… he is in you! I feel him but I cannot touch him!” Something that now lived inside Barrick was unmoved by her consternation, even amused. “He said he would try to pass the Fireflower to me.”
“No!” She practically shrieked it, although he realized a moment later it was only the difference from her usual measured tone that was so startling. “You are a mortal. You are a whelp of the creatures who raped us… murdered us!”
We are all children of both the good and evil that has gone before us.
Ynnir? Is that you? Barrick tried his best to catch at the thought, but it was gone again. He realized that the queen was standing directly before him, her eyes so intent that it almost hurt to face them. She clutched his arm; her grip was astoundingly strong.
“What do you feel? Is he there, my brother… my husband? Does he speak inside of you? What of the Forerunners, do you feel them as well?”
“I… I don’t know ...” And then Barrick felt it swimming up from the depths and for a moment his limbs, his tongue, his head was not his own. “We are here, all of us,” said his mind and his mouth, but Barrick himself was none of it. “It is not what we expected and many of us are confused… many others are lost. Never before has the Fireflower passed like this. It is all different ...” Then the alien presence fell away and Barrick commanded his own limbs once more—but everything had changed, he knew. Everything was different and it always would be.
The queen continued to stare at him but her eyes now seemed far away. Then she simply folded, her white robes rustling faintly as she slumped to the ground. Shadows coalesced from the corners and hidden places of the great chamber, servitors who had waited silent and unmoving all this time. They surrounded her, then bore her up and carried her away.
Barrick could only stand and watch them go, alone with the tribe of incomprehensible strangers who lived now in his blood and his thoughts.
Appendix
A’lat—a Xandian priest
Anamesiya Tinwright—Matt Tinwright’s mother
Ananka—from Jellon, first Hesper’s, then Enander’s mistress
Anglin—Connordic chieftain, awarded March Kingdom after Coldgray Moor
Anglin III—king of Southmarch, great-grandfather of Briony and Barrick
Anissa—queen of Southmarch, Olin’s second wife
Antimony—a young Funderling temple brother
Argal the Dark One—Xixian god, enemy of Nushash
Ash Nitre—in charge of gunflour for Funderlings
Autarch—Sulepis Bishakh am-Xis III, monarch of Xis, most powerful nation on the southern continent of Xand
Avidel—Theron’s apprentice
Avin Brone—count of Landsend, the castle’s lord constable
Axamis Dorza—a Xixian ship’s captain
Ayann—brother of Yasammez, Yasudra’s husband
Ayyam—a Qar, ancestor of Kayyin/Gil
Azurite COPPER—aka “Stormstone”, famous Funderling Highwarden
Barrick Eddon—a prince of Southmarch
Baz’u Jev—a Xandian poet
Beetledown—a Rooftopper
Big Nodule (Blue Quartz)—Chert’s father
Bingulou the Kracian—Finn’s first master
Bone—a bandit
Brambinag Stoneboots—a mythical ogre
Brennas—an oracle whose head was said to have survived his execution by three years.
Brigid—a serving-woman at the Quiller’s Mint
Briony Eddon—a princess of Southmarch
Brother Okros Dioketian—physician-priest from Eastmarch Academy
Caradon Tolly—Gailon’s younger brother
Caylor—a legendary knight and prince
Chalk—a Kallikan drumstone priest
Chaven—physician and astrologer to the Eddon family
Chert (Blue Quartz)—a Funderling, Opal’s husband
Cheshret—Qinnitan’s father, a minor priest of Nushash
Children of the Emerald Fire—a Qar tribe
Cinnabar Quicksilver—a Funderling magister
Clemon—famous Syannese historian, also called “Clemon of Anverrin”
Col—a bandit
Conary—propietor of the Quiller’s Mint
Conoric, Sivonnic, and Iellic tribes—“primitive” tribes who lived on Eion before conquest by the southern continent of Xand
Daman Eddon—Merolanna’s husband, King Ustin’s brother
Davos of Elgi, aka Davos the Mantis—a famous mercenary, leader of a Grey Company
Dawet dan-Faar—envoy from Hierosol, late of Tuan
Dolomite—Highwarden of the Underbridge Kallikans
Donal Murroy—onetime captain of the Southmarch royal guard
Dumin Hauyuz—antipolemarch of the Autarch’s expedition force to Southmarch
Duny—Qinnitan’s friend, an acolyte of the Hive
Durstin Crowel—baron of Graylock
Earth Elders—Funderling guardian spirits
Eilis—Merolanna’s maid
Elan M’Cory—sister-in-law of Caradon Tolly
Ena—Skimmer, daughter of Turley Longfingers
Enander—King of Syan
Eneas—Prince of Syan, son of Enander
Erasmias Jino—Marquis of Athnia, important Syannese official
Erinna e’Herayas—a Tessian courtier
Erivor—god of waters, AKA “Efiyal”, “Egye-Var”
Ettin—a Qar giant
Ever-Wounded Maid—a character out of legend
Favoros—a Syannese baron
Favoros, Baron—Lord of Ugenion
Feldspar—Dead Funderling Warder
Ferras Vansen—captain of the Southmarch royal guard
Finlae—Settlander priest, slave in Qu’arus’ house
Finn Teodoros—a writer
Finneth—Brennish oracle in Hewney’s tale
Funderlings—sometimes known as “delvers”, small people who specialize in stonecraft
Gailon Tolly, Duke of Summerfield—an Eddon family cousin
Golya—“eaters of man-flesh”
Grandfather Sulphur—a Funderling elder of the Metamorphic Brothers
Gray Companies—mercenaries and landless men turned bandits in wake of the Great Death
Gregor of Syan—a famous bard
Guard of Elementals—a tribe of the Qar
Gyir—a Qar, Yasammez’ captain, AKA “Gyir the Storm Lantern”
Hammerfoot—a Deep Ettin, war leader of Firstdeeps
Harsar—Ynnir’s counselor
Hasuris—a Xixian storyteller
Hayyids—an ancient people of Xand
Helkis, Lord—Prince Eneas’ second-in-command
Hendon Tolly—youngest of the Tolly brothers
Hesper—King of Jellon, betrayer of King Olin
Hiliometes—a legendary demigod and hero
Hobkin—a bandit
Iaris—an oracle of Kernios, a semi-saint
Iola, Queen of Syan, Tolos, and Perikal—queen during the Syannese empire and the War of Three Favors
Iron Quartz—one of Chert’s earliest masters
Ivgenia e’Doursos—the young daughter of the Viscount of Teryon
Jeddin—chief of the autarch’s Leopard guards, also known as “Jin”
Jenkin Crowel—envoy from Southmarch to Tessis
Kallikans—Syannese name for Funderlings
Karal—king of Syan killed by Qar at Coldgray Moor
Kayyin—a Qar, Yasammez’ son, AKA “Gil the Potboy”
Kellick Eddon—great-grandnephew of Anglin, first of Eddon family March Kings
Kendrick Eddon—prince regent of Southmarch, eldest son of King Olin
Kernios—earth god, AKA “Xergal”