Requiem (60 page)

Shyla:
One of the Crimson Empress’ Blood Guard who tortures Neb in an attempt to locate the mechoservitors building the antiphon.

Som Li Tam:
Vlad Li Tam’s nephew, son of his brother Tarn Li Tam. Supposedly died at a young age but was instead sent to the Y’Zirite lands where he took the name Al Shadryk and leads the Knives of Tam.

Spirit of Amal:
A ship of the Iron Armada.

Spirit of the Storm:
A ship of the Iron Armada.

Steel Fold:
The mechanical children of Brother Charles.

Stormwaters:
The impassable oceans west of the Named Lands.

Straupheim Parchment:
A historical fragment of the Seven Cacophonic Deaths.

T

Tal Y’Zir:
Prime mover of the Downunder War, who led the rebellion against the Younger Gods and took the Firsthome Temple and moon from them.

Tamyra:
The Y’Zirite name of Ire Li Tam.

Tarn Li Tam:
One of Vlad Li Tam’s brothers.

Tarviz:
A colonel of the Imperial Regent’s office assigned to Vlad Li Tam while he journeyed with the Daughters of Ahm.

Terick’s Fall:
A city in the Y’Zirite Empire.

T’Erys Whym:
The brother of P’Andro Whym, and the leader of the Order until the Franci movement brought back reason as a central tenant. He was a mystic with aberrant beliefs, a poet, and for a short while, a pope.

Tertius:
A renegade Androfrancine scholar and Marsher sympathizer who became Keeper of the Book during Mardic’s reign and Winters’ personal tutor. In fact, he was secretly a member of the Office for the Preservation of the Light assigned to study the Book of Dreaming Kings.

Thalnas:
One of Marta’s neighbors.

Third River:
The westernmost river of the three rivers delta region.

Tormentor’s Row:
Where the prisoners under the care of the Physicians of Penitent Torture were housed and redeemed. Rudolfo tore down Tormentor’s Row and used its stones to build his library.

Turam:
A nation of the Named Lands.

Turik:
The master of mines for the Ninefold Forest.

Tybard:
One of the Captains selected by Lysais from among the Ninefold Forest’s new standing army, to accompany him into the Beneath Places.

Tyrus:
A miner from Rudoheim, part of the team mapping the Beneath Places under the Ninefold Forest.

U

United City-States of the Entrolusian Delta:
the largest nation of the Named Lands and its economic center, though heavily dependent on the traffic from Windwir and the Ninefold Forest.

V

Valkry’s Rest:
A Marsher village.

Varn:
A farmer from Kendrick.

Vas Y’Zyr:
The third son of Xhum Y’Zir, and the Wizard King of Aelys. His left eye was replaced with an eye of nightstone that let him see into the Unseen World and to make pacts for his blood magicks.

Vesperleaf:
A sleep aid.

Vessel of Grace:
Chandra, the bride of Ahm Y’Zir, and mother of the Crimson Empress, whose union with Y’Zir and pregnancy with his blood-magick-induced child led to a terminal and painful illness seen in the Y’Zirite faith as “bearing the sins of the world.” She was healed by Vlad Li Tam.

Vlad Li Tam:
The current Lord of House Li Tam and direct descendant of Frederico, the Last Weeping Czar. His machinations and manipulations have shaped the Named Lands, including (in part) his unwitting participation in aspects of his father’s secret collusion with Y’Zir, notably the events leading to the birth of the Y’Zirite Child of Promise. Tam surrenders his lands and assets to seek evidence of a foreign threat to the Named Lands and loses most of his family to the Y’Zirite kin-healing after his betrayal by his grandson. He meets the “ghost” of Amal Y’Zir and is led into his part of Frederico’s Bargain, ultimately arriving in Y’Zir.

V’ral:
One of the languages of the Old World, and the Imperial Tongue of the Empire of Y’Zir in the modern era.

W

Wandering Army:
The extremely competent (and feared) volunteer militia of the Ninefold Forest Houses.

War of the Weeping Czar:
Also the Wizard War, started when Raj Y’Zir and his silver army invaded Lasthome from the moon.

War Sermons of the Marsh King:
The one Marsher voice heard during war, spouting prophecy and revelation based on the Marsher mysticism.

Wardyn:
An Entrolusian general.

Waste Witch:
A provider of magicks and powders in the Churning Wastes.

Watcher:
An ancient mechoservitor in service to the Empire of Y’Zir and responsible for creating and assisting in the implementation of the Y’Zirite’s complex conspiracy from his hidden cave in the Marshlands.

Watcher’s Vigil:
The fifty years the Watcher spent in the Named Lands preparing for the Advent of the Crimson Empress and the Y’Zirite invasion.

Watching Tree:
A self-aware guardian created by the People to protect and care for them over vast stretches of time while they slept in the Beneath Places.

Western Steppes:
The westernmost end of the Prairie Sea, near the border with the Marshlands and the Windwir Protectorate.

Wicker Throne
: The throne of the Marshers, carried by each ascending monarch to the top of the Dragon’s Spine for the proclamation.

Whym:
During the era of the Downunder Wars, when the House Y’Zir first arose against the Younger Gods, General Whym led the armies of the Younger Gods. Now, he is the ghost of a Younger God, with three carefully placed offspring to save his people as a part of Frederico’s Bargain.

Whymer Bible:
The collection of teachings and writings that make up the Androfrancine scriptures, mostly written by P’Andro Whym or his earliest followers.

Whymer Maze:
Popularized by T’Erys Whym during his brief papacy in the Named Lands, a circular maze that can only be solved by returning the way you came or enduring the pain and thorns to find its hidden center.

Whymer Way:
The road leading from the Windwir to the Keeper’s Gate, and past it into the Churning Waste.

Wind of Dawn:
A ship of the Iron Armada.

Windwir (City):
Home of the Androfrancine Order in the Named Lands, and home of the Great Library.

Windwir (Person):
A poet, who became the first Pope in the Named Lands.

Windwir’s Rest:
The Machtvolk name for what remains of Windwir.

Winteria bat Mardic (the elder)/Ria:
Winters’ older sister, raised in Y’Zir and groomed to take leadership of the Machtvolk after Windwir’s destruction.

Winteria bat Mardic (the younger) / Winters:
The Queen of the Marshfolk forced to ascend the spire early when her shadow, Hanric, was killed. Winters also first recognized (and fell in love with) Neb as the fulfillment of Marsher prophecy. She was deposed in a coup led by her older sister and later returned with Jin Li Tam to ultimately bear the marks of Y’Zir during the Mass of the Fallen Moon and lead a small remnant of her people out of the north.

Wizard Kings:
The wizards that ruled Lasthome from the arrival of Raj Y’Zir with his silver army until Xhum Y’Zir and his seven sons.

Wizard Wars:
The war that ended the reign of the czars and subjugated the world to the rule of the Wizard Kings.

Works of the Apostles of P’Andro Whym:
A listing of the accomplishments of all of the Order’s Popes.

Writ of Shunning:
An order of the Androfrancine Pope that severs all ties of Kin-clave to whomever is named.

X

Xhei Li Tam:
An early Lord of House Li Tam who was gifted the restored golden messenger bird by the Pope Intellect VIII.

Xhum Y’Zir:
The Wizard King who ruled over, and eventually destroyed, the Old World. After the Night of Purging, when P’Andro Whym and his followers killed Xhum Y’Zir’s songs, the Wizard King created the Seven Cacophonic Deaths and sent his Death Choir out to destroy the world.

Y

Yazmeera:
The general in charge of the Y’Zirite invasion of the Named Lands.

Year of the Falling Moon:
The year-long invasion of Lasthome by the Moon Wizard Raj Y’Zir; also an Androfrancine observance in which for one year, each century, a Pope would live beyond the comfort and shelter of Windwir and wander from city to city in recognition of the loss of the Old World and the world before as a result of the lunar invasion.

Younger Gods:
The People—also called the Children of the Elder Gods—who settled Lasthome and were eventually driven to near extinction by Y’Zir’s war on them.

Y’Leris:
An ancient city of the Old World.

Y’Zir:
The Empire forged by Ahm Y’Zir, the seventh son of Xhum Y’Zir who secretly survived P’Andro Whym’s Night of Purging.

Y’Zirite Resurgence:
Various emerging sects practicing the worship of the Wizard Kings, usually brutally and swiftly suppressed by the Androfrancine Order. Later resurgences appear to be the work of the Y’Zirite Empire.

Acknowledgments

Hello and welcome back.

Of all the books so far in the Psalms of Isaak,
Requiem
has been the hardest. It was written under some extremely difficult circumstances and a lot of folks rallied around to help get this book finally wrapped up after two years of work on it.

I’ve dedicated this book to those I’ve lost along the way. Over the course of the last five years, since just a month after Tor picked up the series, my wife and I have lost eight members of our family: four parents, a nephew, two aunts and a grandmother. Those losses, combined with the birth of my amazing wonder twins, made
Requiem
a very, very hard book to get written. So this one is for those I’ve lost—both recently and the long ago loss of my older brother, Rusty, when I was four.

Because this book was so hard, I am deeply grateful to all of the extra hands that helped along the way with so many things, from housework to babysitting to providing me writing havens. So big, big thanks to the following people:

First and foremost, thank you, Lizzy and Rae, for giving me the best two reasons to stay at the keyboard and write lots of books (because daycare is expensive). Daddy loves you.

As always, Team4J—Jen, John, Jay and Jerry—for amazing writing and life support. And right up there with them, Lisa, Melissa, Dale, Robert and Tracy for exactly the same thing (and Tracy, your work with me on the glossary is brilliant and much appreciated). And of course, I want to thank my agent, Jenn Jackson, for all your help keeping the business end of things sorted out. I’m amazingly graced by amazing people in my life.

A lot of folks came out and helped wrangle kids or helped with the house or brought meals … and every little bit of help let me go hide and find my words or helped Jen while I was off being writerly. I’m particularly grateful to Shauna, Victoria, Nadia and Scott for all you did. And to my brother and his wife, Jon and Carol, along with the West Clan (Kathy, Angela and Nick) for providing a place where the girls could go spend time while Jen and I caught breaks.

Vast thanks to Bob and Vivian for the use of their beach hideout. I’ll leave of a copy of the book next time I’m up.

I also want to thank some of the local haunts here in Saint Helens where I escaped to work on the book. So here’s to you, Joe, Tiffany and Melisa … and to your respective crews at the Village Inn, the Dockside and Plantation House. Thanks for great food, drink and space to create in. And thanks to Lori and her crew at the Saint Helens Bookshop for making sure people near and far had access to the series.

As always, big thanks to Beth and the fine folks at Tor for all their encouragement and help bringing this book into the world. You were all Very Patient with me while I pushed my way through this Very Late book. And Beth, as always, your eye on my writing makes all the difference in the world. I also want to thank Mel for her hard work getting things put together, Deanna for another great copyedit and Chris for another fine cover.

Usually, I save my Dear Readers for last but this time, second to last: Thank you, Dear Readers, for staying with the series and thank you for being patient. And thank you for writing in to let me know how much you’re enjoying the books so far. I hope you enjoyed this one, too.

And last, for very special reasons, I’d like to thank Dr. Eugene Lipov at Chicago’s Advanced Pain Management. Your work is changing and saving lives—including mine. Thanks, Doc.

Four down … one to go! Stay tuned for
Hymn
, the final volume in the Psalms of Isaak.

Ken Scholes

Saint Helens, Oregon

November 2012

TOR BOOKS BY KEN SCHOLES

Lamentation

Canticle

Antiphon

Requiem

About the Author